Our future through a film lens: A speculative exploration of the future’s architecture based on today’s development plans & films

Abstract

The future city consists of tightly built high buildings, so the sky is barely visible. People will no longer eat food, but rather take pills, and the traffic will be moved to the air. Everywhere you go, there will be some sort of technology, and society relies on AI. Natural disasters are more common with greater effects and more problems in the utopia arise. The dream people once had has turned into a nightmare. The thesis speculated and explored the future of Gothenburg, which was shown in a final film. Today, architects don’t use the art of storytelling, but rather technical drawings to communicate their ideas, and the images they create are seldom emotionally affecting. On the other hand, films communicate a range of emotions that affect the viewers. In this thesis, storytelling and communicating emotions through hand drawings, aquarelle colouring and film in architecture is explored. By inspiration from films, architects can communicate emotions in architecture and enhance the experience of spaces. They can also take inspiration from films and other media to design buildings or reflect on our society’s architecture. How do film and museums communicate and portray dystopia and anxiety? What will Gothenburg look like every 25th year from today to 2125, based on the architectural developments happening today? Rosenlundsverket is a deteriorating building in Gothenburg with many layers that contribute to a dystopian appearance. By an analysis of five films, this thesis discovers how time, colour, light and shadow can communicate emotions and how those strategies can be applied to buildings. That results in a reconstructed version of the building that metaphorically is our distorted future. The analysis consisted of watching films, choosing particularly emotional scenes, sketching them and placing them on a timeline. They were then analysed to determine how they portrayed and evoked emotions such as anxiety. Based on the analyses and research about utopia, dystopia and filmmaking, perspectives of the Rosenlundsverket’s rooms were painted. The perspectives of the utopian and dystopian rooms were then assembled into a film. The tools learned from the explorations were then used when creating and materialising my personal view of the future Gothenburg city, which was lastly shown in a film.