This technology is a leap into the future. The production of MYCO-ALGA tiles by bioMATTERS barely resembles traditional building-materials manufacturing.
The tiles are designed digitally and printed on 3D printers. They grow them from organic waste, mushroom mycelium, and algae, then enrich them with biopigments.
The developers guarantee the final product is 100% biodegradable because the tiles are made from living cells and recycled natural waste.
The MYCO-ALGA tile joins a growing portfolio of bio-digital products from startups, including building materials and textiles. The inventors see these items as alternatives to conventional materials whose production may be called into question in an era of global warming.
How tiles are modeled, printed, and grown
Using computational algorithms, the company’s designers create digital tile models and print them on a 3D printer. The tiles are then grown and enriched with biopigments that give them natural shades.
Look closely at the multi-stage cycle and you’ll first notice bioMATTERS’ process for turning household and industrial waste into substrate. They crush the waste into a paste-like substrate that serves as the basis for mycelium growth — the fungal network that looks like a tangle of threads. They inoculate the paste with mycelium and print it on a 3D printer into individual shapes. Over about two weeks in a controlled climate, the mycelium grows and acts as a natural adhesive, permeating and bonding the material until it covers the entire surface.
To stop further growth, specialists place the tiles in convection ovens. Drying and dehydration produce a hard, durable, and lightweight material.
The final stage involves decorating the products with algal and mycelial biopigments in gel form. The gels are 3D-printed onto each tile, Designboom reported.
Thanks to the mycelium’s creamy color and the algae’s light green hue, the finished biocomposite tiles look beautiful in interiors. The material has a soft, velvety texture. Each tile is unique because of endless pattern variations. The tiles also absorb sound well.
The bioMATTERS team
The research and design studio, founded in 2018, modestly calls its work “bio-digital craftsmanship.” Its mission is to produce goods using innovative methods as natural resources dwindle.
The startup was founded by architect Nancy Diniz, who researches the intersection of biological systems and computational design, and Frank Melendez, an architectural designer and researcher.
In their studio-laboratory, they work with living cells from mycelium, lichens, bacteria, and algae. They developed methods and protocols to reproduce these cells, colonize substrates, and scale production across various biocomposite materials.
The team highlights its experience developing bio-digital products, 3D printing, and robotic bio-manufacturing with minimal waste. They see their work as highly relevant given shrinking natural resources and the climate crisis.
