The overall theme from this weeks lecture was the future. Topics such as how future architects should be educated and how we should learn from the past to design for the future were discussed. Historical examples of megastructures such as Union Station and Place Bonaventure in Montreal can offer us insights into how current megastructures such as the U of M campus are designed. Most megastructures were built in the 60’s and 70’s, but they are not common after that. One possible reason for this could be the oil crisis in the 1973 and subsequent stock market crash in 1974 limited the available amount of capital to fund such large projects.
Another topic discussed was mutant territories that will emerge in the future. This refers to breaking away from the tradition design approach to include spaces and clients that were not thought of in the past. If we consider that peak oil is rapidly approaching if it is not already here, then we must also consider what will happen to our cities in a future without oil. No more oil means no more cars, which is a problem because our cities are designed for cars. What would the roads be used for when this happens? Our group feels that cities need to stop sprawling outwards and start densifying the urban core areas. Public transit should be improved as well to reduce the amount of dependency on vehicles. Increasing density in the city core will result in healthier people because they are able to walk or ride to places instead of having to drive.
No comments:
Post a Comment