Building Inside Out

On today’s show we are talking about the architecture of the future. We are all accustomed to seeing the usual rectangular buildings with the vertical walls and 90 degree angles everywhere. Architects made them more interesting by articulating the facade with indentations and projections. Changing the materials on the exterior creates a sense of form, superimposed on what is still a rectangle.

I know what you’re thinking, any other shape is simply too costly to create. Standard materials can’t be used and it requires a tremendous amount of customization to create any other shape. All of this translates into extraordinary cost. With all of the emphasis on affordability, who needs a building shaped like a dolphin anyway? Ok, it doesn’t need to be a dolphin, but who needs a curved wall anyway? It’s going to make decorating the interior space difficult. Artwork won’t hang nicely on the walls. Our entire world is centred around flat surfaces. Even if it were practical to create irregular shapes in a building, would you really want that anyway?

What about those really tall narrow buildings that rise hundreds of feet into the air? When the buildings are that thin, how do they stay standing? Why don’t they fail in a wind storm?

On today’s show we’re going to answer these questions and more, with the answer coming from the world of crustaceans.

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Host: Victor Menasce

email: [email protected]