Conference by Beatriz Colomina and Mark Wigley
When Bacteria Rule the World: Notes Toward a Trans-species Architecture
Conférence de clôture du cycle Monstrum coordonné par Emmanuelle Raoul-Duval et Jacques-Marie Ligo de l'Ecole d'architecture de la ville & des territoires Paris-Est
Western architecture has always been thought of in relation to the body - more specifically, the athletic white male body, constantly redesigned, from Renaissance treatises to the manifestos of modern architecture, from Leonardo da Vinci to Le Corbusier. This idealised body, immersed in geometric systems of proportions, is a fiction that excludes most of humanity.
The concept of ‘human-centred design’ sounds promising, but it has proved disastrous for humans, the planet and other species. Humans are not a homogeneous entity but a complex, perpetual and constantly evolving cross-species collaboration. Humans are nothing more than receptacles for bacteria - bacteria that have been around for billions of years, whereas humans are a recent apparition that could already be on the wane. We are nothing without these ‘strangers’; we live in them much more than they live in us.
What form might a probiotic architecture take? It would probably resemble our intestines: more porous, as opposed to the prophylactic attitude of modern architecture.
We used to live in close intimacy with all the bacteria in the soil, plants and other animals.
Shouldn't we be reconnecting with this bacterial diversity in the interests of necessary hospitality?
