Cooper Hewitt's 2019 Design Triennial will focus on design's ability to cope with climate change

Organized around seven categories—Understand, Simulate, Salvage, Facilitate, Augment, Remediate and Nurture—60 projects will be presented that offer innovative and promising answers to questions such as—"How can technology enable designers to simulate nature?"—and— "How can designers attempt to slow, stop and reverse the negative impacts of humanity's footprint on the planet?"

Among them are Terreform ONE's Monarch Sanctuary, which offers a new urban habitat for the butterfly whose population is at risk of collapse. Another—Bamboo Theater by DnA Design and Architecture founder Xu Tian, which weaves and bends living bamboo into a vaulted space—demonstrates how nature can be used as a partner, rather than a resource. Joining them, are works from MIT's Neri Oxman, the Spanish firm Ensamble Studio, the conceptual material designer Shahar Livne, and other collaborations with scientists, engineers, environmentalists, and academics. 

"The project in 'Nature' show great inventiveness," said Hans Gubbels, director of Cube. "This carries the promise that we can bring human behavior back in line with nature again. Co-operation between design, science and technology thus can turn the tide for out planet," they added. 

On display through January 10th, 2020, Nature is the sixth installment of the Cooper Hewitt series which looks at new developments in design as they surface in studios, fairs, galleries, and media around the world.