about
Automorphia is a group of scientists, architects and designers, sharing the common passion for materials and self-shaping processes. It assembles the Israeli members of the global Automorph network, a diverse group of designers, physicists, and architects who are exploring the concept of self-morphing as a paradigm shift in shaping matter toward a more sustainable future.
“Automoprhia: Emergent Forms” at the Bloomfield Science Museum in Jerusalem is an exhibition showcasing self-shaping materials inspired by nature. It is the fruit of an ongoing research collaboration between physics and architecture, led by at the Racah Institute of Physics at the Hebrew University and
at the Faculty of Architecture at the Technion.
'Automorphia' is a glimpse into a possible future of design and architecture in which form emerges by itself, similar to what happens in nature. After nearly two decades of scientific research that uncovered the physical principles underlying the wonder of self-morphing forms, we can now begin to imagine how these principles could change the way we conceive our world. “Automorphia” presents natural and synthetic materials, both traditional and technological, that take on complex forms through an efficient and elegant self-shaping process.
In the future, material systems, such as ceramics and composite materials, wood, and even concrete, could be adapted by creators, architects and designers, together with scientists and engineers, for self-morphing applications that range in scale from a tiny object to the envelope of a building. The computational methods being developed today will be the tools of tomorrow, used to predict and orchestrate the resulting shape.
The shared scientific-design vision in which we learn from nature how material can drive creation goes beyond aesthetic boundaries; it points towards a future where complex forms emerge autonomously and efficiently, and shape-shifting buildings change their form according to environmental conditions and need. “Automorphia” is a call to change our perspective, and is part of the human effort to deal with global challenges such as sustainable construction, efficient production and smart use of material resources.
Exhibition creators:
Prof. Eran Sharon
Dr. Arielle Blonder
The exhibition is the fruit of an ongoing research collaboration between physics and architecture, at the Racah Institute of Physics at the Hebrew University and the Faculty of Architecture at the Technion.
Participants in the exhibition:
Avigail Rich, Arielle Blonder, Ariel Yaakobi, Gal Kapfon, Gil Cohen, Hagar Ofek, Yuval Harel, Yael Klein, Lahav Bagrish, Omri Cohen, Omri Shaltiel, Ofri Dar, Eran Sharon, Ran Peled, Rom Laor, Shira Shouval, Shimri Yanai, Tamar Friedman, Yafei Zhang
Production Manager:
Nofar Krieze
Exhibition and exhibit design:
Arielle Blonder, Eran Sharon, Nofar Krieze
Planning and Manufacturing of Exhibits:
Workshop team of The Bloomfield Science Museum Jerusalem, managed by Uri Sinai.
Exhibit planning:
Eyal Vogel
Programming and control systems for exhibits:
Omri Shaltiel
Graphic Design:
Nevo Aran Lelazar
Video editing:
Omer Dolev
Sound design Design :
Alon Peretz
Translation and Linguistic editing:
Shlomit Ouziel, Sherrie Feigelson, Nawaf Atamnah
The exhibition is supported by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Foundation, and the Jerusalem Foundation.
Prof. Eran Sharon
Eran Sharon is a professor of physics, working in the field of nonlinear physics. His group studies mechanical instabilities in solids and liquids. Fifteen years ago, the group has introduced the concept of "non-Euclidean sheets" and revolutionized the way soft active solids are viewed and described. The experimental techniques and the theoretical formalism developed by the group provided the tools to design and construct shape transforming slender structures from different materials and over different scales. In recent years, Eran works with architects and designers, attempting to implements these concepts as alternative way of design and manufacturing
Arielle Blonder is an architect, combining academic research and practice across disciplines and scale. Her lab, Frustrated Matter and Architecture (FMA) at the Technion, directs creative material explorations, visioning a more sustainable future with alternative modes of shaping and fabrication. Favouring interdisciplinary collaborations, she has led projects such as the LifeObject’ Israeli pavilion at the 15 the Venice architecture biennale, the ‘Creative Differences’ pavilion at the 2023 London Design Biennale and ‘Automorphia’ at the Bloomfield Science Museum in 2025. Arielle experts in composite materials for architectural applications and serves as consultant for the composite industry for architectural applications.
