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.
A project focused on Instagram, location based social network data, and algorithms on social media platforms. Instagram is directly influencing our engagement in the public realm. If a place has a spike in popularity on Instagram, it leads to corresponding spikes in lived reality. The cycle of exploration, upload, and gratification of user generated content becomes a self fulfilling cycle. However, this places Instagram's algorithm in the centre of a growing force on our urban behaviour, especially relating to tourism. The project explores what this means and imagines a figurative architecture designed for this emerging scenario in which social media performance and digital visibility of a place is just as important as the physical. The project hypothesises an algorithmically aligned architecture, in a filmic representation that places architecture and urbanism in the context of the emerging popularity of data informed design and planning