Houses of Beetles and Bones
Above is an image of a lamp and a series of ceilings in the royal palace of Brussels. They are covered with beetle wings as part of an exhibit called Heaven of Delight by Jan Fabre. The effect is extraordinarily stunning. While this up-close image might be a little bit off-putting, from far away the interplay of light and depth on these iridescent wings is fantastic. Achieving such depth and iridescence through artificial means would be incredibly difficult, if not impossible.
This stunning use of animal material stands in stark contrast to our built environment, which remains overwhelmingly geologic – perhaps 99% so. Stone, whether hewn or poured. Dirt, whether packed or baked. Metal. Sand. Rightfully so, as these are the most obvious ways to make things that last. Life is fleeting but stone stays. Wood stands alone as the icon of architecture that is biological, and thankfully there have been some fantastic developments in the world of Mass Timber technology and adoption. Biophilia has been a hot topic for at least a decade now. However, this often translates narrowly into Floraphilia – an affinity primarily for plants. People want wood buildings, views to gardens, and perhaps imitation plant walls, largely drawing from the botanical realm. Biotech is improving rapidly, bringing us closer to a time where truly biologic materials can be more readily used as both structure and finish. We will soon see who's really Biophilic.
Above are examples: a pavilion seemingly grown from mycelium and another crafted from silk. The mycelium pavilion is from Biobased Creation’s work at Dutch Design Week, while the silk pavilion is Silk Pavilion 1 by Neri Oxman during her time at MIT’s Mediated Matter group. These materials, while perhaps novel, might seem less alien than beetle wings; the mycelium, though, can be off-putting if shown unfinished. Ultimately, materials like these represent a step just beyond traditional wood.
If embracing traditional biological materials like wood and appreciating garden views constitutes Biophilia Level 1 (Floraphilia), then Level 2 involves an acceptance of spaces incorporating less conventional or even living floral or fungal elements. At this layer, one could imagine an entirely wood building insulated with mycelium panels, or using internal tension systems made of silk or spider web. This might even be grown in place, like a living root bridge but for a whole building. Imagine your house had leaves that fell off in the winter, and bloomed in the spring. At a more realistic level, modified algae, molds, or bacterium genetically engineered to produce materials for the structure of your home could allow for some self-repair and response to specific stimulus.
Moving further, Biophilia Level 3 ventures into the animal kingdom, likely starting with invertebrates and potentially incorporating actively managed living systems. This would probably largely involve Invertebrates. Modified coral stimulated and grown in just the right way. Huge pools offshore in which custom homes are grown and lifted up by crane. There is a great variety of coral texture that you could select from for your home finish. In fact, at this point, we've probably modified the zooxanthellae algae that give coral their color so you can pick your color rather than being stuck with that bleached rocky tone. We can now grow specific stem cells in massive hydrogel pools and make entire panels of specific features. Your plumbing system is actually a series of enlarged darkling beetle microstructures to absorb, direct, and filter water from rain or humidity. Your roof is longhorn beetle, allowing for passive daytime radiative cooling. If you want the blue iridescence of a butterfly wing, or autumn leaf gold, you can purchase them as 'wallpapers'.
Level 4 represents the stage many would find deeply challenging or unappealing: incorporating materials and systems derived directly from vertebrates – Muscles, Bones, Hair, Blood. Unlike the first 3 levels, widespread use here seems highly unlikely, both for reasons of social acceptance and ethics, and because many functions could likely be achieved equally well or better using features from fungi, bacteria, or arthropods. But still, one could imagine thermal regulation using modified blood from arctic fish. Chameleon skin color-changing material. Soft-robotics using something like octopus tissue for accurate and free movement. Maybe the occasional artificial tendon or muscle for mechanical purposes.
Realistically, significant hurdles – technical, ethical, and aesthetic – likely mean that widespread adoption will be largely confined to Level 1 and perhaps Level 2 biophilia, at least aesthetically, for the foreseeable future. Individual biological processes or materials will certainly find off-site applications, but our structures may struggle to become significantly more biologic than geologic on a large scale. We often love the aesthetics of nature and excel at imitating its forms. Yet, even as biotech grants us increasing ability to shape and mold life itself, we may find ourselves still preferring imitation over true integration. However, exploring these possibilities, from beetle wings to living walls, pushes the boundaries of design and forces us to reconsider our relationship with the biological world. One can still imagine.