Terraforms: The Shapes of Natural Intelligence for Ecological Design

Enza Migliore, Matteo Convertino ( fuTuRE EcoSystems lab , Tsinghua SIGS), Amedeo Martines

Members: Yuliang Kang, Jingze Liu

Natural intelligence manifests in many forms, particularly in nature's ability to respond and adapt to new environmental conditions, a process often seen in material patterns. Human intelligence involves inferring and learning from natural or inexplicable configurations to derive processes and concepts.

Can we synthesize and engineer nature’s intelligence by giving form to complex materials?

Can we trigger the self-emergence of n-phasic complexes with a precisely designed function?

These questions and serendipitous trials led to the development of an optimal recipe for scale-free and suboptimal clay mixtures, reflecting the universality and variability of natural intelligence. We replicated this recipe across many diverse objects, showcasing the flexibility of scale-free topology. The most striking element is the insensitivity of the topology to substrate material, shape, and a wide range of the water/binder ratio. The scale-free topology minimizes the stress distribution under uniform pressure, enhancing material stability and hygroscopic functions. Key fine-tuning parameters include the clay proportions and the water/binder ratio influencing the bonding of clay particles.

Our approach underscores that design intention and agency should embed self-emergence, ensuring optimally functional and resilient systems. The future of design reclaims autonomy and contingency as vital elements of the built environment.

This empirical study contributes to advancing the design of future natural and built habitats as living infrastructures. It proposes innovative material systems where human intention and natural emergence, via ecological principles, converge to create mutual benefits.

Terraforms patterns can be applied to various interfaces, transforming inert materials into responsive, living entities.