Fishing Architecture
FISH-A: The Ecological Continuum between Buildings and Fish Species
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.
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.
The extant scholarship on marine ecology, fisheries, and fishing communities includes extensive research on fish populations, navigation systems, technology, bioeconomics, architecture, and 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.
The assessment will be organized along five analytical axes: (1) marine ecosystems; (2) fishing technology; (3) food processing; (4) politics; and (5) consumption habits, effectively avoiding 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.
André Tavares
Faculty of Architecture of the University of Porto, April 2021
This project has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) through a Consolidator Grant under the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme (grant agreement no. 101044244).
FISH-A is hosted by the University of Porto at the Center for Studies in Architecture and Urbanism (CEAU)
Team
Faculty of Architecture, University of Porto, Portugal
André Tavares
Architecture, Principal Investigator
Alice Nouvet
Architecture
Claudia Soares
Biology
Garðar Eyjólfsson
Contextual design, PhD candidate
Giulia Secci
Marine Biology
Neftalí Sillero
Spatial Biology
Rafael Sousa Santos
Architecture
Sónia Gabriel
Zooarchaeology
Past team members
Aitor Ochoa Argany
Architecture, Cod
Ana Azevedo
Marine Biology, Species Modelling
Paul Montgomery
Maritime Archaeology, Fish Traps
Accomplices
Elsa Froufe
CIIMAR, Portugal
Diego Inglez de Souza
Faculty of Architecture, University of Porto, Portugal
Daniel Duarte Pereira
Spacetranscribers, Portugal
Diana Feijó
IPMA, Portugal
Mónica Felício
IPMA, Portugal
Collaborators
Benilde Lopes
Science Management and Communication, UP
Maria Rodrigues
Science Management and Communication, CEAU-FAUP
Raquel Babo
Science Management and Communication, CEAU-FAUP
Francisca Carvalho
Science Management and Communication, UP
Inês Salema Guilherme
Architect, Typology
Patrícia Reis
Architect, Fish Traps and Gloucester
Will Gibbs
Architect, Angeiras
João Guerreiro
Aquatic Sciences, Gloucester
Diogo Borges Ferreira
Architect, Exhibition
Diana Guedes
Marine Biology, Newfoundland
Raquel Silva
Illustration, Angeiras
Jéssica Costa
Architect, Vila do Conde
Karl Benediktsson
Geography, Iceland
Nelson Pires
Geographic Information Systems
Ricardo Raminhos
Photography
Simon Cowper
Copy-editing
Workshop participants
Iceland: Sadie Ainsworth (University Centre of the Westfjords), Liliano Ferreira (University of Porto), Anna Gehlen (University Centre of the Westfjords), Perla Gísladóttir (Iceland University of the Arts), Anna Morozova (University Centre of the Westfjords), Miguel Oliveira (University of Porto), Luna Scéau (Bergen School of Architecture), Katherine Stewart (Iceland University of the Arts), and Lena Winderen (Bergen School of Architecture).
Angeiras: Ana Mafalda Marques, José Pedro Fernandes, Lise Freitas, João Pontes, Teresa Alexandre, Alberto Rocha, André Machado, Leonor Carvalho, Letícia Carmo, Hon Chio Lai, Livia Sinigaglia, Cristina Brito, Patrícia Carvalho, Brígida Baptista.
Workshop guests
Matthias Kokorsch
University Centre of the Westfjords
Ragnar Edvardsson
University of Iceland, R. Centre West Fjords
Guðfinna Hreiðarsdóttir
Ísafjörður Culture House and Archives
Guðbjörg Ásta Ólafsdóttir
University of Iceland, R. Centre West Fjords
Einar Hlér Einarsson
Sei Studio
Mafalda Rangel
Manuel Nande
Marie Hascoet
Pascal Le Floch
Béatrice Jullien
Soazig Le Henanff
Guest lecturers
Karl Otto Ellefsen
Marta Macedo
Nuno Queiroz
Alex Jordan
Cristina Brito
Nancy Couling
Loren McClenachan
Marija Barović
Magdalena Nowakowska
Joana Gaspar de Freitas
Knut G. Nustad
Anatole Danto
Christy Anderson, University of Toronto
Annalisa Marzano, Università di Bologna
Poul Holm, Trinity College Dublin
Ruth Thurstan, University of Exeter
Thomas Weaver
Partners
Marine and Freshwater Research Institute, Iceland
University of Iceland, Faculty of Life and Environmental Sciences
Portuguese Institute for Sea and Atmosphere, IPMA
Docapesca, Portos e Lotas
Associação Mútua de Pescadores Armadores de Angeiras, MAPA