Between Bread and Building – making mycelium materials.
Adrien Rigobello, Phil Ayres.
Abstract:
Over the past two decades, mycelium-based materials have emerged as sustainable alternatives to environmentally harmful products, yet their significance transcends mere ecological function. This text frames their production as a craft—mycoboscus—akin to bread-making, where fermentation, growth, and transformation give rise to biodegradable composites. These materials offer promising thermal, acoustic, and mechanical properties, and their fabrication can challenge dominant industrial paradigms through practices of “scaling out” and “scaling deep.” Mycoboscus fosters local empowerment, community knowledge-sharing, and cultural rootedness, as exemplified by a collaborative field lab in Taastrupgaard. Here, mycelium panels clad a community oven, entwining place-making and material innovation. The authors suggest that these entangled practices signal a shift from fossil-fuel reliance toward regenerative futures, driven by participatory design and social resonance. Mycelium, then, is not just a material—it is a medium for connecting ecological, structural, and cultural transformation.
Over the past two decades, mycelium-based materials have emerged as sustainable alternatives to environmentally harmful products, yet their significance transcends mere ecological function. This text frames their production as a craft—mycoboscus—akin to bread-making, where fermentation, growth, and transformation give rise to biodegradable composites. These materials offer promising thermal, acoustic, and mechanical properties, and their fabrication can challenge dominant industrial paradigms through practices of “scaling out” and “scaling deep.” Mycoboscus fosters local empowerment, community knowledge-sharing, and cultural rootedness, as exemplified by a collaborative field lab in Taastrupgaard. Here, mycelium panels clad a community oven, entwining place-making and material innovation. The authors suggest that these entangled practices signal a shift from fossil-fuel reliance toward regenerative futures, driven by participatory design and social resonance. Mycelium, then, is not just a material—it is a medium for connecting ecological, structural, and cultural transformation.
From: Tingbogen (2024). Juul, G. (ed.). pp 77-79. Arkitektens Forlag. ISBN: 9788774070221.
Download chapter on ResearchGate.