Design Engineering
Showcase 2020

Habitate

Student
Course
Innovation Design Engineering
Supervisor
N/A
Theme
Breaking Barriers

A biomimicry wearable that leverages human movement to support airborne reproduction of unassuming species.

Ash dieback is a disease that is eradicating 95% of the ash tree population in Europe. Fortunately, the ash won’t be gone forever, but the new population will take decades to grow. In the intervening years, hundreds of species of mosses, lichen and fungi that depend on the ash are losing their habitat and risk extinction.

— Habitate
No species is an island. Together we form an interconnected habitat for the unassuming species.

Traditional conservation methods for these unassuming species can’t cope with this scale of habitat loss. To thrive and reproduce, they need a specialised habitat and access to a diverse population, normally provided by a forest.

— Habitate
Habitate developed a bio-mimicry material that resembles ash tree bark's physical and chemical traits to provide a temporary home for the highly associated endangered species.

We designed HABITATE, a wearable that mimics the ash tree’s bark texture, light level and pH and leverages human movement to support species airborne reproduction. HABITATE provides a temporary home for these unassuming species and allows us to play an active role in maintaining biodiversity, breaking the cycle of conservation and destruction by cultivating a pattern of human-nature coexistence.

— Habitate
WIP exhibition showcasing the experiments during the material development process.
— Habitate
3D-scanning process for texture study of the Ash tree bark.

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