Hill City, an architecture for the year 2000

Justus Dahinden (1925–2020) was a Swiss architect who developed a sensory approach to architecture. Aware of architecture’s physical and mental influence on individuals, he lamented the neglect of the spiritual and social essence of humankind within the built environment.
In the 1950s, he challenged functionalism and sought to harness technological advances to serve his holistic vision. Inspired by Archigram and the Metabolists, Justus Dahinden presented ‘Hill City’, an architectural project for the 2000s. It is an urban model based on a circular structure combining autonomous housing units (both permanent and temporary) made from prefabricated elements with infrastructure designed to enhance mobility, communication and leisure. These modules are integrated into a lightweight megastructure, giving the whole an architectural style that lies at the crossroads between Eastern nomadic dwellings and Western pop imagery. His theoretical work lies somewhere between ancestral utopia and a neo-vernacular form.