Survival Architecture and the Art of Resilience

Ours is a world in flux. Extreme weather events are propelling governments, cities, developers, designers and others around the world to question our ability to confront and survive the repercussions of climate change, natural disasters and other shocks to our communities.

The focus on resilience includes learning how to survive, adapt and grow amid these shocks and stresses. To do this, we’ll need both emergency shelter and longer-term housing solutions for large populations. We’ll need to design human habitats, from houses to cities, to be flexible and adaptive, able to survive whatever Mother Nature and life throw our way.

The exhibition is organized in four themes, reflecting key characteristics of survival architecture:

• Circular — the importance of creating structures made of materials that can be used and reused indefinitely
• Portable — the ability to create easily moveable and nomadic dwellings
• Visionary — forward-thinking ideas that can radically change the way we think about shelter
• Resilient — structures that can adapt to adverse and dynamic circumstances

Curated by Randy Jayne Rosenberg

Within Survival Architecture and the Art of Resilience, science, technology, architecture, and art converge to examine what it takes to live amid a changing climate, including how we can address the needs of the world’s most vulnerable citizens. Our Oakland, California-based nonprofit, Art Works for Change, invited visionary architects and artists to consider artistically interpretive solutions and prototypes for survival shelter.

Commissioned large-scale and portable interactive architectural installations, photography, and drawings examine emergency and survival housing from the perspectives of art, interdisciplinary collaborations, and sociocultural relevance. The resulting works address the challenges of excess heat, droughts, flooding, food insecurity, homelessness, mass violence, biological disaster, and earthquake.

Museum of Design Atlanta