Neri Oxman's Mediated Matter Group has digitally designed and robotically fabricated a structure using the molecular components found in tree branches, insect exoskeletons and human bones.
Aguahoja I examines how even the materials that we consider waste can inform design.
Standing five meters tall, the structure's skin is composed of cellulose, chitosan, and pectin ? the planet's most abundant materials, according to the studio.

The project, which has been shortlisted in the sustainable design category for this year's Dezeen Awards, demonstrates the application of water-based robotic fabrication at a scale close to those of natural ecologies.
"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," said Mediated Matter Group.
The research group, which is headed by Neri Oxman, has attempted to apply the intrinsic intelligence of natural ecologies to the way that we design and fabricate the built environment.
Part of MIT Media Lab, the group seeks to enhance the relationship between natural and man-made environments by integrating computational design with biofabrication.
The group's research in the area of material ecology is then applied to design from the micro scale to the building scale.

"In contrast to the biological world, the built environment is comprised of artificial, inanimate objects that are designed to perform a finite set of predefined functions," they ...