Ecological Systems

Ecological Design

From Bauhaus to Ecohouse by Peder Anker
Global warming and concerns about sustainability recently have pushed ecological design to the forefront of architectural study and debate. As Peder Anker explains in From Bauhaus to Ecohouse, despite claims of novelty, debates about environmentally sensitive architecture have been ongoing for nearly a century.

Ethics, Ecology, and the Future: Art and Design Face the Anthropocene by Kayla Anderson
Abstract art and design have become platforms for discussing the long-term implications of technology and modernity, most recently in relation to ecological crisis and the Anthropocene. While artists, designers and curators seek to raise awareness of the Anthropocene, it is important to remain critical of the narratives these practitioners develop. This paper provides a brief critique of how these issues are being addressed in the cultural sphere, suggesting that works of critical, conceptual and speculative design may be best suited to addressing the Anthropocene as they foster critical thinking about how we relate to technology and science, how we organize ourselves politically and socially, and how we define ourselves in the broader ecological assemblage.

The Shape of Green by Lance Hosey
Does going green change the face of design or only its content? The first book to outline principles for the aesthetics of sustainable design, The Shape of Green argues that beauty is inherent to sustainability, for how things look and feel is as important as how they're made.

Mary Mattingly's Wetland Project

"Art is integral to imagining new worlds. Launching August 15, 2014 on the Delaware River, WetLand is a mobile, sculptural habitat and public space constructed to explore resource interdependency and climate change in urban centers. A floating sculpture, it resembles a partially submerged building, integrating nature with urban space. Narrating a watery urban ecotopia, the interior contains a living space, work space, and performance space, it combines art, architecture, and ecology. WetLand’s overall ecosystem includes rainwater collection and purification, greywater filtration, dry compost systems, outdoor vegetable gardens, indoor hydroponic gardens, and railing gardens circling the perimeter."

"Attention to the social and environmental impacts involved in resource production, distribution, use, and disposal are important to the formation of WetLand. WetLand augments local economies by attracting a broad range of communities to the space. This fosters new friendships and collective experiences through exchange-based collaborations while recognizing novel ways of working and being together."

www.wet-land.org

Resources

Ecologies, Environments, and Energy Systems in Art of the 1960s And 1970s by James Nisbet
As the American environmental movement emerged in the 1960s and 1970s, ecological perspectives also emerged in art. But ecological artworks were not limited to conventional understandings of environmental art as something that had to be located outdoors or made of organic materials. Created in a range of media, they reflected a widespread reconceptualization of the material world and a sense of the interconnectedness of all things.
Undercurrents: Experimental Ecosystems in Recent Art by Anik Fournier, et al.
In discerning essays, the authors discuss "junkspace" (structural design and the debris of the current over-development of built environments) and its role in the New York City landscape.
Dirt by Megan Born; Helene Furján; Lily Jencks; Phillip M. Crosby
Dirt presents a selection of works that share dirty attitudes: essays, interviews, excavations, and projects that view dirt not as filth but as a medium, a metaphor, a material, a process, a design tool, a narrative, a system. Rooted in the landscape architect's perspective, Dirt views dirt not as repulsive but endlessly giving, fertile, adaptive, and able to accommodate difference while maintaining cohesion.

University of Pittsburgh Library System

Course & Subject Guides

EcoArt - Oakland Campus: Ecological Systems

Ecological Design

Mary Mattingly's Wetland Project

Resources