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8.6.2 Responsive Manifiolds Nina Jotanovic
Responsive Manifolds
Architecture able to sense environment through its microbiome
Introduction
Traditional and settled way of thinking about architecture and its materials argues that architecture should be constant, able to resist all environmental factors and to meet any upcoming changes by staying in the same state. This is why all the efforts in terms of design and material invention have been focused on providing uniform behavior and repelling any possible appearance of natural, living things. Nature on the other hand have completely different approach, it changes daily, seasonly and evolutionary. Flexibility and permeability of the system, allows nature to adapt to different environmental conditions. Architecture should follow this example and become more sensitive and open to the environment, able to sense the change and to respond to it. In the cases where architecture follows this approach, becomes responsive and adaptive to some environmental factors, it is again with sealed elements, that are energy consuming and polluting for the environment. Sensors and actuators used in these particular solutions are not taking into consideration eco-system that is being highly impacted by urbanization and high densities in urban areas. In general, most of the examples of responsive architecture tend to make better living conditions for inhabitants, but have very little regards to nature. There is always a clear border between man-made and nature. Therefore, it could be argued that environmentally responsive architecture is more about protecting human habitats from the nature, than really adapting to it. Adapting should be considering integration of the nature, making the best of the both worlds. This is why architecture has to move on from its hermetic state and include nature in the design as concurrent architectural elements. What if the sensors and actuators are actually living organism? Every living organism is extremely sensorial, and if only as much effort would be put in trying to use these organism, instead of constantly fighting them, architecture could Cover - Responsive Manifolds, IaaC Archive 2
become environmentally responsive and improve the eco-system at the same time. Kinetic architecture, passive solutions based on smart materials and programmable material behavior, may be not the only way to make architecture environmentally responsive. Intention to encourage growth reveals new design parameters. Different living species, such as microorganisms, which were once only unwanted are now considered to be a new chance for advancement in architecture. Recent research have shown that microorganisms have a significant impact on the eco-system. Unique set of microorganism is inhabiting every human being and influences mental and physical health. Buildings are not different, each one has its own set of microorganisms, it’s own microbiome, which tends to become more and more important in the design process as it influences human health as well.
Opportunities in Microorganisms
Term microorganisms, especially bacteria, mostly carries negative connotation. It is often associated with disease and contamination. When on the contrary, there are only few harmful bacteria. Most of them run very beneficial processes in and on our bodies and in our environment. For example, eating good bacteria can improve our immune system, while over-sterilized conditions can cause our system to become more prone to allergies. Another research comes to a conclusion that exposure to some species of a natural soil bacterium can increase learning behavior. Besides naturally occurring bacteria with helpful properties there are species of bacteria that are genetically engineered to run other potentially beneficial processes. Grow and repair building material, detect land mines and pollution, clean harmful chemicals from environment, store data and many others. Unfortunately, there are very few examples of these discoveries being applied outside the microbiology laboratories. Outside implies bringing them from completely supervised and sterilized conditions to exposed world full of existing potential contaminators. There are three main difficulties to overcome in order to successfully grow desired species in the open. Contamination from other, unwanted bacterial species is hard to prevent. When designing optimum conditions to grow desired species, many of those conditions are common for any other bacterial species in the environment and in(on) human bodies. Thus meaning they can inhabit our geometry and overpopulate our desired, performative bacteria. The second challenge is providing constant moisture, which is essential to bacterial growth. Additionally, if it is genetically engineered bacteria it is very hard and in cases forbidden by the law to take them out of laboratory and use them as anything else but experimental studies. Nevertheless, it is only matter of time when bacteria will leave laboratories and enter our everyday lives as solution for many problems.
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Response and Bacteria
Regarding the aim of the research to integrate living organisms into architecture and thus make it environmentally responsive, the focus of the research in domain of microorganisms was on bacterial species that could evoke and be recognized by the human senses. This implied bacterial species able to provide chromatic change. Investigating bacteria species that change color led to revelation that there are four ways in which bacteria can preform this change. In simple words following categories can be made: bacteria naturally secreting colored substance, genetically engineered bacteria, bacteria reacting with growing medium and bacteria reacting with chemical solution. Experiments have been done for every category in order to find out which bacteria species could be integrated in architecture and manipulated in a way to change color according to environmental factor. All experiments have been done outside the laboratory, in petri dishes with non-laboratory agar - growing medium made and sterilized in home conditions, containing only ingredients that can be found in supermarket and stores of food supplements. Agar is general growing medium for all microorganism. There are different types of agar that slightly varies and therefore can be welcoming for some species, but not for all. Nevertheless, if agar is introduced to open environment it will attract many bacterial species, and not only the one we would like to grow. Although the bacteria we inoculate and intend to grow are harmless, we will contaminate it with bacteria we are caring in and on our bodies, that could be pathogenic. Contamination also occurs from bacteria in the environment. As genetically engineered bacteria was excluded for application in architecture because of the current laws, and bacteria naturally secreting colored substance was proven to be hard to obtain, focus was shifted to bacteria reacting with growing medium or with chemical solution. By investigating the species that are easy to obtain and completely harmless to work with, lactobacillus was discovered. Lactobacillus is a very common bacteria species in and our bodies. It can also be contained in yogurt, where it helps the body absorb nutrients and maintain the right balance of helpful bacteria. It is a member of lactic acid bacteria, meaning it converts lactose and other sugars to lactic acid. This bacteria has ability to turn blue if in contact with chemical solution, X-gal. X-gal (BCIG for 5-bromo4-chloro- 3-indolyl-β-D-galactopyranoside) is a colorless organic compound. Bacteria, such as lactobacillus, that has Lac-Z gene and β-galactosidase enzyme breaks down the solution and releases blue color. Therefore when X-gal is present in growing medium, if bacteria starts to grow it will turn from white to blue. This method was used to indicate where and how fast bacteria is growing. Time over which chromatic change from white to blue happens, indicates speed of bacterial growth and makes bacteria visible. Visibility enabled keeping track if geometry and material in the experiments are successful for bacterial growth. On the contrary of the most bacterial species, Lactobacillus needs slightly acidic growing medium which prevented contamination. Figure 1 - Responsive Manifolds, IaaC Archive
Growth and Geometry
Generally speaking, all bacterial species need nutrients (found in growing medium), right temperature to grow and moisture. Growing medium itself consists of around 95% water. When kept closed in a petri dish it maintains this moisture but when open it tends to dry out very fast. Time of drying depends on weather conditions - temperature, wind and sun exposure (all three factors speed up the process of drying out). This condition for constant moisture and temperature requirements became the main parameters driving the geometry. New computational softwares enables design to emerge from set of variables, different parameters and mathematical rules. These softwares provide an opportunity to truly simulate growth, which provides a better understanding of geometries in the nature. Transitional patterns in the nature, were the main focus of geometry analysis in the research. Opposite to the nature architecture fails when it comes to transitions. In buildings, transitions are hard and visible. From wall to roof, from hard to soft, from opaque to transparent, architecture rarely performs a soft change. Nature on the other side with very subtle changes in geometry and/ or material properties manages to grow very different parts or have various functions. Software development enables designers to play with different parameters in order to bring transitions in architecture closer to natural ones, more efficient and smoother. In the research, transitional geometries, these slight changes are the ones controlling bacterial growth - from texturized to smooth, from sun exposed to shaded, from introverted to extroverted geometry. Transformation of growth conditions into design parameters can be explained through two levels of geometry: micro and macro. Micro level considers surface qualities. Bacteria are prone to grow on certain types of surfaces, while some other types seem to repeal bacterial growth. Convenient surfaces depend on either material properties or geometry of the surface. Rough, jagged and craggy surfaces are more hospitable to bacteria. This is because these surfaces catch the impurities, retain water and provide shade conditions, therefore more moisture. Experiments showed that when bacteria is inoculated on different surface geometries they always grow the best in notches, slits and grooves. This is the case even when all other conditions, including nutrients, water and temperature, are the same. Different surface geometries and textures were tested for bacterial receptivity. These surfaces have been altered by different parameters, including specific species of microorganism or particularities of environmental conditions. Beside surface texture, very important parameter is the scale of these textures. Scale has important part in bacterial growth, as well as in perception. Microorganism are not visible, only in form of color patches. Neither the texture and geometries designed to host microorganism can be recognized from all distances. Because of this our perception changes Figure 2 - Responsive Manifolds, IaaC Archive 8
with the distance of looking, every step closer reveals a new layer of geometry. Variations in surface geometry can control and manipulate bacterial growth. But, as bacteria are living organisms not everything can be predicted. This is why it is very important that geometry, except providing the conditions for hosting and controlling the growth, takes into account that patches of color that will be shown, therefore the growth, might not always follow our design intentions. The design itself has to be capable of carrying out many possible growth scenarios. On macro level geometry is driven by environmental factors which are affecting bacterial growth. To provide optimum possible conditions for growth different geometries are required based on different locations and orientations. This, once again, is proving the necessity of transitional geometry. Research investigates 360 degrees exposure in order to find appropriate respond for all orientations. In the same way that environmental conditions are changing slightly with every degree, the geometry is changing to provide best possible condition for the growth.
Environment and Geometry
Based on the characteristics of its climate, Belgrade (Serbia) was chosen as a site for designing a round-shaped, 360 degree exposed pavilion. Humid continental climate zone has four season and uniformly spread precipitation, the most important characteristic for bacterial growth. Presence of four seasons influences bacterial growth as well. From spring when temperature are high and there is enough moisture to make growth bloom, to winter when temperature are as low to make growth stop, and bacteria hibernate. The most challenging season is summer, because of lower precipitation. Fall, on the other hand, with it’s high precipitation provides good conditions for slower growth due to the lower temperatures. Seasonal changes affects bacterial growth, which links temperature change to chromatic variations provided by bacteria throughout growing cycles. To design overall geometry of the pavilion site was analyzed in respect to: sun exposure, rainfall and dominant winds. Pavilion is a cylinder, whose shape was adapted according to environmental factors and bacterial growth. Bacterial growth requires high temperature, but to maintain moisture areas with bacteria shouldn’t be directly exposed to sun rays. Growth requires moisture, but it shouldn’t be directly exposed to rainfall, as it might wash away desired species. Direct wind is not desirable in areas with bacteria because it makes them drier. These requirements suggested that the pavilion needs to be exposed and protected at the same time. For this reason pavilion became an open cylinder, with double-sided envelope. Connection and exchange between two envelopes are enabling pavilion to be both exposed and protected. This also suggested type of material to be used, material that could transfer temperature and could be both absorptive and repellent to water. Global geometry of the pavilion is altered in a way to: provide the shade on the side where bacterial cells are located, transfer temperature to bacteria cells without direct exposure, provide moisture by use 453 of the rainfall and distribute it to bacterial cells and protect bacterial cells from the wind to avoid evaporation and drying out. To protect south-facing surface, pavilion’s upper circle was enlarged and leaned towards south to provide shade on the outer face and protect it from main rain direction. Leaning made inner envelope more horizontal, and therefore more exposed to sun and rain. Inner envelope is primary the water channeling surface. Surface consists of many grooves, indentations and channels. Disposition and organization of grooves are dependent on the position in the pavilion. The more horizontal the envelope surface is the more branched and shallower the grooves become. At the very top and the most horizontal part grooves disappear and thin tall spikes start to emerge. Spikes are catching the water drops making them slide to the pavilion surface. Together with spikes, branched grooves are catching and collecting the rainfall, they become aligned and straight when they turn vertical, and as such channel and lead water to deeper indentations. These indentations are 10
the touching point of two envelopes, a point where they merge into one single surface. They have a shape that slows down the water and keeps it in as a storage hub. Kept water is being absorbed by the material to the outer envelope, slowly moisturizing the bacteria. Outer envelope consists of smooth in-folds that in the deepest, best protected area become texturized and host the bacteria. The temperature requirements are also transferred on the touching point of two envelopes, as the distance between them disappears and they become one, the temperature transfers through the material.
Material Manipulation
In terms of material, main feature to look for was potential for bacterial receptivity. This underlines few characteristics of materials: porosity and water/ moisture absorption, manipulation of absorption and porosity, possibility for high level of details and possible fabrication of complex computational studies. Initial research was focused on finding a soft, porous material able to host microorganism by its own material properties. In this case geometry matters only to improve receptivity to a certain level, material properties alone are enough to host and grow microorganisms. On the other hand, because material is so welcoming it is not possible to completely control bacterial growth in terms of desired species and area where the growth needs to happen. On the opposite, when material by its characteristics only can’t host microorganism, it needs a specific geometry to enable grow to happen. This at first might seem as s disadvantage, but actually it provided a greater control over growth and overall appearance. The greater control possible over water absorption and over very fine details, the greater are the chances to sync needs for bacterial growth, environmental conditions and perception. Through series of prototypes in different materials, research came to ceramics as suitable material that posses all the requested characteristics.
Discussion
Designed pavilion is sensitive to seasonal temperature changes and responds with chromatic variations, performed by living bacteria. Pavilion consists of two very different envelopes, one acts as receiver of environmental conditions and the other one hosts color emitting bacteria. Internal exchange of these two envelopes creates necessary conditions of temperature and moisture for bacterial growth. Performance of both envelopes is based on geometry properties and material manipulation. Design manipulates and controls growth, with acceptance of possible appearance of unpredicted growth scenarios. Living bacteria is integrated in the pavilion as responsive element. Sensorial parts of the architecture are alive sensors, who are taking in consideration microbiome of the building and its importance in the ecosystem. Response in form of chromatic variation have a very important role
in creating spatial experience and memory of the place. Seasonal changes influence human habits and mood, and colors in architecture have the same impact. Furthermore, color industry is petroleum-based and once we run out of the resources, we will miss the small things, like colors, as well. While, at the same time microorganisms can provide sustainable, recyclable and nontoxic substitutes for chromatic pigments. Architecture is shifting its design intentions from protecting from the nature to making a symbiosis with the living. A symbiotic relation, where architecture is host for living organisms - its performative elements. Once able to host and keep organisms alive by proper geometry and material, there is only a matter of using the species to achieve desired performance. Architecture has to learn to be open, find a moment to let go of control, step a side and let the nature do. If micribiome and living is the new focus of our design intentions we could improve our greatly damaged eco-system and treat nature respectfully. To make advancements close collaboration between architects and microbiologist have to be established. There are great possibilities lying in the exchange of knowledge between disciplines. It is the integration of the living which will shape the architecture capable of sensing, notifying inhabitants about he change, purifying the surrounding and improving relation to the nature.
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Figure 3,4 - Responsive Manifolds, IaaC Archive
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