This week, Norwegian architecture firm Snøhetta revealed a new master plan for Ford Motor Co.'s Dearborn, Mich., campus centered around the automobile manufacturer's Research & Engineering Center. The result of a two-year study, Snøhetta's master plan intends to improve pedestrian circulation, create a designated transportation loop, and increase building density. The new layout will consolidate some 20,000 employees who are currently spread across Dearborn and southeast Michigan. "The Master Plan’s response to the site’s core mobility, site, and architectural systems was driven by the need for consolidated and interconnected workplaces; ecological thinking about the landscape that creates habitat for people, flora, and fauna in equal measure; and intelligent campus mobility systems that will evolve over time," Snøhetta writes in a project description. [Snøhetta]
This week, Austin, Texas–based artificial intelligence (AI) company Hypergiant Industries launched a prototype bioreactor for commercial carbon sequestration. Named the Eos Bioreactor, the system utilizes AI-optimized algae to trap carbon, resulting in a biomass that can be harvested and used to make fuel, oils, food, fertilizers, plastics, and cosmetics. Measuring 3 feet by 3 feet by 7 feet, the bioreactor is designed for office buildings in urban environments. Hypergiant will make the blueprints for the system available later this year in the hopes of empowering individuals to make smaller residential versions for personal use. "Excess carbon in our atmosphere is driving a number of massive catastrophes for our planet and pushing us to get off planet and colonize space," said Hypergiant Industries CEO and founder Ben Lamm in a press release. "I don't want us to colonize space because we are running away from our home planet. This device is one of our first efforts focused on fixing the planet we are on. We hope to inspire and collaborate with others on a similar mission." [Hypergiant Industries]
Coopersburg, Pa.–based lighting controls company Lutron opened its ninth worldwide Commercial Experience Center in Manhattan, N.Y., earlier this week. Located in the NoMad neighborhood, the space showcases the company's technology in mock commercial and residential layouts, with an emphasis on Lutron's human-centric lighting controls and smart daylighting technology by Ketra, which Lutron recently acquired. [ARCHITECT]
San Francisco–based construction startup Built Robotics raised $33 million in Series B investment funding this week as the company aims to develop autonomous construction equipment. Founded in 2016 by Noah Ready-Campbell, a former Google product manager, Built Robotics combines AI guidance systems like GPS, cameras, and lidar, that can be installed on standard construction equipment by any manufacturer for self-driving bulldozers, excavators, and more. [TechCrunch]
Plumen, the namesake creator of the iconic compact fluorescent lamp with a revolutionary curvilinear form factor, has announced a new business direction. [Architectural Lighting]
Menlo Park, Calif.–based technology construction company Katerra announced a new chief financial officer, board director, and head of affordable housing in a leadership team change up this week. [ARCHITECT]
