A plan for Wellington until the destruction : utopic excavations at the palisade

Abstract

Utopian thought and architecture and their inseparable interlock are examined. From this catechism, based on historical precedents evaluated using critical interpretation, a plan for Wellington motivated by the desire for perfection is devised. Architecture and utopian complicity can be traced back to Vitruvius, and the subsequent 2000 years have produced many further examples of this. Semiotic investigations have rendered this observation with great clarity; according to Marin, "The content of utopia is the organization of space as a text."Marin, 9. Thus the content of utopia is the production of architecture as a text. The inverse of this can also be stated. The Manuels write: "Architecture readily lends itself to utopian constructs."Manuel and Manuel, 812. Architecture as a medium for utopian imaging is also explored; although this is hardly new, it may well become the singular authoritative device for the generation of new forms of and in our cities. Again the Manuels write: "Perhaps the whole tradition of the written utopia may become extinct while the silent architectural drawing and the speaking film become the favored media of utopian expression."Manuel and Manuel, 813.