Thursday, April 21, 2016

Kallitechnia Complex Spaces


Kallitechnia's villages, set in mildly mountainous territory around their garden domes, provided a multitude of levels and interesting spaces to inhabit. The architecture was based on Mediterranean hill and coastal towns, with their many rooftop areas and elevated gardens and interlocking domestic and public spaces. None of the residences were exclusively private, though. Ownership was in common and all residential and commercial properties were distributed through negotiation and sharing, rather than private holdings and rentals. I am not sure whether Kallitechnians had a money economy. It's possible that they used a debit system rather like the early days of "Club Mediterranee" where you exchanged your money for beads that you wore as decoration, which were only worth something within the locale of the club. I'm also unsure whether people were allowed to amass fortunes in this system, as village capitalists. I never thought to ask the client about the economics of his Utopia.

Depicted here is a small square on the hilly built-up slope of a Kallitechnian village, complete with restaurant, residences, and the dome higher up the hill. The dome is based on the New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx.

Black ink on illustration board, 9" x 11", September 1996. Click for larger view.

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