REENGAGING RELATIONS

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Benjamin Wemesfelder

Joyce Hwang (Chair), Albert Chao, Mark Shepard Spring 2022

Graduate Thesis, Architecture MArch

What does the future look like if we fail to recognize the bond between human and nonhuman species as a critical condition of life on Earth? The thesis titled Reengaging Relations by MArch student Benjamin Wemesfelder argues that this bond requires continuous monitoring and nurturing.

In his thesis, Wemesfelder questions the validity of the concept of “natural.” What most people consider natural is instead a curated blend of trees, grasses, and house plants imported and re-rooted in different locations. Wemesfelder suggests that we as humans have the responsibility to reengage with the natural environment and educate ourselves on the roles we have as participants of a larger ecological system. The work further addresses the interconnectedness, or lack thereof, between human and nonhuman species to co-inhabit in our world. By unpacking the ways in which plants make their way into the built environment, Wemesfelder highlights how more accommodating forms of engagement can promote a heightened sense of awareness of our shared relationship.

In an attempt to further familiarize himself with the inner workings, or emotions of plants, Wemesfelder made it his goal to tap into their internal senses. The ability to sense surroundings is not reserved just for humans or animals; plants also have the ability to sense and respond to their surroundings. Using the knowledge that plants send electric bio-signals to communicate and react, Wemesfelder used a sensor to translate a plant's signaling into data. The thesis ultimately establishes and articulates how the internal fluctuations of plants respond to external stimuli.

Experiment after experiment, the best way for Wemesfelder to understand how the plant was interpreting the world was to try and think as a plant would. As such, the plants and their sensors traveled where the human did. Wemesfelder connected various plants to a capacitive sensor while eating dinner, reading, drawing, and building models. This gave the most accurate representation of what the plants responded to most. What resulted was the conclusion that they responded best to physical touch. This active exploration into plant sensing helped generate new insights into human/nonhuman relationships, which would have been difficult to construct just by simple observation. Wemesfelder’s thesis provokes the theme that humans should care about designing in conjunction with plants, rather than plugging them into buildings to add a pop of green.

“Much of the built environment, and the ‘nature’ within, is constructed, fractured, or fabricated... We have a responsibility to re-engage with the natural environment and inform ourselves.”

- Benjamin Wemesfelder

Exhibits

The work is split up into a series of exhibits, all demonstrating a different plant-to-human interaction to immerse participants in their roles. These exhibits contest the preconceived notion that humans are in control over our environment and question the notion of an authentic natural world.

Plants, People, Partnership, poses the idea of mutually beneficial relationships in our shared spaces. Completing the link across plant and human touch, a series of acclimatizing responses are at work: humidity, UV, and immersive audio. An alternating plant-to-human physical connection tests how to deepen symbiotic bonds.

Water Coalition, inverts the typical kind of care we provide to our plants daily, watering. In this scenario, the lettuce waters the human rather than the human watering the plant. This exhibit puts decision making in the perspective of the nonhuman entity, cutting off the supply when the plant

Tools of experimentation is satisfied. Access to water is seen here as complex as it is within the natural ecosystems beyond our built world.