Visions of the Biocene
Much of our work addresses the question "what would it be like to live in a photosynthetic city?" and to this end we have explored the role of water in buildings and stages of growth within bio-integrated design and the aesthetics of heterogeneity. Our ultimate vision of scale is where the biosynthesis and homeostasis of a habitable environment is mediated through the action of organisms relying on sunlight and carbon dioxide as building blocks. Bio-integrated design proposes that we rethink our modes of construction, replacing linear supply chains and extractive processes with a decentralized mode of metabolism- autotrophy - as the foundation for material synthesis, waste recycling and energy production. The concept of the photosynthetic city seeks to create a more responsive built environment, accompanied by a new aesthetic agenda.
We regularly write, give lectures and participate in workshops that develop more fully the conceptual grounding of the Biocene. Drawing upon our academic work, our ongoing research and practice, we have been active in exploring elements of the Biocene House and Biocene Garden through an interdiscplinary lens.
Through our activities we seek to address fundamental questions about future inhabitation, materiality and biodiversity through implementation of new design, fabrication and biotechnology processes.
Subjects include:
Systems - the creation of visionary and biodiverse designs and the understanding of new behavioural traits that enables the prospect of bio-centric private and public domain.
Demonstrators and Prototypes - the development of a new microbiome-inspired green infrastructure of novel housing and garden typologies that include bioremediation, bioreceptivity, and synthetic soils. Through the creation of boundary objects we can begin to have conversations with multiple disciplinary communities.
Methods - beginning to propose how we may initiate a shift in crafting, manufacturing and building construction techniques to embed biotechnology. We are interested in viewing this from multiple viewpoints: technical, environmental, economic and social.
Aesthetics -what is the language of sustainability? We seek to probe the implications of the Biocene on the visual as well as the sensory and tactile.
We are interested in exchanges with economists, philosophers, and other domains to examine the implications of bio-integrated design. We welcome interactions with fiction writers or arts practitioners who are interested in exploring interpretations of the Biocene through creative works of theatre, film or media.
Selected publications:
Parker, B.; Cruz, M. ‘Augmented Polycultures Scaling up Algal Ecosystems and Design of a Biofouling Aesthetic’. In Being Algae, Critical Studies in Plant Science (ed Yogi Hale Hendlin, Johanna Weggelaar, Natalia Derossi and SergioMugnai). BRILL. Leiden, 2024
Parker, B.; Cruz, M. ‘Water in Facades’. In Integrative Facades: Everything that can happen between inside and outside (ed Cristina Pardal). Recolectores Urbanos Editorial. Barcelona, 2023
Cruz, M.; Parker, B. 'From Anthropocene to Biocene - Novel Bio-Integrated Design as a Means to Respond to the Current Biodiversity and Climate Crisis'. In Design Studio Vol. 4: Working at the Intersection - Architecture after the Anthropocene (eds. Harriet Harriss, Naomi House). RIBA Publishing. London, 2022
Cruz, M.; Parker, B. 'Microbial to Tectonic'. In Microbial Ecologies, Antennae Journal (ed Giovannii Aloi). Chicago, 2022
Vivaldi, J. 'Bio-integrated Design / Interview with Marcos Cruz'. In Black Ecologies. IaaC Bits. Barcelona, 2019
Cobas, M. 'Marcos Cruz. La Imperfeccion Como Oportunidad'. In Entrevistas 3, FARQ. Montevideo, 2017
Cruz, M. El Cuerpo Habitable de la Arquitectura. FARQ. Montevideo, 2015
Paz Agras, L. 'M Cruz - Arquitectura como Ecologia'. In Dardo Magazine. A Coruna, 2014
Cruz, M. The Inhabitable Flesh of Architecture. Routledge. London/New York, 2013
Cruz, M.; Pike, S. (guest editors). AD - Neoplasmatic Design, Vol. 78 No. 6. Wiley. London/New York, 2008
