California College of the Arts, Design

Monterey Concrete

Bo Field

Monterey Concrete explores a circular approach to kelp forest restoration by transforming invasive sea urchin shells into hydraulic concrete. As climate change drives urchin overpopulation and kelp decline, the project converts removed urchins into underwater concrete used to create Urchin Exclusionary Planters (UEPs). These structures protect juvenile kelp from grazing while supporting marine biodiversity. By using locally sourced materials and generating revenue through concrete products, the project offers a scalable, sustainable restoration model for coastal ecosystems.

bofieldstudio.com

Lauryn Menard is a builder, a big thinker, a restless runner, and an environmental activist. Her professional background has spanned the worlds of furniture, footwear, future forecasting, and material innovation in a global arena. She has worked with brands of all sizes such as Adobe, Apple, Google, Specialized Bikes, Concreteworks, Nike, Coalesse, MASH, Facebook, and others. She is now on an aggressive mission to bridge the gap between the regenerative future and scalable/mass-manufactured solutions. Lauryn is also a professor of BioDesign in the MFA Design program at CCA.

Cristina Gaitán is an artist, designer, researcher, and educator, and has designed environments and interactions for 20 years. She approaches design as a social practice and leverages a variety of analog and digital methods to solve systemic design problems, speculate on the ethical implications of technology in society, and cultivate essential interactions in the human experience. Cristina thinks that the ability to speculate on the future is powerful and she believes in teaching design methodologies and futures literacy to underrepresented communities so that they may reclaim their own stories, possibilities, and legacies. In her current practice, Ark landscapes, she makes both built and speculative work, and is interested in how ecology and space resolve at the scale of the body. Cristina holds a MFA in Design from California College of the Arts and a BS in Architecture from the University of Virginia.