Re-materialising design
Material agency and the reconfiguration of creative practice
Olga Ioannou (TU Delft - Architecture and the Built Environment)
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Abstract
This paper examines biobased materials as agents of creative and systemic transformation within design practice. Drawing from a university course on circular building product design, several graduation theses, and two research projects-one focused on food waste valorisation and another on load-bearing mycelium composites-it investigates how engagement with biobased, regenerative materials reconfigures the designer’s role across the value chain, from sourcing to post-use reintegration. By situating material experimentation within ecological and socio-technical transitions, the paper argues that biobased materials enable a re-materialisation of design knowledge, where making becomes a mode of inquiry into interdependencies between nature, technology, and culture. These practices reposition material agency as a co-creative force, expanding the epistemic and ethical dimensions of design towards circularity, resilience, and care. Ultimately, the paper proposes that such engagements cultivate new forms of creative practice grounded in regeneration and relational materiality.
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