A Utopian Experiment:

Total Utopia

Exploring the Test Subject’s passion for the football, and nostalgic memories of New York. The project has explored the ‘neurotic genius’ of novelist David Winner’s ‘Brilliant Orange’. Taking precedent from Dutch ‘Total Football” and testing how this can be expressed through architecture. The design contains tectonic elements which allows the Test Subject to experience the building through a succession of offensive
plays until reaching the pinnacle moment of ‘Total Utopia’ - the football stadium in the clouds. Each concept in the design contains interpretations of the philosophy behind football tactics and strategic plays.

As the Subject does not believe utopia exists as one form, other components are bound to a central core, containing 11 columns to create a championship structure. The idea of forming a mega-skyscraper which can adapt and accommodate all user functions in the one building allows architecture to encapsulate a sense of utopia.

The design objective established for the unit was to consider what Utopia was and to use one medium to represent this. With this experiment, digital painting was an appropriate response to explore different techniques to represent and sell Utopia to the Test Subject.

The Subject showed interest and fascination with music and film, which has influenced the style in which Utopia has been represented. Taking precedent from specific artists and designers, discovered in Part I of the experiment, Utopia has been proposed using the digital medium.

The outcome of this project explored the extreme lengths of verticality and individualism of future architectural projects in the heart of a sci-fi metropolis.