ARCH-4980.2 | Jeremy Carvalho, Adjunct Professor

BIO-INFRASTRUCTURAL SHIFT
CircumSymbiotic Dwelling

TYLER DOHERTY

Over the course of the last century, global civilization has become increasingly dependent on the extraction and processing of fossil fuels in order to meet the world’s energy requirements. This reliance, which has been peaking in recent years, is an unsustainable course due to its finite nature and adverse effects on our local and large-scale ecosystems. As such, the advancement of newer, cleaner, and more closed loop energy systems is imperative to the evolution and preservation of the species. The cross-pollination of natural and man-made systems, by utilizing and navigating directions of already perfected biological processes, can serve as a means of transitioning away from this problem going into the future.

The cultivation of microalgae has lead to revolutionizing technology that facilitates the extraction of fatty acids and oils to in turn be processed into usable fuel on a human scale. In fact, the existing fossil fuels that we use today were originally processed by prehistoric algal mats, leaving behind dense pools of carbon-rich materials such as tar pits. This new cultivation process has shifted the paradigm of energy generation because it tackles the larger issue of CO2 and greenhouse gases building up in our atmosphere; algae consumes two times the amount of carbon it produces in the sequence of biofuel creation.

Currently, biomass-based fuel research is being concentrated at more commercial-scale applications such as jet fuels and factory smokestack waste mitigation. In order to push the enthusiasm of this bio-synthetic solution into the hands of consumers, the practicality of scaling technology for individual use has to be considered. This proposal seeks to find the threshold where natural processes and distributive energy flows can play a role intrinsically in the lives of residents within a housing community.