FEELING HIGH - an population overdose exhibition + event series

With over 6.6 billion population and more than 50% population in world’s cities, how our cities tackle the balance between desire on space and land resources in the future is questionable. The scale of cities is insignificant when compared to their wider landscape context. High rise development appears to be one of the most practical solutions, but what does high rise mean? From the developments of Manhattan, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Singapore, etc., planners, architects, socialists and urbanists have been arguing about what is the best livable built environment for the human being for decades. Some people are scared of high rise developments because they reduce green and open space, sunshine and sky; while some are enjoying the sky garden, efficient mass transportation and 24 hours life style. High rise development is always a controversial issue especially London. There are a lot of discussions on opening up London’s skyline to meet the competitiveness from globalization while conserving London’s unique historical cityscape. Can London keep its skyline and global competitiveness at the same time or can London develop high rise buildings without destroying its skyline? What does high rise mean? How can it affect our lives? It is hard to judge how high rise built environment may benefit or threaten our lifestyle and comment on it without our own personal experience. The event aims to create a platform to push visitors into reflections on high rise built environment by providing a new fresh visual experience. It will question and provoke our conventional perceptions on high rise built environments. • Launching 28-6 | 1700 • ‘The Shooters Fifteen’ Design Forum 28/6 | 1800 Unconventional way to throw our audience with an hour of visual and verbal stimulants, from an exciting mix of speakers. • Outdoor Installation 28/6 – 20/7 | 1200-1800 Urban Blind Spot – Under the skin of high rise. • An Overpopulated Exhibition 15-20/7 (28-29/6 preview) | 1200-1800 Think you know it all about high-rise? We present you with some of the most high profiles projects in our City and question on your conventional perceptions. • Collaborators School of Architecture, Kingston University YS Groundwork http://www.lfa2008.org/event.php?id=129&name=Feeling+High Trinity Buoy Wharf, 64 Orchard Place, London E14 0JW