(Research Projects general description text) The programme is a new research collaboration established on existing associations and includes 6 academic beneficiaries and 14 industry partners. The relatively large number of industrial partners ena- bles the network to comprise the central design-active stakeholders of building practice reflecting diffe- rent disciplines as well as different scales of enterprise.
The scientific content is structured around 3 work packages (WPs). that creates a cross-site and inter- disciplinary research environment examining the three axes design communication, design simulation and design materialisation in which the 15 ESRs’ research is situated.
WP1 is structured around three pillars that comprise the three material perspectives represented by the three cases strategic glulam, bio-polymers composites and bioluminescent bacteria. The main objective for WP1 is to develop novel temporalised representations for bio-based materials and interface these with methods of adaptive fabrication (objective 1 and 2). It does so by developing the key concepts of heterogeneity, temporal plasticity and living performances. The transferring of the concepts across the pillars draws out new synergy and builds up the complexity of the framework.
(P1) develops the first level of the eco-metabolistic framework that captures and instrumentalises the material heterogeneity of harvested materials.
It engages the scale of the architectural structure and uses locally-graded stiffness-variable glulam elements as case to develop integrative models for interfacing high-resolution material sensing with design-led optimisation.
It addresses the current knowledge gap by interfacing the registration of specific material properties within an individual resource, with the design-led optimisation of architectural elements. Bridging this gap enables the rethinking of the design and fabrication of glulam elements to radically minimise their material intensity by strategizing material grading and bending.
(P2) develops the second level of the eco-metabolistic framework that captures and instrumentalises the temporal plasticity of designed bio-based materials while expanding the concept of designed heterogeneous material systems.
It engages the scale of the architectural enclosure and uses functionally graded chitin-based cellulose-reinforced bio-polymer as case to develop methods for predicting, designing and grading the lifespans of bio-based materials.
It addresses the current knowledge gap by characterising their temporal behaviours and interface these with a design-led functional grading of element geometry and composition to produce design models for steering material lifespan.
(P3) develops the third level of the eco-metabolistic framework that captures and operationalises the living performances of bio-based materials while expanding the concept of
temporal plasticity and emergent material heterogeneity of living systems. In engages the scale of architectural performance and uses bioluminescent bacteria as case to functionalise living organism as an architectural light source. It addresses the current knowledge gap by modelling the performance of bioluminescent bacteria; capturing, charactering and predicting how their life states, performance and propagation respond to design-led tuning of their host-media, its form and its nutrition.
