Mycology for Architecture

Dilan is a researcher exploring how fungi can transform the way we make, grow, and build. Trained as an architect, she develops transferable frameworks for designing and fabricating with living materials, connecting biological behaviour, computational design logic, and material performance into approaches that can be adapted across different scales. She completed her PhD at Newcastle University | Hub for Biotechnology in the Built Environment, where her research explored a biodigital fabrication framework that applies parametric design principles to living fungi, enabling designers to collaboratively guide the organism's natural growth and morphology by manipulating environmental parameters rather than enforcing predetermined forms. She is the founder of Mycology for Architecture, an international network connecting researchers, designers, artists, and practitioners working with fungi and the built environment, and editor of the forthcoming book Mycology for Architecture: Methods and Applications of Mycelium Materials (Pelagic Publishing, 2026). Currently a senior researcher at Northumbria University | Living Construction Group, she investigates mycelium-based materials for sustainable construction and design applications. Her work spans mycelium composites, fungal leather, post-processing methods, and 3D-printed living materials. Projects she has contributed to have been exhibited internationally, including at the London Design Biennale, the Edinburgh Science Festival, and the Venice Biennale. At this year's festival, Dilan will run Printing Mycelium Without a Printer, a hands-on workshop where participants prepare a mycelium composite paste and explore how it can be manually extruded to form shapes- developing an understanding of how formulation, flow, and pressure influence the behaviour and geometry of living materials.