Brutal, Brutalist Science Fiction and the Ties to Archigram

The architectural style of brutalism has always been a personal favorite due to its massive, almost epic nature in scale and material usage, but primarily because it has been ingrained into my mind from a young age through science fiction film and videogames.  Brutalist buildings usually are formed with striking repetitive angular geometries, and, where concrete is used, often revealing the texture of the wooden forms used for the in-situ casting. Although concrete is the material most widely associated with brutalist architecture, not all brutalist buildings are formed from concrete. Instead, a building may achieve its brutalist quality through a rough, blocky appearance, and the expression of its structural materials, forms, and (in some cases) services on its exterior.  Another common theme in brutalist designs is the exposure of the building's functions—ranging from their structure and services to their human use—in the exterior of the building.  Again, most commonly linked to massive concrete aggregate structure, these immense complexes have, in recent decades of postmodernism, also been linked to the image of futurism. 

Film depictions of the future such as Blade Runner, Star Wars, Starship Troopers, Minority Report, and Equilibrium are just a few examples of portrayed futuristic designs that arguably focus around concepts in brutalist practice.  Equilibrium is the strongest of these examples listed.  In this film, the image of the overpowering government relies on the visual separation of the individual.  Because of this, the city’s citizens and figure heads wear primarily shades of white and black (a few throughout the film wear colored clothing, but to accentuate the importance of their actions to the viewer) in order to sustain common peace.  But not only the people of the city abide by these regulations; the city itself does as well by maintaining an almost repetitive beauty of massive concrete aesthetics.

Along with the generic concrete massing symptom of brutalist design, an impressive study of spatial light play reveals itself throughout the film.  Multiple uses of long, slender, solar fenestration really set the mood of the scene; a warm atmosphere surrounds a cold way of life in an amazing example of cinematic contrast. 

Starship Troopers holds many of these same attributes described in Equilibrium, although in a far less poetic setting.  Now some would say that the film series, Star Wars, does not primarily focus the imagery of “futuristic” around these notions of Brutalism; I would have to beg to differ.  Some of the architecture displayed may be, to some degree, of brutalist design (especially the architecture seen across the large city planets I.E. Coruscant), but I believe it is far more prevalent in George Lucas’ vehicle and machinery creations.  John Powers states that Lucas’ depictions were Frankenstein generations where he, “…willfully mashed together minimalism, modernism, and NASA design” in order to teach us, “…to love the blight and grime of industry.”  I can see how this is a strong argument for the visual, new age, innovative creativity that allowed Star Wars to be so successful, but let’s take a hard look at the vehicle designs below.

The first image above is the “Sandcrawler” used by the Jawa alien race located on Tatooine.  Immediately, the overwhelming scale of this vessel seems to mimic that of brutalist regularities.  The mass amount of material and structure also closely follow brutalist protocol.  Although this treaded beast is not constructed out of concrete, the aesthetic qualities are very much macroscopic.  Next on the image list, as most should know, is the imperial fleet.  From the Death Star to the Star Destroyers, each of these obviously clones the exaggerated scale sought by this architectural style, not to mention the large, white structures that litter the surfaces of each that seemingly look similar to immense concrete structure.  The interior fenestration of the vessels creates beautiful exterior views of the endless galactic inspiration as well dittos the optic views presented within most brutalist forms.  These same similarities can again be traced through the Millenium Falcon’s design.  Almost all of the vehicle concepts of the original three Star Wars films hold true to the totalitarian, urban decay, “cold” appearance attributes known characteristically for brutalism.  These observations are purely opinion based, but I do believe that Lucas, conscience or unconsciously, was truly inspired by the new brutalism movement seen between the 1950’s, 60’s, and 70’s; the movement that arguably led to the modernist architectural movement. 

Blade Runner as well appears atmospherically similar to the late architectural style.  Again the sheer enormity of the construction follows close with the design ideals, although the geometric formality seems more pastiche.  The notion of urban decay and atmospherically “cold” emotions are also prevalent. 

A more recent example (and one I have brought up in several other posts) is the Halo franchise.  This game series thrives off of the brutalist atmospheric qualities.  The choice of this architectural style for this game was utilized in order to create the feeling of insignificance as far as size is concerned.

Brutalism as an architectural philosophy, rather than a style, was often also associated with a socialist utopian ideology, which tended to be supported by its designers; an ideology in which I believe has not yet gone.  I believe this style could make a very prominent second coming, which is another reason for my architectural approach of futurist depictions in my graphic novel.  My primary reasons are listed in the prior post, but another not among that list is that I have always gained inspiration from drawings published by Archigram.  They too focused on the brutalist approach to design; only they revolved their graphical depictions about ethic concepts.  Their designs incorporated circulation experimentations, structural shock and awe, the notions of disposable architecture, and kinetic qualities. 

Archigram thrived on the idea of resistance against the modernist movement, consisting of the stale chokehold on rectilinear form, cast concrete articulation, and abuse of curtain wall systems.  “…brutalism, once touted as an ethic, was settling into an aesthetic of molded concrete aggregate, much as the whirlwind of early modernism had settled into the white villa style of the 1930’s.”  They also enjoyed focusing all concept and design creations to traditional hand drawing and graphical representation in opposition to the Royal Institute of British Architects.  “Peter Cook ‘enjoys drawing’ his ideas ‘rather than writing about them’; Ron Herron ‘draws like a dream… apparently effortlessly.’”  Archigram ultimately was the rebellious teen of the architectural world, attempting to turn known and validated concepts in on themselves for their own amusement through their conceptual graphics.  This is probably the most logical reason as to why I have grown so fond of their work over the years… forever striving to prove that what may appear as the only answer can, in fact, contain multiple solutions; those of which could render the original logical answer as inferior, or even obsolete.  

Fair World World’s Fair

Though the assigned readings by Udo Kultermann were insightful and revealing in conceptual reasoning for international World Expositions, Dr. Bob Rydell (professor of history at Montana State University) and his seemingly instinctual presentation on World Expo history was far more knowledgeable (in my opinion).  Dr. Rydell knew not only the reasoning for the exposition locations based upon historic settings, but also the conceptual backgrounds resulting in the momentous structures that remain primary icons for individual expo congregations.  Expo after expo, he effortlessly explained the power struggles of government régimes and economic hardships that justified structural and aesthetic integrity of fair designs.  One of his examples of historic influence on expo architecture stuck out stronger than the rest (for myself that is); the power struggle of the 1937 Paris Art and Technology Exposition.  At this time in history, the soviet Russians and Nazi Germans were at an economic standoff so to speak. 

http://www.jstor.org/stable/4205375

This frustration toward one another fueled many iconic decisions to demean one nation over the other, but more importantly in relation to this post, the visual narcissism of the German and Russian pavilions seen facing off one another in the 1937 Expo below were great examples of iconic superiority. 

Note that the German Pavilion was a bit higher than the USSR Pavilion.  The story goes that the Germans stole the Russian architectural plans and upon seeing them, German architect Albert Speer added another ten or twenty meters onto the height his German Pavilion in order to provoke the idea that it 'looked down' on the Russians.  The roof top, containing the German eagle, also included an observation deck so that all may also look below to the Russian structure.  As if being ‘looked down’ upon wasn’t enough, German photographers such as Hoffmann would strategically shoot photos of the German pavilion to either hide or crop the Russian pavilion, or to exaggerate its towering size over the Russian pavilion. 

This story was ultimately what led to my final project decision for the semester.  We are to portray the future of architecture…that is all.  We may choose any medium in how we may represent our predictions as well as select any point in time down the road.  For some time now I have wanted to make my best attempt in writing and illustrating a graphic novel; though my writing skills may not be up to par, I felt this was a great excuse to pursue my idea, not to mention give me a reason to relax and draw for a change.  School work seems to prevent such hobbies.  Below are my rough drafts for the first chapter of the novel I have come to call “Dreamweaver.” 

The architectural future in which I am portraying takes place not far from now in 2036.  Between now and ’36, a uniform government oversees all nations as one, but unfortunately this only lasts one year before it begins to crumble.  The reason for its demise, project Dreamweaver.  This is a device that allows users to view ideas and dreams lost in their minds fog as any number of high resolution mediums.  This in turn manifests the idea of “perfect creativity.”  With this machine, artists may see the painting in their head perfectly, architects may view flawless floor plans and models, musicians may hear the perfect song all without the interference of mental fog, but only those with the right connections and deep enough pockets can ever dream of using the machine.  Creative perfections begin to generate in and closely around the area of the Dreamweaver; this creates jealousy amongst the former geographical nations.  They believe that their plot of land should be allowed to create perfections as well due to the fact that the world is but one nation.  “Equal rights to use” movements cause mass riots and ultimately start a global rebellion.  During this time frame, formerly geographically determined nations attempt to out-create manifestations of the machine.  This is what has led to my depictions of massive “Brutalism” style architecture.  The idea of iconic superiority fuels the former nations to out-build one another in hopes to prove that they are the most worthy of Dreamweaver use.   

Again these are only the drafts for the first chapter.  More writing and graphics are needed, and critical feedback is encouraged.  Please leave comments below of ideas or thoughts that may assist in making my graphic novel a decent work of art and literature.  I am inspiring to perfect this story at some point in time as an impressive addition to my collegiate portfolio, so again please leave constructive feedback.  

Selling the Future

As I have stated in earlier posts, my initial thought going into Futurisms and its evolved relevance to modern architecture has been in accordance with the importance of virtual design through videogame technologies and how it may be the next step toward our imagined future.  The articles assigned for this week suggest that my speculations could be correct.  The first, Finding the Future by Joseph J. Corn, covers the affects of Pop Culture ideals and visualizations of futuristic design on the people’s notion of future.  The second, The Future and Home by Professor Dr. David Fortin, continues this focus toward the influence of today’s image of the future derived from cinematography.  As revealed through these readings, the evolution of futuristic ideologies has followed closely with pop culture trends, most recent of which elopes videogame culture. 

As Finding the Future sways to prove, modern culture had been the one influence on the picturesque future imagery.  “First, it was fiction that gained power by masquerading as fact.  The excitement it caused is comparable to the popular reaction in 1938 to Orson Wells ‘War of the Worlds’ broadcast.  Second, its content involved heroic men in a daring exploit…  Finally, it was presented as mass entertainment, one that was first and last a commercial proposition.”  Corn goes on to explain the full evolutionary process of futuristic intent from literary examples such as Five Weeks in a Balloon, by Jules Verne, and the images portrayed in hobby magazines and comic books as in Popular Science/ Mechanics and early Marvel comics, to television and radio programs like Buck Rogers and Star Trek.  He also explains the process of modern media’s successful attempt to sell the visual idea of future to young children and adults through toys, novelties, and appliance visualizations.  “With toys, the future is identified with make-believe, a put-on style, a Buck Rogers Halloween Costume.  In our culture, as in most, children are the vessels of our most devoutly held expectations and hopes.”  

The same marketing strategies are employed in today’s economy through videogame sales.  As cinema was throughout the 20^th century, virtual cinematics have taken on the new realm of futuristic inspiration.  The best example to come to mind would be the Halo series developed by Microsoft.  This first person shooter-style game has become almost as large of a franchise as Star Wars in only 10 years.  While the Star Wars films coexisted with the market in toys, games, and apparel, the Halo game alone manifested its own market in these same families.  With Halo merchandise on a sales peak due to the new release of Halo 4, rumors are in the air about possible film franchises in the works.  These are all prime examples that validate my opinion that the future of futuristic inspiration will derive from virtual design.  (Other points in relation to free-form design in response to lack of real world restrictions)

Personal Innovations for Prefab Housing

The market of pre-fabricated architecture, though pure in intentions, has been falling short for some years now.  Some believe this economic instability may be due to the recent market flops; others think the continuous production needed to maintain profit along an assembly line will never be fulfilled.  Either way, the underlying principles of this design strategy are positively swayed toward highly efficient construction.  Buckminster Fuller’s, Nine Chains to the Moon, argues strongly for the cost efficient process of prefab in contrast to site built construction, but for reasons concerning the elimination of slum developments.  “The industry may safely assume that not only will it be able to rent every last unit full time, but also that it will be unable to manufacture additional units fast enough to keep up with the demand for centuries to come.” 

 

The problems of prefabricated design lie in the constraints of shipping sizes.  ISO (International Shipping Organization) standard shipping sizes have become the new trend for modular transport in recent years, which greatly reduces traditional shipping costs of prior modular transit, but I believe (and the industries’ success proves this) that this is clearly the wrong answer.  The solution must be studied from a fresh approach.  In my current graduate studio course (with Mike Patterson), my team of four and myself have come up with an answer that we believe to be a viable future direction for prefab; modular factories.  Below you will find images of our recent renderings…

Traditional prefab consists of mass producing modular units that are then shipped (as empty masses) from the factory location to the clients chosen site.  Our plan is to ship the factory to the clients site, construct prefab modules on site to form multi-family structures, then when complete, ship the factory to the next location, leaving in its place communal spaces for the soon to be residents.  Now with this approach, individual prefabricated homes will not be possible due to the fact that the cost for us to ship the entire factory to the site for one unit would outweigh the cost of the unit itself.  Also along this notion, the contractor will have to sell all needed modules to “break even” before the factory begins construction.  This ensures that the contractor will not have to take a risk in the initial construction cost, seeing as the building will already be sold to the soon to be residents.  The units are also not limited by sizes set around the ISO standards because shipment is only necessary for the factory.  Due to this fact, our unit sizes are much larger and may be manufactured into any shape desired (as opposed to traditional “box” prefab design).  This is why we chose to design hexagonal floor plans; more space, structurally superior, and not traditional prefab.  In a nutshell, we have evolved a new building system that rests comfortably between site built and prefabrication.  The best of both worlds may be possible in accordance with our proposal.

I believe that the solution my group and I have presented toward prefabrication would be exactly the proposal Buckminster Fuller has been looking for, “…they are designed and financed to be SOLD, despite the current admission of the president of the National Association of Real Estate…”  Also in accordance with Mr. Fuller, a major company (ours being Android Developments ^TM) would be the initial overhead cost holders to ensure financial reality of the factory’s success.  “It is not our contention that all skyscrapers should be utilized for the slum dwellers’ rescue.  There are logically highly rented business structures such as those in Radio City which have been cleverly designed around the interests of the new radio industry and its attendant high communication, publicity, advertising and news potentials…”

If you wish to know more detail about my team’s proposal for multifamily prefabrication and its factory systems, please comment questions below and I will do my best to respond quickly.

Manifestations of Pure Inspiration

Paper architects such as Etienne-Louis Boullee and Claude-Nicolas Ledoux to this day inspire and influence modern architecture through their radical imagery of fantasy style futuristic monuments.  Their anti-Baroque tendencies within neoclassicism through elimination of all camouflage and décor were only understandable through graphic representation, not three dimensional generations.  Although these architects designed their fair share of inhabitable spaces, their most famous pieces were those of which could never (in their time) be dreamt of possible construction.  Boullee’s ideals behind the perfections in the cosmos were above and beyond his time, yet have enough validation behind them to make them collegiate precedents as far as science fiction and videogame atmospheric designs are concerned.  “…his cenotaph for Sir Isaac Newton, a grandiose gesture of mourning, was seen to embody not only Newton’s universal science but the perfection of the cosmos, eternity and infinity.” 

These fantasy structures inspired not by constructed material, but rather by spatial experimentation.  The effect was so great on the world of architecture that even still modern architecture is influenced by these masterworks.  If a few drawings of unrealistic structure changed the perspective of modernism to a level which they did, imagine what fantasy works of today’s artists and designers could achieve.  In my opinion, virtual reality design is the new paper architect.  These select designers create structures and atmospheres to exist in parallel with concept bases and storyline, but only to a purely experiential level.  The game levels set a reality for players to explore and visualize without worldly limitations to hinder construction, such as gravity or weather behaviors.  If the field of architecture could accept this realm as a sandbox for constructive inspiration and truly free creation, I believe (as stated in several earlier blog posts) new eras of architectural manifestation could be achieved. 

Jakov Chernikov commented to Stalin in 1938 that, “He objected to the fact that he, a man who had devoted his life to architectural research and design in the service of the glorious Stalinist Era, had been prohibited to work, and merely because he possessed a highly developed imagination.”  In today’s academic methodologies of architectural design, the same frustrations of choked creative freedom seem to be revealed.  With projects being based in real world scenarios, students crave to break away from rigid limitations of construction and coding.  Why not offer virtual reality courses in order to ease creative tensions within studios?  The result may be beautiful.  Perhaps a practical new Babylon may come about through one of these processes.  “…in New Babylon the disorientation that furthers adventure, play and creative change is privileged.  The space of New Babylon has all the characteristics of a labyrinthine space, within which movement no longer submits to the constraints of given spatial or temporal organization.”

Has Modernism Removed Instinctual Inspiration?

Having gone through an Environmental Design undergraduate program, the value of concept strengthened design has been seared into the back of my mind.  According to the teachings I have received, special design will never be truly successful if manifested without a base thesis.  These may be derived from emotional experiences realized within a project site, a theoretical or philosophical breakdown of a project’s typologies, or even from the deconstruction of a single “meaningful” word; the thesis is an educated inspiration for driving all factors of materiality and design.  

Like an artist, architects focus emotional energies toward the production of a “masterpiece,” but much unlike the artist, architectural plans and design are frowned upon when the creator argues that decisions were made “just because.”  Why is this an unacceptable response to conceptual formulation?  Being an artist myself, when I feel the need to use a set of colors together on a canvas, there are never usually any underlying concepts that provoke me to do so.  The artistic actions are made in order to achieve a piece that stimulates positively (most times) in a visual manner.

According to Simon Sadler in his writings, An Avant-garde Academy, the “New Brutalism,” developed by Le Corbusier in the 1950’s and 60’s, influenced groups such as Team 10 to go beyond what previous methodologies thrived off of in Modernism.  “Team 10 wanted an overt appreciation of local factors, climate, and customs.  Design solutions would be achieved by feeling rather than rationalizing.”  If this was a valid motive toward formal design at the start of the Modernist movement, why is it not continued, or allowed to continue today?  Now to clarify, Team 10 honed design around feelings because they, “…wanted an architecture that created a sense of habitat,” but pure drive by gut instinct, if you may, should be valid reasoning in design.  

I do firmly believe that strong concept allows for justified motives and creation through development, as Le Corbusier has shown in his works and through, The City of Tomorrow and its Planning, though when does there become too much rationalization or meaning in a design?  And could the combination of logical conception and pure emotion bring to light something new?  This thought goes back to previous questions presented in my earlier blog entries about architects and their real world influences in virtual reality design.  Without design constraints of over applied conceptual meaning (similar to the earlier constraint of worldly conditions), what could be achieved, or even inspire future designs to achieve?  Corbusier stated that his intention behind his city plans was, “…not to overcome the existing state of things, but by constructing a theoretically water-tight formula to arrive at the fundamental principles of modern town planning.”  People are too unpredictable to formulate into any equation.  

Rather than generating a rigid system of (arguably) redundancies to appeal to communities of rationality, I believe a morph of this concept with emotional articulation could equate into a systematic efficiency that stimulates the visual desires of the citizens.  When stimulation becomes intertwined with human experience, productivity, health, and happiness increase as seen when incorporating daylight and exterior views within hospital and office building designs. 

The notion of conceptual basis will never dissolve from the world of architectural design due to its high levels of continuous drive and inspiration, nor will instinctual motivation of actions.  As coexisting partners in artistic emotion, why discriminate one over another?  As young children, we are told that our inner conscience (or gut instinct) will usually provide the correct answers to dilemmas.  If a hybrid conceptual base could be formulated to accommodate the logical and creative hemispheres of the brain, new levels of creativity may be born to lead toward a new era of environmental design.  

Virtual Design to Reality?

As architects further explore material technologies, the mathematical limit of form driven design is becoming a thing of the past.  With further endeavors into biomimicry, parametric data outputs and optimization paths, and structural advancements, the ability to create any form is becoming a reality.  But why has the architect become so obsessive over creating a form that is visually cherished from a grand distance?  Is a structure not to aesthetically function as equally on the inside as the exterior shell? This is where I believe a pre-existing formula for design could not only assist in an architect’s duty to design a space that all will enjoy objectively, but allow the design to internally appeal to all.  This existing formula lives within the world of Video Game Design.

There are three factors that allow spatial game design to be, in my opinion, far more successful in providing an inhabitable space that all “will” enjoy than a typical Top-Down architectural design approach.  First of all, video games are designed knowing that the player will be viewing their digital realm through the eyes of the digital protagonist.  This view, much like in English literature, can be portrayed in first, second, or third person perspective; for example, when a game’s camera angle is locked in the third person, the played character is viewed from above or over the shoulder.  When the same camera is locked into first person, the player views the game through the character’s own eyes.  Through this use of visual perspective manipulation, the game player can experience the digital rendered atmosphere in a number of different ways.  The focus on creating a space to be experienced as opposed to objectified (architecture) ties a person emotionally to the atmosphere in what I believe to be a stronger bond than that of exterior form. 

After creating spaces to be explored, how does one refine this mapping to please the vast population?  Game designers have discovered the answer to this question with one simple solution: playtesting.  In architectural design, understanding of a conceptual structure is formed through mass productions of sketches, models, diagrams, material studies, and detail explanations; in game design, the conceptual understanding is done with one digital, interactive file.  The design team is given a narrative that the game is to follow throughout the designed maps.  These usually give the designer insight on how a character interacts, both physically and emotionally, with a surrounding that may or may not be pre-determined by the plot.  For example, in the game Bioshock, the narrative received by the game architects explained how an underwater utopian society built around the idea that people had free rein to create without moral boundaries (much like stem cell research).  This lead to the ultimate demise of the city as its residents became mentally unstable (continuous desire for more plastic surgery/ experimental needs to perform on children…).  With this knowledge, the architects saw fit to design an atmosphere that emotionally registered as dark, dank, insecure, but with past values that have become rusty and hidden (diamond consumed by the rough).  The end result of the game’s architecture became a post utopian art deco style.  With this 40’s metropolis being located several leagues beneath the sea; the play of light became an aspect within the spatial design.  The diffuse rays of light trying to penetrate the ocean depths add an odd emotional sense of not just serenity, but dark insecurity.  The sound of the spaces built even further onto the eerie notion of the game’s narrative.  The echoes of leaky, dripping, creaky materials failing bring the player closer to the sense of fear.  With all of these elements combined, the games mapping layout far surpassed the notion of the architecture as a space, but redefined it as an additional character.  Being arguably one of the greatest games ever created (according to Game Informer, G4 Network, Playstation Magazine...) due to this architectural “character,” its perfection was reached by, again, using one file.  To see if their conceptual design succeeded in all architectural aspects, many groups of random people selected off the street were brought into the design studio to play the game throughout its several stages of final manifestation.  This is known in the video game designs field as playtesting.  As a video game develops, playtesters are brought in to tell the designers why they do or do not believe that the game is achieving the underlying concept.  With this feedback, the designers can simply open the file, make quick tweaks to the model based off of the tester’s notes, and continue forward with the design to be tested again at a later time.  This process is efficient in aspects of material and time.  If architects designed a space for a client without having to focus on presentation boards, models, and virtual renderings, but rather presented the design in a manner of “exploration,” not only would design redundancies be cut from the timeline, but I believe clients could focus more clearly on how well the design serves the people utilizing it (inside and out).  This idea could even be taken a step further in saying that this process could allow architects to develop “perfect” buildings.  For example, an architect could place his “explorable model” online for the public to playtest and leave feedback on what they believe to be the strengths and weaknesses of the design and its relation to the initial concept.  The public would not design the building, but critique what they (the people who will be using the building) believe is needed or not to make it an ideal environment for all.  A utopian building if you will.

The final factor that architecture could benefit from is the fact that game design has no worldly limitations. There is no need to solve for structural solutions to act against gravity, no need to include types of material insulation to prevent over or under heating, no need to even build on a realistic site.  The possibilities are endless.  Not only can one create a space that the communal masses agree upon, but the ground, water, or air on which it sits upon.  The limitless bounds allow the designer to create even the ecologies that exist in a buildings realm (if neon pink plants allow a site to further accentuate a concept, then why not?).  Furthermore, the architect can begin to design optimal atmospheres to embrace a building, such as a red sky or a weather phenomenon that is beyond our known world (Gears of War II, Razor Hail).  Ultimately, the role of the architect (with exponential evolution in technologies) could be to design utopian worlds to benefit everyone’s desires and needs.  They could manifest an ideal geological and climatic world in which playtested buildings could reside to please the masses.

As a final comment to this opinion, I am not saying in any way that the design process involved in architecture or video game engineering is superior to the other.  I just believe that a perfect merge of the two could (in my opinion) benefit one another in some way, shape, or form.  But, as an architect, imagine the ability to have full creative control in the realm of the virtual reality.  Without worldly limitations/ geographies/ ecologies/ species/ climates, the end creation could be something to inspire designers of the future to manifest as a reality.  Below is the outline and visual powerpoint (can't upload powerpoints) I gave to my classmates on the subject.  I hope you all enjoy, and ponder this idea constructively.  

One last note.  In this assignment, the research I uncovered allowed me to lock in my personal pick for favorite game of all time...Portal!!  Not only is the architecture within the game fluctuating around bent laws of physics, but the architecture itself is cognitive in though process(GLaDOS)!!  Spaces that manifest themselves into what they feel is optimal to achieve a task...so sweet...so futuristic...a reality within grasp I hope.

Intro:

                Architect’s design approach

-          Top-down design:  Architect looks down on a site plan and documents various aspects of it.  After designing a geometric parti shape, special program begins to occupy the void, generating the two-dimensional plan and section drawings.

-          Buildings are not seen from above or in section or plan.  They are experienced by individuals.

Game design approach

-          Bottom-up (user-up) design:  The designer begins with a game narrative or actions that the player will follow while playing the game.  Then he designs a set of worldly rules, spaces, and objectives that will facilitate these actions.

-          This is accomplished by utilizing three systems in the game design industry:

o   Mechanics:  often referred to as “designing by verb”

o   Motif:  created from a narrative  written by the game design staff, or from a popular narrative setting (I.E. World War II)

o   Playtesting:  players are brought in from the outside the development team in order to play levels of a video game to negate or confirm the effectiveness of their experiential and spatial qualities (the games provocative emotions)

In what way could incorporating these design ideas in architecture be beneficial? 

Architecture types in games:

-          Objective:  a structure has a net value about it such as in Star Craft or Age of Empires

o   Examples of said structures…

-          Spatial:  a more common approach in today’s gaming society.  Creating a world in which a first person view can provoke emotion through exploration and experience. 

o   Segue into examples…

Replicated Realities:  mostly motif based design due to any number of real world based narratives.

-          Examples: 

o   Assassin’s Creed series

§  City designs forged from past plans from such architects as Michelangelo

o   Grand Theft Auto

§  Each game within the series is based upon a major, crime fueled city in the United States

o   Sporting games (Madden, MLB 2K11, NBA All-stars, etc…)

§  Carbon copies of existing stadiums

o   Other Examples:

§  Spider-man 2

§  Call of Duty

§  Medal of Honor

Atmospheric Character:  Explorations in virtual architecture, when led by inspired artists, prove to move in quantum leaps toward an experience so involving that it breaks through previous attempts at suspending our disbelief and reality.

-          Holds very closely to the motif aspect of game design.  It uses an in depth narrative, in the sense of an architect, as a site plan for an overall design.

-          Importance of playtesting (revisited)

o   Based on the determined game narrative, players decide whether the atmosphere portrayed in game play successfully follows the overall concept.  If not, the player notes what did and did not work in the trial, so that the designer may go back into the model and quickly edit the problem areas.

-          Examples:

o   Portal/ Half Life

§  Game plot

§  Game design:  All by architects

·         Bottom-up (describe through models)/ top-down (how so?.. puzzle tools set the site foundation)

§  New Architectural concept (structurally and with nudge design)

·         The atmosphere is a thinking being trying to kill you through spatial and verbal manipulation

·         No longer does the player HAVE to go from point A to B, but wants to go from A to B (new age linear game design [mechanical])

o   Gears of War series

§  plot

§  Architectural atmospheric emotional setting (post apocalyptic modern gothic style)

·         Epic scale and emotion portrayed through artistic design

§  Links to Portal’s idea of a harmful atmosphere

·         Krill (death by night)

·         Razor hail (death by weather)

·         Living surroundings (worm stomach level)

·         Similar concepts found in earlier game designs such as God of War

o   Halo series

§  plot

§  Architecture seen from all scales (viewed from all angles)

·         Brutalism style architectural design at “small” scale

·         The world itself is architecturally designed to be viewed from all angles

§  Architecture serves greater purpose in overlaying narrative

·         Becomes one of seven rings to form a galactic scale weapon

o   Bioshock

§  plot

§  Atmosphere does not act, but is

·         Slight tie into replicated reality design (1930-40’s art deco)

§  Creates an ideal atmosphere for the presented narrative (dystopian horror)

·         Atmospheric character formed through creative use of light, sound, scale, location, and moral quandaries

o   This then turns the atmosphere into a philosophic character

§  Philosophic design

·         Achieved through:

o   Narrative setting

§  Inspired by Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged and the dark portrayals of Stephen King

o   Art deco dystopia style (metaphor for fallen perfection[Atlantis])

o   Subconscious directional nudges (still feels like free roam)

o   Moral quandaries built in to determine story direction

Overall recap of playtest importance in architectural design

-          Design for experiential qualities alongside objective form

o   Ensures population approval of design before built (prevents failures?)

§  Holds designer’s artistic portrayal while still pleasing people (video game popularity)

o   Involves clients and bystanders in design process (good or bad?)

o   Allows architect to see project in first person view in any worldly scenario (weather conditions, day lighting [or lack thereof], site adaptability, etc…)

If Architects learn to design as video games do, what will be the next level for future architecture?

-          Atmospheric and spatial success on a large scale (block, city, state, country?)

-          Design of custom site and vegetation to fully accent a structure?

-          Creation of an ideal climate and surrounding topology to further accent?

-          Manifestation of entire utopian worlds that meet full aesthetic and functional needs of the human race through “playtesting?”