Cultivating Architecture
Nature’s Place Within the Built Environment

The project reflects on the relationship between Man and Nature by blurring the boundary between the two ecosystems. In the process attempting to explore the potential importance of biological products as a resource for the construction industry through the use of mycelium.

As the vegetation grows and interweaves itself within architectural detailing, the division between the built and natural environments become harder to differentiate. As Ivy grows into cracks in the walls and mycelium bonds to structural elements for support, the way in which space is inhabited and experienced drastically shifts, evolving its function within the community accordingly as it does so.

The scheme reacts against the conventional architectural notion of top-down design, whereby appearance is predetermined and then built. Instead, in this case the final form builds over time becoming directly rooted to the environment it sits within and delivering a sense of organised chaos to the process.

The project seeks to redefine urban farming systems, where organic materials are directly routed in the formation of the final structure. Tethering a link between the cityscape and the manufacturing of local food sources through the creation of a rooted market space within the community of Rye.