Hayley Isaacs

Hayley Isaacs is a professional visual artist and architect, specializing in time-based new media installations. She is an award-winning graduate of the Masters program at the University of Waterloo School of Architecture. Isaacs has worked at several architecture firms in Canada, the United States, and abroad as a graphic artist and architectural designer. Isaacs has been a member of the PBAI collective working with Philip Beesley since 2007. She has been heavily involved in the design of interactive sculptures and architecturally-scaled installations, including the first prize–winning VIDA installation Hylozoic Soil, which has been exhibited in Austria, Madrid, Mexico City, and Montreal; and Endothelium, exhibited at the California NanoSystems Institute in November, 2008. Isaac is currently design director for the Hylozoic Ground project. Isaacs is also the general manager of Riverside Architectural Press (RAP), supervising production and dissemination of design and research publications. She was artistic director and graphic artist for three of RAP’s newest publications, Ourtopias, Maison Solaire, and North House.

Martin Hanczyc

Associate Professor Martin Hanczyc is the scientific designer and developer of the protocell technology that underpins the 'living' chemistry of the Hylozoic Ground's innovative blend of different artificial life species. Hanczyc is Associate Professor at the Institute of Physics and Chemistry and the center for Fundamental Living Technology (FLinT) in Denmark. He is also a Honorary Senior Lecturer at the Bartlett School of Architecture, University College London. He is developing novel synthetic chemical systems based on the properties of living systems. These synthetic systems are often termed 'protocells' as they are model systems of primitive living cells and chemical examples of 'artificial' life. Particilarly of interest is the development of dynamic and responsive materials of simplistic composition. He has previously also held the position of Laboratory Director at The European Center for Living Technology in Venice, Italy and Chief Chemist at ProtoLife Srl in Venice, Italy. He received a bachelor's degree in Biology from Pennsylvania State University, a doctorate in Genetics from Yale University and was a postdoctorate fellow under Jack Szostak at Harvard University. Martin is interested in the development of protocell models into new technologies and their applications in art and design.

Pernilla Ohrstedt

Pernilla Ohrstedt is a London-based architect. She received her M.Arch. from the Bartlett School of Architecture, University College London. From 2007—2008, Ohrstedt was the producer of Storefront for Art and Architecture, New York, where she was in charge of the conceptualization, design and production of exhibitions, installations, and events, as well as being extensively involved in programming and curatorial work. Ohrstedt was co-originator (with Joseph Grima) of Storefront’s first exhibitions program outside New York, the Storefront Pop-Up series, conceived to open dialogue with cities and institutions around the world. She has worked in several architecture practices, most notably Future Systems in London, founded by Czech architects Jan Kaplicky and Amanda Levete. Ohrstedt’s academic work has been recognized with several awards and prizes, including the Leverhulme Trust Grant for Innovative and Interdisciplinary Work of Outstanding Potential. Her dissertation In Between Before and After—Exploring the Commodification of the Ideal was awarded with the University College London prize for distinguished work in history and theory. She was awarded commendation for both her design and thesis work, which explore the notion of a ‘hypervisceral’ architecture, in the realm of the Eros statue on Piccadilly Circus in London.