ABSTRACT
The Self-Assembly Lab was established at MIT with the vision of a new research model focusing on design as a creative driver to blend basic and applied research and, at the same time, diversify the applications, collaborations, and funding opportunities. Design has become widely accepted with prominent companies like Apple or newly emerging fields like app design and game design. "Design thinking" has even become a buzzword for businesses and marketing strategies. The idea of "design research" has gained an important role both in industry and academia, while remaining somewhat vague in its definition. Architecture schools around the world are increasingly touting research labs, research degrees, and design research agendas. Design research is about imagining new realities, discovering possibilities and solving the right problems to make it happen. "Programmable Matter" is the study of physical matter that has the ability to change precise form and/or function by design.
