Rachel Armstrong has a problem with the way we build structures today. We use materials from the Victorian era - blueprints, manufacturing, construction and labor. This results in a one-way transfer of energy from our environment into our homes. Rachel says this is not sustainable and the model of construction needs to change.
Armstrong's idea, presented in her SolveforX talk Architecture that Repairs Itself, focuses on the idea that connecting structures and building to nature will result in true sustainability. She presents the idea of metabolism and frames it in terms of the living system vs its environment.
http://thisisalive.com/future-venice-growing-an-artificial-reef-under-the-city/
Rachel's central idea is the use of metabolic materials as architectural structures. Working with Martin Hanczyc from the University of Southern Denmark Armstrong has discovered some protocells that are able to undergo processes that are architectural in nature.
Protocells can shed their skin, extract carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and realign themselves. Building from the smallest unit of matter up into structures is the opposite of Victorian construction.
Limestone is used as an example in the TED talk - taken as it is the limestone is inert, strong and exists in layers. If the limestone was allowed to work with the atmosphere it might be able to grow, self-repair or process the carbon dioxide in the air.
Armstrong tells us that architects are never happy with one block of an interesting material. Architects dream big, and they want to take the block of material and replicate it into a large structure. Scaling up architectural materials might mean self-repair, or reclaiming areas that were previously condemned.
The city of Venice is used as an example throughout the talk - if a limestone reef was grown under the city could Venice exist for additional centuries? Limestone is required to be grown around the wooden piles that support the city. Tuning the stone allows the structure to organically grow toward or away from light.
Connecting a city's structure to the natural architecture grown through sustainable means will allow the city to thrive regardless of human influence. If the theories are proved correct then this organic bandage will allow Venice to thrive for centuries longer than if it was left unchecked.
Armstrong is full of incredibly large ideas that will take decades to prove and decades more to show their influence. The idea of building organic support structures for Venice is fantastic and the process of building protocells and an artificial reef are incredible. Rachel's hope for the future is that Venice will sit on solid footing and visitors will be unable to tell whether the city is supported by natural or synthetic means.
https://www.solveforx.com/moonshots/architecture-that-repairs-itself