Architectural Design Archive
Nueva micelia
Nueva micelia is a project based on the mycelium, which is the network formed by fungi underground. This network connects and nourishes all types of vegetation and has excellent properties to absorb carbon dioxide from the air into its microstructure and store it there for hundreds of years.

Nueva micelia starts expanding from Central Park, plaguing the streets of Manhattan just as the mycelium does, reaching all parts of the island. The whole complex unites the different green areas of the city and connects it from side to side. This network lives in symbiosis with the city, purifying its air by absorbing carbon dioxide and expelling clean air from its system for the use of the citizens and other species that live on the island.

The network of the project spreads through the city along the streets, between the blocks, getting into some buildings and sometimes laying even on the rooftops. The structure uses the existing infrastructure of the city for the expansion to free the space between the street and the system.

Three different levels have been provided to the project: city, block and private. In the one that refers to the city, the network is being formed at the lowest level, connecting to the sidewalks through ramps. This space has the "fast communication" routes for the bike to reach any destination inside Manhattan. The rest of the urban activities also take place in this same scope.

In the next level the network unites the closest residential buildings creating spaces for the use of the neighbourhood during their spare time. The last level is the private one, that it only for the use of the owners of each apartments providing them a green and calm space inside the hectic city that New York is.