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DOI:
https://doi.org/10.51588/sernrb15Published
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Abstract
In the plastisphere waste-landscapes formed by human consumption are discarded products that often become the place of inhabitation of various inherent earth, and air bound microorganisms (Amarel-Zettler et al. 2020). Yet, whereas the amounts of plastics piled up in our environment and inside our bodies are vast, increasing, due to the everlasting properties of the material, plastics are alien to us (humans of privilege) as a place of inhabitation. Our relationship to plastics is uncomfortable and emblematic of our overconsumption and its social, environmental and economic consequences. Posing the question of inhabitation of the plastisphere, this paper searches a direction to link the microscale potential for nonhuman colonization of disposed plastic as an architectural potential in addressing the pressing macroscale need for decolonization.
The paper hypothesizes that there are qualities to be nurtured in a transient and contingent manner in pursuing a tectonic joinery of ecological relationships between a material, colonizing organisms and resulting performances, inviting opportunities for the benefit of both the needs of human society and the needs of our natural environment. Consequently, this research engages in material experimentation, and the aptitude of a material to be colonized by one or several groups of living organisms without necessarily undergoing any severe deterioration. The paper presents a series of 1:1 prototypes exploring a possible inhabitable afterlife of, specifically disposed plastics, through an iterative process intersecting architectural knowledge and making.
In conclusion, the paper discusses the potential of these prototypes as preludes to the formation of transdisciplinary research collectives and more towards uncovering a viable embodiment and afterlife of disposed plastics in the environmental world through its tectonic incorporation in the built environment.
