-Written by Sofia Perez
I’m going to tell you a story. I’m an invisible man. You’re in a lavish restaurant, poking impatiently at a hunk of steak that’s cooked just the way you like. It’s a little pink, a little raw…just like you. You’re raw and emotional, sometimes a bit erratic, which you hope to communicate through all the dark leather you’re wearing.
There are walls all around you. Somewhere you hear glasses clinking. Someone says cheers and you immediately despise this. You keep tapping your foot impatiently, keep staring at your uneaten steak. You’re vegan and you feel guilty, even though you know it’s fake.
You know it’s fake because the menu told you it was from one of those mushroom-meat brands. Your leather is fake too, also cooked up from mycelium. That’s a secret though. You want the world to think you’re vintage. And those walls? Phony. They’re made from the same thing. Mycelium, mycelium, mycelium…everywhere. It’s all just a replica of a lifestyle that was once a little inefficient. You grimace at me because I’m everywhere, an invisible man that has stolen your identity…
Just like that, the invisible man of mycelium will one day surround us all. That, however, is a story about the future. For now let’s turn to the present.
Buildings and structures surround us every day, erected from the ground and towering over our heads. They have purposes and functions, histories and futures. They are the physical bones of society’s institutions. Chances are you’re in one of them right now.
Buildings are the physical depiction of the systems that must either be discarded or implemented. It is for this reason that their composition matters. Will we resurrect a shrine to the past, or pave the way for a more harmonious future?
So the issue of construction is not just a practical one, but an emotional one, tightly interwoven with our sense of comfort and identity. Not only do they give us a place to attach our sense of home, but also a place to attach our memories. Our buildings outlive us. They tell our story. They are passed on and inherited. These structures are homes, symbols, refuges, and now, as we come to terms with our place in this complex natural web, they are starting to mean something new.
What stories do our buildings tell? Currently, the construction industry’s impact on health, society, and the environment is huge. The production of steel and concrete, two of the most widely used materials, has a detrimental carbon footprint. It also drives up the cost of buildings as a result of production costs and transport. In fact, worldwide, building and construction activities consume 3 billion tons of raw materials each year, which is 40% of total use.
This is the story our structures are telling. The narrative is not just about what happens, but how it is achieved. Imagine for a moment that you had several bars of chocolate. Which is best? How do you measure this? While your mind might initially assume this refers to taste, you can soon see how other factors come into play. Not only does it matter how this chocolate tastes, but also its cost, its ingredients, how it was made, where the wrapper will go after, etc. In this sense, chocolate’s ‘goodness’ is not just about pleasure, but also about the wider economy, environment, and society. Even an absolutely scrumptious chocolate can be bad by all these metrics. The same principle applies to what we build.
Now let’s picture this using shapes. First imagine a line segment which starts at Point A and ends at Point B. The line represents how long a product is in circulation. After Point B, this product is thrown away. Product after product is tossed off the end of this line into the abyss. In real life however, this ‘abyss’ doesn’t exist and whatever is dropped off at Point B accumulates in landfills, bodies of water, etc. Now let’s turn to a different shape- the circle. Instead of building up after we finish with them, as the products on the circle keep going around. Right now the economy can generally be modeled with the line. It is crucial to start heading toward a circle. This creates significantly less waste and more durable, reusable, repairable, and recyclable products. How do we move toward the circle? That’s the million-dollar question. One solution is through using more bio-based materials.
Now back to our invisible man: mycelium. Due to its unique features and capacity to biodegrade, it is especially coherent with the ideas of eliminating waste and regenerating nature. In fact, it has many advantages over traditional materials like plastics and synthetic foams, as it has a low cost, environmental impact, energy consumption, and density. These qualities can help pave the way for a more effective and harmonious form of construction. ‘Harmonious’ in this case refers to harmony between people, the environment, and the economy. Hence, what is ‘green’ for nature is also ‘green’ for profits.
Overall though, it certainly isn’t a miracle pill, nor should new innovations stop at only one resource. It is through diversity that we maintain a resilient economy and society. Nonetheless, mycelium creates many promising opportunities.
But why mycelium? Let’s take a step back. What is mycelium? Let’s start with a mushroom. Yes, the mysterious, delicious, and slightly taboo member of the fungi kingdom. The textbooks tell us fungi are more closely related to us than plants, but in truth we know surprisingly little about them. In fact, Merriam-Webster defines ‘fungi’ as ‘any of a kingdom (Fungi) of saprophytic and parasitic spore-producing eukaryotic typically filamentous organisms formerly classified as plants that lack chlorophyll and include molds, rusts, mildews, smuts, mushrooms, and yeasts’. What a mouthful! Perhaps this overuse of words is testament to our lack of understanding. Who’s to say? Of course when describing the word ‘person’ in the dictionary, only three words are used, ‘a human being’.
More to the point, the story of mycelium starts with mushrooms, as the mushrooms we see above ground are in fact the reproductive organs of the mycelium below. Now that we know how mushrooms and mycelium are related, let’s move on to mycelium itself. This describes a network of interwoven threads called hypha that grow by extending and branching. It is this ability to interlock within a network that allows mycelium to be used for mycelium-based composites ( i.e. myco-composites). This just means that mycelium is grown on another material, interlocking to form a material strong enough for construction. (Note that myco-composites are different from pure mycelium materials, which have different properties and won’t be discussed here.)
So how does one go about making a myco-composite? To scratch the surface of this question, let’s look at a succinct summary of how a singular mycobrick is actually made:
| What Happens | Why It Matters | What is needed (a comprehensive simplification) | |
| 1 | Soaking | Hydrates substrate + Encourages fungal growth | Lignocellulosic (i.e. composed of cellulose/hemicellulose + lignin) material (e.g. straw, sawdust) |
| 2 | Blending | Increases surface area from which fungi can grow | BlenderGrinder |
| 3 | Sterilizing | Removes any microorganisms which might compete with fungi | OvenChemicals(e.g. Hydrogen peroxide)Autoclave |
| 4 | Inoculating | Enables fungi to grow in the shape of the desired mold | Molds |
| 5 | Storing | Gives the fungi time to grow | Ambient conditions/Temperature-controlled environment at ~25-27 C |
| 6 | Dehydrating | Neutralizes fungus + Stiffens material | Oven |
Now come the questions that merge the idea of mycelium-based technology with reality. When will it become mainstream? How much does it cost? Will the homes of the future be mycorrhizal networks like the kind found underground? The answers are up in the air. This is still a very new technology that requires more research. Little is known regarding the use of mycelium for agricultural purposes. Similarly, little research has been conducted into how natural factors such as climate conditions can affect materials made from myco-composites. This is crucial when deciding whether they are safe in the long run or an overall better alternative to traditional materials.
So what do we do now? Shrug our shoulders and cross our fingers? Maybe some of us. If you have the power, maybe you will even go into the field yourself. In reality though, now is the time to understand and become educated. This is, after all, its own special kind of investment in the future. At the end of the day, myco-composites only convey a snapshot of the revolutionary innovation that is starting to occur in construction. This innovation is what will make up the future and make up the parts that, together, are the essence of a more harmonious society and earth.
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