“…it is now easier for us to imagine the end of the world than an alternative to capitalism.”
-Anthony Dunne and Fiona Raby, Speculative Everything, p. 2.
It is somehow easier to imagine the dystopian destruction of the physical world than the restructuring of socio-political and economic systems that determine the physical, structural, aesthetic, and operational outcomes of built environments. This is our starting point: challenge accepted.
Learning from utopian visions from the 20th century, the work of science-fiction writers, notably Octavia Butler, and examples of manifestos by designers put forth over the last decade, students will develop their own design manifestos not for the end of the world, but for the end of capitalism as we transition to a decarbonized future.
Please find the attached studio project description as well as individual project descriptions to learn more about the 2025 MLA Capstone Studio
DESIGN MANIFESTOS FOR THE END OF CAPITALISM
Speculative Visions + Narrative Landscapes for a Changing Climate
Image Credit: WAI Architecture Think Tank (Cruz Garcia and Nathalie Frankowski), Cities of the Avant-Garde, 2011/2020.
