In an era where anthropogenic materials surpass the weight of all life on Earth, and the construction sector stands as a major driver of ecological disruption, rethinking material practices, coupled with advancements in digital technologies, presents a paradigm shifting opportunity to address the extractive, consumptive and contaminating logic and processes of the built environment.  

Digital Matter aims to shift the conversation on resource depletion by focusing on abundance rather than scarcity, advocating for material-driven innovations in architecture and urban design that challenge traditional material practice and advance decarbonization goals. Adopting an abundance mindset is a new paradigm relevant to design and construction practices, expanding the definition of “resources” and exploring where both raw and non-raw materials can be sourced and “mined” to offset carbon emissions. 

The integration of reclaimed materials, and the upcycling of waste streams, combined with design strategies that facilitate disassembly, promote adaptive reuse, or prioritize the repurposing of existing building stock, challenges conventional design and construction norms while placing materials at the core of circular design and circular carbon economy. Embodied carbon measurements and material analytics on this front become crucial for informed decision-making. Concepts such as urban mining and buildings as material banks call for new practices in digitizing the physical world, including the use of advanced computation for monitoring material flows and carbon offsets, performing life cycle assessments, creating digital material libraries for reuse. Embracing this paradigm encourages the exploration of unconventional ideas and interdisciplinary collaboration, opening paths for novel approaches, new policies, and innovative uses of digital technologies. 

With a strong connection to applied research processes and a network of industrial partners, Digital Matter seeks to explore proposals for novel monitoring, design, and manufacturing processes that effectively detect and reconstitute materials while improving the performance of material assemblies to facilitate reuse. The agenda of research studio finally advocates for a vision of metabolic architecture: an architecture that digests its waste or decomposes itself; an architecture where its form adapts to material availability, introducing new aesthetics; an architecture that redefines building lifecycles and ultimately regenerates rather than merely reducing its negative environmental and economic footprint.