J. Scott Kilbourn Optimising The Digital World

Scott is a Registered Architect licensed in Massachusetts and has Master of Architecture from Harvard Graduate School of Design, Cambridge and Bachelor of Arts from Dartmouth College, Hanover. Scott is a Principal at Perkins Eastman with more than 30 years of experience in the design and management of architectural projects around the world. He is an expert in retail, entertainment and commercial mixeduse project types; he has also designed and master-planned projects for civic, academic and workplace uses as well. Prior to joining Perkins Eastman, he led design projects and developed offices in Hong Kong, Tokyo and Shanghai.

 

In 1999, with the movie The Matrix, the concept of a world that is torn between the actual and the digital, the virtual was introduced in a powerful way. Though at that time, the concept seemed far-fetched, when we look at the world now, we see how it has turned into reality. In this world architects face a challenge, as the protagonists of their buildings, the end-users engage with the built environment differently from how they did earlier. With smartphones and tablets we are constantly absorbed into the digital world. “As architects we are obligated to create a physical world. Is it a fight, a struggle, or is it something that we can be very symbiotic with?”

Thirty years ago when this was a simpler place, how did people navigate while travelling without Google maps and websites prompting the best places to be visited? They would read books and tour guides. How cities were perceived back then and how they are perceived now is not the same.