Decolonizing the Amazon

“The task is to make kin in lines of inventive connection as a practice of learning to live and die well with each other in a thick present.�

— Donna J. Haraway

D e c ol on i z i ng the Am azo n Due to colonization and rapid city growth, our forests are under threat as well as the inhabitants living within them. Brazil currently lacks the resources to properly catalog its fr uitful rainforests to ensure its sur vival in the years to come. The Seed Bank proposal seeks to bring back indigenous building techniques in addition to the implementation of animals and plant life to generate the intelligent design behind the system.

M a c r o- sc a l e Macapa, Brazil is a city located along the amazon that is facing issues brought on by plastic pollution. Currently the site hosts a group of people that collect waste, unfortunately this waste is not utilized in any way nor is there a way to safely break down plastics.

M i c r ob i om e We propose a new system that works at multiple scales, the microbiome of the local environment is manipulated to break down the plastics infiltrating the water, while macro-scales of the project engage larger species at a social level.

T he a r ti str y of th e no n- hum ans The building method we are proposing allows the equivalent of twenty-four plastic bottles set into one brick. These bricks are assembled on platfor ms supported by mature trees set years earlier in the site. The brick facades can support the wax wor ms that produce plastic-eating microorganisms. Silkwor ms are then introduced to the facade to produce strands of silk which are har vested and used as a cooling and shading device for the str ucture.

Boardwalk

Casita

Tree har vest

Seed bank

Tr e e h a r ve s t

Casita

Bo ard wal k

S eed bank

Daniel Cedillo (516)-474-7904 danielcedillo.arch@gmail.com