To translate the resulting bio-computational data into matter, the wood-based material system has been investigated in a series of large-scale 3D printing experiments. By recycling wood sawdust, the process reduces waste and methane pollution from timber industries, aiming to utilize materials already within the industrial cycle. Rather than contributing to the expansion of new industrial plantations and their harvest, the project seeks to create a metabolic cycle that transforms what is typically considered pollution or waste into valuable nutrients and raw materials.
Different material systems have been tested for the development of a synthetic prototype. The first experiment was conducted using a wood-based filament containing 40% wood powder and 60% recycled PLA plastic.
The second experiment focused on developing a water-based material system using recycled wood powder collected from local industry waste and chitosan as the main ingredients of the printing paste. The selection of wooden material is related to the species under study. A custom-made end-effector has been designed to control the deposition of the wooden paste. The fabrication workflow is designed with material parameters to calculate the relationship between material viscosity, extrusion pressure, and deposition rate.
Next experiments explore the possibility of fungal mycelium becoming the structural and performative layer of the wooden design element. During the fabrication of the wooden paste, pink oyster (Pleurotus djamor) mycelium spores with additional nutrition ingredients are planted into the structure. Sprouting through the walls of the sculptures, the mycelium compacts the wood structure with its nets and creates its own micro-environment. Fungal body is a living entity inhabiting the structure which plays role in metabolism of the system, increasing the carbon capturing capability of the synthetic material, as well as working as a structural system.
This synthetic materiality remembers the tactility and scent of living matter, integrating them into a new form and relationship. The bio-printed elements are fully organic and biodegradable, capable of storing and re-metabolising carbon within their form and eventually serving as nutrients for new living species through biodegradation and creating a metabolic system in architecture after the natural ecosystem.