Beatriz Colomina and Mark Wigley on Biotic Architecture
From Design Emergency by Alice Rawsthorn and Paola Antonelli
February 4, 2026 · 38 min · Season 6 · Episode 3
About this episode
Beatriz Colomina and Mark Wigley discuss the role of bacteria in architecture and the implications for design practices.
Architecture has long treated bacteria as an enemy to be controlled—dangerous foreign agents to be sealed out, sterilized, or erased. In their new book, We the Bacteria: Notes Toward a Biotic Architecture , architecture historians and curators Beatriz Colomina and Mark Wigley turn that assumption inside out (literally,) arguing that architecture should not be bent on shielding and isolating humans from their invisible partners through hygiene protocols, ventilation, materials, light, and other forms of management and control. Buildings should instead be shaped by microbes as they have been for centuries, and humans should reconsider their role as participants in a much larger biological collective. In this conversation with Paola, Beatriz and Mark explore how bacteria offer a radical lens through which to reinterpret architectural history and design practice. Rather than asking how architecture can protect us from microbes, We the Bacteria asks what it means to design for coexistence, and what political, ethical, and spatial fantasies are exposed when the dream of separation finally collapses. You can find images related to this interview…
People in this episode
Host: Paola Antonelli
Guests: Beatriz Colomina, Mark Wigley
Topics covered
- biotic architecture
- microbes
- design for coexistence
- architectural history
- political implications of design
Keywords
- architecture
- bacteria
- design
- coexistence
- hygiene protocols
- biological collective
- political fantasies
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Design Emergency
Books & works: We the Bacteria: Notes Toward a Biotic Architecture
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