London firm Blast Studio developed a method of 3D printing with live mycelium and used it to form a column that could be harvested for mushrooms before serving as a structural building block.

The two meter high tree column has a ridged, wavy structure reminiscent of a tree trunk.

Its shape has been algorithmically designed to improve the structural capacity of the column and provide optimal growth conditions for mycelium, the root system of fungi.

The column was built by mixing mycelium with a raw material from coffee cup waste collected around London and feeding it through a bespoke cold extruder, similar to that used for 3D printing with clay. .

Once imprinted in shape, the mycelium consumes the pulped paper cups and grows to support the entire column, producing mushrooms that can be picked and eaten.

The root structure of the mycelium is then dried to create a load-bearing architectural element with natural insulating and fire-retardant properties.

Blast Studio is working to develop the technology to print a pavilion and in the future hopes to build entire buildings. Co-founder Paola Garnousset said it could effectively allow cities to develop architecture from their own waste while providing food for their residents.

“Our vision is to launch a new type of living architecture that could self-repair and be harvested to feed people,” she told Dezeen.

“The idea would be to 3D print a living structure in situ, which would be inoculated with different varieties of fungi, some with high structural resistance and others delicious.”

The Tree Column production process begins with shredding paper coffee cups and boiling them in water to produce sterilized paper pulp. This is then mixed with the mycelium, along with any desired natural pigments to add color.

The resulting biomass paste is pushed through an extruder and 3D printed, layer by layer, to form 10 separate modules, which are stacked in a 2.1 meter high column and fused together using more mycelium.

Its many creases and crevices were generatively designed to create a structure that could sustain itself during the additive manufacturing process, as well as supporting the mycelium growth process by creating sheltered “microclimate pockets” that trap moisture. along the entire length of the column.

“For the mycelium to grow well, it needs a moist environment away from drafts, like in the undergrowth where it grows naturally,” Garnousset explained.

“We were inspired by the forms of cacti that can successfully grow in the desert by capturing moisture from the wind and creating shade in their folds.”

For the first three to four weeks, until the mycelium has grown to encompass the entire column, it should be kept in a confined humid environment similar to a greenhouse.

After that, it is dried at 80 degrees Celsius, effectively killing the organism to stop its growth and solidify the material, which Blast Studio says has similar structural capability to medium-density fiberboard (MDF).

“The column is very light and good in both compression and flexion thanks to the elasticity of the material,” said Garnousset. “In small constructions such as houses and small buildings, concrete could be replaced by mycelium.”

If a tree column is damaged or no longer needed, it can be recycled and reprinted to form a new architectural feature.

But Blast Studio also plans to create a self-healing version of the pillar by drying the mycelium just enough to stop the spread without killing the organism, allowing it to regrow over any cracks once exposed to water.

A column of trees is currently on display as part of the Waste Age exhibition at the Design Museum in London and will be used as the first building block for the Tree Pavilion, which the studio hopes to build by the end of the year to show that his technology could be applied on a larger architectural scale.

A number of other architects and designers, including Dirk Hebel and New York studio The Living, have also created experimental pavilions using mycelium instead of traditional emissions-intensive structural materials such as concrete and iron. steel.

This usually involves the mycelium being grown in a mold to form bricks. But Blast Studio’s 3D printing technology is able to create complex shapes without the need for formwork, which are optimized to improve the performance of the building element while reducing its weight and the use of materials.

Although these types of applications are still nascent, a number of companies are already working to create certified insulation and acoustic panels from mycelium, which can perform better than their plastic counterparts while sequestering carbon during their growth process.

The top photo is by Felix Speller.