FRAGILE CONFERENCE SINT LUCAS School of Architecture
Author: Albert Brenchat Aguilar Tutor: Eduardo de Miguel Arbonés
SEE THE OPPORTUNITY!
Keywords: temporality; territoriality; transitions; nomads; prefabrication Abstract: See the Opportunity! ‘We are at the edge of another world, it is tragic, and it is marvellous’. This statement, makes us feel conscious of the situation of the world in which we are living. As a consequence, our projects require, more than ever, new approaches which suit the land and the inhabitants who live in it. The discourse creates a definite project but not definitive: a Research Center in the Urbasa and Andía Biosphere Reserve. The Territoriality (the land) ‘Territorialize’ this space is to understand the fragility of the environment and the purposes of the programme, joining their affinities to work properly. The centre must be the main example of Preservation. Walking Through (the human being in the land) Any environment requires delicate approaches. Thus, it is radical to introduce the user in its ambience, to walk through it. The intervention aims to produce the necessary number of transitions to walk calmly and uninterruptedly from the dense beech forest until taking refuge in the antropologic space. The ‘Where’ will be found in these transitions. The Nomad in Society (the human being with his fellows) The perfect space for a child to grow up and, in consequence, for any human being in a delicate situation, should be a space where all of his/her fellows were feeling part of the total. The circle is the space containing this properties where we can find shelter more easily. ‘Il y aura l’âge des choses légères’ (the materialization) This is not the time for light materials, but the lightness of being. Thus, considering the location in which we are, and the imposed nomad’s way of life, I propose the prefabrication. We settle down and create the new life and the knowledge. Once it is finished we can leave this space and just our foundations and the knowledge will remain. This knowledge, is the outcome of the intervention. It will protect the area and support it, hence, it will reinforce all the beings around it.
FRAGILE CONFERENCE SINT LUCAS
Chapter 0: See the opportunity Perhaps (as nothing seems to be sure nowadays), this is the time for discussing the proposed topics by the organisation of the Fragile Conference. This context is ideal for two reasons: the first is, the global situation in which we are living. We feel fragile in a system Which is uncontrollable and incomprehensible. The world seems to have changed and most of us feel that we are out of place. Still confusing, our situation requires many analyses and debates in order to obtain new points of view so as to suffocate our unsafeness by knowledge. The second reason why the context is ideal is that the sector which the conference targets is the young. We are one of many groups subjugated by the system; however, we have the key to overcome to it. Our minds are still malleable and the ideas, which are going to be shared, let us do our bit for the whole. Avoiding doom watchers who for sure are not helpful, I turn my head and see those, who from the tragedy, are capable of showing enthusiasm and sharing their hope for our future. One of those is Paul Virilio. In the documentary that Stéphane Paoli dedicates to this philosopher, P. Virilio says that: ‘we are at the edge of another world, it means the world of totality [...] It is not sad, it is tragic, and it is marvellous and universal’. At the same time, he says that Winston Churchill said that ‘The optimist in the one who sees the opportunity in every difficulty’.
FRAGILE CONFERENCE SINT LUCAS
I have created this discourse as a consequence of my final degree project. The objective is to create a definite project but not definitive, I mean, the discourse will hold a conclusion, which has not the expectation of being universal but particular. The object of the project is a Research centre in the Biosphere Reserve in the Natural Park of Urbasa and AndĂa. It will be materialised in its construction inserted in the very natural forest. The problem that I am facing, stems from the addition of an antropogenic element into a natural entity, the one which wants to protect to. Such a complicated dilemma. For that reason, I decided to establish four chapters, which ease the decision-making. They shift from the land consideration to the materialization of the project, facing problems as the relationship between the land and the humans and the humans between each other. My thread is Montse, who in order to create a good architecture project for this space, decides to become a researcher in forestry and biology. She thinks over the land.
FRAGILE CONFERENCE SINT LUCAS
Chapter 1: The Territoriality (The land) Formulation: Montse walks through the land as many other times. She poses at the edge of the precipice and breathes. This is the space. Behind her remains the great flatland over the plateau and in front of her the large beech forest moulded by the course of the river Urederra, whose source is right below her. Over there, into that forest, she has to establish the antropologic entity. It will be placed there and will be gazed at and reflected upon. Emotion: She quivers observing the fragility of the land. The effect of any new construction over it could be demolishing. Her heart, which seeks short-term outcomes, tells her to leave it this way. Her mind, which wanders a little bit further, tells her that in order to protect the space she needs to study it, analyse it. In doing so she will be able to keep it this way for a long period.
FRAGILE CONFERENCE SINT LUCAS
Theory: She believes that construction must be ‘territorialised’ in the environment. It is true that it is often concluded from the discourse of François Roche that ‘territorialise’ architecture is in fact to melt it down in the land1. This concept should not be so limited. For instance, when we reflect on and try to comprehend the land and adapt ourselves to it, an image crosses our minds of a piece of architecture which continues the tradition, which blends in well with the land, being able to distinguish its contemporary nature so as not to create a false architecture which would correspond to another period of time. Montse suggests that an in situ attitude, in this case, is an attitude mainly related to the social and vital state of the land. The situation is neither asking a land cater for inhabitants nor a new settlement. It is just asking for knowledge. Semi-conclusion: Definitively, this space is not demanding a construction but a refuge where one can protect oneself whilst the knowledge is obtained. The land whispered it did not want to let anyone cater for inhabitants, but it would let her settle her little paws if it was worth for the outcome they were going to reap.
1
‘it is to extract form the landscape, urban or otherwise, the substance of a construction,
not only in comparison to the physical spaces inhabiting it but also the climate, materials, perceptions and affects...’ François Roche, Situation. Quaderns d’Arquitectura i Urbanisme, nº217, Colegi d’arquitectes de Catalunya, Barcelona 1997, p.96-113
FRAGILE CONFERENCE SINT LUCAS
o lo que sea.
Chapter 2: Walking Through (the human being in the land) Formulation: Montse knows that it is radical for her partners and visitors to comprehend the space they aim to protect; she has to make it easy. Is there any sense having a researcher staying in this land but enclosed within his refuge and surrounded just by books or experiments from the laboratory day after day? Could anyone understand a space unless he lives within it? Could anyone know what a mosquito is without having felt the pain of its bite? She understands that this is inconceivable Emotion: Therefore she needs to reflect on the place from different points of view. Sometimes, she needs a space related to the experimentation (outdoors, open air). Some others more related to the production (indoors, occluded air). And some other times she needs a space amidst, undefined, which includes all the variables between both spaces. She wants to be able to choose her space, which will be in accordance to what she is momentarily doing, to her emotional situation or whatever. In order to find this variety of spaces and even positions, she requires transitions. These transitions are her path of every journey. The path, as a basic expression of the route between two points is a sensory experiment for her. It exercises her connection with the environment. It sharpens her sight. It trains her ears. It strengthens her smell. It sensitizes her touch. It delights her taste. And she acquires new forms of sensitivity. All from different points of view and attitudes. 多Where might she reason better? For each moment it will depend on her state of mind, being capable of choosing from the interaction with the land to the protected contemplation.
FRAGILE CONFERENCE SINT LUCAS
Theory: She has understood this path since she met Japanese architecture. She remembers the time she gave a conference in a building created by a well-known Japanese architect. Her route from the visitors’ hall to the main conference hall was incredibly long. The lecturers’ room was so distant that she felt annoyed. Besides, she had to walk outside the buildings so as to enter an other. To make things worse the path was sinuous, and since she did not want to stain her shoes, she had to walk it from beginning to end. Little by little, she realised she was being too negative thinking that way so she tried to change and enjoy it as long as she could. She remembered the supporting words from her colleagues. She realised how stupid it was being nervous about such a situation. She smelled the aroma of lavender, and the recently mowed grass. Once she came round, she was completely immerse in the atmosphere. She was renewed and her five or more senses were completely active. She was ready to conquer the audience. Now she was really there. Semi-conclusion: The space should contain the necessary amount of transitions where any user could feel free to understand the space in multiple positions and points of view. In the environment there already exists elements that create these transitions. However, nature has not produced any towards the direction of an antropologic space, hence, Montse should create it by herself. Practice: The dense beech forest, which surrounds the path becomes a bridge and crosses the river. The path changes along its composition and the natural elements which bound it. Suddenly, the crowded forest has become into an orchard which precedes an empty field encircled by the beech trees. That orchard transforms the nature into the human scale. The field next to it was once an orchard. Montse decides to take advantage of it by drawing a series of patterns on the soil, presenting it in geometric forms. Afterwards she raises the soil in some places and lowers some other parts so as to create a social active space. Some geometric forms continue to grow until generating the urban natural furniture and some are so raised that finally they provide a protection for the user. All of a sudden, she is completely protected, keeping in touch with the land but from a distance. She has changed her point of view radically.
FRAGILE CONFERENCE SINT LUCAS
Chapter 3: Nomads in society (the human being with his fellows) Formulation: Montse remembered the speech of Andrés Perea1: ‘We are not anymore defined by where we live or where are we from but we are nomads seeking the way to survive’ and it seemed to her that it had quite a lot to do with what Paul Virilio said. Emotion: Once she arrives at the land for the first time, Montse leaves behind her lifestyle and belongings which she was used to. In doing so, she leaves a piece of herself. A new refuge and a new environment make her feel some unsafeness. From now on, just some goods such as photos, blankets or books are the memories she carries to make the new space something more familiar. Nevertheless, as a social being, she seeks shelter as soon as possible, even though she is obliged to change a part of herself in order to achieve comfort. She could even change basic habits for socialising. The new antropologic space can ease these last universal human needs. Theory: When she was a child, Montse studied in a school in Batán, Madrid, in the quiet neighbourhood of Extremadura, close to the Casa de Campo. The architect Javier Sáenz de Oíza2 had created, in that place, some circular spaces which hosted the students. Once the students entered in the classroom, they felt welcomed in a space which felt familiar yet they had no idea why. She and her mates were sitting around a central point, where the teacher explained the lessons helped with funny games. None of them were sitting behind each other, because there was neither in front nor behind. There was no distinction between them. From the first day, she felt it was easier than ever to get used to a place like this. She was happy, and she felt she was a part of the circle from the very first moment. 5
Andrés Perea, Construir el tiempo, Assembly hall of the ‘Colegio territorial de Arquitectos de Valencia’, 23 June 2011
6
Javier Sáenz de Oíza, architect in the Spanish post-war years, is one of the major architects form this period, influencing the contemporary architecture in this Country. Some of his masterpieces are the ‘Torres Blancas’ and the ‘Basílica de Aránzazu’. SÁENZ DE OIZA 1946-1988, El Croquis, nº 32-33, El Escorial, 2002
FRAGILE CONFERENCE SINT LUCAS
Semi-conclusion: In a space similar to Oiza’s one, the researchers, nomads in society with social needs, will rapidly find shelter. In doing so, they will be able to work comfortably and efficiently, from the day of their arrival. Practice: Adapting the theory, the spaces will be configured according to a basic scheme: Firstly there appears a filter and access (pause), which lets them control the whole space and analyse it; secondly, the space for action and social development, central, empty, as most of the utopian spaces (play)1; finally, the space around it, for production and creation (stop). Practice 2: The circular spaces are not so easily built (partly as a result of the arguments developed in chapter four). She chooses a regular geometric form since it will result in an easier way to expand the building, adapt to the natural forms and to its own aggregation2. A hexagonal space is the regular geometric form with higher number of edges whose aggregation does not generate interstices. It enhances three directions of action and six senses, which adapts to the natural contours. In doing so it generates an scheme valid for outdoors, indoors, and the transitional spaces.
This empty space in the centre as a ideal refuge is a common feature in the most of utopian spaces that Louis Marin analyses from the Utopía of Tomás Moro. Beatriz Preciado suggests for example, that the swimming pool in the Playboy Mansion is another empty space in the middle of the utopia, an architectonical womb. From my point of view, the architectonical womb is more a space where we feel safeguarded and from where we have all our need supplied. This quietness means the control and the security needed so as to develop us. PRECIADO, Beatriz, Pornotopía, Arquitectura y Sexualidad en ‘Playboy’ durante la Guerra Fría, Anagrama, Barcelona, 2010 2 Jose Antonio Corrales y Ramón Vázquez y Molezún, create in 1958 the Spanish pavilion for the World’s fair in Brussels. This pavilion has influenced in this geometric conception and whose arguments (given by J.A. Corrales) are unarguable. Pabellón de España en la Exposición Universal de Bruselas 1958, Arquitecturas Ausentes del siglo XX. Rueda, Madrid, 2004 1
FRAGILE CONFERENCE SINT LUCAS
Chapter 4: Il y aura l’âge des choses légères1 (the materialization) Formulation: Taking into account the fact she desired a space which was: temporary, with slightly construction impact, transitionally dissolved into the land, central and hexagonal, she had to resort to the prefabrication, the architecture of the screw. In doing so, once it was built she could create a new life, which would generate the knowledge and, at the same time, the preservation of the land. Once that knowledge was acquired and safeguarded, she could make the antropogenic life disappear, dismantle the construction, and just the foundations below the soil and the knowledge over it would remain. Emotion: Montse came back to the border of the precipice and breathed. It was twenty years ago when she first arrived to this land. Sadly they encountered two arsons, an attempt for illegal logging and continuous lacks of funds. However they counted on the collaboration of the inhabitants, some funds provided by small contributors and gentle hikers and visitors who valued their efforts. This was worth doing it. Finally the space had the deserved protection. Theory: ‘And there will arrive the age of light things’, not about the lightness of the materials but the one related to life. As nomads in society, not just our lifestyles have to change. The concept we have about the real states should evolve. The buildings must be considered in some cases as nomads like us.
1
Thierry Kazazian, Il y aura l’âge des choses légères, Victoires editions, 2003
FRAGILE CONFERENCE SINT LUCAS
Practice: The building was settled and dismantled exactly as she had imagined. Once they had installed the foundations, they obtained the wood from producers in the area, who log the Scots pine certifying its responsibility towards the environment. The pieces arrived little by little: firstly there arrived the supports and joints. Afterwards arrived the horizontal elements to balance the structure. Then, the wood caissons, the screws and plates which, when assembled, formed the framework, and the stress tensors which would unify them and provide stability. After that, the wooden panelling and the ceramic panelling for the faรงades and the tiles for the roof work. Finally they received the glasses, frames and installations, which were remaining for assembly in the structure. Later there arrived the required furniture. The researchers brought the computers, books and more equipment and belongings. Practice 2: That all was twenty years ago. Currently, she was staring at the workers dismantling the building. The researchers had taken the books and archives. The workers were removing the tiles and the ceramic panelling. They were dismantling the installations and safeguarding the reusable ones, whilst piling the useless ones to recycle them. They unscrewed the framework and took the stress tensors. They picked up the supports and left the foundations below the soil and the knowledge over it. Conclusion: This reminiscence, this knowledge, is the outcome of the intervention. It will protect the area, it will strengthen it, protecting its fragility and as a result, it will reinforce the users and human beings around it.
FRAGILE CONFERENCE SINT LUCAS
Bibliography Paul Virilio, Penser la Vitesse. Stéphane Paoli, France, 2009 François Roche, Situation. Quaderns d’Arquitectura i Urbanisme, nº217, Colegi d’arquitectes de Catalunya, Barcelona 1997, p.96-113 Andrés Perea, Construir el tiempo, Assembly hall of the ‘Colegio territorial de Arquitectos de Valencia’, 23 June 2011 Various authors, SÁENZ DE OIZA 1946-1988, El Croquis, nº 32-33, El Escorial, 2002 Beatriz Preciado, Pornotopía, Arquitectura y Sexualidad en ‘Playboy’ durante la Guerra Fría, Anagrama, Barcelona, 2010 Jose Antonio Corrales, Pabellón de España en la Exposición Universal de Bruselas 1958, Arquitecturas Ausentes del siglo XX. Rueda, Madrid, 2004 Thierry Kazazian, Il y aura l’âge des choses légères, Victoires editions, 2003
FRAGILE CONFERENCE SINT LUCAS
Notes 1 Paul Virilio, Penser la Vitesse. Stéphane Paoli, France, 2009 2 ’It is to extract form the landscape, urban or otherwise, the substance of a construction, not only in comparison to the physical spaces inhabiting it but also the climate, materials, perceptions and affects...’ François Roche, Situation. Quaderns d’Arquitectura i Urbanisme, nº217, Colegi d’arquitectes de Catalunya, Barcelona 1997, p.96-113 3 Andrés Perea, Construir el tiempo, Assembly hall of the ‘Colegio territorial de Arquitectos de Valencia’, 23 June 2011 4 Javier Sáenz de Oíza, architect in the Spanish post-war years, is one of the major architects form this period, influencing the contemporary architecture in this Country. Some of his masterpieces are the ‘Torres Blancas’ and the ‘Basílica de Aránzazu’. SÁENZ DE OIZA 1946-1988, El Croquis, nº 32-33, El Escorial, 2002 5 This empty space in the centre as a ideal refuge is a common feature in the most of utopian spaces that Louis Marin analyses from the Utopía of Tomás Moro. Beatriz Preciado suggests for example, that the swimming pool in the Playboy Mansion is another empty space in the middle of the utopia, an architectonical womb. From my point of view, the architectonical womb is more a space where we feel safeguarded and from where we have all our need supplied. This quietness means the control and the security needed so as to develop us. Beatriz Preciado, Pornotopía, Arquitectura y Sexualidad en ‘Playboy’ durante la Guerra Fría, Anagrama, Barcelona, 2010 6 Jose Antonio Corrales y Ramón Vázquez y Molezún, create in 1958 the Spanish pavilion for the World’s fair in Brussels. This pavilion has influenced in this geometric conception and whose arguments (given by J.A. Corrales) are unarguable. Jose Antonio Corrales, Pabellón de España en la Exposición Universal de Bruselas 1958, Arquitecturas Ausentes del siglo XX. Rueda, Madrid, 2004 7 Thierry Kazazian, Il y aura l’âge des choses légères, Victoires editions, 2003