Growing Architecture: New material practices for the construction of living habitations in extreme environments.

The project will challenge traditional ideas of materials for construction by developing new grown biological composite materials in the context of the extreme environments of other planets. The project combines an experimental design-led approach, collaborating with both material and bio-scientists in the UK (Northumbria and Newcastle University) and in ther US (NASA) to experiment with selfreplicating, strong and lightweight mycelium-based biocomposite for construction of extra-terrestrial habitats. The project will prototyping these new materials and develop architectural scenarios which will question how we construct with the complexity of biological systems of use and how we may live in habitats which are, themselves, living.