MADE IN ITALYEURO 16,00

What will we be made of and what will the world be made of?
Sciences and technologies are extending design fields, modifying
materials and everything that surround us, even our body,redefining on a perceptive level the boundary between things
and us.
To identify the actual evolution of the relationship between
sciences, knowledge and design, the Madec (Material Design
Culture Research Centre) of Politecnico di Milano, started in 2014a wide debate with a series of contributions about innovation
trajectories with well known scholars of many disciplines,
researchers, professionals and companies. This public debate,
entitled “Ideas and the matter” opens new options for design
action today, new ideas, and the definition of design approaches,
contributing to the development of a new methodology ofcreativity-driven material innovation that, in a world full ofopportunities but also problems to be solved, helps design to playa role of “giving new meanings”, through designing materials andthings with a critical approach. This is a mission designers cannot
abdicate, following the successes of “Design Thinking”, which was
opening up to social innovation challenges and achieving creative
solutions beyond the reach of conventional structure and method.
At the same time, “Open Innovation” is a go-to process stimulating
way of creating positive change in production.
This book is the compendium of Madec’s one-year research. The
contributors of the book come from several and diverse disciplines(medicine, biotechnology, engineering, art, anthropology,architecture and design), which design thoughts are fed by.

Marinella Ferrara & Giulio Ceppi

IDEAS
AND THEMATTER
What will we be madeof and what will
the world be made of?

DESIGN EXPERIENCES

Ideasand
The Matter
WHAT WILL WE BE MADE OF
AND WHAT WILL
THE WORLD BE MADE OF?
MARINELLA FERRARA
GIULIO CEPPI

Material Design Culture Research Centre is the research center andnetwork dedicated to materials for design of the Design Department of
Politecnico di Milano. It deals with the relation design-materials among
design history and actuality. The center carries researches on the Italian
Culture of Materials Design, intended as the capacity of the Italian design
to interpret materials and technologies in order to generate products
and environments innovation. The research team is composed by:
Marinella Ferrara (coordinator), Giampiero Bosoni, Giulio Ceppi,
Sebastiano Ercoli, Chiara Lecce, and Andrea Ratti.
www.madec.polimi.itpg.7

THE CONFINESOF THE BODY,
THE ENDS OF THE PROJECTFRANCESCO SAMORÈ

pg.16

THE IDEAS
AND THE MATTERCRITICAL THINKING
FOR A NEWFRAMEWORK

GIUSEPPE TESTA

pg.18

pg.35

pg.44

MICHELANGELO PISTOLETTOCHIARA LECCE

pg.149PART III.

pg.64

OPEN UPTO MATERIALINNOVATIONATOMIC DESIGNAND THE ARTIFACTUAL
ELEGANCE

FUNDAMENTALS OF MATERIALDESIGN CULTURE

pg.71

pg.132MARINELLA FERRARASHIFTING TO“DESIGN-DRIVEN MATERIAL”
pg.157MARINELLA FERRARA

pg.173

DESIGN-DRIVEN
MATERIAL INNOVATIONMETHODOLOGY

THE ADVANCE FROMTHE EXTERIOR TOWARDS
THE INTERIORRESEARCHING THE FUTURE
pg.91

pg.105

STEFANO MARZANO

MARINELLA FERRARACHIARA LECCE

pg.186AUTHORS’ BIOGRAPHIES

pg.206

pg.94

CONTENTS

CITY-WORLDAND WORLD-CITY
MARC AUGÈ

pg.109pg.37

THE GROWING LAB.
FUNGAL FUTURESFORTUNATO D’AMICO

GIULIO CEPPI

GIAMPIERO BOSONITHE THIRD PARADISEROBERTO CINGOLANI

MAURIZIO MONTALTITOWARD THE
BIOCENTRIC ERA.
OBSERVING DESIGNHYBRIDIZATIONNEW VISIONSFOR A DIFFERENTDESIGN ANTHROPOMETRYETHICS AND DESIGNIN THE 21ST CENTURY. NOTES

MATER MATERIA
CLINO TRINI CASTELLIPART II.

HUMAN IN
THE MOLECULAR AGE

BALANCE BETWEEN
THE INTERIORAND THE EXTERIORMASSIMO FACCHINETTIPART I.

CHIARA LECCE
Madec, Politecnico di Milano, Italy
Go, take your lessons from nature, that’s where our future lies
Leonardo da Vinci

Biocentric ethics merged at the end of the 1980s as environmental ethics that “extend
the status of moral object from human beings to all living things in nature” (Yu & Lei 2009,
p.422) starting from Albert Schweitzer’s ethic of reverence for life (1987), Peter Singer’s
ethics of animal liberation (1990) and Paul Taylor’s ethics of bioegalitarianism (1986).
This new environmental ethic approach called for a new prospective: “nature does
not exist simply to be used or consumed by humans, but that humans are simply one
species amongst many” (Bari, 1995), that translated means for Homo Sapiens is notsuperior to other species on Earth.
Biocentric ethics are founded on three main principles: “(1) All living things have an
instinct to resist the process of increasing entropy, for keeping their own organization, maintaining their own survival and the wholeness of life; (2) Maintaining theirown survival is a central aim for all living things, that is an intrinsic value and ‘good’;(3) Although different living things have their own ways of organization and survival(different ways of self-organization and maintaining survival with different organisms),
their values are intrinsically the same, and therefore they should have equal rights in
morality, which means they should be given moral acknowledgement, concern, andprotection”. (Yu & Lei 2009, p.422-423)
More recently another exponent of the biocentric vision has been Robert Lanza, an
American doctor and scientist involved into several researches of the medical use ofhuman embryonic stem cells.
He affirms in his book Biocentrism: How Life and Consciousness are the Keys to Understanding the Universe followed (2009) that biology will be the most important above
all the other sciences.
“Our theories of the physical world don’t work and will not ever work as long as they will
start to consider life and consciousness. Life and Consciousness, instead of tardive and

1. DESIGN HYBRIDIZATION: BRIDGING DIFFERENT DISCIPLESDefinition: in biology hybridization is the process of combining different varieties oforganisms to create a hybrid. In situ hybridization (ISH) is a type of hybridization thatuses a labeled complementary DNA, RNA or modified nucleic acids strand (i.e., probe)
to localize a specific DNA or RNA sequence in a portion or section of tissue (in situ), or, if
the tissue is small enough (e.g., plant seeds, Drosophila embryos), in the entire tissue(whole mount ISH), in cells, and in circulating tumor cells (CTCs). In situ hybridization isa crucial step for understanding the organization, regulation, and function of genes.1
The term hybridization could be applied today to many more fields (per se an explicative phenomenon of disciplines cross-fertilization): chemistry, linguistics, engineeringand automotive, globalization theories and media.
I chose biology and genetics definitions because they are closer in their meanings
regarding the process of design hybridization that I would like to analyze during thisdissertation.
The design profession faced during the last two decades several political, social,economic and environmental conflicts. Accordingly, contemporary design panorama
is seeking a great expansion toward many different directions in a continuous transfusion with other disciplines (from economy to computer sciences, from sociology
to psychology, from engineering to biomedics), in a sort of attempt to resolve all the
problems of the world. Borrowing the words of Paola Antonelli: “In the past 20 years,
design has branched out in many new directions that have galvanized young practitioners, sparked business models, and set the worldwide education system on academic
fire. There are many different ways in which one can be a designer today, working for
instance on interaction, interfaces, the Web, visualization, typefaces, socially-minded infrastructures, 5D spaces, sustainability, games, critical scenarios, and yes, evenproducts and furniture. In the coming decades, the rest of the world will catch up anddesign will be embraced as a methodology and philosophy by politicians, scientists
and economists who are willing to have a human, holistic and constructive perspectiveon the world.” (2011, p.110)
And this is exactly what is already happening. Theories of design-driven-innovation
are invading all the managerial master courses, environmental topics are at the basisof all design schools, social design and service design are inseparable from productdesign strategies.
Complexity is the keyword and designers are asked to use their skills to create a better future.
Here emerges the concept of Hybrid Design: “It’s a progressive notion about themulti-dimensional craft of ‘doing things’, as well as a reflection on the interconnectedness of all kinds of design within the economic and commercial fabric of society. […]Hybrid design breaks these professional silos and asks the design team to be aware,1.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_situ_hybridization

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TOWARD THE
BIOCENTRIC ERA.
OBSERVING DESIGNHYBRIDIZATION

secondary products appeared after billions of years of inanimate physical processes,
are absolutely essential for our comprehension of the universe. We call this prospective
biocentrism.” (Lanza 2015, pp.13-14)

2. LESSONS FROM NATURE: FROM BIONICS TO BIO-DESIGN
Since the begging of human history, nature has always been a permanent lesson.
Humans apprehended from nature rhythms, balances and energy and above all its
uncontainable power of survival and defense.
The words of the famous German architect and engineer Frei Otto will help introducing the relationship between man and nature and its interpretation: “The idea thatthe objects of nature, especially objects of living nature, can be taken as a model has
always moved many people. It is the base of many religions: ‘God created the world
with it plants, animals and man. What God created cannot be doubted, it is perfect. And
the most perfect being – man – is made in his image’. It is certain that most biologicalobjects can look back on a long evolutionary history, and because of this long selectionof the less effective they may be considered optimized. Many biological objects, suchas a few unicellular organisms (bacteria, radiolarians, algae, etc.) had reached a highdegree of perfection already in their early developmental history, changing hardly or
not at all ever since.
They have lived for millions of years, distinguishing themselves mainly by a very highadaptability to their surroundings and in particular to their hosts. […] Many of theorganisms living today are extremely complex systems.” (Otto 1999, p.48)
And he also introduces bionics as the new science, the aim of which is “finally” to learn
from nature. As an illuminated man of the XX Century he understands the importanceof the nature lesson but he also admits the limits of his century to deeply comprehend
all the mysteries of nature:“[…] History best proves how little the model nature was exploited. No biologicalobjects served as a model of the great inventions of humanity: the hammer, knife,
wheel, the woven cloth, the bow, ect. One reason may reside the fact that living nature
is so very complex that is difficult to really get to know it. […] A technician observing
living nature just cannot grasp living objects which die so quickly, are so sensitive, socomplex and both so inimitable and strange. A biologist looking at technology sees
how imperfect technical activity is.” (Otto 1999, p.48)
Still at the end of the XX Century the referees to the natural world were associated morefrom a mechanical or formal point of view because of a lack of adequate technologies
that were on their way coming in few years. And this necessity is also well explained inthis passage by Giampiero Bosoni with Francesca Picchi: “The history of design in all its
expressions - technological, typological, morphological and, we would add, poetic, hasin diverse ways and with diverse results measured its strength against this unavoidable
model of reference. […] We do however care deeply about the fact that nature’s lesson
cannot be read only as an evolutionary mechanical, and in that sense exclusively technical principle. Nor perhaps, can it be learnt even from the mathematical-geometric pointof view only, according to an abstract and purely synthetic conception of the system ofrules. Nor, still less, can it be properly understood by tritely imitating its forms, emulating
the form of organic growth with curved lines, soft masses or rounded figures.” (1999, p.55)
2.1 Bionics and biomimetic
The term bionic was coined by Jack E. Steele in 1958, from the word bion (Ancient Greek:βίος), meaning “unit of life” and the suffix -ic, which means “like”, so together “like life”.
Bionics focused on extracting shapes, structures and function from nature to create
close copies of natural artefacts: it is oriented to a technological transfer between thenatural world (seen as a highly optimized and efficient system) and human manufactures.
Typical examples of bionic applications in engineering are the hulls of boats imitating
the thick skin of dolphins, sonar, radar, and medical ultrasound imaging imitating
animal echolocation or also the dirt- and water-repellent paint (coating) from theobservation that the surface of the leaf of the lotus plant (the lotus effect).
Copying from nature is also the method defined by Roberto Cingolani in this book(pp.) with the term atomic design: nature as the most perfect system is the only
model to pursue.

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intelligent and reactive to an eco-system of experts surrounding the design process.
Hybrid designers re-design, re-think and, in time, reflect on their work in progressive
new ways. Over time the work coming out of a hybrid design team is of a better quality, better suited to a complex physical/non-physical world and better positioned toweather the tests of time, society, and culture.” (Amit, 2010)
Approaching design hybridization concepts the words of the American designer andeducator Victor Papanek from his book Design for the Real World (1985) appear moreactual than ever: “Design must become an innovative, highly creative, cross- disciplinary tool responsive to the true needs of men. It must be more research-oriented, andwe must stop defiling the earth itself with poorly-designed objects and structures. […]It is at the border between different techniques or disciplines that most new discoveries are made, most action is inaugurated. It is when two differing areas of knowledge
are forcefully brought in contact with one another that, as we have seen in a previous
chapter on bionics, a new science may come into being”.
For Papanek the interdependence of various disciplines could be explained quoting astory by Buckminster Fuller: “In the last decade, two important papers were presented
to learned societies, one on anthropology and the other on biology. And both theseresearchers were working completely independently. But it happened by chance that
I saw both papers. The biological one was looking into all the biological species thathave become extinct. The anthropological one was looking into all the human tribesthat had become extinct. Both researchers were trying to find a commonality of causes
for extinction. Both of them found the same cause independently - extinction is aconsequence of over-specialization. As you get more and more over-specialized, youinbreed specialization. It’s organic. As you do, you outbreed general adaptability. So
here we have the warning that specialization is a way to extinction, and our wholesociety is thus organized.” (1985)
Papanek in conclusion proposes three main tenets: “(1) Design of products and environments, on or off earth, must be accomplished through interdisciplinary teams; (2)biology, bionics, and related fields offer the greatest area for creative new insight by
the designer; (3) design of a single product unrelated to its sociological, psychological,
cityscape surroundings, is no longer possible or desirable. Therefore, the designermust find analogues, using not only bionics but biological systems design approaches
culled from the fields of ecology and ethology.”
And it will be exactly this last statement our core argument of the following paragraphs.

2.2 Biomimicry
Since the beginning of the XXI Century progresses in biological research have madegreat leaps forward. Molecular biology and genetics, “have permitted to unveil logics,
principles, languages and codes on which nature is based, from the macro-scale down
to the molecular level and beyond. […] In this regard, inspiration from nature has amuch broader significance, oriented towards the transfer of biological principles andlogics”. (Langella 2010, p.295)
Here we can introduce the term biomimicry, from the Greek bios, “life”, and mimesis,“imitation”. Biomimicry’s main theorist is the American naturalist Janine M. Benyus
who proposes for the first time this new approach in 1997 with her book titled Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature.
“The biomimics are discovering what works in the natural world, and more important,what lasts. After 3.8 billion years of research and development, failures are fossils, andwhat surrounds us is the secret to survival. The more our world looks and functions
like this natural world, the more likely we are to be accepted on this home that is ours,
but not ours alone.”2

Benyus explains that she started to understand the “real lessons” from nature studying wildlife habitats and behaviors: “Where ecology meets agriculture, medicine,materials science, energy, computing, and commerce, they are learning that there ismore to discover than to invent.
[…] Our fragmentary knowledge of biology is doubling every five years, growing likea pointillist painting to a recognizable whole. Equally unprecedented is the intensityof our gaze: new scopes and satellites allow us to witness nature’s patterns from theintercellular to the interstellar. We can probe a buttercup with the eyes of a mite, ride
the electron shuttle of photosynthesis, feel the shiver of a neuron in thought, or watch
in color as a star is born. We can see, more clearly than ever before, how nature works
her miracles. […] We realize that all our inventions have already appeared in nature ina more elegant form and at a lot less cost to the planet. Our most clever architectural
struts and beams are already featured in lily pads and bamboo stems. Our central
heating and air-conditioning are bested by the termite tower’s steady 86 degrees F.
Our most stealthy radar is hard of hearing compared to the bat’s multifrequency transmission. And our new smart materials can’t hold a candle to the dolphin’s skin or thebutterfly’s proboscis. Even the wheel, which we always took to be a uniquely humancreation, has been found in the tiny rotary motor that propels the flagellum of theworld’s most ancient bacteria.”3
The chapters of the book define all the fields of action of the Biomimicry Institutefounded in 2006 by Janine Benyus and Bryony Schwan:“Nature runs on sunlight.
Nature uses only the energy it needs.
Nature fits form to function.
Nature recycles everything.
Nature rewards cooperation.
Nature banks on diversity.
Nature demands local expertise.
Nature curbs excesses from within.”4
One of the most interesting and useful contribution of the Biomimicry Institute is theplatform called “AskNature” created and launched in 2008 as “an audacious project”
seeking to catalog and present all the biological knowledge collected in the form of anopen source database for designers, architects, entrepreneurs and all “that non-biologist innovators across disciplines”.5 Their database is structured in two main sections:Biological Strategies and Inspired Ideas (design solutions to human challenges, inspiredby biological strategies).
Biomimicry approach has led significant applications developed by laboratories,
companies, designers from all around the world.
This approach involves both the natural and the artificial world generating new
projects that could include a wide range of typologies: products, materials, energy
production, systems, architectures and even organizational and systemic strategies
for sustainable solutions (Bistagnino, 2009).
Bio-inspired design is a form of adaptation to the complexity of contemporary age
triggering a contamination process between natural sciences, bioengineering, design
and many other different disciplines. (Salvia, Rognoli, Levi 2009) This process has been

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The name biomimetics was coined by the American biophysicist Otto Schmitt in the
1950s. A clear view of the potentialities of biomimetic approaches is reported by JeanPierre Ternaux, French neurobiologist, honorary director of CNRS, in his contribute to
the book The industry of nature: another approach to ecology: “The use of biomimetics
methodologies is above all concerned with scientific research, the aim of which is
to facilitate the study of natural systems by laboratory reproduction of phenomena
hidden in the complexity of real organisms. […] Apart from its interest in advancing
knowledge relating to living organisms, the biomimetics approach offers the possibilityof developing innovative therapeutic applications. In this context, current researchconcerns the development of nano probes and intelligent nano vectors and control
systems to allow drugs ti be transported within an organism to target specific cells.
Application of biomimetics methodology also concern improvement of diagnostic
techniques by the development of high-quality molecular imaging, the productionof biomaterials for restorative surgery, the development of new virtual-reality andaugmented-reality technologies in the service of both the health and pathology ofmankind. Just like mimicry which concerns not only the individuals of a species but
also their relatives and their social organizations, biomimetics today takes inspirationfrom knowledge acquired in the domain of ecosystem organization, or more generally
from the functioning of living organisms, to better integrate organizational principles
and human technologies in the societal domain.” (2012, p.17)
Lastly Ternaux introduces synthetic biology discipline which relies on the same principles of biomimetics: “This relatively new scientific field combines research in the fieldsof biology with engineering principles, aimed to design and construct (synthesize) new
biological forms and systems with controllable functions. In this field, the use of theprinciples of biological engineering, such as in vitro models, standardization, normalization, automation and computer-aided design, all contribute to simpler, faster, lessexpensive processes to modify living organisms”.

Materials
BioFriend Anti-Microbial (2011) is a molecular filtration technology able to trap and kill
microbes. Developed by Filligent (HK) Limited company this material takes form bya biomimicry solution: the sites on human cells which are able to destroys microbes
surfaces (viruses) and cell walls (bacteria).
The insecta animal class is above all one of the most successful biomimicry subject. The
NanoSphere® (2011) self-cleaning, and dirt-water-repellent fabric finish by Schoeller
Technologies AG company, originated by observing butterflies’ wings nano-scalesurface structures able to repel water and dirt. Spiber6 is a Japanese research company
focused on proteins based material that should substitute plastics, metals and othersynthetic materials in the future. In 2015 Spiber collaborated with The North Face
company for the application of a spider fibroin-based protein material that is considerate on of the toughest material on earth, to create a new prototype of outwear clothes
called “Moon Parka”. Other insects-inspired projects are “fog-catching” materials.
Oxford biologist Andrew Parker and Chris Lawrence of QinetiQ studied tenebrionid (Stenocara) beetles in the barren Namibian Desert. The shell of these insects has
2.
http://www.nytimes.com/books/first/b/benyus-biomimicry.html
3.
Ibid.
4.
http://biomimicry.org/
5.
https://asknature.org/
6.
https://www.spiber.jp/ena corrugated surface texture, these hydrophilic bumps surrounded by hydrophobic
troughs allowed the beetles to collect water from fog in order to survive in arid environments. “The materials inspired by these beetles have many potential uses, including
tent coverings and roof tiles for collecting water from fog in regions lacking access tofresh water”.7
From the sea world, the Marine Biological Laboratory Woods Hole (Massachusetts) in2012 started to study Optical metamaterials8 from squids’ skin which is able to perceive
light and change color. Over squid’s skin occurs a sort of signal processing, then thechromatophores and iridophores produce a colored pattern in response. “Mimicking this complex system could have interesting applications i.e. for camouflage anddisplays”.9
Ecosystems
A smart biomimicry approach observes not only chemical and physical proprietiesof living creatures but also how their ecosystems work. Biolytix water filter (2013) by
Biolytix Water Australia Pty Ltd, is a water filtering system cleans without chemicals
converting raw sewage, wastewater, and food waste into high quality irrigation wateron site taking inspiration from forest wastes decomposing processes. “The systemremoves solid wastes from wastewater and then selected worms, beetles, and microscopic organisms convert the waste into structured humus, which acts as a filter toturn the waste into garden irrigation.”10

7.
https://asknature.org/idea/fog-catching-materials/#.WOKQ-BKLSi4
8.
“Metamaterials” are a new area of research, enabled by advances in sophisticated sensing and materials production. Unlike other materials,
these are inhomogeneous composites design to exhibit unique behaviors.
9.
https://asknature.org/idea/optical-metamaterials/#.WOKOGxKLSi4
10.
http://www.biolytix.com/

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defined also Hybrid Design by Carla Langella from the Second University of Naples andfrom the Sapienza University of Rome. (Langella 2007)“The definition ‘hybrid design’ derives from the field of tissue engineering: hybrid
biomedical tissues are obtained in laboratory using techniques reproducing biologicalprocesses of cell growth. When implanted in damaged areas, hybrid tissues, albeit
designed, processed and characterized following an engineering approach, are perfectly compatible with the biological organism, responding, therefore, to specific medical
needs. In the same conceptual way, hybrid design prefigures artefacts with characteristics which are intermediate between nature and technology, and whose genesis andevolution can in itself be defined as hybrid. Hybrid design, therefore, widely refers totechnological transfer from fields with high scientific and technological content. Thistransfer constitutes not only a procedural and methodological approach, but also aninexhaustible source of available instruments and technologies, through which bio-inspired concepts are translated into hybrid products.” (Langella & Santulli 2010, p.295)
The short following selectin of projects have been all generated by biological systems.
They seek to a bio-inspired design which could be spread through several disciplinesand different kind of applications.

Architecture
Of course architecture is one of the most involved discipline into the process of biomimicry. Homeostatic facade by Decker Yeadon (2014) is a self-shading system for buildings.
Decker Yeadon designed a homeostasis biological based system made of a doubleskin glass façade which reacts to the internal temperature of a building balancing it
between through ribbons of an elastomer wrapped over a flexible polymer core.11
Plyskin by Lindey Cafsia from the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague (Netherlands) is an
insulation material inspired by polar bear skin. “The polar bear can survive extremely
low temperatures thanks to its efficient fur and skin which consists of three layers: theouter layer, the fur, consists of guard hair and shorter dense underfur, this fur is slightly
translucent, so the heat of the sun can penetrate to the second layer, namely the skin.
This skin is black, which absorbs the heat of the sun. The third layer is blubber andfunctions as insulation”.12 So she designed Plyskin insulation membrane which consistsof three layers: the outer hairy layer is made from recyclable polyamide; the second
layer has a honeycomb structure, which makes the panel tense, absorbing part of theheat radiation; the third is a black, empty layer filled with heat absorbing material,
functioning as heat buffer. These two layers are made from PET and biobased PLA.
EnergyClean energy is maybe at the base of a bio-inspired philosophy. Among many experimentation Polymer-cellulosic batteries (2009) by the Angstrom Laboratory (aninterdisciplinary laboratory at Uppsala University, Sweden) uses algae cellulosic cellstructure. Cellulosic batteries incorporate conductive polymers to form essentiallya paper battery, but many problems with a limited surface area for charge storage
pushed Angstrom Lab to look at Cladophora algae. It is a common type of green algae
from the Baltic area and around the world. Algal cellulose actually has a fundamentallydifferent nanostructure from terrestrial plant cellulose forming an excellent templatefor surface modification to include a conducting polymer.13
3. BIO-DESIGN
The exploration of these new stimulating and fascinating sciences chased the crosspollinations among different disciplines brought to the definition of Bio-design.
“Bio-designers are turning their attention to familiar organisms like plants and animals.
In some cases, they examine the less accessible world of bacteria and cells, while inothers they purpose the creation of new living systems by directly manipulating DNA.
This endeavor requires collaboration and interaction among different disciplines andis carried out chiefly in groups, raising implication that collide with our deepest belief.
[…] Their work encouraged and celebrated in a few centers of “irradiation” of these new141

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Fig.1 Spiber company collaborated with The North Face for the applicationof a spider fibroin-based protein material to develop a new prototype ofoutwear clothing called “Moon Parka”.

11.
https://materia.nl/article/homeostatic-facade-system/
12.
https://materia.nl/article/plyskin-insulation-polar-bear-skin/13.
https://asknature.org/idea/polymer-cellulosic-batteries/#.WOKORhKLSi4

Fig.3 Plyskin insulation membrane
by Lindey Cafsia from the Royal
Academy of Art in The Hague (Netherlands), 2016.

ideas, such as the Design Interaction program at the Royal College of Art in London, the
Science Gallery at Trinity College in Dublin, and the Paris-based Le Laboratorie gallery
and research center founded in 2007 by David Edwards, a professor of Biomedical
Engineering at Harvard, which helped designer Mathieu Lehanneur propel himself inthis realm. Many of them were featured in MoMA’s 2008 exhibition Design and the Elastic
Mind and are now part of the museum’s collection.” (Antonelli 2011, p.110)
Paola Antonelli recalls a series of works that stay at the border between art, design
probes and biology. As in the case of Mathieu Lehanneur who developed between 2006
and 2007 a series of projects observing natural cycles reformulating new functions. He
used plants and fishes to conceive new domestic appliances: the O Oxygen Generator,
was a domestic breathing machine using oxygen-producing Spirulina platensis algae;
the Bel-Air organic-filtering system, also based on plants - Gerbera, Philodendron,
Spathiphyllum and Chlorophytum are among the most effective - absorbing the toxins
emitted by manufactured goods in our domestic environment; and Local River, a homestorage unit for live freshwater fish aquaponically combined with a mini vegetable.
Among many others, Antonelli mentions also the work of Tobie Kerridge, Nikki Stottand Ian Thompson’s with Biojewellery (2007). They created rings out of the bone cellsof a couple, which are extracted, harvested onto a bioactive ceramic scaffold and then
combined with precious metals to finish the rings. (Antonelli 2011, p.113)
Neri Oxman is also another leading proponent of this hybrid scenario presenting her
renewed opera at the intersection between computational design, digital fabrication,materials science and synthetic biology.
3.1 Bioutilization: Form follows Nature
While biomimicry focuses on the translation of biological principles into human-madetechnology, bioutilization directly leverages organisms or biological materials. Bioutilization is particularly useful in cases where replicating complex biological machineryor processes in our own technologies is unsuccessful, too time-intensive, or too difficult
to be cost-effective. This last examples have been all generated using living organism
as their material of construction.
Ecovative Design utilizes fungal mycelium (see also the exemplary work of Maurizio
Montalti and his Officina Corpuscoli, p.71) to produce environmentally-friendly materials. Using mycelia and agricultural waste like corn stalks, the company has developed
a compostable material as an alternative to plastic foam and other environmentally-destructive synthetics. Mycelia are grown on the agricultural waste, forming a matrix
that binds the fibers together and results in a solid mass. The mass is heat treated tostop the growing process and then is ready for use. Ecovative’s materials are used inpackaging, building materials, and even surfboards, all with comparable performanceand cost-competitiveness to other materials on the market.
Protein by Tessa Silva turns milk into bioplastic. “The project explores methods ofprocessing the protein that can be extracted from milk, called casein, as a natural
alternative to oil-based polymers. Casein can be turned into a bioplastic and it can betreated as a commercial thermoplastic allowing for compression molding, injection
molding, or it can also be hand sculpted for a more crafted and organic results.”14That’s It (2016) is a biodegradable packaging from algae-based material developed

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14 3

Fig.2 Homeostatic facade by Decker
Yeadon, 2014.

Several multidisciplinary studios are also working on more artistic and future probing
projects.
A strong example is the Regenerative reliquary (2016) by media artist Amy Karle. She
grows bone along a biofriendly 3D printed lattice using medical CAD and human stem
cells, using 3D scan data of bones from the California Academy of Science’s collection
and then rendering the data and applied generative algorithms to create sculptures.
The Austrian Living Studio developed the Fungi Mutarium project in collaboration with
Utrecht University in order to study a fungi food product able to grown on plastic waste:“growing food on toxic waste”.16

by Austeja Platukyte. During her final thesis at the Vilnius Academy of Arts (LT), shefollowed the Zero Waste philosophy searching for biodegradable packaging material.
She chose algae based material, the agar, dissolved in water with calcium carbonate,
and a vegetable based emulsifying mix that is used to impregnate the material: theresult is a bowl-like packaging material. In 2017 the Living Colour bio-design research
project born from the collaboration between Laura Luchtman and Ilfa Siebenhaarthat explores the possibilities of natural dying with living microorganisms: bacteria.
Together with the TextileLab in Amsterdam, they investigated on the idea of “Dancing
bacteria”: “the optimum growth conditions for bacterial pigments, ways to speed up
the growth process and the possibilities of growing bacteria in patterns by subjecting
them to sound frequencies. Asking ‘What effect do sound frequencies have on thegrowth of bacterial pigments?’ and ‘Can we control the process of growing bacterial pigments?’ This way we hoped to exclude random growth in order to upscale thebacterial dye process. Growing bacteria as a dye factory can lead to a more sustainable
way to color the world.”15
14.
https://materia.nl/article/protein-turning-milk-bioplastic/15.
https://issuu.com/kukkadesign/docs/living_colour-ibook

16.
http://www.livinstudio.com/fungi-mutarium/

PA R T I I .

14 5

Fig.4 Mathieu Lehanneur, Local River home system, 2008.

4. CLOSING THE ISSUE: IS DESIGN A KIND OF MAGIC WAND FOR EVERYTHING?
Concluding this long overview over the world of Bio-suffixed new disciples and theirinteractions with design professions, I would recall a statement by Paola Antonelli thatmatches well also my point of view: “Experiments with design are often considereddirectional or speculative, and designers can indicate new behaviors and unexpected
applications, a focus on human life that might at times elude scientists. Although I
have shied away from the bombastic declaration that designers can change the world,
thanks to these collaborations they just might.” (Antonelli 2011, p.113)
Is not possible to pretend from designers to become maximum experts of synthetic
biology, robotics, chemistry or materials engineers. And here comes again absolutely
pertinent the words of Victor Papanek: “While the designer in any team situation may
know far less psychology than the psychologist, far less economics than the economist, and very little about, say, electrical engineering, he will invariably bring a greater
understanding of psychology to the design process than that possessed by the electrical engineer. By default, he will be the bridge.”
Indeed, designers MIGHT be sensible collectors, attentive observers of both the natural,
the artificial and the social world, seeking for open-collaboration, looking to biodiversity in order to avoid sterile self-referencing and waste expanding projects.

Fig.7 Amy Karle, Regenerative reliquary, 2016.
Fig.5 Ecovative Design, Mushroom® Packaging, 2015.

References
Amit, G. (2010). Beyond Design Thinking: Why Hybrid Design Is the Next New Thing.
Retrieved on 31/03/2017 https://www.fastcompany.com/1656288/
beyond-design-thinking-why-hybrid-design-next-new-thing.
Antonelli, P. (2011, November). States of Design: Bio-design. Domus 952,
pp.110-113.
Bari, J. (1995). Revolutionary Ecology: Biocentrism & Deep Ecology. Alarm:
A Journal of Revolutionary Ecology.
Benyus, J. (1997). Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature. Harper Perennial.
Bistagnino, L. (2009). Design sistemico. Progettare la sostenibilità produttiva
e ambientale. Slow Food.
Bosoni, G. & Picchi, F. (1999, September). La Nature, leçon permanent.
Domus 818, p.55.
Langella, C. (2007). Hybrid design. Progettare tra tecnologia e natura.
Franco Angeli.

PA R T I I .

147

Fig.6 Austeja Platukyte, That’s It, biodegradable packaging from algae-basedmaterial, 2016.

Leopold A. (1987). A Sand County Almanac, and Sketches Here and There.
New York: Oxford University Press.

ETHICS AND DESIGNIN THE 21ST CENTURY

Otto, F. (1999, September). On nature, the model. Domus 818, p.48.

GIAMPIERO BOSONI

Papanek, V. (1985). Design for the Real World: Human Ecology and Social
Change. Chicago Review.

MADEC, Design Department , Politecnico di Milano

Salvia, G., Rognoli, V., Levi, M. (2009). Il progetto della Natura. Franco
Angeli.

Reflecting on some of the contributions to the cycleof conferences headed “Ideas and matter”

Santulli C. & Langella C. (2010). Hybridisation between technology andbiology in design for sustainability. Sustainable Design, 1, 3.
Schweitzer A. (1987). Philosophy of Civilization (trans. C.T. Campion). Buffalo, N.Y.: Prometheus.
Singer P. (1990). Animal Liberation. New York: New York Review of Books.
Taylor P. (1986). Respect for Nature: A Theory of Environmental Ethics.
Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.
Ternaux J.P. (2012). “Mimicry: a life-saving reflex in species”. In The industryof nature: another approach to ecology, Frame, pp.15-18.

During the cycle of conferences dedicated to the topic “Ideas and matter – What will
we be made of, and what is the world going to be made of?”1, the ethical question on
conducting researches, designing and, especially, applying or producing the results ofresearch and design, has risen time and again, in more or less open terms. The question has been raised in different meta-design contexts and through different thematic approaches, both as regards phases of theoretical research and as regards applied
conditions and processes.
Although we all live in an age which, on various occasions and in several ways, summons all of us to social and cultural, if not actually political, commitment, towards
certain issues of an essentially ethical nature, such as, for instance, ecological, health,privacy and cohabitation problems generally, the ethical question is not so frequently
tackled in the field of design culture, at least not here in Italy. It was accordingly interesting and stimulating to establish a dialogue, within the School of Design of Politecnico di Milano, through a series of contributions, expression of quite a broad range ofviewpoints, which offered us and up-to-date critical interpretation of the ethical issue
in the field of design.
Let us start from the first contribution, put forward by the geneticist Giuseppe Testa,
director of the Stem Cells Epigenetics at the European Institute of Oncology (and also,inter alia, co-founder of the PhD in fundamentals and ethics of Life Sciences), that introduced us to the extremely delicate topic of decoding the human genome, with all
the ethical implications that concern the patentability of parts of our DNA, down to
the well-known question marks raised around the debate relating to the notorious“embryonic stem cells”. To give an idea of the extent of the problem, Professor Testa
reminded us that “as stated in a book by the person who generated Dolly, Ian Wilmut,‘we have entered the era of biological control’, and control – as Testa underlines – is ofcourse an essential element of design: when one does certain things and designs them,
he would then also like to control them somehow.”2 About this fundamental ethicalaspect of control by the designer over the results of his own research, Testa warns us

PA R T I I .

14 9Lei, Y., Yi, M. (2009). 13. Biocentric Ethical Theories. Environment and Development – Vol. II. China. p. 422.

205

AUTHORS’
BIOGRAPHIESMarc Augé is one of the most influential anthropologist of the contemporary age. He isa French Ethnologist and anthropologist, he is renewed for his studies on contemporary worlds and his attention to the global and cosmopolite dimension that associatecolonial communities and the Western world. He has been director of the École deshautes études of Paris. He elaborated the theory of “non-places” to refer to places oftransience and de-culturalized that do not hold enough significance to be regarded as“places”. Theory expressed in his most relevant publications: Un ethnologue dans lemétro (1985) and Non-lieux: introduction a une anthropologie de la surmodernité (1992).
He has recently published L’anthropologue et le monde global (2013), about the paradoxical effects of globalization.

Roberto Cingolani, physician, expert of the robotics and biomimetic. From 2005 he is
Scientific Director of the IIT (Italian Institute of Technology) of Genova. He has been
staff member at Max Planck Institut for Festkoerperforschung in Stuttgart (Germany),
visiting Professor at the Institute of Industrial Sciences, Tokyo University (Japan), visiting
Professor at Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond (USA), professor of General
Physics at the Engineering Faculty, Lecce University (Italy) and Founder and Director of
the National Nanotechnology Laboratory (NNL) of INFM in Lecce (Italy). He is author of
about 750 papers in international journals and he holds about 48 patent families in thefields of nanotechnology, robotics and biotechnology.

Giampiero Bosoni, Full professor of Interior Architecture and Exhibition Design at the
School of Design of Politecnico di Milano. Architect and expert of Design History andTheory, he collaborated with Figini and Pollini architects, Vittorio Gregotti and Enzo Mari.
He has realized several articles and collaborated with specialized journals and magazines: Domus, Lotus, Abitare, Casabella, Interni, Ottagono, Crossing, Progex (director),
Print, Rassegna (editor), Brutus Casa, Pluriverso and others. He curated the exhibitions:“Museo del Design”, giving birth to the first core of the historic collection of Italian Designof the Triennale di Milano; “Made in Cassina” (Triennale di Milano, Tokyo, Paris and NewYork); “Il modo italiano. Italian design and Avant-garde in the 20th Century” (MBAM
Montreal, ROM Toronto, MART, Rovereto). He is author of several books for Skira andMoMa among others.

Fortunato D’Amico, graduated in Architecture, deals with transdisciplinary connections:art and architecture, philosophy and science, etc. He has been working on catalogs ofvarious international publishers and has been producing some television broadcasts for
the SKY network, such as Archibalena. He is among the organizers of the Dedalo Minosse
International Award. He is the curator of the exhibitions such as: Vergilius d’Oro Prizeand exhibition in Mantova, 2010; Architecture Laboratory in Milan, 2010; Nino Mustica:
Pittura solida in Pietrasanta, 2010; Think Green, Milan, 2010; Chiara Dynys: Labirinti dimemoria - Più luce su tutto - in Rome, 2010; Culture_Nature 2010, at Venice Architecture
Biennale; Urban Solutions 2009 in Milan; Arte in Luce 2009 in Turin. He has been teachingwith a temporary appointmente at the Politecnico di Torino, the Politecnico di Milano
and the Accademia di Brera.

Clino Trini Castelli, designer and design theorist. Frome the 70s he is pioneer of theemotional development of products identity and of the esthetic sustainability of theindustrial sector. With Castelli Design studio he is involved into international activity
concerning product design, strategic design and CMF planning and design. He is authorof several publications and books about these topics and he perceives teaching activities
by the main international schools of design. His work has been award with European,
American and Japanese rewards, including ADI Compasso d’oro, the IBD Gold Award
and IF Product Design Gold Award.

Massimo Facchinetti, is an architect and designer involved in environmental design since1997. He has been teaching with a temporary appointment in the School of Architecture
and Design of the University of Milan, Florence, Turin, Brescia and the Politecnico di
Milano. In 2004 with Carlo Bono and Alessandra Boccalari, he founded Facchinetti &Partners working in industrial consulting and eco-building. He is a member of AEREC(Accademia Europea per le Relazioni Economiche e Culturali).

207

Giulio Ceppi, architect, designer and PhD. From 1990 to 1997, he was the coordinator of
the Domus Academy Research Center, and from 2004 to 2007 the first director of the DA
Master in Business Design. Since 1995 he is a researcher at Politecnico di Milano and aprofessor of Industrial Design in the Design School. His activities are focused on sensorial design, new materials and technologies, and design strategy. After the experienceof senior design consultant at Philips Design (1998-2001), in 1999 he funded Total Tool,a design network (Milan, Buenos Aires and Tokyo) consulting and designing new business ideas, exhibitions. He's author of a number of books about innovation practice:Children, space, relationship (1997), Oggetti esistibili (2005), Design epigenetic (2009),
Design Storytelling (2011), Awareness Design (2012).

Marinella Ferrara, architect, PhD, associate professor of Industrial Design at Politecnico
di Milano, and the coordinator of MADEC (www. madec.polimi.it). Her research andteaching interests focuses on the relationship between design and scientific/technological innovation, with a particular focus on emerging materials. In the last years she
has been engaged in the EU project Design for Enterprises, and in the Executive Board
of ADI, coordinating the scientific committee for long-term professional developmentof designers. As an expert in the communication of the design contents, from 2011 shehas been the editor in chief of the scientific journal PAD. Pages on Arts & Design andguest editor of AIS/Design. Storia e Ricerche. She is the author of over 100 publications
among books, essays and articles in international journals.

Stefano Marzano, has been the former Chief Design Officer of Royal Philips Electronics
for 20 years since 1991. He is the Founding Dean of THNK, the Amsterdam School of
Creative Leadership.
Author and editor of several publications about design, till 1998 he has been professor
at the Domus Academy in Milan and visiting professor from 1999 to 2001 of the Politecnico di Milano. He is member of the European Design Leadership Board. He received
the honorary PhD in Design from the Sapienza University in Rome and from the Hong
Kong University Polytechnic. In 2005 Businessweek nominated Marzano one of the four“Best Leaders: Innovators” in the world and in 2001 he has been awarded of the World
Technology Award for Design from the World Technology Network.
Maurizio Montalti, is a designer, researcher, artist, and engineer. In 2010 he founds
Officina Corpuscoli, a multidisciplinary studio based in Amsterdam inspired by living
systems and organisms. The studio’s work has been internationally shown in museums,
exhibitions and festivals. He is the co-founder of Mycoplast, a company focused on industrial scale-up of mycelium based materials. Currently he is co-heading the MAD Masterat Sandberg Instituut, holding a Research position at Design Academy Eindhoven (DAE),
as well as teaching in different national and international academies and universities.
He is also co-founder and forming part of the Amsterdam-based WNDRLUST collective,
alongside Mike Thompson, Sonja Bäumel and Susana Cámara Leret.

Michelangelo Pistoletto, Italian painter and sculptor, relevant exponent of pop art andArte Povera, since the Sixties he has developed original artistic solutions, experimenting
several materials and techniques, in order to actively involve the public inside his opera.
Among the numerous recognitions received: the Leone d’Oro for his lifetime achievements at the 50° Biennale di Venezia (2003); the Wolf Foundation Prize in Arts (2007);the Praemium Imperiale of the Japan Art Association (2013).
Francesco Samorè, PhD in business history and business finance. Its main areas ofresearch are: the structure and protagonists of the contemporary Italian economy
and the analysis of energy utilities. He is the scientific director of Fondazione Giannino
Bassetti, with the mission of promoting responsibility in innovation, following the relationship with affiliated institutions, both in Italy and abroad, on the four main operatingareas: Innovation and Governance Responsibility; Responsibility for Innovation and Life
Sciences; Responsibility for innovation and enterprise; Responsibility for innovation andrisk. He has been collaborating with the Department of History Studies of the Universityof Milan (since 2006) and with the Department of Sociology of the Università Cattolica(since 2008). He is a member of the Italian Society of Economic Historians (SISE). Since
2006 she has been a researcher for the Business Culture Center in Milan.
Giuseppe Testa, heads the Laboratory of Stem Cell Epigenetics at the European Institutefor Oncology (IEO) in Milan, where he is also Deputy Principal Investigator in the Research
Unit on Biomedical Humanities. He is the cofounder of the interdisciplinary PhD program
FOLSATEC (Foundations of the Life Sciences and Their Ethical Consequences) in Milan.
He accomplished his academic education in biology at the Embl of Heidelberg and inbioethics and science sociology at the Manchester University and Harvard. He publishedon the main journals concerning biomolecular, bioethics and sociology diciplines.

209

Chiara Lecce, MSc, PhD in Interior Architecture & Exhibition Design. Since 2008 she isinvolved in History of Design classes and Interior Design Studios at the Design Schoolof the Politecnico di Milano. Since 2009 she collaborates for the Fondazione Franco
Albini and with other well known Italian design archives, other than continuing to work
as a freelance interior designer. From 2013 she is the managing editor of the scientific
Journal PAD (Pages on Arts and Design) and member of the AIS/Design (Italian Association of Design Historians), as well as author for several scientific design Journals. She
is currently research fellow and lecturer at the Design Department of the Politecnico di
Milano. Since 2016 she is a tutor among the European project “Design for Enterprises”.

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