Mold: The Latest Architecture and News

Contemporary architecture has learned to celebrate living matter. Mycelium panels, algae systems, living walls, life is now welcomed into buildings, framed as innovation. Yet the same discipline that celebrates these organisms treats mold as contamination. Both are biological. Both respond to moisture, temperature, and material conditions. The difference is not scientific. It is about which forms of life architecture is willing to accept, and which it prefers to remove.

Mold is not limited to abandoned buildings or poorly maintained interiors. It appears in homes, schools, offices, historic structures, and new construction, across different climates and contexts. This makes it harder to ignore as a minor or isolated problem. If mold keeps returning, what is it telling us about the environments buildings create?

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Most homeowners know that mold can spell serious trouble and hefty remediation bills. But did you know invisible mold can destroy your house silently? It sounds scary, and left unchecked it can be, but there are a few things you can do to prevent it from taking over your home. Mold grows anywhere as long as there is moisture and any organic matter that it can feed off. In most homes, the basement provides an excellent place for mold to multiply quickly. Not only does mold quickly multiply, but it can also cause health problems such as stuffy noses, headaches, coughs, and allergies.

We will start by looking at how you can identify mold, deal with invisible mold, identify the products to use and not to use when dealing with mold, and determine when to hire a mold treatment expert.

Complex designs often require bulky structural systems to support imaginative forms. But 3D printing technology has begun to provide unlimited architectural potential without compromising design or structural durability. Researchers at ETH Zurich, under the leadership of Benjamin Dillenburger, have now developed an innovative 3D sand printing technique that allows for quick molding and material reuse.

They have used this technique to create a formwork to fabricate an 80 square meter lightweight concrete slab at the DFAB House, the first and largest construction of its kind. The “Smart Slab,” which carries a two-story timber unit above it, merges the structural durability and strength of concrete with the design liberation of 3D printing.

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