UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE AND PLANNING
Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University Dwarka, Delhi
RESEARCH PAPER, 2015-2016
THE ARCHITECTURE OF DYSTOPIA A STUDY OF DYSTOPIAN ELEMENTS IN THE ‘MODERN’ URBAN CITYSCAPE
ANMOL AHUJA 05390701612 IVth Year, 2015-2016
GUIDE: AKHIL DASS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to gratefully acknowledge my Guide, Mr. Akhil Dass, for offering his guidance, for supporting my topic and helping me shape my topic and dissertation from the early days to the final form it has acquired. Also, this dissertation would not have been possible without the vast expertise and insightful theories from Prof. Rajat Ray, whose deep understanding of the subject matter helped me greatly. Special thanks to Architect Shaleen Sharma for sparing his valuable time to indulge in discussions about my topic, and timely lending rare and valuable books from his library. A token of gratitude is owed to all my friends for their support and motivation, and for patiently listening to all my rants and offering valuable perspectives. I would also like to thank all the people who took out the time to fill out the questionnaire. Your opinion is deeply valued and helped me reach suitable and knowledgeable conclusions. I would like to acknowledge the assistance of my brother Lovish Ahuja, and a vote of thanks to everybody who read a draft of the paper and offered views on the topic that brought about its completion. Above all, my parents, for everything.
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LIST OF CONTENTS
Acknowledgements 1. ABSTRACT 2. INTRODUCTION 2.1 Background 2.2 Need Identification 2.3 Aim of Study 2.4 Hypothesis 2.5 Research Methodology 2.6 Scope 2.7 Limitations 3. LITERATURE REVIEW 3.1 Dystopia in Literature 3.2 Dystopia in Illustrations 3.3 Dystopia on Film 3.4 Dystopia in world Architecture 4. QUESTIONNAIRE 5. CRITERIA DEFINING DYSTOPIAN ARCHITECTURE 6. CONTEXTUALISATION 7. CONCLUSIONS BIBLIOGRAPHY
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The Architecture of Dystopia 1. ABSTRACT Utopia, Dystopia and the synergy between them. “He still had faith in his fantastic vision, but in moments of doubt he worried that he’d given the world only a new version of despair.” —Adam Zagajewski, “Old Marx” The terms Utopia and Dystopia are used to generally refer to an imaginary place or society. While the usage of these terms may itself be a little hackneyed, given the obvious analogies with paradise and hell, dream and nightmare, a closer look reveals that the two are not direct opposites of each other; and while they may not share a strictly binary relation either, they are associated to a greater degree and are more akin to each other than one is likely to comprehend in a first encounter. The term Utopia was first used by Sir Thomas More in his 1516 book of the same name published in Latin. It is defined as a community or society possessing highly desirable or near perfect qualities with respect to law, politics, social order etc. It has been used widely ever since to portray fictional societies in popular literary and artistic works, often intended to serve as blueprints for the creation of an ideal society, or a society that is considerably better than the present one. The term Utopia literally translates from Greek as “no place” (‘ou’ meaning no and ‘topia’ meaning place) stressing on the highly fictional nature of the subject, emphasizing that it is more so the product of fantastic visions, albeit not actually real. At the same time, it also actually implies that the perfectly ‘good place’ doesn’t exist. That is where the notion of a Dystopia begins to define and shape itself. The inception of Utopia itself is part of an elaborate thought experiment for the betterment of society; a product of philosophers, thinkers, scholars, and sociologists alike who attempted to design the perfect city or at least set guidelines for it. In all such Utopian representations, from the Platonian Republic to modern day science-fiction, attempts have been made to diagnose the problem plaguing the society of the day and a new, idealistic vision put forth; of a society free from the aforesaid problems, based on the premise that projecting a better world into the future renders present day problems more clearly.1 On the other hand however, some representations rely on daunting, grim renditions of the future (or present) intended to “hold a mirror up to society”. In all such representations, from George Orwell’s 1984 to modern day science-fiction, Utopian attempts have been criticized as unrealistic and distanced from reality, resulting in 1
Michael D. Gordin, Helen Tilley and Gyan Prakash, “Utopia and Dystopia beyond Space and Time”.
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utopia’s 18th century doppelganger, Dystopia. Dystopia translates from Greek as “bad place” (dys- bad and topia- place). That is to say, a society in which everything is unpleasant, typically a totalitarian or environmentally degraded one. It is “a futuristic, imagined universe in which oppressive societal control and the illusion of a perfect society are maintained through corporate, bureaucratic, technological, moral, or totalitarian control.” Both Utopia and Dystopia exist in a dynamic equilibrium of sorts. Contrary to general conception, dystopia and utopia are not antonyms, but share more of a cause-and-effect relationship. A utopia is a planned manifestation of the ‘ideal society’, thus a true opposite of utopia would be a society that is either completely unplanned and chaotic, or is deliberately planned to be terrifying or bad (an anti-utopia). However, another pragmatic approach states that a dystopia assumes its identity from an attempted utopia, either gone wrong or functioning only for a particular section of society, which in turn calls for just and corrective planning measures. Dystopias are actual societies encountered in historic research, and cited by planners and policy makers, although with utopian aspirations. It is the same society shown in dystopian fiction, inhabiting the city of the future. The concept of a dystopia holds much more relevance in the society of the present day, wherein excessively idyllic planning measures have gone south and the social order finds more ways to generate dystopia rather than utopia. Utopia is itself a deceptive promise2, and dystopia its counterpart, its bitter predicament. “Dystopia must not be confused with anti-utopia. While anti-utopia attributes the darkness to Utopia itself and tells us the exits are ambushed, dystopia is the dark side of hope.” (Levitas & Sargisson, 2003).
2. INTRODUCTION 2.1 Background:
Architecture and Dystopia: Pinpointing Dystopia in Space and Time. Space and Time are two criteria classical thinkers have always used to study utopia and dystopia. Therefore, whenever we imagine any of the two states, we immediately tend to link them to a particular space (a city, for example) and to a particular time frame (historical or futuristic). In thinking of a dystopian state, we instantly shift our imagination to historical ruins 2
Ruzbeh Babaee, “Critical Review on the idea of Dystopia”,2015.
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of war torn nations, or into the future showing cities consumed by industrialization and urbanization, the population having become a slave to the abundant swell of technology. Conversely, another school of thought rooted in the 19th century and stemmed in the works and ideals of noted literary writers and critics like Aldous Huxley, Yevgeny Zamyatin, George Orwell, Don DeLillo, Kurt Vonnegut and others states that the concept of dystopia may not altogether be that farfetched, or not one to be envisioned in the distant future. It is something very plausible, very real, and its ominous tone concurrent with the direction that we as a society may be headed in. With cities rapidly being transformed into concrete jungles, suburbs falling to waste, and urban spaces turning to sites for congestion, (all of them being endeavors planned with utopian outlooks.) it may be argued that the idea holds some merit and warrants attention. “Utopia takes us into a future and serves to indict the present. Dystopia places us directly in a dark and depressing reality, conjuring up a terrifying future if we do not recognize and treat its symptoms in the here and now.” 3 Dystopia and Utopia are essentially sociological concepts; delving into what kind of society we wish to live in, and the kind of society we may actually be living in, thereby making it a tough task to link the same to Architecture. A ‘utopian’ or ‘dystopian’ architecture may thereby be hard to define, but attempts at utopia through architecture and planning, and their subsequent potential dystopian outcomes may be gaugeable. One may sense an architecture of a dystopian nature in dilapidated and industrial structures, or in the natural ageing of buildings that evokes a sense of melancholy. The makers of dystopian noir and fiction found the ‘modern city’ to be the perfect setting for their crime capers. Urban Designers and policy makers may see slums as chaotic and dystopian in nature. In consonance with this, Hugh Ferriss, the famous American delineator described a newcomer going into the streets of a modern city as Dante’s descent into Hades.4 The views may vary from one individual to another, but the basic premise behind the idea of dystopia remains the same: dehumanization, fear of the uncanny (unfamiliar), anxiety and/or a feeling of uncertainty. This study thereby primarily aims to look at dystopian representations and how architecture is portrayed in them and subsequently draw parallels to existing buildings/works, to elicit an enquiry into the architecture of our cities, and subsequently the role assumed by the architect in devising it. 2.2 Need Identification The need to study about dystopia is reinstated by the fact that the term, despite all preconceived notions attached to it, may not really be seen in the ‘apocalyptic’ sense that it is commonly made out to be. When considered as something omnipresent, and in line with the natural order of things 3 4
Gyan Prakash, “Noir Urbanisms”. Hugh Ferriss, “The Metropolis of Tomorrow”, 1929.
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around us, it attains a completely different notion. Surely, it does depict a pessimistic overview, but it demands to be considered in an equilibrium with utopia (as mentioned earlier). It must be stressed that perfect dystopias and utopias do not exist, (They may do so in fiction.) that we as a society exist somewhere between the two. Yet dystopia is chosen for all its plausibility, as it very well may be a close to accurate rendition of present day society. To reinforce the abovesaid, through her writings, Shreyasi Bose, a pupil of Rabindranath Tagore, stated that society may already be in a free falling state into dystopia. “In a universe subjected to increasing entropy, one finds that there are many more ways for planning to go wrong than to go right, more ways to generate dystopia than utopia. And, crucially, dystopia—precisely because it is so much more common—bears the aspect of lived experience.” 5
Architecture of the time is said to be a true reflection of the society and culture under consideration. In such a case, it becomes important to look at how architecture becomes a manifestation of a sociological concept like dystopia, that finds its roots in attempted utopias. 2.3 Aim of Study The research primarily aims to study dystopian representations from various media (literature, cinema, and art) to examine if they indeed find their roots in utopian principles; and to conjure up similarities in architectural manifestations from all such representations, thereby linking them to contemporary architectural practice and society. 2.4 Hypothesis i) Contemporary cityscapes/urbanscapes display characteristics of a dystopia, though it may or may not involve the conscious hand of the architect. ii) Such a concept suggests trends of concentration, decentralization, and replication or repitition, when viewed in an urban context, or on a macro level. 2.5 Research Methodology
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Literature Survey: To elucidate the basic idea of dystopia, its utopian genealogy and its establishment as a lens to study and critique present day architecture. Review of important literary works, both in the genre of dystopian fiction and other non-fictional texts, and some cinematic and artistic renditions to find common characteristics of architecture in a dystopian state.
Questionnaire: The research also involves preparation of a two part questionnaire. The
Michael D. Gordin, Helen Tilley and Gyan Prakash, “Utopia and Dystopia beyond Space and Time”.
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first part contains questions eliciting people’s perception about the idea of dystopia in general, broad terms. The second part contains questions enquiring about the notions of dystopia in architecture. The survey is intended to be taken up by people outside the architectural fraternity as well to ensure a multitude of responses on what type of architecture may be termed dystopian.
Contextualisation of findings based on relevant case studies.
Analysis of data: Detailed analysis of factors derived from literature review and responses received from the survey, and arriving at a suitable conclusion pertaining to the kind of architecture that may be termed ‘dystopian’ in nature, and thereafter establishing the relevance of its notion in the Indian context.
2.6 Scope The scope of the study is limited to studying only the exterior appearances of buildings (form and elevational features) in aforementioned dystopian representations, so that requisite parallels may be drawn. Interiors of such buildings will not be dealt with, due to lack of time. Owing to the nature of study, subsequent text will also involve substantial sociological commentary, and critiques on architecture and society today. The study is neither intended to be prophetic, nor heretic; it is rather only an academic inquiry into the kind of architecture that constitutes cityscapes today. 2.7 Limitations The examples of representations cited in the study, or looked upon during the course of research are mostly western in origin but global in appeal, owing to the lack of significant examples of such media in the Indian context. However, an attempt is made to illustrate its significance in the Indian context as well.
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3. LITERATURE REVIEW This section endeavors to look at some dystopian representations, across various media, in an attempt to establish some factors that come to characterize a dystopia in an architectural sense; that is not considering the artistic/cinematic setting in which they are portrayed, and only studying the built environment in all such media. The representations so chosen are as follows:
1984, by George Orwell Metropolis of Tomorrow, by Hugh Ferriss Blade Runner, by Ridley Scott
The abovementioned representations are chosen because the architecture in all these media doesn’t merely act as a background. It subsumes an important role in the projection of the dystopian setting; the dystopian city placed right in the foreground impinges upon, and interacts with the characters. That the representations utilise the modern setting as a centre stage, remodelling existing iconic cities and buildings in one way or the other, only makes it imperative to draw parallels with to-day. The dystopian city and its architecture in all these representations have been crafted with enduring detail, accentuating the dystopian setting and further convincing the reader/viewer of the plausibility of the idea of such a society. It is duly noted that though these representations essentially relay the society as a totalitarian one, and the living conditions of the populace so portrayed borders on miserable and grim, these are not intended to be accurate predictions of a tomorrow. These are essentially, works of fiction dealing with real life issues, and mirroring our fears, projecting them into a future, and therefore may be seen as such and nothing more. As mentioned and clarified earlier, this study is only an attempt to study these dystopian representations, and only draw requisite parallels to present day society, carefully considering present trends and tracing their lineages.
3.1 Dystopia in Literature: Nineteen Eighty-Four, by George Orwell Nineteen Eighty-Four is a piece of dystopian fiction written by English author George Orwell in 1949. Considered by many as a seminal piece of literature and the foremost in the dystopian genre, it is still cited as prophetic in its depiction of the society of 1984. The novel proves to be an unsettling experience for readers generations hence, owing to its ominous tone, and its depiction of the “dehumanizing expansion of bureaucracies and our unquestioning commitment to technology”, reinstating some of our worst fears of a dystopian society. 9|Page
SYNOPSIS: It is set in the city of London in Airstrip One (formerly Great Britain) of the super state Oceania, depicted to be in a state of continuous war, omnipresent government surveillance, oppression of the individual will and a mass conforming society. The protagonist Winston Smith, a member of the outer party, is a diligent worker at the Ministry of Truth and feels oppressed by the on-goings of the state. He secretly hopes of rebellion against The Party (IngSoc. short for English Socialism) and against Big Brother, the face of oppression for the Party, who may indeed be a fictional creation altogether. THE ARCHITECTURE OF NINETEEN EIGHTY FOUR: The physical environment of the Orwellian vision of dystopia is as tormenting and disturbing as the mental one. Thus in a literary work of such ominous setting depicting a regime that thrives off of the subjugation of human spirit, the architecture of the city, and of individual buildings plays a foremost role in the projection of such a setting. It thereby begins to function as a metaphor, an expression of the regime’s totalitarian repression. While the cityscape is lined up with dilapidated towers, and abandoned industrial structures, it is the new architecture built under the autocracy of the party that sets in an ignominious gloom. Since control is a very major theme in works of such nature, the same is reflected in the buildings housed by the city- a controlled architectural expression, which at once is oppressive and reflective of the power of the Party. Architecture is no longer considered as an expression of freedom and personal style, and is in most cases reduced to sublime functionality only. Even if the conditions of the state are chaotic, the illusion of order is maintained by the thought police. The same is also visible in an orderly arrangement of clean, rectilinear ‘blocks’. The constructions are unresponsive to the human scale and the streets where the population thrives, are bereft of any character.
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The cityscape as seen in Michael Radford’s film adaptation of 1984.
The inherent feeling of repression and gloom hangs all over Orwell’s description of the protagonist’s place of residence and work too, and the legislative and institutional structures housed by the inner members of the party. The Victory Mansions, where Smith resides, are depicted to have fallen into a state of disrepair, in a derelict part of the capital. The structure itself is dilapidated and the building ill-functioning. With shortcomings ranging from burst pipes and plaster flaking off the walls, to rickety elevators that would seldom function, everything in Orwell’s imagined future city then, echoes the misery and present condition of modern day public housing projects.6 This fictional description was perhaps realized with the construction of the Pruitt Igoe housing complex in St. Louis, Missouri in 1954. Essentially a display of Modernist Architecture, the complex comprising of 33 buildings of 11 floors each became infamous for its poverty, crime, segregation and its congregation of rundown neighborhoods, and had to be demolished in 1972, owing to its rather dystopic condition. The project, initially hailed as a breakthrough in Urban Renewal, was eventually thus cited as an architectural and urban renewal failure.
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Gerald S. Bernstein, “The Architecture of Repression: The built environment of George Orwell’s 1984”, 1985.
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The Pruitt Igoe housing complex in St. Louis, Missouri.
Winston Smith describes the other residences in the city as lined up into vistas of rotting houses, literally referred to as the rubble of the city. This description too somehow effectively imbues living conditions in slums and shanty areas, and echoes the condition of the urban poor thriving in our cities. However, in stark contrast to this, the four ministries of truth, love, peace and plenty are described as monumentally scaled structures, as “impregnable fortresses of concrete.” The buildings are all geometric in form, austere in appearance and lacking any ornamentation, immediately forming an impression of the Modernist and Art Deco style of architecture. Standing tall as arrogant symbols of authority, the ministries essentially “dwarf all architecture around them.”
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The ministry of truth as seen in Michael Radford’s film adaptation of 1984.
The Senate building in London, which served as Radford’s model for the Ministry of Truth. It is to be noted that contrary to the novel, (where the ministries were pyramidal in form) the film adaptation made use of an existing building for the projection of a dystopian setting.
The building envelope lacks an adequate number of fenestrations, resulting in poorly lit workspaces. The ones that are present too, are narrow and slit-like in appearance. The Orwellian envisioning of work places sadly is reminiscent of many contemporary work environments, the office spaces in the ministries being described by the author as “long, windowless halls, with a double row of cubicles.”
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Social stigmata like an increasing economic gap, and the setting up of a social hierarchy is also reflected when Winston visits O’Brien. A member of the Inner Party, O’Brien resides in a spacious, lofty apartment building. The protagonist is taken aback by the striking dissimilarity and variance between the residences of the Inner and Outer party members, akin to the social divide in most of the ‘big’ cities today. The notion of any open/close nature of space seems absent. Large open spaces, measurable in scale are provided (like the space where regular rages were conducted). However, such space too is confined by large embellishments on its periphery maintaining an illusion of free will. Pieces of land amidst dense clusters of buildings, not bearing any structure, are described as being severely blighted, lacking even the most basic form of vegetation.
The place where rages were conducted. A still from Michael Radford’s 1984 film of the same name.
In his description of a dystopian state in 1984, Orwell essentially paints a close to accurate picture of the actual cities we live in, and work in; of the Utopian dream transformed into a nightmare. The buildings (and architecture in broad terms) of Orwell’s 1984 depict characteristics of sterile banality, expressing no distinctive style other than conforming to right angles. 7 The author laments over the loss of identity, not just of the individual, but also an architectural identity, the latter being something that most people would easily be able to relate to a contemporary scenario, to a city or a metropolis. In Orwell’s fictional telling of the dystopian conditions of 1984, the reader is urged take an insight, and to draw requisite parallels with the extant; and that is 7
Gerald S. Bernstein, “The Architecture of Repression: The built environment of George Orwell’s 1984”, 1985.
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precisely where we realize that placing the dystopian wake in a distantly futuristic scenario is rather superfluous and implausible.
3.2 Dystopia in Illustrations The Metropolis of tomorrow, by Hugh Ferriss
Hugh Ferriss’ illustration of the dystopian future city.
The Metropolis of tomorrow is a series of essays and drawings/renderings by famous American delineator and architect Hugh Ferriss, first published in 1929. The book which is largely an illustrated essay on the modern city and its future, also incorporated Ferriss’ philosophy of architecture. Ferriss was trained as an architect at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. However, early in his career, he began to specialize in creating architectural renderings for other architects' works rather than designing buildings himself. His works and drawings served as inspiration for the dystopian setting of the fictional Gotham City. He is said, to have influenced an entire generation of architects, posthumously by his colleague. Ferriss directs his critique towards the modern city, against the backdrop of the rise of modernism and industrialization, in an increasingly urbane scenario. His drawings depict the modern city in a dystopian light, as a congregation of cold and rigid structures. The modern city according to him, exhibits a certain inhuman quality; something that emulates the ‘uncanny’ or the feeling of strangeness a man would have while walking through unbroken vistas and districts of vertically expansive skyscrapers. In support of that, Ferriss is correct in suggesting a newcomer going into the streets of a modern city as similar to Dante’s descent into Hades (as referred to on Page no. 3). 15 | P a g e
The book opens with Ferriss’ comparison of the city to a stage, viewed from a vantage point. He thereafter questions whether the gargantuan buildings form the main characters, or the tiny, continuously moving “objects” - the humans who inhabit them. An inherent discrepancy in scale (between the humans and the structures they build) is thus conveyed through his drawings and text.
Renditions by Hugh Ferriss showing a ‘discrepancy in human scale’.
Ferriss suggests that the metropolis displays a tendency towards concentration, towards density, that is contributed toward by various socio-economic factors like an ever increasing population, migration and limited urban infrastructure and resources, but to name a few. To tackle the aforementioned, the city also exhibits a tendency to go higher owing to limited availability of land resources, and to serve as “arrogant symbols of power in which humans have no place.” The ‘Metropolis of tomorrow’ is thus described as being a city of closely juxtaposed verticals, visible only in monotones of grey. The reason for the latter could be the increased usage of concrete and steel in their brut appearance, as was epitomized by the Modernist style of Architecture at the turn of the century. In consonance with the same, Ferriss quotes: “Are these masses of steel and glass the embodiment of some blind and mechanical force that has imposed itself, as though from without, on a helpless humanity?" The steel and glass skyscrapers, with all their stern monumentality have thereby rightly been termed “the citadels of the rich”.
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Hugh Ferriss’ renderings of i) Chrysler Building, and ii) Telephone Building, St. Louis.
In reminiscing over any remnants of history in the city like the Gothic cathedrals, Ferriss laments that the essence of Architecture somehow seemed lost from the modern city. As may be inferred from 1984 too, the ethos of a dystopian state relies on systematic dissociation with all historical connections. However, it is these historically deep rooted structures that manage to hold their own, in a skyline otherwise dominated by “forms as cold as ice.” The author is perturbed by the designing of “stupid, miscellaneous districts”, characterized by an absence of viewpoint, vista, axis, relation or plan. He refers to skyscrapers as “rising masses of office or apartment buildings fashioned to meet appetites of property owners rather than human needs of the occupants” and is unforgiving in his critique, calling the habitual city dwellers condemned to the lower realms. Towards the end of the book, Ferriss takes to predicting the form of the future Metropolis. Two major predictions that he makes regarding the future dystopian city are titled ‘Crowding towers’ and ‘Overhead traffic ways’, both of which have been indefensibly prophetic. The ominous, headlong ascent of buildings, he predicted, would continue for miles, leading to an abyss of crowding towers that would, in time, prove to be a serious menace to the traffic conditions and public. Doesn’t this dictate, much to our dismay, the predicament of most of our mega-cities today?
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Illustration titled “Crowding Towers”
Also, to tackle the accompanying traffic menace, back in 1929 Ferriss proposed that traffic be led over high overhead passageways, of which the flyovers and overpasses are contemporary manifestations. At the same time though, recognizing the obvious, he states that overhead traffic ways would be casting their gloomy shadows on the city beneath, creating a dark chasm at their base. Interestingly, not only Ferriss’ vision, but many utopian visions for the city picture overhead traffic ways, with fast moving automobiles and sky high towers. One such illustration titled “Utopian Visionary City” by W.R. Leigh is displayed herewith. One important question that arises, (and also suggested by Ferriss) looking at these visionary illustrations: ‘What happens beneath?’ Sadly, this echoes the condition of most of the flyovers and overhead passageways in our cities. Though the body of work itself may not forthrightly be termed dystopian, the author Hugh Ferriss in his illustrations of the future city does not exactly paint a pretty picture either. He doesn’t shy away from putting to full effect, the defining elements of a dystopia in his drawings, rendering the metropolis of tomorrow as bleak and grey. It continues to be seen as a seminal work of reference for architects, not only for its richly detailed and meticulously drafted illustrations, but also for the thought behind them, and its successful identification of problems plaguing modern cities, that stand relevant even a century hence.
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i) Utopian Future City, by W.R. Leigh and ii) Illustration titled “Overhead Trafficways”.
The modern predicament. The homeless in Delhi thriving on traffic islands beneath flyovers in the mega city. Image published on downtoearth.org, 29 April 2014.
3.3 Dystopia on Film Blade Runner (1982) Directed by: Ridley Scott. Blade Runner is a 1982 dystopian science fiction film directed by Ridley Scott, based on Philip K. Dick’s 1968 novel “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?” The film’s concept art was visualised and provided by ‘visual futurist’ Syd Mead, and production designed by Lawrence G. Paull. The 19 | P a g e
film was widely appreciated for its retro-futuristic sets and dystopian production design, and has over the years acquired the status of a cult film. “Blade Runner depicts a road we are heading down now – class separation, the growing gulf between rich and poor, the population explosion, and it offers no solutions.” -Ridley Scott, Director
SYNOPSIS: The film depicts a dystopian Los Angeles, fallen into technological squalor, under the technocracy of the all-powerful Tyrell Corporation. The Tyrell Corporation manufactures genetically engineered Replicants with a fixed life-span, to serve as slave workers on off-world colonies, and are thereby prohibited on Earth. The story revolves around Rick Deckard, a ‘blade runner’ who is assigned the task of hunting down and killing/retiring four replicants who defy the ban in hope of an extended life. THE ARCHITECTURE OF BLADE RUNNER: The architecture of the neo-futuristic city of Los Angeles is a forerunner in convincing the viewer of a dystopian setting throughout the film. The use of special effects combined with miniature sets of specially designed buildings bring to life the portrayal of a city fallen to technological ruin, occupied by criminals and outcasts, and consumed by capitalism and technocracy.8
The opening shot of Blade Runner (1982).
Right from the opening shot, we are introduced to a hostile city, full of gargantuan high rises, clogged by industrial smoke. According to the visual designer of the film, Scott wanted a film “set 40 years hence, made in the style of 40 years ago.” The city thereby retains some historical 8
Dietrich Neumann, “Film Architecture: Set Designs from Metropolis to Blade Runner”.
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connections in building motifs and styles, as opposed to completely disavowing them (as in 1984 and Ferriss’ Metropolis). These serve as remnants in a city whose skyline is otherwise occupied only by steel high rises and industrial chimneys. The city is under constant surveillance by hovercraft like police vehicles called ‘spinners’ (omnipresent surveillance being a common theme in all dystopian representations). One of many such spinners flies over and introduces the viewer to the tower of the powerful Tyrell Corporation. The tower too, is designed to be a symbol of power and authority, in the form of a mayan pyramid, standing higher than any other building in sight. The idea of ascension, and of a summit; the desire for our buildings to go higher up, meant to inspire awe (while it does quite the opposite) and to serve as displays of technological advancement and power, is not alien to the non-fictional world either. The very idea of placing a human figure somewhere near the gigantic pyramid seems intimidating.
Headquarters of the Tyrell Corporation.
Both the director and designer of the film are of the view that the film’s architectural concept and treatment is very much a part of its time. The film thereby features actual buildings portrayed in a dystopian light for dramatic and cinematic purpose. The Bradbury building in L.A. is an actual filming location, for example. The protagonist Deckard’s apartment building is the Ennis Brown House by F.L. Wright, visible from his characteristic usage of ornamented concrete blocks. Concrete in its brut appearance is a commonly recurring material in all dystopian representations, and a number of Brutalist and Fascist buildings as well (that have served as dystopian backdrops in narrative/ on film). The latter can be perhaps owed to the fact that exposed concrete ages very naturally and visibly, and that exposed concrete, lacking any ornamentation is ‘brutal’ in the most literal and visible sense.
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i) Bradbury Building in L.A. and ii) Ennis Brown House by F.L. Wright, used as Deckard’s apartment.
The concept for the futuristic city of Blade Runner somewhere involves the idea of a monolithic city, dotted by huge megastructures. Syd Mead stated that his inspiration for the design of the setting went from “Egyptian to Deco to Streamline Moderne.” Apart from that, the imagery of buildings fallen to entropic ruin, and of buildings covered by webs of pipes, ducts and technological debris only adds to the overall gloomy environ.
Miniature models for the film, showing the concept of retrofitting.
Retrofitting or layering is an important concept visible in the production design, and in most buildings today. “It had to look like what it was. And what it was a city whose discreet individual structures had been enveloped into sort of an urban machine, with people living inside", Mead quoted in an interview. While being a dystopian representation, the city life is also vastly visible. Though factors like urban density, neon lights shrouding buildings and streets, fast food joints etc. are highly reminiscent of downtown Los Angeles, they also expose the ‘underbelly’ of the city.
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Dystopian concept art for the film, by Syd Mead.
Gotham City: ‘Designing’ a fictional dystopia Unlike the previously studied representations, which utilised an existing city/architecture, and modified it to portray them in a dystopic sense through various ways: by projecting it into the future, by retrofitting or layering existing downtown areas in LA, by rendering iconic American buildings, and so forth; Gotham City, home to the hugely popular vigilante hero Batman is an entirely fictional creation. Needless to say that visually, Gotham too derives inspiration from major cities and existing brutalist and modernist buildings, both on film and print media.
“Looking west across from the Gotham River”, by Anton Furst.
Since its inception, Gotham has been visualised as a gloomy and nightmarish city, infested with crime, and being torn apart from the economic divide. For Tim Burton’s film version of 1989, production designer Anton Furst’s set designs were regarded as one of the most compelling urban visions in the history of filmmaking. Furst’s work was said to channel the spirit of Hugh Ferriss’ The Metropolis of Tomorrow and its dystopian rendition of New York City. He created an 23 | P a g e
environment that was terrifying and uncanny, yet recognisable all the same, working on the concept of a “no place”, unfamiliar both historically and geographically, yet having a familiar feel to it because we live in such cities 9 , that is to say timeless and placeless. Furst made use of maximised space, bridged over streets, and buildings cantilevering towards the streets rather than away from them, henceforth providing as little natural light on the street below, as possible. His set design was a combination of everything, from Modernism, Brutalism, to Gothic Architecture to Italian Futurism and Fascism 10 . Being particularly inspired by the brutal, locomotive like buildings of Shin Takamatsu, Furst directly lifted some elements that happened to sit inconspicuously in the dystopian scenery of Gotham. A random street in Burton’s film version of Gotham was described as an array of unornamented, structurally expressive, industrialised buildings, or as Anton Furst put it, “a dark resume’ of a century of modernism.”
i) Nishina Building, by Shin Takamatsu. Ii) Takamatsu’s Architecture serving as inspiration for the dystopian setting of Gotham city for Batman (1989)
In stark contrast to Furst’s work, The Dark Knight Trilogy by Christopher Nolan takes the idea of an Urban Dystopia further by emphasising that Gotham, could be any modern day city. Nolan’s vision of Gotham misses the neogothic elements of Furst’s works. Instead being shot among the corporate locales and clean-cut buildings of Chicago, Los Angeles and New York, the films pinpoint an urban dystopia in space and time, as opposed to it being “timeless and placeless” in Burton’s films, driving home an unsettling thought.
9
10
James Charles Mak, “In search for an Urban Dystopia- Gotham City”. Dietrich Neumann, “Film Architecture: Set Designs from Metropolis to Blade Runner”.
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3.4 Dystopia in World Architecture Having now studied various dystopian representations, it is imperative to now single out similarities in architecture and building elements suggested by these media. It is duly noted that dystopian architecture may not be seen as belonging to any particular age of world architecture. (modernism, for example, or gothic, art deco etc ). However, it so happens that the onset of the dystopian genre (and the disregard of utopian ideals as unrealistic) coincides with the Industrial age. Thereafter, the modern city, with its steel and glass extrusions became the canvas for most dystopian representations. The ‘modern’ city was to noir and dystopian representations, what prairie was to the westerns. In consonance with the abovementioned, the works, specifically urban designs and city models of one such modernist, Le Corbusier, are discussed in the next segment. LE CORBUSIER: MODERNIST UTOPIAN VISIONARY Le Corbusier, born Charles-Édouard Jeanneret-Gris, was a Swiss French architect and was seen as a pioneer of the modernist movement. He brought in and advocated the engineer’s aesthetic, and incorporated ideas of mass industrial production and scientific precision into his designs, while terming the home of the individual as a ‘machine’. Based on similar ideologies and accompanied with a utopian forethought, he proposed to design the ideal city structure, an urban utopia. Like many other modernists, he embraced the utopian ideals of city planning and advocated that armed with the right urban planning tools and reliance on technology, architecture could revolutionize patterns of living and improve the lives of modern city dwellers on a physical and economic level. “On the day when contemporary society, at present so sick, has become properly aware that only Architecture and City Planning can provide the exact prescription for its ills, then the day will have come for the great machine to be put in motion.” -Le Corbusier Corbusier’s urban designs were based on principles of rationality, order, and social improvement. The plans were laid out in a rectilinear fashion with clearly segregated zones of activity and huge, homogenous tower blocks placed far apart, separated by public plazas and lanes, marked with terraces. Some of his significant, though unrealised urban design proposals are discussed herewith. Ville Contemporaine was an urban design proposal made by corbusier in 1922 for housing close to 3 million inhabitants. The plan included 24 sixty-storey cruciform skyscrapers made of glass and steel skeletons set in large, rectangular park like spaces. The evenly spaced towers had a transportation hub with depots for buses/trains in the middle. While the towers housed the rich 25 | P a g e
and their offices, the workers’ housing was placed far apart with smaller green spaces. Another important intervention was the segregation of vehicular and pedestrian pathways, encouraging and glorifying the growth of the automobile. The plan was criticised for being excessively orderly and taking away the randomness of activity from its inhabitants, considered vital for urban proliferation. Furthermore, the spaces between the towers were shunned, being labelled as “waste spaces”. Corbusier’s overall idea of replacing small scale structures with homogenous tower blocks was seen as a failure at the time, despite modern architecture’s utopian forethought.
Plan Voisin for Paris, by Le Corbusier, 1925.
Plan Voisin was a proposal for the city of Paris made in 1925, reworking some of the previous elements from ville contemporaine. It consisted of 18 double cruciform sixty-storey skyscrapers placed on an orthogonal street grid and vast green space. The plan retained the separated pathways for pedestrians and vehicles, and proposed that heavy traffic proceed at basement level, lighter traffic at ground level and fast traffic along limited access arterial speedways. Plan Voisin faced similar opposition and criticism. Ville Radieuse was proposed in 1924, and involved a rearrangement of some features of ville contemporaine. It was a linear city design, based on the shape of the human body with head, arms, legs etc. The business centre was located at the ‘head’, the ‘body’ made up the residential sector of the city, and the industrial and manufacturing units, the ‘legs’. The unobstructed green spaces, multilevel traffic-ways and terrace gardens were some of the elements retained from the previous designs. The Ville Radieuse too however, faced the same fate of Corbusier’s utopian dream being cited as a dystopian nightmare. The plan was criticised for its lack of human scale and connection to its surroundings. It was, in Lewis Mumford’s view, “buildings in a parking lot.” He further criticised it 26 | P a g e
by saying, "The space between the high-rises floating in a superblock became instant wastelands, shunned by the public.”11
i) Ville Contemporaine (1922) and ii) Ville Radieuse (Radiant City) by Le Corbusier
CHANDIGARH: CORBUSIER’S UTOPIA REALISED The city of Chandigarh is quite well known to be the first planned city of independent India. A union territory and the common state capital of Punjab and Haryana, the city’s planning was commissioned by the then prime minister Pt. Jawahar Lal Nehru, and assigned to Le Corbusier in 1951, in an attempt to create a city that was a symbol of the potential of an independent India. One of the very few realised projects incorporating Corbusier’s modernist-industrial urban planning ideals, the city was planned along a gridiron layout, closer in spirit to the ‘Radiant City’ with strictly divided zones of activity along the analogy of the human body, being divided into 30 sectors, of which 24 were residential, 5 were industrial, and the first sector housed the Capitol Complex. Chandigarh also displayed Corbusier’s fascination with the automobile, with industrial production, with the orthogonal, and the use of raw concrete as a construction material. The master plan proposed a clear hierarchy between roadways and plots significantly set back from wide, tree lined avenues to serve as buffer between the people and their residences, and the fast vehicular commotion. Fourteen different types of housing were designed to accommodate every class of the population, along with 800 Hectare of green space set aside and spread out among the sectors.
11
James Howard Kunstler, “The Geography of Nowhere”, (1993)
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i) Corbusier’s master plan for Chandigarh. Chandigarh High Court.
ii) (Top to bottom) The Palace of Assembly, Secretariat Building and
However, like Corbusier’s other urban design proposals, Chandigarh’s utopian aura too was short lived for being too formally planned and paying little attention to the need of the locals and the land, with concerns ranging from a “totalitarian impulse” to the mechanical, inhuman feel of the scheme. A particular criticism was directed towards Corbusier’s design strategy being excessively rational and ahistorical, disconnected from the local culture of residents, resulting in an alienating environment that people felt little connection to. His design was considered sterile and profoundly alienating because of the absence of street life such as bazaars. Also, in a pursuit of strict segregation of functions, the Capitol Complex was placed away from the city, “rendering the monumental dimension of Le Corbusier’s vision remote and distant from the citizens”12. Dystopic building characteristics can also be found in the individual buildings of the Capitol Complex. The Secretariat and High Court buildings particularly drew criticism for their “experience being similar to walking down a morgue” 13 and for using materials that were not indigenous. The roads reflected the architect’s fascination with the automobile, although many of the residents to date use mainly bikes and rickshaws. Other criticisms to the city included the citizens’ complaint of a lack of a city centre because of its rigid gridiron layout (akin to the Connaught Place in New Delhi), shortfall of housing units despite fourteen different modules designed for every class, the lack of an intimacy in streets, and little consideration to Indian climatic conditions, in ways that perhaps the old city of Shahjahanabad does. All said and done, the city of Chandigarh continues to be an inspiration for many and a topic of research for many others, but for many of its sullen citizens, it ended up being a mere eyesore.14 As modernist ideals of straight lines were shunned, futurism with its emphasis with speed,
12 13 14
Peter Fitting, “Urban Planning/Utopian dreaming: Le Corbusier’s chandigarh today”,2002. Guus Kemme, “Chandigarh: Forty years after Le Corbusier”, 1992. Eileen Cuevas, “Modernity and Planning in the developing world”, 2013.
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technology, youth and movement came into the picture. The works of Italian futurist Antonio Sant’Elia were seen as increasingly dystopian. The author of “The Manifesto of Futurism”, though Sant’Elia didn’t leave behind any completed buildings, he is widely remembered for his bold illustrations of the future city.
Antonio Sant’Elia’s Illustrations of the future city from ‘The manifesto of futurism’
Progressively, in various media, actual buildings began serving as backdrops for dystopian representations. Brutalist and Fascist buildings, and buildings designed to mimic industrial machinery in form, served as the perfect setting for cities consumed by industrialization and increasing urbanization. In cinematic renditions, such buildings only accentuated the overall dystopian environ created for film. In contemporary representations though, the architecture of John Portman, known for his signature mix between modernism and brutalism, rivals any starchitect in terms of screen time. His buildings have formed part of the built environment of popular dystopian fictional series like The Hunger Games and Divergent series. Regardless, there are certain elements that link dystopian representations across all of the ‘isms’ of architecture: fear of the uncanny, anxiety, dehumanization etc. The next section, i.e. the questionnaire, and the section thereafter attempt to look at the common links, or the criteria defining the kind of architecture that may instil such disconcert for the viewer. 4. QUESTIONNAIRE The second part of the research involved the preparation and circulation of a questionnaire pertaining to specific areas of conflict or varied opinions over the idea of dystopia, inevitable owing to the nature of the study being highly subjective. The questionnaire was designed so as to 29 | P a g e
understand the perception of the people, both from and outside the architecture fraternity, with regard to the issue of a dystopia, its relationship with utopia, its presence (or absence) from our cities, the role of an architect with respect to it, and the defining/common elements as such that could be singled out from representations that they considered to be dystopian in nature; and also to obtain quantifiable results from the study. Before taking the survey, the respondents were made privy to the issue and idea in a manner as objective as possible to elucidate unbiased and non-prejudiced responses. barring some questions that were meant to inquire about the very primal notion of dystopia from the respondents. The survey was presented in two parts, the first part contained questions eliciting people’s perception about the idea of dystopia in general, broad terms. The second part contains questions enquiring about the notions of dystopia in relationship with architecture. The responses received and the conclusions are summarised thereafter.
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After receiving a multitude of responses to the survey, from students, teachers, and working professionals, the data was collated and analysed to observe and identify any trends in the data. The overall, broad view from looking at the data would be that people have varied, and highly subjective notions and reactions to the idea of dystopia. However, it is to be noted that none of the respondents completely shunned the idea, and believe in the onset or coexistence of a dystopian reality, sooner or later. The respondents, (of which 55% were females and 45%, males) were found to be mostly in the age of 20-30 years, majority of them being residents of Delhi NCR region. Maximum number of respondents were found to believe that crumbling of the existing social order would be the primary cause or catalyst for the onset of a dystopian reality, followed by technological squalor and least number of respondents considered a natural disaster to be a reason for the same, that may be a cause for alarm. However, most of the respondents, (35%) envision such a reality later than forty years from today. While looking for representations that the respondents found closest to their vision of a dystopia, 1984, Brave New World, The Matrix, the representation of Gotham City were among the most popular and well known ones, in affirmation with the representations chosen for this study. Most of the representations mentioned were cinematic renditions, although the responses received also included a wide variety of literary works, social, political and natural happenings. The statement “Society is in a free falling state into dystopia” by Shreyasi Bose (refer page no. 4) has been strongly agreed to by 25% of the respondents, while most people, 60% “somewhat agree” to it, reinstating the need for this study. Also, the fact that dystopian imagery and visualisation is strongly affected by the type of setting or portrayal was unanimously agreed on. The idea of an Urban Dystopia and urban decay was found to relatively unknown to the respondents. However, on being provided with a viable explanation, the idea met with instant approval and agreement, the cities of Delhi and Mumbai being frontrunners as victims of an urban dystopia in architectural and general terms.
The next part of the questionnaire pertained to the architectural notions of a dystopia. While seeing relatively lesser responses compared to the first part owing to limited knowledge of the subject among people outside the architecture fraternity, it was interesting to look at the responses received from various architecture students and professionals. For the next, decisive question of the survey, about what architectural features or characteristics the people felt lent a dystopian character to a building, the responses are summarised in the following table. Maximum number of people (70%) responded that a lack of primeval greens rendered a dystopic nature to the landscape. Buildings and structures that were monolithic in form comprised 50% of the responses, probably owing to a lack of architectural character. Apart from that, lack of fenestrations and visual relief in buildings, vertically expansive constructions, and homogeneity in material usage among others were seen as characteristics that would come to define a dystopic architecture. All of these criteria defining and forming a common link in identifying dystopian 34 | P a g e
architecture are discussed later.
individually
Among the responses received, the buildings built in the Modernist, Brutalist and Fascist style were considered to be most dystopian, as lending a certain dystopic quality to the structure that other styles or ‘isms’ of architecture didn’t, or did to a lesser extent. Along parallel lines, the works of Le Corbusier, Kisho Kurokawa and other modernists were seen as increasingly dystopian in nature, along lines established by this study. In tandem with this, steel and concrete, two of the major finds of the industrial era were described by the respondents as construction materials that one could easily identify with a dystopian setting.
Among the picture based questions, modernist buildings received the most number of responses as being the most dystopian looking in nature, (Kisho Kurokawa’s Capsule Housing Tower, to be precise, was mentioned the most.) while the gothic era buildings, the least. Also, most respondents were able to easily associate the dystopian category with residential buildings, followed by commercial, institutional and religious.
5. CRITERIA DEFINING DYSTOPIAN ARCHITECTURE Having singled out common architectural elements from all dystopian representations and responses from the survey, an attempt is now made to discuss the manifestations of these elements in our cities and how they come to define a ‘Dystopian Architecture’, and the impact of 35 | P a g e
their presence in our cityscapes. Vertically expansive structures : The most common criterion in dystopian renditions on an urban scale is the concept of ascension, of height; of scaling multiple storeys to form vertically limitless structures that stretch out to the sky. The obsession with height (as has been discussed) could be to accommodate, or as symbolic displays of power and/or advancement on the technological front. The use of height and enormity, that of expanse, as a metaphor is common to all dystopian renditions and visualisations of the future city. Density : Bleak renditions of a dystopian future show cities as increasingly crowded arenas, with a tendency towards concentration. The ‘crowded’ nature of the city derives itself not only from the population explosion point of view, but also from an architectural point of view. Lanes upon lanes of crowded buildings for miles, to accommodate a population of a similar magnitude is testament to the same. The urban context, apart from formally constructed architecture, displays slums as a very prominent example of the trends towards concentration and densification. Monolithic Structures : Structures that are plain extrusions of their rectangular floor plans are a common sight in megalopolises today. Structures with voids, or irregularly shaped buildings that would otherwise provide some sort of visual relief from the existing concrete jungle are absent in the dystopian city scape, and extremely rare in the contemporary one. Lack of Greens: Dystopian cityscapes dictate a lack of primeval green spaces, and are marked by blighted, barren pockets of land between soaring towers and capers. Such pockets often are infamously known for festering crime ridden neighbourhoods and unsocial activities, making them extremely unsafe. Reduced green cover in our cities, and the existence of such spaces in our cities, is a testament to the aforementioned. Lack of Fenestrations in Buildings: As observed in all dystopian representations that have been discussed, the building envelope lacks an adequate number of fenestrations, resulting in poorly lit spaces and work environments, and increasing the reliance on artificial lighting. The emergence of rather ‘plastic facades’ as elevational means of treatment and increased dependence on mechanical means of cooling has further narrowed down the application of fenestrations to building envelopes. Uniformity in Material Usage: Homogeneity in material usage, as opposed to a heterogeneous mix of material application is common to all renditions of dystopian media. Among materials, the ones that most inconspicuously sit in a dystopic setting are concrete, glass and steel. 36 | P a g e
6. CONTEXTUALISATION: Dystopia, in all its appeal (or repeal), is primarily a concept of the west, most commonly associated and finding its roots in post war destruction and insecurities. It was only much later that the word found its usage extended into the future for rectifying the wrongs in the present, subsequently becoming a new genre in fiction altogether. As the years have progressed, the notions and ideas associated with dystopia and utopia have been refined, elaborated and applied to present day society, not being strictly limited to only post war connotations, but also expanded along lines discussed in the previous sections. In India however, the concept is still a relatively unexplored one, although most of its mega cities may already be undergoing urban decay. Its notions are still orthodox and dated. For example, to a layperson ordained with the basic idea of what a dystopia is, an old or historic building may seem dystopian. When seen from the perspective of this study, that very building present in between a boulevard of business towers may be lending an unmistakable character to the streetscape. Similarly, when considered as a lens to study an urban system, as is intended by this research, the term dystopia acquires many facets in the urban context. The ones that are most visible and unmistakably distinguishable are discussed in the section forthwith.
The trend towards Replication: The Housing Problem- Is Bokanovsky’s Process applicable in the case of buildings too? The Bokanovsky’s Process is a fictional process of cloning human beings under conditions of extreme control and surveillance. The process is a key element in the happenings of the extremely popular and highly acclaimed dystopian fictional novel “Brave New World” by Aldous Huxley. At its crux, a method of mass production, the Bokanovsky’s Process can be easily applied to the building world as well. The most commonly occurring non-fictional manifestations of this process in an urban scenario, however, unmistakably are the public/group/composite housing projects. Owing to an extreme deficiency of land resources, and to accommodate a contrasting, ever increasing human population, while at the same time combatting spatial, physical and financial limitations, the housing tower had to go higher, also ensuring as limited ground coverage as possible. As per the Census and results of the 65th round of the NSS on Housing conditions and Urban Slums, about nineteen million households (18.78 million, precisely) grapple with housing shortage in Urban India (as of 2012) vide Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation scheme. The estimate is based on usual inputs like obsolescence factor, congestion factor & homeless households. To accommodate alarming populations of similar magnitude, the modernists sought to look to the sky and built towering structures to house the said population. Although, these towers too had some sort of visual relief, a sense of scale and a break in the vertical expanse of the structure. Housing projects today are all but longitudinal extrusions of their floor plans, laying waste to the intended, planned community spaces on the ground as they go higher. Many of the municipal housing societies and DDA (Delhi Development Authority) housing projects and 37 | P a g e
schemes in the city are testament to the abovesaid statement. Charles Abrams, noted American lawyer, author, urbanist, and housing expert remarked, “The housing stock is generally less alterable because zoning forbids substantial changes or because it does not lend itself to major alteration. It has been built to meet the requirements of the average family and none other.”15 Pertaining to that, the mechanical process of planning and replicating housing modules under morbid constraints, stacking them vertically atop each other to produce “forms as cold as ice” is the architectural version of the Bokanovsky’s process in the non-fictional world. Coupled with the existing condition of housing projects, frequent criticisms of neighbourhood deterioration and disrepair and subpar maintenance initiative by either authorities or community, group housing today has come to resemble the description of Victory Mansions from Orwell’s fictional dystopia. For instance, given here is an image of the DDA Housing Complex in Dwarka Sector 16B. Although not extensively expansive in the vertical sense, the housing towers are direct clones of each other, extruded from the same module quadrupled, with little to no visual relief, placed with an inherent sense of control on a blighted piece of land intended to be used as congregational space for the community. The narrow lanes or ‘gullies’ formed owing to the towers being placed too close to each other, with almost no sunlight, transform into dumping grounds, and can be labelled what are most commonly referred to as “negative spaces”.
Panorama of the DDA Housing Complex in Dwarka Sector 16B. Source: Self clicked.
The housing problem and the overall lack of accommodation resources directly feeds into another one of the issues to be discussed, Exodus to suburbia.
The trend towards Decentralisation: Exodus to Suburbia Suburbs have been defined as residential or mixed use areas developed as an extension to the city within commutable distance, but away from the city/urban centre, as an effort to decongest city centres. As discussed earlier, the fact that there is enormous pressure on existing land resources and that we have only so many houses to shelter an ever rising population has been cemented. Added to that, there is the lure of the city that brings in hundreds of new migrants into the city every day in search of work opportunities and better living conditions. Thus, the idea of
15
Charles Abrams, “The City is the Frontier”.
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decentralisation, of decongestion into suburbia came into being, in a pursuit of encouraging people to live the urban dream far from the urban centre. Planners and Urban Designers have been among the greatest critics of suburbs, accusing them of producing buildings lacking character and featureless uniformity. Suburbs were essentially developed on land annexed adjacent to cities providing fresh ground for design and construction. Instead, what started as an effort to decongest city centres, resulted in merely vertically rising glass blocks on blighted pockets of land; what was envisioned as a breakthrough in urban planning, ended up merely being a blatant replication of the west. The following criticism by William Hamilton (1991) along similar lines, sheds light on the sociological ills of suburbs. “Created as safe havens from the sociological ills of cities, suburbs now stand accused of creating their own environmental diseases: it engenders, lack of attachment to shared civil ideals. Increasingly, the newest, largest suburbs are being criticised as landscapes scorched by unthoughtful, repetitious building, where, it has been suggested, the isolations of larger lots may lead to disassociation from the reality of contact with other people.”
Images of construction underway in Noida sector 16. Indifference to context and rising, expansive verticality with no relation to immediate surroundings can be inferred.
Described by Lewis Mumford as “dissolute landscapes”, suburbs merely seem to house structures and blocks, and not connect them. When seen from the aerial point of view, what results is isolated, mega high rise structures and blocks of glass and steel standing tall in expansive pieces of land, unrelated to each other, screaming urban renewal, akin to Ferriss’ fitting graphic description of urban sprawl. Suburbs were, therefore, essentially seen as lacking the very characteristics that brought the word urban to be related to cities.
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7. CONCLUSIONS
The research sheds light on the dynamic and synchronous relationship between Utopia and Dystopia, and how utopian forethought guides the planning process in architecture, that may eventually lead to dystopian outcomes. From the introductory part of the study, it can be concluded that Utopia and Dystopia may not necessarily be seen as unrelated entities. Being fantastical elements, both coexist in a dynamic equilibrium of sorts, sharing more of a cause and effect relationship. Consequently, dystopia isn’t a direct antonym of utopia, which would be a completely unplanned society or one that is deliberately planned to be terrifying. Instead, it comes to find its origins in a utopia gone wrong, or functioning only selectively. It also establishes that placing the dystopian wake in a distinctly futuristic and post-apocalyptic scenario is rather implausible. Shunning orthodoxy and absolute negativity attached to the term itself, the research urges the reader to view contemporary city and society in a different light. Based on the representations studied and referred to for the intent of this research, it can be derived that a Dystopian sense in architecture may be characterised by the following criteria,
discussed already in the fifth chapter of this study. Vertically expansive structures Density Monolithic Structures Lack of Greens Lack of Fenestrations in Buildings Uniformity in Material Usage
Though the representations cited and studied for the research ( 1984, The Metropolis of Tomorrow and Blade Runner) are rooted in fantasy, they were chosen for their vast appeal, the use of architecture and built environment as a ‘character’ itself, for being inherently prophetic and the parallels that could be found to the contemporary scenario. Since the criteria defining dystopian architecture, as inferred from the study, can be unmistakably seen in modern cities, it may be safely concluded that contemporary cityscapes/urbanscapes display characteristics of a dystopia, thus proving the hypothesis. In contextualising the concept of dystopia, the most commonly conceived trends are those towards density or concentration, replication and decentralisation, the manifestations of which are slums, composite housing systems and suburbs, when seen in an urban scenario.
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Dystopia, like entropy, is self-propagating. Likewise an architect, inconsequentially may or may not be an instrument in devising it. What one refers to as dystopian or utopian is highly subjective in nature, and is guided by the individual’s knowledge of the subject, forethought, preconceived notions attached to the two terms and overall perspective towards contemporary society. The arising dichotomy is aptly summarised by the following closing quote. “One man’s utopia is another man’s dystopia.”
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BIBLIOGRAPHY Nineteen Eighty Four, George Orwell (1949) The Metropolis of tomorrow, Hugh Ferriss (1929) Utopia and Dystopia beyond Space and Time, Michael D. Gordin, Helen Tilley and Gyan Prakash Towards a new Architecture, Le Corbusier Collage City, Colin Rowe and Fred Koetter The form of Cities, Alexander R. Cuthbert The Death and Life of great American Cities, Jane Jacobs The City is the Frontier, Charles Abrams Utopia, Sir Thomas More The City of To-morrow and its Planning, Le Corbusier Experiential Realities and Dystopic Futures, Terri Meyer Boake Film Architecture: Set Designs from Metropolis to Blade Runner, Dietrich Neumann
Websites: www.wikipedia.com www.dictionary.com www.academia.edu www.blogspot.in www.behance. net
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