Are humans the only stewards of the built environment? For many architects and planners, spaces are designed with a focus on the needs, comfort, and health of humans. A spatial ordering, in constructed spaces and the urban fabric, designates humans as the default, singular user in this scenario. However, as much as humans have influenced the trajectory of the world, other species play a crucial role in designing, forming, and maintaining the urban landscapes of the twenty-first century.
When designed spaces include other forms of life, there is an opportunity to celebrate the differences in scale, materiality, circulation, and programming needs between humans and other species. Some designers advocate that this interaction will promote education and, therefore, greater empathy for our non-human neighbors. Other designers playfully blur the lines between human and non-human programming so that the users of space will reinterpret their own needs or premonitions.
“[...] We’re surrounded by species and that is a default condition of the world, [so] we have to include them in the way we are designing the world.” - Joyce Hwang, University at Buffalo and founder of Ants of the Prairie
Traditionally, cities are drawn and planned as ordered spaces. The urban landscape can be drawn as a boundary between humans and tamed wilderness. As these planners and architects intended, the city from above is divided into a binary between the urban and the natural environment. Now, there is a growing community of designers prioritizing the well-being of humans in conjunction with animals, insects, and vegetation. The following projects narrate a collective ambition to blur the lines between human and non-human spaces. The designers represent a voice for finding and supporting stewards of the built environment outside the traditional human figure.
1. Reinterpreting the Productive Landscapes of Agriculture and Animal Care
The generalized life cycles of crop production include growing, harvesting, storing, cooking, consuming, and composting, which restarts the cycle. Throughout this cycle, there is a spatial and cultural opportunity for food to be poetically and physically intertwined with the physical structures of the built environment. Looking beyond the traditional practices of separating food production from human leisure and lifestyle, designers are reimagining the productive landscapes of agriculture by bringing people together to cultivate, harvest, store, and share food.
The following projects, located in rural and urban landscapes, reinterpret the relationship between agricultural production and food consumption by highlighting opportunities that celebrate processes, strengthen community, and playfully educate community members on symbiotic relationships between people and other forms of ecology.
Nest We Grow / Kengo Kuma & Associates + College of Environmental Design UC Berkeley
Rural Geometries Barn / Paradigma Ariadné
Strasbourg Zoo's Pedagogical Farm and Visitor Center / FREAKS Architecture
Öhringen Petting Zoo / Kresings Architektur
2. Introducing Biodiversity in Urban Environments
While cities are typically narrated by human activity and constructed infrastructure, there is an expanding vocabulary for introducing ecological richness and biodiversity in the urban fabric. By rethinking boundaries between non-human habitats and urban environments, designers are transforming ecosystems so that plants, animals, and people will coexist. While some residents of cities are replacing traditional grass lawns with pollinator gardens and installing birdhouses, others are adding vegetation to balconies, rooftops, and vacant lots. Although these are small acts of change, there is a cumulative benefit for the advocating of this network of biodiversity catalysts. The projects highlighted in this section illustrate the wide range of successes when urban biodiversity is celebrated. By promoting ecological education and fostering participative engagement these designers are reimagining the city as dynamic, interconnected habitats.
Simonne-Mathieu Tennis Court at Roland Garros / Marc Mimram
KMC Corporate Office / RMA Architects
Alusta Pavilion / Maiju Suomi + Elina Koivisto
G(U)ARDEN Vertical Urban Garden / Annvil
3. Cohesive Living with Domestic Animals
Domestic animals have long shaped how we live in communities and settlements, from companionship to protection and aid. As designers reexamine the dependence between humans and pets, the shared domestic space must include innovative views of scale, routines, physical abilities, and health of the pets that reside alongside their humans. As the relationship between humans and domestic animals is moving towards a nurturing and symbiotic connection, it is important that the shared spaces of the residence act to deepen the understanding of coexistence with multiple species.
The following projects, regardless of whether they are constructed in rural or densely populated urban settings, narrate how living with domestic animals will enrich the lives of humans through responsibility, health, and empathy for non-human neighbors.
House for a Horse Breeder / Diego Baraona
Dog / Human House / EKAR
Cat Café TRYST / Parallect Dedign
4. Residence, Recreation, and Leisure
Reminiscent of a childhood treehouse, there is an embedded playful and nostalgic tone to the spaces that are constructed with consideration for the trees. When an ordinary program for humans, such as a residence or dining space, is moved from a traditional setting to the treetops, the user is invited to imagine a new relationship between routine and recreation. The following projects highlight the blurred boundaries between interior and exterior, leisure and recreation, garden and forest. Within these projects, some gardens bloom within residences and treehouses shelter families of birds and humans alike. As the designer playfully reimagines domesticity and shelter, the user is invited to foster a deeper connection to elements of nature that require similar needs in retreat and reflection.
Tree House / JAN TYRPEKL
Yellow Treehouse Restaurant / Pacific Environments
Garden House / Baracco+Wright Architects
Immersive Resilience Garden / Changyeob Lee + Studio ReBuild
This article is part of the ArchDaily Topics: Multi-Purpose Spaces. Every month we explore a topic in-depth through articles, interviews, news, and architecture projects. We invite you to learn more about our ArchDaily Topics. And, as always, at ArchDaily we welcome the contributions of our readers; if you want to submit an article or project, contact us.
