KENNESAW, Ga. | Nov 2, 2023

Architecture professor Michael Carroll with his fifth-year Focus Studio students designed and mounted the exhibition Micro/Macro: KSU_Arch that was part of the Atlanta Design Festival from October 13th – 22nd. The exhibit, located in the newly opened project, Tower One of the Old Fourth Ward Offices, highlighted student projects from each year of the KSU_Architecture’s Bachelor of Architecture program and included, drawings, large physical models, and video projections. 

The exhibit also showcased the work of Professor Carroll’s students who are experimenting with mycelium and its architectural applications. Mycelium, which when fruited produces mushrooms, is a natural polymer that can consolidate agricultural waste to produce biomass that can be molded into architectural products like acoustic panels. The myco research is an ongoing research project that has connected the MAT_Lab, a materials library founded and directed by Professor Carroll, with the BioInnovation Lab headed by Dr. Chris Cornelison, Assistant Professor of Microbiology. Professor Carroll would like to thank Dean Hazem Rashed-Ali and Chair Craig Anz for their support for both the exhibit and the ongoing research project.

The exhibition was well received by the public and the participants of the Atlanta Design Festival, that included design industry leaders and innovators from New York, Rotterdam, Marseille, San Francisco and London. The Myco Exhibit component of Micro/Macro: KSU_Arch will be remounted in the MAT_Lab Gallery in November 2023 and will showcase the studio’s ongoing experimentation with mycelium and the design of various molds and 3D scaffolds to direct its growth.