graduate

Thesis

The Age of

entanglement

The Age of

entanglement

Developing Living Heirlooms

“There is a void, how do we fill it?”

While in search of meaning designers must set a focus on process, where life is set in ideas, it is ideas where we find spiritual intention. Developing a symbiotic concept of co-design with nature it hopes to engage a relationship between users and architecture by offering a design framework based on principles of growth and self-organization. Although there is awareness of the interconnectedness between societies and nature, nature is still perceived as an externality that supports and situates society. Let us continue to dream and imagine a world where the “green” goes beyond a park.

Take aways

Breaking down the study into three factions in which to navigate. Working from an Organism level to a Behavioral level to an Ecosystem level, the process demonstrates and analyzes the potential of releasing control to natural

mechanical systems to better define and weave urban fabrics. Experimenting with “Physarum Polycephalum” also known as Slime mold, a single celled fungus, known for navigating manipulating, and planning abilities unseen by other species so as to demonstrate the importance of mechanical

systems and functions seen in our natural environment.

Strategy

For centuries, urbanization has resulted in the extensive removal and fragmentation of natural vegetation. After the initial attack, a complex mosaic of novel habitats consisting of native, non-native, and invasive plants emerged, dominated by buildings, roads and other impervious surfaces all contaminated with pollution. These systems act as filters in which livelihood for species are difficult to sustain, achieving success in its
original design intention. While urbanization continues to pose a substantial threat to species and ecosystems, cities grow with a perfectly diverse array of unconventional habitats that can theoretically provide important resources for native biodiversity and potentially be converted into connecting ecosystems in which humans are a key component. Wildlife is increasingly occupying novel niches such as green roofs, constructed wetlands vacant lots, etc, so why not plan this embedment in our infrastructure. Cities can then become keys to the conservation of biodiversity, in which species and vegetation are not a nuisance but a strategic force.

Challenges

An exploration made through the fusion of nature and technology into multidisciplinary forms and ideas to represent a significant optimistic vision for the future of our planet, analyzing the beauty in which two seemingly opposite evolutions have made a pact to survive.

Project Synopsis

"An ongoing ‘collaboration’ with an intelligent organism"

A city is evolved out of various architectural forms and systems, each of which is generated by certain morphological determinants that form the spatial narrative of the growth of the place. Hence, the study of overlapping of these narratives could help in globalizing the local environment in design. This in turn allows for a more honest manifestation of nature in our buildings beyond its current application as an underwhelming, decorative afterthought. The belief is that with this increased exposure, urban inhabitants will re-establish and strengthen their connection to the natural world which is essential in the endeavor to mitigate change for holistic communities and design. Design structures are often static and materially homogenous, while biological structures are dynamic and materially heterogeneous. Living things respond, grow, and adapt. If humanity is to survive and thrive, we must rethink our relationship with Nature and aim it towards the realm of bio-informed design.

SMALL

MEDIUM

LARGE

CHAPTERS

birth
growth
decay
regeneration

What is the essence of architecture and what is
conveyed through soul, core, and sensation.

*Manifesting the sensations and hidden properties of nature with the use of technology in order to learn from the Earth’s underlying mechanisms to re-establish our connection to it. Re-imagining the potential in the parallels between man-made and natural structures/systems through deconstructive, interactive, and innovative processes while developing a shift from human-centric design to Nature-centric design.

"An ongoing ‘collaboration’ with an intelligent organism"

CHAPTERS

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