Thursday, February 23, 2012

Microbial Home Probe Project

The ‘Microbial Home’ project is part of the Philips Design Probes program, which was established to explore far future lifestyle scenarios based on rigorous research in a wide range of areas. This new forward looking group of design concepts represent an innovative and sustainable approach  to energy, waste, lighting, food preservation, cleaning, grooming, and human waste management.

The Probe suggests that we should move closer to nature and challenges the wisdom of annihilating the bacteria that surround us. It proposes strategies for developing a balanced microbial ecosystem in the home.


The urban beehive is a concept for keeping bees at home. The beehive is designed to allow us a glimpse into the fascinating world of these industrious creatures and to harvest the honey that they produce.

Microbial Home concepts


The larder concept is a system designed to keep ‘living food’ fresh, by using natural processes (as opposed to dead food in the refrigerator). The larder consists of an evaporative cooler and vegetable storage system built into a dining table.

“All that is lacking is a collective change in consciousness to take us into a Biological Age; one where materials can repair themselves and where by-products are no longer waste but fuel for other systems. We are going to live through this epoch change whether we choose to or not. Failure to adjust our thinking, and with it our behaviors, will force the earth to exercise its self-correcting mechanisms over us.”



The bio-light uses different biological technologies to create ambient light effects. The concept explores the use of bioluminescent bacteria, which are fed with methane and composted material (drawn from the methane digester in the Microbial Home system). Alternatively the cellular light array can be filled with fluorescent proteins that emit different frequencies of light.


Phillips – Design

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