Urban Agents

+ Raphael Garcia, San Francisco Public Utilities Commission
+ Brad Leibin, Public Architecture
+ Nancy Levinson, Design Observer
+ Mark Miller, MK Think
+ Eric Rodenbeck, Stamen Design
+ Michel St. Pierre, EHDD

This program is co-presented by SPUR and CCA’s Urban Lab.

Click here to visit SPUR’s events page: http://www.spur.org/events/calendar/emerging-professional-design-practice

Mycotecture is an interesting, yet for now, made up word. It has recently been coined by Philip Ross, a mycologist/artist, which he defines as “the use of mushrooms in a building” (SFGate). Many other thinkers have tinkered with the ideas of using mycelium, the vegetative part of a fungus grown from mushrooms, as a product for the built environment. Shipping companies who’s jumped on the sustainable packaging train have started to use mycelium as a substitute for Styrofoam. Even Architects and designers have proposed using Mycelium as an architectural product such as wall insulation because of its inherent dense properties and its natural high tolerance to fire.

Although Phillip Ross is not the first to play with Mycelium, he is however, one of the first to grow furniture grown out of Mycelium. He’s been recently featured at an art gallery in San Francisco for his experimentation of growing furniture made out of Mycelium.

Mycelium can be easily grown and directions can be quickly found on the internet. There’s many methods but it could all be narrowed down to a few simple steps. Gather sterilized mushrooms and some sort of feeder (wood, paper, cardboard, etc…). Combine the mushroom and the feeder in a sealable container, add water and watch it grow, like a Chia Pet but less attractive.

                  Phillip Ross can be onto something very ingenious. It becomes far more interesting when you start thinking about how his work of growing furniture and how it can be applied to a real life situation within an office environment. Designers such as MKThink do many interior projects with many large innovative companies. Can we as designers/thinkers propose a Mycelium furniture system that can somehow tie into the growth of a company? As the company grows in size can they also sustainably grow their own furniture to accommodate for that change? According to Phillip Ross, the process is fairly simple and the amount of space needed is very minimal. 

Mycelium can have a very sustainable and cost effective life cycle. By growing mycelium in-house you can potentially save a large amount of energy used in harvesting, producing, and shipping, and as a result, save money. Since Mycelium is an organic material, the process of making and even disposing of this couild have a lower impact, if any, on the environment. Lastly, the life cycle of Mycelium wouldn’t have to end as a furniture product. Used Mycelium from offices can have a second and even third life serving other duties such as shipping foam or even as a product in a new building.

Another interesting idea to think about is how Mycelium grows and how it feeds. In Phillip Ross’s work, he uses saw dust to feed the mycelium. In a home-made video found online, this Mycelium enthusiast uses cardboard to help feed the Mycelium (Home-made Mycelium), others just use pieces of wood. There are many ways to feeding mycelium but when thinking about Mycelium within an office environment, one solution stands out. Offices print large amounts of documents daily in which a majority is thrown away. Can we somehow utilize unwanted documents to feed the Mycelium? We’ve seen companies use worms to eat through excess waste. Can we somehow use mycelium with a similar intent using shredded documents? 

The use of Mycelium as a furniture product is very provocative and like many other privative ideas will have those who will reject. Many great products we use today have gone through the harsh criticism by those who fear change but Mycelium can have the potential to withstand the beating. This think piece was not meant to introduce a product nor a design idea but is more to invigorate the minds of designers to think outside the box.

Architect

How can a physical space support teaching? Beyond that, can a more efficient classroom lead to greater student inspiration?

At MK Think, we have a lot of interest in how a building can function as a teaching tool – can we create spaces for collecting and collaborating?, Or, can we provide areas conducive to science experiments? In addition, we also consider how the functionality of a space, or the lack thereof, can affect the teaching process.

One of the greatest teaching assets that designers and architects can provide is simply the time that a teacher has with their students. When a space significantly lacks functionality, teaching time is interrupted while the teacher (or a proactive student) has to do things like adjust blinds, change light settings or fiddle with a thermostat. We always encourage people to make the necessary environmental adjustments to maximize comfort, as a method of making sure that learning is not inhibited. However, we should also be considering ways to minimize the time that users need to spend in making these adjustments, particularly when the user is a teacher and that time is class time.

Initially, we may think it trivial the amount of time that a teacher must allocate to adjusting the blinds or curtains. But doing some quick math, we can see that spending only three minutes a day (for three or four adjustments) can add up to 585 minutes, or almost 10 hours over the course of a (195-day) school year. This is the loss of more than an entire school day — from only one minor environmental adjustment that teachers have to make. (And before questioning the need to constantly combat glare by adjusting blinds and curtains, one should consider the ever-increasing use of computers and electronic tablets in schools.) However, a classroom that either has presets to make adjustments extremely easy and quick, or better yet, automates these adjustments to window treatments, temperature and lighting, can reclaim that time for teaching. 10 hours gained could mean a lot to a school district facing stricter spending and hiring. 10 hours gained could also add to the conversation for or against longer school years. And just think – how much learning, interaction, and hopefully inspiration could happen in the 10 hours gained?

Project Architect

At MKThink, one of our strengths is the ability to explore curricular opportunities in our buildings’ designs for our K-12 private education clients. We’re often asked what is our basis of design and what references do we use for our inspiration when we design a building as a teaching tool. As one might expect, there are too many inspirations to list, but a great place to start this focus is through the following online resources:

Sustainability Lesson Clearinghouse

URL: http://www.greeneducationfoundation.org/institute/lesson-clearinghouse.html

Description: A great repository of lesson plans categorized into four age groups and six areas of study. Many of the lessons include full descriptions on how to implement the lessons, talking points, reference materials, and worksheets

Construction and Trade Lesson Plans

URL: http://www.khake.com/page82.html

Description: A superb list of links to lesson plans involving buildings and construction. Although the site is not well maintained, the topics covered create a diverse resource of learning opportunities in the areas of carpentry, electricity, general science, plumbing, air conditioning, masonry, and metal fabrication.

National Clearinghouse for Education Facilities – BATT

URL: http://www.ncef.org/rl/teaching_tool.cfm

Description: Although the funding for this website was recently lost, the quality of the resource list is incredible.

NCEF – Outdoor Learning List

URL: http://www.ncef.org/rl/outdoor.cfm

Description: Although the funding for this website was recently lost, the quality of the resource list is incredible.

Green Schools Initiative

URL: http://www.greenschools.net/

Description: Resource for creating sustainable schools.

Project Learning Tree

URL: http://www.plt.org/

Description: “The Cornerstone for Environmental Education” has a fantastic list of Curricular materials of very high quality.

Engaging Places Teacher Resources

URL: http://www.engagingplaces.org.uk/teaching%20resources

Description: This UK based, environmentally focused, teacher resource is a beautiful and compelling location to start our quest to build a curriculum around your school. Engaging Places not only divide their teacher resources into eight distinct categories, but also offer specific lesson plans and activities to build from.

Sidwell Friends School

URL: http://www.engagingplaces.org.uk/teaching%20resources

Description: The Sidwell Friends School is an exemplary school that integrates environmental stewardship into their curriculum. As well as being a U.S. Department of Education Green Ribbon School, Sidwell Friends is a founding member of the Green Schools Alliance.