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Materials Matter

Designing & Building with Nature

https://nestmakerspace.weebly.com/

Corinne Okada Takara

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https://nestmakerspace.weebly.com/

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My Lens

Playful Making

Creative Thriftiness

Past Cultural Practices

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Connect to local nature

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The Problem

What percentage of

plastic is recycled?

What do you think is

the average time duration

usage a of single use

plastic?

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Think Beyond Plastic

Grow building materials
Draw inspiration from natural structures & processes
Delve into broad range of cultural traditions for innovation design.

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What biomaterials might we use?

The root like structures of fungus is mycelium and it is fire retardant, floats and can grow on industrial waste wood pulp.

They need to be:

low cost,

relatively easy to grow,

easy to dispose of,

break down the fear factor,

ignite curiosity

Fungus

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Break down fear and build knowledge through craft activities with the materials

https://ecovativedesign.com/

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Growing mycelium as a building material

Step 1

Grow fungus in bark that has been sterilized and then incubated with fungus. Press into mold forms.

Step 2

Grow for 1-2 weeks

Step 3

Bake at 200 degrees fahrenheit for a few hours.

Step 4

Drill holes into the forms.

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What biomaterials might we use?

Fungus

The root like structures of fungus is mycelium and it is fire retardant, floats and can grow on industrial waste wood pulp.

Kombucha

We can grow a bio “leather” using kombucha.

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Process and staggered growths

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What bio materials might we use?

Fungus

The root like structures of fungus is mycelium and it is fire retardant, floats and can grow on industrial waste wood pulp.

Kombucha

We can grow a bio “leather” using kombucha. It is a symbiotic culture of yeast and bacteria.

Algae & Chitin

Bio plastic and bio yarn can be made from these materials.

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Algae and Chitin

https://materiom.org/

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Fungus

The root like structures of fungus is mycelium and it is fire retardant, floats and can grow on industrial waste wood pulp.

Kombucha

Worms

We can grow a bio “leather” using kombucha. It is a symbiotic culture of yeast and bacteria.

Bio collaborative design with silkworms & exploring mealworms as plastic digesters

Algae & Chitin

Bio plastic and bio yarn can be made from these materials.

What biomaterials might we use?

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Researchers recently discovered that mealworms can digest polystyrene, turning this plastic back into an organic materials. At the beginning of the camp week, each camper was given two mealworms to care for and feed. At first, many did not want to touch the worms, but after a few days, their favorite daily activity became checking in on their control mealworm and their polystyrene fed mealworm. They did daily journal sketches and documentation of the status of their worms. At the end of the week, most wanted to take their mealworms home with them. Image on left is a coffee cup eroded by mealworms and displayed like a Chinese philosopher’s stone on a small 3D printed stand. I was inspired by a display at the Science Gallery in Dublin and am envisioning a makerspace activity in which students design 3D printed stands for their partially digested plastic cups.

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Reduce yuck factor with views at different scales

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Reduce yuck factor with views at different scales

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Time, Tracking and Controlled Environments

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Material Literacy-Past Cultural Practices

As we bring in locally source materials and look to natural building materials, we will also need to look at a broader range of traditional cultural practices for inspiration. Casting the net wider for deeper innovation paths with biology will give us opportunities to engage students through their own cultural traditions and historical practices.

This slide shows a musgum dwelling next to four finalists in last year’s NASA Mars 3D printed habitat challenge. They clearly drew inspiration from humanity’s past knowledge of building from on site materials. The musgum dwelling looks like it is one of the design finalists. A musgum dwelling form has the best load bearing properties for a self supporting soil structure. The veins in the facade help guide the flow of rain as rain flowing down accentuates the pattern, rather than collapse design. So in addition to fungus, bacteria and worms, I think we also need to add mud into our makerspaces.

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Make the exploration personal & locally relevant

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COMMUNITY CONVERSATION INCUBATOR

https://myceliumchandelier.weebly.com/

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Material Driven Design Maker Ecosystem

#biotinkering #materialdrivendesign

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Thank you!

Corinne O. Takara

corinne@okadadesign.com

nestmakerspace.weebly.com

www.okadadesign.com/