The Active Living Architecture: Controlled Environment (ALICE) project has been recognised by the European Commission’s Innovation Radar team has an Innovation Highlight and will be showcased on their website.
The project, which follows on from the Living Architecture research programme, is a joint venture between UWE Bristol, Newcastle University and Translating Nature.
The aim of ALICE is to introduce and familiarise sustainably-minded promotors such as architects, designers, engineers, “green” businesses and their clients, to advocate the use live microbes as processors of waste within our homes and cities.
ALICE aims to provide a publicly accessible interface that is activated by household waste, namely urine and grey water. It exploits the properties of the integrated bioreactor system developed for the Living Architecture (LIAR) project. Creating a useable context and habitat that can be exhibited at biennales or festivals and explored by these audiences. ALICE catalyses a conversation about the future of sustainability in homes and public buildings, as well as the lifestyle changes implicit in adopting this new generation of utilities.
ALICE is a highly personal experience where ‘users’ may understand how waste can be dealt with differently in the home by putting it to good use. ALICE takes the form of a cabin and through a digital interface that translates data into graphical animations, participants will be able to see how their waste ‘enlivens’ the cabin’s performance. For example, turning on LEDs, or charging small mobile devices.
Conceptually, ALICE may be likened to the ‘tamagotchi pet’, a digital toy that flourishes through the owner’s digital care and attention. In this way, ‘care’ for ALICE is through its feeding and engagement with audiences. The system will also collect data that will help the innovators better understand the performance and potential usage of such a system outside the laboratory space so that appropriate prototypes for market can be developed.
UWE Bristol lead for the project Ioannis Ieropoulos, Professor of Bioenergy and Self-Sustainable Systems and Director of the Bristol BioEnergy Centre, at the Bristol Robotics Laboratory, commented on the project: We are delighted for this recognition by the European Commission, which is an important milestone in our endeavour to make this technology widely available. The work of our partners has enabled the successfully translation of a complex technology into a visual representation that is highly appealing to a wide audience and this could have only been achieved through open-minded collaboration. We very much look forward to seeing this installed in everyone’s home.
Congratulations to Ioannis and the team for the recognition of their project.