Photo by Eduardo Avenir Jr.

Photo by Eduardo Avenir Jr.

Hi, I'm Andrea Ling.

I'm an architect, artist, and researcher working at the intersection of design, fabrication, and biology. My most recent work focuses on how the critical application of biologically and computationally mediated design processes can move society away from exploitative systems of production to regenerative ones. I was the 2019 Ginkgo Bioworks creative resident exploring how to design the decay of artifacts in order to access material circularity. The project, Design by Decay, Decay by Design was awarded the 2020 STARTS prize, as well as recognition from Fast Company, Forbes, and the Falling Walls Science in the Arts awards. I am a founding partner of designGUILD, a Toronto-based art collective and a former project lead for Philip Beesley Architect where I worked on a series of international immersive kinetic installations and textiles for Iris van Herpen. I am also a former research assistant and designer for the Mediated Matter Group, at the MIT Media Lab, where my team won Dezeen’s 2019 project of the year with our research project, Aguahoja I, shown in 2020 at the MoMA and 2021 at SFMOMA.

I finished my MS at MIT, and my M.Arch at the University of Waterloo with a background in human physiology from the University of Alberta. I am interested in material research, physical story-telling, and making things that re-define the built environment. This website a collection of some of the projects I've worked on - some for school, some for work, and some for me. It is also terribly out of date, so feel free to say hello below.