By combining wood and agricultural waste with mycelium as a natural binder, a sustainable material is created without the need for fresh wood or synthetic adhesives. This material offers density and stability comparable to OSB, MDF, and particle boards. It is suitable for furniture construction, drywall systems, and as a substitute for synthetic insulation materials. A 1:1 demonstrator at KIT showcases NEWood as an interior wall system and furniture component. The circular room system serves as a quiet meeting space where students and staff can test the material. The goal is to achieve market readiness within two to four years.100

Research Project NEWood – Sustainable material innovation for the construction and furniture industry Project representatives of all projects funded under the ‘Circular Construction – Climate Protection through Recycling Management’ programme © Baden-Württemberg Stiftung gGmbH The Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), under the direction of Prof. Rebekka Volk (IIP), is working in close collaboration with the project leader Dr. Nazanin Saeidi from the research department of the Professorship of Sustainable Construction (IEB) to develop the innovative material ‘NEWood’, a 100% bio-based and circular material alternative with great potential for the construction and furniture industries. This material is produced exclusively from wood processing100

This question is explored in an episode of “42-Die Antwort auf fast alles” produced by Hessischer Rundfunk. The director writes: Fungi have hardly been researched. Yet they are among the oldest and most diverse forms of life on our planet. Only through fungi could plants develop ages ago. They are at home everywhere: in the earth, in the air, in our bodies. And they form huge networks. They are intelligent, although they do not have a brain of their own. They make decisions and trade with the plants they live with. They take possession of insect bodies and turn them100

165 projects from 54 universities took part in this year’s competitionline CAMPUS Award. The spectrum of topics ranged from utopias for urban development and material studies to adaptive architecture and after-use strategies. The proportion of projects dealing with sustainable design tasks such as the conversion of existing buildings, climate adaptation in cities or research into alternative materials was particularly high. In addition to two student award-winning projects, which went to the TU Munich and Leibniz Universität Hannover, and two award-winning final theses from the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf and the University of Stuttgart, one faculty project also received an award. From nine100

Mushrooms can be used to grow insulations or renewable “bricks”. This could lead to ecologically clean buildings in the future. Welt am Sonntag reports about scientists like Prof. Dirk E. Hebel working in laboratories on the possibility of replacing metals or mineral materials with harvested materials like mycelium, the root network of mushrooms.

The German Sustainable Building Council (DGNB) announced the winners of this year’s Sustainability Challenge at the DGNB Sustainability Day in Fellbach on 8 July. In the category “Research”, the project “NEWood” lead by Nazanin Saeidi and Alireza Javadian from the Professorship of Sustainable Construction Dirk E. Hebel at KIT in Karlsruhe, came out on top. Among the start-ups, the jury chose mygreentop. The “Innovation” category was won by Home Power Solutions with picea. The audience award went to the research project “Kalkspeicher” from the German Aerospace Centre (DLR). A total of more than 100 projects and companies entered the DGNB100

In order to drive the transformation of the construction and real estate industry towards more sustainability, researchers, young founders and companies are in demand: With the Sustainability Challenge, the DGNB seeks out pioneers who think boldly into the future, question existing systems and initiate new ideas. In the “Research” category, the project “NEWood – a novel mycelium-based composite made from organic waste” from the KIT Professorship of Sustainable Construction was chosen as one of the three finalists. The research project is based on three main strategies, which include resource efficiency, circular economy and renewable materials. A new class of bio-based,100

Mycelium-bound materials would play a significant role in mitigation of adverse climate change effect imposed by material consumption and resource scarcity. This paper, published by KIT researchers in scientific reports as part Nature publishing group, proposes dense mycelium-based composites (DMCs) as a potential green alternative to traditional particleboards. Mycelium, as the root of fungi, is composed of filamentous strands of fine hyphae that bind discrete substrate particles into a block material. With advanced processing, dense mycelium-bound composites (DMCs) resembling commercial particleboards can be formed. In this paper the research team including Dr. Nazanin Saeidi, Dr. Alireza Javadian, and Prof. Dirk E.100

At the “Door opener day with the mouse”, the 3 October 2021, upcoming ideas, innovative plannings, exciting projects and much more will be presented to children under the motto “Hello Future” all over Germany. One of the numerous participatory activities will take place at the KIT in Karlsruhe. At the MycoLab at KIT, the Professorship of Sustainable Construction at the Faculty of Architecture, Prof. Dirk Hebel, is conducting research on alternative building materials. The team is working on the conversion of organic waste into alternative, cultivated and biological building materials. This involves the use of mycelium, the route of mushrooms, which is fed with100