William Eliot

Hygromech dives deep into the potential of hygromorphic actuation, and wood warping when exposed to moisture. It harnesses the power of biomechanics to create devices that seamlessly synchronize with the environment. Understanding wood’s behaviour as a smart material allows designers and engineers to create interventions at non-human timescales. From rewilding initiatives to environmental control, our research opens doors to a future where design harmoniously coexists with the natural world.

Using an EXP, or experimental methodology, a series of planned out tests were devised and executed, culminating in new insights that inspired fresh rounds of experimentation. These encompassed understanding the behaviour of wood as a smart material, unearthing novel mechanical forms and functions, and speculative exploration of forward locomotion.

Non-human timescales are essential for moving from the anthropocene to the symbiocene. Our inability to see and act beyond the short term has meant that we have put the longterm at a point of crisis. Having materials and tools that are smart, self-sustaining and passively powered are perfect for non-human timescale applications as they respond for long-term impact consistently. Key criteria were established as: a need for self-sustaining with little energy, variable exposure to humidity and moisture, aesthetic opportunities.

Final outputs encompass a component library that facilitates the adoption of hygromorphic actuation for designers and engineers, a passive soil rehabilitation device, responsive ventilation in architecture, and smart analog agriculture.

The stool was designed in partnership with mealworms that are unique thanks to their ability to digest polystyrene effectively. This is particularly relevant considering the planet’s plastic waste crisis, of which polystyrene accounts for 30% of landfill volume. The stool was created in a month using a bio-collaborative approach where the mealworms play an equal partner in designing the piece of furniture.

The worms are guided by injections of sugar water into the polystyrene, guiding the larvae into eating the polystyrene in pathways. However, the worms are also free to move in any direction they like, leaving much of the “biocraft” to them.

The process was highly experimental and took several small scale experiments to generate a number of designs which were then cast in wax. These wax models were 3D scanned and scaled up digitally to a full size chair. The stool was finally fabricated in cardboard, assembled slice by slice by hand. The end result is a magnified view of the architecture created by the mealworm in the polystyrene, captured in the form of a piece of furniture.

By collaborating with other organisms, designers must let go of the need for control over the entire process. The process frees the designer to think more perceptively about what the goal of the design is and how to build and react to the actions of other entities, in this instance a mealworm.