What is a Diatom? Biology, Art, Architectures.
What is a Diatom?
Diatoms are algae that are found in oceans, fresh water, and soils. They generate 20% of the oxygen in the Earth’s atmosphere. These organisms live in intricate shells grown from silica (SiO2). The shells serve several functions including protection, water-management, and modifying light.
Diatom shells are transparent-and-tough and can stay intact for millions of years. There are a huge diversity of species and forms; some attach together, creating chains, fans, and other shapes.
Inspiration and Early Experiments
I have been curious about diatoms for years, but this research was inspired as I was looking for a project to make in the workshop. Looking for inspiration online, I was drawn towards the shell of this triangular species of diatom, creating several pieces that incorporate this patterning. Made on a CNC machine, once the files are setup the design is easy to modify and reuse. This one has shown up again as a lantern collaboration with Dylan Toymaker and it may find other expressions as I continue my research.
Next Steps
This fall I’m planning a trip to visit a biomimicry biology lab. We’ll look at diatoms with microscopes, and we may try to grow cultures, tracking their life cycle and watching how their shells develop. Using the biomimicry process we’ll deconstruct strategies of the diatom and incorporate them into these designs. The goal is to turn some of these ideas into art - more lanterns and perhaps some furniture?
As I work through this project I’ll link together biological lessons, art and storytelling, helping people imagine the possibilities of emulating the fascinating biology of these tiny creatures.
Imagining the Future
These images are explorations of architectures that I generated with Midjourney, an artificial intelligence tool that turns text prompts into imagery. The prompts included design principles based on the biology of diatom shell structures and growth strategies.
This approach is helping me explore questions including “What can we learn from the detailed-but-tough shells of the diatom?” and "Can we grow glass-like structures from silica and sea water?" These explorations will help to imagine the long-term potential of mimicking nature’s mechanisms in architecture and urban design.