It can be a challenge designing for the future which we do not know. Thinking about the future can be filled with hope or panic. The field of architecture and its principles make it impossible to design without context and history. Each block of history supports the other to make a more structurally sound future.
One way to understand what may come is to understand the patterns of the past and imbibe. The Modern and Late Modern art and architecture movements were pivotal in shaping our perception of the future. These movements had been used by architects to depict a utopian future in some cases and a grim one otherwise.
The Architect’s Perception
In the late 1920s and 1930s, modernist architecture was emerging, pioneered by architects like Erno Goldfinger, Le Corbusier, Alvar Alto. They felt that the then present European cities were too congested, noisy, polluted and chaotic. Thus, to create a successful city, the functions should be separated.
While this was not an unheard-of concept, they wanted to take it further. The living dwelling should be in high-rise structures, leaving the ground for the community and recreational spaces. This egalitarian city which had living, community, and commercial spaces distinctly separated was their utopia.
‘The ground is for everyone, the earth should not be inhabited by private people.’ -Siegfried Nassuth
This concept of living in the skies and playing on the ground can be seen in Bijlmermeer, a project in Amsterdam. Constructed post the second world war, this megacity on the outskirts of the city, gave the architects the perfect opportunity to start over.
The head architect, Siegfried Nassuth was a modernist idealist, thus the divisions of various functions were the most important in his design. The apartments were in high-rise buildings made on concrete with vast open spaces on the ground. The roads were also elevated to separate them from the public open space, with the retail complex on one end. The 31 concrete buildings were placed in a honeycomb pattern to allow each apartment to receive equal sunlight.
The city had many immediate issues, the building of all the blocks, the retail complex and the connection to the main city took a long time, thus making it difficult to live in this utopia. The planning of this city had no centre, making it extremely easy to get lost.
The reparation of roads and public space made it even more difficult to ask for directions. Having many vacant apartments and a migrant crisis in Amsterdam at the time, the city eventually failed.
The Writer’s perception
Brutalism, a late modernist art movement from 1950 to 1980, has been at the forefront of sci-fi novels to depict the future and what that might look like. Glass and concrete buildings with importance given to the sculptural use of concrete.
Most of the buildings built in this style were public or government structures as they were cheap to construct. The Dallas City Hall, Dallas, Texas was used as the evil headquarters in the iconic film ‘Robocop’. The style became synonymous with authority and bureaucracy by the use of these buildings in sci-fi films.
Choosing the J. Edgar Hoover FBI Building in Washington, DC for the film to portray a sinister government made complete sense to the makers due to the style of the buildings.
Modern architecture is often associated with the age of machinery and machinery associated with evil. Thus these buildings felt mechanical and unwelcoming. These were, however, depictions and the art movements which were thought to be the future did not fare well in the real world. With most people working in offices and industries, they did not want to come back to a home that resembled their factories.
The future for architects now seems challenging. With global warming at its all-time peak, an ethical and sustainable approach to architecture is necessary. Sustainable materials like bamboo and wood on the rise. combining them with the technology of today can reduce carbon emissions.
Architects need to play their small role. This can make their buildings more efficient. High-rise structures made of wood like Brock Commons Tallwood House rising up to 170 feet presents a hopeful future with more sustainable futures.
If learning from the past can help us in any way, it is that we must adopt a more human-centric approach to design. Art movements and trends come and go and revolutionize the field as well, but designing for the people stands the test of time.
Any material, construction technique, and trend which may develop in the future must be used to strengthen the user-centric approach. A human-centric approach that places not at the top, but in union with other components in the ecosystem will allow us to create spaces more in sync with our surroundings.
