In this studio, students will build an algae-powered pavilion at NuVu that will serve as a healing space for both NuVu community and its environment. Students will explore the potential uses of living cells for sustainable design, such as filtering air, making biomaterials, detecting and neutralizing harmful chemicals, photosynthesis, and biofuel production. Students will also learn about imagining, planning, and constructing an architectural space.

I am an architect and biologist by education, and I am super excited to teach biodesign studios at NuVu. In my academic research at MIT, I work on growing, shaping, and patterning materials that are living and bioactive for sustainable future product and architectural design. This past September I finished my dissertation on biologically active materials in architecture, and I now work as a postdoctoral researcher at the Synthetic Biology center at MIT.  In my work I combine tools from architectural design, digital fabrication, materials science, and synthetic biology, collaborating with both creative scientists and creative designers.