Recently we heard about sustainable materials in construction. But did you hear about not manufacturing but GROWING BRICKS to get construction material?
The Mycelium brick is an organic brick, Formed from organic waste and the Mycelium of Fungus!
What is the Mycelium?
The Mycelium is the fiber part that grows, strengthens, and elongates from the fungi (roots). They start weaving into each other forming a bond and later a surface. These surfaces start layering one on top of the other (depending on the thickness and hardness of the food source) and form a dense coating.
Different mycelium densities can be grown together seamlessly, making it a naturally fire-resistant material, which can replace plastics, wood, concrete, and polymers in easy way. We can use it in both exteriors and interiors. As well as in terms of façades, furniture, and even walls.
How do we form the Mycelium brick?
♦ When Mycelium is bound to agricultural waste, it creates a strong-resilient matrix that can take any shape you want!
♦ We can grow mycelium boards or bricks in a confined space by filling them with agricultural waste like straw or chaff infused with mushroom spores.
♦ It only takes five days for the mushrooms to transform the organic matter into a viable brick, making the process cheap and efficient.
♦ We don't need heat or energy-consuming ingredients like cement. Just use waste materials at room temperature.
♦ Once the Mycelium has fully built its network, it intends to grow into a mushroom. We can there stop the natural process. Rather than letting a mushroom pop up, we can stop the growth process by gently heating the substrate.
What makes Mycelium sustainable?
1. Less to no embodied energy is required for the fabrication process of mycelium bricks.
2. There is a massive reduction in building waste since there is no requirement for additional bonding material. As mycelium bricks grow, expand, and contract over time.
3. It is 100% biodegradable.
4. As mentioned, it is waterproof to a great level, providing correct and adequate proportions of sub-materials.
5. Over time, they weave into each other. So that there is porosity formed, which also results in good ventilation.
6. Mycelium fiber ages, grows, and interweaves fully in high temperatures.
7. Provide accurate proportions of the substrate material for use as good as concrete.
Advantages of Mycelium as a construction material:
1. It is 100% biodegradable. Hence, temporary set-ups and installations can be erected and demolished based on usage.
2. Mycelium tissue can trap more heat than fiberglass insulation. It is also fireproof and non-toxic.
3. When dried, It becomes lighter due to porosity formation, but it is still stronger pound for pound than concrete.
4. The production of Mycelium-brick is not time-consuming. It is a fast, low-cost, and with ease-produced material. There is almost no need for a bonding material since, when we place two mycelium bricks together, they rapidly spread amongst themselves and become a bonding material.
5. If maintained in favorable and stable conditions, mycelium bricks can have a life span of approximately 20 years.
6. It with ease takes any shape.
7. Offers excellent opportunities for upcycling agricultural waste into a low-cost, sustainable, and biodegradable material alternative.
Disadvantages of Mycelium as a construction material:
1. The capacity of water resistance decreases over time, and thus the mycelium bricks become vulnerable to mold and humidity over time.
2. Mycelium bricks cannot be used for long-term structures due to their decreasing resistance to water, humidity, and mold growth.
3. Usually, no coating required under normal climatic conditions, But Mycelium-bricks expand, contract, and relax according to the weather and when they remain untouched from the ground. If they touch the ground, moisture absorption will take place, decreasing the efficiency of the mycelium bricks.
Comparison between the Mycelium brick and the conventional brick:
The mycelium brick is by far not as strong as a conventional brick, but then it is much lighter. Whereas bricks have a compressive strength of at least 28 MPa, the mushroom bricks can only withstand 0.2 MPa. But they are 60 times as light as the conventional brick: 43 kg/m3 as opposed to 2,400 kg/m3. Therefore, we can still stack them 40 feet high. But obviously, it makes much more sense to use Mycelium as a construction material in non-load-bearing structures, Like as an insulator and with interior walls.
Some structures constructed using Mycelium bricks:
1. The Mushroom Brick tower was constructed in 2014 by the architectural team “The-Living“. It was known as “HY-FI“ and stood in the courtyard of MoMA's PS1 space in midtown Manhattan. The idea came from Ecovative. The mushroom brick tower consisted of 10,000 bricks and reached 40 feet into the air.
2. The Myco-Tree: a spatial branching structure that shows how Mycelium as a construction material can achieve stability in innovative designs.
3. NASA is currently researching the use of Mycelium brick to build habitable dwellings on Mars!
In the end: “Fungi are the grand recyclers of the planet and the vanguard species in habitat restoration.“
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