Weronika Nesh Yuan

Weronika Nesh Yuan is an architect researching the links between construction materials, society, and species interdependence. She completed her bachelor of arts in architecture at Sarah Lawrence College in New York, with an exchange at the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru (PUCP) in Lima. She earned her master of science in architecture from HafenCity University Hamburg with a thesis on eucalyptus wood in northern Spain used in the production of laminates for export. Through ethnographic research, Nesh illustrated the spatial, social, and biological implications of these monocultures and engaged with the lived experiences of humans and non-humans. Her PhD dissertation focuses on the conflicts and negotiations around mass timber, engineered wood products increasingly used in urban construction, by following supply chains and examining the material’s role in reducing global carbon emissions. Before joining the research training group ‘Urban future-making’, she worked on the Material Networks project, investigating aluminium’s role in maintaining exploitative neocolonial trade networks, and assisted in teaching at the Department of Architecture, Space and Society. Nesh cofounded slightly unstable, a design studio specializing in interior objects and community event formats and was part LU’UM, an open collective researching and building spaces of encounter.