Optimizing form and eliminating formwork.

Research has shown that Additive Manufacturing (AM), also known as 3-Dimensional (3D) printing, can reduce overall material use by optimizing the form of buildings and eliminating the need for formwork. However, most contemporary 3D printing at the building scale uses energy-intensive ordinary Portland cement binders. Replacing these energy-intensive 3D printing feedstocks with low-energy biogenic materials can reduce or even reverse embodied carbon emissions.

Adding value to waste streams

Mycelium biocomposites consist of interlaced hyphal networks (mushroom roots) and cellulose. They can be produced with minimal energy inputs from agricultural and forestry byproducts, adding value to waste streams, participating in the circular economy, and sequestering atmospheric carbon emissions.

The project creates hydrogel-based 3D printing feedstock seeded with Ganoderma lucidum (Reishi mushroom) hyphae. Using AM techniques, these next-generation biogenic materials can be used to create carbon-negative 3D printed buildings with tunable self-healing characteristics, offering ecologically sound architecture.