This paper, presented at an international conference, marked the beginning of my second year of doctoral studies (November 4, 2016) and was written in English. The work explores the perspective of reinterpreting architectural elements in an ecosystemic manner, adapting buildings to the surrounding natural environment, or rather, enhancing it, increasing its value through multifunctional interfaces, with functions similar to biological systems (like ecosystem services), or simply carriers of intentional, premeditated, cultivated, designed natural capital.
The article synthesizes a series of observations from the early stages of doctoral research, developed in chapters I and II of the thesis. It addresses the transition to the Anthropocene geological epoch (due to the practically irreversible impact of humanity on geological layers and all natural habitats, soil, water, air, and the entire biodiversity) and the potential of architecture (through a wide range of tools such as policies, mechanisms, procedures, processes, technologies, objects, subsystems) to mitigate conflicts and disasters between the built environment and human habitats, versus the natural environment and its ecosystems. This is achieved through the integration of components that provide nature-typical benefits around buildings/settlements.
These new values and strengths of architecture overlay and enrich both systems, with the potential for symbiosis, where desired.
The conference was organized by UAUIM (coordinated by Professor Cristina Olga Gociman, UrbanRisk Manager) and INCD URBAN INCERC (Director ECBR, Dr. Eng. Emil-Sever Georgescu), under the theme “Risk reduction of multi-hazard in protected urban areas through strategies of architecture, engineering, and urban planning to ensure urban resilience.” The paper was presented at UAUIM, and the abstract was published in the conference volume, which was published the same year in printed and DVD formats.
The article primarily addressed the topic of \”Ecological and environmental risks: natural hazards, climate change, perspectives on ecosystems, green (ecological) economy,\” but also indirectly those of technical, urban, social, and cultural risks. During documentation for the article, following the model of the NWRM.eu project (Natural Water Retention Measures), I observed that presenting synergies between multifunctional architectural interfaces and ecosystem services is the most effective approach to exemplify the theoretical concepts of this research: “In an age of multifunctionality, our large volume of walls, floors, and roofs should be more than just tools of isolation (shelter), but rather a canvas for a new type of infrastructure that purifies our soil, air, and water, increases our food and plants, nourishes us and our animals, prints our objects, and even serves as our workplaces, communication, and education platforms.”