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Non - Extractive Architecture:

On Designing without Depletion
Vol. 1
V–A–C Zattere
Dorsoduro 1401, Published by V–A–C and Sternberg Press, edited by Space Caviar with an
30123 Venice introduction by Joseph Grima and contributions by Dele Adeyemo, Benjamin
Bratton, Stephanie Carlisle, Emanuele Coccia, Keller Easterling, Swarnabh
For more information: Ghosh, Macarena Gómez-Barris, Phineas Harper, Elsa Hoover, Jane Hutton,
helen.weaver@v-a-c.org Interiors Agency, Elisa Iturbe, Luke Jones, Chiara Di Leone, Armin Linke, Charlotte
press@v-a-c.org Malterre‑Barthes, Nicholas Pevzner, Maria Smith and Mark Wigley.
Non-Extractive Architecture: On Designing without Depletion Vol. 1 was

released on 15 March to coincide with V–A–C Foundation’s live research and
exhibition project Non-Extractive Architecture: On Designing without Depletion,
running at its Venice headquarters this year. This illustrated volume has been
designed as an accompaniment to the research that will be carried out during
the year-long project at V–A–C Zattere — which will result in a second volume
set to be published in early 2022. This reference handbook sets out to find a new
approach to architecture, one based on long-term thinking, material resources and
their subsequent landscapes, and the integration of community values into the
construction industry.
Launched in March 2021, the project Non-Extractive Architecture: On Designing

without Depletion is led by Joseph Grima and design research studio Space Caviar.
It has transformed Palazzo delle Zattere into an active laboratory for the definition
and development of Non-Extractive Architecture forming parallel strands of
research, residences, public programmes and publishing initiatives.
As the true urgency of the environmental crises we face becomes clear,

architecture requires fundamental reinvention. The assumption that the building
industry can only fulfil humanity’s needs with the irreversible exploitation of the
environment, of people, and of the future needs to be reconsidered. Through
a series of essays by architects, geographers, historians, economists, urbanists,
and philosophers, Non-Extractive Architecture: On Designing without Depletion
Vol. 1 explores whether an alternative paradigm in design is possible, and what
values it might be founded on. Could architecture be understood as the practice
of guardianship of the environment, both physical and social, rather than an
agent of depletion? Could the role of the architect deal less with form and more
with integration, circularity, reuse, material research, and community-building?
Could supply chains be made shorter, and could buildings be more closely tied
to the economies they exist within? What are the models and metrics that such
a paradigm could adopt?
The book Non-Extractive Architecture: On Designing without Depletion Vol. 1,

draws on a multiplicity of voices and perspectives to examine architecture as an
expanded field that connects people and places well beyond the conventional
definition of “site”. Including texts by philosopher Emanuele Coccia on architecture
and its connection with all living beings, architect and mapmaker Elsa Hoover on
Indigenous communities and rituals of land stewardship, photographer Armin Linke
documenting materials and their connected extractive landscapes and critic Elisa
Iturbe on how carbon modernity has been a foundational force in the development
of the modern world through the case study of Magnitogorsk city.
Both the project and the book are an attempt to question some of the assumptions
underlying contemporary architectural production from a material and social
perspective, and rethink the construction industry in the belief that better
alternatives exist.
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V–A–C Zattere The book is divided into five main sections, each addressing a structural topic:
Dorsoduro 1401,
30123 Venice Part I. Architecture as Extraction: Historical Notes. Investigating the deep
history of architecture’s relationship with material cultures and economies
For more information: in order to understand its present dependency on extractive practices. Dele
helen.weaver@v-a-c.org Adeyemo recovers a history of global capitalism emerging through transatlantic
press@v-a-c.org slavery that investigates how these power relations and networks live on today;
Elisa Iturbe explores how carbon modernity has been a foundational force in
the development of the modern world and its architectural identity; Mark Wigley
steps back to the very genesis of architectural practice as a concept in order to
consider its possible futures.
Part II. Invisible Cities: The Origins of Matter. Exploring the invisible counter-
landscapes, supply chains, submerged economies and labour marketplaces
that support the construction industry and architectural process. Luke Jones
considers whether a post-carbon architecture might in fact echo some of the
fundamental material principles, such as all-timber construction; Charlotte
Malterre-Barthes seeks to uncover how the politics and territoriality of resource
extraction are materialized at the architecture scale; Stephanie Carlisle and
Nicholas Pevzner argue that fundamental change in the way we think about
materials and the role of the designer is needed.
Part III. Immaterial Extractivism: Community, Society, Labour. A non-extractive

understanding of architecture must consider the true expense of its realisation,
maintenance, and decommissioning, not only in material but also in human terms.
Keller Easterling examines how problems of resource depletion and climate
change are entangled on multiple levels with issues of racism, a lack of political
representation, and administrative short sightedness; Macarena Gómez‑Barris
argues that non-extractive modes of thinking, being, and doing can be redefined
and must reckon with colonial memory; Swarnabh Ghosh calls for a wider
dialogue about the role of labor in architecture in schools, in architectural
offices, and on construction sites.
Part IV. The Long Now. The form of the designed environment is in many ways
a function of the broader economic framework within which it exists. Is it possible
for architecture to be a driver of prosperity in a broader sense, not solely by
material consumption and resource extraction? Benjamin Bratton looks at the
entangled relationship between geotechnologies and geopolitics, arguing the
need to redesign our economy and geostrategic frameworks; Chiara Di Leone
proposes a new geoeconomics that aims to shift the conversation from a single
metric — growth or degrowth — toward a more fundamental spatial and temporal
understanding of economics; Maria Smith and Phineas Harper argue in favor
of a degrowth economy that could unlock a positive, reciprocal relationship
between humanity and the environment.
Part V. Toward a Non-Extractive Architecture. The first thing in need of

being redesigned is architecture itself. This book is the beginning of a process
investigating the material and social dynamics underlying the production of the
designed environment, with the aim of encouraging architects to be both more
responsible and more ambitious in their thinking as designers and custodians
of the built environment. Elsa Hoover writes of a journey that illustrates the
relationship between Indigenous peoples and the fragile integrity of landscapes
in which we build; Emanuele Coccia imagines ways of reforming architecture in
order to recognize that all living beings are ultimately connected; Jane Hutton
reflects on reciprocal relations and solidarity as possible starting points to
imagine what non-extractive material practice could look like.
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V–A–C Zattere Visual Interludes. Featuring photographs by Italian photographer and filmmaker
Dorsoduro 1401, Armin Linke with a focus on materials and landscapes of extraction. Featuring
30123 Venice an Exhibition Schema for Non-Extractive Architecture — a visual handbook for
repurposing the grid by Interiors Agency.
For more information:
helen.weaver@v-a-c.org Product Details
press@v-a-c.org Publisher: V–A–C and Sternberg Press
Language: English
Paperback: 296 pages, 49 illustrations
ISBN 978-3956795916
Price: 26.00  / 32.00  / 42.00 cad
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V–A–C Zattere Notes to editors
Dorsoduro 1401,
30123 Venice V–A–C Foundation produces new culture together with artists and audiences
alike. It is a platform for open discussion aimed at redefining the contemporary
For more information: landscape. Working with local communities, V–A–C promotes its exhibition,
helen.weaver@v-a-c.org publishing, performative and learning programmes beyond all disciplinary
press@v-a-c.org boundaries and thus constantly resets the coordinates for dialogue within
a new global geography. This methodology is employed in all V–A–C initiatives,
taking place in its Venetian space, through international, cross-institutional
partnerships and in its future home for arts and culture in Moscow, GES-2.
GES-2 is V–A–C’s new major cultural venue for the city of Moscow, housed in an
historic power station. Designed by Renzo Piano Building Workshop, GES-2 opens
to the public in 2021.
V–A–C Zattere is the Foundation’s Venetian headquarters launched in

spring 2017. This renovated building, situated on Zattere overlooking the Canale
della Giudecca, can accommodate exhibitions, events and residencies. Originally
dating back to the mid 1800s, the building’s interior was renovated at different
times from the 1950s to the 1990s. The Foundation commissioned local architect
Alessandro Pedron of apml architetti to carry out the more recent renovation
project, transforming Palazzo delle Zattere into a new centre for contemporary
culture for the city of Venice. The entire space covers 2000 m2 over four levels,
half of which is exhibition space.
Joseph Grima is an architect and curator based in Milan, Italy. He is the Creative
Director of Design Academy Eindhoven and Chief Curator of Design at Triennale
di Milano, and is also co-founder (together with Tamar Shafrir) of Space Caviar,
an architecture and research practice operating at the intersection of design,
technology, critical theory and the public realm.
Grima was previously the editor-in-chief of Domus magazine and director of

Storefront for Art and Architecture, an independent gallery in New York City.
In 2014 he was appointed co-curator of the first Chicago Architecture Biennial,
and in 2012 he co-directed the first Istanbul Design Biennial. He was also the
artistic director of Matera European Capital of Culture 2019.
He has taught and lectured widely at universities in Europe, Asia and America,
including Strelka Institute of Media, Architecture and Design in Moscow, and
has served on numerous international juries, including the jury of the Venice
Architecture Biennale in 2010 directed by Kazuyo Sejima.
Space Caviar is an architecture and research studio operating at the intersection

of design, technology, politics and the public realm. Founded in 2013 by Joseph
Grima and Tamar Shafrir, the office uses built work, exhibitions, publishing, writing
and film to investigate and document contemporary modes of habitation and the
spatialisation of social and political practice.
Space Caviar’s work has been shown at the Venice Architecture Biennale, the
Victoria and Albert Museum, Biennale Interieur, Vitra Design Museum and Nilufar
Gallery, among others.

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V A

Non - Extractive Architecture:

Non-Extractive Architecture: On Designing without Depletion Vol. 1 was

Launched in March 2021, the project Non-Extractive Architecture: On Designing

As the true urgency of the environmental crises we face becomes clear,

The book Non-Extractive Architecture: On Designing without Depletion Vol. 1,

Part III. Immaterial Extractivism: Community, Society, Labour. A non-extractive

Part V. Toward a Non-Extractive Architecture. The first thing in need of

V–A–C Zattere is the Foundation’s Venetian headquarters launched in

Grima was previously the editor-in-chief of Domus magazine and director of

Space Caviar is an architecture and research studio operating at the intersection

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