Exploring materials to reconcile with more than human worlds

This thesis presents insights from material investigations for two ongoing projects, both of which are aimed at designing for multispecies worlds. Our ecology is continually impacted by the adverse effects of the toxicity stemming from smart devices, electronics, batteries that are running it and plastics that are encasing it. While there are ongoing and emerging researches on built environment and environmental science there remains a lag in the field of computing science especially in Human Computer Interaction (HCI). In this work, I explore materials and their making practice during three iterative phases of prototyping two ongoing Research through Design cases. The firsthand experiences from these explorations are analyzed through annotated portfolios and critical reflections, leading me to six key lessons: 1) beware of greenwash, 2) considering imperfection, 3) hustling with the machine, 4) considering nonhuman agency 5) meeting multispecies, and 6) material recomposition. Further, the investigations were guided by the more-than-human approach of designing-with that was further refined with ideas of reconciliation ecology, an ecological approach to reconciling human interventions with our environment. The thesis offers these lessons to encourage material designers to design-with material reconciliation in their everyday design practices.