nature machine
Year
2022
Nature Machine - an ongoing investigation of 'interspecies collaboration’
The Nature Machine Installation aims to introduce a bioactive incubator with a functioning robotic unit as a part of the urban environment and public space. It consists of an atmospheric timber installation with a birch bark curtain, a robotic unit depositing the fibrotic structure during the biennale, and actively growing mycelium inside. It is a study of co-habitation across species, combining the synthetic and natural, aiming to create a poetic and evolving pavilion.
Visitors are invited into a slowly transforming pavilion—an evolving structure whose softness and complexity reveal the work of both artificial and organic agents. Over time, the architecture changes form and texture as the mycelium spreads, digests, and reshapes its host material. Nature Machine becomes not just a space, but a living archive of collaboration between human, machine, and fungus.
The installation is designed to be self-sufficient. Solar panels power the robotic system, aligning its active cycles with daylight hours. This synchronization between energy input and construction process reinforces the project's central question: can architecture operate within ecological rhythms rather than override them?
At its core, the project features a robotic arm and a living fungal organism—mycelium—co-creating a structure from natural fibers. The robot lays down nutrient-rich materials in layers, which then become the substrate for the mycelium to colonize. The growth process is not fully scripted; it is influenced by the mycelium growth. The robot, equipped with contrast and thermal sensors, reads these changes and modifies its behavior accordingly, adjusting the density, location, and timing of material deposition.
What if buildings could grow like plants—adapting to light, temperature, and the presence of other organisms? Nature Machine explores this possibility by proposing a new kind of architectural system—one that is cultivated rather than constructed.
technical facts
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Team: IM-A Studio (Katya Bryskina & Nataly Khadziakova), Vform (Vlad Bek-Bulatov), Dmitry Morozov, intern Andrew Shablinsky
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Status: Concept proposal
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Location: Tallinn, Estonia
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Materials: Timber, birch bark, agricultural fibers, mycelium
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Technologies: Robotic fabrication with sensor feedback, solar power system
achievements
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Tallinn Architecture Biennale 2022. Shortlisted for its innovative integration of living systems and robotics