The Architecture of Human Exceptionalism

This book challenges the assumption that architecture is a human-centered endeavor and calls for a fundamental shift in how we engage with the built environment. By examining how speciesist assumptions rooted in human exceptionalism shape architectural thought and practice, it asks how architecture might respond differently in a world defined by ecological entanglement rather than human dominance. Drawing on ecofeminist interpretations of Spinoza’s philosophical work, the book develops a conceptual framework for redrawing human relations with other species. Philosophical inquiry and architectural representation operate together as modes of interrogation, with drawing understood as a form of thinking from the position of an architect engaged in multispecies relationality. The central claim is that by engaging with niche construction, architecture can become a vehicle for ecological empathy, shifting practice away from domination and toward enmeshment with the environment. The book is intended for architects, designers, and scholars working across architecture, environmental humanities, and philosophy, as well as students and readers interested in climate ethics, multispecies theory, and the transformative potential of design.