Commonly, designers continue to draw ideas that rely on seemingly unlimited material inventories which are sourced, assembled, transported and used as needed. This approach is founded in the materialism of growth-based economic systems, histories (and current practices) of resource extraction, colonialism and violent transfers of human labor, energy, technology, technique and materials, leading us eventually to the present day of persistent viral, climate and inequity pandemics. In architectural documents (particularly in the context of value-engineering), often the term “or equal” serves as a means to substitute materials where the measurement of “equal” does not consider the material’s production processes, but only its operational and commodity functions.
As we approach a new reality where seemingly unlimited materials become gradually or suddenly unavailable, how will designers practice? What kind of acts of design will allow us to activate collectively against material systems and practices that fail to address carbon footprints?
