A Doorway Into Richer Microbial Living Domestic

This project explores how domestic environments might become active participants in supporting human health. The project proposes a speculative doorway ecosystem consisting of a microbiome-active entry mat and an adaptive door handle that work together to capture, cultivate, and circulate beneficial environmental microbes within the home.

Emerging from reflections on post-pandemic lifestyles, the project responds to increasing sanitisation practices and more interiorised patterns of living that have reduced everyday microbial exposure. While hygiene has become associated with safety, diminished contact with environmental microbiota may also contribute to less diverse domestic ecosystems and reduced opportunities for immune adaptation.

Positioned at the threshold between inside and outside, the doorway is reimagined as a site of ecological exchange rather than separation. Through everyday interactions; stepping in, touching a handle, entering home, the system quietly reintroduces microbial diversity into daily life with minimal behavioural change required from residents.

Extending beyond the individual household, the project introduces a community tile-exchange system that enables microbial circulation between homes, forming a shared microbial commons. By redistributing ecological health benefits collectively, the proposal explores new relationships between domestic care, environmental connection, and long-term wellbeing.