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The City Synthesiser

Part 1 Project 2021
Xiaoya He
Architectural Association London | UK
The project puts forward an urban vision for Moscow, where transport also affects speed, direction, and the image of the city’s growth and expansion. The transit infrastructure of Moscow needs to be conceived beyond its ring-roads and metro networks, whereas the transplants of cultural sites trapped in pleasure parks deny Russian visionary histories.

A system of infrastructural “machines” would alter the way the historical center and its ever-expanding edge are connected. It shows that the way we accelerate and equip transit would profoundly affect the way citizens understand the location, cultural experiences, and programmes. For high-speed transit not only can propel users across places and territories but also compress and distort time and consciousness. Inspired by the technologies of theme parks as well as transport, the project stages a set of both spatial and functional dis-placements on three indicative sites. With the deliberate reinvention of transit pods, elevators, and bridges, I reconnect the everyday commutes to the insanity and spectacle of theme park “ride.” My project alerts us to the impact of the future impact of technology, but also the multi-sensory experience on the city – while positing that the city is a flow and process, breaking down the boundaries between institutions, typologies and locations.


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2021
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