Living Assembly: Building with Biology is an innovative collaboration between UCL and Northumbria University, taking place as part of the London Design Biennale from 05–29 June. The collaboration imagines a sustainable future where the built environment is grown rather than constructed. 

The UCL team is led by Bartlett Associate Professor Richard Beckett, with the Beckett Lab – his research group incorporating researchers from the Eastman Dental Institute – and students from his Architectural Design MArch cluster, RC7. The Northumbria University team is headed by Martyn Dade-Robertson, leading their Living Construction group.

The Biennale’s theme for 2025, Surface Reflections, examines the influence of internal experiences and external environments on design. Living Assembly embodies the theme by demonstrating how biological processes can inform architectural practices, leading to structures that reflect the natural world’s complexity and adaptability.

Living Assembly: Building with Biology

The groundbreaking installation showcases cutting-edge biological construction materials, from mycelium-based bulk materials to microbe-engineered self-pigmenting leathers. It explores architectural potential across scales, integrating computational parametric design with biological craft to move beyond biomorphic clichés.

The exhibition also features experimental materials still in development – the result of unique collaborations between molecular and microbiologists, material scientists, designers and architects. These include bacterial-produced cement within novel casing vessels; cellulose formed by microbes into complex emergent shapes; a bacteria-based latex material coated with bacterial spores that change shape in response to humidity; and biologically active ceramics, embedded with 'good' bacteria that benefit human health and the buildings we live in. 

These innovations suggest a more distant future where buildings self-construct using both hard and soft tissues and remain dynamically alive to their environment. 

Contributors and funding:

Bartlett Beckett Lab:

Lead: Richard Beckett

Team:  Aileen Hoenerloh, Hangchuan Wei, Christopher Whiteside and RC7 students
The Eastman Dental Institute, UCL: Sean Nair, Arely Leyton Dominguez and Will Scott

Northumbria University Living Construction group:

Lead: Martyn Dade-Robertson

Team: Meng Zhang, Thora Arnardottir, Emily Birch, Katie Gilmour, Jamie Haystead, Aileen Hoenerloh, Dilan Ozkan, Liv Tsim, Fang Zheng, Subhadeep Paul, Mingaile Jackson

As well as the Bartlett and Northumbria University teams, the installation was produced in collaboration with Laura Gonzalez (Cornell University), CRESCO Biotech, Charlie and Amelia Burke (EM Glass), Oliver Perry (APL Workshop, Newcastle University) and HBBE, Newcastle University.

The project is supported by UK Research and Innovation, including funding from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), University College London, and Northumbria University.

The London Design Biennale 2025 runs from 05–29 June at Somerset House, London.

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Images: Hangchuan Wei