UTOPIA DYSTOPIA

AND THE WORK OF

ARCHIZOOM

GROUP 3
Kurinjinathan R
Sowmiya
Sandhya N
Madhumitha S
 Utopia
•Utopia is derived from the Greek ou-topos “no place” or “nowhere”. A
utopian society is an idealistic one with no problems, issues, or end in sight.
This style aims to reinvent the style of living of the masses by the creation
of a perfect place.
•Utopia was a term coined by Thomas More in 1516, in his book of the same
name. Utopia lends people an illusion of perfection. Imagine a world where
no hardships exist, where everything is as ideal as can be.

Types of Utopian Guiding Principles/ Goals

•Religious Beliefs: Set religious beliefs guide peoples’ actions and
organization.
•Humanism: Beliefs that stress the value and goodness of human beings
and strive to respect everyone and view all as equals.
•Science and Technology: Science and Technology are embraced and
enhance our lives, life is easier, more convenient, we are healthier/ live
longer.
•Economics: Money is abolished, citizens only do the work they enjoy.
•Ecology: Back to nature – humans live in harmony with nature and reject
industrialization.
•The conception of this form of society in architecture was through ideas and notions of a
self-sufficient, independent, cohesive plan.
•There is no clear definition of physical characteristics or common design elements across the
range of utopian designs. This allows freedom of thought and expression in the workings of society.
•The planning and layout have little or no restrictions and facilitates a comfortable style of living.
It prioritizes comfort and happiness over fulfilling planning guidelines and rigid structural
systems.

People have been imagining utopias before they even had a word for it.
But during the modernist movement is when architects became obsessed with
designing utopias

MODERNISM AND UTOPIA

•At the beginning of the 20th century, World War I had just ended.
•The modernist movement was beginning
•Architects believed their buildings could solve the world's problems.
•Modernist architects began to imagine entirely new cities with utopian ideals
•These new cities could never be built.
 DYSTOPIA
• Place where no one would wants to live GREEK ORIGIN
• Place in which one's rights and freedoms would be gone “dys” meaning bad, harsh, or wrong
• Place where the environment would be devastated “topos” meaning place.

CHARACTERISTICS OF A DYSTOPIAN SOCIETY

 Propaganda replaces education and is used to
control the citizens of society.
 Information, independent thought, and freedom are
restricted.
 Citizens are perceived to be under constant
surveillance.
 Citizens have a fear of the outside world.
 Citizens live in a dehumanized state.
 The natural world is banished and distrusted.
 Citizens conform to uniform expectations.
 Individuality and dissent are bad.
TYPES OF DYSTOPIAN CONTROLS

 Corporate control: One or more large corporations control society through

products, advertising, and/or the media.
Examples: Minority Report, Running Man, Continuum.

 Bureaucratic control: Society is controlled by a mindless bureaucracy through

a tangle of red tape, relentless regulations, and power-hungry government
officials. Examples: The Hunger Games, 1984, Brazil, Robocop, Elysium

 Technological control: Society is controlled by technology—through

computers, robots, and/or scientific means.
Examples: The Matrix, The Terminator, and I, Robot.

 Philosophical/religious control: Society is controlled by philosophical or

religious ideology often enforced through a dictatorship or theocratic
government.
Examples: Matched, The Handmaid’s Tale.
Archizoom Associati
Archizoom Associati was born in 1966 when four Florentine designers and architects,
Andrea Branzi, Gilberto Corretti, Massimo Morozzi and Paolo Deganello, came together
with a shared vision and common desire to push forward avant-garde design.

The Italian architecture and design studio operated prolifically from 1966–1974.

An investigational and utopian practice, Archizoom pioneered the Florentine Radical

movement, as well as serving as a central voice of the Radical Architecture movement.

Although it only existed as a formal office for

less than a decade, its inventive concepts and
ideas retain an esteemed status today and are
ubiquitous topics covered in design and
architectural curricula, and many of the studio’s
works are highly collectable, appearing in
prominent museum collections around the
world.
Archizoom Associati, 1968.Studio Andrea Branzi.
Their first seminal project came in the form of an
exhibition entitled Superarchitettura, created in
collaboration with Superstudio, another Florence-based
design firm; the collaborators presented prototypes of
innovative furnishings alongside colourful projections to
create an immersive and surreal environment.

The following year, Archizoom organised a second

exhibition, titled Superarchitettura 2, progressively
gaining more attention.

It was shortly after this that the office brought on two new members, the designers Dario
and Lucia Bartolini. This new creative energy spurred on Archizoom’s output dramatically,
challenging Italian design customs further while reflecting the sensibilities of the Pop Art
age.
The Style

● The team produced a rich series of projects in design, architecture and large scale
urban visions, a work which is still a fundamental source of inspiration for
generations to come.

● Together with Superstudio invented "Superarchitecture", endorsing creative

processes along the lines of Pop in architectural and design development, exemplified
by objects such as the "Superonda"-sofa, which invites unconventional postures by its
waved shape.

● The Dream Beds and Gazebos are results of Superarchitecture transformed into a
productive system, which by the creation of eclectic objects and kitsch, undertakes the
critical destruction of functionalist heritage and the spatial concept of the modern
movement.

● A system which finally leads Archizoom to the discovery of the concept of the void and
neutral, characteristic for the projects of their final period of activity.
WORK OF ARCHIZOOM
The four beds (1967)
These four beds are the manifesto of Radical Architecture.

● The radical decorates forms with the aggressive

imagery of Japanese motorcycles

● Bed in stamped metal with “Grande A” [Big

A] light, rear wardrobe and front armchair
for taking off your socks.
● Bed with false mother-of-pearl coating, the
cover and “Dreaming California” in fake leopard
skin.
● Wardrobe headboard accessible from behind,
with ox horns

● Bed in stamped metal with wardrobe behind and Atlantic

light.
SUPERONDA SOFA (1966) F
U
R
N
• This bold and stately piece is the first sofa in the history of design to I
lack a conventional frame T
U
• It is composed of two waves made from a polyurethane block cut into R
two parts with an S—shaped incision E
S
• Interlocked and stacked to produce different configurations
F
• It is covered with a white polished PVC-coated fabric enhancing
O
its Pop allure. R
240[l] x 38[w] x 100[h] cm
P
O
L
T
R
O
N
O
V
A
 F
MIES ARMCHAIR (1967) U
R
PONYSKIN N
I
T
INDIAN RUBBER U
R
E
S
CHROME PLATED
STEEL FRAME F
O
R
• Idea of using a strip of para rubber or India rubber —strong,
elastic materials— as a seat P
O
• A triangle in chrome—plated metal, brings out the purity of L
the silhouette. T
R
• The name emphasizes the similarity of the structure to the O
projects of Mies van der Rohe, as a tribute who died that same N
year. O
V
armchair 131[l] x 74[w] x 80[h] cm
A
footrest 105[l] x 20[w] x 34[h] cm
 F
SAFARI SOFA (1969) U
R
N
I
lacquered T
fibreglass U
R
E
synthetic fabric S
upholstery
F
O
• Introduced at the Galleria Jolly 2 Exhibition, the R
life-size model in laminate and plywood
P
O
• Composable sofa for the most varied solutions. frame in L
fiberglass, padding in foam rubber, covering in artificial T
leopard skin, fabric or leather. R
O
• 25 x 102 x 84 1/4 in. (63.5 x 259.1 x N
214 cm) O
V
A
NO STOP CITY (1969)
N
O
● Andrea Branzi developed the concept of utopian
project of ‘NO STOP CITY’(1969). S
T
● The goal of No-Stop City was the idea that O
advanced technology could eliminate the need for P
a modern central city.
C
● "The factory and supermarket become examples
of the city to come: appropriate urban structures, I
which may be infinite, where human activities T
are automatically organized in a relaxed Y
environment, uniformed with a
micro-acclimatization system and”.
 NO STOP CITY
N
O

S
T
O
P

C
I
T
Y
This is a series of drawings made of a horizontal and vertical grid that symbolizes infinite
habitation of human in space. Horizontal and vertical lines they represent artificial walls,
which are simply interrupted by natural features such as mountains and rivers.
NO STOP CITY (1969)
N
O
● The plan, drawn by Branzi, features a large
piece of city that can be expanded indefinitely S
with the addition of the same elements T
converted to different uses. O
P
● Free form organic shapes - representing park
areas - and living spaces are randomly placed
C
over the grid structure, allowing a greater
I
degree of freedom within the controlled system.
T
● Like a replicating microorganism, the city Y
appears to be fragmented and scattered, lacking
centre and periphery.
NO STOP CITY
N
● The whole city is not built of buildings, but O
furniture, tents, furniture, motorcycles and
more. S
T
● It represents a person's desires and needs. O
P
● These areas of furniture on the maps are seen
as breeding microorganism that spread C
infinitely in the urban space. I
T
● In this free and uncharacterized space, people
Y
live in campers, in a natural environment,
where all their needs are met by adding extra
furniture to the map, leading to further urban
expansion.
NO STOP CITY - UTOPIA ?
N
O

● Archizoom had a very strong political message in their S

architecture work. They were wanting to make a Utopia city T
where there is freedom and featureless where any person in O
the city can be anything and anyone they want. P

C
I
● In his utopia, there are no boundaries between the natural
T
and the artificial, no difference between the city and the
Y
countryside; the development of the city will be completely
industry orientated, to satisfy the needs of the consumers.
NO STOP CITY - DYSTOPIA ?
N
O
● Archizoom’s No stop city is a proposed dystopian conclusion to
consumer-driven architectural development. S
T
● The plan depicts endless column grid that seems to wash over the O
natural features, and the space being occupied by artificial P
elements.
C
I
● The group insists that we are living in this world and not even
T
aware of it. This is perhaps the most significant attribute of
Y
No-Stop City. Because it never ends, it would be impossible to
recognize one was living in it.
Dressing Design: Nearest Habitat System
•In 1971, Archizoom began to experiment with clothing. Their first
project was “Dressing Design: Nearest Habitat System,” which consisted
of a system of garments to be worn in Archizoom’s No-Stop-City.
•The Dressing Design was meant to be a modular open structure that
included a body —a tank suit, a long-sleeved loose fitting overall, a
multi-functional gauze shirt, fury socks, decorated synthetic fur coats
and, belted girdles or ‘Limb Girdles,’ which were synthetic fur protection
that could be latched onto legs or arms during the winter months.
•All these items were multifunctional and incorporated multiple
typologies in one. The body or tank suit, for example, might have
buttons running down its front, a collar, pockets, short sleeves, long
sleeves or a turtle-neck. It could serve as a swimsuit, as underwear, as a
shirt or on its own (the No-Stop-City was artificially ventilated thus
eliminating seasons).
•Dressing Design was part of a wider anti-fashion movement that was
reacting against rigid sartorial traditions, seasonal fashions and
gender-specific clothing.
Environments and Counter Environments. “Italy: The New
Domestic Landscape,” MoMA 1972

•Curated by Emilio Ambasz in 1972, Italy: The New Domestic

Landscape showcased the forefront of Italian design and
commissioned a series of experimental domestic “environments” and
attendant films by the most vibrant Italian architects and designers
of the period
•Contrary to convention, the Objects were displayed in the natural
setting of MoMA’s sculpture garden, while the Environments were
shown within the institutional spaces of the museum’s galleries.
Gray room
For the exhibition, Archizoom installs Gray Room, an environment
animated by the voice of a woman who describes a beautiful coloured
house, inside which there would be no obstruction to space. The
design thus becomes a manifesto, and comes close to an artistic
approach. Never before seen in a design event organised by a
prestigious cultural institution.
GLOBAL TOOLS, 1973–75
•Global Tools at SALT offers three workshops on Construction,
Communication and Survival, all critical topics within the
multidisciplinary experimental program of design education founded
in Italy in 1973.
•In January 1973, a gathering took place in Milan at the editorial
office of the magazine ‘Casabella,’ involving, among others, the
architects and designers Ettore Sottsass Jr., Alessandro Mendini,
Andrea Branzi, Riccardo Dalisi, Remo Buti, Ugo La Pietra, Franco
Raggi, Davide Mosconi, and members of the groups Archizoom, 9999,
Superstudio, UFO and Zziggurat.
•Together with the conceptual artists and intellectuals Franco
Vaccari, Giuseppe Chiari, Luciano Fabro and Germano Celant, they
founded Global Tools - a system of workshops that would last until
1975.
•For the first time in the forty years that have passed since its
formation, the experience of the Global Tools counter-school has been
brought together in book form by SALT, uniting the images and
archive documents that were produced over the few short years of its
existence.