Future Factory

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RESEARCH BACKGROUND: Future Factory is Gretchen Wilkins' entry into 'Competition of Competitions. Organised by Storefront for Art and Architecture in New York, the competition called for the design of an architectural competition. Future Factory won an Honourable Mention and was exhibited, along with the other 17 finalists, at Storefront as part of the 'Letters to the Mayor' exhibition, a group exhibition presenting letters written by 50 international architects to the political leaders of ten cities around the world. Wilkins' project team included Ian Nazareth (practicing architect and researcher) and five RMIT Architecture students. RESEARCH CONTRIBUTION: Future Factory calls for architectural ideas about the future of manufacturing, factory spaces and their connection to the city. The competition proposal asserts that contemporary manufacturing thrives on urbanism, and that this presents opportunities to redefine our spatial, social and programmatic connections between production, consumption and everyday life. The overall exhibition, which Future Factory was a part of, was a compilation of briefs, facts, claims, desires and dreams for the construction of our cities, their future foundations and horizons. RESEARCH SIGNIFICANCE: Storefront for Art and Architecture is a landmark international contemporary gallery in New York operating as a critical platform for the promotion and curation of radical investigations into architecture and art. With the intention to provoke long-standing conventions of the architecture competition, the Competition of Competitions attracted more than 100 entries, which were reviewed by a jury of professionals and visionaries including Amale Andraos (Architect, Work AC), Paola Anotonelli (Architecture Curator, MoMA), and Michael Sorkin (Architect and architecture critic). All competition briefs and letters were sent to each respective Mayor after being presented at the gallery.