Carbonarium
Design & Fabricate with microbes🧫
Carbonarium is a design research initiative aimed at uncovering sustainable material innovations with the potential to redefine traditional construction and manufacturing processes.It seeks to inspire and equip designers, makers, and fabricators with the novel tools to create sustainable material innovations in collaboration with bacteria.It also serves as a platform for thought, encouraging professionals in the field to think differently about how we design, create, and consume in a world increasingly mindful of its environmental impact.
Design Research / Concept
Biodesign
The Goal
At the core of this project is the exploration of a unique material creation process involving sporosarcina pasteurii bacterium. This process binds substrate particles together to create a binded material. Through biomineralization, these microorganisms utilize potential kitchen waste, such as eggshells, and natural materials like sand, to precipitate calcium carbonate. As a designer and researcher, I've collaborated with fellow scientists at Genspace to conduct experiments and develop this material. Our approach involves supplying the bacteria with nutrients and potential waste materials, while carefully maintaining the incubation system to facilitate the cultivation of this unique material.
Future Envision
Lastly, drawing inspiration from complex coral ecosystems, I envision a future where this structure in larger scale, and it is built and maintained by bacteria and human, and this structure are also supported by human-provided materials. This harmonious environment intertwines human behaviors, bacterial growth, and interspecies interaction in a dynamic cycle. Humans contribute to the biocementation process, nurture the bacteria, and maintain the infrastructure, fostering a sustainable future built on symbiosis.
Carbonarium
Seeks to inspire and equip designers, makers and fabricators with novel tools.
Design Research / Concept
Design Research / Concept
The Goal
At the core of this project is the exploration of a unique material creation process involving sporosarcina pasteurii bacterium. This process binds substrate particles together to create a binded material. Through biomineralization, these microorganisms utilize potential kitchen waste, such as eggshells, and natural materials like sand, to precipitate calcium carbonate.
Future Envision
Lastly, drawing inspiration from complex coral ecosystems, I envision a future where this structure in larger scale, and it is built and maintained by bacteria and human, and this structure are also supported by human-provided materials. This harmonious environment intertwines human behaviors, bacterial growth, and interspecies interaction in a dynamic cycle. Humans contribute to the biocementation process, nurture the bacteria, and maintain the infrastructure, fostering a sustainable future built on symbiosis.
As a designer and researcher, I've collaborated with fellow scientists at Genspace to conduct experiments and develop this material. Our approach involves supplying the bacteria with nutrients and potential waste materials, while carefully maintaining the incubation system to facilitate the cultivation of this unique material.
