Week 11–12 (Part1): Fungi

Dom and I were appointed to project manage the pavilion and design something that would be aesthetically pleasing, is simple enough in form for fabrication and has valid reasoning for form.

We started brainstorming about stress relief and what can decrease stress levels. We know from earlier studies looked at, that nature is a highly effective way to reduce stress and so we wanted to take inspiration from an organism within nature for the pavilion. After brain storming with the class we decided upon a mushroom or fungi form. This was due to the fact that fungi already shelter the ground beneath them, their form naturally would allow for people to walk around underneath the “cap”. The gills which form underneath the cap also are slightly translucent which would create a soft ambient light inside.

We wanted to look at one particular species of fungi so that we could narrow down what to take inspiration from. During a workshop with the fab team I came across the Lactarius Fungi. This species of fungi is stunningly beautiful in its simplicity. The gills are thing and elegant and they create depth and dimension to the form from underneath. The gills of this type of fungi are also always parallel to gravity which is something I thought we could incorporate into our design.

Another interesting biological characteristic of this type of fungi is that it excretes milk or latex when it is cut or bruised. This linked perfectly to the material we were using.