Bakker: 'Designing not against but with nature'

What will the built environment of the Symbiocene look like? Dutchman Ron Bakker, architect and partner of PLP Architecture, is thinking about this and is trying to take the first steps towards it with his firm through research and projects. He explains briefly what it is all about.

Large building blocks made of mycelium composite that formed chairs, a table and a wall. PLP Architecture showcased this in 2023 at the Clerkenwell Design Week in London. The mycelium grew over a period of three weeks and was then dried for a short time to stop the growth process. By using 3D-printed moulds, mainly made of wood, which became part of the building blocks, the building blocks became sturdy enough to sit on.

In his latest book, environmental philosopher Glenn Albrecht describes a new era in which humans, nature and technology together form a new balance. He calls this the Symbiocene, because it is about finding a symbiosis, and contrasts this with the current Anthropocene, in which we see so much human impact on the planet.

During a visit to Clerkenwell Design Week, Albrecht called the PLP Architecture installation a Symbiocene Demonstrator. Architect Ron Bakker, who has known Albrecht for some time, is pleased with these encouraging words. “We still have a long way to go”, he keeps emphasising, “but these are directions we can think about.”

All kinds of biobased materials are on his desk in the London office of PLP Architecture. He is studying them all. One of them is a biocomposite that is 97% sugarcane. Together with Holland Composites, he has spent some time tinkering with the material to give it the right colour and patterns. It was intended as a facade material for the Tree House multifunctional high-rise building near Rotterdam. A low-maintenance and fireproof facade was requested, particularly on the railway side, where a regular wooden facade finish was not possible. The biocomposite did function.

Biophilia

Instead of going against nature, we should work with nature, Bakker says. In line with this, we will have to include biophilia in our designs. Because if we are closer to nature, we feel better. We need to find a scientific basis for this, he thinks, so that we know exactly how people experience their environment, right down to the neurological level.

For Bakker, biophilic design has several layers. It starts with incorporating natural forms and views of greenery, but also includes incorporating plants in buildings and allowing the indoor climate to move more in harmony with the weather outside.

One of those projects is Park Nova in Singapore: a residential tower in which the apartments are separate from each other around an airy centre and with meandering balconies full of greenery, even trees, all around. “It gives an idea of what it might be like to live in the Symbiocene”, says Bakker. “You live in the middle of the city and are at the same time surrounded by nature.”

He envisages the city of the future as a special green city, built from natural materials, where traffic is quiet and we are once again surrounded by birds and other animals. In addition to the advantages the city already offers, it will also become a more pleasant place to live. According to Bakker, many people currently living in the city do so for practical reasons and not because they really find it such a pleasant environment. He expects this to change.

Open facades

In London, the air quality has improved enormously over the past decades. “In fact, the air quality in many buildings is worse than the air quality outside”, Bakker says. This has to do with poor ventilation and outdated installations. Bakker likes to open the window in his own office, and people in other buildings should do the same.

Well, at least in modern office buildings, the installations are now often so precisely calibrated that opening a window would disrupt the entire system. He wonders out loud: “Is it really necessary to have a constant indoor temperature of 20 degrees? Have we not gone too far in how controlled we want our indoor climate to be? Can't a façade simply protect against the rain, against too much wind, against too much cold and heat, so that the indoor climate moves with the seasons? It’s just a little colder in winter, so you simply put on a warm sweater, and a little warmer in summer, so you walk around in a light shirt.”

For The Edge on the Zuidas in Amsterdam, Bakker and his team designed a large atrium with limited climate control. The north-facing atrium has double glazing and is heated and cooled via the floor, but the climate in the atrium remains somewhat harsher than in the offices themselves. The workplaces on top of the lower section of the atrium, also known as the convertible floor, did not meet the specialists' requirements, but immediately became the most popular place in the building. “This just goes to show”, Bakker says, “that it is not always necessary to have complete control.”

Finally, Bakker would like to add that he has noticed that the rise of parametric design has created a strong cohesion between the facade and the rest of the building. Whereas in the 50s and 60s the facade was a separate task, something that could be ‘attached’ to a building, this is completely different today. From the very start of the design process, the facades in PLP Architecture's designs have a colour and texture, and are related to daylight and the other elements. In addition, the rise of robotic fabrication has also created much more freedom of form. This allows you to ‘sculpt’ the facade more. He is very enthusiastic about how integrally designs can now be realised and expects this to increase even more in the coming period.