The built fabric consumes 40% of global resources. The Biogenic Architecture Lab designs with living materials that replace paradigms of scarcity with the natural intelligence of abundant systems, creating reciprocal relationships between material ecologies and architecture.

History

Associate Professor Joseph Dahmen founded the Biogenic Architecture Lab in 2021, building on 20 years of experience on design with next-generation low-carbon architectural materials. The Lab maintains facilities at the Centre for Interactive Research on Sustainability (CIRS) building and in the Lasserre Building at the University of British Columbia School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture. We collaborate frequently with Dr. Steven Hallam at UBC Microbiology and Immunology. Biogenic Architecture Lab projects are supported by federal TriCouncil and provincial funding, as well as industry sponsors. The lab was established with initial funding from the Accelerating Circular Economy program at the Pacific Economic Development Agency of Canada. 

Affiliation & Sponsorship

We are grateful to the following organizations for supporting research at the Biogenic Architecture Lab:

Natural Resources Canada
National Science and Engineering Research Council
UBC Sustainability Campus as a Living Lab
TriCouncil New Frontiers in Research Fund
UBC BioProducts Institute
MITACs Accelerate
Materials and Manufacturing Research Institute
UBC Botanical Garden
UBC School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture

Members

  • Prof. Joseph Dahmen

    Associate Professor,
    UBC School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture
    Chair, Bachelor of Design in Architecture, Landscape Architecture and Urbanism

    Joseph Dahmen founded the Biogenic Architecture Lab at UBC in 2021. He is an expert on low carbon materials for architecture, which he studied at MIT, where he completed his M.Arch degree wth Dr. John Ochsendorf. He is a co-founder of the MCELLS Research Excellence Cluster at UBC, a member of the BioProducts Institute at UBC, and a Research Pillar Lead at the Materials Manufacturing Institute, where he is on the Accelerating Circular Economy steering committee. He has been an Early Career Scholar and a Wall Scholar at the Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies. Prior to joining the faculty at UBC, he co-founded two startups and served as Director of Sustainability at Watershed Materials LLC, a Bay Area developer of alkali-activated soil-based low carbon masonry materials.

  • Isobel McLean, M.Arch

    Lead Designer
    UBC School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture /
    Microbiology & Immunology

    Isobel is a designer and research technician exploring the potential of building-scale applications for engineered living materials, specifically using biofabrication to develop new forms of mycelium-based composites. She completed an HBA in Architectural Studies at the University of Toronto in 2021 and a Master of Architecture at UBC in 2024. Isobel is currently working between the Biogenic Architecture Lab and Hallam Lab.

  • Nicholas Lin, PhD

    Killam Postdoctoral Research Fellow
    UBC Microbiology & Immunology /
    School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture

    Dr. Nicholas Lin is a research biotechnologist working at the interface of biofabrication, nanotechnology, and cell-surface interactions, and design. He earned his B.Eng. in 2016 and his Ph.D. in 2023, both from the Department of Chemical Engineering at McGill University (Montreal, Canada). Nick is currently developing 3D bioprinting technologies for the fabrication of architectural biocomposites, a collaborative project between the Biogenic Architecture Lab and UBC Microbiology.

  • Kane Pendry

    Research Assistant
    M.Arch Candidate, UBC School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture

  • Emily Wilson

    Undergraduate Research Assistant Bachelor of Design in Architecture, Landscape Architecture and Urbanism

  • Darice Tai

    Undergraduate Research Assistant Bachelor of Design in Architecture, Landscape Architecture and Urbanism

  • Collaborators

    Dr. Steven Hallam, Professor / UBC Microbiology & Immunology /

    Juan Santana, PhD (c) / Hallam Lab, UBC Microbiology & Immunology

  • Alumni

    Christy-Anna Chung, M.Arch / Jasmine Liu / Jami Holden, M.Arch / Jennifer Lara Rodriguez, B.Des / Cameron Taylor, B.Des / Alireza Makoei, M.Arch, MASA / Lorena Polovina, M.Arch, P.Eng, CPHD