HOME COMPETITION / INNOVATION AWARD WINNER
2020
Biohacker’s Residence offers a communal retreat for biohacker hobbyists. Proposed to be situated within the red rock desert landscape in Utah, the project speculates the use of 3D-printed, bio-integrated materials to generate a protective architectural tissue.
NARRATIVE
Since the availability of home-use bio-technology kits, do-it-yourself biohacker communities have surged alongwith an increasing synthesis between home and laboratory. The ability to control and reprogramme your body is an unchartered territory of personalization and modification. The retreat offers its occupants a malleable architecture, which imagines elements to be repurposed or replaced with self-printed bio-integrated materials. The cellular organization of the shell is intended to be reprogrammed for internal environmental comfort or sterilization according to the user’s needs for their own self-experimentation.
Secluded within the rocky scenery, the retreat could offer biohackers a safe haven for remote practice and self-administration, while they look to challenge what it means to be human. Communal areas are designed to support biohacking activities, such as organic 3D printing and workstations with CRISPR technology, which enables cellular reprogramming through genetic engineering.
Aerial view of clustered modules in the desert landscape
The design is driven by a multi-stage algorithmic workflow that translates generative logic into buildable components. It begins with an L-system, which establishes a branching, rule-based network to define the initial spatial organisation and growth logic of the form. This abstract structure is then rationalised into a series of interlocking volumetric modules, forming a discrete yet continuous system.
An adaptive meshing process is applied to the geometry, allowing the resolution of the model to vary according to spatial complexity—refining areas of higher curvature while maintaining efficiency in flatter regions. This is followed by noise-based deformation, which introduces local variation and softens the geometry, producing a more organic, continuous surface condition.
Surface curvature analysis is then used to evaluate geometric performance, informing both structural behaviour and fabrication strategy. Based on these readings, a modulo-based sorting system groups components according to geometric and material criteria, enabling the differentiation of parts for fabrication, assembly, and material allocation.
Cutaway illustration of the communal space
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