In the San Francisco Bay floats a little fabricated island, just 14 feet long. The structure, called the Buoyant Ecologies Float Lab, has been in place since 2019, when researchers, including Adam Marcus, designed, built and deployed it as a prototype for a new example of resilient coastal infrastructure.
Marcus, now the Favrot IV Associate Professor of Architecture at Tulane's School of Architecture and Built Environment, is continuing his research into innovative ways to incorporate design into his architecture projects and his teaching.
“For me, architecture is fundamentally a material practice,” said Marcus. “I’m really interested in looking at how small textures and pockets and different material qualities could create habitats for plants that could attract pollinator species, and fungi, and other things that we don’t typically think about as wanting to inhabit an architectural façade but can catalyze biodiversity in the ecosystem,” said Marcus.
Using Tulane’s Digital Ceramics Lab, he has explored 3D-printed ceramic façade systems, in which clay-based structures — customizable, water-absorbent and durable — are designed for architectural and ecological purposes.
Marcus uses principles of ecology and other fields to inform his designs. That interdisciplinary work is something he passes along to his students.
