3.1 Science Fiction and Architecture
John H Stevens in his article for the ‘sfsignal’ bases his writing on the works of Darko Suvin (Metamorphoses of Science Fiction, 1972) and Patrick Parrinder (Learning from Other Worlds, 2001). He says that in the idea of cognitive estrangement, cognition and estrangement are not one single idea. Instead, they are two hierarchical entities that continuously interact with one another.(Stevens, 2012)
In the context of Architecture, the concept of ‘cognitive estrangement’ still holds true. All design is based in rationalising information presented in the design requirement, framing this information in the context of what is the status quo regarding the objectives of similar designs, checking it and categorising it. This is the first phase of design, the cognition of what is known to be true and the second phase of design would be to innovate, to find an estranging quality and use it within the design. In the relationship of Cognitive estrangement, Estrangement, as put by John H. Stevens, is subordinate to cognition in the relationship but still very important. It is the defamiliarisation and alienation of all known concepts, the introduction of a novum. This is what the designer adds to the established formula to make the design unique.
Bjarke Ingles of BIG said in an interview on ‘Architecture as storytelling’ that, “Architecture is the art and science of turning fiction into fact” (Ingels, 2012). What Ingels means by this is that architects use in their designs a novum, it may be technological, legislative or even social innovations and they use this novum to dictate the design and challenge the status quo. Ingles’ approach to Architecture is to find out what has changed since the last time someone designed to say a school or a hospital and have that change lead the design decisions. What will then follow is a series of logical decisions guided by this novum.
Architecture in its purest form must tell a story, it must deliver an experience, much like Science Fiction. What is interesting about the idea of cognitive estrangement is that when it is applied to Architecture, we can begin to appreciate the importance of the user experiences and the stories that architects design into their spaces. Similar to the process of reading, experiencing a space should be a disjunctive process. It should not always merely serve its basic utilitarian purpose but rather transport the user from the world beyond the Architecture and into a space that engages in a narrative that may provide a transformative experience to the user.
The emotion that is delivered through this narrative depends on the characteristics of the novum used in the Architecture.
The novum must always make a difference and aid in the determination of the aesthetic and ‘ethico-political judgments’ in the hierarchy of design, be it spatial (as that in Architecture) or literary.
Archigram — Walking City (Heron, 1964)
“Owing to lack of interest, tomorrow has been cancelled.”
-Archigram, 1969 (Chalk, 1969)
In the discourse of Science Fiction and Architecture, there is no single entity that indulged in the art of merging the two mediums more than the British Architecture collective, ‘Archigram’[1].
Archigram is an architectural collective that came together in the late 1960’s in Hampstead — London. The group comprised of various architects that had a similar discontent with the architectural community; that, relevant British architectural magazines did not publish student projects. This meant that ideas of aspiring architects unhinged from the limitations of tectonics, politics and economics were not given any importance in the real world. In the world of professional Architecture, there was (a) certain sterility and archigram intended to address this sterility in the Architecture scene — Mike Webb in the foreword to Archigram (Cook and Archigram, 1999).
The group was fascinated with the polemic enthusiasm of Architecture school and wanted to break down real and imaginary barriers of form and statement that the established Architecture community were used to.
Over the years that archigram was active, it generated over 900 architectural drawings and illustrations that extended beyond the mere ‘two-dimensional’ representation of the building that architectural drawings usually tend to be. Archigram was driven by an almost childlike excitement over what the world was going to look like.
Though most of the works created by archigram were developed to high detail, the projects remained unbuilt, but it is the contribution of these ideas on a conceptual level that was remarkable. Archigram constantly questioned the status quo and the established ideas of Architecture that required buildings to be static, immovable structures. Archigram also criticised the idea of contemporary buildings masquerading as monuments to the past, the idea that the demolition of the building was not acceptable to some because of how some buildings held a high value in the public conscience, that they could not be touched. (Cook and Archigram, 1999).What archigram achieved was architectural fiction, a body of work that arises when the reality is kept aside, and artistic impulses are allowed to guide the mind. These projects blur the lines between fact and fiction to allow the exploration of new architectural avenues. From the works of archigram in the 60s to the Queens museum’s exhibit of ‘Never built New York[2]’, architectural fiction has always questioned the status quo.
American Science Fiction author Bruce Sterling is said to have first coined the term ‘Architectural Fiction’ in the year 2006 on the topic of archigram to refer to the approach used by architects to express themselves through the built environment much like the way Science Fiction writers use language. (Sterling, 2006)
Sydney Opera House in Tudor Style (Expedia Canada, 2018)
The recent leaps made in architectural technology, 3D modelling and photo editing tools has enabled a whole generation to be more expressive regarding their Architecture and the representation of their ideas using the built environment as a medium. For around 40 years since the British collective stopped their polemic work, the architectural community has never seen such enthusiasm in the field of architectural fiction until now.
However, there still is a widely held notion that speculative Architecture or architectural fiction is ‘useless’ work, or it is a result of the rise in unemployment amongst architectural youth causing them to spend their hours curating these works of art to be circulated online. In response to this criticism, Avinash Rajgopal of the Metropolismag says (on the topic of responding to criticism) that it is a self-defeating exercise, the very purpose of Science Fiction is to be estranged with reality, not to be bothered by the pressures of usefulness and to rather focus on the possibilities of what could be.(Rajagopal, 2013)
Impossible Architecture. (Dujardin, 2008)
‘Beyond Architecture’ (Klanten and Feireiss, 2009) is a compilation of the original responses of artists to the world of Architecture by exploring how the built environment is being used and abused and offering alternative visions to the presumptions of Architecture. It documents the creative exploration of the field of Architecture and urban fabric. The projects contained in the book show how Architecture can be taken as a starting point for experimentation and reveal the creative potential within Architecture and the built environment in new paradigms.
Melting Seagram Building Mies van der Rohe (Wurm, 2005)
The book features works by the likes of Erwin Wurm, an Austrian born artist who is known for his humorous approach to formalism. The works of Wurm are usually inspired by everyday materials and everyday life. He represents his criticism of objects, cars, clothing and even Architecture, with humour and wit but it is criticism never the less. Like Baudrillard, Wurm comments of the relationship of people with everyday objects and the dependency of people on consumer culture, the way that people buy things that are meant to be symbolic representations of the way they live their life or want to live their life.
Blob House (Stoll, 2017)
3.2 Creating Sci-Fi Architecture (examples)
As described by Suvin and his contemporaries, the creation of Science Fiction can almost be narrowed down to a formula, a delicate balance between cognition and estrangement (Parrinder, 2001). By applying the principle of creating Science Fictional landscapes and environments, one can begin to understand and appreciate what composes a gripping architectural narrative that is both aesthetically pleasing as well as delivers the relevant information about the urban fabric and spatial qualities of the Architecture in focus.
The following is an exercise in using the concept of the novum in the context of Architecture (or more appropriately architectural visualisation) to deliver an architectural narrative using individual images with a short context to the image. To reduce the complexity of categorising the architectural narratives, the outcome shall be limited to either positive or negative (like the narratives in Science Fiction, Utopia and dystopia)
Pripyat Sports Hall — Chernobyl
The following image is one of devastation. The image depicts the damage and destruction following one of the world’s worst nuclear disasters. It shows an abandoned space, probably used as a gym or a sports complex. The space is abandoned and in a state of disrepair. The backdrop of the image features a series of regular rectangular buildings overpowered by a row of barren trees add more despair to the macabre image.
Abandoned Sports Hall — Pripyat (MY2200, 2012)
Sports Hall in Pripyat (Author,2018)
Comparison of Sports Hall in Pripyat (Author,2018)
The image presented above along with the title depicts what seems to be a high school gym located in the abandoned city of Pripyat in Chernobyl, Ukraine. The recreation of the image uses the fundamentals of Science Fiction to create a familiar environment that engages the viewer to read the narrative through visual cues in the image. Using cognitive estrangement, the image can be further broken down into the cognitive aspect and the aspect of estrangement.
· Cognitive aspect — It is used to create a baseline for a regular gym with kids playing a familiar game. This sets the scene in order to provide estrangement.
· Estrangement aspect — Use of unusual lighting techniques, unfamiliar objects such as transparent screens displaying scores, unfamiliar textures and finally the skyline of the city filled with tall unfamiliar looking building shapes suggests that the city has progressed into a successful and prosperous future where it is no longer under the threat of radiation poisoning or the other side effects of a nuclear disaster.
The novum used in this image is of a scenario in the future where the radiation in Chernobyl that rendered the city abandoned has now somehow be contained, and life has returned to the abandoned city. The schools are now inhabited as normalcy is restored.
Narrative — Positive.
[1] Archigram is an architectural collective that came together in the late 1960s in Hampstead — London. The group is considered to be one of the most disruptive influences in modern architectural discourse. (Sadler, 2005)
[2] Never Built New York is an installation in the Queens Museum in New York City. It is co-curated by Sam Lubell and Greg Golding and designed by Christian Wassmann. The exhibit shows a New York that could have been, it uses drawings, models and animations to put together un-built projects by great architects that could have changed the NYC skyline.