A Wind Tunnel Full of Science Fiction Architecture in LA

This image, by Ryan Church, is just one of many that will be explained, explored and investigated at a unique event being held this May at the Silver Lake Film Festival in Los Angeles.

Co-sponsored by the excellent BLDGBLOG and Materials & Applications, the event will be a panel discussion about science fiction and architecture -- held in a giant, abandoned wind tunnel. Four artists will discuss their work and project images and film onto the walls of the huge structure. It sounds like a fantastically cool installation. Curator and BLDGBLOG writer Geoff Manaugh has just posted a long photo essay about the connections between film and architecture, as well as introducing the four speakers at the upcoming wind tunnel extravaganza . . . see more below the fold.

[image by Ben Procter]

Manaugh writes:

By talking not to architects but instead to the people whoactually design the sets, backdrops, cityscapes, environments,
buildings, rooms, etc., in which cinematic action takes place – from X-Men 3 to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
– you should be able to get at least some sense for what architecturecan mean, on a narrative level, to those outside the architecturalfield.

In other words, what do those people who tell stories through and with space actually want from architecture?

How do they use space?

Ratherthan set out to discover, yet again, what architects think about cinema– or about science fiction, or about stage set design – why not turnthe question around? Why not see what architects can learn from spaces,
buildings, and cities produced by other fields?

Or, to ask another question that won't necessarily be answered by this event: if Architectural Record bills itself as a magazine about architecture, then why doesn't it ever cover, say, the apartment complex from Minority Report, or the office lobbies featured in The Matrix? That's architecture, too.

Materials & Applications and BLDGBLOG have thereforegathered together four of the most exciting concept artists working infilm today to discuss some of these questions, and to talk about theirown artistic backgrounds – how they got into film, what they studied toget there, and what imaginative role architecture plays in theircreations . . . In alphabetical order, you'll see Ryan Church, James Clyne, Mark Goerner, and Ben Procter.

I'm going to try to get out to Pasadena to see it!

Science Fiction and the City Film Fest [via BLDGBLOG]