e-flux Architecture presents “Plant Scale,” a lecture by Mae-ling Lokko at e-flux on Tuesday, October 29 at 7pm.
Plant-derived building materials are emerging as a key component of a low-carbon built future, with the promise of reinvigorating local to regional just material economies. From the light and porous to high-density and compressed states of plant-derived building materials “Plant Scale” reflects on the tension between two operative scales at play in the design and reintegration of these bio-based components into twenty-first-century built culture, querying the underlying patterns of human-plant relationships in relation to comfort, ecological health, population growth, biodiversity, and climate change. Motivated by an ambition to substitute conventional high-carbon materials and drive value addition from design, the lecture explores the future implications of scaling plants for building in light of historical patterns in the modern food and energy sectors.
“Plant Scale” is presented as part of e-flux Architecture Lectures, a monthly series inviting researchers and practitioners to discuss timely issues in contemporary architecture, theory, culture, and technology.
Dr. Mae-ling Lokko is an Assistant Professor at Yale University’s School of Architecture and Yale’s Center for Ecosystems in Architecture (Yale CEA) and the founder of Willow Technologies Ltd, in Accra, Ghana. Her research focuses on the whole life cycle development, distributed infrastructure design and policy around non-toxic, low-carbon materials. Lokko previously taught at Cooper Union and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, where she served as the Director of the Building Sciences Program as well as Assistant Professor at the School of Architecture and Center for Architecture, Science and Ecology (CASE). Her work has been exhibited globally, including at the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Nobel Prize Museum, Stockholm; and at the Museum of the Future, Dubai. Her research has been funded by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), the SOM Foundation, ReArc Institute, the British Council, MIT’s Global Architectural History Teaching Collaborative, Luma Foundation and NYSERDA’s NEXUS Clean Energy Accelerator Program. Lokko holds a Ph.D. and Master of Science from the Center for Architecture, Science and Ecology (SOM + Rensselaer) and a B.A. from Tufts University. She currently serves on the Board for the International Living Future Institute and the Architectural League of New York.
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