Chong Sue Yen

The Three Sisters: corn, beans, and squash. When planted together, the corn emerges first - its tall compact form leaves room for the other sisters to grow, whilst providing essential support for the climbing beans. In return, the beans nourish the soil with nutrients exchanged in negotiations with the rhizobium bacteria. The squash, with its large low-lying leaves, keeps weeds out and moisture in. 

Learning from these lessons inscribed within The Three Sisters, the thesis seeks to build an alternative narrative of co-existence between the diverse beings who call urban Berlin home, rooted in reciprocity, respect, and care. An architecture of interdependence emerges, challenging conventional definitions of urban collectivity and ownership. In learning to live in reciprocity with one another, beginning with species of the same kind, we learn to live with our other forms of kin, critters, and stranger neighbours.

Berlin’s Urban Bio-loop addresses the predicaments and opportunities of both the conversion of the A104 motorway as well as living in an age of population, growth, and food mismanagement. The scheme focuses on ways human and non-human beings can coexist while proposing various large and small scale solutions to issues relating to food production and waste. It prioritises systems of a circular economy and reciprocity between city-dwellers and the biodiversity which surrounds them.

plus/minus is an ongoing thesis exploring the circular and reciprocal relationships within the critical zones between soil and air. The study is situated in Berlin, Europe’s most biodiverse city, and learns from the post-war development of the urban brachens, practices of controlled neglect and the balance between preserving as is and developing value.