NatureStructure looks at how engineers and architects can work with, rather than against, the natural world. Examine any piece of urban infrastructure?a street, sidewalk, park bench, or dock?and evidence of a losing battle is quickly evident. Nature has always been a relentless destroyer of anything wooden, stone, or steel.
?For several hundred years, we?ve been fighting nature,? says Scott Burnham, a writer and urban strategist. ?With increasing numbers of droughts, sea levels rising, and rain falls increasing, it?s clear fighting nature doesn?t work. Let?s try working with it, instead.?
That philosophy is at the core of NatureStructure, an exhibition curated by Burnham that opens May 17 at the Boston Society of Architects? exhibition space. The exploration of new engineering and infrastructure projects with a more organic, natural bent suggests that urban planners, architects, and designers are beginning to embrace a different narrative, one of collaboration instead of suppression. ?The history of the built environment and the city is roughly defined as man?s battle against nature,? says Burnham. ?It?s about conquering, to gird or guard ourselves against nature. Nature Structures is advocating a complete reversal, and using nature as a tool, as an infrastructure tool, to use it to clean water, mitigate the heat island effect, and mitigate the damage that we?ve done.?
Burnham says that Norwegian engineers and designers have a phrase for this type of naturalistic ...