Few homeowners would want the shapes of fungus, germs or mold to freckle their walls or ceilings. But when Stephen Pallrand, the owner of the architecture, design and construction firm Home Front Build and a dedicated environmentalist, set out to construct his family’s new house in Los Angeles, he chose these intricate motifs. Printed mycelium, a fungus, trills up hemp drapery; E. coli appears to wriggle across bathroom tiles. At first glance, the kitchen backsplash looks like a graphic, polychromatic holdover from the 1970s. “There’s a little mischievousness about bringing all these things and making them visible,” said Mr. Pallrand’s wife, Rachel Mayeri, who based the tile designs on electron microscopy images.

Source: New York Times June 12, 2019 05:26 UTC