The Bio-Integrated Design Lab at the Bartlett School of Architecture has created a modular system of tiles inlaid with algae that can filter toxic chemical dyes and heavy metals out of water.
Called Indus, the tiles are on display in the UK for the first time as part of the London Design Festival. They are designed to be built on site in areas with contaminated water sources, where artisans can pour water over the tiles to purify it.

Each tile is made simply by pressing clay ? or a similar low-cost, local material ? into fan-shaped moulds with a series of "vein-like channels".
These mimic the structure of leaves and their ability to distribute water evenly to every part of a plant.
The ravines are then filled with micro-algae which are suspended within the "biological scaffold" of a seaweed-derived hydrogel. This keeps the algae alive while also being completely recyclable and biodegradable.
"The materials required to prepare the hydrogel along with the algae cells can be supplied in powdered form," explained the project's lead, Bartlett PhD student Shneel Malik.
"Much like cooking, you can add just the right amount of powder to water in order to prepare the hydrogel for application to the tiles."
Once filled, the tiles are assembled into a wall and water is poured into the system through inlets at the top. It trickles through the tile channels and is collected at the bottom.
As it flows over the channels, the water is subject to...