Flora funga fauna reclaiming; residents of the fallow land

Abstract

The building sector and its highly invasive practices pose a general threat to ecosystems and biodiversity all over our planet, the earth. Therefore, the architectural field has to find alternative approaches next to the current harmful status quo. With the goal to design and build equitable for all species, a shift from human-centered decision making towards adopting a more-than-human perspective in design processes might offer a solution. To test this approach, a former industrial site in rural, central Germany acts as an experimental field. Central to this work is to understand the reclaim of this site by flora, funga and fauna as a form of reconciliation between humans and more-than-humans. Exploring the existing relationships between the species found on site was essential to this work‘s research approach. The following goals were explored by adopting a more-than-human perspective: Understanding and challenging human and more-than-human appropriation of former industrial sites in rural areas, and finding strategies to integrate more-than-humans into human design processes, while making their entanglement and relationships visible. Also, communicating and discussing the value of more-than-human species at former industrial sites. And finally, to contribute to change the understanding of ‘revitalizing‘, of ‘ruined‘ buildings, of ‘lost places‘ and ‘wilderness‘. The key theories this project is based on are connected to the more-than-human approach, post anthropocentrism, agency, entanglement, citizenship and representation of more-than-human species and interspecies relationships. Donna Haraway, Sue Donaldson, Will Kymlicka, Bruno Latour and Friedensreich Hundertwasser provided the theoretical base here. The work is divided in three main parts: firstly, field research to observe, document and collect data, secondly short design exercises to understand the relationships of the species in their ecosystem and propose an equitable design, and lastly, creating a design strategy to communicate the found results and strategies. Mainly qualitative methods such as consultations, mapping, photography, drawing, species facts sheets, relationscapes, collaging and reflecting were the tools. By using an abductive approach, meaning to simultaneously look at literature and the specific site, the strategy on how to respond to this thesis’ question was produced.