Futurist David Zach

By Matt Owens

So I was at the AIA Illinois Conference last week. I had done some research for Dr. Wendler over the summer for a paper that he would eventually submit to AIA Illinois to be presented at the annual conference. Due to the situation at SIU at the time he was unable to go to the conference and present the paper, so he sent me in his place. It was one of those ‘so no shit there I was’ moments, I had to present this paper to a room full of architecture professionals ‘so no shit there I was.’ Anyway, not what this article is about, but I was in Naperville for the conference.

What the article is about, is the lecture that futurist David Zach gave during lunch on Saturday. He is on the board of AIA and received a master’s degree in Studies of the Future from University of Houston. It is a real degree; personally I thought it was made up when I heard it the first time. Anyway, it was an interesting lecture, he was entertaining and he obviously has me thinking about it still. He discussed current trends and what the future could be like, while asking the question ‘what will the architects roll in the future be?’

He referred to the advancements of technologies and the impact on our social lives quite a bit. In a nut shell saying that we have become so attached to our smart phone and smart pads we are losing touch with actual human to human interaction (I agree). Also he was concerned with the generation of children who text more than they talk. He also had a quote from a 4th grader stating he liked to play inside because that is where the outlets were. He highlighted a school that was considered outdated and currently unoccupied. From an architectural standpoint the school had carvings and reliefs of animals all over it. Then he showed some schools that were recently built that did not have any of that sort of playful animal reliefs incorporated into the design, the new schools were more modern looking.

Zach painted an almost bleak seen of the future, as if we were all going to fat, and stuck in our own ibubble, and that architecture might be void of any emotion. I agree with him in almost everything he is stating, but I do not see all these as bad things. I think we may be having a difficult time making a transition to dealing with so much technology, but this is where I think the future of architecture is. How can architecture begin to deal with technology? Do we facilitate the technology so we can always be connected to our smart phones? Do we design smart buildings? Maybe it will be the architect’s job to bring back social interaction on a personal level instead of through our mobile devices. As for the schools kids might not see animal statues in the playground, but they will see real 3d animals projected in the classroom. How can architects facilitate that? We should not be afraid of how technology is changing our lives. Human life will not look like it did 50 years ago or 10 years ago for that matter. Technology is moving at an exponential rate, and so architecture must move with it, and people in the world will have different ‘wants’ in life. So when Zach posed the question ‘what is the role of the architect in the future?’ I think he began to answer it. Architecture will be driven by new technologies, and it will be up to the architects to maintain a high quality of life in the built environment for the people of the world.