Practice Place: Valuing Nature

How to create conditions for an ecological and hopeful design practice? IABR 2024 introduces a Practice Place, a soft assembly space within the exhibition, and calls upon spatial practitioners to come together around the transformation of practice. 

Buildings are homes for more than humans. Increasing awareness of the importance biodiversity in a time of ecological crisis, has led to the rise of nature-inclusive design. These practices indicate a shifting relationship with nature, seeing buildings as part of (urban) ecologies, and humans as part of nature. This fundamental shift can be at odds with the existing economic system, where nature is hard to value. The third Practice Place Assembly invites participants to explore and exchange strategies for valuing nature in the here and now.  

The intention of this meeting is to build connections between participants. Marinke Steenhuis shares how the area-specific approach, developed by SteenhuisMeurs, uses history to strenghten trust between farmers, officials, and conservationists. The New Academy (with Rosi Braidotti and Ania Molenda) share tools for a design approach that takes as its starting point a nature-culture continuum, not a dualistic divide between nature and culture.

Valuing Nature is the third Practice Place Assembly. The gathering is documented in a growing archive in the exhibition and forms the basis for a podcast series with De Architect. The Practice Place program leads to the development of a New Narrative for Architecture and Urbanism (NNAU), which will be festively presented during the closing weekend of the biennale.  

The spoken language is English.

The event is free, but registration is required.

Program 
9:30-10:00: Coffee & croissant  
10:00-10:15: Welcome in the Practice Place + Introductions 
10:15-11:45: Story Circle  

Coffee break 

12:00-12:30: Imagining Otherwise with Marinke Steenhuis 
12:30-13:00: Imagining Otherwise with the Sainsbury Center 

Lunch  

14:00-15:30: Toolshare by the New Academy (Ania Molenda & Rosi Braidotti) 
15:45-16:45: Collective Conclusions - Crafting a New Narrative, Building Alliances  

Practice Place logo. Image: Studio Le Roy Cleeremans