Alana Muir - Architectural Fiction - Design 8 - 2012: Act 1

Week one begins with an evocative lecture which inspires us to think about future potentials which could set the scene for our next design assignment. Initial images begin running through my mind of a apocalyptic or science fiction type future, which could unleash an unhindered potential of design solutions. There are so many theories about what the future may hold and I am reminded of an extremely interesting Rolling Stone article I read recently with an interview with scientist James Lovelock.

James Lovelock:

image from:http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2010/mar/29/james-lovelock-climate-change

"One of the most eminent scientists of our time says that global warming is irreversible — and that more than 6 billion people will perish by the end of the century" JEFF GOODELL 2007

Lovelocks views on global warming are utterly convincing. "The IPCC, the U.N. panel on climate change, estimates that global warming will cause Earth's average temperature to rise as much as 11.5 degrees by 2100. This will cause inland glaciers to melt and seas to expand, triggering a maximum sea level rise of only twenty-three inches. Greenland, according to the IPCC's models, will take 1,000 years to melt." (Goodell, 2007)

Lovelock argues "For one thing, scientists know from the geological record that 3 million years ago, when temperatures increased to five degrees above today's level, the seas rose not by twenty-three inches but by more than eighty feet. What's more, recent satellite measurements indicate that Arctic ice is melting so rapidly that the region could be ice-free by 2030." (Goodell, 2007)

James Lovelock created the device which contributed to the detection of CFC ruining the ozone layer in Antarctica, he later worked for NASA and in this Astronomical theory about Earth in comparison to planets like mars later led him to his famous "Gaia theory"

Gaia Theory

Lovelock understood that our atmosphere was created not by random geological events but by the cumulative effusion of everything that has ever breathed, grown and decayed. Our air "is not merely a biological product," Lovelock wrote, "but more probably a biological construction: not living, but like a cat's fur, a bird's feathers or the paper of a wasp's nest, an extension of a living system designed to maintain a chosen environment." According to Gaia theory, life is not just a passenger on Earth but an active participant, helping to create the very conditions that sustain it. It's a beautiful idea --life begets life. (Goodell, 2007)

Doomsday

Lovelock suggest that there is way of preventing this from happening but being prepared for the declining poputlation and resources, going back to a more primitive and transient lifestyle. Europe will become deserts and most coastal areas will be under water to we will have Climate refugees. He has written many books and the most positive of all is The Revenge of Gaia: Why the Earth is Fighting Back - and How We Can Still Save Humanity, 1996 describes the necessary changes to human settlement and dwelling at the global scale with the purpose of adapting to global warming and preventing its expected negative consequences on humans.

Fun Future Plots

For a bit of fun, I came across these "Apocotecture" designs by students on Dornob website. Basically a play on the doomsday future scenario architecture.