Notes on the Origins of the Symbiocene Architecture Project
March 2026
The origin of the Symbiocene Architecture Project lies in a series of questions that emerged while working on architectural projects:Why does architecture not undergo a profound transformation while we are immersed in an ecological and social crisis?Why does architecture constantly speak about sustainability, while in most cases the word remains little more than a slogan?In 2021, while directing projects for international architecture competitions, I began to feel increasingly uncomfortable with the way projects were being conceived. Despite certain technical improvements, the underlying logic of the projects remained largely unchanged. They did not seem capable of responding meaningfully to the challenges of our time.After analysing the situation, I realised that the problem was not only technical. It originated in the structure of thought that generates architecture.
This structure is largely rooted in a Cartesian separation between mind and nature, and in a linear mode of thinking aligned with the productivity imperatives of contemporary capitalism. Within this framework, architectural production tends to prioritise speed, efficiency and optimisation, often at the expense of the broader ecological system in which architecture operates. The result is a mode of development that contributes to environmental degradation, loss of biodiversity, forced human displacement, and increasing social inequality.The problem, therefore, was not simply how architecture thinks, but how systems of thought themselves generate or inhibit evolutionary change within architecture.
This question led me to explore how evolutionary change occurs in biological systems. A key inspiration came from Lynn Margulis’ theory of endosymbiosis, which proposes that major evolutionary innovations emerge not primarily through competition, but through processes of symbiotic integration between different organisms.At the same time, another line of investigation emerged from reflecting on the word sustainability itself. If the concept appears everywhere yet rarely produces structural change, perhaps the issue also lies in the language through which architecture understands and describes its relationship with the world.This led me to explore how language shapes the realities we inhabit. Important references in this exploration include Timothy Morton’s proposal of the ecological pronoun, and the work of Ursula K. Le Guin, whose speculative writings show how new linguistic structures can open the possibility for new forms of society.The Symbiocene Architecture Project emerges at the intersection of these questions.It investigates how new structures of thought may generate evolutionary transformations in architecture, and explores diagrams as operative tools capable of constructing such mechanisms of change.In this research, diagrams are not used as representations but as thinking environments.
They function as relational structures where heterogeneous forms of knowledge — ecological, biological, linguistic and architectural — can interact.
Through these interactions, the diagrams operate as mechanisms capable of generating new conceptual relations and, potentially, new architectural imaginaries.
This note updates the evolving hypothesis of Symbiocene Architecture.