Ottawa Architecture Week is an annual week-long festival that welcomes everyone to explore architecture, urbanism, art and design in Ottawa. It is presented by the Ottawa Regional Society of Architects (ORSA) with the help of local volunteers and businesses. This year OAW explores how emerging technologies will transform the built environment, and what these transformations would mean for the disc
ipline of architecture. This discourse is important, as we are in the midst of technological revolution: the way we live, play, work and connect with one another is changing dramatically. The rate and scale of these transformations is unprecedented. When in 2001 Ottawa got briefly branded as “technically beautiful”(link), it felt like a backhanded compliment(link). And yet, today, Ottawa’s impressive high-tech sector, is an ever-powerful force, affecting our economy, built environment, and design community. With technology permeating the physical, biological, social, political and cultural environments, what will the city of the future look like? What role will technology play in it? How will technology shape our behaviour? And, how will this transform our built environment? Ultimately, one can’t help but wonder: what if architecture is about to be technologically disrupted? What if:
“The future city will have no traffic congestion and no crime; have plenty of green spaces; be walkable; have inspiring and beautifully designed environments for people to live, congregate and collaborate; be 100 percent environmentally sustainable, renewable, and rechargeable; will be able to produce and provide ample food, with unlimited access to clean water; have buildings that respond to the needs of those that live, work and learn within; be economically thriving, innovative; and ultimately, stimulate happy and healthy living.”
— Dr. Rick Huijbregts, Future Cities in the Age of Disruption
