Growing Synthetic Puffed Rice Bales: Urban Rewilding with Edible Plant-Based Architectural Modules 

The humanitarian cavalry is airdropped sustenance: when you need to transfer immense amounts of nutrients rapidly to someplace inaccessible, nothing entirely compares to a bulky cargo aircraft and expert pilot and crew. The missing element is the specific aid package design and contents. We are seeking to rethink and develop a new simplified platform to distribute nutrient-rich aid to people in cities and local wildlife during a crisis. It is a proper form of plant-based architecture. It is not just trapped humans that need help, but also the vast threatened wildlife in the region. These same units are also suitable for edible building components such as facades, atriums, balconies, and rooftops. Biotechnology can aid in these predicaments.     

Dry rice cereal, if unopened, usually has a shelf life of six to twelve months before the quality begins to deteriorate. It feeds humans and all sorts of imperiled animals. Biotech rice changes the game. Our system seeks to minimize the weight, freshness, and form of food supply. An outer layer of articulated and parametrically cast rice cake medium is affixed to an existing organic shell. The rice blocks' color, volume, and placement within the object are based on their carbon output, calories, fat, fiber, protein, and other minerals. These natural and bio-synthetic puffed rice cubes have been shaped, condensed, and combined into a single complex piece with a carbon-neutral insulating mycelium backing. These low-cost pixelated parts are meant to be consumed and replaced often. 

Genetically modified rice plants are strains engineered based explicitly on use and function. For example, rice plants are altered to increase micronutrients such as vitamin A, increase photosynthesis, gain immunity to certain herbicides, ward off pests, increase mass, produce beneficial nutrients, make variable flavors, and create human proteins. The organic transition of genes across species, referred to as lateral gene transfer can also occur with rice through genes mediated by everyday environmental vectors. For instance, transgenic occurrences between rice and Setaria millet have been classified and are well-known. It's important to declare the agronomy and use of GMO assortments of rice remain highly provocative and is not permitted in many countries. Our project works in problematic and dilapidated areas that need sustenance the most. 

After initial human use, each cubic component is intentionally exposed to the elements and collects micro-droplets of water, mold, moss, fungus, and other flora growth. In most cases, the rice panels are quickly consumed by a wide range of small mammals, insects, and birds which vastly increases biodiversity. An expansive variety of rice substrates exist in different regions that serve as essential nutrients for humans and animals. Common modular cake variations include types mixed with rice flour, ground rice, and whole grains compressed together with a binding substance. The aim is to attract live organisms to a particular spot to rewild desolate urban areas. 

Each rice component brick is produced as an edible voxel. All of the voxels are combined to express a specific arrangement of information. A typical voxel is a division of graphic data that describes a moment in three-dimensional space. Since pixels only outline points in two-dimensional surfaces with X and Y coordinates, a third z coordinate is necessary to shape the data physically. In modeling the rice voxel system, each coordinate is defined in terms of location, hue, and density. Various iterations are attained and fabricated using information about rice that pertains to climate data.

Additionally, invisible embedded machine-readable tags are auto-carved into various synthetic rice cake air pockets. By manipulating the configuration of these rice air pockets, it scatters light below the object's surface in a distinctive profile. This system can be used to encode information for tracking, linking to online content, tagging metadata, and embedding vital information.

Credits: Terreform ONE, Mitchell Joachim (Principal Investigator), Vivian Kuan, Peder Anker, Mamoun Friedrich-Grosvenor, Sky Achitoff, Avantika Velho, Brook Boughton, Claudia D'Auria, Michael Aiardo, Grace Jung.