THE JURY

摘要

In February this yearthe AJ launched #goingunderground, an imaginative design competition in partnership with structural waterproofing manufacturer RIW. The task was simple: entrants were asked to choose a landmark British building or structure-the Houses of Parliament for example, or the Angel of the North -and propose an underground projectto sit beneath it.The proposals could be political, witty, off-the-wall, or-for the braver competitors-maybe even practical. The response was nothing if not varied. Entries were virtually impossible to compare. So, as a guide for the jury-which included AJ editor Rory Olcayto and Make's Ken Shuttleworth -an essay by the late, great Philip K Dick was cited. Dick is the science-fiction writer whose stories inspired Hollywood movies including Blade Runner, Total Recall and Minority Report. In 1978 he gave a lecture entitled How to Build a Universe That Doesn't Fall Apart Two Days Later. Among its many messages was this very simple observation: if a fiction of any kind -a short story, a drawing, an architectural idea-obeys the rules it has setfor itself, then the story, or world, it creates, will be coherent and can be considered viable, or even 'real'.