Living lab: Bio Receptivity

Enclosing an energy-neutral, circular parking lot is a potential green oasis unfolding before us. Gabions* filled to the brim with rocks and debris recycled from the Dom tower, as well as the adjacent grass verges, serve as a host for aspiring mosses and greenery.

The gabions and grass verges are part of a living lab, in which the susceptibility of organism growth on building materials and its surroundings is tested. In interdisciplinary teams, students, researchers and operational staff look at the possibility of integrating new buildings into the existing landscape, contributing to local biodiversity and capturing fine dust.

The goals in this living lab are quite broad, and it is hoped that successful outcomes of the experiments inspire others to apply similar methods. The experiments happening within this living lab are mainly focused on promoting biodiversity, greening our constructed spaces and capturing fine dust - it is hoped that such an aesthetically inviting initiative will have a spillover effect that inspires architects, scientists, artists, and many others to take on such initiatives elsewhere.

The premise for this build was sustainability and making it ‘as green as possible’. In the end it has become a sustainable space for continuous experimentation and research, with the possibility of it becoming a green space full of life.

More information?  

Contact the Centre for Living Labs via clu@uu.nl. Do you want to contribute? Get in touch with Jaco Appelman. 

*Gabions: Walls made from steel fences, filled with stones and debris.