Leveraging Ecologies

 I found Felix Guattari’s three ecologies to be a fascinating concept in its application to architectural design. Immediately drawing my attention just through terminology I see a clear connection to the digital ecology curriculum offered here, which also has a technological bent that I think interacts with all of Guttari’s defined systems as well: mental, social and environmental.

Take, for example, the very backdrop of all of our History & Theory seminars this semester. The new moveable partition wall that was added to the wedge in Lee 3, clearly fabricated digitally in part, engages each of Guattari’s ecologies as a result. As part of a mental ecology, the design was created such that whoever was assembling it had an easier time understanding the way in which it went together, because a system of logic was ingrained. As part of a social ecology, communication with other makers is paramount, and when the pieces themselves can communicate where you are supposed to put a tool or your hand during assembly, the process becomes much more intuitive. Lastly, in an environmental ecology, we can leverage our technological advancements to create designs that are scalable, deployable, and repeatable, all of which minimize waste and maximize potential passive design strategies that impact our surroundings on a micro and macro level. I’m willing to bet someone still has the cut files for each piece of that partition wall, and another identical one could be assembled quickly, because a system was established. An ecology was leveraged.