Peter Engel (United States of America)
Academy of Art University
School of Architecture
Peter Engel lives in the San Francisco Bay Area, close to the Pacific coast tide pools of which he is so fond. He received a bachelor’s degree from Harvard and a master’s in architecture from Columbia before heading to India to study indigenous architecture and low-cost housing. His research has been supported by Columbia University, the Fulbright Foundation, Asian Cultural Council, Graham Foundation, National Endowment for the Humanities, and other institutions. Engel’s international work includes serving as Regional Habitat Advisor for South and Southeast Asia for the child-focused NGO Plan International. For Plan and other organizations, he designed preschools in the Philippines and Japan, a peace center (with Cheryl Perko) in Sri Lanka, and affordable housing and other projects in the U.S. He currently works for the architectural firm Hibser Yamauchi, specializing in public schools, and teaches at Academy of Art University in San Francisco. The forms and patterns of the natural world have deeply influenced his work both as an architect and as an origami designer. The author of three books of original paperfolding designs, he has exhibited at the Asian Art Museum and de Young Museum in San Francisco and has lectured widely in the U.S. and Japan.

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 Conference Calendar

A LESSON FROM TIDE POOLS: DESIGNING SOCIAL SPACES WITH FLOW

Session Name
0390 - Academic Sessions - Resilient 05: Nature-based solutions linked to urban design and resilient urban development (ID 66)
Session Type
Academic Sessions
Date
02/23/2022
Session Time
04:00 PM - 05:30 PM
Room

Hall C

Presenter
Lecture Time
04:40 PM - 04:50 PM

Abstract

Abstract Body

The extraordinary tide pools of the California coastline present a brilliant model for the design of social spaces and a clue to how to tackle one of my country’s large-scale social challenges: the polarization of beliefs that drives people into competing camps. I posit that this polarization is caused by the tendency of people to take on the belief system of those around them (whether a physical or, increasingly these days, virtual group). Using simple computer modeling, I show that when individual decision-making of this sort accumulates, unmitigated, it leads inevitably to a static end-state in which both sides are locked into their own ideas and opinions. What do we need to do to reverse that polarization?

Inspiration comes from the ecosystem of California tide pools, which harbor an incredibly diverse range of sea creatures and serve as a model of mixing, flow, porosity, and change far removed from the rigid determinism prevalent in current society. In tide pools, the regular influx of seawater brings in fresh nutrients and microorganisms and connects discrete pools to create an ever-changing environment. This subtle interplay between consistency and variability (the tide keeps coming in, but each wave brings something different) is crucial to the health of the tide pool ecosystem. I will present photos of tide pools and my own diagrams showing how the changing tide fluidly interconnects previously separate pools.

The rigidly uniform social spaces typical of many urban environments and of school campuses, my architectural specialization, contrast with the design of social spaces that promote the best qualities of tide pools—mixing, flow, porosity, and change. I will demonstrate how unprogrammed “flow” spaces inspired by the ecosystem of tide pools promote the kind of serendipitous individual encounters that can ultimately lead to large-scale social change. Returning to the original computer model, I show how using tidal flow as a proposed intervention, it is possible to undo polarization and return to a more fluid society.

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