ARCT5513 Near Future Scenarios for a New Architectural Era

ARCT5513 Near Future Scenarios for a New Architectural Era Unit Coordinator: Dr Fernando Jerez

DUFFY, ROBINSON AND MARTIN; FREEMANTLE, KOVACEVIC, LUNDIN, MCDONOUGH AND SHAHID; JONES, LEDGER AND UNDERWOOD

Jarrod Duffy, Beau Robinson and Charlotte Martin ‘Do We Really Die Anymore?’ The project explores a near future scenario where companies such as Facebook collect data throughout the life of their users and reconstruct their profile as an interactive holographic avatar based on this accumulation after death. It is based on the notion proposed by Yuval Noah Harari that people using such platforms are the product and will eventually merge into the accumulated data flow. The future will see the commodification of the deceased’s data in this subscription-based interactive avatar to help families grieve.

William Freemantle, Anja Kovacevic, Johanna Lundin, Sophie McDonough and Subah Shahid ‘EDO (Ethically Developed Organisms) Farming’ EDO Farming is a response to a projected population loss of farmers in Japan in 2035. This loss, along with valuable traditional farming techniques seldom passed down to younger generations and the lack of agricultural land needed to sustain future populations will impact Japan’s food security. The solution was the implementation of GMO products and the utilization of urban areas for small-scale domestic farming for families, businesses and individuals, reducing strains on commercial farming through a subscription home-delivery based business.

Andy Jones, Evan Ledger and Hannah Underwood ‘Resisting Form - A Short Film’ Imagine if every café, restaurant, bar, and nightclub was indefinitely closed after one emergency news broadcast. Consider all the memories that had been made there and the new memories that can never be – this became reality in 2020. Despite health concerns and social distancing laws, the innate human need for connection and expression is a stronger driving-force that rule-abiding.

Fast-forward to a post-pandemic world in 2035. Buildings of varied scale are being used to host what Berlin is famous for – RAVES. A car park is where cars are left by citizens. Until a carpark, in its imperfect glory, becomes a RAVE.

The near future will see function that place regardless of form. Intended or otherwise. Legal or not.

Image: Duffy, Robinson and Martin. Video still from Do We Really Die Anymore? 2021.