Living Coffin

Researcher Bob Hendrikx has created a Living Cocoon, a coffin made from mycelium that helps bodies decompose faster while improving the surrounding soil.

Made from mushroom mycelium, the Living Cocoon actively contributes to the body's composting process after death and simultaneously removes toxic substances from the earth – creating richer conditions for new plants to grow.

The boxy coffin takes one week to grow and then, containing the body of the deceased, takes an estimated two to three years to decompose.  In comparison, conventional coffin burials take over ten years to break down in the earth. Learn more. 

World's first living home

In contrast to mankind’s 200.000 years of parasitism, Mother Nature has been leading the way for 3.8 billions years by growing architecture. What if we could actually grow homes?

While most researchers had their eyes on the plants and organisms above ground, recent discoveries show that earth's most crucial creatures live underneath us. Over 92% of all plants species rely on mycelium and its ability to recycle organic matter into key nutrients for seedlings to flourish. It is a vast underground network that connects the roots of plants. Not only does ‘Natures Internet’ share nutrients, it is also able to communicate and distribute information.

My project is an exploration towards living architecture, in which humanity will inhabit mycelium-based pods. By nurturing the architecture, the inhabitant can extend its stay and truly become part of nature’s closed loop system. Hereby, an opportunity arises for mankind to break through its fixed-minded ideas and introduce a new mutualistic relationship between humanity and its environment. Imagine a building that grows, breaths and heals itself. I present, interlink: world's first living architecture.