Last week we welcomed Lindsey Wikstrom, Founding Principal of @Mattaforma and 2026 Cooper Hewitt National Design Award recipient for Emerging Designer, for the latest installment of New Earth Dialogues. In conversation with @julia.gamolina of @madamearchitect, @lindsey.wikstrom shared her pioneering work at the intersection of architecture, ecology, and material innovation, grounded in the belief that the built environment can and must grow alongside the natural systems that sustain us. Drawing from her research into forest ecology and the findings of her book Designing the Forest, the dialogue explored how cities might fold the intelligence of natural ecosystems into the way we build, and made a compelling case for mass timber as a regenerative, plant-based alternative to the concrete and steel our cities have relied upon for over a century. The dialogue framed designing with timber as much more than a technical expertise, but as a vision for life more deeply connected to nature, suggesting that we are at the beginning of a new material era, one that over the next one hundred years will blossom into what we might call plant-based cities. We are grateful for the presence of everyone who joined us for this conversation, and to Lindsey and Julia. Photographer @SierraPruitt