Official selection, onedotzero Terrain '09: onedotzero.com
The Technocrat Retrofit of London is a speculative architecture-fiction project, exploring the architectural opportunities afforded by a post-capitalist economy. It occurs circa 2050, and marks a return to the community driven sustainable way of living, with the help of technology. The stock market has crashed and the pound has moved into hyper-inflation. Banks are deserted. The mayor of London negotiates with a powerless central government to transform the square mile into a contained self-sufficient Technocratic state.
The resulting architecture is a series of inter-connected artifacts grafted on to the surface of existing buildings. These contain the equipment to allow the transformation of the defunct financial edifices into link centres for sustainable agriculture and production.