January 2023
OAI Prize
Non-Human Routes is a thesis about creating spaces of negotiation between humans and other life forms. The aim is to re-create the habitats needed for the well-functioning of ecosystems, in the context of a world that established multiple boundaries between the human and its environment.
Urbanisation is one of the principal drivers of ecosystems decline at a global scale. The effects of the current built developments are proving to be threats to all the known forms of life on the planet. If architecture and spatial planning, disciplines meant to keep the humans safe and sheltered, had become principal agents of their own decline, it means that there should be a shift in priorities.
This study seeks to sort out relevant information and develop methods for a planning practice that includes all other vital beings as well, by creating mutualized spaces that provide enough resources for all. The focus is on pollinating insects, as a part of biodiversity that is at the base of the trophic pyramid, and thus it is fundamental to the survival of all other creatures.
Author: student arch. Diana Zarnescu
Thesis supervisor: Guest Prof. Carole Schmit
Thesis advisors: Philippe Schmit, Caroline Faber