LECTURE
TYPOLOGIES
OF THE ANTHROPOCENE
„The Anthropocene is the epoch in which the aggregate human intervention in the Earth system knocks it out of thermodynamic balance, disturbing the environmental stability that marked the Holocene. Among its most visible manifestations are the accelerated melting of the polar caps and glaciers, the rise in average global temperature, the change in historical weather patterns, the rise of sea levels, the transformation of ecosystems at such a dramatic pace as to cause massive extinction of plants and animals, and the disruption of patterns of relations between humans and other forms of life, generating among many other things, cyclical pandemics. Nature moved from the background to center stage.“ (Renzo Taddei, Intervention of Another Nature: Resources for Thinking in (and out of) the Anthropocene).
While in the Age of Anthropocene human activity moves to the center stage of the constitution of planet earth, the paradigmatic shift also implies the realization that dominant narratives of reality, ‚modern‘ or ‚Western‘, were wrong about their powers of knowledge, if we focus on capacities for long-term survival rather then on the accomplishment of short term desires. As the new epoch is shaking the foundation of our knowledge we have to reajust narratives, models and tools. Under these new circumstances, every act of knowing should be, first and foremost, considered as an act of care.
What is the impact of the current shift for spatial and architectural language? What are the main components that form the vocabulary for a typology of the Anthropocene? Instead of just looking at the dimension of anthropocentric interventions, where mankind is becoming a geological power, the M-ARCH T studio investigates alternative narratives for a future anthropology of the Anthropocene, counter models to the current paradigm shift projecting other forms of life. Based upon the themes atmosphere, kinship and common ground, Typologies of the Anthropocene develops typological design tools for an analytical and speculative journey into a new spatial vocabulary, eventually constituting the project for an emerging future civilization.
Number of students 30
Credit points 12+3
PIV FG Architecture Theorie Dr. Lidia Gasperoni
Assistance Tobias Schrammek
