Materially Efficient: Knitting, Coding, and Concrete

In this episode

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What if the future of sustainable construction looked less like traditional building and more like knitting? 

Speaking with Building 32 host Karen Given, MIT CSAIL Assistant Professor Mariana Popescu explains how, using a combination of computational design, digital fabrication, and industrial knitting machines, she is rethinking how we build complex structures. Her research explores using knitted textiles as lightweight, efficient concrete formworks, allowing architects and engineers to create complex geometries while using less material and producing less waste. 

Mariana discusses the origins of her work with fabric formwork, her early experiments with knitted structures, and how a small knitted bridge helped demonstrate the potential of the technique. She also explains why sustainability doesn't have to come at the expense of beauty or human experience.

Episode Resources: 

Learn more about Mariana Popescu: 

 

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What If Buildings Could Be Biodegradable? 🌱✨: 

 

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About the speakers

Karen Given
Host of Building 32

Karen Given is an award-winning podcast showrunner, story editor and coach. A veteran of public radio, Karen is the former executive producer and host of NPR’s Only A Game. She won the national Edward R. Murrow award twice, in 2007 and 2017. Since leaving public radio, Karen has focused on the podcast space, most notably on Believable: The Coco Berthmann Story, one of The Atlantic’s top 25 podcasts of 2023. Karen’s other projects include, The Afghan Impasse, a special season of The Negotiators, from Foreign Policy and Doha Debates; Before We Go, and What Takes Root: Stories of Resistance and Reclamation. Given teaches narrative storytelling workshops and writes Narrative Beat, a free newsletter for journalists and podcast makers who want to tell better stories.