[A]FA INTERSPECIES NURSERY

The intricate interconnections within ecosystems necessitate a comprehensive, interdisciplinary approach to research and prototyping. In collaboration with the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), the [A]FA Interspecies Nursery lab seeks to propose and construct contextually relevant spatial concepts that promote community building, shared spaces for learning, and using hardwood as a regenerative building material for vocational education centers in Liberia. 

The objective of research is to design a nature-oriented spatial proposal that serves as a shared space for learning and community. The proposal will not only integrate the surrounding forest as a source of material but also recognize it as a key participant in the collaborative learning process. Emphasizing the importance of interspecies cooperation, the spatial proposal will evolve into a nurturing environment for collective growth and understanding.  

As Raquel Gutiérrez Aguilar, a professor of sociology, once articulated, ​“The world is a pluriverse – an emerging archipelago of worlds in struggle – inhabited by a constellation of communitarian weavings that sustain life in the midst of the violent negation of its horizons and desires.” In line with this perspective, the lab endeavors to curate an ​“Atlas of Interspecies Intersections”, an on-going initiative that will unveil profound insights and contribute to the preservation of forest ecosystems. It aims to explore how the individual worlds of various beings can be integrated into an architectural gesture. 

Through a joint effort between the University of Applied Arts Vienna (Die Angewandte), [Applied] Foreign Affairs and the UNIDO team, in collaboration with students, educators and carpenters from vocational education centers in Liberia, the lab aims to leverage collective intelligence to develop solutions for ecosystem management that benefit all beings and species. 

Selected students will take part in the lab and one research travel to Liberia will take place in summer break 2024. 

*This project takes place within the framework of the Angewandte Programme for Inter- and Transdisciplinary Projects in Art and Research (INTRA) and is funded by the Austrian Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research, granted to Magdalena Gorecka and Philipp Reinsberg. 

TEACHING: Baerbel Mueller, Magdalena Gorecka, Philipp Reinsberg

Clustered INTENSIVES between May and November 2024