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Utopian Juxtaposition 

                    In “Gamer Theory”, by McKenzie Wark, the analogy of the cave is brought up in depth. The idea that, even though we view videogames as an escape from the trial of everyday life, we fail to realize that life itself is a game; it is a space of player versus player, or winner versus loser, a space of rules, a space that is far more algorithmic than spontaneous. Wark does later bring up, however, that it is not a perfect parallel. That our obsession with games leads to a disconnect that effects our lives: that there is no restart, extra lives, or escape from our game outside of the cave. With this in mind I would like to refer to climate change.       

In our modern day society we are conducting heavy conversation about the effects of climate change. Regardless of what end of the spectrum you are on, it is a topic that coaxes our attention. Aside from the groups that deny the existence of global warming and climate change as a whole, a predominant debate within the communities is whether the protection of climate and earth should take heavy dominance over economic growth and stability. This goes back to Wark’s argument that life is a game, an instance of versus. In this situation it is the idea of competitive importance. However, this also brings up the question of that disconnect. We, as a whole, are aware that life does not have a restart button. We are aware that our earth does not have an immediate re-spawn point, but we still debate its importance. This also applies to the more economic side of the argument. If our economy falls we cannot just restart it. It takes years of changes to bring the economy back from a crashed state. So, thusly, we are in a tangle of competition; weighing the positives and negatives against each other in the heat of debate. We are stuck in a stalemate. Or are we?

            The inspiration for my city in terms of concept is to contradict this idea of black and white, of having to starkly choose one or the other; the idea of utopian juxtaposition in order to achieve both goals. The idea is that both economic growth as well as protection of our planet are equal in importance and plausible. This is to be represented in the composition of the buildings. They are a direct juxtaposition of one another. The basic aesthetic inspirations are drawn from a combination of fairy lore, that surrounds a sense of oneness with nature so much so that it is dwelled in and among without damage being caused to it, and steampunk stories, that heavily rely on the idea of industry and large grand buildings composed of metals and technology. More tangible sources of inspiration range from visual artists, like watercolor artist Stephanie Pui-Mun Law who creates environments of idealistic, peaceful coexistence between the inhabitance of nature and humans using bright vibrant color and compositions that insinuate friendly intention. Other artists that achieve this goal are architects like Frank Lloyd Wright and Andrew T Boyne. Many of Frank Lloyd Wright’s buildings are inlayed into the environment around it, providing flow between the piece and the nature around it. Even when buildings are not inlayed into nature Frank Lloyd Wright draws inspiration for a building’s form heavily from nature, resulting in his coined organic architecture. Andrew T Boyne himself also participates in organic style architecture and is an advocate for the “Box theory”. The “Box theory” is the idea that the composition of windows and the placement of architecture in nature so that it flows with it actually effects the mood of inhabitants of said building. On Boyne’s website he distinctly defines three kinds of “box” in which a box merely defines buildings confined space consisting of a ceiling and floor. He states that the most stereotypical use of light and windows is when the box is perforated (see figures below for reference). These uses of windows and light can be pushed further however, by means of both “breaking the box” and “exploding the box” in which the view of the outside space is idealized and creates a better sense of flow and oneness between these two spaces. However, Boyne also states that within “Box theory” that if you disassemble the box it allows for less of a feeling of confinement that we associate with a traditional floor and ceiling as well as allowing for better manipulation of light that creates the most optimal sense of flow between the internal and external space.

         

Having learned about this “Box theory” I do intended to draw inspiration from it and create a variant of buildings that manipulate the stereotypical box space and light in order to create a flow between the innards of my buildings and the outside. Lastly, I would like to reference H.R. Giger. While he does tend to use darker themes within his organic architecture works it does help highlight the interesting shapes present within the human body and I do intend to dedicate at least one part of the city to this form of organic architecture as well.

            By drawing inspiration from the different art styles and processes of these artists an environment that idealistically intertwines both economical, industrial growth with the safe growth of nature and the safety of climate will hope to come to fruition. This city will not only be a criticism of the split on this issue, but also an example of hope that it can occur in our world as well. After all, the first signs of such architecture have already sprouted with the intentions to build what are known as “Vertical Forests” in China.