Student Work

Course Description

The Comprehensive Plan SEATTLE 2035 is: “A 20-year vision and roadmap for Seattle’s future. Our plan guides City decisions on where to build new jobs and houses, how to improve
our transportation system, and where to make capital investments such as utilities, sidewalks, and libraries. Our Comprehensive Plan is the framework for most of Seattle’s big-picture
decisions on how to grow while preserving and improving our neighbor-hoods.” Basing its plan on the data of demographic, social, economic, and environmental change, the city’s office of
urban planning extrapolates from facts to create a vision of Seattle’s urban future.

What if we don’t base our design on given facts but on speculative fiction? What if we don’t begin by analyzing present conditions to predict future settings but start by imagining future possibilities – however fantastic – to reveal our hopes, dreams, and desires? What if we translate our imaginaries into architectural design, into a project of social, cultural and environmental change? In this studio, we will use a variety of science fiction and fantasy movies, suggested and self-selected, to learn from their imaginativeness, from their narrative strategies, from their visionary and visual powers — to rethink our design strategies for Downtown Seattle.

Slide 1, Emily Pratt

Slide 2-4, Madhurima Manchala

Slides 5-6, Tera Ponce

Slides 7-9, Tova Samantha Beck