Hack the Root is a newly commissioned installation by Mae-ling Lokko, consisting of an architectural structure grown from agrowaste-fed mycelium (mushroom) panels and an accompanying exhibition. Drawing on historical and contemporary material practices, Hack the Root’s life cycle proposes an alternative to the notion of the root – a system that displaces all around it, consuming its surrounding resources to grow and expand. Through a series of Grow-It-Yourself workshops, modular biomaterial building panels made from a fungus developed by Ecovative have been grown in large-scale grow chambers in the gallery and installed in the exhibition’s entrance tunnel. Visitors can find out more about the process in an accompanying film exploring the prototyping of these unique tiles, as well as understand the project’s proposition for generative upcycling economies.

Mae-ling Lokko is commissioned by Liverpool Biennial and RIBA North

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The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) opened the centre in June 2017 at Mann Island on the Liverpool Waterfront. RIBA North is a place for everyone to discover more about architecture, with exhibitions, talks and tours as well as a café and shop. At the heart of RIBA North is the City Gallery, a space for visitors to learn more about Liverpool’s past, present and future, as well as the processes involved in urban development and the evolution of the built environment.