Adaptation Lab explores the impact of technology on architecture


A week-long series of events explores the emerging negotiations between technology and architectural design


BP

'Technology is the answer. But what is the question?'
Cedric Price

The Architecture Foundation's Adaptation Lab, run in collaboration with the New York-based architectural think-tank C-LAB, runs throughout this week with an intensive, high-profile and provocative series of events discussing the emerging negotiations between technology and architectural design, and the much-discussed notion of the Smart City. Participants include Philippe Rahm, Jürgen Meyer H and Liam Young, and look into the operations of firms such as ARUP and IBM, in discussing the interplay between technology and the city.

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From the publication 'Adaptation: Architecture, Technology & the City' by INABA © INABA 2013

Given that urban life is on an inexorable upsurge, there has been much discussion about the Smart City. Common threads, despite the many voices on the subject, involve the integration of advanced digital and communication technologies into the systems of the city; of ways that urban infrastructures and governance interface with citizens and how citizens communicate with each other. As C-Lab Director, founder of the award-winning INABA Projects and former director of AMO says: 'Technologies are increasingly important to the functioning of cities, and as a result, many fields have become involved in shaping the urban environment. But this transformation won't occur as we might think. As the city becomes more technological, architectural design will become more essential.'

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From the publication 'Adaptation: Architecture, Technology & the City' by INABA © INABA 2013

Technology is playing an increasingly important part in our everyday lives, and the C-LAB Adaptation Lab investigates how architectural design might respond to these emerging conditions. The technologies of architectural needs must have an impact on how technology is integrated into the physical space of the city. Visions of the urban future now are less about flying cars, moving walkways and jetpacks, but rather suggest and abundance of augmented reality, sophisticated means of monitoring sustainability, smart-social media, and responsive environments.

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From the publication 'Adaptation: Architecture, Technology & the City' by INABA © INABA 2013

The series of public debates, discussions and demonstrations question political and social realities as well as interrogating physical manifestations. Technologically-enabled social media, for example, has allowed for a dynamic and broadly participatory model of self-organisation; the Occupy movement had a particularly spectacular blossoming in Jurgen Mayer H's public plaza in Seville (main photo, by Nikkol Roth/Holcim), for example. On the other hand, Big Data and an infrastructure densely laden with sensors, surveillance and feedback loops suggest an increased possibility for civic control. In terms of modulating the physical environment to cause behavioural change, this is a topic which the studio of Philippe Rahm has been experimenting with for years.

Master

Jade Meteo Park, Taichung, Taiwan by Philippe Rahm Architectes, Mosbach Paysagistes and Ricky Liu & Associates

Cities have always been products of 'technology' - whether these have been technologies of house-building, irrigation, transport, social or economic control. Engaging with advanced digital and technological systems is not a choice; such systems are now part of culture. But how does the city respond, and how might architectural design develop, with regards to the particular culture of today? Most importantly, how might the Smart City lead us from passive, into active citizenship?

Blueprint is proud to be media partner for the Architecture Foundation's Adaptation Lab programme; stay tuned for updates, comment, reviews live-tweets from events and, for especially interested and quick-fingered readers: Free Tickets! Tweet #AdaptationLab to @blueprintmag or write to info@blueprintmagazine.co.uk: we have two pairs of tickets to give away for each event.

For full details of public events and debates, please visit their Event Listings page.Alongside the public events programme, C-Lab will produce a display of new and previously unpublished work developed especially for the project including analytical drawings, photography and videos that extend the themes presented in Adaptation: Architecture, Technology and the City (2013), as well as material from the current issue of Volume edited by C-Lab.

 

 








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