Ecological Design Experimentation in the Southwestern United States, c. 1970-1990

Histories of ecological design often emphasize work that occurred around the 1960s in the United States. How did ecological design approaches evolve in the following decades? This presentation explored the role of environmental science and technology in such work through case studies including research groups active at architecture departments in the southwestern US from the 1970s to the 1990s. Among other approaches, these groups developed planning frameworks and construction systems attuned to the dynamics of the sun and the sea. The presentation situates these American case studies within broader networks, considering how they were influenced by earlier environmental design work from the US and beyond, and how they responded to the changing world of the late twentieth century. Suggesting connections across examples, this discussion has implications for histories of environmental thought and action as well as design.

 

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 approaches to the environment 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.