WHEN NATURE
HACKS DESIGN

Zach Camozzi - Masters of Design Thesis

WHEN NATURE HACKS DESIGN
Earthbond Prototyping, a method to connect design with nature.
Prototyping through a series of case studies that show progressive (increasing) immersion in nature.

by

RAYMOND (ZACH) CAMOZZI
Supervisor Louise St Pierre

Bachelor of Engineering
University of Victoria, 2008

A critical & process documentation paper submitted in
partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of

MASTERS OF DESIGN

Emily Carr University of Art + Design
2017

© Raymond Camozzi, 2017

ABSTRACT
This thesis details my journey of learning how to design in
partnership with nature. This process took place in sequence;
increasing the distance from home: the front yard, the park, and
finally in remote wilderness. All of these places demanded full
body attention, producing rich experiences that were unpredictable,
thought provoking and brimming with content for creativity. I
experimented with the boundary of control between designer and
nature, inviting nature to engage with me through experiential
prototypes that probed the division or relationship between design
and nature. I learned how some of the tools and mindsets of a
designer supported this engagement or hindered it.
I offer a method for designers who wish to connect more fully to
nature in their work, called Earthbond Prototyping. Earthbond
prototyping borrows from experience prototyping, designing to
produce engagement “between people, places and objects that
unfold over time” (Buchenau et al, 2000 p.431). I use the skills and
techniques of design to navigate boundaries between aspects of
the natural world to recognize new relationships between design
and nature. More than ever designers need to instinctually allow
environmental ethics, and principles held within nature, to inform
and challenge their design decisions.
‘With less time spent immersed in the outdoors we diminish our potential to
understand the lasting value in nature exploration, build empathy for ecological
systems and are less capable of understanding sustainability’ (Orr, 2005, p.xi).

KEYWORDS
Nature Immersion
Outdoor Education
Experiential Prototyping
Environmental Education
Ecologic Self
Earthbond Prototyping
Bio-Inclusive Design

I

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Louise St Pierre / Kate Jeffery
Peng, Scott, Jiawei, Natalia, Emily, Rodrigo,
Puja, Dina, Juliana, Can, Annabelle, Matt

II

Earthbond prototyping is inspired by many published &
unpublished works including; Helene Day Fraser and Mia
Daniels’ Contemplating Puddles, Alli Edwards Playing with Typography,
Lisa Novak’s Classroom Tape and Aaron Oussoren, Helene Day
Fraser and Keith Doyles’ Glass Slipper Caper. Further inspiration
comes from contemporary artist Andy Goldsworthy.

“[Students] are eager to be introduced to
ways of thinking and living that will shift
their consciousness from the problematic
industrial–military–consumeristic
mindset to one that is ecological, holistic,
compassionate and aligned with the earth.”
(Bai, 2012, p.312)

III

PREAMBLE
My undergraduate degree is in Mechanical Engineering. As
someone who now navigates both worlds of engineering and
design, I understand the degree to which engineering is driven by
purpose. Efficiency, tangible and fiscal outcomes are the primary
criteria for success in engineering design. There is pressure on
engineers to produce outcomes that are safe, will last the promised
lifespan and can be affordably manufactured. Engineering is a
way of thinking that focuses on making a design workable with
clear directions that allow a user to get to the desired outcome.
This paints engineers as rigid and linear, when it is really a state of
control.
The prescribed routes and a benchmark of control in engineering
diminish the potential for diverging and learning about unexpected
or potential connections between design, people, things, and the
natural world. Engineers choose to pursue paths that have a high
probability of success. The faster and safer route, though valuable
when necessary, does not recognize how much there is to learn on a
journey that explores unique design methodologies. A meandering
route can be more challenging, beautiful, and fulfilling. So rather
than stay within a controlled engineering paradigm, I travelled after
graduation and worked a broad range of jobs that ultimately lead to
a career as an outdoor guide and educator. I was still often called on
to apply my engineering skill sets, but Outdoor Education changed
my views on engineering and design.
‘It is not a matter of abandoning the left hand side, even if this were possible,
It is a matter of ‘stepping out’ of this paradigm, and recognizing it – so that
we master it, rather than it mastering us. In this way we can employ these
approaches but only when they are appropriate to the situation’ (Sterling, 2001,
p.82).
Outdoor Education seeks to instill skills in youth and adults
that revolve around exploration in multi-sensory environments,
calculated risk and self-reflection. It is about creating a love for the
outdoors, which E.O. Wilson calls Biophilia, “The innate tendency
Figure 1: Stave Lake B.C., documenting observations
from testing equipment designed for canoe trip on the
Peel River

IV

to focus on life and lifelike processes” (1984, p.1). In most cases
focusing on these processes allows participants to experience the
world in a way they find unfamiliar and awe inspiring. It differs
from Environmental Education in that in Outdoor Education
learning is done experientially at every opportunity, not through
abstract concepts and devices, such as television or a photograph. It
is a phenomenological approach, learning through ‘felt sensations’
and reflecting on these subjective situations (Bresler, 1996, p.11).
As an outdoor educator, I relied on hands-on making; workshops
that centered on building boats, fires, and shelters of wood, snow
or earth. I explored material practice through the dirt, sand and
mud between my fingers: Outdoor Education has given me the
tools to navigate design outside a design classroom. Learning
through doing built my confidence, opening up possibilities to
expand my understanding of the world and helped me find a moral
link to the ecological systems that support human life. I discovered
what I wanted to design for.
Many believe Outdoor Education is solely about recreation. They
imagine going to natural settings and having fun in a beautiful
place: camping with friends, learning from a naturalist or adventure
sporting. But if these experiences are recognized as catalysts to
deep learning, wondrous insight can occur. Now that I have fully
incorporated my experiences and my education I cannot enjoy the
view from the top of a mountain without sensing the wind cooling
my sweat-soaked brow: my body is engaged. Standing exposed at
height makes me feel small and fragile on a large planet: I reflect
on my place in the world. Seeing the dirt on my boots and the
path laid in the soil to get to a destination builds understandings
of conservation: I understand that my daily choices have impacts.
Even the clothing and equipment I wear speaks to our values:
warmth, comfort and possibly appearance. These thoughts come
from choosing to reflect on an outdoor experience from a deeper
perspective. Experiences are multi-faceted and share edges with the
“way we think, perceive, sense and feel” (Bai, 2012, p.3). Feelings
of fragility on the peak of a mountain can lead to comparisons with
the broken earth on a fragile path. Accepting that each experience
shapes the perspective on others approaches holism. “The whole is
greater than the sum of the parts” and each part alone affects the
whole (Naess, 1995, p. 241).

V

These forays into understanding the world through the lens of
Outdoor Education sparked my curiosity about other ways of
designing. I joined Emily Carr to do a Masters of Design, with
expectations for the holistic and moral aspects of Outdoor
Education to continue to influence my path.
“[Students]are eager to be introduced to ways of thinking and living that will
shift their consciousness from the problematic industrial–military–consumeristic
mindset to one that is ecological, holistic, compassionate and aligned with the
earth.” (Bai, 2012, p.312)
While studying design at Emily Carr I became aware of an
uncertainty between prioritizing the needs of people and the
needs of the natural world. At first I was unaware of this tension,
happily soaking up research methods to engage with humans.
Building personas, engaging in research probes, co-creation, even
the format of my presentations were moving toward an audience
of only humans, they were curated, static, and one-dimensional.
I found myself leaning toward refined outcomes that I could
explain, and away from the messy, sometimes unpredictable nature
of Outdoor Education. My path transformed to be inclusive of
the natural environment when I saw two students releasing helium
balloons into the atmosphere to capture a photo. Did these students
know that the plastic balloon fragments may end up hundreds of
kilometers away? Possibly floating in and contaminating a water
supply? As one of many students who strolled by during the release
was I the only one that saw it as a self-centred action? I reaffirmed
in that moment that my passion to connect to the outdoors, to
nature, must be applied to the field of design. At the time I wasn’t
sure what the outcome would be, nor who came before me, but
it felt like the necessary avenue to explore. Could I envision,
understand, or apply a design practice intertwined with nature?
For years I had presumed that engineering was the source of my
design aptitude, but after completing these two years at Emily Carr
I realize I was wrong. Engineering taught me theoretical skills;
mechanics of motion, modelling, material science, energy transfer
and manufacturing processes. These are taught primarily using
mathematics: defining how things behave in terms of physical
relationships: size, quantity, movement, and force. In contrast,
Outdoor Education uses physical relationships, a paddle flowing

VI

through water or a rock scratching a palm, to teach empathy for
nature and each other, how to feel and sense our relationship with
our surroundings. Outdoor Educators prepare students to thrive
in adverse settings, feeling supported by the tools and equipment
and understanding the environment as the third teacher. Curiosity
and knowledge is nurtured through immersion in ecology. This
experiential learning allowed me to cultivate a deep tacit knowledge
as well as a desire to seek challenges at the extremities of my ability.
Physical goals, such as mastering a skill in paddling, allowed me to
challenge progressively rougher water but over time it became more
of a challenge and a reward to teach others to pursue the same
skill. The combined skills from engineering and outdoor education
supported me on the path to becoming a designer who collaborates
with nature.
I came into this master’s with a desire to understand concepts and
methodologies of design that were outside my experience. Little
did I know how powerfully my past experiences in engineering
and Outdoor Education would influence my views of design. This
breadth of experience has inspired me to explore a method for
bridging Outdoor Education and design education, so that others
may learn this as well.
‘Sustainable education is about integrating and balancing process (what
education is) with purpose (what education is for) so that they are mutually
informing and enhancing.’ To promote ‘trans-formative thinking and encourage
change toward a fairer society and better world’ (Sterling, 2001 p.25-26).

Figure 2: Mapping the bridge between Design,
Engineering and Outdoor Education

VII

GLOSSARY
Bio-Inclusive Design: design that factors
nature into all stages of the design process, as
a participant in design, and as an identity to be
designed for
Curriculum: subject matters that are offered
or taught in a place of learning
Earthbond Prototyping: A method of
prototyping that includes nature as a variable/
participant in all stages of design. This
immersion in nature through design, gives the
designer the opportunity to understand the
integral relationship between environment and
design while simultaneously building ecologic
self.
Environmental Education: Is the
exploration and positive action toward
environmental issues through engagement in
problem solving and critical reflection. It does
not necessarily occur outdoors nor focused on
local environments.
Ecologic Self: “The ecological self arises
from empathic identification with “all living
beings, beautiful or ugly, big or small, sentient
or not” (Naess, 1988; 2010, p.81)” (St Pierre,
2015)
Ecologically dense environments: When
ecologic information cannot be ignored,
producing rich full body experiences that
are unpredictable, memorable and thought
provoking.
Experiential Prototypes: Experiential
prototypes differ from other forms of
prototyping in that they are scale prototypes
implemented in context to understand “what
it might be like to engage with the product,
space or system” (Buchenau et al, 2000 p.424425). This allows researchers and users to
experience the prototype through perception
(senses), action, and reflection (thoughts).

VIII

Framed Problem: the range of variables that
define a design problem and directly affect
decisions that lead to an outcome
Immersion: Placing oneself in an area
of, and opening up to, information that is
deep, complex, likely non-linear, and full of
possibilities
Monoculture: cultivated or naturally
occurring environmental conditions that only
support a single organism
Nature: The “self-originating material/
spiritual world, of which we are a part,
including the powers that sustain and govern
it” (Bonnett, 2002).
Outdoor Education: Outdoor Education
seeks to instill skills in youth and adults
that revolve around exploration in a multisensory environments, calculated risk and
self-reflection. It is the development of the
whole person (thought, perception, sense and
feeling) through experiential learning.
Prototype: An artifact, system, even a
drawing that explores an idea. Allowing the
designer, user, environment or participants to
evaluate, express or understand the idea and
build upon it.
Sustainability: a society “that can persist
over generations; one that is farseeing enough,
flexible enough, and wise enough not to
undermine either it’s physical or social systems
of support” (Meadows et al, 2004, p.254).
Sustainability encompasses all preventative
and corrective earth maintenance.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
ABSTRACTI
KEYWORDSI
PREAMBLEIV
GLOSSARYVIII
TABLE OF CONTENTS
IX
TABLE OF FIGURES
XI
CONTEXT, STRUCTURE, METHODS
1
1.0 RESEARCH CONTEXT
1.1
1.2
1.3

3

Sustainability, Nature & Biomimicry
The Ecological Self 
Design and the Ecological Self 

3
4
5

2.0 STRUCTURING THE RESEARCH INQUIRY 

7

2.1

The Nature Connection Pyramid

3.0 RESEARCH METHODS
3.1
3.2
3.3

Autobiographical Writing
Experience Prototyping 
EarthBond Prototyping 

THE EXPERIENCE & PROTOTYPES
4.0 YARD: Nature close to home
4.1
4.2
4.3
4.4
4.5

The development of the journal
Experience Prototyping – Mint ‘Smell’ & Wet ‘Moisture’
Biodiversity becomes visible
Prototype - Seed Cache
Exploring the Yard: Summary thoughts

5.0 LOCAL PARK: Exploring further from home

IX

7

10
10
11
12

13
17
19
21
22
23
24

29

5.1
5.2
5.3
5.4
5.5
5.6

Experience Prototyping - Sand Castle Barricade
Experiential Survey - Directional Choice Signs 
Experiential Survey - Fear Box
Ecophobia vs Biophilia
Mini Research Narrative - Weed Sandals 
Exploring the Local Park: Summary thoughts 

30
31
33
34
35
38

6.0 EXPLORING THE UNFAMILIAR:					
Canoeing in the remote north
41
6.1
6.2
6.3
6.4
6.5
6.6
6.7

Animism
Prototype - Canoe Skirt
Artifact as Mediator
Prototype - Bug Shelter Vestibule
Curriculum of place
Framing
Exploring the Unfamiliar: Summary thoughts 

SYNTHESIZING EARTHBOND PROTOTYPING 
7.0 GENERAL CONCLUSIONS
7.1

Mapping

8.0 EARTHBOND PROTOTYPING
8.1

Characteristics of Earthbond Prototyping

41
45
45
47
48
49
51

53
56
57

59
61

9.0 IMPLICATIONS

63

10.0 FURTHER RESEARCH

65

BIBLIOGRAPHY68
APPENDIX A - Catalogue of Prototypes
A1
APPENDIX B - Responses to Experience Survey
B1
APPENDIX C - Curriculum Materials
C1

X

TABLE OF FIGURES
PREAMBLE
Figure 1: Stave Lake B.C., documenting observations from testing equipment designed for the Peel River IV
Figure 2: Mapping the bridge between Design, Engineering and Outdoor Education

VII

CONTEXT, STRUCTURE, METHODS
Figure 3: Storm clouds roll over my front yard in the spring of 2016

1

Figure 4: Graphic interpretation of Ballentine’s Nature Connection Pyramid (The Nature Kids Institute, 2017) 8
Figure 5: Graphic interpretation of widening the lens of The Nature Connection Pyramid 

8

Figure 6: Studio space as a blank canvas

10

Figure 7: Graphic interpretation of Earthbond Prototyping

12

THE EXPERIENCE & PROTOTYPES
Figure 8: Questions and time line mapping of research explorations

13

Figure 9: The large cherry tree depicted in Yard

15

Figure 10: My front yard seen from the top of our steps.

17

Figure 11: Personal Journal and developments a-d through Yard, Local Park and Unfamiliar 

19

Figure 12: Using a finger to write the obvious tactile sensation

21

Figure 13: Weaving mint found in a garden bed at a local park

22

Figure 14: Seeds collected and cached from letting the front yard grow

23

Figure 15: Some of the flora that bloomed in the yard

24

Figure 16: Changes in my front yard over four months

26

Figure 17: Balancing on logs washed ashore near Spanish Banks

27

Figure 18: Experiential Survey at Spanish Banks

29

Figure 19: Sand Castle Barricade used over three weekends

30

Figure 20: Directional Choice signs set up at Spanish Banks. 

31

Figure 21: Fear Box Survey at Spanish Banks

33

Figure 22: Examples of seaweed sandals generated by interacting with nature

35

Figure 23: Mini sculpture made from found materials at local park

38

Figure 24: Descending a talus slope in the Olgolvie Mountain range

39

XI

Figure 25: Spiral rock structures of Peel River Canyon, Peel River, Peel Watershed, Yukon Territory42
Figure 26: Overloaded canoe covered by skirt

43

Figure 27: Original tent dismantled for the vestibule

45

Figure 28: Napping in skirt on a dreary day

46

Figure 29: Vestibule set up on shore of Blackstone river

47

Figure 30: Vestibule set up in various configurations to meet wind, rain and available space

48

Figure 31: The majority of the equipment and food brought on the 20 day trip

49

Figure 32: Sleeping bag framed by tent

50

Figure 33: Paddling in the current at the end of a 8km portage on Aberdeen Canyon Peel River 

51

Figure 34: Mapping the research explorations in studio

53

Figure 35: Bear and wolf tracks dapple the shoreline of the Peel River

56

SYNTHESIZING EARTHBOND PROTOTYPING 
Figure 36: Refined process map showing the categorization of explorations and pathways

57

Figure 37: Sandcastle Barricade. Seaweed Sandal, Journal, Vestibule

60

Figure 38: Earthbond Prototyping method diagrams 

62

Figure 39: Applying the structure and insights from Earthbond Prototyping

66

Cover Image: Standing atop old growth stump in flooded Stave Lake B.C.

XII

CONTEXT,
STRUCTURE,
METHODS
Figure 3: Storm clouds roll over my front yard in the spring of 2016

1.0 RESEARCH CONTEXT
1.1 Sustainability, Nature & Biomimicry
“In the face of current ecological crises, the primary task is perhaps not
eradicating all behaviour that is harmful to our environment, what should be
fundamentally adjusted is human attitude towards nature” (Wang, 2016, p.9).
As an engineer I sought controlled plans and rational solutions.
As an outdoor educator I favoured hands-on making and trusting
my intuition. As a designer I envision a practice intertwined with
nature that requires me to learn and share connections between
design, people, things, and the natural world that take from all three
of these disciplines.
Underlying my desire to investigate design’s relationship with
nature is a desire for ecological sustainability. A sustainable society
is one “that can persist over generations; one that is farseeing
enough, flexible enough, and wise enough not to undermine either
its physical or social systems of support” (Meadows et al, 2004,
p.254). Discussions of sustainable design have evolved since
the Brundtland report of 1987 (United Nations), but we have
yet to understand how to “reorganize the way that we design,
produce, sell, distribute, and consume artifacts in alignment
with the requirements of the ecosphere” (St. Pierre, 2014 p.33).
The importance of learning about nature and natural systems
is currently not a strong part of sustainable design education.
Designers are still regularly pressured to prioritize new technologies
and human-centered innovations over nature.
Within this paper, ‘nature’ as defined by Bonnett is a “selforiginating material/spiritual world, of which we are a part,
including the powers that sustain and govern it” (2002. p.12). If we
believe that nature is everything ‘self-originating’ we can accept that
humans are a mammal with some uniquely evolved abilities. Design
is one of those uniquely evolved abilities. Can we envision a design
practice intertwined with nature?
Discussions of nature and design invariably lead to mention of
Biomimicry. Biomimicry has permeated the field of design to the

3

extent that it appears to be almost the sole approach to design
and nature. Popularized by Janine Benyus (1999), Biomimicry
entails the observation of naturally occurring entities within an
ecosystem then adapting those observations to produce “biological
information in the form that designers need, which is functionally”
(Westervelt, 2011, p.52). This focus on functional outputs
suggests that Biomimicry objectifies the organisms that are under
observation. They are valued only for their resource potential and
positive influence on human standards of living. In this way, nature
continues to be thought of as a repository of ideas for abstraction
and innovations that are useful to humans. (St. Pierre 2015).
Objectification removes empathy from the decision making process,
diminishing the potential for cooperation with nature.
David Ruano a PhD in design philosophy also observes the limits
of Biomimicry (2016). He asserts by tempering Biomimicry with
Biophilic activities (activities that will ground an observer in the
love of nature), Biomimicry can shift from “nature-inspired design
to design that is in harmony and collaboration with, and within,
nature” (p.173). Ruano recognizes prioritizing nature within design
means working differently, in a way that may not fit into the current
consumer culture that dominates design (Meadows, 1998). If
Biomimicry objectifies nature it is a flawed starting point, even if it
is modified to make the designer critically aware of the relationships
between aspects of nature. “It is not solely what is taught that is of
importance but how education takes place” (Holdrege, 2008, p.3).
From the perspective of this research, biomimicry is an imbalanced
partnership. True partnerships involve humility, something that can
be described as the ecological self.

1.2 The Ecological Self
Arne Neass is an environmental philosopher that introduced the
concept ‘ecological self ’ (Naess (1988; 2010)). The ecological
self is an arising identification with “all living beings, beautiful or
ugly, big or small, sentient or not” (Naess, 1988; 2010, p.81) This
identification can be described a deep connection with the natural
world that is “innately ethical” (St Pierre, 2015, p.3). This is a
natural tendency to act in ways that benefit all that we identify with.
This is important because “transforming ourselves as we consider

4

ecological crises is more crucial than appealing to changing the
physical environment” (Wang, 2016, pg 3).
An expanded sense of self in the world acknowledges that there are
many important implications to every decision, and many types of
lives are impacted. As discussed in the preamble, a helium balloon
intentionally let go to float away eventually must come down. This
decision to let go, or not, parallels the multitude of decisions a
designer makes while completing a project. The materials we choose
may be processed from a sensitive area with endangered species, or
in a country with unethical working conditions. The manufacturing
processes we choose could consume and contaminate a fresh water
supply or could be half way across the world. Even the behaviours
our products create could lead to environmental damage such as
millions of plastic balloon fragments aggregating with other plastics
in the ocean. Designers may make decisions that shape action and
thought. More than ever these decisions must be directed toward
biophilia and the arising of ‘ecological self ’.
‘This is the lived overcoming of the object view of the world and the affirmation
of the participatory nature of reality’ (Holdrege, 2013, p.171).

1.3 Design and the Ecological Self
Designers can nurture their own biophilia by engaging in bioinclusive design, including nature as a partner in design by
recognizing its influence on all stages of the design process and
also considering the design’s impact on nature. Nature can supply
the materials and inspiration for design but it also can provide
the feedback needed to develop designs that are intertwined with
nature. Ruono shares this belief with Todd (1984) “Design should
be co-evolutionary with the natural world” (2016, p.7). For this to
happen, designers must find ways to think differently.
Freya Mathews suggests ‘Human beings have the capacity
to become psychically imprinted, in early life, with the inner
organizational dynamics of nature’ (2008, p.19). Increased time
spent immersed in nature can teach humans to instinctually
organize information similarly to ecologic systems: competing,
balancing resources and finding the most beneficial configurations
for everything. For designers, this implies a process where reasoning

5

and designing evolves and is co-created with nature. This is the
ability to “think like nature” (Mathews, 2008, p.19).
Designers can learn to ‘think like nature’. For the ‘ecological self ’
to arise, designers can immerse in outdoor contexts where a high
density of information can be accessed to meet the changing
needs of each learner. These ecologically dense environments
demand full body attention, producing rich experiences that can
be unpredictable, memorable and thought provoking. As contexts
evolve, cognition is developed through the combination and
interpretation of actions, senses and thoughts (Kolb 1999). To
illustrate this through an example: a model boat in a pail of water
helps us explore and understand the concept of buoyancy. When
the boat is on the beach tackling gigantic waves, immediately
buoyancy is blurred with concepts of stability and momentum. If
we get in the boat on the waves, stability, momentum, buoyancy,
beauty and fear are just a few of the concepts that can be grasped
at. Without immersive experiences in ecology, we can understand
concepts but are less likely to discover, navigate, and allow them to
evolve.
Design education currently has tools and processes that can
be applied to facilitate immersive experiences in the outdoors.
Unfortunately, design education may not yet prioritize this kind
of learning because it has a history of “align[ing] to business and
technology, learning their language, values, and priorities” (St Pierre,
2015, p.5). There are indications that design and design education
might be orienting itself to include a more serious relationship with
nature. This includes post humanist theories, conferences such
as NORDES 2015: Design Ecologies, and pending publications
on design and nature (Fletcher, Tham & St. Pierre, email
correspondence, 2016).
Students of design who finish their education with a lasting
deep connection to nature are more likely to prioritize design’s
relationship with ecology within their practice. As designers have
extensive influence on society it is crucial they strive to reach
ecologic balance.
‘[There is] a lack of embodied understandings that what we ‘take’, just here
just now, is inevitably connected to the health of the planet’ (Tham, (n.d.), p.3).

6

2.0 STRUCTURING THE RESEARCH INQUIRY
2.1 The Nature Connection Pyramid
To truly become familiar with a place we must go there, listen,
watch and learn (Chambers, 2008). Familiarity with a place is
possible when we have daily or weekly encounters with it. Outdoor
educators understand that in order for students existing notions of
nature to evolve, students must move from familiar outdoor settings
to those that are less familiar (Sobel, 1996). They must also increase
the length of time spent in all of those spaces.
Risk can describe the unfamiliar. As the unfamiliar transitions
to the familiar, tension decreases and our understanding of the
preconcieved risk develops. Outdoor Education allows students
to navigate this boundary between risk and percieved risk, giving
them the confidence to take future risks in other disciplines.
Kenny Ballentine’s Nature Connection Pyramid (naturekidsinstitute.com)
illustrates the progressive shift from familiar to less familiar (fig. 4).
Familiar places explored daily are near the base of Ballentine’s
nature pyramid. Weekly/monthly visits to less familiar places
populate the centre of the pyramid. At the Apex are annual visits to
unfamiliar places. As one moves from the familiar to the unfamiliar,
one may encounter increasingly unexpected conditions and
experiences. The influence of weather, interactions with animals,
encountering new materials and texture, even the way users interact
with your work can be surprising.
The Nature Connection Pyramid provided the structure for my research
explorations. I progressively widened my lens from 1) my YARD,
2) experiential survey in a LOCAL PARK, and 3) Canoeing in
the UNFAMILIAR Yukon (fig. 5). These three locations were
progressively further from what I found familiar. Each offered an
increasing density of ecology.

7

Figure 4: Graphic interpretation of Ballentine’s Nature
Connection Pyramid (The Nature Kids Institute, 2017)

Figure 5: Graphic interpretation of widening
the lens of The Nature Connection Pyramid

8

3.0 RESEARCH METHODS
3.1 Autobiographical Writing
Autobiographical writing complemented with photography is a
form of data collection and dissemination that allows the reader
to grasp the subjective; that is emotions, senses and thoughts that
are necessary to be immersed. This leaves a lasting imprint on the
reader (Orrick, 2015). David Abram exemplifies this method,
writing extensive paragraphs that describe his experiences with
objects, places and nature in sensual details. These writings capture
the experience as a whole and direct the reader to pause and
reflect on how they fit into the greater ecological system alongside
the objects that support them (Abram, 2011). These narratives
are a powerful and inclusive way to share insights that develop
direct sentient engagement with that world and all its “ecological
relations” (Hasebe-Ludt, 2009, p.29).
Throughout my research and design I journaled in this manner,
against typical engineering tendencies to trust quantifiable data.
The journal evolved from a template to direct my inquiry toward
a practiced research tool that supported my own multi-sensorial
engagement with nature. In YARD: Nature close to home I detail the
development of the format of the journal and demonstrate how
it is far more than a tool for my own learning. It is a structure for
heuristic inquiry, “an exploratory approach to research…concerned
directly with human knowing” (Hiles, p.389). The journal has
qualities that can match the changing contexts of The Nature
Connection Pyramid offering a “systematic way of incorporating the
self into inquiry methods while ensuring a high level of reflexivity
and transparency” (Hiles, p.392).

Figure 6: Studio space as a blank canvas

10

3.2 Experience Prototyping
Throughout design practice, prototypes (designed artifacts) are
generated to externalize thinking and allow the maker to link
tacit knowledge to conceptual understanding. Prototypes can be
representations of the design problem with a focus on the look,
feel or function. Feedback is commonly generated in a controlled
form during a studio critique, a demonstration, or through input
from other design team members (Buchenau, M., & Suri, J. F.,
2000). Often in conventional design processes there is a necessary
abstraction of the true context and timeline the prototype will
inhabit. This type of prototyping allows for a discussion only
on how it might be engaged with, the product’s speculated use.
Experience prototyping is a specific form of prototype that seeks
deep understanding by placing the prototype in context earlier in
the design process.
Experience Prototypes are full scale prototypes implemented
in context to allow researchers and users to experience through
perception (senses), action, and reflection (thoughts). The subjective
experience that they afford through a user’s active engagement is
much more valuable for feedback than the physicality of the artifact
(Buchenau et al, 2000). How grasping and transformation of
experience to produce knowledge occurs depends on the history,
physical and mental capacity of the investigator and the demands
of the environment around them ((Kolb 1984, p. 41) (Kolb et al.
1999, p. 2-4)). Here design insights unfold over time through acts
of making, speculated use, and unexpected engagement (Buchenau
et al, 2000).
The qualities of Experience Prototyping detailed above that are
foundational to Earthbond prototyping are: testing in context to
seek subjective data from participants, making as research, and
affording time to flush out the relationship between environment
and design (Buchenau et al, 2000). These are detailed in the section
The Experiential Prototypes (p.13).

11

3.3 EarthBond Prototyping
Autobiographical writing combined with experience prototyping
in natural contexts led me to an enriched prototyping process that
supports important connections to nature. (fig. 7)
Earthbond Prototyping is a method that includes nature as a participant
in all stages of design. Earthbond Prototyping is following the
structure of The Nature Connection Pyramid to progressively expand
boundaries to test concepts within contexts that are less familiar.
The emphasis on a changing context is an opportunity for the
designer to understand nature’s relationship to the form or
content of a design. Much like Experience Prototypes, Earthbond
Prototypes must accurately represent the form required to elicit the
intended experience.
‘The maximum success of self-realisation is realised through a certain balance
of interactions between organisms and environment’ (Naess, 1995, p. 41).

Figure 7: Graphic interpretation of Earthbond Prototyping
within the framework of the Nature Connection Pyramid

12

THE
EXPERIENCE &
PROTOTYPES
The experiments took place following the framework of Ballentine’s
Natur e Connection Pyramid, I progressively widened my lens from
1) Yard, 2) Local Park, and 3) Canoeing in the Unfamiliar Yukon (fig. 3).
These three locations were progressively further from what I found
familiar. Each offered important learning to support the development of
Earthbond prototyping as a method for designers.
Figure 8: Questions and time line mapping of research explorations

YARD:
Nature close to home
“We can recognize the biological barrenness of an urban place
while realizing at the same time that we are connected to
wilderness, by activity, and by the wandering creatures that are
among us.” (Haupt, 2013, p.47)
Figure 9: The large cherry tree depicted in Yard

4.0 YARD: Nature close to home
‘[If student] attention is continually drawn out of and away from their
embodied and inhabited experience and is attached to abstract and discursive
knowledge (information, fact, theories, ideas). The situation here is like not
allowing a person to go outside, explore, and experience the lay of the land
himself or herself, but insisting on having the person only look at a map’ (Bai
et al., 2009, p.324).
The first, level of Ballentine’s Nature Connection Pyramid identifies
the need to occupy and engage with familiar places, daily. In spring
2016 I chose to intentionally sit on my front steps and contemplate
a simple idea: In the suburban environment, our yards, the yards of
others, and other green spaces near our homes are opportunities to
learn about ecology and design.
My yard is home to a twenty meter tall fruiting cherry tree
overhanging nearly everything on the property (fig. 9). In the
early spring of 2016 my neighbor said “Why can’t people clean
up after themselves.” The pollen from the tree was drifting down
Figure 10: My front yard seen from the top of our steps.

and covering his deck and cars. He personally believed the tree
and everything it produced was the responsibility of our landlord.
How could our landlord control the wind or the blooming of the
tree? How many people believe that humans are meant to control
everything in our environment?
Carolyn Merchant explains that this way of thinking can be traced
back to the 17th century and directly to the seminal work of Francis
Bacon. His thoughts carried through the industrial revolution
“only by acting as an interpreter of nature could knowledge be
turned into power” (1990, p.172 & 186). I wondered if I was
demonstrating an attitude of control and domination of nature by
simply cutting my grass; in essence I was maintaining my yard as
a monoculture, cultivating a single organism (grass) for aesthetic
appeal. What could I discover if I didn’t control the lawn? How
would it inform my research about design and nature? I challenged
myself to let the front yard (fig. 10) grow unattended for the
entirety of the growing season, instructing the other tenants in my
house not to cut the grass. I used photography and journaling to
capture the experience.
Thoughts on ecology arose first; it took only a few days on my
front steps to understand that I was not the only animal that
frequented the space. The return visitors to my perch were three
red shafted northern flickers. I watched the woodpeckers wade
through the grass pecking for insects. Lyanda Haupt writes that the
most visible biodiversity in Seattle’s urban environment, a similar
climate and close neighbor to my own, are coyotes, moles, raccoons,
squirrels and crows. She chooses a scale we are most familiar with
and touches on a feeling we can all relate to: curiosity. “I don’t
want to chase it away – all I want to do is watch it for as long as
I possibly can” (2013, p.61). My indifference in keeping a dense
lawn produced conditions for chafer beetles to prosper, attracting
the woodpeckers. Taking the time to stop and watch outdoors, as I
had just begun to do, led to several relationships between my design
actions (or in this case inaction) and the natural world.
‘We can recognize the biological barrenness of an urban place while realizing
at the same time that we are connected to wilderness, by activity, and by the
wandering creatures that are among us’(Haupt, 2013, p.47).

18

4.1 The development of the journal: expanding my
range of awareness
All senses contribute to how we perceive experience, sight being
the preferred modality. Even so, sight involves more than the object
of attention. In 1912 Koffka Kohler and Wertheimer’s Gestalt
concluded that visual “perception is a response not to individual
bits of information but to a field of interrelated data” (Malnar et
al., 2004, p.44). For example, a figure/ground relationship means
the wall behind a painting (the context) changes our preference in
that painting. Other senses also capture information that impacts
preference in the same way. My desire to sit on the front stoop and
what I was thinking could be changed by what I hear (my annoyance
with a car horn) or by my neighbor releasing the fragrance of grass
when mowing (what I smell).
My process of capturing these experiences and thoughts (as data)
manifested as a template for a journal (fig. 11). The template was
a strategy to allow me to reflect in ways that were not all intuitive
for me: on senses, actions, thoughts, and feelings (Buchenau et al,
2000, Bai, 2012). My past journals in both engineering and outdoor
education had been instrumental approaches, seeking to capture only
ideas for designs that I could develop in the future.
The journal template consisted of the headings smell, hear, taste
and touch to prompt sensorial observations. A cartoon story board
allowed me to capture changes over time, motion or a sequence of
events. The headings questions, and difficulties helped me reflect on
feelings. Over time the journal headings were changed to match
other insights that arose: motivation, actions, conversation, and animals.
This journal became a routine as I navigated through The Nature
Connection Pyramid. I found I had to change the form to match each
progression (fig. 11a-11d). Headings were crossed out, and neglected.
Transparencies were added to layer data. It became a map for the trip
in the UNFAMILIAR (section 5). Eventually, I no longer needed the
template with its headings to produce intuitive reflections beyond just
sight and a description of events. The practice of journaling evolved
into autobiographical writing (section 3.1) one of the key research
methods behind Earthbond Prototyping.
Figure 11: Personal Journal and developments a-d
through Yard, Local Park and Unfamiliar

19

Capturing data in this way lead me to explore my surroundings,
seeking new perspectives on the small patch of yard. As the spring
rains began, crocuses and blue bells arose between the blades of
grass. The next addition that slowly formed the meadow were
spices. Oregano and mint took over the lawn with a corner of
dandelions. Up to this point I had been seeing the garden from my
stoop and behind the camera lens. In time the journal became a
prompt to touch leaves, smell the flowers and get my hands dirty. In
this way my observation began to influence my making.

4.2 Experience Prototyping – Mint ‘Smell’ & Wet
‘Moisture’
I looked for a part of nature I could use to design and wrote the
sense that appeared most abundant. I tore and wove mint stalks,
and drew in condensation on my window. By writing the obvious
perceived sense it is possible to experience and recognize others.
The smell of mint is invigorating, travels, its roots are earthy (fig.
13). Moisture is cold, pooling, always transforming (fig. 12). By
Figure 12: Using a finger to write the obvious tactile sensation

“acting like a plant to understand plants” (Narby, 2006, p.94). and
designing in response to and with nature I was able to navigate
a multi-sensory and subjective experience I was struggling to
understand.

4.3 Biodiversity becomes visible
After six months the change in environment of our front yard was
profound: Sumac, Ivy, Morning Glory, Daisy’s, Snap Dragons, Fox
Gloves, Buttercups, Poppies, Iris’s, Wild Raspberries, Blackberries,
Rhododendron, and many I couldn’t name (fig. 15). I had developed
a heightened sense of awareness from journaling which benefited
my observations but even those around me were beginning to
notice how quickly the space was changing. Two other tenants in my
70 year old house began to spend time with me on the front steps.
We discussed if the seeds had been dormant for years, planted from
previous owners, blown in from neighboring yards or carried on the
soles of our shoes. Countless variations of plant competed, were
being tested and tempered by the environment around them, always
seeking a balance of resources. The design was self-creating.
Figure 13: Weaving mint found in a garden bed at a local park

22

As the flowers bloomed and went to seed I wondered how I could
share the time spent in the garden with the community around me.
A seed cache became my means of making the link I was seeking.

4.4 Prototype - Seed Cache
Trading seeds is an established practice in certain communities.
Locally, the Village Vancouver food network supports seed saver
collectives. These are online communities of individuals driven
by a concern for future food security that are collecting, meeting
and sharing seeds (Seed Savers, 2017). Taking this as a lead, I
decided that the seed cache (fig. 14) could extend to the large online
community of Geocachers. Geocaching is a form of recreation
that uses Global Positioning Systems to direct participants to
caches of objects, often plastic toys. I was attracted to geocaching
because it promotes shifts in scale. Users follow a digital map,
navigating on foot to a specific area, to search a five to ten meter
Figure 14: Seeds collected and cached from letting the front yard grow

23

radius for a cache as small as a film canister. In my yard I was
beginning to understand that observing the environment from a
macro and micro perspective is what allows us to see more and
be open to nature’s lessons. My intent was to distribute my cache
prototype seeds within Geocaches to foster a way for them to
trade and further shift the scale of the participants. The seed pod
is the cache, the seed supplying the evolving engagement to carry
beyond the existing experience; a method that fostered sustainabile
relationships with nature rather than simply a reward of a plastic
toy.
I realized that, while giving potential for growth (literally and
figuratively),this scenario did little to promote a key aspect needed
for sustainability: the capacity to slow down. Going slow allows
“qualities [to] emerge from the interaction of the parts” time to
reflect on our actions, our desires and our outputs (Sterling, 2001
p.80). I was seeking a means for people to nurture the seeds
growth. While the Geocachers could take the seeds home, plant
them in soil and nurture their growth, there was also a possibility
that my containers of seeds would just move from cache to cache,
discarded when the novelty wears off or because there is no interest
on the part of the Geocacher. I realized that my capacity to control
people’s use of my design initiation in this instance/format/
medium was limited.
‘To induce in humans a moral point of view with respect to other-than-human
life forms is to orchestrate synergistic interactions across the human/animal
divide’ (Mathews, 2008, p.18).

4.5 Exploring the Yard: Summary thoughts
After hours of journaling, identifying plants, watching insects and
birds, collecting seeds and hearing the sound of snap dragon pods
exploding from tension in their drying husks, I realized that by
doing nothing but immersing myself in being in the yard, I had
made a significant change to my own behavior. The community
around me had also responded. The risk I took in offending my
neighbor who believed the yard should be controlled paid off. He
grumbled but helped me identify many of the seeds that could be
blown into his yard.
Figure 15: Some of the flora that bloomed in the yard

24

My exploration of Yard: Nature Close to home provided emerging
insights about prototyping with nature:
The Journal is a valuable tool to engage with nature holistically.
It goes beyond just sight and a description of events, capturing how
all senses take part in perceiving experience. Practicing journaling
outdoors fosters engagement with a dynamic or unpredictable
environment that is inherently multi-sensory and experiential. The
journal became a tool to help me appreciate nature for its dynamic
response to change through multiple senses. It takes practice for this
mode of sensing to become intuitive, and the journal helps to trigger
that practice.
Letting the yard grow was a choice to engage with a social risk. At
times I feared the judgment of my neighbors, but it surprised me in
how it allowed me to engage in physical risks. Playing with unknown
materials, the flowers invited insects, animals, other humans into a
space that I previously kept under my control. This control was based
on a preconceived idea of how the environment should behave.
Figure 16: Changes in my front yard over four months

25

It is this type of loosening of control that is counter intuitive for
designers, because intending to change an environment is often what
designers do.
Loosening control leads to opportunity and observations that are
beyond the perceived risks. Loosening control accepts unplanned
outcomes as invitations to explore other than a problem for design to
overcome. In this way it can carry research forward to new ground.
When situated outdoors this can be a gateway into understanding
ecological scale. By moving from observing animals at a distance
to insects at our doorstep we can change our way of thinking,
cultivating this ability to shift scales while observing allows us to take
in a broader picture and learn more from the world around us.
The benefits from non-gardening came to an untimely end when I
went to the Yukon for six weeks. I returned to find the front yard
had been mown and the garden beds stripped of everything but the
iris leaves. It was barren, controlled, and felt boring. My landlord had
assumed that we were not caring for the space and hired a landscaper
to return it to its ‘socially accepted’ state. Our society resists leaving
nature unattended.

26

LOCAL PARK:		
Exploring further from home
“If we are not courageous enough to take responsibility for our manner
of being in the world, to that degree we are compromised moral agents.”
(Bai, 2012, p.311)
Figure 17: Balancing on logs washed ashore near Spanish Banks

5.0 LOCAL PARK: Exploring further
from home
“You can discover more in an hour of play than in a lifetime of conversation”
- Plato
The second progression in Ballentine’s Nature Connection Pyramid
is the act of visiting less familiar places that are likely to produce
surprising conditions. To explore this I chose Spanish Banks, a
suburban park situated between single home dwellings and the
ocean. Spanish Banks supports heavy recreational use. Visitors
commonly spend time on the expansive foreshore, between
high and low tide, exploring, swimming, playing and relaxing. I
developed a series of installations to function as a survey (fig. 18,
Appendix B). The experiential survey explores questions that arose
from the early stages of YARD. In particular, I was interested in
what is the nature of connection, are their degrees to it in the urban
setting and how the general public finds opportunities to engage
with nature in spaces outside and within park-like locations such as
Spanish Banks.
Figure 18: Experiential Survey at Spanish Banks

LOCAL PARK took place over three weeks, and
generated a range of responses from the public.
It also drew out intuitive responses from me in
the form of experience prototypes. The following
section discusses selected examples from this
phase, such as making sandcastles and walking
through weeds. These unexpected moments in
nature along with the planned survey helped to
develop Earthbond Prototyping.

5.1 Experience Prototyping - Sand
Castle Barricade
I set up my experience survey at Spanish Banks
adjacent to a walking path. The survey was located
on edge of the sandy beach with a backdrop of
sand flats from low tide. The walking path is a high
traffic area for pedestrians, bicyclers and beach
goers heading onto the beach.
While waiting to engage with the public that
approached my experience survey I watched the
rising tide from the logs distributed along the
beach front. I noticed several sandcastles destroyed
by incoming waves. In some cases the children
building them were determined to thwart the tide
and constructed elaborate sand barricades to delay
the inevitable. They were playfully enjoying their
relationship with nature. Arguably, the children
were extending sand castle building into acts of
observing. Much like I had when non-gardening in
my yard, they were taking the time to observe and
reflect on their actions. Intrigued, on my second
trip to Spanish Banks I decided to build sandcastles
along with setting up the experience survey.
On my return to Spanish Banks, I brought a
corrugated plastic ring to build a barricade to
attempt to hold back the tide. (fig. 19) As the tide
Figure 19: Sand Castle Barricade used over three weekends

rose and surrounded the castle I watched it slowly succumb to the
taller rogue waves. Not only did I make a way to engage with nature,
the prototype encouraging me to take the extra time to observe the
response of nature, the waves eroded the sandcastle. Once a week
for three weeks I returned to set up my experience survey and build
large intricate castles inside and around the ring. I controlled the
design only temporarily, up until nature intervened. I was building
an ephemeral understanding of control.
The castles rose to the surface of the water and eventually washed
away. This attracted other builders and provoked the curiosity of
other beachgoers, including seagulls and dogs. It was an experiential
prototype that produced conversation about interacting with nature
as a child through its “simple invitation to play” (Riikonen, 2015,
p.43) and the time which that afforded.

5.2 Experiential Survey - Directional Choice Signs
The directional choice signs for my survey are made from salvaged
plywood, PVC conduit, oak trim from a dresser and scrap metal
(fig. 20). The conduit is flexible, allowing the signs to sway in the
sand and the used plywood suggests they are non-precious and
open for rough engagement. The participants were encouraged to
wander through an array of sign boards that have a question, two
choices and sliding counters.
Over the three weekends I spent several hours watching
participants navigate the signs. This navigation struck me as more
significant than the answers they chose. These participants did
not fear judgement and allowed their curiosity to guide them.
Having no clear finish or objective, participants felt little pressure
to do it quickly. Their curiosity manifested in different techniques.
Participants often turned back to rethink answers upon seeing the
next question, stare intently at a specific questions, or just skipped
through to read them all to plot out their pathway. The time taken
to come to personal solutions varied. I could imagine this survey
method with 50 signs and applied to other research, the scale itself
attracting participants.
Figure 20: Directional Choice signs set up at Spanish Banks.
Participants voted via the wooden counters at the bottom of each sign.

31

32

5.3 Experiential Survey - Fear Box
The fear box was made of salvaged rough cedar. Slivers of wood
and screws are visible and sharp (fig. 21). The dark orifice suggests
that there is something hidden inside that complements the form of
the box. The prototype materials and form are intended to prompt
a feeling of unease, ostensibly to prepare the participant to answer
the survey question. “Are you scared, anxious or apprehensive of
anything in urban green spaces you come in contact with regularly?”
Adults acted with caution around the fear box. They approached,
read the sign, contemplated, looked around and in many cases
walked away. These participants could clearly understand the simple
question but chose not to engage with the box. There are a myriad
of reasons for this, from being too busy, feeling uncomfortable (Is
it full of bugs? Is this a trick?), or not being interested. Ultimately
none of their responses contradicted my expectations: I had

developed the fear box out of a presumption that many people are
fearful of the unknown.
The responses to the experience survey and following written
survey are in Appendix B. They talk of socially driven fears;
garbage, needles, strangers in urban green spaces. They lack
conversation of ecology present in the urban setting. This leaves
open the question of whether or not users of Locarno beach
understand nature, or take nature for granted in this context.
‘If we are not courageous enough to take responsibility for our manner of being
in the world, to that degree we are compromised moral agents’ (Bai, 2012,
p.311).

5.4 Ecophobia vs Biophilia
City parks are meeting places where cultures can intermingle and
collide, opportunities for social interaction, exploration and selfdiscovery (Merewether, 2015). Nonetheless, much of the literature
points to how many of us are afraid of the outdoors (Strife, S., &
Downey, L., 2009). How can we connect to the outdoors if we are
too afraid to interact with it?
Gary Snyder and David Abram discuss the issue, ecophobia, the
“terror of the very wilderness that nourishes and sustains us”
(Abram, 2011, p. 69). They layer it into experiences of adults
hiking, living, relaxing and connecting with nature. They strive
to get their readers to embrace biophilia, our bond to greater
ecological systems and to realize ‘what a big potlatch we are all
members of!’ (Snyder, 2010 p. 19) Biophilia or ecophobia begins
when we are children and it is our experiences and education that
define which way we lean. A friend may have been bit by a garter
snake or you stepped on a bees nest. This love or fear sticks with
us as we age and guides the narrative that allows us to map and
navigate our world (Chambers, 2008).

Figure 21: Fear Box Survey at Spanish Banks

34

5.5 Mini Research Narrative - Weed Sandals
As a child I use to fear the feel of seaweed wrapping around my
legs as I swam in the ocean. While walking on Spanish Banks beach
I contemplated this story of discomfort, as seaweed caught on
my toes in the shallows. I picked some up and threw it in the air,
tossed it from hand to hand and then started wrapping it through
my fingers. This lead to a moment of ‘awe’, where I realized I was
designing. The simple intuitive motions of my body were creating
seaweed configurations. I was creating structures on my hand,
creating gloves of weed (fig. 22).
This escalated into swirling my feet in the tide pools for a moment;
shoes of weed appeared. Voila! I repeated this thirty times getting a
new unique sandal form each time. The seeming randomness of the
seaweed entwined with my motions supplied the changes necessary
to quickly generate iterations. In a short time the discomfort of
being tickled by the seaweed disappeared. My curiosity overcame a
mental fear and highlighted the true risk. Were my design actions
worth the damage to the sensitive ecosystem? I had walked down
the beach leaving my impact visible in the sand and beds of weed.
The weed sandals, sandcastles and experiential survey show that
play as a starting point for exploration tempers inhibitions. This
modified inhibition allows us to look past some of the social risk
involved with trying something creative. Curiosity leads us to
attempting to understand how action and outcome relate, designing
what best suits our understanding of the environment.

Figure 22: Examples of seaweed sandals generated by
interacting with nature

35

37

5.6 Exploring the Local Park: Summary thoughts
Key insights from my exploration of LOCAL PARK: Exploring
further from home that influenced my growing ideas about qualities of
prototyping in nature are:
Loosening control when researching leads to unexpected
outcomes. If I was only focusing on my survey instead of open
exploration, I may never have conceived the seaweed sandal or the
sandcastle barricade. This time spent perceiving nature in a new way
allowed me to validate and challenge results from my experiential
survey. The richest insights for Earthbond prototyping came from
the spontaneous making of experiential prototypes, the sandcastles
and sandals.
Making with self-originating materials and phenomenon uses
natural materials, motion, time and natural phenomena to ideate
and make. In this way nature becomes an active participant and
our perceptions of nature can change. In the case of the Seaweed
Sandals, and Sandcastle Barricade, my hands, sand, weed and water
combined to generate an infinite number of ideas. This making was
only limited by properties of which the materials afford. Making
with nature and inviting playful engagement is a key aspect of
Earthbond prototyping.

Figure 23: Mini sculpture made from found materials at
local park

38

EXPLORING THE UNFAMILIAR:
Canoeing in the remote north
“The [Blackstone] river flows within the overlapping traditional
territories of four First Nations: the Tr’ondek Hwech’in, Tetl’it Gwich’in,
Vuntut Gwitchin and Nacho Nyak Dun. The Gwich’in name for the
Blackstone River is Tth’oh zraii njik, which translates as “boulder-blackriver.” (Peepre et al., 2008, p.174)
Figure 24: Descending a talus slope in the Olgolvie Mountain range

40

6.0 EXPLORING THE UNFAMILIAR:
Canoeing in the remote north
“To travel by canoe is to ponder where we came from, where we are, where were
going, who we were, who we are and who we can be.“ (Iromoto, 2017)
At the Apex of The Nature Connection Pyramid are unfamiliar places
with surprising conditions. The Blackstone and Peel rivers met
these criteria for my wife and me. Outfitting the river trip, like all
the progressions within Ballentine’s pyramid, required moments of
reflection, preparation and making. The following narrative laces
the trip and the making of two of these prototypes together, a
canoe skirt and a bug shelter vestibule.
The Peel watershed is one of a few remaining in North America
that has no major development or resource extraction on any
tributary. By canoe we travelled over 500km crossing the lands of
the Tr’ondek Hwech’in, Tetl’it Gwich’in, Vuntut Gwitchin and
Nacho Nyak Dun to reach Fort McPherson. For an eleven day
stretch on a twenty day trip my wife and I perceived no signs of
human life aside from our own: no footprints, plane condensation
trails, old campfire pits or evidence of human impact. It was an
opportunity to test the artifacts I had made for the trip but also full
of opportunities to gain insight from being at the extremities of my
world.

6.1 Animism
David Abram discusses in Becoming Animal: An Earthly Cosmology
how settings can be palpable. The Peel watershed often made
us gasp and step back with emotion (2011). Shadows moved
with such speed across mountain faces that they seemed alive, or
bursts of rain appeared out of nowhere catching us off guard.
Even temperature constantly reminded us how dynamic natural
phenomena are, ranging from a biting 2 degrees to a caressing 25
depending on the direction of the wind, time of day or topography.
At this distance from other humans it is impossible not to accept
just how alive everything you see is.
Figure 25: Spiral rock structures of Peel River Canyon,
Peel River, Peel Watershed, Yukon Territory

41

The river itself becomes a feature to respect; sweeping branches
reached out to trap us. Rapids move; forming and flattening
depending on seasonal rainfall and flash flooding. Even rocks
grumble as they grind and tumble down the bottom of the river. I
came to enjoy the sound, amplified by the shape of our canoe. It
reminded me of the sheer power of the water at all times.
‘It’s weird, you know, the way so many people accept the notion that stone is
inanimate, that rock doesn’t move’ (Abram, 2011, p.55).

We fell in love with the scenery and were concerned if our
impact allowed travellers following us to feel the same sense
of wonder. This animism, where “mountains, rocks, rivers,
wind, water [are] preciously alive, and deserving of our respect,
love, and compassion” (Bai, 2015, p.146) was much easier to
understand when all of the distractions of day to day life in the
urban world were stripped away. Animism is recognizing that the
“whole universe is alive” (Bai, 2013, p.6) and full of intertwined
relationships. This does not place nature as objects for manipulation
and control, which happens often within design. For this reason
objectifying any part of nature must be done with caution as it can
lead to an abuse of relationships that are other than human.
Figure 26: Overloaded canoe covered by skirt

Often I pulled out my camera capturing a moment. Later the
photos could trigger a memory for me, or be a pattern I could
appropriate for design. I wonder how this rock would respond if it
knew I was going to plaster its image all over social media and my
thesis project. Would it be happy to have the exposure, bringing
more people to share in its towering fragility? Or would it be upset
that the influx of humans scared away its nesting peregrine falcons.
We knew the thoughts of the falcons, they shrilled and swooped
from the cliffs as we approached on the river.
‘We should be traveling into the wilderness and returning with stories that elicit
curiosity. Stories that explain what we learnt from the terrain and nod to all the
plants and animals and birds’ (Snyder 2010, p. 24).

44

6.2 Prototype - Canoe Skirt
The canoe skirt is a nylon cover that serves many purposes for
canoe tripping (fig. 27). It protects us from flooding in turbulent
water, traps loose gear in the event of capsize, supplies mounting
points for a variety of safety equipment, and protects paddlers and
equipment from the elements. I produced this piece out of new
materials. In my mind I could not afford degraded materials. In this
design situation I must accept the “new” alternative after examining
the risk of the old. This ethical dilemma struck me as significant.
Without a skirt I could still paddle the river but would be forced to
approach rapids differently and rely on other artifacts to meet my
needs.

6.3 Artifact as Mediator
The canoe skirt took on characteristics that supplied us with the
opportunity to pay attention to our surroundings. It kept us warm
from the wind; we even nestled into it while flowing downriver.
Figure 27: Original tent dismantled for the vestibule

45

The continuous motion through changing environments forced
our senses to constantly adapt and it was the designed artifact that
tempered the shock (fig. 29). The skirt and canoe became a part
of us, acting as an extra pair of hands that stored and cared for
equipment. The intent attention the skirt afforded came about
through the close relationship between the artifact, the environment
and us (Verbeek, 2005). The making and use of the canoe skirt
nurtured this relationship.
‘This mediating role of things can become visible only if we do not reduce them
to non-thingly aspects’ (Verbeek, 2005, p.8).
Reaching the point where we could attend to our surroundings
came from significant effort and time spent making artifacts before
this trip even began. The skirt and the following vestibule represent
compounded skills from smaller experiments in studio (See
Appendix A). These experiments included seeking ways to extend
the lifespan of extremely worn equipment by repairing damage and
using my own waste items as the building blocks to develop new
ideas. I patched, sewed and even replaced the soles of boots with
bike tires. All of this effort was to give objects that carried stories
of my past trips one more chance to be used.
Figure 28: Napping in skirt on a dreary day

6.4 Prototype - Bug Shelter Vestibule
The vestibule is a lean-to tarp shelter with bug mesh walls (fig. 30).
I made the vestibule from three pieces of damaged equipment, my
first tent (fig. 28), a travel bug net and a silicone tarp riddled with
scorch holes. In essence I stripped the old equipment of its primary
function and form, but maintained a semblance of the earlier
designed aesthetic and the value that I had seen in it. In my repurposing I only rejuvenated parts of the original product to create
the vestibule. Over time the components will degrade enough to
join the offcuts in the trash.
‘The use of salvaged materials is not only resourceful; each material brings a
speculative history and builds emotional durability into the narrative’ (Hay,
2008, p.22).
Figure 29: Vestibule set up on shore of Blackstone river

6.5 Curriculum of place
The vestibule became the first object we set up
in camp and the last we took down. We sat in the
separate enclosure away from the bugs, viewing the
river or reflecting on our days travels. I wrote in my
journal, ventured out to capture a couple photos or
followed a curious thought. Once again, I was sitting
on my front porch (fig. 31).
I found myself rearranging the vestibule into unique
shapes, depending on the dominant wind direction or
flat space available. I unintentionally generated design
solutions based on how the environment interacted
with the vestibule. I was making with nature.
Each stopping place supplied us with new curriculum.
The vestibule played a part in this. It contained our
footprint, acting as a familiar comfort site to learn and
reflect on the subject matter each place had on offer.
The campsites were teaching us what was “appropriate
to do there” (Chambers, 2008, p.120), expecting us
to watch our surroundings and build understanding.
Sounds we created were muffled by the river and at
other locations amplified by the cliffs surrounding us.
Camping on sand meant a comfortable sleep and also
told us that the river had reached that height recently,
washing away the vegetation. Our campsite affected
the traveling patterns of wildlife by more than just the
physical space it inhabited but the smells, sounds and
visuals it produced and left behind.
Each artifact we brought aided or disrupted access to
this curriculum. Spending time listening to an iPod
for example allowed us to remove ourselves from the
space entirely. Binoculars showed us a close up look at
flora and fauna we could not physically approach.

Figure 30: Vestibule set up in various configurations to
meet wind, rain available space and mounting points.

48

6.6 Framing
‘A curriculum of place calls for a different sense of time’ (Chambers, 2008,
p.115).
What we learn from the available curriculum in unfamiliar places
becomes content for creative practice. This information projects
forward to unfamiliar situations, redefining the range of variables
that frame further inquiry within design. This ability to reflect on
what we have experienced in order to challenge and take calculated
risks is a learning outcome of both exploratory research and
physical progressions to unfamiliar territory.
While making, preparing food, and collecting equipment I could
only speculate on possible scenarios that we might find ourselves
in. If our boat capsized would my emergency beacon survive the
moisture, the impacts on rocks, and could I even find it floating in
a brown or green river? These are variables that change the design
which came from place based curriculum earlier in my life. The
ability to see and define the framing of the problem is a skill of
the designer and engineer. Preparing a progression into unfamiliar
territory is practice in creating frames.
Figure 31: The majority of the equipment and food brought on the 20 day trip

This is why experiences in context are essential for practicing to
recognize when the frame changes. My sleeping bag keeps me
warm in the confines of a dry tent. The tent is part of what frames,
defines the environment, of the design of the sleeping bag (fig. 33).
If my sleeping bag design is too hot with too much insulation, do I
redesign the bag, develop a portable solar powered fan, or just open
the door of the tent. In this way new opportunities for design don’t
lie within a frame but beyond its edges. “People create the best
solutions from the boundaries of their artifacts and environments”
(Kim, H., & Lee, W., 2014, p.1). Each artifact we brought (and
there were many) are solutions to a framed problem (fig. 32). No
matter how perfect a solution there will always be another when the
dynamic unpredictable nature of our world slightly shifts the frame.
With practice it becomes easier to recognize how shifting a single
frame, nudges the frames of everything it is in relationship with.
‘There are lessons tucked into the folds of so many little moments that we take
for granted’ (Bosley, 2017).
Figure 32: Sleeping bag framed by tent

50

6.7 Exploring the Unfamiliar: Summary thoughts
I rarely stepped outside when making the vestibule and canoe
skirt but my mind was situated in my past experiences outdoors
while making. Imagining was facilitated through past experiences
of connection, the material and the tools available to me. It was
dynamic, ethically engaging and evolved with my skill in making.
Key insights from Exploring the Unfamiliar: Canoeing in the Remote
North that influenced my growing ideas about qualities of
prototyping in nature are:
Progression is relative to your understanding of the environment.
Move away from spaces that are impervious to changes in climate
and the influence of natural systems, creating enough distance
to feel unfamiliar with the context. This can lead to a different
understanding of framing. Most designers do not have the time or
experience in outdoor education that I have. As a result I chose a
very distant location for exploring the phase UNFAMILIAR of The
Nature Connection Pyramid. For others, small progressions in making
and reflecting are enough to spark our curiosity, teach us, allow us
to challenge a fear and shape who we are.
Intertwining with nature is the act of listening to your ‘ecological
self ’. When developing a prototype, this can manifest as an internal
debate about the design’s lifecycle, or the relevance of using
repurposed or recyclable materials. It may be about how a design
tempers adverse environmental conditions. In creating something
that is maintenance free, experience-free, am I leading the user of
the artifact toward a connection to nature or away from it?
Attend to Nature to build or deepen your relationship. Artifacts
and actions that support acts of attending include: journaling,
watching, drawing and being present through meditation. These
all lead to connection with the natural world. This reflection on
present experiences with nature builds a repertoire of memories
and cultivates the ability to imagine artifacts in dynamic contexts.

Figure 33: Paddling in the current at the end of a 8km
portage on Aberdeen Canyon Peel River

51

52

SYNTHESIZING
EARTHBOND
PROTOTYPING
“Any part we may choose to focus on leads us beyond itself: a part is
not understandable out of itself (as a discrete part), but only out of its
context within the developmental process.” (Holdrege, 2013, p.77)
Figure 34: Mapping the research explorations in studio

A55
55

7.0 GENERAL CONCLUSIONS
This thesis explores three sets of Experiential Prototypes developed
for three separate contexts: A gardening strategy for my YARD,
an experiential survey at a LOCAL PARK and outfitting for a
canoe trip in the UNFAMILIAR. The prototypes afforded many
speculative uses but also exposed important relationships between
“self-originating” nature (Bonnett, 2002) and design. Nature does
more than just supply the material abundance to design, it inspires
creativity and nurtures growth.
Ecologically dense environments demand full body attention,
producing rich experiences that can be unpredictable, memorable,
thought provoking and full of content for creativity. As contexts
evolve, fundamental design skills present themselves, including:
depth in observation, growth in tacit knowledge, resilience in
adversity, speculation, planning, testing and problem framing. This
learning by doing strengthens and builds neural networks that make
‘the entire body a tool for learning’ (Hanford, 1995). The smells of
grass, the feel of pebbles on a shore, or observing the motion of
water through touch and experimentation are all valuable lessons
that translate into design’s way of knowing.
Earthbond prototyping is what facilitated this understanding. I
found myself present in the environment letting new research
opportunities emerge from simply taking the time to loosen
control, observe and act. It was not until I reflected in mapping that
I realized even I, someone with a strong link to ecology could find a
way for my ‘ecological self ’ to arise through designing. As discussed
in section 1.2 the ecological self is an empathetic relationship with
sentient or non-sentient others.
‘Any part we may choose to focus on leads us beyond itself: a part is not
understandable out of itself (as a discrete part), but only out of its context
within the developmental process’ (Holdrege, 2013, p.77).

Figure 35: Bear and wolf tracks dapple the shoreline of
the Peel River

56

7.1 Mapping
Mapping these research explorations deepened understanding of
the process and highlighted many of the insights I have discussed in
sections 4 to 6. Appendix A - Catalogue of prototypes details the inquiry
that led to the making of each prototype. It was this catalogue
and wide quantity of work that afforded iterations in mapping.
Eventually the mapping technique that worked best to visualize
and synthesize the work was a spreadsheet. There is some humour
in this outcome as spreadsheets are a common computation tool I
used throughout my engineering degree.
I was able to map photographs of the research paths on a grid
that compared the familiar locations I progressed to: indoors, yard,
neighbourhood, remote trip. This information set was compared
to modes of experience: perceived nature, making for holistic
engagement with nature, making with self originating materials
and phenomenon, embracing unexpected outcomes from nature
and attend on nature. I came to the realization that choosing
one prototype to cap this work as a design outcome would be
misguided.
Contemplating this map helped me to recognize that each
contextual inquiry produced unique outcomes through a relatively
consistent process. This repetition in process and the depth of
understanding it produced shapes the Earthbond prototyping
methodology.
‘One of the all-time most popular programming models is the spreadsheet. A
spreadsheet is the dual of a conventional programming language -- a language
shows all the code, but hides the data. A spreadsheet shows all the data, but
hides the code. Some people believe that spreadsheets are popular because of
their two-dimensional grid, but that’s a minor factor. Spreadsheets rule because
they show the data’ (Victor, 2012).

Figure 36: Refined process map showing the
categorization of explorations and pathways

57

58

8.0 EARTHBOND PROTOTYPING
‘There is something on the other side of that high and difficult threshold, and
those are high rewards’ (Wood, 1999, p.7) .
The explorations presented in this thesis were necessary to conceive
the Earthbond Prototyping methodology. Of the artifacts presented
in this work the Journal, the Seaweed Sandals, the Sand Castle
Barricade and the Vestibule (fig. 38) can be defined as Earthbond
Prototypes. At some point in the development process each of
these prototypes resulted from “environmentally situated action”
(Chambers, 2008, p.119) and reflection. Each produced interactions
with the natural world that within my existing practice as an engineer
I would have deemed impractical. The Journal, Sandcastle, Seaweed
Sandal, and Vestibule were exploratory, generative and changed how
I thought about nature’s influence on making and testing artifacts.
Earthbond prototyping is a way to share this with other designers.
Earthbond Prototyping begins by defining an expanding contextual
inquiry that places the research in familiar then unfamiliar natural
settings. This process involves visualising future scenarios,
autobiographical writing, and making Experience Prototypes to create
active engagement. Once in context the designer must loosen their
control to mitigate how much their expectations might influence
any outcomes. This is by far the hardest part. Often throughout this
work I found myself packing up prototypes determined to return
to the studio and refine a detail that did not work. I wonder now
how many more Earthbond Prototypes I would have developed if
I had taken the time to deepen observations at these moments of
frustration. As our mental awareness increases, we become immersed
in the environment. Through this deep attention relationships with
nature on the periphery of our previously defined concepts move
to the forefront. It is only a matter of embracing these unexpected
moments and turning them toward design. This allows natural
materials and phenomenon to alter your perception and intertwine
with design. Nature becomes a participant in shaping the designer
and the design. Finally, take the time to reflect on deep attention,
appreciate the ‘awe’ in the situation, impact on ecology and
environment, recording it holistically.

59

The graphic representation in figure 39 shows how navigating
expanding contexts though making, loosening, attending, and
intertwining is non-linear, flexible and allows insights from
explorations to percolate between contexts. This is necessary to
benefit from the curriculum that arises and balances the rigid and
linear mindset needed for a state of control.
Earthbond prototyping is a method for design research that shifts
experience prototyping toward a bio-inclusive method of design.
By focusing on the differences between making, the speculated use,
active and unexpected engagement in natural dynamic contexts
it is possible to change the way designers sense, feel, think, and
ultimately act (Buchenau et al, 2000). The outcome is innovative in
that it supports the ‘ecologic self ’ of the designer, leading toward
an ethical stance on nature within sustainable practice.

Figure 37: Sandcastle Barricade. Seaweed Sandal,
Journal, Vestibule

60

8.1 Characteristics of Earthbond Prototyping
• Engage with nature holistically. Invite understandings of
sentient and non-sentient relationships through all senses.
• Loosen control by recognizing and inviting playful
engagement. This reduces inhibitions and fear of risk.
• Follow curiosity to shift the frame.
• Seek immersion with information that is complex,
non-linear and full of the unexpected.
• Make with self-originating materials and phenomenon to
afford nature the time to be an active design participant. This
exposes the dynamic relationship between artifact and environment.
• Embrace and act on unexpected outcomes; these are learning
opportunities that develop ideas and content for creativity.
• Attend to nature; capture sense, feeling, thought and
emotion to tap into the ‘curriculum of place’ (Chambers,
2008). This supports the emergence of the ‘ecological
self ’ through the relationships that are present.
• Intertwine with nature and listen to your ‘ecologic
self ’ when developing a design. Seek an understanding
of the cost of design actions to ecology.
• Recognize biophilia in your design and its
influence on designed outcomes and others.
Designers will discover “that it is through such active listening, and
the surprising differences in perspective it reveals, that their own
perspectives are activated, take shape and evolve” (Mathews, 2008,
p.15).

“…remember that I didn’t start out to paint a bird – the bird already existed. I started
out to paint a picture of a bird, a picture which didn’t exist before I came along, a picture
which gives me a chance to share with you my thoughts about the bird. Once you accept this
seemingly simplistic but really quite profound premise, you will appreciate the many varied
approaches to the making of pictures. “
- Charley Harper

61

Figure 38: Earthbond Prototyping method diagrams

62

9.0 IMPLICATIONS
‘are the qualities, depth, and extent of learning moving us towards or further
away from ecological sustainability?’ (Sterling, 2001, p. 6)
The personal and narrative tone of this thesis shares the breadth
and depth of my journey to frame a methodology for connecting
design and nature: Earthbond Prototyping. Earthbond Prototyping
is an interdisciplinary methodology bridging and encompassing
design and outdoor education. Both design and outdoor education
include exploratory approaches to learning about relationships.
Exploratory approaches to understanding relationships are central
to earthbond prototyping. By observing changes in nature over
several months instead of a few days, we can learn to reflect with
all senses; senses can be tuned and directed. Making with natural
materials leads to understanding what material properties afford;
the tensile strength in the seaweed is what shaped the shoes (p.
36). Speculative designs tested in context flush out unforeseen
design considerations; the vestibule and canoe skirt (p. 48,43)
were intended for shelter but evolved to become a narrative on
comfort, connection and curriculum. Each exploration within the
methodology of Earthbond Prototyping produced insights that led
to a greater understanding
of the benefits of immersing design practice with nature. The
following are three examples of insights that could inspire other
designers who engage with the Earthbond Methodology.
The blue bells in my yard grow from a dense base of long,
narrow leaves. These leaves flop to the ground spreading
out around the stem of the blue bell flower in about a
thirty centimeter diameter. As the summer progresses, the
blue bell flowers turn to seed pods and it is at this point
where I noticed that the leaves serve at least two purposes.
They gather energy for the seeds to form, but also whither
and expose bare ground just before the seed pods burst.
This ground would have been choked with grass if the
leaves were not there to act as mulch. This leaves room for
the seeds to land and germinate. Thousands of years of

63

evolved iteration produced a design that that capitalizes on
opportunity while simultaneously producing opportunity.
In the park I spent time attending to sand worms. These
somewhat prehistoric looking animals are abundant and
move through the sand at incredible speeds. What I would
call a ‘jaw-like shape’ extends outwards collecting a full
mouth of sand, essentially boring and passing the sand
through its own digestive tract. It collects and deposits
nutrients on the move. Food for thought for any designer.
How can the impact of our design movement benefit the
community that we leave behind?
In the remote north I caught and ate Northern Grayling,
an arctic fish with a stunning display of color on its
dorsal fin. As we traveled downriver the vibrancy of color
displayed on these fish diminished in correlation to the
clarity of the water. I came to believe that in clear water
predators can see all the way to bottom of the riverbed.
Here, the grayling must camouflage themselves in the
pebbles of red ochre, black basalt and green quartzite to
stay hidden. In turbid waters this is not necessary, as the
stirred up silt keeps the river brown and opaque. I relate
this to how design decisions at the beginning of a process,
upstream, may need reconsideration further into a process.
When an environment changes designers must re-evaluate
all of the decisions that led to that point, because design
and environment are integrally linked.
Earthbond prototyping is a holistic technique that can change
perspectives and prioritize an ethical relationship between design
and nature. The concentrated immersion of Earthbond prototyping
can lead to the understanding that we are part of the world, not just
living on it (Mathews, 2008, p. 16). Over time, immersion in nature
imprints an instinct for design that is nature centric. Our design
work can embody and express the values of our ‘ecological selves’.
As Heesoon Bai says, “Our actions in the world emanate from who
we are: the way we think, perceive, sense and feel” (2012, p.312).
When we think, perceive, sense and feel the natural world more
deeply, we can change the way that we design.

64

10.0 FURTHER RESEARCH
There were many paths to follow when summarizing my generative
and muddy research process (See Appendix A - Catalogue of
Prototypes). An engineering lens may have concluded with an
efficient and tangible outcome, or product. A strictly outdoor
education lens would prioritize human relationships within nature
without acknowledging design as integral to those relationships. I
present the approach that is “appropriate to the situation’ (Sterling,
2001, p.82) recognizing outdoor immersion as a catalyst to deep
learning, engineering and design along a spectrum of mindsets for
control, and Earthbond prototyping as the link between them.
Earthbond prototyping is a mode that supports discovery and
ethical innovation. As I’ve indicated in this writing, Earthbond
prototypes are as much about their making as their use. As
a design researcher I would like to see students navigate and
use the characteristics of Earthbond prototyping in the same
way I did. For most students, the progression to YARD takes
them into unfamiliar situations with unexpected conditions.
The shift to LOCAL PARK, would be even more so. What
matters is intentionally taking the time to change contexts and
approach a threshold that is not understood. This is navigating
ambiguity. Finding deeper levels of understanding through
this type of exploratory research not only builds confidence in
Earthbond Prototyping, but in nature’s intrinsic value and nature’s
contributions to wisdom, creativity, and design.
I have drafted two course outlines (Appendix C) shaped by this
research and my previous experiences in Outdoor Education and
Engineering. Both are techniques to teach Earthbond prototyping
to second or third year design students. They would introduce
students to a way of designing that can “shift their consciousness
from the problematic industrial–military–consumeristic mindset to
one that is ecological, holistic, compassionate and aligned with the
earth” (Bai, 2012, p.312).
One outline describes a semester long studio course, and the second
is a two week condensed course taking place during a sea kayaking

65

trip from False Creek to Granite Falls on Indian Arm. In both
courses, students would develop techniques to capture heuristic data
and build on its role in practice as a reflective and dissemination
tool. They will explore and work with the characteristics of
Earthbond prototyping as discussed in section 8.1. I am currently
in the process of researching the steps to turn these rough course
outlines into a course proposal and developing the details of each
deliverable.
Earthbond Prototyping is inherently exploratory and generative, a
method of design that allows designers to deliberately get lost in the
woods, whether it is following a new stream or climbing an old tree.
Placing themselves in situations where discovering conceptual and
physical terrain is rich with opportunities.
Additionally, I would like to continue to research or refine many of
the prototypes found in Appendix A. I have already begun to use
the Earthbond structure to develop artifacts for a K-1 classroom.
These are a series of play stations that act as landmarks to move
the primary classroom into outdoor contexts (fig. 41). I have also
explored using the characteristics of Earthbond prototyping to
develop a legacy workshop to create public art. These explorations
can be found in the catalogue of prototypes (Appendix A).

Figure 39: Applying the structure and insights from Earthbond
Prototyping to the primary classroom stations

66

67

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(Reprinted from [Thinking like a mountain: Towards a council of all beings], eds. [Seed, J. et. al], [1988],
[Philadelphia]: New Society Publishers.)
Orr, D. W., and Fritjof Capra. (2005) In Stone, M. K. & Barlow, Z. Ecological Literacy: Educating Our Children for a
Sustainable World . Berkeley: Sierra Club Books.
Orrick, A. (2015). The power of stories. Retrieved from https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/brandstorytelling/1/steps/50070
Peepre, J., Locke, S.. (2008) Wild Rivers of the Yukon’s Peel Watershed: A Traveller’s Guide. Whitehorse, Yukon : J.
Peepre and S. Locke.
Riikonen, J., (2015). Playful public spaces : how can play change the way we think about public space design?. (masters
dissertation): SLU, Department of Landscape Architecture, Planning and Management.
Ruano, D. S. (2016). Symbiotic Design Practice: Designing with-in nature. (doctorate dissertation) University of Dundee,
Dundee, Scottland. oai:discovery.dundee.ac.uk:studenttheses/4c3d61c4-5524-45be-8662-8fdabe2517b0
“Seed Savers - Village Vancouver.” Accessed January 31, 2017. http://www.villagevancouver.ca/group/
vvfoodgroupseedsavers.
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39(1), 15–19.

69

Smith, A. M., & O’Sullivan, T. (2012). Environmentally responsible behaviour in the workplace: An internal social
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257X.2012.658837
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Schumacher Society.
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Fletcher and Mathilda Tham, 33–42. Oxon, New York: Routledge.
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opj/index.php/n13/article/view/381 Accessed Nov 16, 2016
Todd, N.J. (1984). Bioshelters, Ocean Arks, City Farming: Ecology As the Basis of Design. Sierra Club Books.
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Verbeek, Peter-Paul. (2005). What Things Do: Philosophical Reflections on Technology, Agency, and Design, Pennsylvania
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70

APPENDIX A
Catalogue of Prototypes

A1

-31

-30

Wheel of Thoughts

3D Thoughts

How can thoughts be
randomized to produce
shifts and insight?

Can Post-it notes be used
on 3D structures to mind
map?

-29

-28

Sensory Cube

Learning Style
Stamp

Can adjectives be
randomized to help people
observe differently?

Can Gardner’s’ intelligences
be used to evaluate areas
for improvement?

-27

-26

Intelligence
Spectrum

Sensory Eclipse
How can I share multisensory experience
and show how we
preference senses?

Can intelligences be
represented by a spectrum?

-25

-24

Multi-Sensory
Mask

Sensory Glove
Can textures on a
glove be associated to
memory of tasks?

Can I have fun in the
studio and make people
think I am working?

A1

-23

-22

Fidget Board

Fidget Desk

Can augmentative fidget
toys be customizable
or modular?

Could the underside of
a desk be a canvas to
‘fill’ with fidget tools?

-21

-20

Alley Shopping

Garbage
Collection

What insight present from
completing a photo study
of alley waste?

Will cleaning up all the
garbage on my street
produce ideas?

-19

-18

Wasted Stories

De-Fencing

Can storyboarding be used
to share design insights?

Will removing fencing
make it less likely
people will use the tree
barricades as trash bins?

-17

-16

Autism
Co-creation

Ideation Scroll
Will forcing a linear
process still be linear?

What symbolism will be
most effective to draw out
conversations on autism?

A2

-15

-14

North Shore
Hiking Persona’s

North Shore
Journey Mapping

Can I research personas for
hikers on trails adjacent
to urban centres?

What would the most
effective intervention
be to promote safety
for all personas?

-13

-12

North Shore
Preparedness Kit

Preparedness Kit
System Mapping

What are the essential items
every hiker should carry?

Could I imagine a service
of kits to ensure hikers
always carry essentials?

-11

-1

Exploring

Scale Shift

How will observing
kids connect to nature
create insights?

Is capturing insight with
photography effective
dissemination?

-9

-8

Caving

Camping

What unique design
methodologies emerge
from prioritizing
the experience of
play in nature?

How will observing kids
connect to nature in dense
ecology create insights?

A3

-7

-6

Old Mans Beard

Hiking Grind

What unique design
methodologies emerge
from prioritizing the
experience of play
about nature?

How does observing
kids at their threshold
produce insights?

-5

-4

Imaginary Tree
Forts

Mapping Motion
How can motion
inspire design?

How do kids connect
indoors ? How can
it be used?

-3

-2

Super Glasses

Explore Urban
Crevices

What barriers do kids feel?

Can I find hidden places
to connect with nature
within the urban setting?

-1

0

Ankle Cuffs

Journal Template

Will restricting motion
to be in a ‘kids’ shoes
produce design insights
while designing?

How does prompting
templates in a journal
change reflection?

A4

1

2

CONNECT

To Urban Nature

Recruitment
Poster

White Board
Questionnaire.

SEEKING VOLUNTEERS
To participate in a Master of Design
students’ research study through Emily
Carr University of Art and Design.
This research will provide the research to
develop a product that engages families,
including your own, to collaboratively
increase their awareness and curiosity of
nature in urban settings.

How do I recruit
participants?

The researching is seeking families with a
maximum of three children between the
ages of 4 and 12.

Can I engage the public
with my questions?

Research includes one or all of the following
- Interview
- Activity journal
- Crafting activity
- User testing of the developed product

Participating in this research is voluntary.
You may withdraw at any time. There are
no risks beyond what you would
experience in everyday life.

4

Create, collaborate and design with your family to build ecological awareness.
To participate or for more information please email rcamozzi@ecuad.ca
hcraeseR tnapicitraP : tcennoC
ac.dauce@izzomacr
9380568406

hcraeseR tnapicitraP : tcennoC
ac.dauce@izzomacr
9380568406

hcraeseR tnapicitraP : tcennoC
ac.dauce@izzomacr
9380568406

hcraeseR tnapicitraP : tcennoC
ac.dauce@izzomacr
9380568406

Connect : Participant Research
rcamozzi@ecuad.ca
6048650839

Connect : Participant Research
rcamozzi@ecuad.ca
6048650839

Intentions

Connect : Participant Research
rcamozzi@ecuad.ca
6048650839

Scavenger Hunt

Introduction

Hello my name is Zach Camozzi I am masters of design student studying at Emily Carr University of Art and Design. I am attempting to collect
research data on what inspires or inhibits urban families to go outside into green spaces, and the details around these moments of change. The
research material collected will culminate in the design of a tool, system, or product that allows families to collaboratively increase their awareness
and curiosity of ecological information in urban settings.
Connect : Participant Research
rcamozzi@ecuad.ca
6048650839

3

Researcher: Zach Camozzi – Masters of Design Candidate

My initial step in this research is to conduct a voluntary survey. Most surveys are done using a tablet or online form, I am experimenting using
alternative techniques. The basic idea is to set up a supervised station several times over the following month in a local park and allow park users to
participate at will. I am intending to make 6 interactive objects that I will rotate throughout each day to collect research material. The details of
each station set up are in the following spread sheet, including description, and any relevant extra information. While these stations are up I will
also be conversing with park users who approach the station, actively looking for participants for later stages of the research.

Fear Box

Locations & Dates :
Locarno
Beach –
August
27th

Can I use a ludic
approach to design
research to engage my
intended audience?

How can the materiality
of an artifact change
our desire to interact?

Jericho
Beach
Park–
Aug 28th

Charleson
Park –
th
Sept 17
& 24th

*I only need about a 5m square, so locations can move to suggested locations if needed.
Zach Camozzi
Masters of Design Candidate
rcamozzi@ecuad.ca
6048650839

1

5

6

Instructions
Are instructions a sign of
poorly afforded designs?

Perspective
Board
Find and read
instructions

Contemplate
the questions and choose 1
or more to answer

Explore the cards other
people have drawn on

Draw/write
your own

Can I show changes in
perspective in a question?

Add it to the
board

7

8

Online Survey

Directional Choice
Signs

Will a survey play a role
in my design process?

Can I come up with unique
ways to gather survey data?

A5

9

10

Play in Nature,
Sand Castle #1

Tent Tarp V1
Can I test my artifacts
while doing my survey?

How do noncomplimentary behaviors
produce interactions?

11

12

Sand Castle # 2

Seaweed Sandals

Can kids even wait
for the tide?

Does the motion of
nature create unique
design possibilities?

13

14

Shovel Tossing

Supervisor

Does human motion create
design possibilities?

How Does stopping and
being in the moment
change perspective?

15

16

Sand Castle
Barricades

Fort Cache
Can I get an existing
community to build
together outside of what
they find familiar?

Can I produce an object
to increase the time taken
to interact with nature?

A6

17

18

Seedlings

Wet ‘Moisture’

How is Gardening
connecting?

Can designing with nature
make people understand
multi sensory design?

19

20

Hedge Sculpting

Interaction-Less
Gardening

How can I produce
spontaneous interactions
with urban nature?

How will letting my garden
grow produce insights
for my design process?

21

22

Mini World

Seed Cache

How can I produce
spontaneous interactions
with urban nature?

Can I create objects that
promote making time to
‘let your garden grow’?

23

24

Garlic Braiding

Mint ‘Smell’

What other actions within
gardening produce
connections to nature?

What is private/public? How
do private actions done
privately differ from private
actions done publicly?

A7

25

26

Fern Game
Board

Tree Fort & Board
Game

How can I explore
Bio-mimicry.

How does collaboration
effect myself as a designer?

27

28

Concrete Yogurt
Parfait

Water bottle Door
Closer

What is the difference
between art and design?

What sustainable
artifacts do I already
have at my house?

29

30

You Tube Stools

Bear ‘Bell’

How does collaboration
effect my design strategies?

What is critical design?

31

32

Mush Board

Modern Pet Rock

How can I map ideas in
an alternative way?

Can I make artifacts that
are critical design?

A8

33

34

Zipper Repair 1

Re-Purpose Bag
Hood

Can I repair all the gear/
clothes/things that are
broken in my home?

Can I re-purpose gear
into something else I
find useful? Adhocism?

35

36

Zipper Repair 2

Headlamp Repair

How does this change what
I need to find for our trip?

How does it change how I
think about what I can get?

37

38

Birk Repair

Workstation

What else can I fix?

How does the environment
need to change to allow
design to happen?

39

40

Bogg Repair

Organize Tools

How long does it need
to stay fixed for?

How do tools/hard
skills change my
ability to design?

A9

41

42

Fruit Leather

Quick Access Kits

Is food preservation design?

How can we access
equipment that is
sensitive to weather?

43

44

Drying Vegetables
and Jerky

Emergency First
Aid Kit
What is essential for
repairing ourselves?

What else can I prepare
for our trip?

45

46

Waxed Cheese

Emergency Repair
Kit

How else can I delay the
decomposition of food?

What is essential for
repairing our equipment?

47

48

Meal Packing

Closet Outfitter

How much do we
need for 20 days?

Where can I keep all this
‘stuff’ I have made?

A10

49

50

Map Book

Paddle Repair

How does having a map
change the experience?

Which shape/material of
paddle should we bring?

51

52

Re-Purpose
Dry Bag

Throw Bag
Harness #1

How sustainable is
re-purpose old equipment?

How can improve on
the existing design?

53

54

Boat Outfitting

Canoe Yoke Pads

How it is done now? What
am I missing that lead to
contemporary choices in
outfitting?

What types of padding are
most comfortable?

55

56

Repair Float Bag

Rescue Leash
What else can I reverse
engineer?

Is scabbing materials
design?

A11

57

58

Throw Bags 1

Boat Selection

Do safety devices feel less
safe when made by your
own hand?

What shape of canoe is
more appropriate for the
type of paddling and load?

59

60

Throw Bag 2

Knee Pads

Can I add function or
aesthetic to a safety object?

How can I make this
experience even more
comfortable?

61

62

Throw Bag 3

Canoe Skirt

How did that change my
perception of the object?

How does making with
new materials change how
I make?

63

64

Water Bag

Map Journal
Is planning a form of ‘mental
visualization’ for a successful
experience?

What happens when
you get too much
momentum and just try
making everything?

A12

65

66

Tent Floor Tarp

Pre-Trip Test

Does the re purposed
object carry over value
from the original object?

Will my equipment work
the way I expected?

67

68

Vestibule
(Front Porch)

Coffee
Meditation

What equipment can I
disassemble to build
new designs?

How do I translate
learning in the wilderness
to another scale?

69

70

Roof Rack

Canoe Skirt
Hammock

What can I scavenge
to build a roof rack?

What designs emerge
from using in context?

71

72

Trip Organizing

Open Studio

What design methods do I
use in preparation for a trip?

Will my heuristic
methods be understood
when presented to the
design community?

A13

73

74

Barriers

Would You Rather
Poster 1-6

How is design working with
barriers and thresholds?

How political is this work?
Is it a campaign?

75

76

Outdoor Learning Indoors!

Teaching our children to buy what we could easily find just outside your door.*
Little
Aligned Community
with the BC Curriculum
Book

How can I share community
journeys in a way that can
be analog and filterable?

Instructions
Will collaborative
instruction making with
a 6 year old produce
unique outcomes?

Engage readers at their
level with important facts
about exotic animals
across the globe.

Are you tired of those musty science bins?
4000k definition photos, so realistic students can
experience the seasons as they turn pages in
comfort.

77

Get back to
the basics
with these
real wood
tree blocks
from
sustainable
sources.

Realistic pretend rocks that are both weatherproof, lightweight
and wipe clean, perfect for endless creative building projects.

78

Teach children about natural materials
through route sensory learning, one
texture at a time!

Scholashtic

Community Art

Is there a trend in education
ignoring the benefits to
outdoor immersion?

Should my methods
manifest as community
engagement projects?

Do not stack more than 6 rows high

Flower Garden with Tools

This greenhouse really works when put beside a window!
Vinyl cover fits snugly over shelving and includes a zipper
for easy access. Purchased often with item #2107.

79

A new twist on a playground favorite without all that dust!
Foam and bungee pogo jumper with built-in squeaker
and electronic hop counter will get your students active
indoors without any scraped knees!

Students develop hand-eye co-ordination as they explore
nature with these ultra light weight play based polymers
straight from mother earth!

No water needed.

*Without this ingrained understanding, economic projections for our material
based society will continue to fall having dire outcomes for our top earners.

Kids Book

80
Community
Sculpture

Can I share my design
process in the form of
a children’s book?

Could this culminate
in public art?

A14

81

82

Mapping 1

Mapped Book

How do I synthesize
all this work?

RE
TU
NA N
R SIG N
FO E IG
N IC D DES
SIG AD G
DE M VIN
N O OL
EV

83

Do I need to simplify it and
make it more accessible?
What do I lose?

I
N
D
O
O
R
S

DO
I
N
D
O
O
R
S

ABOUT NATURE

I
N
D
O
O
R
S

I
N
D
O
O
R
S

THINK

FROM NATURE

I
N
D
O
O
R
S

REFLECT IN NATURE

The

Family Journal

spent in your own yard, going to a local park, walking pets, camping, hiking, swimming at a beach, lake or river. This is intended to be an
your experience please state why and if you wish to share more details that the diary does not cover please feel free to include them.

Details :

A Unique Moment in Words:

What Did You See/Hear/Touch? :

Date:

Describe, draw, collage, some of the most memorable things

Pick the most unique moment of the day. Make a word

that was not a construct of humans. If you collected objects do a

collage of adjectives, nouns, and onomonapia (ROAR!)
detailing the shared experience of the family. Make words

rubbing or stamp using the object.

How long were you there?

larger if you feel they are more relevant to the moment.

BUGS!
quiet

Where did you go?

Inspiration and Inhibitors:
Use the provided stickers to show:
What inspired this outing?

Emotions:

choose to get outside.
Social Pressure

outside? If so use your initials and an arrow to show how it

0

10

0

10

Change of Pace

changed.
Logical

Growth
Health

Focussed

Distracted

Achievement

Sensory
Food
Organize
Make

Pets
Mold
Cleaning
Proposition

Outdoor Learning Indoors!
Teaching our children to buy what we could easily find just outside your door.*
Aligned with the BC Curriculum

Engage readers at their
level with important facts
about exotic animals
across the globe.
Are you tired of those musty science bins?
4000k definition photos, so realistic students can
experience the seasons as they turn pages in
comfort.

Get back to
the basics
with these
real wood
tree blocks
from
sustainable
sources.

Realistic pretend rocks that are both weatherproof, lightweight
and wipe clean, perfect for endless creative building projects.

Spontaneous

zc

Anxious
Frustrated
10

Books
Television
Bio-Mimicry
Approximate

0

zc

Calm
Happy
10

Journals
Iteration
Recycle
Re-use

Teach children about natural materials
through route sensory learning, one
texture at a time!

PRIVATE

Do not stack more than 6 rows high

FAMILIARITY

N
E
I
G
H
B
O
U
R
H
O
O
D

SEE NATURE

Y
A
R
D
/
P
R
O
P
E
R
T
Y

ABOUT NATURE

Y
A
R
D
/
P
R
O
P
E
R
T
Y

SEE NATURE

P
A
R
K
/
B
E
A
C
H

N
E
I
G
H
B
O
U
R
H
O
O
D

SEE NATURE

WITH NATURE

Y
A
R
D
/
P
R
O
P
E
R
T
Y

Gardening
Making
Adhoc

ABOUT NATURE

WITH NATURE

P
A
R
K
/
B
E
A
C
H

ABOUT NATURE

Intentions
My initial step in this research is to conduct a voluntary survey. Most surveys are done using a tablet or online form, I am experimenting using
alternative techniques. The basic idea is to set up a supervised station several times over the following month in a local park and allow park users to
participate at will. I am intending to make 6 interactive objects that I will rotate throughout each day to collect research material. The details of
each station set up are in the following spread sheet, including description, and any relevant extra information. While these stations are up I will
also be conversing with park users who approach the station, actively looking for participants for later stages of the research.
Locations & Dates :
Locarno
Beach –
August
27th

Jericho
Beach
Park–
Aug 28th

Charleson
Park –
th
Sept 17
& 24th

*I only need about a 5m square, so locations can move to suggested locations if needed.
Zach Camozzi
Masters of Design Candidate
rcamozzi@ecuad.ca
6048650839

1

CONNECT

To Urban Nature

FROM NATURE

Curiosity
Engagement

P
A
R
K
/
B
E
A
C
H

Researcher: Zach Camozzi – Masters of Design Candidate
Introduction
Hello my name is Zach Camozzi I am masters of design student studying at Emily Carr University of Art and Design. I am attemp ting to collect
research data on what inspires or inhibits urban families to go outside into green spaces, and the details around these moments of change. The
research material collected will culminate in the design of a tool, system, or product that allows families to collaborativel y increase their awareness
and curiosity of ecological information in urban settings.

WITH NATURE

Hey Peng you dot need to answer this. I'm just doing some
learnt or were surprised about anything on the hike the
other day. About you or your kids.
Hey. I hurt my left arm real bad when sending Han to
school. Will see how I well recover. Not able to drive well
right now. Hope it heals enough in time later for the meet.

Anyway, my thoughts on the hike.
- The boys' impulse control were well in check when non-family
members are around. Hence no real whining and tantrums when
hiking up such a demanding climb for them, which is the hardest
one they've been on.
- Still surprised at being able to complete the hike without any
incidents. Their persistence is more than I expected.
- No real pressure to complete the climb within a certain timeframe helped a lot, more for me though.
- Patience and support is very crucial to help the boys complete
the hike. I had to keep reassuring them that there is no pressure,
to take their time, that I'm right there behind them.
good, was worried when he told me his asthma was acting up.
would have given up before my heart, so that was good.
- Should have worn lighter clothing, especially our shoes and
bottoms. Those track pants really bogged me down a fair bit,
sticking to my legs too much.
- As far as tough climbs are concerned, not something that we
would do on our own, at least right now. Need some external
peer pressure / support for the boys to overcome the physical
strain.
- Having the lure of a reward (grizzly bears!) that the summit
helps too.

A new twist on a playground favorite without all that dust!
Foam and bungee pogo jumper with built-in squeaker
and electronic hop counter will get your students active
indoors without any scraped knees!

Students develop hand-eye co-ordination as they explore
nature with these ultra light weight play based polymers
straight from mother earth!

No water needed.

REFLECT IN NATURE
*Without this ingrained understanding, economic projections for our material
based society will continue to fall having dire outcomes for our top earners.

Y
A
R
D
/
P
R
O
P
E
R
T
Y
Climbing
Observing
Bugs
Swim

N
E
I
G
H
B
O
U
R
H
O
O
D

Shop/Consume
Public Art

This greenhouse really works when put beside a window!
Vinyl cover fits snugly over shelving and includes a zipper
for easy access. Purchased often with item #2107.

FROM NATURE

Worlds
Forts
Objects

N
E
I
G
H
B
O
U
R
H
O
O
D

Walk
Transport
Expand
Community

PUBLIC

House Station

Flower Garden with Tools

Y
A
R
D
/
P
R
O
P
E
R
T
Y

Watch
Growing
Moving
Peripheral

Or should it be complex
forcing the user to navigate?

PLAY
WITH NATURE

Motivations for Getting Outside :

Photos
Collections
Furniture
Art

Mapping 2

84

EXPERIENCE
SEE

SEE NATURE

Being

N
E
I
G
H
B
O
U
R
H
O
O
D

REFLECT IN NATURE

Spontaneous
Understanding
Sense

P
A
R
K
/
B
E
A
C
H

FROM NATURE

What can be done to
progressively expand
in the K1 classroom?

Political
NonComplimentary
Behavior

P
A
R
K
/
B
E
A
C
H

REFLECT IN NATURE

SEEKING VOLUNTEERS
To participate in a Master of Design
students’ research study through Emily
Carr University of Art and Design.
This research will provide the research to
develop a product that engages families,
including your own, to collaboratively
increase their awareness and curiosity of
nature in urban settings.
The researching is seeking families with a
maximum of three children between the
ages of 4 and 12.
Research includes one or all of the following
- Interview
- Activity journal
- Crafting activity
- User testing of the developed product

Participating in this research is voluntary.
You may withdraw at any time. There are
no risks beyond what you would
experience in everyday life.

Time
Relax
Scale

Create, collaborate and design with your family to build ecological awareness.

hcraeseR tnapicitraP : tcennoC
ac.dauce@izzomacr
9380568406

hcraeseR tnapicitraP : tcennoC
ac.dauce@izzomacr
9380568406

hcraeseR tnapicitraP : tcennoC
ac.dauce@izzomacr
9380568406

Connect : Participant Research
rcamozzi@ecuad.ca
6048650839

Connect : Participant Research
rcamozzi@ecuad.ca
6048650839

hcraeseR tnapicitraP : tcennoC
ac.dauce@izzomacr
9380568406

To participate or for more information please email rcamozzi@ecuad.ca
Connect : Participant Research
rcamozzi@ecuad.ca
6048650839

SEE NATURE

Connect : Participant Research
rcamozzi@ecuad.ca
6048650839

W
I
L
D
E
R
N
E
S
S

Sports
Social
Fear
Eco-Phobia
Contagious

ABOUT NATURE
W
I
L
D
E
R
N
E
S
S

Beauty
Wilderness
Unknown
Pattern

Find and read
instructions

W
I
L
D
E
R
N
E
S
S

Safety
Conform
Transform

Contemplate
the questions and choose 1
or more to answer

Explore the cards other
people have drawn on

Draw/write
your own

Add it to the
board

Sand Castles
Empathy
Explore
Improvise
Agency

Spontaneous
Art
Co-create

FROM NATURE
W
I
L
D
E
R
N
E
S
S

WITH NATURE

Familiar
Control
Mnemonic

Conversation
Meaning

W
I
L
D
E
R
N
E
S
S

Unexpected
Adverse
Challenge
Wild

REFLECT IN NATURE

Knowledge
Comfort
Routine
Acceptance

85

86

Guy Line Cleat

Transportation
Station

What new designs emerge?

How abstract is too
abstract, to separated?

87

88

Cook Station

Shelter Station

Can I apply the
methodology to a narrower
problem space ?

How do earlier
prototypes play into
current prototypes?

A15

Designing for statics produces static designers,
threatening our dynamic reality.

A16

APPENDIX B
Survey Results

B1

Appendix B - Responses to Experience Survey
1. Our family unit consists of
____adults and ____ kids.
2,1 2, 2 2,1 2, 3 2,2 1,1 2, 1 1

2. My children’s ages are .........
2.5 4,6 5, 8 3 months 1, 3, 6 <1,2 3

3. How many times a week (or
month depending on your needs)
does your family experience
the outdoors together?
Every Day
Every Day
Twice a week
Every Day
Every Day
Every Day
Twice a week
Twice a week
Twice a week

4. Describe unique
outdoor activities that your
family participates in together?
mud kitchens, forts, sandcastles, edible
wilds, creak boat
Walks, ride a bike, swim at outdoor
pool, badminton
Hikes, walks
Gardening, biking, walks, yard work,
swimming, Fort building, soccer,
catch, using the hose or watering can,
chickadee watching, worm hunting,
rock collecting, stick swinging, poking
and stacking
Zoo, playground, walk to the library,

B1

play in the backyard, camp, hike, splash
parks.
Go to the Beach and have a small
meditation activity then we play
Walks, learning about nature
adventures, walks, canoeing, cycling

5. Describe your family’s most
memorable outdoor experience?
broughton archipelago paddling with
killer whales
Walk the trails together at Deer Lake
park, they go all the way around the
lake, seeing the many animals that exist
and just seeing flowers, rocks, leaves,
bugs, etc.
Hiking the trails near our home. Our
son calms down instantly when we are
near running water in the creek near
our home.
Seeing two moose in a lake grazing
(not urban). Doing grouse grind
together (urban)
Going down to the river to throw
rocks.
In the park all together playing frisbee
Holidays outside the city! Trips to the
mountains, sailing, skiing
hard to, time in the mountains in tibet
probably
					

6. What is each family
members favorite things
to see in urban nature?
eagles
Kids love collecting things (rocks,
leaves, petals, flowers), I love seeing the

ducks, geese, cranes in harmony. My
husband likes the peace and quiet that
the trails, nature bring.
Trees, turtles, natural light
Worms, dogs, French peas, birds that
are not crows, sunsets
Worms(2), birds(dad), bunnies(mom),
leaves(<1)
Mountains and water
Maman: sunsets; Mum: fountains;
kiddo: don’t know yet!
not sure

7. What is each family member’s
favourite thing to touch when
exploring urban nature? What do
they associate with that touch?
black berries, ocean water
Husband is soft grass, brings peace. I
love to touch bark on trees, it’s just so
unique and nothing else is like it, kids
love that too! Girls also love to touch
rocks, because there are so many types,
feels, sizes.
Rocks, leafs from trees as you walk by,
our infant enjoyed laying in moss
Blackberries - yum, moss - like a duvet,
smooth rocks - treasure, sticks with
girth - magic/power
Picking strawberries, smell of fresh
rain, inside, crushing flowers.
Hug trees we associate it to life, oxigen
and smelling flowers
Maman: long grass as I walk past;
Mum: trees; kiddo: we’ll see!
the trees

8. Describe a memorable
sound from time spent immersed
in nature and the story that

B2

makes you remember it.
robins, my parents house
Going to the beach and hearing the
waves crashing on the shores. It
reminds me of the time I was a child
and we went in camping in Portugal
and waking up every morning for a
week to those sounds
The birds singing in the backyard this
spring while sitting outside as a family,
it felt like the sounds represented the
new beginning of Spring and our new
family
The loon call... Lots of stories, trying
to get close to a loon in a boat.
Guessing where loon will surface
Rain on a tent.
The sound of the birds and bugs also
the sound of the sea
Waterfalls crashing and bell birds
singing at the same time; on a
bushwalk in Australia
always the wind

9. What is Urban Nature?
where wild animals and plant species
live amongst human development
Nature trails and nature systems that
exist within an urban environment (ie,
we have this outside our door in Bby,
where a lake and trails and animals
exist outside your door.
Natural green space with trees and
trails
the natural in and around the built
environment
Parks, pathways, backyard, attractions/
facility, wild life within city limits.
Majestic nature that seems bigger then
humans and whatever we create.

It depends on the city. In Sydney,
there are swathes of almost untouched
bushland preserved within the city
limits. In New York, any park/garden
with green space.
curated experiences that contrast the
urban concrete megalith that is life in
the city.

10. What motivates each family
member to spend time outside?
mainly that we both really enjoy each
other and being active. Social time
brings us outdoors and we both go
crazy inside.
a break from technology, mental health
In Vancouver it’s so rainy and gloomy
most of the year, and so whenever
there is warmth and sun, there is no
way you will find us locked inside.
Fitness, stress reduction and positive
emotional outcomes
Mental health, exercise , family time,
creative play, spiritual connection
Fear of couch potatoe, availability and
ease of parks/bike paths within 1 km.
Urban shops within a km, grocery
stores, restaurants, etc.
To breath fresh air and admire nature
Wanting to keep healthy & fit; enjoying
the feeling of refreshment in green
space; having nice weather; feeling
cooped up inside - the feeling of space
a break

11. Describe the last time a
family member felt curious
about something in the urban
environment? Explain how
they followed that curiosity to

B3

discover something?
walking home today, Fynn was
interested in the birds. We stopped and
listened to them for a while until he
was ready to go.
watching mason bees
There are a lot of different animals
habitats along the trails near our home.
Many times we will we walking around
the lake or near the shores and the
kids will see an animal/bird that they
have never seen and will ask lots of
questions. My husband knows a lot
about birds, so he can answer those. As
for walking the trails, you sometimes
hear creatures running through the
bushes and that gets kids curious about
those creatures and usually they jump
at the chance to find these creatures.
Our downtown has a lot of old
building and we went for a walk
downtown feeling all of the different
types of brick as we walked
Baby chickadees... Hearing them.
Wondering what they eat. Watching
mom and dad chickadee deliver insects
2 year old saw worms after a rain and
wanted to save them (by collecting
them on the grass)
Looking at a dead bee my son was
curious about it, also so to see ants
work together
Just recently on a trip to the mountains
we wanted to find out more - we ended
up taking a geology tour & learning
a lot about how the mountains were
formed, different types of rocks etc.
not sure

12. Is there something your
family does indoors that you
also do outdoors? How does
the experience differ?
we have no boundaries :-)
building towers with blocksbuilding forts, outdoor play is more
impermanent AND memorable
Nope. Two separate dimensions.
Playing cards, watching movies,
reading, very different
Socialize. We are more active when we
are outdoors
Eat. More fun when sunny . Messier
Chalk drawings, easier inside (less clean
up/distractions). Eating, more relaxed
outside (picnic by a park, child free to
roam)
Yes, playing with the ball. It’s less
restrictive when we play outdoors

13. How would you teach someone
else to enjoy urban nature?
not make them feel judged for being
more scared/not liking something. Let
them see us having fun and approach it
their own way. Show them the greater
possiblities of what the natural world
offers without being preachy.
i would teach them the difference
between shitty rain gear and good
gear, i would teach them to layer, bring
snacks and prepare to get dirty.
Tell them to notice how nature affects
your senses, how it affects your
eyesight, what do u see, what sounds
do u hear, what do u smell, what do
you feel, how does this all connect to
your deep insides

B4

Ask them to join on our family walk,
Introduce them to fun recreational
activities they can do outdoors
No teaching just take them with
to a nice spot ... Maybe point out
something of interest like a large
stump of old tree with smaller trees
growing from it
Go to the zoo, take them for a walk
along the river to a good coffee shop.
To admire it is to be present. I’d say it’s
bigger then us and far more beautiful
I’d encourage them to look around,
experience new sights/sounds/smells,
observe birds, flowers & animals, play
sports or games

14. Describe a moment outside
together you wish you could
forget, what made it so hard?
We spend so much time outside...it’s
hard to say the most memorable. But
the most recent, impactful was the
tour de nuit. We spent 2 hours riding
with other people at night. Fynn was
cheering and high-fiving and laughing.
He loved it so much he refused to
sleep.
getting flooded while camping with
teenagers, everything was soaked, our
sleeping bags, clothes everything. We
knew if it wasn’t completely hot and
sunny we would have to be evacuated.
The time we went for a family
photoshoot along a popular trail.
Littlest child was 2 and decided to
run off, the more we ran after her,
the faster she ran, she kept looking
back and in doing so, tripped over an
embankment sliding head first into

a pile of gravel pit. There was blood
everywhere. We were in the middle of
a photoshoot (5 min. In) and nothing
to wipe up her face. Needless to say,
everyone was covered in blood. Her
face was disfigured for a long time. All
good now!
Portaging on an extremely buggy trail,
the bugs were unbearable and bug bites
were painful
Camping with dogs. One dog whined
all night. I could feel him staring at me
through a tent and I did not sleep
Hiking and being caught in a hail
storm with child (lots of screaming
took several months to untraumitize
child).
Seeing animals starving and being
abused. It makes me feel useless
furious

15. What stops your family from
going outside together? What
limitations does your family face
when experiencing urban nature?
sickness, life commitments like work
and school (but generally playing
outside takes priority over those) -40
weather conditions.
laziness, exhaustion, transition time
actually getting out the door.
The weather. We like warmth. If it
is wet and cold, we don’t like to get
outside as much
Bugs in the evening, coordinating all
family members schedules
Lack of shade, unexpected cold or wet.
Staying warm or cool, plenty of food
and snacks
Weather, time, crowds, cost.

B5

Big hikes. My sense of location is not
good and I’m afraid of getting lost.
Also bears
Weather (extreme cold, heat or rain)
and in winter, limited daylight time

16. What does your family do to
overcome the difficulties/
limitations to getting outside?
bribery
It’s tough. Not much
Choose alternate times to get outdoors
and be spontaneous instead of
planning walks
Prepare food and snacks, appropriate
gear and clothing, change our attitude!
Invite friends
Annual memberships, good clothes.
We go outside and the limitations just
don’t exist... We just do what we feel
we can do and is accessible for us
We get out whenever we can - even
if just for a short while! Or we
explore museums, or watch nature
documentaries

17. What makes you the most
anxious or scared about
your family exploring nature
in the urban setting that is
directly related to society?
mainly garbage, glass, needles, used
condoms...
dog poo
Not knowing how certain animals will
react, especially to children
Being isolated from people
Running in forest alone - creepy
people. Busy roads and cars - bad
drivers

Cars, heavy traffic, huge crowds,
pesticides.
Bears
It’s not very clean! I worry about the
possibility of picking up bugs (a friend
once got scabies from Central Park!)

18. What in nature makes you the
most anxious or scared about
your family exploring in
the urban setting that is
directly related to nature??
dog poo
How will certain animals react to
humans.
Bears
Trees or large branches falling, bears,
kids eating weird mushrooms
Ticks. Bears
In Australia - the poisonous animals!
In New York, no worries.

19. If you could build the perfect
green space close to your
home what would it include to
ensure you could benefit from
the natural environment?
shade, trees, plants, running water,
interesting animals(a refuge for them)
people that took care/respected the
place, sound barriers for noise from
traffic, natural play structures for kids,
a pond with technological view finders,
ways to explore underwater with
cameras... an adventure playground
where kids could have enough
materials to build forts, a manipulative
stream to build really cool dams, that
recycled water... a composter that kids
could watch the stages, within the park

B6

screens that broadcasted live eagle
nests, wolf dens, bee hives...
Different types of trees and plants,
walkways, ponds, dock with boats, row
boats, paddle boats
Water specifically areas where you
could dip net and get really close to the
edge to explore what is in the water,
large trees with lots of shade and
variety of trees, lots of tactile things
like rocks and plants, trails to walk on.
Chickadee house, French pea and
blackberry garden, comfy dog beds
and dog water, lots of smooth rocks,
a bubbling stream, a nice area to sit ,
large boulders, trees and shade, trees
with sturdy branches and rope swings
Park, swimable lake, path around, lots
of shade (forested area), coffee shop
on far side that sells ice cream.
A big mountain and some orange trees
Plenty of walking/biking trails & water
features (streams, lakes), trees/forested
areas, play spaces (treehouses, ziplines)
& learning spaces, places to play sports
and meditative places to relax

20. What animal would you want to
see in the urban setting? How
would you ensure that animal lives
comfortably in an urban setting?
Elephant, I can imagine it not in
canada but another country...with a
whole slew of animals.
beavers, deer, rabbits, salamanders,
salmon, frogs, toads, otters, turtles
(already at granville island) big parks,
viewing platforms that allowed for
privacy, telescopes, or whatever, park
rangers actually fining people for litter

and NO damn dogs aloud.
----We love different types of birds.
Ducks, cranes, geese, hummingbirds,
herons
A variety of bird species and a meadow
for butterflies
Fish and frogs. Keep water clean.
Chickens with bylaws to protect
animals. Weed control goats in parks (
electric to keep goats within bounds).
Horses. To have them in a protected
farm
Birds of all types! I think birds are best
suited to live in urban settings - lots of
trees, water & space keeps them happy!

21. What other animals would
your animal attract?
----Crows, seagulls
Larger birds
Birds, coyotes, people, raccoons,
Mice, coyotes.
Ponies ?

22. If you could build/
grow anything in your backyard
what would it do? How
would you interact with it?
berries, vegetables, bee hives, basically
everything...
Birdhouses, hummingbird feeders, sit
and watch them of course.
White pines we would do bark
rubbings, picnic under it, play tag
around it, forest for Fort building and
nature games
Large tree that provided shade, fruit,
nice flowers, bird and bee houses,
sturdy branches for climbing and

B7

swinging
Massive garden for the kids, chicken
coop, jungle gym (lots of slides and
climbing), orchard.
I grow tomatoes, pies, chilliest and
herbs and I look after them in a very
rustic way.. I don’t buy fancy stuff and
they just accommodate to my style
I don’t have a backyard, but if I did, I’d
love to have a veggie garden!

23. Is there is anything else
you would like to add
bike lanes, more boardwalks, more
non-tacky playgrounds, adventure
playgrounds, low ropes, elements
that encouraged safe tree climbing,
meadows with walkways through them,
sand pits, water play elements, urban
farms, urban bee hives...
“Good Luck!
That was fun.”
We love getting out family outdoors,
such a great focus for your masters!
Our dogs like urban nature ... they
connect us to it everyday. What about
pet connection to urban nature?

White Board Quotes
from Spanish Banks
What about this park do you enjoy
that is not within walking distance
of your home? Underline if you
agree.
Universal energy in nature
Birds
Ocean x 2 and mountains
Peace x 4
Sand to play in
Open space

Counter boards from
Spanish Banks

I go to the park to …… Relax x 3
Play x 5
I am more likely to take risks at
the… Beach x 4 Playground x 5
I notice ___ Garbage x 6 insects x 2
more often in the city
If I spent more time exploring
nature in the city my life would
be ______more x 1 less x 7 _____
stressful.
I get more from ____ fast x 4 slow x
4 activities.

Grass Board Quotes
from Spanish Banks

What is Nature?
Nature is a place where plants can
grow, animals have homes, and people
can enjoy it.
All of it
Somewhere peaceful and away from
modern life
Mountains trees and something like

B8

this sky
Nature is butifule (Picture of butterfly
and flower)
Lite fun
What is Wilderness?
Something you can explore, suprising/
exciting
Somewhere totally wild not controlled
but beautiful
A place that is free, unrestricted by the
rest of the environment/world
What is Wild?
Something free and beautiful that
hasn’t been conquered

Sensory Box Quotes
from Spanish Banks

What do you think is in the box?
Rubix cube x5
A stick
Are you scared, anxious or
apprehensive of anything in urban
nature you come in contact with
regularly? What brought on that
fear?
Being Judged x3
Rubiks cube x2
Coil of rope
Crows and angry birds
Sea weed – swimming as a child
Rug
Very scary movies
Fabric rolled up in a little bag
Bugs, spiders except ladybugs and
butterflies

APPENDIX C
Curriculum Materials

C1

Local Learning Exchange – Earthbond Prototyping
Focus 3 Month Studio Course Rough Outline
1

Discussion Topics
- Heuristic Research
- Autobiographical
Writing
- Nature Defined
- Ecologic Self
- Unexpected
Outcomes

2

3

4

5

- Biomimicry and
Biophilia
- Physical Progression
(Familiar and
Unfamiliar)
- Risk (Tension,
Opportunity)
- Scaling (Time and
Perspective)
- Experience
Prototyping
Discover, Loosen
and Flirt with
Control
- Seeking Immersion
Work Session

- Experience Survey
- Changing Contexts
- Eco-phobia
- Making With Self
Originating Material
and Phenomenon

C2

In Studio Assignment
Defining the Holistic Observation Tool
(Expanded range of awareness )
- Conceive a technique to capture data from
deep observation in nature
- Determine the strengths and weaknesses of
the technique
- Practice session, on campus, refine
Progression 1
- Define a relationship between Nature and
Design you wish to explore
- Define a exploration choosing where to
progress (toward unfamiliar)
- Speculate risks, outcomes, and design required
to access these places

T
F

A
R

Fast Design Charrette for Slow Design
- Develop an experience prototype speaking to
the relationship you are exploring
- This prototype will stay in context for the
entire term
- Will time highlight unexpected relationships
with the community, nature and environment?
Experience Prototype 1
- Build experience prototype 1

D

Progression 2
- Reframe the relationship defined in
progression 1 for the new context.
- Intend to engage the community whether
human or not.
- Determine a technique to ask and answer
questions that is not a typical survey.

Local Learning Assignment
Holistic Observations 1
- Observe nature outdoors, and capture data
using the HO tool developed in class

Holistic Observations 2
- Observe nature in chosen familiar area
(yard), capture data using HO tool
- Embrace the unexpected or Intervene in
the area, highlighting a relationship between
design and nature

Experience Prototype 1
- Finish planning design

Experience Prototype 1
- Place in context and observe
- Adapt Holistic Observation research tool
if necessary
Holistic Observations 3
- Observe nature in chosen (local park ) area,
and capture data using the tool.
- Embrace the unexpected or Intervene in
the area, highlighting a relationship between
design and nature.

6

Work Session

7

Offsite Studio

8

9

10

- Animism
- Curriculum of Place
- Earthbond
Prototyping
- Attending and
Intuition
Work Session

Offsite Studio

Experience Survey 1
Experience Survey 1
- Design
- Place in context
- Build
- Adapt if needed for following week
- Adapt Holistic Observation research tool if
necessary
Experience Survey 2
- Spend the entire studio session observing, interacting and collecting data

T
F

- Holistic Observations 4
- Observe nature in chosen (local park ) area, and capture data using tool.
Progression 3
Holistic Observations 5
- Re frame the relationship defined in
- Observe nature in chosen familiar area
progression 1 and 2 for the new context
(yard), capture data using HO tool
- Intend to engage personally with nature and
share what the place had to teach

A
R

Experience Prototype 2
Experience Prototype 2
- Finish planning, design and build of
- Design charrette to develop an experience
experience prototype
prototype for the unfamiliar context.
- Build
Holistic Observations 6
- Observe nature in chosen (unfamiliar) area, and capture data using tool.

D

Earthbond Prototype 1
- Embrace the unexpected or Intervene in the area, highlighting a relationship between design
and nature.

11

- Synthesis
- Engaging Control

12

- Final Presentations

C3

Holistic Observations 7
- Collect slow experience prototype from familiar (yard) to bring to class.
Mapping Design Charrette
Presentation of Earthbond Prototype
- Students bring copies of all research,
- Choose any technique to share insights
photography, illustration and observations to
- Present ideas from Holistic Observations or
cut up and ma.
experience prototyping.
- Chronological, Emotional, Ethical, question
- Focus on changes in ethical/ moral stance
based, mapping charrette
on design and nature
Critique

Local Learning Exchange – Immersion Focus
2 Week Condensed Course Rough Outline – Sea Kayak

Trip Stage
Overview

Design and Nature
Design Charrettes &
Topics
Assignments
At outdoor centre or on campus
- Designs Role in Nature
Holistic Observations 1
Immersion
- This will be used daily
- Heuristic Research
throughout the entire
- Autobiographical
course to become a
Research
catalogue of insights for
- Nature defined
future use.
- Ecologic Self

1

- Overview
- Ice breaker
- Trip &
Policies
- Objectives

2

- Trip Prep:
- Changing Contexts
- Menus
- Effect of Framing
- Group Equip - Scaling Time and
Perspective.
- Control (Discover,
- Navigating
Loosen)
Paddling
- Making With Self
skills Leave
Originating Material
no Trace
Ethics
- Trip Prep:
- Physical Progression
Personal
- Familiar and Unfamiliar
Equip
- Risk (Tension,
Opportunity)
- Experience Prototyping.
- Trip Safety
- Rift
- Wood
- Eco-phobia
Science
- Packing

3

4

5

T
F

A
R

D

C4

Description

Design Food Challenge 1
Holistic Observations 2
Design with Natural
Materials 1
Holistic Observations 3

Develop a multi method technique
to capture data from deep
observation in nature. (expanding
the range of awareness) Determine
the strengths and weaknesses of the
techniques chosen, practice session,
refine or adapt
Group Design charrette for
planning, creating, cooking, a meal
on trip. Groups must collect and
take into account all food allergies..
Design charrette focused on using
at hand natural materials to share
ideas.

Design Equipment 1
Holistic Observations 4

Develop a piece of personal
equipment to test on trip. How
can it be tested beforehand, what
are its limitations?

Design Food Challenge 2
Holistic Observations 5

Fires and fire starting design
challenge. Attempt to start a fire
without matches, lighter, flint and
steel.

Kayak Trip begins

6

7

Trip 1,
Transport,
Camp set up
Trip 2, take
down, move
set.

- Biomimicry
- Designing for Biophilia
- Seeking Immersion
Unexpected Outcomes
Bio-inclusive Design

Encountering Adverse
Conditions 1
Holistic Observations 6
Design with Natural
Phenomenon 1
Holistic Observations 7

Speculative design charrette;
conditions to expect on trip.

Facilitators remove 50% of
paddles before students are awake.
They must adapt and come up
with solutions for the entire day.
Shelters and shelter building
challenge, sleep under the stars, to
experience adverse conditions.

T
F

8

Trip 3, take
- Intuition (Just do it)
down, move set

Encountering Adverse
Conditions 2
Holistic Observations 8

9

Trip 4, rest day - Attending, be bored,
meditate, follow a path,
act

10

Trip 5, take
- Animism
down, move set - Curriculum of Place
- Earthbond Prototyping
Trip 7 – Return
transport, close

Earthbond 1 (Design
with Natural Materials
2, Phenomenon 2 &
Encountering Adverse
Conditions 3) Holistic
Observations 9
Community Initiatives
Holistic Observations 10

11

Rest day/
- Synthesizing
sprint begins in - Engaging Control
evening

13

Sprint
continues
Sprint ends

14

C5

-

A
R

D

12

Design charrette focused on using
at hand phenomenon to generate
iterations for design.

On campus
Earthbond 2
60 hour group design sprint

Earthbond 2 Cont’d.
60 hour group design sprint
Presentations and Closing

Focus on a relationship between
design and nature shared between
all members during Holistic
Observations 1 – 10. As a group
develop, prototype and present the
outcome for studio critique.
-

Project 1: Holistic Observations
Capturing Heuristic Design Research
Course Title

Local Learning Exchange – Earthbond Prototyping

Project Context:
Contemporary designers bring a broad range of skills to any design situation. These skills represent the deep thinking within
design that show an ability to change scope, perspective, question behavior, and share reasoning that directs design decisions.
To reach these abilities designers must consciously choose to experience situations in new ways capturing information from
all cognition that takes part in how we perceive relationships within an experience. This means employing strategies to develop senses, actions, thoughts, and feelings (Buchenau et al, 2000, Bai, 2012) that can be directed toward further designing or
research. It takes practice for this mode of sensing to become intuitive, and the development and use of this tool is intended
to help trigger that practice.

T
F

Project Overview:
Develop a strategy for a form of data collection that allows you to grasp the subjective; that is emotion, feeling, sensing
and thought that is necessary to be immersed in an environment. Include aspects that capture the narrative. Narratives are
a powerful and inclusive way to share insights that develop direct sentient engagement with the environment and all its
“ecological relations” (Hasebe-Ludt, 2009, p.29). This strategy will become a practiced research tool throughout the term
(a template) that supports, exploring new surroundings, seeking new perspectives and multi-sensorial engagement with
nature. Detail any developments in the form of the tool and demonstrate why it is a valid structure for heuristic inquiry,
“an exploratory approach to research…concerned directly with human knowing” (Hiles, p.389). How does the tool share a
“systematic way of incorporating the self into inquiry methods while ensuring a high level of reflexivity and transparency?”
(Hiles, p.392)

A
R

Do not pursue a purely objective approach seeking to capture only ideas to develop for future design. Some categories to
consider to help you move away from this thinking are; Smell, hear, taste, touch, changes over time, motion, sequence of
events, questions, difficulties, feelings, motivation, actions, and conversation.
Project Learning Outcomes
As a result of successfully completing this project, students will:
• think divergently, and take risks in expressing qualitative data
• discover relationships between design and nature
• develop a tool that can become used in practice for reflection and dissemination
• foster engagement with a dynamic or unpredictable environment
• experience changing contexts allowing for a focus on process, tacit knowledge and immersion

D

Holistic Observations – Grading rubric

Conceives a technique to capture data from deep observation in nature.
- Clearly describes the intent of the tool and evaluates in writing (500 words max) the
strengths and weaknesses of the technique.
- Format supports capturing emotion, feeling, sensing and thought in diverse ways.
- Creatively incorporates a systematic way of capturing self into inquiry methods

Development

Observe nature, and captures data using the HO tool to be scanned and
posted on the course Moodle on dates specified in the course syllabus.
- Level of detail observed and care in visual observations whether drawings
photographs, observations.
- Appropriate use of sensory, observational, reflective writing
- Can be clearly understood and navigated

Holistic
Observations

Final
Presentation

Clearly shares the influence of the HO tool on the final deliverable

/10
/5
/5

/20
/20
/20

/20

/60

/20

Late assignments: – 2%/day at day ten – 100%
FINAL GRADE

C6

100%

Project 2: Making with Self Originating Materials
and Phenomenon (Shelter Building)
Course Title

Local Learning Exchange – Kayak Trip

Project Context:
Making with self originating materials allows students to build an inventory of tacit knowledge, challenge creativity through
the restrictions of the materials and explore habitats while collecting and intervening with the environment around them.
Project Overview:
In a group of four develop a design and build a shelter to sleep in for the night out of natural building materials supplied
around you. Strongly consider what impact you are having on the environment before acting. It is not acceptable to kill/
impede sentient or non-sentient beings, consider how you will dismantle the shelter the following morning. The facilitator may
introduce ropes, tarps, and other artifacts dependent on the environment and supplies available.

T
F

Project Learning Outcomes
As a result of successfully completing this project, students will:
• think divergently, and take risks in material exploration
• discover the value and difficulty in making your own shelter in dynamic or unpredictable environments
• become resourceful and creative while exploring habitats
• recognize their impact on local ecology
• experience changing contexts allowing for a focus on process, tacit knowledge and immersion

A
R

Shelter building – Grading rubric
Teamwork,
Process, and
Ethics
Presentation
1 (Before use)
Presentation
2 (After use)
Participation

Effectively uses the allotted time to develop and build an appropriate shelter
Creativity in material use and exploration
Ethical use of materials, location and destruction
Clearly shares the process and insights while developing the shelter in a
creative format (skit, poem, visuals...)
Shares expected outcomes
Clearly shares the narrative of overnight experience in a creative format (skit,
poem, visuals...)
Shares the difference in expected outcome and reality
Actively involved in decision making, building and presenting
FINAL GRADE

D

/20
/10
/10
/10

/10
/10
/10
/20

“Forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the wind longs to play with your hair.” Kahlil Gibran

C7

/40
/20
/20
/20
100%

Earthbond Prototyping
Possible Flow Diagram

T
F

A
R

D
C8

C9

WHEN NATURE HACKS DESIGN

Cover Image: Standing atop old growth
stump in flooded Stave Lake B.C.

Zach Camozzi - Masters of Design Thesis

C10