Prime Mover: Architectural actuation through designed living plant cell-laden scaffolds.

The research project Prime Mover, explores the notion of growing architectural spaces from plant callus tissue. Like buildings, plants are sessile, and bound to the location they are situated in. However, unlike buildings, plants display remarkable plasticity allowing them to respond to environmental stimuli and adapt to stress from their surrounding habitat. By propagating callus tissue extracted from Daucus carota, we explored its ability to differentiate into various functional morphologies through regulating the delivery of various plant hormone concentrations. We developed specialized 3D printing tools for crafting designed callus-laden scaffolds with integrated vascularity, in order to harness the inherent plasticity of plant tissue culture. The hollow interiors of the scaffolds facilitate nutrient circulation for tissue growth and enable precise actuation of plant hormones to guide cell differentiation into intricate forms. The outcomes of this research are presented in a short film, where experiments and prototypes are presented alongside a speculative provocation, envisioning the living material agency and feral qualities of plant tissue. Prime Mover imagines future inhabitable spaces: redefining buildings as dynamic, living entities capable of growing and adapting over time, while nurturing diverse multispecies communities within their organic tissues.