RC7
BiotA Lab Lab Leaders: Marcos Cruz, Richard Beckett with Javier Ruiz
Students Chae Ah Ahn, Wen Cheng, You Han Hu, Yuan Jiang, Soo Hyung Kim, Sul Ah Lee, Sunbin Lee, Taehyun Lee, Dan Lin, Chang Liu, Cheng-Hsiang Liu, Yuxi Lu, Shneel Malik, Xia Chen Wei, Zhixiong Yang
The Bartlett School of Architecture 2015
Projects Syn.[Eco]Plasm Soo Hyung Kim, Sunbin Lee, Yuxi Lu, Shneel Malik Filatures You Han Hu, Yuan Jiang, Cheng-Hsiang Liu, Xia Chen Wei Pervious Branching Chae Ah Ahn, Chang Liu, Zhixiong Yang Bio-responsive Bloom Wen Cheng, Sul Ah Lee, Taehyun Lee, Dan Lin Thank you to our critics, consultants and workshop leaders Alisa Andrasek, Silvia Brandi, Maite Bravo, Dağhan Çam, Natsai Audrey Chiesa, Gyungju Chyon, Martyn DadeRobertson, Ricardo Devesa, Stephen Gage, Manuel Gausa, Ruairi Glynn, Chris Leung, Sandra Manso, Areti Markopoulou, Eetu Martola, Josep Miàs, Frédéric Migyrou, Claudia Pasquero, Andrew Porter, Yael Reisner, Javier Ruiz, John Sadar, Marin Sawa, Mary Smith and Sarah Bell We are grateful to our partners mam architects with LUD. Thanks to IAAC Barcelona and Kew Wakehurst for hosting our field trips. Special thanks to all at B-made and to Dr Brenda Parker, UCL Department of Biochemical Engineering, for technical support.
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BiotA Lab merges architecture, biology and engineering. The Lab explores new modes of production and simulation in architecture, as well as advances in the field of synthetic biology, biotechnology, molecular engineering and material sciences, and how these subjects are leading us towards an ever-increasing multidisciplinary approach to environmental design. The result is a new sense of materiality, new hybrid technologies and unprecedented living forms that are being integrated in our contemporary built environment. BiotA Lab is part of an emerging network of international experts who develop bio-digital prototypes based on the novel use of advanced biotechnologies. Work produced in the Lab explores a new ecological model for architecture that responds to specific climates based upon the relationship between environmental conditions and the interfacial properties of materials with microorganisms. In opposition to the traditional complexities and highly costly ‘green architecture’, the use of such designed systems promotes a new symbiosis between buildings and nature that is more computationally sophisticated, and far less costly for buildings in densely populated cities. All work developed by students was produced between the studio and the laboratory, where applications of these systems were designed using advanced computation through modelling and simulation. Organisms were grown and materials tested under real laboratory conditions, providing feedback for rigorous iteration and data for the advanced fabrication of prototypes. This year’s designs were focused on the bioreceptivity of material, encompassing robotic printing of hydrogel for algae growth, robotic printing of cellulose-based composites for mycelium growth, 3D-printed sandstone-based composites for moss growth, and 3D-cast concrete panels for cryptogamic growth.