Gallery: Airbus' Newest Design Is Based on Bones and Slime Mold
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You know that partition wall, that separates you from the airline crew? Airbus is designing a newer, lighter one, with the help of Autodesk and experimental architecture studio The Living.
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The design was created through generative design software. Architect David Benjamin built two algorithms—one based on the growth pattern of slime mold, one on mammalian bone growth—and used those to spawn different options.
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With this software, “we can generate literally tens of thousands of design iterations, compared with the manual process which could generate maybe a dozen,” Benjamin says.
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Together, the algorithms solve the load-bearing puzzle presented by the partition, which needs to support the weight of flight attendants who, during takeoff and landing, sit on fold-out chairs embedded into it.
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The final configuration requires a minimal amount of material—in this case, a high-performance alloy of aluminum, magnesium, and scandium called Scalmalloy.
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“Everything about the project has been intended to make this real, according to current aerospace standards,” Benjamin says. Airbus could have the design installed and flying in airplanes as early as next year.
