guest room: multispecies condensers katherine m boles
We are in the Sixth Extinction. 1 Biodiversity, critical for functioning ecosystems, is threatened worldwide. In an era where both human population growth and nonhuman species loss are exponential, a design paradigm shift such as the Nonhuman Turn 2 which decentres humans and prioritises cohabitation between humans and nonhumans is essential to our mutual health and survival. The Chihuahuan Desert Ecoregion, one of the most biodiverse arid regions in the world, is an example of significant loss but also a place of hope that many species call home. Major threats to biodiversity include overgrazing, increased water use and urbanisation that damages or destroys habitat. Effects of climate change – increased temperatures and decreased precipitation – threaten life. Multispecies climate migrants seeking more suitable conditions will relocate, as will the desert itself in time.
In a sense, we are all companion species interlocked through cohabitation on Earth. When we design spaces for humans, we are also (often unintentionally) designing or destroying spaces for nonhumans. Thinking about who we design for, the concept of a guest room is helpful – a welcoming space of temporary shelter with a flexible program, it becomes what it needs to be for its occupants. We can expand the concept of a guest room to nonhuman species as a multispecies condenser.
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on site review 41 :: infrastructure
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