Lorenzo Guiducci

Lorenzo Guiducci studied biomedicine in the field of engineering at the Politecnico di Milano and graduated with a thesis on the biomechanics of the aortic arch. Following this, he worked in the department of biomaterials at the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces and conducted research into the passive movements of plants, with a dissertation on the actuation of cellular tissue under internal pressure.

As part of the group Structural Science and 3D codes, he is interested in the potential of folding as a mechanism for creating the three-dimensional from the one-dimensional. One example of this is the art of origami. This ancient technique requires precision folding in order to achieve the desired 3D object. Another example is the way in which plant leaves acquire a wavy form. A newly emerged flat leaf waves, bends and folds away from the flat to resolve incompatible growth strains that arise during development. In this case, a simple 2D pattern - the distribution of growth strain in the flat leaf - is responsible for the formation of the 3D shape. The potential for autonomous 3D formation - without the need for an agent - is Lorenzo Guiducci's main interest. The question arises as to a possible consistency between various 2D patterns and three-dimensional forms: is this a simple relationship? Is there a code, which, like an experienced practitioner of origami, deciphers (any?) 3D form from a 2D pattern? In attempting to find an answer to these questions, he uses numerical simulation to observe the unfolding of a flat latticework during various growth scenarios. Together with other members of the group, he will attempt to bring together scientific aspects with the concept of structure and its generation (through folding, for example) in philosophy and cultural science, in the context of which they appeared centuries ago (but have since departed from their scientific counterparts).