Not just another brick in the wall
Smart’ bricks which can recycle wastewater and generate electricity are being created as part of a new project aiming to transform the places where we live and work.
The €3.2m LIAR (Living Architecture) scheme is co-ordinated by Newcastle University and includes experts from the universities of the West of England (UWE Bristol), Trento, the Spanish National Research Council; LIQUIFER Systems Group and EXPLORA.
This project will develop blocks able to extract resources from sunlight, waste water and air. The bricks are able to fit together and create ‘bioreactor walls’ which could then be incorporated in housing, public buildings and office spaces.
Each block will contain a microbial fuel cell, filled with programmable synthetic microorganisms developed by experts at UWE Bristol. Robotically activated, each chamber will contain a variety of microorganisms specifically chosen to clean water, reclaim phosphate, generate electricity and create new detergents. The living cells that will make up the wall will be able to sense their surroundings and respond to them through a series of digitally coordinated mechanisms.
'The best way to describe what we’re trying to create is a "biomechanical cow’s stomach",' said Rachel Armstrong, Professor of Experimental Architecture at Newcastle University, UK, who is co-ordinating the project. 'It contains different chambers, each processing organic waste for a different, but overall related, purpose – like a digestive system for your home or your office.'
Professor Andrew Adamatzky, Director of the Centre for Unconventional Computing at UWE Bristol, who will lead on the digital coordinated mechanisms, added: 'We will produce buildings which are biological computers.'