Growing Architecture - Co-Designing with Fungi

In the workshop series »Materialzukünfte besuchen« (Visiting Material Futures), researchers from Matters of Activity shared insights into their work, which can be used to develop future scenarios and design prototypes. The experienced speculation team of CollActive Materials guided participants – no previous knowledge or special skills were required!

In this workshop, we dove into the interconnected world of fungi and their mycelium. Together with architects Dimitra Almpani-Lekka and Natalija Miodragović, we explored the properties and behaviours of mycelium in nature and architecture, to speculate about future relations and applications: Could the buildings of tomorrow be grown in collaboration with plants and fungi? Can fungi help us build life-supporting networks in the cities to maintain natural resources and the local biodiversity? How can co-designing and co-habiting with a living organism transform our experience of future architecture and our relationships with other species?

Natalija Miodragović and Dimitra Almpani-Lekka are researching architects experimenting with fungal material systems in the architectural context. The research is supported by the Biomaterials Lab of the Applied and Molecular Microbiology Department of TU Berlin.

The workshop series was organized and moderated by Antje Nestler and Kristin Werner, in cooperation with Eva Bullermann, Richard Ley and Julia Blumenthal.