What will a building look like in the future?
When it comes to the term “future”, people imagine that a building in the future to be an automatic machine that syncs with artificial intelligence, robot, otherwise, a mile high, strange looking structure with cars flying around like one in the sci-fi movies.
Think of the building 10 years ago, 30 years ago, 50 years ago, 100 years ago, and then 500 years ago.
Has the building changed much? No. The method and procedure of experiencing a building haven’t changed much over time.
If I need to predict, here are some of the anticipations that I have been working on and thinking that they might happen in the future:-
1. The building, in general, does not change much.
2. Industrialized and globalized style modern architecture that does not contribute to distinctive placeless give rise to more buildings that are contextual to its place, culture, and history (its people, use, material, experience, and appearance).
3. Building and cars won’t be flying around, but artificial intelligent like machine-learning does little help for the people in learning, predicting and regulating the physical environment when necessary, for example, predicting the upcoming earthquake, thunderstorm, automatically regulates room temperature to occupant’s thermal comfort during the midnight when they are asleep.
4. Building system that compatibles with high operability for the occupant, as opposed to a fully automatic system i.e., the ability for an occupant to open a window for fresh air instead of an air-conditioned room with fixed curtain walls on a highrise building
5. A building that runs on a battery that replaces building and city electrical systems running on circuits
6. Building design that is being designed from a philosophical standpoint and solving philosophical questions than just pragmatics and meeting singular function like shading the hot sun and a place to work but a happy office, a motivating gym, a house of being for example.
7. Human operable buildings instead of robotics Some of it might not be happening too soon and it depends on your definition of “future” and its time.
We need to anticipate less and focus more on the way of designing good buildings with purpose instead.
To answer the question of “What will a building look like in the future?", the building does not change much.