PhD defense: Fungal Highways and Calcite Columns

The project

Can microbes help us to build with waste materials? The motivation of this thesis has been to investigate organic and specifically microbially bound composites in the search for alternative construction materials, building on replenishable resources and low-embodied emissions, to enable a sustainable shift towards a bio-based construction paradigm. With today´s most common choices of load-bearing materials; cement, steel and concrete; the construction industry is contributing to about 37 % of the global green-house-gas emissions released into the atmosphere. The aim of this research is to improving the mechanical properties of bio-based solutions, to expand the material choices beyond timber-based materials for load-bearing capacities. While mycelium-bound composites (MBC) are presenting an effective method of naturally binding organic by-products and waste-streams, one of the core challenges faced is the improvement of their mechanical properties.

Read more // Watch via Zoom

Programme

13:00 Welcome
     Claus Peder Pedersen, Head of PhD School
13:10 Lecture
     Lynn Hyun Kieffer, PhD Fellow, Cand.arch., Aarhus School of Architecture
13:55 Examination
     Professor Eveline Peeters, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium
14:25 Break
14:35 Examination
     Professor Phil Ayres, The Royal Danish Academy
15:05 Examination
     Associate Professor Urszula Kozminska, Aarhus School of Architecture
15:35 Contributions from the auditorium
15:50 Closing
     Claus Peder Pedersen, Head of PhD School

— Afterwards, drinks and snacks