Author Description

How might nanotechnology--the manipulation of matter at the level of atoms and molecules--change buildings and cities in the future? The authors of Barba have imagined one possible future, shaped by a miraculous nanomaterial of the same name, which can be steered and altered in real time, changing its shape and size at will. With Barba, the authors speculate, the built environment can be adapted almost immediately to every desire and every need. This volume, the latest in The Why Factory's Future Cities series, envisions the dramatic potential of nanomaterial to change cities and architecture in the not-so-distant future, further explored in a series of interactive experiments and installations. Part speculative architecture, part science fiction, Barba follows an inhabitant of this flexible future world for a day, daring the reader to imagine life in a fully adaptable environment.