Archinect - News

Remembering Syd Mead and his futuristic visions of the built environment

2020-01-03T14:04:00-05:00

Revered as a legend in the field of science-fiction, the American industrial designer Syd Mead has given the world memorable and inspiring designs of what the future could be. Recognized for his contributions on the silver screen, he produced conceptual art for blockbuster Hollywood films like Tron, Alien, Star Trek, Short Circuit, and Blade Runner, to name a few. After graduating from Art Center College of Design, Mead started his career as an automobile illustrator for the Ford Motor Company in 1959. He eventually became a sought after illustrator creating architectural renderings and drawings for clients all over the world.

Image from Mead's U.S. Steel Series. Image © Syd Mead.

Beyond his numerous accolades and unforgettable artwork inspiring retro-futurists and science-fiction enthusiasts alike, what strikes me the most is Mead's commitment to transforming possibilities of the built environment. According to Mead, in a 2008 i...

Disney's new Tomorrowland entrance pays homage to the past with "Space Age-inspired" architecture

2019-11-25T12:58:00-05:00

When planning, Imagineers wanted to open up the space and improve access into the land. However, it was important to maintain its overall complexion—with trees and beautiful planters. As shown in this rendering, guests will soon be entering Tomorrowland on a widened pathway lined with elliptical planters that are filled with swirls of colorful flowers.

The Imagineer team studied different Tomorrowland entrances throughout the years, extracting key architectural elements.

In a recent press release concerning the new work, Disney writes, "When 'new' Tomorrowland debuted in 1967, Walt Disney and his Imagineers envisioned this land as a “world on the move,” featuring a variety of futuristic vehicles zooming around and the Googie architecture that had become representative of the Space Age."

The entrance is due to be complete in 2020.

Zaha Hadid Architects' conceptual rendering for Chicago Spire site

2018-01-02T13:43:00-05:00

While 2017 saw developer Related Midwest remain tight-lipped on its plans for the site of the defunct 2,000-foot-tall Chicago Spire project, a rendering showing a pair of very tall skyscrapers rising at 400 N. Lake Shore Drive recently reignited speculation regarding the site’s future redevelopment. The rather slender image surfaced online, credited to Britain’s Zaha Hadid Architects.

Another rendering for the vacant Chicago Spire site recently surfaced online. The image was confirmed as a proposal from Zaha Hadid Architects; however, the developer Related Midwest will not be pursuing the design.

While the project will not be built, the organic towers are certainly a stunning site to behold. Characteristic of ZHA's work, these sci-fi shaped towers appear to break the 984-foot tall supertall threshold. For now, future plans for what will be built at 400 N. Lakeshore Drive are still anyone's guess.

Image note: the previous image has been removed by request, as it was not intended for publication.

MAD designs a futuristic new campus for Faraday Future

2017-07-18T12:15:00-04:00

Appropriate to its sci-fi ambitions and branding, Faraday Future has enlisted MAD to design a new campus that suggests “extraterrestrial objects capable of de-familiarizing employees and prospective clients with the status quo of the contemporary automotive market.”

Sited on Mare Island in Northern California, the campus will cover approximately 130,000 square meters, of which 20,000 square meters will be buildings. Specifically, the campus features two low, metallic structures as well as a “user experience center” comprising a sculptural reflective tower. From its heights, clients can watch as their car is transported from a warehouse to an exhibition hall via an elevated light rail. Non-client visitors will also be able to visit the experience center.

Image Courtesy of MAD Architects

The site, which used to be a naval base, will have a double-height facility punctured by a series of internal courtyards, intended to ser...

China censors sci-fi film about Hong Kong's political and social anxieties

2014-04-14T16:56:00-04:00

The video reveals Hong Kongers’ anxieties over political and social issues, such as their increasingly crowded and materialist city and the growing numbers of mainlanders since the city's transfer from the United Kingdom to China in 1997. It sends the opposite message of a very common view among mainlanders, that without China's economic support, Hong Kong would have been dead long ago.

"Hong Kong Will Be Destroyed After 33 Years" is a nearly seven-and-a-half minute video by local film studio G.V.A Creative. Set in present-day Hong Kong, the city has become the target of an approaching meteor expected to hit in 2047 -- the year when the Special Administrative Region of China ceases to have separate laws from mainland China. As nearly two-thirds of the population abandons the city, the city is reborn despite its doom.

You can watch the entire film below.

Architecture publication CLOG releases gorgeous "SCI-FI" issue

2013-08-30T19:48:00-04:00

Rod Serling, creator of the 1950s television series "The Twilight Zone", defined science fiction as "the improbable made possible." The same might be said for the practice of architecture. After all, architects by trade conceive of spaces, places, and worlds that do not (yet) exist. Furthermore, the ability to make the improbable possible is held in especially high regard today and is oftentimes what defines an architectural practice as “innovative” in the first place.

Contemporary architecture publication CLOG has released its seventh issue, SCI-FI. In the digital glow of the internet age, architectural discourse has become both bountiful and ephemeral, oftentimes muddling the lay of the land. In response, “CLOG slows things down. Each issue explores, from multiple viewpoints and through a variety of means, a single subject particularly relevant to architecture now. Succinctly, on paper, away from the distractions and imperatives of the screen.”
With its precise curation and focused content, CLOG’s SCI-FI examines the mutually-affecting relationship between architecture and science fiction in a variety of ventures. SCI-FI honors this “two-way artistic influence between architecture and science fiction” while provoking readers to consider future architectural aesthetics and the aesthetics of futurism. Previous issues have showcased themes surrounding BIG, Apple, and Brutalism. SCI-FI features over forty contributors from the architecture world ...