Winner of sustainable design of the year and design project of the year at Dezeen Awards 2019, Aguahoja I is a digitally designed and robotically fabricated structure.

Fabricated from the molecular components found in tree branches, insect exoskeletons and human bones, Aguahoja I demonstrates the application of water-based robotic fabrication at a scale close to those of natural ecologies.

The structure's skin is composed of a flexible bio-composite with functionally graded mechanical, chemical, and optical properties. Derived from organic matter, printed by a robot, and shaped by water, this work points towards a future where the grown and the made unite.

Aguahoja was designed by MIT Media Lab's Mediated Matter Group, a research and design group led by Neri Oxman.

Judges comments: "Finding new sustainable materials is an urgent matter. Aguahoja I shows how nature can help us to design new materials, highlighting the relationship between nature and technology. It is completely innovative and presents hope for the future. The organic material shows huge potential, which could change even how we think about architecture."

Designer: Mediated Matter Group
Project: Aguahoja I
Winner of: Sustainable design
Read more: MIT Media Lab

Project credits:

Team members: Jorge Duro-Royo, Joshua Van Zak, Yen-Ju (Tim) Tai, Andrea Ling, Christoph Bader, Nic Hogan, Barrak Darweesh, Laia Mogas-Soldevilla, Daniel Lizardo, João Costa, Sunanda Sharma, James Weaver, Matthew Bradford, Loewen Cavill, Emily Ryeom, Aury Hay, Yi Gong, Brian Huang, Joseph Faraguna, Neri Oxman.
Acknowledgements: MIT Media Lab, GETTYLAB, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), Autodesk BUILD Space, TBA-21 (Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary), Wyss Institute at Harvard University.