Episode #556: From Meow Wolf to Synthetic Landscapes: Designing Conservation Through Deep Time

Stewart Alsop hosts a conversation with Oliver Polzin, a founding team member of Meow Wolf and naturalist, exploring the intersection of creativity, conservation, and architecture. Oliver discusses his current postgraduate work at SCI-Arc in Los Angeles studying synthetic landscapes through an architectural lens, his deep fascination with Pleistocene megafauna and the La Brea Tar Pits, and his vision for creating a "biophilic culture" that reframes humanity's relationship with other species and ecosystems. The discussion ranges from Oliver's early work building mud caves at Meow Wolf to his current explorations of AI-assisted design tools, 3D printing with recycled materials, holistic grazing...