The average person may see Green Goop, but when Ben Hankamer looks at microalgae, he sees the building blocks of the future.
Prof. Hankamer from the Institute for Molecular Bioscience at the University of Queensland is a growing number of people around the world who can investigate how life organisms and their products can be integrated into our built-up area-from algae base up to straw or mushrooming panels and rendering from oyster mussels.
“Biomaterials” are in large and entire materials that were made with biological matter, and a small group of engineers and designers are turning to them for their “visual wealth” alongside their environmental loans.
With traditional building materials such as cement and steel, which are examined because of their environmental influences, architects and designers say that they develop for biomaterials say that an advantage capture the biological “ingredients” CO2 when they are grown. As soon as the ingredient (e.g. the materials are also designed, so that the organism continues to live – or other organisms that live on it – which means that it continues to absorb CO2 and output oxygen over its lifespan.
What are the new biomaterials that say and how long does it take for you to see them on the market?
Algae and seatang: from bricks to biocasting
In the USA, Prometheus materials are already using microalgae to create a cement replacement for construction blocks, while macro algae – or seaweed – are used for accommodation in Mexico. The Danish company Sø was produced acoustic panels made of Eelgrass, inspired by a roofstick technique that goes back to Læsø Island, which goes back to the 1600s.
In Australia, the Hankamer team operates a system test to test Green Algae production systems. Some of her microalgae have gone to struggle Belek Fialho Teixeira, a deputy professor at Queensland University of Technology, whose team used to create breeze blocks called Roboblox.
The blocks are printed 3D, which enables tailor -made designs. Prototypes that were shown at an international building exhibition in 2024 looked like a more delicate, organically shaped, terracotta-colored version of the decorative better blocks from the middle of the century, which lye many suburban road.
By using 3D prints, the blocks are to be slower than conventional breeze blocks that all use the same shape. Teixeira says that this has put into potential investors that they have spoken to, and the blocks are a break until they can secure a partnership. You also have to carry out an economic analysis to compare the production costs with existing products.
At the University of Technology Sydney, Dr. Kate Scardifield and colleague Seang took out of an industrial cultivation system and summarized with oysters from the NSW Coast Food industry to create a stained, algae-green concrete brick.
They test a number of seafaring products, from leaf and cladding to inner tiles and acoustic cladding, on different standards to ensure that they correspond to the industry standards. There are several phases that have to say goodbye to new technologies to switch from the laboratory to commercialization. Scardifield says that they work with industrial partners to promote these products but cannot speculate how long they will take.
An algae product that has already been used is a decorative film that was developed by other matter. The organic, marbled material was recently used in the new business of skin care Aēsop in Hainan, China, where leaves of the decorative algae film (rolled into a poster tube) was applied to the walls and columns.
“We were able to create a wonderfully deep fluid pattern that is reminiscent of marble, but without the strong environmental costs or logistical limits of the mined stone,” says Jessie French Jessie French. The leaves can also be melted for reuse.
Oysters
The Australian company Mineral Fox has developed a number of renders for interior walls for interior walls in various textures, which rang from natural pink and brown to an off-lime and pale khaki, with stains from opalescent Oyster shells, which extends some more terrazzo effects.
Founder Karmin Kenny says that the render was used in the office of the global architecture company Arup in Brisbane and is used in some large commercial and residential projects in Sydney, including one that is the greatest use of recycling onto-shell returns in the world.
The prices start at around $ 180 per m², including the material costs for materials and workers for installing up to 400 US dollars/m² for complex architectural surfaces. In Australia, this puts a lot in the area of Premium products towards the area of Premium products: Hipages places between 30 and 150 US dollars in Australia.
Living materials
In Great Britain the University College London by Brenda Parker and employees Marcos Cruzan Architect and Professor of Innovative environments say that the next border is “technical living materials” in which the biological matter continues to live beyond the installation and reacts to its environment – or the material can simply be designed in such a way that they attract living things. For example, their Poikilohydric Living walls, which are now installed in a house in Scotland and a primary school in South London as study locations, are to be designed for algae, moss and lichen. The plants can remain dormant for a long time and then revive when precipitation – which means that they do not need irrigation systems.
“Instead of creating completely new materials, we worked with the available materials of the earth – concrete – and examined various options for carbon -offset,” says Cruz.
Prantar Tamuli, a Pastdoctoral student of Parker and Cruz, also developed wall panels from a semi-transparent material that was embedded with living cyanobacteria. If the bacteria are still alive, it continues to be photosynthetic, indulges carbon dioxide and produces calcium carbonate, which strengthens the panels. Prototypes were installed in St. Andrews Botanic Garden in Scotland.
Parker, Associate Professor of Sustainable Bio Process Design, says that the developing and individual appearance of living biomaterials is part of their beauty – and the advantages go beyond the recording of carbon.
“There is a reason why we like to spend time in nature, we know that it has advantages for us.” Biomaterials, she says, places the built environment on a “continuum with nature”.
Bamboo and mushroom panels
In the meantime, Fungi has gained popularity as a leather alternative, but it also arouses an increasing interest in using in building materials.
Co -founder of the biological material design laboratory at the University of Western Australia has created Associate Professor Rosangela Tenorio building panels with bamboo and Myzel, the root -like fibers that grow out of the mushrooms.
The Myzel does not live in the panels, which has concerns about potential negative health effects, and they can be used externally if they are waterproof with existing natural coatings.
But so far they have had problems gaining Australian funds outside the university support on a large scale for tests. That is why Tenorio will soon travel to Timor-Leste to build a prototype building with the panels.
Houses from straw
Back in Australia, Stroh – a traditional building material on other continents – is slowly finding a market.
The director of Viva Homes Sam Vivers says they had built 70 straw houses and another 41 with straw plates. There are different finish options for the prefabricated panels, including limestone or plywood cladding. The rendered panels were also tested by CSIRO for fire resistance and may classify as an extreme bush fire risk in areas.
“As a relatively new and unconventional product in Australia, they do not fall into the national building code. That is why we offer a” performance solution “for every build that fulfills the building regulations,” says Vivers.
Another Australian company, Durra Panel, does not produce structural wall and ceiling panels made of re-gained wheat straw, including a range with bio bubil. Although General Manager Ainslee Haslemore was used in thousands of projects – from houses to sports stadiums, recording studios and even the media center at the Olympic Games in Sydney in Sydney, their product is “still relatively unknown” for many in the construction industry and with consumers.
Barriers for biomaterials
Irma del Valle Nachon of the sustainable architecture company Breathe says: “Many biomaterials naturally carry a characteristic organic aesthetics”. “We see this for both customers and designers as an opportunity to use the unique, honest visual and tactile properties that offer these materials.” The company recently used the hemp basis panel hexcore for a table in a circular studio fitout, but there are challenges in using biomaterials, she says.
“We have given significant obstacles to specifying these in projects, which are sufficient for limited availability, long lead times, higher costs – compared to easier” business as usual “building materials – and the lack of certification, which is necessary for the fulfillment of the Australian standards and the building code.”
Qut Professor Tim Schork, member of the international building with Blue Biomass Network, said that building regulations for conventional materials were written, but many biomaterials make different use and maintenance – tests and certification difficult.
In contrast to Paul Nicholas, who heads the network and is a professor at the architecture school of the Royal Danish academy, the Danish government has checked regulations to create faster ways for biomaterials. Danish architectural companies are more open to experimental products, he says, and Denmark even has a “mini-bunnings” only for bio-based building materials.
Schork is hopeful, Australia can have similar support from the larger construction industry to support real changes here too.
Lydia Hales was one of two journalists from the Science Journalists Association of Australia's Science Journalist in Residence Program, which was financed by the Copyright Agency Copyright Fund. The 2025 program was based at the Institute for Molecular Bioscience of the University of Queensland.