Moss Columns: Symbiosis Through 3D Printing Technologies

Moss Columns are a series of prototypes to examine how to combine living organisms with architecture. A renewed perspective on the built environment has increased in the post-COVID-19 era. Even various methods have been employed for sustainable design, the construction material itself in contemporary architecture have remained largely unchanged. In these two different types of experiment, I am presenting a direct embedding approach of plants into the artificial materials. Mosses, chosen as the primary plant for these experiments, are suitable due to their non-vascular nature, which means they do not grow tall like other plants and use roots solely for anchoring rather than nourishment. To investigate high-res and complicated pattern for embedding, geometry is manipulated and generated through computational design tools. Advanced construction technologies are employed to realize the complex forms: such as two different types of large-scale 3D printers with an industrial robotic arm.