Lynn de Rothschild & NASA

Five Ways Buildings of the Future Will Use Biotech to Become Living Things

1. Buildings that grow

2. Buildings that heal

3. Buildings that breath

4. Buildings with immune systems

5. Buildings with stomache

From the crushed shells of limestone to the timber of dead trees, we already use nature’s materials for building. Yet this pallet of materials could be radically extended. For instance, Scientific American recently featured mycelium, the root network of fungus, as a material of the future. Mycelium can grow on little more than wood chips and coffee grounds in very short periods of time, creating materials with significant structural performance.

The Hy-Fi installation in New York, which consisted of a 13-meter-tall tower, was constructed of mycelium bricks. The greatest challenge, however, might be to design a structure where the mycelium is kept partly alive and able to grow and adapt. The myco-architecture project, led by Lynn Rothschild at NASA, investigated this possibility, imagining habitats which might reproduce themselves—albeit for colonies on other planets.

https://singularityhub.com/2019/07/25/five-ways-buildings-of-the-future-will-use-biotech-to-become-living-things/

https://m.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=49&v=nuvd7bxpjIg

Lynn de Rothschild & NASA

Five Ways Buildings of the Future Will Use Biotech to Become Living Things

1. Buildings that grow

2. Buildings that heal

3. Buildings that breath

4. Buildings with immune systems

5. Buildings with stomache

From the crushed shells of limestone to the timber of dead trees, we already use nature’s materials for building. Yet this pallet of materials could be radically extended. For instance, Scientific American recently featured mycelium, the root network of fungus, as a material of the future. Mycelium can grow on little more than wood chips and coffee grounds in very short periods of time, creating materials with significant structural performance.

The Hy-Fi installation in New York, which consisted of a 13-meter-tall tower, was constructed of mycelium bricks. The greatest challenge, however, might be to design a structure where the mycelium is kept partly alive and able to grow and adapt. The myco-architecture project, led by Lynn Rothschild at NASA, investigated this possibility, imagining habitats which might reproduce themselves—albeit for colonies on other planets.

https://singularityhub.com/2019/07/25/five-ways-buildings-of-the-future-will-use-biotech-to-become-living-things/

https://m.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=49&v=nuvd7bxpjIg