Watching sci-fi movies has always been a fun experience. The futuristic perception of cities, the breath-taking skyscrapers equipped with modern technology, and holograms have set a benchmark for viewers to envision an image of what evolution in architecture of today is with time. With the advanced CGI technology, movies have already given us an idea of future human settlement.
From the Wakanda citadel portrayed in the “Black Panther” to the City of Asgard in “Thor: Ragnarok”, CGI creations have inspired architects across the globe to look into the future of mankind and advancement in its civilization.
Finding Order in the Chaos | Evolution in Architecture
The first and most important thing in the evolution of Architecture is the uniformity of design. Different architects from around the world practice different styles of practice. We can observe older settlements to understand the infrastructural development with changes in Architectural styles. Just like the process of human evolution, buildings undergo modifications with requirements and modernity as well. flooded the choice of architectural elements.
The picture shown below is the bird’s eye view of the Budhwar Peth area of Pune where we can see the buildings with different profiles and from varied timelines. Mix-use of functions can be observed along the streets. temples, residential, commercial, institutional buildings can be observed creating an unordered elevation. Yet we can find social life on the streets. All the negative pockets are occupied by some social activity.
The Organized Development –The Superblocks of Barcelona.
Barcelona’s city council has announced its plan to create ‘superblocks’: a group of nine existing blocks between which traffic will be limited in favor of pedestrianized areas and green spaces.
The idea behind the square design is to create ordered and organized streets to minimize trafficking.
The futuristic approach of the design has been addressed by the architect setting an ideal fabric. One of the other features of Superblock’s pioneering design was the provision of green spaces in the center of each of the blocks. These gardens were designed to provide recreational spaces for the residents and a place to enjoy the outdoor air away from the roads.
The Vertical Growth | Evolution in Architecture
With urbanism and overpopulation, lesser and congested pockets of land in cities, architects tend to make use of the lesser floor space available in a vertical manner. We can see mix-use, high-rise projects integrating offices, residences, and commercials in one block. The ground plane of the city at an urban scale needs to be activated as a socio-cultural space in addition to the functional requirement of mobility.
The Concept of Forest Cities
With the need for sustainability in architecture, architects incorporate few measures while designing. The future of infrastructural development can be seen in add-on green into projects, students of architecture learn from college about sustainability factors to be considered while designing a sustainable building which includes materials, energy, resources, space planning, weather, and many other factors. It is a detail-oriented practice that requires experts who are in touch with the latest methodologies and techniques that are proven to be effective and cost-efficient at the same time such as the Nanjing Vertical Forest by Stefano Boeri Architects, planning to build a city that promotes Green façade. Plants and shrubs are being planted, proposed to absorb 20% of the carbon emission from the air.
The need for newer technology
Every year the population of the world increases by 80 million people. With conventional building technology in practice, A need to change and enhance the construction industry is observed. Architects and engineers are researching and experimenting with lighter materials to improve the building performance, minimizing concrete and steel being the main focus.
The transformation in technology and the significant changes in the industry we can experience are:
- Visualizations with virtual reality technology are a huge leap to understand spaces on a human scale.
- 3D Printing technology planned to print building blocks in the foreseeable future
- Proposed smart cities which efficiently use resources, renewable energy, transportation solutions, and an habitant responsive design.
- Eco-Friendly architecture
- Mix-use spaces in a vertical stacking
Perception of an architectural student | Evolution in Architecture
From what we have seen in architects, is a visionary. The future of the habitation I see is purely contextual, with different needs and climate response of a project. We can see the variation in built forms. I seek the architectural future as an urban settlement with different built faces on the streets yet having common modular elements of design, keeping in mind the sustainable practice. The art of the construction industry would lay in finding the Order in the Unordered.
References
(Vertical Architecture – Morphogenesis, 2021)
(Barcelona’s remarkable history of rebirth and transformation, 2021)
(10 Impressive Buildings In The Marvel Cinematic Universe, 2021)
(Nanjing Vertical Forest, 2021)
