Mycelium is fast-growing and can be cultivated in industrial bioreactors.
The material can feed on low-grade agricultural waste and sequesters carbon stored in the biomass as it grows. Mycelium is the vegetative part of a fungus, made up of masses of branching, threaded shoots called hyphae that grow in soil. An example of hemp used in buildings is Flat House in Cambridge (pictured), which was constructed using hempcrete panels. This is formed from the woody inner part of the plant's stem, which is mixed with lime, water and sand to create a material that offers excellent thermal and acoustic insulation while acting as a carbon sink. Mexico City design studio ATRA has used hemp-based fabric to upholster a sofa, while architecturally the hemp is most often processed into hempcrete. The plant's strong, stiff fibres can be processed into a variety of commercial goods including paper, textiles, bio-plastic, food and bio-fuel as well as industrial and construction products.
Hemp grows extremely quickly and is "more effective than trees" at sequestering carbon, according to Cambridge University researcher Darshil Shah. Unlike marijuana, it has very low levels of psychoactive THC. Hemp is a type of cannabis plant that is grown for medicinal and industrial use. Read on to find out more about the most popular types of biomaterials and how they can be put to use. With the recent focus on embodied carbon emissions, biomaterials are a "really exciting space", agreed Arup researcher and innovation leader Jan Wurm. Plant matter including algae, timber and hemp capture carbon from the atmosphere and transform it into biomass via photosynthesis. Sequestering carbon is an important way to tackle climate change. Read: Ten texture-heavy restaurant interiors filled with natural materialsĪrchitects could "definitely" construct buildings completely out of biomaterials according to Biobased Creations CEO Lucas De Man, who told Dezeen that timber, hemp and mycelium could replace non-renewable materials like steel, plasterboard and cement.