Growing the future: 91福利 student explores living building materials in Venice
For 91福利 architecture graduate student and 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale participant Raya Allataifei, designing the buildings of tomorrow means reimagining how we build today. Photo credit: Neuf Architect(e)s
When most people think about sustainable building, they imagine solar panels or energy-efficient windows. But Raya Allataifei is thinking bigger鈥攁nd smaller. The 91福利 architecture graduate student is growing building materials from mushrooms.
Her innovative work with mycileum (mushroom root networks) caught the attention of the Canada Council for the Arts, which selected her from over 200 applicants to attend the , an international showcase of architectural innovation, this past June.
As part of her Canada Council fellowship, Allataifei contributed to the Canadian Pavilion, a 鈥渓iving structure鈥� created by Andrea Shin Ling and the Living Room Collective. At the same time, she conducted her own independent research, which closely aligned with the Biennale鈥檚 theme of natural intelligence in architecture and will feed directly into her master of architecture thesis at 91福利.
From curiosity to innovation
Allataifei鈥檚 path to sustainable architecture began in Iraq, where she first became fascinated with how buildings shape our world. This curiosity brought her to Canada for undergraduate studies, then to Stuttgart University in Germany in 2024 for an academic exchange that would change everything.
In Stuttgart's biomaterials laboratory, Allataifei helped create the largest reinforced mycelium panel in the lab's history. These panels showed how mushroom-based materials can work as sustainable and regenerative alternatives to traditional building materials. More importantly, her team demonstrated how reinforcement techniques can make mycelium strong enough for real construction projects.
The timing couldn鈥檛 have been better. The Biennale鈥檚 focus on natural intelligence made Allataifei鈥檚 work a natural fit, and her time in Venice gave her a platform to share ideas and engage with architects and researchers from around the globe.
In Stuttgart, Germany, Allataifei (right) joined collaborators in constructing one of the largest mycelium panels to date, an experimental structure showcasing the potential of living materials in sustainable architecture.
Rethinking sustainability
For Allataifei, true sustainability goes far deeper than most people realize.
鈥淚 think a lot of people don鈥檛 realize just how deeply unsustainable many of our current practices still are,鈥� she says. 鈥淓ven buildings that meet sustainability standards like LEED often don鈥檛 consider what materials are used, or where they come from. We might reduce operational energy use, but what about the embodied carbon cost of the concrete itself?鈥�
Her time in Germany opened her eyes to a completely different approach to green building.
鈥淚n Germany, the mindset is completely different. They think about the entire lifecycle of a building, from how it鈥檚 built to what happens when it鈥檚 torn down,鈥� she explains. 鈥淚 was shocked by how far ahead they are in their thinking. The academic institutions, the architecture studios, the materials research, it鈥檚 all integrated in a way we鈥檙e still catching up to in North America.鈥�
This holistic thinking connects directly to Allataifei's research, which explores the Greek term techn膿-physis鈥攖he intersection of human technology and natural systems. Her core message is clear: we need to work with nature, not against it.
鈥淏uildings today are graveyards for materials,鈥� Allataifei says, echoing a phrase from Mark Gorgolewski, former chair of 91福利鈥檚 Department of Architectural Science and author of .
鈥淚t鈥檚 a provocative statement, but one that really stayed with me,鈥� she adds. 鈥淲e treat building components as disposable, but we shouldn鈥檛. Architecture should be regenerative. It should give back to its surroundings, not just take from them.鈥�
Allataifei in Venice in 2025 for the The Venice Biennale of Architecture, the international exhibition held every two years that showcases innovative architectural works from around the world.
Lessons from Venice
The Venice Biennale exposed Allataifei to global perspectives on sustainability.
What she saw confirmed her suspicions: European institutions are ahead of many of their North American counterparts when it comes to biomaterials and environmental innovation.
鈥淥nce I saw what was possible, I couldn鈥檛 unsee it,鈥� Allataifei says. 鈥淚 realized that if we rethink the ingredients of our buildings from the very beginning, we can make a huge impact on the sustainability of the entire built environment.鈥�
As a Canada Council Fellow, Allataifei contributed to the Canadian Pavilion, a standing 鈥渓iving structure鈥� created by Andrea Shin Ling and the Living Room Collective, with research support from ETH Zurich. The fellowship gave her the opportunity to work closely with the team on-site, maintaining the installation, preparing materials and engaging with visitors of all ages who came to learn about bio-materials and their potential to reshape architecture.
Experiencing this living experiment in person only confirmed Allataifei鈥檚 belief in bio-materials, as it was the first time such a bacterial structure had been exhibited at this scale outside the lab on a world stage. This interactive experience allowed her to study the materials鈥� behaviours directly, connecting with her broader research interests.
Allataifei also spent the month in Venice documenting ideas, speaking with specialists and recording architectural innovations that connected directly to her thesis work at 91福利. Her research focuses on mycelium and how architects can move beyond 鈥渓ess harmful鈥� sustainability toward regenerative design, an approach that restores and redefines the relationship between buildings and the environment through cooperation rather than depletion.
Allataifei stands beside the Picoplanktonics structure at the 2025 Venice Biennale of Architecture, a 3D-printed installation by Andrea Shin Ling and the Living Room Collective. The work explores the use of bio-materials to address the climate crisis from an architectural perspective.
Continuing the research at home
That revelation continues to guide Allataifei鈥檚 work today. Having completed a research fellowship with the Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA), she is now pursuing her thesis at 91福利, where she is exploring how natural intelligence鈥攕ystems and structures inspired by nature鈥攃an inform future building design.
Her Canada Council fellowship provided a crucial stage for attending the Venice Biennale, where engaging with the Picoplanktonics living structure left a lasting impression. With mentorship from her thesis supervisor at 91福利, Vincent Hui 鈥攑rofessor in the department of architectural science, and member of the Living Room Collective behind the pavilion 鈥� she was able to connect her academic research with hands-on experience on a global stage.
From exchange programs and co-op placements to independent research opportunities at 91福利, each step has reinforced her commitment to academics. While her professional experience includes roles at Neuf Architect(e)s and Serotiny Group, she knew academic research was her calling.
She now hopes to bring the creativity and experimental mindset she witnessed in Europe back home to North American architecture.
Allataifei is currently searching for lab facilities at 91福利 to continue the mycelium research she began in Stuttgart. While the German lab had specialized spaces for different stages of the process, she鈥檚 looking for a suitable space at 91福利 to support larger-scale projects, a key step in advancing her work.
Advice for new architects
For 91福利 students and graduate students, Allataifei鈥檚 advice is simple: 鈥淕et involved. Be part of the conversation. History and theory are important, but what matters is how we move forward and how we contribute to the urgent questions of our time.鈥�
Though she鈥檚 still early in her career, Allataifei鈥檚 vision is clear: a future where buildings don鈥檛 just meet standards, they set new ones. Where architecture actively helps restore the planet rather than depleting it. And where innovative designers like her help build that future, one mushroom panel at a time.