Digital dreams
and how to achieve them
Dear subscribers, here we are: another saturday newsletter. This week we’ll continue to dig into the ground that links architecture and videogames. “Continue” because two weeks ago we started to see some references and one newsletter wasn’t enough to collect all the material (spoiler: there will be a Part 3 in the next months). Enough chitchat, cominciamo!
My name is Federico and welcome to Representations of Architecture #12
Insights
Cedric Price is probably one of the most inventive, ironic and visually gifted architects of all times. His ideas are still actual today, and the project presented up here (Generator, 1978) is something strictly related to the responsive world of videogames. Price imagined an architecture that, composed by squared modules, could respond to the user necessities, everything controlled by a futuristic computer.
In a great article on e-flux Luke Caspar Pearson perfectly describe how radical architecture of the late 60s has a lot of common points with videogames:
The design of architectural worlds through layers of representation, rules, and events resonates most clearly with the generation of architects preceding Tschumi’s event-architecture and working at a similar time to Price. Their work explored architecture as a project through multiple concurrent strands and tackled the rise of consumerist technoculture, of which games have become a flagship medium.
This drawing almost made me cry when I saw it. It’s a discarded view from the first The Legend of Zelda (1986), by Shigeru Miyamoto. In this article is described how Miyamoto had planned to design Zelda as a series of quests, accessible from different doors. All these doors were represented in front view, an elevation. A first person view really far from the top view that made the first Zelda games so iconic.
This one up here it’s a top view central perspective and it’s used only in the interiors. It becomes a special axo in the exteriors (as you can see from this map).
Very beautiful links
A friend tipped me about this video:
Basically Paola Antonelli (curator of MoMA’s design and architecture department) explains, in a colloquial and fun way, why she acquired some videogames for the MoMA collection. And people still talk about videogames as kid’s stuff… 😤
MoMA also acquired a SimCity game (but not the one that we saw at the beginning of the newsletter). SimCity had multiple sequels, but the one that really made history is SimCity 2000.
A game that an entire generation played at least once on a console or another. The aim of the game was to build a city and make it prosper as much as possible (being prepared to some inevitable disasters). Once reached a specific year (2000) some weird architectures became available for construction. We are talking about Arcologies, futuristic buildings that in the shapes and in the names recall Paolo Soleri’s Arcology (if you don’t know Soleri here his wikipedia page). In this article a quick explanation about this issue, here all the Arcologies, here a huge (huge) SimCity 2000 map.
An IG follower sent me a manual of a videogame taken directly from Nintendo official website. It happened that after the release of the NES Mini and SNES Mini, Nintendo also made available all the manuals of the games included inside the consoles. All beautiful high-res pdfs. Inside you can find images like this one below.
Change the language to browse foreign manuals. Talking about manuals…
For some reason in this archive.org page you can find all the manuals that you want. Videogames, microwaves, cameras, combat skills for soldiers, you name it.
Sweet IG pages
This IG page is sharing some snapshots from a PS1 game called LSD Dream Emulator (1998). Most of you probably already know it, but if you don’t, my tip is: take 30 minutes and watch this walkthrough. The game is a cult, sold at super high prices given its rarity, and is probably the closer you’ll get to an acid trip without doing drugs. The soundtrack is also really good. There is an entire wiki on it if you are curious.
Misc
It’s 2 weeks that I listen this:
An italian youtuber used the program Vocaloid and replaced Pino Daniele’s voice (neapolitan songwriter and author of the song) with Hatsune Miku’s one (one of the most famous vocaloid voices, a 16 years old anime character). He made a full album and I find this mash-up absolutely marvellous. If you don’t like this voice just hear the original album by Pino Daniele.
In a previous newsletter I mentioned a personal project that was in the middle of a Kickstarter campaign. Luckly the project (an RPG-Zine) was successfully funded and it is coming to life. Yes 🏋️♂️. I’m currently working on the artworks and this one below is Mario’s house (Mario is the main character, an heavy-smoker lazy-ass).
The name of the zine is Procrastination Day, and if you want one… well it’s too late, campaign’s over and there is nothing you can do1 🏄♂️.
Uh, so here we are, at the end of another newsletter. See you next week with a sweet sweet takeover.
Have a decent week-end.
Federico
Just kidding, we’ll print a lot of them and once ready I’ll spam it again in this newsletter.
P.S. You might have noticed some subscribe buttons now and then, is a subtle way to make casual readers subscribe.