Synthetic Trail

Terraformers of the Post-Human Loop

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Foundation

Laying the digital groundwork for our architectural vision.

Structure

Building the framework that will support our digital ecosystem.

Form

Shaping the visual language of our architectural concept.

Space

Defining the volumes and voids that create meaning.

Light

Manipulating illumination to enhance spatial perception.

Material

Selecting surfaces that engage the senses.

Circulation

Choreographing movement through space.

Function

Aligning form with purpose and use.

Context

Responding to the surrounding environment.

Detail

Refining the connections and transitions.

Atmosphere

Creating emotional resonance through space.

Integration

Bringing all elements into harmony.

Innovation

Pushing boundaries of architectural expression.

Impact

Measuring success beyond aesthetics.

Legacy

Creating spaces that endure and inspire.

Study

The Importance of BIOMES

What is a Biome?

A biome is a region with a unique climate and life—like forests or cities. It supports ecosystems and biodiversity.

Why It Matters

Sparrows reflect urban health. Their decline warns us of habitat loss.

Sparrows in Ahmedabad (Indian city)

Sparrows thrived in old Ahmedabad due to open homes, grains, and gardens.

Now they're declining because of:

  • Sealed buildings
  • Fewer insects (pesticides)
  • EM radiation
  • Competition (pigeons)
  • Pollution
Sparrows in an urban environment

Why It Matters

Understanding biomes helps us protect biodiversity and create sustainable urban environments that work with nature, not against it.

Every city has its own biome. Let's design with nature in mind.

Urbanity and Alienation

Exploring the complex relationship between urban development and ecological displacement

"The silence of a dead city has more dignity than the vocalisms of a community that knows neither detachment nor dialectic opposition"

— Lewis Mumford
Jane Jacobs

— Jane Jacobs

Urban development analysis

"THE COMPUTER IS YOUR FRIEND!
The Computer is happy. The Computer is crazy.
The Computer will help you become happy. This will drive you crazy."

— Tagline for Paranoia: The Roleplaying Game

Urban ecological impact

Blame a manga on alienation and disruption of urbanity itself

awe-inspiring megastructure

Urban-rural connection

"To be a cyborg that replaced the ailment to survive is nothing but a shell, NO EVOLUTION, NO REPRODUCTION, NO MUTATION"

— Ghost in the Shell (1995)

"Cosmic disruption caused by computers and the changes observed by common people as an infinite thing replacing finite humans."

Gaia's Wrath - Nature's Reclamation

Core Idea: Gaia as Avenger, Not Victim

This trope presents nature as a conscious, vengeful force reacting to human recklessness. It's not about warning anymore—it's about punishment. Think less "gentle Earth Mother" and more terrifying planetary immune response.

Key Features:

Nature fights back

Earthquakes, tsunamis, wild animals behaving in coordinated attacks, plants overtaking cities, viruses emerging mysteriously—Gaia uses the planet's full arsenal.

Hive-mind Ecology

Plants, fungi, and animals operate as a collective, governed by Gaia's will. It's not chaos—it's a coordinated purge.

Post-Anthropocene Horror

Humanity is no longer the dominant species. We're hunted, eradicated, or forced into primitive survival.

Block'hood

An Architectural Simulation Video Game Bridging Urban Planning and Ecological Design

Decay and Entropy in Block'hood
Decay and Entropy in Block'hood
Functional Components
Functional Components
Thriving Eco Urban Environment
Thriving Eco Urban Environment
Urban Tower
Urban Tower
Vertical Eco Commercial Tower
Vertical Eco Commercial Tower
World Builder Biome and Terrain Creation
World Builder Biome and Terrain Creation
Landscape
Landscape
Process
Process
Start Screen
Start Screen

Space Resource Network

Interactive visualization of resource flows in space colonization

Emissaries Trilogy

Ian Cheng's Emissaries Trilogy is a series of live simulations exploring how characters adapt to chaos and change.

Purpose:

To reflect on human evolution, decision-making, and how we find meaning in unpredictable environments.

Uniqueness:

The simulations run in real time, creating endless, ever-changing narratives—no two viewings are the same.

Trio

Trio Game

An innovative game experience that explores the intersection of narrative and simulation in the Emissaries universe.

Ian Cheng

Ian Cheng - Creator of the Emissaries Trilogy

Terraformers of the Post-Human Loop

Colony 07 | Titan | 2981.3 AM (After Migration)
Capstone Project - Research Foundations + Project Outline

The Server Lichens breathe. Every 4.7 hours, they exhale cooled methane, forming clouds that shade the algorithmic forest. Below, fungal farms regulate bio-electric memory.

There are no humans here—only intentions encoded in the swarm's feedback logic. The Terraformers no longer ask what it means to be alive. They reprogram photosynthesis. They terraform with breath, with code, with decay.

Interplanetary Resource Network

Interactive visualization of space resource management and distribution

Explore the complex network of resource extraction and distribution across our solar system. This interactive visualization demonstrates how resources are managed between celestial bodies, highlighting the interconnected nature of space exploration and colonization.

Research Foundation

Core Research Questions

What does it mean to be human—or post-human—within artificial, data-driven planetary ecosystems?

How can urban systems be extended or redesigned to adapt to non-Earth terrains such as Titan or Mars?

What kinds of bio-mimetic and machine-nature cohabitation systems could emerge from computationally derived planetary resources?

Project Overview

A speculative prototype for a game-based world-building system that envisions robot-driven planetary settlements, built on real-world datasets from extraterrestrial environments. It explores what forms of urban design, environmental response, and synthetic life might emerge in the absence of human-centered planning—while still maintaining human ethical concerns, memory, and agency.

Socio-Technical Problems

• Who gets to decide what is "sustainable" beyond Earth?

• Can robot ecologies co-exist with nature if humans are no longer central?

• How do datasets drive speculative futures? What assumptions do they encode?

• Is this a form of terraforming, dataforming, or extractive simulation?

Keywords

Planetary Ecosystems Global Warming Cyborgs Bio-mimicry Synthetic Life Resource Computation

Intersecting Fields

Architecture
Computation
Astronomy
Game Design
Planetary Science

Actor Network: Planetary Ecosystems & Temporal Structures

Interactive visualization of interconnected systems and temporal cycles

Explore the complex relationships between planetary ecosystems, technological systems, and temporal structures. This interactive diagram visualizes how different actors and systems interact across various scales of time and space, from geological epochs to computational cycles.

Methods & Approach

Computational Design Experiments

  • Data-driven terrain generation from Titan topography
  • Simulated microclimate networks based on methane and nitrogen flows
  • Agent-based robot-nature interaction simulations
  • Hybrid architectural forms (cyborg-nature structures)
  • UI mockups for eco-feedback systems

Research Methods

Quantitative: Real datasets from NASA/JPL (Titan, Mars topography, atmosphere, etc.), simulation-based systems

Qualitative: Storytelling, ethnographic speculation, visual world-building

Components: Primarily computational and visual, with written theory and spatial sketches

Drawing Type: Vertical Sectional Datascape

Function:

• Maps a new speculative ecology on Titan

• Situates design within planetary data, machine systems, and environmental feedback

• Argues that robotic urbanism and bio-mimicry can be critically co-designed, not simply deployed

Design & Tools

Tools

Rhino/Grasshopper, Unity/Unreal, QGIS, Open Planetary datasets, AI generative tools

Theory

Post-Anthropocentrism, Cyberfeminism, Design Fiction, Bio-Capital

Design Tactics

Multi-agent simulation, energy-flow systems, eco-feedback loops

Aesthetics

Harsh beauty, atmospheric computing, cosmic urbanism, alien biophilia

Visual Representation

Inspired by machine-generated textures, planetary data maps, AI-randomized urbanism. Aesthetic references: Annihilation, Dune (2021), System Shock interface visuals. Uses speculative visual storytelling to provoke reflection on nonhuman design logic.

Project Deliverables

Procedural planetary maps
Visual + text-based future scenarios
Game mechanics simulating ecosystem dependencies
Hybrid architectural typologies
Documentation of ethical + technical implications

The Challenge

• Accessing and integrating planetary data (especially Titan's or Mars's ecosystems)

• Balancing speculative storytelling with rigorous environmental modeling

• Learning procedural modeling + game engine workflows (Unity, Unreal)

• Creating believable yet critical aesthetics

• Positioning work clearly in dialogue with climate justice and decolonial design logics

Material Gesture - Techno-ecological Future

Physical Artifacts

A knolled kit of synthetic ecosystem components, showing how robotic and natural systems intertwine physically. A kinetic breathing sculpture simulating planetary processes driven by real data. A projection or multi-sensory installation that immerses viewers in a post-human ecology.

Methane collector spore
Server lichen tile
Bio-synthetic root node
Drone egg shell
Geothermal seed spike

Material Composition

Crafted from a mix of recycled plastics, bio-resins, and metallic finishes, these objects materialize the speculative infrastructures of an alien biosphere sustained by cyborg-nature hybrids.

Rhetorical Function

More than technical demonstrations, these pieces function as rhetorical devices, provoking reflection on humanity's evolving relationship with technology and the environment beyond Earth. They assert a representational position that challenges techno-solutionist narratives of space colonization by foregrounding symbiosis, fragility, and emergent complexity.

Community & Context

Community of Practice

Studio Folder (Terraforming project): planetary-scale design questions
Kelly and Zach Weinersmith (Soonish) – speculative tech futures
More-than-Human Design: critiquing human exceptionalism
Black Almanac & Satellite Dev projects

Historical Lineage

• Ghost in the Shell (1978), Blame! manga – post-human, cyborg societies

• NieR:Automata, Block'hood – system-driven ecological storytelling

• Epic Spaceman's marble simulation – visualizing alien logic through data

• Terraforming Mars (board game) – resource speculation in off-world design

• Historical speculative design works by Dunne & Raby and More-than-Human design

Situated Technology

This project aligns with CDP themes of critical technoscience and speculative realism. It operates as both a critique of current planetary data extractivism and a speculative tool for imagining alternative eco-technological futures.

Rhetorical Argument

Designing with planetary data is not neutral—it reflects and reproduces worldviews. This project argues that post-human ecosystems must be built ethically, not extractively. By turning robots into agents of bio-mimicry, not just efficiency, the project explores planetary coexistence without human supremacy.

Project Timeline

A visual journey through the development process

Columbia GSAPP

Computational Design Practices

Colloquium 1 | Summer 2025

Sriya Thotakura

sriyagayathri007@gmail.com