Blade Runner, Cyberpunk and Bigness

 

    I love this genre and given the excuse to re-watch Blade Runner and all its weirdness was such a great time. However, it got me thinking as we were talking about bigness and the effect of hot and cold architecture and congestion. The picture above shows two scenarios of where this idea of bigness runs wild and forever changes the shape of what a city is. On the left is a scene from Blade Runner, and the one on the left is from the new game Cyberpunk 2077 that is also set in a dystopian city full of congestion, corruption and crime as the previous. I could not help but compare the two as Cyberpunk has very deep roots that lead directly to Blade Runner. I show these two pictures to explain my frame of thinking while listening to these lectures and learning of these buildings that strictly do not care about its context and the idea of congestion. In both of these scenes mega skyscrapers are shown as the ultimate building type and are so tightly fit in that the fabric of the city disappears and the streetscape becomes a wasteland. Like some of my colleagues I really enjoyed the made in Tokyo readings and it gives me hope that our world will not become like the pictures above. I believe that there can be a balance of density within cities that still allow for spaces to be independent of one another and ones that combine their program in unique ways to add variety to the cityscape. I do agree that there is room in cities for skyscrapers but there should be more consideration for the human scale. 

I just thought this picture was interesting. This is Seoul at night.