Bauhaus Earth Essays – serie

Recognizing the dire threats of climate collapse and mass extinction, the global initiative Bauhaus Earth convened a team of scientists, architects, spatial planners, and policymakers from around the world to author a manifesto. Toward Re-Entanglement: A Charter for the City and the Earth is a call for radical transformation. It challenges all those with a role in the conception, production, operation, and governance of the building sector to address the systemic ecological, climatic, and social impacts incurred by its activities. Twelve principles of "re-entanglement" guide the redesign of the entire life cycle of the urban realm: the reforming and rematerializing of the physical artifacts that comprise it, the reconfiguring of the socioeconomic structures that underpin it, and the reengaging of the bioregions that might sustainably supply it. In this way, the unprecedented convergence of the environmental and social crises we are causing offers powerful opportunities for systemic change.

Respect for nature has long shaped Bhutan’s forest management. Since the 1990s, community forestry has expanded steadily, placing large areas of state forest under local stewardship. Based on shared responsibility and mutual benefit, this model underpins Bhutan’s development as the world’s first carbon-negative country. Bauhaus Earth explored this context as a testing ground for regenerative building practices that meet national housing needs while sustaining forest health. Working alongside them, artist Bas Princen traces through his lens the wood’s transformation across time and space. Both a photographic journey and a conversation, the book presents regenerative construction in Bhutan as an interconnected system of landscapes, materials, and people. Stunning photographs by artist Bas Princen, illuminating Bhutan’s unique (built) environment          In-depth conversation between Bas Princen, people from Bhutan and from Bauhaus EarthInsights into community forestry of the world’s first carbon-negative country