DETAIL Award 2022
Detail Students Award for a Research Project
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With their Biotic Air Unit 2071 research project, the students of UC Berkeley have demonstrated that a Californian variety of bulrush is a suitable building material. Their installation has won them this year’s Detail Students’ Award. The picture shows just how versatile and practical bulrushes can be.
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Rushes known as tule grass grow in several regions of North America. In California, the grass has a long tradition as a building material. For centuries, indigenous peoples have been using it in their structures.
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The students used a cobot, or collaborative robot – a robot that cooperates with people – to tie the rushes into bundles.
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They experimented both with these bundles and with various backings, coming ever closer to the final form of their installation.
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The dramatically enlarged texture of dried and damp tule grass inspired further research. The tissue structure of the damp grass served as a model for the backing, which the students recreated from compostable elastomers.
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One subspecies of the grass has an unusual degree of tensile strength. The students experimented with this variety as well, but eventually discarded it in favour of another variety for the installation. Rushes possess not only air-purifying qualities, they can even filter smoke, as demonstrated in this experiment.
© UC Berkeley
© UC Berkeley
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Rushes possess not only air-purifying qualities, they can even filter smoke, as demonstrated in this experiment.
© UC Berkeley
© UC Berkeley
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Designers of the project
Students: Anastasis Dimokas, Anson Jacob, Ellina Poltavtseva, Geoffrey Nyakiongora, Jingyi He Joanne Spyridi Olivier Gennart, Shida Wang, Sourabh Maheshwary, Wentao Zeng, Zeming Zhang
Advisor: Maria Paz Gutierrez
You can find a video about the Biotic Air project here.
Read more in Detail 12.2022 and in our databank Detail Inspiration.
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