This thesis is conducted in the fourth semester of the master’s program of Sustainable Design Engineering at Aalborg University in Copenhagen, where the matter of consideration is Biomimetics & Product Design - Opportunities and Innovation Creation. The project takes a multidisciplinary approach to design, drawing inspiration from materials as a design tool concept and biomimetics as a design practice rooted in observing nature and seeking answers to human-related problems.

The thesis’s focal point is to find a design solution for the research-discovered problem of the lack of possibility of privacy and the occurring disruptions commonly experienced in open office workspaces. To tackle this issue from a multidisciplinary approach from material as a design tool practice was used. This gave the structure to facilitate the whole process by looking at it from three perspectives of materials, fabrication, and design concomitantly.

The design part employed a design thinking and biomimicry top-down approach. Combining both methodologies helped to develop a comprehensive solution. The use of the theoretical frameworks taught during the Sustainable Design Engineering degree guided the multidisciplinary design process where an idea for a folding complaint mechanism drawn from the folding pattern of an earwig insect emerged.
Combining all the knowledge gained through the design thinking and biomimicry top-down process resulted in the prototyping/fabrication phase that entailed the innovative Tailored Fiber Placement (TFP) technique in the VR-Lab at Aalborg University in Copenhagen. The prototypes were tested for usability, compliant mechanism properties, and materials attributes.

Materials used in this process were chosen deliberately to be sustainable, natural, and manufactured to the highest quality standards.
Furthermore, a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) was conducted for the chosen prototype for the sustainability promise validation and to align the design with the principles of sustainability. The assessment highlighted how the design contributes to fulfilling the three pillars of sustainability and promotes sustainable and innovative manufacturing practices.

Throughout the multidisciplinary design process and experimentation with multiple techniques, the biomimetics principle was used to create a concept of partitioner that contributes towards all pillars of sustainability and provides the possibility of seclusion in the open office workspace. The process in this report presented, that this thesis contributes to the field of biomimetics, sustainable design engineering, and the creation of innovative solutions for enhancing privacy in contemporary work environments.