Multispecies design as we know it is designing human dominated spaces to be occupied by more species than just humans in an effort to mitigate the biodiversity losses due to human development and territorial expansion. However, multispecies design as it is often practiced, through building facade systems and interventions in the built landscape, can have fruitless results. To achieve the goals of multispecies design, and related fields such as ecological design, we should re-consider the taxonomy of architectural classification. I am interested in alternate architectural canons, the classical canon is grounded in greco-roman ideals of city and forest, civilization and wilderness, these have birthed the colonial understanding that human society is separate and elevated above other societies (i.e. the rest of nature). To reach a new paradigm for design that can empower a radical new path for 21st century architecture and design we can choose to rediscover the design heritage of other species societies.
Whereas most contemporary architecture is derived from a greco-roman, imperial, and thus inherently colonial architecture, it is possible to push the boundaries of the field of multi-species design to achieve a new paradigm for architecture.
Challenges and Opportunities of a multispecies architecture paradigm:
The challenges of defining multispecies design (or something similar) as a new design canon are significant. Primarily, more research is needed to articulate the habits and practices of other species as architectural precedents and cultural canon in their own right. Second, a differentiation should be made between a multispecies design canon, where each species is seen as possessing their own culture and design heritage, and other understandings of multispecies design that focus on making human architecture more accessible to other species. Third, education is needed to inform architects, designers, and the public of the possibilities of working from a non-human design canon.
The opportunities of defining multispecies design as a new design canon are worth the challenges. While we are used to designing from a well defined set of architectural typologies what if we could approached a project by understanding the ecosystem and which species thrive in the space, then understanding the habits and spatial patterns of these species, then informing the space we build for people with these learning. Not so different than place based design at first blush, but there are possibilities there if we go deep and allow ourselves to let go of preconceptions about what a building for people should be. In a new multispecies canon we might see far more transient design, and spaces to push the envelope of how we relate materials and our human spatial needs to the other species we live among.
It may or may not be useful to define another version of ecological design by attempting to canonize the spatial presence of all species as an architectural typology, but I believe that to do so and to learn from the peoples who still hold a cultural understanding of other species cultures is one of the best things contemporary architects and designers can do. Paulo Tavares did something like it with the forest of the Amazon Rainforest in his essay and exhibition An Architectural Botany: redefining the agency (and scope) of the architectural archive, through this work Tavares achieved cultural protection status for areas of forest that would not otherwise have been protected by environmental laws. I believe that going further and considering each species to posses their own culture, society, and archive of spatial existance would open the world of human (and multispecies) architecture and design and enable innovation that is presently unimaginable.
