Our slogan ‘design research for positive and meaningful change’ doesn’t just apply to improving the lives of humans but also improving the lives of non-human beings through the power of design. On our podcast, Discovery Dialogues, we recently spoke with Monish and Pranjal from CoolAnt, a life-centered design architectural product by Ant Studio in Delhi. CoolAnt is an artistic, all-natural, air cooling solution for homes, offices, commercial buildings and public spaces. Their innovative designs harness the cooling properties of terracotta to create sustainable cooling systems that are more in-line with the planet.
Buildings have historically been very human-centered – we build for our own needs without accounting for the needs of the very ecosystems and environments that have kept us alive. How we build has led to water pollution, air pollution, mass waste generation and temperature increases, with construction constituting one of the top-emitting industries in the world. It’s important to change the way we build, so that nature can benefit from how we, as humans, choose to live. CoolAnt shows us one way we can do that, by being inspired by natural architects in our world: Ants.
“Ants are one of the most amazing and beautiful architects in nature. Ant hills are phenomenal for their scale. Look at the size of the ant and the kind of ant hills that they can build – they’re like skyscrapers. They’re synonymous for teamwork, collective intelligence, and most importantly, as a practice, they also work with clay which is what we’re trying to do.” – Monish Siripurapu, CEO CoolAnt
In the episode, we speak with their team to explore their approach to life-centered design and how cooling a building is more socially impactful than you might think. And we share what we are doing in our own practice to bring life-centered thinking into design research. Have a listen to learn about how more-than-human species can become collaborators and inspiration in your work and life.
Listen to the podcast below:
Images courtesy of CoolAnt.