Autonomous Architecture

People often say, with a slight frown, “but some people just like driving”. Of course. So, the most logical thing is that we should cater to those people by holding back human progress and safety, right? Nope! Imagine brand new types of activity park, where you go to drive manually. Architects of today - fancy designing Nostalgia Parks where people can whiz around in genuine old gas guzzlers, fill up at just-right retro petrol stations, and drive round realistic artificial towns where the traffic lights are always green?

But seriously now... There will be a huge amount of change we’ll have to undertake as a society, as people, as an economy, to be able to transition to this new world. Many sectors (garages / mechanics, petrol stations, delivery businesses, cargo transportation, public transport) and the employees within them will have to undergo serious changes or find themselves out of business. The world will struggle, and it will be a period of great change.

But in the ashes of the old world, the new world can be built. An unknown multitude of new buildings must be made, or refitted for purpose. When every Halfords / RAC / Kwik Fit in the country is closed, what do we build in those spaces? When town centres find themselves with giant derelict concrete monstrosities, what do we do with them?

What should a driverless street look like? How do homes get rethought to not include garages? Whole architectural movements will be borne out of turning the useless into the useful, as well as all the extra space we have, and what we can do with it.

Time to start thinking.