Introducing bio-materials

By embracing growth and decay processes, the new proposed program welcomes the materialities of its byproducts and their mutualism and symbiosis. The new facility will recirculate resources by upcycling bio-waste into energy and building materials. The refurbishment will be an environment that is nurtured and dependent on the subtle fluctuations of materials, phase changes, and the growth of living substances. Examples of introduced biomaterials in relation to the building’s food production are mycelium and scoby.

Living in a material world mainly made from regenerative resources often require a culture of care. This means involvement of maintenance that prevents materials from decomposing prematurely and cyclically factoring replace elements if needed since some elements are exposed to weather, insects, moisture, or wear and tear. It will also mean designing in a way that allows some parts of a building to fail without condemning the whole, and planning for some parts to age, deteriorate and be replaced without endangering the rest of the building. For example, parts of the introduced mycelium walls, which are exposed to moisture at times, can decompose faster. These can, with time, be replaced with new mycelium produced in the building.

Prep time: 30 mins + boiling/cooling time

Grow time : 3-4 weeks

Dr y time : 20 mins

Disinfecetd space

2 Liters of Water

Mycelium Organic Substrate

Any substrate

Mycelium spores

1.�Mix any substrate with mycelium spores in a bag.

2.�Add water and close it.

3.� Let it incubate for Let ferment for 2-3 weeks

4.� Let it fruit until it stops fruiting . Eat the mushrooms.

5.� Take of the bag and cut the component into wanted form

6.� Dr y it on 50 degrees for 20 mins.

Temperature

21 - 26C˚

Co₂ level

1 - 3%

Formwork

Structural Components

Insulating wall component

Moisture content

50 - 55%

Mycelium is part of the fungi kingdom and is the underground structure of mushrooms. Mycelium breaks down and absorbs surrounding organic matter into nutrients and is an essential part of our ecosystems and the natural decomposition process. Mycelium is highly attractive because they tend to grow on various substrates. It works as a glue, converting waste products into novel compounds characterized by diverse qualities depending on the species and the growth parameters. It is possible to develop materials with different strengths, elasticity, and thickness. The growing process is curbed by heating the product — it only requires about a half-hour. It is fire and heat-resistant, water-repellent, lightweight, and fast to produce. It can be used for paneling, bricks, and insulation. It is organic, compostable, and biodegradable.

Prep time: 30 mins + boiling/cooling time

Grow time: 3-4 weeks

Dry time: 1-2 weeks

1 Kombucha Culture

2 Liters of Water

2 Black or Green

Tea Bags

200 Grams Granulated Sugar

1.Make tea/sugar mixture, let it cool to room tempterature.

2.Add live kombucha culture (scooby).

3.

4.Let ferment for 2 weeks and drink the kombucha

5.Lay the scooby to dry (1-2 weeks)

Temperature

21 - 26C˚

Co₂ level 3%

Moisture content 100%

Scoby is a part of the fermentation process when making Kombucha. Scoby stands for symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast, which self-organizes during the fermentation of sweet green tea into a pure cellulose sheet. A “mother” culture is needed to initiate the fermentation process of the liquid into a cellulose mat covering an entire container surface of any size and shape. When making kombucha, scoby is added to tea, breaking down its sugars and turning it into fizzy kombucha. When making kombucha, scoby in its proper form is a round, rubbery, gelatinous microbial mat. It constantly grows, needs to be divided, and is often thrown away. If dried instead, it can become a leather-like material used for different purposes. In this project, it is used as curtains and soft divisions.

Me and my experiments.

Cutted mycelium component.

Mycelium experiments in growing bags.

1.Greenhouse farm

Growing plants in a greenhouse allow tweaking the environment for optimal plant growth. By controlling temperature, humidity, and light levels, growers can ensure that plants receive the ideal amount of each of these factors. As a result, greenhouse gardening provides a consistent and stable environment, helping to produce higher quality and quantity crops.

2. Vertical farm with hydroponics

Vertical farming is the practice of growing layers. It often incorporates controlled-environment aims to optimize plant growth, and soilless hydroponics. Hydroponics is different because it does not use soil. Instead, where crops are grown with their roots ent-rich water solution, either without an inert medium, such as rock wool, expanded clay). The main advantage the increased crop yield that comes with ment. The water used can also be recycled

The indoor mushroom farm can produce roughly 125kg of mushrooms per square meter yearly.

How much is produced?

Greenhouses, on average, can produce roughly 15kg per square meter every year.

The vertical farm can produce roughly 10 to 12 times the number of crops per m2 in traditional agriculture. That is, if, in the space of 1 x 1 meter, you can grow ten heads of lettuce using conventional agriculture, a vertical farm allows you to grow between 100 and 120 heads of lettuce in the same space, utilizing a height of only 3 meters. growing crops in vertically stacked controlled-environment agriculture, which soilless farming techniques such as different from other types of gardening hydroponic refers to a system roots exposed directly to a nutri without any growth medium or using coconut fiber, perlite, gravel, or of vertical farming technologies is with a smaller area of land requirerecycled and reused.

3. Indoor mushrrom farm

Indoor cultivated mushrooms are decomposing fungi grown on a recipe, typically containing a base of sawdust or wood pellets and some higher nitrogen supplement mixed with mycelium spores (of any mushroom wanted). When the environmental conditions are right, the mycelium will form mushrooms. The main waste product from mycelium is ‘spent mushroom substrate’ (sms). It is an organic material that is the perfect garden mulch and works excellent as a soil cover for bushes and trees, providing frost protection while slowly breaking down and releasing nutrients into the soil. It can also be dried to become a building component.

The new program of the building relies on spaces for negotiation, adaptation, production, and transformation to enable diverse systems to interact. The project addresses the relationships between humans, plants, and technology by questioning how spaces of various natures coexist. Therefore the new program is designed out of the growing process of the produced food (vegetables and mushrooms). These processes vary in rituals and time, as seen in the following diagrams on the next page. Moreover, those processes are not independent but support and feed each other. The result is a building that is alive - a creation of new symbiotic rituals, where vegetables are cultivated in enclosed systems and mushroom fruit from bags.

The growing processes need water and energy. Therefore, I have introduced a new metabolic infrastructure inspired by my earlier “collective digestion” diagram. This system includes three digesters that transmit and recirculate the resources back into the building. They have a “double role” as they are fundamental for the system’s function and are also focal moments to celebrate and illustrate the exposed building’s digestion and resource approach. The program also includes processes such as fermentation and germination and alternative cultivation techniques such as hydroponics and indoor mushroom farming.

Rituals and care:

So how do we consider the effects of this new way of producing food? What new culture does it create? What new rituals appear?

From my investigations of how to farm in greenhouses, vertical farms, and indoor mushroom farms, I realized that these processes are more than just technical production methods. They all require human maintenance in the form of caretaking and rely on time. Primary caretaking means interaction with the processes, watching and learning how they work, and understanding what is needed to give them the right environment. This also includes the invisible processes, which could benefit each other. For example, the mushrooms release a lot of Co2, which benefits the vertical farm. The byproduct from the mycelium is a valuable fertilizer, and the byproduct from the greenhouse helps grow mushrooms. Another aspect is constantly tasting and tasting the food to try new production methods.

Seasonality:

The symbioses between the growing organisms will vary throughout the times, and the space must adapt to those changes. For example, the building can perform differently during the winter and summer. In the winter, it is closed off and only works internally, creating a controlled growing environment. In the summer, it is more open so that only the mushroom incubation room and vertical farm are controlled and secluded. This will create an architecture whose appearance varies throughout the year, both in access and growth. This concerns especially in the greenhouse, which vegetation will change during different months.

Seasonality diagram: