Plug-in Habitat is based on the question posed by architectural neofuturistic group Archigram in the 1960s: what would happen if the whole urban environment could be programmed and structured for change? The notion of an architecture that adapts to change is also embodied in the intelligence of plants – whose structure is modular and distributed, without a central control, but with a cooperative organisation that adjusts to altering conditions in their context.

In Plug-in Habitat, Paula Nishijima investigates adaptive strategies of plants as well as their relationship with other species and the environment. The artistic research is translated into a hybrid system that connects a cushion plant, located in the Atlantic Botanical Garden (Gijón, Spain), to two artificial modules – creating a habitat that can plug living and artificial organisms in. Its technical architecture uses a LoRaWAN network and Helium – a decentralised wireless IoT network and blockchain – to collect and store data from the plant.

Cushion plants, which are known for regulating humidity and temperature within their ‘cushion’ form – creating a microclimatic shelter for other species –are the inspiration for one of the modules. The second piece is inspired by thorns and spiky structures of plants. They are important adaptive tools that not only defend the plants from herbivory animals, but also help reduce water loss.

The pre-recorded data from the cushion plant, which illustrate its adaptation to environmental changes, is used and translated into movement and pulsing light by the modules in the exhibition.

Faced with the current challenges of human and nonhuman life on Earth, adaptation is key to tackling climate change and the environmental crisis. Plug-in Habitat aspires to a more organic, self-organised way of building through change – instead of resistance to it.