SPACES LANDSCAPES PROTOTYPES SIMULATION GEOMETRY ENVIRONMENTS ECOLOGIES
2018 March

Dana speaks at the CMUThink Pittsburgh event themed around Greening the Urban Environment. This Alumni Association University event introduces CMU’s innovative research and technology that could lead to healthier cities.

2018 March

Epiphyte Lab has been recognized as the Next Progressive design practice by ARCHITECT, The Journal of American Institute of Architects. Learn more about Epiphyte Lab’s design work in the interview with Dana.

2018 March

Dana presents Senyai: Vaulted Acoustics project at the Building Behaviors panel, 106th Annual Meeting ACSA, Denver, CO.

Shaping Environments: Bio-Matter

| College of Fine Arts CMU | 2022-2025 |

| Material Research | Design Computation |

In our world, waste streams constitute the only responsible material resource. As of 2020, humanity officially became the primary shaper of the planet. According to ‘Scientific American’ (2020), all human-made objects now outweigh the total biomass of all living organisms on Earth. The continued accumulation of synthetic matter leaves an irreversible footprint, contributing to the ossified state of the planet’s landscape. Working with waste streams and natural materials, this research seeks new paradigms of material circularity and resilience - where architectural forms can “self-care” while remaining entangled within their local ecologies. Shaping Environments is a framework that explores regenerative material formations beyond our current petrochemical reality. Positioned at the intersection of matter, environment, form, and computation, these workflows investigate new techno-ecological imaginaries through the production of material prototypes, seeking resilient material systems in which architectural forms actively participate in biological processes through the binding power of bioplastics and mycelium.


Stained Glass Bioplastics: Pioneering Biomaterials 2025;
Biochromatic Loops: SIGraDi 2025.

| PI & INSTRUCTOR: Dana Cupkova | RESEARCH ASSISTANT: Jil Berenblum | TEACHING ASSISTANTS: Adrienne Hin To Luk, Taehyun Lim | STUDENTS: Kimberly Blacutt, Audrey Reiley, Jessica Wu, Tobi Aina, Joanne Zeng, Kritika Sarawagi, Anoushka Sethi, Ella Moon, Vaibhav Panchal, Khevna Modi, Rohith Saravanan, Nirmal Kumarasamy, Zeeshan Sheriff, Abirami Periakaruppan, Laasya Bosukonda, Nora Morlot, Riddhi Gugale, Sparsha Reddy, Tejal Kotkar, Sharvi Shah, Parikshit Kalavadia, Taehyun Lim, Adrienne Luk, Andrea Wan, Anishwar Tirupathur, Sydney Sun, Parth Danait, Ankita Sinha, Meghna Roy, Arunima Dubey |