Modern Urban Architecture: The Standard Box Buildings

1. The title of chosen TED Talk is: “Urban architecture inspired by mountains, clouds and volcanoes”.
2. The speaker is Ma Yansong who is a modern Chinese architect and artist. The date of the TED Talk is July 2019. It has received 406,078 views.
3. The thesis of the speaker’s speech was that modern urban architecture should be integrated into the natural landscape.
4. The main point of the speaker is that modern urban architecture is standard box buildings that violate the harmony of man and nature. He continues the discussion by illustrating architectural projects that take into account the natural landscape and are designed with it in mind. The speaker explains that such buildings allow people to diversify their daily activities, as well as observe nature, even in the city, which has a positive effect on well-being.
5. The speaker uses a problem-solution organizational pattern offering the audience an existing problem and its solution. In particular, he argues that modern box buildings make people less happy in the city. The speaker further proposes a solution in the form of architecture integrated into the natural landscape.
6. The speaker illustrated his assumptions with real projects exceptionally well, which not only makes his speech convincing but also declares his expertise in the field. In addition, the speaker perfectly managed to structure his speech, starting from the statement of the problem, explaining its importance, describing the process of finding a solution, and presenting results.
7. Criticism towards the speaker may lie in the fact that he offers an abstract concept. In particular, he illustrates the solution with the example of expensive public buildings that require significant financial investments. However, he does not explain how, in perspective, the idea of ​​natural architecture could be applied to all urban buildings. Thus, it is not clear to the audience how this concept can significantly change their daily life.
8. The intended audience of this speech is the general public living in modern urban areas.

Reference

Yansong, M. (2019). Urban architecture inspired by mountains, clouds and volcanoes [Video]. TED Conferences. Web.