Neri Oxman's Mediated Matter Group at MIT has designed an installation using melanin ? and says the skin pigment will inevitably be used in architecture.
A new commission for the XXII Triennale di Milano, the Totems sculpture features flesh-coloured plumes, formed by injecting liquid melanin into intricate channels within a 3D-printed transparent brick.
It is based on research the group has been doing into melanin as a material for design and architecture.
Neri Oxman's Mediated Matter Group at MIT has built an installation with melanin
"The project is released during a time when biodiversity on planet earth is under momentous threat," said Oxman.
"My team and I have been in search of materials and chemical substances that can sustain and enhance biodiversity across living systems, which have thus far endured the perils of climate changes. Melanin is one such substance." The group injected the pigment into acrylic bricks
The pigment that gives colour to human skin, hair and eyes, melanin is found across the animal and plant kingdoms.
While it's well-known that melanin shields humans from the sun's UV radiation, the substance also has wider protective properties. Biologists have observed that it protects microorganisms from high temperatures, chemical stresses and biochemical threats.
Some fungi have even been seen to use melanin to harvest energy for cell growth. All of this makes melanin of interest to eco-focused researchers in architecture and design....