Wall-E Architecture

 

    The prophetic tale of a post-consumer world where a lonely robot deals with the ramifications of junkspace by building spaces from literal junk - WALL-E. After this weeks discussions on Rem Koolhaas's writings, the debates, and watching the films Mallrats and Blade Runner, I had the image of the world created in the movie Wall-E as a conglomeration of the topics of congestion, consumerism, Junkspace, and life 'after'.

    The world is one big literal junkspace that is the remnants of a non-stop consumerist culture. Humanity has jumped earth with a ship that is pretty much a big space mall.

    I find it interesting that this movie illustrates the negative side of the intersection of consumerism and architecture, basically what Rem Koolhaas was ranting about. Wall-E shows this intersection as a cultural identity, which I feel is the root cause for the issues humanity faces in Wall-E and probably Americans as well. Even after humanity left earth they still ended up in a junkspace mall. When they returned to earth because of realizing they missed plants and lifeforms and non-fabricated things, they still progressed on a similar trajectory of agricultural achievement, mass-production, and pre-consumerist ideals. Although humorous it was illustrating a repetition of the narrative.

    I think that in order for architects to respond to 'junkspace' is to understand the relationship architecture has with economies and be critical of the negative impacts of that relationship. I think Junkspace is inevitable even with designing for consumerist culture but is less likely to be impactful if it is designed with a flexible and adaptable consumerist cultural mindset. Is the issue with Junkspace that architecture wasn't mindful spatially to support consumerism, or that 'Junkspace' is the result of an architecture that doesn't consider what's next for consumerism?

Y'all watch Wall-E. Its pretty much Blade Runner mixed with Mallrats, and maybe some FernGully.