week 13_the dance floor

The most important aspect to think about with this design was how a future dance floor would work. I began with looking at the traditional dance which is single plane, then what if you could create and multi-plane dance floor which brought me to a piece of artwork by Escher which explored relativity.

 The idea was to explore if anti-gravity could be explored. I first decided to look at how centrifugal force could create an anti-gravity dance floor.

 Unfortunately, this idea was quickly scrapped as while you could be fixed to a vertical surface during the rotation while it is spinning the amount of force on the person would not allow them to freely move around and dance.

During the final tutorial Ruwan called to my attention 'quantum locking' or levitation. This experiment which is still in its early days could be adapted to work for a dance floor.

week 13_idea for video intro

I wanted to do a introduction video that would easily explain all the important events that have lead to our predicted future in 2032. I liked the prologue from Baz Luhrman's Romeo and Juliet and used this as a precedence to create the video.

week 12_future speculation

This diagram from Future Files and What's Next will help in forming a base for the future nightclub scenario.

It shows current trends in technology categorised into several different aspects and shows where these might lead to in 50 years time.

week 11_ mcdonalds

Sociologist George Ritzer wrote a book called the McDonaldization of Society which analysed the characteristics of the popular fast food chain. Ritzer noted 5 primary components of McDonaldization:

1. Efficiency
2. Calculability
3. Predictability
4. Control
5. Culture

McDonalds is a large and very successful corporation because of these 5 elements. These elements will be used to create the same model for this future nightclub. 

week 10_history of nightclubs

I thought it important to look at the history of nightclubs as this will help form the basis for speculating what will be happening in the future. While both looking at the history of nightclubs in general it was also important to look at the history of them in Brisbane.

Venues classified as nightclubs did not appear until the early 20th century.

1920s
Live jazz and song venues, selling alcohol.

1930s
Dancing girls performing burlesque routines, magicians, freak shows and comedy 'vaudeville' or variety.
Prohibition in America saw 'underground' clubs become popular. 

1940s
Not many changes during World War II

1950s
Post world war - youth culture flourished with fashion and music
Expansion of jazz and swing.

Brisbane - Cloudland atop Bowen Hills
              - Live entertainment was illegal on Sundays

1960s
Going to venues to listen and dance to rock and roll music by live bands and DJs (disc jockeys).
The introduction of the modern nightclub known as 'discotheques.'

1970s
Rapid growth for nightclubs with new rhythmic music emerged into the disco

Brisbane - Discotheques; Pacestters, Lloyd's Lounge Bar

1980s
Large range of music styles emerged including garage, goth, house, indie, raga and techno.
Speciality nightclubs emerged due to the many different genres of music.

Brisbane - Hair parades in Fortitude Valley
              - Clubs; The Roxy, Terminus
              - The New York Hotel where the Myer Centre now stands

1990s
Mainstream pop, house and techno became the norm in nightclubs.
Higher number of students were attending nightclubs more frequently.

Brisbane - The Valley and The City split as two different night life destinations
              - Fortitude Valley post Fitzgerald inquiry saw emergence in grungy alternative culture
              - The Bickle family (Katarzyna Group), began staking a claim in The Valley with purchases of The Press Club and The Empire Hotel.

2000s
New styles of music; dub-step, RnB and electro.

2010s
Smaller intimate bars emerged with target user groups (the uber cool, hipster).