Update: 13/04/2012

New post on deadfutureoftheworld.blogspot.com

The Dystopia Is Now

Sorry I haven't posted in a while, deadline season is upon us so I will be scare till about June when I come out of hibernation!!!

I've also got a big long list of blogs to follow so I will follow you back just give me time! 

Peace.

Studio study: Factory Fifteen

This animation/architecture company specializes in futuristic, Utopian and Dystopian architecture.

The animation is spectacular and I will leave the images to speak for themselves.

Structures built on the London eye? The pavement giving way to the only surviving ecology? Its an interesting concept.

Imagine London as a giant construction site, rebuilding after a world war.

Most of their work lives with the conceptual range...

The images above appear to have been based upon ideas of 'angels' and 'tornados' whereas the top image in the poster below appears to be more contemporaneity themed.

The idea of an alien spaceship, an extra-terrestrial being comes through here

There are elements of the utopia and dystopia in everyday life. They are not a point in the future, they are constant. Ever-changing with the times, heavily affected by the political and sociological systems. But will they get better or worse?

Futuristic Chairs

So wh have these spaces now we need furniture. Lets start with chairs. Sexy chairs. Let me know which one is your favourite!

(check out the tiny tv!)

Would these chairs fit into our modern buildings and spaces? 

They all seem to be designed around relaxing rather than work so are we not going to have to work in the future? 

Are robots going to do all our work for us?

All I know is I want one!!!

Quick Graphical Spatial Design

In order to understand or propose an idea to someone we need to present it clearly. So we can design a room in a house, a cinema theater, a swimming pool more 'efficiently' with graphics. Here I am going to show how you can work off a sketch-up model, but you can also use a drawing.

Step 1

From your sketch-up model you need to go File > Export > 2D Graphic.
Save it somewhere then open it in photoshop.

Step 2

We need some images that we can use for the interior:

Step 3

Now we need to cut them down and stretch them to fit our image:

Use the eraser tool and the lasso tool to do this quickly :)

Step 4

Add some life and light and voila!
(For the light use a low opacity white paintbrush)

This technique is used in industry for quick testing of spaces; it has taken me 15 minutes to create the second to last image! (I took my time on the last one ;) )

It can be used to show material quality, lighting, etc., so whether you are designing a building or designing a game try it out!!!

Please feel free to leave any suggestions, comments or questions below.

Nuclear Shelters

Apocalyptic Architecture, 2005

"Since the invention of nuclear weapons and the possibility of destroying the entire civilisation, many protective structures were built. The notion of the shelter became the main strategy for the survival of civilisation. Many dystopian visions seemed to become reality and humans had to live underground beneath the uninhabitable surface.

This research project investigates these structures and their relation to society during the Cold War, as well as their relevance today. Some of them are hidden as they were kept secret and some are hidden inside other structures.

Digging under the surface of the Cold War means bringing something forward that might lie under everyday structures. (Images: US Office of Civil Defence, Public Shelter Designs, 1960s)"

Basically at the beginning of the most tense years of the Cold War (1962 Cuban missile crisis, through the 70s and 80s) architecture reverted to the fundamental idea of shelter.







On a purely graphics note, these are done using watercolor and fine-liner, using colour as a way of blurring out the background and highlighting the nuclear shelters!

Architecture

“Architecture is life, or at least it is life itself taking form and therefore it is the truest record of life as it was lived in the world yesterday, as it is lived today or ever will be lived.”

FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT, An Organic Architecture