Tree-shaped structure shows how mushroom roots could be used to create building frameworks

While some architects have been experimenting with mushroom mycelium as a cladding material, engineers Dirk Hebel and Philippe Block have gone one step further – by using fungi to build self-supporting structures.

Hebel, who leads the Sustainable Construction unit at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, and Block, who founded the Block Research Group at ETH Zürich, have created a tree-shaped structure consisting almost entirely of mycelium.

According to the duo, the material – which is formed from the root network of mushrooms – could provide the structure of a two-storey building, if it is designed with the right geometries.

"We want to show that there might be alternative construction materials that don't get us in trouble with our world, but that needs to go together with some kind of designing," explained Block.

Read more on Dezeen: https://www.dezeen.com/?p=1126318

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