I Have Heard Of 3D Printing,

and have often read of buildings trying to be carbon neutral,

all images courtesy of the University of Virginia, well here is a combination of both of them, for an ongoing project within the School of Architecture, assistant professor Ehsan Baharlou and his team mixed seeds into earthen building materials that, once layered into walls, sprout lush plant life,

 the idea has the potential to naturally insulate buildings, soak up excess water that could lead to flooding, create green space for urban creatures, and even be carbon negative, as the succulents sequester carbon from the surrounding environment,

an example of 3D seed impregnated walls, Left: 48 hours. Middle: 96 hours. Right: 144 hours,

in the coming months, the team plans to expand the capacities of the process to create more expansive structures and address the cracks that occur in the soil when produced on a larger scale, once those hurdles have been overcome, I wonder if architects/designers can choose the colours of the buildings by using different seeds? providing the birds do not eat the seeds first!