Edinburgh College of Art student Peter Trimble launched himself into the design world with his thesis project on microbial manufacture. His research into bio stone casting spreads like wildfire over the Internet.
Trimble decided to investigate less energy intensive means of material production with biological processes. He devised of a method that turns sand with the help of the bacterium Bacillus pasteurii and some minerals, including urea, into a sandstone-like composite. He calls it ‘Dupe’ and demonstrated the process by producing a stool.
Trimble is not the first designer to experiment with Bacillus pasteurii, a bacterium commonly found in wetlands. Some years ago architect Magnus Larsson proposed to counter the process of desertification of the Sahara by solidifying dunes with the help of the bacteria.
The same calcite-precipitating bacteria are at the basis of research into self-healing concrete led by Henk Jonkers at the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands. The idea is to mix the bacteria in concrete along with compounds the bacteria can turn into calcium carbonate, as soon as cracks occur in the concrete. The difficult part of keeping the bacteria alive for a long time seems to have been solved by adding clay in the concrete mixture.
Peter Trimble meant his project to illustrate the potential of Bacillus pasteurii for the future of sustainable industrial manufacturing. He sees it as an experiment that ‘aims to provide a point of departure for fresh thinking’. A nice example of the role designers can play in development of the future.