Biodigital Micro-Cellular Mashrabiya: Lattice Architectural Microbial Membranes for Sustainable Built Environments

A typical Mashrabiya in Islamic architecture represents an integral climatic and sustainable solution, not only by offering recycling and the responsible use of small pieces of wood assembled in stunning geometrical and natural abstract lattice panels, but also because it offers air cooling, filtration, and flow from the exterior to the interior of a building. This leads to the air flow being cooled by the water spray offered by the interior patio fountains, in addition to protecting the sanctity and privacy of a building’s inhabitants, which complies with religious beliefs and social considerations. This integral sustainable solution acts on multiple scales: material recycling and responsible use, as well as climatic and socio-cultural considerations similar to Gaudi’s approach with Trencadís technology, not far from the Arabic and Islamic architectural influence revived in the Catalan Modernism contemporary to his time. In these footsteps, we explore the Mashrabiya of our time: an interactive and living architectural membrane, a soft interface that reacts by growing, giving shade, filtrating air, and transforming in time. Despite attempts to design a contemporary concept of the Mashrabiya, none of them have adopted the living organism to form an interactive living lattice architectural system. In this work, we propose the biodigital micro-cellular Mashrabiya as a novel idea and a proof of concept based on employing the authors’ previously published research findings to utilize eco-friendly biopolymers inoculated with useful native–domestic microbial strains to act as soft and living membranes, where these organisms grow and vary in their chemical and physical characteristics, sustainable function, and industrial value. This study implements an analytical–descriptive methodology to analyze the key characteristics of a traditional Mashrabiya as an integral sustainable solution and how the proposed micro-cellular biodigital Mashrabiya system can fulfill these criteria to be integrated into the built environment, forging future research trajectories on the bio-/micro-environmental compatibility of this biomaterial-based biodigital Mashrabiya system by understanding these materials’ physical, chemical, and physiological traits and their sustainable value. In this work, a biodigital Mashrabiya is proposed based on employing previous research findings on experimentally analyzed biomaterials from a biomineralized calcium-phosphate-based hydrogel and bio-welded seashell–mycelium biocomposite in forging the lattice system of a biodigital Mashrabiya, analyzing the feasibility and sustainability impact of these systems for integration into the architectural built environment.