Throughout my lifetime, the mega city has been a constant character in science fiction, most notably in post-apocalyptic film genres, where life reveals desolate and ruinous, or hyper-utopian visions. Although these alternative realties offer a dynamic state and a sense of suspended reality, they also serve to heighten our realization that issues of over-population, escalating poverty, and resource shortages exist on the horizon. However, like a passing view in a mirror, these glimpses of dystopia do not serve to educate or insight change, but serve to entertain – to transcend time and place, while temporarily delving into an alternative reality. However, the dystopian city portrayed in science fiction camouflages the emerging reality of the Kowloon Walled City of Hong Kong or South American favelas. Heterotopia is a concept of human geography introduced by the philosopher Foucault (1971), to describe places and spaces that function in opposition to social and cultural predominance. These spaces are characterized as “otherness,” as they are neither here, nor there. In turn, architect Rem Koolhaas breathes life into this contemporary description of heterotopia as the incarnation of “junkspace.” Koolhaas believes that dystopia is not a cinematic fantasy, but an advancing architectural reality. This paper addresses “heterotopia in a contemporary sense by considering the evolving relationships between dystopia in film and real-world constructs of junkspace.
About the presentersTheodore Randall Sawruk
Theodore R. Sawruk, Associate, AIA:
Theodore Sawruk received his Bachelor of Architecture from Carnegie-Mellon University and his Graduate Diploma in Architectural History and Theory from the Architectural Association School of Architecture, London England.
Associate Professor Sawruk is a full-time academic with the University of Hartford, Department of Architecture, teaching in the newly established graduate program. He has previously served as an Assistant Professor of Architecture at various institutions, including: Hampton University, Southern Polytechnic University, University of Arkansas, and Drury College. Recently, Ted has been working with faculty and administrators to establish a new architecture program in western Afghanistan.
Sincerely interested in educational outreach programs, Ted has participated in a variety of Pre-College, Gifted Youth, and Boy Scout programs and is a recipient of Fannie Mae Foundation grants to develop architecture youth programs for African-American teens. In 2000, Professor Sawruk received a $220,000.00 HUD: HBCU Grant to further the HU Urban Institutes educational outreach and community revitalization efforts. In 2003, he was able to garner a three-year grant of $436,755 to continue this and related research in fair housing initiatives. Ted has served as a grant review panelist for the National Endowment of the Arts: Arts Education Grants.
Michael J Crosbie
Michael J. Crosbie, Ph.D., FAIA, is the author of more than 20 books on architecture (including five books for children) and has edited and contributed to more than 20 others. He has also appeared as an architectural expert on The History Channel. Dr. Crosbie is Professor of Architecture at the University of Hartford’s College of Engineering, Technology, and Architecture, and former Chair of the Department of Architecture and Associate Dean.