Pet Architecture- Animals have better instincts such as anticipating danger, finding water and food, etc. How can they be used for architecture, resources, survival- in extreme locations or after extreme disasters? Which species would be useful for resource gathering, and which for post-colonization equilibrium maintenance within the new ecosystem?
Dune– “Movement across the landscape is a necessity for animal life ,” his father said. “Nomad peoples follow the same necessity. Lines of movement adjust to physical
needs for water, food, minerals. We must control this movement now, align it for our purposes.” How can we use this to encourage and manipulate the development of new ecosystems? Rehabilitation of ones we destroyed? How can we develop architecture to follow this logic of assembly for new developments in unfamiliar territories?
“We are generalists, ” his father said. “You can’t draw neat lines around planet-wide problems. Planetology is a cut-and-fit science.” How can we develop an improvisational architectural system for unknown territories, what aspects can be and need to be highly adaptable on-site and how?
The ecological system in Dune is built by natural, passive processes, such as animals’ natural instincts, wind’s natural patterns, etc. It is planned by humans but enacted largely by nature. The method is evolution based- starting small and moving up to bigger, more diversified species during its various stages of growth. Where and when can architecture fit into the evolution of an ecosystem? How can we build to benefit the site’s ecosystem, rather than destroying existing life?
How can we adapt this kind of growth and evolution strategy to build architecture more efficiently?
What are the qualities of the next stage of growth of architecture, and how can we start growing towards that?
Can architecture help build the relationships of species to each other, and to their outside environments?
What is the limit of an organism with respect to the limit of its system, and how do these limits define species and their interactions with the environment?
What makes a healthy ecosystem, and how does that differ across locations/ climates?
What is the role of humans within our environments, and what can it aspire to becoming?
How can we mediate the different needs across all species and systems? Is it possible for parasitic species like humans to contribute to, or even to peacefully coexist alongside symbiotic systems?
Are humans capable of lack of bias towards any one kind of species? How can people be persuaded to forget indifferences, discard inefficiencies, and make sacrifices for the greater good of the planet?
How can we work to restore balance in ecosystems we have destroyed? To build a functioning ecosystem from scratch?
What are possible planetary scale climate change’s consequences on biological life within ecosystems? Will their species be able to adapt quickly enough to stay alive? What architects do to prepare for and negate potential threats?
Can we develop remedies which spread through systems and into others, creating an exponential chain reaction to spread across the global scale? What is the safest way to thoroughly test our innovations without risking adding even more to the list of damage done by humans?
In Ventus, humans send nanotechnology to terraform other planets before their arrival. Can we develop like methods (on a much simpler scale) in real life to kick start the cultivation of presently unsuitable habitats?