Polymorphic Plant Architectures: A Pathological Approach to Growing a Building

Considering the prospects of Engineered Living Materials (ELMs), a parallel can be drawn between a building and a tree. How we might grow a living building follows nearly the same processes as how we grow a healthy productive forest. Agential systems such as plants and fungi must respond to and navigate in their environment, naturally resulting in the polymorphic growth of architecture defined by the local stimuli. A symbiotic relationship between two systems provides a ready means to shape the natural plasticity during plant growth using pathogenic agents capable of inducing morphogenesis. Exotic infection morphologies from pathogens are examined from the emerging perspective of a growing building. Transitioning from forest pathogen to biodesign agent of a living botanical building, host-pathogen symbiosis intrinsically links the growth and management of both. How plant pathogens maybe employed in the growth of a building is uniquely transferable across research disciplines from forest to building.