The archibiome: extending engineered living materials to multiscale built environments.

Abstract

The integration of living systems into architecture is advancing rapidly through developments in biotechnology, materials science, and design approaches grounded in regenerative principles. Engineered Living Materials (ELMs) and living artefacts demonstrate how microbial systems can be embedded within materials to enable responsiveness, metabolic activity, and adaptive functionality. However, current applications remain largely confined to discrete material components, overlooking the complex and dynamic microbial ecosystems already present within buildings. This opinion paper introduces the concept of the archibiome as a framework for extending ELMs from isolated systems to interconnected architectural environments. The archibiome conceptualizes buildings as dynamic microbial ecosystems in which engineered systems, material interfaces, and native microbial communities interact across spatial and temporal scales. While this shift offers opportunities for adaptive and regenerative design, it also introduces challenges related to system stability, environmental variability, biosafety, and regulatory constraints. Addressing these challenges requires interdisciplinary approaches that integrate microbial ecology, materials engineering, architectural design, and regulatory science. Ultimately, the archibiome positions microbial life as a design variable, enabling a transition toward predictive, systems-level strategies for living architecture.