The Living Room

What if our house is no longer an object, but lives like an organism? In a world full of things, we have lost our connection with objects. The Living Room, a visionary living concept by biodesigner Emma van der Leest in collaboration with Next Nature, proposes a radically different housing model: a dynamic ecosystem in which humans and microbes coexist.

In this modular living room and garden, built from locally produced and fully biobased materials such as mycelium, bacteria, seaweed and biocomposite, energy and resources are generated from mud, salt and waste. Objects grow: a sofa by Klarenbeek & Dros grows along slowly, while the Biolume lamp by Teresa van Dongen emits light thanks to bacteria. Outdoors, an Urban Reef purifies the water and stimulates biodiversity.

The Living Room demonstrates that biofabrication is not a distant dream but already scalable today. In collaboration with universities and creative hubs such as BlueCity Lab, research is shared and applied. The installation makes sustainable living tangible, hopeful and valuable. Visitors are invited to take part in caring for the house and thus build a reciprocal relationship with everyday objects.

The Living Room will become a permanent part of the Enter Spaceship Earth exhibition at the Next Nature Museum.

Designer and creator: Emma van der Leest
Architect: Makkink & Bey