Echoes of Tomorrow
A Parliament of Natural Things for Berlin
V. Domanda (TU Delft - Architecture and the Built Environment)
B. Groothuijse (TU Delft - Teachers of Practice / A)
G. Karvelas (TU Delft - Teachers of Practice / AE+T)
M. Heijman (TU Delft - Teachers of Practice / A)
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Abstract
What if we welcome all things, plants and animals to the Parliament of Berlin? What would the Spree river vote for during the plenary sessions? What would be the reasoning of the brown bear? What claims would the Tiergarten and its trees make, and what future would the red fox see for itself?
The thesis addresses the dichotomy between nature and society in the legislative process through an architectural design project. The ambition of the project is to provide a personal contribution to the evolution of parliamentary buildings and to engage in a critical reflection on the future of this architectural typology. To do so, the main goal is to design a new Parliament for the city-state of Berlin by drawing inspiration from the theory of the Parliament of Things, articulated by Bruno Latour in his book “We Have Never Been Modern”.
This project is distinct in its nature; it ventures into uncharted territory and architectural innovation without a pre-existing reference or established precedent. This design project seeks to redefine the essence of parliamentary spaces by embracing the voices of all entities, both human and non-human, within the legislative process. In exploring this topic, the central research question emerges as follows:
How can a contemporary Parliament be designed to include, besides humans, natural entities in the legislative process?