Report: Online Lecture “When Mushrooms Become Architects”
On 21 January 2026, the Slovenian SusTech partner Sunny Hill hosted an online lecture titled “When Mushrooms Become Architects” as part of the SusTech – Sustainable Technologies project. The event focused on mycelium as a living building material, exploring its potential applications in construction (mycelium bricks), noise and warmth insulation, laminate, furniture, packaging, design, lighting elements, biodegradable coffins, vegan alternatives to leather and other textiles (shoes, hats), and other innovative fields.
The lecture was delivered by Primož Turnšek, microbiologist and director of Gobnjak d.o.o., and provided both scientific insight and practical examples of mycelium-based biomaterials. He has created many bricks and packaging from mycelium: https://czk.si/made-in-slovenia/krater-kapsula/ and https://gobnjak.com/pages/o-gobnjaku.
Number of participants and demographics
The event was attended by 19 participants (but 55 applied) from Slovenia and Croatia. Participants included individuals from ecovillages, designers, architects, sustainability practitioners, students, and members of NGOs interested in low-tech and regenerative solutions.
Key learnings and highlights
The lecture introduced mycelium as a biological network capable of forming strong, lightweight biocomposites. Key topics included the ecological benefits of mycelium, its material properties, and real-life experimental applications such as insulation panels, packaging solutions, and biocomposites. Special attention was given to experimental processes, limitations, and the importance of local production and low-energy inputs. A major highlight was the discussion on shifting from extractive material production to grown, regenerative materials. And an invitation from the lecturer to participants to come to their laboratory and experiment with growing mycelium bricks together.
Participant feedback
Participants appreciated the balance between scientific explanation and practical examples and the presentation of how to grow mycelium materials. At the end of the lecture 45 min of questions from the participants followed. They were mostly interested in building applications, potential development in next years and current limitations and how they can grow mycelium materials by themselves.
Impact on Community of Practice (CoP)
The event marked an important step in establishing the Slovenian Community of Practice, encouraging knowledge exchange and networking among practitioners working with low-tech and sustainable technologies. We collected 55 new email addresses to whom we will send future event invitations for Slovenian CoP and other SusTech related events.
Next steps
As a follow-up, Sunny Hill will host another online lecture in February 2026, featuring Aljaž Plankl, famous permaculturalist who will speak on forest gardens. He will explain a simple and practical solution to create a forest garden: cellular planting systems with the help of which we create edible plant communities that provide a real forest garden. This lecture will further strengthen the CoP and expand the SusTech knowledge network.
This will be the first of the 3 meetings we planned to develop the Slovenian CoP network.
