The Seasons in the City
Mycelium as Ecological Propaganda
Columbia University - 2022 Fall
Collaboration Project - Thomas Guan, Yang Fei
Instructor: David Benjamin
Site: New York (Time Square)
Aside from their ecological relevance, building materials wield considerable influence on public awareness and social culture. The notable publicity surrounding glass curtain walls in 20th-century high-rise structures directed public attention towards technology and development, consequently sparking a proliferation in the use of glass within such buildings.
Our endeavor involves re-imagining the façade of these glass buildings by employing mycelium and bamboo scaffolding. We aim to prominently feature environmental conservation messaging, highlighting the unique properties of mycelium as a living material, such as its short life cycle and biodegradability. Through this initiative, we seek to pave the way for innovative living paradigms and the evolution of urban landscapes conducive to human well-being.
Mycelium - A Negative Carbon Living Material
Mycelium is the root system of fungi which is a living material.
It plays the role of decomposer in nature, different strains can decompose different substrates, the main types of substrates are agricultural waste such as straw, rice bran and forestry waste such as wood chips. After the mycelium eats the substrate, the mycelium material has good heat insulation and fire resistance, and now it is used as heat insulation and sound absorbing wall panel, in the process of making mycelium model, we found the mycelium growth process is very fascinating texture change, we see the possibility of mycelium material is widely concern.
Carbon Emmision
I40% of the world's carbon emissions are caused by buildings. Taking Manhattan as an example, the international-style high-rise buildings that emerged after World War II are typical of energy-intensive buildings that rely heavily on HVAC systems. In 2019, New York City enacted local law97 to limit carbon emissions from high-rise buildings, with a goal of reducing carbon emissions by 80% by 2050 and fines for buildings that exceed the limit. Following this trend, we choose mycelium as the subject of this study, we experimented with these carbon-negative materials to see if its scaling up in buildings can mitigate or even reverse carbon emission figures.
Shading as Propaganda
The history of glass production led to the fact that the aesthetic quality of a material determines public consciousness which in turns highly influences the scaling up process. Our project is designed to be the start point of a new era to expand the ecological ideology through a new paradigm of the city appearance.
We chose Times Square as the starting point. In the context of Local Law 97, we can foresee a continuous renovation of high-rise buildings in Times Square. The renovation process will interrupt the normal operations of the building while generating significant carbon emissions and consuming labor, and after the high-rise is wrapped for a few months, it will be business as usual. We want to make a semi-permanent system with two low carbon materials, bamboo as a permanent scaffolding to reshape the exterior of the building, and mycelium as a seasonal shade on the façade periodically, the new system will redefine the renovation process.
Seasonal Shading to Reduce HVAC System
The collecting device was constructed following the original scaffolding structure. The bending quality of bamboo is fully considered to be the gathering container and the collecting tunnel. In Spring, the mycelium which serves as shading device in summer is installed with the window washing process. The tunnel act as protecting net for the construction process. When it comes to fall, the mycelium is dropped into the tunnel and the collecting device. And only bamboo structure remains in the winter. The whole process similar with leaves grow and fall is exposed to the public when people notice the seasonal change of façade.
