Bioregioning Los Angeles

Biofabrique LA is a research initiative and cultural platform exploring the potential of bioregional materials and productions across the territory of Los Angeles. Developed through dialogue between Spinagu, bioregional agency, adobeisnotsoftware, Angel City Lumber, Kate Yeh Chiu, and Atelier LUMA, the project investigates how architecture and design can connect more directly to local ecosystems, resources, and waste streams.

Drawing on Atelier LUMA’s founding reference to bioregionalism, a mode of thinking first proposed in 1970s in California by Peter Berg and Raymond Dasmann as an alternative to abstract political borders, grounded instead in ecological systems such as watersheds, local resources, and eco-systems, the initiative asked what a contemporary and applied version of that thinking and practice could look like in a region where it originated, but where it has remained largely untested at scale.

The project begins with the creation of a Biofabrique, a collaborative platform connecting designers, material activists, educators, industry partners, and policymakers. Through field research, mapping, workshops, and material prototyping, the initiative will explore local supply chains—from urban forestry and adobe construction to waste streams and emerging circular material economies. By transforming underused resources into sites of experimentation, the initiative advances circular and non-extractivist design approaches as a long-term strategy for climate resilience. The initiative builds upon  academic collaborations (such as courses on circular materials and bioregional design in development at Harvey Mudd College, University of Southern California, and the Southern California Institute of Architecture) with professional pilot projects, residencies, territorial resource mapping, and the development of a permanent research and educational center. Central to the work is ongoing collaborations with artists and changemakers whose work connects ecological thinking with artistic inquiry, drawing attention to the interdependencies between raw materials, ecosystems, and the social network of labor, industry and institutions that steward them. 

Rooted in site visits, workshops and exchanges that began in 2021, Biofabrique LA partners with Atelier LUMA and bioregional agency to develop bioregional research and design methods in Los Angeles, positioning the city as a hub within emerging networks of ecological and civic in order to reimagine architecture and material cultures through the specific resources, materials, and knowledge already present in the geography they occupy.