Tulane faculty and staff present at ACADIA Conference 2026

Body-Scaled Muqarnas: Recursive Symmetries for Culturally Grounded Wearable Architecture

Paper Authors: Abbas Ghaffari, Delaram Khoshhal and Ammar Eloueini, Tulane School of Architecture and Built Environment.

Abstract: This project grew out of Abbas Ghaffari and Delaram Khoshhal's joint Master of Architecture thesis at Tulane University, developed under the guidance of thesis director Ammar Eloueini. This project explores how the geometric principles of traditional Iranian architecture can inform contemporary wearable design. Selected for presentation at ACADIA 2026, it investigates Muqarnas and Rasmi-bandi, architectural systems that organize intricate spatial patterns through geometric repetition and translates their underlying logic to the scale of the human body. Through computational design, recursive symmetry, and digital fabrication, the project develops a collection of wearable pieces, including a bodice 3D-printed in flexible TPU, a mask, and a skirt. The research approaches these traditions as generative design systems, exploring how their rules can be adapted to new materials, fabrication methods, and relationships with the body. Connecting cultural heritage with contemporary technology, the project considers how wearable architecture can become a medium for material experimentation and cultural expression.

Translations: 3D Scanning & Digital Fabrication

Research project presenter: Nicholas LiCausi, Tulane School of Architecture and Built Environment. Students: Alex Cohen, Bryn Creager, Jorge Gonzalez Bisteni, Brynn Matter-Ramos, Ryan Petrovich, Ari Soloman, Bernardo Urquieta, and Kunran Zhao

Abstract: This project documents the output of an upper-level architecture elective that investigates the translation between digital simulation and physical assembly. The course was structured as a hands-on learning experiment, where students actively built physical prototypes to iteratively test and refine both their fabrication skills and the computational workflow. Students act as active mediators between high-precision digital tools and nonstandard repurposed material waste. By sidestepping linear workflows in favor of dynamic feedback loops between tool, material, and outcome, the course rejects the top-down imposition of geometric form. Instead, the curriculum asks: How can multi-fabrication workflows (3D scanning, 3D ceramic printing, and CNC routing) enable designers to negotiate nonstandard, repurposed material inputs within a circular construction framework? The integration of high-fidelity digitizing methods with traditional ceramic handcraft reconciles ancient building techniques with contemporary computational design through a “closed loop” fabrication process.

Growing Facade: Large Format Robotic Clay Printing for Bio-Integrated Architecture

Workshop team: Nicholas LiCausi, Tulane School of Architecture and Built Environment. Rachael Henry, University of Michigan. Oliver Perry and Dan Batty, Newcastle University. Workshop consultant: Adam Marcus, Tulane School of Architecture and Built Environment. Tsz Yan Ng, University of Michigan. Jane Scott, Newcastle University.

This workshop will explore large-format 3D printing of bioreceptive ceramic building components, focusing on integrating biomaterials, material knowledge, and fabrication. Participants will be introduced to the basics of clay composites, biotech for the built environment, material preparation, and robotic extrusion. Workshop attendees will mix and test clay bodies with various additives, then evaluate their printability and test their potential to support biological growth.

Designing Mycelium: Exploring the Design Potential of Fungi

Book Authors: Assia Crawford, Tulane School of Architecture and Built Environment. Jonathan Dessi-Olive, University of North Caroline at Charlotte.

Designing Mycelium examines fungi not simply as an alternative material, but as living systems capable of prompting new approaches to making, collaboration, ecological repair, and material agency. Contributions span fungal biology, living materials, architectural history, cultivation and casting, mycelium textiles, 3D printing, artificial intelligence, regenerative design, professional education, remediation, and the scaling of mycelium-based materials. Crawford’s presentation at ACADIA will introduce the volume and its broader contribution to the rapidly developing field of biologically informed design.

Contributors: Giuliana Furci, Sara Branco, Elise Elsacker, Ali Ghazvinian, Assia Crawford, Côme Di Meglio, Phil Ayres, Jemila MacEwan, Richard Beckett, Christopher Whiteside, Hangchuan Wei, Omid Oliyan, Jonathan Dessi-Olive, Jonas Edvard, Orkan Telhan, Natalie Alima, Nancy Diniz, Frank Melendez, Natalia Beata Piórecka, Dana Cupkova, Rachel Rosenkrantz, Christopher Maurer, Mohamad Arekha Bentangan, Andy Cartier, and Benay Gürsoy.

Claying Architecture: Making Machine and Material Kin

Edited by : Shelby Doyle, Frank Melendez, Kelley Van Dyck Murphy and Jonathan A. Scelsa with contributions by Jenny Sabin, Matthew Allen, Rachel Armstrong, Ehsan Baharlou, Richard Beckett, Assia Crawford, Nancy Diniz, Frank Melendez, Negar Kalantar, Martin Bechthold, Shelby Doyle, Nathan King, Pierre Oskam, Shawn Protz, Garrett Sutherlin Santo, Joyce Hwang, Jennifer Birkeland, Jonathan A. Scelsa, Jan Contala, Nate Hume, Andrew Kudless, Christian j. Lange, Adam Marcus, Alex Schofield, Omar Khan, Erin Hunt, Andrew Saunders, Lucas ter Hall, Kelly van Dyck Murphy, Ron Rael, Edourad Cabay, Alexandre Dubor, Alexander Curth, Fabio Gramazio, Matthias Kohler, Virginia San Fratello, Joshua Stein

Abstract: This book presents a curated collection of essays, interviews, and projects from leading architects, designers, and researchers who are analyzing the role of clay 3D printing in contemporary architecture. The book blends research, theory, and practice to highlight how this ancient material is being reimagined through 3D printing, robotic fabrication, and innovative construction techniques. Through original essays and project showcases, Claying Architecture brings together 30 plus voices from contemporary architectural academia and practice to interrogate why clay is a protagonist in contemporary architecture as an agent capable of binding new kinships between processes, environments, and culture. In this sense, our ‘kinship’ with the machines of digital fabrication mirrors our ‘kinship’ with one another and opens up ways t o reflect on how 3D printing clay is a method to reconsider how we code, construct, and conceive architecture. 

Bioactive Masonry: Minimal Formwork, and Scan-Based Evaluation in a Full-Scale Live-Build Prototype

Paper Author: Assia Crawford, Tulane School of Architecture and Built Environment.

The paper documents a full-scale design-build project at Tulane University that combines thin-tile masonry vault construction with individually grown Pleurotus ostreatus mycelium biocomposite panels. Developed through a semester-long architecture studio, the work integrates digital modeling, masonry construction, wet-lab biodesign, and scanning to investigate how permanent mineral structures can support replaceable biological layers and evolving ecological conditions.

The project was realized with twelve Tulane architecture students: Sophia Atkins, Brooks Barrios, Jack Boyer, Sarah Cepeda, Luke Dyer, Rio Ferrand-Rodgers, Charlie Hazel Pon, Owen Kidd, Jack Morris, Ben Sacher, Alexandra Trapanese, and Sydney Van Slyke. Through the project, students moved between computational design, full-scale construction, sterile laboratory work, mycelium cultivation, and scan-based evaluation, using the completed vaults as an ongoing living laboratory for bioactive architectural systems. Crawford also acknowledges Jonathan Dessi-Olive for consultation on the project, as well as support from Tulane’s Center for Engaged Learning and Teaching, the School of Architecture, and the woodshop team.

CattleDAO: A Speculative Governance Interface for Multispecies Urban Care

Research Project Author: Pavan Vadgama, Tulane School of Architecture and Built Environment.

Abstract: In Ahmedabad, India, roughly 100,000 cows move through streets, medians, and the peripheries of civic infrastructure. Protected by anti-slaughter law yet without formal systems of support, they are sustained by acts of everyday generosity that remain largely unorganized, uneven, and unaccounted for. CattleDAO is a speculative, browser-based simulation that appropriates blockchain as a counter-infrastructure, redirecting technologies of verification, reputation, and governance from financial management toward the maintenance and enrichment of this multispecies commons. Across three interlocking smart contracts, everyday acts are recorded, corroborated by participants, and translated into non-transferable reputation tokens. Accumulated contributions then shape collective decisions over shared resources, allowing authority over bovine welfare to accrue through existing care labor rather than capital. The project asks whether mechanisms typically associated with administrative control might instead register informal forms of support, and imagines an infrastructure through which those who sustain a shared urban world can participate in governing it.