It looks like an illustration from a Dr Seuss book, but the circular tower made of leftover cornhusks and fungus strings in the courtyard of the Museum of Modern Art’s P.S.1 building in Queens is as practical as it is whimsical.
As part of MoMA’s Young Architects program, Brooklyn firm The Living designed the outdoor structure, called Hy-Fi, which showcases an unusual biotechnology. The bricks at the bottom of the structure were “grown” from old cornhusks and mycelium, which is the stringy part of a fungus capable of growing quickly. The results are beautiful.
To make the bricks, they use a method pioneered by design company Evocative, putting the husks and the fungus in a brick mould until the fungus grows itself into a solid building block.
After it ends, the building will get taken down with very little waste, since the bricks are biodegradable. The exhibit runs through September 7. [MoMA]