TY - CONF A1 - von Werder, Julia T1 - Curtain Walls with Biofilms for Improving the City Climate N2 - Building envelopes & natural rock surfaces represent the frontier between solid material surfaces, biosphere and the atmospheric environment – and are subject to permanent change in structure and chemistry. These surfaces are a natural habitat of subaerial rock biofilms (SAB) that are an important stage of primary succession. As their metabolic processes have a great impact on the composition of the near-surface layers of the earth biofilms on natural and manmade hard substrates are a research focus of geomicrobiology. In technical systems immobilized algae biofilms are already used successfully for wastewater cleaning. Algae can eliminate bacteria from the water and at the same time increase the oxygen concentration and the pH value in the water through photosynthesis, which again allows phosphate elimination to take place. Nitrificants contained in the algae biofilm convert ammonium to nitrite and nitrate. Mineral claddings for building facades could be engineered to sustain either natural or previously established carefully selected algae-dominated biofilms and this way help to clean the air. For a targeted engineering of the mineral substrates and the biofilms attached to them basic knowledge is however missing. By systematic research in an interdisciplinary team of microbiologists and building material scientists the following questions shall be clarified • How can a curated biofilm be stabilized on the surface and designed to be durable without compromising the substrate • What exactly do the biofilms need in terms of moisture in their respective growth stages? Or how long water must be available in what form and quantity to enable growth. • What is the influence of the substrate on the availability and quality of the (rain) water (water quality, leaching of substances (alkalis) from the building materials, leaching of aerosol components, surface tension, suction tension, thickness of the water molecule layers adsorbed in the pore spaces....) There are several research groups working on bioreceptive building materials which emphasizes the general interest in the topic. The idea of speeding-up the process by the targeted establishment of biofilms on building façade panels is a unique approach that has so far only been researched at BAM. Architects are very interested in biofilm facades as a new co-designing method of humans and nature reflecting the changing awareness for the loss of biodiversity in cities. If the biofilms need irrigation the evaporative cooling would reduce the urban heat island effect. T2 - Preparatory Workshop SPP 2451: Engineered Living Materials with Adaptive Functions CY - Saarbrücken, Germany DA - 10.07.2023 KW - Engineered living materials KW - Adaptive functions KW - Bioreceptivity KW - Biofilm KW - Concrete PY - 2023 UR - https://spp2451.de/event/preparatory-workshop/ AN - OPUS4-58965 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -