Biodesign: Nature + Science + Creativity by William Myers is a book published by The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York and Thames & Hudson worldwide. It profiles recent design and art projects that use living materials and span a wide range of applications from architecture and industrial design to portraiture.
The 2018 expanded and revised edition is available for pre-order at MoMA
Overview: Biodesign is the next step beyond biology-inspired approaches to design and fabrication. Unlike biomimicry, Cradle to Cradle or the popular but frustratingly vague "green design," biodesign refers specifically to the incorporation of living organisms as essential components in design, enhancing the function of the finished work. Biodesign leaps ahead of imitation and mimicry to integration and use, dissolving boundaries and synthesizing new hybrid living objects. The book also highlights experiments replacing industrial or mechanical systems with a biological process, an approach becoming more important under the pressure of the climate crisis. The final section of the book ventures beyond functional or speculative design into the realm of fine art, presenting a range of works that incorporate living matter and foretell changes in how we might define life, identity and nature in the near future.
Contributing writers: Paola Antonelli, Barbara Eldredge, and Andrew Gardner
Many of the works in Biodesign were featured in an exhibition in Rotterdam at The New Institute (formerly the NAi) curated by the author and visited by more than 20,000 people in 2013-14.
"biodesign is not about merely taking cues from organic structures and operations. It's about harnessing the machinery of the natural world to perform as nature does: storing and converting energy, producing oxygen, neutralizing poisons and disposing wastes in life-sustaining ways...In the wonderland of biotechnology, bacteria is beautiful, moss is electric and decorative tiles are animated."
"All these works are prominent examples of a nascent aesthetic movement called biodesign, which integrates living things, including bacteria, plants and animals, into installations, products and artworks."
"More and more, living organisms are finding their way into all kinds of materials and
processes--from buildings to clothing manufacturing to art."
“The large and beautiful book by the young William Myers from New York addresses the re-naturalisation of the habitat and the close integration of nature, architecture and design.”
"high-minded eye candy and environmental battle cry...Myers is a deft, often-thoughtful guide. He has an unobtrusive writing style that eschews the 'gee whiz!' response that bleeding-edge design typically inspires."
"Fusing natural organisms with human innovation, these designs -- some of them far-fetched concepts, some prototypes and some completed projects -- re-imagine our relationship with the natural world."
Sample images: click to enlarge
Wyss Institute, Harvard University
By Julia Lohmann
By Howeler + Yoon Architecture and Squared Design
By Alex Driver and Carlos Peralta
By Paula Hayes, MoMA Installation
By Kate Orff and SCAPE
Location of the first major Biodesign exhibition 2013–14
Anne Brodie
Concept by Philips Design
Terreform One
By Jelte van Abbema
By Mathieu Lehanneur
By Amy Congdon
Joris Laarman
By HOK
By Jelte van Abbema
Biodesign: Nature + Science + Creativity by William Myers is a book published by the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York and Thames & Hudson worldwide (2012, 2018, 2022 editions). It profiles design projects that integrate biology in an original way, often to improve ecological performance. Examples span a wide range of applications from architecture and industrial design to the decorative and fine arts.
For students, see free text on collaboration and practical advice here.
"The biggest innovations of the twenty-first century will be the intersection of biology and technology. A new era is beginning."
–Steve Jobs
"If our relationship with nature is broken, this book makes us hope that perhaps we will be able to fix it from within."
–Paola Antonelli, Senior Curator of Architecture and Design, MoMA
Overview: Biodesign is the next step beyond biology-inspired approaches to design and fabrication. Unlike biomimicry or the popular but vague "green design," biodesign refers to the incorporation of living organisms as essential components in design, enhancing the function of the finished work. Biodesign leaps ahead of imitation and mimicry to integration and use, dissolving boundaries and synthesizing new hybrid objects and architecture. The book also highlights experiments replacing industrial or mechanical systems with a biological process, an approach becoming more important under the pressure of the climate crisis. The final section of the book ventures beyond functional or speculative design into the realm of fine art, presenting works that incorporate living matter or respond in a creative way to how our shared concepts of life, identity, and nature are shifting.
Contributing writers: Paola Antonelli, Barbara Eldredge, Andrew Gardner, and Tony Cho
For students, see text on collaboration and practical advice here.
"biodesign is not about merely taking cues from organic structures and operations. It's about harnessing the machinery of the natural world to perform as nature does: storing and converting energy, producing oxygen, neutralizing poisons and disposing wastes in life-sustaining ways...In the wonderland of biotechnology, bacteria is beautiful, moss is electric and decorative tiles are animated."
"All these works are prominent examples of a nascent aesthetic movement called biodesign, which integrates living things, including bacteria, plants and animals, into installations, products and artworks."
"More and more, living organisms are finding their way into all kinds of materials and
processes--from buildings to clothing manufacturing to art."
“The large and beautiful book by the young William Myers from New York addresses the re-naturalisation of the habitat and the close integration of nature, architecture and design.”
"high-minded eye candy and environmental battle cry...Myers is a deft, often-thoughtful guide. He has an unobtrusive writing style that eschews the 'gee whiz!' response that bleeding-edge design typically inspires."
"Fusing natural organisms with human innovation, these designs -- some of them far-fetched concepts, some prototypes and some completed projects -- re-imagine our relationship with the natural world."
Sample images: click to enlarge
By Ferdinand Ludwig and team
By Alex Driver and Carlos Peralta
Wyss Institute, Harvard University
By Julia Lohmann
By Suzanne Lee
By Howeler + Yoon Architecture and Squared Design
By Paula Hayes, MoMA Installation
By Kate Orff and SCAPE
Location of the first major Biodesign exhibition 2013–14
Anne Brodie
Concept by Philips Design
Terreform One