“Materials are the new software”, Neri Oxman, 2010
This research explores 4D printing as a design methodology in which materials become programmable agents. By embedding behavioural data into the matter, it proposes a new paradigm where form evolves through material intelligence.
Summary
4D Printing investigates programmable materials as active participants in architectural design. Through the integration of material engineering, computational design, and digital fabrication, this research envisions construction systems where form emerges from embedded data and environmental interaction. Drawing from Neri Oxman's vision of “materials as the new software,” it positions 4D printing as a tool to simulate morphogenetic processes and material behaviour, opening a path to adaptive, responsive, and intelligent architecture.
The materiality of architecture is undergoing a radical transformation. No longer seen as passive and fixed, materials today are active, programmable elements—capable of shaping space dynamically in response to data, algorithms, and environmental conditions. 4D Printing explores this paradigm shift by integrating material engineering, computational design, and digital fabrication into a unified design methodology.
In the context of what has been described as the "age of entanglement," disciplines are merging, and boundaries are becoming increasingly blurred. Architecture has become an antidisciplinary field, informed by biology, computer science, and material science alike. Within this framework, matter is not shaped into form; instead, form emerges from the behaviour of matter.
This research proposes 4D Printing as a key tool for this transformation. Unlike traditional 3D Printing, 4D Printing utilises materials that can transform over time in response to programmed parameters such as heat, moisture, or light. These materials are embedded with behavioural data—algorithms that simulate morphogenetic processes, allowing for shapes and structures that evolve autonomously within given environmental conditions.
At the core of this approach is a phenomenological taxonomy rooted in the entanglement between material, machine, human, and environment. The goal is not simply to fabricate form but to generate architectural systems that are adaptive, performative, and responsive—systems in which material agency becomes central to the design process.
Through this work, we investigate how programmable matter and 4D fabrication can create a new language for architecture—one where design is not imposed but grown, computed, and activated through material intelligence.
SCIENTIFIC COORDINATOR
Giulia Grassi
TEAM
Xingxin He (Intern)
PROJECTS
4D printing of hydrogels / Tension-active textile structures / 4D printing technology for adaptive shading application
PARTNERS
“4D PRINTING OF HYDROGELS`` // Department of Chemistry, Materials and Chemical Engineering (Cmic, Politecnico di Milano), “4D PRINTING TECHNOLOGY FOR ADAPTIVE SHADING FOR ADAPTIVE SHADING APPLICATION”// Arup
