The Tower of Life and the Coffin of Mushrooms
Today’s story is about a building, rising towards the sky with full of innovations, and a humble six-foot equipment to gently return the very humans who created such extraordinary things back to Earth. The Tower of Life and the Mushroom Coffin - two creations that mirror the very extremes of the human journey.
The Tower of Life
Inspired by the Baobab trees, the Tower of Life is an ambitious proposal by Built by Associate Data (BAD), which can redefine what building designs can be. This 80,000 m2 visionary “ecological machine” in Dakar, Senegal, is an intersection of nature, technology and culture. Wrapped in a 3D printed façade of locally sourced clay, the tower’s skin features patterns of the natural world, such as spots, stripes, and mazes produced through reaction-diffusion simulations. This cladding helps to keep a microclimate inside the tower with minimal emissions.
According to BAD, economy and ecology are intertwined aspects of a unified, sustainable system. Hence, every element of this tower is designed to be self-sustaining, creating a bio-responsive and bio-receptive system. The tower is predicted to be energy positive, regenerative and to works as a living system.
A Vertical Ecosystem:
Source: Tower Of Life - BAD
From the sustainability point of view, according to BAD’s proposal, the tower is divided into layers, each serving different human and ecological needs.
The subground level incorporates charging stations, parking areas, connections to transport links, power management systems and an algae farm grown under artificial light.
The ground level focuses on preserving local nature, featuring a seed bank, landscape solar cells and food resource facilities.
The service and middle levels focus on circular resource flows. It incorporates waste management systems which include a water recycling unit, sorting and recycling centre and a composting facility. These levels also have occupancy and virology measures, such as occupancy and viral sensors and air filtering and air recycling systems.
The higher, luxury services and roof levels provide community and leisure spaces which include a social garden, an amphitheatre, an African forest and a stargazing area. All is supported by the recycled water from the tower. These levels also have advanced technologies for protecting the indoor environment, including temperature, humidity and air quality sensors and local climate controlling systems.
Finally, the sky levels feature a helipad and air vents at the ends of branch-like structures, water harvesting systems and wind turbines for renewable energy generation.
All of these are in addition to the advanced data flow and control systems using AI, satellite connections, along with casinos, bars, restaurants, corporate offices, drone ports, luxury hotels etc.
The Tower of Life is a bold statement of possibility by drawing wisdom from natural systems and blending it with advanced technology. If realised, this tower could be an amazing example for how our buildings can nourish people, regenerate resources and strengthen cultural identity.
Sources: TOWER OF LIFE — BAD, STIRworld
The Coffin of Mushrooms
Source: Loop Biotech
100% natural, biodegradable and soil-enriching - that is Loop Biotech’s Loop Living Cocoon, the world’s first coffin made from locally grown mushrooms and hemp fibres. Available in two colours - Calm and Wild, and four lining options - moss, wool, soft organic cotton and hemp, it offers a gentle alternative to traditional coffins and burials. Advertised as a new way of remembering, these cocoons are grown in just 7 days in Delft, the Netherlands, without chemicals, glue, metals or plastic. Compared to the traditional production of coffins using wood, metals and chemicals, mushroom coffins offer an eco-friendly and sustainable option for green burials. These coffins have an indefinite shelf life when kept dry above ground; however, once laid to rest in soil, they decompose within 45 days, and the compressed mycelium and organic matter purify the soil and enrich the ecosystem, supporting new plant life.
Beyond coffins, there are also mushroom burial suits - specially designed bodysuits infused with mycelium and microorganisms, and mushroom cremation urns - where a tree can grow in our memory or be kept as a natural ornament at home. Since 2021, more than 2500 burials across Europe have used Loop Biotech’s mushroom coffin, and most recently, the first of its kind took place in North America.
So if we want to reduce our ecological footprint due to our death, mushroom coffins, burial suits or cremation urns may be our way to go. In the words of Loop Biotech’s Founder Bob Hendrikx: “Funerals can be more than endings: they can be beginnings”
And the irony is that for the Tower of Life, we create complex mathematical models, computations, sensors, artificial intelligence, satellite monitoring and intricate systems of data management and security. But when we die, all we need is some root structures of mushrooms to return us to nature.
Sources: EcoWatch, Loop Living Cocoon™ - Loop Biotech
