– Cleveland-based design studio “Redhouse Architecture” collaborating with NASA has found a mushroom house on Mars where you can live, Euronews recently reported.

The project has been developed by American architects for eight years… And it all started with a simple and mundane beginning. City planners from the state of Ohio drew attention to a process called the “biocycle,” which involves converting construction waste into cellulose and mixing it with mycelium (mycelium), the vegetable part of the fungus. So, a new format for demolishing abandoned buildings, combining the waste with fungal mycelium and then using it to build new biodegradable structures.

Almost five years ago, Christopher Maurer, founder of Redhouse Architecture, claimed that his studio’s research for mycelium was the answer to Cleveland’s housing crisis with an abnormally high number of abandoned buildings:

– We will try to recycle and use the garbage instead of destroying abandoned neighborhoods and taking hazardous materials to landfills and polluting the environment. Our ultimate goal is to transform homes into new ones. That is, there will be an overhaul of all structures.

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Such a bold project, of course, developed gradually. Soon portable equipment appeared – a “biorecycler” (biorecycler), which can be easily delivered to the demolition sites of old buildings to implement the process of “biocyclism”.

The next step was Christopher Maurer’s belief, and subsequent confidence, that the latest technology would expand the possibilities for a broader view of construction in a “do it yourself” aesthetic. Thanks to the open “Redhouse Architecture”, “biocyclism” can be taught directly to communities themselves to apply this technology locally:

– Some of the modern manufacturers develop around mycommaterials (mycoterials; fibers formed by certain bacteria from the vegetative parts of fungi). OR.). This is something each of us can really do on our own, since the proposed processes are ready. Because of its simplicity and low cost, our “biocyclism” will be particularly beneficial for communities in developing countries, where large tariffs on imports of building materials hinder the development of modern construction.

Given the post-war reconstruction of Ukraine with a large number of destroyed or dilapidated buildings across the country, this type of “biocyclism” can also be studied by domestic experts.

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Over time, the Cleveland studio idea of ​​”Redhouse Architecture” matured and crystallized into the slogan “Your next home can be built from corks.” Now we are talking about the dwelling, which is a mixture of algae and mycelium, an underground network of binding fibers of fungi, which acts as a glue to bind the biomass. In the opinion of the Ohio architects, at the exit we get a material stronger than concrete, which, among other things, effectively prevents the penetration of radiation. And also – from it you can “grow” large buildings.

Therefore, a cargo ship with a mixture of dried biomass and dormant mycelium is planned to arrive on the Red Planet first. The robot will then dilute it with carbon dioxide, nitrogen and water extracted from Mars.

The media writes that the prototype of the mushroom house passed the first stage of tests by NASA.

Currently, experts from the “Redhouse Architecture” bureau are developing a design suitable for this. In the future, a 15×15 cm model of the pilot structure will first be sent to the Moon, where additional tests will be conducted.

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It is unknown how long it lasted – several decades (breath) – will pass before the first mushroom house in the world appears. But today the company “Ecovative” sells materials that will allow you to grow your own mycelium in any form. So it’s possible that on the horizon of a few decades, mushrooms could change this world.

Oleksandr Rudyachenko