Ministry of Happiness
Ministry of Happiness
GDP and continuous growth as a measure of development is a capitalist construct which is no longer compatible with the challenges of climate change and social inequality we face. Progressive societies are starting to value measures of happiness and well-being as the alternative measure of success. This projects imagines a new Ministry of Happiness and Wellbeing for London, in one of the most prominent of locations, the Serpentine Lake, which signifies the importance of which a progressive new future society might hold such values.
GDP and continuous growth as a measure of development is a capitalist construct which is no longer compatible with the challenges of climate change and social inequality we face. Progressive societies are starting to value measures of happiness and well-being as the alternative measure of success. This projects imagines a new Ministry of Happiness and Wellbeing for London, in one of the most prominent of locations, the Serpentine Lake, which signifies the importance of which a progressive new future society might hold such values.
Juan Escudero Pablos | Year 4
COCKAIGNE ISLAND
Shopping is the most lucrative, leisure activity of the 21st century. The old mall is in decay. Shopping is no longer an experience but a necessity in the new super consumerist society that plans obsolescence to generate continuous profit. Retail is being taken over by internet shopping whilst malls continue to fall into ruin.
Cockaigne is a land of plenty in medieval myth, an imaginary place of extreme luxury. The new mall is designed as a platform, a space that is infinitely flexible and continuously changing and evolving. The experience revolves around an experience of hyperconsumerism that invites the individual not only to change their appearance but to modify themselves over and over, including their own bodies, in this cycle of constant reinvention.
The shops in the new mall are understood as theatres, where companies can continually design and redesign their own spaces to show the lifestyle they sell. The visitor can experience products before buying. Everything and anything is for sale.
