PLANNING NOTE
The study which leads to the PLUG-IN CITY proposals is concerned with the urban situation in Western Europe and in particular with the UK. The international problem is the expansion of population, commerce, and industry within the metropolitan areas and the need to draw off the excess stresses from existing, historic centres so that these can function at their natural physical and economic limit. The solution is formulated to optimise positively the natural forces within the community rather than to counteract them with negative controls.
PROJECT DEVELOPMENT
The Plug-in City as a total project was the combination of a series of ideas that were worked upon between 1962 and 1964. The Metal Cabin Housing was a prototype in the sense that it placed removable house elements into a ‘megastructure’ of concrete. The discussions of Archigram 2 and 3 built up a pressure of argument in favour of expendable buildings: and it was then inevitable that we should investigate what happens if the whole urban environment can be programmed and structured for change. The Living City exhibition paralleled these material notions with equally explosive ones regarding the quality of city life: its symbolism, its dynamic, its gregariousness, its dependence upon situation as much as established form. As a final preliminary, the Montreal Tower was useful as a model for the structuring of a large ‘plug-in’ conglomeration, with its large, regular structure and its movement-tubes (which were to be combined in the ‘city’ megastructure), and its proof that such a conglomeration does not need to have the dreariness that is normally associated with regularised systems. It is difficult to state which phase of the work on Plug-in City forms the definitive project. During the whole period 1962–66 elements were being looked at, and notions amended or extended as necessary: so the drawings inevitably contain many inconsistencies. The term ‘city’ is used as a collective, the project being a portmanteau for several ideas, and does not necessarily imply a replacement of known cities.
My axonometric drawing is usually assumed to be the definitive image, for obviously classical reasons. It is ‘heroic’, apparently an alternative to the known city form, containing ‘futurist’ but recognisable hierarchies and elements. Craggy but directional. Mechanistic but scaleable, it was based upon a drawn plan, which placed a structural grid on a square plan at 45 degrees to a monorail route that was to connect existing cities. Alongside ran a giant routeway for hovercraft (the ultimate in mobile buildings), the notion being that some major functions of the several linked parts could travel between them. The essential physical operations are stressed: the craneways and the bad weather balloons, and the lift overruns are deliberately exaggerated. But overriding all this was the deliberate varietouness of each major building outcrop: whatever else it was to be, this city was not going to be a deadly piece of built mathematics. In the various studies that built up the total project, one can trace the succession of priorities that are gradually overlaid, and one can see how the sections evolved. The Nottingham project was a proposal for shopping, but the problems of frequent servicing and the unit replacement were complementary. A major part of the Plug-In proposition already existed. With the craneway running along the viaduct and a service tunnel system, it is only a short step to the incorporation of housing elements. It is difficult to state which phase of the work on Plug-in City forms the definitive project. During the whole period 1962-66 elements were being looked at, and notions amended or extended as necessary: so the drawings inevitably contain many inconsistencies. The term "city" is used as a collective, the project being a portmanteau for several ideas, and does not necessarily imply a replacement of known cities.
Definition: The Plug-in City is set up by applying a large scale network-structure, containing access ways and essential services, to any terrain. Into this network are placed units which cater for all needs. These units are planned for obsolescence. The units are served and manoeuvred by means of cranes operating from a railway at the apex of the structure. The interior contains several electronic and machine installations intended to replace present-day work operations. Typical permanence ratings would be:
Bathroom, kitchen, living room floor: 3-year obsolescence
Living rooms, bedrooms: 5-8 year obsolescence
Location of house unit: 15 years duration
Immediate-use sales space in shops: 6 months
Shopping location: 3-6 years
Workplaces, computers, etc: 4 years
Car silos and roads: 20 years
Main megastructure: 40 years
In addition to the main craneway there are smaller craneways and mechanized slipways as well as telescopic handling elements.
