Episode 102

Have you ever asked Mycelium what it wants to be? In Episode 002, Devansh Mehta (‘21 AAD) and Benjamin Akhavan ('21 AAD) question the materialization of death through the demonstration of humans exercising control over their own deaths. The materiality and deaths of other species to manipulate our death is complemented by the analysis of understanding the systems required to support the externalized material processes of bodies which humans use to avoid death. Marie-Christine Dimitri ('21 AAD) interviews David Benjamin to understand the ethical implications of using other species in our architecture.

David Benjamin is founding Principal of The Living and Associate Professor at Columbia GSAPP. Benjamin’s work combines research and practice, and focuses on the intersection of biology, computation, and design. His MoMA PS1 pavilion “Hy-Fi” changed the way architects think of organic matter (particularly mycelium) as a building material.

This episode of rAADio was brought you by: Max Lauter: Director and Creative Producer, Sound Design, Editing Alex Hamadey: Sound Designer & Composer, Lead Audio Engineer Timothy Jacob Kwasny: Recording Audio Engineer