Question about concept basis...

[Fallen77]

Howdy,
I'm an architectural student and I had a question about the design concepts of future architecture. Most of the buildings I see are round/dome shaped, or they have a lot of curves to the building. In the rendered pictures of them I think they're beautiful... but...

I have an assignment that is really out there(aka almost no restrictions) anyways I started to design a building based off of a piece by Sebastien Rossi. That is a curved dome structure, but the floor plan is particularly hard. In a curved building there just seems to be such a large amount of wasted space. Furniture is hard to come by that is meant to be put against a curved wall, etc. Unless the structure is epic sized where curve of the outside arc is almost negligible... how is this stuff suppose to work?

I'm a big fan of sci-fi books, especially the ones I refer to as hard-Sci-Fi. Where the advancements are based off of today’s research. I can't find a reason why we would shape our buildings like that. Any thoughts?

[chukw]

I think I may have an answer, althought the topic is fairly loose. Artists design all those future cities with round buildings 'cause they're frickin' easier to draw! Hard-edged buildings mean setting up perspective and breakin' out the drafting tools. I'm not saying artists are necessarily lazy (although that, too, is a fairly loose topic) but they do have deadlines, and any decent "cheat" is a godsend. The bulbous city of domes and spheres assembles fairly quickly and looks spectacular- when you're just drawing it. Furthermore, great domes imply lofty, massive and grandly open structures- a city of auditoriums and utopian public spaces. It sells the idea of a better world to come. All that roundiness would be suckily awkward on a smaller, more personal scale, tho- I don't envy you working out the actual particulars for such a structure!

[choughton]

You're right, most curves tend to be inefficient architecturally, but that's exactly why they're the most exotic specimens. In architecture, curves are expensive; try space planning with curves and try finding a contractor who can build beautiful curves.

I believe that's exactly why we use them in Conceptual Art, we like to imagine a world which goes beyond our world today, a world of wonder and beauty that says that Strip Malls are not an inevitable future.

Just a humble opinion.