Ecologies of Inception

Responding to increasing levels of planetary pollution, waste generation, carbon dioxide emission and environmental collapse, Ecologies of Inception re-thinks potentiality¿an object¿s ability to change¿in architecture and design.

The book problematizes the still-prevailing modern paradigm of design practice: the technical tabula rasa, a tendency to begin from scratch and use raw, amorphous, and obedient materials that can be easily and effectively manipulated, facilitating a seamless and faithful embodiment of intentions. Instead, the philosophy of design developed in the text prompts¿through a variety of case studies, thinkers, and disciplines¿a collective reconsideration of value, dissociating it from the projects and signatures of any one author or generation. Whereas the merits of up-cycling and circular design are canonically defined vis-¿is status-quo economic and socio-cultural orthodoxies, this project unpacks the theoretical assumptions that underpin these pra