Abstract: Shelter and Food, our two most basic needs, are provided in large part through the practice of Architecture and Agriculture.
While both fields have seen impressive advances in the last centuries, they have often treated nature as adversary, rather than partner. However clever we humans are, we have only been in the innovation game a short time compared to nature's 3.85 billion years.
Nature's great catalog of materials and processes contains patterns and solutions to relevant functional problems like capture of and efficient closed-loop use of resources and the great diversity in similar solutions offer resilience to environmental shocks.
Architecture can apply many of these solutions at the component, building, landscape and community levels.
Agriculture can also benefit by increasing diversity, distributing production, closing water and nutrient loops to lower input costs, erosion and waste run-off, and transportation costs.
Best yet, an integrated approach to Architecture and Agriculture can yield homes and communities that are self-sufficient, resilient to shocks, and healthier for people and living things dwelling there.
This short talk will briefly look at the current state of Architecture and Agriculture, discuss existing examples that have incorporated patterns from nature, show several candidate solutions from nature's catalog, then close with a fictional but plausible model community design.
Bio: John Ackley has designed and built software-intensive systems for thirty years, the last decade as systems engineer. He is currently senior member of the technical staff at Carnegie Mellon University's Software Engineering Institute. Lately, getting back to his roots in western Pennsylvania woods and farms, he has trained in permanent agriculture design and seeks to bring systems engineering practices and natural systems together to help make communities more self-reliant and resilient.