"It may be that we have become so worthless as a people that we no longer care how things do work, but only what kind of quick, easy outer impression they give; If so, there is little hope for our cities or probably for much else in our society." – Jane Jacobs

Alongside leaders from Toronto’s media, architecture and building industry, Richard Witt presented a PechaKucha at the Annual BILD and Toronto Star Breakfast this past December. The fast paced 20-slide presentation was an exploration of the authenticity of our built environment and the increasingly important role of technological innovation in the design process to help ensure a quality social life is not lost.

Click here to view a video of the talk is now available online.

For background on the presentation, we share its original abstract in full below.

Embedding Authenticity: Technological innovation and the design process.

In an age of quickly digestible imagery, and demand for ever-changing standout expression, the authenticity of our cities, buildings and places are in question. The bombardment of visuals, catchwords and sound bite representations of what our aspirations should be has infiltrated our perceptions of a quality social life, in turn influencing how places are designed and built.

Combined with world-wide urbanisation, social life is being lost in the mix. Digital media and technology are not the culprits, in fact, the opposite is true. Technological innovations in 3D printing and building information modeling (BIM), alongside traditional tools can drive the design process of our new cities, assuring that comprehensive living accompanies the intriguing forms we have come to expect.