CAYENNE

ROTUNDA

The Rotunda is situated at the apex of the settlement, although no one part can fully function without the other, the Rotunda is the part where fruit, body, mind, and mechanical technology blend together in symbiosis, kinship, and ecology.

Millions of years of evolution are studied and utilized to manufacture efficient structures, while next-level DNA sequencing is applied in farming — a collaboration between two technologies, one human, and the other fungus-based.

The Rotunda is a semi-automated building containing the main research laboratories, large-scale 3D printing workshop, and assembly space. Acting as the knot within the project each function of the settlement is directly associated with the Rotunda.

SETTLEMENT

Measurements of the topology and an AI generative design program are sequenced in the Rotundas design and development laboratory.

Here the combination of optimal additive manufacturing meets the expertise of the next-gen DNA sequencer who supplies the optimum structural strain of mycelium culture to create the compostable dwellings.

FARMING

Results in the field are processed in the labs, samples are routinely extracted, and the composition of the soil is analyzed. At the heart of the research is the interaction and measurement of mycelium’s, mycorrhizal symbiotic relationships between species.

The evolution of the soil and biodiversity are monitored to evaluate the optimization of nutrient retention and exchange. Biochar deposits are monitored and feedback is given to the research in order to inform potential optimization of the soil.

PROCESSING PLANT

The processing plant receives detailed quantities of material and information from the Rotunda. The plant refines the biomass to be used in the substrate for structural buildings and for the biochar retort.

The Rotunda can use precise calculations in order to use the optimum in material quantity, this reduces stress on the biosphere of the settlement and optimises the production time and energy outputs.

BIOCHAR

Although the smallest structure on the site, the dedicated closed furnace (retort) produces the building blocks of a complex soil nutrification system in the form of char, while also providing energy through the thermal exchange.

Char produces a microscopic network of surfaces equivalent to 340 m² per gram. This quantity of surface area retains minerals and water preventing the leaching of nutrients.