ARCHITECTURES OF EXFOLIATION

In our research, we use the analogy of (ex)foliation to explore the urbanity of monsoonal estuarine

landscapes. (Ex)foliation here refers to the transformations in beings and things as forces and energies

act upon them, and vice-versa. The provocation Architectures of (Ex)foliation is: first, an ontological

excursion into the ways in which monsoon’s wetness weaves into the rhythms and temporalities of

everyday life; second, a proposal to dismantle the fiction of stable and static surfaces that cartographic

imaginations have provided for design inquiry (for instance, land-water); third, an exploration to enlarge

climate knowledges to consider cities as an intertwined expression of biophysical and sociopolitical

phenomena. The key question here is: How does wetness (in the case of our own research, of an

estuary) weave in (non-) human life to shape the forces and forms of (ex)foliation? Hopefully, this would

open newer possibilities for architects to engage with their environments.

We invite students to collaborate with us in our excursion of a monsoonal landscape in this course. The

course will enable students to: (1) Problematize ongoing discussions for future proofing climate changed

cities; (2) Articulate theoretical and methodological standpoints about wet landscapes; (3) Situate their

ideas in a survey of the spatial thought on the city as an intertwined expression of biophysical and

sociopolitical phenomena; (4) Device strategies to map the ways in which monsoon’s wetness weaves in

(non-) human life; and, (5) Articulate and develop analogies about architectures of exfoliation shaping

(non-) human life as an exploration into a form of representation. In the next two years, the course will

focus on Surfacing of the (non)human life exploring matter such as muds, stones, bacteria, plants and

animals along forests, beaches, swamps, river edges and other places.

Lecture / Reading Sessions will be structured around the following themes:

1. The Problem: How have spatial practitioners framed the design problem of habitation in the

context of climate changed coastal cities? Why and how do we need to recast the problem?

2. Architectures of Exfoliation: What do we mean by the analogy and architectures of (ex)Foliation?

How did we arrive at it?

3. City as ... : Which scholars / practitioners have considered the city as an intertwined expression

of biophysical and sociopolitical phenomena and what thought have they articulated?

4. Conceptualization III - Adapting (Ex)foliation: How has (ex)foliation been conceptualized, studied

and represented in the fields of biology, geology and mathematics? How could the analogy be

drawn into spatial thinking to construct eidetic arguments?

5. Methodological standpoints: What does one mean by wet ontologies? What does democratizing

and decolonizing climate knowledges mean? Why is it important to consider these today?