Map of site-specific artifacts that explore the relationship between human beings and nature through biocentric and multispecies design. Each project generates an aesthetic experience integrated into the environment, through the use of local materials and traditional or contemporary artisan techniques.
Socarrado, a shelter for reflection
Socarrado is a poetic installation that transforms a landscape marked by fire into a space of resistance. Built with juniper logs burned in the 2022 forest fire in the Sabinares del Arlanza Natural Park, it forms a circular shelter inspired by the traditional loberas, shelters where shepherds protected their flocks at night. This ephemeral space invites people to enter and reconnect with silence, authenticity and the possibility of renewal even among the ashes of destruction.
Material
Made from burned juniper (sabina) trunks . The trunks were transported and assembled into a circular structure, culminating in a 3-meter diameter dome (lobera).
Design
Manufacturing
Somacyl, provided the juniper wood.
Triturados Montero, moved the trunks.
Almudena Cadalso, documented the process.
Location
Sabinares del Arlanza Natural Park, La Yecla, Burgos
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Ruup, forest library
Giant megaphones are used to listen to the forests of Estonia and to create a library of sounds collected directly from the landscape – an audible book of nature. The installation seeks to reaffirm the profound connection between the country’s culture and its natural environment, inviting us to consider the possibility of a divine message emerging from the forest. It encourages wanderers to linger within these structures, waiting for the forest’s message to reveal itself through both sound and silence. Through active listening, we reconnect our “ecological self” with the ancestral, two-way communication that once existed between humans and the forest.
Material
Local wood
Design
Birgit Õigus, Tõnis Kalve, Ahti Grünberg and b210.
Manufacturing
Interior Architecture Department of the Estonian Academy of Arts (EKA) 2015
Location
Võrumaa, Pähni Nature Centre, Estonia
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Tobusa shared bench
The Tobusa bench symbolizes a rebirth of tree trunks felled by the storm, which now become seats, homes for small plantations and shelters for the inhabitants of the local forest ecosystem. The installation is composed of individual stacked logs, varying in size, diameter (from 80 mm to 450 mm) and height, which varies according to the level of overlap between individual logs. Some of the larger logs were also CNC machined to create a regular geometric pattern of holes suitable for housing insects that populate the forest vegetation of Val di Sella.
Material
Tree trunks felled by storm Vaia in Triveneto (2018) and galvanized steel for seating.
Design
Manufacturing
Location
Arte Sella, Villa Strobele, Borgo Valsugana (TN)
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Inverted creatures
Elements designed from a biocentric and multispecies perspective. The final result questions consumption and production models through its own materiality: it uses agricultural waste, the environmental impact in manufacturing is minimal and proposes an aesthetic of sobriety that contrasts with the excess of the dominant material culture, offering an alternative based on respect for natural cycles. The name “inverted” moves away from its pejorative sense to become a transformative force from a practice situated in networks of coexistence and interdependence between species, thus enhancing ecological empathy.
Material
Local solid olive wood.
Design
Carmela Forés
Manufacturing
Carmela Forés and Carles Escrig
Location
Barranc de la Palanca, Les Useres, Castelló.
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La Pletera Itinerary Artifacts
Design of 12 elements that aim to bring people closer to the unique ecosystem of the La Pletera Itinerary through sensory discoveries with a collection of artistic and functional, sustainable, and artisanal pieces made with solid wood and local plant fibers. These elements are of unique design conceived especially for this territory and the inspiration arises from the same environment. The objective is to promote the improvement of community values and foster a more respectful relationship with nature, through an innovative and creative proposal where nature, art and communication merge, following the biocentric design trend.
Materials
Local solid oak and cedar wood, plant fibers from wicker and iron structures.
Design
Manufacturing
Domestic Wild and Tramats.cat
Location
Montgrí Natural Park, Medes Islands and Baix Ter. La Pletera Accessible Itinerary, Catalunya.
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TÒTEMS
Ritual spaces, inspired by totemism, to reconnect people with nature. Through immersive experiences, the project aims to awaken ecological awareness based on the interdependence between humans and other living beings. The totems are functional and interactive, and can be used both vertically and horizontally. Made with natural materials of local origin, which come from forest management, they are conceived for impermanence, integrating back into the landscape and gradually disappearing over time. The project operates on three levels: physical, aesthetic and poetic, promoting a biocentric and multi-species perspective that challenges anthropocentrism and strengthens the feeling of belonging to nature.
Material
Poplar trunk from forest management
Design
Carmela Forés
Manufacturing
Carmela Forés, project development, application of the Shou Sugi Ban technique and final finish with linseed oil.
Josep Plasencia, technical advice and chainsaw cutting of wood.
Cooperativa Envall, provided poplar trunk.
Location
Font d’Escasals, Envall, La Torre de Cabdella (Pallars Jussà)
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Rammed earth benches
Benches designed to extend the experience of people visiting the wineries. Through their use, visitors can rest in different parts of the estate and enjoy a full immersion in the landscape. The ecological aesthetic accompanies this experience since the benches use local resources and low-energy manufacturing.
Material
Earth, water and lime. 5m³ of local earth stabilized with 5% cement. Rammed earth construction method consisting of building walls by filling formwork with different layers of moist clay soil, manually compacted with a rammer.
Design
Manufacturing
Location
Cortijo Los Aguilares in Ronda, Málaga.
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Yané, community space
Yané, which means roof in Japanese, is a large fan (10 meters in diameter) formed by long oak planks that reveal a cyclopean eye made of twisted branches. It is installed at the viewpoint of the PR31 trail, from where you can see Villefranche and the Pyrenees in the distance. This place invites you to take refuge and to prolonged observation, which provokes a reflection on the place of humanity in nature and on the fragility of the balances in ecosystems threatened by our activities. The work was created, with the voluntary help of the community, during an artist residency in 2012.
Material
The wood platform is made of long oak planks that reveal a cyclopean eye made of twisted branches
Design
Manufacturing
The participation of local citizens and others professionals in the design and manufacturing of the works is a fundamental element of this project. Their contribution is estimated at 3,500 hours of volunteer work.
Location
Villefranche-Astarac, France
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