ABSTRACT
This paper discusses interdisciplinarity in design via what anarchist architect Graham Caine identified as “semi-science”: a calculated scientific methodology driven by political motivations to overturn the very structure of societal structures. Caine's Ecological House, which was built as an experimental off-grid project in the 1970s, was never intended as an ecological remedy for environmental catastrophes. It was neither a tool of ethical restoration in design thinking nor a technical solution to solace environmental problems. Rather, it was at once an ontological and scientific problem, binding in a single space, numbers along with a vision for a new society.
At first sight, “semi-science” might sound derogatory, like something half-baked, which is neither validated by the discipline of architecture nor by purely scientific parameters. And yet, this deep dive simultaneously into different realms of expertise is precisely what we should do. In the context of interconnected global crises, namely, the health crisis, social inequity, and the depletion of natural resources, it is important to not only devise technical solutions that are effective, but also to assume responsibility for architecture's political, social, ecological, and social agency, as a direct response to the urgency of the climate crisis.
