When sustainability stops being a concept and becomes a mental image

If someone had told me that the vegetative structure of a fungus could remind me why I chose architecture, I would probably have frowned in disbelief. But that’s exactly what happened.

I recently watched a video on UGREEN’s YouTube channel that, in just over 10 minutes, listed sustainable architectural innovations that seem to have come from an imagined future, but are already here.

From recycled plastics that become bricks that are seven times stronger than concrete, to 3D printing made with local clay, everything there caught my attention. But one specific material captured me in a different way: mycelium.

Photo: divulgation/Inhabitat

The first time I heard about it wasn't just now. It was in the documentary The Future, on Netflix, in an episode dedicated to sustainability in civil construction. There, mycelium appeared as a supporting character: interesting, curious, almost experimental.

But in the UGREEN video it appeared in a larger proportion. A living organism, cultivated from the vegetative structure of a fungus, capable of capturing CO2, growing molded into specific shapes and biodegrading naturally after use.

And what's more: resistant enough to replace synthetic materials, versatile enough to become an acoustic panel, packaging or temporary structure.

MycoHab has built the world’s first structure made of mycelium-based bricks. | StyloUrbano

A material that lives, breathes and transforms.

I stood there, reflecting and wondering: why do we still build so far from the earth, if the earth itself offers us such brilliant solutions?

Architecture has always fascinated me as a function and aesthetic. But seeing solutions like mycelium, graphene concrete, and compressed hemp, reinforces in me the fact that it is also about responsibility, choice and the future.

It is not just about shapes or functionality. It's about what we leave, what we occupy, what we give back.

I finished the video with that good feeling of when something awakens more than curiosity: it awakens an internal movement. An almost childlike enchantment, mixed with a very adult awareness. As if there were a whispered invitation there: "pay attention, this is the beginning of something".

Maybe it is the beginning of a new way of thinking about design. Or maybe it is just another seed planted by someone who walks with an open mind.

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If you want to watch this video too, I've left it right below.

Who knows, maybe he'll plant something in you too?