our response:
the biophilia treehouse is the ucla counterforce lab’s creative response to goal #5 of the la county sustainability plan. goal #5 is vital because urbanization and climate change are threatening the region’s ecosystems, habitats, and biodiversity. birds are indicators of the overall health of an ecosystem. la county is the birdiest county in the us and yet, the county is also home to the largest set of threatened and endangered animals and plants in the country. there has been great loss of green space for birds and angelinos alike, especially in poor, underserved and under resourced communities. our project ‘biophilia treehouse’ addresses this environmental inequity.
our vision:
we imagine biophilia treehouses everywhere in los angeles, dots of bio-diverse hotspots amid the concrete jungle. each structure disrupts the urban fabric to weave avian corridors for our feathered friends, stitching together routes to travel between disconnected habitats and ecosystems.
through community involvement the biophilia treehouses will thrive.
in partnering with local public schools, the structures present opportunities for hands-on education. our goal is to make our design open source and available to community members who, with the help of student volunteers, will be inspired to collaborate in building, growing and maintaining biophilia treehouses throughout our county.
our vision is to contribute to a shift in how we humans understand ourselves in relation to the natural world. if the human species can come to truly fathom its interconnectedness within the ecosystems it inhabits, we believe that a fundamental shift in how we design our built environments shall happen.
rather than apart from it, we are a part of nature.
biophilia treehouse is a project by counterforce lab.
the counterforce lab is an initiative by professor rebeca méndez. it is a research and fieldwork studio based in the design media arts department at ucla, dedicated to using art and design to develop creative collaborations, new fields of study, and methods to research, create, and execute projects that investigate and mitigate the social and ecological concerns of the anthropocene era, a time when human activity has been the dominant influence on climate and the environment.
the counterforce lab is an initiative by professor rebeca méndez. it is a research and fieldwork studio based in the design media arts department at ucla, dedicated to using art and design to develop creative collaborations, new fields of study, and methods to research, create, and execute projects that investigate and mitigate the social and ecological concerns of the anthropocene era, a time when human activity has been the dominant influence on climate and the environment.
contact:
rebecam@arts.ucla.edu
rebecam@arts.ucla.edu
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