VICE

The House That Spores Built

“Phil Ross may have discovered the building material of the future. It’s sturdy, resilient, and environmentally sustainable—practically inexhaustible, in fact. It can withstand everything from extreme temperature to a hail of bullets, and once it’s no longer useful, it can be easily composted.

There’s only one problem: Some people might not be ready to live in houses built from fungus.

Ross has been experimenting with fungi in his art practice for almost two decades. By introducing mushroom tissue into molds filled with pasteurized sawdust and allowing the fungus to digest the material, he’s built fungal sculptures that have been exhibited in art galleries and museums around the world. He’s grown mushroom side-tables and lounge chairs. But it wasn’t until he built a small teahouse from Reishi mushroom bricks at the Kunsthalle Düsseldorf—and then boiled the bricks themselves into tea for gallery visitors to drink—that he realized this material might have life beyond the museum walls.”

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