# From Extraction to Cultivation: Why the Paradigm of ‘Growing’ Infrastructure is a Visionary Leap for Humanity

- Link: https://jarlhalla.com/from-extraction-to-cultivation-why-the-paradigm-of-growing-infrastructure-is-a-visionary-leap-for-humanity/
- Published: 2026-06-17T22:37:27+02:00
- Author: knoksen

**Abstract** The prevailing paradigm of human construction has, for centuries, relied
upon the extraction, refinement, and assembly of finite resources. This linear model—
rooted in the intensive consumption of timber, stone, steel, and concrete—has exacted
an unprecedented toll on the global biosphere, contributing to severe ecological
degradation and accelerating anthropogenic climate change. In response to these 
escalating crises, a revolutionary alternative has emerged at the intersection of
architecture, biology, and material science: the concept of “growing” infrastructure.
By harnessing the biological processes of living organisms, particularly the sophisticated
networks of fungal mycelium, designers and engineers are pioneering a regenerative
approach to the built environment. This article comprehensively explores why the
paradigm of growing infrastructure is profoundly visionary. It traces the historical
evolution of biomimetic architecture, analyzes the current environmental imperatives
driving this shift, examines the practical applications of mycelium-based materials,
and anticipates the future implications of a world where buildings are cultivated
rather than constructed. Through an exploration of natural structural intelligence,
negative carbon footprints, zero-waste circularity, and high-level material performance,
this paper demonstrates that bio-fabrication is not merely a sustainable alternative,
but a necessary evolution in human habitation.

### Introduction: The Philosophical Shift from Homo Faber to Homo Cultor

Since the dawn of the Industrial Revolution, the human relationship with the natural
world has been predominantly antagonistic and extractive. Humanity has operated 
under the philosophical banner of _homo faber_—man the maker—viewing the Earth as
a static repository of raw materials waiting to be excavated, smelted, cast, and
assembled. This methodology has yielded magnificent metropolises and unparalleled
technological progress, but it has done so at a staggering ecological cost. The 
modern built environment is largely static, inorganic, and deeply reliant on carbon-
intensive processes. Concrete and steel, the foundational pillars of contemporary
infrastructure, are emblematic of this era: they are strong and durable, yet their
creation involves the violent disruption of ecosystems and the release of immense
quantities of greenhouse gases.

However, an intellectual and technological renaissance is currently underway, challenging
the fundamental tenets of traditional construction. What if, instead of extracting
materials from the earth, we collaborated with nature to cultivate them? What if
infrastructure could be grown, adopting the self-assembling, self-healing, and adaptive
properties of biological organisms? This visionary concept represents a paradigm
shift from ‘making’ to ‘growing,’ effectively transitioning humanity’s role from
_homo faber_ to a form of _homo cultor_—man the cultivator.

At the vanguard of this movement is the application of mycelial biomimicry. Mycelium,
the vegetative root structure of fungi, forms vast, subterranean networks that act
as the ecological connective tissue of forests. By manipulating the environmental
conditions and substrates upon which mycelium feeds, bio-engineers can guide these
microscopic fungal threads to bind agricultural waste into robust, highly functional
miko-materials (mycelium-based materials). This process fundamentally subverts the
traditional supply chain. It replaces extraction with biological growth, energy-
intensive manufacturing with natural metabolic processes, and terminal waste with
biodegradable nutrients.

This article aims to dissect the visionary nature of this paradigm shift. By tracing
its historical roots, contextualizing its urgent modern relevance, detailing its
practical real-world applications, and forecasting its extraordinary future potential,
we will illuminate why growing infrastructure is not just an architectural novelty,
but a critical survival strategy for the Anthropocene.

### Part I: Historical Context: The Evolution of ‘Growing’ Infrastructure

To understand the revolutionary nature of bio-fabricated infrastructure, one must
first trace the historical trajectory of humanity’s relationship with building materials
and the slow awakening to biological integration in architecture.

#### The Era of Extractive Architecture

For millennia, architectural innovation was constrained by the physical properties
of naturally available materials—stone, mud, and timber. While these materials were
technically “natural,” their acquisition was inherently extractive. The Roman invention
of _opus caementicium_ (Roman concrete) marked a pivotal milestone, allowing for
the construction of unparalleled monolithic structures like the Pantheon. However,
it was the 19th-century advent of Portland cement and the Bessemer process for mass-
producing steel that truly catalyzed the modern built environment. These materials
decoupled architecture from local ecologies. A skyscraper in New York could be built
identically to one in Tokyo or Dubai, ignoring the climatic and biological realities
of the specific site. This era championed the “machine aesthetic,” celebrating human
dominance over nature through rigid geometries and sterile, inorganic surfaces.

#### The Seeds of Organic Architecture and Biomimicry

Despite the dominance of industrial materials, a counter-narrative steadily evolved.
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, architects like Louis Sullivan and Frank
Lloyd Wright championed “Organic Architecture.” Wright famously posited that a building
should appear to grow naturally from its site. Similarly, the Catalan architect 
Antoni Gaudi looked to the structural intelligence of nature, modeling the columns
of the Sagrada Familia after tree trunks and using catenary arches derived from 
natural gravitational forces. However, these early movements were primarily metaphorical
and morphological; they _mimicked_ the shape of nature but were still built using
traditional, extractive materials.

The true theoretical foundation for “growing” infrastructure was laid in the latter
half of the 20th century with the formalization of “Biomimicry.” Popularized by 
biologist Janine Benyus in her seminal 1997 book, _Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired
by Nature_, the concept urged designers to view nature not just as a model for aesthetics,
but as a measure and a mentor for solving complex human problems. Benyus argued 
that after 3.8 billion years of evolutionary research and development, biological
systems had already solved the problems of energy efficiency, structural integrity,
and waste management.

#### The Dawn of Bio-Fabrication and Mycelial Architecture

The leap from biomimetics (copying nature’s forms) to bio-fabrication (utilizing
living organisms as manufacturing agents) occurred at the turn of the 21st century.
The pivotal moment for mycelium-based infrastructure began in the early 2000s, spearheaded
by innovators like Philip Ross, an artist and inventor who began experimenting with
Ganoderma lucidum (Reishi mushrooms) to grow sculptural forms. Ross discovered that
when the fungus was fed agricultural waste like sawdust or hemp hurds, its hyphae(
microscopic branching filaments) would digest the cellulose and lignin, binding 
the loose substrate into an incredibly dense, resilient composite material.

Ross’s artistic experiments quickly revealed profound engineering potential. By 
2007, the company Ecovative Design was founded by Eben Bayer and Gavin McIntyre,
transitioning mycelium composites from the art studio to commercial viability. Initially
focusing on replacing polystyrene packaging, the focus rapidly expanded to the built
environment. Over the next two decades, the concept of miko-architecture evolved
from speculative academic papers into structural pavilions, acoustic panels, and
viable insulation alternatives, establishing “grown” infrastructure as a tangible,
historical reality rather than science fiction.

### Part II: Current Relevance: The Imperative for Regenerative Architecture

The visionary nature of growing infrastructure cannot be fully appreciated without
understanding the dire environmental context of the present day. We exist in a critical
bottleneck of human history where the continuous expansion of the global population
requires vast amounts of new housing and infrastructure, yet the ecological carrying
capacity of the planet is already stretched past its breaking point.

#### The Statistical Reality of Modern Construction

According to reports from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the
Global Alliance for Buildings and Construction, the built environment is responsible
for nearly 40% of global energy-related carbon emissions. Of this, a massive portion
is attributed to “embodied carbon”—the emissions generated from the extraction, 
manufacturing, transportation, and assembly of building materials.

Cement production alone is responsible for approximately 8% of global anthropogenic
carbon dioxide emissions. The chemical process of calcination, which involves heating
limestone to extreme temperatures to create clinker, inherently releases CO2 as 
a byproduct, independent of the fossil fuels burned to heat the kilns. Steel production
adds another 7-9% to the global total. Furthermore, the construction industry is
the largest consumer of raw materials globally and generates a staggering amount
of solid waste, much of which ends up in landfills. The traditional “take-make-dispose”
linear economic model is mathematically unsustainable.

#### From Sustainability to Regeneration

For years, the architectural response to this crisis has been “sustainable design,”
which typically focuses on minimizing harm—making buildings slightly more energy-
efficient or using a percentage of recycled materials. However, sustainability is
no longer sufficient; simply doing _less damage_ will not reverse the accumulation
of atmospheric carbon or restore depleted ecosystems.

This is why the paradigm of growing infrastructure is profoundly relevant today:
it shifts the goalpost from _sustainable_ to _regenerative_. Regenerative design
posits that human infrastructure should function like a forest, actively healing
the environment, purifying the air, and generating ecological wealth. Mycelium-based
materials perfectly encapsulate this regenerative ethos through four key mechanisms:
Natural Structural Intelligence, Negative Carbon Footprints, Zero-Waste Circularity,
and High-Level Material Performance.

#### 1. Natural Structural Intelligence

Mycelium networks exhibit an astonishing degree of biological computation and spatial
awareness. Operating analogously to a natural neural network, mycelium expands outward
in search of nutrients, dynamically re-routing its hyphal threads to optimize resource
distribution. When scientists have placed mycelium or slime molds in environments
mimicking urban landscapes (such as placing nutrients at the locations of major 
cities on a map of the Tokyo region), the biological networks rapidly form pathways
that almost perfectly mirror, and sometimes improve upon, the efficiency of human-
engineered subway and highway systems.

By co-opting this natural structural intelligence, we can grow materials that self-
assemble into highly optimized microscopic geometries. In mycelium biocomposites,
the millions of microscopic hyphae act as a three-dimensional biological binder.
They interweave and fuse at a cellular level, creating an isotropic material (a 
material possessing the same physical properties in all directions). This biological
self-assembly requires no external energy input for mixing or pressing; the organism’s
innate biological drive does the engineering work, resulting in structures that 
distribute loads with incredible natural efficiency.

#### 2. Negative Carbon Footprint

Perhaps the most urgent advantage of mycelium infrastructure is its status as a 
carbon-negative material. Plants and agricultural crops draw down carbon dioxide
from the atmosphere during photosynthesis, storing the carbon in their cellular 
structures (cellulose and lignin). When these crops are harvested, the stalks, husks,
and organic waste are often burned or left to rot, releasing that carbon back into
the atmosphere.

Bio-fabrication interrupts this cycle. By taking agricultural byproducts (like corn
stover, hemp shiv, or sawdust) and inoculating them with fungal spores, the mycelium
digests the material, locking the atmospheric carbon into a stable, durable physical
matrix made of chitin (the same resilient biopolymer found in crab shells). Furthermore,
the growth process occurs at room temperature, in the dark, requiring negligible
energy, water, or light. Consequently, for every ton of mycelium-based material 
grown, more carbon is sequestered within the material than is emitted during its
production. In a world desperately seeking active carbon sinks, transforming our
buildings into literal carbon vaults is a visionary leap.

#### 3. Zero-Waste Circularity

The end-of-life phase of traditional building materials is an ecological nightmare.
Concrete, fiberglass insulation, and synthetic polymers take centuries to degrade,
clogging landfills and leaching toxic chemicals. Mycelium materials, conversely,
embody perfect zero-waste circularity.

Because they are composed entirely of organic matter (agricultural waste bound by
fungal tissue), these materials are 100% biodegradable. When a mycelium structure
reaches the end of its functional life, it can be broken down and composted. If 
exposed to the right conditions of soil moisture, active microbial life, and soil
enzymes, the material will decompose in a matter of weeks, returning essential nutrients
like nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorus back to the earth. This perfectly mirrors
the natural biological cycle, where the death and decay of one organism form the
foundation for the growth of another.

#### 4. High-Level Material Performance

A common misconception regarding bio-materials is that ecological benefits must 
come at the expense of performance. However, intense research and development have
proven that mycelium composites offer exceptional, high-level material performance
that often rivals or exceeds synthetic counterparts.

 * **Acoustic and Thermal Insulation:** The cellular structure of mycelium composites
   is highly porous, trapping microscopic pockets of air. This makes it an extraordinary
   thermal insulator, performing comparably to extruded polystyrene (EPS) foam or
   fiberglass. Similarly, the porous, irregular surface geometry naturally absorbs
   sound waves, making it an elite acoustic dampening material.
 * **Fire Resistance:** Unlike petroleum-based foams that melt, drip, and release
   highly toxic fumes when exposed to flame, mycelium contains high levels of silica
   and chitin. When exposed to fire, mycelium materials char on the outside, creating
   a protective thermal barrier that prevents the interior from combusting. They
   achieve Class A fire ratings naturally, without the need for toxic, endocrine-
   disrupting chemical flame retardants.
 * **Strength-to-Weight Ratio:** While not yet a replacement for structural steel
   in load-bearing tension, mycelium composites exhibit excellent compressive strength
   relative to their astonishingly light weight. By altering the substrate density,
   fungal strain, and growth parameters, engineers can tune the material to be as
   soft as a sponge or as hard as a medium-density fiberboard (MDF).

### Part III: Practical Applications: ‘Growing’ the Built Environment

The transition from theoretical biology to applied architecture is already underway.
Architects, designers, and material scientists are proving the viability of the “
growing” paradigm through highly successful real-world applications, ranging from
experimental pavilions to commercially available interior finishing products.

#### Case Study 1: The MoMA PS1 Hy-Fi Pavilion (New York)

One of the most iconic demonstrations of mycelium architecture occurred in 2014,
when the architectural firm The Living, led by David Benjamin, won the prestigious
MoMA PS1 Young Architects Program. Their winning entry, “Hy-Fi,” was a towering,
complex pavilion constructed entirely from 10,000 mycelium bricks.

The creation of the Hy-Fi tower demonstrated the scalability of bio-fabrication.
The Living partnered with Ecovative Design to produce the bricks. The process began
with agricultural waste (corn stalks) collected from local farms. The waste was 
chopped, sterilized, and inoculated with mycelium inside custom-designed brick molds.
Over five days, the fungal network grew, consuming the corn stalks and binding them
into solid bricks. To halt the growth and ensure structural stability, the bricks
were briefly heated, rendering the fungus inert.

The resulting structure was a 40-foot-tall, organic tower that cast cooling shade
and demonstrated exceptional compressive strength. When the exhibition ended after
three months, the pavilion was not demolished and sent to a landfill. Instead, the
10,000 bricks were disassembled, ground up, and composted, providing nutrient-rich
fertilizer for community gardens in Queens, New York. The Hy-Fi pavilion proved 
unequivocally that high-impact, structurally sound architecture could be grown with
near-zero embodied energy and leave zero trace upon its decommission.

#### Case Study 2: Commercial Acoustic and Interior Architecture (Mogu)

While experimental pavilions generate necessary public awareness, the true test 
of a new paradigm is commercial viability and everyday integration. European companies
like Mogu have successfully commercialized mycelium technology for interior architecture.
Mogu cultivates specific strains of mycelium to create highly aesthetic, high-performance
acoustic wall panels and resilient floor tiles.

Mogu’s process highlights the aesthetic versatility of miko-materials. By controlling
the growth environment—manipulating light, humidity, and airflow—they can alter 
the texture and color of the resulting mycelium, creating finishes that resemble
suede, velvet, or natural stone. These panels are currently installed in offices,
restaurants, and residential spaces across Europe, proving that “grown” materials
can meet the rigorous aesthetic and functional demands of modern interior design
while actively purifying indoor air by avoiding the volatile organic compounds (
VOCs) typically off-gassed by synthetic paints and glues.

#### Case Study 3: Mycelium Insulation and the Building Envelope

Beyond aesthetics, the most impactful practical application lies in the hidden layers
of our buildings: insulation. The building envelope is crucial for energy efficiency,
yet traditional insulation materials (polyurethane foams, fiberglass) are deeply
unsustainable and often hazardous to human health.

Companies across the globe are now manufacturing bio-based insulation panels grown
from fungal networks. These panels are grown directly into custom dimensions, eliminating
the waste generated by cutting standard sheets on construction sites. In practice,
mycelium insulation exhibits remarkable dimensional stability; it does not sag or
settle over time like fiberglass, ensuring consistent thermal resistance. Furthermore,
its inherent vapor-permeability allows buildings to “breathe,” naturally regulating
indoor humidity and preventing the buildup of toxic black mold within wall cavities—
an ironic but profound benefit of using a controlled fungus to prevent harmful fungi.

#### Integrating with Other Bio-Materials: The Bio-Build Approach

Mycelium is not operating in a vacuum; it is part of a broader ecosystem of bio-
fabrication. Engineering firms like Arup have experimented with “Bio-Build” systems,
where mycelium composites are integrated with bio-polymers and natural fibers (like
flax or jute) to create entirely bio-based structural panels. In other applications,
mycelium forms the core of sandwich panels, surrounded by sustainable timber veneers,
providing structural rigidity, lightness, and insulation simultaneously. This integrated
approach demonstrates how the “growing” paradigm can eventually replace the entire
synthetic supply chain of a building.

### Part IV: Future Implications: Scaling the Vision

As we look toward the horizon of the mid-21st century and beyond, the implications
of growing infrastructure expand from the radical to the truly transformative. The
convergence of synthetic biology, advanced robotics, and computational design is
set to push mycelial biomimicry into uncharted territories, addressing current limitations
and unlocking capabilities that currently sound like science fiction.

#### Overcoming Current Challenges

Despite its immense potential, the widespread adoption of mycelium infrastructure
faces significant hurdles that future research must overcome. Chief among these 
is standardization and building codes. The modern construction industry relies on
absolute uniformity—a steel I-beam must have exactly identical properties regardless
of where it is produced. Biological processes, however, possess inherent variability.
Standardizing the compressive strength, moisture resistance, and longevity of a 
material that _grows_ is incredibly complex. Current research is heavily focused
on developing rigorous ASTM (American Society for Testing and Materials) standards
for biocomposites to allow them to be legally integrated into municipal building
codes for load-bearing applications.

Moisture vulnerability is another challenge. While dead mycelium is highly durable,
prolonged exposure to heavy liquid water can cause the organic substrate to begin
rotting, just as wood does. Future advancements are focusing on natural, bio-based
sealants (like plant waxes or bio-resins) and genetic modifications to the fungal
strains to increase their natural hydrophobicity, allowing miko-materials to be 
used on exterior facades in wet climates.

#### Living Architecture and Self-Healing Structures

Currently, almost all commercial mycelium materials are “baked” at the end of their
growth cycle to kill the organism and stabilize the material. However, the most 
visionary future implication is the development of _living_ architecture.

Researchers in bio-computing and advanced material science, such as the teams at
the Unconventional Computing Laboratory in the UK, are exploring ways to keep the
fungal networks dormant but alive within the walls of a building. By genetically
engineering the mycelium or utilizing specific dormant strains, infrastructure could
become truly sentient. If a living mycelium wall were to crack due to a micro-earthquake,
the sudden exposure to air and ambient moisture could trigger the dormant fungal
spores to re-awaken, grow into the fissure, and literally _heal_ the crack, before
returning to a dormant state. This self-healing capability would drastically extend
the lifespan of infrastructure and drastically reduce maintenance costs.

Furthermore, living fungal networks exhibit complex electrical signaling that mirrors
the action potentials in human neurons. Scientists are actively researching how 
to harness these electrical impulses to turn the mycelium network into a vast, biological
sensor array. A living building could conceptually “feel” changes in temperature,
structural stress, or the presence of toxic chemicals, signaling building management
systems to respond accordingly. The building would cease to be a passive shelter
and become an active, living participant in its own maintenance.

#### Additive Manufacturing: 3D Printing with Bio-Inks

The integration of 3D printing with bio-fabrication represents another massive leap
forward. Instead of packing substrate into static molds, researchers are developing“
bio-inks” composed of a nutrient-rich hydrogel infused with fungal spores and agricultural
micro-fibers. Using large-scale robotic arms, these bio-inks can be extruded into
incredibly complex, organically inspired geometries that would be impossible to 
mold. Once printed, the structure is left in a controlled environment where the 
mycelium grows through the printed lattice, solidifying the structure. This fusion
of digital parametric design and biological growth allows for unprecedented customization,
minimizing material usage while maximizing structural strength based on exact localized
load requirements.

#### Interplanetary Infrastructure: Myco-Architecture on Mars

Perhaps the ultimate testament to the visionary nature of growing infrastructure
is its application beyond Earth. The traditional construction paradigm is impossible
for space exploration; launching heavy steel and concrete out of Earth’s gravity
well is astronomically expensive and logistically unfeasible.

In response, NASA’s Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) program has funded extensive
research into “Myco-Architecture” for lunar and Martian habitats, spearheaded by
researchers like astrobiologist Lynn Rothschild. The proposed paradigm involves 
sending a lightweight, flexible, deflated plastic shell to Mars, lined with dried
biological substrate and dormant fungal spores. Once the human (or robotic) crew
arrives, they simply unfold the habitat, inject it with water (potentially sourced
from Martian ice), and heat it. The mycelium would awaken, rapidly consuming the
substrate and expanding to fill the shell, essentially growing a robust, radiation-
shielding, highly insulated habitat _in situ_.

This concept perfectly encapsulates the brilliance of the biological paradigm: you
do not carry the infrastructure with you; you carry the _seed_ of the infrastructure,
relying on biological intelligence to execute the heavy lifting. If mycelial growth
can solve the ultimate extreme-environment housing crisis on Mars, its potential
to revolutionize housing on Earth is undeniable.

### Conclusion: Cultivating a Regenerative Future

The profound realization embedded in the concept of “growing” infrastructure is 
that the ultimate technology we have been searching for to solve our ecological 
and architectural crises has been quietly flourishing beneath our feet for over 
a billion years. The paradigm shift from extracting raw materials to cultivating
living organisms represents one of the most significant intellectual leaps in the
history of human design.

As we have explored, the current extractive model of construction is an evolutionary
dead end, driving global emissions and resource depletion to catastrophic levels.
The transition to mycelial biomimicry and bio-fabrication offers a holistic, systemic
solution. By leveraging the natural structural intelligence of fungal networks, 
we can engineer materials that are not merely “less bad,” but actively regenerative.
The ability to transform agricultural waste into high-performance, fire-resistant,
insulating materials that sequester atmospheric carbon and biodegrade completely
at the end of their lifecycle addresses the core failures of the linear economy.

While the widespread, mass-market adoption of load-bearing, living miko-architecture
faces legitimate challenges regarding standardization, moisture management, and 
public perception, the trajectory is undeniably clear. From the successful implementation
of the MoMA PS1 Hy-Fi pavilion to the commercial scaling of interior acoustic panels,
and looking forward to the awe-inspiring potential of self-healing walls and Martian
habitats, the foundation has been firmly laid.

Moving forward, robust interdisciplinary research—bridging mycology, material science,
structural engineering, and synthetic biology—will be critical to unlocking the 
full potential of these materials. Governments and regulatory bodies must adapt 
building codes to accommodate and incentivize bio-based materials, shifting subsidies
away from carbon-intensive industries toward regenerative agriculture and bio-manufacturing.

Ultimately, the paradigm of growing infrastructure is deeply visionary because it
demands a fundamental re-evaluation of humanity’s place within the natural world.
It rejects the hubris of dominating nature, opting instead for a profound, symbiotic
partnership. By choosing to plant, cultivate, and harvest our cities, we can transform
the built environment from a primary driver of ecological destruction into a vast,
living extension of the natural ecosystem. In doing so, we evolve from mere builders
to stewards, growing a future where human habitation and planetary health are inextricably
and beautifully intertwined.

### References and Selected Bibliography

_To support the assertions and data presented in this article, the following sources
represent the foundational texts, academic research, and institutional reports that
define the field of biomimetic and mycelial architecture._

 * **Adamatzky, A. (2018).** _Towards fungal computer_. Interface Focus, 8(6), 20180029.(
   Exploration of the electrical signaling and natural computing capabilities of
   fungal networks).
 * **Benyus, J. M. (1997).** _Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature_. William
   Morrow & Co. (The foundational text establishing the philosophy and application
   of biologically inspired design).
 * **Karana, E., Blauwhoff, D., Hultink, E. J., & Camere, S. (2018).** _When the
   material grows: A case study on designing (with) mycelium-based materials_. International
   Journal of Design, 12(2), 119-136. (Comprehensive overview of the design methodologies
   and material properties of mycelium composites).
 * **McDonough, W., & Braungart, M. (2002).** _Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way
   We Make Things_. North Point Press. (Theoretical framework for zero-waste circularity
   and regenerative economic models).
 * **NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC). (2018).** _Myco-architecture off 
   planet: growing surface structures at destination_. Principal Investigator: Lynn
   Rothschild. (Details the research and feasibility of using fungal spores for 
   space habitat construction).
 * **United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). (2022).** _2022 Global Status 
   Report for Buildings and Construction: Towards a Zero-emission, Efficient and
   Resilient Buildings and Construction Sector_. (Statistical data regarding the
   carbon emissions and environmental impact of the traditional construction industry).
 * **The Living / David Benjamin. (2014).** _Hy-Fi, The Museum of Modern Art and
   MoMA PS1_. (Architectural documentation of the design, growth, and structural
   testing of the 10,000-brick mycelium pavilion).

### Related reading

 * [Low-Carbon Concrete and Green Cement: Building the Foundations for Climate-Resilient Infrastructure](https://jarlhalla.com/low-carbon-concrete-and-green-cement-building-the-foundations-for-climate-resilient-infrastructure/)
 * [Nano-Infused Construction: Innovating Infrastructure for Sustainability](https://jarlhalla.com/nano-infused-construction-innovating-infrastructure-for-sustainability/)
 * [“Sustainable Construction Revolution: How Injection Technology Is Making Buildings Come Alive”](https://jarlhalla.com/sustainable-smart-construction-innovation/)

**Planning a building project?** [Discuss it with Jarlhalla Group](https://jarlhalla.com/discuss-a-project/).

From Extraction to Cultivation: Why the Paradigm of ‘Growing’ Infrastructure is 
a Visionary Leap for Humanity