Manifest
Manifest and Vision
for this new century
The challenge for architects today is enormous, since it is the subject of architecture to reflect on the climate crisis that we are experiencing today. Taking into account “Koyaanisqatsi 1982” – a documentary film by American director Godfrey Reggio – today we find ourselves in a fifth state of life: “a state of life that calls for a new way of life.”
The territory where we are born shapes our being in a face-to-face process, says Ricardo Rozzi, Chilean ecologist and philosopher, father of biocultural ethics. Therefore, I believe that in territorial solutions we can find answers to the problems generated today by living. That said, the role of architecture today is to open these new narratives about the territory. As it will allow us to build healthy cities, rebalancing life in a post-technological world. The beginning of this can be found in the connection and awareness of the vernacular architecture of the place, looking to its local communities and processes. The technologies available today can complement vernacular architecture, creating possibilities that raise awareness of ecocentric or an ecosystemic living. Today we face the urgency of reconnecting to open new ways of living and achieve sustainable development. This paradigm shift is necessarily accompanied by the
incorporation of feminine attributes and indigenous communities to the cultural process. It is necessary to recover the link with nature and those sacred ancestral ways.
Along with this awareness in our work, Cazú Zegers Architecture Studio joined the call of “Architects Declare”, who call on construction professionals to generate changes in the face of the climate and biodiversity emergency. For everyone working in the construction industry, meeting the needs of our society without overstepping the earth’s ecological boundaries will require a paradigm shift in our behavior. At the same time, we see it as extremely important that the possible solution complements the vision of the British architect Alex de Rijke, who states that the 21st century will be the era for timber as a material in construction. From our experience, and considering our projection as an architecture studio, we do believe in the attributes that timber can entail.
However, for it to be truly sustainable, it is necessary to create regulations that guarantee the complete process with traceability and certification standards in the entire manufacturing chain. Therefore, new development models must consider and integrate these complexities, to take care of our essential resource of life and our beautiful planet.
