The Mediated Matter Group’s installation Totems on display at the XXII Triennale di Milano prognosticates a future when designers will use laboratory synthesized melanin ? the ?universal pigment? found in skin, fur, hair, and eyes ? as an architectural resource to build glass windows that deepen or lighten in response to the sun like our own skin.

Designed for Broken Nature: Design Takes on Human Survival, Totem’s melanin-focused architectural application was initiated by Ravi Naidoo of Interactive Africa, but first proposed in 2018 by Neri Oxman and The Mediated Matter Group at Design Indaba in Cape Town. Oxman and her MIT team have developed numerous ?living materials?, bio-inspired designs responsive to their environment, including melanin-impregnated material activated into varying colors with exposure to UV radiation (sunlight). Liquid melanin is incorporated into channels within clear 3D printed pieces. A range of colors can be showcased in geometries ranging from simple to highly complex. Credit: Neri Oxman and The Mediated Matter Group.
The synthesized pigment merges digital fabrication and design computation with chemistry, resulting in a ?chemical Totem? ? thus the name of the project ? a reaction initiated by tyrosinase, a mushroom-derived enzyme that leads to color formations that change and deepen as the sun reaches its zenith.

Melanins are a group of pigments ranging in color from yellows to browns. The term ?melanin? often refers to eu...