Domesticated Foodscapes
year:
2023
Under the title Domesticated Foodscapes, the Superstudio explores latent perspectives and proactive approaches addressing the pressing environmental concerns of our time. Since our transition from hunters and gatherers, we have continuously modified our environment to ensure a consistent food supply.
Food, more than any other commodity, carries profound territorial and social significance. It has shaped landscapes and cities and delivered a quantity of architectural typologies rooted in the need to domesticate food. However, with the advent of industrialization, these typologies became territorially unbound, as technologies emancipated them from specific soils, locations and climates.
Today, the food system accounts for approximately 30% of global greenhouse gas emissions. While evaluating these systems, the emphasis is on energy efficiency throughout the stages of production, storage, processing, trade and consumption. The spotlight has shifted from local resources to the global interconnectivity of these systems.
There’s an urgent need for action. Relying solely on passive inaction or blind faith in technological progress is unlikely to steer us towards a sustainable future. We must question the role of architecture within food systems. The value of traditional territorial knowledge is as important as understanding the autonomy of industrial systems. A balanced perspective on both can create the ground for critical examination and unveil architecture’s potential in todays’ sustainability discourse.
location:
Lausanne, Switzerlandteam:
Maria Cunha, Martin Frölich, Shehrazade Mahassini, Lara Monti, Daniela Lopes Peñaloza, Vanessa Pointet, Clemens Waldhartyear:
2023
commissioner:
Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL)Under the title Domesticated Foodscapes, the Superstudio explores latent perspectives and proactive approaches addressing the pressing environmental concerns of our time. Since our transition from hunters and gatherers, we have continuously modified our environment to ensure a consistent food supply.
Food, more than any other commodity, carries profound territorial and social significance. It has shaped landscapes and cities and delivered a quantity of architectural typologies rooted in the need to domesticate food. However, with the advent of industrialization, these typologies became territorially unbound, as technologies emancipated them from specific soils, locations and climates.
Today, the food system accounts for approximately 30% of global greenhouse gas emissions. While evaluating these systems, the emphasis is on energy efficiency throughout the stages of production, storage, processing, trade and consumption. The spotlight has shifted from local resources to the global interconnectivity of these systems.
There’s an urgent need for action. Relying solely on passive inaction or blind faith in technological progress is unlikely to steer us towards a sustainable future. We must question the role of architecture within food systems. The value of traditional territorial knowledge is as important as understanding the autonomy of industrial systems. A balanced perspective on both can create the ground for critical examination and unveil architecture’s potential in todays’ sustainability discourse.
