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Kona House, Hawaii, USA, 2005 by Legorreta + Legorreta
Photo: Lourdes Legorreta
What could or should the city of the future be like? Cities, their development and reinvention, are of huge public interest: the world’s population is increasingly concentrated in cities; in east Asia and the middle east new cities are being built at speed; closer to home urban development is hotly debated.
Despite this activity, official proposals for cities from masterplanners, civil servants and developers seem to lack inspiration and ambition.
To stimulate debate and inspire new thinking about cities, Blueprint magazine has, over the past three years, invited some of the most creative people around to put forward their personal ideas about cities for their back-page ‘Paper City’ feature.
A selection of the extraordinary drawings, collages and photomontages, produced in response to Blueprint’s brief were showcased in the exhibition 'Paper City: Urban Utopias' on display in The Architecture Space from 31 July to 27 October 2009.
The exhibition showcased responses from a diverse group of practitioners working in a variety of disciplines who articulated their ideas about the city, suggesting imaginative possibilities for the future. Alongside work by James Wines, Steven Appleby and Ian Ritchie RA, the exhibition saw new commissions from Peter Cook RA, Chris Orr RA, Marc Atkins, and RA Schools students Inez de Coo and Rachael Champion.
Designed by Bibliotheque, the exhibition was presented on series pads from which viewers could tear off their favourite ‘Paper Cities’, thereby establishing new dialogues and juxtapositions between image, viewer and context.
The exhibition was organised in association with Blueprint and was supported by Stephens & George Print Group.
Competition
Alongside the exhibition a competition was launched for which members of the public were invited to produce their own ‘Paper Cities’.
Workshop
As part of ‘The Big Draw’, two workshops were held on 11 October 2009 to accompany the exhibition.
Minimum.... or Maximum Cities? - The Conference
The exhibition was also on show at The Gallery, Department of Architecture, University of Cambridge as part of 'Minimum.... or Maximum Cities? - The Conference' on 26 November 2009. Read more
