ABSTRACT
To meet the Paris Climate Agreement’s ambitions, limiting global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, the world’s building sector must reduce energy intensity per square metre by approximately 30%. Further, the pandemic not only provoked many new products and over-stretched supply chains but also abruptly forced us to reconsider the spaces we occupy. To meet these issues, we need radical new models of design research and cross-disciplinary collaboration. One such model brings science and design together, with the hybridisation of labs and studios, forging new perspectives and inspirations and stimulating new ways of thinking about our own fields. This chapter presents recent work undertaken combining architectural designers with engineers and a biologist to create new adaptive materials that are more than simply elements, things or objects within buildings. We are seeking to transform static and unyielding environments into dynamic, immersive spaces that interact with humans, adapting to our needs.
