material | technology | sustainability | design – Projects of Prof. Mareike Gast at Burg Giebichenstein University of Art and Design

Material
Technology
Sustainability
Design

a subject area of the Industrial Design department at Burg Giebichenstein University of Art and Design Halle under the direction of Prof. Mareike Gast

Exploring Materials

The variety of ways to shape products and applications using materials and technologies is already immense. And every day, new possibilities arise. The question that this poses is: Where do we want to steer this potential – during a time marked by uncertainty?

Creating Technologies

Shaping Sustainability

Many future issues – particularly sustainability – have become pressing and acute. It is no longer a question of environmentally friendly materials and technologies. A sustainable future requires a fundamental rethink and interdisciplinary dialogue. In order not only to name and reveal the manifold aspects in their complexity, but also to design them, we experiment with materials, with hypotheses, with scenarios – in our own workshops and laboratories, in close exchange with other disciplines and technology partners, and with potential users. We question the familiar. We investigate circulating materials and products as well as circulating processes – using, for example, industrial waste streams as a resource and develop concrete answers for real actors in order to meet the urgent questions with approachable visions that are indispensable for a critical and future-oriented debate and transformation.

Designing Nature

Biotechnology plays a central role in the exploration of tomorrow’s materials and technologies. On the one hand, it promises great potential – especially with regard to resource- and climate-friendly production. At the same time, the fear of alienation from nature is increasing. Our goal is to extract what is desirable from what is (technically) feasible with the means of design, because renewable materials, manufacturing processes using living organisms, and adaptive and resilient products and systems will play a central role in design and in our future way of life.