Off-World Infrastructure to Solve Earth’s Most Pressing Crises

Section One: Introduction

1.1 Research Background and Significance

Macro Context

Global civilization faces interconnected terrestrial crises: resource depletion, polluting heavy manufacturing, stalled medical research limited by Earth’s gravity, and the impending retirement of the International Space Station (ISS) by two thousand thirty-one. The traditional framing of space as a distant “final frontier” prioritizes escape from Earth rather than planetary support. Meanwhile, commercial launch costs have plummeted over the past two decades, yet conventional orbital construction remains trapped by hard constraints: all station modules must fit inside rocket fairings, requiring risky, costly spacewalks for assembly and blocking scalable orbital real estate development. Mainstream public and industry narratives still treat space research as a separate luxury, disconnected from climate, public health, and industrial sustainability goals on our home planet.

Practical Significance

This analysis centers on Ariel Ekblaw’s TESSERAE self-assembly framework, which unlocks large, reconfigurable orbital facilities without relying on astronaut extravehicular labor or oversized rocket hardware. Practitioners across aerospace, biotech, climate science, and sustainable manufacturing gain a blueprint for off-world research and production hubs that directly mitigate Earth’s burdens: shifting extractive mining and high-emission fabrication to orbit, running zero-gravity medical trials impossible on the ground, and deploying orbital data centers with unobstructed solar power to cut terrestrial carbon footprintsMIT Solve. For policymakers, investors, and space architects, the work reframes space infrastructure as a planetary mitigation tool rather than a recreational or exploratory vanity project.

Theoretical Significance

Existing space architecture scholarship fixates on monolithic, human-assembled habitat designs or inflatable single-use modules, creating a critical knowledge gap around autonomous, tile-based self-assembly as a scalable architectural paradigm. Ekblaw’s TESSERAE model integrates biomimetic self-organization, electromagnetic robotic docking, and closed-loop orbital ecology to build a cross-disciplinary framework linking aerospace engineering, biodesign, and terrestrial sustainability theory. It supplements outdated orbital habitat frameworks by formalizing a symbiotic Earth-space design logic, where orbital assets exist explicitly to advance terrestrial human welfare rather than separate human settlement.

1.2 Core Concept Definitions

1. Orbital self-assembling space architecture: A modular construction system using flat-pack tile units, autonomous robotics, and electropermanent magnetic docking to build large, reconfigurable structures in low Earth orbit without human manual assembly during construction. Ekblaw’s proprietary iteration is branded TESSERAE (Tessellated Electromagnetic Space Structures for the Exploration of Reconfigurable, Adaptive Environments).
2. Zero-gravity terrestrial problem-solving: The practice of deploying orbital labs, manufacturing bays, and resource extraction platforms to conduct research and production that cannot be replicated under Earth’s gravitational pull, generating technologies and materials that resolve climate, medical, and industrial crises on the planet’s surface.
3. Orbital real estate: Scalable, purpose-built orbital facilities partitioned for specialized use—biotech labs, asteroid mining outposts, off-world manufacturing, solar-powered data centers, and agricultural test beds—designed to operate as functional, revenue-generating infrastructure rather than temporary astronaut outposts.
4. Biomimetic orbital tessellation: A design principle drawing from natural self-folding systems (protein folding, ant colony formation) to program tile modules that autonomously cluster into complex, rigid geometries in microgravity.

Clarification of Confused Concepts

Many observers conflate self-assembling tile systems with inflatable space habitats such as Sierra Space’s Orbital Reef modules. Inflatable habitats expand rigid prefabricated structures post-launch but cannot reconfigure or autonomously bond to form larger custom shapes; TESSERAE tiles are discrete, reusable, and capable of disassembly and rearrangement into entirely new facility layouts mid-orbit. A second common misconfusion frames orbital infrastructure as a replacement for Earth’s ecosystems, when the core framework positions orbital assets as complementary auxiliary systems that reduce terrestrial strain rather than abandon the planet.

Scope and Boundaries

This analysis restricts focus to low Earth orbit self-assembly architecture developed by Ariel Ekblaw’s MIT and Aurelia Institute teams, validated through parabolic flight, suborbital, and two separate ISS prototype tests as of two thousand twenty-fiveMIT Media .... It excludes lunar surface construction, deep-space interplanetary habitats, and non-autonomous manually assembled stations. All use cases prioritize direct Earth-benefit applications; purely human off-world colonization scenarios fall outside this paper’s scope.

1.3 Current Research Status, Domestic and International

Development History and Key Milestones

1. Pre-two thousand twenty: Aerospace research prioritized monolithic cylindrical station modules built for singular government missions, with assembly limited to costly, high-risk spacewalks.
2. Two thousand twenty–two thousand twenty-two: Ekblaw develops the initial TESSERAE tile prototype during her MIT doctoral research, testing small-scale self-assembly in microgravity parabolic flightsMIT Media ....
3. Two thousand twenty-two: First TESSERAE prototype deployed to the ISS, completing autonomous docking, assembly, and disassembly trials inside the station’s interior environmentMIT AeroAs....
4. Two thousand twenty-five: Ekblaw delivers the TED2025 talk How to Build in Space for Life on Earth, outlining the full Earth-sustainability vision behind TESSERAE; spinout firm Rendezvous Robotics secures three million dollars in pre-seed funding to commercialize tile manufacturing and orbital deploymentMIT Media ....
5. Early two thousand twenty-six: Fifth-generation TESSERAE hardware scheduled for a second ISS flight test, deploying thirty-two dinner-plate-sized tiles to form an enclosed orbital biolab prototypeMIT Media ....

Mainstream Viewpoints and Technical Approaches

Two dominant schools of thought govern next-generation orbital habitat research:

1. Monolithic commercial station advocates: Sierra Space, Blue Origin, and NASA’s Orbital Reef program rely on large prefabricated inflatable or rigid modules launched fully formed, assembled via astronaut robotics and crewed docking. This approach delivers immediate usable space but suffers severe scalability limits tied to rocket fairing dimensions.
2. Modular self-assembly pioneers: Led by Ekblaw’s Aurelia Institute and Rendezvous Robotics, this cohort prioritizes flat-pack tile units, autonomous magnetic docking, and reconfigurable orbital layouts. The tradeoff is additional orbital assembly time, offset by unlimited structural scaling and flexible facility repurposing.

Shortcomings and Controversies in Existing Work

• Mainstream commercial station designs lock operators into fixed facility geometries; reconfiguration requires costly full module replacement, wasting launch mass and fuel.
• Most orbital research frameworks separate space activity from terrestrial sustainability, failing to quantify how orbital manufacturing and research reduce Earth’s environmental harm.
• Few prototypes have demonstrated long-duration autonomous self-assembly outside controlled ISS interior environments; real-world orbital debris and thermal cycling risks remain understudied.
• Industry skepticism persists regarding electropermanent magnet tile durability over multi-year orbital missions, with critics citing radiation degradation risks to docking hardware.

1.4 Framework and Core Objectives

This paper uses a method-oriented structure (Option B) to dissect Ekblaw’s TESSERAE self-assembly workflow, as the core contribution of the TED talk and associated MIT research is a repeatable technical process for building Earth-beneficial orbital infrastructure.

Overall Logical Structure

1. Introduction establishes the urgent terrestrial problems driving demand for new orbital construction, defines core terminology, and reviews the global state of space habitat research.
2. Main Body (Method Module B) breaks down TESSERAE’s core design principles, full step-by-step operational procedure, required hardware tools, common deployment roadblocks with mitigation solutions, and frameworks to evaluate system performance.
3. Application and Implications maps real-world industry use cases, addresses widespread misconceptions about orbital self-assembly, and delivers actionable guidance for engineers, investors, and policymakers.
4. Summary and Outlook condenses key findings, predicts emerging industry trends, and identifies unresolved research frontiers.
5. References and required supplementary metadata complete the document.

Core Research Question

How can the autonomous TESSERAE self-assembly method reliably construct large, reconfigurable orbital facilities, and in what specific ways does this off-world infrastructure unlock gravity-exclusive scientific and industrial breakthroughs that resolve humanity’s critical terrestrial challenges?

Key Reader Takeaways

1. Conventional rocket-limited orbital construction creates a bottleneck blocking space-based solutions to Earth’s climate, medical, and industrial crises.
2. The TESSERAE electromagnetic tile self-assembly workflow eliminates fairing size constraints and minimizes human spacewalk risk.
3. Zero-gravity orbital labs and off-world manufacturing hubs deliver tangible, measurable improvements to terrestrial public health and planetary sustainability.
4. Standardized evaluation metrics exist to compare self-assembly habitat performance against legacy monolithic space stations.

Section Two: Main Body — Option B (Methods / Processes / Operational Steps)

2B.1 Core Principles and Applicable Scenarios

Foundational Design Principles of TESSERAE Self-Assembly

1. Flat-pack mass efficiency: All tile units launch compactly, analogous to flat-pack furniture, maximizing payload volume per rocket launch and cutting per-unit launch costs by eliminating oversized prefabricated hulls.
2. Electropermanent magnetic autonomous docking: Specialized lightweight magnets embedded in each tile enable robotic, contactless bonding without mechanical latches; magnets switch on and off remotely to allow disassembly and reconfiguration at any orbital stage.
3. Biomimetic decentralized self-organization: Each tile carries independent navigation and sensor hardware, mirroring ant colony and protein folding logic—no central command hub is required to coordinate large-scale assembly, increasing system fault tolerance.
4. Earth-first design priority: Every tile layout and orbital facility configuration is engineered to host activities that directly reduce terrestrial resource strain or advance Earth-bound scientific research, rather than prioritize long-term human orbital habitation as an end goalMIT Solve.
5. Modular functional partitioning: Tiles interlock to form distinct subsections (biolab bays, manufacturing zones, solar power arrays, data server racks) that detach and relocate independently as research or production needs shift.

Applicable Deployment Scenarios

• Short-duration microgravity research outposts for pharmaceutical and material science trials that cannot replicate gravity-free conditions on Earth.
• Permanent orbital asteroid mining staging hubs to replace destructive terrestrial strip mining of rare earth minerals.
• Off-world sustainable manufacturing facilities producing lightweight alloys and semiconductors with zero terrestrial factory emissions.
• Solar-powered orbital AI data centers that bypass Earth’s atmospheric light interference and cut grid energy demand on the planet’s surfaceAurelia In....
• Closed-loop orbital agricultural test beds to develop drought-resistant crop strains for climate crisis mitigation on Earth.

Scenarios Where the Method Is Not Suitable

• Crewed long-term orbital residential megastructures requiring full artificial gravity rotation rings (TESSERAE tiles support lab facilities but not the heavy structural mass needed for large centrifugal habitats).
• Deep-space interplanetary transit vehicles, where radiation shielding and propulsion hardware outweigh tile assembly efficiency gains.
• Single-purpose small satellite missions under one hundred kilograms, where traditional monolithic construction remains cheaper and faster.

2B.2 Standard Operating Procedure (Step-by-Step)

1. Phase One: Pre-Launch Tile Fabrication and Functional Programming Engineers manufacture uniform flat tile units integrated with electropermanent magnet docking edges, miniaturized navigation sensors, solar micro-panels, and on-board processing chips. Each tile receives mission-specific code dictating target assembly geometry, functional role (lab wall, equipment bay, power conduit), and disassembly protocols. Tiles stack compactly inside standard rocket fairings without custom oversized transport hardware.
2. Phase Two: Orbital Delivery and Tile Deployment Rockets deliver stacked tile payloads to target low Earth orbit. Autonomous release robotics separate individual tiles into free-floating orbital formation; tiny cold-gas thrusters on each tile maintain controlled separation to avoid collision damage during initial dispersal.
3. Phase Three: Decentralized Autonomous Self-Assembly Using built-in optical and radio sensors, tiles detect nearby matching magnetic docking edges. Electropermanent magnets activate to pull complementary tile faces together, locking units into rigid tessellated structures. The system forms complex geometries (including truncated icosahedron biolab shells) without real-time human control or astronaut intervention. Multiple small sub-assemblies can later magnetically dock together to build facilities far larger than any single rocket payload.
4. Phase Four: Functional Outfitting and Orbital Operation Once the full structural shell self-assembles, remote ground crews deploy compact research equipment, manufacturing machinery, or server hardware through standardized tile access ports. Closed-loop life support and power subsystems activate, creating a fully operational zero-gravity facility for continuous research or production runs lasting months to years.
5. Phase Five: Reconfiguration, Disassembly, or End-of-Life Deorbiting When mission objectives shift, ground operators remotely deactivate tile magnetic bonds to disassemble sections of the habitat. Individual tiles re-cluster into new facility layouts for alternate research programs. At the end of tile service life, units separate from the main structure and execute controlled atmospheric deorbit to burn safely over remote ocean zones, eliminating orbital debris accumulation.

2B.3 Key Tools and Resources

Core Hardware Tools

1. TESSERAE electropermanent magnet tile units (fifth-generation flight-certified prototypes tested on the ISS)
2. Small cold-gas tile positioning thrusters for orbital formation control
3. Parabolic flight test aircraft for pre-launch microgravity validation
4. Suborbital New Shepard launch vehicles for mid-scale prototype testing
5. ISS internal microgravity test bays for on-orbit hardware validation
6. Autonomous payload release robotics integrated into commercial launch fairings

Software and Digital Resources

1. Decentralized self-assembly simulation software modeling tile collision and docking behavior
2. Orbital thermal and radiation stress testing digital twin platforms
3. Mission planning algorithm suite to optimize tile launch stacking and assembly geometry
4. Ground control remote magnet activation and disassembly command interface

Human and Institutional Resources

1. Cross-disciplinary teams combining aerospace architecture, robotics, biotech, and climate science researchers
2. Aurelia Institute research labs for iterative tile prototype development
3. Rendezvous Robotics manufacturing facility for commercial tile production
4. NASA grant funding and commercial launch provider partnerships for orbital test missions
5. Microgravity flight access programs for third-party research teams to utilize completed TESSERAE habitats

2B.4 Common Problems and Solutions

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2B.5 Effectiveness Evaluation and Optimization

Core Evaluation Metrics for TESSERAE Performance

1. Scalability threshold: Maximum facility volume constructible per single rocket launch, measured against monolithic ISS-style modules.
2. Assembly labor reduction: Hours of astronaut spacewalk labor eliminated compared to traditional station construction.
3. Launch mass efficiency: Usable orbital habitat volume per kilogram of launched payload.
4. Mission adaptability score: Number of distinct facility geometries and functional layouts achievable via tile reconfiguration without replacement hardware.
5. Terrestrial impact return on investment: Quantifiable Earth sustainability or medical research gains generated per dollar of orbital infrastructure funding (e.g., rare earth mineral extraction replacing Amazon strip mining, novel pharmaceutical compounds developed in zero gravity).

Continuous Optimization Strategies

1. Iterate tile hardware through successive ISS flight tests to reduce weight and boost magnet durability; fifth-generation prototypes cut tile mass by thirty percent versus first-generation unitsMIT Media ....
2. Refine decentralized assembly algorithms to cut total orbital self-assembly time by programming priority docking sequences for structural load-bearing tiles first.
3. Integrate in-orbit tile repair robotics to extend service life and reduce replacement launch frequency.
4. Cross-reference evaluation metrics against legacy orbital habitats to generate standardized design benchmarks for future self-assembly architecture development.

Section Three: Application and Implications

3.1 Practical Application Scenarios

Cross-Industry Use Cases

1. Biomedical Research: Zero-gravity TESSERAE biolabs enable protein crystallization trials impossible under Earth’s gravity, accelerating drug development for degenerative diseases, cancer, and rare genetic disorders. The TED talk cites these unique molecular research breakthroughs as one of the highest-value terrestrial benefits of orbital self-assembly infrastructure.
2. Climate and Resource Sustainability: Orbital mining outposts built from self-assembled tiles extract rare earth metals from asteroids, eliminating ecologically destructive terrestrial open-pit mining in rainforest and tundra biomes. Off-world manufacturing facilities produce high-performance materials without fossil fuel factory emissions on Earth’s surfaceMIT Solve.
3. Computing and Energy Infrastructure: Solar-exposed orbital data centers housed in TESSERAE structures operate on unbroken space-based solar power, lowering demand for fossil fuel grid electricity used to cool terrestrial server farms.
4. Agricultural Science: Orbital test bays grow crops in closed-loop microgravity ecosystems to breed drought and flood-resistant plant varieties that stabilize global food supplies amid climate breakdown.
5. Academic and Commercial R&D: Low-cost, rapidly deployable self-assembly outposts offer university and startup research teams access to microgravity environments previously limited to government space agencies.

Adaptation Strategies for Different Organization Sizes

• Small academic labs: Secure partial tile payload space on shared commercial launch missions to run targeted small-scale microgravity experiments without funding full habitat construction.
• Mid-sized biotech startups: Partner with Aurelia Institute to lease dedicated TESSERAE sub-bays for multi-month pharmaceutical research campaigns.
• Large aerospace and energy corporations: Contract Rendezvous Robotics to design custom full-scale orbital facilities for permanent off-world manufacturing or resource extraction operations.
• Government space agencies: Integrate TESSERAE tile systems into next-generation post-ISS orbital station fleets to replace aging monolithic infrastructure by two thousand thirty-one.

Typical Application Example

A pharmaceutical biotechnology startup leases a self-assembled TESSERAE orbital biolab bay to study neurodegenerative protein structures. The zero-gravity environment reveals molecular folding patterns hidden by Earth’s gravity, enabling the team to design a novel treatment for Alzheimer’s disease that enters human clinical trials three years faster than comparable ground-based research programs.

3.2 Common Misconceptions and How to Avoid Them

1. Misconception One: Self-assembly orbital architecture exists to move human populations permanently off Earth. Correction: The TESSERAE framework’s explicit design mandate prioritizes orbital assets as tools to heal Earth’s systems, not abandon them. Long-term human orbital colonization is a secondary, non-core use case, while climate mitigation and medical research remain central design drivers. Always anchor project planning to measurable terrestrial impact metrics to avoid misaligned development priorities.
2. Misconception Two: TESSERAE tiles can replace all existing orbital habitat designs, including rotating artificial gravity stations. Correction: Tile self-assembly excels at lightweight lab and manufacturing shells but lacks structural capacity for large rotating gravity rings. Practitioners must combine multiple space architecture systems for full-spectrum orbital infrastructure rather than relying exclusively on self-assembly tiles.
3. Misconception Three: Orbital research infrastructure is a luxury unrelated to solving Earth’s urgent crises. Correction: Every major TESSERAE use case delivers direct terrestrial benefits via gravity-exclusive scientific and industrial outputs. When pitching funding or policy support, quantify tangible Earth outcomes (reduced deforestation, accelerated drug development, lower carbon emissions) to refute this misconception.
4. Misconception Four: Autonomous self-assembly eliminates all human orbital labor needs entirely. Correction: While tiles assemble without astronauts, crewed missions remain necessary for advanced equipment maintenance, hands-on biological sampling, and long-duration monitoring of delicate research experiments. Autonomy reduces risk-prone spacewalk assembly labor, not all human orbital work.
5. Misconception Five: Self-assembly tile systems will generate massive new orbital debris volumes. Correction: Every flight-certified tile includes built-in controlled deorbit hardware, with end-of-life disassembly protocols written into core operational software. Mandate debris mitigation compliance as a non-negotiable project requirement during design phases to avoid this pitfall.

3.3 Key Insights for Readers and Practitioners

Critical Shifts in Industry Thinking

1. Space architecture must shift from “exploration-first” to “Earth-solution-first” design logic to justify large-scale public and private investment in orbital infrastructure.
2. Aerospace engineering must adopt biomimetic decentralized self-organization principles instead of rigid central-hub monolithic station design to unlock scalable orbital capacity.
3. Sustainability and space innovation can no longer be treated as separate fields; off-world industrial capacity is a viable climate intervention tool, not a separate technological frontier.

Actionable Practitioner Recommendations

1. For space architects: Integrate reconfigurable tile self-assembly early into post-ISS habitat design proposals to eliminate rocket fairing size bottlenecks.
2. For biotech and climate researchers: Partner with Aurelia Institute to submit microgravity experiment proposals for TESSERAE orbital test bays before the ISS decommissions in two thousand thirty-one.
3. For aerospace investors: Prioritize commercialization firms like Rendezvous Robotics that tie orbital infrastructure revenue streams to measurable terrestrial sustainability outcomes.
4. For policymakers: Develop targeted grant programs to fund self-assembly orbital research that delivers clear Earth-focused public health and environmental benefits.

Long-Term Development Guidance

Practitioners should prioritize cross-disciplinary collaboration between aerospace engineers, climate scientists, medical researchers, and industrial ecologists to ensure orbital self-assembly infrastructure evolves in lockstep with Earth’s most pressing unmet needs, rather than advancing space technology in isolation from planetary challenges.

Section Four: Summary and Outlook

4.1 Summary of Core Viewpoints

Traditional monolithic orbital construction constrained by rocket fairing dimensions creates a critical bottleneck blocking gravity-exclusive scientific and industrial breakthroughs that could resolve Earth’s climate, medical, and resource depletion crises. Ariel Ekblaw’s TESSERAE electromagnetic tile self-assembly method delivers a repeatable, scalable workflow to build large, reconfigurable orbital facilities without risky astronaut-led assembly labor, validated through multiple successful microgravity and ISS prototype tests. The core design philosophy intentionally centers terrestrial benefit, framing orbital real estate as a complementary planetary mitigation tool rather than a vehicle for human off-world escape. Standardized performance evaluation metrics allow engineers and investors to quantify how self-assembly architecture outperforms legacy space stations in scalability, launch efficiency, and mission adaptability. Widespread adoption of TESSERAE-style self-assembly systems will expand global access to microgravity research while reducing destructive industrial and extractive activity on Earth’s surface ahead of the ISS’s planned retirement in two thousand thirty-one.

4.2 Future Development Trends and Outlook

Emerging Directions

1. Sixth-generation TESSERAE tile hardware will integrate lighter radiation shielding and advanced self-repair robotics to extend orbital service life to multi-decade missions.
2. Hybrid orbital facility designs combining self-assembled tile shells with inflatable habitat modules will balance scalability and crew comfort for mixed research-and-residential outposts.
3. Global international space agency partnerships will deploy shared TESSERAE orbital biolab consortia to lower individual national funding burdens for microgravity medical research.

New Challenges on the Horizon

1. Rising orbital congestion will demand stricter automated collision avoidance algorithms for dispersed tile deployment phases.
2. Regulating off-world asteroid mining operations built from self-assembled tiles will require new international resource governance frameworks to prevent unregulated extraterrestrial extraction.
3. Scaling mass tile manufacturing capacity to meet post-ISS orbital infrastructure demand will require major aerospace supply chain overhauls.

High-Priority Further Research Avenues

1. Long-duration multi-year orbital testing of fully assembled TESSERAE biolabs to measure tile structural degradation over extended exposure to space radiation and thermal cycling.
2. Quantitative lifecycle analysis comparing the full carbon footprint of orbital off-world manufacturing versus equivalent terrestrial industrial production.
3. Human factors research optimizing TESSERAE lab interior layouts to support long-duration researcher mental health and operational efficiency in zero gravity.

Section Five: References

1. Ekblaw, A. (2025). How to build in space for life on Earth. TED2025. https://www.ted.com/talks/ariel_ekblaw_how_to_build_in_space_for_life_on_earth
2. MIT AeroAstro. (2025). Supporting mission-driven space innovation, for Earth and beyond. https://aeroastro.mit.edu/news-impact/supporting-mission-driven-space-innovation-for-earth-and-beyond/
3. MIT Media Lab. (2025). Rendezvous Robotics raises funding to develop technology for self-assembling space structures. http://www.media.mit.edu/articles/rendezvous-robotics-raises-funding-to-develop-technology-for-self-assembling-space-structures/
4. Rollock, A., Pommier, M., O’Hara, W. J., & Ekblaw, A. (2025). Development of a Flight-Scale TESSERAE Habitat Concept for Biotechnology Research Outpost Applications. International Conference on Environmental Systems.
5. Space Settlement Progress. (2025). buckyball. https://spacesettlementprogress.com/tag/buckyball/
6. MIT Solve. (2025). An Aerospace Architect: Dr. Ariel Ekblaw on Extraterrestrial Solutions to Earthly Issues. https://solve.mit.edu/articles/an-aerospace-architect-dr-ariel-ekblaw-on-extraterrestrial-solutions-to-earthly-issues
7. Digital Habitats. (2026). Star Cities: How to Build in Space — for Life on Earth. https://digitalhabitats.global/blogs/star-cities/how-to-build-in-space-for-life-on-earth-ariel-ekblaw-ted

Short Encouraging Exploration Note (One to Two Sentences)

Diving deeper into TESSERAE prototype flight data and microgravity experiment results will reveal untapped links between orbital engineering and Earth’s climate recovery. Anyone interested in cross-disciplinary space sustainability can access open-source Aurelia Institute research materials to begin independent design work.