Recently I was asked to design subject content for second year Architecture and Design students at a university in Sydney, Australia. I had freedom to choose the focus, with only a few perimeters to be mindful of: subject content and projects were to be based on art making of a contemporary and three-dimensional nature. ‘Urban Interventions’ became my subject focus and title. The rationale of teaching this subject to Architecture and Design students was to broaden experiences of making creative works in public spaces.
Under this topic I could easily include projects of an environmental nature, which were close to my heart as I had been working in this area within my own art practice. In previous years I had noticed students’ enthusiasm to engage with issues around climate change and pollution reduction, though there were some distinct disconnections in play when I requested students design site-specific artworks with an eye to sustainability. Using recycled wood or solar panels seemed to be the two main options offered. I am not criticising these choices, but other more subtle and varied solutions could have been used if the natural processes of biota already existing on site were considered.
To suggest this to students I devised a project where they had to research the living conditions of an earthworm: what it needed to survive, procreate and how it contributed to the environment. They then had to design a wearable earthworm transporter that kept both a plant and earthworms alive as the wearer moved through their urban environment. This was quite a complicated task as it meant that students had to solve problems of compost and water storage, drainage and the worm’s sensitivity to light and movement. Added to this the constructed form had to be strong enough to take the weight of materials stored yet be comfortable to attach to the body and wear for periods of time. Needless to say the project was initially met with reactions ranging from surprise to embarrassment, humour and repulsion (a few students reeled when confronted for the first time with the open lid of the compost bin). Mainly good-natured humour dominated the mood of the class as they designed, developed and constructed their worm transporters. What evolved from the process were some beautifully constructed, clever and witty works. Wearing the worm transporters in public was an interesting exercise for both students and tutor.
As the writers of ‘Cradle to Cradle’1 suggested, understanding and including natural processes that sustains life can broaden responses to sustainable design. Later fieldwork with students studying plants used as bio-filters in wetlands suggested this: I am delighted when students retrospectively remark to me that they have incorporated aspects of natural processes, such as bio-filters, into their core design work.
1. William McDonough and Michael Braungart, Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things, New York: North Point Press, 2002.
Written by Deborah Vaughan