This study discusses the production of Eco-friendly mask using mushroom-based pulps through physicochemical treatment of mushrooms. Ultimately, it explores an approach to reduce the usage of petrochemical materials. Through the treatment of fruiting bodies from two mushroom species, Pleurotus ostreatus (Oyster mushroom) and Flammulina velutipes (Enoki mushroom), pulp was produced. Then, it was used in wet-laid sheet processing to fabricate both pure MBP sheets and composites blended with cotton. The manufactured textile was subjected to various property analyses, including antibacterial test and was also used to produce a mask prototype. In conclusion, although improvements in breathability are currently needed for practical application, the potential for further research is vast and promising. This study contributes to the advancement of sustainable, biodegradable materials as a solution to environmental challenges posed by the widespread use of synthetic polymers.

Biodesign is an emerging field integrating design and science; its rise necessitates a reassessment of educational paths and working spaces for cross-disciplinary explorations, such as working with living materials and adhering to safety standards. The article examines laboratory environments dedicated to biodesign practice and education, varying from low-tech to high-tech setups and from university to community spaces, aiming to clarify the role of workspaces and infrastructures in supporting transdisciplinary research between design and science.

We surveyed Biodesign Laboratories worldwide, addressing the current status quo of various lab configurations and their unique spatial typologies to accommodate biodesign’s hybrid nature.

The result is an overview of the socio-technical topos of the laboratory as a literal breeding ground for (future) biodesigners. The qualitative data reported in this article aim to enhance the understanding of Biodesign Labs by analysing the potential of various laboratory configurations to accommodate biodesign’s hybrid nature, potentially developing unique spatial typologies.

Biodesign has grown significantly in the last decade as an approach focused on designing with biological materials, processes and systems. The inherent transdisciplinarity of biodesign enables it to cut across multiple fields. In this work, we look at how biodesign has recently been applied within Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), a disciplinary field that focuses on the design, development and study of interactive technologies. Subsequently, Biological-HCI (Bio-HCI) has emerged as a rapidly growing and evolving area of research at the intersection of biodesign and HCI. To highlight the nascence of Bio-HCI, we examine three of our own Bio-HCI projects – SCOBY Breastplate, B10-PR1NT and $\mu $Me – as case studies that exemplify how biodesign is being explored through specific, situated practices with a variety of interactive technologies. Through these cases, we identify potential themes and opportunities for Bio-HCI as it continues to push current understandings of computational interaction and promote more sustainable technological futures.

Biodesign is an emerging disciplinary field that, in its multifaceted nature, finds in transdisciplinarity a promising pathway to address the complex challenges posed by contemporary scenarios. However, specific methodologies that connect the design mindset with the epistemological framework of scientific methods are still lacking. How can we grow the next generation of biodesigners in this scenario? Transdisciplinary dialog provides a foundation for merging design thinking with scientific reasoning, leading to the development of methodologies and educational strategies aimed at creating shared languages and codes that promote synergy between design and science. This study presents the results of a methodological evolution – from multi and interdisciplinary approaches to transdisciplinary ones – through a workshop focused on material design, a course designed to train future biodesigners. This workshop engaged students in collaborative material tinkering activities, working side by side with scientists in an active laboratory setting. The study demonstrates that combining a material-driven design approach with scientific methodologies fosters iterative dialogical relationships, ultimately enriching and substantiating the final design outcomes.

Microbially Induced Calcium Carbonate Precipitation (MICP) provides a biologically driven alternative to conventional cementitious processes, requiring fabrication methods responsive to the dynamics of living systems. This study introduces a submerged soft-casting approach, employing fabric mesh moulds to biocement sand aggregates through the biomineralisation activity of Sporosarcina pasteurii. Developed in ‘Water Kiln’ bioreactors, the process replaces high-temperature curing with controlled liquid-phase mineralisation, generating cemented components assembled into the prototype column EmbryOme 1.

Rather than targeting structural material outputs, the research emphasises exploratory, process-oriented ‘formation finding’, where microbial activity, substrates, media and moulds together shape macro form and microstructure. Fabric casts filled with sand and nutrient-rich bacterial suspensions were submerged in cementation solutions to induce calcium carbonate precipitation. Key variables, including mould design, calcium and nutrient concentrations and media replacement frequency, were systematically adjusted to assess their effect on formation quality.

Optimal outcomes occurred at 0.3 M calcium chloride and urea with daily medium replacement, and smaller mesh sizes produced denser, more uniform crusts. Cementation remained primarily superficial, though glazing treatments enhanced surface hardness. These results underscore the role of design in tuning biological–material interactions, framing biofabrication as a process of negotiation with material agency, variability and future architectural potential.

Though additive manufacturing (AM) is well on its way to transform architecture, design, and construction, the integration of sustainable biomaterials capable of reducing the sector’s substantial carbon footprint remains limited. While traditional building materials like concrete, metals and plastics have reached industrial maturity in 3D printing, biomaterials largely remain confined to experimental prototyping due to challenges in performance, durability and scalability. This paper explores the potential of multi-material additive manufacturing (MMAM) to address these limitations and facilitate biomaterial fabrication at architectural scales. Building on a review of material developments in extrusion-based 3D printing, the study proposes and experimentally evaluates novel multi-material strategies that combine slow-curing, paste-based biomaterials with rapidly solidifying thermoplastic biocomposites. Two key approaches are introduced: the “interwoven” strategy layers different materials alternately as internal reinforcement, while the “intertwined” method juxtaposes distinct materials to provide external support. Through small-scale test cylinders and large-scale, application-oriented prototypes, produced with synchronized robotic extrusion systems, the research demonstrates significant improvements in print stability and achievable print height for biomaterial 3D printing. While challenges remain concerning inefficient fabrication workflows, material system optimization, and regulatory validation, the findings outline a viable pathway towards scaling biomaterial 3D printing and advancing a more sustainable, material-conscious architectural production.

Urban surfaces play a central role in mediating microclimatic conditions, influencing not only human thermal comfort but also the viability of urban biodiversity. This study explores porous, geometry-driven design strategies for urban surfaces and evaluates their thermal performance as a preliminary step toward future building envelope systems that accommodate more-than-human inhabitants. With the nest microclimate of cavity-nesting wild bees as the target condition, three experimental setups were conducted using 3D-printed (3DP) porous nesting aids fabricated via Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) from biobased polymers and compared to a conventional reed-based nesting aid. The samples were installed on a southeast-facing façade in Stuttgart, Germany, and internal nesting tube temperatures were monitored during August 2024. All 3DP samples maintained internal temperatures up to 1.6 K cooler on average than the conventional nesting aid and, critically, none exceeded the 40°C threshold associated with high larval mortality. In contrast, the conventional nesting aid reached peak temperatures of 41.6°C for over eight cumulative hours. While geometric and material variations produced only modest thermal differences among the 3DP configurations, the results demonstrate that porous geometries can reduce extreme heat exposure in sun-exposed urban contexts. These findings support further development of thermally responsive urban surface systems that integrate ecological performance criteria into building design.

Current wound closure methods have drawbacks when used in minimally invasive surgery. Traditional sutures are complicated and time-consuming to apply in this context, and synthetic adhesives can be toxic when used internally. The class of bioadhesives address these challenges, however their independent use in practice is limited due to their low tensile strength. In this work, we develop Kelserra, a novel bioadhesive derived from brown algae with maximized tensile strength and biocompatibility to address a current unmet need in the surgical field. Kelserra’s uniaxial yield stress peaked at 7.19 ± 0.47 kPa when the formulation contained 50 mg/mL alginate, 5 mg/mL phloroglucinol, 10 mg/mL xanthan gum and 2.09 mg/mL Ca-EDTA and was pre-cured using saturated aqueous gluconic acid for 45 minutes. Kelserra’s uniaxial strength was higher than its lap shear strength when pre-cured. Additionally, the type of curing medium (air or PBS) did not significantly influence adhesive strength. This study is intended as a preliminary work inquiring into the possibility of the exploration of internal bioadhesives such as Kelserra, and further validation is required for translational applications. Internal bioadhesives like Kelserra could decrease surgery times, aid in the prevention of postoperative complications and reduce the burden on the healthcare system.

As biodesigners increasingly engage with designing for nature, collaboration with field-based scientists becomes necessary. While collaborations in the laboratory have been widely examined, the formation phase of design–science collaboration remains mostly underexplored. Domains such as marine zoology produce knowledge primarily in situ, under environmental constraints that limit designers’ access to the research site and prevent the kind of embedded, informal knowledge-sharing that often grounds laboratory collaboration. As a case study, an exploratory diagnostic workshop with nine early-career marine zoologists examined these conditions. Structured activities surfaced cognitive capacities, work ecologies, role expectations and structural constraints shaping collaboration. Scientists showed strong integrative thinking but framed design mainly as technical service, while mutual stereotyping obscured shared capacities. The study provides empirical insight into rarely examined field-based research ecologies and suggests that a structured diagnostic workshop during team formation can reveal methodological and epistemic compatibility factors that informal conversations often leave implicit, positioning this phase as a critical site of interdisciplinary practice.

As architectural design paradigms shift from century-lasting, fossil-based construction materials toward regenerative, biogenic solutions with much shorter life cycles, a novel opportunity opens for design with material temporality and transformation. Taking a fully biobased yeast-cellulose-alginate-glycerol composite hydrogel as a case, this study examines how physical and visual properties change under air, soil, and water exposure by measuring mass loss, shrinkage, deformation, embrittlement, and color change in manually and robotically extruded constructs from this material. The results reveal distinct patterns of swelling, contraction, structural distortion, surface brittleness, and chromatic shifts that affect the designs across different exposure conditions. Together, these patterns establish a preliminary knowledge basis for architectural design that could accommodate these transitions, demonstrated in a speculative, conceptual architectural design proposal leveraging transformation and decay as part of the design. By situating material temporality as informative rather than detrimental, the study exemplifies how environmentally responsive biomaterials can support circular architectural biodesign.

Mycelium composites are intended to replace plastics in different applications as lightweight, sustainable alternatives. One major limitation is the exchange of oxygen and heat in the core of the material. Bio-welding allows the stacking of thinner layers that are then connected by fungal mycelium. We screened six different fungi for their growth rate, binding strength and gap-bridging capability before fabricating bio-welded composites from beech sawdust with two of the fungi, using two different particle sizes and growth durations. The influence of these parameters, as well as the number of layers and their orientation in the material, on internal bond strength and thermal conductivity was assessed. We found that the maximum gap-bridging distance of a fungus is less essential than the strength of the mycelium connection. Most importantly, the surface roughness of the layers must be minimized to ensure that the bio-welded interface is stronger than the individual layers.

This demonstration presents a biodesign toolset developed through three years of situated research in a BSL-1 biological laboratory. The project investigates how more-than-human sensibilities can be articulated within conventional lab environments typically structured around human-centred biological experimentation. Adopting a “Becoming cyanobacteria” stance informed by the philosophy of becoming, the author positions the laboratory as a shared field observed from a microbial scale, with particular attention to cyanobacteria’s phototactic behaviours and optical sensing. The toolset includes a redesigned biodesign lab notebook, a DIY phototaxis toolbox built with physical computing and 3D printing, mixed-reality systems using HoloLens 2, and a custom VR application, Cyano Vision, which visualises cyanobacteria’s sensorial relations to light from a non-human perspective. Rather than proposing a universal methodology, these tools function as situated artefacts that materialise one possible configuration of more-than-human biodesign practice. Through hands-on engagement and documented use cases, attendees are invited to reflect on how biodesign infrastructures, tools, and experimental protocols might be reoriented to better accommodate non-anthropocentric ways of knowing and designing within laboratory settings.

Biodesign is an emerging field that brings together a wide range of practices, connecting fundamental research, applied sciences and creative approaches. Within this spectrum, a tension exists between instrumental uses of biological processes and a growing sensibility that acknowledges the agency of living materials and organisms. This study proposes reconciliation as a guiding concept for biodesign, understood not as a metaphorical gesture but as a concrete and plural perspective that promotes species coexistence and conservation. We contextualise reconciliation through restoration, reciprocity and relationality as distinctive yet interconnected design and ecological principles that extend beyond normative human exchange, promoting multispecies coexistence. Through a mix of reflexive thematic synthesis and the analysis of selected case studies derived from the authors’ own projects, employed as a practice-based methodological inquiry and primary source of empirical and reflective insight, we explore how reconciliation is enacted and experienced in practice. Finally, we propose a conceptual framework to address reconciliation in biodesign, offering guiding concepts and key questions to discuss and support ecological flourishing in multispecies collaborations.

This demo presents a collection of physical tools and artefacts developed through an in-depth, organism-specific biodesign inquiry into Flavobacteria, microorganisms known for producing dynamic, iridescent colourations. It traces a trajectory from laboratory characterisation to interaction-centred prototypes and ultimately to Flaviri, a living artefact designed to support everyday human–microbe engagement. At its centre are three Flaviri artefacts and large inoculated Petri dishes that enable direct yet sterile swiping and tilting interactions, allowing attendees to experience first-hand encounters with Flavobacteria. The demo also showcases intermediate tools and artefacts – from early Petri dish explorations to custom habitats and prototypes for performing direct interaction – that demonstrate how interaction techniques were gradually refined for long-term, everyday contexts. Finally, two research tools are presented, highlighting how systematic documentation of temporal and iridescent expressions and explorations of long-term growth informed these design explorations. Taken together, these materials demonstrate how iridescent Flavobacteria can be integrated into living artefacts that extend biodesign practice into everyday contexts and open space for human–microbe engagement, while also offering inspiration for similar in-depth biodesign inquiries.

Climate instability and socio-ecological inequality demand design methodologies that integrate material, biological and cultural systems. While Regenerative, Participatory and biodesign have expanded the scope of design practice, they often lack approaches for integrating material development within culturally situated contexts. This paper introduces Material Re-Mixing, a novel biodesign methodology grounded in place- and culture-based material investigation, biological integration and participatory co-creation. The methodology is developed through a case study in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, focusing on bio-composite innovation for traditional wool felt gers. Combining textile testing, biomaterial experimentation, ethnographic research and stakeholder workshops, the case study demonstrates how mycelium-based composites can enhance performance while maintaining cultural continuity and how culturally grounded material investigation and innovation can catalyse systemic healing at the community level. Material Re-Mixing contributes a transferable system that foregrounds material agency, cultural knowledge and circular biological processes, offering a pathway towards more situated approaches to ‘wicked’ socio-ecological challenges (Rittel H and Webber M (1973) Dilemmas in a general theory of planning. Policy Sciences (4), 155–169.).

Current funeral materials prioritise preservation over ecological integration, perpetuating extractive practices that damage environments while reinforcing cultural death denial. Extending the emerging trajectory of regenerative death care, this paper proposes regenerative biomaterials using post-mortem resource recovery via alkaline hydrolysis (water cremation). Effluent burial vessels and bone-ash tree guards demonstrate life-centred design methodologies, positioning soil ecosystems and native vegetation as design stakeholders. The research reveals how biomaterials designed for ecological wellbeing create regenerative infrastructure addressing both human grief and landscape healing needs. Biodesign materials are designed to nurture soil microbiomes and support native plant establishment over 24-month decomposition cycles to challenge industrial death care’s resistance to natural cycles. This work contributes a methodological deepening of regenerative death care beyond harm reduction, establishing methodologies for designing with more-than-human agencies through speculative material experimentation. The project reimagines death not as waste requiring disposal, but as a resource that contributes to ecosystem regeneration.

Biodesign education increasingly incorporates living materials into studio teaching, yet biomineralisation processes such as microbially induced calcium carbonate precipitation (MICP) remain largely confined to laboratory contexts. Typically framed as a protocol requiring sterility, specialised equipment and microbiological expertise, MICP is rarely positioned as a design-operable material system. This paper argues that the gap lies not in feasibility, but in how biological complexity is structured for studio engagement. Drawing on workshops conducted at Elisava Barcelona School of Design and Engineering, the study adapts MICP to unsterile studio conditions and develops a Boundary Conditions Framework through analysis of student fabrication decisions and material outcomes. The framework identifies outer, permeability and material boundary conditions as spatial and material variables that regulate mineral formation. Rather than reproducing laboratory optimisation, students engaged microbial processes through mould design, interface permeability and aggregate configuration, demonstrating a transferable strategy for studio-based biodesign education.

Biofabrication practices in Biodesign commonly rely on preformed cultures, standardized strains, and established protocols, often without critically addressing their provenance and ecological implications. This tension is particularly evident in SCOBY cultivation, where microbial cultures are frequently exchanged as fragments with uncertain origin. Informed by the Regenerative Ecologies frameworks, that advocates for ecological literacy and situated engagement with living systems, this contribution addresses how SCOBY can be grown “from scratch”. The investigation draws on a doctoral study engaging with acetic fermentation practices in Thailand and Germany, including apprenticeships, foraging, and solo experimentation with vernacular techniques. These experiences demonstrated that SCOBY can emerge from situated ecologies, highlighting the adaptive and relational nature of this biological system. Building on these insights, this paper introduces an open-source method enabling practitioners to grow SCOBYs through engagement with situated plants and microbes. From these insights, Situated Growing Design is proposed as an emerging trajectory and practical approach for translating regenerative aspirations into growing material practices that foster closer engagements with bioregional configurations.

As the field of biodesign has grown, so has the number of spaces dedicated to biodesign practice. However, little attention has been paid to the ongoing efforts of those who keep these spaces functioning on a day-to-day basis. Based on tour-and-interviews with 19 biodesign lab managers (LMs) across European biodesign laboratories (BioLabs), this paper aims to develop an initial understanding of what biodesign LMs’ everyday work entails. The findings highlight three key dimensions of biodesign LMs’ work, and surface how they hold together the interdisciplinary and emergent nature of the biodesign field. In this respect, keeping BioLabs ‘alive’ also entails maintaining conditions under which biodesign LMs themselves can effectively perform their roles. This study contributes to better supporting, communicating, acknowledging and making resilient, the current, emerging and future BioLabs and professionals in similar roles, as well as to open up new opportunities for biodesign research.

Bioregional Mineralisation with Agricultural Resources for Construction (BIOARC) explores how agricultural residues and regional microbial resources can be combined to create low-impact construction materials rooted in local ecological contexts. Working across four European bioregions, the project investigates wheat in Poland, sunflower in France, hops in Germany and rice in Italy as feedstocks for the development of construction boards, insulation materials, acoustic panels and partition wall systems. The project combines agricultural by-products with biomineralisation processes, in which microorganisms induce the formation of calcium carbonate minerals that act as natural binders within plant-based composites. Alongside biomass resources, BIOARC has isolated mineralising bacterial strains from limestone-rich and calcium-rich environments within each participating region, establishing a bioregional approach in which both material feedstocks and microbial agents originate from the same local context. The demonstration presents a biomineralised construction prototypes alongside the agricultural residues, bacterial cultures and microscopy imagery that underpin its development. Together, these artefacts communicate the transformation from regional agricultural by-products and environmental microbial communities into construction-oriented materials. By linking agriculture, biotechnology and construction, BIOARC demonstrates how place-based material systems can support circular value chains, reduce reliance on conventional mineral-intensive products and contribute to more resilient and regenerative approaches to the built environment.