Rachel Armstrong is a TED Senior Fellow, and she imagines a world where buildings — and other built objects — might be based on materials that act something like living things. For example, buildings could be coated with materials that are modeled on living things, like oil and alkali mixed together forming ‘protocells’:

Jessica Griggs via NewScientist

Q: How could you put these protocells to use?

Armstrong: If buildings were covered in a layer of them, they would act as a sort of smart paint, absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. When the building got wet the mineral salt would dissolve, react with the carbon dioxide in the rain and produce a deposit of mineral carbonate which would strengthen the bricks. So, carbon dioxide would be removed from the atmosphere and over time and the building would become more robust.

Growing like a coral reef, and pulling CO2 from the air.

(via stoweboyd)