VIDEO: ecoLogicStudio-When Change Becomes Unstoppable

Meet Claudia Pasquero and Marco Poletto, who are behind ecoLogicStudio in London, one of the most innovative studios in contemporary architecture.

ecoLogicStudio is an international architectural and design innovation firm specializing in biotechnology for the built environment. Co-founded in London in 2005 by Claudia Pasquero and Marco Poletto, the studio has built an international reputation for its innovative projects integrating systemic thinking, computational design, biotechnology, and digital prototyping.

This “broadened” approach to design, ranging from the micro to the global scales, is embodied into an experimental practice where each project becomes a laboratory, a real test bed of future models of inhabitation of the Urbansphere. ecoLogicStudio is now part of a design innovation consortium with academic partners such as the Urban Morphogenesis Lab at UCL London and the Synthetic Landscape Lab at the University of Innsbruck.

Completed projects include several installations and experimental pavilions, a public library and a private house, a large eco-roof, and several urban blue-green planning proposals. Among the most prominent installations is the HORTUS XL for the Centre Pompidou in Paris, 2019; the metaFolly for the 9th Archilab, 2014, and “Les Jardins fluviaux de la Loire” for the First Biennale of Orleans, 2017; HORTUS Paris for the EDF Foundation, 2013, and HORTUS ZKM for Globale, 2016 and SuperTree for Futurium Berlin, 2018. ecoLogicStudio was repeatedly invited to feature its work at the Venice Biennale of Architecture. In addition, the work of ecoLogicStudio has been featured in many international architectural books and magazines. The Metropolis Magazine in NY nominated ecoLogicStudio among the ten most interesting global emergent practices of 2014.

Claudia Pasquero is an architect, curator, author, and educator; her work and research operate at the intersection of biology, computation, and design. She is the founder and co-director of ecoLogicStudio in London, Lecturer and director of the Urban Morphogenesis Lab at the Bartlett UCL, Professor of Landscape Architecture, founder of the Synthetic Landscape Lab, and Head of Institute for IOUD (Institute of Urban Design) at Innsbruck University. Claudia was the Head Curator of the Tallinn Architectural Biennale 2017 and was nominated in the WIRED smart list in the same year. She is co-author of “Systemic Architecture – Operating Manual for the Self-organizing City,” published by Routledge in 2012. Her work has been published and exhibited internationally: at the FRAC Centre in Orléans, the Venice Architectural Biennale, ZKM Karlsruhe, and the MilanoExpo2015, among others.

Marco Poletto is an architect, educator, and innovator. He is co-founder and Director of ecoLogicStudio and the Photosynthetica consortium. His practice investigates the dissolving boundaries between city and nature. He has designed and built architectures, installations, and digital protocols testing human interaction with non-human systems. His theory of the urban sphere argues that the increased spatial articulation and material integration of such systems within architecture are crucial to the evolution of higher forms of urban ecological intelligence. His body of work proposes a redefinition of the traditional sustainability paradigm in the ubiquitous computing age.

Poletto has been a Unit Master at the Architectural Association in London, a Visiting Critic at Cornell University and Carnegie Mellon University, a Research Cluster leader at the Bartlett School of Architecture, and a Research Fellow at the Aarhus School of Architecture. He holds a PhD Degree from RMIT University, Melbourne. He is a Visiting Lecturer at the University of Innsbruck and a Senior Tutor at the IAAC in Barcelona. His work has been published and exhibited throughout the world, more recently in Tokyo (Mori Art Museum, 2020), Paris (Centre Pompidou, 2019 and EDF Foundation, 2013), Dublin (Dublin Castle, 2018), Tallinn (bio.T.A.llinn, 2017), Astana (EXPO 2017), Karlsruhe (Globale Exhibition – ZKM Museum, 2015), Milan (EXPO 2015), in Orleans (Biennale of Architecture #1, 2017 and 9th Archilab – FRAC Collection, 2014), London (Building Centre 2018, Architectural Association, 2011 and London Biennale, 2006 and 2008), at the Venice Art and Architectural Biennales (STEM, 2006; STEMv3.0 the lagoon experiment, 2008; The Ecological Footprint Grotto, 2010; HORTUS.venice, 2015; Solana Open Aviary, 2016, BIT.BIO.BOT., 2021). Marco is co-author of “Systemic Architecture – Operating Manual for the Self-organizing City,” published by Routledge in 2012.

 

Claudia Pasquero and Marco Poletto were interviewed by Marc-Christoph Wagner in their studio in London in May 2024. Camera: Kyle Stevenson, Edited by: Signe Boe Pedersen, Produced by: Marc-Christoph Wagner, © Louisiana Channel, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, 2024. Louisiana Channel is supported by Den A.P. Møllerske Støttefond, Ny Carlsbergfondet, and C.L. Davids Fond og Samling. This film is supported by Dreyersfond and Fritz Hansen