Mitchell Joachim, an associate professor at NYU and co-president of Terreform ONE , a nonprofit design organization based in Brooklyn that champions green design in urban areas, talks about his “urbaneering” efforts. He touches on the importance of genetic engineering and biotechnology in his vision for green design in urban areas. His innovative approach to ecological design has led to a chair created from genetically engineered bacterium. He says:
“Part of the answer is thinking about biotechnology, synthetic biology or genetics as a potential solution to the increase in population.
Before we started manufacturing, everything we had on planet earth was produced biologically. Ventricles in your heart, your fingers, trees, the world, it all comes from biology, which is now unlocking some of the systems to produce them in vitro, or rather in laboratory environments, where we can grow industrial design.
We are currently producing chairs that are being completely grown in the laboratory. Now there’s a 21st century model! We are not producing chairs by manufacturing [them] in large-scale industries, and we don’t necessarily produce them [through] single craftsman. We can actually grow them using a combination of both worlds, one that recognizes the delicate balance of the earth’s environment.”
View the original article here: Exploring Socio-Ecological Design With Mitchell Joachim
