Description
Book SynopsisThe experimental provides architects with a vital means to test ideas and the untried.
Like authors and artists, architects harness the power of fiction to explore alternative models of society and push the boundaries of the possible. Though these imaginings can be influential aesthetically, like the prisons of Piranesi or the cities of Lebbeus Woods, they remain largely confined to paper or the screen – unbuilt.
By injecting the experimental with a new realism, however, speculative design has the potential to advance new inclusive, equitable and desirable futures.
Showcasing cutting-edge insight, this Design Studio volume advocates the inclusion of the visionary in the architectural design process. It explores the real-world application of near-future fantastical storytelling and the power of imaginative literacy.
Articles cover subjects such as plausible impossibilities, other worlds, terraforming, activism, democratising design, future innovations and education, to name but a few.
Departing from unrealistic utopian or dystopian visions, they empower plural design reactions in response to real-life scenarios.
What impacts might a generational wave of ethical non-monogamy have on the way we use space and the future design of our built environment? Or the introduction of a universal basic income? Or the ready availability of lab grown meat?
Thinking, imagining, designing, storytelling … these are political acts.
How will you use your vote?
Features: Phil Balagtas, Nicolay Boyadjiev, Benjamin H. Bratton, Dana Barale Burdman, Tom Greenall, Anab Jain, Nicola Koller, Matteo Mastrandrea, César Reyes Nájera, Kathy Nothstine, Ethel Baraona Pohl, Anna Pompermaier, Ayesha Silburn, Phoebe Walton, Matt Ward and Liam Young.
Table of ContentsIn Other Worlds: Cities Shaped Like Fiction
by Liam Young
Plausible Impossibilities
by Tom Greenall, Matteo Mastrandrea and Nicola Koller
The Terraforming
by Benjamin H. Bratton and Nicolay Boyadjiev
Equitable and Desirable Futures
by Gem Barton
City-based Testbeds: Simulating Possible Futures in ‘Real-world’ Conditions
by Kathy Nothstine
A New Type of Design Education: Models, Materials and Futures
By Matt Ward
The Aesthetics of Misuse: Mitigating Excess
by Ayesha Silburn
Meet Me Halfway: An Exploration of Architecture Across Realities
by Anna Pompermaier
The Net Blvd
by Dana Barale Burdman
James v Birnmann: Designing a Never-Ending Legal Drama, in a World Judges Are No Longer Human
by Phoebe Walton
Experiments in Speculative, Critical Activism
by Anab Jain
Speculative Design and Emerging Practice: From Local Meetups to a Global Community
by Phil Balagtas
Future Architecture, A Beautiful Chaos
by César Reyes Nájera and Ethel Baraona Pohl
