Rhythmic Habitation: AI-Native Furniture, Shared Cognitive Ecology, and the Regenerative Continuum of Living, Working, Playing, and Resting

Rhythmic Habitation proposes a research framework for the Aeon Mundi Regenerative Habitation design collection (AREN). It begins with a relational question: how might people, artificial agents, and their shared environment support transitions between focused activity, exploration, restoration, and renewed participation? From this phenomenon, the paper derives the spatial, material, and computational conditions those relationships may require. It does not begin with an existing furniture object and add intelligence to it. The framework connects Shared Cognitive Ecology and the Situated Relational Substrate with a material-first design process. Mycelium-grown composites, stabilized agricultural residues, non-wood plant fibers, and botanical pigments are treated as generative design constraints. Passive material affordances take priority, with computational and robotic capabilities introduced selectively where they enable meaningful, authorized interaction. Four proposed investigations—Temporal Field, Perceptual Parallax, Negotiated Agency, and Rhythmic Threshold—translate these ideas into research questions and experimental requirements. The preprint outlines a methodology for evaluating material performance, accessibility, agency, task continuity, restoration, and ecological accountability. It presents a proposed research framework; no experimental results are reported.