LFU:online

>> REMOTELESSNESS<< 

New Conditions for Architecture in the Era of Remote Working in Remote Places

Video presentation: https://youtu.be/rRoXNrJ6fgM

Course abstract:

Remotelessness designates a paradoxical condition of our time: places that are geographically distant yet digitally immediate, isolated yet hyperconnected, rural yet globally central. In the age of remote working, distance ceases to matter. What once was “remote” now becomes a viable hub of cultural, economic, and architectural production.

This studio proposes the design of a Remote Work Hub in Breiðdalsvík (Iceland), a small fishing village with an abandoned airstrip, port, and direct access to renewable energy sources. Students will be asked to transform this marginal site into a new form of settlement: autonomous in resources, circular in economy, and globally connected through data, logistics, and aerial infrastructures.

Morphologically, the studio draws on the legacies of speculative cities and mega-structures of the 20th century: Japanese Metabolism (Kurokawa’s Agricultural City, Kikutake’s Marine City, Tange’s Tokyo Bay Plan), Archigram’s Plug-In urbanism, Moshe Safdie’s Habitats, Frank Lloyd Wright’s Broadacre City, and Constant’s New Babylon. All share a condition of imagining radical settlements ex nihilo, projecting typologies where architecture, technology, and society coalesce.

Learning Outcome

Students will:

·        Investigate Remotelessness as a new condition for architecture in the age of remote work.

·        Explore speculative methodologies for designing autonomous and hyperconnected settlements in remote geographies.

·        Utilize AI as a generative tool for urban and architectural morphologies.

·        Develop hybrid typologies (housing, co-working, artisanal production, data centers) that articulate new modes of living and working.

·        Formulate proposals at the scale of a Remote Work Hub for Breiðdalsvík, integrating renewable energy, food autonomy (winter gardens, hydroponics), and circular economies.

·        By the end of the semester, students will deliver a complete vision of a new architectural typology that transcends isolation and connectivity.

Course methodology:

The course employs a research-by-design methodology, integrating theoretical research, AI-driven speculative design, and architectural production.

1.  Research & Theoretical Framework

o   Reading and analysis of speculative architectural precedents.

o   Definition of Remotelessness as a conceptual category.

2.  AI as a Generative Tool

o   Workshops using MidJourney, Stable Diffusion, RunwayML.

o   Training datasets informed by diagrams, morphologies, and urban precedents.

3.  Settlement & System Design

o   Integration of renewable energy, local resources, and data infrastructures.

o   Designing circular economies through architecture.

4.  Final Proposal

o   Full settlement design for Breiðdalsvík as a Remote Work Hub.

o   Public presentation with panels, models, and AI-visualizations.

Course examination according to § 6, statute section on "study-law regulations".

Will be discussed in the first lesson.