PROJECT O N E SUMMARY

G . L . van Berlo

‘City 2040’ challenges you to propose long term aspirational visions for the city of Wellington

with a specific focus on its growing digital culture. Companies like Weta Digital, Sidhe interactive,

Ponoko, Trade me, Xero and Resn all share a digital design platform and a physical location in Welling-

ton. What is it about the culture of Wellington that has made it such fertile ground for the emergence

of these digital businesses and how can we nurture and cultivate this over the next 30 years? As emerg-

ing digital designers (physical and virtual) you will offer a unique perspective that is cognisant of the

current generations’ interests and aspirations. You will be the people that occupy the future space we

are exploring so you have a great stake in making the future as remarkable and desirable as possible.

The Wellington City Council has already done a lot of research into the aspirations of its citizens for

the long term future (2040). Our role is to offer highly visual scenarios that will allow more diverse

and informed debate. Your design propositions will be located around a specific physical site from a

historic, current and future perspective. This should include specific information such as changes in

ecology, geography, culture and technology. Your future proposals will need to tell an evolving story

that will take people in small steps toward your provocative scenario for 2040 (and beyond if required).

P R O J E C T O N E + B R I E F

The precarious relationship between transience and permanence will be in a balanced state of equilibrium by the year 2040 in Wellington, New Zealand. This is highly influenced through de-sign and achieved through the power of connections. It is about “the organ-ism in relation to its vital processes or functions, [that is] extended to include the mind.” (OED) and therefore also the machine; which is an equal to ones mind through a symbiotic relationship.

As “there are no ‘things’ in the natu-ral world divorced from their systems”, (OED) we propose to move the WCC of-fices to Wellingtons train station (site) thus turning the site into the heart of the city with the transportation and communica-tion systems acting as the arteries and vi-ens flowing through and (re-)connecting Wellingtonians. The result will enable the symbiotic relation between man (mind) and machine to blossom and harmo-nise with the surrounding environment.

Here-by turning the act of transit (un-der the guise of the theory of rela-tivity) into refining time for physi-cally and literally re-connecting with society, thus re-gaining our social inter-actions from the culture of commodity.

G R O U P P H I L O S O P H Y

Study LimitsShoeline 1842

W e l l i n g t o nC I T Y

Chosen Group Site: Wellington Train Station

This is Bette Calman. She’s an 85 year old yoga instructor from Williamstown in the southeast of Australia. She still teaches up to 11 classes a week with no sign of stopping.

‘Yoga keeps you young,’ she said.

‘I’m proof that if you keep at it, you’ll get there. I can do more now than I could 50 years ago,’ Mrs Calman said.

So when will she give it up?

“ Fo r g e t a g e , y o u ’ r e n e v e r t o o o l d . ”

‘The body is a remarkable instrument. It can stretch and stretch, and get better all the time.’

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AGE + BALANCE

In the first part of the project our group looked at how our social interactions are evolving with

the rapidly changing technological environment. How we are constantly being pressured to buy

the ‘next big thing’, or to upgrade our existing technology as it fades towards obsolete. This tech-

nology now allows us to stay in the comfort of our own homes for both work and leisure. Are we

heading towrds a healthy digital future or are we slowly losing the natural art of communication?

Wellington has a huge personality for a small city, and it is the social aspects that create this

vibrant environment. It’s a city packed to he brim with bustling coffee shops, restaurants

and bars. It’s a colourful city that embraces a multitude of different people and cultures.

We are trying to merge the cities social vibrance with the abundance of technology that

will be surrounding us in 30 years time. This project will look into how society will inter-

act in 30 years and how we as people will feel in 2040 (this would make us all in our 50’s)

P E R S O N A L I N T E R P R E T A T I O N OF THE GROUP P H I L O S O P H Y

The main purpose of the “aging” experiments was to understand the significance of each individual as-

pect of our life cycle. From very young to very old there are attributes that we all desire and by putting

ourselves into that character it’s easier to see how we might feel later in life. Visually the deterioration

of age seems negative but the most precious parts of life are the memories that we gain over time.

As humans we naturally cherish heirlooms that are passed down to us. The most sentimental factor is tak-

ing on the responsibility of owning something that was once treasured by someone that we either once

knew or still adore. Ideally we should be valuing our surroundings in the same manner, encouraging archi-

tecture to be treated as generational heirlooms that we can gain inspiration, knowledge and wisdom from.

We are campaigning for a city filled with a multitude of modern and iconic architec-

ture, welcoming the influx of digital technology and balancing it with pre technology living.

E X P E R I M E N T A L P R O C E S S

This experiment captures the essence of rippening. At every stage of the aging process the banana is useful. The youthful green characteristics are great for thai cooking, the yellow teens means they are ideal for eating on the go, the spotty age means they are perfect for baby food or people with no teeth and in the later brown days its perfect for a rich and in-tense cake.

B A N A N A L I F E C Y C L E

As a group we did an experi-ment to see what people took on a daily basis, to either im-prove their physical wellbeing or help them get through the day.

My reasoning: “Since 1997 I’ve started taking vitamins mainly due to my mums healthy influence. The reason I still take them is because I can notice a difference in my daily concentration

Ester - CVitamin C

Zinc, B6 and Magne-sium

Quick cleanse Vita-min E

Healtheries womans multivitamin

Calcium

Acai berry suppliment

Healtheries fish oil omega-3

V I T A M I N S

As a group experiment we all made a time line of what we would achieve or plan to achieve by 2040. The one really interesting thing was all the males in the group started their time line from 2011 and all the women in the group started from the day they were born.

P E R S O N A L T I M E L I N E

Below are a few notes from the first crit session that we can look into for the next part of the assignment.

We need to start talking to some older people to get their perpective on the aging process and what they like/dislike, in addition to that what they think the city may be like in 30 years time? with the introduction of new technology and modern day living.

Need to start taking some provocative photos of our aging society and how we interact with tech-nology daily (technology, people and architecture)

Look into potential ways to stop the aging process.

Look into the science behind our degenerating cells and what is going to change in 30 odd years?

In 30 years could we be genetically engineering our structure, could we be a population that stops aging and will we be living in a community where everyone looks young?

If we stop the aging process are we going to be happy/sad, what will this do to society and our environment?

If we took away the retiring age would people choose different career paths and what would hap-pen to our general life choices?

Are we going to be design led futures?

Start doing individual experiments and refine an individual project brief.

FIRST GROUP CRITIQUE NOTES