The Superposition

Personal Reflections on
ArchiBio (2015-2017)
DNA is Not a Blueprint of Life
Prof. Lars Jeuken
In academic research, like so many
other vocations, one is easily stifled
with day-to-day management and
support, losing track of the creative
process that once attracted you to the
laboratory. This is where I found myself
in 2014, halfway through a very large
research programme funded by the
European Union. As scientific supervisor
I worked full time on other people’s
problems, and in return scientific
research and breakthroughs were lost
to me and instead became the playground
of those I supervised.
The creativity of solving puzzles,
especially if the answers have the
ability to surprise you, has drawn me
into science. The Superposition and
bioLeeds challenged my creativity and
original thinking, like the puzzles that
once got me hooked into science.
In 2015, following the Superposition’s
recipe of teaming up Makers, Artists
and Scientists, we formed ArchiBio.
Our Maker was an architect and our
vision was to explore biological cellular
structures using artistic functionality
of architecture.
designing spaces and structures I
previously held to be confined to the
world of biology. We explored differences
and similarities between terminology
and created lexicons. We looked at the
functional requirements of entry and
exit and were amazed how functional
living spaces can employ solutions
akin to the biological cell.
Architecture, similar to biological
science, relies on grasping function
and applying knowledge of materials,
but creating biological architecture
proved too ambitious. The process
taught me how little we actually know
about the biological cell. Feynman
famously said “if I can’t build it I don’t
understand it”. Well, we definitely could
not design a biological cell, let alone
build one. In science we are increasingly
able to reverse-engineer biology,
but we do this with little understanding.
DNA is most certainly not a blueprint
of life; blueprints suggests that one
understands what is being built.
The task at hand was enlightening,
but so much more difficult than anticipated.
Regular meetings enveloped
me in the perspectives of creative
architecture: striking edifices with
exoskeletons and dynamic living
spaces. I was exhilarated by functionality
explored in architecture,
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