In the future, vast structures rise above the curvature of the earth and stretch towards the atmosphere in an attempt to create a series of linear interdependent assemblies that shelter large populations and enterprises. They are sustainable, resilient, technologically advanced, and built with a new philosophy of retrospect and ethical governance.
Structure and form
The future embraces a built environment that is more than focused on providing a suitable habitat for the rising human population, the architecture of the future is greatly expansive in its totality; it is a shell that has developed like an organism. The architecture is like a city that propagates in all direction creating a built environment with a controlled atmosphere that is familiar to its inhabitants. The structures of steel, carbon, and concrete create a network of interlocking geo-domes and vertical tubes that extend upward creating new typologies that have overlapping functions and uses. The organic structures inherit advanced prototypes of today’s building technologies, multi-layered curtain systems integrated with solar panels magically envelop the structural units, walls serve as insulation and structure, its organic volumes conserve energy, and service tubes run like nerves between self-healing building components that are responsive and smart.
Nature and orientation
This system of structure, skin, program, elements, and climate define the closed system of the architecture while it replicates and develops into a larger grid, an urban layout that spreads like highways in all axes. Geo-domes with spiral circulation intersect and create complex volumes that are designed for optimum airflow and energy conservation, this volume is interrupted by vertical structures that extend upwards creating space and various zones and programs. The commercial, residential, and industrial districts remain in bulks with occasional overlays and interchanges, paths connect these facilities with a human-centric design that promotes walkability and pedestrians while circulating automated public transport. The Architecture of the future is a physical realization of the interdependent system of circular economies and societies of the future and its profound vastness is fundamental to its existence. It is organic but machine-like; it is recycling, rebuilding, and renovating a complex environment that has manifested and redefined itself like a palimpsest of working drawings.
Resilience through material
The future holds an environmentally challenging world that necessitates a form of Architecture that is highly efficient, sustainable, and carbon neutral. In response to the conditions, resilient buildings are constructed by applying technologies that have surpassed the basic frames of steel and concrete, it has advanced into a composite that serves many purposes. The use of effective, pioneering materials like carbon fiber concrete, grapheme, bio-coal lining, regenerated nylon, and composite biomaterials are used for their physical /structural capabilities, energy conservation, zero emissions /carbon offset, and ease of production. Complex materials like grapheme and carbon fiber concrete make complex forms possible while being self-healing, light, and of high load-bearing capacities. Grapheme is two hundred times stronger and 6 times lighter than steel, it is flexible /malleable and becomes a structural /electrical and insulation component that is extremely durable, transparent, and lightweight. This material can generate electricity through exposure to sunlight and is antibacterial & resistant to ionizing radiation, thus making possible the architecture of the future that is versatile and transcending.
Sustainability and carbon neutral material
Sustainability and zero carbon emissions are imperative for the existence the structures of future architecture and recycled materials like regenerated nylon, bio-coal lining, and other organic biomaterials make zero carbon emission a possible reality. Regenerated nylon is made entirely from waste and retains its original qualities, similarly, bio-coal lining is 90% carbon recycled material and absorb CO2 from the atmosphere; these materials can be used to build all forms of the built environment. Biomaterials like wood, hemp, and mycelium (fungi) add balance to the architecture of the future in terms of materiality and design; they also promote carbon neutrality by acting as a carbon store while being inexpensive and easy to produce in large quantities. The materiality of the structure becomes a pattern in terms of their application, each node, typology, and structures possess a rhythmic variation of the materials that become the golden thread.
Close to Nature / Biophilic
The Architecture of the Future prioritizes regionalism and considers the landscape, orientation, and weather as key factors that influence the design approach. It focuses on nature’s design of the planet and tries to replicate design philosophies and physical structures to create architecture that is part of the environment. The coming of floods, hurricanes, wildfires, and earthquakes seize to remain a perennial threat to the architecture of the future as vast over bearing structures plot landscapes as if there were part of the scenery, organic and inherently of the planet. It becomes more than just a place to live but a grand design that reflects our ideas, histories, and deep connection with the planet and our consciousness. The veracity of the Architecture lies in its profound design for a great quality of life, health, and well-being of the people and its physicality is blurred between the facts and fiction.
References:
- O’Malley, A. (2023) The architecture of the future: 2022 research, PlanRadar. Available at: https://www.planradar.com/gb/the-architecture-of-the-future-research/ (Accessed: 07 July 2023).
- Mercurio, A.F. (2022) Powerful potential: Is graphene the next revolutionary building material?, Journal. Available at: https://architizer.com/blog/practice/materials/the-future-of-architecture-graphene-building-material/#:~:text=He%20proposes%20that%20graphene%20can,threats%2C%20such%20as%20global%20warming. (Accessed: 07 July 2023).
- Romanova, O. (2022) Top ultra-modern building materials- 17 innovative construction materials changing how we build, PlanRadar. Available at: https://www.planradar.com/gb/top-15-innovative-construction-materials/ (Accessed: 07 July 2023).
- (No date a) Jewel Changi Airport by Safdie Architects | architect magazine. Available at: https://www.architectmagazine.com/project-gallery/jewel-changi-airport_o (Accessed: 18 July 2023).
- Günther Domenig & Eilfried Huth Stadt Ragnitz, 1963-1969 (no date) Frac Centre. Available at: https://www.frac-centre.fr/_en/art-and-architecture-collection/domenig-eilfried-huth-gunther/stadt-ragnitz-317.html?authID=90&ensembleID=275 (Accessed: 18 July 2023).
