Landscape Matters Issue 4 FINAL - Flipbook - Page 12
3.
Nature-tecture
Anna Liu
CENTURIES
of human-led technological intervention, driven
by the pre-eminence of science over nature, have continued
to increase in scale. The myriad of processes has significantly
altered nature’s systems. The extent of their consequences
have become more manifest than ever: drought, flood, forest
fire, storms, heat wave, poor soil quality and diminishing
biodiversity
.
Agricultural and industrial technology have aggressively
mined nature’s resources, mechanised nature’s ecosystem,
and defied nature’s forces: gravity, cold, heat, rain, insects.
In part due to greed, arrogance, and our limited knowledge of
nature, we have separated ourselves from nature - an entity
that we are an integral part of.
Digital technology is bringing us back closer to nature, through
the new found intelligence. We are gaining new knowledge
about the solar system, the geology of our planet, and life on
earth. Advanced cinematographic imaging: satellite, drone,
endoscopic, microscopic, coupled with research, AI data
processing and predictive tools, have delivered human beings
to unprecedented breadth and depth in our understanding
of nature. These insights include the devastating effects our
interventions have had on Earth. Our future interventions
in nature, as architects and landscape architects, shall
be infused with a new sense of awe and wonder, informed
by newly learned lessons on nature’s ingenuity, intricacy,
systems, and interconnections.
Our interventions in nature create essential places for our
well-being, fulfilling our needs to be outdoors, and be with
other people. These shared spaces reconnect human beings
to nature and to one another. We shall continue to work with
nature in three different scales: through symbols, elements,
and biomimicry.
