M-15

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‘They are not humans. What rights do you expect them to have?

M15 was used to hearing such words from humans, but they never failed to hurt him.
He wasn’t sure when it started, but one day he started experiencing feelings. He wasn’t supposed to feel hurt, tired, or happy, he wasn’t supposed to develop hopes and dreams. After all, he was a robot.

Ever since the pandemic hit the earth in 2020, humanity tried its best to win against the newly surfaced enemy. The tragic losses made the world realize how fragile the human body is, and that awakened their survival instinct. Millions of new inventions were mass-produced each day, tested, perfected, and put in the market.
Amongst the mass-produced products were the robots. Humans abandoned jobs that they deemed unworthy to sacrifice their life for, however, they were vital for the city. For that reason, they resorted to using robots to fill out the menial tasks that keep the city running.
For the most part, things were running smoothly, all the prevention measures were working, businesses flourished again. New York was back to its previous glory and glamour, although not as jammed. The city overcame the burdens rather quickly, it regained overnight its status as ‘city of dreams’, a place where hopes and wishes became a reality.

(01)That was the case for M15. Visiting New York was a dream of his, one that he would realize today. At 5 am, he headed to the old station and took the ‘train’ to Hudson Yards. It was a dark and long ride, the train was barely used nowadays; ever since the new station was built, other modes of transportation were slowly abandoned.

(02)At noon, M15 arrived at his destination. He was feeling anxious, here he was defying the rules. “But no one would know”, he told himself. After all, robots looked the same, and no one bothered to check their serial number unless an accident occurred. Taking a deep breath, he climbed the stairs, looking forward to starting a new life.
The first sight that greeted M15 was the Vessel, which he could see through the screens. His dream was finally coming true. Hopeful, he continued up the steps, ready for his new life.

(03)He knew what to do now, he would blend in with the cleaning robots, tasked to clean the streets. They were many of them, his presence will not be detected. He started cleaning, no one paid him any mind.

(04/05/06/07)Day in, day out, he worked. He was content but was not yet satisfied. Something was missing, After all, he was only pretending to be part of the scenery. He wasn’t free, he couldn’t express himself.

(08)One day, he was mindlessly cleaning the screens. Suddenly, looking up he found himself standing below the vessel. The structure bewitched him, pulling him to visit it.

(09/10)At last, he entered the vessel. He stood still, what he saw amazed him. Looking up he could see the sky the buildings the greeneries and the people. To him, it looked like paradise, a safe haven that shelters him from the outside world.

(11)He stopped on the third floor. There, he could see the sunset, filtered through the vessel. He sat down, laid his feet on the rail, and enjoyed the scene. Bathed in gold rays, he looked at the world in a new light, filled with hope.

Link for VR images;
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1o1rrtiQoEIFnQE9DCAbpF6znnOYP4Tcs/view?usp=sharing

link for high-resolution images:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1NCXHsXyQF6CFh2a08VU8wdicFIuSjha3/view?usp=sharing

Thank you
Amer Farah

Architecture dilemma between Investment and life qualities

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Architecture has developed through the ages, especially after the world war-2 when we discovered ourselves as Urban communities that, war was no longer useful for us, from that point human started a new era, of being a bit more civilized than ever before, in terms of resources utilization and life qualities.
Imagining Architecture as a movie or a memory flash back, we see how the human urban development has reformed from horizontal expansion to vertical expansion pattern, as a methodology to maximize profits, and make the best use of our limited resources such as Lands (reachable-view-value-location-services) instead of the early urban Utopian cities that imagined heaven far from our life city centers, where we have less pollution and more greens, the lower building levels and higher quality life values.
In fact this is how i imagine Newyork in 20 years ! it’s not gonna be bad ! But not as bright, life within 20 years will not change that much but humans will keep trying to overcome the existing feeling of horizontal expansion (which is a must sooner or later to avoid congestion), taller, agile, glossy towers with connections, bridges and some of that, a life that will expand more and more vertically, to respond to our higher density withing the congested-remaining city, within its services, buildings and existing infrastructures.
On the other hand humanity will keep using our old infrastructure ! Because come on nothing changed yet ! But less light, less attention to the those old streets, less clean and unfinished works everywhere, A real contrast of old vs new life forms, different technologies but still seems familiar, like seeing nowadays an electric car, seems a normal car ! But with a closer look in sounds different it has no compositions, no drag no noise ! Its electric.
With the observatory in the middle i tried to imitate the attempt of contrast a soft new modern structure than penetrates the existing gap, the gap between the towers, it’s our way as human to breath, break the habits and make an impact, it’s our way to overcome the hardships and see through the dark ! Yet its still possible to beat the dark.
Finally, this vision may not be real, it is not positive too, and yet to know its just a theory, but due to our life today am kind of skeptical about its bright future, hope am not too dark, but with such a healthy skeptical dose towards the future we may have a brighter one, and thanks for allowing us to be in such a very ingenious and amazing challenge.
Mohamed Ahmed Mahfouz,

In the course of time

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We live in a temporary world, everything is threatened to change and be replaced. As humans, we are in need of stability which is why we keep looking for a place that will remain.
I believe that the Stockholm Public Library is one exemple of these places that shall remain. A landmark that will be ultimately recognized by the observer no matter how many years have passed.
In this image I capture this building in a far away future, where the whole surrounding have been replaced by high uncharacteristic skyscrapers. Although the library appears to have been renovated in an effort to merge it with the nearby style, its uniqueness is obvious.
On a cold winter morning, people run along the frozen river, on their way to the library, seeking shelther from the upcoming storm.Their eyes only seek the library and their souls seek the books inside. Those books are timeless, they are the key of the building’s immortality. There is no time for books, as they are a concrete representation of time passed. Therefore, there is no time for a library, it is everlasting. It is a place that remains.

Stockholm Public Library- Transitional Spaces

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Hi everyone, here are my final submissions for the competition. Feel free to leave me any comments, feedback, etc.

For this round of tertiary detail and texturing, I made heavy use of procedural dirt materials using Coronas AO node, as well as several techniques of layering materials with the Corona Layered Material. The people are all 2D and have been re-lit to match the scene lighting. All narrative elements are true to the concept board I posted earlier. Good luck to everyone!