Studio Silva Systems
"This was the order of human institutions: first the forests, after that the huts, then the villages, next the cities, and finally the academies.”
Giambattista Vico, New Science, p.78
We take you on a journey through forests and learn about the benefits they provide by visiting them. In an experimental practice of learning, we question how to interact with fragile and complex organisms and explore ways of regeneration. Through individual and collective research, observations, and experimental approaches to making, we investigate complex systems encompassing ecology, society, culture, and economics. Forests played a significant role in the development of human civilization and balance the global ecosystem in many ways. Some words for thought:
Forests are wonderful and scary: materials, light, air, smells, roots that hear water, self-organization, invisible, density, darkness, imagination, fairy tale, …
Forests are time and climate: growth, movement, decay, cycles, symbiosis, believe, photosynthesis, seeds, breath, biodiversity, migration, inter-dependent networks, butterfly effect, extinction, activism, carbon sequestration, politics, future, hope, …
Forests are the world: nature culture divide, rethinking the world, working together, commoning, regeneration, sourcing, recycling, repairing, reusing, collaboration, logistics, economy, care, …
Student profile and learning outcomes:
- become a designer and activist with an environmentalist approach
- learn about forests, ecology, climate change and the symbolic meaning of forests and trees in different cultures
- understand the global ecosystem and impact on local context
- learn how to interact with complex organisms
- have free access to materials and operate outside standardized and proprietary systems
- obtain skills in fabrication and making
- be part of a collective but also strengthen your individual skills
- build confidence in making and thinking
- translate an idea into a concept and find the balance between intuition and research
- find your own style of expressing and curating your work
Learning objectives
In the course of this studio, we will also develop design narratives for the forest as a place of wonder and home to witches, fairies, and giants. In fairy tales, the hero must travel through the forest, confront a labyrinth of complexity, and listen to talking animals and trees to eventually defeat evil. In the history of forests, mythology and making are deeply intertwined.
The BA studio will catapult students into the future and use the power of design to create systems with the highest ecological and societal impact, keeping in mind the high possibility of a near-term climate collapse.
Silva Systems has a dual focus and aims to educate a new generation of designers. On the one hand, students will learn about:
→ Forestry, ecology and earth systems.
→ The forest value chain from raw material through processing and production, to delivery to the final consumer.
→ Methods to engage with the actors and agents of forest communities.
→ The symbolic meaning of the forest and trees in different cultures.
→ Techniques to create scalable and replicable design systems.
On the other hand, the BA studio creates a learning environment in which students will gain and strengthen technical skills, ranging from DIY and low-tech making techniques to digital fabrication.
Collaborative Projects
2022: Collaboration with Staatsbosbeheer, which manages the Netherlands' green heritage. You can read more about the collaboration here. 2023: Collaboration with Wooncollectief Gijzenrooi. 2023: Collaborative student project ‘Connecting through Nature’ with Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember, Department of Architecture & Department of Marine Transportation Engineering and Institut Teknologi Bandung (ITB), Department of Architecture & Department of Urban Design, Indonesia, as part of a Virtual International Collaboration, a grant funded by the Dutch Ministry of Education. The students from the educational institutions examined and shared knowledge about seeds and plants from indigenous ecosystems in Indonesia and the Netherlands. 2024: Collaboration with Wooncollectief Gijzenrooi and Nieuw Zwaneburg.