Building Biospheres

For centuries, architecture has sought to control and isolate us from the natural world, engineering environments that prioritize human comfort over ecological collaboration. Building Biospheres proposes a new paradigm: rather than resisting nature, can we design with it?

Inside the Belgian pavilion, a hybrid landscape of subtropical plant species creates a dynamic, living ecosystem. Equipped with sensors and responsive technologies, these plants do not merely decorate the space, they actively influence its humidity, temperature and air quality, forming a feedback loop between biology and built form.

This book expands on the questions raised by the exhibition, bringing together perspectives from architecture, neurobiology, artificial intelligence, botany and philosophy. Through essays, interviews and visuals, it explores the implications of this experiment: How might the intelligence of plants redefine architectural design? What does it mean to create buildings that breathe, adapt, evolve?

Blurring the boundaries between technology and ecology, Building Biospheres hints at the possibility of an architecture of natural intelligence – one where plants, humans and buildings enter into new forms of co-existence.