Idea/ Concept: Andreas Beitin, Curatorial Team, Andreas Beitin, Sebastian Mühl, Dino Steinhof and Thank U, Hannah Schleiss and Marek Kruszewski.
Quote from the article; "National nonprofit Terreform ONE’s executive director Mark Chambers, along with professor and cofounder, Mitchell Joachim, set a positive tone in their opening keynote as they described a “multi-species” design approach in which crickets and butterflies are clients, everything in life can be biodegradable, landscape could be the new data center, and joy is the best mechanism for combating human extinction."
https://www.archpaper.com/2025/11/2025-urban-tech-summit-forward-looking-discussions/
The global scale of destabilization of environments and rhythms calls for an urgent transformation of our strategies, also in architecture and building. Biology is the only other model we have to shape another future towards a more integrated world. The symposium “Cultivating Matter. Is the future alive?” serves as a platform for presenting and discussing approaches as well as case studies in architecture and design, that explore learnings from biology and the integration of organisms in materials and structures. Aliveness is based on processes that require stable patterns of flow of energy and matter, resilient and adaptable to changes. Cultivation is the design of an environment of existence, growth and stability for other living systems. Adopting aliveness in architecture implies long-term strategies of design and care, by developing new patterns of circularity and living together.
- Thursday, November 20, 2025
Welcome Address: Ulrike Kuch, Rector of the University of Applied Arts Vienna.
Introduction: Petra Gruber, Institute of Architecture, University of Applied Arts Vienna
Keynote “Renewing Nature: Enacting Biodesign to Restore Ecosystems” by Carole Collet.
- Friday, November 21, 2025
Keynote “Design Against Extinction” by Mitchell Joachim.
Sessions: Prototyping/ Fabrication, Bioreceptivity, Critical reflection.
Closing words: Camille Breuil, Institute of Architecture, University of Applied Arts Vienna.
Published in Domus n. 1104, 2025 - Courtesy of Archivio Domus - © Editoriale Domus S.p.A.
https://www.domusweb.it/en/news/gallery/2025/09/01/domus-1104-september-2025.html
The inaugural symposium, moderated by renowned critic and curator Aaron Betsky, will take place on Friday, May 9, from 2 to 6 p.m. This global gathering will feature twelve visionary speakers whose work explores the intersections of architecture, ecology, and engineered systems. Through a series of dynamic hour-long conversations, each participant will share their unique perspective on how design can engage both human-made and natural systems in transformative ways.
Confirmed speakers include: Kevin Jones, VT Honors College, Elizabeth Diller (Diller Scofidio + Renfro), Vicente Guallart, Urbanitree, Summer Islam, Material Cultures, Olalekan Jeyifous (artist/designer), Mitchell Joachim, Terreform ONE, Maria Lisogorskaya, Assemble, Ferdinand Ludwig, Baubotanik, Mireia Luzárraga, TAKK, Qingyun Ma, Mada s.p.a.m., Claudia Pasquero, Ecologic Studio, and Enric Ruiz Geli, Cloud 9 Architecture.
https://www.theplan.it/eng/whats_on/unearthed-second-nature-pollination
MAXXI, the National Museum of 21st Century Arts, Rome, IT.
Terreform ONE, Homeway models, Restless Architecture, galleria KME. Exhibition: October 2024 - 16 March 2025. Curation and exhibition design by Diller Scofidio + Renfro. Special Thanks: Viviana Vignoli, Phillip Denny, David Allin, Serena Zuliani, Sabrina Sideri, Francesca Melissano, Chiara Castiglia.
Edna W. Lawrence Nature Lab at Rhode Island School of Design, May 6th, 6:30 PM, 2024.
The Nature Lab and Nature-Culture-Sustainability Studies present the third lecture in the 2024 Spring Speaker Series: Mitchell Joachim, "Bunnies and Biotech: Designing Synthetic Life"
see here: https://naturelab.risd.edu/events/spring-speaker-series-mitchell-joachim/
Emanuele Quinz, 04 March 2024, DOMUS: "Alive and growing: architectures made of trees"
"Architecture has always been a mineral technique, producing buildings that are stable, impermeable, and strong. But what if we turned our focus to plant-based architecture instead?"
https://www.domusweb.it/en/architecture/gallery/2024/03/01/growing-architecture.html
https://nextnature.net/shop/products/next-nature-magazine-spacefarming-en
Roundtable participants include:
Enough Seminar: Prototyping Circular And Ecological Systems In Urban Contexts
Hubert Klumpner Prof. of Architecture and Urban Design / LUS
Adey Bryan T. Prof. of Infrastructure Management / D-BAUG
Mitchell Joachim Prof. of Practice at NYU, Terreform ONE
Momoyo Kaijima Prof. of Architectural Behaviorology / IEA
Silke Langenberg Prof. of Construction Heritage and Preservation / ITA / IDB
Engineering Biology and the Fourth Industrial Revolution
Daniel Grushkin (MODERATOR)
Founder and Executive Director, Biodesign Challenge
Fashion Institute of Technology
Theanne Schiros, Associate Professor
Pratt Institute
Jeanne Pfordresher, Artist/Designer
New School Parsons Healthy Materials Lab
Alison Mears, Director/Co-Founder Parsons Healthy Materials Lab
Associate Professor of Architecture
Terreform ONE
Mitchell Joachim, Associate Professor NYU and Co-Founder
Location: Industry City, Camp David
220 36th Street, Brooklyn NY
https://buildsbio.org/engineering-biology-fourth-industrial-revolution/
Joachim, Mitchell, Miller, Paul D. and Peder Anker, “Commemorating COVID,” The Pandemic Effect: Ninety Experts on Immunizing the Built Environment, Braine Brownell (ed.), Princeton Architectural Press, pp. 44-45.
Mitchell Joachim, Terreform ONE: The Work of Architecture in the Age of Synthetic Biology
In the challenging context of accelerating climate dynamics, the core discipline of architectural design is evolving and embracing new forms of action. New York-based nonprofit Terreform ONE has established a distinctive design tactic that investigates projects through the regenerative use of natural materials, biological science, and the emergent field of socio-ecological design. This kind of approach uses actual living matter (not abstracted imitations of nature) to create functional elements and spaces. These future-based actions are not only grounded in social justice but are also far-reaching in their application of digital manufacturing and maker culture. Terreform ONE tackles urgent environmental and urban social concerns through the integrated use of living materials and organisms.
The Sally Henderson Green Design Lecture is an annual event created to honor the memory of NYSID faculty member, Sally Henderson, who developed the College’s first course in sustainable or green design.
This is Design Intelligence, David G. Gilmore and Mitchell Joachim.
TIDI068: Here and Now (and in the Near Future)
https://www.thisisdesignintelligence.com/2023-podcasts/here-now-near-future/
