3.1. Athelstan Spilhaus ‘Our New Age’ comics

3.1. Athelstan Spilhaus ‘Our New Age’ comics published in 1966.

“Spilhaus was a man who saw science as the solution to the problems of the world, and

became a public figure presenting his ideas of utopia in everyday life through his comic

strip "Our New Age." During the mid-1960s, he conceived an ambitious plan to condense

his ideas into a prototype for future cities that would be both noiseless and fumeless, accommodating America's growing population and their by-products.”7

Spilhaus envisaged a 21st century city to be built in Minnesota that was technologically

advanced, sustainable and could solve the ever-increasing problem of population and

decay of cities due to pollution and exhaustion of resources, in the 1960s. His ideas dealt

with providing more civic spaces on the ground and all air pollution removal and waste

management utilities happen underground. It was also adorned with the classic Buckminster Fullers geodesic dome8 that promised climate control and a balanced energy

system.

Figure 10. Minnesota Experimental City: the 1960s town based on a comic strip

7 https://www.archdaily.com/883414/the-experimental-city-of-the-future-that-never-got-built 8 A geodesic dome is a hemispherical thin-shell structure (lattice-shell) based on a geodesic polyhedron. The triangular elements of the dome are structurally rigid and distribute the structural stress throughout the structure, making geodesic domes able to withstand very heavy loads for their size.

This futuristic utopian city design was way ahead of its time, and it cannot be denied that

the predictions made by our visionaries regarding the problems that a city is going to face

in future and its solutions that can be executed to make our lives better are accurate at

most levels. Design competitions and exhibitions have always invited designers to present

their ideologies, while some designers used mass media to promote their design

ideologies only a few could get an opportunity to execute such ideas. It’s important to inform the citizens about the upcoming interventions and to understand the process and

the narrative behind any new construction that happens or will be required, to happen in

near future.