Hub for Biotechnology in the Built Environment Artwork by Armand Agraviador (the OME is the outcome of everyone’s work)

The vision of the Hub for Biotechnology in the Built Environment (HBBE) is to create built environments which are life-sustaining and sustained by life. This requires collaboration across disciplines and scales, which is reflected in the HBBE’s unique facilities which include microbiology laboratories, a workshop which combines digital and biological fabrication with material testing, and an experimental building: The OME. 

Referencing biological terminology (genome, proteome, metabolome and biome) and a place of dwelling (home), The OME provides a space where HBBE researchers come together to test and demonstrate emerging technologies at architectural scale. HBBE researchers use The OME to create and test biomaterial prototypes, study and modulate the building’s internal microbiome, and develop processes to generate energy and create valuable products from human waste. 
“… the aim of the HBBE is to enable early-stage prototyping at architectural scale. Alongside small-scale material development and testing in laboratories and workshops, it is important to creatively explore the potential use of new materials and processes at large-scale. For biomaterials and biological processes which are unfamiliar in the context of the built environment, this multi-scale exploration is vital as we lack the tacit knowledge required to pre-suppose how these biotechnologies can be incorporated into the built environment.” 

Extract from Bioprotopia – Designing the Built Environment with Living Organisms, Chapter 1.1: Building Practice. 

Credits: 

Building design: HBBE & Sadler Brown Group 

Construction: Key Property Solutions 

Graphic: Armand Agraviador