MASTERSTUDIO METABOLIC BUILDING
SEM 2 GHENT
NEL JANSSENS & EMA SOUKUPOVA
The studio begins with the observation that the rapid and total removal of dirt and waste from our buildings puts a heavy burden on our environment, infrastructure and social structures. Such a way of making and inhabiting architecture, detached from the living environment, does not sufficiently promote habits and values necessary for a shift towards the ecological era. Importantly for spatial disciplines, the socio-ecological aspects of waste and its treatment are not yet sufficiently examined spatially and programmatically as important architectural design elements. The studio therefore explores the potential for (organic) waste to become a valuable agent in the pursuit of metabolic ways of (co-)building and (co-)living. Through this lens, we aim to develop inspiring spatial-architectural typologies and programmes.
This designerly exploration will take place on the site of the Old Dockyards in Ghent – a former industrial area. The area has been the focus of an urban renewal project aimed at creating a new urban living, that would counter urban exodus by emphasising sustainability, circularity, and access to green spaces (Zajac 2024). The sub-project of the Old Dockyards – the New Dockyards – is claimed to be the first circular neighbourhood in Flanders (DuCoop.be). As a well-designed and ambitious project, it presents a compelling site for critical inquiry: can such polished, neat and sterile visions of sustainability meaningfully address the complexities of the crisis of anthropocentrism and humanism?
The question that is being asked is how we can imagine architecture as a literally ‘living environment by designing socio-spatial-material interventions that are not afraid of getting dirty. This is mainly approached through speculative design, which means that the focus is on imagining rather than solving. The expression of these imaginaries can be through a diversity of media: drawing, model, photo, film, text…
This studio has an important focus on research and is based on the research developed in the research cell “Architecture & Wicked Matters” as part of the research group “Material Narratives” (https://materialnarratives.eu/home).
Image reference: Wigley, M. (2022). The Excremental Interior. e-flux Architecture. Available at: https://www.e-flux.com/architecture/digestion/487070/the-excremental-interior
The caption of the image in the article is: Primitive digestive tract in human embryo.
Source: University of Michigan Medical School.