Imagining Architecture: Using Science Fiction For

Futuristic Design
Architectural modernists believed that Form follows function. This idea
indeed leaves one with an interesting question. How do you design for
something that is yet to come? Something in the future, in other words
an imaginary function?
The profound changes that are happening based on new discoveries
and new interpretations, of the world not only changes Architecture as
we know it, but also demands a reconfiguration of the way one looks at
and approaches the discipline. Thus designing for the future becomes
more challenging as it belongs to the realms of unknown and
uncertain that requires Architects to transcend from present realities
and perceptions and engage in creative imagination of Futures .Such
an approach requires inputs from many disciplines particularly through
cross fertilization and understanding to use other disciplines as
channels of creativity , and mostly exploring unexplored territories that
exist in realms that are unfamiliar to most Architects.
This study identifies science Fiction quite an unexplored territory
among Architects, as a possible source that could be used in designing
for the future. It attempts to bring to light the possibilities contained in
the idea form follows fiction or more precisely form follows science
fiction in futuristic designs and highlights ways of using it.
The Dissertation contains a number of case studies, of science fictions
and the architectural works that the Author interpreted as having had
visions similar the fictions. Among these case studies are the sleeper
wakes and the Dubai Ziggurat, Dune and Sietch Nevada Proposal,
Thousand Dreams of a Stella vista and ADA, and Neuromancer and the
virtual trading floor, New York. It is investigated, if the science fiction has
been able to provide an insight to any future form of Architecture, and if
so what type of a futuristic architecture it promotes. Moreover, it
attempts to map out the likely connections between the science fiction
and known architectural works.
The study in its own way succeeds in making connections between
fiction and futuristic architecture, in order to incite others to see the
possibilities.

Utopia/Dystopia & A Future

Composed of the narrative A Future and the manifesto Utopia/Dystopia,
this dissertation uncovers and re-frames utopian ideals in relation to
architecture and the city, to suggest a possible direction for future
planned urban environments.
The fiction of a speculative near future scenario offers a provocative
introduction to a review of the history of utopian theories, proposed here
to offer insights into the nature of man. This is followed by an analysis of
recent architectural and urban utopias that aims to suggest a return of
the primary focus in these cities from environmental concerns to the
consideration of human needs and desires.
Re-framing utopian ideals for future cities, this work calls for a renewed
emphasis on mans needs and on the habitability of the city, while the
implementation of technological developments and environmental
considerations should by now be, it argues, standard practice.
Narrative is proposed here as a critical and testing tool for urban
planning and discourse. The manifesto Utopia/Dystopia aims to
reinvigorate the optimism of utopian ideals within today's architecture
and planning, whilst A Future offers an example of narrative method
capable of testing and applying these ideals. Reread in the light of the
manifesto the narrative of A Future takes on a full new meaning as a
critical design and planning tool.

Film Architecture: Negotiating The Cinematic Urban

Landscape Of The Future
It could be argued that the twentieth centurys most effective medium for
representing the urban landscape of the imagined has been that of film.
The world of the moving image has continually proposed answers to
one of the most fundamental questions; what will the future look like? In
the darkened theatre, our eyes transfixed on the screen, sounds and
images bring us the experience of places that were only once the
vestiges of dreams. Film and more specifically, science-fiction film, can
be a testing ground for any multitude of ideas; a veritable playground for
directors and set designers alike. Implausible narratives, radical sociopolitical themes or innovative architectural forms can be explored
without real-world constraints or consequences. Indeed film has often
been described as architectures closest relative, and whilst this title
can, and has been vehemently argued, the two practices bear a number
of striking similarities. It can be argued that the process of creating a
film is almost identical to that of creating a building. The two require a
significant amount of input from a vast array of specialists and artistic
thinkers, whilst by funding these ventures, the studios/clients are
placing a huge amount of faith in their directors/architects.
In this dissertation, I explore the complex landscapes portrayed in
science fiction films, paying particular attention to the architectural
issues that are raised. I question the urban framework of these future
worlds and cities and in turn, make associations with our present-day
surroundings. Do these films succeed in presenting a credible future or
are they simply re-interpretations of our past and present? Architectural
set design plays a pivotal role in setting the mood and place of a film,
but what does the architecture used by the filmmakers reveal about the
nature of the cities they are trying to present? In my attempt to answer
some of these questions, I examine two films in particular: Blade
Runner (1982), directed by Ridley Scott, and Minority Report (2002),
directed by Steven Spielberg. To support my arguments, I also make
further reference to films spanning some eight decades.
John Merry
Architecture and film, as this dissertation convincingly argues, have
much in common. Though both aspire to aesthetic and cultural
imperatives, both also rely firmly on technical and economic factors to
achieve realisation. They are also both the product of concerted team
activity in which many disparate groups and individuals must
collaborate.

There are many different manifestations of filmic activity though most

are today mediated, rather than being straightforward records. In terms
of cultural influence it is arguably the archetypal (I chose the word
carefully), mass-media 'blockbuster' that is most powerful, though
simultaneously also the most ephemeral. When this phenomenon is
coupled with the rich visual imagery of science fiction (in which it is now
the norm to envisage ways in which future versions of our self might
live) then architects take special note. This is because the profession is
in any case always dealing with the future, rarely less than years and
sometimes more than decades - this is how long it takes to get things
built.
This dissertation's author wisely restricts his study not only to one field
of filmmaking but also the transferred (and re-mediated) vision of one
author, whose writings seem to have special relevance today, Philip K.
Dick. Chosen as vehicles by two of the biggest contemporary names in
popular cinema, Spielberg and Scott, Dick's simple yet accurate arrows
of satire are redesigned to hit a much bigger target than when they were
first devised.
But the filmmakers also bring something new - in order to be convincing
they must address the future as if it is something that not only derives
from the present but is also a warning to us about what could very well
be our destiny. The author of this dissertation is well aware of these
issues and tackles them effectively and entertainingly - he is not just
interested in what the films tell us about today but also what they might
be able to tell us about what we should do about tomorrow. With a
designer's eye he investigates the filmic architecture that has been
created in order to tell these dystopic narratives, and seeks out potential
truths about the physical architecture to come.

Home Of The Futrure - Towards An Architecture Of

Invention
Change is accelerating, but the places we create assume to be mostly
static and unresponsive. People spend more time in there home more
than any place else , seeing that the home provides a safe, comfortable
environment in which to relax, communicate, learn, work and be
entertained . Moreover, it is where people connect with friends and
families, conduct business, learn about the world and maintain health.
Unfortunately, many homes as it exists today cannot meet demands or
take advantage of new opportunities created by recent environmental
and technological changes.
The question of this research is what will the home of the future be like?
Will it be so automated, smart, that we will rarely have to think about
everyday task at all? Will it be a virtual space? The research opens a
debate about possible future homes as an interactive environment,
unique, flexible, environmentally integrated space, helping people to
communicate and live in a safe and healthy environment.
The thesis consists of three parts
Part 1: introductory part, and consists of two chapters:
Chapte1: definition of basic housing needs and qualities, and housing
types
Chapter 2: distinctive housing projects in the 20th century
Part 2: theoretical part, and consists of three chapters:
Chapter 3: distinguishing forecasting methodologies and analysis of
future trends
Chapter 4: core of the research, presenting possible consequences of
future trends on home design strategies
Chapter 5: relevant projects, demonstrating future design concepts
Part 3: evaluation of future design concepts through two chapters:
Chapte6: home of the future concept, a framework for development
demonstrating concepts and ideas presented in chapter 4
Chapter 7: critical analysis of future design trends and concepts in order
to demonstrate design and production sequence in the future
Bassem M. Eid
This is a well-written and interesting dissertation on an important topic.
It deals with important issues of domestic identity, modernism and
context. Home design in the 20th century witnessed various changes.
The dissertation traces the development of these changes, and it impact

on home design.
furthermore, it provides a forecast on how these changes will affect
home design in the future.
The dissertation satisfies an important criterion for first-class work namely that it should be publishable.

The Crisis Of Utopia: The Gap Between Social

Intentions And Pictorial Aesthetics In Le Corbusiers
Ville Contemporaine
The emphatically visionary panoramic renderings of Le Corbusier's Ville
Contemporaine of the 1920s demonstrate perfectly the crisis inherent in
our historical pursuit of Utopia. His urban plan constitutes an image
abstractly imbued with a desire to connect disjointed fragments of the
modern world a desire perhaps fuelled by the idealistic (and
egomaniacal) hope of re-establishing an order upon which a meaningful
existence could be based. What may be summarised as the crisis of
Utopia is metaphorically captured in this representational dilemma: in
the dialectical opposition between the social intention of the project and
its graphic depiction. The disparity that exists between the word on the
page and the picture on the wall can be seen as a demonstration of the
fateful nature of both the pursuit of the ideal city and Le Corbusier the
man.
The scope of my research arises from an impulse to investigate this
crisis in order to better understand how and why mankind has
obsessively pursued and attempted to realise in built form the
paradigm of an abstract space of ideas within the real space of lived
experience. The ideal city, ever unattainable, never loses its capacity to
instigate change. Despite this, it inevitably exists as a tragic, emptily
rhetorical preoccupation that cannot truly marry with the desire to bring
about reform, however well-intentioned on the part of its creator. Much
Modernist planning was, then, a vehicle geared towards the concrete
embodiment of urban ideals: the apotheosis of a liberated society. Many
hoped that something somehow lost might exist again. If we consider
Utopia to be a process as well as a goal as much a moral paradigm
as a programmatic model we may well argue that the virtually
unpopulated Ville Contemporaine was never meant for people. Its
intention was figuratively poetic rather than literal: a demonstration of a
dream rather than a truly drawn city.