Project leaders: Margaret Ikeda and Evan Jones
SeaShift Collaborative is a space to explore science-based design solutions for ocean health. This research emerged out of the Constructed Ecologies seminars at California College of the Art’s Architectural Ecologies Lab. In partnership with professors and students from CCA, UCSF and UC Davis, the group is interested in developing new approaches to materials, sensing, and public engagement around the ocean and coastal ecologies. The group continues to explore various research at architectural and biological scales.
The Living Pod is a project that marks a new direction in building with cells to create a bioplastic that is 3-D printed into a shell that supports research into tangible strategies for ocean health. Led by Keehyun Ryu, Lili Mao and Yitian Ma of CCA and Elizabeth Marley (UC Davis) and Athena Lin (UCSF), the project was featured in the 2020 Biodesign Challenge.
UrchiGami reimagines industries of extraction with the vision to create a restorative building system that considers architectural form, construction methods, material composition, and a regenerative cycle of life. The project envisions the use of excess shell waste from purple sea urchin removal in the construction of folded arches and dome forms inspired by origami and sea urchin structure. The team worked with Dr. Varenyam Achal to explore the potential of utilizing these shells in combination with living algae to create a bio-cement coating capable of self-healing and regeneration. Led by Lina Kudinar, Geetika Rohraand Nidhi Patel of CCA, the team collaborated with UC Davis professor Beth J Ferguson and UCSF professor Dyche Mullins. The project was featured in the 2021 Biodesign Challenge.