ecoProtocols serves as an accessible public resource for

collaborative research, documentation, and exploration in rethinking materiality. 

“Protocols” are a set of instructions, designs, and methods which are documented to help scientists reproduce experiments. We use protocols to share open source step-by-step recipes with the entire world. We believe these protocols should be free and accessible to all in effort to decarbonize and challenge our current anthropogenic material relationships. In sharing these protocols we hope to demystify the subject of material experimentation to embolden individuals to make change.

These protocols span a diverse material pallet which focuses on natural and biologically based compositions. They document ingredients, material properties, step by step instructions, as well as ideas for use or implementation. You can also find educational information about how we classify our protocols, what biomaterials and natural materials are, and more importantly how they can help mitigate the climate crises.

EcoProtocols is founded by California College of the Art’s Architectural Ecologies Lab, which operates at the intersection of architecture, fabrication, and ecology to merge spatial practice with innovative ecological research.

EcoProtocols aims to further the lab’s work in engaging diverse publics and design processes that extend specific ideas about biomaterials beyond the academic setting and into real practice. We envision a future where natural and biomaterials are a standard, allowing any design project to be deeply contextual to its environment and encouraging the relationship between humans and the natural world to be one of symbiosis rather than extraction.

Ultimately, We aim to push design past principles of sustainability and onto something further – true resiliency.

TEAM AND COLLABORATORS

Evan Jones

Architectural Ecologies Lab Co-founder, CCA Adjunct Professor

Margaret Ikeda

Architectural Ecologies Lab co-founder, CCA Associate Professor

Alex Schofield

Architectural Ecologies Lab Team Member, Associate Chair of Graduate Architecture

Kira Finigan

Architectural Ecologies Lab Assistant, Third Year Masters Student

Dawn Lorence

Architectural Ecologies Lab Assistant, Second Year Masters Student

Claire Leffler

Architectural Ecologies Lab Assistant, CCA Alumni