globalization - spatial city - a global city in the trees

Globalization is the effect of the current epoch that is characterised by the more frequent and more rapid movement from one place to the other and it involves a greater number of people traversing ever greater distances. And not only people but goods and ideas move from one place to another as well. The rapid exchange of materials and knowledge have make architecture to redefine its form, function, process and value as we pass from the mass-production system to the flexible production system. The transmission of the masses of population and in the same time of different cultures, social statues and variable need in the big cities with the connection of the development of electronic communication and information systems caused the variety and flexibility in architectural styles. Architecture is trend to be practically individualized and sustainable in the same time. On account of the variety of the contemporary cities and the fact that the space is not a result of static volumes and masses, but consist of visible and invisible forces, we should emphasize on relations instead of mass in architecture, that would achieve the harmonious coexistence of individual styles.

Spatial city

Yona Friedman (1999) proposed the construction of a "spatial city" consisting of several elevated tiers of lightweight "space-defining elements" superimposed over existing cities. Inhabitants get the opportunity to adapt their dwellings themselves to the needs of the moment. Not only would the interior walls of Friedman' s "spatial city" be moveable, but also its exterior walls, floors and ceilings. In addition, services such as water and power supply, and garbage disposal, would be easily reconfigured in order to promote greater freedom of movement for residents.

"Digital architecture"

The interior wall panels are not what they seem. They turn out to be huge, flat video screens. In response they simulate the surfaces of standard architectural materials, but activated they become electronic windows opening onto anything at all. (William Mitchell (1995)). Chameleon-like walls. Since mid-90s Bill Gate 's vision.

Perkins + Will
A Global City in the Trees

In the 22nd Century, underground ultra-high speed conduits carry people, goods and resources throughout the world. Atlanta secures construction of the first Mega-Hub and to get anywhere, everyone "must go through Atlanta." Economic growth, infusion of a world population and the city's rich existing character make Atlanta a world destination.

Along with advancements of a global transit system, new architecture of organic material and kinetic structure is developed. Atlanta, acknowledging its possibilities but respecting its past, freezes most development through its historic neighbourhoods. The in-between spaces, forgotten fabric and obsolete infrastructure are designated as high-density districts bridging once-divided neighbourhoods. In exchange for neighbourhood preserves, Atlanta utilizes organic, kinetic architecture to create the "new city" poised between the terminals of the world transit system.