AA First Year and ETS tutor Sho Ito, and AA ETS tutor Jisoo Hwang, are curating the exhibition titled Nature’s Treasures: Celebrating Earth’s Natural Resources in Japan. The exhibition incorporates the studio’s research agenda and has been funded to be exhibited at Pullman Tokyo, Japan, as part of their SDGs (Sustainability Development Goals) developed by the United Nations to generate greater awareness of 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 the ever-growing demand fuelled by population growth. Furthermore, the project unveils and raises questions on how these resources are distributed, commodified and consumed by post-developed nations, 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 becomes ever more instrumental to ensure greater awareness of how we strategically regulate, monitor and efficiently use scarce resources and be conscious in becoming stewards of our own planet.

The exhibition is open from Wednesday 1 November – Sunday 12 November 2023, 10.00am–8.00pm JST, Pullman Tokyo Tamachi, Japan.

Image: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.