By Percy Chen, Junior Project Manager Art-Science
On May 12, 2020, we hosted our first Art x Science Dialogues webinar titled Design x Materials Science. Two renowned experts Ms. Gabriele Dobenecker, Head Fundraising, Entrepreneurship & Industry Relations at Empa, and Ms. Lyla Wu, Founder at Shanghai Neuni Group, not only illustrated for us the research and design processes behind the scenes, but also engaged in an exciting dialogue on design education and new material applications.
We trust that everyone has acquired informative insights on the topic. Due to the time constraint, we could only present a limited number of questions. If you have further questions for our speakers regarding design and materials science, please email us at artscience@swissnexchina.org. We will try our best to forward them to the speakers.
The webinar recording is available to view and download here.
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Before we dive deep into the event content, we would like to share a quick introduction of Art x Science Dialogues: a new webinar series initiated by swissnex China in 2020, Art x Science Dialogues will take place once per month from May to August via Zoom, covering topics of Design x Materials Science, Sonic art x Neuroscience, Photography x Environmental Ecology, and New interdisciplinary Initiatives.
Given that the local art and science scene is still in its infancy, our end goal is to showcase several long-term growth trajectories by presenting the Swiss models, stimulate ideas through cross-border dialogues, and inspire more collaborations in this exciting field. Along the way, we also have two overarching questions that we attempt to answer, namely what is art-science and its position in different societies? We already know that art-science is not merely about using technological means to make and present art. Join us on the journey to explore what art-science could actually mean.
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Here are some key event takeaways that we would like to share with you.
From Ms. Gabriele Dobenecker’s speech (starts at 4:55 in the recording):
Empa is an interdisciplinary research institute of the ETH Domain. Empa, the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, conducts cutting-edge materials and technology research. Empa’s R&D activities focus on meeting the requirements of industry and the needs of society, and thus link applications-oriented research to the practical implementation of new ideas.
The five main research focus areas currently are Energy, health & Performance, Resources & Pollutants, Sustainable Built Environment, and Nano-Structured Materials.
Functional material properties are closely linked to their structure and specific manufacturing processes.
The smaller the structure a material has, the more important the architecture (interface) is.
Today nano-structured materials have the most success with improved, novel properties. More importantly, they open up possibilities and processes that are based on computational methods, pushing the limits of cutting-edge physics.
DEFAB House is the world’s first residential building that has not only been digitally planned, but also been built predominantly using robots and 3D printers.
The smart slab ceiling optimizes load to maximize stability and minimize material used.
A meta-material is any material engineered to have properties that are not found in naturally occurring materials.
As a synthetic meta-material, phononic crystals use internal rotation to tone down sound wave frequency, making conversation incomprehensible for people on the other side of the wall.
Using specific enzymes, Empa was also able to improve and apply natural materials to novel fields, such as Nanocellulose ears from 3D printing and improved acoustic Mycowood violins.
Physical properties are different at atomic level. Thus, designing Nano-structured materials requires extreme precision.
For some years now, Graphene has been considered the material for the future. It has possible application in Quantum computing, the currently holy grail of computer science.
At this level, the form of the molecules, namely how molecules are arranged, becomes the determining factor for material properties.
From Ms. Lyla Wu’s speech (25:50):
Neuni Design Group was founded in Shanghai in 2015. The core business integrates the use of cutting-edge knowledge in interdisciplinary design, new materials applications, and digital fabrication.
4D printing technology that uses time as the fourth dimension: composite polymer uses water absorbing agent. When the material touches water, it transforms overtime.
Neuni not only brings new materials to China, but also focuses on technology integration – Some examples: Neuni was responsible for the creation of Shanghai landscape wall along the Bund; It collaborated with automobile industry to create wooden interiors using recycled newspaper; it also represented a novel bag company that uses banana fiber as the main ingredient.
Furthermore, Neuni has a number of university collaboration and community projects. It has sponsored international students to work with factories in China; Working with Nestlé, Neuni has recycled coffee grounds into 3D printed products, such as tea pots and tables.
The traditional design process involves coming up with an idea, prototype, and move into mass production. However, due to the gap between the majority of designers and material producers, many ideas are stopped short due to a lack of tools and knowledge of manufacturing and/or a lack of material and technology.
Lyla also advocates for a fundamental shift to the consumer mindset. For example, currently all unsold Burberry products are destroyed, wasting tons of resources in design, manufacturing processes as well as natural resources.
From the discussion (44:00):
Q: How is a new material invented? What is a typical research process?
Gabriele Dobenecker: There are normally two starting points. With the knowledge of the properties a material can have, material designers can enhance or derive existing or new properties. Another way comes with serendipity. Many times, material designers will develop something with certain application in mind and find out there are other unexpected applications.
Q: Are there any requests from designers for a certain type of material?
Lyla Wu: There is a lot. Almost every designer nowadays is trained from computer and very few specialize in material. Their knowledge about material is thus quite general. Neuni gets thousands of requests from designers almost daily.
G: In Switzerland, people are quite well connected due to a smaller population. Research universities and design institutions are collaborating often. Yet, material is such a broad field so more effort is still needed to bridge the gap.
Other topics from the discussion involved sustainability and design education in Switzerland. Furthermore, coming from their decades of experience in the design and new materials industry, Ms. Gabriele Dobenecker and Ms. Lyla Wu exchanged their opinions on the current geopolitical conditions influencing new material co-creation in China and Switzerland.
In the end, we would like to express our great appreciation to Ms. Gabriele Dobenecker and Ms. Lyla Wu for sharing their valuable expert insights. We would also like to thank our community for your great engagement as always! Please stay tuned for our next event
From top left to bottom: Lyla Wu (Neuni Group, speaker), Cissy Yiwen Sun (swissnex China), and Gabriele Dobenecker (Empa, speaker)
Percy Chen, the controller at swissnex China behind the scenes.
