Metabolic Studio




︎ Location Los Angeles, CA
︎ Timespan 2014–2022
︎ Client Businesses & Institutions

Situation 1 
  • Seeking soil bioremediation plan for large urban industrial site.
Response 1 
  • Identified and mapped spontaneous vegetation on-site;
  • Conducted qualitative soil assessment, prioritized plant species and prepared tissues for lab testing, then interpreted soil and plant tissue chemical tests;
  • Built fungally dominated compost piles to support native vegetation;
  • Devised a bioremediation plan based on a forest model.

Situation 2
  • Seeking team support and direction on design of large-scale earthworks.
Response 2 
  • Kicked-off local assessment of abundant and available carbons and nitrogens;
  • Coached team in soil amendment and Biochar creation and indigenous microbe harvesting and expansion;
  • Created water-retentive soil mix recipes;
  • Co-designed earthwork construction model for long term study and data collection.



Photography Matt Stromberg, Shane Reiner-Roth, Social Ecologies





More Work