Designing for the Chthulucene: exploring a regenerated forest in Greater Sudbury, Ontario

Abstract

No living being on Earth can survive in isolation, yet the built environment has long been shaped through human-centred systems of thinking. Emerging from tension between Western settler-colonial frameworks and Indigenous-informed ways of knowing, this thesis situates itself within the regenerating post-industrial forests of Greater Sudbury, Ontario. It asks: How can design-make multispecies furniture within a regenerated forest foster reciprocity and connection among all beings while informing broader design practice within the Chthulucene? Grounded in multispecies worlding, storytelling, and an ethics of reciprocity, this research unfolds through an iterative process of listening, making, and reflecting. Site observations are translated into research-creation projects that explore relationships between humans, and more-than-human beings. The resulting multispecies benches and mapping table reframe site analysis as a relational practice, positioning non-human life as active participants in design. This thesis proposes a shift in Architectural processes from extractive methods toward the ongoing practice of making kin.