The Living Library is a transdisciplinary exploration of materials, making, and circular design, unfolding at the Bio Design Lab since April 2024. Over two years, it functions as a temporary, evolving material archive that rethinks artistic and design practice through regionally sourced, biodegradable materials.
The project fosters experimental, practice-based learning focused on local raw materials, making techniques, and sustainable production. Through seminars, workshops, and field trips, materials are gathered, developed, activated, and eventually returned to the soil. The process and outcomes are documented in a digital archive and will culminate in an open-access publication.
The Living Library was established as a transdisciplinary experiment to explore how principles of circularity can be translated into concrete practices of design, learning, and knowledge exchange. From the outset, it was conceived not merely as a collection of materials but as an evolving ecosystem in which cycles of growth and decay are integral to the process. Yet how can such principles be integrated, and where does one even begin? Setting up a material library in the conventional sense - with extensive categorisation systems and classes of materials - quickly proved to be unproductive. This was not only because the establishment of such a platform is immensely resource- and time-intensive, exceeding the relatively short two-year project period, but also because numerous highly detailed and well-founded material libraries already exist, both online and offline. Why, then, reinvent the wheel once more, out of sheer pressure for innovation?
Instead of creating a ‘conventional’ material library, the project focused on temporary cycles and the situatedness of materials. Yet even here, the sheer scope of the task appeared overwhelming. Which materials should be selected, and according to which criteria? In what condition should they appear: as raw matter, semi-finished products, or final artefacts? To provide orientation within this experimental framework, the project team eventually formulated a manifesto. Rather than prescribing a rigid framework, it defined soft guidelines that shaped the scope, methods, and ongoing outcomes and discourses of the Living Library. The manifesto thus consists of three simple but far-reaching rules:
Rule 1: Everything must become compost
All materials used or created within the Living Library must be fully biodegradable and capable of naturally decomposing into organic matter, contributing to soil enrichment without leaving harmful residues.
Rule 2: Everything must be sustainable and prevent harm to the environment
All materials and processes must prioritise long-term ecological balance. This means minimising environmental impact, using resources efficiently, and ensuring that materials derived from renewable, natural sources with a focus on regeneration.
Rule 3: Everything must be sourced locally
All materials used in the Living Library must be grown, harvested, or produced within a ~50 km radius of the Bio Design Lab at the HfG Karlsruhe. This supports the local ecosystems, reduces transportation emissions, and strengthens community sustainability.