AIARG 14th Conference - Ethical Challenges in Architecture

From Atomism to Assembly:
Regenerative Architecture for Building Change

Building Change (BC) Community of Practice (CoP)

March 13th, 2025

HCI 3 Building Change Initiative
1
Introduction: Beyond Reductionism

Contemporary challenges facing our built environment require a new approach:

  • Climate change
  • Resource depletion
  • Housing crises
  • Social inequity

Our proposal: An Assembly-Based Framework that transitions from atomistic perspectives to a holistic, integrated view of architecture

HCI 3 Building Change Initiative
2
Earth as Our Client
"We believe that the Earth is Architecture's Client. This brings with it long-lasting responsibilities—environmental, social, and cultural."

—Shelley McNamara and Yvonne Farrell, Grafton Architects
Beyond Professional Codes of Conduct

Expanding architectural ethics to recognize our responsibility to:

  • Future generations
  • Non-human species
  • Geological systems
  • Cultural heritage
3
The Atomistic Legacy
Ethical Limitations

Origins

  • Democritus and Leucippus (5th century BCE)
  • Reductionist worldview
  • Breaking complex systems into components

Architectural Implications

  • Environmental impacts externalized
  • Social consequences ignored
  • Cultural contexts separated
  • Short-term horizons prioritized
"Atomistic thinking produced a 'disenchanted world' where ethical considerations were increasingly separated from scientific and technical knowledge."
—Isabelle Stengers
4
Scale, Perception, and Knowledge
Erwin Schrödinger
Erwin Schrödinger
Physicist, Trinity College Dublin

"What is Life?" (1944) - Public lectures delivered at Trinity College

Key insight: "Why must our bodies be so large compared with the atom?"

  • Our perception depends on existing at scales where patterns emerge from atomic chaos
  • This insight is fundamental to our multi-scale approach to architecture
  • Bridges atomic, human, ecological, and planetary scales
5
Assembly Index: A New Metric
Sara Walker
Sara Walker
Astrobiologist & Physicist

"Life as no one knows it" (2022)

Assembly Index: "The minimal history of physically possible, recursive operations that must occur for an object to appear"

Critical threshold at 15 assembly steps:

  • Below 15 steps: Abiotic processes
  • Above 15 steps: Exclusively produced by living systems
  • Measurable using molecular spectrometry
6
EMERGY Analysis
"Starting with the Sun"

Concept

EMERGY: Total energy (direct, indirect, and "work of nature") used in making a product

"Plants have their most powerful supply of 'negative entropy' in the sunlight."
—Erwin Schrödinger

Architectural Ethics

  • Comprehensive accounting
  • System boundary expansion
  • Quality differentiation
  • Deep time awareness

Solar energy → Ecological processes → Materials → Building → Lifecycle → Decomposition

7
Constructor Theory and Ethical Possibility
Chiara Marletto
Chiara Marletto
Theoretical Physicist, Oxford University

"The Science of Can and Can't" (2021)

Ask: "What tasks are possible, what transformations could happen, and why"

The "farmer game" analogy: Creating conditions that make growth possible

  • Heritage as possibility space, not static preservation
  • Public space as constructor for diverse interactions
  • Adaptive reuse as ethical imperative
8
Knowledge Creation and Paradigm Shifts
David Deutsch
David Deutsch
Physicist, Oxford University

"The Beginning of Infinity" (2011)

Problems are soluble through the creation of new knowledge

Decimal Thinking

  • Incremental improvements
  • Optimizing existing approaches
  • Staying within paradigms

Order of Magnitude Thinking

  • Fundamental paradigm shifts
  • Creating new possibilities
  • Reimagining systems
9
Beyond "Spaceship Earth"
Implications for Architecture

Deutsch critiques Buckminster Fuller's "Spaceship Earth" metaphor

Spaceship Earth Problems

  • Implies finite resources
  • Suggests central control
  • Focuses on resource management

Assembly-Based Alternative

  • Knowledge allows resource transformation
  • Distributed intelligence
  • Focus on possibility, not limitation

Incorporating all species as co-creators, not just passengers

10
Lineage Assembly and Multi-Species Justice
"We should unify biology and technology as manifestations of the same fundamental process: selection on what gets to exist."
—Sara Walker

Buildings as participants in evolutionary processes:

  • Designing for biodiversity
  • Recognizing multi-species communities
  • Considering evolutionary impacts
  • Supporting ecosystem services
Assembly-Based Framework Diagram
11
Comprehensive Architectural Analysis
Comprehensive Loads Diagram

Newtonian Approach

  • Static measurements
  • Discrete components
  • Limited temporal scope

Lagrangian Approach

  • Tracking through time
  • Historical pathways
  • Extended temporal scope
12
Integrating Technical and Ecological Systems
Ecological Shearing Layers (1/2)

Extending Stewart Brand's shearing layers model to include ecology:

  • Site: Geographical setting, geology, hydrology
  • Structure: Foundation, load-bearing elements (50-100 years)
  • Skin: Exterior surfaces, envelope (20-30 years)
  • Services: HVAC, electrical, plumbing (7-15 years)
13A
Integrating Technical and Ecological Systems
Ecological Shearing Layers (2/2)
  • Space Plan: Interior layout, walls, floors (3-7 years)
  • Stuff: Furniture, appliances (months to years)
  • + Ecosystems: Microbiomes, plant communities, animal habitats
  • + Bioregion: Watershed, climate, biodiversity networks
"The simplification of natural ecosystems for human use has led to dramatic losses in biodiversity."
—David Tilman
13B
Applications to Contemporary Challenges
Climate Action as Ethical Imperative
Climate Action Venn Diagram

Climate action through architecture requires:

  • Mitigation: Reducing emissions
  • Adaptation: Creating resilience
  • Carbon sequestration: Removing carbon
  • Just transition: Ensuring equity
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