Nature as an Innovative Catalyst and Model in Design for Additive Manufacturing

Co-chairs: Tino Stankovic, Nicholas Meisel, Serena Graziosi

Invited lecturers: Druve Bhate (Arizona State University), Raffaele Pugliese (NEMO Lab), and Eliot Graeff (Ceebios)

Nature has always been a relevant source of inspiration for humankind. Experts in multiple fields, from biologists to physicists, designers, and architects, have seen the potential in its working mechanisms and laws, its multiscale organization, and its capability of preserving ecosystems’ equilibrium through an efficient use of resources while still adapting to external changes. Multiple examples exist where Nature’s designs have been implemented to solve pressing challenges, from mimicking natural patterns and shapes to design structures or implementing Nature’s working principles to enrich technical products with new functionalities. Today’s technological advancements in production, computational resources, and material synthesis have further advanced the potential for nature-inspired solutions. Additive Manufacturing (AM) technologies, in particular, have unlocked the possibility of fabricating organic and multiscale material arrangements, while computational strategies are now making it possible to formalize algorithms that generate solutions similar to those found in Nature. The latest scientific advances in additive manufacturing also enable the possibility of growing and deploying living cells and tissues, which leads to the potential for naturally designed solutions simultaneously manufactured with natural materials. The workshop will explore the myriad ways in which additive manufacturing has further unlocked the ability to realize designs more in tune with Nature and its principles. The workshop will also stimulate discussions on whether, from a design science perspective, the additive manufacturing community is properly and effectively capitalizing on the richness of possible design solutions offered by Nature and what design approaches can be put in place to utilize these solutions in the design process even more. The audience will be challenged to reflect on how the principles found in nature could be further explored and transformed into more purposeful and performance-efficient technical products, thanks to the help of AM technology and the digital revolution.

 

The workshop took place on

Monday, May 20, 2024

The DESIGN 2024 / DESIGN Conference, 20 - 23 May 2024