“Architecture & Ecologies of Amazonia”

Architecture & Ecologies of Amazonia

Mezzanine Gallery | Meyerson Hall, Stuart Weitzman School of Design, Philadelphia, PA
February 7, 2025 - May 1, 2026

// Architectures and Ecologies of Amazonia was an exhibition developed in conjunction with an international symposium of the same name, examining the complex relationships between architecture, ecology, and the social and environmental forces shaping the Amazon rainforest. Featuring student work produced through a related academic course, the exhibition explored the region's built and natural environments, addressing questions of deforestation, biodiversity, and the entanglement of human and ecological systems. The exhibition was conceived as a linear passage through the mezzanine gallery of Meyerson Hall, taking the form of a tunnel through which visitors encountered a sequence of student projects displayed along its length. This spatial arrangement established a continuous narrative, guiding visitors through the work before culminating in an enclosed screening room presenting a selection of related projects and audiovisual material. The progression from an open exhibition corridor to an immersive viewing environment offered complementary modes of engagement with the research.

Central to the installation was the introduction of an abundance of living plants, which inhabited the mezzanine throughout the exhibition's three-month duration, from February through May. Rather than functioning as decorative elements, the plants became an integral part of the exhibition's spatial and conceptual framework, transforming the gallery into an inhabited landscape. Their physical presence introduced a sensory and emotional dimension to the work, establishing a direct relationship between the living vegetation, the research on display, and a monumental image documenting the deforestation of the Amazon for the construction of the Pan-American Highway. The juxtaposition of living plants against the image of environmental destruction sought to make the ecological consequences of development immediate and tangible. The exhibition extended beyond the mezzanine and onto the adjacent stairway, where a series of botanical prints depicting plants from the gardens of Roberto Burle Marx continued the narrative into the surrounding architecture. This extension dissolved the conventional boundaries of the gallery, allowing the exhibition to inhabit the everyday circulation of the building while further emphasizing the relationship between plants, landscape, and architectural space. Together, the tunnel, screening room, and living vegetation established an exhibition environment in which the presentation of research was inseparable from its spatial experience. By bringing the material presence of plants into direct dialogue with images of their destruction, Architectures and Ecologies of Amazonia sought to move beyond the passive display of information, encouraging a more immediate and emotional engagement with the ecological and cultural landscapes under examination.

installation team: Jonathan Bonezzi, Ryan Lane, Caitlyn Wolford

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