Practicing Ordinary Speculations: Mundane Prototypes for More-Than-Human Cohabitation

Bernacchi, Antonio and Lazzaroni, Alicia (2024) Practicing Ordinary Speculations: Mundane Prototypes for More-Than-Human Cohabitation. In: P/References of Design. Cumulus conference proceedings series, 1 . Cumulus Association, Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design Budapest, Budapest, pp. 1237-1243. ISBN 978-952-7549-02-5

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Abstract

In titling a book about the work of their architecture practice, "It's small, it rains inside, and there's ants", F. Soriano and D. Palacios (original title "Es peque?o, llueve dentro y hay hormigas", 2000) somehow provocatively hinted at a question at the very core of the discipline, which concerns the inclusion or, more often, exclusion of bodies and substances that were not welcome in architecture's modernist conception of space. The cohabitation and coexistence with a wide range of non-humans is a relevant sphere for exploration, where techniques of speculative design can be very instrumental. This paper elaborates on these ideas through a critical overview of the conception, development, and dissemination of a project of speculative prototyping originally developed by the authors in Denmark for an exhibition on the topic held in 2022 in Berlin. The project attempted to incorporate more-than-human perspectives through speculations grounded on different sources, from academic research to practical tips and hacks gathered from the web. "Hardware Stories" is a prototype of a floor, constituted by a patchwork of DIY-crafted tiles of different materials, textures, and geometry, which respond to the very diverse needs and spatial understandings of different beings, from African snails to small spiders, like barn funnel weavers.

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