Tellurian 14

Petr Ehrlich
(Industrial Design, CTU)

Veronika Hanáková
(Media Studies, Charles University)

Žil Julie Vostalová
(Audiovisual Studies, FAMU)

Emma Zahradníková
(Digital Design, AFAD)

The project Tellurian 14 poses the question of what happens when toxicity becomes the norm. In particular, it considers the implications of normalization and widespread dissemination of nuclear energy sources. It puts forward a near-future scenario where nuclear power is integrated in people’s everyday lives as part of private dwelling. What if the capitalist elites’ dream of a mass shift towards micro-nuclear reactors (SMRs) was realized? The project prolongs and amplifies specific tendencies observable in the present socio-economic fabric. It doesn’t attempt to predict the future, but rather to reflect on the process of social absorption of technological innovation and the ambiguities of a possible
world-to-come.

Tellurian 14 is a residential project developed by the private company Habiton. The firm connects the fields of architecture and energy engineering in order to solve both the housing and energy crisis weighing down heavily on highly energy-consuming metropolitan areas. The project assumes that the green transition towards renewables won’t materialize as planned and that given their unstable and unpredictable nature, these sources won’t be able to fully satisfy the demands of “advanced” societies. In this scenario, clean energy supply is unreliable and fragmented, and the European market is dominated by cutting-edge SMR technology and private corporations feasting on public subsidies. Moreover, urban centers densify as more and more people leave rural areas for economic and climate-related reasons, and the pressure of migration boosts innovation in real estate designs and business models.

The world of Tellurian 14, set in the year 2050, is one where the departure from fossil fuels opened up new opportunities for decentralization of energy production. As the main energy grid must primarily sustain critical infrastructure, the responsibility to generate sufficient supply is deferred to individuals and communities. The micro-power plant Habiton is a project that adopts technofix rhetoric and a product that is supposed to seamlessly solve the problem of scarce energy. The housing project Tellurian 14, then, presents itself as a guarantee of a stable influx of energy and heat for all its inhabitants. However, it also produces a new social situation: Who can afford to live in such a house? How does such a system affect its users’ responsibility and agency? How does danger become bottled up and appeased? And, does decentralization under corporate capitalism really strengthen a sense of community, interconnectedness and belonging, or does it simply preserve individualism and enclosure?

Find out more on the project's website.