Life imitates art—a famous philosophy that intrigued even Oscar Wilde.
Imagine a home that is never closed off, where the indoors look like the great outdoors. A building where we are never separated from nature, our environment. One with and without a wall. A structure so meticulously designed and so wittingly crafted that it makes businessmen feel as if they are one with their surroundings.
Luckily, you won’t have to imagine much because Skyscraper did it for us. In 2018, a movie starring Dwayne Johnson premiered where his character faces rivals, betrayals, and a two hundred and twenty-five floors skyscraper. The 3,500-foot-tall structure is called “The Pearl” and features futuristic technology to accommodate the elite. High-tech security aside, the real star is the pearl-like orb on the topmost floor. This "pearl,” from the outside, seemed intriguing and mystical, with how the design of the building itself makes it seem like the “pearl” is being offered to the sky. Later on, we get to see it from the inside, as the owner of “The Pearl” shows Johnson around the building.
If we think it’s mystical from the outside, the inside would be a hundred, if not a thousand, times better. Technology made it possible to seamlessly reflect the environment outside the sphere, creating the illusion of walking in the sky. And how tall is the building? Let’s just say this could be taken quite literally.
We, as artists in our fields, can make designs that imitate life down to even its finest details. We can mimic and create what we see and feel, manifesting our thoughts into tangible reality. We have the freedom to humor ourselves with impossible, ambitious designs that, if pushed through, might not be so impossible after all. On top of that, we can create something more mystical than the “Pearl,” even without the need for ultra-high-definition panels and micro-cameras. Imagine a world where biomimetic design reaches its peak. Will we, architects, designers, and planners, be able to create a world where man and nature are indivisible? A world where humans and nature are separate yet closer..
Where art, too, imitates life.
A world where we need not explore or bother what is beyond the tree line because the wonders of nature are possible indoors. Art is never finished, only abandoned. A quote from Leonardo da Vinci himself. Maybe it is too far-fetched to desire a world where a man gets the ease of the outdoors without bringing harm to wildlife and the ecosystem of a home that is not ours. But as da Vinci said, art is never finished. So as long as we do not abandon our purpose to create sustainable and high-quality designs, maybe the world we dream of could become a reality too.
A world where forests remain green and undisturbed, and cold metal turns into a warm summer sky or a gentle mountain breeze.
Impossible, but only if we stop.
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