Building Blocks of Life

On Wednesday, I watched the finale of Building Blocks of Life...the series was okay, a 3.75/5...Of course, I was intrigued by the theme of architecture. I thought the design studios were very true and I liked the connection but I don't think the architectural ideas were portrayed very well and accurately. Perhaps it is because of the difference in cultures, I'm being educated quite differently from the ideas that they are presenting. Because North American cities are facing issues with sprawl, we are 'into' the densification of our cities and generating vibrancy. In the series, they encouraged low density housing in the new developments of China (near HK) because they are incredibly dense in HK. However, I don't think that is a good long term solution because in NA we are experiencing many problems due to sprawl. Also, the human population is only going to get larger and so sprawling is not a solution. Instead, they should be developing smart superstructures that minimizes the impact on the environment and maintaining quality of life. That is kind of the theme of my studio this year (over population and saturation) so I'm kind of biased. It is a challenge that we will eventually face.