Matter Design is a synthesis of art and science. It is simultaneously a design practice and a research lab. The confluence of these disparate worlds produces the uniquely playful and rigorous work of the lab. Matter Design leverages alternative ways of thinking to reconsider the future of our built environment.
Led by partners, Brandon Clifford, Johanna Lobdell, and Wes McGee, the team collaborates with industrial partners, composers, historians, visual artists, and other creative minds. The lab critically evaluates false assumptions to provide new directions for the digital era. It specializes in identifying ancient knowledge that holds resonance with topics of today. The team unearths abandoned knowledge, develops computation and design methods, and translates these methods into contemporary digital craft, advancing both past and present. The work breaks disciplinary notions of scale—from objects to buildings. But, the lab is best known for its experimental built speculations that provide otherworldly experiences to visitors. These experiments provoke speculations of possible futures, while also demonstrate applications for today.
Matter Design publishes its top-tier architectural research and is also recognized as an influential design practice with awards such as the Architectural League Prize for Young Architects + Designers, the Design Biennial Boston award, AZ awards, AIA Small Projects Award, BSA Honor Award, and others. The work is exhibited world-wide and garners media attention. Matter Design is dedicated to imagining better futures by physicalizing digital potentials.
