“Soil Sisters: An Intersectoral Material Design Framework for Soil Health'' brings together convergent research in agrowaste upcycling, bioremediation systems, and circular material life cycle design to explore soil health as the goal of cross-sectoral material design.
Anna Dyson
Mae-ling Lokko
Yale University
School of Architecture
Rice bio panel made from rice waste and rice glue by Jinrui Zhang. © Jinrui Zhang.
Jury
Scott Duncan
Iker Gil (Chair)
Gabriel Kozlowski
James Leng
Charlotte Malterre-Barthes
Zoë Ryan
Across global landfill sites, the inability of increasing quantities of material surplus to “return to the soil” has brought into sharp focus the biological incompatibility between today’s overground and underground material systems. More critically, the rapid loss and degradation of living soil cultivated by biological communities at the interface of both systems represents a growing threat to the fundamental mechanism underpinning the circular renewal of sustainable food, building, and textile material resources. In addressing these two twenty-first-century circular economy bottlenecks, we explore a new design paradigm in which improving soil nutrition and soil resiliency supports the goal of cross-sectoral material performance. Building on existing partnerships with circular enterprises in Ghana (Global Mamas) and Guatemala (Ecolibri) and their intersectoral communities of practice, we investigate practices of healthy soil cultivation as a guiding framework for the co-development and evaluation of derivative material practices.
“Soil Sisters: An Intersectoral Material Design Framework for Soil Health'' brings together convergent research in agrowaste upcycling, bioremediation systems, and circular material life cycle design at Yale’s Center for Ecosystems in Architecture (CEA) with circular textile companies Global Mamas in Ghana and Ecolibri in Guatemala. In direct response to the agricultural traditions in Ghana and Guatemala, the scope of the project centers on design and material practices that support regenerative approaches to soil cultivation. More critically, by exploring soil restoration practices and their generation of diverse “Soil Sister” product categories as a springboard for materials research, this approach represents a proactive rather than reactive approach to soil health.
Spring 2023 Soil Sisters Seminar: Life cycle of indigo and coffee by Maya Gamble. © Maya Gamble.
Spring 2023 Soil Sisters Seminar: Life cycle of indigo and coffee by Maya Gamble. © Maya Gamble.
We propose “Soil Sister” material groups that support a diverse range of building material strategies that relate topsoil pollution reduction through carbon storage and material banks, as well as those that drive regenerative farming practices including sister-cropping practices (Guatemala) as well as proka soil conservation practices (Ghana). Working together with farmers, agronomists, textile producers, waste managers, engineers, and scientists, we address three core research questions:
Spring 2023 Soil Sisters Seminar: Physical biobased dye pants by Maya Gamble. © Maya Gamble.
Spring 2023 Soil Sisters Seminar: Physical biobased dye jacket by Maya Gamble. © Maya Gamble.
Over the course of three semesters, the project engaged both interdisciplinary collaborators and intersectoral industry partners in two key phases:
Photograph of Owen Wang presenting materials made from oyster shells during final review. © Mohamed Aly Etman.
Photograph of Maya Gamble wearing bio-based textile product prototypes. © Mae-ling Lokko.
“The Primary Colors from Domestic Biobased Dyes” explored by Christina Yang toward developing healthy toys for children. © Mae-ling Lokko.
“The Primary Colors from Domestic Biobased Dyes” explored by Christina Yang toward developing healthy toys for children. © Mae-ling Lokko.
“Soil Sisters” reminds us that, in the end, everything returns to the soil, and it is by reinventing the life cycle of materials that societies will move toward higher ecological efficiency. From local soil restoration practices in Ghana and Guatemala to global supply chains of agricultural products and their waste, this multiscalar research project may contribute to broaden our understanding around soil health and how waste by-products can be upcycled into construction materials.
Gabriel Kozlowski, Juror
Global Mamas, Ghana
Global Mamas Fair Trade Zone is a circular manufacturing hub for just textile production in Akuse, 50 km from Ghana’s Lake Volta. Since 2003, Global Mamas has provided training, financial, and technical resources to women-led home-based enterprises (HBEs), providing them a platform for selling their products, receiving fixed incomes 1.75 times the national living wage and upskilling to compete with the global apparel market. Ninety percent of the revenue is generated by apparel sale and the profits are reinvested back as resources. Since its inception in 2003 as a cluster of a few women, it has grown into a network of more than two hundred-women led HBEs. As a model for ethical and sustainable apparel production, Global Mamas was granted World Fair Trade Organization (WFTO) membership, certifying that Global Mamas’ products meet environmental, social, and economic goals.
Ecolibri, Guatemala
Since its inception in 2004, Ecolibri has worked with Indigenous communities across the Lake Atitlán area in Guatemala to initiate and successfully deliver projects that integrate sustainable methods for farming that also support the local economy for the production of textiles and construction materials through upcycled agricultural waste. Unsustainable agricultural practices and improper waste management have greatly degraded the ecology, ecosystem, and once abundant natural resources of Lake Atitlán, eroding fertile soil and altering water quality. This in turn has impaired the ability of many families to provide high-quality nutrition and safe drinking water to their dependents, which has led to rampant emigration from the region.
“Soil Sisters” data visualization wheel showcasing database of plants, soil, and intersectoral products. © Mohamed Aly Etman and Mae-ling Lokko.
“Soil Sisters: An Intersectoral Material Design Framework for Soil Health” is an exciting project at so many levels! Setting the premise that working around soil remediation and material life is integrally part of design briefs by integrating architectural design with scientific and engineering research is a necessary shift of perspective for the profession. To have a holistic approach beyond solely focusing on designing buildings is one that architecture schools must embrace urgently and setting precedents is key. The project is also suggesting a pivot regarding the ways that knowledge is transferred, evaluated, and communicated, which is also a revolutionary task ahead for our profession. Handing over mastery by integrating and listening to local groups, seeking help and advice from other fields and social strata beyond the ubiquitous center of knowledge production is so urgently needed to remediate damage, emancipate, and maintain design relevance. Open-source is also essential to this project, pointing at the urgency of sharing solutions—"Soil Sisters” know there is no time to lose.
Charlotte Malterre-Barthes, Juror
Research Faculty
Mae-ling Lokko and Anna Dyson
Leadership and Administration
Dean Deborah Berke, Associate Dean Phil Bernstein, Zelma Brunson, and Nancy Crowther
Project Partners and Guest Lecturers
Renae Adam, Mallory Savisaar and Global Mamas team; Dita Zakova and Juan Skinner (Ecolibri)
Materials Workshop Leaders
Mae-ling Lokko, Sasha Duerr, and Paul DuFour & OR Foundation
Materials and Development Team
Samuel Siaw (GeoIntell Housing) and Mohamed Aly Etman (Yale School of Architecture & Yale CEA)
Yale Summer Program Local Logistics Coordinator
Ato Annan (Foundation for Contemporary Art Ghana)
Soil Sisters Data Visualization Team
Mae-ling Lokko (Yale School of Architecture & Yale CEA), Mohamed Aly Etman (Yale School of Architecture & Yale CEA), and Alvin Ashiatey (Yale School of Graphic Design)
Yale Architecture Spring 2023 Seminar Teaching Assistants
Kevin Yang and Anna Koorneva
Yale Architecture Spring 2023 Seminar Students
Edgar Alvarado, Ariel Bintang, Julie Chan, Monica Charletta, Maya Gamble, Chong Gu, Jia Ying Guan, Peter Martinika, Veronica Nicholson, Abby Reed, Congming Wang, Owen Wang, Christina Zhang, and Jinrui Zhang
Yale Architecture Summer 2023 Ghana Program Students
Edgar Alvarado, Nicole De Araujo, Oswaldo Chinchilla, Umut Caglar Guney, Shan Jin, Yumemaru Kashino, Chentian Serena Liu, Helena Maurer, Lisbeth Acevedo Ogando, and Tao Zhang
Special Thanks from the Yale 2023 Ghana Summer Program
Kwame Akoto-Bamfo, Michael Bledo and the Nkyimkyim Museum, Peter Djetton, Fred Nabi Yankey, Mary Dorkurugu and The OR Foundation, Allotey Parker, Nubuke Foundation and Nubuke Center for Clay and Textiles, Eric Gyamfi, Center for Plant Medicine Research-Mampong, Glenn de Roche, Elisabeth Sutherland and the Terra Alta Team
Volunteers
Jerry Odoi, Layizah Suale, Rebecca Alhassan, Rita Abudu, Mariam Bayorwor Hayong, Iddrisu Sakina, Miriam Jonny, Mina Korewaah Frempong, and George Opoku
Guest Reviewers
Ana Maria Duran (Yale School of Architecture), Celia Imray (Adjaye Associates), Renae Adam (Global Mamas), Dita Zakova (Ecolibri) Alethia Ida (University of Arizona), Jonsara Ruth (Parsons Healthy Materials Lab), Juan Skinner (Guatemala), and Dr. Kofi Boa (Center for No-Till Agriculture, Ghana)
Soil Sisters: An Intersectoral Material Design Framework for Soil Health
Yale University School of Architecture
“Soil Sisters” exhibition display: Fiberboard chair, table, and wall partitions made from shredded and dehydrated second hand cotton and cassava glue by Oswaldo Chinchilla, Umut Gurney, Edgar Alvarado, and Lisbeth Acevedo Ogando. © Mae-ling Lokko.
“Soil Sisters” exhibition display: Textiles and compressed earth wall prototypes using indigo and anthill laterite soil as building materials and bio-based color as part of the Yale Architecture Summer exhibition in Accra, Ghana. © Mae-ling Lokko.
Bird’s-eye view of the “Soil Sisters” exhibition display during the day. © Mohamed Aly Etman.
Bird’s-eye view of the “Soil Sisters” exhibition display at night. © Mohamed Aly Etman.
Anna Dyson
Yale University
School of Architecture
Mae-ling Lokko
Yale University
School of Architecture
is the Hines Professor of Architecture, with an appointment in the School of Environment (YSE) at Yale University. She teaches design, technology, and theory at the School of Architecture. At Yale, Dyson has also founded a new research entity titled CEA—Center for Ecosystems in Architecture. CEA is a joint initiative between the Yale School of Architecture and the Forestry & Environmental Studies to unite researchers across multiple fields to develop transformative systems for the built environment. CEA supports Masters and PhD level students as well as professional researchers toward the invention and development of building systems that metabolize energy, water, and materials while supporting biodiverse ecosystems. CEA has its central think tank within the heart of Yale University in New Haven. Dyson was previously the Founding Director of the Center for Architecture, Science and Ecology (CASE) in 2007, which hosts the Graduate Program in Architectural Sciences / Built Ecologies.
is an Assistant Professor at Yale University’s School of Architecture and Yale’s Center for Ecosystems in Architecture (Yale CEA). She is an architectural scientist, designer, and educator from Ghana and the Philippines whose work focuses on the upcycling of agrowaste and biopolymer materials. Her research integrates a broad range of technical, environmental, social, and cultural criteria to evolve contemporary material-value systems and accelerate business models for upcycling between the Global North and South. Lokko is the founder of Willow Technologies, Ltd. focused on the research, design, and development of biobased building materials. Lokko was the Director for the Building Sciences Program and Assistant Professor at Rensselaer’s School of Architecture from 2018 until 2021. Lokko’s recent projects have been exhibited globally including the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Stedelijk Museum, Netherlands; Museum of the Future, Dubai; Z33 House for Contemporary Art, Design and Architecture, Belgium; Somerset House; London; and Triennale Milano, Italy. Lokko holds a PhD and Masters of Science in Architectural Science from the Center of Architecture, Science, and Ecology, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and BA from Tufts University.
