A team of researchers and students are exploring the potential of biodesign in cities of the future. Blending science, design and technology, they are developing building materials that could be grown, with properties like self-coloring and healing.

London

A team of researchers and students from two UK universities, known as Living Assembly, are pioneering the use of biodesign to create building materials that are grown rather than extracted. These biomaterials, developed from organisms such as microbes and mycelium, offer properties like self-colouring, moisture response, and self-healing, potentially reducing the environmental impact of the construction industry.

The research is being showcased at the London Design Biennale and involves developing bacterial cement and probiotic walls, as well as exploring the architectural use of mycelium and bacterial cellulose. While some of these technologies are nearing market readiness, the widespread adoption of living buildings is expected to take several more years, with ongoing challenges in scaling and regulatory approval.

These scientists are trying to ‘grow’ buildings

The vision for the future is buildings and cities that are alive. This is not science fiction. I think this is something that has some near future applications. Living Assembly are a team of researchers and students from two UK universities exploring the potential of biodesign. Biomaterials, materials that are grown rather than extracted, offer a more sustainable future. But it also changes how we consider ourselves as humans in relation to nature. This emerging field blends science, design, and technology, developing new processes and materials with organisms such as living microbes and mycelium, the root system of mushrooms. Applications include clothing, textiles, packaging, and in this case, buildings. The construction industry is one of the most polluting industries in the world and we've shifted away from an idea of construction which is based on what we have in the places that we want to construct, utilizing the resources that we've got available. With the climate changing, our houses need to be able to adapt to the climate as well and having this adaptable material means that instead of having to completely replace your cladding or rebuild your house, it might be that your house can actually just adapt to the environment. The teams have been working together for months and are currently showcasing their research at London Design Biennale. It feels a little bit, you know, bizarre, I don't know, because it's alive. If you knew that these walls were living, that were breathing as well as you, you'd probably take care of it a little bit more and be more appreciative of its nature. At Northumbria, they're concentrating on the biological, developing different materials including a bacterial cement and exploring properties like self-colouring, reaction to moisture and one that can heal itself. It forms a protective layer where it's exposed to moisture and it cracks, just fills the gap and bridges it and closes it off again. This is only holding together and being formed by the bacteria precipitating these crystals. If we get to the point where our environments really do become truly living, we're going to have to think about our buildings a little bit like we do perhaps our gardens, that they need to be tended, cared for. Meanwhile at the Bartlett, they're looking at how these materials can be used in the buildings themselves, using physical modelling and computer-aided design, researching the use of mycelium and bacterial cellulose in architecture and probiotic walls. In a living building, the mycelium plays a huge role. It can create opportunities for architectural design. We need to move away from the idea that building materials need to be impermeable and sterile. We might need to look back to evolutionary pasts when we were regularly exposed to nature, untreated timbers, thatched roofs, mud walls, soils. And what we saw over time is that architecture became increasingly separated from nature. Current built environments no longer contain the good kinds of bacteria that our bodies need for health. Once proven, there are still obvious challenges in terms of scaling up and passing building regulations. Some of the technologies that we're developing are actually very close to market, which we should be seeing in the next two or three years as real products. These ones that might continue to live and be part of a building which is adapting and changing. I think we're looking at maybe a 10-year horizon before we start to really see those.

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Jerusalem

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Breakdown