Design Thoughtfully, Tread Lightly.

Social, technological and environmental shifts transform our planet, and in the era of the Anthropocene, humanity’s impression on the earth is indisputable. By devastation and by mitigation, all natural systems are impacted by human behaviour.

Poorly conceived design has divided us from our wilds: through our daily interactions with the built world, we learn detachment... as the natural environment has receded from our day-to-day, it has receded from our morals. Rejuvenating our connection with the natural environmentiscrucialtoaddressingclimate-relatedissues, and is a movement architecture is well placed to address.

The need to meet the basic demands of human life, i.e. a place of shelter, has been a major contributor in moulding our relationship with the built and natural environment. Access to shelter- a tent, a cave, a castle- will remain one of humanities basic needs. In saying this, expectations of what constitutes shelter for much of the first-world population has become skewed. In 2021, the average floor area of a newly constructed stand-alone dwelling averaged 193 square metres. ‘Developers mentality’and the home as a financial and social asset sees excessive design in all facets. We have been conditioned to believe that grandeur correlates with gratification.

Simultaneously, as life becomes increasingly fast pace, we see a shift in the desire for immersion in the natural environment. The simplicity, seclusion and solitude found in these pockets of purity is now viewed as a luxury, and provides the perfect baseline for re-thinking our ideals around residential space.

Design Thoughtfully, Tread Lightly is the manifestation of these realisations. Though destined to produce an architectural outcome, the primary intent is for the research to serve as a catalyst for thought.

Design Thoughtfully, Tread Lightly explores the architectural implications of an increased overlap between the built spaces we reside in and that which came before. It encourages designers to initiate connection with our landscapes through wonder, and challenges those who read it to consider a life intertwined with the natural environment, and the implications this may have for both the inhabitant and the land.

As Sim Van der Ryn and Stuart Cowan conclude: “Design transforms awareness. Designs that grow out of and celebrate place ground us in place. Designs that work in partnership with nature articulate an implicit hope that we might do the same” (Cowan & Van der Ryn, 1995).