Spotted: Construction and demolition is responsible for more than a third of overall waste in the European Union. But now, British company Biohm is reducing this waste by helping the construction industry shift to a circular model.
The startup’s first product is insulation made from mycelium, the thread-like roots of fungi. The material is not only biodegradable, but outperforms typical foam insulation, having less thermal conductivity. It is also slower to burn than other types of insulation and, importantly, it can be composted at the end of its life and used to grow more insulation.
Biohm grows its mycelium by feeding it agricultural and food waste, making the final product carbon negative. The insulation is grown in the shape of a standard panel, then cured to form a strong and rigid material. This approach completely avoids the use of toxic chemicals and fossil fuels and the panels do not produce harmful dust when cut.
Springwise has spotted mycelium being used to replace other materials, including in fireproof building cladding, packaging, and even clothes.
Two British materials companies, Sages and Osmose, have collaborated to dye sheets of mycelium with natural food waste, mimicking the appearance of tanned leather and suggesting a colourful future for the biomaterial.
Osmose is a company making a leather alternative from mycelium – the fibrous underground root network of mushrooms – while Sages makes natural dyes from food waste such as avocado pits, blueberries, red cabbages and onion skins, which are normally applied to textiles.
The two believe they’ve achieved a world first with their collaboration, combining two emerging areas of sustainable material development to colour mycelium without resorting to petroleum-based synthetic dyes, thereby keeping the product non-toxic and able to biodegrade safely in soil.
Sages and Osmose have developed a natural dying process for mycelium leather
“There are lots of different types of vegan leather alternatives to traditional leather but the majority of them use either synthetic colourations or they use plasticisers, so they’re non-biodegradable,” said Sages CEO Emily Taylor.
“We wanted to explore an option where we could have a fully biodegradable leather that has also been coloured in a biodegradable and sustainable manner,” she continued.
Companies that prioritise biodegradability have offered mycelium in its natural shades of white and brown or black, which Osmose CEO Aurelie Fontan says is much easier to achieve naturally.
“I think the challenge for mycelium leather was that the offering just wasn’t there in terms of aesthetic,” she said. “When you’re presenting for brands and you’re like ‘we can only do brown’, it’s a little bit boring for them.”
The companies experimented with different food wastes in the dyeing process
“The colour sector is somewhere where you can develop your USP, essentially, which is why working with Sages is so interesting,” Fontan added.
Osmose and Sages have created tan-coloured mycelium sheets using avocado waste, which Sages sources from an importer and guacamole factory in Milton Keynes, where tens of tonnes of leftover pits and skins are produced each week.
It was a new area for both companies, as the food waste dye takes differently to mycelium leather than it does to the usually cellulose-based textiles that Sages has worked with.
The duo collaborated with materials science researchers at the UK’s Cranfield University on the project, for which the researchers focused on how to transfer and fix the dye to the material using “green chemistry” – an area of chemistry that aims to cut out hazardous substances.
In this case, the researchers sought to replace the formic acid and fluorinated acids that are often used in tanning to dissolve the polymers of the leather so it can be infused with dye. Instead, the team developed a method, which they say is significantly less toxic.
After working with Cranfield University, Sages and Osmose expanded the experiment and trialled other waste streams such as blueberries and onion skins to see what colours they could get, producing mycelium swatches in shades of violet and bordeaux.
Taylor and Fontan say they are trying to develop a process for mycelium that is akin to leather tanning, where both colour and durability properties are added in one or two steps. Their equivalent, they say, would be to dye and waterproof the material at the same time.
The tan colour was created by using waste avocado pits and skins
Osmose’s focus now is on developing a waterproof coating for their mycelium that, like the dye, is bio-based, non-toxic and able to biodegrade safely in soil. This is notoriously a challenge for plant-based leather alternatives, which almost always rely on a protective synthetic coating.
“It’s really hard to design a solution that fits all materials, which is basically what everyone is struggling with,” said Fontan. “Someone might have pineapple leather and they have their own coating but it doesn’t mean it’s going to work on mushroom and so on.”
Unlike some companies, however, Osmose says it does not want to bring a product with a non-biodegradable coating to market.
“If you’re doing a composite, it will not biodegrade at the end of life, which is compromising all the good work that you’ve been doing before that step,” Fontan said.
Mycelium is one of the most popular emerging leather alternatives. It has already appeared in luxury goods such as a bag by Hermes, clothing by Stella McCartney and trainers by Adidas.
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The architecture industry is looking for alternatives to concrete, the world’s most widely used building material. Cheap, versatile and strong, concrete is one of the most revolutionary substances in history. It would not be an exaggeration to say that cities as we know them today would not have been possible without reinforced concrete. However, the carbon footprint of cement production is enormous, accounting for 8% of global emissions each year. For comparison, this is a far higher share than the aviation industry, which is responsible for 2% of emissions. It is not hard to see why architects are interested in moving away from concrete — and quickly.
Among the alternatives to concrete being researched, a material derived from fungus called mycelium is by far the most romantic. In 2024, everyone knows someone obsessed with mushrooms and their alleged nutritional, medicinal and psychotropic virtues. For these types, it just makes sense, in an artistic or spiritual way, that fungi will rescue us from the climate crisis we’ve created.
I mean this with no condescension whatsoever: fungi are fascinating and inspiring. They have also been around far longer than animals and plants. Personally, I adore the idea of a future world where we live in homes made of mycelium. There is an undeniable Richard Scarry-esque charm to the image of living inside a mushroom.
So what exactly is mycelium? Briefly, mycelium is the root-like structure of a fungus. It functions both as a root system as we would think of it — that is, a fungus transports nutrients through its mycelium — but also as a kind of giant brain. The mycelium of a fungal system sends electrical signals to different parts of the organism to warn of changes in the environment.
In some cases, a mycelium system can span thousands of acres, as is the case in Oregon’s Malheur National Forest. Individual mushrooms are simply the “fruiting bodies” of this vast organism, which is estimated to be at least 2,400 years old.
Mycelium is widely used in the world of packaging, with companies like Ikea and Dell using it instead of polystyrene, which is not biodegradable. The process for creating mycelium packaging is the same as for creating mycelium bricks, which are used for building.
First, organic waste is cleaned and then combined with mycelium, which grows around the waste and digests the material. (Remember: fungi eat their nutrients like we do. They are actually more closely related to animals than plants biologically). Then, the remaining material is placed into a mould. It continues to grow to fit the shape of the mould, and when it is dried, voila! A mycelium brick is born. This process is quick, taking only five days.
The Growing Pavilion by Biobased Creations, Eindhoven, Netherlands, 2019. Finalist, 2021 A+Awards, Architecture +New Materials
Certified Energy, an environmental consulting firm in Australia, aptly describes the virtues of mycelium construction: “Through bio fabrication a carbon neutral building process can be achieved eliminating such products as artificial insulation used in walls, MDF and other non load bearing structures.” In addition, “Mycelium products can also provide other benefits such as termite proofing, with products being created which attract termites but when eaten cause a fungus spore to activate within the termite killing it and creating a fungus whose spores repel other termites.”
Stunningly, Certified Energy explains that “relative to its weight a mycelium brick is stronger than concrete with a cubic meter of mycelium brick weighing 43 kilograms and a cubic meter of concrete weighing 2400 kilograms” (95 pounds versus 5,290 pounds). Unfortunately, this is not the most relevant metric. By volume, rather than weight, mycelium has nowhere near the compressive strength of concrete, clocking in at 30 pounds per square inch versus 4000 pounds per square inch for concrete. These bricks will not be used to build a home near you in the near future.
Hy-Fi by The Living, New York City, New York
And yet, there is still something inspiring about mycelium’s capacities. In 2014, The Living New York exhibited a tower called Hy-Fi in front of MoMA PS1. Standing 43 feet (13 meters) tall, the structure was made of 10,000 compostable mycelium bricks. As mycelium bricks are created through the process of organic decomposition, the manufacture of the bricks for this tower resulted in fertile soil as an output, which is obviously vastly preferable to the carbon released in cement production. Indeed, The Living New York donated this soil to local community gardens.
Another incredible feature of mycelium bricks: they are technically still alive when they are used. This allows them to bond to each other without mortar and even heal themselves when cracks appear. Can you imagine? A crack in your wall healing on its own.
Mycelium is certainly cool, and shows promise as a material for insulation, furniture, and the construction of temporary structures. However, it is unfortunately not a realistic alternative to concrete or even wood. Researchers should consider the way mycelium elements can complement sustainable architecture rather than pitching it as a building material on its own.
Cover Image: Mushrooms by Bernard Spragg. CC BY-SA 3.0 via Negative Space.
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Spotted: Cladding is an outer layer of material that is used to improve the appearance, thermal insulation, and weather resistance of a building. The cladding used in Grenfell Tower in the UK was Aluminium Composite Material (ACM) – a highly flammable product that consistently failed fire tests. The ACM has been blamed for helping the flames spread when the infamous fire at the tower block broke out in 2017.
To help prevent tragedies like this, scientists from RMIT have found a way to grow fungi using renewable organic materials as feedstock to form thin sheets that could be used to produce fire-retardant cladding. The final material is lightweight, thin, and versatile, making it suitable for multiple automotive, maritime, and possibly aerospace applications – as well as in construction. When mycelium is exposed to flames, it forms a protective layer of char that resists fire and heat transfer, and protects any flammable materials underneath.
The RMIT team scientists aim to replace composite cladding panels that usually contain plastics, which produce toxic fumes and thick smoke when exposed to fire. Co-author of the research, Associate Professor Everson Kandare, highlights: “Bromide, iodide, phosphorus, and nitrogen-containing fire retardants are effective, but have adverse health and environmental effects. They pose health and environmental concerns, as carcinogens and neurotoxins that can escape and persist in the environment and cause harm to plant and animal life.” The mycelium-based material, by contrast, burns cleanly, only releasing naturally occurring water and CO2.
RMIT scientists aim to develop an environmentally friendly fire-proofing mat that could then be used for building cladding. And to make the potential cladding sustainable and scalable, the researchers are also exploring collaborations with the mushroom industry to use fungal waste products in production.
Mycelium has been used by many companies looking to create sustainable alternatives to everyday things. In the archive, Springwise has spotted interior design products and clothing made using mycelium.
An architecture centre founded by British architect Terry Farrell has opened in Newcastle, England, with an exhibition exploring building materials of the future and “urban rooms” for local residents.
The Farrell Centre is an exhibition gallery, research centre and community space that aims to provoke conversation about architecture and planning, both in the city and at a global scale.
The project was instigated by Farrell, who donated his architectural archive and put £1 million towards the build.
The Farrell Centre occupies a former department store building in Newcastle
Fake fur, mycelium and wool insulation feature in a series of installations designed to challenge traditional methods of producing architecture.
Elsewhere, three urban rooms host workshops and other events where locals can learn about the past and future of Newcastle and voice their opinions on development plans.
The ground floor is designed to encourage people in, with glazed facades on two sides
“The centre is here to bring about a better, more inclusive and more sustainable built environment,” said Farrell Centre director and Dezeen columnist Owen Hopkins during a tour of the building.
“The belief that underpins everything we do is that we need to engage people with architecture and planning, and the transformative roles that they can have,” he told Dezeen.
“Architecture and planning are often seen as something that’s imposed from above. We need to shift that perception.”
Seating bleachers create an informal space for talks and presentations
Forming part of Newcastle University, the Farrell Centre occupies a four-storey former department store building in the heart of the city.
Local studios Space Architects and Elliott Architects oversaw a renovation that aims to make the building feel as open and welcoming as possible.
The exhibition More with Less includes an installation by HBBE made from mycelium, sawdust and wool
The ground floor has the feel of a public thoroughfare, thanks to glazed facades on two sides, while bleacher-style steps create a sunken seating area for talks and presentations.
A colourful new staircase leads up to the exhibition galleries on the first floor and the urban rooms on the second floor, while the uppermost level houses the staff offices.
McCloy + Muchemwa’s installation is a table filled with plants
According to Hopkins, the launch exhibition sets the tone for the type of content that visitors can expect from the Farrell Centre.
The show features installations by four UK architecture studios, each exploring a different proposition for future buildings.
“We wanted to create something that expands people’s understanding of what architecture is, beyond building an expensive house on Grand Designs,” Hopkins said, referencing the popular television show.
Dress for the Weather has created a mini maze of insulation
Newcastle University’s Hub for Biotechnology in the Built Environment (HBBE) has created Living Room, a cave-like structure made by cultivating a mixture of mycelium and sawdust over a giant wool blanket.
Next, a mini maze created by Glasgow studio Dress for the Weather aims to showcase the thermal and experiential qualities of building insulation, with varieties made from low-grade wool and plastic bottles.
Office S&M’s installations include a silhouette of the head of Michelangelo’s David made from pink fur and a chaise longue covered in expanding foam
London-based Office S&M proposes low-tech but fun solutions for making buildings more comfortable.
These are represented by a silhouette of the head of Michelangelo’s David made from pink fur, a metallic space blanket, a chaise longue topped covered in expanding foam and a dichroic-film window covering that casts colourful reflections onto the floor.
“This whole room is about actually doing really simple mundane stuff, but in a way that is joyful and tells a story,” said Hopkins.
In the final room, an installation by London-based McCloy + Muchemwa brings nature indoors with a boardroom table covered in plants.
The urban rooms host events where people can learn about the development of the city
On the floor above, the three urban rooms have been fitted out by Mat Barnes of architecture studio CAN with custom elements that make playful references to building sites.
They are filled with historic maps, interactive models, informal furniture, display stands made from scaffolding poles, and architecture toys that include building-shaped soft play and Lego.
In one of the rooms, planning proposals are displayed on stands made from scaffolding poles
The idea of setting up an urban room in Newcastle was the starting point for the creation of the Farrell Centre.
A decade ago, Farrell was commissioned by the UK government to produce a report on the state of the UK’s architecture and planning system.
One of the key recommendations in the Farrell Review, published in 2014, was to create an urban room in every major city, giving local people of all ages and backgrounds a place to engage with how the city is planned and developed.
One urban room contains a model of a Terry Farrell-designed masterplan for Newcastle
As Farrell grew up in the Newcastle area and studied architecture at the university, he became keen to make this concept a reality in this city.
Although the Farrell Centre is named in his honour, Hopkins said that Farrell is happy for the facility to forge its own path in terms of programme and approach.
“He established the idea and vision for the centre, but he is happy for us to build out that vision in the way that we think is best,” added Hopkins.
The Farrell Centre forms part of Newcastle University
The director is optimistic about the centre’s potential to engage with the community.
“Newcastle is a city like no other,” he said. “The civic pride here is off the scale. People have such a deep-rooted love of where they live.”
“It’s amazing to be able to tap into that as a way of creating a better built environment.”
More with Less: Reimagining Architecture for a Changing World is on show at the Farrell Centre from 22 April to 10 September 2023. See Dezeen Events Guide for more architecture and design events around the world.
Tallinn-based materials company Myceen has released a series of pendant lampshades called B Wise made from mycelium, which were shown at Dutch Design Week.
Each of the bell-shaped pendant lamps were made from mycelium – the vegetative part of a fungus – while more conventional plywood and aluminium form the frame.
B Wise lampshades are made from mushroom mycelium
To create the shades, which are 60 centimetres wide, waste organic material from the timber and agricultural industry including sawdust and straw was mixed with mycelium in Myceen’s Tallinn workshop.
Mycelium is the filament structure that fungi use to grow, much like the roots of a plant. The mixture was then poured into the lampshade mould and left to grow under controlled temperature and humidity conditions.
Here, the fungus starts to feed on the waste and expand to fit the shape of the lampshade mould. As mycelium acts as a natural binding component, no glue or additives were needed.
Once filled, the material is removed from the mould and dehydrated to prevent it from expanding further. According to Karro, the entire process takes around five weeks from start to finish.
The biomaterial is developed in Myceen’s labs in Tallinn
“Inoculated material goes into the mould and after a few days, the material is strong enough to hold itself together,” Myceen cofounder Siim Karro told Dezeen.
“The fungi recognise its fellow specie companion and form a strong connection without any glue or artificial binders and the growth of the fungi is stopped completely by drying the material,” Karro added.
The rest of the shade is made from a plywood and aluminium frame and comes with a ceramic socket and traditional lighting cable. It is designed to resemble a floating mushroom and weighs just three kilograms.
“The lamp feels soft by touch and it’s lighter than one could think, weighing around three kilograms,” Karro said. “The surface could vary from harder brownish to soft and velvety white skin.
It gives the lamps a soft and velvety white outer skin
Mycelium has been used in to create various products recently, including a bicycle helmet and a carbon-negative candle packaging.
The material has is becoming popular among fashion brands, with companies such as Stella McCartney, Adidas and Hermès investing in the biomaterial.
Thanks to its properties, Karro believes that mycelium could replace synthetic materials in a number of interior products and furnishings. Myceen also crafts acoustic panels and plinths from the material.
“Mycelium’s growth is exponential making it an intrinsic part of sustainable production since it’s basically infinitely reproducible.”
Other products on show at Dutch Design Week include a soap packaging made from waste artichoke leaves and peapods by industrial design student Alara Ertenü and an oversized magnifying glass that focuses the sun’s heat to melt metal more sustainably by Design Academy Eindhoven graduate Jelle Seegers.
B Wise was on show from 22 to 30 October as part of Dutch Design Week 2022. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.
Dutch design office Studio MOM has developed a bicycle helmet from biomaterials that, unlike polystyrene helmets, can be produced without fossils fuels and composted after use.
A specially developed form of mycelium – the fleshy root-like structure of a fungus – forms the main shell of MyHelmet, while the outer skin and strap are produced from a hemp textile.
MyHelmet is made from mycelium and hemp
The result is a helmet that, according to Studio MOM, can be manufactured more sustainably and produces less waste after use.
“MyHelmet fits in with principles of the circular economy,” said the studio. “There are minimal CO2 emissions, it does not require any fossil raw materials and the end result is 100 per cent biodegradable.”
The use of biomaterials makes the helmet compostable
Experts recommend replacing a helmet every three to five years, as the strength is likely to be reduced by the wear-and-tear of regular use.
However, most bicycle helmets are made from expanded polystyrene, or EPS, a form of plastic that is difficult to dispose of. It is non-biodegradable and harder to recycle after it has been glued to the other components of a helmet.
Alessandra Sisti developed MyHelmet as a student graduation project
The MyHelmet design replaces the EPS with a mycelium that is cultivated on a diet of hemp flakes.
By briefly heating up this mycelium during the growing process, its structural makeup becomes similar to that of EPS; it becomes rigid, lightweight and has low thermal conductivity.
The natural layer structure of the mycelium also creates space for airflow, helping to keep the wearer’s head cool.
The process was developed by junior designer Alessandra Sisti as her graduation project from the Design and Engineering masters programme at Politecnico di Milano.
Sisti was able to further develop the design after joining Studio MOM, testing a wide range of material compositions to find the most effective solution.
Studio MOM has tested a wide range of material compositions
The various elements of the helmet are combined during the process. This allows the mycelium to bond with the hemp textile that forms the strap and outer skin, providing extra support and removing the need for glue.
Studio MOM has carried out a series of initial tests to ensure the product’s safety for use.
An FEM analysis of the product prototype allowed the designers to assess the shape, strength, rigidity and fatigue of the material. A simulation of the NTA standards test – the test which decides if a helmet complies with the requirements in the Dutch technical agreement – was also carried out, with “promising” results.
Components are combined in the growing process, so no glue is needed
The project builds on Studio MOM’s experience with sustainable mobility products.
The Arnhem-based office has designed a series of bicycles, including an electric cargo bike powered by a hydrogen battery, the LAVO Bike.
Studio MOM founder Mars Holwerda is now hoping to find partners to help the studio develop the design from a prototype to a commercial product.
Mycelium forms the bulk, while the outer skin and strap are a hemp textile
“By developing a new process, we have taken a considerable step towards using mycelium bio-manufacturing on an industrial scale,” he said.
“The bicycle industry now has something at its disposal to stop the endless stream of harmful, systematic plastic and EPS waste. But we are not there yet. Who is in?”
Mycelium is increasingly being utilised across the architecture, design and fashion industries.
Other uses include as leather in a Stella McCartney fashion collection, as the walls of a Dutch Design Week pavilion and as the material for a Sebastian Cox lighting collection.
