On September 8th, MIT Press will publish Mediated Matter: Design and Invention in the New Biological Age, the first comprehensive monograph devoted to Neri Oxman and more than two decades of her pioneering research. Bringing design, science, engineering and biology into dialogue, the richly illustrated volume imagines a future where nature and computation become active partners in creating materials, structures and environments.
Material ecology and the search for a more symbiotic way of making
The book centres on Material Ecology, the design approach Oxman developed through her work at the MIT Media Lab’s Mediated Matter Group. Its premise is radical yet intuitive: instead of imposing materials and structures on the natural world, design can learn from biological processes and work in closer harmony with them.
Mediated Matter traces this philosophy across two decades of research, from biopolymers, fibres and functional pigments to cellular solids, organic forms, robotics, computational fabrication and symbiotic microbes. More than 1,200 images—including sketches, laboratory notes, essays, diagrams and photographs—reveal both the finished works and the experiments that shaped them.
Among the featured projects is Silk Pavilion, a structure spun with the contribution of 6,500 live silkworms, merging digital fabrication with biological silk production. Glass explores 3D-printed glass, while Synthetic Apiary imagines an artificial environment shaped around the needs of bees. In Aguahoja, water-based bioplastics made from apple skins, shrimp shells and other materials suggest how objects could eventually return to natural cycles instead of becoming permanent waste.
Across these projects, Oxman proposes a model of making in which materials possess their own intelligence and biological systems act as collaborators. Her practice crosses architecture, fashion, engineering, art and science, dissolving the boundaries between disciplines.
The book also charts Oxman’s distinctive trajectory. Trained as an architect and medical doctor, she established a pioneering field connecting computational fabrication with biological systems, later founding OXMAN, a New York-based design and innovation company, after directing the Mediated Matter Group at the MIT Media Lab. Join us for our conversation with Neri to find out more about her comprehensive journey.
Image courtesy of OXMAN
Image courtesy of NERI OXMAN and THE MEDIATED MATTER GROUP
Image courtesy of NERI OXMAN and THE MEDIATED MATTER GROUP
Image courtesy of ERIC DE BROCHE DES COMBES, Luxigon
