Neri Oxman is an Israeli-American architect and Associate Professor. She founded and led the Mediated Matter research group at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) from 2010 to 2021. The research group explored the intersection of architecture with computational design, fabrication, material science and biology. She also founded Oxman in 2020, an interdisciplinary research and design lab based in New York City dedicated to advancing her work with nature, design and technology.
Born in Israel to architecture professors, Oxman started her University education in medicine before switching to architecture after two years. She began her architectural studies in Israel at the Technion Israel Institute of Technology, then in the United Kingdom at the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London. Oxman graduated in 2004, whereupon she began her Ph.D. studies in the United States at MIT. Her diverse background across the Middle East, Europe and North America is reflected in the dynamic design projects that she accomplishes, which span a wide-ranging field from architecture to technology and ecology, among others.
Five Notable Projects by Neri Oxman
Silk Pavilion (2013)
The Silk Pavilion (2013) is a formative project by Neri Oxman. Exhibited in the lobby of the MIT Media Lab in 2013, the suspended dome pavilion consisted of a primary structure of polygonal panels, with silk threads that were threaded within each panel by a Computer-Numerically Controlled (CNC) machine. The secondary layer was a living, breathing structure comprising 6,500 silkworms.
These silkworms were deposited onto the panels and navigated the criss-cross network of CNC-laid threads to weave silk in between the gaps of each panel, thereby fabricating a natural biotic facade for the dome pavilion. The silkworms are likened to biological 3D printers, with their silk-spinning capabilities found to be influenced by spatial and environmental conditions. Silkworms migrated to darker and denser areas, thus generating high silk density in those locations.
Glass II (2017)
Glass II (2017) is a key project in the domain of additive manufacturing. The installation was one of the first projects to utilise glass in 3D printing on a larger architectural scale.
Installed as a series of glass columns at the Milan Design Week in 2017, each column comprises 15 smaller glass components. These components are 3D printed and assembled together with the aid of silicone joinery and steel post-tensioning to reinforce vertical stability. In addition, an LED light module of fluctuating light is set inside every glass column, illuminating the structure from within. This gave rise to a dynamic display of light in flux, with rays reflected and refracted through the transparent structure.
The project elicits compelling ideas, from the notion of integrating glass into structure, to the idea of a transparent column that reveals what is typically concealed in and around columns. The latter evokes evocative ideas of a neo-Centre Pompidou, where a building is not just turned inside out with its structure and services, but also transparent all the way through.
Aguahoja (2018)
The Aguahoja pavilions (2018) is another pioneering project by Oxman. A portmanteau of two words, ‘agua’ meaning water and ‘hoja’ meaning leaf, the Aguahoja pavilions utilise water-based robotic fabrication technology and natural material derived from leaves, apple skins and shrimp shells. The skin of the pavilion decomposes when exposed to the elements and rain, allowing the organic material to re-enter the ecosystem that it came from and a continuation of the natural cycle of growth and decay.
A cocoon-like structure that stands over four metres tall, three of these pavilion structures were exhibited in the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) in 2022. One pavilion was placed outdoors on the museum terrace, while another similar pavilion was situated indoors within the gallery space in a weather-controlled environment. The indoor pavilion acts as a control experiment, against which the outdoor pavilion’s rate of decay is measured.
Supporting instruments were installed to capture environmental data such as temperature, wind, humidity and precipitation. The embodied energy and organic matter of the pavilion eventually gives way to the natural processes of decay and biodegradation, thus returning to the earth as biomass, enriching the garden terrace that it is situated within.
Totems (2019)
Totems (2019) is a project that involves the use of melanin, a naturally-occurring substance that provides the pigment in many living things. The research explores the use of melanin as a material for design purposes. A series of built and speculative work has been borne out of this investigation, notably the Totems column sculptures and an architectural proposal for a melanin-infused structure that is responsive to its environment.
The Totems sculptures are a series of columns commissioned and exhibited at the Italian museum Triennale di Milano in 2019. Liquid melanin is injected into a 3D-printed clear acrylic block. Delicate and ornate melanin patterns materialise fluidly within the clear medium. Frozen amidst the acrylic, the project calls to mind installations by the artist Damien Hirst, of various living things no longer living, suspended in formaldehyde.
An architectural proposal for a glass pavilion infused with melanin was also developed in parallel with the Totem sculptures. The proposed pavilion is designed to contain various types of melanin derived from its site and biologically synthesised in a lab. Its facade would provide UV protection in the daytime, while allowing stargazing in the evening. Titled Totems in reference to the symbolic sculptures made by the indigenous people of the Americas, this speculative work raises thought-provoking questions about nature, biology, society and culture.
Man-Nahāta (2021)
The Man-Nahāta models (2021) are an imagination of what the city of Manhattan in New York would look like in the next 400 years. This exploration was conducted as urban studies for director Francis Ford Coppola’s science fiction film Megalopolis (2024).
Man-Nahāta is composed of four upturned hemispheres, with each volume held up by four thin cables suspended from the ceiling, enigmatic forms seemingly floating in space. Every hemisphere is representative of time in a hundred year intervals, spanning from the years 2100 to 2400. Within each hemisphere contains an urban scale model, envisioning what Manhattan would look like through the progression of the ages.
The concept for the models is predicated upon the past and the future, growth and decay, as well as the natural and built environments. Manhattan was known as Mannahatta in precolonial times, or the land of many hills. The agglomeration and transformation of the models through four centuries stem from bringing together the historic rolling hills of Mannahatta with the iconic city grid of Manhattan.
How Does Neri Oxman Incorporate Biomimicry into Design?
Neri Oxman established the concept of Material Ecology, which is built upon a transdisciplinary approach across the material sciences, digital technology and innovative design. Oxman’s remarkable oeuvre is underpinned by scientific investigations, where designs are informed by the principles of nature and biology.
Biomimicry is incorporated into Oxman’s projects in a multitude of inventive ways. With the Silk Pavilion (2013), inspired by a silkworm’s natural ability to create a cocoon out of a singular silk thread, Oxman’s research group created a domed pavilion consisting of a single continuous thread woven across the pavilion’s panels. The pavilion could be likened to a larger cocoon, one that is digitally fabricated and illuminated by nature’s wisdom.
Another project where the imprints of the natural world can be observed and felt is in Aguahoja (2018). Utilising biomaterials that are commonly discarded as waste like fallen leaves from a tree, new life is breathed into such waste by repurposing them as the skin of an Aguahoja pavilion. Exposed to the elements, the organic facade gradually biodegrades, returning to the earth that it came from before. Oxman’s exquisite structures echo the natural cycles of birth and rebirth, of death and decay.
Neri Oxman’s Impact on Architecture and Design
The inventive and incandescent catalogue of work by Neri Oxman traverses across disciplines, challenges prevailing norms and inspires sea change. From the details of a glass column to the skin of a pavilion facade, Oxman’s remarkable ability to work deftly between different scales and domains, as well as to synthesise design concepts with technical details is unique and unparalleled. At the crossroads of nature and technology, Oxman opens up the horizons for what it means to be an architect and widens the possibilities for designers to make an impact that is beyond their fields.
