Mycelium—the vegetative part of fungi—has gained traction as a biomass-to-biocomposite material technology. Feeding on tightly bound lignin and cellulose components of organic matter, mycelium generates resilient chitin-bound green building materials. In the deep past of material systems, fungal organisms have participated in hydrocarbon and carbohydrate material economies. Yet, only in the last two decades has contemporary design explored fungal technologies as a form of modern eco-manufacturing in service to the built environment.

This talk will focus on three architectural installations that explore mycelium eco-manufacturing at different scales: of the community kitchen, exhibition and domestic scale. Across all, opportunities for architects and designers to drive generative justice is explored.

Mae-ling Lokko is an architectural scientist, designer, educator and Assistant Professor at Yale University’s School of Architecture (YSoA) from Ghana and the Philippines who works with agro-waste and renewable biobased materials. Through her work, Lokko explores themes of “generative justice” through the development of new models of distributed production and collaboration. In her artistic and design practice, her work deconstructs historical narratives and practices of extraction through the design of new material vocabularies and the prototyping of participatory models of production.