2010 NEXT GENERATION

WINNER
,,

BIOMANUFACTUREO BRICK­
A HOW-TO,
Here are 12 simple steps for reprodu c­
ing Dos ier's competition-winning idea .
1. Place the form work in the sand. 2.
Fill it up . 3 . Level. 4 . Shake the bacter ia
soluti on. 5 . Pour It over the sand. 6.
let it saturate. 7. Pour the cementing
solution over the sand . 8 . Let it satur­
ate . 9. Watch the brick harden. 10.
remove the formwork . 11 . Watch the
brick harde n some more. 12. Behold , an
ecobrick! If these bricks were adopted
_.-..:.._i_ _ _ __
worldwide , they would reduce COz
emi ssions by 800 million tons a year.

114 METROPOLISMAG .COM

 Brick built the ancient citadels
and hypocausts of the Indus VallE
and ornamented the Chrysler
Building, that great monument t
the machine age. But in recent
years, it has had a more sinister
legacy: environmental menace.
Tossing a clay brick into a coal­
powered kiln, then firing it up to
2,OOOGF, emits about 1.3 pounds
of carbon dioxide. Multiply that
by the 1.23 trillion bricks manu­
factured each year. and you're
by talking about more pollution thaI
Suzanne what's produced by all the air­
LaBarre planes in the world. The winner
of the 2010 Metropolis Next
Generation Design Competition
proposes a radical alternative:
don't bake the brick; grow it.
In a lab at the American Uni­
versity ofSh31jah, in the United
This year's wi nner­ Arab Emirates, Ginger Krieg
abioengineered brick, Dosier, an assistant architecture
professor, sprouts building blocks
conceived by ayoung from sand. common bacte ria,
American architect- may calc ium chloride, and urea
(yes, the stuff in your pee). The
be modest in physical scale, process, known as microbial­
but it has the potential induced calcite precipitation, or
MICP, uses the microbes on sand
for global impact. to bind the grains together like
glue with a c hain of chemical
reactions. The resulting 111ass
resembles sandstone but, de­
Portrait by
pending on how it's made. can
Siddharth reproduce the strength of fired­
Siva clay brick or even marble. If
Dosier's biomanufactmed mas­
onry replaced each new brick
on the planet, itwould reduce
carbon-dioxide emissions by at
~iIII"'"'1 least 800 million tons a year.
"We're running out of all of our
ene rgy sources," she said in
March in a phone interview from
the Uni ted Arab Emirates. "Four

Metropolis 05.2010
 hundred trees are burned to make
25,000 bricks. It's a consumption
BUICI(S

\TS.

issue, and honestly, it's starting to

sca re me."
This year 's Next Generation
competition asked e ntrants to
invent a "small (but brilliant and ·I"R.:I~S

elegant) 'fix '" for the designed

envi ronment. Jurors saw space­
saving clothes hangers and solar­
powered window shades and
so uped-up planters. Dosier's bricks
are certainly small-in lab tes ts so
far, about the s ize ofa Lego-but
with further research, their impact
cou ld resonate allover the world.
Consi der the prospects in cou n­
tries like China and India, where
A
outdated kilns put brick produc­
tion among the top coal consumers, t 1
"There was a strong feeling among
the judges that the award should go
to someone dealing with an issue
on a global scale," says Chris Sharp­
ies, ajuror and a principal of SHoP
Architects. "Here was a very sim­
ple concept defin ed by scientific
method and an example of how
you can come up with so me very
innovative ways to solve basic
problems," Choosing it as the win­
ner was, he adds, a "' no-brainer." It Brick manufacturing is a dirty business .
was also a testament to the valu e One tree is burned to make just 62 bricks.
of an archite ct who kn ows her way A new house might call for 25 ,000
arou nd a microscope. bricks-that's 400 trees.
Dosier, 32 years old, isn' t the
first to dabble at the crossroads of
Dosier in her lab at the American
University of Sharjah, in the United
Arab Emirates, where she's an
assistant architectu re professor

"There was astrang feel­

ing amang the judges that
the award shauld ga ta
sameane dealing with
flOW 1'1"5 MADE an issue an aglabal scale , " THE EXPERIMENTS
Bacteria Is dunked in a broth
Dosier grows bricks from materials says Chris Sharples. of 9,owth media. The solution
that are readily available in most aJ'urar and aprincipal then incubates in test tubes
regions. Sporosorcina posteurii, at 37 ' C before it's fed into
a bacteria. is common in soil. af SHaP Architects. sand-filled formwork via drip.

r GROWTHMEDIA 1 ..

+ + + +
SPOROSARCINA YEAST UREA CALCIUM
PASTfURII EXTRACT [{ NH2)2:CO] CHLORIDE
[CaClzl
 mi crobiology and chemistry. in interior architecture from
In Precambrian times, bac te ri a Auburn; a semester at Rural Studio
created geological formations under Sam Mockbee, who sermon­
through a process that scie ntists ized, Mess iah-like, about "archi­
would only begin simulati ng 3.45 tecture as kindness"; a master's in
Dosier isn 't the first to billion years later, growing ground­ arch itecture at Cranbrook, the
dabble at the crossroads firming minerals in oil patches and free-flowing essence of everythi~g ·:
hard science isn't. Just before '
of microbialogy and contaminated so il. Nor is she alone
in trying to green the humble graduate school, [Link] tln·ew
chemistry. Her act of bri ck. Intrepid e ntrepreneurs have away her worldly possessions-;- .
her clothes, her typewriting tables,
alchemy was to apply tamped everyth ing from fly ash
and plant refuse to car tires and her precious antiq ue glassware. In ·
science to design. plastic bottles into a neat little block retrospect, it's when much of her
and called it a brick (thoroughly thinki ng about materials in design
peeving the brick industry, which took shape. "1 was question ing this
will tell you that anything short
of clay and shale isjust a cheap
idea of ownership, and I got really
in terested in chemical processes,
..•..
imitation). Dosier's actofalchemy researching what materials are
was to apply sc ience to design. made of, what you can add to them
"There are thousands of examples to change how they grow and die,"
of microbial mineral precipitation she says. Soon, she was building
in the scientific literature, but furn it ure out ofsalt and calcium
few if any of them have been ex­ carbonate (a compound found in
plored for use in fabrication of shells), then watching it evaporate
construction or design materials," in the forest like an Andy Golds­
Grant Ferris, a geology professor worthy sculpture. Her master·s MOR'I'AR
at the University of Toronto, who thesis, a salt-composite handrail, Dosier's bricks don' t rely on traditional
conducted ea rly M1CP s tudies , cleaned germs off anyone who portland-cement mortar. The same
writes in an e-mail. "This is what touched it, before wearing away process that allows them to grow also
makes Professor Dos ier's work so to a flimsy scaffold. ';1 wanted to binds them together,
compelling. Bioreme di ation and show," she says, "that architecture
1)IGlTAL BRI(;I(S industrial applications look out!" can do more tha n just exist."
Dosier .....ill soon be able to print The first lines of Dosie r's resume To develop her ideas furt her, s he
bricks of all shapes and sizes would hardly peg her for a chemis­ needed a firmer grasp of the tech­
on rapid-prototyping machines. try nerd: an und ergraduate degree nology. So she did what any aspir­
ing scientist would have done: she
LAYEH 18 Growth-cementation media headed to the toy store and bought
crystal-growing continued on page 131
LAYER 17 Bacteria media

LAYER 16 Course-grade sand

LAYER 15 Growth-cementation media

LAYER 14 Bacteria media

LAYER 13 Medium-gradesand

LAYER12 Bacteria media

LAYER 11 Medium-guide sand

LAYER 10 Growth-cementation media

LAY ER 9 Bacteria media

LAY ERS Medium-grade sand

LAYER7 Bacteria media

LAYER 6 Medium-grade sand

LAYERS Growth-cementat ion media

LAYER 4 Bacteria media

LAYER 3 Coarse-grade sand

LAYEH2 Bacteria media

LAYER 1 Compacted sand

THE BETTER BRICK Mctl·Opolis05.20LO

THE BETTER BR ICK continued from page 117

kits. Lots of them. ;;My favorite was a crystal· geode kit, whe re you seeded
plaster of Paris with crystals and placed it in an aqueous solu tion of
crystal-growth media," she says. The kits taught her invaluable chemis­
try basics: keep your solution wet (otherwise nothing will grow) but not
too wet (othe rw ise no th ing wi ll grow), and keep the room cool (other·
wise nothing will grow) but not too cool (otherw ise nothing will grow).
And so on.
This informal education continued apace at North Carolina State
University, whe re she lan ded a visiting professorship in 2005. She
audited classes on materials science and pored over books like Bio­
mineralization: Progress in Biology, M olecular Biology and Application.
By then, she had fa miliarized herself with research on growing solids
for industri al uses and knew she wan ted to adapt it for architecture. She
sought out mentors, including the mic robiologist Jose Bruno-Barcena,

'From an architecture- interior design background,

1 always wanted to go big, and my experiments would
fail 98 percent of the time," Dosier says. "I felt like
1 needed to buy Chemistry/or Dummies."

who became, in matte rs of scientific inquiry, th e Anne Sullivan to her

Helen Keller. "From an archi tec ture- interior design background, I al­
ways wanted to go big, and my experiments would fa il 98 percent of the
time,'" Dosier says. "I felt like I needed to buy Chemistry f or Dummies.
He started opening the door of my mind on how to think." Bruno-Barcena
encouraged her to narrow her focus. When she announced she wanted
to grow brick via microbes in either waste mineral water or a po rous
skeleton, he suggested she limit herself to the latter. Another mentor,
J ames Patrick Rand, an NCSU architecture professor, convinced her
to train her atte ntion on deveiopingbasic bricks instead of mo re co m·
plex building forms. Like Bruno-Barcena, he saw value in simplicity.
All the while, she read: Introduction to Industrial Minerals; Mi crobial
Sediments; Biomineralization: Cell Biology and Mineral Deposition.
"Ginger is not at all fearfu l of the science ofconstruction materials,"
Rand says. ';She readily engages chemical processes-things many
arch itectu re students and practitioners are afraid of."
It's true: architects don't do this sort of thing, In a great disservice to
themselves and their profession, they avoid science the way poets avoid
calculators. "Typically, architects are not involved in the development
of building products and sustainable tech nologies," SHoP's Sharples
says. "We rely on experts outside the field . so often these green products
are just applied directly to our designs," Put another way, when archi·
tects have a hand in producing new materials, they exert more control
over how buildings perform. That is Dosier's coup.
Yet fo r all her toil, her fi rst s uccessful ex periment was somewhat
acciden tal. At the University of Sharjah, where she moved in 2007 to
eco IN T ELLIGENCE *
teach full-ti me, she spent two years trying to develop a brick with differ­
ent microbes, mate rial proportions, and pH levels. Everyth ing failed.
(It didn't help matters that the first bacte ria cultures she bought from
e VICTOR
G R 0 U r
India and the U.S. Department of Agricul tu re were continued on page 133
May 2010 131
T HE SETT ER BRICK continued from page 131

SENS IBL E S H ELV I NG

We create shdvi" g systems [Link] [Link] ill l(.b'T:ltc illiu creatively designed cl lvironlllel llS. Frc.,> h,
dr'J lILalic1 inspired. II's not suplising Llml top <tfchitects ,Hid designers turn 10 us whclllh(...,,· w.. . ut
1(1 c..xpn.:ss tlleir style. Visit LlS .. t W\,[Link],or<..tlt ror a C<lwlog.
Rakks·
In supporting roles everywhere

duds.) Then one afternoon, she threw together

a bunch ofseraps from some old, ill-fated tests,
for kicks. Practically forgetting about it, she
revisited experiment No. 112 a week later, only
to discover that the medium had transformed
into a "baby brick," as she tells it, a four-by-two­
by-one-centimeter proof of concept. "I was
shocked to find that it had worked," she says,
"and glad that I took detailed lab notes." The
magic formula was in allowing the right concen­
tration of bacteria to fester just long enough.

One afternoon she threw together

a bunch of scraps from some
ill-fated tests, for kicks. " I was
shocked to find it worked."

Circle 115
The months since have been an exhaustive
exercise in reproducing and stre ngthen ing
the results. She has repeated th e combination
more than 30 times, experimentingwith
assorted sand grains and aggregates, like re­
cycled glass. She has also explored various
manufacturing techniques. Traditional casting
is the most obvious method, since it requires
few resources-formwork, sand, bacteria. and
th e calcium chloride-urea solution, almost all
of which is available locally, both in New York
and in the UAE. Rapid prototyping is another,
decidedly less democratic option. In the fut ure,
Dosier says, she'll be able to program the brick's
precise composition, then fabricate it layer
by layer on a 3-D printer. The technology poses
countless design possibilities. Ball-shaped
bricks: Why not?
The future poses countless obstacles, too.
She'll have to fi!:.ture out how to create a strong
brick without squandering raw materials, and
how to scale up for mass production given that
the chemical process is inherently slow. (Dos­
ier's blocks take a week to grow; clay bricks can
be made in two days.) But the most pressing
1urdle is that the biobrick pollu tes. Microb ial­
nduced calcite precipitation spews tremendous
lmounts of ammonia, as scientists affiliated
.;ith Delft University of Technology, in the
leth erlands, discovered recently when they
"ied the chemical process on contaminated
lIld and soiL "High ammonia concentrations
)SuIt in environmental continued on page 135
y 2010 METROPOLIS
THE BETTER BRICK continued from page 131

SENS IBL E S HELVI NG

W'C (:It::lte sheh,jng systems that SCilmlcssl), integratc into creatively designed el1viron mcnts. f l'esh,
dramot,i<:,;nspircd . It's 110t slIprisillg tllatwp arcilitc(;ts ,1I1d dt:si!;1lcrs turn to llS wbcn the)' w:llil
to c.... prcss tlleir style. Visit us <It [Link] [Link] for a c'ltalug.

In supporting roles everywhere

duds.) Then one afternoon, s he threw together

a bunch of sc raps from some old, ill-fated tests,
for kicks. Practically forgetting about it, sh e
revisited experiment No. 112 a week later, only
to di scover that the medium had transformed
into a "baby brick," as she tells it, a fOUl'-by-two­
by-one-centimeter proof of concept. "I was
shocked to find that it had worked," she says,
"and glad that I took detailed lab notes." The
magic formul a was in allowing the right conce n­
tration of bacteri a to fester just long enough.

One afternoon she threw together

a bunch of scraps from some
ill-fated tests, for kicks. " I was
shocked to find it worked."

Circle 115
The months since have been an exhaus tive
exercise in reproducing and strengthening
the results. She has repeated th e combination
more than 30 times, experimenting with
assorted sa nd grains and aggregates, like re­
cycled glass. She has also explored var ious
manufac turing tech niques. Traditional casting
is the most obvious method, since it requires .
few re sources- fo rmwork, sand, bacteria, and
the calcium chloride- urea solution, almost all
of which is available locally, both in New York
and in the UAE. Rapid prototyping is another.
decidedly Less democratic option. In the future,
Dosier says, she'll be able to program the brick's
pre cise compositio n, then fabr icate it layer
by layer on a 3-D printer. The tech nology poses
countless design possibilities. Ball-shaped
bricks: Why not?
The futu re poses cou ntless obstacles, too.
She'll have to figure out how to create a s trong
brick without squandering raw materials, and
how to scale up for mass production given that ~q /;.
the chemical proc ess is inherently s low. (Dos­
ier's blocks take a week to grow; clay bricks can
f:~'
be made in two days.) But the mos t pressi ng
hurdle is that the biobrick pollutes. Microbial­
I I I 1
ind uced calcite precipitation spews tremendous
amounts of amm oni a, as scientists affiliated
with Delft University of Technology, in the
Netherland s, discove red recently when they
tried the ch emical process on con tam inate d
sand and soi t. "Hlgh ammo ni a concentrations
resu lt i n environ me ntal continued on page 135
Circle 29
May 2 0 10 METR OPOL IS '3 ~
 r
[[
o
THE BETTER BR ICK continued from page 133

CJ
w
[[
CJ
>­OJ eutmphi catio n and eventually, via microbial
conversion to nitrate, the poisoning of ground­

CJ water," the De lft researcher He nk Jonkers

w rites in a n e -mail. If the bacte ria con tinues

Z to convert ammonia to nitrous oxide, he adds,

it can produce a greenhouse gas 320 times more
powerful than C02. "The results show that
f­ working with natural processes is not neces­

I sarily equivalent to sustainabl e practices!"

CJ Dosier's most pressing hnrdle is

that the biobrick pollutes. MICP
~ spews tremendous amounts of
ammonia, a threat to groundwater.

Dosier plans to capture emissions before

they transfo rm into noxious ga~es. A c1osed­
loop system wo uld recycle was te bac k into
the brick-produc tion cycle us ing organ ic buf­
fers (carbon filters, for example), though she
acknowledges that it would require "col1<tbora­
tions w ith additional researchers and scien­
t ists in various fields of environmental study
and industrial ecology." (Crystal -growing
kits can't do everything.) A regular designer
would've bowed out of the game by now. But
Dos ier, versed as she is in the me thod s of both
science and design, welcomes-and is perhaps
ideally suited to overcome-the challenge.
In the meantime, she dreams about actually
putting the bricks to use. She wants to field­
test them on a large expanse of de sert north
of the UAE -Saud i Arabia border, where Bed­
ouins, the semi nomad ic tribes who populate
the Middle East's sandy w ilds, hitch their
camels season ally. And a friend from Cranbrook,
who works in humanitarian aid, invited Dosie r
to join him in Ethiopia th is summer to ;'get this
material going." A rash of violence ahead of
this month's elections postponed the trip in­
Circle16
definitely, but Dosier remains optimistic.
"Even if [Ethiopia] doesn't work out, I can
158 B()w'~rv. NY 10012 think of plenty of regions here where I would

800 ~07 826

like to work," s he says. "The lab is fun to work
in. But seeing if it could really happe n? That
for me is the whole deal." Maybe then, brick
www. [Link]
,_/ buildings wil1 no longer be villains of the green
age but monuments to it. C / *
ELighting PHILIPS May 2010
Circle 192
135
by Gregory 1_10 1-1 T()I_II: R'