Bacterial Sculpting : a processual approach to forming with unruly matter

Abstract

This thesis contributes to the field of living material design and fabrication by exploring the design potential of bacterial-induced biomineralisation and focusing on the interface between design intent and biofabrication. Biomineralisation is being widely explored in civil engineering as a way of hardening soils and in the bioremediation of concrete structures through self-healing. However, little attention has been dedicated to exploring the morphogenetic capacities of this process and identifying its unique design potential. For this reason, this cross-disciplinary exploration aims to examine the development and fabrication potentials of bacterially biomineralised matter from a design, microbiology, and fabrication standpoint. Developing the approach, I name Bacterial Sculpting, I explore biofabrication techniques that incorporate the bacteria Sporosarcina pasteurii as the driver for the synthesis of induced matter and outline key parameters that facilitate the emergence of form. My experimental methodology exposes the process of form-taking of this biomineralised matter and proposes different ways to map the relationships between microbes, the fluid media, the substrate, and the bioreactor cast, to understand how to analyse and influence complex biomineral formation. This thesis explores techniques that go beyond the biotechnological applications currently using this process and moves away from state of the art of design objects, where the formwork defines the size and shape of the biomineralised matter towards a new form of biological sculpting.