Ralph Rapson Travelling Fellowship 2022
This year, competitors were asked to design a “Theater for Truth”. If we start with the question “what is truth” and track the proposed answers throughout time we get a survey of thought ranging from Plato, to Nick Bostrom. What I proposed was a building that can process its own truth. By reimagining some of the building components as pieces of hardware, I am hoping to blur the line between building and machine, and consequently, reality, by doing so.
Hard Drive
Inspired by the tradition of using overhead cranes and rigs for lighting and stage props in theatres, the big atrium space contains a structural framework that supports overhead gantry cranes. Unlike in a traditional theatre where the overhead riggings are meant to be obscured behind the curtain, the system here is on full display. Working in conjunction with fork and scissor lifts below, the crane system actively participate in re-arranging the space for each programmatic need. With the kit of parts above, some of the programmatic elements that can be assembled include:
esports venue
church service
gallery
etc.
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Church Service
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Esports Event
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Art Gallery
Bostrom's simulation argument posits that at least one of the following statements is very likely to be true:
The fraction of human-level civilizations that reach a posthuman stage is very close to zero;
The fraction of posthuman civilizations that are interested in running ancestor-simulations is very close to zero;
The fraction of all people with our kind of experiences that are living in a simulation is very close to one.
Based on these assumptions we are likely living in a simulation.
Motherboard
The rest of the programming is “plugged” into a vertical plane to resemble a motherboard. By loading the structural and MEP components in the vertical plane, the plug and play components can me moved around or replaced as needed. Some of the programmatic elements for these “microchips” include:
small office
conference room
sound studio
etc.
Renderings
Final submission
