Breathing has been an essential topic of the year 2020: from the acute respiratory symptoms caused by COVID-19 to the last words of George Floyd »I can’t breathe«. This reading group will approach different aspects of the notion of breathing from the perspective of the architects of our very own atmosphere: the land plants. By revisiting »The Life of Plants« by Emanuele Coccia (2018), Céline and Romuald will aim to make the ontological foundation of the world, that is the respiratory function of the plant kingdom, conspicuous.

The building permit for the new construction of the Lyse-Lotte housing in the Lysbüchel district of Basel has been submitted. We are looking forward to the next steps!

As part of the exhibition „Parlament der Pflanzen“, the Seitenlichtsaal is conceived as a changing, growing project space.

The Solitude Journal features works and writings in which the political, social and ethical dimensions of care and concern between humans, non-humans, other species and the material world converge. A publication of the Akademie Schloss Solitude edited by Denise Helene Sumi.

The team led by Salathé Architekten wins first prize for the project of the Bachmatt site.

Depatriarchise Design is a non-profit design research platform that examines the complicity of design in the reproduction of oppressive systems.

The evening presents the work of three emerging practices from Basel: Architecture Club, Studio Céline Baumann and Weyell Zipse & Hörner. Moderated by Andreas Kofler, the S AM curator.

The team led by Diener & Diener Architeckten wins first prize for the densification project of the Settelen site, a logistics company whose headquarters history dates back to horse-carried parcel delivery.

Based on the “Cautionary Tales for Christmas” from Superstudio (1971), the exhibition gathers the views of contemporary practices questioning what we understand as ‘city’, and thus, helps us to reimagine what the city could become.

We are selected to envision the future of the urban area, which will include a central square, a linear park, and new streets.

The triennale explores the theme of architecture of Degrowth: an economy of shared plenty in which human and ecological flourishing matter most.

In order to cope with the current ecological collapse and the upcoming sixth mass extinction, we need to be able to, in the words of the feminist scholar Donna Haraway, “play string figures with companion species” and “refuse human exceptionalism”. In recent years, scientists, botanists and scholars are increasingly probing the notion of plant sentience. Indigenous relations of mutual care and assistance shared between humans and nonhumans are being acknowledged more widely, corroborated by recent research in the field of plant neurobiology and arboreal communication. Switzerland reported on the issue of vegetal dignity, setting a frame of reference towards “the moral consideration of plants for their own sake”. It is high time we redefined our role amongst other species, considering the natural world as a network of relations that is multifaceted and intersectional.