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| Ready Player One: Virtual Reality vs Reality |
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After reading Rem Koolhaas “‘Life in the Metropolis’ or ‘The Culture of Congestion’” it was wild to see how even in the early 1930’s there was a disconnect from reality. The technology then allowed people to have drastically different experiences within a defined plat of land. A hundred years later, we pop in our wireless earbuds, slip on our VR headsets, turn on our smartphones and we can ‘walk’ through the Taj Mahal all while being in our beds in Clemson. Pop culture has allowed for us to create spaces that can be experienced anywhere but that can only be accessed through a digital manner. For some, this new landscape is the future, where anyone, despite their social or economic standing can access and experience, yet others see this new landscape as a fad that has no future. I think we cannot really make these judgements as it is not like anything we have experienced before. Yes, it is similar to ‘Eating oysters with boxing gloves, naked, on the 9th floor,’ where only a certain few are able to access and experience this alternate reality. But just as Denise Scott Brown noticed, this new ‘pop landscape differs from the earlier models in that it it also the place where we build; it is our context.’ We are all creating this alternate reality.
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| Black Mirror Episode 2: Bedroom where they are able to ‘experience’ the outdoors. |
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I do not foresee in my lifetime being able to live in a virtual room where I can experience being outdoors or in a completely different place, but it is wild to think that back in 1920’s you would have to travel a distance to experience a different environment, and then fast forward twenty years, and you only had to walk a couple of feet then jet up forty or fifty feet and you were in a completely different space
This is an interesting connection between Denise Scott Brown and Koolhaas. I agree with your thoughts on how we are the ones creating alternate realities in relation to VR. I think it is also important that we listen to Denise Scott Brown where she cautioned artists, architects, and actors to use our judgement. In a way, it is up to us to determine if VR will positively or negatively effect our realities.
ReplyDeleteIn regards to Koolhaas' Athletic Club, I think it is fascinating how he noticed the negative effects of congestion in Manhattan but then ironically designs an Athletic Club with a program that provides alternate realities for a selective class of people. He made an observation but he didn't really provide a solution to the problems he saw.
So if we can make observations on how VR creates a disconnection from reality, what can we do to ensure that we are ultimately creating positive realities?
I agree that it may be a little to early to judge whether the incorporation of AI and this new direction in architecture is feasible as it is fairly new. However, isn't the main purpose of architecture meant to create an engaging experience for its users through weaving together various architectural elements and the natural landscape?
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