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Prototaxites stellaviatori: a Fungal Growth Simulation Model for Mycelium-Based Composites Education in Applied Arts

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Abstract

The increasing experimental investigations of Mycelium-Based Composites (MBC) in design and architecture necessitate efforts from pedagogues to find ways to transmit knowledge and support regarding the guiding principles of mycology so as to empower students in their investigations and study. The adoption of MBC craft in arts and applied arts offers much potential in extending the space of material semiotics as it is often accompanied by several theoretical and systemic interests, such as the urge to adopt alternative ontologies of nature or implementing thoroughly sustainability in the economy. To support these critical reflections and exploring novel formal expressions we have developed a stochastic simulation model of fungal colonisation for design education and research in MBC. In this paper we present the conceptual and technical framework guiding the model's development with specific focus on its role as a pedagogical instrument. We report on its pedagogical impact based on a students survey and their productions.
Structures and Architecture (ICSA 2022) Hvejsel & Cruz (eds)
© 2022 Copyright the Author(s), ISBN: 978-0-367-90281-0
DOI 10.1201/9781003023555-5
Prototaxites stellaviatori: a fungal growth simulation model for
Mycelium-Based Composites education in applied arts.
A. Rigobello
Centre for IT and Architecture, Royal Danish Academy, Copenhagen, Denmark
N.
Gaudillie`re-Jami
Digital Design Unit, T.U. Darmstadt, Germany
P. Ayres
Centre for IT and Architecture, Royal Danish Academy, Copenhagen, Denmark
ABSTRACT:
The increasing experimental investigations of Mycelium-Based Composites (MBC)
in design and architecture necessitate efforts from pedagogues to find ways to transmit knowl-
edge and support regarding the guiding principles of mycology so as to empower students in their
investigations and study. The adoption of MBC craft in arts and applied arts offers much potential
in extending the space of material semiotics as it is often accompanied by several theoretical
and systemic interests, such as the urge to adopt alternative ontologies of nature or implement-
ing thoroughly sustainability in the economy. To support these critical reflections and exploring
novel formal expressions we have developed a stochastic simulation model of fungal colonisation
for design education and research in MBC. In this paper we present the conceptual and techni-
cal framework guiding the model’s development with specific focus on its role as a pedagogical
instrument. We report on its pedagogical impact based on a students survey and their productions.
1
INTRODUCTION
Mycelium-Based Composites (MBC) represent a class of materials that has only recently come
to be used in design and engineering. Inspired by early XXth century method of fungal strain
transfer by lignocellulosic solid-state fermentation (SSF) (Duggar 1905), the use of this craft in
design was popularised amongst others thanks to the 2009 Mycotecture works of Philip Ross
(Ross 2016). Since then, a wealth of design and architecture projects have been revealed, while
the material semiotics of MBC is still young and being established. The cultivation principle of
MBC relies on the saprotrophic lifestyle of ligninolytic fungi, or wood-rot activity, and consists
in having wet lignocellulosic substrate colonised by a mycelium. Such mix is typically incubated
at a temperature fit for optimal enzymatic activity for a few days, that is until the substrate has
been colonised by the fungus according to the design intent. The colonisation speed and incuba-
tion duration vary depending on strains, substrates, and design objectives. This simple and frugal
process of composite craft actually reflects a wide-ranging design space and complexity because
it can be implemented with a wide variety of substrates, both in terms of chemical profiles and
geometries, and a range of basidiomycota. Furthermore, the spread of MBC craft is often accom-
panied by theoretical and systemic interests, such as the urge to adopt alternative ontologies of
nature, or implementing thoroughly sustainability and social justice in the economy, stakes that
need fine integrating in applied arts educational programs.
The increasing experimental investigations of MBC in applied arts necessitates efforts from peda-
gogues to find ways to introduce students to the guiding principles of mycology. Such a knowledge
set is complex in nature as it relies on an advanced biochemistry literacy that design students are
not usually exposed to during the course of their studies. Thus, they must be able to grasp tacit
knowledgeknowledge that cannot be formalisedof MBC crafting without tackling the full
explicit knowledge set available in mycology. Furthermore, this craft must then be integrated with
design expertise. Such design expertise is also relying on tacit knowledge and is taught accord-
ingly by resorting to design pedagogy, in particular via studio works. The pedagogy presented
here relies on the articulation of these two sets of tacit knowledge by having the students ven-
ture into physical experimentation with MBC. The pedagogical proposal has been assessed with
the help of the Socialisation-Externalisation-Combination-Internalisation (SECI) model (Nonaka,
Toyama, and Konno 2000).
In this paper we present the framework guiding the development of a simulation model, named
Prototaxites stellaviatori, with specific focus on its role as a pedagogical instrument. Accord-
ingly, we evaluate its impact based on student interviews and material evidence produced during
an MBC teaching workshop in September 2020 at the Royal Danish Academy. The goal of this
workshop was for students to quickly achieve design agency in material proposition (internal
characteristics based on constituents and composition) and application (conventional architectural
design proposition), to gain an appreciation of underlying mechanisms of the simulation model,
to explore modes of manipulating the plugin to achieve design intent, and, through the process, to
develop critical thinking on the design implications of designing and cultivating materials imply-
ing living non-humans. The evaluation of the pedagogical impact examines the architectural and
technical strategies developed by the students as well as the semantics they resorted to in describ-
ing them, seeking to understand the knowledge conversions at play. Finally, we conclude on
the students appropriation of the role of simulation models and MBC conceptual framework with
regards to somatic tacit knowledge knowledge relative to corporeal perceptions (Collins 2010).
A teaching support document is made available in a public repository along with documentation
of student explorations and design outcomes (Rigobello et al. 2021).
2
TEACHING CONTEXT
2.1
Pedagogical context
Numerous post-structuralist and new materialist writings have been advocating for the adoption
of a relational Kantian aesthetics based on affect as a counter discourse to modernist rationalism
(Rigobello
and
Gaudillie`re-Jami
2021;
Lowenhaupt
Tsing
2015).
While
learning
MBC
cultiva-
tion methods is part of our workshop syllabus, it is critical that fungi is not only presented as
a mere technique but in a manner that allows students to develop their tacit knowledge of the
fungal life with the full extent of their corporeal sensibilities. Building upon an applied arts peda-
gogy that recognises the centrality of synthesis, analogy, and craft practice in the design expertise
(Scho¨ n
1985),
our
drive
towards
conveying
theoretical
controversies
finds
a
favourable
ground,
and is expected to echo and augment prior cenesthesic intuition in students the blend of var-
ious bodily sensations producing a tacit awareness of being in a particular physical condition.
As MBC cultivation is being democratised with commercially available kits for individuals along
with a profusion of do-it-yourself workshops, and thanks to the process being frugal in not requir-
ing expensive equipment or advanced skills to reach a satisfactory result, we can witness that a
detailed understanding of the biochemical processes at play is not mandatory for using MBC as a
design medium, thereby rendering it very accessible and inclusive.
The architectural design master programme Computation in Architecture offers a computational
design and digital fabrication-oriented program hosted at the Royal Danish Academy. At the
beginning of each academic year, both fourth and fifth year students are grouped for a series of
introductory workshops designed to immerse them in materially-focused computational design
logics that are thematically linked to active research projects led by the Centre for Information
Technology and Architecture (CITA). Through this research-led teaching, students are exposed
to a coherent set of questions, theoretical positions, concepts, methodologies and state-of-the-
art materially oriented design and production workflows for them to anchor their subsequent
individual semester and thesis projects. Fourth year students rarely have prior experience with
computational design or biodesign. The workshop forming the focus for this paper, consisted of a
preliminary two-week session called Shaping Growth: composing material heterogeneity that had
the following objectives: producing a cast for forming and growing a mycelium-based composite,
composing the substrate such as combining bulk material together with specifically orientated
fibres, being introduced to methods of sensing and real-time monitoring of living materials,
together with data-collection and querying, engaging in digital modelling of physical artefacts
and be shown how to situate them within an extrinsic modelling environment allowing to generate
artefact performance data from environmental simulation. A second two-week session called Liq-
uid Modelling: navigation beyond vision was held directly after the previous one. Its objectives
are formulated as learning hypothesis in section 3.3.
A supporting document synthesising the fundamentals of MBC craft and of the functioning of
the P. stellaviatori plugin was provided to the students at the beginning of the Liquid Modelling
workshop. This document is made available in the same public repository as the documentation
of student work and results (Rigobello et al. 2021). The workshop sessions embedded a day of
lectures and tutorials each, the remaining of the time was dedicated to group work.
2.2
The Rhinoceros 3D - Grasshopper environment
Grasshopper is a visual programming environment within the Rhinoceros modeller. It uses visual
programming, a particularly popular method of learning programming for novices, as studies of
such techniques as used not only in the computational field but also elsewhere point out (Celani
and Vaz 2012). Grasshopper is a didactic environment thanks to its online supporting community.
Many observers associate this environment with what Eric Raymond calls a bazaar: a software
environment that emerges through contributions from a larger, open community. Raymond crafted
the term in opposition to cathedrals traditional software environments, referring to larger appli-
cations developed by a small group in a closed environment (Raymond 2001). Because visual
programming facilitates abstraction and the acquisition of logic, its learning curve is meant to be
less steep than for command line programming. However, the curve quickly reaches a plateau,
trapping users in a narrower range of possibilities. Visual programming therefore poses a chal-
lenge in terms of upgrading users’ skills (Celani and Vaz 2012; Aish and Mendoza 2016).
Despite its limits, Grasshopper was selected for the implementation of the P. stellaviatori model
as it allows for articulating with other pedagogical methods and therefore enables the coexistence
of a variety of learning strategies. One of the main issues in education in the computational field
in architecture is indeed the need for the combination of several learning goals across multiple
fields. While the students are expected to learn programming skills, they are also primarily in a
design course and must be able to develop skills relating to the acquisition of architectural exper-
tise. In our case, the students are expected to experiment with mycelium and learn cultivation
processes along with developing critical thinking regarding simulation activities in design. We
thus consider Grasshopper to provide a particularly suited platform for us to develop a multi-
scalar pedagogy that relies on three pillars: programming, designing, and cultivating. We resort to
Grasshopper to enable the interfacing between the P. stellaviatori model and solar radiation sim-
ulation, and to articulate the reinforcement of the connection between programming and physical
experimentation to support the acquisition of somatic tacit knowledge.
3
METHODS
3.1
The P. stellaviatori model
A fungal growth simulation model was designed as the P. stellaviatori Grasshopper plugin. Fun-
gal colonisation is driven by a wealth of factors including moisture qualities and dynamics in the
substrate, the fitness of the substrate chemical profile to fungal species enzyme array, the aeration
of the substrate during fermentation, the UV stress, the presence of other microorganisms, and
the protocol care by the producing person. The simulation model focuses on integrating evapora-
tion and capillarity as prime vectors for predicting fungal colonisation, because the presence of
capillary water in SSF substrate is a prerequisite to allow extracellular transport of metabolites
in fungi, and to establish osmotic potential for allowing turgor pressure and subsequent hyphal
growth (Money 1995). In timber, moisture can exist as bound water within cell walls below fibre
saturation point (FSP), free liquid water in cell cavities above FSP, and water vapour. Water pres-
ence in wood cell walls and cell voids (over-hygroscopic range) is the fittest configuration for
optimal fungal growth in lignocellulosic SSF. We can also note that fungal decay by oxidation
produces water along with CO2, but is not a phenomena that is considered for modelling in this
context. Similarly, the freeing of bound water under the action of decay that influences the mois-
ture content as substrate dry mass loss is occurring if the system is closed, is not modelled. Lastly,
the effect of water activity upon turgidity and enzymatic activity is not modelled. The simulation
model can be used with hypothesising these non-modelled experimental factors as fixed, and can
be used to explore the remaining of the design space allowed with its parameters (input datasets
and tuning parameters).
The simulation is based on a spatial discretisation in the form of a volumetric point-cloud repre-
senting the volume of a substrate. The moisture dynamics simulation model comprises two sets of
phenomena: evaporation and capillarity. The effects of fungal decay over moisture release from
the substrate by cell wall decomposition, and carbohydrates oxidation, are not modelled. Water
activity is not present either, but can be considered at calibration stage. The model resolution aims
at being set at the scale of 1 5 mm distance between points of the cloud, and although it rep-
resents fungal growth as a graph, it does not aim at modelling hyphae networks but regions and
patterns of colonisation. The macro fungal growth that is simulated represents the mycelial explo-
ration of a substrate. The model takes four datasets as input: an initial moisture distribution map,
a thermal map, the position of fibres within the volume, and the position of mycelium seed points.
At iteration n, evaporation is simulated such that the moisture contained at point p is being par-
tially transferred to its neighbours within an influence radius, in an eccentric manner to the favour
of the neighbouring points situated above p, and depending on the warmth level at p. Capillarity
is simulated in a similar way, but instead of considering neighbouring points it refers to clusters
of points within a fibre and distributes moisture from p situated within a fibre, depending on its
warmth level, within an influence radius, and in any orientation of the fibre (gravity is neglected).
From a set of seed points within the point cloud, mycelial colonisation is simulated as a graph that
follows the iterations of the moisture dynamics with a minimum moisture level parameter allowed
for the growth, and a maximum branching level.
The model as defined is subjected to uncertainty: evaporation and capillarity simulations are meant
to be accurate enough to be calibrated and instrumentalised for design purposes, but depend on
complex models that are only approximated here. For this reason, and to convey the conceptual
framework mentioned in section 2.1, this model was made stochastic. Therefore, each data point
in the three initial datasets (warmth map, moisture map, and fibres parsing) has a corresponding
probability. The determination of these are made manually by the user and are related to confi-
dence in each input of the experimental setup. For instance, a user can set a high temperature on
the external boundary of the experimental setup with a maximum confidence level of 1.0 as they
can measure the value easily, and then set a lower temperature level at the centre of the volume of
the experiment with a low confidence level as they may not be able to measure this temperature.
While the simulation is being solved, the probabilities are being solved too as the intersection of
the events at each point of the model.
3.2
Mycelium-Based Composites methods
The substrates and scaffolds materials were recommended to be prepared at 40 % MC with min-
eralized water, and sterilised at 117 ºC for 30 min. The substrates were inoculated in a variety
of manners by the students. They were advised to mix the wet substrates with 16 wt% Gano-
derma lucidum spawn (M9726, Mycelia BVBA, Nevele, Belgium) and to incubate them in PP
filtered bags for 7 days at 25 ºC in the dark when relevant. The fungal species was selected for
its widest carbohydrate-active enzymes array (CAZymes) (Zhou et al. 2018; Chen et al. 2012)
and its colonisation rate, thus allowing students to reach quick conclusions with a high cultivation
success rate. Among the most used substrates during the workshop were European beech wood
(Fagus sylvatica), common reed fibres (Phragmites australis), and rattan fibres (Calamus manan).
Students used a variety of supplementary materials such as glass, copper, or hessian (Rigobello
et al. 2021).
3.3
Evaluation method
To assess whether the pedagogical goals have been met in the workshop, we have formulated two
pedagogical hypotheses. They read as follows: a) the teaching environment enables the students
to articulate experiments with simulation use to support critical thinking development on the role
of simulation models in architectural design, b) the teaching environment supports the students
appropriation of the MBC conceptual framework. In order to evaluate the pedagogical set-up
and its consequences on the learning process of the students, interviews were conducted with
each group of students. They happened on September 29th 2020, a day before students project
presentation. The survey questions read as follows:
What is your background prior to taking part in the Computation in Architecture master pro-
gram? Did you have any knowledge of working with living organisms before this workshop?
What are you working on during this workshop?
Why have you chosen to explore this?
Can you describe the experiments and simulations you have done and are planning?
How have you been working with the simulations on one hand and the physical experiments on
the other? How do you link them?
How are the tools you were given helping you investigate the architectural potential of mycelium?
What about the sensing protocol? Beyond the measures, do you have other sources of informa-
tion on what is going on with the mycelium?
How did you use the five key notions shown at the beginning of the workshop?
What have you learned about working with mycelium?
Do you think you can or will use this knowledge on other occasions? What architectural
possibilities do you envision?
Since the 1990s, a great number of studies on architectural learning stemming from the field of
design studies have been accompanied by research aiming at identifying systematic design meth-
ods in order to establish teaching models (for a review, see Demirbas¸ and Demirkan 2003). While
only some of the existing studies identify architectural knowledge directly as tacit knowledge
(Kruchten
et
al.
2005;
Uluog˘ lu
2000),
a
great
number
identify
the
tacit
dimension
of
the
knowl-
edge mobilised in architectural design, although they do not refer to it in this term, preferring
notions such as intention, intuition, implicit reasoning or empiric method. To the knowledge of
the authors, none of these studies assessed the development of tacit knowledge in an architec-
tural teaching environment, despite the fact that diverse models are employed in existing studies
to assess various aspects of the mobilised knowledge and methods in architectural training. In
order to understand the knowledge transfer at play in our workshop, we have selected the SECI
conversions model, which enables the assessment of tacit knowledge transfer (Nonaka, Toyama,
and Konno 2000). This model has been conceived from the Japanese notion of Ba, a word that
translates as “place”. Ba designates a place and time collectively shared, and includes the mental
space that is shared when a group gets together. This shared mental area provides a space for
knowledge to be exchanged and the conditions of this exchange and conversion are what
the SECI model assesses. It allows for the identification of four modes of conversion: social-
isation, enabling a tacit-tacit knowledge conversion, and referring to moments of observation
and imitation; externalisation, enabling a tacit-explicit knowledge conversion, and referring to
explicating knowledge in writing or drawing, for instance; combination, enabling an explicit-
explicit knowledge conversion, and referring to the use of existing explicit formats in order to
produce new explicit ones; and internalisation, enabling an explicit-tacit knowledge conversion,
and referring to the acquisition of tacit knowledge through the manipulation of explicit formats.
The SECI model, named after those four conversions modes, envisions these as successive and
has therefore been criticised for being too linear. We thus use the model as an analytical tool, not
using the conversion modes in a sequence but independently: these modes have been coexisting
in the workshop context.
4
EVALUATION
4.1
Interviews
Among the most prominent ideas that were discussed, and because it was a focus across the two
parts of the workshop, the establishment of an iterative process between experiential learning and
simulation exploration was a leading interest. The discussions oscillated between students report-
ing on the successful integration of experimental learning into the simulation (as per growth rate
tuning, environmental influence calibration, capillary action tuning, evaporation rate and reach),
with group 3 having confidently discussed their success at calibrating the simulation model, and
four out of seven groups having brought up supplementary experimental series being necessary
to them for improving the predictability of the simulation outcomes. We read this as a necessary
development of a critical thinking as per the role of the model as an instrument, and a relevant
feedback as the students were both in their first introduction stage with mycelium craft, and
expected to appreciate a non simplistic relationship to fungi. Five groups discussed the resort to
simulation as a means to probe architectural design as grounded into a cultivation practice, and
used the simulation to imagine constructive methodologies for load bearing structures. With use of
solar radiation analysis within the design workflow, all groups have developed scenarios utilising
solar warmth and its effect on evaporation to design either hand handleable modules that can be
assembled after cultivation, or on-site cultivation principles. As the students developed their tacit
understanding of the craft, they productively criticised the lab cultivation conditions that system-
atically use substrate sterilisation for instance. Four groups have specifically commented on the
limits of the simulation model and the constructive unpredictability in an on-site cultivation sce-
nario because it would involve accounting for microbial coexistence. Beyond scaling, four groups
have reported making use of the simulation model as a way to probe complex designs based on
elementary experiments they conducted. A group reported their interest for using it to build a finer
understanding of the colonisation at play with a volume of substrate, beyond vision, while group
6 documented experiments specifically testing a moisture-based powder bed printing lookalike
method. Group 2 also ventured down this path, by rotating a composite during its cultivation so
as to change the face being exposed to the sun and successfully influenced the moisture spread.
Other groups have been using the simulation not to assess more complex craft methods, but as a
means to establish hypothesis and evaluate experimental setups that they would not have had the
time to perform.
Across groups, the feedback regarding compressive performance appreciation was heterogeneous:
two groups reported doubts as per the state-of-the-art mechanical performances of the composites,
and two other groups expressed their surprise regarding the good stiffness of MBC. This percep-
tion reflects the architectural potential that the students envisioned. Some groups praised the
more-than-human collaboration with a mycelium, mentioning resulting forms that we would not
intuitively trust as humans, making it an opportunity to challenge pre-existing ideas of comfort,
pleasure and sterility. The smell of MBC was flagged as intense by a group, opening a productive
conversation that started from the need to cancel it and went on to refer to the comforting per-
fume of wood: ”Do we grow to enjoy the smell of wood, or do we instinctively appreciate it?”.
For some, it was a potential unpredictability combined with the exploration that was motivating.
A student interestingly reported that the craft - the process - was similar to doing a renovation
project that necessitates the rediscovery of obsolete constructive methodologies and materials.
While acknowledging that MBC can be controlled and be made stiff and resilient, notably with
the introduction of glass and cotton in the substrate, some students advocated for the necessity of
the craftsperson to also be sensitive to the colonisation and mycelial expression for allowing the
full expression of the craft. Echoing the smell controversy, the same group went on with the idea
of comfort to envision fungal architectures as uterus-like, where elements are swollen, soft, and
reminding of embryo state.
Throughout the interviews we read a good appropriation of critical thinking on the role of simula-
tion models. Overall, the introduction of the stochastic layer to the simulation model added a third
level of learning to the workshop in addition to MBC craft introduction and getting introduced
to computational design and its functioning. No explicit mention was made of this aspect in the
interviews, and although each group made some sense of it in their submissions it is obvious that
the combined complexity of the three key notions was detrimental to the students appropriation of
the stochastic functioning. Its contribution is hardly distinguishable from other factors of the ped-
agogical environment, but the considerable involvement in crafting by experimenting creatively
and the resulting conceptual appropriation beyond considering MBC as sole materials can surely
be credited for a part to having made uncertainty a defining trait of the model.
4.2
SECI conversions
In order to discuss the insights obtained through resorting to the SECI model, we discuss the
events of the workshop through the review of the knowledge carriers in presence as well as
through the examination of the activities that took place. Both then serve as a basis to establish
which conversions happened during the workshop and whether their presence or absence yielded
the expected results. Written carriers include the teaching support document, and the presenta-
tions produced by the students as a final deliverable (Rigobello et al. 2021) Knowledge carriers
also include the physical objects crafted by the students. We consider these objects to most promi-
nently carry a different form of knowledge, as it is a trace of the craft somatic knowledge acquired
by the student. In particular, the attention to materiality that they demonstrate through the com-
bination of materials in the substrate and its colonisation by the mycelium acts as a trace of that
acquisition. In that sense, while written knowledge carriers testify to the existence of externalisa-
tion and combination modes in the workshop, the objects testify to the existence of socialisation.
Furthermore, the workshop as a learning space has been the opportunity for other occurrences of
socialisation as well as of internalisation, both through the observation and imitation of model
manipulation and of craft practices. The interviews confirm that these latter conversions, happen-
ing in the workshop space, have played their role in the acquisition of new knowledge by the
students. The presence of the four SECI conversions and the confirmation through interviews and
documentation of their impact on knowledge acquisition thus validates the pedagogical set-up by
providing insights on how explicit and tacit knowledge have been transmitted. The workshop as
a teaching format is a fit environment for architecture students to acquire a relevant knowledge
set thanks to the modalities tackling both explicit and tacit knowledge acquisition. This is con-
firmed by assessing the materials produced by the students with regards to the two hypotheses we
formulated previously. The sheer diversity of objects and experiments that students crafted are a
testimony to this. So is the student’s visual production, which mobilises the technical information
provided in writing as well as exploring various modes of representation provided through the
P. stellaviatori tutorials. The documentation produced by the students highlights their attention
to material choices, shown carefully through composition detailing and texture focuses. It also
highlights their appropriation of the various factors influencing mycelium colonisation which is
reflected in the architectural proposals.
5
CONCLUSIONS
In this article, we have presented the conceptual framework for developing the P. stellaviatori
simulation model as a pedagogical instrument. We have reported on the pedagogical theoretical
framework we adopted for evaluating the effectiveness of the simulation model as part of the
proposed teaching environment, and have presented a comprehensive analysis of student group
interviews specifically informed by the SECI model. Craftspersonship was a central theme in
the interviews, be it indirectly through reports on somatic perception (i.e. smell for instance), or
directly in the constructive methodologies of student proposals and their instrumentalisation of
experiments regarding the simulation. With the first half of the workshop having been focused on
the MBC craft initiation, the craft nudge allowed by the simulation model is identifiable through
the moisture focus that students developed in their tests. All groups have adopted this focus, and its
integration with solar radiation analysis led part of the students to experiment outside of lab con-
ditions to test context hypothesis. This had a productive influence over their architectural visions,
and across the seven groups a diversity of grounded constructive methodologies are presented in
the supplementary materials (Rigobello et al. 2021). Finally, while we acknowledge the density
of the expected learning in this constrained workshop period, our learning hypotheses have been
corroborated; they regarded the development of a critical thinking as per the role of simulation
models in design activities, and the acquisition of a somatic tacit knowledge for a MBC concep-
tual framework. This leads us to conclude on the effectiveness of the use of this simulation model
as a pedagogical support embedding traits that facilitate the setting of an applied and conceptually
situated knowledge, that is within the larger set of used teaching media.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
A. Rigobello and P. Ayres have developed this work thanks to funding from the European Union’s
Horizon 2020 research and innovation program FET OPEN “Challenging current thinking” under
grant
agreement
No
858132.
N.
Gaudillie`re-Jami
has
contributed
to
this
research
thanks
to
fund-
ing from the Architecture of Order Research Cluster and the Hessian State Ministry of Higher
Education, Research and the Arts: State Offensive for the Development of Scientific and Eco-
nomic Excellence (LOEWE). The authors declare no conflict of interest. The funding bodies had
no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the
writing of the manuscript, or in the decision to publish the results.
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... Other practitioners focus on the structural and material properties of mycelium products as a sustainable alternative to traditional building materials. Examples include Elise Elsacker and Adrien Rigobello who investigate material properties of myco-materials (Elsacker et al., 2019;Elsacker, Søndergaard, et al., 2021;Elsacker, Vandelook, et al., 2021;Rigobello, Gaudillière-Jami and Ayres, 2022), Felix Heisel (Heisel et al., 2017) and Johnathan Dessi-Olive (Dessi-Olive and Hsu, 2021) who develops structural prototypes with mycelium composites. There are also speculative works that invite reflection into the potentials of scaling of myco-solutions, such as the work of Claudia Colmo who investigates the bio-remediating potentials of mycelium in landscape design (Colmo and Ayres, 2022) and Svenja Keune who speculates as to the potentials of co-creating with other species (Keune, 2021). ...
Book
https://www.routledge.com/Designers-Guide-to-Lab-Practice/Crawford/p/book/9781032426846 This book explores the growing field of bio-design through interdisciplinary creative practice. The volume illustrates a range of experimental working techniques while offering a foundational understanding of lab practice principles. The book highlights the myriad of opportunities presented by microorganisms that have reshaped the planet and made it habitable. The book provides an account of the creation of living materials from the point of view of an architectural design practitioner. The transition from traditional design practice to laboratory investigation is captured, highlighting strategies of creating partnerships across a range of fields. The book demonstrates laboratory methods and ways of investigating the development of living materials and celebrates the growing body of practitioners, scientists, activists and anthropologists who are reimagining new strategies for addressing contemporary environmental challenges. Designer's Guide to Lab Practice looks at ways in which integrating living components with needs of their own would not only help offset the environmental impact that we have on our planet but could also create a closer relationship with nature. It is a working manual as well as a guide to emerging practitioners seeking to transition into a field that is yet to be defined and that offers the promise of a new era of human habitat making as a direct response to the looming ecological crisis.
Article
Full-text available
Ganoderma lucidum is a widely used medicinal macrofungus in traditional Chinese medicine that creates a diverse set of bioactive compounds. Here we report its 43.3-Mb genome, encoding 16,113 predicted genes, obtained using next-generation sequencing and optical mapping approaches. The sequence analysis reveals an impressive array of genes encoding cytochrome P450s (CYPs), transporters and regulatory proteins that cooperate in secondary metabolism. The genome also encodes one of the richest sets of wood degradation enzymes among all of the sequenced basidiomycetes. In all, 24 physical CYP gene clusters are identified. Moreover, 78 CYP genes are coexpressed with lanosterol synthase, and 16 of these show high similarity to fungal CYPs that specifically hydroxylate testosterone, suggesting their possible roles in triterpenoid biosynthesis. The elucidation of the G. lucidum genome makes this organism a potential model system for the study of secondary metabolic pathways and their regulation in medicinal fungi.
Conference Paper
Full-text available
Architectural knowledge consists of architecture design as well as the design decisions, assumptions, context, and other factors that together determine why a particular solution is the way it is. Except for the architecture design part, most of the architectural knowledge usually remains hidden, tacit in the heads of the architects. We conjecture that an explicit representation of architectural knowledge is helpful for building and evolving systems. If we had a repository of architectural knowledge for a system, what would it ideally contain, how would we build it, and exploit it in practice? In this paper we describe a use case model for an architectural knowledge system.
DesignScript: A Domain Specific Language for Architectural Computing
  • Robert Aish
  • Emmanuel Mendoza
Aish, Robert, and Emmanuel Mendoza. 2016. "DesignScript: A Domain Specific Language for Architectural Computing." In Proceedings of the International Workshop on Domain-Specific Modeling, 15-21. Amsterdam Netherlands: ACM October 30, 2016. ISBN: 978-1-4503-4894-2, accessed October 24, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1145/ 3023147.3023150. https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3023147.3023150.
CAD Scripting and Visual Programming Languages for Implementing Computational Design Concepts: A Comparison from a Pedagogical Point of View
  • Gabriela Celani
  • Carlos Eduardo Verzola Vaz
Celani, Gabriela, and Carlos Eduardo Verzola Vaz. 2012. "CAD Scripting and Visual Programming Languages for Implementing Computational Design Concepts: A Comparison from a Pedagogical Point of View." International Journal of Architectural Computing 10, no. 1 (March 1, 2012) 121-137. ISSN: 1478-0771, accessed October 24, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1260/1478-0771.10.1.121. https://doi.org/10.1260/1478-0771.10.1.121.
Turgor Pressure and the Mechanics of Fungal Penetration
  • Nicholas P Money
Money, Nicholas P. 1995. "Turgor Pressure and the Mechanics of Fungal Penetration." Canadian Journal of Botany 73, no. S1 (December) 96-102. Accessed October 4, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1139/b95-231. https://cdnsciencepub. com/doi/abs/10.1139/b95-231.
SECI, Ba and Leadership: A Unified Model of Dynamic Knowledge Creation
  • Ikujiro Nonaka
  • Ryoko Toyama
  • Noboru Konno
Nonaka, Ikujiro, Ryoko Toyama, and Noboru Konno. 2000. "SECI, Ba and Leadership: A Unified Model of Dynamic Knowledge Creation." Long Range Planning 33, no. 1 (February) 5-34. ISSN: 00246301, accessed September 28, 2021. https : / / doi. org / 10. 1016 / S0024 -6301(99 ) 00115 -6. https : / / linkinghub. elsevier. com / retrieve / pii / S0024630199001156.
Materials of the Liquid Modelling
  • Adrien Rigobello
  • Phil Ayres
  • Claudia Colmo
  • You-Wen Ji
Rigobello, Adrien, Phil Ayres, Claudia Colmo, and You-Wen Ji. 2021. "Materials of the Liquid Modelling Workshop 2020" (October 19, 2021) accessed October 20, 2021. https : / / doi. org / 10. 17605 / OSF. IO / 7ESNY. https : //osf.io/7esny/.