Sustainable design in southern urban natural spaces - 3D printing in Puerto Williams FONDART project, funded by the Ministry of Culture, Arts, and Heritage, Chile seeks to recover and enhance urban natural spaces in Puerto Williams, Chile through an experimental sustainable design installation. Using local clay and native mosses, the project generates public interventions that foster environmental awareness and the integration of biodiversity into the urban environment.

In response to the disconnection between humans and nature, this project adopts a non-anthropocentric approach, promoting multispecies design practices that prioritize ecological regeneration and resilience. Through biodegradable materials and collaborative processes, the initiative invites reflection on our interactions with the landscape and the importance of urban planning in harmony with native ecosystems.

Sustainable Design, a Tool for the Valorization of Natural Heritage Value Areas in the Southernmost Town in Austral Patagonia, Chile, seeks to contribute to the field of local and environmental material sustainability. The research focused on the development of a sustainable, informative urban structure-installation using Magellanic mosses and local soil, combining 3D clay printing and biology.

They won third place in the Best Paper Award at the FAB16 Montreal conference.

FAB24, Puebla, Mexico - Online Exhibition The main focus of this project is to study, speculate and prototype the relationship between the elements that make up a g-code and the optimal conditions for the proliferation of vascular and non-vascular photosynthetic organisms. By employing algorithmic design sculpting and 3D printing with compostable materials, the translucency, shape and permeability of structures are studied in order to be capable of storing and augmenting plant life.

A sculptural metaphor for the adaptive capacity of species in the face of systems hostile to life. This work seeks to express, through design, hope and faith in the resilience of living systems in the face of constant change.

MAVI UC Young Art Award 2022 - Artist: Tomás Espinosa and Sofía Mateu

Urban Syntropy is a practice-based research project that explores Nature as a co-designer in urban interventions, integrating art, technology, and ecology to create modular, living sculptures informed by site-specific environmental data. Using the [3D.D.2.LS.S] parametric design system and dataSpore, an environmental sensing device, the project translates data on soil moisture, temperature, and light into adaptive 3D-printed sculptures that serve as evolving microclimate habitats for mosses and local species. Through a Participatory Action Research (PAR) methodology, Urban Syntropy engages both communities and non-human entities in the design and care of these interventions, challenging conventional urban design paradigms. The project envisions cities as dynamic ecosystems where Nature actively participates in shaping the built environment, fostering ecological symbiosis and resilience. This proyect was part of an MRes Creative Computing thesis and the ante-proyecto for “Sintropía Urbana”

Sintropia Urbana speculates on the relationship between humanity, Nature, and technology through its notion of sensors, responding with a journey of nine sculptures that invites the public to discover the microworlds of the Cousiño Palace’s backyard. During the exhibition, these structures will transform in accordance with the seasons, establishing a crossover between the recording of environmental data and the natural proliferation of the species that inhabit them. In this way, it creates a calm dialogue between the city and its ecosystem, fostering environmental regeneration and our connection with Nature through research, technology, and art.

Nebulous Narratives seeks to navigate the dimensions of knowledge, practice, and power through the creation of an unconventional dataset, reimagining the role data plays in our interaction with the environment through a series of participatory and creative workshops that act as a vessel to encoding people’s narratives and creative reinterpretations of Nature. The project locates its focus on the ephemeral and often unpredictable movements of clouds as a case study, a domain where Nature’s vastness eludes the tight grasp of human control, presenting an opportunity to re-envision data representation and reinterpretation, where humans are almost always just recipients and not manipulators of the Natural. Exhibited in:

This project seeks to encourage the creation and construction of living spaces to be linked to the locality in question, and everything it entails (people, society and culture, species, geo-climatic conditions, materiality, and temporality). Through the creation of a low-cost, democratized, and widely disseminated “machina,” anyone in the world can create modules with their local soil, adaptable to the needs of the plant species and their respective pollinators.

What’s Around Design? (WAD?) Conference Portimao, Portugal

Maceta nodriza is a material experimentation using Polylactic Acid in 3D printing. It studies the photosynthetic capacity of autotrophic organisms present in substrates and their interaction with translucent containers. Its form responds to organic shapes found in nature and aims for optimal root development and drainage for plant individuals.

Vertical gardens based on soil modules respond both to ecosystem services and aesthetic qualities. By seeking to enhance photosynthesis, symbiosis, and visual experience in the city, these vegetated envelopes become a medium for studying plant behavior and developing species palettes with the potential to take part in the urban fabric.

Garden in a central median located at the corner of General Blanche and Paul Harris. The design incorporates a high-drainage substrate mix to prevent soil compaction. This plant association includes both native and introduced species belonging to the Mediterranean bioclimate of Santiago, Chile. Composed mainly of perennial herbaceous plants and grasses, the garden aims to create a visually engaging space with seasonal variation, integrating both warm- and cool-season species.

The project consists of the adaptation of the existing watercourses in Baños de Apoquindo into floodable urban parks, developed in three phases. This type of green infrastructure aims to combine sustainable ravine management with the creation of recreational, educational, and ecological spaces that promote the integration of nature into the city.

This initiative seeks to contribute to the field of urban development by following sustainable principles that enhance social and ecosystem benefits.

A dynamic garden featuring geophytes and both warm- and cool-season species. This garden aims to highlight layered plant textures and extended flowering periods along a busy traffic node, offering a colorful moment with strong seasonal character within the urban fabric.

This generic multi-sport court model seeks to address the impervious surface created when installing a court within a green area such as a plaza or park. It does so by generating perimeter gardens irrigated by runoff water drained from the court. Climbing plants grow along the fence, creating a layer of shade that helps regulate thermal conditions in combination with the surrounding vegetation.

Landscape proposal for the Apoquindo corridor. A low-water-demand, multi-layered and multi-cyclical garden designed to reduce summer temperatures along the promenade, promote tree growth, and enhance urban permeability through a high-drainage garden system.

A high-density landscape with continuous flowering. The challenge of this green space lies in creating an area for contemplation and calm alongside a high-traffic roadway. Diverse plant layers and compositions will cover and texture the site, framing seating areas and establishing an acoustic buffer.

Garden design for rainwater absorption and maximized infiltration in the urban environment. This project aims to mitigate urban flooding while enhancing native biodiversity within the city.

Design of a new format for dog parks for the Municipality of Las Condes. This design seeks to protect the tree specimens within the dog parks, incorporating benches beneath the tree canopies, establishing accessible routes, and maximizing space for the comfort of owners and the movement of pets within the area.