Humanising Dystopian Architecture
Maream Merza
20021349
BSc Architecture
University of the West of England
Date of submission: 10/01/2023
Word count: 5,465
Humanising Dystopian Architecture
Modern architecture and the conflict in human and cultural identities.
Statement of ownership
This study was completed as part of the BSc (Hons) Architecture at the University of the West of England. The work is my own. Where the work of others is used or drawn on, it is attributed to the relevant source.
Acknowledgements
I want to thank my supervisor Sophia Banou that has been flexible and open to my wild theories and concepts from my second year all the way to this third and final year. I would also like to thank my History of Architecture professor in my second year whose enthusiasm ignited my research in architecture’s theory. And finally I want to thank my mom for challenging the concept of humanising dystopian architecture because she absolutely disagreed with dystopia ever being human again. To anyone navigating the world of architectural misconceptions in confusion.
Copyright statement
This dissertation is protected by copyright. Do not copy any part of it for any purpose other than personal academic study without the permission of the author.
Abstract
The dissertation is an exploration of a synthesis between the past and the present, the machine and the organism, to inform the creation of an architecture that moves away from dystopian ideals but rather humanises it. This piece of writing tries to establish a point where compromise is necessary as this affects the way a human corresponds to the ideals of the designs imposed on them.
Understanding how the human construct interlinks with the cultural identity will inform how architects can design better buildings that aren’t necessarily functional, but also fulfil their spiritual and human purpose. Introducing the use of traditional craftsmanship fused with modern day technology, for one, will create a compromise between both worlds which Dune does in its sophistication of translating the familiar details in a foreign world.
By analysing the architecture movements of the past, the timeline will try and establish where it is was that sophistication was lost, where the world of dystopian fiction was introduced and how the simulation of fictional worlds helps in identifying where humanity can stand in the future architecturally.
“if wishes were fishes, we’d all cast nets”
-Frank Herbert
Architecture in the Grand Narrative
As the human civilisation continues to advance, so does architecture. The beginning of the 20th century marked the emergence of the “international style” (Frampton, 1985) in architecture, informed by the works of modernist practitioners such as Le Corbusier and, Mies Van der Rohe. It embraced functionalism and minimalism, which moved past the historicist styles of the 19th century and their pursuit for “true architecture” (Robin, 1980).
In this context, the modern movement is critiqued by James Curl’s Making Dystopia (2018, pg.15) who, describes modernism as “something alien to the history of humanity, something destructive aesthetically and spiritually.” and “yet something that was almost universally accepted in architectural circles”. Lewis Mumford (1962) examines modernism’s success “in expressing modern life,” but adds that it has also shown where modernism fails to live up to its potential. Postmodernism sought to “deal with this disjunction” (Jencks, 1984, p.6) but instead totalizing the past movements to produce architecture that miscommunicate the language of tradition and symbolism and make their use “slightly embarrassing.” (p.7)
Throughout the timeline, there were misconceptions and falsehood in claims made by several historians, starting with Lodoli’s conclusions of dishonest architecture during neoclassicism to the manifesto Words in Freedom by the main leader of futurism, Filippo Marinetti (1909) (Beiles, 2009) “abandon the past and embrace the future”. The original flow of architecture was disturbed by repeated calls for a new future which took advantage of the “machine age” to create a globalised style that was forced on all cultures. These claims lead to a lack of honest interpretation of architecture and a continuous contradiction with its cultural identity.
According to Marcin Tereszewski (2019) in The Confines of Subjectivity: Spaces of Resistance in George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four, architecture is crucial to dystopian fiction that explores extreme worlds because it is a translator of political stance and an ideological reference point to create a structure in which this architecture could exist (p.55).
There are two antithetical dystopian ideals in play here; the narrative device of dystopian imagination, and the inhuman globalised architecture. The dystopia resulted from the latter is what is currently under threat as the lack of creativity and production informs the creation of a future world that is dehumanised and devoid of any cultural identity. The former is used here to simulate worlds in which architectural possibilities are produced by fabricating human identities informed by extreme cultural and humanitarian conditions.
By exploiting technological advancements, and abandoning the fundamentals of the past, the ideas of ‘the utopia’ weren’t achieved. An attempt at fulfilling the promise of creating a better world in a future has instead become the influencer of “dehumanized social engineering and authoritarian arrogance” (Tereszewski, 2019. p.56)
Dune directed by Denis Villeneuve (2021) will be the main case study to examine architecture’s role and its attempt in the fabrication and preservation of cultural and human identities in a dystopian future.
This reflects our approach as architects to how we should design in a future that doesn’t result in a possible dystopian misery.
What is human?
Human architecture can be defined as relating to a human’s identity. An architecture that embodies the traditions and cultures that have been built over time and placed in a specific context to form the human identity. Contrary to this concept, it can be argued that modernist architecture as exemplified through the international style, concerns itself more with globalisation. Modernism’s grand narrative speaks of history in a homogeneous space that is indifferent to individuals and totalizes all narratives and appropriates architecture in one compact whose “philosophical consequence is the opportunity to see the world rise in countless brains.” (Sloterdijk, 2014).
But what is human, if human culture itself relies of fabrication and artificiality to embody a hybrid system that is part mechanism and organism? As the industrial revolution arrived, a rapid advancement in technology and human’s reliance on machines started to increase as an extension of human senses. As a consequence, it blurred the original line between humanised life hence infuse a mechanised identity to the human. Donna Haraway further demonstrates in her Cyborg Manifesto (1985, p.11) that the second boundary broken between the organism and machine in the twentieth century “have made thoroughly ambiguous the difference between natural and artificial, mind and body, self-developing and externally designed” where it seems “our
machines are disturbingly lively, and we ourselves frighteningly inert.”
The level of complexity of the ‘human’ in architecture is similarly evident in Robert Venturi’s (1966) Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture who identifies the dependence on one correspondence diminishes all other aspects of the human. Although the characterization of architecture’s conception seems simple, it is in its essence complex and requires convoluted procedures to produce what is perceived as simple which therefore is a contradiction in itself (p.20). As technology advances, the solutions from the problems that arise aren’t simple anymore and results have become increasingly difficult to achieve as certain issues can’t be viewed from two perspectives. Similar to how the human identity and its mechanisation have blurred the vision of what it is to be truly human.
Modern architects try to distil the complex identity of the human and compact it into a small box that suppresses any notion outside of it instantly and maybe unintentionally. Mies Van der Rohe’s “Less is more” (Venturi, 1966. p.19) is an indication of breaking the tradition of complexity and becoming selective in problems architecture tries to solve. What modern architects have failed to understand is that the identity of the human is complex as it is accumulated over the years hence can not can be simply erased and that even their own work obtains a certain complex to it. Rather, this oversimplification of the identity of the human has changed the infamous words to “Less is a bore.”
To what extent is architecture human and when does it become alien? Identity, whether fabricated or inherent, is collectively the main driving factor in the design of architecture that will be explored in this piece. The different phases the human identity goes through over time will be examined using the historical architectural productions in each section. Their contrast to the creation of fictitious identities that envision worlds which oppose human architecture in a dystopia will be informed by extensive drawing analyses.
Dystopia: Imagining an identity
To understand dystopian architecture and how it connects to the historical movements is to understand the ideology(ies) of Dystopia first. Rem Koolhaas, in the article piece by Imogen Mann (2016) the contemporary global city and the ‘absence of a utopian drive’ explains that “deep down all architecture, no matter how naïve and implausible, claims to make the world a better place”. Hence, a dystopia is the absolute distress of humanity, where survival is the bare minimum, and the figures of power justify their methods of approach to make a better place, resulting in a world that answers to force only. In this context, architecture becomes the tool of translating hypocrisy.
1984 by George Orwell (1949) explores an age “more relevant to today than almost any other book that you can think of”. Dystopia, in this fictional world of (Fig. 2), is a place that seeks absolute control of an individual’s mind, and eradicates any indication of freedom whether that be in speech or thought. By stripping human nature away, one strips individuals of their own human identity. (See Appendix A)
All that needs to be represented in this world is the power of The Party through the buildings of (Fig. 3). The face of Big Brother displayed everywhere on structures that are alien, big, and ugly for example (Fig. 2). They remind one whose mind isn’t corrupted yet of something in the past but there is no past in this world because “the past is falsified” (Orwell, 1949, p.162) and continuously erased, so (Fig. 2) is foreign, it doesn’t exist. It is made solely to embed fear with its vast heights. These lifeless buildings of (Fig. 3) represent only power and the bane of a dystopian world in which identity is erased and fabricated so much so it is completely lost.
But it is not the typical dystopia: “It is the exact opposite of the stupid hedonistic Utopias that the old reformers imagine. A world of fear and treachery and torment, a world of trampling and being trampled upon” (Orwell, 1949, p.279).
Brave New World creates a world in (Fig. 4) with the same totalitarianism but in a calmer environment. To be swayed to accept a certain fate when it can be resisted is what Brave New World manipulates. By choosing to sacrifice the important factors of what makes life; feelings and families, humanity in the future has completely erased any past identity and philosophies to produce a world that is shallow with no individualism claiming, “history is bunk” (Aldous, 1932. p.29) in a manner echoing Le Corbusier’s remark that “styles are a lie” (Corbusier, 1927, p.3). (See Appendix B).
Brave New World reinforces the lack of creative thinking in (Fig. 5) but rather presents a futuristic world to 1984 that still showcases one individual being part of a bigger system that is in its essence complete propaganda. By fabricating the past, the production of architecture (Fig. 6) becomes that of no relation or relevance to any construct of a human identity. By engineering humans, one creates a world in which architecture can be anything but a philosophy to study and the residents will be engineered to like this architecture as it is the only architecture they know (Aldous, 1932. p.64)
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury (1976) is another dystopia that is set in a future that erases the human identity and suppresses creative thinking by removing books and the understanding of it openly unlike Brave New World. Due to the lack of education, “we never ask questions, or at least most don’t” (p. 41) as questions are believed to bring conflicting ideas in one’s identity. (See Appendix C)
The fire station in this world, has gone to serve an ironic purpose; burning books, people and the places they live in rather than rescuing with a belief that “houses have always been fireproof.” (p. 15) which highlights architects’ contribution in the world of Fahrenheit 451 (Fig. 7).
Both Fahrenheit 451 and Brave New World share the eradication of books as they are believed to contain all knowledge that could threaten humanity. In contrast, Dune (Herbert, 1966) depicts a world where books are an important human source of knowledge and machines are the enemy which suggests that creating an equilibrium between the machine and the human is vital in preserving the human identity in a future dystopian world.
The simulation of literary fictional spaces on global scales have allowed the ideas of what a dystopian world is to be recreated. The literary construct of dystopian fiction in modern times, has only emphasised the creation of these simulations, as such conceptual beliefs have been transcendent in history. It is an experiment of the construct of the human identity’s complex and its response to the various re-imagined worlds in an attempt to explore these new realities at the dawn of computer development and the internet. The ideas extracted from the formation of this new reality will hence inform ours and the way ideologies provide an insight into how deep we can delve into the human’s complexity (Jameson, 2015).
As James Curl (2018) underlines, we know for certain that dystopias “describe not a world we should like to live in, but one we must be sure to avoid” (p. 6). Allowing the past to guide future architectural decisions is a step toward avoiding the ideals of a dystopian society.
Design of the past: Historicity within Identity
Before the enlightenment period started in the 18th century, a period that introduced an era of reason and a certain level of individualism, architecture started in pure classical style (Fig. 8). The elements derived from the Romans and the Greek in the figure’s analysis merged into Gothic architecture (Fig. 9). What looked simple at the time in the Doric temples, only looked simple as that was achieved “through the famous subtleties and precision of its distorted geometry.” (Venturi, 1966, p.20) (See Appendix D)
The gothic period emerged in the 12th century by taking influence from the classical period after the Roman empire fell and infuse a new identity from (Fig. 8) into (Fig. 9) that embraced new technologies.
This established architecture would slowly fade into the background as the enlightenment period emerged and, an appreciation to the original identity that was classical architecture at the time, led to the
movement of neoclassicism. The idea was to “search for a true style through a precise reappraisal of antiquity. Their motivation was not simply to copy the ancients but to obey the principles on which their work had been based.” (Frampton, 1985. p. 12)
(See Appendix E)
All of the archeological excavations of classical times whose findings were published and theories in question by travelling historians such as Robert Adam and Claude-Nicolas Ledoux orientated the course to
design new experimental buildings of establishing this ‘true identity’ and born was among the leading examples of neo-classicism: the Pantheon in Paris (1790). The illustrative details of the columns in (Fig. 10) embody the true eminence of the past classical principles with the imposed ideals of what is thought to be the true identity of architecture design at the time. The intricacy of both Pantheons showcase two altered identities but obeying the same principles in (Fig. 10). The Ste.Genevieve was “intended to initiate a new departure in architecture.”
(See Appendix F)
Later on, the revival of Gothic architecture started to imply that it has a romantic quality to it but also alter the original identity of what gothic architecture started as; Sir Jogn Vanbrugh, “never employed the gothic arch” (Robin, 1980. p. 316). Studies carried out imply that “though the building might be complex, the thinking behind them was direct and comparatively simple” (p. 305).
In addition to the integration of nature in buildings, the idea of Stile Floreale (in Italy), worldwide known as Art Nouveau was introduced (Robin, 1980, p. 305). The Palace of Westminster was one of the few buildings that was “graciously permitted to survive, as was Westminster Abbey.” (Fig. 11) (Curl, 2018, p.253-254) according to the modernist movement led by Leslie Martin’s team (lead advocate of the International Style) who were about the introduction of a new identity and completely diminish all the studies that led up to this point. The emergence of the first concepts of diminishing past identity and relations with the past in this era aligns with that of Brave New world’s identity erasure and the start of a new world, possibly a dystopian world.
The pursuit of “true architecture” (Robin, 1980), and the continuous insights released only caused more of the vision of architecture to be clouded as Lodoli (architectural theorist and mathematician) believed “architecture should derive entirely from the nature of materials and the laws of statics. Ornament or decoration might be applied, provided that it did not disrupt the basic forms and shapes.” (Robin, 1980, p. 28).
Lodoli continues explaining that the current buildings made of stone contradicts that of the temples of ancient Greece which were made of timber first. Therefore, establishing that there was a lack of honesty in the translation of identity throughout history. Architecture of stone was to be found in Egypt and Stonehenge. Hence, a purified architecture was pursued with new architects and historians that began changing the grand narrative such as Rondelet’s strong belief that architecture “was not an imaginative art but a science, controlled by need and necessity” (Robin, 1980, p.30). The appropiation of Roman and Greek cultural identities would have been the compromise in the 19th century if it weren’t for the new concept proposed. The notion started to view architecture as a machine rather than the pursued arts and sets the grounds for an architecture to arrive which contradicts the past.
Dehumanisation: the fabrication of identity
Right before World War I, Glasgow School of Art in (Fig. 12) was one of the prominent buildings, serving as a testament of the last moments in the 19th century before changing the narrative completely. The drawings showcase there are traces of Gothic revivalist architecture as the architect himself Charles Rennie Mackintosh had associated with studies of those times. But it came with a conflicting addition of a new identity that resulted as a chain reaction from the emergence of new forms of art. (Frampton, 1985)
(See Appendix G)
Despite that, most of the building is covered with minimum ornamentation, and most of the building is made of glass, iron and “large, factory type studio windows with exposed steel lintels.” (Curl, 2018. P. 30). The east façade of the building (Fig. 12) radiates neogothic with its asymmetry whereas the west façade and interiors follow geometric patterns derived from the Art Nouveau (See Appendix H).
Fast forward to the beginning of the modern era and key monument of the later international style, comes the first building that abandons all principles of the past as Curl, Mumford and others claim. Whilst the neo-classicist and romanticist sought the true identity of a washed out and some concluded as dishonest architecture, modern architecture started the movement towards establishing a ‘new identity’. (see Appendix I)
Villa Savoye was the peak of modernism and the building Le Corbusier applied all his theories on. The Villa Savoye is asymmetrical in (Fig. 13), similar to Palladio’s square plan. Essentially, Le Corbusier defends his design (Fig. 13) and explains Villa Savoye’s expression of a timeless classicism; a distillation of the past Classical order (Curtis, 2011).
Le Corbusier clarifies that his design of the Villa Savoye follows the new manifesto, the five points of architecture analysed in (Fig. 13). He implies it is the modern (re)interpretation of Vitruvian’s Ten books of architecture (the past) (Gray, 2012) with the use of the Golden Ratio to represent mathematical precision and the adoption of the Modular system to fit modern men, which is entirely ideological rather than visual. (Vaisse, 2004)
Figure 13: Analysis of Le Corbusier’s Villa Savoye.
But the problem that Le Corbusier found is that he was stifled by customs of the past (Corbusier, 1927. p.99). His attacks on the other methods “decoration is of a sensorial and elementary order, as is colour, and is suited to simple races, peasants and savages.” (Corbusier, 1927. p. 143) showcase his departure to the future with a bitterness towards the past. (See Appendix J)
Le Corbusier tries to restore harmony between nature and modern structures by making them stand alone rather than blending in (Fig. 14) (Gray, 2012). But due to its detachment from the surroundings and lack of ornamentation, it leads on the perception that this architecture is imposing itself onto the landscape; a misinterpretation of modern architecture. (See Appendix K)
Le Corbusier’s intentions for his take on modernism that pay homage to the identities established in the past but also translate them to machines seem genuine. His beliefs in specific numerical values to justify his design and his imposition of what he defined as rational architecture however, created an uproar of disagreements including that of Curl (2018) “his gleaming white Villa with its pilotis owed far more to early ocean going liners and biplanes than it did to the once brightly coloured temple.” (P.224) And Mumford (1962) “thus the kitchen became a laboratory, and the bathroom took on the qualities of a surgical operating room; while the other parts of the house, for a decade or so, achieved excellence almost to the degree that they, too, were white, cleanable, empty of human content”.
More collaborations between the main pioneers of modernism in the Stuttgart, the Weißenhofsiedlung in (Fig. 15) including Le Corbusier, Mies Van Der Rohe, Walter Gropius, etc. helped move this notion forward (Frampton, 1985). (See Appendix P)
Le Corbusier’s attempts at enforcing a specific style to be adapted everywhere in the world made him a “totalitarian, authoritarian vandal” according to French Critic Camille Mauclair and French architect Marc Perelman (Curl, 2018, p.200). This totalitarian behaviour of enforcing one’s specific will aligns with that of the dystopias in 1984 and Brave New World. It only begs the question, is what Le Corbusier started a dystopia?
The art of leaving the past: Constructing a new identity
The dismissal and bitter rejection of the past escalated and resulted in the behaviour linked to the international style. According to Curl, (2018 p. 14) the international style in the 1920s was “in accordance with the new social and industrial situation of architecture’.” Modernism’s original rejection of craftsmanship and other design principles from the past, combined with mass production for the satisfaction of a large clientele, created a ‘new identity’ to architecture that has no relation to any identity at all and can therefore be installed all over the world.
Mumford (1962) describes Mies van Der Rohe’s approaches to these forms as “they existed alone in the Platonic world of his imagination and had no relation to site, climate, insulation, function or internal activity” and the living rooms “openly disregarded the necessary intimacies and informalities of conversation.” Architecture designed to place certain holds on humanity’s nature resonates with the world of Fahrenheit 451 whose architects removed the front garden of houses to discourage any human conversation.
This movement was spread and solidified by Philip Johnson and Henry-Russell Hitchcock that recoginsed the establishment of a style that abandons the past principles according to Mumford (1962).
(See Appendix L) and (See Appendix M)
It is clear that the modern era has a need to be utopian as all science fiction claims to be. It is in that essence where the mistranslation of intentions occur. Fredric Jameson (2005) argues in Archaeologies of the Future: The Desire Called Utopia and Other Science Fictions that “depersonalisation is a fundamental or constituent feature of Utopia as such” (p.7) establishing that modernism’s stripping of an accumulated identity is in the name of creating a utopian world. Similar to how Brave New World created a society that is ‘utopian’ in its facade but fabricated in its core.
In order to maintain the human in architecture, the proposition is to create the principle of order because without drawing upon all aspects of history and culture to “rehumanize man”, the future will result in a world that bases itself on the technical aspects only. (Mumford, 1962)
On the other hand, Brutalism emerged due to other misunderstandings of Le Corbusier and his claims that the Romans’ bare concrete walls of their structures were due to the fact that they were inexperienced in the construction of marble. In reality, marble and other materials, were used to cover the concrete walls that are bare to the eyes now from erosion. The mistranslation of a simple technical fact led to the concept of bare concrete walls that embody no decoration or coverings as the moral of Brutalism. (Curl, 2018. p. 205)
The influence of these misconceptions lead on the creation of buildings post World War II, especially in London (Fig. 16), which are “considered by many British architects as a major achievement in social housing” (Lang, 2014) but according to Curl (2018. p. 294) “enraged inhabitants who simply could not relate to an alien, hard, unsympathetic environment conceived as an abstraction”. The response to the Great London Council’s task of erecting residential buildings quickly, inspired by Le Corbusier, resulted in buildings that no habitat wants to live in.
(See Appendix Q) and (See Appendix N)
The important notion that was also enforced in the 21st century was the architect’s desire or need to be ‘original’ which lead them careless as to what havoc is wreaked in the human aspect of architecture’s identity.
(See Appendix O).
Frampton (1985) himself knows that “the phenomenon of universalization, while being an advancement of mankind, at the same time constitutes a sort of subtle destruction, not only of traditional cultures” but also, a destruction of future civilizations’ and culture’s creative core. (p. 313)
(See Appendix R)
As Post-Modernism arrived, its essential purpose is to revive the elements of symbolism and tradition, similar to neo-gothic and neoclassical architecture. Instead of producing successful buildings, some translate their political and economic power in a dogmatic behaviour that tries to justify their use of ornamentation as paying homage to the past (Fig. 17) but instead design buildings that look similar to (Fig. 2) in 1984. (Jencks, 1984. p.9)
(See Appendix S)
Building the future: Preservation of the human identity
But there is hope, as a new phenomenon has entered the realm and transformed visions of an alien dystopian future into an enlightened one. As a result of a collective analysis, now emerges a new experimental field in the fictional world with Dune at its frontier. Dune’s (2021) simulation introduces the concept of a dystopian future and a constructed human identity that manages to achieve a balance in its context and infusion of organism and machine.
(See Appendix T)
Denis Villeneuve’s Dune (2021) captures Arrakis in (Fig. 18), a harsh planet where “storms build up across six or seven thousand kilometres of flatlands” (Herbert, 1966, p.31), “with the desert stretched out like a static ocean some two hundred metres below” (p.263), which is reflected in the architecture (Fig.18). The concept is emphasised by production designer Patrice Vermette’s description of Arrakeen in Tanya Lapointe’s The Art and Soul of Dune (2020, p. 132) “I started mixing the idea with ziggurat architecture, references from Egypt that Denis sent me, and my love for brutalist architecture”. These
influences results in a fusion between the past and the present styles.
Unlike the modernists that care about demolishing the past of the human construct and being selective in the problems they choose to solve, the conceptual set design of Dune (2021) in (Fig. 19) isn’t necessarily to communicate the aesthetical appearance of the constructed world. But also bring attention to the structural elements that informs the building comparable to how the gothic’s cathedral elements serve as an aesthetical appearance in addition to their structural purpose.
Arrakis takes pride with the identity it has accumulated and embraces its character with detailed configurations at the centre of the hall in which Jessica, the mother of the main character Paul was looking around in (Fig. 19). The interrelations of brutalism and gothic ornamental elements are infused with the “arched doorway that led into the passage to the dining hall and the family wings” (Herbert, 1966. p.61).
Lapointe describes the design as “minimalist yet felt like an ancient palace” (2020, p.143) which is exactly what architecture perception and its conception need to depict; the incorporation of distilled architectural history while simultaneously preserving human identity in the far future. Using elements from past movements in architecture, integrated within a futuristic world; the counterbalance of minimalism and the use of characteristic elements of Arrakis will further implement the combined identities in (Fig. 19).
The interior of Paul’s bedroom as described in the book and matching that of the movie in (Fig. 20) reverberates to how neoclassicists viewed architecture at the time, and how modernism is used to distil it without fully eradicating the identity of Arrakis.
The laboratory located further away from the control of the Harkonnens and abandoned in (Fig. 21) reinstates the fact Vermette (Lapointe, 2020) “based the design of the underground lab as well as kynes’s office on World II bunkers.” (p.208). The borrowing of certain elements in the historical movements is finally re-established as “some architect had reached far back into history for these buttressed walls and dark hangings” (p.51) therefore concluding that Arrakis manages to perfect the use of history, religion, and the planet’s conditions as the bases of their identity reflected on their designs in (Fig. 22).
Caladan, the home planet of the main character sits in contrast with Arrakis, a planet rich of the waters and architecture that embodies medieval times in (Fig. 25). Its familiarity of design translates as a connection to the past where the main character Paul recalls “seeing the familiar patterned beams of his bedroom ceiling” (p. 5). The intentions of the filmmakers is ensuring the familiarity in design is clearly translated in (Fig. 23) as Vermette further elaborates (Lapointe, 2020. p. 33) “by integrating the castle into a mountain, we could tell the story that the Atreides are trying to blend in with nature. It’s like Frank Lloyd Wright’s Falling Water House, melding with the environment.” More references of Frank Lloyd Wright are established as he was one architect that Mumford (1962) recognised never discarded the
original principles in architecture during modernism. The simulation of fictional worlds that preserve the cultural identity in a far-fetched future need to be based on the architects’ work that didn’t abandon the original principles of the past.
A vital scene that speaks of the architecture’s character is that of the Reverend Mother “sat in a tapestried chair” (Fig. 24) (Herbert, 1966. p.6). The scene signifies an importance as Villeneuve implies, “Dune is about the triumph of the human spirit” (Villeneuve, 2021). The success of the film’s identity preservation and frequent references to the past is due to Villeneuve viewing the movie as a period piece rather than science fiction and thus protecting the historicity in its architecture, sets, costumes, and props.
Figure 23: Analysis of the training room in Castle Caladan.
Figure 24: Analysis of the library in Castle Caladan.
Figure 25: Analysis of the landscape of Caladan informing the architecture.
Geidi Prime, however, is a planet that encompasses all that is alien about dystopian architecture. It is the consequence of allowing the machine to take over the organism that leads to (Fig. 26). Lapointe (2020) reveals the reason to the Harkonnens’ appearance as “Denis envisioned the Harkonnens as a population living in a highly polluted environment with no access to sun or proper nourishment.” (p.100). As a result, leading to (Fig. 26); a dystopian setting with a futuristic feel that rejects the fundamentals of architecture, an alien world where the complexity is distilled to nothingness and its architecture contradicts the true elements it wants to represent.
Overall, Lapointe (2020, p.88) describes House Harkonnen’s obsession with wealth and their control having “sapped Geidi Prime of its biodiversity. Every inch of the land has been industrialised, mined, exploited, or polluted.” Similar to how 1984, Brave New World, and Fahrenheit 451 depict a world that promotes industrialisation in the name of a better world.
Although the simulation of architecture in both a physical and non-physical world is the third boundary broken in The Cyborg Manifesto (Haraway, 1985. P.12), it is a necessary evil that has enabled filmmakers to explore the theories of fiction and what the politics’ control in architecture haven’t allowed architects to do. The advancement in technology allows us to immerse into the possibilities of capturing the different aspects in the grand narrative and render them into a new world. A world that is devoid of a complete dystopia and restore the humanity in its architecture.
Concluding Architecture in a New Topos
This dissertation investigates and establishes a timeline at which the identity of architecture in places was lost, merely touching the surface of one of architecture’s most difficult dilemmas: the importance of preserving identity in architecture to satisfying the current crises with further industrialisation and environmental abuse. Perhaps neoclassicism was not as true as historians claim, and perhaps modernism was not as internationalist as it professes, but upon asking these questions, it appears that its intent contradicts the very scope of architecture as a human construct. The ‘essence’ of architecture is at a dysjunction with the ‘image’ it parades.
Would this entire argument be of any relevance if architects and historians did not record the existence of the past? As a conclusion, is identity a completely fabricated piece that architecture will continue to build upon?
This thesis examined the cultural significance of architecture in the creation of human realities as well as its potential for power abuse. It contrasted architecture’s ability to provide for and nourish humanity with that of suppressing and denying it. The simulation of Dune and contemporary advancements in technology have allowed us the exploration to design architecture sets incorporating elements
of human architecture in a future that is dystopian; a time in which humans are no longer normal beings and a time where interstellar travel marks the richest of travels and spice the reason of conflict. Yet, they have buildings designed in foreign times to be familiar in recognition of humanity’s original upbringing.
Dune is a reflection from “the blindness of ecology, echoing our own blindness as to what we are wreaking on our own planet” (Lapointe, 2020, p.127). Dune is an excellent simulation of how architects can embrace both tradition and modernity at the same time and see architecture as a whole. It is important to understand that Dune’s architecture isn’t a solution. It is a compromise between two worlds; the past and the future of the human.
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List of Figures:
The figures presented in this thesis are composite of images. The list are of the images that were not made by the author.
Figure 1:
Lapointe, T (2020) The Art and Soul of Dune Symbolism [digital render]. London: Titan Books.
Figure 2:
WAI Architecture Think Tank. (2016) The Ministry of Truth. Available from: https://architizer.com/blog/practice/details/the-architecture-ofgeorge-orwells-1984/ [Accessed 19 September 2022]
Figure 3:
WAI Architecture Think Tank. (2016) Oceania. Available from: https:// architizer.com/blog/practice/details/the-architecture-of-georgeorwells-1984/ [Accessed 19 September 2022]
Figure 4:
Brave New World Brochure (2008?) Brave New World motto. Available from: https://bnwbrochure.weebly.com/index.html [Accessed 13 November 2022]
Figure 5: Stanford, M. (c. 2010) The T-Tower in Brave New World. Available from: https://statuemanford.wordpress.com/t-tower-brave-new-world/ [Accessed 13 November 2022]
Van Rijn, H. (2007) A Squat Grey Building Of Only Thirty-four Stories. Available from: https://www.flickr.com/photos/darrenstone/559416577 [Accessed 13 November 2022]
Comans, R. (2018) Fahrenheit 451 (1966). Available from: https:// frame.land/the-city-of-conformity-fahrenheit-451-1966/ [Accessed 6 December 2022]
Figure 8:
Robert, H. (1789) The Ruins of Nîmes, Orange and Saint-Rémy-de-Provence [oil on canvas]. At: Berlin: Bode Museum [online]. Available from: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:1789_Robert_Ruins_of_ Nimes,_Orange_and_Saint-Remy-de-Provence_anagoria.JPG [Accessed 20 September 2022]
Figure 9:
Vredeman de Vries, P. (1612) Interior of a Gothic Cathedral [Oil on wood]. At: Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum [online]. Available from: https://collections.lacma.org/node/229641 [Accessed 29 September 2022]
Figure 10:
Ranogajec, P. A. (2015) The profile of the Pantheon (Rome). Available from: https://smarthistory.org/the-pantheon/ [Accessed 23 September 2022]
Soufflot, G. J. (c. 1755) Église Sainte-Geneviève: longitudinal section. Available from: https://www.cca.qc.ca/en/articles/issues/9/letus-assure-you/32749/the-political-life-of-a-building [Accessed 28 September October 2022]
Figure 11:
Hawksmoor, N. (1993) Drawings of proposals for Westminster Abbey. Available from: https://www.artfund.org/supporting-museums/artweve-helped-buy/artwork/4491/drawings-of-proposals-for-westminsterabbey [Accessed 29 September 2022]
Figure 6: Wallace, R. (2020) Circles are a motif throughout New London. Available from: https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/brave-new-world-setdesign [Accessed 27 November 2022]
Figure 7:
Figure 12:
Brocklehurst, S. (2018) The full north facade of Mackintosh’s Glasgow School of Art. Available from: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/ukscotland-44506140 [Accessed 03 January 2023]
Gray, D. M. (2018) Greenock Sheriff Court. Available from: https://www.
flickr.com/photos/davids_leicas/27490797578 [Accessed 03 January 2023]
Mackintosh, C. R. (1897) West and East elevation of the Glasgow School of Art [ink and wash]. At: Glasgow: Huntarian [online]. Available from: https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2015/feb/15/glasgowschool-of-art-architect-restore-mackintosh-masterpiece-shortlist [Accessed 4 October 2022]
Figure 13:
Corbusier, L. (1927) Plans of the Villa Savoye. Available from: https:// www.inexhibit.com/case-studies/le-corbusier-villa-savoye-part-2architecture/ [Accessed 1 November 2022]
Palladio, A. (1570) Villa Almerico (Villa Rotunda), from I quattro libri dell’architettura [woodcut illustrations]. At: New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art [online]. Available from: https://www.metmuseum.org/ art/collection/search/698054 [Accessed 1 November 2022]
Vallueyou. (2008) Le Corbusier, Villa Savoye, Poissy, France. Available from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Villa_Savoye#/media/ File:VillaSavoye.jpg [Accessed 05 January 2023]
Figure 14:
Maher, C. (2017) Roof Garden, Villa Savoye. Available from: https://www. thewoodhouseny.com/journal/2017/9/29/villa-savoye [Accessed 05 January 2023]
Zhu, D. Y. (2020) Villa Savoye from the Sky. Available from: https://www. youtube.com/watch?v=Po5du_QJroo&ab_channel=DAO-YUANZHU [Accessed 05 January 2023]
Figure 15:
Huang, F. (2013) Haus Le Corbusier at Weissenhofsiedlung. Available from: https://www.flickr.com/photos/h_ssan/12081496415/in/ faves-50469654@N07/ [Accesed
Rodriguez, P. (2021) weissenhof: the estate designed by mies van der rohe, le corbusier, walter gropius & more. Available from: https://www.
designboom.com/architecture/weissenhof-estate-mies-van-der-rohele-corbusier-08-05-2021/ [Accessed 05 January 2023]
Figure 16:
Cadman, S. (2008) An interior of the Trellick Tower. Available from: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Trellick_Tower_aisle.jpg [Accessed 05 January 2023]
Colson, M. (c. 2000) Trellick Tower in London. Available from: https:// www.opumo.com/magazine/brutalist-architecture-london/ [Accessed 05 January 2023]
Figure 17:
Brunelleschi, F. (1469) Pazzi Chapel, Church of Santa Croce, Florence: elevation of the entrance loggia. Available from: https://www.ribapix. com/pazzi-chapel-church-of-santa-croce-florence-elevation-of-theentrance-loggia_riba32244# [Accessed 05 January 2023]
Johnson, P. (1978) Design of the facade of the AT&T building. Available from: https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1178813/design-johnsonphilip/ [Accessed 05 January 2023]
Figure 18: Dune (2021) [online]. Directed by Denis Villeneuve. UK: Mubi. Available from; https://mubi.com/films/dune-2018. [Accessed 21 October 2021]
Lapointe, T (2020). The Art and Soul of Dune Symbolism [digital render]. In: Lapointe, T. (2020) The Art and Soul of Dune. London: Titan Books p. 136, 138-139.
Figure 19: Dune (2021) [online]. Directed by Denis Villeneuve. UK: Mubi. Available from; https://mubi.com/films/dune-2018. [Accessed 21 October 2021]
Chalgrin, J. (c. 1785) Interior of the Church of Saint-Philippe-du-Roule, Paris. Available from: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Eglise_ St_Philippe_du_Roule_-_Int%C3%A9rieur.jpg [Accessed 07 January 2023]
Lapointe, T (2020). The Art and Soul of Dune Symbolism [digital render]. In: Lapointe, T. (2020) The Art and Soul of Dune. London: Titan Books, p. 144.
Figure 20:
Dune (2021) [online]. Directed by Denis Villeneuve. UK: Mubi. Available from; https://mubi.com/films/dune-2018. [Accessed 21 October 2021]
Wright, F. L. (c. 2010) Bachman Wilson House designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.. Available from: https://www.themodernhouse.com/journal/ what-were-hearing-so-long-frank-lloyd-wright/ [Accessed 07 January 2023]
Figure 21:
Dune (2021) [online]. Directed by Denis Villeneuve. UK: Mubi. Available from; https://mubi.com/films/dune-2018. [Accessed 21 October 2021]
Lapointe, T (2020). The Art and Soul of Dune Symbolism [digital render]. In: Lapointe, T. (2020) The Art and Soul of Dune. London: Titan Books, p. 206.
Figure 22:
Candykillerart. (2021) My reconstruction of the sandworm bas-relief sculpture. Available from: https://www.reddit.com/r/dune/comments/ is2uh6/my_reconstruction_of_the_sandworm_basrelief/ [Accessed 08 January 2023]
Dune (2021) [online]. Directed by Denis Villeneuve. UK: Mubi. Available from; https://mubi.com/films/dune-2018. [Accessed 21 October 2021]
Károlyi, I. (2020) Raku Ceramics for the Dune 2021 Movie Set [ceramic pots]. [online]. Available from: https://www.keramiart.com/ceramicsfor-the-dune-2021-movie/ [Accessed 23 November 2022]
Figure 24:
Dune (2021) [online]. Directed by Denis Villeneuve. UK: Mubi. Available from; https://mubi.com/films/dune-2018. [Accessed 21 October 2021]
Lapointe, T (2020). The Art and Soul of Dune Symbolism [digital render]. In: Lapointe, T. (2020) The Art and Soul of Dune. London: Titan Books, p. 57.
Figure 25: Lapointe, T (2020). The Art and Soul of Dune Symbolism [digital render]. In: Lapointe, T. (2020) The Art and Soul of Dune. London: Titan Books, p. 35.
Figure 26:
Dune (2021) [online]. Directed by Denis Villeneuve. UK: Mubi. Available from; https://mubi.com/films/dune-2018. [Accessed 21 October 2021]
Lapointe, T (2020). The Art and Soul of Dune Symbolism [digital render]. In: Lapointe, T. (2020) The Art and Soul of Dune. London: Titan Books, p. 91.
Figure 27: Curl. J. S. (2018). Making Dystopia; The Strange Rise and Survival of Architectural Barbarism. England: University Oxford Press, p. 12.
Figure 23:
Lapointe, T (2020). The Art and Soul of Dune Symbolism [digital render]. In: Lapointe, T. (2020) The Art and Soul of Dune. London: Titan Books, p. 69.
