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MANON VANDOMMELE – COHABITATION BETWEEN HUMANS AND ANIMALS [sample of students’ work]

LINK TO FULL BOOK

Observing the site, Manon noticed that some empty glass houses are today partially deconstruct and used to host animals, like horses. Their life and movement are very much constrained. Moreover, the practice of keeping horses is seen as controversial: it makes use of key resources – like land –  often for the purpose of individual leisure and in competition with the goal of farming – that is of producing food.

Manon designs a farm where human (the 13 members of the farm) and non-human animals (mares and goats) co-live and have access to extensive breeding, thanks to collaboration with adjacent farms. The project, hence, not only occupies a large glasshouse (where the living units are located) and adjacent farmland, but extends its limits to neighbouring fields where the animals can graze in particular seasons. Manon propose that the animals are accessible for milking also by outsiders, according to a Community Support Agriculture model that, while usually limited to horticulture, in her project extent to livestock.

Manon’s project is an experiment in cohabitation between humans, mares, and goats. To what extent is this coexistence possible? And how can this influence the way we design?