With Help of Fungi a Master Thesis by Martin Hendeberg

WITH HELP OF FUNGI A MASTER THESIS BY MARTIN HENDEBERG

24 APRIL 2020

UMA 5, Studio 13 TUTORS: Sara Thor, Amalia Katopodis WORD COUNT: 8540 Tom Dobson, Andrew Belfield THESIS QUESTION How can fungi help with creating an architectural intervention within the planetary boundaries?

Looking at possible solutions at three different levels: architecture, food and waste management

ABSTRACT Before we were a small world on a big planet, which meant that the planet could handle human’s exploitation of it. However, now we are a big world on a small planet; the Earth is under enormous pressure with our over-exploitation. Scientist realized that we need to get a better understanding of Earth’s systems, how they relate and what their limits are. The planetary boundaries framework was created. The only way to be sustainable is to keep within those boundaries. There is a need for innovative solutions based on nature. The purpose of the thesis is to find solutions based on nature that can help us stay within the planetary boundaries and make the relationship between the technosphere and the biosphere more mutualistic.

Research has shown that fungi have potential within a wide range of areas. Some examples of these are: some important medicines come from fungi; fungi can be used to remediate contaminated habitats; with fungi, you can create different kinds of meat substitutes and cultivate edible mushrooms; with fungi, you can create materials such as mycelium composites and leather substitutes. This study is looking at what role these applications of fungi can play in creating an architectural intervention within the planetary boundaries. However, the focus is on mycelium composites, cultivating edible mushrooms and fungi’s ability to restore contaminated habitats.

A qualitative method has been used for this study. It consisted of a series of case studies investi- gating how fungi can be utilized; growing fungi at home to get a better understanding of them and mycelium composites; applying the knowledge from previous methods on the design of an architectural intervention in Umeå.

The architectural intervention is a fungi factory located in lokstallarna, in Umeå. It uses the already existing building and adds an extension made of a wooden structure with mycelium composite insulation. The fungi factory uses waste created in Umeå to cultivate mushrooms and create mycelium composites. It is also a place that conducts research about fungi and has a public part focused on spreading knowledge about fungi.

Using material digestible by fungi and using mycelium composites opens the possibility of an architecture that starts with humans gathering resources from the biosphere and end with us giving back nutrients and material to the biosphere allowing it to create more resources and sustain itself; a circular life cycle that connects the technosphere and the biosphere. TABLE OF CONTENT

CHAPTER 1 1 RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN HUMANS AND BIOSPHERE: 1 WHY FUNGI? 2 THESIS QUESTION: 2 METHODOLOGY: 2

CHAPTER 2 3 PLANETARY BOUNDARIES 3 FUNGI USES: 7 GROWING FUNGI 7 MYCORESTORATION 8 MYCELIUM COMPOSITE 10 FUNNGI PRODUCTION: 11 SAXTORP SVAMP 11 MYCOTERRA FARM 12 CASCADIA MUSHROOMS 13 FUNGI EXPLORATION 14

CHAPTER 3 18 ARCHITECTURAL INTERVENTION USING FUNGI: 18 FROM STRATEGY TO PROGRAM: 18 THE BUILDING AND ITS LIFE CYCLE: 21 DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: 23

BIBLIOGRAPHY 25 ILLUSTRATIONS 26 CHAPTER 1 Relationship between humans and biosphere: The biosphere consists of all living organisms and the regions of the earth that they occupy; according to this definition, the biosphere includes humans.1 The first humans started making tools and having an increasing impact on the surrounding environment. We had created the technosphere. The Oxford English dictionary’s definition of the technosphere is that it’s “the sphere or realm of human technological activities”.2 According to UNESCO’s definition “it comprises not just our machines, but us humans too, and the professional and social systems by which we interact with technology”. Through the creation of the technosphere, human began seeing themselves as separate from the biosphere.3 We have come to a point where we are dependent on the technosphere. The way it works today it is a parasite on the biosphere; these relationships are non-sustainable, destructive and lead to for example environmental problems, species extinction wildland destruction.4

Our economic system is based on growth without limits. This worked as long as we were a small society on a big planet but now, we have outgrown the planet this is no longer a valid mindset. We have started seeing consequences for our over-exploitation of the planet. Scientists are real- izing more and more how everything is connected and intertwined and we need to rethink our relationship with nature.5

How we deal with the environmental problems depends on how we perceive our relationship with the biosphere. Do we see nature as our property and as a tool to use for our benefit or does it have intrinsic value, value aside from the way it can benefit humans? In other words, different environmental ethics end up with different solutions to environmental problems. Anthropocentric and ecocentric are two ways to look at nature and our relationship with it. Anthropocentric was coined in the 1860s at the time of the controversy of Darwin’s evolution theory. It sees humans as the most important life form and the centre of the universe; because degrading or preserving nature can in turn benefit or harm humans it has moral consideration.6 This viewpoint leads to realizations such as that the planet has different boundaries and we need to be aware of them and stay within them; our economy can’t grow without limits, it needs to grow within limits to be sustainable.7 Ecocentric comes from biocentric ethics that was coined in 1913 by American bi- ochemist Lawrence Henderson and represents the idea that the originator of life is the universe. It was adopted by “deep ecologist” in the 1970s. The base of ecocentric ethics is the idea that all parts of the biosphere have intrinsic value, not just value from the ways it can benefit humans. This is why nature has moral consideration.8 With an ecocentric view you see humans as a part of the biosphere and it could result in solutions like interspecies relationships that benefit all parties or interventions that benefit animals or plants more than humans.9

“To bring change, we need to reshape man’s approach to nature; this can only be done by bridging the gap between science and art, between the rational and the emotional”.10 Mattias klum and Johan Rockström took a step in this direction with their book “Big world, small plant: välfärd inom planetens gränser”. Architecture is an interesting tool that works in both areas, science and art. It has the potential of intertwining science and art, the rational and the emotional.

1 Biosphere. Oxford English Dictionary. November 2010. https://www-oed-com.proxy.ub.umu.se/view/Entry/19253?redirected- From=biosphere#eid (Access date: 2019-10-09) 2 Technosphere. Oxford English Dictionary. https://www-oed-com.proxy.ub.umu.se/view/Entry/198460?redirectedFrom=technosphere#eid19090813 (Access date: 2020-03-04) 3 Zalasiewicz, Jan. The unbearable burden of the technosphere. UNESCO. 2018. https://en.unesco.org/courier/2018-2/unbearable-burden-technosphere (Access date: 2020-03-04) 4 Appendix A 5 Appendix A 6 Kortenkamp, KVV, & CFF Moore, ‘Ecocentrism and anthropocentrism: Moral reasoning about ecological commons dilemmas’. in Journal of Environmental Psychology, 21, 2001, 262. 7 Appendix A 8 Kortenkamp, KVV, & CFF Moore, ‘Ecocentrism and anthropocentrism: Moral reasoning about ecological commons dilemmas’. in Journal of Environmental Psychology, 21, 2001, 261–272. 9 Appendix A 10 Rockström, J, M Klum, A Allwood, I Elmerot, & M Andersson, Big world, small planet : välfärd inom planetens gränser. Stockholm : Max Ström, 2015, 10 1 This thesis is looking into what fungi can do together with architecture. Why fungi? The estimated number of different fungi species are between one and two million and some think that there are even more somewhere between 10 and 30 million different species.11 In 2013 scientists had identified 50 000 to 100 000 different species and around 10 000 of them exist in Sweden; with our eyes we can only see 4000 to 5000 of them.12 The body of the fungi isn’t the mushroom that we usually associate with fungi, that is only the fruitbody that some fungi use to spread their spores and reproduce. The body is the mycelium which is a network of threads called hyphae. Together they create a vast network that scientists call “wood wide web”. Research has shown that fungi have great potential in a wide range of areas:

• Some of our most important medicines come from fungi e.g. penicillin (a group of antibi- otics) and cyclosporin (an immunosuppressant used to prevent rejection of transplanted livers, kidneys, or hearts).

• Fungi are able to restore contaminated environments by breaking down contaminants and absorbing heavy metals. This is called mycorestoration.

• Meat substitutes can be made from fungi and some mushrooms can be eaten by humans.

• You can create materials with the help of fungi. The mycelium binds together a substrate and together they form a composite material. People have also made clothes out of mycelium and a leather substitute.13

Fungi can be divided into three groups: Saprotroph, mycorrhiza and parasitic. Saprotrophs de- compose dead organic material.14 They are the easiest kind of fungi to grow and can be used for mycorestoration, food and create materials. Thanks to this, saprotrophs can utilize waste to create something new and work towards a circular economy. Maya Lauridsen Faerch, a chief consultant at lendager group, said “design the world of tomorrow with the waste of today. While working towards designing a world without waste”.

Thesis question: How can fungi help with creating an architectural intervention within the planetary boundaries?

Looking at possible solutions at three different levels: architecture, material and waste management

Methodology: To achieve the aim of my thesis I will need to use a combination of different research methods. It will be a game of string figures. “Playing games of string figures is about giving and receiving patterns, dropping threads and failing but sometimes finding something that works, some-thing consequential and maybe even beautiful, that wasn’t there before, of relaying connections that matter”.15 I will do a literature study to get a theoretical background of my topic. A lot of the areas that this thesis will investigate are still only on research level. Due to this, I must read different research papers.

I will do multiple case studies. I will investigate different ways that fungi can upcycle materials and 11 Stamets, P, ‘Can Mushrooms Help Save The World?’ in Explore: The Journal of Science and Healing, 2, 2006, 152–161. 12 Mossberg, B, M Karström, S Nilsson, & O Persson, Svampar i Sverige : [förnyat standardverk med över 450 arter]. 9., utvidgade utg.., Stockholm, Stockholm : Bonnier fakta, 2013, 8 13 Appendix B 14 Mossberg, B, M Karström, S Nilsson, & O Persson, Svampar i Sverige : [förnyat standardverk med över 450 arter]. 9., utvidgade utg.., Stockholm, Stockholm : Bonnier fakta, 2013, 17-18 15 Haraway, DJ, Staying with the trouble : making kin in the Chthulucene. , 2016, 10 2 other ways fungi can be used. I will look at different fungi farms to get a better understanding of large-scale fungi production. In the book “architectural research methods” the authors refer- ence to what Robert K. Yin said in his book “case study research: Design and methods”. “Theory development as part of the research design phase is essential, whether the case study’s purpose is to develop or to test theory… The complete research design should embody a ‘theory’ of what is being studied.” I will in my research use the case studies to develop theories. That I will theoretically test to see if they are possible in Umeå. In order to theoretically test it in Umeå, I will map different infrastructures in Umeå that I can connect my project with.16 At the same time as I do my case studies, I will continue my literature study.

I will grow fungi with two goals in mind. One of the goals is to grow mushrooms, the fruitbody of the fungi. The other goal is to create a mycelium composite. The reason behind this is to get a better understanding of how fungi grow, what conditions are needed when growing fungi and the process of making mycelium composite and its characteristics.

CHAPTER 2 Planetary boundaries Johan Rockström and Mattias Klum writes in their book “Big world, small planet: värlfärd inom planetens gränser” that before we were a small world living on a large planet, but now we have outgrown the planet and become a large world on a small planet. The planet has been very forgiving which made us think that we could over-exploit it in for an eternity; use an unlimited amount of resource when in reality there are no such thing as unlimited resources and no over-exploitation without any repercussions.17

FIGURE 1: Humans impact on the planet. 1950 is marked with a dotted line and is called “the great acceleration”.

The trend of humans ever-increasing impact on the planet started with the industrial revolution. 16 Groat, LN, Wang, David, author, & Gale Group, Architectural research methods. Second edition, , 2013. 17 Rockström, J, M Klum, A Allwood, I Elmerot, & M Andersson, Big world, small planet : välfärd inom planetens gränser. Stockholm : Max Ström, 2015, 11 3 But it was not until the 1950s that we started seeing serious consequences due to our actions and mindset, mentioned earlier in this chapter. The impact shown in the diagrams in figure 1 is mainly caused by 20 % of the earth’s population. A problem that we are seeing now is that the population is increasing fast and it is mainly occurring in the poorer parts of the world. These parts of the world are part of the other 80 % and now they strive towards the same lifestyle as the richer 20 %. The lifestyle that has caused the environmental problems we are seeing today. If we are serious with social and economic development for everyone then we need to base the goals on what is sustainable for the planet and what the planet can handle.18

Humans are applying pressure onto the planet. When scientist often talks about this pressure, they mention the quadruple squeeze, a set of pressures that the planet must endure because of us. The four categories are population growth, climate, ecosystem and surprise. Each category is associated with a dilemma.

• Population growth (dilemma 20/80): The richest 20 % of the population have over-exploited the planet and its resources. This has already led to consequences that we can see today. The other 80 % now want their share of the planet’s resources and they are striving towards the same lifestyle as the 20 %.19

• CLIMATE (dilemma 560/450/350): This is about the emission of greenhouse gases. From pre- industrial to 2014 the levels in the atmosphere went from 280 ppm to 400 ppm, with the greatest increase occurring during the 21st century. The greenhouse gases are warming up the planet and causing climate changes.20

• Ecosystem (dilemma losing 60%): Our lifestyle is breaking down earth’s biosphere with in- credible speed. We are causing a mass extinction of species.

• Surprise (dilemma 99/1): We have been living in a very stable era called Holocene; now we are risking entering a less stable and unpredictable era. Because of the way natures ecosystems work they can appear very stable for a long time even under pressure and then suddenly changes can occur. Our actions have brought ecosystems to their tipping point where sudden changes can occur. Some ecosystems have already tipped over.21 The 99/1 comes from a scientist called Stephen Carpenter, that works with water ecosystems, who said that 99 % of the changes in the ecosystems seems to occur as a result of one per cent of the events.22

Continuing the quadruple squeeze risks pushing the biosphere towards irreversible change.

FIGURE 2: The quadruple squeeze on the planet. 18 Rockström, J, M Klum, A Allwood, I Elmerot, & M Andersson, Big world, small planet : välfärd inom planetens gränser. Stockholm : Max Ström, 2015, 37-38 19 Rockström, J, M Klum, A Allwood, I Elmerot, & M Andersson, Big world, small planet : välfärd inom planetens gränser. Stockholm : Max Ström, 2015, 37 20 Rockström, J, M Klum, A Allwood, I Elmerot, & M Andersson, Big world, small planet : välfärd inom planetens gränser. Stockholm : Max Ström, 2015, 39 21 Rockström, J, M Klum, A Allwood, I Elmerot, & M Andersson, Big world, small planet : välfärd inom planetens gränser. Stockholm : Max Ström, 2015, 41 22 Original quote from the book: ”99 procent av förändringarna i ekosystemen verkar ske till följd av en procent av händelserna” Rockström, J, M Klum, A Allwood, I Elmerot, & M Andersson, Big world, small planet : välfärd inom planetens gränser. Stockholm : Max Ström, 2015, 41 4 The living biosphere is incredibly resilient and the most effective counterforce against sudden changes that can occur because of global environmental changes. However, this is only if the biosphere is taken care of. If we continue to over-exploit the biosphere it will lose its resilience and its strength as a counterforce. We need to realize that we are an integrated part of Earth’s systems and because this we can learn from nature and reinforce its resilience. Below you can see a diagram that illustrates how its resilience work.23

FIGURE 3: This is a diagram called “ball-and-cup-diagram”. It illustrates how resilience works in nature. The deeper the cup the more resilient is the system. When you apply pressure to the system its resilience decreases and at one point all the system needs to leave its current state is a triggering factor or sudden change. This diagram also shows why ecosystems appear stable for a long time and then suddenly change occurs.

According to scientists, the only way to sustain the earth’s population is to keep the earth in the stable state of Holocene. In order to do this, Johan Rockström together with a group of scientists mapped the most important processes that control the earth’s function. They then looked at how they interact and identified the threshold limit value for when the systems risked entering a new stage that is not desirable. The sudden changes that occur when the system passes the threshold limit value are called threshold effects. When too many threshold effects occur on too many places then the planetary boundaries will be crossed, and we will leave Holocene and enter a new era. When scientists talk about the planetary boundaries, they talk about the threshold limit values of the earth’s most important processes. It is impossible to define the exact threshold limit value due to the limited knowledge we have about earth’s systems and how they interact. The planetary boundaries are the best scientifically assessment of how we avoid threshold effects and they are continually updated.24 They identified nine processes that the planetary boundaries are centred around. Those are climate change, novel entities, stratospheric ozone depletion, at- mospheric aerosol loading, ocean acidification, biogeochemical flows, freshwater, land-system change and biosphere integrity. Climate change and biosphere integrity are of extra importance and play a large role in keeping earth’s systems in current state; because of that, they are

23 Rockström, J, M Klum, A Allwood, I Elmerot, & M Andersson, Big world, small planet : välfärd inom planetens gränser. Stockholm : Max Ström, 2015, 55 24 Rockström, J, M Klum, A Allwood, I Elmerot, & M Andersson, Big world, small planet : välfärd inom planetens gränser. Stockholm : Max Ström, 2015, 60-63 5 called core boundaries. The nine processes can be divided into three groups:

1. Processes with global effects. Their state can quickly change and directly result in consequences for the entire planet. The processes in this group are climate change, stratospheric ozone depletion and ocean acidification.

2. Process with slower variables and contribute to earth’s underlying resilience. The processes in this group are land-system change, freshwater, biosphere integrity and biogeochemical flows.

3. Pollution caused by humans. The processes in this group are novel entities and atmos- pheric aerosol loading.25

The planetary boundaries create a framework that allows and helps to achieve growth within limits. The idea of growth within limits does not focus on economic growth but human wellbeing.

FIGURE 4: Planetary boundaries.

In the book “Big world, small planet : välfärd inom planets gränser” Johan Rockström mention different ways that make it possible for society to work within the planetary boundaries. One way is to change from a linear economy to a circular economy. Instead of exploiting resources and ecosystems, turning them into services and products, consuming and using them and then dis- card them as waste the idea with a circular economy is to reuse all capital (social, natural, economical and manufactured) used to create the product or service. A circular economy works more like nature itself, where nutrients and matter are circulated within the system.26 Rockström states that solutions based on nature are key strategies to create sustainable systems that work within the planetary boundaries.27

25 Rockström, J, M Klum, A Allwood, I Elmerot, & M Andersson, Big world, small planet : välfärd inom planetens gränser. Stockholm : Max Ström, 2015, 68-71 26 Rockström, J, M Klum, A Allwood, I Elmerot, & M Andersson, Big world, small planet : välfärd inom planetens gränser. Stockholm : Max Ström, 2015, 137 27 Rockström, J, M Klum, A Allwood, I Elmerot, & M Andersson, Big world, small planet : välfärd inom planetens gränser. Stockholm : Max Ström, 2015, 191 6 Fungi uses: As mentioned earlier it is estimated that there are around one to two million different fungi species and some scientists think that there are even more. There are four different kinds of true fungi (eumycota) and they are Basidiomycota, Ascomycota, Zygomycota and Chytridiomycota. Then there are several subcategories under those four.28 As seen in figure 5 there are different growth forms within the fungi kingdom.

FIGURE 5: The different pictures: (a) A Zygomycota fungi (b) A Ascomycota fungi (c) Yeast cells, Ascomycota (d) Yeast cells, Basidiomycota (e) A Ascomycota fungi (f) A Chytridiomycota fungi.

The main part of a fungus is a mass of branching filaments (see figure 5) called mycelium. One filament is called hyphae. The hyphae grow to where there are nutrients; it obtains it through extracellular digestion. The digestion works by secreting enzymes and then absorb the breakdown products.29 As mentioned earlier, scientists have found a wide range of areas in which fungi can be utilized. This essay is focusing on growing fungi to cultivate edible mushroom, mycorestoration and mycelium composites.

GROWING FUNGI The fruitbody (mushroom) of some fungi can be eaten by humans. In other words, you can grow mushrooms as a source of food. You can divide fungi into these three groups: saprotrophs that eat dead organic material; mycorrhiza that have symbiotic relationships with plants where the fungi make nutrients available to plants and in exchange receives carbohydrates; and parasitic. The once that are the easiest to grow are the saprotroph. Parasitic fungi need to be grown together with other organisms and mycorrhiza needs to be grown together with a plant; both have a complex relationship with another organism, which we do not yet completely understand. This makes it harder to recreate the conditions, that the fungus need to thrive, in a small-scale at home or an industrial scale. Mushroom farmers have however succeeded with truffles. It is a time-consuming process where you inoculate the roots of a tree sapling with the truffles you want to grow. After some time, the inoculated tree is planted outside but you need to wait several years before you can start to harvest. To grow a saprotrophic fungus is much easier; you only need the right environmental conditions and a substrate made of dead organic material.30 You can use a wide range of substrates for example yard waste, coffee grounds and different industrial wastes such as brewers spent grain, sawdust, woodchips, cardboard and different kinds of grains.31

28 Webster, J, & RWS Weber, Introduction to fungi. 3rd ed.., Cambridge, Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2007, 36-37 29 Webster, J, & RWS Weber, Introduction to fungi. 3rd ed.., Cambridge, Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2007, 2 30 Shields, Tony. Are some mushrooms impossible to grow? Here’s why not all mushrooms can be cultivated (youtube). FreshCap Mushrooms. 2020-02-03 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHbgPmpFwQo 31 Stamets, Paul. Mycelium Running: How Mushrooms Can Help Save The World. Berkeley: Ten Speed Press, 2005, 58 7 OYSTER MUSHROOM OYSTER MUSHROOM KING OYSTER MUSH- GREY YELLOW ROOM

12 - 21 days 12 - 21 days 28 days GROWTH 24oC 24oC - 29oC 23oC 85% - 95% HUMIDITY 98% - 100% HUMIDITY 95% - 97% HUMIDITY

3 - 5 days 3 - 5 days 3 - 5 days PINNING 10oC - 16oC 21oC - 27oC 18oC 98% - 100% HUMIDITY 90% - 95% HUMIDITY

4 - 7 days 4 - 7 days 7 days FRUITING 10oC - 21oC 10oC - 21oC 12oC - 15oC

< 1000 ppm < 1000 ppm < 1200 ppm CO2

AIR EXCHANGE 4 - 8 / HOUR 4 - 8 / HOUR 4 - 8 / HOUR

1000 - 1500 LUX LIGHT 500 - 1000 LUX 800 - 1500 LUX MAX 2000 LUX

NUMBER OF HARVESTS 2 - 3 2 - 3 1 - 2

FIGURE 6: A table that shows the optimal growing conditions for three different saprotrophic fungi.

MYCORESTORATION Mycorestoration is new to humans but it is something that has been refined and used by nature for millions of years. It can be divided into four different areas: mycoforestry, mycopesticides, mycofiltration and mycoremediation. Mycoforestry can be explained with the five goals that mycoforestry is helping to accomplish. They are the preservation of native forests; the recovery and recycling of woodland debris; the enhancement of replanted trees; the strengthening of the resilience of ecosystems; and economic diversity.32 Mycopesticides are utilizing the complex interrelationship between entomopathogenic fungi, fungi that attacks insects, and insects. The relationship between these two is only now starting to be understood. Using these fungi as pesti- cides are better for the environment than the use of chemicals that are normally used.33 Mycofil- tration is used to filter away pathogens, silt and chemical toxins. The mycelium catches particles and digests some of them. This kind of filter can be used on different locations for example farms, suburban and urban areas; stressed, harmed of malnourished habitats and watersheds; factories and roads.34 The enzymes that fungi secrete for digestion have been shown the ability to break down several different kinds of pollutants; fungi can also absorb heavy metals and channel it into the fruitbodies making the heavy metals easier to remove from the contaminated area. These properties are what mycoremediation utilizes.35 When using fungi to remove heavy metals they will gather the heavy metals in the mushrooms. To then remove the heavy metals from the habitat you only need to pick the mushrooms. After that, you can take them to a toxic waste site for it to be buried, stored, or incinerated, whereupon the residual metals could be resold to the

32 Stamets, Paul. Mycelium Running: How Mushrooms Can Help Save The World. Berkeley: Ten Speed Press, 2005, 69 33 Stamets, Paul. Mycelium Running: How Mushrooms Can Help Save The World. Berkeley: Ten Speed Press, 2005, 116 34 Stamets, Paul. Mycelium Running: How Mushrooms Can Help Save The World. Berkeley: Ten Speed Press, 2005, 58-66 35 Stamets, Paul. Mycelium Running: How Mushrooms Can Help Save The World. Berkeley: Ten Speed Press, 2005, 86 8 recycling industry.36

Paul Stamets together with researchers from Battelle Northwest laboratories did several experiment testing mycoremediation. In one experiment they tested it on highly contaminated soil from an old maintenance yard for trucks, operated by Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) in Bellingham in Washington. The soil was contaminated with diesel and oil. The levels of petroleum hydrocarbons were approaching 20 000 ppm, which is similar to the concentration measured on beaches of Prince William Sound in 1989 after about 41,6 million litres of crude oil were spilt out. The WSDOT placed 4 piles (measuring about 6 meters long 2,4 meters wide and 1 meter tall) of the contaminated soil on 6mm thick black plastic polyethylene tarps. One of the piles was mixed with culture sawdust spawn, equal to 30 % of the volume of the pile, and covered with shade cloth. Two of the piles got a bacteria treatment and one pile was untreated. They were covered with plastic tarps to keep out the rain. Four weeks later, the sawdust spawn pile had changed colour from black to light brown, it did not smell diesel or oil and had a huge flush of oyster mushroom that is only seen when they grow in a habitat that especially rich in nutrient. The other piles were still black, lifeless, and smelled oil and diesel. After five more weeks, an ecosystem, including among other vascular plants, insects, and other fungi species than then ones introduced with the sawdust spawn, had started to form on the sawdust spawn pile. The levels of petroleum hydrocarbons had dropped from 20 000 ppm to 200 ppm in 8 weeks; 200 ppm in the soil means that it is acceptable to use for freeway landscaping. The mushrooms were tested for petroleum residues, but none were detected. However, they did not test for heavy metals.37 Re- search shows that fungi have great remediation potential and as you can see in figure 7 it is also a lot cheaper compared with other remediation technologies. In other words, fungi also have remediation potential from an economical point of view.

FIGURE 7: Cost differences between different remediation technology.

Battelle together with Stamets also tested if fungi could remediate sites polluted by chemical warfare. Stamets provided a library of 26 of his most aggressive fungi strains that could be used for testing. They created fungi that were adapted to digest toxins by adapting the mycelium. When you make a pure fungi culture you grow it on an agar media that you have supplemented with nutrients. The supplement you use depends on what species of fungi it is and what substrate the fungi feed on. In this case, they wanted the fungi to feed on toxins; this was achieved by first adding natural supplements to the agar and a little bit of toxin, used in chemical warfare, and then incrementally increase the toxins and decrease the natural supplements until the fungi starved and started digesting the toxins. They selected the strains that thrived the most on the toxins. The results of this research suggest that fungi are more effective and less expensive remediation method compared to conventional methods.38

36 Stamets, Paul. Mycelium Running: How Mushrooms Can Help Save The World. Berkeley: Ten Speed Press, 2005, 104 37 Stamets, Paul. Mycelium Running: How Mushrooms Can Help Save The World. Berkeley: Ten Speed Press, 2005, 91-92 38 Stamets, Paul. Mycelium Running: How Mushrooms Can Help Save The World. Berkeley: Ten Speed Press, 2005, 97-98 9 FIGURE 8: Examples of what fungi to use for different contaminated habitats.

Mycoremediation is not the only part of the solution when remediating a habitat. It works best when it co-operates with plants, bacteria, and algal communities.39

MYCELIUM COMPOSITE Mycelium composite is the combination between mycelium and a substrate. You let mycelium grow on a substrate and then you dry it; The mycelium acts as a glue binding the substrate together. The fabrication method has a direct impact on the properties of the material. You get different properties depending on the substrate mixture, fungal species, pressed or non-pressed, cold or heat pressing etc. Research shows that mycelium composites have potential as acoustic and thermal insulation. Its acoustic performance is affected by the substrate mixture and the surface, if it is uneven and bumpy or smooth. Mycelium composites have also been shown to have great fire safety properties. In an experiment comparing different mycelium composites, with different substrate compositions, with the traditional materials extruded polystyrene (XPS) foam and particleboard, results can be seen in figure 9. The fungi that they used was a white-rot fungus called Trametes Versicolor. It was first grown on wheat grain before adding rice hulls and glass fines. The results show that the mycelium ignites earlier(this can be seen in the tig column); have lower average heat release (this can be seen in the RHR180 column); lower peak heat release(this can be seen in the PHRR column); lower total smoke release(this can be seen in the TSR column); it takes longer time until flashover(this can be seen in the tfo column); the amount of carbon monoxide produced have the potential of being lower but this depends on the substrate composition(this can be seen in the COP180 column); and less carbon dioxide (this can be seen in the CO2P80 column).

FIGURE 9: tig, time to ignition; RHR180, average heat release rate from ignition to 180 seconds after ignition; PHRR, peak heat release rate; tfo, estimated time to flashover in room fire test; TSR, total smoke release; COP180, carbon monoxide produced from ignition to 180 seconds after ignition; CO2P180, carbon dioxide produced from ignition to 180 seconds after ignition. 39 Stamets, Paul. Mycelium Running: How Mushrooms Can Help Save The World. Berkeley: Ten Speed Press, 2005, 113 10 Mycelium composites are relatively new, and people are still experimenting with it and finding new uses for it. A company called Ecovative that focuses on fungi have used mycelium composite as packaging. Eric Klarenbeek has 3D printed a chair using a mixture of water, powdered straw and mycelium as printing material. The printed mycelium composite was contained within a thin layer of printed bioplastics. The living made a large pavilion, in collaboration with Ecova- tive, that they named HI-FY. The pavilion was made of mycelium bricks and a wooden frame when dismantled the mycelium bricks were taken care of by a local company, called “build it green compost”. They then distributed it to local community gardens as compost and fertilizers. Ecovative built “Tiny Mushroom House”, which is a tiny house with a wooden frame and façade and mycelium composite insulation. They built the walls step by step creating a mould that they filled with a mixture of mycelium and substrate. Then they let it grow for a couple of days. It grew into the wooden mould and then it dried for a month. The mycelium creates an airtight and very strong wall. This kind of wall does not need any studs in it.40

FIGURE 10: How the walls of the “Tiny Mushroom House by ecovative was constructed, step by step.

Fungi production: SAXTORP SVAMP Saxtorp svamp is a mushroom farm in Skåne, Sweden. They cultivate eight different species: nameko, shiitake, yellow oyster mushroom, grey oyster mushroom, pink oyster mushroom and three different champignons. The three different champignons are the same species but different appearance. One is completely white, the other one has a brown cap and the third one is called portobello and is a more mature version of the one with a brown cap. They sell both mushrooms and fruiting blocks, which is the mycelium and substrate mixture in the shape of a block. The cultivation area is 346 square meters and is divided into six grow rooms. Except for the grow rooms they also have a place for harvesting tools; a hygiene zone, which is a place where you can change into suitable clothes for fungi cultivation, wash your hands, store gloves, etc; a space for preparing the mushroom that is going to be sold; a fridge to store harvested mushrooms. Every fortnight two of the grow rooms are filled with new substrate and mycelium. Different fungi species have different optimal cultivation conditions and because of this, they cultivate one species in every grow room. In every room, you need to be able to control the CO2, humidity level, temperature, and light. These are parameters that need to be changed depending on species and which part of the growth cycle the fungi currently are at. Saxtorp Svamp uses compost as substrate; the champignon substrate is bought from Germany because there is no one selling ecological compost for champignon cultivation. They harvest three times in three weeks. After this, the compost is brought to the neighbouring farmer.41 40 Appendix B 41 Pedersen, Rikard; Saxtorp Svamp. E-mail. 2020-03. 11 Saxtorp svamp fulfil the criteria’s needed to get Svenskt sigil label, which is an environmental labelling with a holistic sustainability approach including animal health, food safety, reduced environmental impact, increased biodiversity and sustainable water usage.42

MYCOTERRA FARM Mycoterra farm is a large-scale mushroom farm located in South Deerfield in Massachusetts, USA. They grow several different fungi species but focus on decomposers, saprotrophs. They sell both mushrooms and fruiting blocks. The primary substrate used is fresh hardwood sawdust from different mills in Massachusetts, Vermont and Connecticut; it is stored in a pile outside. The sawdust is supplemented with three different agricultural by-products. They are wheat bran and hulls of oat and soy. The ratio of everything depends on what species the substrate is for. Different species have different preferences. In addition to the primary material and supplements, a little bit of gypsum is added to the substrate mixture to add minerals and buffer acidity.43

The first step in the process is to mix the substrate and add water that comes from their greenhouse. They make sure that the level of moisture is correct, which is around 55% and 60%. This is done through three moisture level checks.

1. The first one is the squeeze test. They squeeze the substrate with their hand and no liquid should pour out of it, the hand should only be dampened.

2. The second check is made with a moisture meter.

3. The third and last check is what their experience tells them is the right volume ration, water to substrate.

After the checks have shown that the moisture level is correct, it is put into a hopper and then divided into several bags.44

Next step in the process is to sterilize the substrate in an autoclave, which is a large pressure cook- er. They can sterilize 1200 bags each time. They are sterilized at 20 psi and it takes about an hour to get to the right pressure. The substrate is then cooked for 4 hours. The reason for sterilizing the substrate is to get rid of competition; a lot of other organisms thrive in the same environment as fungi. After four hours the sterilizing is done, the substrate is left in the autoclave to cool overnight. This ensures a slow controlled cooldown. The next morning the substrate is pulled out of the autoclave to cool down to room temperature in another room that is insulated from the rest of the lab to not add any heat stress in the rest of the incubation area.45

Mycoterra farm has an in-house fungi culture library stored in refrigeration. The cultures are made by first growing mycelium on agar medium on Petri dishes. Depending on species the agar is supplemented with different formulas. When the Petri dish is fully colonized by the mycelium a couple of wedges of the culture are added to a small bag filled with the substrate. This is what is called the master grain spawn. When the smaller bag is fully colonized it is added to four larger bags of substrate. These steps help controlling losses and isolate any contamination that may have occurred earlier in the process. The bags incubate for a couple of weeks depending on species. Every bag has a filter patch attached to it to let the fungi breath without the risk of contamination. These bags are then used to inoculate more substrate to make the fruiting blocks. However, with shiitake they need to be divided into even more bags before making the fruiting blocks. The inoculation and handling of cultures occur in front of a laminar flow hood, where the air is filtered, to decrease the risk of contamination.46

42 Pedersen, Rikard; Saxtorp Svamp. E-mail. 2020-03. 43 Crosby, Willie. Tour of a Commercial Mushroom Farm 1 (youtube). Fungi Ally. 2019-08-07. https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=beurNUTbJW0&feature=emb_rel_end&app=desktop 44 Crosby, Willie. Tour of a Commercial Mushroom Farm 1 (youtube). Fungi Ally. 2019-08-07. https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=beurNUTbJW0&feature=emb_rel_end&app=desktop 45 Crosby, Willie. Tour of a Commercial Mushroom Farm 1 (youtube). Fungi Ally. 2019-08-07. https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=beurNUTbJW0&feature=emb_rel_end&app=desktop 46 Crosby, Willie. Tour of a Commercial Mushroom Farm 1 (youtube). Fungi Ally. 2019-08-07. https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=beurNUTbJW0&feature=emb_rel_end&app=desktop 12 After the fruiting blocks are fully colonized by the fungi, the fruiting blocks are moved to grow rooms, where the bags are sliced opened to create a space for the mushrooms to emerge. The fungi senses where the oxygen is and creates mushrooms there. How you cut the bag controls not just where the mushrooms will emerge but also the size of the clusters. You need different strategies when it comes to this depending on species. The stage when the mushrooms are emerging is called fruiting. In the case of the Shiitake, before it is brought to the grow room it needs to be cold shocked in the cooling room and then sprayed with water. This is to simulate the natural environmental triggers fall frost and rain that the shiitake needs to grow mushrooms.47

The grow rooms are floor heated greenhouses inside a larger building; lights are installed outside the greenhouse, inside the larger building, because some species need light at the fruiting stage. In the last step of the process, the mushrooms are harvested and stored in a walk-in refrigerator.48

CASCADIA MUSHROOMS Cascadia mushrooms is a mushroom farm located in Bellingham in Washington, USA. They grow king oysters, pearl oysters, pink oysters, reishi, lion’s mane, piopinno and shiitake but the majority is shiitake. All these species can grow on the same substrate mixture. The primary part of their substrate is locally sourced hardwood sawdust from red alder. The sawdust is supplemented with wheat middlings, a by-product of wheat milling process, that add nutrients to the substrate; and whole organic wheat berries that add extra protein and carbohydrates but are primarily used to absorb water to help retain moisture in the final substrate mix.

The first step of the process is to mix the substrate mixture and add water. After that, it is divided into bags and then sterilized in an autoclave that runs at 15 psi. The whole sterilization cycle from putting the substrate in the autoclave to is being cooldown takes a whole day to complete. With their autoclave, they can sterilize 600 bags at the time. Next to the autoclave is a laboratory outfitted with a laminar flow hood and a stainless-steel tabletop; it is kept under positive pressure to keep it clean and minimize any kind of contamination from the outside. After sterilization, the bags are brought to the laboratory for inoculation with mycelium.

The inoculated bags are brought to an incubation area where they are kept until the substrate is fully colonized. This room is naturally warmer because of all the excess heat that is given off by a large number of colonizing blocks. When the bags are fully colonized, they are moved from the incubation area to the grow room. In the grow room the humidity, temperature and air exchange are kept at the optimal levels for the fungi. The mushrooms are harvested and packaged in the grow room.49

47 Crosby, Willie. Tour of a Commercial Mushroom Farm Part 2 Fruiting and Harvest (youtube). Fungi Ally. 2019-09-02. https://www. youtube.com/watch?v=uEbDN3Haddk 48 Crosby, Willie. Tour of a Commercial Mushroom Farm Part 2 Fruiting and Harvest (youtube). Fungi Ally. 2019-09-02. https://www. youtube.com/watch?v=uEbDN3Haddk 49 Shields, Tony. The Art Of Growing 500-700 lbs Of Fresh Mushrooms, Every Week (youtube). FreshCap Mushrooms. 2020-02-19. 13 Fungi experiment

SHRED SUBSTRATE INTO SMALL PIECES AND BOIL IT

MIX AGAR MEDIA AND PRESSURE COOK IT

DRAIN AND PUT IN A JAR

PRESSURE COOK IT

CUT A PIECE OF THE MUSHROOM (FROM THE HAT OR BOTTOM) AND ADD TO THE AGAR MEDIA MAKE A SPORE PRINT AND ADD THE SPORES TO THE AGAR MEDIA

ADD MYCELIUM TO SUBSTRATE THIS IS THE MASTER GRAIN SPAWN

AFTER SUBSTRATE IS FULLY COVERED BY THE MYCELIUM YOU CAN DIVIDED INTO NEW JARS WITH SUBSTRATE. THIS WILL BE THE SECOND GENERATION: YOU CAN EVEN CREATE A THIRD GENERATION

MIX GRAIN SPAWN WITH SUBSTRATE THAT YOU WANT TO BE THE BASE FOR THE MYCELIUM COMPOSITE AND ADD TO A MOLD ADD TO SUBSTRATEMUSHROOM AND PLACE IT IN CONTAINER TO GROW

SOME OF THE MUSHROOM HARVEST DRY MYCELIUM IN OVEN (90°C) CAN BES USED TO YOU ADD IT TO THE COMPOST AFTER A COUPLE OF HARVESTS CREATE NEW SPAWN CULTURES

AFTER DRYING IT IS READY TO BE USED. WHEN IT REACHES THE END OF ITS LIFE CYCLE YOU ADD IT TO THE COMPOST

HARVEST MUSHROOM TO EAT

FERTILIZER SOIL

FIGURE 11: How to produce mushroom and mycelium composite. 14 Growing fungi can be very complex if you want a constant production with high yield. The goal with this exploration was to get a better understanding of how fungi grow and the material you can create with it. To create the grain spawn, you need equipment that I do not have access to. A lot of mushroom farmers sell fruiting blocks. In my search for fruiting blocks, I also found a fungi growing kit. The first part of this exploration was made with a fruit block from Saxtorp Svamp and a fungi growing kit containing fungi grain spawn mycelium, straw pellet substrate and a plastic bag with filter from Svampkungen AB. By buying an already made grain spawn you are certain that you have a mycelium of good quality. The process of growing mushrooms with these two is explained below. When handling fungi you need to do it in a clean environment. Before handling the fungi I disinfected all the surface where I would handle the fungi; I disinfected my hands and put on gloves and disinfected those too; I also disinfected all tools that I used in the process. The reason for this is to decrease the risk of contaminants.

FIGURE 12: The fruiting block from Saxtorp Svamp. It is made with the same compost substrate that they use in their farm and the fungi species is Pleurotus Ostreatus, grey oyster mushroom. All you must do to grow mushrooms with this is open the cardboard box and cut a hole in the plastic bag where you want the mushrooms to emerge.

FIGURE 13: The fungi growing kit from Svampkungen. It contained straw pellets, a small spray bottle, grain spawn and a plastic bag with a filter on it to let it breathe but decreasing the risk of contamination. First, you need to boil water to make sure it is clean and then you let it cool down to room temperature. If the water is too hot it can kill the fungi. Then you mix the grain spawn with the straw pellets and add the water. After that, you leave it for 20 minutes to let the mixture absorb the water. The last step is to press out all the air to form a compact fruiting block and close the bag. Then you just only need to wait for the fruiting block to be fully colonized. When the block is fully colonized you cut a hole in the bag where you want the mushrooms to emerge.

I received both on the same day and began the process the same day. Mushrooms first started to emerge from the fruiting block from Saxtorp Svamp, which is the expected result due to it being fully colonized from the start. In both cases, the mushrooms emerged where I cut the bags. This shows that fungi are aware of where the hole is. This is possible cause it reacts to the surge of oxygen coming from where the hole is. After cutting a hole and you start seeing the mushrooms emerge you quickly notice the importance of high humidity. At home, this can be achieved by spraying water.

15 FIGURE 14: Mycelium.

FIGURE 15: Mushrooms that I harvested from the fruiting blocks.

When the mushrooms reach a certain level of maturity you start to see a “dust” around it. This is its spores. In mushrooms with gills, like the oyster mushroom, the spores are located at the gills. I collected spores by making spore prints. They were made by placing the mushroom on a black piece of paper, covered with a cup, and then left like that for a couple of hours. The spore prints can be used to create pure fungi culture by adding it to agar media. Spore prints are also a way to identify different species of fungi; different fungi create different patterns, shapes and there are also some colour variations between different species.

FIGURE 16: Spore prints from the first harvest.

A couple of days after harvest I dried the fruiting blocks in the oven at 90oC for 30 min. When I took it out of the oven it was almost completely dry, but I let it dry some more in room temperature on an oven rack. The product was a mycelium composite. When comparing the one from Saxtorp Svamp with the one from Svampkungen there were some differences. The one from Saxtorp Svamp was less dense and more fragile. It was a lot harder to saw in half the one from Svampkun- gen compared to the one from Saxtorp svamp.

FIGURE 17: The mycelium composite. The pictures to the left is made from the fruiting block from Saxtorp Svamp and the pictures two the right is made from the fungi growing kit from Svampkun- gen.

17 FIGURE 18: Zoomed in view of the inside of the mycelium composite, created with the growing kit from Svamokungen

CHAPTER 3 Architectural intervention using fungi: The initial idea with the architectural intervention was to create a place that utilizes the potential of fungi; a place that produces food, material, increase the knowledge of fungi both for the public and scientific community.

FROM STRATEGY TO PROGRAM: My intervention is a fungi factory placed in Umeå and the question is how you apply the theories and models from the research to the intervention. The fungi factory uses waste produced by the city to grow fungi. The waste produced by growing fungi can be used as compost and fertilizers in gardens. This makes the intervention very site-specific. The first step is to map its possible connections to the city.

18 FIGURE 19: Mapping of connections between my intervention and the city.

The fungi factory will have a library of different species. Saprotrophic fungi will be used to produce mycelium composites and mushrooms. As explained earlier saprotrophic fungi feed on dead organic material. This can be found at the recycling stations in the form of for example paper, cardboard, and garden waste. Another great source is the growing network of microbrew- eries. In the process of making beer, most of the waste created is brewer spent grain that can be used as a substrate for saprotrophs.

The recycling station Dåva, located at the top right corner on the map shown above, is also a landfill area for hazardous waste. Mycoremediation has shown great potential from both economic and environmental perspective. Different species of fungi can breakdown and remove different contaminants. Therefore, it is good to have a library with a range of different species. This library of fungi could be useful when contaminated habitats across Umeå needs remediation. However, this is still an area that needs more research. Dåva could be a potential research partner and provide contaminated material to test mycoremediation on and in the end possibly use the strategies discovered on their landfill. Two other great local resources for the fungi factory when it comes to research are the Umeå University and SLU.

Gardening can benefit from the use of fungi. Fungi are an important ally to plants in nature; this can be utilized in your garden by making a mushroom bed by layering woodchips and mushroom spawn.50 The waste produced by the fungi production can be turned to compost and fertilizers that could be used by gardeners. The waste produced by the fungi factory could be used by allotment gardens and urban gardens.

50 Stamets, Paul. Mycelium Running: How Mushrooms Can Help Save The World. Berkeley: Ten Speed Press, 2005, 187-190. 19 FIGURE 20: From all previous information gathered I made this program for the building

The intervention will be located at lokstallarna in Umeå. It is a central location close to important transportation nodes in Umeå such as the central public transportation node, Vasaplan, that all busses in Umeå pass through; multi-storey car park; Umeå central station; Östra kyrkogatan and European route E12. The real estate has had different functions through history and it is an important part of the city’s railroad history.51 It has among others been used as a place to store and maintain trains and a culture house but in 2015 the municipality lokstallarna and now it has stayed unused for some time. I also chose this site because mycoremediation gave me the idea of designing an architectural intervention centred around fungi that could revitalize a site and lokstallarna felt lifeless, a place with little biodiversity. The addition of the intervention can strengthen the local biodiversity and increase its resilience.

FIGURE 21: Lokstallarna in relation to the city centre. 51 Söderlind, Jonas. Umeå 7:4 – bostäder. Umeå municipality. 2018-11-09. https://www.umea.se/umeakommun/byggaboochmiljo/ oversiktsplanochdetaljplaner/detaljplanerochomradesbestammelser/detaljplanergallandeochpagaende/centralastan/umea- 74bostader.4.75d45d0a15b0cb9be8f1aa5e.html (Access date: 2020-04-22) 20 THE BUILDING AND ITS LIFE CYCLE:

FIGURE 22: Site plan.

The plan of the building is based on the fungi production flow. The first part is the laboratory. This part consists of an autoclave for sterilizing the substrate; a cooling room to cool down the substrate after sterilization; and a cleanroom under positive pressure equipped with laminar flow hoods. The cooling room is extra insulated to not warm surrounding rooms and affect the fungi. The cleanroom is where the mycelium is managed, and the room is equipped with a laminar flow hood and kept under positive pressure to reduce the risk of contamination. There are also some refrigerators in the cleanroom to store the library of different species of fungi and different strains.

Next to the laboratory is the grain spawn storage and right next to that is the workshop. The workshop is a place to create different moulds to grow the mycelium in and also where the mycelium composite is dried.

Next part of the building the grow rooms. These rooms are made to adapt after the optimal conditions for the fungi. The parameters that need to be changed depending on species of fungi and part of the growth cycle Fungi grow rooms are the humidity, the temperature and light. Normally you have to move the fruiting blocks from one room to another when the fungus enters the fruiting stage, but this building utilizes the old train tracks to create a mobile grow room that moves from inside lokstallarna to the new extension where the greenhouse is. Inside lokstallarna there is an extra insulating structure, outside the grow room, to make it possible to have good control of the temperature. When some fungi reach the fruiting stage they need to be exposed to light. At that point, the grow room is moved to the greenhouse where the fungi can be exposed to natural light. One challenge with the greenhouse is that fungi need the light but not direct light, diffused light is much better. This is solved with a shading device, made of semi-trans- parent fabric, that can control the light depending on the weather outside for example when it is cloudy it lets in all sunlight but when it is sunny it diffuses the light.

21 GSEducationalVersion

FIGURE 23: Section showing a grow room.

The last part of the building is the public part. At this part, there is a café and a showroom. The showroom is a series of rooms where visitors can see fungi at different parts of their growth cycle and experience the environmental conditions as the fungi.

My intervention is an extension of the current existing lokstallarna. It is a wooden construction with mycelium insulation. The way this wall is built differentiate from a normal construction. You need to build it from the bottom and work your way to the top of the building. First, you build part of the wall, this part acts as a mould, then you add mycelium mixed with a substrate. After that add the next part of the wall and more mycelium and substrate mixture. It is the same way as Eccovative built their “Tiny Mushroom House”, shown in figure 10. After the wall and roof are finished. The mycelium grows for a couple of days and then it dries for about a month. The result is a strong and insulated wall. This construction allows a seamless transition between the wall and roof with no thermal bridge between them.

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FIGURE 24: A section of the extension showing the construction with mycelium composite.

At the end of the building’s life cycle,1:20 the mycelium composite is made into compost and fertilizers and the wood is recycled as much as possible. The idea is that at the end of the woods life GSEducationalVersion cycle you can use it to grow fungi to make more mycelium composites or to cultivate mushrooms instead of just burning it. With this life cycle, the majority of the extension to lokstallarna will at the end be turned into compost and fertilizers. The compost and fertilizers return the nutrients from where we took them, the biosphere.

22 Discussion and Conclusion: The aim of this research was to examine how fungi can help with creating an architectural intervention within the planetary boundaries. To answer this question the first thing that needs to be looked at and understood is what it means to do something within the planetary boundaries. The planetary boundaries are a mapping of Earth’s most important systems and what their limits are before they risk leaving the stable state it has had during Holocene. To work within the planetary boundaries, you first need to understand that everything is connected and the best way to stay within the planetary boundaries is to take care of the planet, preserving and protecting it. The best way to stay within the boundaries is to decrease humans’ pressure on the Earth, decrease the quadruple squeeze. The biosphere is very resilient when taken care of and the most effective counterforce against sudden changes that can occur because of climate change. At this point, the planetary boundaries seem to be a very ecocentric idea but at its core is an anthropocentric idea, the reason why we should stay in Holocene. According to scientists, the only way to sustain human society the way it is today is to stay in Holocene. In the end, the planetary boundaries framework is neither anthropocentric nor ecocentric. It is just a tool and it is the reasons why a person utilizes it that is ecocentric or anthropocentric because keeping within the boundaries benefits everyone and everything on the planet. The framework shows a possible future where human society and the biosphere can co-exist.

The second thing that needs to be looked at to answer the main question of this study is how fungi can be utilized. This research focused on using fungi for habitat restoration; creation of materials called mycelium composites; and growing mushrooms as food. All three uses ideas know to the biosphere for millions of years, the natural life cycle of the biosphere.

The method of using fungi for habitat restoration is called mycorestoration. Research shows great promise in this area both from an environmental and economic point of view. Fungi obtain nutrients through extracellular digestion; this is done by secreting enzymes that breakdown the food. Experiments have shown that different fungi can breakdown different kinds of pollutants and absorb heavy metals; this results in creating a habitat that other organisms also can inhabit.

The easiest mushrooms to grow are the saprotrophs. Saprotrophic fungi are also the kind that is used to make mycelium composites. They feed on dead organic material, which makes it possible to utilize them to take care of some of the waste produced by human society. The research first showed the process of growing mushrooms and making mycelium composites as two separate things. The results from growing fungi at home indicate the possibility of these two processes two work together. When making a mycelium composite you can let mushrooms emerge and harvest them before drying them. In the mycelium composite created by me, the mycelium held together all the material and created a thicker layer on the outside of the substrate giving the mycelium composite its white surface. When zooming in closer on the material, there are spots where there is visibly more mycelium. Former research made on mycelium composite is mostly focused on different substrates, but further research could be made on how the ratio of mycelium to substrate affects its properties.

The fungi factory intervention shows the potential use of fungi for a city. The fungi factory uses the waste created in the city to cultivate mushrooms and make mycelium composite. The waste product of this can be made into compost and fertilizers that can be used to benefit nature. The library of fungi can be used to remediate contaminated sites in the city. This is a very adaptable system thanks to the wide range of materials that fungi can grow on. It can connect to different waste disposal nodes depending on what waste is produced in the local area. This makes it more site-specific and easier to implement in different locations around the world.

Today, a vast majority of man-made systems are linear. They take resources from the biosphere, uses them, and then throw them away hurting the biosphere. The fungi factory is a possible solution in turning linear systems into circular systems. It makes the relationship between the technosphere and the biosphere less parasitic and more mutualistic. The fungi factory opens the possibility of an architecture that starts with humans gathering resources from the biosphere and end with us giving back nutrients and material to the biosphere allowing it to create more resources

23 and sustain itself.

The results of this study indicate that different kinds collaborations between humans and fungi have the possibility of benefiting humans and the planet by making linear systems circular, re- storing habitats, and increasing biodiversity resulting in a more resilient planet. The collaboration between humans and fungi to create materials, food and restore contaminated habitats shows great potential in being tools to reduce humans’ pressure on the earth and staying within the planetary boundaries. It is not the sole solution or the one big solution that solves everything, but it can be a piece of the puzzle.

24 BIBLIOGRAPHY 1. Biosphere. Oxford English Dictionary. November 2010. https://www-oed-com.proxy. ub.umu.se/view/Entry/19253?redirectedFrom=biosphere#eid (Access date: 2019-10-09)

2. Technosphere. Oxford English Dictionary. https://www-oed-com.proxy.ub.umu.se/view/ Entry/198460?redirectedFrom=technosphere#eid19090813 (Access date: 2020-03-04)

3. Zalasiewicz, Jan. The unbearable burden of the technosphere. UNESCO. 2018. https:// en.unesco.org/courier/2018-2/unbearable-burden-technosphere (Access date: 2020-03- 04)

4. Kortenkamp, KVV, & CFF Moore, ‘Ecocentrism and anthropocentrism: Moral reasoning about ecological commons dilemmas’. in Journal of Environmental Psychology, 21, 2001

5. Rockström, J, M Klum, A Allwood, I Elmerot, & M Andersson, Big world, small planet : välfärd inom planetens gränser. Stockholm : Max Ström, 2015

6. Stamets, P, ‘Can Mushrooms Help Save The World?’ in Explore: The Journal of Science and Healing, 2, 2006, 152–161.

7. Mossberg, B, M Karström, S Nilsson, & O Persson, Svampar i Sverige : [förnyat standardverk med över 450 arter]. 9., utvidgade utg.., Stockholm, Stockholm : Bonnier fakta, 2013

8. Haraway, DJ, Staying with the trouble : making kin in the Chthulucene. , 2016

9. Groat, LN, Wang, David, author, & Gale Group, Architectural research methods. Second edition, , 2013.

10. Webster, J, & RWS Weber, Introduction to fungi. 3rd ed.., Cambridge, Cambridge : Cam- bridge University Press, 2007

11. Shields, Tony. Are some mushrooms impossible to grow? Here’s why not all mushrooms can be cultivated (youtube). FreshCap Mushrooms. 2020-02-03 https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=hHbgPmpFwQo

12. Stamets, Paul. Mycelium Running: How Mushrooms Can Help Save The World. Berkeley: Ten Speed Press, 2005

13. Pedersen, Rikard; Saxtorp Svamp. E-mail. 2020-03.

14. Crosby, Willie. Tour of a Commercial Mushroom Farm 1 (youtube). Fungi ally. 2019-08-07. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=beurNUTbJW0&feature=emb_rel_end&app=desktop

15. Crosby, Willie. Tour of a Commercial Mushroom Farm Part 2 Fruiting and Harvest (youtube). Fungi ally. 2019-09-02. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEbDN3Haddk

16. Shields, Tony. The Art Of Growing 500-700 lbs Of Fresh Mushrooms, Every Week (youtube). FreshCap Mushrooms. 2020-02-19. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipZ-jhjhnys&ap- p=desktop

17. Söderlind, Jonas. Umeå 7:4 – bostäder. Umeå municipality. 2018-11-09. https://www.umea. se/umeakommun/byggaboochmiljo/oversiktsplanochdetaljplaner/detaljplanerochomradesbestammelser/detaljplanergallandeochpagaende/centralastan/umea74bostad- er.4.75d45d0a15b0cb9be8f1aa5e.html (Access date: 2020-04-22)

25 ILLUSTRATIONS Unless otherwise indicated below, illustrations and photographs are by Martin Hendeberg

FIGURE 1. Rockström, J, M Klum, A Allwood, I Elmerot, & M Andersson, Big world, small planet : välfärd inom planetens gränser, 34-35. Stockholm : Max Ström, 2015.

FIGURE 2. Based on: Rockström, J, M Klum, A Allwood, I Elmerot, & M Andersson, Big world, small planet : välfärd inom planetens gränser, 42-43. Stockholm : Max Ström, 2015.

FIGURE 3. Based on: Rockström, J, M Klum, A Allwood, I Elmerot, & M Andersson, Big world, small planet : välfärd inom planetens gränser, 48-49. Stockholm : Max Ström, 2015.

FIGURE 4. J. Lokrantz/Azote. Planetary boundaries [illustration]. https://www.stockholmresil- ience.org/research/planetary-boundaries.html (Access date: 2020-04-21) based on Steffen et al. 2015. Planetary Boundaries: G4uiding human development on a changing planet. Science Vol. 347 no. 6223

FIGURE 5. Based on: Webster, J, & RWS Weber, Introduction to fungi. 3rd ed, 2. Cambridge, Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2007.

FIGURE 6. Svampkungen, Odlingsråd för Svamphusets snabbväxande mycel vid odling på stock [brochure]. Höör: Svampkungen AB; 2020.

FIGURE 7. Stamets, Paul. Mycelium Running: How Mushrooms Can Help Save The World, 91. Berkeley: Ten Speed Press, 2005.

FIGURE 8. Stamets, Paul. Mycelium Running: How Mushrooms Can Help Save The World, 113. Berkeley: Ten Speed Press, 2005.

FIGURE 9. Jones, M, T Bhat, T Huynh, E Kandare, R Yuen, CH Wang, et al., ‘Waste-derived low-cost mycelium composite construction materials with improved fire safety’. in Fire and Materials, 42, 2018, 816–825. (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/ full/10.1002/fam.2637)

26 “design the world of tomorrow with the waste of today. While working towards designing a world without waste”.

/Maya Lauridsen Faerch, a chief consultant at lendager group