These designs convey all of the diverse wonder of coral reefs without having to walk along an actual sea floor (and presumably slice open a foot in the process.

Porto-based Portuguese textile artist Vanessa Barragão crochets, weaves and latch-hooks her textiles with inspiration from coral, algae and fungi, often from exotic, remote and underwater environments.

Her works range from entire round Earths (and other abstracted planetoids) to small ecosystems constructed at 1-to-1 scale, creating a sense of visual realism without compromising creature comforts.

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A post shared by Vanessa Barraga?o (@vanessabarragao_work)

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A post shared by Vanessa Barraga?o (@vanessabarragao_work)

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A post shared by Vanessa Barraga?o (@vanessabarragao_work)

Artist bio: “My name is Vanessa Barragão, I’m from the south of Portugal but right now I’m based in Porto. I took a degree in Fashion Design and when I was doing the master degree I started exploring more about handcrafted textile techniques and the wool process.” She then dedicated herself to “doing artworks such as tapestries using several techniques: latch hooking, crochet, weaving, knitting, basketry and felt.”

Ocean cities are a longstanding Utopian dream, but the majority of such schemes fail to address the immediate need of cramped urban centers, many of which around the world are bordered and constrained by large bodies of water.

Blue 21, a Dutch architecture and design group, aims to sustainably extend such cities into adjacent lakes and oceans, alleviating the stress on existing metropolitan areas and providing vital resources (like space to grow food) in close proximity to urban cores. The team has experience building floating homes in the Netherlands but wants to take their experience global and work at a larger scale.

These modular buoyant extensions can be added to over time and used to grow algae, veggies, crops and seafood, producing food and biofuels to support existing populations on land.

At the same time, they can serve to productively process and recycle city wastes and absorb emissions, becoming a productive rather than consumptive part of the regional ecosystem. “As an integrated concept it proposes floating development that can be ‘plugged in’ to existing cities and help them recycling waste nutrients and CO2 that often end up in the environment, polluting it.”

While Blue 21 may not be a solution on the immediate horizon as yet, it represents an approach that bridges the gap between fantastical floating cities and more realistic solutions that engage accessible stretches of ocean. “We are Blue21, starting a Blue Revolution. This is how: by building world’s first floating city with a positive impact on nature. Because we believe our future is on the water for seven reasons: 1. We are running out of land, 2. Cities on land are vulnerable, 3. Water will save us from our addiction to fossil fuels, 4. Water is the new oil, 5. Water is an innovation playground, 6. We can actually have a positive impact, 7. We can do this, now.”

Generating as much oxygen per day as 400,000 square feet of natural woodland, the Urban Algae Canopy combines architecture, biology and digital technology to create a structure that generates energy, responds to and enhances its environment.

Created by EcoLogics Studio and demonstrated in Milan, Italy, this “world’s first bio-digital canopy integrates micro-algal cultures and real time digital cultivation protocols on a unique architectural system,” with flows of water and energy regulated by weather patterns and visitor usage. Sun increases photosynthesis, for example, causing the structure to generate organic shade in realtime. In addition to CO2 reduction, the canopy as a whole can produce over 300 pounds of biomass daily, all through a relatively passive system that requires far less space and upkeep than conventional civic greenery.

A hybrid of architectural and ecosystem design, the canopy is made to adapt its features based on manual as well as environmental inputs, letting users exert control (via a digital interface) within a larger dynamic system. “This process is driven by the biology of mico-algae is inherently responsive and adaptive; visitors will benefit from this natural shading property while being able to influence it in real-time.” 

For EcoLogics, this is only a step toward a larger vision – organic systems tied to high-tech ones in current and future buildings and infrastructure, as well as a breakdown of the differentiation between urban and rural, cities and nature. Indeed, the Canopy is just the latest of many projects the EcoLogics team has executed around similar themes, though it combines a series of construction techniques and materials they have been developing: “The exceptional properties of microalgae organisms  are enhanced by their cultivation within a custom designed 3 layers ETFE cladding system. A special CNC welding technology is at the core of it and enables ecoLogicStudio to design and control the morphology of the cushions under stress as well as the fluid dynamic behaviour of the water medium as it travels through it.”

Integrating organic and artificial systems opens up sustainable possibilities for everything from temperature control to power generation methods using advantages of both natural and digital parts. It is also conceivable that the organic inputs and outputs of such systems could eventually be integrated into the production cycle of urban vertical farms. For now, the canopy will remain a working prototype and proof of concept as well as a chance to experiment with refining the constituent technologies. Meanwhile, others are taking different approaches to the use of algae in urban objects, including a design for smog-eating algae street lamps and this bio-voltaic table.

More from its creators: “In ecoLogicStudio we believe that it is now time to overcome the segregation between technology and nature typical of the mechanical age, to embrace a systemic understanding of architecture. In this prototype the boundaries between the material, spatial and technological dimensions have been carefully articulated to achieve efficiency, resilience and beauty.” For an active application on a permanent building exterior with additional scientific details, be sure to take a look at the world’s first bio-adaptive facade in Germany.

Shrouded in 150 trees that absorb 200,000 liters of carbon dioxide per hour, this massive five-story, block-spanning residential building occupies its own protected inner-city ecosystem.

Located in Torino, Italy, 25 Verde was designed by Luciano Pia (images by Beppe Giardino) to serve both the residents of the complex as well as the surrounding urban environment. Its living facade forms light, sight and sound barrier on all sides but also regulates pollution and temperatures in and around the structure.

Rich foliage provides shade during the summer and lets more sunlight in during the winter. Situated on the ground and in planters above, each species was carefully selected for its growth needs, colors and other attributes relative to the project’s goals. At ground level, a raised-earth effect provides privacy for residents and a sense that the entire complex is growing right out of the soil.

Steel tree-shaped supports reinforce the appearance of an urban forest while a series of wooden platforms, trellises and towers make the entire complex feel all the more like a treehouse in the heart of the city. Paths and courtyards provide residents and visitors a great series of moments that combine elements of nature and urban design.