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Subnature:
Architecture's Other Environments by David Gissen
Princeton Architectural Press, 2009
Paperback, 224 pages
The incorporation of sustainable
principles into architectural production in the last decade
or two appears to bode well for not only the profession
but the world at large. But a close look at what these principles
are -- in most cases geared around LEED credits -- and what
they say about our relationship to nature points to an incomplete,
and therefore unsubstantial, picture. Mainly I'm referring
to the view of nature as a resource for our use, be it the
sun, the wind, the soil, and the deposits within the earth.
Other viewpoints and attitudes are necessary to provide
a more solid foundation for sustainable principles (deterring
"greenwashing"
and other questionable practices) and a view that embraces
the diversity of nature for what it is, not only for what
it can do for us. David
Gissen's latest book, after 2003's Big
& Green, stakes out an area of investigation
that pushes for the above alternatives, at the same time
showing how our actions impact the natural world around
us, creating and expanding surrounding subnatures.
Gissen defines subnatures as conditions
within our cities that are often deemed filthy, fearsome,
and uncontrollable. He defines 12 subnatures in three categories:
Atmospheres include dankness, smoke, gas, and exhaust; Matter
contains dust, puddles, mud, and debris; and Life includes
weeds, insects, pigeons, and crowds. For each subnature
Gissen traces the changing historical views, looks at the
current attitudes towards it, and presents contemporary
projects that question and consider alternatives for incorporating
the subnature into architectural design. In some cases the
views over time have done a complete 180, pointing to the
way nature is defined socially, not objectively or scientifically.
Not surprisingly the projects are today's avant-garde, mostly
hypothetical, research-based, installations, or unrealized.
They are examples of how Gissen's path of exploration is
not unprecedented; it is tapping into more widespread reconsiderations
of today's fairly uncritical acceptance of sustainability.
The book's
cover, a close-up of Jorge Otero-Pailos's 2008 installation
that preserved dust from a factory in Balzano, Italy, is
as good an example as any of how the contemporary projects
look at and present nature in different ways, though, like
the other projects, how such an example could be used towards
realizing alternative forms of building in the future is
not always clear.
Gissen also presents earlier projects
incorporating what he calls subnatures, but a period of
time missing from the book is the period between the waning
of modernism and the last ten years. What at first appeared
to be an omission in the overall argument of the book points
to an ignorance of nature in the prioritization of architectural
form and autonomy in that period, encompassing postmodernism,
deconstructivism, hi-tech, etc. So today's reorientation
of architecture towards its relationship with its natural
surroundings lacks a strong foundation in recent history.
The movement towards green design in the 1970s stayed on
the margins, basically disappearing in the following decade's
conservative politics. In this context, taking a step back
to analyze and reconsider how we view nature is especially
important. Gissen's book is a timely and important text
in shifting our attitudes towards more holistic, interdependent,
and pluralistic views of nature.
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