Fishing Architecture: The Ecological Continuum between Buildings and Fish Species

Introduction

To what extent can fish produce architecture? This project sets out to trace a socioecological history of North Atlantic architecture in relation to fisheries, elucidating the relationships between marine environments and terrestrial landscapes and assessing the ecological impact of fishing constructions and the natural resources they depend upon.

Scope of the Project

Fishing Architecture covers a broad spectrum in terms of both geography and time, a choice that was made to avoid deterministic analysis and engage with transnational phenomena. Thus, the focus is on the North Atlantic—its shores housing diverse architectural cultures and its waters home to a wealth of fish species—and follows a time frame that runs from the industrialization of fisheries in the early 19th century to the full globalization of the industry at the end of the 20th.

Existing Scholarship

The extant scholarship on marine ecology, fisheries, and fishing communities includes extensive research on:

1. Fish populations
2. Navigation systems
3. Technology
4. Bioeconomics
5. Architecture
6. Cultural practices

Yet, comprehensive interdisciplinary analysis of the field is hindered by its own specialization. Facing the impending challenges of the environmental predicament, this project will use the material history of architecture as a powerful tool for advancing interdisciplinary research and, along with it, our understanding of the ecological impacts of human activity.

Analytical Framework

The assessment will be organized along five analytical axes:

1. Marine ecosystems
2. Fishing technology
3. Food processing
4. Politics
5. Consumption habits

This effectively avoids the conventional architectural approach to understanding the built environment. This strategy allows us to identify critical knowledge gaps to be worked on and, most significantly, fosters a fresh perspective on construction in which fishing landscapes and buildings are understood as material traces of dynamic socioecological relationships and as part of the continuum between land and sea.