Lichen-Botanique
🌿 LICHEN-ARCHITECT: Bio-Physical Engineering & Metabolic Design
📖 Overview
LICHEN-ARCHITECT explores the intersection of advanced theoretical physics and biological engineering. This repository serves as a blueprint for transforming static infrastructure into metabolic organisms.
By leveraging geometric frustration, topological phases of matter, and synthetic symbiosis, we aim to design agricultural systems and urban envelopes that “calculate” their own response to the environment—mimicking the resilience of the lichen holobiont.
“Geometry is not just a descriptive abstraction; it is the skeleton of reality.”
🔬 Core Research Modules
1. The Frusto-Active Greenhouse (Metamaterials)
Moving beyond glass and polyethylene. We utilize Geometric Frustration to create smart “breathing” skins.
- Mechanism: Elastic instability (buckling) driven by PNIPAM hydrogels and VO2 nanoparticles.
- Function: Passive light diffusion (Haze > 60%), radiative cooling (8-13μm window), and fog harvesting via Laplace pressure gradients.
- Manufacturing: Blueprint for Roll-to-Roll (R2R) Nanoimprint Lithography.
2. Synthetic Lichen & Mars Colonization
Recreating the symbiotic efficiency of lichens for extreme environments.
- Modular Theory: Decoupling the mycobiont (structure) and photobiont (energy).
- Application: Engineering Synechococcus (cyanobacteria) and filamentous fungi for carbon capture and biomineralization on Mars (Regolith consolidation).
- Bio-Solar Leaf: Low-pressure, high-surface-area photobioreactors for urban facades.
3. Biophysical Electroculture
Separating myth from physics. Rigorous analysis of electromagnetic fields on plant physiology.
- Physics: Application of the Nernst-Planck equation to ion transport in the rhizosphere.
- Active Systems: High-voltage electrostatic fields and Triboelectric Nanogenerators (TENG) for yield increase (+20%).
- Passive Systems: Optimization of atmospheric antennas and oscillating circuits (Lakhovsky) based on impedance matching.
4. Quantum Botany & CRISPR Solutions
Integrating quantum coherence and genomic editing for resilience.
- States of Matter: Exploiting “Goldilocks” quantum coherence in photosynthesis and topological protection in vascular networks.
- Genomics: Using CRISPR-Cas9 (IGI strategies) to engineer deep-rooting sorghum (suberin storage) and methane-suppressed rice microbiomes.
- Morphogenesis: Programming geometric frustration (MCP incompatibility) into leaf growth patterns.
🛠️ Technology Stack & Concepts
- Physics: Geometric Frustration, Topological Insulators, Hyperuniformity, Radiative Cooling.
- Biology: CRISPR-Cas9, Synthetic Consortia, Rhizosphere Engineering, Quorum Sensing.
- Materials: ETFE, PNIPAM Hydrogels, Geopolymers, Carbon Quantum Dots.
🚀 Roadmap
- Theoretical Framework & Physical Principles
- Material Selection & Blueprinting
- Prototyping “Frusto-Active” Membrane Samples
- Simulation of Synthetic Lichen Metabolic Flux
- Field Testing of Active Electroculture Arrays
🤝 Contributing
This is an open research initiative. We welcome physicists, biologists, and architects to contribute to the “Architecture of the Invisible.”
📜 License
Distributed under the MIT License. See LICENSE for more information.
Architect: Bryan Ouellette | Lichen Collective