Living cyanobacteria architecture: human, nature, and machine in an occupied envelope
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Authors
Joharchi, Tarlan
Issue Date
2024-08
Type
Electronic thesis
Thesis
Thesis
Language
en_US
Keywords
Architecture
Alternative Title
Abstract
The scarcity of resources and catastrophic effects of climate change call for ecologically conscious built environments. Human activities, especially in the building sector, have contributed to global greenhouse gas emissions, waste generation, and depletion of renewable materials. Post-Anthropocene architecture necessitates an alternative environmental system approach, which involves incorporating nature in design thinking and processes to mitigate the crisis. In today's techno-bio-mediated societies, humans, nature, and machines interact with and construct each other. This research design aims to investigate how a living building system, involving interactions between humans, nature, and machines, can address environmental challenges in the building sector, such as CO2 emissions, waste treatment, and the use of renewable materials. The study is material-specific and used Cyanobacteria, a living and renewable matter, as an integral component of the living building system. The research progressed at three scales. In scale A, the living system was introduced in a lab-scale photobioreactor in an Arduino-based growth chamber. In scale B, the results and calculations from previous scale were extended to a specific location to study real site-specific environmental conditions on a larger surface scale. The system was considered in the context of a case study for a high-rise hotel in New York City. In the last scale, broader social and ecological relationships were considered. This involved the study of material and surface in an extended scope of marginal spheres and occupied envelopes. Results of the first scale indicate that with a photoperiod of L: D = 12 h: 12 h, red color LED with approximately 275.7 µmol/m2/s, effective mixing and aeration, we could monitor the temperature, pH and TDS real-time through the written Grasshopper script, and maintain them at approximately 30.58°C and 10.97 respectively. TDS values indicated the absence of harmful contamination in the culture. In the next step, the photobioreactors were parametrically designed and optimized for the specific site climate and solar data. In the last scale, in an occupied envelope, marginal spheres with wind cavities and thermal cyanobacteria windows were introduced. The power and heat generation and CO2 elimination of the living system were calculated. In a 40-story hotel with a 10,200 ft2 surface area, we have 972 active photobioreactors. The total 12 small roof-top wind turbines generate 83.62 MWh of power. It is estimated that the living system generates 11,9207.45 KWh of biomass heat annually and is estimated to eliminate 47.04 tons of CO2 annually. In conclusion, integrating cyanobacteria as a living material into a building system is a complex and multiscalar analysis. The Arduino-based growth chamber is effective in optimizing, monitoring, and simplifying the growth and cultivation process. In the next scale, the parametric system can effectively optimize the configuration of the photobioreactors in the south and east angles of the hotel building. In the last scale, the living system potential in power and heat generation and CO2 elimination were evaluated. Heat generation through biomass and power generation through the small wind turbines help to lower the building HVAC load. The ultimate goal is to promote ecological consciousness by showcasing the entire living system and creating spatial variabilities through thermal regulation strategies. The system analysis at multiple scales eventuates the potential of the living cyanobacteria architecture to mitigate CO2 emissions and waste while generating renewable sources in building systems.
Description
August 2024
School of Architecture
School of Architecture
Full Citation
Publisher
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY