The future is algae green

The #link:http://www.ecologicstudio.com/v2/project.php?idcat=3&idsubcat=71&idproj=147:Urban Algae Folly# is not the first urban construction by #link:http://www.ecologicstudio.com/v2/index.php:ecoLogicStudio#, which specializes in environmental design, but it might be the most vivid. Working on the basis that few architects are responding to the global ecological crisis, they created their Folly to show what is possible.

Part of the #link:http://www.milanworldsfair.com/:EXPO 2015 in Milan#, the novel construction integrates living micro-algae cultures into its structure. The algae can absorb CO2 from the urban atmosphere ten times more effectively than big trees, produce large amounts of oxygen, and serve as an edible source of protein. All the algae needs to work its wonders is salt, fresh water and an occassional trim. Claudia Pasquero is one of the creators of the Urban Algae Folly. We talked with her about the future of green urban architecture.

Global Ideas: Claudia, can you please explain the project's origin, how did it develop?

Claudia Pasquero: The project is part of almost 10 years research initiated by ecoLogicStudio in 2006 to integrate microalgae cultivation in dense urban environments. The work on this specific project started three years ago.

Apart from a canopy structure, what different shapes are possible?

The Urban Algae Folly system we have developed could be morphologically actualized for other urban prototype such as facades, roofs or other things. We are currently working on the feasibility of a façade project in London and have worked on various interior spaces able to cultivate microalgae such as the #link:http://www.ecologicstudio.com/v2/project.php?idcat=3&idsubcat=49&idproj=115:HORTUS series#.

At the moment, the canopy can be seen as a piece of art. Under which circumstances could it become part of our everyday life?

The canopy/folly is a temporary interactive pavilion at the moment, so it is somewhere between a piece of art and productive public space. We are now working on the adaptation of this Urban Algae Folly for the city of Braga in Portugal, where the structure will become a permanent feature in the city's Place de la Republica square, and of everyday life.

Why will it be important to integrate nature in buildings in the future?

We are interested in the definition of ecology given by Gregory Bateson in ‘Steps Towards an Ecology of Mind’. In these terms, ecology is not about check lists and zero energy but about interaction and networks of production.

Our Manifesto reads: ‘After architecture... a new Nature! We propose redefining the city as fertile terrain for breeding new practices for the synthesis of agri-urban ecosystems. The notion of agri-urbanity establishes a link between the instant/immaterial of contemporary digital urbanity with the slow/material that is inextricably related to the rural condition.

As these two regimes are correlated they resonate, generating new patterns of production and consumption; such patterns are representative of a new kind of ecologic city, an inherently dynamic and non-linear one; one that cannot be fully predicted, but that has to be experienced and must adjust in real time, day after day. Within this paradigm we seek to develop a new agency for architecture, to be discovered from a direct engagement with the vitality of bottom-up eco-social systems and processes.’

Thank you very much for the interview.