Smart Bricks

A pan-European initiative known as “Living Architecture” is addressing the issue of global sustainability by combining architecture, computing and engineering to research smart technologies that can be incorporated into the buildings of the future. For example, smart bricks that recycle wastewater and generate solar electricity are being developed to create “living walls” for housing, office spaces and public buildings.

Each brick is essentially a miniature bioreactor (a microbial fuel cell, or MFC) containing a variety of microbial organisms and algae specifically chosen for their ability to purify water, remove phosphates, generate electricity and produce detergents – all as part of one process. The bricks will also contain sensors to monitor internal and external environmental conditions as well as building occupants. Each brick can be programmed to utilize a variety of inputs (such as grey water, sunlight, microbes and carbon dioxide) to produce a variety of outputs (like clean water, electricity, oxygen, fertilizer and biodegradable detergents) based on the load generated by the building occupants. The smart bricks will allow researchers to explore the vast potential for MFCs to become active components of our living environments.