Taking things apart: reaching common ground and shared material understanding.

In this note we discuss and argue about how taking things apart and disassembling can be meaningful practices in explorative design projects. In particular, we report on an explorative design exercise about taking apart an unfamiliar device. Relating to this design situation, we provide accounts for how collaborative hands-on experience can support reaching common ground and acquiring shared material understanding in an interdisciplinary design team through establishing a material brief. In the end we reflect and discuss how this may complement our practices regarding materials and interaction design.