Spending time with a living Dire Wolf was one of the most surreal and awe-inspiring experiences I’ve ever had.
Extinct for 12,000 years, dire wolves once roamed North America. Thanks to the groundbreaking work of @colossal and its founder @federallamm , this iconic species is being brought back through a mix of ancient DNA, cutting-edge gene editing, and a deep belief in the future of conservation.
Romulus, Remus, and Khaleesi—the first dire wolf pups of our time—are not just scientific marvels. They’re reminders of how much we’ve lost… and what’s possible for advancing conservation efforts through cutting-edge biotechnology.
Endless thanks to Ben and the entire team at @colossal for letting me witness this moment.
#direwolf #colossal #deextinction #rewilding #genetics #romulus #remus #khaleesi #unitednature
Asian Elephant 2023
125” x 145”
Linen
Rabbit skin glue
Calcium carbonate
Archival Pigment
To create a 1:1 life scale Elephant there are many steps and a bit of invention. There is no camera with a high enough resolution to capture the subject and no ground material large enough to present it without seams. First we captured the overall form and then all of the parts in close up before compositing to create the final image. Then we use an ancient technique borrowed from painting - creating a surface from linen, calcium carbonate, and rabbit glue to accept the pigment delivered back through a plotter to create the final work.
Its journey from Madrid to the studio is captured in the video below.
Thank you to the team that helped realized this.
Retouching: @justincohenart
Fabrication: @factumarte@rafaracha
In this cinematic session, Andrew Zuckerman examined the deep visual language of life on Earth, tracing unexpected continuity across species, eras and forms. Moving from ancient cave paintings to hyper-real contemporary imagery, he reveals how patterns of structure, rhythm and expression repeat across time’suggesting a shared architecture beneath apparent difference.
We received over 200 submissions to the Aurelia Prize in Design for Space Urbanism. In addition to the winner, the judges also selected four Honorable Mentions. Each of these teams were awarded $1,000 USD, as well as an invitation to join an upcoming Horizon zero gravity flight and to contribute their concepts to the Space Architecture Trade Study.
Explore the winning project, Tycho, and all of our honorable mentions and finalists: /prize-winners-2026
Aurelia Prize Honorable Mention: bioARK
Christopher Maurer, Lynn Rothschild, James Head III
bioARK builds on research from NASA’s NIAC program to grow architecture off-planet. Moving beyond the cradle will require an all-of-life effort: humans cannot leave Earth without life-sustaining microbial biomes. As we extend the only life we know into the universe, we propose working together - leveraging fungi for radiation attenuation, bacteria for atmospheric transformation, and animalia for construction, exploration, and stewardship beyond Earth.
Aurelia Prize Honorable Mention: Orbital Emergency Granary
Filip Śledź and Maciej Jamrozik
Orbital Emergency Granary is a scalable orbital factory designed as Earth’s strategic food reserve. In an era of increasing climate instability and geopolitical tensions, conventional food aid systems face mounting limitations. OeG addresses this vulnerability by enabling industrial-scale food production in space and rapid delivery to regions affected by humanitarian crises.
Aurelia Prize Honorable Mention: Project Loop
Silvio De Mio
Project Loop proposes a pioneering model for lunar settlement, transforming a lava tube into an expansive, pressurized habitat that protects against the harsh surface environment while supporting long-term human life.
Aurelia Prize Honorable Mention: Zephyr
Hugo Shelley and JP Hastings-Edrei
Zephyr is an orbiting laboratory specializing in bioregenerative life support technologies. The rotating station houses bioreactors and hydroponic farms, enabling crews to investigate how partial gravity affects crop development, cellular growth, gene expression an
