Autodesk acquires design studio The Living, will create Autodesk Studio

The Living, David Benjamin's design studio, has been acquired by Autodesk. Combined, the two will create the Autodesk Studio (part of Autodesk Research), which will "create new types of buildings, public installations, prototypes and architectural environments," Autodesk's blog states.

The Living has seven staff members at the moment, as well as a handful of part-time collaborators. Benjamin's area of specialty is synthetic biology, though he's been collaborating with Autodesk for years in the fields of architecture, art, and computer science.

Some projects the studio is currently working on include a university center for research on robotics and color-changing mussels that track water quality in New York's East River.

Hy-Fi, The Living's latest project (and a collaboration with Autodesk), was released last week at MoMA. The project will provide seating, shade and water while creating almost no waste for the 2014 Warm Up summer music program. It will be composted at the end of the summer. 

Of the acquisition, Benjamin says: “This will enable The Living to do more of what we are already doing and supercharge it.” Take a look at Hy-Fi below to see what he means.