Abstract:
In earlier settlements of civilisation, the landscape often remained untouched, allowing
man and nature to live in harmony; the Golden Age. Through modernisation and
industrialisation the relationship between the human landscape (our built environment)
and the biophysical landscape (our natural environment) has suffered. Undeniably the
pursuit of profit and need to accommodate our rapidly growing population has fueled
this disconnect. However, I argue this shift can be largely linked to humanity’s orthophilic
propensities and need for order in the natural environment, resulting in a grid-like
urban fabric. This desire for order has led to the removal, degradation and decline of the
biophysical landscape within many parts of the Western world.
This thesis will explore how the implementation of a new architectural typology - a ‘buffer’
- can facilitate a reintroduction of nature into the built world. The ‘buffer’, through an
ecological lens, responds to the requirements of the biophysical-landscape and connects
itself with the urban grid. This new typology could oversee a shift in hierarchy between
the two conflicting landscapes. In contrast to our current philosophy, architecture will seek
symbiosis with nature, rather than seek to conquer it.
This thesis shows that a synergy such as this would bring about unity with nature that
man hasn’t experienced since before industrialisation, and start to re-establish and repair a
crucial connection which has been lost.