BABEL CACOPHONY 2033

Super! Gracias Marta. Intentare hablar con Ron esta semana ya que el Domingo salgo a Hong Kong y estaré fuera por un par de semanas.

 

Te adjunto una de mis imágenes, bienvenida a utilizarla.

 

Title: “BABEL CACOPHONY” (ink and watercolour on cotton paper (320gsm) dims. 550 x 450 framed, floating format).

 

Es un paisaje urbano/natural que imaginé para el future. El bosquejo lo realice al visitar un parque en Singapur que se llama Southern Ridges Elevated Walkway que se encuentra del lado del puerto (en Henderson Wave bench bajando de Mt Faber).

• Vertical farms (torres de la derecha, incluyendo sistemas de hydroponics).
• Eolic energy harvesting through facade membranes (un concepto de velas, torres de la izquierda).
• Geothermal piling (el mástil del puente regula la temperatura delos edificios adyacentes, central buildings).
• Various aspects of biophilia and wellbeing.

Reflexión que escribí sobre Babel Cacophony*  

“Petals as facades, farms as roofs. Here a reinterpretation of the Babel Tower not as a single building but as symbiosis of natural and manmade structures. Not as round pyramid, but as an integrated urban system. Humans overcame the challenges of eroding the environment moving from reckless consumerism into an economy of ‘prosumers’ embedded in distributed modes of production especially food, energy and natural resources.

By 2033 we have overcome language and communication barriers through technology however, idiosyncrasies continue to stand on our ways for advancing societies, at least we can cohabitate in compact cities with highly heterogeneous population in productive and harmonious ways.

Humans have entered an era of heavy reliance on technology however, there has been a return to engaging with nature and in-person human interactions. Artificial Intelligence has indeed blended with our daily personal and work routines but human wisdom prevails in all aspects of our lives, our wisdom and intellect is paramount in decision-making, we still set the ‘true north’ in the now mature knowledge-based economy. New standards and definitions for liveable cities include social equity, safety and inclusivity, amenity, third-spaces, affordability, opportunity are some of the key attributes redefining urbanism. Tax incentives in housing towards assistance for looking after the elder e.g. by family members or surrogates, has proven to substantially alleviate the dependency of age care. Families living in close proximity and thus looking after their elder pay less council rates (tax). Medicine has moved from reactive treatment to proactive monitoring for health and wellbeing into advance longevity. The cure for cancer has been found. Healthy diet, exercise and community engagement has proven to improve quality of life. 15-minute walk districts have reduced car dependencies and provided fully integrated modes of transport, efficient and reliable.

 The Tower of Babel has taken a new turn, not fully solved but moving in the right direction, not necessary building more or higher but re-generating outdated models of building stoke and city zoning into multifunctional innovation districts. Post-industrial inner-city sites have been re-purposed, heritage sites have moved from museology and preservation into provision of vibrant and exiting spaces for young people to live, play, and be productive (the office as workplace has been fully re-defined). Our built environment is sensorially and emotionally aware, this means that if the mood of a group or individual is negative the surroundings such as sounds, smells or visuals can assist to change it into a positive emotion, mood or trait, what I defined in 2019 as emotionally intelligent buildings.

*Cacophony is a blend of inharmonious sounds. The word originates from Greek, meaning 'bad sound. ' An example of a cacophony in real life would be like dishes crashing on the floor, or horns blaring and people yelling in a traffic accident. Assuming the construction site of Babel's Tower in today’s world, how would it sound? Possibly as a symphony rather than a cacophony? Symphony would point at utopia and as we know the ideal city is unattainable, so cacophony is a metaphor closer to reality, despite the chaos and challenges we humans face, ingenuity, love and intellect as prevailed in La Citta Ideale 2033.”

Guillermo Aranda-MenaⒸ2024