Science Fiction Prototyping, Forest Bathing and Material Experimentation in Interdisciplinary Educational Practice - Exploring Digital Biofutures with Hemp, Reclaimed Timber and Biopolymers

This educational practice review advocates for integrating critical social science into architecture, highlighting the importance of feminist theories, particularly ecofeminism, to foster foresight skills and envision biofutures with large-scale adoption of biobased materials. It examines barriers to this vision and necessary steps for overcoming them, focusing on an innovative educational approach demonstrated in the "Raw Material Vision" workshop at the University of Antwerp in 2025. The workshop engaged 27 master's students from various design disciplines in exploring sustainable materials like hemp, reclaimed timber, and biopolymers through lectures and hands-on experiments. It combined science fiction prototyping (SFP) with sensory experiences such as forest bathing to promote speculative design thinking and practical application, culminating in a public exhibition that sparked discussions on sustainable architectural practices. This review underscores the potential of interdisciplinary collaboration and digital technologies in enhancing traditional material studies and calls for multiscalar research to integrate these insights into architectural education and practice. Future research is suggested to assess the long-term impact of such educational strategies and explore the scalability of this approach across different contexts, along with the influence of ecofeminist principles in sustainable design.