Designed by Jun Kaemi, a material scientist and designer, AMPHIBIO is a 3D-printed amphibious garment. By the time we reach 2100, there’s a high possibility that a temperature rise of 3.2-degree C would happen, it would cause the rise of a sea level affecting billions of people. It also means that the sea can submerge megacities that are located in coastal areas. This special garment functions as a gill, it is designed for human who lives very close proximity with water, giving them comfort to them who spend as much as time in water as on the land.

AMPHIBIO by Jun Kaemi is made out of special porous hydrophobic material that supports underwater breathing by replenishing oxygen from surrounding water. It dissipates carbon dioxide that accumulate in the system. Inspired by water diving insects, there’s a high possibility that human can survive underwater with this technology. There’s a thin layer of air trapped on the insect’s superhydrophobic skin surface, it works as a gas exchanging gill. This new developed material creates a complex form using recent additive manufacturing technology, 3D printing. Kaemi says that the next step would be to test AMPHIBIO at human scale, the gill would be at least 32m2 to support our oxygen consumption in water.

Between free diving and scuba diving equipment, AMPHIBIO is somewhere in the middle. In not so distant future, human might live in an amphibious manner thanks to the gill garment. They can stay underwater longer than free diving but with less equipment than in scuba diving.