Symbiosis
Overview
A living sculpture that breathes with you, reflecting the invisible connection between humans and the natural world.
Role
Designer
Developer
Tools
Fusion 360
Silicon Molding
Programmable Air
Team
Luoming Ye
Timeline
Jan - Feb 2026
Challenge
How might we visualize the invisible connection between humanity and nature?
We wanted to move past metaphor and into an object that responds to the body in real time, so the relationship between person and environment becomes physical, present, and impossible to ignore.
Message
There is an invisible tie between us and the natural world. We pull on it constantly, often without noticing. Every breath, every clenched jaw, every small tension carried in the body ripples outward into something larger than us. Symbiosis makes that thread visible.
The cube listens to the intensity of your muscle, and breathes with you. As you flex, it inhales. As you hold, it strains. The lights flicker softly at first, then more urgently, mirroring a stress you may not have realized you were holding. In its quiet, breathing form, the cube becomes a small living witness – a reminder that nature is not separate from us, but always responding, always entangled with the rhythms of our bodies.
The Process
Silicone Testing
Using the mold design (pictured below), we decided to use cardboard and use the 2-part stencil mold casting method to create a one sided silicone actuator.
Myoware Testing
The MyoWare sensor reads the electrical activity produced by your muscles (known as electromyography, or EMG). When you flex, your muscle fibers fire tiny electrical signals. The sensor picks these up through electrode pads placed on the skin, amplifies them, and outputs an analog voltage that corresponds to how hard you're contracting.
Final Touches
We covered the cube in a mixture of real and preserved moss, letting the seams disappear into something that feels grown rather than made. What started as a structure became a small, breathing landscape.
