BLDGBLOG: Sand/Stone
http://bldgblog.blogspot.com/2009/04/sandstone.html

architectural conjecture :: urban speculation :: landscape futures

A project proposing to build a 6,000 km wall across the Sahara to stop desertification using bacteria which solidify sand into sandstone and could be used almost like a giant 3d printer. The future is here.

Larsson's project deservedly won first prize last fall at the Holcim Foundation's Awards for Sustainable Construction held in Marrakech, Morocco. One of the most interesting aspects of the project, I think, is that this solidified dunescape is created through a particularly novel form of "sustainable construction" – that is, through a kind of infection of the earth. In other words, Larsson has proposed using bacillus pasteurii, a "microorganism, readily available in marshes and wetlands, [that] solidifies loose sand into sandstone," he explains.