Thora H Arnardottir

Senior Research Associate

Thora H Arnardottir is a postdoctoral researcher in Living Construction at Northumbria University working on Living Material Fabrication and Design. She earned her PhD from Newcastle University’s School of Architecture, Planning, and Landscape. Her thesis, titled "Bacterial Sculpting: A Processual Approach to Forming with Unruly Matter," explored laboratory experiments on microbially-induced calcium carbonate precipitation (MICCP). This research challenged conventional perspectives by suggesting a radical departure from anthropocentric views. It proposed a world where building materials are not merely inert objects shaped by human design but are active, living co-creators in the formation of structures. Additionally, she was a design-led researcher on the Thinking Soils project and a Research Associate on the Living Manufacture project.

Thora H Arnardottir has experience in Architectural Design and Microbiology and is a practicing designer specialising in living materials and bio-fabrication. With expertise in bacterial biomineralization, her research addresses the possibilities of integrating biological systems in the built environment and aims at combining biotic agency with design concepts and innovative crafting techniques. 

She co-runs a collective called BioBabes an experimental research group that works in the in-between spaces of design, science, and biology and focuses on the exploration of biomaterials and design through interactive devices.

www.thoraha.com

Current Projects

This PhD research focuses on exploring the design potential of bacterial-induced biomineralisation. A process that sits within the speculations regarding our changing relationship with nature through engineered biological systems and new material processes. This research focuses on how this type of living material can be used in design and architecture in an attempt to facilitate a dialogue with a living system. A relation of co-designership aimed not at producing programmable and predictable design processes but at understanding and becoming able to follow a new design language. The goal in approaching bacterial biomineralisation as a joint craft expression with these micro-co-designers is to develop to some extent a sculpting technique with the bacteria, by taking into consideration and facilitating them with a particular agency in the development of the final shape.
This project aims to manipulate bacterial cellulose material during growth by integrate genetically engineered microbes and the design and building of a novel bioreactor as a part of a new type of 3D printer. The project will establish the principles of a new industrial fabrication system based on controlled biological production of biopolymers through growth. This new biofabrication system will have potential applications in a wide range of areas, including biomedical applications, complex composites for high-performance manufacturing and novel consumer products.
This project, proposes to develop a solution that mobilises locally sourced materials for the on-site production of interior wall tiles. Using volcanic materials, which are extremely light and easily found in the Icelandic landscape, our project aims at developing bespoke moulds to cast tiles that blend in with the local landscape with the aid of a natural process, biomineralisation, that does not require high heat or high energy. While the majority of the construction materials deployed in Iceland are imported, our project proposes a scalable, local solution for a global problem.