Ipsita Datta

Mycelium-Based Living Building Materials and Robotic Additive Manufacturing for Regenerative Construction

This research investigates the integration of mycelium-based Living Building Materials (LBMs) with construction and agricultural waste, using robotic additive manufacturing (RAM) as a means to fabricate biologically active architectural systems. The project explores how living systems—specifically fungal networks—can interface with excavated soil and inert substrates to create structural and performative elements in construction.

Positioned at the intersection of digital fabrication, bio-material research, and environmental architecture, the work proposes a framework where growth, decay, and adaptation are not treated as limitations but as inherent design parameters. Mycelium’s potential to act as a stabilizing and binding agent for soil is studied in both sterile and unsterilized conditions, with emphasis on how its colonization behavior and mechanical performance vary across layered systems and substrate blends.

The central question driving the research is: Can living organisms be integrated into fabrication processes to produce scalable, load-bearing systems that are both ecologically responsive and materially efficient? The research addresses this through a series of controlled experiments that assess radial and vertical growth, compressive strength, penetrative depth, and environmental responsiveness. Robotic 3D printing enables spatial precision and repeatability in testing biological-material interactions, helping define parameters for modular or continuous construction systems.

This project contributes to the growing field of Engineered Living Materials (ELMs) by offering an architecture-centered inquiry into their application. It foregrounds the role of digital tools in steering biological performance and seeks to formulate a new material ecology where construction is approached not as a closed system but as a dynamic interface between living and non-living matter.

Ultimately, the research envisions regenerative construction practices that move beyond extractive industrial paradigms—toward hybrid systems capable of adapting to environmental and spatial contingencies through biologically informed design.

Ipsita Datta is a PhD student in the Constructed Environments. She received a Master's in Advanced Architecture and a Post graduate Diploma in 3D Printing Architecture from Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia (IAAC), Barcelona and her undergraduate professional Bachelor of Architecture from L.S Raheja School of Architecture, Mumbai. She previously taught courses related to design computation, digital fabrication, and material systems as Assistant Professor at NMIMS Balwant Sheth School of Architecture, Mumbai. She has also been involved in organizing and conducting panel discussions for the Digital FUTURES Initiative, where they interact with experts worldwide on topics related to advanced construction technologies and new material ecology. She had industry experience as an architect and BIM manager in various firms before she switched to her research endeavors.