Architect Neri Oxman is the founder of Materialecology, a Boston-based research studio that focuses on the intersection between architecture, engineering, computation, biology, and ecology. Oxman is concerned with material organization and performance across all scales of design. Material is interpreted merely as any physical entity which corresponds and reacts with its environment.

Commissioned by Boston’s Museum of Science, ‘Stalasso’ is her latest work. It is an investigation on mineralization processes and its application in designing structures that could be tailored to respond to different weights and to specific requirements and preferences. This piece is a prototype mold in which materials will be injected to create a surface with variable thickness, stiffness, and texture.

photo © Emily Roose  / Museum of Science Boston