Most celebrated works of architecture of the early 21st century are what one would describe as spectacular; incredible cantilevers, rotating towers, gigantic cupolas and exuberant shapes are features without which a contemporary building would hardly register in the skyline or the media. Never before has architecture tried so hard to amaze. But are these icons true celebrations of human achievements?
We Want World Wonders,
the seventh volume in The Why Factory’s
Future Cities
series, takes a critical stance toward the global production of the spectacular, investigating the future of amazement in architecture. What constitutes a "world wonder" today, when slums all over the world are growing and the chasm between the rich and poor has become ever larger? How can we provoke wonder and what can we wonder about, now that almost nothing is impossible in architecture? This project contemplates the wonders of the ancient and modern world, exploring, through the eyes of architecture students and practicing architects, speculative fields that might propel us toward the realization of new world wonders and a reconsideration of the classifications and categories that have historically accompanied such structures.