16
VIEWS
VIEW POINT
Rabia Charef of Lancaster University, and sociologist and author Frantz Gault, invite designers to rethink how we build – and shift from a human-centred mindset to one where nature is a partner, not just a resource.
W
hat if architects and engineers didn’t design against nature, but for it? Imagine if the common
constraints that architects face, like the topography of a site’s terrain, trees, nonhuman life and even the wetlands, rocky slopes, or nesting birds, were seen not as obstacles to be removed, but as collaborators in a design.
Although construction is essential to our well being, it is also a major disruptor of ecosystems. Did you know that the construction sector is responsible for around 37% of global CO2
emissions? It
also consumes more than half of all the world’s raw materials, including about 75% of the sand extracted. This voracious appetite inevitably leads to habitat loss and pollution, and contributes to the sixth mass extinction our planet is enduring. The question now is how to continue providing homes and cities without ruining the natural systems that support us, especially in the context of a growing population housing demand. For too long, the construction sector has silenced nature, treating it as an unlimited ‘bank of commodities,’ or a nuisance to be engineered out. But that worldview is beginning to change, thanks to a growing body of anthropological studies reasserting the value of alternative philosophies of nature.
Anthropologist Tim Ingold, for instance,
WWW.ARCHITECTSDATAFILE.CO.UK
describes constructing as a conversation with materials and the environment, not a one sided act of domination. He urges designers and makers to follow the natural fl ows, rhythms, and capacities of the environment they are working in. Ingold invites builders and architects to embrace making not as imposing form on inert matter, but as an act of co-creation, much like weaving strands in a rope, where form arises from active interplay. More recently, Frantz Gault has suggested going further. Through his concept of natura laborata (“nature at work”), he considers nature as a working partner that should be cared for and listened to, with whom we should negotiate in order to provide good working conditions to ecosystems. In the construction sector context, this would mean considering nature as an active participant in projects, effectively giving ecosystems a seat at the decision-making table, alongside other stakeholders such as architects, engineers, planners, builders, customers and users. It’s not just about eco-friendly aesthetics.
It’s a systemic shift from human-centred to multi-species design. And it has already begun. Business leaders are experimenting with nature-inclusive governance: the beauty fi rm Faith in Nature has recently appointed ‘Nature’ to its board of directors. Similarly, the owners of software fi rm Norsys gave their shares to an NGO that
Business leaders are experimenting with nature- inclusive governance
represents nature, including veto rights on the board of directors. In France, new trade unions are even created to defend nature’s rights in the corporate world.
What if the construction sector followed suit? Gault’s ‘natura laborata’ challenges us to understand that nature is already at work and deserves a seat at the decision making table, but he also asks us: which status should we thus give to nature? In the construction sector, should we consider nature as a worker, as a supplier, as a contractor or as a customer? A glimpse into a few visionary projects around the world could help answer this question. In Lyon, France, an offi ce building
L’Orangerie is supported by 14 unreinforced rammed earth arches, using the soil beneath our feet as a construction material. Almost all of the project’s materials come from local sources (earth from a nearby excavation site, stone from a local quarry, timber from regional forests), resulting in a very low-carbon structure. Its thick pisé rammed earth walls naturally regulate indoor temperature and humidity, freely contributing to modern comfort
ADF OCTOBER 2025
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84
