‘Endless forms, vistas and hues’: why architects should read science fiction

Butt, A. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1762-2768 (2018) ‘Endless forms, vistas and hues’: why architects should read science fiction. Architectural Research Quarterly, 22 (2). pp. 151-160. ISSN 1359-1355 doi: 10.1017/S1359135518000374

Abstract/Summary

Most of an architect's life is concerned with that which has not yet taken place, both foreseeing the near future and expressing an intention of how this future world should be remade. However small the intervention, all design proposals are utopian works. With this in mind, this article is a celebration of the utopian potential of reading science fiction (SF); to make the familiar strange, to reveal fears about the future, to confront us with ourselves, and to shape the world we inhabit. It is an unabashed call from an architect and avid SF reader for architects to raid the bookshelves, find the most lurid cover and glaring font and lose themselves in the exuberant worlds of science fiction.

Item Type	Article
URI	https://reading-clone.eprints-hosting.org/id/eprint/79072
Identification Number/DOI	10.1017/S1359135518000374
Refereed	Yes
Divisions	Science > School of the Built Environment > Architecture Science > School of the Built Environment > Urban Living group
Publisher	Cambridge University Press
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