Page 56 - JCAU-5-1

Journal of Chinese
Architecture and Urbanism Microbial technologies: Toward a regenerative architecture

metabolize forms of nitrogen and phosphate, for example, University of the West of England, Spanish National
struvite (magnesium ammonium phosphate) in the anode, Research Council, Explora Biotech and Liquifer Systems
while drawing water from the cathode. Finally, ambitious Group; The ALICE project is the development of a bio-
pilots that test MFC arrays at >1000 units are needed to digital ‘brick’ prototype, a collaboration between Newcastle
establish pilot demonstrators that showcase the potential University, Translating Nature, and the University of the
for the system development within the built environment, West of England (2019 – 2021); 999 years 13 sqm (the
enabling iterations of improved designs that are tailored to future belongs to ghosts), installation by Cecile B. Evans and
their specific context and purpose, enabling new types of Rachel Armstrong at the Whitechapel Gallery at the group
multi-functional construction to emerge. exhibition “Is this Tomorrow?”, London (2019) was possible
Heralding an era of change, the potential of paradigm with contributions by: Bioengineering team: Ioannis
shifting building technologies based on microbial Ieropoulos (lead; University of the West of England),
technologies that are cultured and grown in our homes Simone Ferracina (University of Edinburgh), Rolf Hughes
and communities alongside us fundamentally change the (Newcastle University), Pierangelo Scravaglieri (Newcastle
impact of the built environment on our living world to University), Jiseon You (University of the West of England),
become regenerative and resilient against climate change Arjuna Mendis (University of the West of England), Tom
through new sources of bioenergy, sanitation, circularity Hall (University of the West of England), Patrick Brinson
for natural resources, increased soil and water health, with (University of the West of England); MFC Bioreactor Brick
strong contributions to SDGs 6, 7, 11, 4, and 17. More than Installation Design: Pierangelo Scravaglieri and Jiseon
a natural way of providing electrical energy, or “grown” You, under the guidance of Ioannis Ieropoulos; Structure
materials, the regenerative architecture portfolio of Designer: Dominik Arni; Structure Fabricator: Weber
materials and systems also has the potential to become an Industries; Contributing Writer: Amal Khalaf; Animator:
off-grid emergency communications platform by powering Tom Kemp; Composer: Mati Gavriel; Research and
low-power electronic devices such as 6G/Wi-Fi networks, production assistance: Anna Clifford; Installation team:
mobile phones, and LEDs, which cannot be shut down by Richard Hards, Hady Kamar.
grid outages. In the medium term, smart toilet networks Funding
will generate bioelectricity and, through their coupled
to low-power electronics, will enable a Green Digital Living Architecture is funded by the EU Horizon 2020
Revolution. In all phases, the regenerative architecture Future Emerging Technologies Open Programme (2016
platform comprises a technological framework for a – 2019) Grant Agreement 686585; The ALICE project
Circular Economy and, in the longer term, establishes is funded by an EU Innovation Award; 999 years 13 sqm
“living cities” that are constructed from microbially (the future belongs to ghosts) received Sponsorship from
produced materials. When implemented at the city scale, Personal Improvement Ltd. and Living Architecture (EU
the strategic integration of microbial materials and systems Grant Agreement no. 686585). In-Kind support provided
into a coherent building program — for retrofit, or new by Andrew Hesketh; Audioviz (UK FogScreen); the Bristol
build — that is rolled out to the urban scale comprises a BioEnergy Centre at the Bristol Robotics Laboratory and
practice of regenerative architecture. their research into alternative, sustainable sources of power
for the home and infrastructure.
14. Conclusions
Neither optional extras nor an architectural fashion, Conflict of interest
installing microbial technologies in our homes, buildings, The author declares that there are no competing interests.
and cities will, literally, save lives. At a time of climate Author contributions
emergency, escalating fuel prices and the displacement
of peoples from war, having access to basic utilities as a This is a single-authored paper.
combined processing system can provide clean water,
shelter, power, and sanitation, which maintains a basic Ethics approval and consent to participate
livability made possible through the microbial commons The involvement of human subjects in the 999 years 13 sqm
to generate freely available materials, even in extremis. (the future belongs to ghosts) installation was by invitation
Acknowledgments to a gallery exhibition. The visitors observed the final
work but did not participate in the study. Consequently,
Living Architecture is a consortium of 6 collaborating attendance was by formal invitation and no consent was
institutions—Newcastle University, University of Trento, obtained.

Volume 5 Issue 1 (2023) 12 https://doi.org/10.36922/jcau.157