Lecture Grounded Futures: A New Biogeology for Barcelona

« Grounded Futures: A New Biogeology for Barcelona » project proposes an approach to transform Barcelona's construction waste into local and sustainable materials. Starting from the observation that urbanization has created "technosols" a constructed mass rich in calcium inherited from the region's marine history the project utilizes biomineralization. This technique combines the calcium-rich urban debris with Mediterranean algae to create new materials. The goal is to reintroduce "soft materials" (biomineralized matter) into construction to ensure healthy spaces and integrate the built environment into an equilibrium with the local ecosystem. The conference will present the development of three materials resulting from this systemic approach and their implementation in an architectural-scale project.