In the context of sustainable construction, there is growing interest in developing new, more environmentally-friendly composite building materials, particularly bio-based and geo-sourced materials. However, such materials are often porous and hygroscopic. Interactions with water can alter their mechanical properties, which leads to a major challenge for their use in construction. It is therefore essential to investigate and understand the underlying mechanisms of mechanical behavior of porous hygroscopic materials, while also developing innovative model materials with a controlled mechanical response. This project aims to develop architected and functional structures for sustainable construction, made from soft materials that are saturated with solvent and responsive to physicochemical stimuli. On the one hand, this requires investigating how a soft, architected structure made from a material with a strong affinity for the surrounding solvent interacts with solvent flow. On the other hand, the influence of solvent uptake by the constituent material on the overall mechanical behavior of the structure must be investigated. The internship work starts by building an experimental setup to investigate the mechanical response of macroscopic auxetic structures made of gelatin and immersed in a water bath.