Anthropocene and Biomorphic Design

The materials of the past can become the materials of the future:

People, and most specifically designers tend to forget the materials and practices that were used before the industrial revolution. Why do we need to think about anything when we have steel, concrete, and glass? Building materials such as mud in the form of rammed earth and timber have been used for millennia. With their rebirth and new explorations of materials, we can move back towards sustainability and decrease humanity's enormous footprint on the planet. The materials above from the upper left corner moving clockwise go as follows: felt, sawn timber, rammed earth, tree trunks, hemp. 

Points for Class Discussion:

• For decades now, AIA guidelines and building codes have been defining the architecture, fading away creativity and the notion of resiliency and sustainability. The guidelines and minimum codes derive from a socio-political and economic place, ignoring the relationship to earth and nature.
• Dematerialization is a way to rethink the materials we use to build with. We need to ask the questions: Where is the material coming from? What does it represent? What is its ecological footprint? And how can it make communities come closer together?
• As cities developed during the 20th century, one thing is clear; scale matters. The way urban planning and architecture have been operating, they completely isolated our living environment from reality. We no longer have connections to the earth. 
• Is architecture only for humans? We certainly design and construct them, but architects need to take natural habitat into prior consideration. We are taking over land day by day, transforming it into our synthetic environment, leaving natural habitat no choice but to adapt or vanish. Certain green designs such as shallow green roofs with native plants can provide a habitat for the dying bees and other important insects that are part of our lives.