Friday, January 4, 2008

Unbuilt architecture

There is a wide range of modeling softwares that can generate forms , shapes and different textures with witch designers in general can play or build buildings . In a lot of cases the work can become a complicated process because of the client architect and construction managers interconnection . Budgets and market economy are elements that can transform the initial concept or idea in something completely different and in a lot of cases generate all kinds of different results that remain unbuilt . What can happen with these virtual models that will never be realized as projects ; can they be considered some kind of waste or become archived in the architect's archive ? .
With the emergence of all kinds of games and outer computer generated virtual spaces we can start thinking about the fact that these” experimental “ models that will never be build in the physical space can have a new type of use , they can become useful in the world of second life interactive game as buildings that are avatars . So all these test buildings that will never be build can be recycled in this un material world that has no physical rules and that can accommodate all kinds of styles of architecture because it does not have any history or theoretical rules that will filtrate the impute material . So if we start thinking about things in a new aura we can see that architecture still has a purpose in a world where major projects are taken by the big architectural enterprises . The virtual world of online games can bring for the architectural world questions that had not been asked before . Starting from questions like how will we build in a world where there are no newtonian laws to the questions that will require a new type of architectural theory to emerge because of the fact that a lot of game users and gamers communities have become already acostonmed with some sort of type of game architecture that run on game engines that can be avalibel from all kinds of games that are already in use . This approach makes things be transformed in a new type of multilayered form of architecture in witch an online user goes trough a space that is created from virtual architectural models . The games that imply some sort of social network in their game scenario have to be bound to a world made out of “space” and that space is the space generated under the form of this virtual architecture . As a starting point we can look at the second life example that is basically a virtual world that is subjected to the laws of the real world : physical laws , economical and social rules that make the users interact and understand the second life world in a normal way . But what if we think about this place called second life as a complete new type of world where the rules witch already make the place function are just normal social rules that keep things together ? If we go and think about an universe like the universe of the World of Warcraft we realize that has surreal rules compared with the rules that reflect the real world in the second life world.
So back to the beginning we can see and realize the fact that these new tools of generating spaces like the software for architecture can be implemented in games that make users interact because interaction is not generated only by the social networks or the rules of the game but by the architecture that is found in the place too . If the game is a reflection of the real then like in the real world architecture brings people together so does in the world of the virtual establishing points of meeting or gathering users together . Architecture has always tried to reflect some sort of principles or even become on a larger scale reflection of a pattern found in nature or outer places . Back to the world of games we can make some sort of classification between the types of architectures and landscapes found in games in general . Things tend to be somehow connected to what a game is about or the scenario of the game . If we are faced with a game where the action takes place in a remote place from of the galaxy we start seeing science fictional forms of architecture ; from spaces ships to alien landscapes things tend to have
some sort of graphical representation , on the outer hand if we look at games that are strategy based in witch one person plays with communities of characters ( workers , craft men or soldiers ) we see that the things tend to be represented in an axonometric display where the user no longer sees the space trough the avatar but sees it under the form of a larger display in witch one plays with a map or with an entire area . In the shooter games the landscape architecture is in general connected to the scenario of the real where the user is situated in the character's body and he does not see the character with witch he plays like in outer games . The second life game is different because the way things tend to imitate the real from the space or architecture to the fact that one can buy or sell land and outer virtual goods and different companies that are based in the real world choose to advertise in the world of the second life . It is a new therytory that has much to offer in terms of exploring and building . The surface is unlimited and the economy is real . People that will never meet in the real world will meet in the world of second life in a real way ( hanging out or simply going for a virtual dinner ) .

1 comment:

mmmikeee said...

Also 'places' like 3D Warehouse can 'store' all these architectural explorations, and 'Google Earth' can be used to view not only proposed and unbuilt architecture in relation to real sites, but also to 'archive' the generations of built forms that are no longer present, but have existed on these sites over time...

http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/cldetails?mid=6df87be139e1fe36474f7621386163b5&prevstart=0

or

http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/details?mid=43b4c1ba91776982192fa41b275d8b77