Urban Fungus – Architecture is a complex mesh

To address the challenges of global warming and ecosystem destruction driven by the material cycles of a capitalist society rooted in mass production and consumption, Mio Tsuneyama and Fuminori Nousaku approach architecture as a temporary node within a complex mesh of resources, knowledge, technology, and institutions. Their architectural practice employs bricolage, leveraging local resources and materials available around them, while embracing traditional Japanese ecological knowledge.

They are committed to creating architecture that fosters coexistence with multispecies and contributes to building sustainable biological cycles. Like mushrooms thriving within a network of decay and renewal, they aim to design with "weak power," resisting the exploitative tendencies of the building industry and its relentless extraction of Earth's resources. Through their projects, they aspire to articulate architectural and urban visions that harmonise human and ecological systems.

Mio Tsuneyama and Fuminori Nousaku, a Tokyo-based architect couple, are renovating their home and studio, Holes in the House, while living in it. Mio, the founder of Studio mnm, holds a master’s degree from the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne. Fuminori is the founder of Fuminori Nousaku Architects and serves as an associate professor at the Tokyo Institute of Science, where he also earned his PhD. Since 2023, both have been teaching at Columbia GSAPP. Their design approach is rooted in the concept of Urban Wild Ecology, which aims to establish biological cycles that support the cohabitation of multiple species.