We are the biodiversity and climate crises response atelier. In our design process, we decentre humans and design for multiple species. We redefine our engagement with the environment as a multi-voiced narrative and as interdisciplinarity is at the core of our team and approach (social science x landscape x architecture), we extend our collaborative ethos to more-than-human actors.
The Some Kind of Nature atelier asks the following questions:
- What do we really mean when we talk about nature in our designs?
- How would it look to decentre humans and design for multiple species?
- How can we reckon with the complexity of designing for ecosystems, and attending to climate justice, without greenwashing?
- What agency do designers have to enact change in a world of multiple policies, directives, and goals?
We adopt a radical, non-anthropocentric approach to climate justice using dialogic, interdisciplinary, and collaborative methods. Students positioned themselves within the atelier agenda and in response to the site on the bank of the river Mersey in the Heron Portal at Northenden Riverside Park in Manchester, formulated their own brief and programme.
We banned green from all visuals this year to question traditional representations of landscape in architectural drawings.
