When matter leads to form: Material driven design for sustainability

Abstract

This article presents the argument that a conventional, form-focused design process causes a lack of knowledge regarding materials and, as a result, creates a knowledge barrier between the designer and the product – a barrier that acts not only against the implementation of so-called advanced materials and new technologies, but also ends up as a major obstacle to the creation of sustainable industrially produced products. A new type of design process is emerging, in which the material is present from the outset and can be seen as the driver of the process. This material driven design process breaks down the aforementioned knowledge barrier and has shown potential for being a design process that enables design for sustainability. However, simply starting with the material does not ensure a sustainable outcome by default. Thus, the overall aim of the research behind this paper is to define the specifics of material driven design for sustainability with the objective of testing to which degree it is possible to design a process that guarantees results compatible with a circular economy. The research is based on constructive design research with a predominant Lab approach and elements from a field in which a new reality is imagined and built to test whether it works. This was done by running a series of five design trials in which the material driven design process was continuously tested, evaluated and adjusted through reflection-in-action. In total, the process was tested one hundred eighteen times by students with the involvement of expert designers and specialists from four different companies and institutions. This article presents the quandary in the relationship between form and matter in established contemporary design processes and specifies the cross-disciplinary field in which material driven design for sustainability is placed. The methodology and the definition of a ‘design trial’ as a method is described, followed by the progress of the process through the five trials. Finally, the material driven design process for sustainability is outlined step by step, including relevant approaches for the experimentation. This article presents a design process that delivers products which are compatible with a circular economy at the end of their life. The process does not necessarily have to be used as a ‘standalone’ design process but can be combined with others and has reached a point where it is sufficiently developed to be tested in an industrial setting.