We asked Mercedes Garcia-Holguera in UM's Faculty of Architecture.
By Sabrina Smith
Imagine a house where the walls are lined with insulation grown from fungi. And the protective, breathable membrane is made from a tea and sugar mixture.
When a remote community needs more of these biomaterials, they can simply grow them locally, no need for shipping from afar.
This is the future Mercedes Garcia-Holguera imagines. An assistant professor of architecture at UM, she leads the BIOM_Lab, a research group who collaborates with biologists, engineers and community partners to explore how grown materials can support more sustainable, locally controlled approaches to building.
Whether you recognized it or not, you may have already come across mycelium, which is the root-like structure of fungi, used as packaging. Housing insulation is its most recent form. But is it hardy enough for Manitoba’s climate, including the subarctic?
Garcia-Holguera and her team are testing this.
“Different mycelium strains behave differently. Some grow faster, some create denser blocks, some have better thermal properties,” she says.
They’re experimenting with these different strains, including oyster mushrooms, which colonize quickly and resist contamination, and reishi mushrooms, prized for producing stronger material.
This mycelium needs to be fed and Manitoba is plentiful in agricultural by-products that does that well. This mixture is then placed into moulds and grown into solid, lightweight blocks. After drying in the oven, the material becomes inert—no longer alive, but stable, biodegradable and strong.
Alongside fungi-based insulation, Garcia-Holguera is exploring bacterial cellulose, a surprisingly durable membrane grown through a process similar to kombucha fermentation.
Microbes form a thick cellulose sheet across the top of a tea-and-sugar mixture. After about two weeks, the membrane is lifted out, dried and shaped. Once dry, it becomes a tough, leather-like film that can be stitched, layered or glued.
“It looks fragile, but it responds well to humidity and temperature changes,” Garcia-Holguera says.
Her team is testing samples in Winnipeg and Churchill to see how they negotiate wind, frost and those subarctic temperature swings.
Bacterial cellulose won’t last as long as plastic-based membranes, and that’s part of the point. Instead of treating buildings as permanent, she envisions designing with maintenance and regrowth in mind.
“With these materials, we can think seasonally,” Garcia-Holguera says. “If a membrane lasts a few years and then we grow a new one locally, that’s not a flaw. It’s a different way of designing.”
Insulation, vapour barriers and structural materials are expensive to transport to remote Manitoba communities and often delayed by weather.
Growing materials shifts the power.
“If communities can grow even part of what they need, they gain control,” Garcia-Holguera says. “They’re less dependent on freight costs and less vulnerable to supply chains.”
These biomaterials can all be developed in simple, low-tech spaces such as sheds or garages.
Her team intentionally grows materials in improvised conditions to mimic the spaces where communities would work.
“Not everyone has a specialized lab. We need to understand how these materials behave in real environments,” Garcia-Holguera says.
Members of the University of Manitoba’s BIOM_Lab research team (from left): Leonardo Tellez, Dominico IV Obmerga, Magdiel Antonio, Assistant Professor Mercedes Garcia-Holguera and Vyas Gopal. // Photo supplied
The fungi insulation blocks aren’t a commercially available product yet, but Garcia-Holguera says it’s getting closer to real-world use.
“Mycelium insulation is the application that’s most ready,” Garcia-Holguera says. “The performance is promising. What’s left is testing, codes and policy.”
The cellulose membranes are still in early exploration.
Pilot projects with Indigenous and northern partners are beginning to explore what community-led production could look like, from small prototypes to larger structures.
“These materials let us rethink what buildings can be,” Garcia-Holguera says. “Instead of bringing everything in from far away, we can imagine growing what we need, using the resources already around us.”
UM is home to scientists, students and scholars who respond to emerging issues and lead innovation in our province and around the world. Creating knowledge that matters is among the priorities you’ll find in MomentUM: Leading Change Together, the University of Manitoba’s 2024-2029 Strategic Plan.
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