Metatopia

In 1783 the Montgolfier brothers launched the first manned fight. The Spectacle of the of a hot-air balloon flying above the King of France inspired the revolution for Democracy. For Boullee the sphere became a symbol of democratic equality. The Spectacle proved its ability to transform reality. The Enterprise Center in West Philadelphia was the home of the American Band Stand and the first television studio in the United States. It is the origin of McLuhan’s Global Village and the Spectacle that informed, inspired, and controlled the 20th century. The 21st has seen the rise of Spectacle of the internet become more important the reality. Life has become a simulation experienced virtually within personalized spheres.

Metatopia is a 21st century Utopia of individualized spherical units touching at singular tangential points. The spheres are stacked on end as individual cells create a larger whole. The mirror finish of the exterior is a monument to the self that is expressed in reflection. Each individual unit is designed to sustain life as long as possible without having to disengage from their personized simulated reality. The vertical garden built in the atrium provides all the other resources needed to sustain life at a minimal distance necessary to minimize exposure to a hostile exterior environment.

a Structural Glass Green House Atrium b Egress Strairs c d Microclimate Green House Units

341 Single Occupancy Housing Units e Open Air Walkway f Elevator Core g Opening for Evaporative Cooling Waterfall h Atruim Entry

Tolopia Fish Farm

Enterprise Center/American Band Stand k

Structure Glass Entry Tunnel

Septic Composting and Cockroach Farm m Methane Capture Tank n

Water Harvest Reservior o Entry Walkway

Visual Studies

The object is an investigation into recreating the expressive gestural formal techniques of rococo plastering through a digital model making. Modeling in virtual reality allowed us to maintain the gesture of creation through the human body. Bridging the gap from digital mechanical production to digital human production, in a sense creating a more emersed digital craftsman. This relationship between craftmanship and mechanical or industrial production has several historical echoes. The images we created are hybridization referencing these specific historical echoes the arts and crafts movement and the prints William Morris in combination with the mundane fantasies of contemporary middle-class sensibility. The geometries and materials of this physical object are derived from the pop cultural phenomenon of Star Wars, The Lord of the Ring, and Mickey Mouse’s Magic Kingdom.