Week 6 - Poster Statement

The presentation outlines possible scenarios over the next 50 years and explores the evolution of society over a range of different everyday needs which we refer to as our 'species'. The 7 species include politics, culture, education, transport, agriculture, built environment and technology. These 7 species are incorporated within the four major categories of 'future visions and scenarios', 'sustainable future', 'people and lifestyle' and 'architectural opportunities'. Rather than being four separate categories they  effect and relate to each other  and could be broken up further into the 7 species to be more clearly defined. It was also easier to show the 7 because we refer to them in everyday life and could show reasonable and everyday occurring relations between the species.


The presentation uses a tree like structure which expands out from the center, over the four panels. This tree shows the evolution and growth of society and each species through the many branches. The timeline starts at 2012 in the current state of the world. Generally a main branch will flow through each species and develop new branches, showing the expansion and evolution of that idea. For example you may use the idea of transport, where one of the main branches might be personal transport (cars). This branch may separate and go in different directions to show various inventions with cars or new car companies trying to be innovative with new technology (hybrid cars). The branches also stop in many places and don't continue which symbolizes the end of an evolution type (could be the ending of petrol use, or maybe a car maker closes down like Holden or ford). 

Another example could be education which grows branches by new policies like requiring schools to follow sustainability guidelines, introducing new subjects or reaching milestones in % of the world now educated. 

the timeline expands outwards and shows intervals at 5 years at a time (the dotted lines). A number of important time periods or 'ages' occur throughout the 50 including the resource crisis age, the economic crisis, various wars and the peak of the population growth. These occurrences affect what happens throughout the timeline and various growths and declines in the evolution can be seen around these points in time.

pictograms were used throughout the timeline to display and explain possible scenarios occurring throughout the different periods. These pictograms ranged in complexity and displayed a whole facet of scenarios.

A description of the four categories is noted down the left hand side to explain our groups belief of what will occur over the next 50 years and the consequences and opportunities of this evolution tree. Furthermore a timeline is displayed across the top of the page further detailing the important events that occur through the evolution tree. Each species can be related to the timeline at the top through a color coding legend.

To me, the group worked well and developed a good project. Unfortunately due to tragic circumstances, I was unable to do some of the work outlined for me. Thankfully, my group was very understanding and were kind enough to take on my work as well. I think the final product was very successful and am very happy with the final product.

Week 6 - Reading 2 by Kazi

Architecture as a dissident practice

I find this kind of practice quite exciting and interesting... A mixture of these two arts can really create some special forms (like the cover photo). That water vapor building looks really amazing and would be awesome to visit. 

Is theory really dead? I think maybe it has slowed down a bit because the industry is just getting constructions out and done quickly. People may be ignoring the theory because it is advancing soo fast and people don't want to miss out on any chances. I think also the building style has changed. So all the theory we had on previous buildings being built and the whole industry, no longer counts. So instead we are just shooting these massive flashy buildings up. Maybe we don't need the theory though? Or maybe someone will start writing new theory on the 'futuristic buildings that are going up now.

I find theory quite hard to grasp in architecture. And I have a hard time doing the theory, so the current methods of chucking up buildings like we are, makes more sense to me (obviously there is more to it than that). Furthermore I think its when you start mixing the different industries together like the architecture and the arts that you need the theory, because everything has to sink together from the two different ideas and work as one.

When all these theories were originally made they were discovering a whole heap of new methods that were possible, they had many societal issues going on and they had no standards for anything. Slowly over time these theories have been created with the standards. The have been improved throughout but now many of these things are familiar to architects. However I'm sure as we continue to evolve with the architectural advancements, the new theories will start rolling out soon enough. 

Week 6 - Reading 1 by Isozaki

Erasing architecture into the system

The work of Price in his day, would have seemed out of this world. Even if he'd suggested projects like that today, they would seem futuristic and unique to us. The blunt of it is that generally architectural projects are and have always been boring. It is very rare that someone comes along and proposes something soo crazy, but yet could totally work.Its a shame his fun palace design was never constructed or even partially used to create something so 'unbelievable' to fuel future possibilities.

The fun palace is an amazing idea, and obviously at the forefront of 'architectural advancements' at the time. The work that went into the idea and movement of the building, spaces and access was amazingly thought out. His other ideas were also crazy and the first of their kinds too. I especially like the idea of the movable education facilities where carriages are able to be moved and arranged differently to create different working environments. 

Even if Price had very little of his designs built, his innovation and creativeness initiated styled never even thought of before. Obviously if others decided to continue and explore his ideas even further, there was talent and enough behind his wacky ideas for something possible. Maybe it was just too out there for the time. I'm sure if he had attempted the same ideas later on when everyone was less conservative he would have been much more successful.

Its a very big shame he wasn't taken seriously. Even if they were short term architectural insertions, by getting the public in and experiencing theses spaces and forms, I'm sure there would be a much higher demand for further exploration throughout the world. I think people need to take a leap of faith sometimes when they designs appear, because you never know where it could lead or what you could start.

Wees 5 - Group assignment Progression

The image below shows the original ideas i had within the education species. Some of these will be included within the evolution tree because they will be big occurrences (they are generally the ones in the pink).

The image below shows the transport events that i think will occur. These will be shown to Heidi and Sarah so they can give their opinions on them. Not all will be able to be included however because we can only do so may pictograms.

I have found that the group is working very well together so far. However I have found that I am having a hard time making all of the meetings and for their full length due to other subjects being on at the same time as our classes and other events occurring on the days of meetings (e.g work). We have had quite a number of meetings though so the work is being completed, and Sarah and Heidi have been very understanding thankfully.

Week 5 - Lecture

Strategic New York
     - Dr Phil Crowther

The futures of New York and Amsterdam in my opinion will be two cities standing at the forefront of advancement in all aspects. These two cities are so large and important that they will be evolving and have been evolving already continually as old buildings need replacement and new technology stands ready to go. New York is such a big and dense city that old buildings are being pulled down all the time. Every new building that goes up has to be unique and do something crazy and different, so the city evolves so easily. 

I think it is important though that while they knock down old buildings, they need to retain the ones rich with history and maintain them. They also need to continue and look for projects like the high line which add so much culture to the city and really allow for a different aspect. You don't get things like that in any other city. New York is always on show, so the city wants to keep it looking at its best, which is why buildings get removed and constructed so quickly. 

The new buildings going up in these cities are obviously unique in looks but they will start doing more sustainable things and soon every new building will have a green roof, vegetation throughout, and will be completely different to how they are even now. 

The slides of 2040 look like a interesting future and something I will look forward to seeing get built. All the industries like food and living and the rest, which have been kept outside the city, are going to be moved in and mixed throughout, creating new, exciting and totally futuristic cities in comparison to today.

Week 5 - Reading 1 by Winters

Politics and the situationist international
 - E Winters

architecture should be regarded as visual art...
     Architecture is always visual art. Sometimes it is beautiful, sometimes not beautiful, but still fulfills its purpose. Architecture is subjective and not all people will like one thing. Whilst it should be regarded as visual art (because it is), there are varying degrees of this art based on purpose. Is it meant to be beautiful? Is it meant to be functional? etc. Whilst these come into effect, it is always on display, showing someones work, and for that reason, it should be regarded as visual art.

an animal follows a life laid out in front of it. man on the other hand is born free...
     I don't fully agree with this. Sure a pet might follow a certain pattern and follows that life. It is born its bought it stays with its owner, going on walks and doing various activities, gives birth in some cases and then dies. But an animal in the wild has a completely different existence. Sure it might not be as free as a humans, because we are able to think more, do more, build more etc. But at the same time, they don't follow rules like we do. They don't have laws (unless in a pack). We have never also experienced the animal life. Man's life is not free either. You have to buy things you can't afford you have rules and laws to follow. You cannot go where you want all the time or do what you want to do all the time. We are less free than animals!


the creation of architecture implies the construction of an environment and the establishment of a way of life...
     I find this to be very true. Obviously a building is constructed, but that new building directs life and is built to suit a certain activity for work, home or a range of other things. Sure you can build something for one purpose and later on a whole new purpose comes into it, but it was never really designed for that purpose and therefor may never function as well. That's why architecture can be so important. It can be designed for emergency things and therefore the architecture HAS to work as efficiently as possible. It can be built for a certain way of life for an individual and it HAS to function as best as possible for that person, otherwise the architecture is bad, its bad art and there's nothing really behind it.

Lastly, I find it very hard to believe that archigram 1) has never had anything built and 2) That they got the gold medal even though they havent had anything built. I thought over their long lifetime some of their ideas would have been constructed. But maybe they were at the forefront of ideas and future possibilities to try and keep other architecture innovating a developing new things, and just creating 'paper architecture'. Kind of like the world record line that everyone has to keep up with. For that reason they have been very successful and crucial to the world r architecture.

Week 4 - Lecture

People and Lifestyles

Are to define Characters, scenes and sets
   -they are future citizens

scenes are to demonstrate future lifestyles

If you are to design a space for two or more people?
     - I think my ideal scenario would be if some system in the world crashed (e.g. economy, environment, world governments etc. Cities don't function as they once did and they must downgrade in scale by sourcing from closer areas, no cars and vehicles in certain areas (the site) recycling road space into other space (e.g. vegetation pathways etc) . Just a scenario that would really test people, and make them do things they wouldn't think of normally, ways to make legitimate money

are they friends, colleagues, strangers, family members, community members?
     - I think if a scenario like this were to happen, family members and friends would automatically be drawn to each other. People would rather live close to friends than strangers

what do they want to do?
     - They would want to get by at first and then after a while would want to come up with ideas that would make them better off

what do they need and how can it be provided?
     - They would want to create new businesses that would thrive in this new market and would help people who might not be doing too good

Do they need to eat, drink, work, enjoy, shop, rest, separated, covered, protected, survive?
     - They would need to do all these things. But I think all these things would be very different in this new scenario to what they would be in present time.

How? ---

What do 1,000 people need? What about 10,000?
     - Not sure yet

Unprogrammed and unpredicted space (Hong Kong)
     - Maybe some of the things this group of people are doing is creating these spaces where people are suppose to come and use spaces for random things. Maybe they can't program them and they would just happen like at this bank.

Cocoon chair (Jenie Pineus), Street Museum (Yona Friedman, 2008), Fun Palace (Prince + Littlewood 1961), Centre Pompidou (Piano + Rogers 1977)

How can machines contribute?

Architecture as infrastructure?
     - People will start to use buildings for many different ideas to what they were intended for. Maybe some spaces or building are constantly changing in their use to suit what the public needs at the time. Maybe we start building infrastructure underground. No new buildings? Knock everything down and start a new type of building that will be better for everybody? Knock the whole inner city down and restructure it with thinner roads and buildings that suit the new world better?

Potteries Thinkbelt (Price 1965), Instant city (Archigram 1969), Continuous Monument (Superstudio), Wiki City (Senseable City Lab, 2007), 

Things like hair dresser on the side of the road!!!
     - This is exactly the sort of thing I was talking about. People will come up with strange but ingenious ideas to make money

Week 4 - Reading 2 by Zelfde

The continuous partial everywhere

The aspatial city

The future city..... what is it?

This didn't seem to talk much about a city to me, but I suppose it is more a hypothetical city. It seemed more the apparent blocking of a virtual city, that while in reality we might be on the opposite side of the planet, but at the same time is just around the corner, out of sight. The benefit of all the tools that he is talking about is that you can keep a personal record of the things you do. You can see where you've been, what you've achieved, people you have met etc and if you don't like that then don't use the tools. I think that's a great thing.

It seems to me from this talk that he or the people he refers to in his article, don't  like the fact that you can be half a world away from someone and still communicate as easily as talking on the phone. Isn't it good to keep in contact with family and friends? Isn't it a good thing that you can communicate with some one who you really enjoy talking to but lives so far away? I think it's a great thing that you can see and talk to people over the net if you cannot in person.

If you want a right to silence then why don't you just not use social media? turn your phone and other devices off. Why would you go camping with those devices anyway? Because camping is about getting back to nature, experiencing it and enjoying it with friends. Getting back to the more basic life, with less worries and less technology.

I don't quite understand why people would wear that apparel? surely there are a million other harmful things going on to worry about? Whilst as we continue to evolve and new devices and technology are invented, everything becomes easier and this aspatial city becomes even more aspatial. But if you don't like that, there are plenty of ways to avoid it. You can still have the basic tools that don't do much. The simple phones, don't use the social media site etc...

I know that by aspatial it means that it seems like the physical space doesn't matter because there is that opportunity for interaction even though someone is that far away. Furthermore in today's society you can shop half a world away too and order anything you want from where you want with the click of a button. But at the same time, you cant experience those things really. Its just like a dream, it didn't actually happen int he physical sense.

The aspatial city isn't real interaction. To me real interaction is in person, talking to people in the flesh, shopping in a store and trying things on. But at the same time whats wrong with some virtual interaction if you cant get the real stuff? If you can't see someone in person or shop for something you want in a store.

Go aspatial on that shit and mimic it...

Week 4 - Reading 1 by Brands

Shearing Layers

In my opinion you would be stupid to think that interior design is not a profession. Whilst architects may create and provide the spaces, the interior designers can really take the space and activate it further than it originally was. Obviously architects just think they can do a better job than interior designers, otherwise why would they bother making the 'architectural digest' mainly about interior design?

Do architects think they don't need interior designers to activate a space? That their original designs should automatically be activated and usable and interesting and everything? I think they should be all those things, but I think the interior designer is the one that takes it a step further and makes sure every bit of space is used and used to its maximum potential.

I very much agree with this article that people will change their interiors ten times more than they change a house. So while an architect might design the original house at the start, they don't do any redesigning throughout the life of the house until the next one is built. Obviously the architects want more of a cash flow coming through, and rather than wait til the next house to be built (which nobody knows for sure), they keep that money flowing through by designing and influencing the interiors too; expanding into other markets. The interior of that house could be changed many times through the life of that house though, and so the architects are trying to keep their influence in not only the design of the house itself, but the interior also. Its a much surer way of making money.

The 4 S sequence
Shell 35 - 50 years
Services 15 years
Scenery 5 - 7 years
Set weeks - months

The set and scenery is the main industry of the interior designers and is changed the most often. So why wait 35 - 50 years for the shell to be demolished and redesigned when you can keep the money flowing through by redesigning the scenery every 5 years or so and the set every few months.

Have along term relationship with the clients so you are continually doing the smaller set and scenery redesigns, so that when they want a services redesign, they come to you, and if they sell or want something demolished, they come to you also. The interior designers only do the set and scenery redesigns, so as an architect, why not try and block them out and do all of the jobs? I don't think the architect does it as well as a specialized interior designer might do it though.


The 6 S sequence
Site
Structure
Skin
Services
Space plan (Scenery)
Stuff (Set)

     -I feel as though the 4 S sequence was enough. Sure it goes into more detail about the whole site, but to me the architecture of the building is only associated with the 4 S sequence. The structure and the site are things we don;'t really connect with or interact with in the site. We interact with the building; sure we might play out side but it isn't the same sort of connection as between humans and the building and its interiors.

"The building interacts with individuals at the level of stuff; with the tenant organization (or family) at the space plan level; with the landlord via the services (and slower levels) which must be maintained; with the public via the skin and entry; and with the whole community through city or country decisions about the footprint and volume of the structure and restrictions on the site." 

     -I think this is an interesting point, and it makes sense to me. The only thing I disagree with though is the community having anything to do with the structure. Generally they don't see the structure (no one really does). I also don't think that the community has anything to do with the restrictions. That is a governing body that decides that and the community just abides by it. Therefore I don't really think that connection, connects somebody or the community to your site.

"Many people make different decisions, thereby ensuring variety in the resulting environment. many property owners slow the rate of change by making large scale real estate transactions difficult."

     -This idea of resilience of a building or buildings to me is a very important idea. To maintain the quality or       historic or just value of an area, its is more important to have a number of people in charge with the same feelings in mind. This way if there are a couple people who would prefer to knock something down, the majority number can maintain the value of the site/sites.

Week 4 - Group assignment progression

The image below shows the dependency diagram that was discussed in the group meeting this week. We originally though that climate change would be the main pressure point, but later decided that it was more likely to be a resource crisis. This was because it would occur first.

The image below shows Heidi's initial thoughts on how the poster might look with the main 'factors' included. I have taken this further and tried to add some more events that might occur in stages later on.

Week 3 - Lecture

SUSTAINABILITY

     Murray Lane - Tutor (Giving Lecture)

principal - universal and never changing
context - site specific and ever changing

Principles
     -Fundemental principle
          -sub-principle (E.g. Sustainability)
              -Pattern
+Context     -Architectural outcome

Selfish architecture - reasons without sufficient universal appeal (merely i want....)
Generous architecture - Based on universal principles and well reasoned context

Architectural outcome
Basic needs
     food, water, shelter, energy

Time scales
     year, decade, lifetime, forever

Space scales
     object, building, city, region, globe


How much land is needed for basic self sufficiency?


I can understand what he is saying. The triple bottom line just doesn't really cut it, because it is so much more complicated than that

Do we need to live more locally?

Yes. I think we need to export less and buy from closer to home

Week 3 - Reading 2 by Motavalli (8)

A History of Green washing: How dirty towels impact the green movement.

The fact is, those cards do very little because how many people actually read them? And sure they might do it once or twice if they do read it, but soon they forget about it and go back to old habits. Some people just hate using a towel more than once.

Printing those cards is also a waste to the environment because those cards are constantly thrown out and reprinted. This is one of those things where people need to be educated and they need to start caring about these things. Rather than just printing the cards to reduce laundry costs and giving the facade that they are all for helping the environment, they need to do all things within the company to help the environment, and maybe there will be some benefits for them too. But if we only look at what benefits us now in this instant, we will never improve the quality of our environment.

The fact is that people and businesses need to make a change. Some people do little things, which of course help, but it is not enough. There are just as many people out there who don't care and will continue doing things the wrong way. We need to start making BIG changes, and everyone needs to do it.

And whilst it is a bad thing that the company uses those cards to reduce their laundry bills, the fact is that people won't generally make a change unless there is something in it for them. People will turn lights off more often because it saves them money in their power bill. Sure, there are some people who catch the bus to help the environment, but its also cheaper and generally more convenient than trying to find a park and then paying for the park.

Dirty towels are just the surface. The fact is that every aspect of our lives can be changed to benefit the environment, and create a cleaner future....

Week 3 - Reading 1 by Fackler (7)

Tsunami warnings written in stone

This is a basic instinct that people seem to forget everywhere. People seem to think that because something hasn't happened for ages, it wont happen again. This is the biggest mistake because the longer you wait the more chance it is going to happen again, and maybe sooner than you think. I have enormous respect for those who make life a tiny bit harder by living further away, rather than playing chance with their lives and losing everything.

It was the same with the floods in brisbane last year, where people forgot about the 1974 floods and thought the could build in low lying areas, only for the richest waterfront houses on the river to be destroyed once again. The people of Brisbane will remember this for a few year before it passes to the back of their minds once again and the next flood comes along. It is a vicious cycle, and it occurs throughout the world

People need to continually be educated through generations and the right practices put in place, so everyone knows what to do when the time comes. This kind of things happens through any type of natural disaster: Tsunami, earthquake, flood, landslide, fire, cyclone etc.

It is all about learning from past experiences and the stone is the perfect example of past generations trying to save heartache for the new generations. Yes maybe we can't live on the water because a tsunami might come along, but would you prefer to live on the water close to your boat and quite possibly die, or live on higher ground, a bit further from the boats, but be more assured of living when the time comes.

If only more countries and groups of people left warning signs or stones in the ground for future generations....

Week 2 - Lecture (5)

Future Visions and Scenarios

Metropolis 1927 (Fritz Lang)
     - old movie - trailer has been revamped

Future Scenarios today - Robots of Brixton
     - 2011 RIBA Presidents medals student award winner
                        History repeats itself, first as tragedy second as farce...

I find it very weird that a video such as this would win an architectural award. I have seen a few of the other entrants and they included 'architecture' in their presentations. This didn't really seem to apart from the architectural background in the film. Obviously these were designed but I would have thought it would have to be a piece of architecture with all of the details

your role as an architect is to design an architectural entity that provides critical scenes and successfully demonstrated that it responds well to your future scenario. You will present your proposal as architectural fiction.

initial investigation
     - what if? scenarios

Urban theme. What if BBC decided to introduce London style congestion charge to the CBD in 2020 to heavily reduce traffic congestion in the area? - Congestion charging (London 2003)

Suburban. What if all retail stores in Paddington central stopped selling goods in favor of online stores but decided to keep physical presence for customer experience?

Regional. What if Woodford folk festival site were to become a self sufficient community that was to be managed and operated self sufficiently.

Virtual. What if QLD governments key strategy was to resolve urban, suburban and regional issues virtually?

TED TALK - Marcin...  - Open source ecology - Building own machinerymch cheaper

Project Ingeborg in Klagenfurt - virtual library

Project glass by google -

Week 2 - Charette discussions (6)

Group discussions

Urban - Having a transport system like London
pro
      less congestion
      reduced c02
      more space for people movement
      city cycle - better used
      builds revenue
      more use of city fringe retail
      car pooling opportunities
Con
      reduced availability of movement
      divides rich and poor
      higher dependence on public transport
      can public trains deal with extra people?
      city residents
      price rise in the retail sectors
      prices rise in transport
      increase in traffic load
      people have to go around the city

...Therefore residents would probably leave

Suburban - Sustainable retail experience
Pro
      Good for shop owners
      more space
      more clothes advertisement
      less movement (convenient)
      can sit at the computer and order

con
     Waiting periods
     less jobs
     no customer experience
     good to buy things and leave with them 

...Where do you go if you want it now?

Regional - Self sufficient
Pro
      Grow plants and vegetables for selling
      could make all the produce selling in the one area
      could use lots of different types of power (wind, hydro)

Con
      far away if you want to travel there
      Susceptible to flooding again

...Woodford mining
...Everything off the grid and local

Virtual - 
-Real is better thank fake
-layer on top of th ereal world
-Is a part of education 'Backboard' etc
-retail online shopping
-communication Facebook, Skype etc
-Government - information filtered through
-time has a factor in the real world

Week 2 - Reading by Koerth-Baker (4)

Innovations that will change your tomorrow

It is often very difficulty to think back to things when they were first invented and realize just how long they took to succeed. These days everyone wants everything done so quickly that it is hard to imagine that inventions back in the 19th and early 20th centuries actually took more than one persons lifetime to make possible.

I have only been alive for 23 years, but the inventions, or rather advancements that have occurred in this time have been enormous. We have gone from no computers, to slow computers that do little, to supercomputers that can basically do everything for us. Cars these days are developing in luxury, speed and every other factor in just one year. Advancements back in those times came along very slowly, just like the light bulb. Where as the light bulb is at a point where it can't really be improved and is now inefficient. Now we need to create new paths like they did back in the 19th century, which is going to take our geniuses a long time to figure out like it did Edison and all those before him.

I don't think in any way that people are smarter these days, I just think people in the day had to figure things out that have never been done before. Those people created new paths which people today continue on and improve. Now as we have developed the old ideas to that maximum potential, we look to other things which are more efficient and better for the environment.

Those people back in the 19th and 20th centuries also had different responsibilities to what we have today. They were looking to innovate and create things no one had ever thought of. Now we are looking to improve those things or create new things that are better for society and the environment. Things created back in the day were potentially harmful to people and the environment (to nobodies knowledge). The advancements in recent years in the medical field has discovered many of the potential harms that we face from these things. Now we look to improve the quality of the world which we have degraded over time and make it a safer place in every aspect.

The inventions that I like the most or that I think will be the most widely used

The morning multi-tasker
How much simpler would this make every bodies life. Rather than keeping everything stored in books, which take up physical space, it is stored digitally and can be viewed and worked out in front of you for your benefit. This is something that I know will be in every bodies house in a few years. Whilst it will start out expensive it will soon become affordable for everybody.

Nice little cabin in the sky
Who wants jet lag? you want to get to a new place and experience it rather than spending the first 2 days in bed. Seriously we have the technology to create better flying environments, so why don't we upgrade already and improve productivity. If you measured the loss of every bodies productivity from jet lag I'm sure it would outweigh the cost of upgrading some planes.

Terrifying Playgrounds
I think a major problem in society today is that people are too soft, and don't let their kids do enough stuff or experience enough things to toughen them up. Kids are suppose to get hurt, that's how they learn and experience and know what not to do in the future. By hiding kids from these things you make them weaker all through life. If you increase the difficulty of activities you make problems for kids that they need to think about before they do it which provides them with better skills in working out situations and better coordination.

The liar's workout
Everything restricting us is in the mind. We only perform that well because that's what our brain is telling us is our limit. Your brain cant differentiate between a slight difference in time unless it is right in front of you. I think this is a brilliant way of improving peoples performances and I'm sure will be widely used among athletes.

Sleep Mining
This could be such a good early preventative way to find diseases in people. I really hope this is widely used, maybe targeting people who are more likely to have genetic issues or something

The constant gardener
People love their front yards and grass as it is like a statement to the whole street. Therefore if people could have an easy way of knowing how to improve their grass with technology such as this, it would sell very easily. A whole street could be full of lovely front yards making it seem much nicer than it may be.

I truly cannot wait for a lot of these inventions to hit the shelves. I'm sure once they do, life will be much simpler and the quality of life could be improved for many people.

Week 2 - Reading by Revell (3)

88.7 : stories from the first transnational traders

In the early 2040's an ex-Soviet Arktika class icebreaker was recommissioned to act as an experiment in global finance at 88.7 degrees latitude - the heart of the arctic sea ....

I cannot understand how it could possibly circumnavigate the world in 24 hours. Does it mean that it circumnavigates a curtain portion of the world (like around the north pole) allowing it to stay in contact, or it can actually go that fast around the world? Could be kind of difficult if there is ice in the way like in the photo. 

I think as soon as there was any known risk of mutation, the test (no matter how successful) would be stopped.  That is based on societies actions in the world today, where if anything is slightly dangerous, it should be shunned or occupational health and safety gets stamped all over it, meaning that processes become sooooo much more complex than they need to be. Saying that however, there has always been an idea in movies where society turns into some animal like perverted being. Could we actually turn out like this?

It is very noticeable that in society today everyone seems to be getting more and more frightened of speaking their thoughts or doing anything that comes even close to being politically incorrect. Traditions that have been long standing like Santa saying 'ho ho ho' at Christmas time, is apparently offensive now. But could this eventually crack and society goes crazy? Where peoples lives are no longer valued so highly, but turn into a form of entertainment for the rest of society. If the world turned out like this, the safety of the people on board that ship would not matter to anyone else, as long as the trading market and all to do with it is running smoothly. 

the growth of a uniquely North Korean economic solution in the broadcast of its mass games and the legitimisation of a highly competitive, individualistic way of life...

If North Korea starts saving our economy, you know we are in trouble. With such a private and self righteous country in power and the rest of the world in their pockets, what happens? Does North Korea start trying to influence the way other countries work? Do they start invading other countries to spread their ideas further?

If we legitimize a highly competitive, individualistic way of life we will do just what I said before. Competitions will start to grow wilder and in new fields that we would have never considered in today's society. Those ideas (the ones that are currently in the movies and are just way too crazy to ever happen) become reality and peoples lives become an entertainment. Prisoners in jail's will be forced to compete with each other for the entertainment of the public, and this sport becomes an extra money earner and a way to add to the economy even more. 

The sheer volume of trade made possible by the continuous, rapid and deregulated system of the Arktika’s movements and its elite traders invalidated economic theories of zero-sum growth in the eyes of the Equestrian Councils and business leaders - encouraging decades of power shifts throughout the financially developed world...

So a stronger overall economy, yet no one economy can hold all the power for very long. That seems like a more viable system to me. It allows more countries to be super economies rather than just the u.s. Saying that however, in the near future we will possibly have one of these shifts where the power will change to china.  I think it could be better off overall if more countries had the power. It would probably lead to less overall poverty, and could lead to the rising of some third world countries like Africa. All they need is the initial boost and the removal of the vast amounts of corruption in their countries. 

This is a very 'out there' scenario. Whilst some of these ideas could very well be possible and logical for the trading systems, I'm quite sure any effects on human behaviour (no matter how much they increased profitability) would become illegal. I'm sure if there was such a practice that could improve trading, it would be studied and improved so that traders could have a normal life whilst working, with no physical or mental side effects. 

Week 2 - Reading By Sadler (2)

Beyond Architecture

an indeterminate world... not of fixed extent or character, vague, left doubtful

Modernism is a contradictory idea

The reading is about the Archigram magazine or newsletter, containing different issues.

is a composition ever complete?   Mies and Mondrian
Llewellyn Davies and Weeks - Hospital project
Brought in-determination into architectural discourse

Archigram was looking for the newest coolest designs in not only architectural but all art forms

Indeterminate structures (1940's), for artistic events. Experiments in arts and technology (EAT)

Imperative to create open ends. Desire for continuous change

Heisenberg s, 1927, Uncertainty principle (indeterminacy principle)

1966 - Buildings with no capacity to change can only become slums or ancient monuments

Modernists were forced to consider 'how communities might actually function rather than how they should function'

Architects seek out existing structures and allow structures to develop in positive directions instead of deductions

life is negotiated not pre-programmed

there were no limits

From the mega structure to the kit-of-parts
Archigram with allies pieced together an architecture of in-determinism from other pieces of modern architecture to compete more with the international style

Became about flow - but then seemed deterministic

mid 60's Archigrams attention shifted from slumbering mega structures to the kit of parts 'clip on' and 'plug in'

didn't just talk about architecture

the tuned suburb - not standardized - a whole mixture of types, totally different to how it actually turned out