Design for 1 Ecosystem

What if we stop viewing decay as failure and start seeing it as a basic design principle? We ask experts in the field of bio-based materials

What if we no longer view decay as failure, but as a fundamental starting point for design? If we view decay as part of a building’s life cycle, architecture can become a living platform that supports people and other life forms.

In collaboration with BlueCity, this programme explores the possibility of designing for a single ecosystem, thereby initiating new ecological relationships. Emma van der Leest (BlueCity) discusses the topic with three experts in bio-based materials, new systems and innovative applications: Marit Janse, Marjanne Cuypers and Pascal Lebourcq.

In bio-based construction, ageing is not the end, but a process of change. Materials break down, returning nutrients to the earth and making room for new life, such as mosses, fungi, insects and microorganisms. This requires new forms of collaboration, not only between humans, but also with the non-human world. How can we design in a way that works with natural processes, rather than against them?

BlueCity

BlueCity is a hub of the circular economy in Rotterdam and beyond. It is a place where entrepreneurs, food producers and pioneers develop new materials, products and supply chains, and where ideas are given the space to grow into feasible, scalable solutions.

FUNGI

This event is organised as part of the exhibition FUNGI: Anarchist Designers. Here, fungi do not serve human needs, but act as anarchist co-designers of a world that can only exist through alliances between humans and non-human life.