Channeling Natural Forces: Ecological Design Experimentation in Late Twentieth-Century California

In response to growing environmental concerns, a variety of architects formed research groups to develop ecological approaches at American universities in the 1970s and subsequent decades. This presentation focuses on the role of science and technology in the interdisciplinary work of one such group, the Natural Forces Laboratory at the University of Southern California. Contextualizing this laboratory within histories of design and the environment, the presentation tracks the influence of the sciences in its initial organization and early projects. It examines how the group coordinated field research and laboratory work as they devised strategies for the design of communities in relation to the dynamics of the sun, wind, and water within and beyond the city of Los Angeles. In doing so, the presentation aims to contribute to histories of ecological design with implications for current thought and action in the context of the climate crisis.

 

Anna Renken is a PhD candidate at the University of Toronto’s John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design. Her research focuses on environmental approaches in architecture and design since the mid-twentieth century, and she is particularly interested in how designers have collaborated with and learned from environmental scientists.