Nichols, SarahBruckmann, ZiuMoutal, Marion2023-10-192023-10-192023-10-192023https://infoscience.epfl.ch/handle/20.500.14299/201667Humanity has fundamentally transformed Earth, making the creation of a new geological era: the Anthropocene. If we wanted to physically document the Anthropocene, we could take the sum of human material interventions and divide them over the surface of Earth. By extracting one averaged square meter of Earth’s surface, we could model the impact of the Anthropocene. Following this method, first proposed by the renown geologist and paleontologist Jan Zalasiewicz, we at THEMA have created a pilot model of this Anthropocene square meter for the first time. The representational power of this model is based on three characteristics: size, scale, and the physical. The universal size of one square meter and the precise scale of 1:1 provides a visual reference that we can imagine and understand. The physical, that is the use of real materials, like one kilogram of concrete that humanity produced for each square meter of Earth, gives a tactile sensation that we can feel and comprehend. This model offers the opportunity to discuss how multidisciplinary approaches to the Anthropocene can be explained and represented. Its concept relies on a comprehensive collection of data through an interdisciplinary collaboration involving different sciences, such as political and economical, but also visual and material studies. For the contribution to this conference, we would like to elaborate on the issue of communication and representation of the Anthropocene through this square meter model and how this can involve various disciplines and sciences to create a multilayered and diverse physical model of the Anthropocene. As architects, we have a unique position between design, technology, and the social, and we have a critical role in influencing policy makers, citizens, and students to initiate a discussion that can evolve the way we view our built environment. Using the tools of architects, such as modeling, we contribute to the representation of Earth that is changing drastically through the way we shape and form our environment. Our goal is to question these images and to reflect our responsibility in the context of the crisis our planet is in.AnthropoceneAnthropogenic ImpactEarthMaterialModelSquare MeterRepresentation MethodVisual Methodtext::conference output::conference presentation