Emerging Ecologies

In the 1960s, the postwar push for endless growth and ever-increasing consumption gave rise to concerns about industrial pollution, resource depletion, and ecological collapse, inspiring a new generation of architects to rethink the core tenets of their profession. Published to accompany the first expansive survey of the history of environmental thinking in architecture, Emerging Ecologies: Architecture and the Rise of Environmentalism studies the role architects have played in defining our understanding of “nature” and the “environment,” specifically during the emergence of the environmental movement. This richly illustrated publication presents more than forty-five architectural contributions—from Eleanor Raymond and Mária Telkes’s groundbreaking work on solar houses to Buckminster Fuller’s world resource management system and the environmental symbolism of Emilio Ambasz—to explore the role designers played in both promoting the ecological cause and in outlining the very terms of their nascent field. Through an introductory essay by curator Carson Chan, sharply focused texts on each of the featured projects, and a concise historical timeline, Emerging Ecologies documents the entanglements between ecology, design, and state craft, allowing readers to take stock of historic milestones as architecture confronts today’s climate emergencies.