Matter Design is a research lab that develops creative approaches to the world’s most pressing problems by reimagining how we build. Based at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Michigan, we partner with the building industry to disrupt default practices and chart smarter, more resilient futures for the built environment.

Our work reframes architecture through long-view thinking. We explore the full lifespan of the built world—from material extraction and transportation, through design and construction, to disassembly and salvage. We ask foundational questions of humanity through built installations, award-winning research, and impactful publications. Whether drawing on prehistoric knowledge or speculative futures, our work challenges the short-sighted mandates of the present. Through speculative built works and radical manifestos, we provoke new directions for the built environment.

Matter Design is interdisciplinary at its core. Our team includes researchers trained as architects, roboticists, product designers, graphic designers, and visual artists. We routinely collaborate across disciplines—from material scientists, historians, and archaeologists to composers, choreographers, educators, and social activists—bridging the gap between the sciences and the humanities to shape our shared future.

From moving megaliths that reframe architectural lifespans, to masonry strategies that mine demolition debris, our projects spark new paradigms for construction, reuse, and imagination. We see the built environment not as a finished object, but as a continuous process—one that deserves curiosity, care, and bold intervention.

Contact

info@matterdesignstudio.com

Past Team: Gil Sunshine / Ryan Clement / Nare Filiposyan / Katie Kosky / Emily Wissemann / Tyler Swingle / Emily Whitbeck / Kevin Marblestone / Marianna Gonzalez-Cervantes / Daniel Marshall / Mackenzie Muhonen / James Addison / Maya Shopova / Myung Duk Chung / Luisel Zayas / Austin Smith