Abstract
Mycelium bio-composite exhibits remarkable versatility showing properties that are useful for the construction industry, including thermal insulation and acoustic isolation. Despite its potential, mycelium remains an unfamiliar material. To enable bio-designers to successfully implement mycelium bio-composite insulation, creating an understanding of potential users’ views on and experience of the material is important. To research this, an interdisciplinary co-design workshop was conducted with potential stakeholders focusing on interaction with, discovery of, and brainstorming about mycelium bio-composite insulation. The results showed that stakeholders mostly have a positive material experience with mycelium bio-composites and are open to acceptance. They predominantly viewed mycelium bio-composites as a sustainable, circular, lightweight, and bio-based alternative to fossil-based insulation. The stakeholders also indicated that acquiring recognition and certification in the European construction market is a necessity. Further acceptance could be promoted by increasing familiarity with the material through designing opportunities for interaction with and informing about mycelium bio-composites.
Keywords
bio-design; mycelium; user acceptance; material experience
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2024.525
Citation
van den Broek, S., Rovers, I., and Calcan, F. (2024) Material experience and user acceptance of mycelium bio-composite insulation in the construction industry through interdisciplinary co-design, in Gray, C., Ciliotta Chehade, E., Hekkert, P., Forlano, L., Ciuccarelli, P., Lloyd, P. (eds.), DRS2024: Boston, 23–28 June, Boston, USA. https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2024.525
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Conference Track
Research Paper
Included in
Material experience and user acceptance of mycelium bio-composite insulation in the construction industry through interdisciplinary co-design
Mycelium bio-composite exhibits remarkable versatility showing properties that are useful for the construction industry, including thermal insulation and acoustic isolation. Despite its potential, mycelium remains an unfamiliar material. To enable bio-designers to successfully implement mycelium bio-composite insulation, creating an understanding of potential users’ views on and experience of the material is important. To research this, an interdisciplinary co-design workshop was conducted with potential stakeholders focusing on interaction with, discovery of, and brainstorming about mycelium bio-composite insulation. The results showed that stakeholders mostly have a positive material experience with mycelium bio-composites and are open to acceptance. They predominantly viewed mycelium bio-composites as a sustainable, circular, lightweight, and bio-based alternative to fossil-based insulation. The stakeholders also indicated that acquiring recognition and certification in the European construction market is a necessity. Further acceptance could be promoted by increasing familiarity with the material through designing opportunities for interaction with and informing about mycelium bio-composites.