Architecture that lives and decays with you
Imagine a house, that responds to your needs. No… I am not talking about a fully automated machine, that controls the temperature as well as humidity and plays your favorite song in the morning. I am talking about a house, that you could rearrange as often as you want, get rid of rooms instead of cleaning them and continuously reshape them without feeling guilty of being unsustainable.
biodegradability is the keyword!
Current Architecture
We are used to the main role of architecture as a shelter for a human. It has to be solid, provide continuous comfort and remain stable for years. In the contemporary world, where everything is in constant change, architecture does not seem to be matching the current lifestyle, nor the material lifespan. Buildings are expected to serve their function for 50 years, yet the residues remain on this planet for ages after the demolitions..
Biodegradable Architecture
By using biodegradable materials we could speed up the process of building, discarding and replacing separate rooms which would result in a fully responsive house. In that way the biodegradation time matches our constantly changing needs. One of the solutions could be to use mycelium bricks that are characterised by high insulation values and strength. This way allows to use the waste as a new resource for the building material (as nutrients that mycelium consumes.)
Biodegradable Housing
A couple of years ago, as a student of The Why factory Studio led by Winy Maas ( co-founder of MVRDV) we were asked to brainstorm on the topic of biodegradable housing. We designed a system, that uses biodegradable materials both as a final product and as a resource. This closed circle of energies and materials found its form in a scaffolding-like structure with the boxes - rooms made of biodegradable materials that could be composted in a huge tank whenever there is no need for it anymore. The degradation time of each room would depend on the exact mix of initial building material. Mycelium walls would degrade within 30 days, while bioplastic would need up to 90 to fully biologically deteriorate. In the degradation process we would be able to extract the biogas and use it in the housholds. The leftover dry digestate would serve again as an ingredient in the production process.
