Understanding the effects of root structure on the mechanical behaviour of engineered plant root materials

Plant root growth can be altered by introducing obstacles in the path of growth. This principle is used in design to produce planar grid structures composed of interweaving roots. The Engineered Plant Root Materials (EPRMs) grown with this method have the potential to serve as environmentally sensitive alternatives for conventional materials,...

Living with cacophony: The effect and potential of acoustic environments on the growth of mycelium.

The potential and development of mycelium based materials has been increasing over the last years. This material is proving to be a green alternative for a variety of commodity materials like plastics, wood, leather, etc because of its ability to upcycle waste streams. A lot of existing research performed is focussed on the environmental factors...

Growing Light: Designing with Bioluminescent Algae

Within this graduation project, the qualities and potential of bioluminescent micro-algae will be explored with the use of the Material Driven Design Method, as described by Karana et al.(2015). This project aims to provide designers first insights in the behaviour of the bioluminescent algae by looking at the relation between movement and light...