alt.material was created as an outlet for design thinking through the exploration of materiality and fabrication techniques. alt.material provokes architects and designers to consider the impact of materials and provides a platform for designers to rework materials and invent new approaches to material production. alt.material asks exhibitors to assess their design practice and invent something better, reuse waste product or reappropriate pre–existing systems for sustainable application in the built environment.

At a time when we encounter resource shortages and ever-changing social conditions, architects and designers must consider a wider range of materials and fabrication techniques, better understand material lifecycles, and engage with interdisciplinary collaborators and the community to show leadership and share expertise.

Each year works selected for exhibition respond to a thematic that references a material property and values-driven conversations relevant at the time of production and exhibition. Previous exhibition themes have included ‘plasticity’, 'elasticity’, ‘ductility’, ‘ingenuity’ and 'community’.

Since 2018 alt.material has prompted more than 120 new works by architects and designers from Australia, the UK, USA, Denmark, Hong Kong and the UAE with the work of noteworthy designers including Thomas Heatherwick, Ron Arad, Sam Jacob, Adam Goodrum, Pascale Gnomes McNabb, Liane Rossler, Tom Fereday and Chris Connell exhibited alongside work by emerging local practitioners.