PhD in the Constructed Environment Candidate Ipsita Datta's Critical Essay on Living Construction selected for international proceedings
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Ipsita Datta, candidate in the PhD in the Constructed Environment program, joins sixty-two scholars worldwide, whose critical essays have been selected as part of the 2026 UIA World Congress of Architects digital proceedings. Her scholarship, titled "Mycelium Architectures for Circular and Living Construction," was chosen through a two-phase double-blinded peer review process from nearly 800 submissions, evaluated in a final phase by a renowned international jury composed on six distinguished scholars—Keller Easterling, Samia Henni, Lydia Kallipoliti, Marina Otero, Raquel Rolnik, and Philip Ursprung.
Jury comments on Datta's essay included, "The paper reads beautifully, almost like poetry...conceptually, it positions mycelium not only as a counterpoint but as a possible substitute for conventional construction materials. The inclusion of concrete examples of mycelium-based interventions [centers] the work and provides a...grounded and structured argument."
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Drawing from political ecology and posthuman theory, Datta's essay shifts circularity from an industrial logic of recycling and efficiency toward an ecological metabolism in which growth, stabilization, use, and decay are understood as continuous and interdependent phases. This effect is examined through three material probes: soil, robotic additive manufacturing, and life cycle assessment. Together, these reveal the friction between biological variability and the regulatory demand for permanence, uniformity, and control.
Through experimental practices and contemporary precedents, Datta's essay argues that mycelium operates simultaneously as an enabler and a critic.
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It enables low-energy material production, waste metabolism, and regenerative building practices, while also challenging architectural norms of durability and standardization. By treating growth, care, and return to soil as design conditions rather than failures, the work proposes architecture as a form of cohabitation with living systems, where performance is negotiated over time and authorship is distributed across human and nonhuman actors.
Datta shared—
This acceptance marks an important step in framing my research beyond material performance toward a broader architectural argument about time, care, and co-authorship with living systems.
"It substantiates that my work on mycelium-based Living Building Materials contributes not only to sustainable construction methods, but also to rethinking how architecture defines circularity and responsibility in relation to ecological processes."
The UIA World Congress of Architects is the International Union of Architects’ principal global convening, held every three years—bringing together architects, researchers, and institutions from around the world. The 2026 Congress, which will be held in Barcelona from June 28-July 2, is organized under the theme “Becoming. Architectures for a planet in transition."
More about Ipsita Datta and her research
Ipsita Datta’s research centers on mycelium-based Living Building Materials and their integration with construction and agricultural waste through robotic additive manufacturing. Her dissertation investigates how living systems—particularly fungal networks—can interface with excavated soil and inert materials to produce structurally viable, environmentally responsive components for construction.
The research poses a central question: Can living organisms be incorporated into fabrication processes to produce scalable, load-bearing systems that are both ecologically responsive and materially efficient? Through a series of controlled experiments testing growth dynamics, material strength, and environmental response, Datta is contributing to the field of Engineered Living Materials with an architecture-centered inquiry into their application. Her work uses robotic 3D printing to precisely explore biological-material interactions and define parameters for modular or continuous construction.
Datta was awarded a Spring 2025 Graduate Global Research Grant from CGII and a 2025 AHSS Summer Research Fellowship, enabling her to continue advancing research into material ecologies and bio-integrated design.
