Trans-Scalar Lecture: Design-Earth
Monday, February 27, 2023
6:00 pm -
Three
Geostories
How
do
we
make
sense
of
the
Earth
at
a
moment
in
which
it
is
presented
in
crisis?
In
this
talk,
El
Hadi
Jazairy
engages
the
speculative
project—as
expounded
through
drawings,
models,
and
material
artifacts—as
one
possible
medium
to
reassemble
publics
around
representations
of
the
Earth.
The
project
here
becomes
a
medium
that
critically
synthesizes
spatial
knowledge
across
scales
to
speculate
on
how
to
live
with
the
many
forms
of
environmental
externalities,
including
oil
extraction,
deep-sea
mining,
ocean
acidification,
air
pollution,
space
debris,
and
a
host
of
other
social-ecological
issues.
The
talk
is
an
exploration
of
media
devices
to
exhibit
the
Earth
—
terrarium,
aquarium,
planetarium
through
three
projects
from
Geostories:
Another
Architecture
for
the
Environment.
About
El
Hadi
Jazairy
El
Hadi
Jazairy
is
Associate
Professor
of
Architecture
and
the
Director
of
the
Master
of
Urban
Design
at
the
University
of
Michigan.
He
is
founding
partner
with
Rania
Ghosn
of
the
studio
DESIGN
EARTH.
His
research
investigates
aesthetic
forms
of
environmental
engagement
to
visualize
how
urban
systems
transform
the
Earth.
The
work
of
DESIGN
EARTH
is
in
the
permanent
collection
the
Museum
of
Modern
Art
in
New
York
and
has
been
exhibited
internationally
at
venues
such
as
the
Venice
Architecture
Biennale,
the
Bauhaus
Museum
in
Dessau,
the
Times
Museum
in
Guangzhou,
SFMOMA
and
the
Victoria
and
Albert
Museum
in
London.
Jazairy
is
co-author
of
Geostories:
Another
Architecture
for
the
Environment
(3rd
ed.
2022;
2018),
The
Planet
After
Geoengineering
(New
York:
Actar
2021),
and
Geographies
of
Trash
(New
York:
Actar,
2015).
He
is
founding
editor
of
New
Geographies
and
editor-in-chief
of
NG
4:
Scales
of
the
Earth
(Harvard
GSD,
2010).
Jazairy
holds
a
Doctorate
of
Design
from
Harvard
University,
a
Master
of
Architecture
from
Cornell
University,
and
a
Bachelor
of
Architecture
from
La
Cambre
in
Brussels.
Jazairy
is
recipient
of
the
United
States
Artist
Fellowship,
Architectural
League
of
New
York’s
Prize
for
Young
Architects
+
Designers
and
ACSA
Faculty
Design
Awards
(2014,
2017)
for
outstanding
work
in
environmental
design
fields
as
a
critical
endeavor.
Read
more:
https://design-earth.org/
Instagram:_designearth
About
the
TRANS-SCALAR
Lecture
Series
Historically,
design
disciplines
have
been
attached
to
specific
scale
spectrums
-the
scales
of
Industrial
Design,
Interior
Architecture,
Architecture,
Urbanism,
or
Territory-
However,
the
objects
we
design
are
not
inert
assemblies
of
material
forms.
In
every
design
decision
we
make,
we
mobilize,
increase
pressure,
and
transform
the
Earth’s
system,
including
within
human
and
non-human
life
forms.
Every
design
decision
can
provoke
ecological
tension,
inequality,
and
disruptions
that
lead
the
planet
to
amplified
natural
catastrophes
for
which
no
one
can
quite
be
blamed.
Design
is
trans-scalar
if
we
realize
simple
equations:
every
pile
produces
a
whole,
and
every
material
form
has
its
equivalent
negative
somewhere
else.
How do we think and practice design ethically when acknowledging the objects we design are not innocent, but the intractability washes the responsibilities of natural catastrophe? The way of displaying the complex reality of design is by disclosing its trans-scalar powers. Objects of design are assemblages of many layers -the ecological, political, social, formal, material, technological, and environmental-combined in ethical and aesthetic forms. When these layers come together in exemplary works, they disseminate knowledge by becoming paradigms.
In this new era of ecological consciousness, design becomes an embassy, a cross-section, of all these layers representing the myriads of scales in which every design decision operates from the molecular to the cosmic scales. This program series posits the question of trans-scalar design via the social, cultural, historical, and environmental realms and how designers respond to the responsibilities of trans-scalar materiality.
- Location
- UH College of Architecture and Design Theater