University of Pennsylvania

Projects 2024

Stellar Bloom

Finalist Project

Sara Halawani, Yudi Dong, Sonakshi Sharma, Jessie Li

Stellar Bloom is a survival suit for humans that harnesses advanced algae technology to produce air, food, and water in response to Earth's depleting resources. The project aims to use algae to power the future of protective gear, such as hazmat suits and space suits.

Dr. Laia Mogas-Soldevila is an Assistant Professor of Graduate Architecture and Director of DumoLab Research at the Stuart Weitzman School of Design, University of Pennsylvania. Laia's research focuses on new sustainable material practices bridging science, engineering, and the arts. Her pedagogy supports novel theory and applied methods understanding biomaterials and bio-based fabrication in product design and architecture. She has built scholarship over the past ten years reconsidering matter as a fundamental design driver and partnering with scientists to redesign it towards unprecedented environmentally attuned capabilities. Laia holds an interdisciplinary doctorate in materials science, biomedical engineering, and arts and crafts from Tufts University School of Engineering, two master's degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and is a licensed architect with a minor in Fine Arts by the Polytechnic University of Catalonia School of Architecture in Barcelona and the École Nationale Supérieure de Beaux-Arts in Paris.