[microcosm: mycelia]
table of contents
01
Table of Contents
page 01
02
Mission statement
page 02
03
Feedback drawing
page 03
04
Project drawings
page 05
05
Material study: Fungus
page 11
06
Preliminary budget
page 13
07
Afterlife plan
page 14
08 Portfolio page 15 09 Team page 21
– 01 –
[microcosm: mycelia]
–
A closed system in its simplest, biological form may be found in the unicellular organism, which carries out all processes of life in order to survive. The unicellular typology can be manifested in an enclosed structure, incorporating components that facilitate the capturing and storing of energy, the processing and use of energy, and the recycling of waste. The program compartmentalizes the essential elements of sustaining autonomous human life into a cyclical system, which is stimulated by the life-supporting aspects of the environment. This achieves a closed resource regeneration system through the implementation of a living wall that forms a boundary through dense fungal growth and allows for the integration of agriculture, filtration of air, diffusion of light, and the capturing of water. In addition to avoiding the unsustainability of contemporary human activity, the natural growth of the system involves the decay of the current architectural understanding, replacing the abstraction of architecture as something which mimics natural phenomenology with something that is fully integrated into ecology. As a reflection and response to the ideology of synthetic naturalism present in the previous 41 archived closed systems, this is the direct implementation of the metabolism of nature in its morphology and performance.
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– 02 –
feedback drawing
– 03 –
feedback drawing
– The organism wall, grown out of edible, structural mycelia, creates a closed environment in which man can live. The feedback diagram demonstrates the activation of the living organism through both external and internal forces. The exterior provides energy through the presence of the sun, life sustaining water from the rain and atmosphere, and territory for which the organism can grow. The interior functions only in the presence of man, who perpetuates the growth cycle of the organism by consuming, digesting, and excreting material. His presence completes the feedback loop by acting as the moderator between the natural environment and the built environment. Although the organism was initially developed by nature, it begins to respond to the desires of man, subsequently shifting its growth in his direction. Although the man was initially developed by the built, he begins to respond to the constraints of nature, subsequently shifting his actions and life cycle in its direction. As the synchoneous relationshiop is formed, a new organism emerges, this gestalt acts as a closed world, in which all resources are consumed and re–used.
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– 04 –
[microcosm: mycelia]
The organism rests at the widest end of the storefront, fully inhabiting the space and acting as the main exhibition piece. Its presence is made even more obvious by its lack of entry within the storefront. In this act, the organism becomes entrenched in the space, and a dual relationship is born in which the outside becomes in,
and the inside becomes out. The organism is capable of grafting to nearby objects in its conquest of new terriroty, and so has grafted itself to the Westward most door of the storefront, providing it with an entrance. Here you can see how when inside, the visitors become
– 05 –
viewers, and when outside, they become occupants.
[microcosm: mycelia]
The design of the gallery space is modeled after Charles Darwin’s original diagrams for evolutionary theory. each point has an arc, in which rotating panels are attached. These panels are what present the 41 Closed Worlds, but are capable of reconnecting to different, neighboring nodes. In this action, the relationship between the 41 projects can be reestablished during the length of the exhibition, evolving the understanding of the projects from individuals to communities. This community is expanded upon by the 42nd Closed World, which seeks to move beyond a synthetic naturalism and integrate man and nature. Seemingly, this is an architectural regression, however, through a careful curation of recently developed technologies, a new relationship can be formed where there once was not. This relationship is the gestalt, in which both man and nature work harmoniously together, both feeding off of each other.
– 06 –
[microcosm: mycelia] SCALE 1’= 1/4’’
The growth of the organism is represented in the elevations, where the nodes are most clearly displayed. These fungal growths are searching for new territory for the organism to inhabit. The shell of the organism, prior to its inoculation, was designed for man to inhabit.
– 07 –
[microcosm: mycelia] SCALE 1’=1/4’’
– 08 –
[microcosm: mycelia] SCALE 1’= 1/4’’
The dense coffers present in the roofscape serve as water retention devices. During a rain, the water will pool in these areas, fostering a new growth of nature. Additionally, a much larger coffer acts as a collection and filtration device for clean water to enter the environment. This water is then collected in the barrel within the space, ready for future use.
A space has been left in contact with the outside world at the bottom of the organism. This space is the composting center for the human waste, and can be accessed by both the organism and the man to foster new growth.
– 09 –
[theory for growth]
A starting form is conceived, finding three origin points for the substructure to be built upon.
A wattled substructure is built by man, creating an origin point fot the culture.
Responsiveness to daylight is present in the development of structural pockets. These pockets are inhabited photosynthetic flora.
Exterior has growns a new shell after original culture was estableshed. The new growth can sustain a variety of fungal growth.
The form grows from its original position by raching
This growth reaches omnidirectionally until it can place
outwards with new culture.
its spores on a new surface. – 10 –
[microcosm: mycelia]
Diffusion-limited aggregation (DLA) is the process
such particles. DLA can be observed in many systems
whereby particles undergoing a random walk due to
such as electrodeposition, Hele-Shaw flow, mineral
Brownian motion cluster together to form aggregates of
deposits, and dielectric breakdown.
– 11 –
[microcosm: mycelia] Exterior fungus
Interior fungus
Herecium Erinaceus
Pleuretus Ostrabatus
Grifolia Frondosa
Armillaria Mellea <bioluminescent>
Pleurotus Djamur
Sparassis Crispa â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 12 â&#x20AC;&#x201C;
[preliminary budget] November
December
Feburary
January
12.13.15 - 12.20.15 fungal and spore cultivation
$
Total
March
April
01.23.15 start gallery structures
04.02.15 gallery closing
02.10.15 01.10.15 gallery opening start fungal +“mud” application 01.20.15 finish fungal +“mud” application
11.25.15 winners released 12.01.15 harvesting / collection of wood material
7000.oo
04.09.15 total deconstruction
01.03.15 beginning construction of structure
FUNGAL MATERIAL 1.
mycelium
2.
hay bales
3.
mulch
structural - culture dishes
$
400.oo
edible - culture dishes
$
400.oo
1/2 ton
$
300.oo
300 cubic feet
$
700.oo
truck rental
$
1000.oo
STRUCTURE 4.
trucking / sawing trees
5.
plywood sheets
5 sheets
$
150.oo
6.
loose top soil
5 yards
$
200.oo
21 rods ( 1 inch diameter x 10 ft)
$
1000.oo
GALLERY DISPLAY 7.
threaded steel pipes
8.
steel connectors
2 per rod ( 42 total )
$
350.oo
9.
plywood sheets
21 sheets
$
500.oo
OVERALL 10.
hardware
varies
$
1000.oo
11.
tools
varies
$
500.oo
12.
decal
varies
$
500.oo
Total
– 13 –
$
7000.oo
afterlife plan
–
The fungus that grows into the system’s fabric will eventually reach a period of decay in which it biodegrades and transitions back into its ecosystem. These fungal remnants are components of a process that have the ability to germinate into the fabric of other structures, dissolving into spores that distribute the original growth. This part of the closed system is an aspect that utilizes the natural phenomenon of the fungal cycle through the release and germination of spores, as well as mycelia growth serving as an architectural connective tissue of the new host structure.
The construct is its own afterlife plan because it will recycle into new use. Its functionality is present at multiple scales as a composite system of modular growth and spore activity. The structure begins as a unicellular system that grows from one cell into a colony of cells that individually carry out all life processes, but depend on each other to survive. The system begins with one cell, transitions into the cohabitation of many, and returns to the eventual release of many.
These excess afterlife materials can become part of various architectural systems, including concrete structures and columns, insulation for walls, and replacement for particle board. Other repurposing methods at a smaller level see this same treatment with introductions into parks, forms of packaging, and papers.
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– 14 –