Anti-design Utopia Architecture

Superstudio is one of the most representative avant-garde architectural groups in Italy in the 1960s to 1970s.Their works and ideas have far-reaching influence and inspiration for lots of famous architects such as Rem Koolhaas,Bernard Tschumi and Zaha Hadid.In its short existence of 12 years,Superstudio created many classical Utopian architectural ideas.At the same time,they also left many classical works in film production,furniture design,art design and so on.In the early stage of postmodernism,they explored the development direction of architectural theory with a radical and critical attitude.Although none of their work was built as architecture,their position in the history of modern architecture should not be overlooked.Using literature reading,comparative analysis and inductive collation,this essay systematically focus on exploring the design and ideas of Superstudio from four aspects:membership,creative background,design influence and inspiration.The essay begins describing the research background of social,political,artistic and architectural aspects with their members'profiles and background information to analyze the creations of Superstudio.Analyzing all related works,exhibitions,lectures and documents,three most representative works of Superstudio are selected to be introduced."The Continuous Monument" is a continuous single-grid monument building that exists alone in nature,historical architectures and modern cities,which expresses their idea of "Anti-design"."The Twelve Ideal Cities" imagine the future development of the city to the extreme through twelve different perspectives.It criticized modernism and technology worship,and expressed their design concept of "Negative Utopia"."Supersurface" directly envisages a surface composed of homogeneous grids through philosophy,anthropology,and behavior.This surface can provide people with a suitable environment and living needs.It revisits the basic human behavior and the relationship between human behavior and buildings,which reshapes the deep meaning of architecture.This essay also uses the research on the development history of modern architectural theory to expound Superstudio's exploration of postmodernism and shows the design concepts of "Anti-design" and "Negative Utopia".The essay also analyzes the influence of their design concepts on the later master architects,which shows their forward-looking nature,and their enlightenment to contemporary architects from the perspective of artistry,innovation,and time.Nowadays,architects are at a stage where consumerism spreads and society develops rapidly,facing many opportunities and challenges.Superstudio creatives a new way of thinking that is out of the conventional way of thinking,design,and expression.It has opened up a new way of thinking for exploring architectural styles with contemporary features and characteristics.