Of Natural Flows and Architectural Currents

Nico Andreas Heller in Conversation with Lenka Petrakova.

Lenka’s futuristic designs are inspired by her study and love of nature. Improvements in technology, digital design, AI integration and material developments enable her to design organic structures, often on an epic scale, that promote community, are sustainable and operationally highly efficient. Beauty in architecture, as in nature, she maintains, is not a goal in itself, but the manifestation of a well-functioning organism. Is this where the architecture of the early 21st century is headed?

In this dialogue, we reflect on some of the dominant currents in architecture today (beyond sustainability) and how these currents impact Lenka’s practice, before taking a closer look at The 8th Continent, a private project she has been working on (see