Neri Oxman Biography & Quotes

“Optically transparent, structurally sound and chemically inert, glass is a fabulous building material and has been for over four thousand years. Still, the production and use of hundreds of billions of glass facad components every year in the US alone begs the question; What if we can utilize this immense surface area for harvesting solar energy in efficient and effective ways.”

Building Architecture Permaculture Economy Systems Thinking Material Ecology Additive Manufacturing

Author:Neri Oxman

“From a limited pallet of molecular components including cellulose, chitosan, and pectin; the very same materials found in trees, crustaceans and apple skins - natural systems embody an extensive array of functional materials that outperform human engineered ones through their resilience, sustainability and adaptability.”

Nature Architecture Permaculture Economy Systems Thinking Permaculture Economics Material Ecology

Author:Neri Oxman

“We must consider the building not as an object but as a collaborative system tightly linked to it's natural environment.”

Business Building Architecture Permaculture Economy Systems Thinking Material Ecology

Author:Neri Oxman

“Through life and programmed decomposition - shelter becomes organism, and organism becomes shelter.”

Architecture Permaculture Economy Permaculture Economics Material Ecology

Author:Neri Oxman

“What are the ways by which we can reorient architecture to consider materials not as consumables, but as outputs of valuable and increasingly scarce ecological niches.”

Construction Permaculture Economy Material Ecology

Book:Neri Oxman: Material Ecology

Source: Neri Oxman: Material Ecology

“If we can scale the structure and function relationships found in trees and crustaceans - we will be able to architect buildings, including full scale towers, as living structures able to adapt and respond to their environment.”

Architecture Permaculture Economy Permaculture Economics Material Ecology

Author:Neri Oxman

“Architects are now on the look for materials and substances that can enhance biodiversity and rewild living systems.”

Architecture Permaculture Economy Permaculture Economics Material Ecology

Author:Neri Oxman

“Melanin represents unity in the diversity of life on earth.”

Nature Architecture Permaculture Economy Melanin Material Ecology

Author:Neri Oxman

“A tree becomes a tower, a tower regrows a tree.”

Architecture Permaculture Economy Material Ecology Biopolymers Neri Oxman

Author:Neri Oxman

“To speak in nature's language, we must prioritize bio-based structural materials; biopolymers.”

Architecture Nature Quotes Permaculture Economy Permaculture Economics Material Ecology Biopolymers

Author:Neri Oxman

“To speak in nature's language, we must prioritize bio-based structural materials; biopolymers. Biopolymers are natural polymers produced by the cells of living organisms. We're already utilizing them in products, pharma, and even in fashion. But to deploy them on the architectural scale, we need to invest in design and construction technologies that emulate their heirarchical properties by engineering real time chemical formation.”

Architecture Construction Permaculture Economy Permaculture Economics Material Ecology Permaculture Business

Author:Neri Oxman

“When we're able to communicate in nature's language; when we're able to transcend the view that nature is a boundless entity; even transcending the building as the kernel of the architectural project; when we invite scientific inquiry and technological innovation, fusing atoms with bits and bits with genes - only then will the art of building enable new forms of interaction between humans and their environment. Only then will we be able to design, construct and evolve as equals.”

Permaculture Economy Permaculture Economics Material Ecology Additive Manufacturing Materials Engineering Neri Oxman

Author:Neri Oxman

“For the first time in architectural history, we're approaching the resolution and complexity of the natural world by creating new technologies that will ultimately enable us to design a beam as if it were a branch or an HVAC and waste removal system as if it were a photosynthetic GI tract engineered to convert carbon into biofuel.”

Architecture Permaculture Economy Permaculture Economics Material Ecology Permaculture Business Additive Manufacturing Architect Quotes Materials Engineering

Author:Neri Oxman

“Optically transparent, structurally sound and chemically inert, glass is a fabulous building material and has been for over four thousand years. Still, the production and use of hundreds of billions of glass facad components every year in the US alone begs the question; What if we can utilize this immense surface area for harvesting solar energy in efficient and effective ways? The 3D Printing of optically transparent glass points toward such a possible future.”

Architecture Permaculture Economy Permaculture Economics Material Ecology Additive Manufacturing Architect Quotes

Author:Neri Oxman

“Imagine that nature is the single most important client in the architectural practice.”

Nature Business Architecture Permaculture Economy Permaculture Economics Material Ecology Architect Quotes

Author:Neri Oxman

“Unlike blowing or forming glass, resulting in smooth and continuous surfaces; the printing of glass enables high levels of control over shape and optical properties.”

Nature Business Building Architecture Permaculture Economy Permaculture Economics Material Ecology

Author:Neri Oxman

“When we're able to communicate in nature's language; when we're able to transcend the view that nature is a boundless entity; even transcending the building as the kernel of the architectural project; when we invite scientific inquiry and technological innovation, fusing atoms with bits and bits with genes - only then will the art of building enable new forms of interaction between humans and their environment.”

Architecture Architect Permaculture Economy Permaculture Permaculture Economics Permaculture Business Permaculture Society Architect Quotes

Author:Neri Oxman

“Let's put heterogeneity over homogeneity. We need to design materials that can restore or rewild biodiversity on the planet. When ecosystems are more diverse, they are better able to perform essential ecosystem services like carbon sequestration.”

Nature Business Architecture Permaculture Economy Permaculture Permaculture Economics Material Ecology

Book:Neri Oxman: Material Ecology

Source: Neri Oxman: Material Ecology

“For centuries architects have been taught to sketch, model and build in three static dimensions - x, y and z. But the natural world offers contexts that are much more dimensionally complex and dynamic.”

Architecture Architect Permaculture Economy Permaculture Economics Material Ecology Permaculture Business Architect Quotes Materials Engineering

Author:Neri Oxman

“To speak in nature's language, we must prioritize bio-based structural materials; biopolymers. Biopolymers are natural polymers produced by the cells of living organisms.”

Architecture Permaculture Economy Permaculture Economics Material Ecology Architect Quotes Biopolymers

Author:Neri Oxman

“Through life and programmed decomposition - shelter becomes organism, and organism becomes shelter as it holds the potential to promote the health of natural resource cycles by such means as promoting soil micro-organisms and providing nutrients for growing buildings.”

Architecture Permaculture Economics Material Ecology Permaculture Business Architect Quotes

Author:Neri Oxman

“We must consider the building not as an object but as a collaborative system tightly linked to it's natural environment; an ecological niche.”

Nature Building Architecture Permaculture Economics Material Ecology Ecological Awareness

Author:Neri Oxman

“A biomarker of evolution, melanin is the color of life.”

Architecture Permaculture Economics Melanin Material Ecology Chemistry Quotes

Author:Neri Oxman

“It's about enabling the generation of materials and structures designed to interact, adapt and respond to the natural environment.”

Nature Climate Change Architecture Permaculture Economics Material Ecology Biopolymers

Author:Neri Oxman

“Let's architect a future of synergy between the natural and the built environment.”

Business Architecture Architect Material Ecology Architect Quotes

Author:Neri Oxman

“A skyscraper is not a tree - not yet.”

Business Architecture Architect Material Ecology Architect Quotes Materials Engineering

Author:Neri Oxman

“Since our divorce from nature with the industrial revolution, the major challenge for architecture remains a challenge of language as we replace units of growth with units of construction.”

Business Architecture Architect Material Ecology Architects Materials Engineering

Author:Neri Oxman

“What I'm trying to do is bring certain of those engineering values into the design process, such that when you think about form you're already incorporating those performance criteria in the process of the generation of forms.”

Thinking Trying Form Certain Values Process Generations Design Performances Engineering Criteria Incorporating Design Process

Author:Neri Oxman

“I believe in the near future we will 3D print our buildings and houses.”

Believe House I Believe Building I Believe In Print Architect

Author:Neri Oxman

Neri Oxman Biography

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