About
Research as a material practice
We build, measure, maintain, and publish. The laboratory is organized to keep those activities close enough to change one another.
Position
Common Matter Laboratory studies systems in which physical behavior is not a complication to eliminate, but part of how knowledge is produced.
We work across materials engineering, computation, environmental media, and design research. A project may begin with a conductive fiber, a wetland edge, or a reversible joint; each becomes a way to ask how sensing and adaptation are distributed.
Our outputs include peer-reviewed research, open instruments, datasets, field protocols, and the less visible records required to interpret them. We document failures and maintenance because they define what a result can mean.
How we work
Four commitments
- 01
Begin with behavior
Observe what materials and environments already do before deciding what must be controlled.
- 02
Keep instruments legible
Build systems that can be understood, maintained, and questioned by more than their original authors.
- 03
Work across scales
Connect specimen-scale measurements to assembly decisions and field conditions.
- 04
Publish the conditions
Record uncertainty, repair, and process alongside successful outcomes.
Join the laboratory
Open Bench · Autumn 2026
We are accepting proposals for two twelve-week visiting student projects in soft sensing and repairable field instrumentation.
Send a one-page statement, a portfolio or research sample, and your availability. We value clear questions, evidence of careful making, and a willingness to document methods in progress.
Write to lab@example.eduVisit / contact
Institute for Transdisciplinary Research
Research Building 04University CampusBerlin, Germany