Philip Ross Molds Fast-Growing Fungi

Into Mushroom Building Bricks That Are

Stronger than Concrete
ARCHITECTURE

06/25/2014

under Architecture, carousel showcase, Gallery

12 Comments

by Mark Boyer

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Mycologist Philip Ross is seriously into mushrooms, but not as a food -- instead, he
uses fungi as a building material. Beneath the surface of the ground, fungi form a wide
network of thin, rootlike fibers called mycelium. That part of the fungus isn't particularly
tasty, but Ross discovered that when dried, it can be used to form a super-strong,
water-, mold- and fire-resistant building material. The dried mycelium can be grown and
formed into just about any shape, and it has a remarkable consistency that makes
it stronger, pound for pound, than concrete. The 100% organic and compostable
material has even piqued the interest of NYC's MoMa PS1, where the awardwinning Hy-Fi Mushroom Tower pavilion is currently being built.

We first discovered Ross unique mycelium material at The Workshop Residence in

San Franciscos Dogpatch neighborhood during the 2012 AIA SFs monthlong Architecture and the City festival. There, Ross is erecting a small laboratory in
which he will grow mushrooms that will be used to produce a series of chairs and stools.
I want to demonstrate how you can create this kind of fabrication using local
agricultural waste, Ross told Food Republic regarding his Workshop Residence
furniture.
The lab was still under construction when we visited, but some of Ross completed
works were on display. The exciting thing about mycelium is that it can be used to build
virtually anything. In many of Ross creations he grows the fungus into a brick, which
becomes super hard and surprisingly lightweight once it dries. For example,
in Mycotecture, one of his most ambitious structures, Ross grew the fungus
Ganoderma lucidum (or Reishi) into bricks at the Far West Fungi mushroom farm in
Monterey, California, and stacked them into an arch. A variety of different lacquers and
finishes can also be applied to the outer layer of the bricks to seal them and give them a
glossy finish.
Related: 3D-Printed Mycelium Chair Sprouts Living Mushrooms!
It has the potential to be a substitute for many petroleum-based plastics. Its left the art
world and seems to have entered a Science Fiction novel or something like that,
explained Ross in a recent interview with Glasstire. With this stuff its possible to go
into regional production of biomaterials. For instance, here in San Francisco, we could
start producing lots of local materials using this fungus and could create a pilot project
of sorts.

Ross also recently patented his own version of the mycotecture procedure; Evocative,
the biomaterials firm behind NYCs Hy-Fi Mushroom Tower, has also been awarded a
patent for a similar procedure. Ross isnt just interested in myceliums potential as a
building material, though he also uses it as a medium for fine art. His work has been
on display at several at museums around the world, and he regularly debuts his other
biomaterials works at events such as Maker Faire.

+ Philip Ross
+ The Workshop Residence

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INTERVIEW: Architect David Benjamin

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Tower at PS1
ARCHITECTURE

10/13/2016

under Architecture, carousel showcase, Green Building, Innovation, Interviews, New

York City, Sustainable Materials
4 Comments

by Jill Fehrenbacher

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Whats the only room with no walls? If you guessed a MUSHROOM youre right!
Architect David Benjamin is flipping the script on that old joke with some incredible
mycotecture built from mushroom bricks! The architect and his firm, The Living, are
pushing the boundaries of design by experimenting with biotecture, blurring the lines
between biology and built environments. Their latest efforts have culminated in the
worlds first tower made from fungus, which debuted at MoMA PS1 in Queens, New
York last week. We recently had the chance to pick Benjamins brain about the future
of mycotecture (mushroom architecture), the benefits of biological buildings and
what inspired this innovative new Hy-Fi tower in Queens. Read on to see what the
biotect, innovator and director of the Living Architecture Lab at GSAPP has to say.

INHABITAT: Your awesome experimental mushroom-brick Hy

Fy towers just opened at the MoMAs PS1 museum in New
York City. Is this the first large structure that you know of to
be built almost entirely out of fungus?
DAVID: As far as we know, this is the first large structure made of agricultural
byproducts and a mushroom rootor funguscalled mycelium. The project tests the
viability of this new building material.

INHABITAT: How do you feel about the towers now that they
are up?
DAVID: Great! We always imagined this project as an open-ended experiment, and we
are already learning from it.

INHABITAT: How did you come up with the idea to use selfassembling bricks made of mycelium for the Hy-Fi tower?
DAVID: For a few years, we have been exploring the intersection of biology, design, and
computing. And we have also been interested in buildings as complex ecosystems of
ideas, materials, environments, technologies, and cultures. We have experimented with
a variety of ways in which living biological systems can be used as bio computers or bio
factories. Materials made from mycelium are a great, immediate example of all of

these thingsincluding the use of an organism to manufacture building materials, and

the capacity of these building materials to engage the earths carbon cycle in a healthy
way.

INHABITAT: Can you explain the process used to make the

mycelium bricks? Are the only ingredients corn crop waste
and mushroom roots or are there other substances added?
How long does it take for one brick to form?
DAVID: We worked with the incredible start-up company Ecovative to produce
mycelium bricks that are strong, durable, and water-resistant. The ingredients of the
bricks are chopped-up corn stalks, hemp, and mycelium. They grow into solid objects in
about five days with no added energy, and they can be composted at the end of the
installation.

INHABITAT: Could this type of brick be used for more

permanent structures as well, or is it best suited for
temporary structures? Do you anticipate any issues with
smell, moisture or degradation of the material over time?
DAVID: Its possible to dial in different material properties of the bricks by changing
variables like the ratio of ingredients, the growing time. This is the first large-scale
outdoor structure made of this new material, and it will last for about three months. But it
should be straightforward to tune the material for permanent structures.

INHABITAT: You run a design firm called The Living, which

is really all about the intersection between biology and
design. How did you get your start with this idea, creating
what is essentially a new field of Living Architecture?
DAVID: We think buildings and cities are living, breathing organismsand it makes
sense for design to take advantage of this. We started by bringing architecture to life
through digital sensors and actuators, but we are increasingly using biological
technologies as well as digital technologies.

INHABITAT: What ideas can Living Architecture bring to the

conservative and traditional building industry? Do you see
any of your experimental ideas getting mainstream
acceptance and widespread use in more traditional buildings
like residences?
DAVID: I think the building industry is just about ready for these ideas. The benefits and
possibilities are hard to resist.

INHABITAT: What are some of the advantages of using

biological architecture techniques and building using
organic substances and structures?

DAVID: Biological systems have amazing properties like adaptation, self-organization,

self-healing, and regeneration. Imagine our buildings having the same properties. This
would radically change the way we live.

INHABITAT: What can we expect from The Living in the near

future?
DAVID: More experiments.

+ The Living
+ Worlds First Mushroom tower