Gustavo Carezzato

“It is good to remember that Utopia is nothing but

the reality of tomorrow and that today’s reality

is yesterday’s utopia” Le Corbusier, Modulor

Abstract

This project explores the “extremes” in architecture: utopia and reality, nevertheless everything in between regarded technology (digital spaces), procedures and social transition, after the sixties (60’s).

Considering that Utopia is in contradiction with reality (Camus, Albert, 1988 Between Hell and Reason), the ideologies that aim to transform or explain the world sometimes forget (intentionally or naively) the contradictions of the practical world.

Therefore this article faces Utopia as a place of ideal perfection, which is nothing more than the product of abstract thought (Shaffer, Butler teacher at the Southwestern University School of Law, 30 March 2004).

Furthermore, reality as a concept where there are better and worse ways of accomplishing ends, mindful that in architectural practice the vision of “ideal will be forever up dating” and technology will make easier to materialize any design project.

Above all, utopia and reality reflect a process that is a cycle itself. There is no right or wrong. There is just the fact that architecture nowadays is living in a realization period because of the advance of technology, new materials and perspectives of the building and community.

It also refers to digital spaces, designs, study of economics (evaluation of comparative advantages), the costs, benefits from actions, the long and the short terms, the psychological aspect as well the transition of the process.

Introduction

The high level of technology brings today a new concept of space. Therefore, the design process not just changed but developed better ways of communication and achieved great production’s results. There are software’s such as Rhinoceros©, Autodesk© Revit and Autodesk© 3D Max which represent this evolution.

This article describes the design process enhancing the importance of the transitions’ techniques used in the past till the present day. To illustrate that consider three different periods: middle age, modernism and the present day.

The factor which is present at all times is the improvisation in architecture. The difference among them is that today the technology makes it possible, providing a better result. Actually, in many fields, technology appears as a problem solving tool that already changed the way of living for present societies.

The future will be based in these societies, and the more people access the digital world (internet, softwares, games, etc), the best will be the development of digital spaces.

"In the next few years the struggle will not be between utopia and reality, but between different utopias, each trying to impose itself on reality ... we can no longer hope to save everything, but ... we can at least try to save lives, so that some kind of future, if perhaps not the ideal one, will remain possible." (Albert Camus, Between Hell and Reason)

Transition

To achieve understanding of how digital production is changing the concept of space is important to notice that the representation and visualization process is divided in two aspects: 1. transition of design production from paper to digital; 2. the importance of evolution of technology and the creation of virtual spaces that are so common nowadays; 3. education.

To see all article please go to: http://au.linkedin.com/pub/gustavo-carezzato/14/994/470