Mycelium 'Mycocrete' Could Build Lighter, Greener Homes — Newcastle Team Demonstrates BioKnit Dome

Fungal networks could reshape low-impact building

Newcastle University researchers are developing building materials grown from mycelium — the thread-like vegetative part of fungi — with the goal of creating lighter, lower-impact alternatives to concrete.

Mycelium consists of fine, thread-like hyphae that weave through soil and often entwine with tree roots. According to the National Forest Foundation, these fungal networks help move water and nutrients between plants and even enable inter-tree signaling. The familiar mushroom is simply the fungus's fruiting body that appears above ground.

The Newcastle team is harnessing that growth to produce a paste they call mycocrete. By inoculating organic substrates (such as sawdust, wool, cellulose or grain) with fungal mycelium and letting the network colonize a mold, they grow a solid biohybrid material. Once the mycelium has fully colonized the substrate and the form is dried and cured, the result can act as a structural or insulating component that could substitute for foam, timber or some plastics.

From lab to dome: the BioKnit prototype

To improve oxygen flow and shape control, the researchers experimented with flexible, tube-shaped knitted molds suspended from a frame. The knitted form allows more air to reach the growing mycelium, producing a more uniform and robust mycocrete, CleanTechnica reported.

The concept was demonstrated in a project called BioKnit: a complex, freestanding dome grown as a single piece without mechanical joints that might act as weak points. The dome passed strength tests and outperformed earlier samples, and university photos show two people sitting comfortably inside a structure that resembles an oversized birdcage.

"Our ambition is to transform the look, feel and wellbeing of architectural spaces using mycelium in combination with biobased materials such as wool, sawdust, and cellulose," said Dr Jane Scott of Newcastle University.

Environmental potential and remaining challenges

If mycelium-based materials can replace even a portion of concrete in construction, the environmental impact could be meaningful. Princeton University reports that, aside from water, concrete is the most-consumed product on Earth and that the concrete industry generates roughly 4.4 billion tons of air pollution annually — underscoring why lower-impact alternatives are being pursued.

However, researchers caution that formulations, long-term durability, fire resistance, moisture behaviour and scalable production processes must be proven before mycocrete can be adopted widely in mainstream construction.

Bottom line: The BioKnit dome represents a promising step toward textile–mycelium biohybrids in architecture, but further testing and refinement are needed to make mycelium materials a practical, code-compliant alternative to conventional building materials.