By Ellie Zolfagharifard PUBLISHED: 06:38 EST, 31 July 2013 | UPDATED: 09:21 EST, 31 July 2013 Homes made from mushrooms could one day be the answer to sustainable living. This is the vision of Ecovative, a U.S. company, which has embarked on a radical experiment to grow a miniature house from fungus. Founded in 2007 by classmates Gavin McIntyre and Eben Bayer from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Ecovative makes use of a part of the mushroom known as ‘mycelium’ to grow sustainable products. Scroll down for video Ecovative uses mycelium to bond together agricultural byproducts like corn stalks into a material that can replace plastic foam. Ecologically, mycelium's function is to break down waste. As it does this it secrets various products including enzymes, lipids, proteins, which act as glue and hold things together
@highlight
U.S. firm Ecovative uses mycelium - the vegetative part of a fungus - to grow structure of the house
@highlight
Mycelium is made up of millions of tiny fibres and used as 'growing glue'
@highlight
The 'fungal flat'  claims to be self-repairing and has its own immune system
Founder @placeholder said that the fungal flat is self-repairing- if a tree fell on the house, the wall would have to be rebuilt, but the insulation would grow back.