Mycelium: is the vegetative part of a fungus consisting of a mass of branching, thread-like hyphae. Fungal colonies composed of mycelium are found in and on soil and many other substrates. A typical single spore germinates into a homokaryotic mycelium when stimulated may become fruiting bodies such as mushrooms. The mycelium's interesting properties are high compressive strength, higher tensile strength than concrete, lightweight, renewable, and fireproof. Naturally, something as wondrous as this caught our attention as the next building material. However, no one had used the material other than in the PS1 Pavillion by the Living.

Our experiments were simple; We tested densities of wood, in a controlled environment of optimal humidity and indirect light, in a wood chip substrate over two-week intervals. The life cycle of a pollinated mycelium colony in captivity was avoided to control for the variable sprouting mushrooms.

The Apparatus:

The apparatus was designed as a serialized timber structure that was interwoven to leave void space for the mushroom to grow. The process was scripted to mill the wood parts that would notch accordingly to the intersections taking precedent from Kengo Kuma's design for the Starbucks shop and Gilles Retsin's proposal for the Budapest library. Once the mushroom was fully grown, the scaffold was burned away.

The project, a seemingly complex pile, had consistent void spaces that could be repeatable as a process and as an experiment. The aesthetic exaggeration and frayed edges of the wood substrate consequently limited the mushroom to define its boundaries between the piles rather than its extremities.

Serial Sections

Density Test #2