Get rid of those huge, pollution-causing brick kilns; we may soon be able to make bricks without fire.
Ginger Krieg Dosier, founder and CEO of bioMason, can put trillions of bacteria to work growing bricks in a greenhouse-like environment. Traditional brick-making consumes a lot of energy during the firing process and contributes significantly to carbon emissions across the planet. Her way would create durable building structures without the need for firing.
Dosier began her career as an architect, but after questioning whether there was a way to use more natural materials in the building industry, she turned scientist and began her research. She said she was inspired by hard, durable structures such as coral reefs or seashells and she wondered if there was a way to create similar structures in a laboratory setting.
She said she researched a type of bacteria whose processes can turn sand into sandstone. Several years (and many failures) later she successfully “grew” a brick by using sand and a special microbial mixture that also contains nitrogen, calcium and water. These are put into a mold and solidify over the course of five days. Her plan for production is to grow these in a type of greenhouse that uses an irrigation system which reclaims the liquid as it cycles through. You can listen to Dosier go into greater detail about her work in the video linked to this post.
ArchDaily reports that the project was recently awarded a Cradle to Cradle Award for product innovation.
Above image: The bioMason biobrick.
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bioMason founder and CEO Ginger Krieg Dosier explaining her company’s grown bricks at a Tedx World Wide Fund for Nature conference.
Process photographs showing how bioMason grows bricks.
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