Lecture series: Nature-In-Space: Penny Sparke: Nature Inside: Plants and Flowers in the Modern Interior

Open lecture by Penny Sparke, Professor of Design History at Kingston University, London, and Director of the Modern Interiors Research Centre. The lecture is part of a series: 'Nature-In-Space: Connecting Nature and Interiors'. 

Human beings have been bringing plants and flowers into their indoor spaces for centuries. However, it was in the era of European colonisation (the seventeenth to the nineteenth centuries) and of rapid urbanisation (the nineteenth century) that the practice took on new, modern meanings.

This lecture will explore the ways in which it has developed since then, adapting to the changing approaches to interior design – from Victorian eclecticism to early and mid-twentieth century modernism through to a more nostalgic approach – and to the growing awareness by human beings of the devastating effects that they have had on the natural environment. It will focus on how the cultural richness of indoor nature with which the Victorians imbued it has re-asserted itself in the early twenty-first century.  

About 'Nature-In-Space: Connecting Nature and Interiors'
The lecture series comprises ground-breaking architectural approaches where interior spatial design conducts an outstanding experience of the phenomenon of Nature. The lecture series will enrich our understanding of biophilic architectural design, a biological understanding of architecture, and stimulate the debate and interest in Nature-connected architectural interior design.

The lectures will be introduced/moderated by Professors Kirsten Marie Raahauge and Peter Thule Kristensen , and Postdoc Carmen García Sánchez. Organized by Carmen García Sánchez as part of her individual research project Nature-In, the research unit Center for Interior Studies, and the Master programme Spatial Design at the Institute of Architecture and Design, the lecture series combines contemporary design practice with scientific perspectives. The program aligns with the UIA2023CPH World Congress which will be hosted in Copenhagen in July 2023.   

We invite all students, architects, and designers - and those interested in architectural design - to join us.

More lectures to come.