Project Overview
What does the future hold? Where will advancements in technology take us? How will we communicate ? how will we live together harmoniously ? how will culture and society interact? what can we do to create a clean and sustainable environment? And what impact does the built environment have as an overlayed consideration? These questions form the basis of an exercise in exploration commissioned by Mulpha Norwest into how we will live in 2050. The Mulpha Future City looks to the future to inform the present, inspired by the possibility of a city where we work, live and play, connecting us physically spiritually and emotionally, free from constraint – where imagination rules and possibilities are infinite.
Project Commissioner
Project Creator
Team
Tony Leung
Chuan Fu
Will Qin
Project Brief
Taking a page out of Ridley Scotts 1982 Classic, Blade Runner, A+ Design Group have been engaged by Mulpha Norwest as ‘Futurist thinkers’ with a view to conceive a new way of life, where technological and environmental advancements have freed us from our everyday constraints and to imagine life in a city where anything is possible.
Driven with the desire to believe in a place where the impossible becomes possible, the team deep dived into what ultimately lies ahead of us all. From housing to transport, clothing to communication, the environment, social interaction, built form, materials and the basis of physics as we understand them today were challenged with a view to how they will influence the way we live.
Project Innovation/Need
The nature of the commission is innovative in itself. Aplus Design Group working with Mulpha Norwest took the bold step to look ahead at what could be. This simple step change in thinking to move away from accepted planning practices where decisions are driven by what has been, freed the team and resultant process from this constraint and allowed them to consider – what could be? It allowed logical forward thinking combined with a ton of imagination to visualise the future and to understand the challenges that lay ahead, the impact today’s decisions will have on future generations and the impact it will have on our built and natural environments.
Our city relegates work/life balance to the history books. Free from this compartmentalized mindset we all live, work and engage with each other in spaces which no longer resemble the rows of desks or glass cubicles of yesteryear - now they are seamlessly integrated into an semi enclosed landscaped space flooded with natural sunlight and where your all your senses are fully engaged each and every day – our eyes become opened to a city filled with vibrant activity, social interaction and technology that will literally challenge every aspect of how we spend our time.
Our city is an innovative and entrepreneurial city where cutting edge digital systems, data collection and connection out into the world form the foundation of information transfer and connectivity for business.
We work, live and play in a city where we are physically spiritually and emotionally connected, free from constraint where imagination rules and possibilities are infinite.
Design Challenge
The biggest challenge in design was freeing our collective approach from preconception and mindset reliant on precedent and logic, to a blank white page that presented the opportunity to set a path of possibility; one that improved the way we live and the legacy we create for those who follow the course we set.
The brief was driven by the desire break away from a conventional approach to problem solving which by nature is linear to an organic, multifaceted thread which opened up a way of thinking to guide the decision pathways for the project as it begins to evolve with the number of stakeholders and consultants who provide their ideas and passion into its ultimate delivery.
Sustainability
Sustainability is one of the five core areas targeted in the design process as it is fundamental to the development of the city. As the process evolved, the opportunities for sustainability exploded and the impact upon the design became profound.
Our city becomes a self- contained and self-sufficient. Vertical farming becomes a core industry producing the food banks to support the evolving community. Energy is produced by active facades and stored in centralized underground storage facilities that power the city and automated transport systems.
Design, citing, massing and orientation are all key drivers in the spatial arrangement of the masterplan each informing the ability of the city to maximise its natural advantage. Streets are conceived around the principle to funnel natural cross breezes and create ventilation highways through the city.
Water harvesting and purification and waste water systems utilize cutting edge biological management to make significant gains in the extent of water re-use for secondary use such as bathrooms and landscaping.
Waste is managed in a underground vacuum network, removing unsightly bins and vehicles off the streets and centralizing it into a waste management facility that separates and recycles materials for reuse. Maximising the embodied energy in waste is a fundamental principle of our future city.
Urban Design
This award celebrates creativity and innovation in the process of designing and shaping cities, towns and villages, and is about making connections between people and places, movement and urban form, nature and the built fabric. Consideration given to giving form, shape and character to groups of buildings, streets and public spaces, transport systems, services and amenities, whole neighbourhoods and districts, and entire cities, to make urban areas functional, attractive and sustainable.
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