The Self Observing Landscape

AA Visiting School 2023
A research and educational project by (AB)NORMAL

The Self-Observing Landscape is an experimental summer school developed by (ab)Normal within the framework of the Architectural Association Visiting School. The program explores the intersection between ecology, technology, and representation, through the construction of small-scale digital landscapes — fragments of virtual territories that together compose an embryonic map of a self-aware world.

The workshop investigates how contemporary digital tools — from 3D scanning and photogrammetry to real-time environmental simulations — are transforming the way we understand, represent, and ultimately design the Earth itself. Today, the ambition to create a digital twin of everything has become ubiquitous: from the meticulous reproduction of individual objects to the planetary-scale simulations that monitor environmental change and predict future transformations.

In this context, certain regions such as the Alpine territories of Northern Italy become exemplary case studies. Here, meteorological shifts, environmental disruptions, and changes in animal populations are constantly recorded, processed, and modeled by their digital counterparts. These simulations no longer simply document reality; they generate new forms of perception and governance. The landscape, through its technological prostheses, begins to observe itself, becoming a self-reflective, cybernetic entity.

Through a combination of fieldwork, digital experimentation, and critical discussion, participants produced a series of speculative landscapes — visual and spatial studies that question how digital observation reshapes our understanding of nature, territory, and reality itself.

Participants:
Aniella Goldinger, Beatrice Citterio, Valentina Bocus, Gioele Prette, Giulia Gaffo, Hans Hollaeder, Jeremy Carne, Lei Zhang, Mattia Tafel, Mirco Sturlese, Snishtha Bhatia

Workshop Head:  Mattia Inselvini, Luigi Savio, Davide Masserini
Workshop coordinator:  Leucotea Andriolo
Tutors:  Zattere (Giusepe Greppi, Alssandro Ricci, Giulia Rosa), Giovanni Gazzillo, HPO (Riccardo Simioni)

Photography
All images and 3D scans were produced by participants and tutors
Leucotea Andriolo, Beatrice Citterio, Mattia Tafel.