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The STEAM programmes are one part of what DreamSpace Academy teaches. Most pages here describe the STEAM programmes.
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In short Who provides what The local partner provides the space and pays for the makerspace. DreamSpace Academy provides the design, the quality standard and a licence to run its programmes. Read more

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Innovation, 2022

Dinacon, the mushroom-mushroom lamp

A lamp shaped like a mushroom and grown from mycelium in the DreamSpace Bio Lab during Dinacon 2022, part of the DreamFungi project.

When: July 2022
Where: DreamSpace Bio Lab, Batticaloa
Format: Build project
With: Digital Naturalism Labs

During Dinacon 2022, a lamp shaped like a mushroom was grown from mushroom material in the DreamSpace Bio Lab. It was part of DreamFungi, the academy’s project to make materials from mycelium, the root network of fungi, using locally available waste.

The moulds were made from a coconut shell for the cap and a cardboard roll for the stem. Fungi grown on sawdust filled the moulds, and the lamp was left to grow in a growth chamber before a light was fitted inside. Cris Silva and Pramodya Saumyamali made it with Brian Huang and Tali. A side project, the Fluffynator, turned an old humidifier into one an Arduino controls, to keep the growth chamber damp.

Read more on the Dinacon 2022 website: Mushroom-Mushroom Lamp. The photographs on this page are from that post.

Images

The mushroom-mushroom lamp, grown from mycelium, lit up, July 2022. Photo: Dinacon 2022.

The finished lamp glowing under its mycelium cap, July 2022. Photo: Dinacon 2022.

The lamp in the growth chamber beside a mycelium block, July 2022. Photo: Dinacon 2022.

The grown lamp with its light and battery, July 2022. Photo: Dinacon 2022.

Looking at mycelium materials in the Bio Lab, July 2022. Photo: Dinacon 2022.

Dinacon delegates and the team in the Bio Lab with mycelium samples, July 2022. Photo: Dinacon 2022.

Mycelium bricks, leather and the growth process on display, July 2022. Photo: Dinacon 2022.

Building the Fluffynator, an automated humidifier for the growth chamber, July 2022. Photo: Dinacon 2022.

The Fluffynator running, with its Arduino and screen, July 2022. Photo: Dinacon 2022.