Reference Paper

120 Hours 2022

The reference paper contains information and references

about utopia, dystiopia and visionary architecture that might
come in handy.

Have fun and good luck!

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 Imagining new realities

Visionary architecture is the name given to architecture which exists only on paper
or which has visionary qualities. If we are going to build a better world, we must
first be able to imagine it. If students do exactly what their teachers wish, then new
architecture will repeat the mistakes of previous generations.

The imagination of students contains ideas which the world has never seen before.
We want to see them! We want you to stretch your imagination as far as you can in
order to envision a new word, a reality which does not yet exist, and most impor tant
of all – we want you to show us that world.

The word “utopia” was coined by Thomas More in his book Utopia from 1516. He
created the word by combining the Greek words topos (“place”) and ou (“not”).
So, it meant something like “no place” or “nowhere” which was fitting since he was
describing a place that did not exist in reality.

But people have imagined utopias long before we had this word. A century
before Thomas More, there was a book written by Christine de Pizan in which she
described an allegorical city where all the inhabitants were famous women from history.
And people have probably imagined alternative realities since the dawn of time.

Illustration from Utopia by Thomas More (1516)

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 Utopias are often attempts at imagining a better world, but they usually result in
worlds which are good only for people who have exactly the same interests and
ambitions as the author. It is not easy to imagine what other people really want. One
person’s utopia may be another person’s dystopia.

The word dystopia was introduced around the year 1800 to describe an imaginary
world which was very unpleasant. Some examples would be the book 1984 by
George Orwell and the film The Matrix. Once we had the word “dystopia,” which
has a very negative meaning, the word “utopia” began to sound more positive, like
“a-very-good-place” rather than just “a-place-that-doesn´t-exist.”

In the film Metropolis from 1927 Fitz Lang shows us a big urban metropolis where
a few super rich elites enslave the rest of the population. There are skyscrapers and
flying vehicles. In the animation Akira, from 1988, the big post-apocalyptic city is
drawn with a surprisingly similar visual language.

In the early 1800s Charles Fourier thought that the idea of being “civilized” was
very depressing and passé. Instead, he described a form of society without pover ty,
and where territorial disputes between countries were decided, not by fighting, but
through cooking competitions.

In 1892 the designer William Morris published a book where he falls asleep and
subsequently wakes up around the year 2020. In the future, he tells us, the English
people will live in close harmony with nature, no one will know what money is, work
is only done voluntarily and the old government buildings from the 1800s are only
used to store manure.

In the 1600s Francis Bacon wrote a book called New Atlantis in which he describes
a fictional island where a utopian society is centered around scientific discovery. He
envisioned state sponsored research facilities, which didn´t exist at the time, and his
book expresses an overall optimism for the future of knowledge, progress and the
abilities of humankind.

What did Picasso mean when he said: “Everything you can imagine is real”? In order
to find out we must start by imagining.

In this reference paper we have gathered some examples which can give you some
inspiration and show you how different these ideas can be!

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Landscape with Nymph and Satyr Dancing (1641)

Claude Lorrain (1604/05-1682). Seapor t with the Embarkation of the Queen of

Sheba (1648)

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La via Appia (1905).

Giovanni Battista Piranesi (1720-78). Carceles imaginares (1749)

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Ebenezer Howard (1850-1928), The Garden Cities of Tomorrow (1898)

Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-1959), Broadacre city (1932)

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Charles-Edouard Jeanneret, ”Le Corbusier” (1887-1965). Ville Radieuse, or The
Radiant City (1922)

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Constant Nieuwenhuys (1920-2005). New Babylon (1959-74)

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Archizoom Associati, Andrea Branzi (1937-). No-Stop City (1969)

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Paolo Soleri (1919-2013), From the book: Arcology: The City in the Image of Man
(1969)

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Paolo Soleri (1919-2013), From the book: Arcology: The City in the Image of Man
(1969)

Yona Friedman (1923-2019). Spatial CIty Principles (1960)

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 Paolo Soleri

Paolo Soleri (1919-2013), Arcosanti (1969)

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Charles-François Ribart (1700s). The L’Éléphant Triomphal (1758)

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Oscar Newman (1935-2004). Underground city beneath Manhattan (1969)

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Iakov Chernikhov (1889-1951). Selection from series of books on architectural design
(1927-1933)

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Fritz Lang (1890-1976), Metropolis (1927)

Katsuhiro Otomo (1954-), Akira (1988)

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George Lukas (1944-). Star Wars: Episode II (2002)

Ernst Cline (1972-). Ready player One (2011)

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Archigram, Peter Cook (1936-). Walking Cities (1961)

Christian Rivers (1974-). Mortal engines (Movie, 2018)

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Superstudio (1966-78). New New York (1969)

Yona Friedman (1923-2019).

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Yona Friedman (1923-2019). Selection of various works (from Archdaily)

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Pushwagner (1940-2018). Kings Cross (2014)

Pushwagner (1940-2018). Selvpor trett (1986)

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Bodys Isek Kingelez (1948-2015). City Dreams (Star ted 1992).

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Hermann Finsterlin (1887-1973). Study for a House of Sociability, project (1920)

Hermann Finsterlin (1887-1973). Pluto, the dog (1920)

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Wale Oye Ikire Jones (). The Escape to New Lagos (Lagos 2081 A.D, 2014)

Fred Freeman (1940-2018). Clean Air Park (1959)

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