New Natures

This book articulates the need for a new planetary encyclopaedia that encompasses ecological systems together with the geological, hydrological, and atmospheric forces that sustain them. A programmatic manifesto and cultural proposal, New Natures: Planetary Museums reimagines the encyclopaedic museum for the 21st century. Beginning with Studio Gang’s speculative transformation of the Louvre in Paris, it dissolves the traditional boundaries between museum and ecosystem, culture and nature, city and planet. Other featured case studies include the Benjakitti Forest Park in Bangkok, designed by Yu Kongjan (China); the park of Luma Arles, designed by Bas Smets (Belgium); the Art Biotop Water Garden in Tochigi, designed by Junya Ishigami (Japan); and the Tidal Basin in Washington D.C., designed by Field Operations (USA). Written by French curator and writer Béatrice Grenier, architect Jeanne Gang, and Italian philosopher Emanuele Coccia, the book articulates the need for a new planetary encyclopaedia that encompasses ecological systems together with the geological, hydrological, and atmospheric forces that sustain them. Illustrated with some 50 images New Natures: Planetary Museums offers both a theoretical framework and a new cultural policy for a world shaped by climate crisis.