So what about reality?

At the turn of the millennium, transReal was published. The back cover read: «The term <reality> is becoming ever blurrier [...] is there a critical potential for architects to focus on everyday life in order to escape the boundlessness of today's world full of simulations, or should one focus on the infinite possibilities of this new world?»

Well, a lot has happened in the last 18 years and we now feel the urge to tackle this subject once again, as reality appears ever blurrier.

Today, the idea of automatising architectural design no longer appears impossible. Many architecture schools are being restructured in order to better respond to current market forces. Digitalisation is pushed and developed from profitability. The everyday is now interlaced with a new world of simulation, and the possibility of untangling this complexity seems futile. Similarly, fiction and non-fiction blend into an unintelligible mass, where the result is an entirely new product.

Our current reality is no longer determined merely by philosophical or phenomenological definitions, but has the ability to shapeshift and evolve. The protective bubble of the architecture school must be pierced, and we must remove this veil of abstraction that envelops us. It is our duty as students to be aware of our surroundings, and to understand  the tools of today's realities, so that we can not only apply them, but also critically question them. If we are able to increase our awareness in the now, we may be able to reflect on our future with more care. It might lead us to open our eyes and think about completely different possibilities in architecture.