AlgaeCobogó: Living multicoloured curtain walls towards new materiality in architecture

Abstract

From the introduction:

Through the interdisciplinary collaboration between an architect, a designer-artist, and an algologist, the authors blended art, design, science, and creativity within this framework to propose a new type of façade – a living multicolored wall AlgaeCobogó. This façade proposal was co-created with five different species of microalgae, each having distinct spectra, ranging from chlorophylls (green) to carotenoids (red, orange, yellow), to phycobiliproteins (blue, red). These species were combined with Brazilian traditional cobogós, which have aesthetically various geometrical patterns. The authors analysed microalgae strains, their descriptions, and specific growth conditions to better understand the required parameters, establishing and refining the selection of algae species for façade design. The microalgae strains and culture methods studied were sourced from the culture collection of the French National Museum of Natural History of Paris2 (Hamlaoui et al., 2022). Finally, by mixing microalgae pigments with the traditional latticework of cobogós it is possible to achieve both aesthetic and functional excellence, advancing living-architecture materiality that promotes a unique colour perception and sensory experiences of ‘vitalism’.