Several floating plants in the Amazon have developed intelligent flotation strategies to adapt to varying water levels of the river that in the rainy season can rise up to 14 meters, flooding the forest and altering the physiognomy of the earth. In an eight-day workshop in August on Mamori Lake in the Amazon, architect Marko Brajovic, one of the guests at WDCD Live Amsterdam, will take these floating plants as starting point for a course on floating architecture.
Through physical and digital as well as biomimetric modelling, the workshop will investigate new types of floating architecture that can adapt to tidal variations and increased water levels while responding to extreme weather conditions. Although focused on the circumstances in the Mamori Lake area, the outcome of the workshop will also be evaluated in the light of a global need to adapt the built environment to rising sea levels as a consequence of climate change.
The workshop by the Architectural Association (AA) is led by Brajovic and London-based designer and AA School teacher Nacho Marti. The course takes place between 25 August and 2 September 2017 and applications can be made through www.aaschool.ac.uk.
Nature is crucial
However, who wants to hear and meet Marko Brajovic before, should come to WDCD Live Amsterdam, where he will share his ideas about designing with nature. For the São Paulo based architect, who was born in Montenegro and educated in Venice and Barcelona, nature is a crucial source of inspiration.
‘It is crucial that every professional in the field develops a positive relationship with the environment,’ he says. ‘A good designer should know the origin of all materials and be aware that you must use them in an intelligent manner, and to respect them.’
In Nature We Trust
A workshop in biomimetics applied to architecture led Brajovic to Brazil, where in 2006 he established his multidisciplinary Atelier Marko Brajovic in São Paulo. Last year Brajovic bundled his achievements and learnings so far in his book In Nature We Trust.
Through the R&D group byNature, which he founded in 2015, Brajovic shares his knowledge with colleagues and students. A refuge in the Atlantic forest north of São Paulo designed by Brajovic and named ARCA, functions as a occasional classroom for his nature inspired workshops.
In a less lustrous setting, but no doubt with the same devotion, fellow-Brazilian designer Fred Gelli will host an activation session at WDCD Live on biomimicry, in this case focused on packaging solutions.
Is there more to be said? Be there. Buy your tickets.
Top image: Marko Brajovic (right) helps a student in an earlier AA School course in the Amazon / courtesy of AA School