Sheboygan, Wisconsin is playing host to a provocative exhibition called Uncommon Ground, which “considers the changing relationship between humankind and the natural world.” As we gain better understandings of environmental processes and our impact upon them, industrial practices and consumer habits are shifting towards symbiosis. Designers are becoming both more aware of the impact of their products and, increasingly, designing them to reflect and mimic natural processes. Among the exhibition's most compelling pieces is Capacitor, from conceptual artist John Grade, which is a kinetic structure that responds to environmental changes.

Capacitor's spiral-shape is inspired by microscopic marine biology and appears to be slowly ‘breathing’ in response to weather patterns. Sensors on the gallery’s exterior generate feedback, which causes the sculpture to shift – it literally expands and contracts in response to wind direction and speed, and its interior LEDs dim and intensify according to changes in temperature.

Dynamic, responsive materials are now truly more than just the stuff of sci-fi. Just this month, we’ve seen Incertitudes – dresses made of a textile that responds to the human voice – as well as Algaculture, a helmet which turns CO2 into edible algae. And with materials advances running apace, there’s no telling how far the new symbioses between architecture, products and people will go.