Mycelium Debuts at Glastonbury
An installation at this year’s Glastonbury festival explored mycelium (the root system of mushrooms) as a building material for more sustainable stage design, replacing fossil-based counterparts like polystyrene foam, which the events industry is currently over-reliant on.
The Hayes Pavilion (located in the Silver Hayes field) was designed as a show space, meeting place and intriguing immersive experience for visitors. Consisting of a timber frame, it featured mycelium cladding from UK biomanufacturer Biohm and Dutch biotech company Grown Bio, finished in a colourful, agar-based bioplastic coating.
Thanks to mycelium’s environmental benefits – it’s biodegradable and compostable, can be produced with minimal energy and resources, and is cultivated with waste feedstocks – the pavilion boasted low-impact credentials and could be easily recycled after use. The use of reclaimed materials, including wood salvaged from a storm-felled tree and end-of-life tents for its canopy roof, also helped keep its carbon footprint as low as possible.
Mainstreaming Biomaterials for Eco-Conscious Spatial Design
Published 03 July 2023
Many fast-growing, regenerative and carbon-sequestering biomaterials (like hemp, mycelium and algae) offer viable solutions for achieving eco commitments within spatial design projects. Experimental concepts across retail and events are helping to mainstream these materials. Here, we spotlight two pioneering examples.
Mycelium Debuts at Glastonbury
An installation at this year’s Glastonbury festival explored mycelium (the root system of mushrooms) as a building material for more sustainable stage design, replacing fossil-based counterparts like polystyrene foam, which the events industry is currently over-reliant on.
The Hayes Pavilion (located in the Silver Hayes field) was designed as a show space, meeting place and intriguing immersive experience for visitors. Consisting of a timber frame, it featured mycelium cladding from UK biomanufacturer Biohm and Dutch biotech company Grown Bio, finished in a colourful, agar-based bioplastic coating.
Thanks to mycelium’s environmental benefits – it’s biodegradable and compostable, can be produced with minimal energy and resources, and is cultivated with waste feedstocks – the pavilion boasted low-impact credentials and could be easily recycled after use. The use of reclaimed materials, including wood salvaged from a storm-felled tree and end-of-life tents for its canopy roof, also helped keep its carbon footprint as low as possible.
The Hayes Pavilion at Glastonbury
Inside the Hayes Pavilion at Glastonbury
Big Beauty’s Natural & Waste-Based Shop-Fit
With a particular focus on natural materials and minimising and reviving waste, UK beauty retailer Big Beauty’s first London-based store has been fitted out with a radical palette of striking biomaterials.
Plinths and tables grown from mycelium sit alongside expanded cork storage units, while seaweed biotextile curtains, coloured with reishi mushroom and clay pigments, hang in the windows.
Big Beauty’s Natural & Waste-Based Shop-Fit
With a particular focus on natural materials and minimising and reviving waste, UK beauty retailer Big Beauty’s first London-based store has been fitted out with a radical palette of striking biomaterials.
Plinths and tables grown from mycelium sit alongside expanded cork storage units, while seaweed biotextile curtains, coloured with reishi mushroom and clay pigments, hang in the windows.
Big Beauty, London
Seaweed biotextile at Big Beauty
Mycelium plinth
Natural and recycled waste materials at Big Beauty
 Seaweed biotextile at Big Beauty |  Mycelium plinth |  Natural and recycled waste materials at Big Beauty |