Bryopolis is a speculative ‘post-natural’ project that proposes an urban model for East London. The project involves three design elements, namely: ‘Bryopolis’, a post-natural city in the urban scale; ‘Photosynthetic Voxels’, a bio-intelligent apparatus at a prototypical scale; and ‘Bryostructura’, the infrastructure and built form in an architectural scale. The research explores the non-human species moss and establishes a distributed cognition between humans and non-humans through a technological intervention. The project proposes a participatory space – a post-natural urban space created with the combined intelligence of moss, humans, and AI.

The impact of the industrial revolution and its progressive deterioration on our environment prompts the need for such a project. The higher demand in energy and the reactionary exploitation of natural resources is reflected in the uncontrollable emission of greenhouse gases and atmospheric imbalance. This impudence and disregard for nature has driven us, blindfolded, into the Anthropocene, a period characterised by anthropocentric dominance.

The project uses computational tools and machine learning algorithms to analyse abundant data along with cutting-edge technologies in the use of sensors and robotic arms to create a space forecast for the city in the next 50 years.