Curated by IAAC MAA Faculty Claudia Pasquero, the 2017 Tallinn Biennale bioTallinn aimed to challenge typical assumptions of what constitutes the boundary between Natural and Artificial realms. Rather than considering nature as a balanced system, that is perturbed and derailed by human action, bioTallinn assumed that there is no nature.

In this framework, IAAC Advanced Architecture Group’s installation LiveCycles, coordinated and developed by Maria Kuptsova, Raimund Krenmueller, Rodrigo Aguirre, Areti Markopoulou and Mathilde Marengo, is a bio-artificial system which responds to the current challenges, interacting with marine ecosystem through the definition of possible marine material cycles, and proposing a mechanism of plastic extraction, recycling and reuse by the means of nano agent systems.

The project questioned how small robotic agents can become a new transitional system from built to unbuilt environments and which, in symbiosis with the natural species of the Baltic sea, could act on site, creating interaction between natural and artificial systems.

The installation worked with Baltic Sea water, firstly extracting the contained micro-plastics from the marine environment and then, passing through the complex digestion system of nano robot, bio aggregating its particles into a material which can be reused for the further proliferation of this same marine environment.

One of the central events in TAB 2017 has been the TAB Symposium titled Polycephalum City, a two-day gathering of groundbreaking architectural dialogues where an innovative mix of international practicing architects, urban planners and thought leaders has discussed the role of architecture in the context of the current socio-ecological crisis, and feature a range of critical readings of today’s geological era which scientists have called the Anthropocene.

Speakers at the event has included Areti Markopoulou, IAAC Academic Director, lecturing on Friday September 15th about Responsive City: Augmenting Matter and Programming Performance,  Mitchell Joachim, Associate Professor of Practice at NYU and Marco Poletto, co-founder and director of ecoLogicStudio.

TAB 2017 has also offered a platform for young architects and designers to test innovative methods of building with nature. Several IAAC MAA projects has been featured in the exhibition: Responsive Manifolds, Living Light, Encrypted Biometrics, Cybeco, Hybritat, Moss Voltaics, Piel Vivo, Biocatalytic Cell, Living Screens, Bio Connectivity.

4th Tallinn Architecture Biennale TAB 2017.
Opening Week 13-17th of September. Closing October 27th 2017. Early Bird ticket: www.tab.ee.

LiveCycles is a project by IAAC Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia, AGG Advanced Architecture Group.

Project team:
Maria Kuptsova – Project Coordination, Concept, Design, Development, Fabrication
Raimund Krenmueller – Development, Design and Fabrication
Rodrigo Aguirre – Computational Design
Mathilde Marengo – Concept and Initial Research
Areti Markopoulou – Concept Development

Biology expert:
Nuria Conde Pueyo

Physical computing:
Mehmet Berk Bostanci
Karthikeyan Dhanabalan

Documentation, Visualisation and Logistics:
Thora H Arnardottir
Firas Safieddine
Ricardo Mayor Luque
Jessica Dias
Jesus Ariel Valenzuela Hernandez

Research collaboration:
Complex Systems Lab – UPF

Fabrication collaboration:
Barcelona Glass Studio: Agustina Ros y Ferrán Collado