Subject Explanation

Architecture has continuously been evolving with machines. Thus, the dimensions of the living spaces have been influenced. The refrigerator affecting the size of the kitchen and the television for the living room. High-rise buildings were made possible by the elevators. The escalators also allowed people to circulate deep into a box, making possible for departments stores and shopping malls. Vehicles made long-distance travel convenient and have made Mega-cities possible. At the same time, they occupy a large part of the construction with parking lots.

The rapid pace of global development has been accelerating and the pandemic was another opportunity to further propel the progress. With the internet, mobile devices, and cloud servers, it is no longer necessary to work together in one place, and it is an era where everything can be done at home. The combination of mobile device’s applications and artificial intelligence is evolving urban logistics. They lead to a physical changes in architecture and urban environments.

In 1923 almost hundred years ago, Le Corbusier's in his publication ‘Towards a New Architecture’, remarked that "A house is a machine for living in" it is well known. It was the result of mass production and standardization from a new spirit defining the industrial age and observations from machines such as automobiles, airplanes, and passenger ships. From it. Which we all know too well, a new residential space was created. It was said to understand and utilize the meaning and aesthetics of machines. The machines’ functionality, standardization, and logical disposition can contribute to architecture.
Approximately, a century later, wouldn’t we be in a similar situation? Can we discover new architecture from the various phenomena we face today? Is there any construction that responds to the challenges of new machines?
For the 35th space prize for International Student of Architecture Design, we would like to investigate new and diverse situations presented by machines. We would like further to discover numerous possibilities and contemplate how architecture can keenly responds to them.

Radio-frequency identification (RFID) in mobile phones and Closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras installed everywhere converts people's consumption behavior and behavior patterns into big data. They are able to predict not only the business feasibility of local alley stores but also, product to be displayed at big mart stalls. Utilization of headgear gives access to the virtual world where there are no physical restrictions.

Air drones are presenting new possibilities in terms of transportation and other delivery systems. Electric vehicles and autonomous driving requires shift in thinking about gas stations and parking lots.
Self-driving autonomous vehicles do not require a driver’s seat. They are evolving into an independent space that allow activities other than driving (which requires acknowledgement of the space and design). Global automakers are scrambling to introduce city planning based on their respective technologies and automobiles.
As described, many changes are unfolding in our lives from hardware to software. Is there anything that architecture can respond to this phenomenon? Directly or indirectly, it is significantly influenced by spatial configuration and environment. However, it is difficult to find an architectural response or imagination that can correspond to it.

[Project assignment]
The objective of the competition is the question how architecture will respond to the rapid changing environment brought on the technological and machine-based world. Architecture in response to the machines should become as an active body that dynamically responds to and utilizes, rather than a passive receptor for the machine. Rather than blindly accepting the abilities of new machines into our daily lives, architectural values ought to be updated with a more fervent interaction.
The word “machine” denoted here is reference not only with regards to it being a tool or equipment, but also means a device that uses power to move or do work. It encompasses computers and current array of digital products as well as artificial intelligence (AI). The solution will be diverse; proposals free and unrestricted. It could be bold; delicate and sensitive. It may be the co-existence, exclusion or fusion of architecture and machine. As one conceives of the design process it’s plausible to write a scenario or even have the conclusion as a question mark. An array of various interpretations and proposals may include; items from a micro-scale device to issues relating to the urban(macro) scale.

To this end, the following questions will be possible.
1) Which machine (technology) will bring about a new changes in architecture?
2) What is the extent to which an architect can propose?
3) How does architecture mediate with machines, and how can machines mediate with architecture?
4) As a result, what is the architectural value or meaning proposed by the architect?

To be a bit more specific,
In an artificial intelligence based and unmanned space are the existing space still valid?
Can architects plan a circulation system in a building only accessible by drones?
Will not cars with electric energy and autonomous driving present endless architectural space possibilities instead of the driver’s seat?
The programs that make provisions for the Metaverse spaces should be considered as a tool or be left alone?
Is there any system that architects can propose to build virtual reality?
Such examples mentioned above is relatively small aspect. However, through these enquiries, one will be able to realize that the boundaries of the typical architectural domain that we know are clearly changing.

Finally, as architects, we hope to continue to ask questions about the nature and social value of architecture. But, contemplate and imagine new aspect of architecture that will be able response to machines in this competition. The way we responds to machines may not be the only solution to the rapidly changing world. However, I hope it will serve as an opportunity to open up a perspective and foresight for us.

[Jury]
Keehyun Ahnis currently an associate professor at Hanyang University. After his education in Hanyang and U.C Berkeley, he had various experiences through world-wide famous architectural firm. Since 2010, he co-founded AnLstudio for investigating architectural experimentation as well as its adaptation in various scale. Oceanscope(Observatory), Mondang, House Thinthin, Dagong and etc. could represent their work. These works got recognized through several architectural award, such as Red Dod Award, Seoul Architecture Award, and Chungnam Architecture Award. Also, he was awarded the Korean Young Architects of 2016 and the Young Artist of the Day 2019. He served as a co-curator for the Korean Pavilion of the Venice Biennale in 2016 and had worked as a public architect in Seoul Metropolitan Government from 2017 to 2020.