Imagistructures
In the future of the built environment, many more aspirational ideas are surfacing. Imagistructures – the reimagining of the way we design, develop, maintain and interact with our infrastructure – will provide not just innovative but imaginative solutions to global challenges. According to a recent report, in 100 years we could be living in underwater “bubble cities” – sub-aquatic communities consisting of self-sustaining pods that are powered by the water around them. Materials like bone and eggshell could be used to construct buildings. Living Architecture is developing construction bricks composed of biofilm that can harness solar energy, wastewater and air pollution, and turn them into usable resources. Vertical farms are cropping up around the world. As buildings become both more biological and technological, they could do everything from self-heal after a natural disaster to change shape to accommodate the climate, or morph to suit individual company and employee needs. When combined with VR applications, our experience with and in the built environment will change. VR will have tremendous consumer applications, but may have even bigger implications for architecture, engineering and construction.