Architecture and Sustainability: Building the Pyrocene

The Cervantes Chair at the University of Edinburgh is collaborating on the conference “Building the Pyrocene”, organised by Edinburgh College of Art, which will feature contributions from Stephen Pyne, Luis Fernández-Galiano, Melissa Sterry, Adam Bobbette and Liam Ross.

The conference proposes a reflection on the “age of fire” into which we are entering. The increase in anthropogenic burning of fossil fuels is generating the conditions for an intensification of wildfires on a global scale. In order to survive in the so-called Pyrocene, it is essential to rethink our relationship with fire.

From this planetary perspective, the event asks what contributions the concept of the Pyrocene can offer to those working in the disciplines of the built environment, and how this thesis can help researchers and practitioners to imagine new ways of coexisting with fire. It will also address challenges already present in these fields, such as life-cycle carbon, landscape, and fire safety in buildings.