Julia Watson. Lo—tek. Design By Radical Indigenism

By (author) Watson Julian; By (artist) Yazıcıoğlu, Berke ; Designed by studio, W—E
Short description/annotation:
Enter Lo—TEK, a design movement building on indigenous philosophy and vernacular infrastructure to generate sustainable, resilient, nature-based technology. Spanning 18 countries from Peru and the Philippines to Tanzania and Iran, this book explores millennia-old human ingenuity on how to live in symbiosis with nature.
Description:

Three hundred years ago, intellectuals of the European Enlightenment constructed a mythology of technology. Influenced by a confluence of humanism, colonialism, and racism, this mythology ignored local wisdom and indigenous innovation, deeming it primitive. Today, we have slowly come to realize that the legacy of this mythology is haunting us.

Designers understand the urgency of reducing humanity’s negative environmental impact, yet perpetuate the same mythology of technology that relies on exploiting nature. Responding to climate change by building hard infrastructures and favoring high-tech homogenous design, we are ignoring millennia-old knowledge of how to live in symbiosis with nature. Without implementing soft systems that use biodiversity as a building block, designs remain inherently unsustainable.

Lo—TEK, derived from Traditional Ecological Knowledge, is a cumulative body of multigenerational knowledge, practices, and beliefs, countering the idea that indigenous innovation is primitive and exists isolated from technology. It is sophisticated and designed to sustainably work with complex ecosystems.

With a foreword by anthropologist Wade Davis and four chapters spanning Mountains, Forests, Deserts, and Wetlands, Julia Watson explores thousands of years of human wisdom and ingenuity from 18 countries including Peru, the Philippines, Tanzania, Kenya, Iran, Iraq, India, and Indonesia. We rediscover an ancient mythology in a contemporary context, radicalizing the spirit of human nature.

The tactile reading experience of Lo—TEK reflects the ingenuity of carefully selected projects with sophisticated design details: copper highlights the value of ancient knowledge, a cardboard hardcover echoes rawness, and the Swiss binding showcases an open spine and reveals the construction of the book, just as the book discloses hidden technological knowledge.

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“Lo—TEK—a design movement to rebuild an understanding of indigenous philosophy and vernacular design that generates sustainable, climate-resilient technologies.”
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“If we can transform our relationship with the planet, we might actually get somewhere – and Lo—TEK provides 400 pages of inspiration.”
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“A beautiful work combining a little hard science and a lot of romanticism.”
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“Can ancient fixes save our crisis-torn world?… [Lo—TEK. Design by Radical Indigenism] is the result of a decade of travelling to some of the most remote regions on the planet, interviewing anthropologists, scientists and tribe members. [Watson] carefully documented their indigenous innovations using the landscape architect’s language of plans, cross-sections and exploded isometric diagrams to explain clearly how they work.”
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“Examples of centuries-old design that combat climate change.”
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“Lo—TEK: Design by Radical Indigenism provides a blueprint for sustainable architecture in the 21st century.”
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“We rediscover an ancient mythology in a contemporary context, radicalizing the spirit of human nature.”
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“The result of more than 20 years