Bodø Kunstakademiet by Adam McFall

â&#x20AC;&#x153; Architecture should frame the beauty of nature. â&#x20AC;?

- Sami Rintala

Contents.

ENCLOSE

SIGHT

FOLD

PROJECT STATEMENT

INTERFACE BETWEEN ENCLOSURE AND ENCLOSED

SEEING AND LOOKING

STAGED EVOLUTION

EPILOGUE

ENCLOSING AN ARCHITECTURE

VISUAL ADJACENCY

MATERIALITY OF THE FOLD

MATERIAL OF ENCLOSURE

VISUAL POROSITY

Project Statement. DESIGN REPORT / CONSTRUCTING A NARRATIVE

BODØ KUSTAKADEMIET

This design report has been designed as a series of short, interconnected visual essays which touch on various aspects of the design process, while framing a larger discussion about the issues which this project addresses. This document is split into three main chapters, or ‘containers’, each comprising a number of more detailed, specific discussions. These chapters, Enclose, Sight and Fold are both conceptual and tectonic in nature. They help to frame the core ideas which have contributed to the project.

Bodø Kunstakademiet, or Bodø Art Academy, is a collection of buildings on the water’s edge in Bodø, Norway. Initially comprising a number of small, existing structures, the organisation grew slowly - however after a large grant from the Bodø Kommune, the academy was able to create its own, distinct mark on the fabric of the city. This mark comes in the form of the buildings which comprise this project, the first of which is detailed in this document - the main studio, workshop and gallery building. The building is located on a carpark gap site on the waterfront at Nord Torv, at the intersection of Torvgata and Sjøgata. The scheme leverages an existing city block, building onto and extending the urban grain of the city.

These visual essays bridge a number of scales, and touch on topics such as site research, conceptual development, refinement of an architectural language, tectonics and material study.

PHASE 0 After the establishment of the Kunstakademiet the existing car park gap site at Nord Torv and the post-war corner block are parcelled and signed over to the college’s estate. The existing car park is demolished, and the corner block refitted as a gallery.

EXISTING CAR PARK

PHASE 1 Struggling due to lack of resources, the Nord Torv site is developed by the college. A studio building is built to house the core teaching facilities. A brick tower and ‘sheath’ are constructed as the structural heart of the scheme, as well as providing a visual landmark. The brick piece will act as an open air workshop.

BRICK SHEATH

PHASE 2 After the construction of the adjacent Arkiv (Library building), a purpose built gallery building will be constructed within the brick ‘sheath’. The existing gallery space in the city block will be converted to workshop space and ‘maker studio’ style public workspace.

GALLERY INSERT

Enclose. OVERVIEW Enclosing a space: creating both the enclosure and the enclosed. This chapter will address the issue of enclosure - levels of enclosure both in and around the building, and the balance between physical and visual exposure through built form. Three themes will be discussed in this chapter: The street, and its inherent properties as an interface between enclosure and enclosed. Armature, a device for containing and how this can be expressed in architecture. Brick, the material of enclosure - how it is shaped and the way it sits within the city.

Image of the courtyard space during Phase 1 after the construction of the brick shell, but before the insertion of the gallery building. During this time the space would be used for circulation and open-air workshop space.

The Street.

INTERFACE BETWEEN ENCLOSURE AND ENCLOSED Bodø is a city of streets: much of the public realm is in the form of linear, pedestrian scaled lengths of pavement. One of the most significant public meeting places is the architectural embodiment of the street: the shopping centre. It connects parts of the city whilst accommodating pedestrians in a unique way - under cover, out of the cold, and with shopping amenity. The shopping centre calls the status of the street into question; can a street do more? This scheme, Kunstakademiet, takes hold of the street. Positioned at the intersection of two major routes, one from the new cultural centre at the marina, and the other from the shopping centre. The corner is a significant nexus: can a building leverage this position to fulfil an agenda: to attract people to the water’s edge?

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Overview of the scheme, showing the Kunstakademiet building , including the existing urban block. The later built Library building (right, in white) completes the design of the new public realm. The brick piece (red) forms the new face of the street.

Outline of the new corner plot: the hard outer line is the streetfront, and the broken inner line signifies a more enclosed, intimately scaled ‘street’ or ‘close’ formed by the internal arrangement of the building, and the way it meets the existing city block.

Position of the proposal in relation to the existing waterfront elevation, from the Burøya area peninsula. The plot has a very different facade condition at the water’s edge, due to a large modern office building.

View of the scheme from the covered walkway leading from the shopping centre. The library building can be seen to the right. Large openings in the skin of the building are present at upper levels, with only glimpses at the street level.

Photograph of the elevation which is â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;in conversationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; with the library building. Composed of a number of opening types: thick, framed picture windows and translucent panels.

Armature.

ENCLOSING AN ARCHITECTURE The ability of an architecture to hold, to contain. The question of armature in architecture was touched on in the earlier Musselburgh project, in which a scheme was developed that comprised a ‘precious object’ held by a frame. The frame was designed to fail after a number of years, releasing the precious object - however in this project, the brick shell is constructed independently of its contents, only to have a building constructed within its walls later. During the buildings lifetime the brick element will be experienced in two very different ways: first, as an open-air workshop space and courtyard - used by the students and those circulating through. After a purpose-built gallery building is constructed in the core, the workshop moves to the existing city block (formerly the gallery), inverting the level of exposure the programmatic elements receive. Symbolically, the art held by the ‘precious object’ signifies its value and an effort to protect it, while also providing a visual landmark for the college.

Photograph of the gallery â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;insertâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;. The galley space on the first floor extends beyond the limits of the brick element. This creates a visual beacon for the college, and the art contained within the gallery.

Photograph of the output of the Musselburgh project (With Hugh Leahy, Charlotte Jacques, and Evelina Vasileva). The fine timber frame holds a heavy, concrete heart. The frame was designed to fail after around 20 years.

The timber frame was designed to hold the heart for as long as was necessary to undertake oceanographic research, after which the concrete heart would fall into the ocean, creating a deliberate â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;shipwreckâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;.

Brick.

MATERIAL OF ENCLOSURE Brick was chosen as the material for the heavy enclosure due to its weight, but also its warmth as a material. Brick weathers well - a key requirement for a material in use so close to the water’s edge. The brick acts as a thermal mass, warming both the gallery building and part of the studio building. The weight of the material is also of structural importance: the light, CLT-based studio building relies on the chimney stack and thick walls of the brick piece for structural integrity. Red, masonry brick was chosen alongside a number of other ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ materials: CLT, plywood, concrete, glass: these materials also play an important role within the project. Thick concrete lintels support the wide openings in the brick heart.

Image inside the brick heart, looking towards the studio building. The brick walls and ground suggest a folding up: that the vertical brick elements are an extension of the solid ground.

View from the east exit onto the promenade, looking inwards towards the studio building (right) and gallery building (left). The diagram below highlights the extents of the masonry piece.

HARD

SOFT

Hard and soft materials: brick is used externally it is the material of armature and enclosure. Soft materials such as timber and fabric are used internally to create a â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;warmâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; interior.

View from the central stair core inside the studio building. CLT and ply elements are visible. This large entrance space is to be used for lectures and public events.

Sight. OVERVIEW This chapter raises the issue of ‘looking’ and ‘seeing’ as opposing activities. To ‘see’ is only surface deep, whereas to ‘look’ suggests intent, analysis and conscious engagement. A substantial portion of the initial research centred around describing and quantifying/qualifying what is seen when we look. The ‘metrics of view’ was the key research output, a set of five conditions which help describe - non-visually, what we see.

Horizon at 10.75m above sea leve

Horiz

This chapter considers the act of sight on a number of scales: from the landscape vista to the scale of a room. This act of scale conflation played an important role in the shaping of this project - how, or should, a building leverage views of the natural landscape? What are the ways in which we can frame, deny, screen, and alter views through architectural intervention?

Initial study, mapping views in plan. Understanding what can be seen, and what cannot. This drawing became the basis for the metrics of view study.

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Seeing + Looking.

THE CONCENTRATED VIEW An initial investigation considered the ‘view’ as a quantifiable, measurable entity - one which could be represented graphically in plan. These plan drawings of views helped me understand that, when we look out at a ‘view’, regardless of the content, the underlying spatial and mathematical qualities of the view shape our perception. This posed the question, is it possible to concentrate the view of an individual? To what extent can architecture invite views, or in some way act as a filter? The following page details the five view metrics: Fetch, Cone Angle, Spatial Geometry, Vantage and Contrast. Each deals with a different aspect of vision.

Initial study: profiling views. This map shows the ‘shape’ of eight views around Bodø - largely on the waterfront. It is interesting to note that just eight views captures a significant portion of Bodø.

05 01

08 02 04

Metrics of View. F E TC H

CONE ANGLE

S PAT I A L GEOMETRY

VA N TAG E

C O N T R AS T

Straight lines and regular geometrical patterns are as common in the natural environment as they are in our towns and cities: naturally occurring geometries such as the horizon, sun and moon are prominent features in our visual field. In towns and cities, geometries such as roads, blocks and the complex geometries embedded in architecture comprise a key quality of the impact of a view.

The term vantage describes the position of the viewer in relation to the visual environment, specifically in relation to objects at a higher or lower position to the viewer. For example, a view with positive vantage would be one from the top of a mountain, looking down at a town. A view with negative vantage would be standing at the base of a mountain, looking up. Therefore, vantage can be calculated as such:

The unit of ‘colour brightness’ is determined by image manipulation software. The human eye requires 200 levels of colour brightness in order for a tone to appear continuous, however computers use 256. Therefore the average brightness of an image falls between 0 and 256, with 0 as a pure black image and 256 as pure white. The contrast is given by the standard deviation of colour brightness, which indicates how the distribution of brightness levels varies in the image. A high standard deviation occurs in a more contrasting image.

Borrowing from this definition, in terms of view, the fetch is the distance to the furthest visible focal point. In many instances this would be the horizon, which is at a set distance of: d ~ 3.57 x √ h In which d represents the distance from the observer to the horizon, and h is the eye height of the observer. If the object is visible past the horizon, the distance can be expressed as: dOA ~ 3.57 x (√ hO + √ hA)

The cone angle refers to the ‘width’ of the image. Our eyes allow us to see up to 142° of binocular vision, in which both eyes are engaged in the visual field, however we have a more limited ‘focus zone’, in which we are able to resolve objects in more detail. This zone is variable, however on average is around 60°.

V = hMIN - hMAX In which the vantage in metres (V) is represented as the vertical distance from the observer to the lowest visible point ( hMIN), minus the vertical distance to the highest visible point ( hMAX).

A question of beauty: this investigation does not address the question of taste or preference. Views such as this were common in BodĂ¸ the natural beauty juxtaposed with industrial wreckage.

Visual Adjacency.

CREATING CONNECTIONS Building on the previous research exercise, in terms of planning the internal arrangement of a building, I opted to employ a strategy of visual adjacency - to have internal programmatic elements connected visually. The scheme is centred around an atrium and stair core, with breakout spaces on every balcony level. These broad, open spaces and multi-heighted volumes allow for a visual exchange between studios, crit spaces and study areas. The semi open-plan nature of the college is designed to reflect its educational philosophy one of collaboration, a sense of community and ownership, and the acknowledgement of place. It was a conscious decision, for example, to eliminate faculty offices - these spaces would be shared with students, fostering a greater sense of equality. On a building scale, certain elements have been shaped to create a ‘landmark’ or ‘beacon’ for the organisation, as this is their first purposedesigned building. These features take cues from local sources. Image of the stair core/central atrium, captured from the second floor. Balcony spaces are visible on every level, and a connection is maintained with the top studio level.

The BodĂ¸ Kommune, constructed after WWII, has a large bell tower - a feature which is repeated around the city centre in buildings such as the Domkirk (Cathedral) and train station.

The tower at the Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop is purely ornamental - it houses a sound installation, however as there is no formal accommodation, the tower is a pure architectural gesture - a beacon or lighthouse.

The brick tower, used as an active chimney, acts as a beacon for the arts, specifically for the BodĂ¸ Kustakademiet. Its scale is similar to the Kommune tower, and follows the same axis.

This diagram explores the levels of privacy throughout the building, and the possible routes through. It is very much a â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;four sidedâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; building one which reconciles a four very different urban situations. Waterfront/Street/Alley/Promenade.

INDIVIDUAL STUDY

CASUAL BREAKOUT

STUDENT AMENITY

02 / M 1:200 ST U DIO + GAL L ERY SECO ND FLO O R 1 / ‘Shopfront’ gallery 2 / Gallery store + workshop 3 / Arcade 4 / Courtyard + open air workshop 5 / Furnace 6 / Event space 7 / College office 8 / Plant 9 / Cleaner store 10 / WC 11 / Lift 12 / Shop store 13 / College shop ARCHI V E B U I L DING MEZ Z ANINE 1 / Studio

Each floor is designed around the provision of personal study space, breakout and student amenity (such as printing, workshops, meeting spaces etc.) The ratio of these spaces is fixed across all studio levels.

CELEBRATION OF WORK

Visual Porosity.

DIRECTING VIEWS The glimpse; a snapshot of a view. The one variable my earlier studies did not address was the question of duration. The experience of studying a view at great length, over a long period of time is very different to a fleeting glance. The act of the glance, the glimpse, peek, preview - is something which has been integrated into the design of the gallery building. The hard brick edge, which forms the fabric of the street front, relents to reveal a small visual slice of the interior. These glimpses are meant to evoke curiosity, so that one may venture in - to take the longer route around.

This view captures the sparse openings on the promenade elevation - this, however, is broken up by the large picture window which opens out over the colonnade.

This diagram explores what is seen and unseen through the ‘glimpse’. There are dark zones, however an impression could be made by collecting every ‘glimpse’.

The waterfront elevation has the most openings in order to let both valuable north light and the inspiring island views into the studio. On ground level, this facade opens up to the waterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s edge via an entrance through the college shop.

Fold. OVERVIEW The fold has significant tectonic implications in this project: early models were folded from paper - a group site model was carefully cut and folded up, suggesting the flexible nature of the urban grain. In terms of the Kunstakademiet building, heavy materials such as brick fold from the ground in a way reminiscent to the folding city model, whereas light materials pop-up, and are propped up. The word â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;pop-upâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; is also important here, as the arts organisation began its life as a temporary, pop-up entity. With no fixed location, temporary structures were relied upon. The pop-up nature of these structures is reflected in the final design as a solidification of these simple structures.

Recoloured image of my personal print layer. The solid, ground-like materials are coloured in a solid fill. Lighter materials, such as the cladding, are shown as folding up and resting on the solid, structural heart.

Pop-up.

STAGED EVOLUTION The earliest physical presence of the arts organisation - even before it is granted the title of ‘Kunstakademiet’, was in the form of simple, temporary structures. These structures were placed around the city for short events, and helped to nurture a physical, communal face for the organisation. Following on from this - the project is structured as a staged evolution: made up of sequential parts. My project forms the first part, however there are others - contained within different documents. These parts follow on from this project, a continuation of the theme. The next building to be built, the Library, sits adjacent to my studio and gallery complex. These two buildings, however different in terms of architectural language, are rooted in their context. A shared masterplan was developed for the surrounding area, including the existing public square on to the South. A stepped landscape was designed to double as seating for public exhibitions and events, and a covered walkway linking the shopping centre to the colonnade attached to my proposal is an extension of the ‘indoor street’ afforded by the shopping centre. The shared masterplan was, most importantly, left largely open - the simple stepped terraces

allow space for pop-up enterprises - just like the early arts organisation - to follow in its footsteps.

Extracts from the ‘Pop-up gallery’ instruction guide. This structure would measure 4x4m and could be assembled with few tools and resources. It used locally sourced Norwegian Spruce, keeping the cost down.

View of the po-up gallery. Panels could be fixed to the ceiling and walls to create different levels of exposure.

Masterplan strategy, including the covered walkway, new city block (designed to consolidate all disparate buildings on site), soft landscaping, shared surface on SjĂ¸gata and the promenade.

Folding.

MATERIALITY OF THE FOLD With reference to this project, the act of folding is not simply a physical, mechanical process. It is a design exercise which considers the materiality of the ground. Our initial paper models suggest the natural folding of ground to wall: as easily as ground can be folded up, it can also be flattened down. As part of the group masterplan, a section of made-ground has been â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;folded downâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;, creating an inlet between the library building and my studio/gallery complex. This inlet has historical ties: before new land was added to the waterfront, there was a varied coastline of coves, bays and inlets.

Folding of the group site model: the specific building is the existing city block inhabited by my proposal.

Schematics for the folding model, including the three proposals which make up the academyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s campus; the two buildings which share the Nord Torv site (left) and the later-constructed accommodation building (right).

Original map by Zoe Herbert ‘Changing Coastline of Bodø’. This map explores the historic waterfront profiles: the former landscape of inlets is clearly visible.

Paper model showing the location of the new inlet. Much of the land around BodĂ¸â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s waterfront is man-made.

Position of my scheme within the landscape, before the construction of the neighbouring library building.

Epilogue.

END The timeline for this project extends more than 25 years into the future: BodĂ¸ of 2041 will be a very different place to the BodĂ¸ I visited in 2015, however I believe the themes I have discussed are independent of time. The minutiae may change over the course of time - but the questions raised about the status of the street, the way in which we look and see, and the means by which we approach design, will still be critical issues.