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Fortress of the Free

Part 2 Project 2010
Stefan Tribe
 Royal College of Art | UK
Can the Monarchy use architecture, mass entertainment and the potential of space exploration to boost their decaying legacy and ensure their brand of Britishness will survive forever?

British support for the Monarchy is in decline. 62% of the public declare that they would not miss the Queen’s Speech, and 69% feel the royal family are a waste of tax-payers money. The UK boasts the world’s second biggest aerospace industry and a reputation for delivering some of the largest and most advanced communications satellites worldwide. ‘Space based solar power’ technology proposes the launching of solar collecting satellites into orbit around earth, from where they would beam an abundance of clean, environmentally friendly energy back down to earth. Considering Prince Charles’s growing reputation as climate change campaigner, could this technology be the Monarchy’s ticket into the awe-inspiring realms of human space exploration? Windsor Great Park becomes the site of King Charles’s Spaceport complex. Powered by his Space Solar Power facility, the scheme expands to engage with a modern public to include a Royal Theme Park and new model town; covert recruiting grounds where suitable candidates are approached with offers to serve as the Kings astronauts. A new monument is built at the schemes centre. Comprising a town hall, hotel and planetarium, a public exhibition winds its way up the core of the building terminating at the ‘New Royal Observatory’. Recounting the long, rich history of the British Monarchy to date, the exhibition climaxes with a startling discovery, and reveals to us King Charles’s ‘Vision of Britain’, the ultimate destiny of the British Monarchy in the 21st century.

Stefan Tribe

Stefan’s near-future scenario ties together emerging technological, political, environmental and sociological ideas into a complex and highly intelligent design thesis, questioning the concept of immortality on many levels. In a world of political and environmental uncertainty, with desires of extreme technological advancement, Stefan weaves together poignant ideas with both local and global resonance.

Using new space-based solar power technology to question ideas of Britishness in the 21st century, the scheme references historical and diverse typologies from Renaissance fortresses and British new towns, to solar observatories and amusement parks, and creates a unique architectural landscape that can only be an exploration of tomorrow.

The intricacies of his research and astute critical thinking manifest in a set of drawings, models and objects exploring his thesis from a 1:2500 masterplan through to a 1:1 silver brooch; creating a complete world of real fiction that he has structured with absolute conviction.

It is this attention to detail, and the imaginative way he manifests the thesis into a programmed architecture, that makes this provocative and conceptually filmic future familiar. In doing so, Stefan’s design becomes a powerful tool that forces us to question our own design, and other, values.

Tutor(s)
Nicola Koller
Mr Gerrard O'Carroll
2010
Prior to their colonisation of space, King Charles’s new citizens receive a symbolic gift. As a manifestation of their most cherished ‘British’ values, the brooch is used to remind colonists of their purpose; to conserve traditional patriotic values at al
‘Fortress of the Free’ speculates on a future British Monarchy whose elaborate scheme sees their emerging involvement in housing, mass energy production, theme park management and human space travel, in a bid to engage with a modern public.
Using Windsor Great park as a site, Fortress of the Free uses a military-strategy sensibility to present a piece of ‘real fiction’ derived entirely from real world statistics.
Siteplan. A large stretch of Windsor Great Park has been remodelled. The new masterplan includes a Model Town, Space Theme Park, Space Solar Power antenna, a Spaceport and a fully operational airstrip.
Masterplan. The Model Town, the Theme Park, and the Spaceport. Upon arrival into orbit, King Charles’s new Space Colonists gaze down at the earth’s surface, and identify the Royal Borough of Windsor by its unique new markings.
The masterplan showing the ceremonial route between the Model town and the Monument complex, flanked by the Space Theme Park and fun fair rides.
The Monument building sits at the centre of the complex. It includes the Town Hall, Space hotel, Royal Space exhibition, observatory and planetarium, as well as the private consecration hall and auditorium where new residents to the Town are inaugurated.
Ensuring his legacy on British soil, King Charles’s architecture evokes ancient building forms in a bid to create symbols which will resonate through future centuries.
Monument elevation. The emblem of the British Lion is reinvented to become an awe inspiring space sphinx, housing a public planetarium, and observatory telescopes.
Curious guests await an evening performance at the New Royal Planetarium.
The Town comes together to celebrate the departure of its latest space residents.
Long section. As the procession passes through the core of the building, the latest of King Charles’s space colonists are presented with their gift, before proceeding to the spaceport, and migrating to the stars.
An excited new resident of the town descends the stairs to the inauguration platform.
Telescopes trained on the night sky begin to pick out the first feint impressions of a strange new constellation taking form some 37,000km above Windsor Great Park.
King Charles’s War Table. As his scheme begins to take shape, the monarch works deep into the night planning an ever more ambitious finale, his last chance to change the shape of England forever...
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