Temporary Archive for Ambiguous Architectures (2012)

Residency and Exhibition, Eastern Bloc, Montréal

Temporary Archive for Ambiguous Architectures explores the question of what an archive can be, and whether it can behave as a living system. The project brings together 3D-printed forms, agar-based substrates, and fungi spores in an installation that stages a speculative experiment in decomposition and growth. A modified RepRap Prusa printer extrudes agar–agar gel infused with spores in response to vibrational signals captured by a piezo sensor. Movements by visitors activate the printer, creating geometric lines and forms that serve as starting points for potential mycelial growth. Although the printed PLA structures have not decomposed, the system proposes an alternative model of architectural formation and decay.

The installation combines digital fabrication and biological processes to suggest a hybrid mode of spatial construction where algorithmic precision encounters organic variability. The work foregrounds the temporal, unpredictable qualities of living systems and disrupts conventional, metric-based approaches to building and mapping space. By situating programmed printing alongside slow microbial activity, the project asks viewers to consider how sensing, growth, and environmental responsiveness might function as architectural strategies.

The project is presented through three interrelated “archives”:

Archive 1: Math and Mycelium
A reconfigured RepRap printer dispenses spore-laden agar when triggered by vibrations, creating simple shapes that act as substrates for potential fungal growth and emergent micro-architectures.

Archive 2: Printed Forms
A series of 3D-printed vessels and objects inspired by mycelial patterns, fractals, and geometric forms. In later iterations, the vessels were filled with inoculated substrate to test how fungal activity might alter or destabilize their material integrity.

Archive 3: Still…Life
A video using DIY 3D scanning and open-source animation to document and interpret the artistic and technical processes behind the project.

Temporary Archive for Ambiguous Architectures examines how digital and cellular reproduction intersect, proposing speculative ecologies in which cause, agency, and intention are not easily determined. By activating the printer through subtle environmental vibrations, the work gestures toward alternative sensing logics and challenges the assumption that architectural space must be ordered, stable, or fully controlled.