The Babylon Times
Unit 1
Tuesday, 15 July 2014
ARCHITECTS AT WAR! By Archana Moorthy & Isabella Marques Castro “ I believe in the power of imagination to remake the world.” - J.G. Ballard
The war of ego rages on, destroying the fabric of London
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he world has changed so much since its inception and here we are today still waging wars and battles. As cities begin to grow more and more vertically, the human race is turning against a certain species among them; this species consists of those who we call architects. London, the capital of the United Kingdom, was once a beautiful and charming city. But recent developments of its skyline has transformed it into a victim of a creative war. The war is waged between the young and the old, the moralists and the immoralists, the idealists and the egoists. It errupted and will continue to destroy the city around it until it destroys the Victorian wonders
in entirety. So, what next? Are we going to give the construction of our new city to the wise and experienced or to the young and quixotic? Well the answer lies very much in the balance of the two. The contributions of the experienced are definitely not to be ignored and their potential should not be boycotted. However, creating a new city by only looking back to the past does not sound like a good solution either. Instead the answer lies in balance, the principle nature relies on. The best way to create a new city is to look back at the past and reinvent it. In the following pages of this weekly newspaper, the unbuilt towers of London
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have been unearthed, researched, manipulated and transformed to create a new version of the city a space that allows for the iconic towers of ego, yet also strives to make architects collaborate to prevent future wars. This new city is what we call Babylon. Once a nickname for London, it has now become its future. Like the biblical Tower of Babel, the city draws its inspiration from London’s forgotten fictions. It is made from thrown away drawings and scraps of paper. This newspaper will document, and at times, catalyse the changes in the city. We hope you enjoy the journey and read on to find out more about Babylon.
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