Oikos of relational encounters: an Eco-Tourist Visitor’s Centre and Extension to Twinstreams Environmental and Education Centre in the Umlalazi Nature Reserve
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Date
2021-10
Authors
Nel, Jeanne
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Abstract
In the time of the Anthropocene, we have reached a point as humans where we have removed ourselves from nature and, in turn, have idealized and romanticised views of our initial natural habitat. We have abandoned our initial biophilic relationship with nature. In the context of the Umlalazi Nature Reserve, the varying levels of our anthropocentric interventions are highly prevalent and serves as a metaphor of our relationship with the environment in the Anthropocene. The landscape is comprised of two prominent manmade forests- a eucalyptus plantation, as well as an indigenous forest that was planted years ago. This relationship, however, exists alongside a myriad of other relations, including spaces of liminality between manmade vehicular roads, a natural stream, a forest, as well as pathways and openings within the forests. It is evident that for our relations with nature to oppose the dominating forces of the Anthropocene, an awareness of the fragility of these relations needs to be stimulated. Professor and philosopher, Timothy Morton’s notion of ‘Dark Ecology’ proposes that, in order for a new ‘ecological awareness’ to emerge, we must abandon the romantic ideals that we have of nature and our surrounding environment. Dark Ecology, alongside principles of biophilic design are investigated throughout this dissertation as a way to recast the romantic expectations we have evolved to possess and stimulate a new form of ‘ecological’ awareness through an ‘oikos’ of relational encounters. This project and dissertation illustrates how the implementation of a biophilic architectural approached, shaped by Dark Ecology, may recast the romantic expectations of nature and stimulate richer relational encounters between the flaneur in the forest within the Anthropocene and eco-tourism industry.
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Keywords
Dissertation (M.Arch. (Architecture))--University of the Free State, 2021, Anthropocene, Biophilia, Dark ecology, Relations