🌟 UCL Student Spotlight Meet Prantar Tamuli (The Bartlett, UCL's Faculty of the Built Environment and UCL Engineering), a PhD candidate from Assam, India, combining architecture and biochemical engineering to create sustainable, living biomaterials. 📖 Read his story: https://lnkd.in/eAsgScwJ #UCLandIndia
Prantar Tamuli, a young architect and biochemical engineer from Assam, northeastern India, aims to reshape the way we think about sustainable building with a living biomaterial he discovered whilst studying at UCL. The discovery was made while Prantar pursued his Bio-Integrated Design MSc degree at UCL, a joint course between The Bartlett, UCL's Faculty of the Built Environment and UCL Engineering. The material could dramatically reduce the construction industry’s carbon footprint if mass-produced and widely adopted. Prantar’s passion for architecture started early, and he pursued a career in sustainable construction, opening his own practice in Assam. However, the limited opportunities in the region led him to seek a unique educational path merging his architectural ambition with the world of biochemical engineering. “I couldn’t find a programme like this anywhere else in the world,” Prantar said, reflecting on the interdisciplinary approach offered at UCL. At the core of the living biomaterial is the integration of photosynthetic cells using artificial tissue engineering methods. This allows the material to sequester one tonne of CO2 in just three cubic metres of the material volume during its production and continue to remove carbon from the atmosphere as the cells remain alive but dormant. Prantar’s newly set up company, Tattva, is backed by leading European climate technology VC firm G-Force and will play a key role in bringing the material to industry, with interest garnered from over 35 venture capital firms and several major global companies. An excellent insulator and very lightweight, Prantar believes the material has potential not only in traditional construction but also in cars and even extreme environments like spacecraft and lunar bases. Amid the global push towards #NetZero, this innovation could have far-reaching impacts not just in the UK or India but across the globe. Read more: https://lnkd.in/dDc-KnBC UCL Global Engagement
