Algaevator
Artificial environment used to increase the production of algae.
Designed at MIT, Algaevator is an algae photobioreactor, an artificial environment used to increase the production of algae through the introduction of slow movement, carbon dioxide, and increased access to sunlight. Algaevator is a spiral-shaped pavilion that makes algae propagation into an attractive and visible structure. Created as part of the Burglars of Transnatural Transparency (BoTT) Lab pavilion, the Algaevator is a gravity-based algae photobioreactor built to explore the architectural possibilities of biotechnology utilities. The resulting lightweight and transparent structure comprises three separated spirals intercoiled between a heat-fused, watertight, and layered membrane. “An algae photobioreactor is an artificial environment used to increase the production of algae through the introduction of slow movement, carbon dioxide, and increased access to sunlight,” write the designers. “The algae is then used for various consumer products and alternative fuels.”