May - Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning - University of ...

Fear Free CityJustyna Karakiewicz,Tom Kvan andSteve HatzellisMould CityPeter Raisbeck, Nicola Doveyand Simon Wollan(as part of Colony Collective)Michael Sorkin (in Local Code) assertsthat “…freedom, pleasure, convenience,beauty, commerce and production are thereasons for the city… participation in theseattributes is a fundamental civic right andmust ever be refined through the filter ofconsent”. Why is it we escape the freedomof the city and head for the suburbs whereour families become prisoners of ourdreams, isolated by the car fromcommunity involvement into zonesof privatization and disengagement?From the popular press, you mightconclude that we fear the city, its crimeand antisocial behavior. In search of safeand affordable living, we flee, movingfurther from the centre, thus spendingmuch of our free time commuting. Wesearch for space, but we end up witha tiny hardscape garden barely enoughfor a barbeque and a few potted plants.We fear climate change, knowing that thislifestyle is unsustainable without drasticrevision. We shower more efficiently,compete with our neighbors by reducingwater consumption to a minimum, andwatch our precious garden die. We knowthat this is not enough so we blamegovernment (or the rest of the world);we all carry on in fear of the future. Eachday we open the Pandora’s box in whichsomeone has forgotten to put hope.This project seeks to flush away fearand reveal the many opportunities for arewarding, sustainable city. The proposalstarts with NOW: 7 Desperate Dreamsfollowed by THEN: 7 Desiring Dreams,which lead us to develop the foundationwhere dreams become reality in theFEAR FREE CITY. AMould City is an urban system whichreconfigures the relationship betweenhumans and shelter. In 2050 Australiansuburbs and cities will require a newenergy system which will require a newlanguage of urbanism. Mould Cityproposes that the garlands of the Vitruvianprimitive hut have been given a new lifeof the physicality of inanimate materials.Mould City is a response to the currenturban situation. A situation in which carbonproduction is choking the earth’s citiesand suburbs. In response to this situation,Mould City reconsiders the Australiansuburbs and city of 2050 as a family ofsensual experiences which reverberatewith the seasons, the moon and the sun.Mould is an integrated, interacting systemsof environs. The mould is introduced on theoutskirts of the suburbs. It was designed togrow in the new environment on thesuburbs existing infrastructure. Mouldcolonies form and reform. Along withshelter, the mould provides food. As words,mould urbanism evokes both the intricaciesof slime mould and those vessels whichgive form to plastic material. The mouldgrows across over and through the oldinfrastructure of the city. The mould isan urban architecture which needs directsolar energy. It changes and respondsto the sun’s orientation during the seasons.It waxes and wanes with the moon.It spreads across the suburbs andis sensitive to the energy levels of itsinhabitants. It is like a foam that aeratesitself when happiness abounds. Poreswill form in the mould so it can breathe.Water vessels and reservoirs will formin the mould both as heat sinksand as replenishment. Mould factorieswill produce new products. The mouldwill adapt to the seasonal and diurnalcycles of its inhabitants. It will be thesetting for new rituals and harvest festivals.The architecture of the mould allows a newrealm of sensual experiences to come intoplay for its inhabitants. Smell, sight touchand taste and thermal experiences areall. The mould is a living organism of thecommunity nursed by the sun. It nurtureslife and offers protection to all within itsrealm. The mould helps its inhabitants torelease new energies which reverberatewithin it. This promotes bio developmentinstead of techno degeneration. MouldCity bridges the gulf that divides anurbanism based on digital diatoms fromone based on radical community politics.Colony is a collective of architects whoproduce utopian vision in response totoday’s climate crisis. Our inspiration isthe architecture of the 60s mashed withthe suburbs of Corrigan. Our inspirationis Yona Friedman, Archigram, Superstudioand Archizoom. A