Prejudicial Narratives: Building Tomorrow's World Today

• Published in: Architectural design Vol. 85; no. 4; pp. 26 - 33
• Main Author: McDowell, Alex
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Chichester, UK John Wiley & Sons, Ltd 01.07.2015; Wiley Subscription Services, Inc
• Subjects: 20th Century Fox; 5D GlobalStudio; Al Baydha; Alex McDowell; Aluminum; Ann Pendleton-Jullian; Anne White; Arabia; Bauhaus; Behnaz Farahi; Bill Mitchell; Bruno Setola; Buildings; Consolidation; Construction; Darek Gogal; Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA); Doug Copeland; Dr Shaun Jones; ESPM School in Rio; Fight Club; Fiona Raby; G-Speak; Hogeschool Rotterdam University; Jaron Lanier; Jeff Watson; Joel Garreau; John Underkoffler; João Luiz de Figueiredo Silva; Lauren Fenton and Eric Marshall/World Building Media Lab; Mark Goerner; Mathematical models; Minority Report; MIT Media Lab; Narratives; Neil Gershenfeld; Pedro Curi; Peter Schultz; Philip K Dick; Potomac River; Raymond Lao; Rilao; Rilao Remote Viewing Protocol; Royal College of Art in London; Scott Frank; Steven Spielberg; Tom Cruise; Tony Dunne; University of Southern California (USC) School of Cinematic Arts; USC World Building Institute's 'Science of Fiction' event; Villages
• ISSN: 0003-8504; 1554-2769
• DOI: 10.1002/ad.1921

Film production requires world building: the power to visualise and bring to life narrative through a film's total environment. This is often entirely speculative, imagining alternative or future worlds. Here, Alex McDowell, acclaimed British production designer, producer and Professor at the University of Southern California (USC) describes his world‐building, narrative approach to production design, which he consolidated in the Steven Spielberg film Minority Report (2002) that envisioned Washington DC in the year 2050. The possibilities of this storytelling technique are demonstrated by its transference into real‐life projects, such as the immersive model that his production company, 5D GlobalStudio, developed for Al Baydha, a Bedouin village in Saudi Arabia.