Singapore & Switzerland Aim to Turn Fungi into 'Bricks' For Construction

Researchers in Singapore and Switzerland are now studying the use of mycelium as a sustainable building construction material. Mycelium is the vast underground root network of fungi. The mushroom one sees is merely the fruiting body, making up just a small part of the fungus. This means the bulk of a fungus grows underground. Although delicate-looking, this "fluff" is being turned into "mushroom bricks" for construction as part of a research project.  The branching threads are made of substances such as chitin and cellulose that are known to be strong, said Assistant Professor Hortense Le Ferrand, a co-investigator in the project under the Future Cities Lab (FCL) Global programme. The programme was launched late last year at the Singapore-ETH Centre - a collaborative research centre between Singapore institutions and Swiss university ETH Zurich. The research on using mycelium for building construction is one of eight projects in the programme focusing on enhancing the sustainability of cities and human settlements. Mycelium's growth depends on factors including the species of fungi, type of plant-based waste, temperature and humidity, said Prof Le Ferrand at a virtual presentation hosted by FCL Global earlier this month. Different species of fungi produce mycelium with different qualities. "Studying the amount of chitin and cellulose that fungi produce is one way to find out which species and growth conditions yield the strongest mycelium," said Prof Le Ferrand, who is a faculty member at Nanyang Technological University's School of Materials Science and Engineering. Over the next five years, Prof Le Ferrand and her team will conduct studies to optimise the growth of mycelium and explore how 3D printing can be used to build a mycelium-based structure.