Mush room: An exploration on how to cultivate a home

Abstract

This thesis suggests ways of using biology in architecture, mainly throughout the use of the fungal composite material mycelium, in a single-family house. It will also use biology to develop a building with resilience, metabolism, and flexibility. Mycelium material has been acknowledged for its energy-cheap manufacture process, its favourable insulative, fire-resistant and high strength- to weight properties. The material, which is based on the bond between fungal roots and a lignocellulosic substrate, can be sourced from agriculture and forestry waste, and has found its use in, among other things, packaging (Ecovative, n.d.-b) and acoustic panels (Mogu, n.d.-b) . Several structures in building scale have been built, mainly pavilions, but for load-bearing architectural construction, more research is needed (Dessi-Olive, 2022b) . By experimentation, certain strategies and usage of mycelium construction are evaluated and, if applicable, added to a building design proposal of a single-family home. The house uses the biology of mycelium, plants and decomposing microorganisms to achieve a building that can self-heal, be resilient, metabolize and heat itself. This includes using semi-active mycelium, bio-thermal heating systems and adding plants with various properties. These systems are joined together to form a habitable ecosystem inside a greenhouse, using principals from the Nature house, a type of building first described by Swedish architect Bengt Warne (1993) . The outcome is a building that is energy-cheap to produce and maintain, that leaves the exploited ground healthier than it was before exploitation. The house suggested is built with load bearing mycowelded mycelium columns and cardboard waffle internal scaffolding ceiling slabs, using compression-only geometry. The production methods on the mycelium are varied depending on its function in the building. The greenhouse allows for the mycelium to be the load bearing element as well as the facade material. This is a way of construction mycelium that has not previously been used in large-scale permanent structures. The results add to the discussion about the potential of the mycelium material and the potential of using biology in architecture.