Theme: Building Metabolism
Our vision is to develop biotechnologies to create a new generation of Living Buildings which are responsible and responsive to their natural environment; grown using living engineered materials to reduce inefficient industrial construction processes; metabolise their own waste, reducing pollution, generate energy and high-value products and modulate their microbiome to benefit human and ecological health and wellbeing.
A hi-tech and lo-tech approach which makes use of biology and design to develop prototype experimental building systems incorporating microbial reactors.
• Enzyme discovery and engineering using in silico modelling and machine learning, for example, lignin-degrading enzymes.
• Generation of robust synthetic microbes using synthetic biology and metabolic engineering.
• Waste treatment and bioprocess design, for example, mixed substrate process design and artificial photosynthesis.
• Rethinking building infrastructure – so that a building processes its waste, in situ, rather than relying on centralised industrial infrastructure for waste treatment.
The theme is lead by Gary Black.
