AA First Year and ETS tutor Sho Ito and AA ETS tutor Jisoo Hwang, are curating the exhibition, Nature’s Treasures, at the GARDE Gallery, in Tokyo. The exhibition incorporates the studio’s research agenda and will also be exhibited at Pullman Tokyo, Japan, as part of their Sustainability Development Goals (SDGs). Such SDGs have been developed by the United Nations to generate greater awareness towards the environmental implications of our own actions.

The research aims to critically analyse and articulate the over extraction of natural resources, particularly in post-colonial South-East Asian nations, where illegal extraction has exponentially increased in the last two decades to keep pace with ever growing demand fuelled by population growth. Furthermore, the project unveils and raises questions on how these resources are distributed, commodified and consumed by multi-national corporations and wealthy individuals.

The exhibition critiques the spatial and architectural implications that are inherently linked to the extraction of natural resources and the formidable consequences that humanity must accept. The role of architects and architecture in shaping our world is ever more instrumental to ensure greater awareness of how we strategically regulate, monitor and efficiently use scarce resources, as well as being stewards of our own planet.

The exhibition will be on view from 10am–8pm JST, on the 18 December – 20 December 2023 at GARDE Gallery, Aoyama, Tokyo in Japan.

Image: Bulldozers level sand dredged from sea at Colombo International Financial City, Sri Lanka, image courtesy of Dinuka Liyanawatte/Reuters.