Being and Making Architecture: Ecological Thinking Across Scales

By Ophélia Mantz

Far removed from techno-heroic narratives, Being and Making Architecture demonstrates how ecological consciousness in architecture is built "within reach." The themes organizing its content--matter, garden, workshop, kitchen, pedagogy, and collective practices--unfold across various scales through a transdisciplinary lens, linking materials and domestic spaces to planetary ecological systems.

Thus, the book offers not only a theoretical framework for navigating contemporary challenges but also a practical exploration of how architectural design is reinventing itself, under the impetus of ecological thinking. Although the relative autonomy of the chapters allows for non-linear reading, all the research topics--rooted in a French cultural context--progress across scales in a spiral movement, characteristic of the emergence of ecological thinking. Moreover, the structural elements--whether material or spatial--share a common ethos advocating a hybrid mode of being and making architecture.

As a journey of wonders, Being and Making Architecture weaves connections between sensible narratives, architectural theory, anthropology, sociology, political ecology, material and environmental history, philosophy, art, and science. In doing so, the volume equips designers--from academia to professional practice--with a multi-scale method that turns ecological thinking into a catalyst for architectural transformation.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1041017634
• ISBN13: 9781041017639
• Release Date: November 2026
• Publisher: Routledge
• Length: 212 Pages