bioTallinn

bioTallinn is the theme for TAB 2017 curated by architect, urban designer and ecologist Claudia Pasquero.

bioTallinn challenges typical assumptions of what constitutes the boundary between natural and artificial realms. Rather than considering nature as a balanced system, that is perturbed and derailed by human action, bioTallinn assumes that there is no nature. It declares that ecosystems themselves are the product of an accumulation of catastrophic events, that give origin to new dynamic equilibria. bioTallinn presents a radical revision of the contemporary Urbansphere by suggesting novel terms for its coevolution with the Biosphere.

TAB 2017 explores the city as a territory of self-organization and co-evolution of multiple dynamical systems, including ecological systems, infrastructures and technological systems, social groups and political systems. Advances in science and technology are creating new types of biological and metabolic materials which are essentially turning a growing number of buildings into living, breathing organisms. These buildings are not just efficient and ‘do less harm’, but are actually restorative and ‘give back’ to the environment. Resource-smart architecture can generate energy, clean water, digest waste and purify air.

The convergence of biotechnology and information technology applied to landscape and urban design is considered by many pioneers as one of the most promising future developments for our society. TAB 2017 will provide a showcase for the most interesting emergent actors in the field.

TAB 2017 will also offer a platform for young architects and designers to test innovative methods of building with nature; i.e. how to harvest the morphogenetic potential of natural system to construct inhabitable urban landscapes. This section will include issues of constructability, embodied energy and ecologic footprint, all re-described in systemic terms as part of novel bio-mechanical prototypes, objects and products.