Here we are then: from London, Big Jim thumping Cedric, whizzing auto-Brian and the boys from never-never-land of Archigram (well: don’t be too sure about the never-never of it mates!) We’re all here to tackle a serious problem concerning housing and no doubt we shall all apply our ingenuity and wit to the problem and seek an architecture at the same time.
Is that enough? If we value person above object, can we just leave the gear within which we survive to look after itself? On the other hand, what happens to completely self-determining action for everything? An Anarchy City! What a great idea. Even with all the urban populations of the world redeployed over its surface: this no-city would form at first a few links, a network, then local situations would be found to report, then methods would repeat …… we would come back to square one: with objects telling us what to do. MAYBE ARCHITECTURE IS JUST A GAME. Maybe the historical back-and-forth of moral and symbol dressed in architectural styles is this game being played. So what is different about now? WHAT’S (really) NEW?
An environment that can be all things to all man, use gadgetry, structure, surface, enclosure, but also responsive organization of software (circuits, electronics, fed-air programmes – even notions are a kind of software) but USE THESE ALL AT THE SAME LEVEL: NOT DEIFYING ONE group of these above any other – until they begin to do something for YOU: the dweller, the participant.
Maybe this is architecture as well? What is this architecture anyhow……
‘see you.
Archigram
