Prototype: Healing Masonry
Demonstrating the immune response of masonry materials.
The Healing Masonry prototypes develop enhanced biotechnological systems which express natural weathering and self-healing, i.e., the ability of the materials to heal themselves, while embracing imperfection and unique history of matter. Heritage conservation measures usually require processes that would restore performance in the least invasive way. However, not all traditional repair methods disguise damage and repair.
For the first time, this project not only evaluates their impact of the systems to the materials’ physico-mechanical performance but also 1) highlights them for their unique function at a larger scale, 2) exploits their interaction with the aesthetics of the materials 3) takes them outside the lab attached to external facades to understand their co-existence with other biological processes (e.g., biodeterioration).
The public nature of the OME provides the unique opportunity for both public engagement and control of “real-world” interactions with the material samples applied in typical settings of the built environment, enabling social science qualitative data on aesthetic perceptions and cultural responses to the intersection of novel biotechnology with traditional construction materials and its place in the built environment.
The current indoor installation displays an ongoing experiment that is producing batches of pigmented samples of lime-based mortar. These samples are inoculated with calcite precipitating sporosarcina pasteurii and are undergoing varying degrees of nutritional treatment through “healing cycles” conducted in the geotechnical labs. The samples demonstrate how time affects the expression of the healing through the contrast of white calcite against the pigment. Half of the samples have an articulated surface to observe how treatment affects the types of textures and fissures that often manifest in masonry facades.
