[Re]imagining Cities with 3 obstructions

A design research seminar revealing a new category of architectural exploration called slipstream. The term, borrowed from literary criticism, suggests a type of design practice existing between science fiction, fantasy, and realism. The seminar explored the concept through weekly readings, discussions, and production of four slipstream cities and narratives. ​​

Obstruction 01 : Pickle Jars

Microcities

In the year 3000, scientists and world leaders from various disciplines and positions gather to discuss the current affairs of the world. These leaders fear impending doom for the world as it exists if no measures are taken to rid it of its evils. In the past, several proposals were rejected. They wanted to see real change.

This ordinary day would mark the conclusion of these grand proceedings. A scientist believed to have found the solution, called for a meeting to discuss strategies for action. A Micro city he called it, a fresh start. He had discovered a way to shrink the cities of this world into miniature study models. Only the knowledgeable and wise were to stay behind to monitor and study these models.

“Everything done in science is done with models. A model is any supplication, substitute or stand-in for what we are studying or trying to predict. Models are used because they are convenient substitutes, but what if instead of substitutes we could resize real cities. The observations would be accurate and benefi­t the growth of future cities.”

Majority of them agreed. The decision was made. After heated discussions, and three coin tosses later, thirteen individuals were chosen to stay behind. One lucky architect was also elected to stay.

The Micro cities were confined in special bottles that ­filter in essential nutrients and air. Each bottle is exposed to different societal problems at varying degrees. Each bottle was subjected to either poverty, or inflation, or unemployment, or overpopulation and the list continues. Conclusions drawn from their observations led them to apply “solutions” to our future cities.

Unlike their predictions, these new cities didn’t respond as their mini counterparts had and the problems persisted. The only real growth witnessed was in the number of micro cities. With every problem that remained unresolved, the scientists and leaders agreed to shrink another city into a jar. One day these men would grow old and die. Left behind would be their legacy of micro cities that indicates the arrival of an entirely new future.

Obstruction 02: Wood Molding 

White City

White city has two sorts of citizens; those that are Color Blind (CB’s) and those that are Not Color Blind (NCB’s). The CB’s live in homes that are made with moody blacks, whites, and greys while the NCB’s live in homes that are made with spirited blue, green, red, yellow and orange colors. White city’s inhabitants are at war with each other having very dissimilar tastes and opinions. The city grows despite the turmoil. The differences seem more pronounced with an increase in population.

Color and black and white televisions across the city feed the frenzy thwarting any hope for resolution with anger and hate. They are limited by their senses and handicapped by it. CB’s cannot appreciate color while NCB’S cannot appreciate colorless-ness. Sometimes these colors and colorless bleed into each other. The citizen's pause, momentarily wondering what can be. But time muddles their memories and the citizens quickly forget these moments in the past. Even visitors to the city invariably take sides. White city is certainly not the only city that has colorful or colorless homes they say. But in those cities, the citizens have either accepted their differences and no longer see it or have moved out never finding that one suitable city.

Despite White city’s ongoing conflict, there was one aspect that bound its people together, one decision that they had agreed upon. They decided to paint the streets and the exterior walls of the city white and with that decision named the city White city. White was a central feature in the lives of all the citizens of this city. In this city, color mattered and separated one citizen from the other. But then again even white in White city was questionable, the CB’s swore that white was colorless, devoid of any hue and the NCB’s swore that it was all-encompassing, comprising of all colors. None can conclude who is right. Sometimes, though rarely, some CB’s cross over to the other side and some NCB’s over to the first.

One can’t say when either the CB’s or the NCB’s would succeed the other.

Obstruction 03: Model Scraps

Sealing City

Sealing city explores the power of imagination to change spaces and minds. Its builders established that ceilings create an awareness of height which determines our limits. High ceilings activated abstract thinking and thoughts of freedom, whereas low ceilings activated concrete thinking and thoughts of contentment. Increasing the height of a space has the effect of increasing its spatial dimensions, which facilitates human creativity and productiveness by expanding the volume of space in a room.

This spread into an extended network of meanings that convinced the authority figures of the city to construct a new city without ceilings. A city without ceilings would encourage the development of new practices and new practices would encourage the development of novel cities they said. This was considered a modern approach to the concept of space. The facades itself gained importance as a result. The city would emulate a wave made of verticals. It is the mesh of the façade that provides the building with its unique identity. Searching for the right decorative element for the mesh occupied much of the builders and citizens’ time. During the day, the façade changes as daylight moves across it; in the evening, the lighting incorporated in it encapsulates the building in a colored skin.

Over time, however, it turned into a city of geometric heights, and of grids and lattices. To understand this city one had to look beyond the visual imagery of its facades and perceive its heightened orderliness. The builders observed that human creativity may not have expanded after all. The city was under a constant threat of collapsing into its traditional form. Perhaps they said “Design is only part of the life of a building. As time passes, it is the users who decide how successful we have been”