Skipping way past meat substitutes these “sausages” could be the next step in zero waste building materials.

Via Dezeen:

Brunel University student Aleksi Vesaluoma has developed a technique for using mushroom mycelium as an environmentally friendly construction material.

Vesaluoma worked alongside architecture firm Astudio to create the Grown Structures series using mycelium, the vegetative part of a mushroom fungus.

Vesaluoma, a student at London’s Brunel University, developed a technique where the mycelium material is mixed with cardboard before being moulded into what he calls “mushroom sausages” using a tube-shaped cotton bandage.

The long sausages are then placed over a mould and left to grow over a four-week period inside a ventilated greenhouse.

According to Vesaluoma, the resulting structure is “bound together like glue”, and could provide an environmentally friendly alternative to more commonly used construction methods and materials.

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