What If? RCA Video's with Squint/Opera

Students at the Royal College of Art have produced a set of films exploring possible architectural futures.

by Rachel Harding

The films, produced in collaboration with Squint Opera, are based on recent sociological trends and scientific developments. Each film provides a snapshot of society in the year 2020, these future possibilities provide us with cautionary tales about our own behaviours and desires.

 Eliot Postma: The Last Organ

In 2032 stem cell research has turned growing replacements organs into big business, fueled by the ageing populations desire for youth and a sustained meaningful place in society. They are willing to go to great lengths both medically and morally to stay young, using or even exploiting others as products that can be bought. Growing old gracefully is out and Donor-Shopping is in, youth has become a commodity even a fetish.

 Adam Smith: Fluid Exchange

Advances in micro-needle technology have allowed the proliferation of home testing accessories for STDs which, for psychological reasons, cannot specify what infection is detected. Meanwhile, the UK’s ageing population have created a surge in the demand for blood products required for cancer treatment, joint replacements and cosmetic surgery.  Facing Bond Street Crossrail station, a privatised National Blood Service facility attracts hoards of consumers – providing convenient diagnosis while harvesting over 2000 blood product units per day. Above, heat from behemoth blood freezers warm London’s sexiest lido.

Rachel Harding: The Radiance Resort

Could embracing the benefits of toxicity persuade society to accept nuclear power?

In 2020, Britain has disregarded old-fashioned havens in favour of a wonderland of health giving toxic treats. The UK can no longer fill its brochures with idyllic snaps of englishness, and instead embraces toxic landscapes and furthermore markets them to a new brand of health tourists. At the Radiance Resort and health club, lead-oxide textile shielding creates a varied landscape of gamma radiation and lead needles allow the resort to control radiation to a minute degree. A hierarchy of treatments are offered, and radiation level is indicative of exclusivity. Treatment rooms wrap around the central nuclear reactor at different angles to create different levels of radiation exposure. Guests can bathe on an incinerator ash beach, indulge in some uranium enriched super-food, or enjoy a radioactive seaweed wrap. At the radiance resort, that which doesn't kill you really does make you stronger.