In 2014 10,000 low energy and compostable bricks were manufactured and used to erect a 13-meter-tall tower, after three months of cultural events, the structure was disassembled, the brick composted and the resulting soil was returned to local community gardens.

Different brick types to fill any course length without having to cut the bricks.

The bricks grow out of living materials and return to the earth through composting at the end of the structure’s life cycle. The manufacturing process engages bio-technology, agriculture, and industrial manufacturing. The composting process engages the municipal solid waste stream.

The design focuses on the use of an innovative building material: organic, biodegradable bricks consisting of no more than the waste from corn crops and a culture of fungus that functions as the binding agent.

Brick fabrication.

Interior view.

The organic brick structure “Hy-Fi” was the centrepiece of the Museum of Modern Art’s summer festival from June until September 2014.

Summer festival event at Hy-Fi.

Hy-Fi is a new paradigm for design and manufacturing, with almost zero waste, zero embodied energy, and zero carbon emissions. It is a compostable structure that offers a new vision for society’s approach to physical objects and the built environment.

The new structure built in the courtyard of MoMA PS1 Young Architects Program from June until September 2014 is in contrast with New York City’s typical brick buildings in Queens and the steel-and-glass buildings of Manhattan.

A captivating experience for summer music events.

Organic brick made of corn stalks and mushroom roots.

Branching circular towers.

Temporarily diverting the natural carbon cycle to make a building, then return it to the cycle.

Production cycle involving no waste and no energy.

A tall occupiable structure as a test of this new building material and method.

A gravity-defying effect with lightweight brick construction.

Natural dye creates a structure with natural white on the outside and warm red on the inside.

Presenting the Holcim Awards Bronze (l-r): Alexander Biner, Member of the Board of the Holcim Foundation; Alain Bourguignon, Holcim Area Manager for North America and the United Kingdom; David Benjamin, The Living, New York – winner of Holcim Awards Bronze for “Hy-Fi: Zero carbon emissions compostable structure”; and jury member Mark Jarzombek, Associate Dean, School of Architecture & Planning, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Winners of the Holcim Awards (l-r): David Benjamin, The Living, New York – winner of Holcim Awards Bronze for “Hy-Fi: Zero carbon emissions compostable structure”; Caitlin Taylor and Amy Mielke, Water Pore Partnership, New York – winners of Holcim Awards Gold for “Poreform: Water absorptive surface and subterranean basin”; and Kai-Uwe Bergmann – BIG Bjarke Ingels Group, New York and Matthijs Bouw - One Architecture, Amsterdam – members of the consortium winning Holcim Awards Silver for “Rebuild by Design: Urban flood protection infrastructure”.

“We want to share our findings with the design community” – David Benjamin, The Living, USA

“Hy-Fi: Zero carbon emissions compostable structure, New York, USA” was designed for and commissioned by the MoMA PS1 Young Architects Program. Architect and Holcim Awards Bronze winner David Benjamin explains that organic bricks are carbon free and produce almost no waste at the end of the building’s lifecycle.

“This was a project to disappear as much as it was a project to appear.” – Holcim Awards Bronze winner David Benjamin, The Living, New York for “Hy-Fi: Zero carbon emissions compostable structure, New York”.