This architect wants to build cities out of lava

Arnhildur Pálmadóttir was astir 3 years aged erstwhile she saw a reddish entity from her surviving country window. A volcano was erupting astir 25 miles distant from wherever she lived connected the northeastern seashore of Iceland. Though it posed nary contiguous threat, its ominous beingness seeped into her subconscious, populating her dreams with streaks of airy successful the nighttime sky.

Fifty years later, these “gloomy, unusual dreams,” arsenic Pálmadóttir present describes them, person led to a vocation arsenic an designer with an bonzer mission: to harness molten lava and physique cities retired of it.

Pálmadóttir contiguous lives successful Reykjavik, wherever she runs her ain architecture studio, S.AP Arkitektar, and the Icelandic subdivision of the Danish architecture institution Lendager, which specializes successful reusing gathering materials.

The designer believes the lava that flows from a azygous eruption could output capable gathering worldly to laic the foundations of an full city. She has been researching this anticipation for much than 5 years arsenic portion of a task she calls Lavaforming. Together with her lad and workfellow Arnar Skarphéðinsson, she has identified 3 imaginable techniques: drill consecutive into magma pockets and extract the lava; transmission molten lava into pre-dug trenches that could signifier a city’s foundations; oregon 3D-print bricks from molten lava successful a method akin to the mode objects tin beryllium printed retired of molten glass.

Pálmadóttir and Skarphéðinsson archetypal presented the conception during a speech astatine Reykjavik’s DesignMarch festival successful 2022. This twelvemonth they are producing a speculative movie acceptable successful 2150, successful an imaginary metropolis called Eldborg. Their film, titled Lavaforming, follows the lives of Eldborg’s residents and looks backmost connected however they learned to usage molten lava arsenic a gathering material. It volition beryllium presented astatine the Venice Biennale, a starring architecture festival, successful May. 

Set successful 2150, her speculative movie Lavaforming presents a fictional metropolis built from molten lava.

COURTESY OF S.AP ARKITEKTAR

Buildings and operation materials similar factual and alloy presently lend a staggering 37% of the world’s yearly c dioxide emissions. Many architects are advocating for the usage of earthy oregon preexisting materials, but mixing world and h2o into a mold is 1 thing; tinkering with 2,000 °F lava is another. 

Still, Pálmadóttir is piggybacking connected probe already being done successful Iceland, which has 30 progressive volcanoes. Since 2021, eruptions person intensified successful the Reykjanes Peninsula, which is adjacent to the superior and to tourer blistery spots similar the Blue Lagoon. In 2024 alone, determination were six volcanic eruptions successful that area. This frequence has fixed volcanologists opportunities to survey however lava behaves aft a volcano erupts. “We effort to travel this beast,” says Gro Birkefeldt M. Pedersen, a volcanologist astatine the Icelandic Meteorological Office (IMO), who has consulted with Pálmadóttir connected a fewer occasions. “There is truthful overmuch going on, and we’re conscionable trying to drawback up and beryllium prepared.”

Pálmadóttir’s conception assumes that galore years from now, volcanologists volition beryllium capable to forecast lava travel accurately capable for cities to program connected utilizing it successful building. They volition cognize erstwhile and wherever to excavation trenches truthful that erstwhile a volcano erupts, the lava volition travel into them and solidify into either walls oregon foundations.

Today, forecasting lava flows is simply a analyzable subject that requires distant sensing exertion and tremendous amounts of computational powerfulness to tally simulations connected supercomputers. The IMO typically runs 2 simulations for each caller eruption—one based connected information from erstwhile eruptions, and different based connected further information acquired soon aft the eruption (from assorted sources similar specially outfitted planes). With each event, the squad accumulates much data, which makes the simulations of lava travel much accurate. Pedersen says determination is overmuch probe yet to beryllium done, but she expects “a batch of advancement” successful the adjacent 10 years oregon so. 

To plan the speculative metropolis of Eldborg for their film, Pálmadóttir and Skarphéðinsson utilized 3D-modeling bundle akin to what Pedersen uses for her simulations. The metropolis is chiefly built connected a web of trenches that were filled with lava implicit the people of respective eruptions, portion buildings are constructed retired of lava bricks. “We’re going to fto quality plan the buildings that volition popular up,” says Pálmadóttir. 

The aesthetic of the metropolis they envision volition beryllium little modernist and much fantastical—a spot “like [Gaudi’s] Sagrada Familia,” says Pálmadóttir. But the aesthetic output is not truly the point; the architects’ extremity is to galvanize architects contiguous and spark an urgent treatment astir the interaction of clime alteration connected our cities. She stresses the worth of what tin lone beryllium described arsenic moonshot thinking. “I deliberation it is important for architects not to beryllium lone successful the present,” she told me. “Because if we are lone successful the present, moving wrong the system, we won’t alteration anything.”

Pálmadóttir was calved successful 1972 successful Húsavik, a municipality known arsenic the whale-watching superior of Iceland. But she was much funny successful abstraction and exertion and spent a batch of clip flying with her father, a operation technologist who owned a tiny plane. She credits his occupation for the curiosity she developed astir subject and “how things were enactment together”—an inclination that proved utile later, erstwhile she started researching volcanoes. So was the information that Icelanders “learn to unrecorded with volcanoes from birth.” At 21, she moved to Norway, wherever she spent 7 years moving successful 3D visualization earlier returning to Reykjavik and enrolling successful an architecture programme astatine the Iceland University of the Arts. But things didn’t click until she moved to Barcelona for a master’s grade astatine the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia. “I retrieve being determination and feeling, finally, similar I was successful the nonstop close place,” she says. 

Before, architecture had seemed similar a commodity and architects similar “slaves to concern companies,” she says. Now, it felt similar a way with potential. 

She returned to Reykjavik successful 2009 and worked arsenic an designer until she founded S.AP (for “studio Arnhildur Pálmadóttir”) Arkitektar successful 2018; her lad started moving with her successful 2019 and officially joined her arsenic an designer this year, aft graduating from the Southern California Institute of Architecture. 

In 2021, the brace witnessed their archetypal eruption up close, adjacent the Fagradalsfjall volcano connected the Reykjanes Peninsula. It was determination that Pálmadóttir became alert of the sheer quantity of worldly coursing done the planet’s veins, and the imaginable to divert it into channels. 

Lava has already proved to beryllium a strong, long-lasting gathering material—at slightest successful its coagulated state. When it cools, it solidifies into volcanic stone similar basalt oregon rhyolite. The benignant of stone depends connected the creation of the lava, but basaltic lava—like the benignant recovered successful Iceland and Hawaii—forms 1 of the hardest rocks connected Earth, which means that structures built from this benignant of lava would beryllium durable and resilient. 

For years, architects successful Mexico, Iceland, and Hawaii (where lava is wide available) person built structures retired of volcanic rock. But quarrying that stone is an energy-intensive process that requires dense machines to extract, cut, and haul it, often crossed agelong distances, leaving a large c footprint. Harnessing lava successful its molten state, however, could unlock caller methods for sustainable construction. Jeffrey Karson, a prof emeritus astatine Syracuse University who specializes successful volcanic enactment and who cofounded the Syracuse University Lava Project, agrees that lava is abundant capable to warrant involvement arsenic a gathering material. To recognize however it behaves, Karson has spent the past 15 years performing implicit a 1000 controlled lava pours from elephantine furnaces. If we fig retired however to physique up its spot arsenic it cools, helium says, “that worldly has a batch of potential.” 

In his research, Karson recovered that inserting metallic rods into the lava travel helps trim the benignant of uneven cooling that would pb to thermal cracking—and truthful makes the worldly stronger (a spot similar rebar successful concrete). Like solid and different molten materials, lava behaves otherwise depending connected however accelerated it cools. When solid oregon lava cools slowly, crystals commencement forming, strengthening the material. Replicating this process—perhaps successful a kiln—could dilatory down the complaint of cooling and fto the lava go stronger. This benignant of controlled cooling is “easy to bash connected tiny things similar bricks,” says Karson, truthful “it’s not intolerable to marque a wall.” 

Pálmadóttir is clear-eyed astir the challenges earlier her. She knows the techniques she and Skarphéðinsson are exploring whitethorn not pb to thing tangible successful their lifetimes, but they inactive judge that the ripple effect the projects could make successful the architecture assemblage is worthy pursuing.

Both Karson and Pedersen caution that much experiments are indispensable to survey this material’s potential. For Skarphéðinsson, that imaginable transcends the gathering industry. More than 12 years ago, Icelanders voted that the island’s earthy resources, similar its volcanoes and sportfishing waters, should beryllium declared nationalist property. That means immoderate metropolis built from lava flowing retired of these volcanoes would beryllium controlled not by deep-pocketed individuals oregon companies, but by the federation itself. (The referendum was considered amerciable astir arsenic soon arsenic it was approved by voters and has since stalled.) 

For Skarphéðinsson, the Lavaforming task is little astir the worldly than astir the “political implications that get brought to the aboveground with this material.” “That is the alteration I privation to spot successful the world,” helium says. “It could unit america to marque extremist changes and beryllium a catalyst for something”—perhaps a societal megalopolis wherever citizens person much accidental successful however resources are utilized and profits are shared much evenly.

Cynics mightiness disregard the thought of harnessing lava arsenic axenic folly. But the much I spoke with Pálmadóttir, the much convinced I became. It wouldn’t beryllium the archetypal clip successful modern past that a seemingly unsafe thought (for example, drilling into scalding pockets of underground blistery springs) proved revolutionary. Once wholly babelike connected oil, Iceland contiguous obtains 85% of its energy and vigor from renewable sources. “[My friends] astir apt deliberation I’m beauteous crazy, but they deliberation possibly we could beryllium clever geniuses,” she told maine with a laugh. Maybe she is simply a small spot of both.

Elissaveta M. Brandon is simply a regular contributor to Fast Company and Wired.