the potential of mycelium as a biomaterial in structure
From Hermès’ mushroom-based leather-based bag and Adidas’ Stan Smith Mylo, to sustainable deity sculptures and dwelling coffins, designboom has been spotlighting the fascinating growth of mycelium-based improvements throughout completely different industries, specifically trend, product design and structure.
A mushroom mycelium is outlined as a community of fungal threads (hyphae) that may unfold underground to create a formidable root-like construction serving because the vegetative a part of a fungus. This dwelling community retains the soil wholesome, interacts symbiotically with most plant species, and serves as a meals supply for a lot of organisms, together with bugs.
Over the previous few years, designers, technologists, artists, and designers have progressively harnessed its bio-enhancing qualities to create sustainable options to conventional and inflexible supplies with robust carbon footprints. Following intensive analysis, experimentation, and prototyping, the potential of mycelium as a biomaterial started rising exponentially, particularly within the constructing trade: its renewable, biodegradable, light-weight, and extremely insulating properties provide a promising step towards an architectural imaginative and prescient that’s at one with nature. Learn on as we discover the unimaginable constructing functions of mycelium that made headlines at this yr’s Venice Structure Biennale, Clerkenwell Design Week, and Glastonbury Competition.
picture courtesy Essential Concrete | learn extra on designboom right here
SYMBIOCENE LIVING BY PLP LABS: prototyping mycelium blocks
London-based analysis group PLP Labs, based by PLP Structure (see extra right here), launched Symbiocene Dwelling, an set up for Clerkenwell Design Week 2023 created from mycelium modular blocks, demonstrating a potential future through which civilization and nature entertain a constructive symbiotic relationship. The exhibit contains bio-based sculptures crafted from hybrid blocks of mycelium and 3D printed wooden constructions. Eighty-four blocks, resembling watermelons in measurement, are organized to kind summary seating, planters, a desk, partitions, and engaging spatial formations. Guests are inspired to work together and discover these mycelium constructions, gaining firsthand expertise of the symbiotic relationship between people and fungi.
picture © PLP Structure
‘Mycelium, the intricate root-like community of fungi, holds immense potential within the growth of the Symbiocene, a future period the place people and nature actively collaborate to create a greater world. Recognizing the pivotal position of architects and concrete designers in shaping this transformative interval, PLP Labs has performed an intensive year-long experiment to discover the structural capabilities and architectural potential of mycelium bio-composites,’ writes the analysis studio.
picture © George Fielding Images | @georgearchiphoto
The research revealed mycelium to be a flexible materials appropriate for numerous functions in structure. In contrast to typical supplies like concrete and metal, mycelium bio-composites are renewable, biodegradable, and have minimal environmental influence. Moreover, they boast light-weight properties, glorious insulation traits, and excessive hearth resistance. PLP Labs efficiently mixed engineering ingenuity with the pure attributes of fungi, using the fusion of mycelium and 3D-printed wooden shells to create a myriad of exactly molded configurations. The Symbiocene Dwelling set up was displayed at Clerkenwell Design Week 2023 from the twenty third to the twenty fifth of Might. Guests had been inspired to cease by and discuss to the PLP Labs crew of specialists. These can interact with additional occasions all year long.
picture © PLP Structure
picture © PLP Structure
