Building Optimization Through Forest Performance

Abstract

We live in a world where speed and access dominate our everyday lives, whether it is the way we travel between two points, the way we obtain and communicate information, or the process by which we produce goods and services. As this speed and accessibility allows us to progress into uncharted territories, the known long-term effects of rapid development are becoming increasingly concerning. The health of terrestrial systems is diminishing due to the multiscale negative effects of human interference in natural ecosystems. This highlights a problem with the way we are interacting with the planet's resources, it also illuminates the lack of understanding of our impact on the environment. This thesis inquiry explores improvements in the health of terrestrial systems and considers a small-scale way of building, optimized towards the performance of our forests, as a means to achieve an architecture that is a product of its source (terrestrial landscapes).