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Automated Landscapes

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Under the premise that automation disrupts not only labour markets, but the configuration, design and occupation of entire territories, Automated Landscapes documents and reflects upon the emerging architectures and urbanisms of automated labour. Given that they are not only designed for the inhabitation of human bodies, these architectures could potentially challenge conventional spatial requirements and normative rules for health, safety, and welfare, such as standards for light, ventilation, height, and floor areas, and bring new forms of territorial occupation, segregation, and contestation.

Publication: Automated Landscapes

Automated Landscapes examines a series of work environments at the forefront of automation, from dairy farms and greenhouses to factories and data centres. Building on five years of research, the book documents how automation is changing the way we work, and challenges the common assumption that automation is merely replacing human workers with machines.

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Greenhouse Barendse-DC, Middenmeer, 370.000 sqm. Photo by Johannes Schwartz.

Data Centre AMS8 Interxion, Haarlemmermeer, 8000 sqm. Photo by Johannes Schwartz.

Dairy Farm De Klaverhof, Moerdijk, 9050 sqm. Photo by Johannes Schwartz.

Greenhouse Ter Laak Orchids, Wateringen, 175.000 sqm. Photo by Johannes Schwartz.

Data Centre SmartDC, Rotterdam, 3500 sqm. Photo by Johannes Schwartz.

Automated Landscapes is a long-term collaborative research initiative on the implications of automation for the built environment, launched in 2017 by Het Nieuwe Instituut, and directed by its Research department. Automated Landscapes was presented at the Vienna Biennale 2017; at the Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism\Architecture in Shenzhen; as part of WORK BODY LEISURE at the Biennale Architettura 2018 in Venice; and most recently as part of I See That I See What You Don't See, the Dutch contribution to the XXII Triennale di Milano. The project has been awarded a Feature Grant from Design Trust in Hong Kong.

Since its initiation, the research project has seen many manifestations and focus points: from the Container Terminal in the port of Rotterdam to Factories in the Pearl River Delta, and from Data Centres to Dairy Farms and Greenhouses in the peripheries and concealed centres of the Netherlands.

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