Living Walls

In her acclaimed science fiction trilogy Xenogenesis, Octavia E. Butler presents a narrative of interspecies coexistence involving humans and the alien Oankali. This coexistence is facilitated by living entities known as Lo, which serve as dynamic architectures mediating positive, mutualistic intera...

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Main Authors: Aitor Frías-Sánchez, Joaquín Perailes-Santiago, Diego Jiménez-López
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: TU Delft OPEN Publishing 2024-09-01
Series:Footprint
Online Access:https://journals.open.tudelft.nl/footprint/article/view/6927
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author Aitor Frías-Sánchez
Joaquín Perailes-Santiago
Diego Jiménez-López
author_facet Aitor Frías-Sánchez
Joaquín Perailes-Santiago
Diego Jiménez-López
author_sort Aitor Frías-Sánchez
collection DOAJ
description In her acclaimed science fiction trilogy Xenogenesis, Octavia E. Butler presents a narrative of interspecies coexistence involving humans and the alien Oankali. This coexistence is facilitated by living entities known as Lo, which serve as dynamic architectures mediating positive, mutualistic interactions between the two species. These entities offer a valuable framework for analysing architectures that seek to integrate the other. In this article, we propose to extend existing debates on interspecies co-design practices and link them to the concept of xenoarchitecture. Furthermore, we propose the Interspecies Interaction Protocols (IIP) to regulate human/other-than-human interactions in built environments. To demonstrate that xenoarchitecture’s interspecies mediating vision can be applied to non-fictional real-world architecture, we project ideas from Butler’s onto three unusual examples of buildings that achieve this human/other-than-human mediation: the library at the National Palace of Mafra and Coimbra University’s Joanina Library, both located in Portugal, and the Karni Mata temple, located in Rajasthan, India. These case studies illustrate positive IIPs that facilitate mutualistic coexistence between humans and two other species, bats and rats.
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1875-1490
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publishDate 2024-09-01
publisher TU Delft OPEN Publishing
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spelling doaj-art-1f55fe4cc72c48a3bc0c594f1c2f8d052025-08-20T02:04:20ZengTU Delft OPEN PublishingFootprint1875-15041875-14902024-09-0118110.59490/footprint.18.1.69279590Living WallsAitor Frías-Sánchez0https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0131-9219Joaquín Perailes-Santiago1https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0779-3205Diego Jiménez-López2https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6071-3617University of MálagaUniversity of MálagaUniversity of MálagaIn her acclaimed science fiction trilogy Xenogenesis, Octavia E. Butler presents a narrative of interspecies coexistence involving humans and the alien Oankali. This coexistence is facilitated by living entities known as Lo, which serve as dynamic architectures mediating positive, mutualistic interactions between the two species. These entities offer a valuable framework for analysing architectures that seek to integrate the other. In this article, we propose to extend existing debates on interspecies co-design practices and link them to the concept of xenoarchitecture. Furthermore, we propose the Interspecies Interaction Protocols (IIP) to regulate human/other-than-human interactions in built environments. To demonstrate that xenoarchitecture’s interspecies mediating vision can be applied to non-fictional real-world architecture, we project ideas from Butler’s onto three unusual examples of buildings that achieve this human/other-than-human mediation: the library at the National Palace of Mafra and Coimbra University’s Joanina Library, both located in Portugal, and the Karni Mata temple, located in Rajasthan, India. These case studies illustrate positive IIPs that facilitate mutualistic coexistence between humans and two other species, bats and rats.https://journals.open.tudelft.nl/footprint/article/view/6927
spellingShingle Aitor Frías-Sánchez
Joaquín Perailes-Santiago
Diego Jiménez-López
Living Walls
Footprint
title Living Walls
title_full Living Walls
title_fullStr Living Walls
title_full_unstemmed Living Walls
title_short Living Walls
title_sort living walls
url https://journals.open.tudelft.nl/footprint/article/view/6927
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