Threshold City: Towards a New Language

To combat universal looking cities (Supermodernism), a new architectural language needs to be developed, that differentiates. History and context help. Hence, the threshold of the old and new assists in defining this response, that characterises the city. Should tradition be imitated (New-Urbanism) ; should we critically learn from the past, creating a prosthetic with the present (Critical-regionalism) ; should we mutate all our learning to a mixed identity kedgeree approach (Hetero-architecture) to transform our cities? We tested these theories to arrive at an urban form and language, defining the threshold city, transforming from the old to the new. The building typology developed from urban studies to catalyse city transformation. Students were required to take a critical stand and generate the responding architecture and related rulesets. This was done in order to find ways to create ‘places’ on the edge of the new and the old.