There is a discrepancy between digital design simulations and
the physical structures they produce. While current fabrication
technologies and materials used to create artefacts lack the
flexible and adaptive qualities present within the digital models,
this is not the case in biological structures. The latter continually
adapt their shape and material compositions to suit imposed
environmental demands, maximise available resources and have
the ability to self-heal, a process particularly evident in bone
remodeling [ 1 ]. In order to instill these qualities into
manufactured structures we propose a fabrication system that
incorporates self-assembling / self-organising materials and
design simulations. The resulting objects would have the ability
to tune and adapt their material properties (location, type,
composition, volume, rate, shape) and offer radically new
opportunities for design and manufacturing. Firstly the paper
highlights major benefits of fabricating adaptive structures from
self-assembling/self-organising materials. Then it describes
ongoing research that uses self-assembling materials (crystal
growth) to fabricate adaptable structures by inducing turbulence
electrically.