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ForMat Lab • directed by Benay Gürsoy

@format.lab

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Research lab advancing sustainable material systems
@pennstate @stuckeman_views
form + matter + fabrication + performance
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Assoc. Prof. Benay Gürsoy
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Mediating Form, Matter, Fabrication and Performance in Designing with Myco-Materials – Benay Gürsoy Book: Designing Mycelium Publisher: Routledge This chapter investigates the relationships between form, material behavior, fabrication processes, and performance in mycelium-based design. It emphasizes the need to mediate between biological variability and design precision. The research explores digital tools, fabrication workflows, and environmental controls that influence outcomes. Case studies demonstrate how iterative processes accommodate growth, shrinkage, and material transformation. The chapter highlights the importance of adaptability and feedback in working with living systems. It positions myco-material design as a dynamic negotiation between intention and emergence, contributing to new frameworks for integrating biological materials into architectural and computational design practices.   @format.lab @pusurkusur @aghazlab @dcupk @atelier_rosenkrantz @wild.futures_lab @nataliapiorecka @nyantaliee @philayres_dk @come_dimeglio @studiocartier @munchment @mylea_mycl @biomatters.llc @jonasedvardstudio @giulifungi @redhousestudioarchitecture @biolab_studio @allison_yoon @nataliapiorecka @nyantaliee @jdessiolive @mycomatterslab @karefullee @karefullee @lynne.f.campbell @tulanearch @cltarchitecture @routledgearchitecture @beckettlab @otelhan @come_dimeglio https://www.routledge.com/Designing-Mycelium-Exploring-the-Design-Potential-of-Fungi/Crawford-Dessi-Olive/p/book/9781041048213
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We're in This Together Benay Gürsoy Toykoç (Assoc. Prof. of Architecture) Director of ForMat Lab @format.lab Penn State University 16 March 2026 Monday 5 PM (GMT+3, Istanbul) / 10 AM (GMT-4, Pennsylvania) https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89417876985?pwd=YzRvNyN1Dur1rVfPkNuZQ3ptd2GDsn.1 Meeting ID: 894 1787 6985 Passcode: 958643 In Spring 2026, within Tactical Imaginaries: Machines · Islands · Aggregative Multiplicities studio, we are pleased to host Benay Gürsoy Toykoç for an online talk entitled We’re in This Together. As part of our first studio module, Machines, we are building open-source learning instruments and engaging in hands-on material testing. The module situates making at the intersection of construction, critical practices, and ecologies, not as production for its own sake, but as a method of inquiry. Benay Gürsoy Toykoç’s talk is imagined as an opening gesture toward cultivating a maker culture within the studio. She will reflect on the community she initiated at Istanbul Bilgi University through Hacking Materials and Production Methods, and how that ethos of collaborative experimentation evolved within a different scale and research context in the United States. In her work, “making” becomes more than fabrication; it becomes a medium for gathering, knowledge-sharing, and collective formation. At this early stage of the semester, this spirit of building-together feels especially meaningful for our students.
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See biomaterials differently — Nov 28–30 at The Swiss Church. Free to attend — RSVP now.⁠ ⁠ We’re excited to welcome ForMat Lab, the design research lab of Penn State’s Stuckeman School, to CODE & CRAFT.⁠ ⁠ Founded by Associate Professor Benay Gürsoy, @format.lab investigates how form, matter, and fabrication shape one another — positioning making as a material-driven process of discovery. Their work spans adaptive robotic fabrication, sustainable biofabrication, and advanced research into mycelium-based composites cultivated from agricultural and mushroom-farming byproducts.⁠ ⁠ Collaborating with mycologists, biologists, ecologists, and engineers, the lab develops new pathways for sustainable building materials and design methods.⁠ ⁠ For CODE & CRAFT, the contributing team — Aisa Shams, Alale Mohseni, Alime Şanlı, and Mijin Kim — brings a body of work that explores uncertainty, adaptation, and the agency of living materials.⁠ ⁠ See what happens when design becomes a collaboration with matter itself.⁠ ⁠ 📅 28–30 Nov 2025⁠ 📍 The Swiss Church, Covent Garden⁠ 🎟️ Free entry — RSVP now (link in bio!)⁠
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An acoustic wall that was designed and built using mycelium — the root of fungi — by a team of interdisciplinary researchers led by Benay Gürsoy (@pusurkusur), associate professor of architecture and director of the Form and Matter Lab (@format.lab), now adorns a wall in Penn State Provost Fotis Sotiropoulos’ office in Old Main. Mycelium-based composites are more eco-friendly than traditional building components, yet they match the performance of traditional insulation. The material has been a focus of ongoing research and experimentation in the ForMat Lab, where Gürsoy and her team explore their architectural applications along with researchers in @agsciences. How did this unique office installation come about? Check out the story in our profile. @aisashams @alale_mohseni @alimesanli Images: Alale Mohseni, Alime Şanlı, Benay Gürsoy, Brian Reed #stuckemanschool #stuckemanresearch #pennstatearchitecture #wecreate #acousticwall #sustainability #sustainabledesign #psuarts #pennstate An acoustic wall installation in an office.
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We are honored to participate in “Biogenic Futures: Women Shaping Material Ecologies”, upcoming exhibit by the @cuartmuseum and @biomodernity lab, amplifying the work of women leading innovation on materials research, environmental design, and ecology. Samples form our research on TEGULA, TERRENE, EGGREGATE and BAGASEAT will be shown there along with the incredible work and diverse perspectives on biodesign by Sabin Lab, Format Lab, The Natural Materials Lab, Biomatters, Living Matter Lab, Nova Terra, Entangled Ecologies Lab, Wild Futures Lab, Edna W Laurence Nature Lab and many others! Congratulations to our @weitzman_arch research leaders Eda Begum Birol @begb_design, Yasaman Amirzehni @yassmnaz, Bhavana Priya Balasubramanian @_bbhav_ana_, and Yuanyi Cen @cenyyc_ for their outstanding research on display from September 5th to December 9th 2025 (come celebrate on September 4 at 4:00pm) Full DumoLab credits here: TEGULA https://www.design.upenn.edu/work/tegula-series TERRENE https://www.design.upenn.edu/work/terrene-30-earthen-shell BAGASEAT https://www.design.upenn.edu/work/bagaseat EGGREGATE https://www.design.upenn.edu/work/eggregate Exhibit info: https://www.colorado.edu/cuartmuseum/exhibitions/upcoming/biogenic-futures-women-shaping-material-ecologies #biodesign #biofabrication #biomaterials #biobased #materialsmatter #materialinnovation #sustainablematerials #sustainablity #regenerative #circulareconomy #sustainabledesign #regenerativedesign #womanvoices
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Honored to be a part of the upcoming exhibition, Biogenic Futures: Women Shaping Material Ecologies, presented by the @cuartmuseum. This curated exhibition honors and amplifies the work of women who are leading innovation at the forefront of material research, with a focus on environmental design, ecology, and experimental methods 🌿 Learn more here: https://www.colorado.edu/cuartmuseum/exhibitions/upcoming/biogenic-futures-women-shaping-material-ecologies #biodesign #biofabrication #biomaterials #biobased #diymaterials #materialsmatter #materialecology #materialinnovation #sustainablematerials #sustainablity #regenerative #circulareconomy #sustainabledesign #regenerativedesign #ecofeminism
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🚀 #𝑵𝒆𝒙𝒕𝑬𝒙𝒉𝒊𝒃𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 I’m beyond excited to announce that my #biomaterial samples are now in Colorado, USA! 🌍✨ 📅 From September 5 to December 19, 2025, they’ll be part of 𝘽𝙞𝙤𝙜𝙚𝙣𝙞𝙘 𝙁𝙪𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙚𝙨: 𝙒𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙣 𝙎𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙈𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙖𝙡 𝙀𝙘𝙤𝙡𝙤𝙜𝙞𝙚𝙨 — an exhibition organised at the Art Museum College of Arts and Sciences @cuartmuseum that celebrates the #creativity and #leadership of #women reimagining #materials for a #sustainable future. 🔥 It’s such an honour to be featured alongside inspiring women whose research and practice are pushing the boundaries of design, ecology, and collaboration. ⚡️ If you’re around Colorado this fall, don’t miss it — come explore how biomaterials can transform our built environments with care, resilience, and imagination. 🔮🧪 More info here: https://www.colorado.edu/cuartmuseum/exhibitions/upcoming/biogenic-futures-women-shaping-material-ecologies #BiogenicFutures #BiomaterialResearch #SustainableDesign #WomenInBiodesign #FutureMaterials . . #materialactivism #diymaterials #futurematerials #biobased #livingmatter #circulardesign #sustainabledesign #bioarchitecture #materialsmatter #newmaterialism #materialecology #biofabrication #biomaterialresearch #sustainablefuture #circulareconomy #bioeconomy #posthumanfeminism #speculativedesign #biohack #rituals #ecofeminism
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📢✨ PhD Colloquium – More Sessions Ahead! ✨📢 A big thank you to Alale Mohseni for her insightful presentation last week! Wishing her all the best in her research journey. Stay tuned for more exciting talks coming soon!
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📢✨ PhD Colloquium – TODAY! ✨📢 Join us this Tuesday (2/4) at 12 PM in 102/103 SFB for an exciting talk by Alale Mohseni 🎤🎓. She’ll be presenting: 🔹 From Material to Code: Streamlined Robotic 3D Printing of Mycelium-Based Building Parts and Structures 🤖🍄🏗 Can’t make it in person? Join via Zoom! 🎥🔗 See you there!
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Part 2 of 3D printing mycelium from @teniola.adebayo #stuckemanschool #stuckemanstudent #architecturestudent #archistudent #pennstatearchitecture #psuarts #pennstate #mycelium #sustainability #sustainablearchitecture
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Let’s see what @teniola.adebayo is up to in her design research studio this semester… “This semester I have gotten really up close and personal with mushrooms (and mold) and understanding how it can be used in architecture. Exploring mycelium has been a really interesting process and 3D printing it takes a lot of work, but it ended up being really fun and I took you all along on the journey. *I do not own the copy rights to this song* ” #stuckemanschool #stuckemanstudent #architecturestudent #archistudent #pennstatearchitecture #psuarts #pennstate #mycelium #sustainability #sustainablearchitecture
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ARCH 497 / Tool Making! MS Arch student Kieron Cook is working on the potential for kinetic sand to be used as formwork. In the Tool Making elective, Kieron is building sand-compaction tools and a tool changing system for our ABB robot. Proof of concept video!
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