Abstract
This paper investigates biodiverse design as a practice through which environmental ethics can inform architectural production. Drawing on the concept of bioempathy—understood as the recognition of the intrinsic value of the biotic community—it develops an ethical and operational framework for guiding design reasoning. This framework is then applied to a reflective analysis of biodiverse wall prototypes developed by the author with an interdisciplinary team, used as an empirical ground to examine how ecological intentions were translated into material and spatial decisions, and how observations of plant establishment and spontaneous colonisation contribute to reassessing the assumptions embedded in those intentions. The case highlights how designed systems interact with more-than-human processes that unfold beyond full designer control. Through this combined theoretical and empirical inquiry, the paper reflects on the methodological implications of engaging living systems in design research and examines how biodiverse design may challenge certain conventional architectural values.
Keywords
biodiverse design; bioempathy; environmental philosophy; architectural aesthetics; more-than-human design; bioreceptivity; multispecies practice
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2026.886
Citation
Lewandowski, D. (2026) Biodiverse Design and the Ethics of Bioempathy in Practice, in Simeone, L., Gray, C. M., Verhoeven, A., de Götzen, A., Bakırlıoğlu, Y., Zohar, H., Stead, M., and Buwert, P. (eds.), DRS2026: Edinburgh, 8–12 June, Edinburgh, United Kingdom. https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2026.886
Creative Commons License
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Included in
Biodiverse Design and the Ethics of Bioempathy in Practice
This paper investigates biodiverse design as a practice through which environmental ethics can inform architectural production. Drawing on the concept of bioempathy—understood as the recognition of the intrinsic value of the biotic community—it develops an ethical and operational framework for guiding design reasoning. This framework is then applied to a reflective analysis of biodiverse wall prototypes developed by the author with an interdisciplinary team, used as an empirical ground to examine how ecological intentions were translated into material and spatial decisions, and how observations of plant establishment and spontaneous colonisation contribute to reassessing the assumptions embedded in those intentions. The case highlights how designed systems interact with more-than-human processes that unfold beyond full designer control. Through this combined theoretical and empirical inquiry, the paper reflects on the methodological implications of engaging living systems in design research and examines how biodiverse design may challenge certain conventional architectural values.