Reflecting on Architectural Responsibility and Urban Regeneration

Towards the end of my first degree, I began to understand more deeply the role of architecture in society. I realized that it's our responsibility as architects to address unpleasant or even chaotic situations, to sketch visions of the future without losing hope in the present state.

My interest in this concept led me to explore the idea of "Rethinking the Scottish Town" through the lens of Falkirk, a historically significant town. Falkirk was once a thriving hub during Scotland's, and even the UK's, industrial period. However, it has since declined and is facing challenges associated with aging. I believe this decline stems from more than just shifts in the industrial market; the existing urban context itself is failing Falkirk.

Initially, I experimented with a radical approach, almost entirely ignoring the existing context to create a seemingly alien structure. I relied purely on imagination, unconvinced that Falkirk's current structures could support regeneration. This approach, however, led me to struggle with form-finding, relying on chance rather than a grounded methodology. Feedback from my tutors and my own internal reflections confirmed that my designs from those early weeks lacked the feasibility and potential to truly benefit Falkirk.

This realization prompted me to look back at historical attempts to stimulate or adapt to urban growth. I focused my research on Metabolism, the avant-garde architectural movement that emerged in 1960s Japan. Metabolism resonated with me because it successfully facilitated regeneration and adaptation in post-war Japan, contributing to its rise as a global economic power. I studied not only the Metabolists' methods from the 1960s but also their reactions to the movement's decline following the Oil Crisis. I examined how this decline influenced their architectural approaches and attitudes in the movement's aftermath.

In the accompanying booklets, you will find a brief overview of the essays that inspired me during this semester project. They illustrate my transition from ignoring context to immersing myself in the "ruins" of Falkirk's urban fabric. Through my studies of Metabolism, the theories of architects like Kenzo Tange, Kisho Kurokawa, Fumihiko Maki, and Sachio Otani became embedded in my approach to form-finding.

However, Arata Isozaki, the Pritzker Prize-winning architect, has been the most significant influence on my design process. His theories liberated me from the randomness of my initial approach. His methodology of "Past, Present, and Future" and his concept of "ruins" empowered me with a greater imaginative capacity to create truly vernacular architecture for Falkirk's regeneration.

Synthesizing these collective theories provided me with a profound understanding of urban planning and a clear methodology for developing an urban form for the existing Falkirk. I believe that Kurokawa, Isozaki, and Maki, through their experiments with Metabolism, ultimately arrived at a similar conclusion: urban planning should be considered a "seed." We should provide a path toward the future rather than attempting to exert absolute control. We cannot predict all the uncertainties that the world will face, nor should we passively wait for the future to arrive. The future will never arrive if we do not actively build it. Therefore, we must consider how technology influences societal change and, consequently, architecture. Technology acts as a catalyst, accelerating both progress and potential destruction in the built environment.

We must approach technology with a sense of "calm." I believe the most suitable approach is "Group Form" architecture, as it allows for change and adaptation without disabling the entire system's functionality, unlike enclosed system planning or mega-structure planning. Here, I borrow terminology from Kurokawa and Maki, which aligns with Isozaki's concept of "ruins" – in my interpretation, we should continuously generate new "ruins" to achieve the regeneration of architecture, villages, towns, and even cities.

Despite being near the end of the semester, I drastically redrew the outline of my project at the very last minute. I applied the "Past, Present, Future" framework, using "ruins" as a medium to find forms that address the challenges facing Scotland's towns. This doesn't mean I discarded my previous research; instead, it became integrated into my design process as embodied "ruins." The earlier visions of the future transformed into theoretical fragments that informed my final solution, which, perhaps, should be considered the final state of "ruin." For me, this final product emerged from compromise, which I see as the only path forward. Compromises are essential to generating "ruins" in the design process,