Topos is a must-have for successful landscape architects, planners, urban designers and architects all over the world.The monothematic issues provide a global overview of innovative projects, new developments and trends in the profession. Be part of the worldwide community of Topos readers!
COVER
Going down with all Flags flying
OPINION • Seonju Kim and Susann Ahn Researchers on Korean landscape and urban studies
Hao Yan
Adriaan Geuze
Vancouver
Windows overlooking vernacular Architecture • The need for protection and food has driven people to shape their environment since time immemorial – and sometimes they show an amazing ability to adapt to environmental conditions. The key to building the future could lie in traditional construction methods and the secret to successful globalisation in the analysis of proven systems. For the encyclopaedia ‘HABITAT’, scientists investigated traditional approaches to vernacular architecture. Conclusion: We need an ecological utopia that allows us to gradually change our habitat in order to shape a sustainable future.
Utopianists Wanted • Beginning with the Garden of Eden, utopian scenarios have always been part of society. More so in times of crisis – be it of an ecological, a political or an environmental origin. The practicability of the suggested utopias only ever plays a secondary role. It is the thinking beyond the limits of the present times that makes up their significance: The status quo cannot be challenged without visionaries. This is why we need a healthy dose of utopianism.
Expedition 27 • Expedition 27 – this is what the landscape architecture office Studio Vulkan and its project partners, the architecture firm Hosoya Schaefer and screenwriter Plinio Bachmann, named their competition entry for the Swiss National Exhibition 2027. While their entry won, the intelligent and multi-layered concept was never implemented. A referendum stopped the project early on, and it was never even presented to the public. And yet, the utopian visions the planners developed could have provided a key impetus to viewing the landscape – especially the sprawl and the fragmented, highly emotionalized landscape in Switzerland – from new perspectives.
“In the future, architects may no longer be called Rem or Bjarke, but Google or Alibaba” • What is our understanding of future city life? And what does our vision of urban architecture look like? Chris Precht, Austrian architect, has a clear conception of it: He believes in green architecture that finds its expression in his utopian project of the Farmhouse. It combines architecture and agriculture and offers a visionary solution to self-sufficient living in urban realms. We talked to the architect about the era of the international style, having passed its expiration date, his urban utopia and the observation that if the construction industry won't change, the tech industry might very well take on its role. So better get started!
As above so below? • The world’s population is growing rapidly. More than two billion people are expected to move to urban areas within the next two decades. The question is not a new one: Where to put all those people? But what if we look for obvious solutions instead of reaching for Mars? Moving underground could be one answer. For this to become viable, four key issues need to be addressed.
Realising a Fata Morgana • The Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammad bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud, himself calls it an “ambitious yet achievable blueprint”: The Saudi Vision 2030, launched this year, is supposed to transform Saudi Arabia’s capital Riyadh into one of the most liveable cities of the world. This is to be achieved mainly through four major projects that include greening the desert city.
Utopia to some, Dystopia to others • Utopias propose worlds that claim to...
