Rachel Armstrong: Architecture That Repairs Itself?

     Rachel Armstrong and her team are designing living architecture. They've developed protocells that have the properties of a living system and can become the framework of any building. She wants to step away from the ancient Victorian technology of inert structures based on blueprints and move towards architecture that can repair itself, building from the bottom up rather than from the top down.
     I simply can't get over the imagination of this woman. I don't think I could even imagine such a seemingly outlandish technology, nevermind actually develop DNA-less cells that can grow in accordance to their engineering. Depending on how they're engineered, they can grow towards light, away from light, grow different materials, etc. They metabolize carbon dioxide in order to grow, meaning these cells are both sustainable and help clean the atmosphere. This sounds like the things of dreams, not something we actually have microscopic pictures of.
     Armstrong and her team hope to implement their new technology to save the sinking city of Venice by building a limestone reef around the wooden piles that currently support it. It would take years to fully develop, but once implemented, the limestone-building protocells would both sink carbon dioxide in the water and create an underwater ecosystem.
     This talk is an eye-opener to what is achievable. It almost seems that whatever one can dream up is in some way possible. Architectural materials that can grow? It sounds like an almost laughable notion. But with the evidence of how much progress they've made, it becomes an incredible scientific feat. Isn't that the case with any great achievement? When someone thinks so far outside the box, they become a laughing stock until they do the "impossible" and shock the world.
     So let's try to stretch our minds beyond the norm and reclaim some of our childhood imagination. Let's start imagining that anything's possible because more and more it seems that it is.


This blog is based on a TED Talk by Rachel Armstrong: http://www.ted.com/talks/rachel_armstrong_architecture_that_repairs_itself.html