What the study found
The article finds a key difference between extractive laboratories and laboratories of entanglement. It argues that architectural laboratories can function as hybrid practices that recognize shared agency between humans and nonhumans, rather than treating matter as something to be reduced to abstract codes.
Why the authors say this matters
The authors suggest this matters because architectural knowledge production can resist reductionism while remaining grounded in material conditions. They present laboratories of entanglement as a way to move beyond oppositions such as theory and practice, human and nonhuman, and extraction and collaboration.
What the researchers tested
The article uses critical historical analysis and contemporary case studies, including Frederick Kiesler's Design Correlation Laboratory and François Roche's New Territories practice. It also draws on new materialist theory, planetary design pedagogy, and laboratory studies to build its framework.
What worked and what didn't
The article reports that extractive laboratories isolate material properties for universal use, while laboratories of entanglement support situated, collaborative material relations. It also says these laboratories can make material agency visible, develop project-specific codes, and use speculative methods that value material unpredictability.
What to keep in mind
The abstract does not provide detailed limits of the study. Its claims are based on historical analysis, case studies, and theoretical synthesis, so the findings are presented as an argument rather than as a quantitative test.
Key points
- The article distinguishes between extractive laboratories and laboratories of entanglement.
- It argues that architectural laboratories can reconnect architects with material agency.
- The study combines historical analysis, case studies, and theory from several fields.
- The authors say laboratories of entanglement support collaboration between human and nonhuman actors.
- The abstract does not describe specific limitations.
Disclosure
- Research title:
- Architectural laboratories can reconnect design with material agency
- Authors:
- Derya Uzal, Aslıhan Şenel
- Institutions:
- Istanbul Technical University, Istanbul Technical University
- Publication date:
- 2026-03-11
- OpenAlex record:
- View
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