| Significant Projects: | Better Brick |
Ginger Krieg Dosier is an American architect who, in 2010, developed a technique for using microbiologically induced calcite precipitation to manufacture bricks for construction.[1]
Dosier's brick-making method consists of filling a rectangular form with sand layered intermittently with a solution containing urea, calcium chloride, and the non-pathogenic bacteria Sporosarcina pasteurii. After several days, the bacteria create a chemical chain reaction producing a mineral that binds the sand together into a brick. Because this process does not involve firing the brick in a kiln as in conventional brick-making, Dosier estimates that her method could reduce carbon emissions by 800 million tons each year.[2]
Dosier is the winner of the 2010 Metropolis Next Generation Design Competition.[3] She is the CEO of bioMASON, a biotechnology start-up grown from her Better Brick project. The company was the winner of the 2013 Dutch Postcode Lottery Green Challenge, one of the world's largest and longest-running start-up competitions focused on sustainable businesses.[4]