Cinematic Urbanism
In a recent post I commented on the use of short narrative films as a means to communicate new ideas about urban design and architecture. In other words, once an architect or urban planner has designed his or her cityscapes, buildings, or streets; once he or she has added pedestrians, parks, backgrounds, skies, atmospheres, and weather systems; once there are night scenes, day scenes, aerial views, ground views, interior perspectives, etc. – why stop there?
Edit it all into a two or three minute sequence, give it some music, give it a voice-over, give it some dialogue, put some ideas behind it, etc. etc., and you've got a short film that shows off your architectural vision of the city. The buildings within it may never be built – but, if you do things right, thousands and thousands of people you've never met will see what you're graphically capable of.
Now put the film on the internet, anonymously forward it to the Sundance Channel, make more and more of the things, invite all your friends round to come up with more sequences, keep the ideas moving, tip-off Boing Boing, keep sketching, keep writing, pay-off local musicians with wine to compose original soundtracks, and suddenly a group far larger than your own architecture office or postgraduate thesis design class has seen your work.
Ten years later, you own Pixar and you're producing Indiana Jones pt. 5.
Having said that, of course, Ruairi Glynn pointed out to me that the Bartlett School of Architecture in London already teaches a course in that exact vein – so I went to check out the course's website. Every image, appearing here, was produced for that class.
Here, then, are some architectural filmstills. What happens next?
What's the plot?
[Images: All images are student work taken from the website of London's Bartlett School of Architecture. The images were produced for a cinematic urban design class taught by Nic Clear; in order, the images are by Nicholas William Henderson; Ho Yin (Benjamin) Lam; Kar Kei (Bianca) Cheung; someone named Duggleby; and Abigail Yeates – please contact me if you'd like your image removed or more accurately recontextualized].
(Earlier: Paris 2054. Elsewhere: NYC considered as a film set, from the New York Times).
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I assume other schools also provide such opportunities. I was unfortunate to mill the class, but I never missed the films at the end of each semester. I can't find any information, but the Film and Architecture class is taught by Dietmar Froelich at the University of Houston.
Some really superb workcomes out of the Nic Clears Unit at the Bartlett. I'll have to ask him if any of its actually online. I let you know if I find out anything. Seems a bit silly that they havent put some videos on the website.
Ruairi
Interactive Architecture
Anon, I would definitely assume other universities teach courses like this; but this was the most immediately available example. I'll look into others. Feel free to leave links here, of course, if you stumble upon anything worth taking a look at. Thanks for the Houston tip, meanwhile.
And, Ruairi, thanks again; also, I'll try to get in touch with Nic Clear directly. It'd be good to ask some specific questions, see what the program's all about, etc. Did you say you had taken that class, or you hadn't?
Why not create the architecture in a virtual reality game (like Second Life) and let people come to it and poke around, rather than have a narrative imposed on them.
More likely to provoke feedback on issues that you haven't considered before.
Hey Sean - Not a bad idea at all; I mention that (albeit briefly) in Paris 2054. Which is to say: I agree with you.
Though I am a sucker for film, writing, narrative, etc., the latter of which I think has been lately underappreciated. But I think both narrative presentation and a more interactive, game-like urban world would equally work.
I think the key is to figure out the purpose of the presentation and then choose the medium.
If the goal is to present your design for review, you want to maintain control over the story. You'd choose to present a film.
If the goal is to elicit feedback so that you can rethink and refine, the randonmness of virtual reality is better suited. As soon as you choose a narrative, you've made it very difficult to see from outside your perspective (which is, of course, part of the beauty of narrative).
It's not an absolute distinction, but a useful one. Things get a little blurry, especially when you're constructing either. When you go to create your story, you are necessarily going to be confronted with issues you hadn't thought about, making the exercise useful for refining your work. And, when you design in a virtual reality, there will be all sorts of elements that suggest a narrative that the "visitor" will have to overcome to create her own viewpoint.
Sean - Again, agreed.
For me, I see the use of narrative films or videogames as a much-needed opportunity through which to communicate a vision of the city as it could be - or architecture as it could be - and to do so for an audience who doesn't normally consider or confront architectural issues, i.e. almost everyone.
I guess, really, it's a question of audience. Who do you want to see this? Or play this? Your professor? Your office colleagues? Steven Spielberg? Or some kid downloading your film in Glasgow, then going to sleep dreaming about it, potentially changing his life? It'd be about making people realize architecture and urban design are not just background - they're something to consider, actively, everyday, factors of life worth taking steps toward redesigning. Which is insanely cheesy, but also fun.
If your city is boring, in other words - you're free to take steps toward ts redesign, even if that's just making little films. "Architecture" as a kind of expressive genre. The short story of the future will be short films about architecture.
The joy of making a movie would be for designers to think about narrative, the story their spaces tell, journies through it etc. I know it's a bit passe but how many times does a building or space just start creating dynamic experience and exchange, only to be broken by a piss-irritating fire door or blocked view.
I was just wondering if Ho Yin Lam (Benjamin) was a guy I went to school with. Is there any way to give him my contact info or just forward this message to him?
Wanted to ask him if he went to Chelsea School of Art on Hugon Road, Chelsea.
Thanks.
My contact is saritap@yahoo.com
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