The Top Up City #2

Hand-sketched by Studio NousNous founder Hakim, The Top Up City is part of a seven-year exploration of future urban landscapes. This artwork contrasts nature-integrated designs with cities overwhelmed by buildings, where nature struggles to reclaim space. It also examines how future AI architects, working within data parameters and relying on vast information, attempt to design fundamentally strong structures. Yet, fitting these designs into a human-scale city proves challenging due to the emotional aspects of spaces—those shaped by intangible moments and the aura of a place, the genius loci, that AI struggles to capture.