david lachapelle - retnatural architecture - an emerging art movement that is exploring mankind's desire to reconnect to the earth, through

the built environment

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natural architecture
the natural environment still manages to fill us with a sense
of awe and amazement. despite the amount of scientific
knowledge mankind has gathered, nature still holds great
mysteries that we may never be able to unravel.
this complexity has continually daunted man. in frustration, we
try to control nature by enforcing order. as a result,
we have distanced ourselves f romthe earth, even though
our survival is completely dependent on it. we are now trying
to regain our close connection to nature.
there is an emerging art movement that is exploring mankind's
desire to reconnect to the earth, through the built environment.
ref erred to as 'natural architecture', it aims to create a new,
more harmonious, relationship between man and nature by
exploring what it means to design with nature in mind.
the roots of this movement can be f ound in earlier artistic
shifts like the 'land art' movement of the late nineteen sixties.
although this movement was focused on protesting the
austerity of the gallery and the commercialization of art,
it managed to expand the f ormal link between art and nature.
this has helped develop a new appreciation of nature in all
f orms of art and design.
the 'natural architecture' movement aims to expand on 'land art'
by acting as a form of activism rather than protest. this new
f orm of art aims to capture the harmonious connection we
seek with nature by merging humanity and nature through
architecture. the core concept of the movement is that
mankind can live harmoniously with nature, using it for our
needs while respecting its importance.
the movement is characterized by the work of a number of
artists, designers and architects that express these principles
in their work. the pieces are simple, humble and built using the
most basic materials and skills. because of this, the results
often resemble indigenous architecture, ref lecting the desire
to return to a less technological world. the f orms are stripped
down to their essence, expressing the natural beauty inherent
in the materials and location. the movement has many f orms of
expression that range from location-based interventions to
structures built f romliving materials. however all of the works
in the movement share a central ethos that demonstrates a
respect and appreciation for nature.
these works are meant to comment on architecture and provide
a new framework to approach buildings and structures.
they aimto infuse new ideas into architecture by subverting
the idea that architecture should shelter nature. instead,
the structures deliberately expose the natural materials used
in the building process. we see the branches, the rocks and
all the materials f or what they are. we understand that these
structures won't exist forever. the materials will evolve over
time, slowly decomposing until no evidence remains.
these f eatures are intentional, provoking viewers to question
the conventions of architecture. the designers aren't suggesting
that architecture must conform to their vision, they are just
providing ideas that they hope will inspire us all to rethink the
relationship between nature and the built environment.
_____________________________________________________
natural architecture (the book)
author: alessandro rocca
publisher: princeton architectural press
year: 2007
ISBN: 1568987218
ISBN:13 9781568987217
designboom rating:
a collection of works reflecting the ideas of this movement
have been compiled into a book written by alessandro rocca
(architect and architecture critic and a professor at the
milan polytechnic). the book, due out in early november 2007,
f eatures sixty-six projects from 18 artists and architects
by way of 250 photos and illustrations. each project reconsiders
designing with nature in mind. projects by olafur eliasson,
patrick dougherty, nils-udo, ex. studio, edward ng, n architects,
and many others. more inf o
note:
the work featured in this book was f irst published
in 2006 in the book 'architettura naturale'
(italian language) by 22publishing
_____________________________________________________
designboom ratings:
l a tonnel le by gi ll es bruni and marc babari t, 1996
'ash dome' by davi d nash, 1977
'organic hi ghway' by mi kael hansen 1995
......................... interesting
................... good read, worth a look
............. very good
....... excellent, recommended
. must have
'bri dge i n moasi , chi na' by edward ng, 2005
'cl emson clay nest' by ni l s-udo, 2005
'wei dendom' by sanfte strukturen, 2001
'reed chamber' by chri s drury, 2002
'runni ng i n ci rcl es' wi l l ow and mapl e sapli ngs, patri ck dougherty, 1996
'toad hal l ' by patrick dougherty, 2004
'fog pad' by n architects, 2004
cover of natural archi tecture by alessandro rocca, publ i shed by pri nceton archi tectural
press, 2007 - al l the i mages featured i n thi s arti cl e are taken i t.
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