Living Construction at London Design Biennale 2025

Northumbria University
Design Team
Martyn Dade-Robertson, Meng Zhang, Thora Arnardottir, Emily Birch, Katie Gilmour, Jamie Haystead, Aileen Hoenerloh, Dilan Ozkan, Liv Tsim, Fang Zheng, Subhadeep Paul, Mingaile Jackson

UCL Design Team

Richard Beckett, Sean Nair, Aileen Hoenerloh, Arely Leyton Dominguez, Hangchuan Wei, Will Scott, Christopher Whiteside
RC7 Students: Rui Wang, Can Yadimci, Yumo Zhao, Iravati Wagle, Yiming Yao, Qing Wang, Roba Abdelhak, Miruna Porosnicu, Shu Zhang, Ziyi Liu, Wei Zhange, Qingxuan Li, Yoayao Yang, Zhiyuan Wu, Yuchen Lu, Yumeng Wang

Collaborators

Cornell University, Laura Gonzalez
CRESCO Biotech
EM Glass, Charlie and Amelia Burke
APL Workshop, Newcastle University, Oliver Perry
HBBE, Newcastle University

EmbryOME 3: Prototree 

Northumbria University 
Design Team 
Martyn Dade-Robertson, 
Liv Tsim, Thora Arnardottir, 
Aileen Hoenerloh,
Dilan Ozkan, Emily Birch
Scientific Team 
Meng Zhang, Katie Gilmour, 
Jamie Haystead, 
Paul James,
 Mingaile Jackson, 
Subhadeep Paul,  
Warispreet Singh  

Imperial College London 
Tom Ellis  

Funding
EPSRC: Living Manufacture (EP/V050710/1), 
BBSRC: Sustainable Style for Clean Growth (BB/Y007735/1)   

Cellulose is the most abundant biological molecule on Earth, forming the scaffolding of plant life. Humans have long depended on plant-based cellulose for building and manufacturing—but what if we could engineer it biologically? 

Our lab begins with bacterial cellulose: a material spun by microbes from sugar from agricultural waste, forming dense mats with leather-like properties. We then introduce a second, genetically engineered microbe that modifies the cellulose as it forms. This microbe can sense signals like light and respond by producing melanin pigment—allowing us to control colour, pattern, and tone across the material. 

The result is an Engineered Living Material—responsive, patterned, and expressive. The structure you see, the Prototree, has been generated by mapping sunlight through this space. Brass branches grow in areas of high light, ending in “leaves” made from our material, each one curated by light exposure. 

It’s a glimpse into a new material future—where biology, computation, and design converge to shape living, adaptive architectures. 

Complex Pringles:
Microbially Sculpted Mineral Forms

Thora Arnardottir, Living Construction, Northumbria University  

Laura Gonzalez, Department of Design Technology, Cornell University 

Martyn Dade-Robertson, Living Construction, Northumbria University 
 
Meng Zhang, Living Construction, Northumbria University 

Complex Pringles explores the mineral dimension of human composition, where life and microbial forces co-shape material form. In this project, double-curved geometries are extracted from the exhibition architecture and reimagined through 3D-printed frames stretched with fabric, echoing the tactility of fabric-cast concrete. The biomineralisation process is catalysed by Sporosarcina pasteurii, a bacterium that actively precipitates calcium carbonate, solidifying saturated sand over the course of a week. 

Each artefact emerges from a negotiation of precision and emergence, balancing the desired form’s narrow centre with the weight of the sand and the metabolic activity of bacteria. This process demands fine-tuned control, catalysing reactants, managing microbial viability, and responding to the shifting interplay between geometry and mineralisation. Complex Pringles challenges the authorship of design, and celebrates the negotiation between control and emergence, geometry and biological unruliness. 

Living Morphogenesis: Bacteria-guided fabrication 

Aileen Hoenerloh,
Living Construction Group,
Northumbria University 

This project presents a bioreactor developed through creative experimentation during doctoral research into bacterial cellulose (BC) as a living material for design. Positioned at the intersection of design and microbiology, the work proposes a methodology that integrates material growth into the design process. 

The bioreactor enables the cultivation of BC into three-dimensional forms by employing controlled aeration and custom scaffolding, moving beyond traditional post-growth moulding of flat sheets. This approach explores the self-forming potential of BC, identifying key environmental parameters adjustable by the human designer that influence the BCs morphology and spatial complexity. The system supports an iterative mode of making in which biological processes and design intent are interdependent. 

Additionally, the project investigates preservation techniques to document the rapid transformations and ephemeral qualities of the material. The bioreactor functions both as a fabrication tool and research device, offering insights into how living systems can inform new modes of material thinking and experimental design practice. 

BioDynamic Hygroscapes: Bacteria-driven motion  

Emily Birch,
Living Construction Group,
Northumbria University 

Bacterial, spore-based, micro-engines can power movement in response to environmental humidity – sensing and actuating autonomously with no need for an external energy source.  What if we could harness this unique, natural, biological phenomena to design zero-energy solutions to reduce the carbon-footprint of future regenerative designs? 

Nature, through evolution, is the ultimate iterative designer. Some bacteria have evolved spores with a unique sub-cellular architecture to survive hostile environments by precisely controlling water movement.  This design engineers isotrophic expansion of the spores at a specifically programmed environmental humidity ‘switch’, as water moves through pores in a complex macromolecule, causing shape-changing expansion of the spore which requires no external energy input. 

Biodynamic Hygroscapes explores how this humidity-triggered spore expansion can be harnessed. Spore-based, hygromorphic bio-composites were fabricated to be precisely programmable using spore concentration, substrate material resistance and laser-etching factors. This created autonomously sensing and actuating apertures which respond passively to environmental humidity.   

Agential Mycelium 

Dilan Ozkan,
Living Construction Group,
Northumbria University  

Martyn Dade-Robertson,
Living Construction Group,
Northumbria University  
 
Meng Zhang,
Living Construction Group,
Northumbria University   

This project explores mycelial growth as a foundation for developing agential materials—materials capable of sensing, responding to, and adapting to their environment. Unlike conventional materials, agential materials exhibit high levels of agency, with individual cells acting as agents that perceive signals and drive morphological changes. Focusing on the mycelium species Fomes fomentarius and Trametes versicolor, this research examines how environmental factors, particularly light, influence hyphal density and growth patterns. 

Preliminary findings reveal that controlled light exposure can induce distinct morphological patterns, such as ring formations, demonstrating light’s potential as a regulatory stimulus. By leveraging light to influence mycelial growth, this approach aims to establish a novel, light-driven biofabrication technique, enabling the creation of materials with custom properties and functional gradients. 

This study not only advances the understanding of mycelium’s responsive behaviour but also positions it as a versatile material for innovative applications in design, architecture, and biotechnology.