coltura promiscua for the future: the living classroom

An Independent Project Grant supported by the Architecture League of New York and the New York Council on the Arts

Located at Interlace Agroforestry Farm in Whallonsburg, New York, the project integrates various ancient multi-strata agroforestry land practices found across the global community. The first intervention at the entry of the farm is a place-based and climate-adaptive analog of the ancient Etruscan ‘coltura promiscua’, a regenerative biointensive practice of integrating trees, vines, shrubs, and herbaceous crops for agricultural production. The second intervention is a pond and stream buffer, planted with wet-loving trees and colorful, flowering shrubs. Not only will each of these interventions become distinct architectural features within the farm, but they will also serve as green infrastructure, production, and living classrooms for agroforestry education and creative thinking about climate adaptation. This hybridization is a necessary task for designers and agricultural practitioners alike.  

We find ourselves in a time when the artificial disconnection between humans and the living world has undeniable and severe implications for our future. A re-imagining of human-plant relationships is necessary to collectively care for our rapidly changing planet.