Design by data in adaptive morphologies

Design practices have looked at natural systems as the source of inspiration for centuries to emulate their formal aspects and their life and evolutionary complexity. Since the advent of the digital revolution and the technological innovation related to computation, this issue has become increasingly part of the design plan. Today, thanks to the code-based generative tools and processes, design research is increasingly exploring the principles of biology and particularly the aspect of adaptability, which means “adaptive,” the ability of an organism to transform its original structure into a different one relating to an environmental condition, and thereby designing a symbiotic relationship between body and surrounding context. As a result, this kinetic and adaptive matrix provides strategies for designing and constructing emerging morphologies and design elements to experience creative possibilities linked to the relationship with the environment. The paper proposes a conceptual framework for the topic’s exploration in the context of computational design, that is a multidisciplinary area of study which can be defined as the application of computational strategies to the design process and whose relevant aspect concerns the creative, logical nature, and not the mere instrumental component of the “calculation”. The paper also aims to encourage rethinking the project’s territories, viewed as growingly hybrid context, where boundaries of the design’s fields (mainly design, architecture, art, engineering, etc.) can virtuously intertwine with digital subjects of computation and therefore acquiring and increasing design value.