Metacycle project is preceeded by two research projects carried out by the same team of researchers, PRéco and Métamorphose. Through these previous projects, we have introduced Rapid Prototyping (RP) as a tool for product sustainability and demonstrated the potential of this technolgy in the feild of sustainable design.

In PRéco, our research led us to examine the potential of RP, a series of new technologies for creating three-dimensional physical models from computer files, often likened to printing objects in 3D. Our research explored the hypothesis that these innovative technologies could also be utilized to replace broken parts of objects and thus avoid their premature disposal.Through a series of case studies, we concluded that RP techology does have the potential to prolong the useful life of products under certain conditions.

The METAMORPHOSE project aimed to establish the foundations of a new approach to product design based on the potential of RP to transform objects. The objective was to design new products while anticipating their eventual transformation, either by personalizing, or updating their function or style with RP in order to give them new life. This evolution of shape, function, texture, and colour aimed to extend products' lives by offering an alternative to the planned aesthetic and technical obsolescence that prevails today. We discovered that we could alleviate some of the negative environmental impacts ensuing from such practices and that this new 'organic' mode of design offers unlimited potential to develop a new vocabulary of form and leading edge design.

The Metacycle project is the next phase of work accomplished in these previous projects. We hope to unite a community of designers who share the goal of using all available resources and technolgies to help prolong the useful life of products. The information that we have learned through our previous projects has been indespensable in getting us to this point in our research and we look forward to sharing our knowledge with the rest of the design community.