What if we could grow and cultivate architectural materials employing natural minerals and microorganisms? The built environment is constructed using a limited palette of traditional materials: concrete, glass, steel, and wood. These traditional materials contain a high-embodied energy, with components of concrete and steel mined from non- renewable resources. Although wood can be grown and harvested in a renewable manner; harvesting, processing and transportation greatly contribute to carbon dioxide production and depend on large amounts of energy and fuel resources. Forty-percent of global carbon dioxide is linked to the construction industry, primarily due to material production and disposal. Biologically grown materials can be pollution free, and have the potential to contain a low embodied energy as part of a local ecosystem.

Ancient cultures covered their refuse with earth, creating small mounds known as talls, which became geographic indicators of past civilizations.

Like our predecessors, modern civilization geographically marks its existence with waste. Every three minutes, nearly 30,000,000 empty water bottles are dumped into landfills globally. The notion of ‘disposable’ is an integral component of a rapidly growing consumer culture. Resource intensive processes generate the temporary artifacts of everyday life, circulating briefly before being deposited in expansive, uninhabitable landscapes of the unwanted. Out of sight, out of mind: forgotten, ignored, disregarded.

Tall Haptesthai is composed of three cast, 10” x 10” plaster tablets. A Braille-like surface generated from landfill imagery beckons the observer to touch, invoking a connection between the observer and realm of disregarded artifacts. As the residue from human touch accumulates, the white surface darkens and the image becomes more visually apparent: a forgotten memory revived by tactile interaction. The work was exhibited in Silent Conversations at Tashkeel Gallery, Dubai, UAE.

TerraFarm is a high-design, performative, and ecologically-conscious form of personal agriculture: intended for the cultivation of the individual garden.  TerraFarm is biomimetically derived from symbiotic barnacle-rock formations found along the UAE coast.  The concrete shell armature mimics the rock substrate the barnacles attach to.  TerraFarm’s thin shell is constructed from a fiber-reinforced concrete composite material, formed with computer-controlled formwork.  A photoluminescent aggregate is added to the concrete, absorbing UV radiation during the day and emitting visible light at night.

Injection-molded Polylactic Acid (PLA) GrowPods are cradled by the armature, referencing barnacle-clusters. PLA is a plastic manufactured from agricultural byproducts, and is both rich in nutrients and biodegradable.  Hyrdogel, a moisture absorbing substrate fills the GrowPods and is to be saturated with water.  Once full saturation of the Hyrdogel has occurred, a seed can be planted in the GrowPod and allowed to mature.  The PLA will continue to provide nutrients as it decays from inside-out, feeding plant growth.  As the plants reach maturity, GrowPods can be removed from the armature and planted directy into the soil. The PLA will eventually completely dissolve and the plant’s roots will extend into the soil.  GrowPod refill kits will be offered in sets of six, packaged with dehydrated hydrogel, for continual use of TerraFarm.

The Biophotosynthesis series examines macro and micro textures found in natural formations, captured through various photographic techniques. Surface imagery is modeled and manipulated with computational tools, and materialized through hybridized emerging and traditional fabrication processes. The intention behind these studies is the development of a working methodology for the analysis of biological material systems, leading to the implementation of full-scale, performative architectural components. Contemporary architecture lacks the response to current environmental issues that might be expected from the performative nature of material. The enormous influence of architecture’s historical legacy shapes thinking around conventional materiality, limiting innovation. Natural forces surround us, exhibiting biological processes with performative characteristics, latent with inspiration and instructions for a sustainable future.

Coral0709 examines the surface texture of traditional UAE masonry units, historically hewn from harvested coral. The now extinct brick-making practice reveals the organism’s complex internal structure through planar sectioning. Investigation of natural, structural porosities pose a conceptual methodology for the development of lightweight masonry units. Internal cellular matrices might be further used to contain secondary materials with performative characteristics such as thermal insulation or pollution absorption.

biophotosynthesis::Coral0709 is a triptych consisting of a surface photograph, height-field formwork, and plaster tablet. The series documents the procedural reconstitution of a coral brick’s surface topography through emerging fabrication processes. The work was exhibited in Vibrations Within at Tashkeel Gallery, Dubai, UAE.

what if materials …

…touched back

< verb >                      < direct object >
…responded                  …light
…replied                        …sound
…interacted                   …air
…controlled                   …pollution
…altered                         …perception
…evolved                        …environment
…conformed                  …space
…indicated                     …time
…reflected                      …intention
…transmitted                …information
…directed                       …intention
…supported                   …communication
…detected                      …emotion
…attracted                     …enclosure
…equalized                    …location
…shifted                         …texture
…purified                       …experience

Luminescent concrete emits light by means of phosphorescence.  Ultraviolet light is absorbed and re-emitted at higher wave-lengths, creating a visible glow. When the phosphorescent pigment is added to expansion cement, an uneven distribution provides record of mixing strokes. When the phosphorescent pigment is used as an aggregate in concrete, the even distribution promotes average uniformity in light emission. As the concrete surface erodes, virgin aggregate is exposed, extending the lifespan of luminescence.