Our world is sending us warning signals that we are disturbing its equilibrium.  A drastic cut in our environmental impact is called for. This Probe explores how the solution is likely to come from biological processes, which are less energy-consuming and non-polluting. We need to go back to nature in order to move forward. The Microbial Home is a proposal for an integrated cyclical ecosystem where each function’s output is another’s input. In this project the home has been viewed as a biological machine to filter, process and recycle what we conventionally think of as waste – sewage, effluent, garbage, waste water.

“Designers have an obligation to understand the urgency of the situation, and translate humanity’s needs into solutions. Energy-saving light bulbs will only take us so far. We need to push ourselves to rethink domestic appliances entirely, to rethink how homes consume energy, and how entire communities can pool resources” says Clive van Heerden, Senior Director of Design-led Innovation at Philips Design.

Creating a cyclical eco-system
In the Microbial Home Probe we adopt a systemic approach to many of the domestic processes we take for granted and ask questions about how we deal with resources. It is a proposal for an integrated cyclical ecosystem where each function’s output is another’s input. We view the home as a biological machine to filter, process and recycle what we conventionally think of as waste – sewage, effluent, garbage, waste water. The Probe suggests that we should move closer to nature and challenges the wisdom of annihilating the bacteria that surround us. It proposes strategies for developing a balanced microbial ecosystem in the home.

Microbial Home concepts

• Bio-digester island
• Larder
• Urban beehive
• Bio-light
• Apothecary
• Filtering squatting toilet
• Paternoster plastic waste up-cycler

The Biological Age
While the electro-mechanical age may have caused the problem, it could also help us find the solution. Technological development has enabled us to mimic nature’s processes. Now all that is lacking is a collective change in consciousness to take us into a Biological Age, one where materials can repair themselves and where by-products are no longer waste but fuel for other systems. We are going to live through this epoch change whether we choose to or not. Failure to adjust our thinking, and with it our behaviors, will force the earth to exercise its self-correcting mechanisms over us. Necessity, as the old adage goes, is the mother of invention. Only one question remains: what part do we want to play?