Former physician who now creates biological 'living' architecture
Will the buildings of the future be alive?
Organic building design goes beyond green living and sustainability – New, living technologies such as 'proto-cells' can eat carbon dioxide and protect not only the buildings, but the wider environment. "Living" paint on the wall of your house sounds futuristic, but it's not far away.
Rachel Armstrong is an interdisciplinary researcher and sci-fi writer. She is a Senior Lecturer in Research & Enterprise at the University of Greenwich & Co-director of architectural research group, AVATAR. Her speciality is Synthetic Biology & Architecture.
Her pioneering collaborative work on the 'Future Venice' project proposes that it may be possible to stop the historic city from sinking into the mud on which its foundations are based, by growing an artificial limestone reef underneath it. This could be engineered using 'protocells', a programmable, life-like chemical system that can make artificial shell-like material, as well as working symbiotically with the native wildlife in the Venetian waterways.
