Transcalar materials as narrative agents: challenging traditional metrics of originality

Authorship in “Transcalar Material” is reconceived as an entanglement of agency among designers, materials, and technological systems. Rather than positioning the designer as the sole creator, this approach foregrounds materials as active participants, shaping outcomes through their intrinsic properties, environmental interactions, and computational extensions. This shift moves beyond symbolic authorship, proposing a material-driven epistemology where knowledge emerges through adaptive, multi-scalar processes. Parametric and AI-driven experiments reveal transcalarity as a continuous negotiation between material agency and systemic frameworks. The study unfolds through three iterative phases: Tangible Mapping, documenting symbiotic relationships between organisms and materials; Keep Information Alive, integrating AI to encode and evolve material intelligence; and Digital Crafting, constructing tectonic augmentations informed by material behavior. Rather than static components, materials operate as mediators across morphological, technological, and architectural dimensions, actively shaping design methodologies. This process reframes materials as co-authors, generating novel morphologies and ecological futures.