A workshop extending the Automorph exhibit at the London Design Biennale on the 5th and 6th of June 2023

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Take a minute and look around: the objects around you are solid structures shaped by applying external forces (cutting, assembling, carving, molding...), investing large quantities of energy and generating waste. But Nature uses different strategies with optimized and efficient use of material and energy: leaves, trees, and flowers are solid structures that develop via internal growth. Natural structures shape themselves, they are self-morphing systems.

 

How would life look like if our cars, commodities and houses were self-morphing? How much waste and energy could we save if we allow matter itself to be a partner in the shaping process? Could this help build a sustainable environment to live in? What new inventions could emerge from recognizing that solids are not necessarily passive, but can undergo changes, store information and even perform autonomous motions?

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This highly interdisciplinary workshop is intended to present recent advances in various fields that involve shape-changing materials and objects (Architecture, Physics, Computer science, Design, Biology...). The aim is to foster discussion across disciplines and create a connected interdisciplinary community working on self-morphing.

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PROGRAM​

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DAY 1

Keynote presentations spanning different fields, short presentations by participants and discussions.

 

DAY 2

Hands-on workshop for a smaller number of participants, with the aim of building a self-morphing structure