Archinect - News

Researchers use cellulose and algae to create 3D printed architectural material

2024-02-09T13:46:00-05:00

Researchers at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden have published their study into how materials made from nanocellulose and algae can be used as sustainable architectural materials. The research, conducted in collaboration with the Wallenberg Wood Science Center, “shows how the abundant sustainable material can be 3D printed into a wide array of architectural components, using much less energy than conventional construction methods,” according to the team.

Nanocellulose, molecules consisting of hundreds or thousands of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen atoms, are already used in biomedicine to 3D print scaffolds for tissue and cell growth but have never been used in an architectural material. The researchers, therefore, mixed nanocellulose fibers and water with an algae-based material called alginate to produce a 3D printable material with architectural uses in mind.

“For the first time...

SOM unveils new algae-based Bio-Blocks technology at the Chicago Architecture Biennial

2023-09-29T14:01:00-04:00

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) has debuted a new concrete alternative material as part of its participation in the fifth Chicago Architecture Biennial (CAB 5), which is taking place now through February 11th at multiple locations citywide.

The firm’s Bio-Blocks technology is being presented as a replacement for traditional Concrete Masonry Units (or CMUs) and can reduce emissions on a project by up to 8% if used at scale. The blocks were fabricated with help from Prometheus Materials using microalgae that were then subject to the company’s patent-pending photosynthetic biocementation process. The results seen therein offer a one-metric-ton total offset, according to the product team.

Image © Dave Burk | Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM)

Displayed in a spiral construction courtesy of the International Masonry Institute and J&E Duff, Inc., in The Mews space at their 167 Green development in the city’s Fulton Market District, the product demonstrates its future potential as a building...

UNC Charlotte architecture professor awarded $1 million grant towards incorporating algae in windows

2022-09-08T10:02:00-04:00

A professor of architecture from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte has been awarded a $1 million grant for the development of windows that incorporate screens of microalgae. Professor Kyoung Hee Kim, who has spent decades researching the topic, believes her “biochromic windows” will offer multiple environmental, economic, and health benefits.

Image via EcoClosure

The system is designed to reduce building energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions through "closed-loop regenerable technology." According to Professor Kim, the algae layer can increase energy efficiency and improve air quality, carbon capture, and renewable energy production. The tint and color of the algae can also respond to solar intensity and daylight to create optimal indoor conditions.

Excess algae can be used to support domestic water heating or harvested and used in the development of food, fertilizer, cosmetics, and biofuels, according to Professor Kim’s company EcoClosure.

“Algae has very effe...

Company uses algae to develop masonry blocks with help from SOM, Autodesk, and Microsoft

2022-06-10T08:15:00-04:00

Prometheus Materials, a Colorado-based developer of zero-carbon building materials, has announced the securing of $8 million in funding from investors including Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, The Autodesk Foundation, and the Microsoft Climate Innovation Fund.

The funds form part of an effort by Prometheus to develop a zero-carbon alternative to traditional Portland cement by using microalgae. From its facility at Longmont, Colorado, the company hopes to develop commercial-grade masonry blocks as an “affordable, strong, and durable zero-carbon alternative” to concrete blocks.

Prometheus President, CEO, and Co-Founder Loren Burnett. Image: Prometheus Materials

“To prevent catastrophic climate change, we cannot simply replace fossil fuels with renewable forms of energy – we must also decarbonize the way we create building materials,” explained Loren Burnett, Co-Founder, President and CEO of Prometheus Materials.

“By using biological rather than chemical means to create a strong, dur...

The case for a semi-permeable architecture

2018-01-29T20:18:00-05:00

Our current built environment squanders too much fresh water and other vital resources, and tips too many poisonous substances into our surroundings. To develop a more sustainable relationship with the natural world, we need to allow chemical exchanges that take place within our living spaces, and between the inside and the outside. We need to embrace permeability.

Professor of experimental architecture, Rachel Armstrong, endorses a renewed symbiotic relationship between the built and the natural worlds and explains the benefits of permeability with the help of recent technological developments in the field of biodesign, such as mycotecture, algaetecture, bioplastics, and a variety of bioreactors.

More details on microalgae façade “SolarLeaf”, a Zumtobel Group Award 2014 nominee

2014-08-11T20:34:00-04:00

"SolarLeaf" has been described as the world's first bioreactive façade that can help further research into algae as a potential renewable energy source. Designed by ARUP, SSC Strategic Science Consult, and Colt International, the façade was recently selected as one of 15 nominees for the prestigious Zumtobel Group Award 2014 in the award program's newest category, "Applied Innovations".

More project details on Bustler.

Water Crisis in Toledo, OH Spurs Calls for Restrictions on Use of Fertilizers

2014-08-06T14:07:00-04:00

As residents of Toledo, Ohio, and the surrounding region recover from a weekend without access to usable tap water — the fault of a toxic algae bloom in Lake Erie — the crisis has set off new calls for stricter rules on the use the fertilizers that help contribute to the blooms. The algae bloom set off alarms on Saturday, causing authorities to impose a ban on the use of the city’s tap water, which comes from Lake Erie, affecting more than 400,000 people in Toledo...

The Urban Algae Canopy shows the power of "algaetecture" for Milan Expo 2015

2014-04-17T19:27:00-04:00

Here's another look at what to expect at the Milan Expo in 2015. As part of the Expo's Future Food District project, the Urban Algae Canopy shows the great potential of micro algae organisms for integrative greener, cleaner bio-digital architecture. London-based ecoLogicStudio designed the pavilion in collaboration with local architect Cesare Griffa.

Full-scale prototypes of the pavilion are currently being previewed at the INTERNI ‘Feeding New Ideas for the City’ exhibition at Cortile d’Onore, University of Milan, Festa del Perdono happening until April 18.

Once it's fully built, the canopy will be able to produce oxygen equivalent to 4 hectares of woodland and up to 150kg of biomass per day -- 60% of which are natural vegetal proteins.

Dig into the project details right below:

"The Urban Algae Canopy, based on ecoLogicStudio’s six years long research on building integrated bio-digital systems, is presented here with a 1:1 scale prototype of the world’s first bio-digital canopy integra...

From microchips to algae: Finding ways to make buildings that live, breathe and think

2013-05-23T13:33:00-04:00

The BioIntelligent Quotient House, which opened in March, is the first to use external tubes of algae to help heat, shade and generate power for the building. But Khoury Levit Fong (KLF), the Toronto firm in which el-Khoury is a partner, came up with the idea six years ago, and incorporated it into a design that won – then lost – an international competition for a huge new museum in Shenzhen, a major Chinese city near Hong Kong.

German building uses algae for heating and cooling

2013-04-25T17:54:00-04:00

A new apartment complex in Hamburg, Germany, intends to generate heat, as well as revenue, from growing the micro-organism. The five-story Bio Intelligent Quotient (B.I.Q.) building, which was expected to become fully operational on Wednesday, has a high-tech facade that looks like a cross between a Mondrian painting and a terrarium but is actually a vertical algae farm.

Flushing toilets could heat future buildings

2012-03-20T14:09:00-04:00

OriginOil, a start-up based in Los Angeles, CA., has begun a pilot of its urban algae farm concept at the La Défense complex near Paris. Wastewater from buildings nourishes algae growth; algae is processed to make heat. The company is attempting to prove that integrating algae production into large building complexes will help bring them closer to net zero.