MIT Media Lab
The MIT Media Lab’s Mediated Matter group is no longer active. Their site provides background on some of the people and projects that were associated with this research. The most current information about Media Lab research can be found in their Research section.
The Mediated Matter group focuses on Nature-inspired design and design-inspired Nature. We conduct research at the intersection of computational design, digital fabrication, materials science, and synthetic biology, and apply that knowledge to design across scales—from the micro scale to the building scale.
We create biologically inspired and engineered design fabrication tools and technologies and structures aiming to enhance the relation between natural and man-made environments. Our research area, entitled Material Ecology, integrates computational form-finding strategies with biologically inspired fabrication. This design approach enables the mediation between objects and environment; between humans and objects; and between humans and environment.