This project examines how we can design bioreceptive structures with and for mycelium. We worked with Ganoderma Lucidum Mycelium – the rooting networks of the mushroom-strain known as ‘Reishi’. By providing the mushroom with cellulose-based structures of woven jute and hemp, it returns a silky growth of mycelium – a complex structure of bio-colonised material, that is temporal by nature. The growing process includes humidifying the samples, autoclaving them to prevent contamination and inoculating them with the Reishi strain. The sample is allowed time and warmth to grow in the darkness of an incubator.

 

The systematic approach of material driven design means that an array of bioreceptive affordances for woven structures can be outlined. In changing specified variables such as humidity, spacing of the threads, and interaction, we can begin to understand how flexibility, regrowth, and binding can be considered as affordances emerging from collaborating with mycelium in designing for bioreceptivity.