ArchiMechanica

Untitled (Dock no.1), 2020

Archigram, a 1960s group of architectural theorists, imagined future cities as large structural framework onto which a suite of standard components would be attached and rearranged. No groups of buildings as we know them, but rather a mega machine that processed people. It was an ideal in which fixed architecture gave way to a dynamic mechanical construct.

This future imagined transient populations preoccupied with lifestyle and personal development within a roving commons rather than bound to the security of a fixed location. The coastal ferry infrastructure in the Canadian province of British Columbia at times seems the unwitting material manifestation of these theoretical projects. Taken together, the network of docks and ferries can be thought of as a single piece of infrastructure in constant motion and filled with nomads.

For me it is the mechanized structures of the docks which conjure Archigram’s paper exploration in vivid reality. Archigram’s machine cities were intended to be enjoyed by those who inhabit them. Reaching between solid ground and marine vessel over churning waterways, the docks’ labyrinth of colourful walkways, stairways, bridging, and elevated enclosures hold a particular spell on me. They are a child’s playground structure writ at the largest scale.

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