12.16.2019

New Book: Designs for Different Futures, Yale University Press

Fisher, Michelle Millar,  Byrne, Emmet, and ZoĆ« Ryan (Eds.), Designs for Different Futures, Yale University Press, 2019, pp. 129. Cricket Shelter, Mitchell Joachim, Terreform ONE.
https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780876332900/designs-different-futures

NXT Interview w/ Mitchell Joachim, Terreform ONE by Mark Kammerbauer



Editor Mark Kammerbauer spoke to the American Mitchell Joachim, a pioneer of ecological design and urban planning, about architecture, the future, teaching and design as a process of invention.
https://nxta-dialog-das-architekturgespraech.podigee.io/6-mitchell-joachim

11.27.2019

A Living Matter with Terreform, Mitchell Joachim

APEX Media: A Living Matter: The Microorganisms Seeping Into Aircraft Manufacturing and Design 20 November 2019 by Valerie Silva.

"Mitchell Joachim, co-founder of architecture and urban design research group Terreform ONE, says, “Mycelium is also an amazing replacement for what would be used for insulation, cushions, Styrofoam or any kind of seating element. It’s literally found in nature, and we can control it. We grow it in a mold, and it shapes itself in seven days.” In collaboration with community biology lab Genspace, Terreform ONE has developed a series of benches using the material."

“A Living Matter” was originally published in the 9.5 December/January issue of APEX Experience magazine.

11.20.2019

State of Extremes, Design Museum Holon with Terreform ONE, Mitchell Joachim

State of Extremes aims to show the potential of design to reveal, critique, resist, mitigate extremes and the mechanisms that drive them. At a time when our technologies, power structures and impact on the planet are engendering ever more extreme scenarios, we hope "State of Extremes" might serve as a call for moderation.
http://www.dmh.org.il/pages/default.aspx?PageId=879&Preview=1

11.06.2019

Museum of Craft and Design w/ Terreform ONE, Mitchell Joachim

Survival Architecture and the Art of Resilience
December 19, 2019–May 3, 2020
Museum of Craft and Design
San Francisco, CA
Participating artists and studios include Andrew Maynard Architecture, Alejandro Aravena, Vincent Callebaut, Davison Design, Tina Hovsepian, IKEA Foundation, Chris Jordan, Liam Kelly, Thomas L. Kelly, Jingyang Liu Leo, Mary Mattingly, Achim Menges, Gerard Minakawa, William McDonough and Partners, Peta Fend and Malgorzata Pawlowska, The Empowerment Plan, Journeyman Pictures, Pedro Reyes, Phil Ross, Terreform ONE and Mitchell Joachim, Tomas Saraceno, Kevin Jin He and Won Ryu, and ZO-Loft Architecture and Design. Curated by Randy Jayne Rosenberg, Art Works for Change.

10.21.2019

American Planning Association NY Lecture with Mitchell Joachim, Terreform ONE

APA NY - BIOPHILIC URBANISM IN PLANNING: HOW CAN WE SUCCESSFULLY PLAN AND DESIGN OUR CITIES TO MIMIC THE NATURAL ENVIRONMENT? 

Urban planners and designers must shift fundamental thinking and practices around how we develop land and our cities. We can dramatically reshape the way we structure our living environs by applying the principles of biophilic urbanism to land use planning and urban design.

Jennifer Bolstad, RLA, LEED AP, Local Office Landscape and Urban Design.
Sarah Charlop-Powers, Natural Areas Conservancy. 
Emory Grace Lee, AICP ENV SP, Insight Civil.
Mitchell Joachim, PhD, Terreform ONE.
Walter Meyer, ASLA, LEED AP, Local Office Landscape and Urban Design.
Eric Sanderson, PHD, Wildlife Conservation Society.

https://www.nyplanning.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/APA-2019_Program_final.pdf

10.16.2019

Oculus AIA Magazine, The Future of Materials with Mitchell Joachim, Terreform ONE



Julia Van Den Hout, "Inside Track," Oculus, Volume 81, Issues 3 and 4, Fall 2019.
Three faces of in-house R and D show how architecture can harness the environment.

While the R+D teams at firms like BIG and KPF work within the larger framework of the design practice, research is the primary driving force at Terreform One. Set up as a non-profit “research consultancy,” Terreform One has an ultrafine focus: “We’re a think tank for ideas about the city, especially ideas that relate to what we call socio-ecological design.” This is not to be mistaken with “sustainable” and “eco-friendly” design, which founder Mitchell Joachim notes are too frequently employed as empty terms.

Joachim is the first to admit that his adverse response to these more traditional labels may be a limitation. “Socio-ecological design is a mouthful,” he says, “and it stinks from a branding perspective.” More imperative here, however, is the need to solve problems. “We have the statistics,” he adds. “We have the ability to author designs that do make sense and have a relationship to the Earth’s metabolism.” First and foremost, Terreform One’s goal is therefore to “design against extinction,” a tagline that should catch anyone’s attention. With rapid climate change, species are disappearing at an unimaginable rate.

https://www.aiany.org/membership/oculus-magazine/article/fall-2019/inside-track/

10.04.2019

Terreform ONE in WNET Public Media


S1 E5: Nature-- Cooper Hewitt Design Triennial | Climate Artists: Go inside Nature-- Cooper Hewitt Design Triennial, an exhibit that features over 60 collaborations between designers, scientists, engineers, environmentalists, and academics to find inventive and promising solutions to environmental and social challenges. #ClimateArtists

https://allarts.wliw.org/programs/climate-artists/nature-cooper-hewitt-design-triennial-ritl9c/#

10.03.2019

BUNKER TALK Mitchell Joachim and Ferdinand Ludwig at Architecture Gallery, Munich

BUNKER TALK Mitchell Joachim and Ferdinand Ludwig Transformations - Munich Mushroom Talks, Drinks, Harvest and Mushroom Dinner: Friday, 11th October 2019 at 7pm With the ArchitekturkulturStiftung we cordially invite you to lectures and discussions about the challenge to design in symbiosis with nature. In addition to inspiring talks, we look forward to harvesting with you in the Munich Mushroom and enjoying a delicious mushroom dinner by top chef Markus Camera at the Architekturgalerie München in Bunker. Welcome Nicola Borgmann Architekturgalerie München Melanie Hammer ArchitekturkulturStiftung Mitchell Joachim Terreform ONE, New York City Ferdinand Ludwig Green Technologies in Landscape Architecture, TUM Architekturgalerie München im BUNKER Blumenstrasse 22, 80331 München Organizer: Architekturgalerie München e.V. Munich Mushroom at Architekturgalerie München im Bunker in Burckhardt+Partner‘s exhibition Transformations. Architekturgalerie München, Christian Schühle, Martin Kühfuss, hks architekten, ARCHITEKTURKULTURSTIFTUNG https://www.architekturgalerie-muenchen.de/programm/detail/news/detail/News/bunker-talk.html

Design Intelligence Quarterly with Mitchell Joachim, Vivian Kuan, Terreform ONE




Bob Fisher, "Designing Against Extinction with Terreform ONE," Design Intelligence Quarterly #3, 2019 pp. 14-17.
https://www.di.net/

9.26.2019

List of Film, TV, and Media Events with Mitchell Joachim at Terreform ONE

FILM/ MEDIA OF DESIGN WORKS
2019
Design “Spring Dialogues," Mitchell Joachim Interview, Daniella Ohad Smith.
2017
Planete+, “Cities of the Future,” (Les villes du futur), Director, Marc Aderghal.
UrbanNext, “Design & Waste,” Interview, Ramon Prat.
2016 
CBS News NY, “Brooklyn Farm To Sell Cricket Snack Bites,” Ali Bauman.
WPIX-TV, “Futuristic cricket farm in Brooklyn Navy Yard,” Rick Boone.
Radio Disney, Green Sense Radio, “Mitchell Joachim/ Terreform ONE,” Robert Colangelo.
Night White Skies, iTunes Podcast, “Mitchell Joachim Interview,” Host, Sean Lally.
2015 
POLITICO Online, “Bio City,” What Works: Urban Innovators, mini-documentary.
BRIC TV, “Terreform One: Designing for Climate Change,” Charlie Hoxie.
Tech Times, “Biohacking the Future of NYC w/ Terreform ONE,” Stacey Szewczyk.
WTOP Federal News Radio/ NSF “Why Buy a Chair,” Host, Randy Atkins.
2014 
“Human Ignition,” feature film, Mario Andretti, Harald Belker, Burn Media.
Vice Media, Upwardly Mobile with AT&T at Terreform ONE, Nina Horowitz.
Fox 5 News, “The Big Idea: Terreform ONE The Living House,” Sharon Crowley.
2013 
Arte TV, “Growing Architecture,” Justine Gourichon and Sophie Peyrard.
BBC, “The thinking, Breathing Buildings on the Horizon,” Philip Beesley, Stephen Dowling.
Cool Hunting “Rough Cut: DJ Spooky at the Met,” Gaspard Nemec.
2012 
WPR, (Wisconsin Public Radio), Veronica Rueckert Show, Marika Suval.
WNET, Thirteen, “Renaissance at the Brooklyn Navy Yard,” Georgia Kral.
2011                            
Vice Media and Motherboard TV: “The Living House,” Jedd Thomas, Alex Pasternack. 
Heritage Radio Network: “Burning Down the House,” Curtis B. Wayne.
2010                            
Discovery Channel: “Daily Planet,” Ziya Tong, CTV.
MPR, (Minnesota Public Radio), “Greening Urban Architecture,” Marianne Combs.
WTIC 1080, A Healthy Home/Healthy Planet Radio Show, Greener Living with Dr. G.
2009
Comedy Central: “The Colbert Report: Mitchell Joachim,” Stephen Colbert.
CNBC: The Business of Innovation, “Reshaping Cities,” Maria Bartiromo.
Honda: “DREAM THE IMPOSSIBLE: Mobility 2088,” Derek Cianfrance.
Big Think, Interview, New York, NY.
CBC Radio Winnipeg, John Sadoway.
BrightTALK: The Carborexic City, webcast lecture, NY.
2008
Discovery Channel: “NextWorld,” Rob Cohen.
NHPR, Word of Mouth, “Redesigning Cities for the Future,” Virginia Prescott.
Earth and Sky, "Recipe for a Sustainable City,” Jeremy Shere.
PBS: “Special on Future NYC,” Zero Point Zero Production.
2007     
Sundance Channel: “The Green, Big Ideas for a Small Planet,” Episode, Build.
Discovery Channel: “Future Car,” Episodes – Extremes, Body, and Brain.
The Hour on CBC, Hilary Doyle.
Home and Garden TV: “Extreme Living,” Episode, Fab Tree Hab.
CTV: Canada AM today, Fab Tree Hab.
CKNW Radio: “Nightline BC with Michael Smyth”.
Institute without Boundaries: “World House Project,” Episode 1, Fab Tree Hab.
Z95 Radio: “Nat and Drew in the Morning”.
2006                            
VOOM HD Networks, Gallery HDTV: “Artland: USA,” Illuminations Media.
BBC Television Documentary: “Future of Architecture,” Dan Cruickshank.

9.23.2019

Designs for Different Futures, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Terreform ONE, Mitchell Joachim


Designs for Different Futures, Philadelphia Museum of Art, with Terreform ONE, Mitchell Joachim, and Cricket Shelter + Farm.

The role of designers in shaping how we think about the future is the subject of a major exhibition that will premiere at the Philadelphia Museum of Art this fall. Designs for Different Futures brings together some 80 works that address the challenges and opportunities that humans may encounter in the years, decades, and centuries ahead. Organized by and on view at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Walker Art Center, and the Art Institute of Chicago. 
"Some of these possibilities will come to fruition, while others will remain dreams or even threats,” said Kathryn Hiesinger, the J. Mahlon Buck, Jr. Family Senior Curator of European Decorative Arts after 1700, who coordinated the exhibition in Philadelphia with former assistant curator Michelle Millar Fisher. 

https://philamuseum.org/calendar/exhibition/designs-different-futures

9.18.2019

The Explorers Club lecture with Mitchell Joachim Terreform ONE for Climate Week


The Explorers Club presents: Actions

Bill McKibben - "Timing is everything: seizing this climate moment​"

Educator, Environmentalist, and founder of 350.org Bill McKibben will reflect on the thirty years since the 1989 publication of The End of Nature, the first book for a general audience on what was then called the greenhouse effect. 

In that time, the crisis has grown greatly in severity--what were warnings have become bulletins from the front lines. But we've also seen engineers provide possible solutions--and the rise of a movement to push hard for them. So now we're at the critical moment: can we make things happen fast enough to matter?

How creative responses to the climate crisis can be explored by scientists, architects, composers, and explorers. Actions is an evening that crosses disciplines to show how proactive and dynamic responses to our ongoing climate crisis can reshape the way we think of the human-caused issues in the global environment.

Paul D. Miller, aka DJ Spooky, is a composer, multimedia artist, and writer whose work immerses audiences in a blend of genres, global culture, and environmental and social issues.

Valorie Valentine Aquino is a scientific researcher, anthropological archaeologist, and movement building strategist, who is proud to have the Philippine Islands as her birthplace. She is Executive Director and co-founder of March for Science, the largest decentralized grassroots science advocacy and activism group.

Mitchell Joachim is Co-Founder of Terreform ONE and an Associate Professor of at NYU. He has been awarded a Fulbright Scholarship and fellowships with TED, Moshe Safdie, and Martin Society for Sustainability, MIT. He was chosen by Wired magazine for "The Smart List” and selected by Rolling Stone for “The 100 People Who Are Changing America”.

Jacquelyn Francis, MS Energy Policy and Climate from Johns Hopkins University, is the founder and a Director of the Global Warming Mitigation Project (GWMP), a non-profit dedicated to finding pathways to activate and accelerate climate solutions in order to reduce global greenhouse gasses and increase uptake of carbon. Ms. Francis created and serves as Executive Director of the Keeling Curve Prize (KCP), the initial program of the GWMP. The KCP competition has awarded half a million dollars to 20 ongoing efforts around the world in the last 2 years.

https://explorers.org/events/detail/climate-week-tuesday

9.16.2019

Design Futures Council, lecture Mitchell Joachim, Terreform ONE



DFC Leadership Summit on the FUTURE of Environmental Responsibility SEPTEMBER 09-10, 2019 | MINNEAPOLIS, MN Our world is facing ever-increasing needs and demands. Environmental responsibility is the answer to the question of one of the deepest issues of our time. Together, we can provide innovative solutions to take care of the world we all live in and drive transformative change…for a better future.

https://designfuturescouncil.com/events/

Me Convention, lecture w/ Mitchell Joachim Terreform ONE

Mitchell Joachim, Keynote, Me Convention, Frankfurt, DE

What does the future hold? This question has fascinated us since the dawn of mankind – because if we know what lies ahead, we might be able to control it. But what if we flipped that question around and asked: What do we want our future to look like? And what can we do to make it happen? At the 2019 me Convention, we’ll examine the current state of the world, create a vision for a better future and uncover how to bridge the gap. We won’t settle for one-size-fits-all solutions but instead look at different perspectives, approaches, and dilemmas in an attempt to foresee the unforeseen. Designed as a ‘future lab’, we won’t just talk about the future – we’ll explore, experiment and learn from each other to go home with the skills, optimism, and sense of urgency to start creating the world we want to see.

https://www.me-convention.com/en/mercedes-benz/events/me-convention/events/speakers/?eventId=meconvention2019

Rethinking Animals Summit w/ Mitchell Joachim, Terreform ONE

RETHINKING ANIMALS SUMMIT 2019 
The Unsustainable Cost of Our Treatment of Other Species
Mitchell Joachim, Terreform ONE lecture at SVA for Thinking Animals United. 

The massive global exploitation of animals is worsening. In this unsettled political climate, the protection and conservation of animals are sorely neglected. The Endangered Species Act is itself endangered, and looming federal cuts to science and environmental protection threaten critical animal habitat and well-being.

https://www.thinkinganimalsunited.org/2019-summit-schedule/

8.07.2019

Food Interactions Catalogues: Collection Best Practices w/ Terreform ONE

Chiara Farinea, "Production to Distribution, Cricket Shelter Terreform ONE," pp. 91, 100-103.

Food Interactions Catalogue - Collection of Best Practices is a publication of Creative Food Cycles, a project co-funded by The Creative Europe Programme of the European Union edited by: IAAC _ Institut d’Arquitectura Avancada de Catalunya, Barcelona, LUH _ Chair of Regional Building and Urban Planning, Hannover, UNIGE _ DAD, Department of Architecture and Design, Genova. 
MORE:
https://creativefoodcycles.org 
DOWNLOAD the full HR version: 
https://creativefoodcycles.org/food-interactions-catalogue/

7.11.2019

The Guardian - Cities from Scratch w/ Mitchell Joachim, Terreform ONE

Nick Van Mead, Cities from Scratch, The Guardian, July 11th, 2019.
"Yesterday's tomorrow today: what we can learn from past urban visions," 
From the article: "In recent years, synthetic biologist Rachel Armstrong has proposed growing an artificial reef below Venice to stop the city sinking into the sea. Meanwhile, American architect Mitchell Joachim envisages houses grown in a laboratory from pig cells."
https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2019/jul/11/yesterdays-tomorrow-today-what-we-can-learn-from-past-urban-visions

7.09.2019

7.03.2019

Terreform ONE in Architectural Record on the Monarch Sanctuary


"The Monarch Sanctuary, a project by Mitchell Joachim and Vivian Kuan of the nonprofit research group Terreform ONE, proposes a New York building with a double-glass facade. Inside the cavity between its two skins is a 30,000-square-foot sanctuary—in the form of a vertical meadow with regulated temperature and humidity—where threatened butterflies can breed during their annual migration."

6.27.2019

Terreform ONE on cover of Eco-Cities for Kids

Ecosteden by Susanne Neutkens
Dutch publisher Ars Scribendi - Terreform ONE illustrates the cover of an educational textbook on Eco-Cities for children of 10-14 years old in the Netherlands.

6.19.2019

Dwelling in the Future: Imagining Tomorrow's City w/ Mitchell Joachim Terreform ONE


Museum of the City of New York, Housing Tomorrow's City lecture series, Featuring design researcher Alix Gerber, architect Mitchell Joachim, science fiction writer Sam Miller, and artist Ayodamola Tanimowo Okunseinde. An evening of presentations and discussion. Moderated by K.A. Dilday, the senior editor at CityLab. 

https://www.mcny.org/event/dwelling-future-imagining-tomorrows-city

5.22.2019

ARCHITECT Review of Terreform ONE's Mitchell Joachim in Cairo, Egypt

KATHARINE KEANE, Catch-22: The Environmental Cost of Progress, ARCHITECTMay 20, 2019.
At the sixth International LafargeHolcim Forum for Sustainable Construction, design leaders discussed and debated a path forward for sustainable construction.

"In the forum's final keynote, Terreform ONE co-founder Mitchell Joachim, Assoc. AIA, advocated perhaps the most optimistic—if not idealistic—motivation in light of a dire situation: extinction. Discouraged by the monarch butterfly's status as an endangered species in North America, Terreform ONE is proposing the integration of a monarch butterfly sanctuary into the double-skinned faƧade of an office and retail building in New York City to serve as "a new biome of coexistence for people, plants, and butterflies." The project, currently on the boards, is "intended to serve as an object lesson in enhancing the urban environment with green technologies."
https://www.architectmagazine.com/practice/catch-22-the-environmental-cost-of-progress_o

4.16.2019

ONE Lab at Brooklyn Navy Yard Summer 2019

ONE Lab: Design Against Extinction - Sponsored by Terreform ONE.
The inaugural semester of ONE Lab will begin on July 1 and will end on July 31, 2019. The ONE Lab summer program will be held in the renovated New Lab facilities located at 19 Morris Avenue in Brooklyn, NY. The Morris Avenue space supports a vibrant community of high-tech start-ups and entrepreneurs from a wide-range of disciplines including, but not limited to robotics, rocketry, software engineering, architecture, urban planning and biotechnology. ONE Lab hosts a cutting-edge design curriculum in a unique educational setting which includes a cafƩ, seminar rooms and an open atrium for informal gatherings. Students will also have exclusive access to an off-site digital fabrication lab equipped with a high-resolution 3D printing and CNC machining tools. Limited use of a fully equipped wood shop is also provided by ONE Lab as part of the program.

www.onelab.org

4.12.2019

Berlin Collapse: Climate, Cities, and Culture Exhibition w/ Mitchell Joachim, Terreform ONE


Collapse: Climate, Cities, and Culture exhibition for Global Design NYU in Berlin.
Chora, Raoul Bunschoten, Raumlabor, Marie-Luce Nadal, Terra Forma, Alexandra ArĆØnes, Axelle GrĆ©goire, FrĆ©dĆ©rique AĆÆt-Touati, Terreform ONE, Mitchell Joachim, Peder Anker, and GDNYU.
June 6th - July 11th, New York University, St. Agnes, AlexandrinenstraƟe 118, Berlin 10969
www.gdnyu.com

4.11.2019

The Material Battle in Hochparterre with Mitchell Joachim, Terreform ONE

Hochparterre, "The material battle" by Andres Herzog 
"The LafargeHolcim Forum in Cairo discussed materials and ways to save architecture from climate collapse. The building rage in the Egyptian desert made it clear: there is no time for small steps."
"Breeding Houses: For Mitchell Joachim, the status quo is just a lack of imagination, a temporary phenomenon. Founder of the think tank Terreform One stands in the auditorium of the American University in Cairo and bombards the audience with crazy ideas. He weaves the roots of trees into houses, makes edible chairs grow and butterflies nest in facades. The professional provocateur calls the projects "unfeasibility studies", which he translates into futuristic forms and crisp images. Joachim does not solve any problems, he shows the limits of our imagination."

4.09.2019

Fast Co. World Changing Ideas 2019 Honors the Terreform ONE Monarch Sanctuary

Fast Company‘s third annual World Changing Ideas Awards 2019:
HONORABLE MENTIONS:
SPACES, PLACES, AND CITIES
Monarch Sanctuary, Terreform ONE

AeroBarrier, AeroBarrier
Bell Works, Somerset Development
Blue Planet, Foundation for Climate Restoration
Chengdu Panda Reserve, Sasaki
Christchurch Central Library, Schmidt Hammer Lassen Architects
Everboard, Continuus Material Recovery
Kampung Admiralty, Woha
Landmark Mall temporary homeless shelter, The Howard Hughes Corporation and Carpenter’s Shelter
Live XYZ, Live XYZ
L’OrĆ©al Research & Innovation Center, Perkins+Will
Miami Waterwalk, RSM Design
Photo.Synth.Etica, Ecologic Studio
PlasticRoad, KWS and Wavin
The Riverbend School, Kurani and SPI Incubator
The Shed, Savannah College of Art and Design
Tel Aviv Urban95, Bernard van Leer Foundation
3Space International House, 3Space
Urban Wood Project, Room & Board
A Vision for Staten Island, CetraRuddy Architecture

https://www.fastcompany.com/90329244/world-changing-ideas-2019-all-the-winners-finalists-and-honorable-mentions

3.29.2019

LafargeHolcim Forum for Sustainable Construction in Egypt with Mitchell Joachim, Terreform ONE

The 6th International LafargeHolcim Forum for Sustainable Construction will be hosted by the American University in Cairo from April 4 to 6, 2019. The LafargeHolcim Forum is dedicated to the topic of “Re-materializing Construction”.

Keynote speakers include Christine Binswanger (Senior Partner, Herzog & de Meuron, Switzerland), Lord Norman Foster (Chairman & Founder, Foster + Partners, United Kingdom), Laila Iskandar (former Minister of Urban Renewal & Informal Settlements, Egypt), Mitchell Joachim (Co-Founder, Terreform ONE, USA), Francis KƩrƩ (Principal, KƩrƩ Architecture, Germany), Anne Lacaton (Principal, Lacaton & Vassal Architectes, France), and Rt Hon Simon Upton (Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment, New Zealand).

https://www.lafargeholcim-foundation.org/media/news/forum/forum-2019-announcement

3.26.2019

Design with Life: Biotech Architecture and Resilient Cities by Mitchell Joachim, Maria Aiolova and Terreform ONE on Actar Publishers



Design With Life: Biotech Architecture and Resilient Cities by Mitchell Joachim, Maria Aiolova, and Terreform ONE. Actar Publishers.

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Design-Life-Biotech-Architecture-Resilient/dp/1948765209

This volume chronicles the projects and breakthroughs of Terreform ONE. They are a nonprofit research group that defines salient new directions in socio-ecological design and other vital intersections of architecture, synthetic biology, and urban systems.

DESIGN WITH LIFE: Biotech Architecture and Resilient Cities

The main idea of this book is to design against extinction. In the challenging context of accelerating climate dynamics, the core discipline of architectural design is evolving and embracing new forms of action. New York-based nonprofit Terreform ONE has established a distinctive design tactic that investigates projects through the regenerative use of natural materials, science, and the emergent field of socio-ecological urban design. This kind of design approach uses actual living matter (not abstracted imitations of nature) to create new functional elements and spaces. These future-based actions are not only grounded in social justice but are also far-reaching in their application of digital manufacturing and maker culture. Terreform ONE tackles urgent environmental and urban social concerns through the integrated use of living materials and organisms.

Mitchell Joachim and Maria Aiolova, founders of Terreform ONE, describe their practice through various projects and prolific research that has made a significant impact on what is increasingly recognized as socio-ecological design. Together they achieve an abundant collection of projects that validate these unique experimental methods, including the Monarch Sanctuary, a new urban building type to protect butterflies from extinction; Cricket Shelter and Farm, a series of modular volumes for harvesting alternate forms of insect protein; and biodegradable structures called Mycoform that invokes principles of synthetic biology to prototype 100% compostable furniture. Design with Life documents this growing body of work and outlines an original direction for a changing discipline, reviewing concepts at a range of scales for metropolitan areas. In an age where speed is everything, Terreform ONE reveals how future architecture and urban design practices can cultivate biological processes and create resilient answers to tomorrow's wicked problems.

Design with Life intentionally turns the discipline of architecture upside-down. The book contains a plethora of essays from esteemed architects, biologists, historians, artists, and educators that reframe the way in which design develops as a practice alongside science.

Within this book, we explore the emergent socio-ecological solutions that make a direct impact on our altered atmosphere. It’s a compilation of advanced research that reviews concepts in the art of biotechnology from insect food sourcing to fungi building components in cities across the globe. As of today, the planetary climate crisis has reached a penultimate state. The nature of the next impending catastrophe and its implications in design has yet to be determined. 

Stemming from work initially developed at Terreform ONE and other prominent organizations in the field, this volume disseminates ecologically intelligent design in various speculative urban contexts. Equally, it unpacks projects and histories by other major theoreticians in many comparable disciplines. Throughout these inventive structures and public activities, the aim is to expose the environmental potentials within local municipalities and stimulate similar resolutions in comparable neighborhoods.

For over a decade the works herein were developed in matchless laboratories such as New Lab, Genspace, MEx, Cooper Union Kanbar Center for Biomedical Engineering, and MIT Media Lab, each of which is filled with specialists from diverse disciplinary backgrounds and methodologies. These pioneering individuals refocused their efforts to discover and expand projects into the larger framework of socio-ecological urbanism. Primarily the research inside this volume cultivates innovative concepts and technologies for sustainability in energy, transportation, infrastructure, buildings, manufacturing, waste treatment, food, air quality, and water. Original investigations are derived from the effective techniques explored within the joint territory of design and synthetic biology.

Author’s Biographies
Terreform ONE is a nonprofit experimental architecture and urban design research group in New York City. The primary mission is “Design Against Extinction”.

Mitchell Joachim, Co-Founder of Terreform ONE and an Associate Professor at NYU. He was formerly an architect at Gehry Partners LLP and Pei Cobb Freed. He has been awarded a Fulbright Scholarship and fellowships with TED, Moshe Safdie, and Martin Society for Sustainability, MIT. He was chosen by Wired magazine for “The Smart List: 15 People the Next President Should Listen To”. Rolling Stone magazine honored Mitchell in “The 100 People Who Are Changing America”. Mitchell won many awards including; LafargeHolcim Acknowledgement Award, ARCHITECT R+D Award, AIA New York Urban Design Merit Award, Victor Papanek Social Design Award, Zumtobel Award for Sustainability, Architizer A+ Award, History Channel Infiniti Award for City of the Future, and Time Magazine Best Invention with MIT Smart Cities. Dwell magazine featured him as "The NOW 99" in 2012. He co-authored three books, "XXL-XS: New Directions in Ecological Design," "Super Cells: Building with Biology," and "Global Design: Elsewhere Envisioned". His work has been exhibited at MoMA and the Venice Biennale. He earned a Ph.D. at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MAUD Harvard University, M.Arch Columbia University.

Maria Aiolova, Co-Founder of Terreform ONE and Associate Principal at Arup University. She also served as the Academic Director of Global Programs at CIEE. She is an institutional adviser to New Lab at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Most recently, she taught at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna, IAAC, Pratt Institute, and Parsons. Formerly, she served as Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer of ETEX Corporation, a biotech company in Cambridge, MA. Maria is an inventor, who holds 18 technology patents. She has won a number of honors including; AIA New York Urban Design Merit Award, 1st Place International Architecture Award, Victor Papanek Social Design Award, Zumtobel Group Award for Sustainability, and the Build Boston Award. Her work has been the official selection at the Venice Biennale and has been exhibited at MoMA, The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the New Institute in Rotterdam. Maria’s design work has been published in many edited volumes, journals, book chapters, and periodicals. This list includes but is not limited to; MIT Press, Springer, Rizzoli, MoMA Press, Routledge, NY Times, Dwell, Wired, Good, Popular Science, and Architectural Design. Maria received her M.Arch. in Urban Design from Harvard University, B.Arch. from Wentworth IT with Honors, Dipl.-Ing. from the Technical University of Vienna, Austria and Sofia, Bulgaria.

Contributing Authors
Vivian Kuan, Heather Newberry Lord, John Rudikoff, Nurhan Gokturk, Christian Hubert, Nina Edwards Anker, Peder Anker, Srdjan Jovanovic Weiss, Charles C. Mann, Ray K. Mann, Darran Anderson, Bruce Lindsey, Winka Dubbeldam, Charles McKinney, Julie Bargmann, Margie Ruddick, Forrest Meggers, Dickson Despommier, Suzanne Anker, Marcos Cruz, William Myers, Orkan Telhan, Nurit Bar-Shai, Ellen Jorgensen, Zack Saunders, Bob Fisher, Sanjeev Shankar, Amy Karle, Nicholas Gervasi, Paul C. Bart, and Marvin Bratke.

http://actar.com/design-with-life/