μGnetoGroot: Shaping Architecture Through Engineered Growth

What if we could grow buildings—complete with complex, load-bearing geometries—directly from a seed?

μGnetoGroot is an interdisciplinary research project that reimagines how we build by using genetically engineered plants to form architectural components. Led by Assistant Professor Giorgia Cannici from the School of Architecture and Professor Bastiaan Bargmann from the School of Plant and Environmental Sciences at Virginia Tech, the project merges architecture, bioengineering, and materials science to explore how root systems can be directed to grow into precise, structurally optimized forms.

Traditionally, the construction of complex geometries in timber involves labor-intensive processes that often result in significant material waste and necessitate skilled labor for on-site assembly. This project proposes a radical alternative: instead of assembling forms, we guide living systems to grow them. By genetically modifying the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana as a proof-of-concept, the research team seeks to manipulate root direction, length, and branching, thereby transforming plant growth into a programmable design tool.

Through genomic engineering, the roots will be able to mineralize magnetite, rendering them responsive to applied magnetic fields, which will facilitate their growth into predetermined complex geometries. These living materials not only present innovative solutions within the architectural domain but also hold potential for soil stabilization and erosion mitigation.

Additionally, the project addresses extraterrestrial challenges, such as the cultivation of plants in microgravity environments. Plant growth becomes unpredictable in the absence of gravity due to compromised gravitropism—the plant's ability to sense the direction in which it should grow. μGnetoGroot explores strategies to overcome these limitations, enabling precise root control in space-based agriculture, thereby supporting long-term missions and future off-world settlements.

By harnessing the combined expertise of architecture and plant molecular biology, μGnetoGroot envisions a future where biology serves as a medium for construction, facilitating the growth of complex, sustainable, and resilient designs directly from living organisms.

This work has been supported by a grant from the Virginia Tech Institute for Creativity, Arts, and Technology (ICAT) and the Center for Advanced Innovation in Agriculture (CAIA).