Blog 05

Erik Bean, an architect based in the UK, uses 3D modeling/rendering and digital illustration to comment on political issues in the UK and how it relates to the idea of a perfect society or “utopia.” His thesis work, Capital for the Collective: The Labour Miracle, uses a unique rendering style based loosely on old maps to bring together the real and imagined to propose a new way in which the public should interact with public space. In architecture, algorithms and certain computational technology is used to create larger renders such as Grasshopper, which help to simplify the work to build something digitally. I imagine that he used tools like this as well as digital illustration/editing tools and 3D modeling tools in order to create his detailed works. I appreciate the thought given to how public space/architecture interacts with politics and his addition of climate-focused architecture. Bean’s representations of the uniformity and chaos of people engaging in public spaces is a very interesting twist on traditional photorealistic renderings that have become so popular in architecture, and push usual student work into a whole new realm.

Capital for the Collective: Labour Miracle