Fake Nature

Nature has always been a reference for architecture at a formal and an ornamental level, but questions like climate change, or the beginning of the Anthropocene, indicate a shift in the way we look at nature, which unfortunately is not anymore that friendly pure space from which we can extract metaphors in an uncritical way.

On the other hand, the blurring of the boundaries between nature and culture becomes especially visible in courtyards, places designed or built by humans, but vulnerable to the threats of their environment and liable to summon a multitude of non-human agents.

The work proposed for the Episcopal Palace pushes boundaries to their limits and is presented as post-natural architecture or “Fake Nature”. It is built through a multitude of material systems half-way between what is natural and what is artificial. The project proposes a laboratory for the exploration of new narratives – both technical and aesthetic.

THE AUTHORS

Takk is a space for architectural production at the crossroads between nature and culture. It is run by Mireia Luzárraga and Alejandro Muiño and has its main offices in Barcelona and Madrid. Part of their work, widely published, belongs to the collection of the Architecture Centre FRAC Centre-Val de Loire. Takk has participated in international shows in Venice, Orleans, Oslo, Havana, Montevideo, Asuncion, Mexico City and Rabat. At the moment they are working on their first individual exhibition in Vienna.

Mireia and Alejandro are professors at the University of Alicante, the Institute of Advanced Architecture of Catalonia and the BAU Design College of Barcelona. Besides that, they have given conferences at an international level in cities like New York, Bangkok and Berlin.