Material Exploratory

Material Exploratory is a research-based Mixed Reality experience developed by Università Iuav di Venezia in collaboration with Metagate. It proposes a new model of interactive material library, designed to make circular materials accessible through immersive exploration.

The project focuses on innovative materials produced in North-East Italy through reuse, recycling and waste transformation processes. Each sample is presented as a narrative object, connected to its origin, industrial supply chains, destination sectors and territorial networks. Material consultation becomes an active and engaging journey, bridging industry, research and education.

Users can interact with digital material samples through natural hand gestures, picking them up virtually and activating layered content structured in three environments: Past, dedicated to documentation and material biographies; present, conceived as an immersive storytelling space; and future, oriented toward teaching and design research.

The experience is enhanced by sound design, featuring a gender-neutral text-to-speech voice and audio elements mapped to material characteristics.

Material Exploratory is a scalable platform supporting new forms of material awareness and circular innovation. Special thanks to Alisea, Favini, Rehub and Tecnica Group for their collaboration and shared contents.