Fungus x Design: Unearthing Mycelial Relationships
While researching innovative and sustainable packaging materials in 2010, Courtney Goode came across a myco-composite foam made by growing the roots of mushrooms to bind wood chips into a cohesive matte. This method then requires killing the mycelium to stop the growth process. This inspired Goode to dig deeper into the behaviors of mycelium as a living material as well as an inert one. While myco-composites are now widely used for commercial packaging, furniture, and more, there is still very little work outside of agricultural applications with living mycelial systems.
In Fall 2020, while teaching an experimental materials and construction seminar at RISD she and her graduate students explored the design potentials of living and inert mycelium in the context of larger living systems and ecological processes. While teaching this course, it became painstakingly clear how few resources exist for designers who want to work with mycelium and other microbes in their living state. As a result, Goode has begun a body of research, to better understand how to grow, nourish, and manipulate living mycelial networks in ways that bring coupled benefits to landscape architecture projects. What do mycelial networks need to live and thrive? How long can they live? How can we measure their growth and health? Where do we find specific mycelial strains? The questions are endless. Even in the scientific community, there are vast gaps in knowledge about the entire kingdom of fungi. We know surprisingly little about these organisms, which makes designing with them all the more challenging. We see this as the start of a toolkit for designers, policymakers, and the public to increase understanding, visibility, and knowledge of the importance of mycelium in urban ecosystems.