`2021 Research Prize`
MycoKnit: Cultivating Mycelium-Based Composites on Knitted Textiles for Large-Scale Biodegradable Architectural Structures

“MycoKnit” aims to explore the interrelated behavior of mycelium-based composites and knitted textiles, where the knit is used as a growing base for mycelium materials, to offer a sustainable and biodegradable building material and structural system that is strong in both tension and compression.

Felecia Davis
Ali Ghazvinian
Benay Gürsoy
Farzaneh Oghazian Pennsylvania State University Department of Architecture

John PecchiaPennsylvania State University Department of Plant Pathology and Environmental Microbiology

Andre WestNorth Carolina State University Wilson College of Textiles

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Knitted Base Model. Knitted by Ian Danner. © Felecia Davis.

JuryScott Duncan Iker Gil (Chair) Gabriel Kozlowski James Leng Charlotte Malterre-Barthes Zoë Ryan

In this research, we aim to explore the use of knitted textiles as a framework and reinforcement system to develop fiber composite mycelium-based architectural structures that we call “MycoKnit.” We aim to test the MycoKnit system with a large-scale 1:1 proof of concept architectural structure in the Directed Research Studio program in the Department of Architecture at Pennsylvania State University. Mycelium and knitted textiles made of natural yarns are both organic systems, and when integrated, can offer a sustainable and biodegradable material and structural system that is strong in both tension and compression. By exploring the interrelated behavior of mycelium-based composites and knitted textiles, where the knit is used as a growing base for mycelium materials, our goal is to enable a lightweight and biodegradable building material and structural system.

Knitted Base Model. Knitted by Ian Danner. © Felecia Davis.

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MycoKnit Tube Base Detail. © Felecia Davis.

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MycoKnit Tube Base Detail. © Farzaneh Oghazian.

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Knitted Tubular Sample. © Felecia Davis.

The idea that future building materials could be “grown” rather than manufactured is fascinating and one that is worth exploring if we hope to achieve our goals of carbon neutrality. One wonders about the structural potentials of mycelium fibers and what kinds of possibilities and forms might emerge with their use.

Scott Duncan, 2021 Research Prize Juror

Mycelium is the vegetative root of fungi that absorbs nutrients from organic matter and binds them. The treatment of mycelium results in a foam-like composite material, called mycelium-based composites, that is lightweight and biodegradable. The material properties of this composite material depend on various factors, such as the substrate mixture, the fungal species used for inoculation, and environmental conditions of growth. By modifying these factors, it is possible to obtain graded materials that have different properties. Furthermore, this composite material can be shaped using formwork, as well as additive and subtractive manufacturing techniques. In recent years, various scholars have explored the use of mycelium-based composites as load-bearing structural agents in architecture. [1] Knitted textiles can be made by generating loops, called stitches, on a continuous yarn and moving the yarn through these stitches iteratively. Knits have a multidirectional behavior that is derived from their special structure and formation process. Textiles, and specifically knitted textiles, due to their flexible and multidirectional behaviors, have been used to develop seamless tension structures with varying complexities. Textiles, in general, have been used as formwork for concrete, resin, etc. to fabricate composite structural systems. [2] In this research, we will explore the use of knitted textiles made by natural yarns as formwork, reinforcement, and nutrients for the mycelium to develop novel mycelium-based composite structures.

There is a recent interest in cultivating mycelium-based materials on knitted textiles in the fashion industry due to their sustainable features. [3] In this research, our goal is to explore this integration for the development of sustainable and biodegradable structural systems that we call MycoKnit. Due to the intrinsic material uncertainties of both the knitted textiles and mycelium-based composites, it is necessary to study their behaviors interdependently. Therefore, as a group of researchers who have been working on knitted textiles and mycelium-based composites independently, we decided to join our efforts and collaborate for this research. This collaboration will enable us to develop design and fabrication workflows for MycoKnit, and lightweight and biodegradable composite structures.

The project is significant because it offers architects and designers the possibility to make lightweight, large-scale shelters using industrially knitted textiles embedded with fungi mycelium. These structures would have the potential to be completely biodegradable. As building materials are some of the least biodegradable materials making up most of the content of landfills globally, this would be a significant contribution toward reducing building waste.

Notes

[1] Felix Heisel, Juney Lee, Karsten Schlesier, et al., “Design, Cultivation and Application of Load-Bearing Mycelium Components: The MycoTree at the 2017 Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism,” International Journal of Sustainable Energy Development 6 no.1 (June 2017/18): 296–303; The Living, “Hi Fy,” accessed November 1, 2021, http://thelivingnewyork.com/hy-fi.htm.

[2] Annie Locke Scherer, “Concrete Form[ing]work: Designing and Simulating Parametrically Patterned Fabric Formwork for Cast Concrete,” in eCAADe SIGraDi 2019: Architecture in the Age of the 4th Industrial Revolution, vol. 2, ed. José Pedro Sousa, Gonçalo Castro Henriques, and José Pedro Sousa (Porto, Portugal: eCAADe/SIGraDi/FAUP 2019): 759–68; Abhipsa Pal, Wi Leen Chan, Ying Yi Tan, et al., “Knit Concrete Formwork,” in Anthropocene, Proceedings of the 25th International Conference of the Association for Computer-Aided Architectural Design Research in Asia (CAADRIA) 2020, vol. 1 (Hong Kong: CAADRIA, 2020): 213–22; M. Popescu, L. Reiter, A. Liew, et al., “Building in Concrete with an Ultra-lightweight Knitted Stay-in-Place Formwork: Prototype of a Concrete Shell Bridge,” Structures 14 (June 2018): 322¬–32; M. Popescu, M. Rippmann, A. Liew, et al., “Structural Design, Digital Fabrication, and Construction of the Cable-Net and Knitted Formwork of the KnitCandela Concrete Shell,” Structures 31 (June 2021): 1287–99.

[3] Julia Helberg, Michaela Klöcker, Lilia Sabantina, et al., “Growth of Pleurotus Ostreatus on Different Textile Materials for Vertical Farming,” Materials 12, no. 14 (July 2019); Aniela Hoitink “MycoTEX,” accessed October 23, 2021, https://neffa.nl/mycotex/.

Felecia Davis
Pennsylvania State University
Department of Architecture

Ali Ghazvinian
Pennsylvania State University
Department of Architecture

Benay Gürsoy
Pennsylvania State University
Department of Architecture

Farzaneh Oghazian
Pennsylvania State University
Department of Architecture

John Pecchia
Pennsylvania State University
Department of Plant Pathology and Environmental Microbiology

Andre West
North Carolina State University
Wilson College of Textiles

Felecia Davis

is an Associate Professor at the Stuckeman Center for Design Computing in the College of Arts and Architecture and is the director of SOFTLAB at Pennsylvania State University. She completed her PhD in Design Computation at MIT. Davis’s work in computational textiles questions how we live and she reimagines how we might use textiles in our daily lives and in architecture. Davis is interested in developing computational methods and design in relation to specific bodies in specific places engaging specific social, cultural, and political constructions. Davis’s work in architecture connects art, science, engineering, and design and was featured by PBS in the Women in Science Profiles series. Davis’s work was part of the Museum of Modern Art’s exhibition Reconstruction: Blackness and Architecture in America. She is a founding member of the Black Reconstruction Collective, a nonprofit group of Black architects, scholars, and artists supporting design work about the Black diaspora. Davis is also principal in her own design firm, FELECIADAVISTUDIO, where the firm has received several finalist awards for her architectural designs in open and invited design competitions.

Ali Ghazvinian

is a PhD candidate of Architecture at the Stuckeman School at Pennsylvania State University. Ghazvinian’s research focus is on computational design and making, biofabrication, and lightweight structures. He is currently working on utilizing mycelium-based biocomposites in architectural context at ForMat (Form and Matter) Lab at the Stuckeman Center for Design Computing, supervised by Benay Gürsoy. Prior to his PhD, Ghazvinian did his background studies in civil and architectural engineering (with focus on bionic design) at the University of Tehran. He was an Engineering for Change, LLC research fellow in 2021 in the Habitat sector, working on Engineering Design Solutions for Resilient Housing in Eastern African Countries.

Benay Gürsoy

is an Assistant Professor of Architecture and the founder and director of ForMat (Form and Matter) Lab at Pennsylvania State University. Her research and teaching focus is on computational making, digital fabrication, biofabrication, and shape studies. At ForMat Lab, Gürsoy and her team explore the relationship between matter and form mediated through the use of digital technologies. Current research in the lab includes work on adaptive digital fabrication and the design and production of mycelium-based building parts and structures. Gürsoy completed her PhD studies in Architectural Design Computing Program at Istanbul Technical University in 2016 and was awarded the Best PhD Dissertation Award by Istanbul Technical University Graduate School of Science, Engineering, and Technology. She has published and presented her research internationally and received awards, including the Young CAADRIA Award in 2010 and the Best Paper Award in CAAD Futures 2015.

Farzaneh Oghazian

started her PhD in 2018 as part of the Design Computing cluster at Pennsylvania State University. Her research focuses on developing computational methods to enhance the implementation of knits as a material for architectural design. Studying the behavior, form finding, and predicting the shape of knitted textiles are central to her research. Oghazian is currently a research assistant in SOFTLAB at the Stuckeman Center for Design Computing, doing research on large-scale application of the knitted textiles under the supervision of Felecia Davis. She also does research on optimization and developing machine learning models for predicting the shape and behavior of the architectural knitted textile structures under supervision of Nathan Brown and Felecia Davis.

John Pecchia

is an Associate Research Professor in the Department of Plant Pathology and Environmental Microbiology at Pennsylvania State University and is the director of the Mushroom Research Center and the Mushroom Spawn Laboratory, holding a research, teaching, and extension appointment. Pecchia has managed the mushroom research facilities at Penn State for the past fifteen years and has worked closely with North American mushroom growers conducting research on cultivation, disease management, and production challenges facing the United States mushroom industry. Pecchia serves on the Mushroom News Committee and is the cochair of the American Mushroom Institute’s Research Committee. Pecchia recently served on the planning committee and was the program chair for the International Society of Mushroom Science’s 20th Congress held in 2021 and will be continuing in this role for the upcoming 2024 Conference.

Andre West

joined the faculty in the Wilson College of Textiles at North Carolina State University. West is the director of the Zeis Textiles Extension (ZTE). The ZTE mission is to serve a diverse customer base to advance economic development through collaborative partnerships and outreach, innovative textile and quality improvement education, and comprehensive textile prototyping and testing services. He currently teaches computer-aided design CAD patternmaking, workshop practices, and the history of fashion online. His current research involves the use of technology within textiles and fashion product development inclusive of sublimation printing, 3D virtual garment making, generative design, 3D body scanning, and whole garment knitwear. He is currently working with a team of entomologists and comfort specialist on a number of grants involving the exclusion of vector insects without the use of pesticides and harmful chemicals from the Department of Defense, USDA, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. He is part of the team that was the 2017 winner of the Chancellor Innovation Fund.

2021 Research Prize MycoKnit: Cultivating Mycelium-Based Composites on Knitted Textiles for Large-Scale Biodegradable Architectural Structures

`2021 Research Prize`
MycoKnit: Cultivating Mycelium-Based Composites on Knitted Textiles for Large-Scale Biodegradable Architectural Structures