SPECULATIVE THINKING: PUBLISHING AND DRAWING
IDES3010 - Advanced Design Thinking Matthew Burleigh - 20950992
Tutor: Loren Kronemyer
The Project The Scenario At the beginning of the speculative scenario, the year is 2046. On April 13th, 2036 an Asteroid by the name of Apophis collided with the Earth. NASA was able to minimise the impact of the asteroid and avoid the entire annihilation of Earth, however, Madagascar has been effectively destroyed and replaced with an island made up entirely of the asteroid, Apophis. When the asteroid collided with the Earth, it began to put out an Electrical Magnetic Pulse at random intervals, causing the complete shut down of the world’s entire computer and electrical network. As a result of this, humans had to adapt and revert back to technology utilised before electricity. Additionally, it is soon realised that the new island of Apophis contains an other worldly ore that can be melted down and used as a fuel in similar fashion to the previously utilised fossil fuels of the early 2000s. World War 3 breaks out in order to secure the “Apophocite” within the asteroid, resulting in many deaths until the War’s eventual conclusion in 2044 declared America, China and Russia the joint owners of Apophis. Matthew Burleigh has been enlisted to design a number of the architectural structures on Apophis within the American Sector in 2046, during which time he writes numerous letters to his wife back in Australia. The Submission The final product has been designed to appear as though it is a box of items that could be considered important to the studies of Future Architects and historians in general. As a result, the elements of my submission appear as though they have been bundled together and sent to the Center of Architecture by the late Matthew Burleigh’s wife to be archived and used in future studies of history and architecture. The submission consists of 4 major elements: The sleeve - In the form of an old cigar box The self published scenario - In the form of the letters and illustrations A further contextual addition - In the form of a Sketchbook A Digital Record - In the form of a USB with scans of the above contained.
The Sleeve
The Self Published Scenario Envelope for Letter One
7
50
FIRST GRAND OVERLORD OF AMERICA
Envelope for Letter Two
2028 $
7.60 MITTENS - FIRST CAT TO ORBIT MARS
Envelope for Letter Three
Envelope for Letter Three
10 20
$
120th Birthday Edition
Self Published Scenario - Letter One
To whom it may concern, I have sent these letters and sketchbook to the Centre for Architecture in the hopes they may do some good with the furthering of architecture and the understanding of my husband’s work on Apophis. They may even shed some light on what happened there. Shortly after Apophis exploded, I received my husband’s final letter which you can see attached. He never explained to me what that strange glow was but I whole heartedly believe that it was the cause of the explosion that killed everyone on that damned asteroid. A few days after the asteroid exploded, I found his sketchbook on his bed side table. What was strange is that I could have sworn he brought it with him on his final visit to Apophis and his final entries truly scare me. What did my husband see? What happened to him? How did that book end up in my house? Overall, people keep saying in the news that the asteroid did nothing but good for the world; it improved the economy; it allowed for the environment to thrive once more because all the mining was focused there; it caused a shift in the atmosphere, which effectively negated global warming; and people even list the significant reduction in the human population as a good thing. Those people didn’t have to count their husband as one of those “statistics”. In the end, the asteroid gave the human race a second chance to treat our planet better. I have sent you a number of my late husband’s letters that he sent me during his time on Apophis, unfortunately these are the only letters of importance that have survived. I have also included a number of his drawings and what remains of his sketchbook. You can also find a USB included with digitalised versions of the letters along with scans of both the letters and sketchbook. All of this has been stored in an old cigar box that Matt used to use to hold important documents for protection during transport. I hope your further research and study can do my husband’s work the justice it deserves and please find out what happened to him. Please…
Kind regards,
Danielle Burleigh
A Further Contextual Addition