History Main / SpaceBrasilia

In speculative fiction, the architecture of alien species will often be oddly uniform across the board, with no variations owing to different styles being in fashion at different times, local environment or available materials. Might also apply to futuristic human cultures: it is rare to see a future city with architecture from different periods side by side, despite this being the norm in real life. Of course, while real-life housing developments are uniform in style and age, one does not usually build entire cities from scratch like this. One notable exception is the city of Brasilia, which was built quickly in a uniform Modernist style to be a new showcase capital for Brazil (as were UsefulNotes/WashingtonDC, [[UsefulNotes/{{Australia}} Canberra]] and, even earlier, St.Petersburg) and has been criticized for its bland and antiseptic appearance (as the others named [[TrueArtIsAncient had been when]] ''[[TrueArtIsAncient their]]'' [[TrueArtIsAncient prevailing architecture was dated but not yet antique]]). See the "Future City" section at [[http://davidszondy.com/future/city/futurecity.htm Tales of Future Past]] for more on this. Not to be confused with DaysOfFuturePast.

In speculative fiction, the architecture of alien species will often be oddly uniform across the board, with no variations owing to different styles being in fashion at different times, local environment or available materials. Might also apply to futuristic human cultures: it is rare to see a future city with architecture from different periods side by side, despite this being the norm in real life. Of course, while real-life housing developments are uniform in style and age, one does not usually build entire cities from scratch like this. One notable exception is the city of Brasilia, which was built quickly in a uniform Modernist style to be a new showcase capital for Brazil (as were WashingtonDC, [[UsefulNotes/{{Australia}} Canberra]] and, even earlier, St.Petersburg) and has been criticized for its bland and antiseptic appearance (as the others named [[TrueArtIsAncient had been when]] ''[[TrueArtIsAncient their]]'' [[TrueArtIsAncient prevailing architecture was dated but not yet antique]]). See the "Future City" section at [[http://davidszondy.com/future/city/futurecity.htm Tales of Future Past]] for more on this. Not to be confused with DaysOfFuturePast.

* [[PlayingWithATrope Played with]] in ''TheCulture'' novels by IainBanks, where the architecture of different civilizations are suggested as being representative of their cultures in different ways. The neo-imperial Azadian cities in ''The Player of Games'' are described as sprawling masses of construction, decay, and reconstitution, as though the entire civilization were a massive bacterial colony grown too large for its Petri dish, while most socially and technologically mature societies, of which form the communistic Culture represents an ideal, tend to manufacture habitats as concerted projects to meet specific well-understood needs, so that Culture ships and space habitats favour a simplified, flexible architecture that nevertheless contains immense microscopic diversity in the way individual species, subcultures, and populations customize the minimalist designs of their habitats to suit their living preferences and aesthetic interests[[hottip:*:in fact, the Culture (and Banks), take great pleasure in this fact of utilitarian solidarity in diversity, it's one of the main points of the books]].

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* Averted in ''{{Metropolis}},'' where Rotwang's laboratory is in an old Gothic church [[TheConstant still standing]] among the futuristic skyscrapers.

* Averted in {{Alastair Reynolds}}' Revelation Space series, particularly by the shantytown-like cities on Sky's Edge. The "historical" buildings were actually often built from cargo containers and prefabricated materials and the newer ones are more natural. Most town squares in the oldest cities of Sky's Edge have a triangular shape, since they were built around the triangular atmospheric shuttles that brought the colonists to the planet's surface from the orbiting GenerationShip. Also, in the same series, Chasm City on the planet Yellowstone has enough variability in its architectural history, even though it's a typical high-tech metropolis.

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* The {{Lois McMaster Bujold}} novel ''[[VorkosiganSaga Brothers in Arms]]'' describes future London as averting this, being a weird mixture of architectural styles. [[FutureImperfect Creepily]], when the style of "old London" is described, it is a late 20th century style, implying that all of the older architecture London is currently known for no longer exists. Given that the same book mentioned ''submarine rides on the lake Los Angeles'' it's safe to assume that Earth survived ''a lot'', and [[EarthThatUsedToBeBetter not all of it was pretty]]. The planet Barrayar is described in similar fashion. The capital of Vorbarr Sultana is a mishmash of old and new architecture, while newer cities like Hassadar are pure SpaceBrasilia.

A special case of PlanetOfHats: it would usually be too much work to give an alien species or future humans more than one architectural style. The ShiningCity is usually described like this.

* The {{Lois McMaster Bujold}} novel ''[[VorkosiganSaga Brothers in Arms]]'' describes future London as averting this, being a weird mixture of architectural styles. [[FutureImperfect Creepily]], when the style of "old London" is described, it is a late 20th century style, implying that all of the older architecture London is currently known for no longer exists. Given that the same book mentioned ''submarine rides on the lake Los Angeles'' it's safe to assume that Earth survived ''a lot'', and [[EarthThatUsedToBeBetter not all of it was pretty]]. The planet Barrayar is described in similar fashion. The capital of Vorbarr Sultana is a mishmash of old and new architecture, while newer cities like Hassadar are pure SpaceBrasilia.
* Averted in {{Alastair Reynolds}}' Revelation Space series, particularly by the shantytown-like cities on Sky's Edge. The "historical" buildings were actually often built from cargo containers and prefabricated materials and the newer ones are more natural. Most town squares in the oldest cities of Sky's Edge have a triangular shape, since they were built around the triangular atmospheric shuttles that brought the colonists to the planet's surface from the orbiting GenerationShip. Also, in the same series, Chasm City on the planet Yellowstone has enough variability in its architectural history, even though it's a typical high-tech metropolis.

* In ''MassEffect'', when you visit the last planet in the game, you are able to see a ruined Prothean tower off in the distance. It seems to be identical in style to the skyscrapers on Feros, a distant planet where the environmental conditions seemed quite different.
** But both are built by the Protheans, who apparently only had one style of architecture, and certainly developed enough technology to build in that style anywhere they wanted.

* Can happen in the ''Rush Hour'' expansion to ''SimCity 4'': you can choose from the six styles of building that will show up in your city; these are by default set to cycle every five years. This can lead to a fair number of very large neighborhoods looking very, very similar. However, you can change things up: in one direction, you can have the architectural styles build all at once; if you find that it makes things a bit ''too'' weird, you can keep the cycle but set it to change faster (e.g. once a year), which creates smaller single-style neighborhoods (which is actually mildly realistic for an expanding city). On the other hand, you can also slow the cycle or even ban up to five styles outright (if you like the Brasilia effect).

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* The CityInABottle in ''WesternAnimation/AeonFlux'' was almost''filmed'' in Brasilia, but due to infra-estructure problems they decided for Berlin and Potsdam, Germany.

* ''MirrorsEdge'', [[EverythingIsAnIPodInYheFuture of course]].

* The CityInABottle in ''WesternAnimation/AeonFlux'' was almost''filmed'' in Brasilia, but due to infra-estructure problems they decided for Berlin and Postdam, Germany.

Compare CrystalSpiresAndTogas, AdvancedAncientAcropolis, CityOfGold. Contrast UsedFuture, TheConstant. Space Brasilia will often be more [[CrapsaccharineWorld cynical]] and filled with [[AlienGeometries inhuman]] [[{{Bizarrchitecture}} concrete architecture]], {{Futuristic Superhighway}}s, and creepy lawns. Compare {{Zeerust}}. Our heroes will long to return to the {{Arcadia}} of good old planet Earth, which is ''never'' StepfordSuburbia.

In speculative fiction, the architecture of alien species will often be oddly uniform across the board, with no variations owing to different styles being in fashion at different times, local environment or available materials. Might also apply to futuristic human cultures: it is rare to see a future city with architecture from different periods side by side, despite this being the norm in real life. Of course, while real-life housing developments are uniform in style and age, one does not usually build entire cities from scratch like this. One notable exception is the city of Brasilia, which was built quickly in a uniform Modernist style to be a new showcase capital for Brazil (as were WashingtonDC and [[UsefulNotes/{{Australia}} Canberra]]) and has been criticized for its bland and antiseptic appearance (as the others named [[TrueArtIsAncient had been when]] ''[[TrueArtIsAncient their]]'' [[TrueArtIsAncient prevailing architecture was dated but not yet antique]]). See the "Future City" section at [[http://davidszondy.com/future/city/futurecity.htm Tales of Future Past]] for more on this. Not to be confused with DaysOfFuturePast.

[[folder:FIlm]]

* Averted in ''TheInexplicableAdventuresOfBob,'' where we've seen a few different sets of alien buildings. The Fleenians' buildings are mostly [[http://bobadventures.comicgenesis.com/d/20100302.html boxes or pyramids.]] The [[OurDragonsAreDifferent dragons,]] being borderline SpaceAmish, are said not to build very many structures, but because they're [[GiantFlyer giant fliers,]] such buildings as they do erect tend to be very [[http://bobadventures.comicgenesis.com/d/20091128.html big and tall]] (but in the ancient past, they did have [[http://bobadventures.comicgenesis.com/d/20100518.html true cities).]] The one Nemesite city we've seen had [[http://bobadventures.comicgenesis.com/d/20100828.html weird, soaring, curvilinear structures.]]
* While a JackKirby futurescape is immediately recognizable as such, he was certainly capable of varying it. Certainly nobody would mistake a picture of [[NewGods Supertown for one of Armaghetto.]]

* The CityInABottle in ''WesternAnimation/AeonFlux'' was almost''filmed'' in Brasilia, but due to infra-estructure problems they decided for Berlin and Postdam, Germany.
* In ''MassEffect'', when you visit the last planet in the game, you are able to see a ruined Prothean tower off in the distance. It seems to be identical in style to the skyscrapers on Feros, a distant planet where the environmental conditions seemed quite different.
** But both are built by the Protheans, who apparently only had one style of architecture, and certainly developed enough technology to build in that style anywhere they wanted.
* [[strike:Subverted]] Averted to a ridiculous extent in ''Film/BladeRunner''. The mixture of architectural styles is pretty much realistic, apart from the notable lack of air-conditioning. But the streets filled with uniformly '50s style cars while futuristic spinners zoom overhead ?
* ''MinorityReport'' also averts this by being pretty effective at depicting a world with a variety of architecture of different ages and styles.
** This is actually a plot point at the very beginning.

* The {{Lois McMaster Bujold}} novel ''[[VorkosiganSaga Brothers in Arms]]'' describes future London as averting this, being a weird mixture of architectural styles. [[FutureImperfect Creepily]], when the style of "old London" is described, it is a late 20th century style, implying that all of the older architecture London is currently known for no longer exists.
** Given that the same book mentioned ''submarine rides on the lake Los Angeles'' it's safe to assume that Earth survived ''a lot'', and [[EarthThatUsedToBeBetter not all of it was pretty]].
** The planet Barrayar is described in similar fashion. The capital of Vorbarr Sultana is a mishmash of old and new architecture, while newer cities like Hassadar are pure SpaceBrasilia.
* It's possible to avert this or play this straight in ''{{Spore}}'', since you can choose similar buildings for every colony, or have each planet with it's own unique style.
* Averted in ''{{Metropolis}},'' where Rotwang's laboratory is in an old Gothic church [[TheConstant still standing]] among the futuristic skyscrapers.
* Can happen in the ''Rush Hour'' expansion to ''SimCity 4'': you can choose from the six styles of building that will show up in your city; these are by default set to cycle every five years. This can lead to a fair number of very large neighborhoods looking very, very similar. However, you can change things up: in one direction, you can have the architectural styles build all at once; if you find that it makes things a bit ''too'' weird, you can keep the cycle but set it to change faster (e.g. once a year), which creates smaller single-style neighborhoods (which is actually mildly realistic for an expanding city). On the other hand, you can also slow the cycle or even ban up to five styles outright (if you like the Brasilia effect).
* ''MirrorsEdge'', of course.
* Kryptonian architecture in the {{Superman}} comics. Also in different incarnations of the Bottle City of Kandor.
* Averted in ''TheInexplicableAdventuresOfBob,'' where we've seen a few different sets of alien buildings. The Fleenians' buildings are mostly [[http://bobadventures.comicgenesis.com/d/20100302.html boxes or pyramids.]] The [[OurDragonsAreDifferent dragons,]] being borderline SpaceAmish, are said not to build very many structures, but because they're [[GiantFlyer giant fliers,]] such buildings as they do erect tend to be very [[http://bobadventures.comicgenesis.com/d/20091128.html big and tall]] (but in the ancient past, they did have [[http://bobadventures.comicgenesis.com/d/20100518.html true cities).]] The one Nemesite city we've seen had [[http://bobadventures.comicgenesis.com/d/20100828.html weird, soaring, curvilinear structures.]]
* While a JackKirby futurescape is immediately recognizable as such, he was certainly capable of varying it. Certainly nobody would mistake a picture of [[NewGods Supertown for one of Armaghetto.]]

* In ''Series/DoctorWho'', Zoe comes from the [[{{Zeerust}} space-age 21st century future]]. The only time we see her home city, it fits this trope (and, indeed, the original script suggested Brasilia as a model).

* The CityInABottle in ''AeonFlux'' was almost''filmed'' in Brasilia, but due to infra-estructure problems they decided for Berlin and Postdam, Germany.

* [[strike:Subverted]] Averted to a ridiculous extent in ''BladeRunner''. The mixture of architectural styles is pretty much realistic, apart from the notable lack of air-conditioning. But the streets filled with uniformly '50s style cars while futuristic spinners zoom overhead ?

* The CityInABottle in ''AeonFlux'' was almost''filmed'' in Brasilia, but due to infra-estructure problems they decided for Berlin and Postdan, Germany.

* The CityInABottle in ''AeonFlux'' was actually ''filmed'' in Brasilia.

* [[PlayingWithATrope Played with]] in TheCulture novels by IainBanks, where the architecture of different civilizations are suggested as being representative of their cultures in different ways. The neo-imperial Azadian cities in ''The Player of Games'' are described as sprawling masses of construction, decay, and reconstitution, as though the entire civilization were a massive bacterial colony grown too large for its Petri dish, while most socially and technologically mature societies, of which form the communistic Culture represents an ideal, tend to manufacture habitats as concerted projects to meet specific well-understood needs, so that Culture ships and space habitats favour a simplified, flexible architecture that nevertheless contains immense microscopic diversity in the way individual species, subcultures, and populations customize the minimalist designs of their habitats to suit their living preferences and aesthetic interests[[hottip:*:in fact, the Culture (and Banks), take great pleasure in this fact of utilitarian solidarity in diversity, it's one of the main points of the books]].

* [[strike:Subverted]] Averted to a ridiculous extent in ''Blade Runner''. The mixture of architectural styles is pretty much realistic, apart from the notable lack of air-conditioning. But the streets filled with uniformly '50s style cars while futuristic spinners zoom overhead ?

* Averted in ''{{Metropolis}},'' where Rotwang's laboratory is in an old Gothic church still standing among the futuristic skyscrapers.

* Averted in {{Alastair Reynolds}}' Revelation Space series, particularly by the shantytown-like cities on Sky's Edge. Most town squares in the oldest cities of Sky's Edge have a triangular shape, since they were built around the triangular atmospheric shuttles that brought the colonists to the planet's surface from the orbiting GenerationShip. Also, in the same series, Chasm City on the planet Yellowstone has enough variability in its architectural history, even though it's a typical high-tech metropolis.

* Averted in {{Alastair Reynolds}}' Revelation Space series, particularly by the shantytown-like cities on Sky's Edge. Chasm City on the planet Yellowstone also has enough variability in its architectural history, even though it's a typical high-tech metropolis.

In speculative fiction, the architecture of alien species will often be oddly uniform across the board, with no variations owing to different styles being in fashion at different times, local environment or available materials. Might also apply to futuristic human cultures: it is rare to see a future city with architecture from different periods side by side, despite this being the norm in real life. Of course, while real-life housing developments are uniform in style and age, one does not usually build entire cities from scratch like this. One notable exception is the city of Brasilia, which was built quickly in a uniform style to be a new showcase capital for Brazil (as were WashingtonDC and [[UsefulNotes/{{Australia}} Canberra]]) and has been criticized for its bland and antiseptic appearance (as the others named [[TrueArtIsAncient had been when]] ''[[TrueArtIsAncient their]]'' [[TrueArtIsAncient prevailing architecture was dated but not yet antique]]). See the "Future City" section at [[http://davidszondy.com/future/city/futurecity.htm Tales of Future Past]] for more on this. Not to be confused with DaysOfFuturePast.

* In ''DoctorWho'', Zoe comes from the [[{{Zeerust}} space-age 21st century future]]. The only time we see her home city, it fits this trope (and, indeed, the original script suggested Brasilia as a model).

* Averted in Alastair Reynolds' Revelation Space, particularly by the shantytown-like cities on Sky's Edge. Chasm City on the planet Yellowstone also has enough variability in its architectural history, even though it's a typical high-tech metropolis.