A Connected City
My future design is a take on how I see the future cities being created. We are moving to a more interconnected world where access between structures will likely increase and there will be paths that connect multiple buildings at once. I have seen this concept in Hong Kong, where one strip or walkway connects hundreds of corporate offices and allows for people to meet and connect much more easily. At the same time I created a tunnel at the bottom because I see underground infrastructure increasing. As space becomes more valuable, and the need for storage increases, we might be delving into underground buildings that will allow for temporary housing/office environments. There are some more safety concerns that come with underground infrastructure, however, the hope with the future is that we will be able to create the means for safe environments in the space.
Steamed Duck
My drawing involves a device that makes walking and driving superfluous. A hydro-combustion chamber, attached to the bottom of the standing carriage, super heats water in an uber-efficient manner production pressurized steam. This steam allows the lightweight duck feather carriage to levitate with zero carbon emissions. The duck feathers water proof the carriage. One might ask, how one welds duck feathers? Or how steam can make humans fly? Well, that’s up to the future to figure out.
Futuristic Structures
Efficient Green Roof Building and Self Sustainable Restaurant
I drew a futuristic building with a energy efficient green roof. Instead of the typical flat green roofs, I wanted to create a building that would optimize all of the energy the sun provides throughout the daytime. Because of all the different types of angles of the building, each segment of plants and trees will be able to have a period of maximum sun exposure throughout the day, making good use of the sun’s location at different points of the day. The tree next to this building is a self sustainable restaurant/cafe. All of the fruits and vegetables that are grown on the tree are served at the restaurant, and during the off season, fresh vegetables and fruits will be grown in the greenhouse within the tree. This would allow for this restaurant/cafe to be self sufficient enough to rely on its own resources entirely.
Playing with Augmented Reality
As I mentioned in class, I tried to play with the idea of augmented reality, or enhancing the physical world with virtual overlays and images. Here I depicted a technology that would allow you to adjust the view from the balcony of your home or apartment, or even hotel room. I imagine it would require some sort of motion sensing technology and would not have a physical interface but would rather be reminiscent of a hologram. Not only could you select what you want to look at but you could also augment other senses. For example, you could choose what sounds you want to hear. You could also choose the temperature in your area and the strength of the wind. Perhaps you could even choose what you smell at that point in time. This technology would completely erase any geographic boundaries that exist today because it would bring the location to you.
The Future
The traffic congestion in New York has always annoyed me so I have always wished to own an affordable flying car that will allow people to choose between ground or air travel depending on traffic. The wings of the car would eject from the sides. I attempted to draw a more circular and round shape to the car so passengers can actually all face each other when they talk during the travel. I situated the driver’s seat in the center of the car. I thought it would be cool to have a holographic GPS system at that pops out from the driver’s seat, making it easier to follow directions to locations.
New Medical Technology
I went at this assignment from a medical point of view, with my father, who has trouble gripping surfaces/carrying things in mind. This new technology (maybe magnetic, or heat detection) will conform to your hand in a glove shape, and will also cover certain surfaces that are difficult for seniors/those with arthritis to grab. The surface will automatically turn and open when it senses the substance near, making such actions less painful for those with bad joints.
The Future
I’ve always been intrigued about homes hidden in trees and nature. In the future, this will be made simple and realistic while allowing humans to live intertwined with nature. These “tree houses” will be built/placed into natural surroundings using materials like the leaves and woods we saw in class yesterday. The walls will have the ability to be changed from transparent, so they can allow light in, to opaque, for privacy at night. The doors will be opened and closed with teleportation in which the particles from them will be moved to a specified box nearby. Beneath each home there will be vegetation, allowing for easy access to organic food for families. The same transparent materials will let sunlight in for these plants and humans can access them and take care of them by taking an elevator to the area below.
For transportation, there will either be underground tunnels that can be accessed from elevators by each home and driven on with electric cars, or there will be a flying monorail. The platform is held midair with magnetic fields and can be accessed by individuals with smaller magnetic type sky boards.
My future speculative design has a clear glass chute accessible on each floor of an apartment building into which residents throw any waste that is biodegradable, meaning anything that is plant or animal based. This material is composted on site in the building. All glass containers are standard sized and can be repurposed as brick building blocks. All metal containers are standard sized and bear a 10c deposit, and can be crushed. All other wastes, including plastics and mixed material items containing plastics, along with toxics, are considered “exo-wastes” and must be disposed of in enclosed, compacting containers that have waste treatment and stabilization technologies incorporated. All sales of items that will become exowastes are tagged with an RFID that records the manufacturer and the purchaser. Upon disposal of exowastes both parties are charged a fee. Illegal dumping of exowastes brings heavy fees and is highly enforceable because of RFID tagging. Truly biodegradable-compostable plastics, such as those made from mycelium, are not considered exowastes and can be disposed of in the clear chute.
