Constructing the new nature
“Nature, in the common sense, refers to essences unchanged by man; space, the air, the river, the leaf”. These are the words by the nineteen-century philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson. In his essay “Nature” written in 1836 he clearly states that humans are separated from the natural phenomenon. This is a commonly shared opinion, especially since the industrial revolution which started around 1712 with the invention of Thomas Newcomen´s coal-fired steam pump. This is also the beginning of the climate change which now is a global catastrophe. Nature, by definition does not exist today. Now, we live in a post-nature world were our impact affects all-natural processes and systems. This is the context in which my project “Constructing the New Nature” departs. The project includes two different parts. The first one seeks to illustrate climate change in relation to the idea about nature as unchanged by humans. It consists of a structure which adapts to its surroundings and filters away the surplus of weather conditions which climate change has contributed with. The center of the structure is an interior which has the conditions of pre-industrial nature. The structure is both an illustration of climate change and also a portable natural reserve which creates the only left nature (by definition) on earth. The second part of the project is an attempt to represent the current idea about nature as capital. I have, by using a 3d scanner, created classic architectural plan and section drawings of a forest. The idea is that by using the same techniques used to communicate our built environment, make a statement about the current anthropocentric idea about nature as a resource.
