“I am probably the only architect to have created a last house,” explains Bob Hendrikx The penis. Aside from tombs and catacombs, Hendrikx could be the only one to make a final house using mushrooms.
Hendrikx is the founder and CEO of Loop Biotech, a company that makes coffins out of mycelium, the structure of the fibrous roots of mushrooms. In June, the first burial in North America to use one of the Loop Biotech coffins took place in Maine.
“He always said he wanted to be buried in the woods.”
The mushroom coffin gives people one more option to leave the living with a softer impact, part of a growing range of what is supposed to be more durable alternatives to traditional burials. Mycelium has also had a moment in recent years, with others eco-conscious designers manufacturing Biodegradable packaging,, leatherand material bricks.
Hendrikx began to try to make a “living house” from mycelium, a material that can be used to make Self-healing structures If the fibers continue to grow. While he studied architecture at Delft’s university of technology, he said that someone asked him what would happen if their grandmother died in this house.
“It would be great, because there will be so much positivity for the earth,” he recalls to answer and then think – “Oh my God, it should be a coffin.” The Fucking of Mushrooms has become its graduation project, and Hendrikx began Boop Biotech in the Netherlands in 2021.
The coffin, which Loop Biotech calls a “living cocoon” and sells for about $ 4,000, is entirely in mycelium and can be cultivated in seven days. It can then be completely biodegraded in about 45 days, depending on the company. However, the body inside takes more time. In a typical coffin, it could be decades before a body decomposes completely. But since fungi can help break the dead organic matter, this time is shortened to two to three years in a living cocoon, says Hendrikx.
“I personally hate the idea of a just elongated body in the ground,” said Marya Ancker, whose father, Mark Ancker, was buried in a cocoon living in Maine in June. “I don’t want to lie in the ground, but I’m happy to be part of the ground and feed the plants.” She heard of Loop Biotech in a Ted Talk years ago and decided to call the company the day after the appeal that her father had died.
“He would have got a kick, because he was the first (being buried in a living cocoon),” added Marsya. His family is not one to miss an opportunity. Marsya described an emblematic photo of his father sitting on a Green Volkswagen bus on Woodstock path, looking over a traffic jam with binoculars, shortly after the birth of Marsya and returned from the hospital. “Do not be ridiculous,” there is no sense to waste their two tickets, says Marya says that his mother said to his father.
“He always said he wanted to be buried in the woods,” said Marya. “As a younger thing, it horrified me. I say to myself, “But how will I remember you?” … In this way, it becomes buried in the woods. And she will have something there to remember him; The family has planted a commemorative garden with some Mark’s favorite perennials on the country where it was buried. Loop Biotech says that his mushroom coffin will help enrich the floor below.
Marsy also finds the chemicals used in “coarse” embalming. The desire to minimize waste and pollution is another reason why some people turn away from coffins or standard cremation.
Conventional burials in the United States use around 4.3 million gallons of embalming liquid, 20 million feet of hardwood board and 1.6 million tonnes of reinforced concrete each year, according to the Green Ertral Council.
The first cocoon burial living in the United States (which follows thousands of others using the coffin of Boop Biotech mushrooms in Europe) shows “there is excitement and energy around the green burial”, explains Sam Bar, which is part of the board of directors of the Green Burial Council.
A “green” burial does not have to incorporate mushrooms, of course. The objective is mainly to encourage decomposition and use natural materials in a sustainable manner, says Bar. This can also be accomplished using other materials that decompose more easily, such as woven navy grass or bamboo. “Green is a spectrum,” says bar.
Always the architect, Hendrikx has also kept a comfortable design in mind with his living cocoon. Apart from the potential environmental advantages, the mushroom coffin is also soft to the touch and rounded, it points out The penis. “So, instead of having a hard and sharp coffin, you now have something you can really kiss,” said Hendrikx. “Which is really nice for the mourning process.”
