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Centennial Celebration Year, June 2019 – AIA Survey AIA Rochester’s 100-Year Centennial Celebration – 1919-2019 reaches midyear excitedly buoyed by our Midtown Plaza site AIA installation and annual AIA Design Awards.
The Perfect Place
Dear Design Colleagues:
Has a woman or man ever designed a perfect place in the Rochester region?
The sanctuary in Kahn’s 1962 First Unitarian Church on Winton Road? The full-on, street view of Lloyd-Wright’s 1908 East Street Boynton House? Highland Park, for its simple eloquence and ability to not lose its identity and purpose over the course of each of our four seasons? ... an ephemeral array of table and chairs outside the Cottage Hotel in Mendon on a warm, sunny 2019 night….credit to the barista?
What have we seen in the last 100 years or so? The early developments of concrete and steel, Bauhaus, the eruption of Modernism, the “provocative arguments of Postmodernism”, the superstars and global brands of 2019?
Through which lenses do we view it? ...Scale….proportion….rhythm….siting…..balance…..massing….color….materials.
What will we see in 2119? A recent Samsung-commissioned SmartThings Future Report suggests 1) Expect to see Super Skyscrapers, Earthscraper, and Aquatic Cities. Not only will we build higher, but we will build downward with Earthscrapers tunneling underground. Humans will be able to survive in underwater Aquatic Cities…. 2) How we vacation will change drastically. Drones will carry homes all around the world for holidays. Commercial flights will be available for trips to the Moon and Mars. Lighting services will adapt to suit your every mood and taste…..3) 3D printers will build your home and your furniture. 3D printed foods will allow you to entertain guests by downloading dishes from famous chefs and print your favorite gourmet dishes…..4) And, similarly, there will no need to live on a college campus when the virtual reality avatar of your favorite Mandarin-speaking professor can be projected in your home. “
Survey #1 Into that admitted mash-up of shallow historicism and conservative futurism, we ask 2019 Rochester designers the following: