Part of
Commission on Circularity

The File of Minerals

A critical research project about the lucrative destruction of the territory for the construction of the city.

June 11, 2024
in collaboration with

By visualizing the impact of the extractive industry, its geographic location, and the radical transformations caused by its abrasive procedures, Materia Prima seeks to understand the impact of architecture on the land, the landscape, and the territory. Establishing the necessary limits between the spatial, geographical, economic and political dimensions of the transformation industry and its mechanisms of subtraction, it aims to determine possible actions to revalue the traces left in these extractive landscapes.

The territory is a projection of the society that transforms it. We know that the human factor is the dominant agent in the transformation of the landscape and the territory, therefore, we are the factor of change and the raw material would be the first field of transformation. After all - architecture is nothing but a place where everything is made of pieces of other places.

Materia Prima is a collaborative research project conceived by Erika Loana, a multidisciplinary architect skilled in architecture research, exhibition, and art production. Over the last year, Materia Prima has conducted more than fifty field visits to different extraction sites in Mexico to grasp the nuances of its first approach better.

Subscribe to CAFx Community
Join CAFx and help shape the future of our cities. Your membership directly supports a diverse community of architects, artists, activists, and researchers working to democratize urban planning and architecture. Through publications, workshops, and collaborative projects, we're creating spaces and places that better reflect and serve everyone's needs. Members enjoy special access to events while contributing to a more inclusive approach to designing the environments that impact our daily lives.
DKK 200.00 per year
DKK 16.67 / month billed annually