Crisis Epistemologies

In an era when ‘ecology bites back’, we need knowledge of the world that complements human understanding; we need to engage with the nonhuman to enliven habitats, link the cycles of life and death and sustain the world. Architecture has significant gaps in this knowledge as it is founded on a predominantly anthropocentric perspective that assumes a hierarchical relationship between human and nature. My work aims to implement an emerging ecological practice within architecture that adopts a horizontal relationship between human and nature, paying attention to nonhuman others in our activities of daily life. Such approaches, which undermine the primacy of humanist concepts of place, culture, and education, and challenge the notion of the autonomous human subject with dominion over all knowledge, are implicit in materialist philosophy (Coole & Frost, 2010), feminist posthumanism (Braidotti, 2011), anthropological writing (Ingold, 2011), and agential realism (Barad, 2007), but have not been substantially explored in the design disciplines. Findings will develop an ecological epistemology capable of recognising specific forms of non-human “intelligence” and using these observations to develop testable principles for integrating non-human ways of knowing in the production, interpretation and synthesis of architectural insight and action. Such knowledge practices can then be innovatively implemented and evaluated across a range of disciplines and applications. STG funding is accordingly sought to establish an international interdisciplinary network through two major book-length publications, a web platform (interface/studio) and a conference, thereby creating strategic alliances for significant external funding applications. This funding is leveraged to position the Department of Architecture, Sint-Lucas, as a major European and international research hub in this field by building from the outset prestigious partnerships, allying with the major researchers in the field. Through the development of a publication, the scope of the field is outlined and through meetings, conversations and co-authored work/dialogues, the content lends towards a series of research proposals, in which the major research contributors are already identified. Key to this community and impact building initiative is establishing a number of funding opportunities within the research community that arise from internally co-funded initaitives (MIT/KU Leuven), formal grant applications (E.g. Horizon Europe) and network funding applications (COST Action Network). The interdisciplinary network also benchmarks a peer review community with a view to posititioning KU Leuven at the heart of contemporary debates in ecological thinking and practice. An online platform is established to support these activities through building an online research community and also importantly a studio/gallery space which aims to disseminate the research internationally as well as pandemic-proofing research activities and the dissemination of work.This interdisciplinary framework and research community also forms the basis for developing educational methods, experiences and trans-disiplinary networks that inform industry, NGOs, policy and commerce to catalyse a fundamental change in the environmental impact of architecture—from consumption to circular economy—where human inhabitation seeks to restore and enliven ecosystems, rather than diminish them.

Keywords:practical knowledge, more-than-human, epistemology, design-led research / artistic research, living architecture, post-pandemic design, interdisciplinary, transdisciplinarity

Disciplines:Epistemology, Design practice, Design research, Sustainable design, Architectural practice, Artistic design not elsewhere classified