Page 12 - JCAU-5-3

Journal of Chinese
Architecture and Urbanism SynBio-architecture: BioSynth Towers Project

polluted urban sites (soil, air) and carbon capture (Singh put it “… Nature has figured out how to do a lot of things
et al., 2022). in a clever and efficient way: we just need to pay more
The notion of buildings with functionalized living attention …”.
skins is, in fact, one of the frontline research topics at 6. A radical proposal: The Biosynthetic
the interface between architecture and synthetic biology
(Armstrong & Spiller, 2010; Armstrong, 2015). Both outer Towers Project and beyond
and inner walls have been customarily used only for the By looking at the way biological systems (in particular,
separation of spaces in buildings, but their surfaces are woody plants) occupy the 3D space (Figure 1) and
basically limited to support, in case of decorative and/ the possibilities of rewriting developmental programs
or low functional elements, such as paintings, portraits, opened by synthetic biology (Baltes & Voytas, 2015), we
mirrors, and so on. But, as proposed by the LIAR Project can entertain a future urban scenario where technology
(https://livingarchitecture-h2020.eu/), such surfaces can, in and nature team up for conforming an ecosystem able to
fact, be converted into flat bioreactors to produce valuable provide an adequate habitat while being able to regenerate
substances in situ (in a sort of micro-agriculture) and and evolve in a balanced and smart way. As an example
remediate environmental toxicants. Early examples of this of such picture, the Biosynthetic Towers (BTs) Project
possibility include incorporation into buildings of exterior envisions a new system based on that conception as
vertical gardens (https://newatlas.com/architecture/8- an alternative way of understanding urban planning,
shenton-way-som/) and/or surfaces covered with moss for architecture, and construction, in which the biological
interior air purification (https://greencitysolutions.de). component prevails over the earlier physical constraints
A separate but related development is that of self- and building technologies.
healing concrete (Vijay et al., 2017). Despite its advantages, So far, there have been important contributions of
concrete tends to form cracks at various stages of its life synthetic biology in agriculture, energy, engineering,
cycle. Fortunately, some bacteria produce a range of construction materials (de Lorenzo et al., 2018), and even
minerals (in particular, carbonates) which can act as art (Ginsberg et al., 2017), but it still has not reached a
concrete fillers. This has originated formulations of bio- larger scale that could be used for developing a smart city
cements bearing specific microorganisms that once in planning. The BT Project puts forward a vision of how
place, can deposit solid minerals that plug potential micro- the future of our cities could be like if synthetic biology
fissures in construction concrete. Again, given the ultimate is radically applied to architecture and urban planning.
dependence on DNA of these properties, such naturally The core of the BT project is the bioengineering of
occurring activities–whether fungal/bacterial remediation programmable trees (or tree-like biological structures)
or functionalization of concrete—can be enhanced and to develop into a building or a series of buildings that are
adapted to specific needs through synthetic biology living organisms that grow, change, evolve, regenerate,
methods (https://neoplants.com/). update, and transform over time. What could this look
While the incorporation of living components like?
into buildings is one significant stage in the interplay First, as shown in Figure 4, no excavation would be
of architectural practice with biology, the underlying required to lay the foundations of the intended building.
technological paradigm is still one in which the living There are not even construction works necessary because
world becomes submitted to human needs, and it just fills the system grows and evolves by itself. The initial planning
the gaps that are not yet amenable to sound engineering. is just based on a grid, where programmed seeds containing
But can we turn things around and develop a kind of basic construction information have been planted on.
architecture in which biology is not just an inspiration Gradually, the seeds will start to transform into small
or one more asset along with others, but the principal cabins that could be used by people as living spaces or
driver of the building endeavor? This approach requires could be set for commercial or recreational purposes. This
an attentive and caretaking attitude towards the natural new embryonic organism contains additional growing
world open to learning from it rather than sticking to our information for the next evolution step of the BT. This way,
habitual, optimist belief that human technology can solve the system expands following a slow and iterative process
any problem, including conspicuous messes like climate until it gets bigger and smartly merges with what is around
change (Huesemann & Huesemann, 2011). How does this it, naturally flowing with its context (Figure 5). Second,
translate into the architectural realm? As Wil V. Srubar
1
the whole system works with natural mechanical actions
1 https://sawdust.online/news/bacteria-in-this- typical of living organisms, such as suction, condensation,
building-material-keeps-it-alive/ inertia, uptake, or absorption, with little or no need of

Volume 5 Issue 3 (2023) 6 https://doi.org/10.36922/jcau.0619