Voids and Abstractions, methods in saving architectural heritage

Voids and Abstractions Methods on Saving Architectural Heritage

“ No stream rises higher than its source. What ever man might build could never

express or reflect more than he was. He could record neither more nor less than he had learned of life when the buildings were built.

�

- Frank Lloyd Wright

For Dad Mom Rachel Rebecca Job Loving, Guiding, Being There

Prologue A Few Words on the History of a Swiss Village “ These things are nothing but heaps of

stone, without mortar, small, miserable and dirty, built in such a way that it is dangerous to lean against their walls. The staircase of a house I observed, was nothing more than a wobbly mass of rough stones. Inside, in front of each fireplace there is a shiny bench, because it is always used during the winter. The whole family sits together the entire day, facing the fire. Next to the kitchen there were some dirty beds of saddlebags, above which hung a broken copper engraving with sacred images. The wretched clothing of the family was placed in an old dresser. Hay is stored in the upper floors of the secluded houses, built of stone. The dark cellars are often used for storage or keeping livestock; cows, sheep and goats lying on a litter of decaying chestnuts and excrements. All of these dwellings, those for men as well as those for beasts, are open to continuous wind leakage, penetrating the gaps between the stone walls.

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- Karl Viktor von Bonstetten, 1797 Karl Viktor von Bonstetten left and never returned to the village of Corippo.(1) The beauty of the mountains and nature, surrounding this small farmer village, were not enough to make him stay. A little over two hundred years later, in the beginning of the twentyfirst century, many things have changed but some have not; very few people want to stay in Corippo.

The smallest village of Switzerland is a tourist hot spot.(2) Fifteen minutes away from Locarno, it attracts many visitors, mostly hikers; people who enjoy the experience

of nature and cultural history.

Approximately 80% of the buildings in Corippo were built in the eighteenth century.(3) Since then, most of the walls and roofs have remained untouched on the outside.

The two-hundred year old architecture that grew on the steep mountainside is still visible. This was also the reason for my interest in the vernacular history of Corippo. The village fuelled my imagination of the life that von Bonstetten wrote about. It is an open air museum of cultural history.

Tourists still want to experience Corippo, but

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(1) Mondada, 1975, p. 15 (2) As mentioned in Lonely Planets: Switzerland’s Best Trips (Williams, Christiani, Duca, 2016, p. 123) and on the many sites that can be found on Ticino.

(3) Mondada, 1975, p. 44 Quote: (Von Bonstetten, 1984, p. 16) Karl Viktor von Bonstetten (1745 - 1832) was a Swiss liberal writer and bailiff of the districts of Lugano, Locarno, Mendrisio and Val Maggia from 1795 to 1797.

He wrote about his political career and travels during this time in Kleine Schrifte.

Left: Taken in one of the empty houses I visited on my trip to Corippo. The envelopes on the ground were dated 1952. In other rooms I found more furniture, coats and empty wine bottles. Where did people go?

                                                                

 

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Voids and Abstractions Methods on Saving Architectural Heritage Graduation Studio “Interactions�

September 2015 - July 2016 Arne C. Stenger Graduation Committee: prof. dr. B. J. F. Colenbrander ir. W. Hilhorst ir. R. Kindt

Content Prologue, a Few Words on the History of a Swiss village

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Introduction, the Values of Architectural Heritage

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1. Architectural Characteristics of Corippo

21 23 29 35 43 47

• • • • •

Characteristics, Social Historical Context Characteristics, City Scale Characteristics, Functions, Forms and Type of Buildings Characteristics, Construction and Materials Characteristics, Understanding Abstract Values

2. Functional Goals for the Design in Corippo • •

Functional Goals on Living in Corippo Functional Goals for Corippo as a Museum

3. Methods on Saving Architectural Heritage • • • •

Personal Notes on Designing With Decaying Architecture The Void as a Method, Opening Corippo Abstracting as a Method, Grassi and the Permanent Forms in Corippo Details for Methods in Saving Architectural Heritage

61 63 69 77 79 83 93 103

4. Overview

107

5. Ending

151 153 157 159

• • •

Concluding Remarks Thank You Sources

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Introduction The Values of Architectural Heritage This report was written to understand how the history of architecture can help a small society. It centres around the idea that the values of an existing built environment can guide an architect in transforming an empty vernacular(5) village to a place where people want to live again.

In the twentieth century, it seems as though human evolution is changing the three pillars of traditional architecture(6) at an unprecedented rate.

Technological and socioeconomical advances are changing the way in which we construct our physical environment.

Advances made it possible to built new forms that could change our ideals on aesthetics. And yet, despite the potentials put forward by science, architects are still designing the same basic archetypes of houses that were built one hundred years ago. In the Netherlands for instance, complete neighbourhoods are being built with the same building elements that were common in the thirties.

It is clear for me we value the history of architecture.

We, as architects, use this history explicitly to shape parts of our habitat. It can be argued that there have been cultures which did not grant architecture the aesthetic value our culture has long assigned to it. It is possible to suppose a future without architecture if it is described as a cultural phenomenon. Man needs technical constructions such as walls and roofs to survive, not architects.

In this sense, architecture remains ‘sublimely useless’ as Manfredo Tafuri described.(7) For me however, the value of the history of architecture does not lie in its usefulness - the technical solutions it offers the human need for shelter - but in the way it meets our deeper need for habitat. Architecture is not only about the pure physical state of the built environment. It is also about the transformation of physical substance into symbols of civilisation with aesthetic, emotional and symbolic value. As an aspiring architect, do I make myself useful by trying to

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(5) Frank Lloyd Wright described vernacular architecture as “Folk building, growing in response to actual needs, fitted into environment by people who knew no better than to fit them with native feeling”, suggesting that it is a primitive form of design, lacking intelligent thought. He also stated however, that it was “for us better worth study than all the highly self-conscious academic attempts at the beautiful throughout Europe”. (Oliver, 2003, p. 9) Bernard Rudofsky was one of the first to use the term in architecutin his book and exhibition Architecture Without Architects (1964); “For want of a generic label we shall call it vernacular, anonymous, spontaneous, indigenous, rural, as the case may be.” (Rudofsky, 1964, p. 11) (6) I refer to the traditional definition of Vitruvius who explained in De architectura that a structure must exhibit the three qualities of firmitas (solidness), utilitas (usefulness) and venustas (beauty).

(7) According to Tafuri, capitalist developments have taken away the task of ideological prefiguration in architecture. “With this, one is led almost automatically to the discovery of what may well be the “drama” of architecture today: that is, to see architecture obliged to return to pure architecture, to form without Utopia; in the best cases, to sublime uselessness.” (Tafuri, 1976, p. ix) Left: Residence (empty) in Corippo.

create new values in the built environment or is it possible to reuse values that existed a priori the intervention?

The latter position was my starting point for the task of creating architecture in the empty village of Corippo.

What is to be done, if the architect is faced with a built environment that clearly has aesthetic, emotional and symbolic value but seems, in some ways, useless in the direct sense of the word?

That will be the central theme of this report. As a case study, the empty village of Corippo was redesigned to show methods into creating a lively village again. There are three topics attached to this general theme that I have to address before explaining my research by design: First and foremost, as can be deducted from my first paragraphs, my design will focus on a respect for the existing built environment.

I can not deny some form of utopian outlook for Corippo; an inherent ideal that my actions are improving the existing situation.

Respecting the existing environment means to me however that I can reuse or recover some of the hidden potentials or values of Corippo in my architecture.

Architecture that is very little disruptive to the values that are already there. As a

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goal, my insertions or changes will be modest. They will blend with the existing structures.

Secondly, although my insertions will be modest, some changes are inevitable.

Functional demands of the built environment have changed in the last one hundred years. Buildings have become larger, higher, better insulated, better lighted, efficiently heated and more accessible. In my research and design I tried to find ways of changing the existing buildings, to fit contemporary needs.

Thirdly, to formulate a complete method in reusing the values of existing architecture I have investigated a design aimed at creating new buildings within the physical environment.

The three topics of my research; respectful modest interventions, changing the existing buildings and creating new buildings will be explained by a design in Corippo.

Personal Motivation of Choosing Corippo Why Corippo? Part of the answer on that question can be found in the unique architectural position the small village has. Many of the buildings have remained relatively unchanged in the last two hundred years.

For me personally, the village displays many of the emotional, aesthetic and symbolic values I talked about earlier. The unique genius loci(8) of Corippo is not only defined by the built environment but also by the surrounding natural context of the Swiss mountains. I have always been drawn to mountains. My entire life I have spent most, if not all of my holidays in mountainous countries. With the design in Ticino I stayed close to my personal background. The mountain village of Corippo was the logical choice of interest.

The first time I drove to Corippo I was surprised by the unique position the village has in the Verzasca valley. A winding road passes the immense two hundred meter high Verzasca dam before arriving in the steep valley. Both sides are filled with numerous small granite villages that have made the valley a famous tourist spot. Corippo is the centre point though. The ridge it is attached to on the other side of the valley stands out.

Some fifteen minutes before the road takes you to the other side, the driver’s view is automatically directed towards the small, granite village.

The scenery and built environment have created the beauty of the village.

Corippo is the ultimate example of a preserved piece of cultural history, embedded in the mountains.

The relation between the Corippians and their natural surroundings is visible in their buildings. The granite mountains created the building blocks for Corippo.

These building blocks are also one of the reasons for the state of the empty buildings. Their strength preserved the basic building elements throughout the years but also made it difficult to adjust them to different needs. Most of the abandoned buildings became ruins, standing as unyielding, granite testaments of a long gone cultural past.

When I met the mayor of Corippo, Claudio Screttini, I was afraid to ask him how he spends his office hours being responsible for a village with a population of just thirteen. It was an easy task for him however, to point out the eight houses that are inhabited, the forty-one buildings that are abandoned and the thirty-two that are only used as holiday homes (page 33).(9) He is the only one who has a job as the rest of the population is ageing and retired. The village is not empty with visitors though. On the relative off seasonal days for tourists that I was there (weekdays in April) the streets were already filled with hikers

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(8) In classical Roman religion, a genius loci was the protective spirit of a place. In contemporary usage, genius loci usually refers to a location’s distinctive atmosphere, or a spirit of place. Cristian Norberg-Schulz describes genius loci as representing the sense people have of a place, understood as the sum of all physical as well as symbolic values in nature and the human environment.

(NorbergSchulz, 1980) (9) These numbers add up to eighty-one possible dwellings. This is not an exact number though. Most of the buildings consist of spaces with separate entrances and routing on the outside. Some have been linked to form one and for others it is difficult to imagine if they were used as a house or barn.

Whatever the exact number is or could be, it is safe to say that 50% of them are abandoned.

and other visitors. Corippo was originally conceived by people who wanted to live and work here instead of in one of the bigger cities.

What is left shows the characteristics of an open air museum instead of a living city with residents.

The Research Question With my modest changes and creations I will try to recover Corippo’s historical inner reason of existence; a village made for people who want to work and live here.

At the same time, this inner reason of existence has shifted somewhat towards being an open air museum.

This aspect can’t be forgotten or eliminated and could be used in the design of a village that people want to visit. The question that automatically follows will be: How can we use the characteristics of the rural architecture of Corippo to create a village in which people want to live and work, and that tourists want to visit?

To answer this question my research will focus on understanding and changing the typo-morphological situation. I will address the following sub-questions: •

What are the characteristics of the architecture of Corippo?

•

•

How can I use these characteristics to change the existing buildings to fit the functions of combined living and working and the functions of museum structures?

How can I use these characteristics to create buildings within the existing village that fit the functions of combined living and working and the functions of museum structures?

How to Read

This report is divided in five parts, each divided in separate chapters. Part one provides an analytical overview of the architecture of Corippo. A historical context is given. Also, the functional aspects, the forms and archetypes of the village and materials and construction are explained.

Part two explains how the analysed material set the direct goals of what to change and create within Corippo. To create a habitable village I have set functional goals that I explain in the first chapter.

A second set of functional goals, directed at creating an open air museum, are explained in the second chapter. The final chapter of this part will explain how the existing situation, my experiences there and my drawings can help in

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Left: Corippo alley. What will be the future of Corippo if left unattended?

setting and reaching my abstract goals on reusing the emotional, aesthetic and symbolic values of the existing situation. How to exploit these values even further? Gordon Cullen’s Townscape ideals are used as an inspirational source.

In the third part, methods of changing buildings and creating new buildings within Corippo are explained.

The work of the American artist Gordon Matta-Clark is used as an inspirational source on how to add extra layers of meaning to the existing situation. This chapter focuses on methods of changing buildings.

In the next chapter, the written work and designs of Giorgio Grassi are used as an inspirational source for explaining a method of creating new buildings.

Research, design and methods are mixed in the different sections just as my interventions are blended into Corippo. An overview of all interventions is given in the fourth part of this report.

My concluding texts can be found in the fifth part. A mix of all my drawings with my text would not improve the readability of this report.

This is why I made a second book; Drawing Voids and Abstractions in Architectural Heritage, as an appendix with all the drawings of

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my research and design in Corippo.

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1. Architectural Characteristics of Corippo



  

         5m 25m 

 50m

Characteristics Social Historical Context Corippo was first mentioned in 1224 as Culipo. In 1374 it was mentioned as Quorippo and around the sixteenth and seventeenth century the village became known as Corippo.(10) It was during these centuries that Corippo started to grow to a population of almost three hundred at the end of the eighteenth century. Towards the end of the nineteenth century the population had declined to almost two hundred. From there on this decrease went even quicker; there were seventy-three residents in 1950, twentytwo in 2000 and today there are only thirteen permanent residents living in Corippo.

(11) It is the smallest town in Switzerland. year 1669 1795 1850 1900 1950 2000 2004 2010

population 41 269 294 196 73 22 17 15

Corippo population (Gerosa, 1975)

Corippo lies in the Verzasca valley. This Ticino valley

runs south into the Magadino plain on which Locarno (south) and Bellinzona (east) lie. It would take approximately two hours to walk to Locarno but the small village could support its own inhabitants in the eighteenth and nineteenth century.

Village life in these centuries was centred around a small church and an osteria (inn), there was a smith, two mills used to produce chestnut flour and a bakery. The farms provided the village with cheese, potatoes, wine, milk and meat from cows, sheep, goats, chickens and pigs. Livestock and hemp were used to make clothes. Eighteenth and nineteenth century Corippo farmers could only support their families in winter. In this season, many people left the village to work on the lower, flatter Magadino plain.(12) As concluded by research by Mondada and Gerosa, there are three self-reinforcing reasons why the population started to decline as from the start of the nineteenth century:(13) •

The immigration wave to the new world;

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(10) Gerosa, 1975, p. 25 (11) Ibid. p. 26 (12) Ibid. pp. 33-35 (13) Mondada, 1975, pp. 5051; Gerosa, 1975, p. 34 Previous pages: The Magadino plain (2016) in Ticino where the Ticino river ends in the Lago Maggiore. Corippo in red in the Verzasca valley, Locarno to the south and Bellinzona in the east part of the map.

Left: Corippo 1900 (Mondada, 1975; Gerosa, 1975). The mountain is steep. A cut from a single level through the village would never visualise all the floor plans. The overview was created by cutting through the ground floors of individual buildings.

•

•

farmers left the poorer areas in Europe to find gold, fertile farmlands and other opportunities in North-America and Australia.

The industrial revolution in Europe at the end of the eighteenth and beginning of the nineteenth century; corippian farmers could not compete anymore with the more efficient farmers on the Locarno and Bellinzona markets.

Finally, Corripo was influenced by the general urbanisation process of twentieth century Europe; people leaving small villages for better living conditions in bigger cities.

Research to Design

Right: Corippian household, approximately 1760, G. Verbiati.

What is Corippo’s raison d’être? Why is it there? From a historical perspective the village was created for people that specifically wanted to work in the Verzasca valley where farming was more difficult than on the Magadino plain close by. As a starting point for my design I will use this functional inner reason to create a village where people can live and work again. The infrastructural possibilities of the twenty first century have made the cities of Locarno and Bellinzona reachable in only

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fifteen minutes. A logical design intervention would be to design a village for commuters in the periphery of these larger cities. I believe however, Corippo’s functional inner reason of existence justifies a focus on working in the village. A village where people work, live and recreate every day and night.

1523

1658

1798

Characteristics City Scale Historical growth From the twelfth to the seventeenth century Corippo grew from approximately five to twenty buildings.

In 1657 the church was enlarged from a small chapel to the building still visible today. This also influenced the growth of the city into a layout of eighty-two houses, two watermills, a smith, a bakery, a school building, a town hall, a church and an osteria (inn) at the turn of the eighteenth century. Since then, only two buildings were built in the nineteenth and only one in the twentieth century. Four buildings became ruins in the nineteenth and twentieth century. Only parts of their walls are left today.(14)

traffic was possible.(15) The northern road that led out of Corippo, across the valley and onto the carriage road of the Verzasca valley was widened in 1883.(16) Today it is used by cars. It has eight parking lots close to the church.

The layout of the village is visible on page 32-33; •

•

• The streets of Corippo were made for pedestrian or animal traffic only. They vary in width between 1 to 4 meters wide and are all made of stone stairs, making them impassible for small carts or other wheeled traffic. Until the middle of the twentieth century, mules and cable carts were used for transporting products to the south-end of the village where small wheeled

•

The village was erected above a church placed on an available piece of horizontal land.(17) Buildings are arranged in stacks of volumes between 5 to 8 meters wide and 2 to 2.8 meters high per level. The number of levels per building vary between one and four.(18) Perpendicular plots were cut halfway into the mountain. The remainder was levelled horizontally by building stone walls on the mountain slope.(19) As concluded by Gerosa and Mondada, many of the buildings that were constructed in the seventeenth and eighteenth century were made by new residents. As there is not

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(14) Stauffacher, 2012, pp.

45 - 46; Mondada, 1975, pp. 122 - 124. The ruins are still visible today.

(15) Mondada, 1975, p. 18.

Some cable carts are still in use today.

(16) Ibid. p. 56 (17) Ibid. p. 99 (18) Amsler, 1959 and own research (19) Ibid.

Previous pages: The existing village of Corippo.

Left: Layout of Corippo throughout the centuries.

(Mondada, 1975, pp. 122 123)

1m

5m

10m

many horizontal space available in the Verzasca valley and living close to each other created a relatively safe and functional efficient layout, buildings were constructed close to each other. Walls of neighbouring houses were often constructed less than a meter apart.

Reconstructing inner dividing walls from already existing outer walls once a neighbour was added was technically challenging.

Instead of removing the entire roof and reconstructing the wall to fit two roofs, a new single wall was constructed for the adjoining neighbour.(20) Current state of the buildings The current state of the buildings is presented on page 33. The thirteen residents who live in Corippo are descendants of generations of farmers.

Farm life in Corippo stopped about thirty years ago.

Almost all of the Corippians are retired.(21) There are thirty-two holiday homes in Corippo. Some off them have been very well maintained.

Corippians have a rather indifferent opinion on the value of these buildings or rather their owners - for the community. They are

neither loved nor hated.

However, Corippians would rather see more permanent residents in their small Swiss community. Fortyone buildings are completely empty; their state differs from total waste to just vacated and for sale. Finally, as noted earlier, there are four empty spaces where there used to be a building.

What is left are some of their stone walls.

Research to Design Design interventions will not affect the inner layout and infrastructure of the village. Parking spaces and space to turn your car will be added to the northern road. This will mean that the village square can be closed for cars, creating a calm and quiet centre. The street pattern will be left as it is.

I believe these streets are essential physical elements that created the historical (emotional) values of the architectural heritage of this village. These values will be explained further in the chapter Understanding the Abstract Values of Corippo (page 49).

(20) Gerosa, 1975, pp. 111 - 112; Mondada, 1975, pp.

218 (21) Information on the current socio-economical situation of the residents and the state of the buildings was gathered during interviews with the mayor, the employees of the osteria and a few of the residents I spoke during my visit to Corippo.

Left: Most of the buildings in Corippo were built in a time when people were 1,66m heigh (men in the eighteenth century). (Floud, 1984) For me, a twentieth century man from the Netherlands, outside and inside spaces are narrow and small.

Next pages left: Corippo floor plan and routing in 2016. Wheeled traffic is not possible beyond the church square.

Next pages right: Corippo floor plan with state of the buildings based on an interview with the mayor of Corippo.

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  5m

10m

 20m

     5m 10m 20m

Characteristics Functions, Forms and Types of Buildings Functions The different household functions of the buildings in Corippo were divided vertically (left page).

Livestock and wine or dairy products, that could sustain the dark, moist environment, were placed in the cellar. The ground floor (or basement depending on which side the mountain is) was the central household space. This was usually the place for the hearth, kitchen and living room accommodations. The first floor was usually a bedroom and the attic was again used for storage but for supplies that required dry, warmer spaces such as hey or flour.(22) Different levels of buildings can be entered from street level, by stairs attached on the outside, by balconies attached to the mountain slope or by using ladders.

Forms Four influences played a role in the creation of the eighteenth century buildings we still see today.(23)

•

•

•

•

People were smaller.

Average male height in Switzerland was 1.66 meters in the eighteenth century whereas today it is 1.75 meters.(24) We can assume that ceiling heights were better fitted for the needs of the original residents than for today’s Swiss population.

On average the angle of the mountain slope is 35 degrees.(25) To minimise the use of materials, horizontal plots do not extend further than 6 meters into the valley.

The size of the floor plan was restricted by the materials used and the construction method; the granite walls and roofs are so heavy that supporting structures made from chestnut wood could only support small spans.

Stones were used to insulate the flooring between the heated central living space and the bedroom above.

Opening this ceiling with a staircase would

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(22) Gerosa, 1975, p. 35 - 36 (23) Mondada, 1975; Amsler, 1959; Amsler, Herrmann, Lohrer, & Weber, 1959; Gerosa, 1975 (24) Floud, 1984 (25) Schweizerische Eidgenossenschaft, 2016 Left page: Functional division in Corippo in the eigtheenth and nineteenth century.

  

 barn

    double, perpendicular to slope 

   

 single, three-storey             double, roof  perpendicular to slope, floor plan   parallel to slope

       single, four-storey               double, roof and   floor plan parallel  to slope          mix, roof and floor   plan perpendicular  to slope                   

cause a loss of heat.

Instead, most stairs were built on outer walls of buildings.

Outer walls can reach up to four levels and are 0.5 meters thick on average.

Windows and openings are often not wider than 1 meter and doors are not higher than between 1.6 and 2.1 meter high. Facades only share some basic similarities in placement and dimensions of openings. They have one to four windows per level, usually between 0.5 meters and 1.5 meters wide or high. Larger granite or wooden lintels support the openings. Exact placement and size of openings seem to be determined by the size of available materials at the time of construction.

A few larger rocks in the facade and a window was made of centre or on a different sill height than other windows at the same level. The wooden sills all have different dimensions, on some occasions a larger beam was used to support two doors next to each other.(26) Types The forms of the built environment can be analysed through their types.(27) The volumes show certain similarities that have been used by research to classify the buildings. Page 36 shows

the simplified versions of the existing types. The types in Corippo can be divided in seven basic forms(28): •

• •

•

•

•

Barn, the basic building type based on basement and attic. They are often open on one or two sides. Facades have less windows than facades of the other types.

Single room (per level), three storey building.

These were houses.

Single room, four storey building. The single room buildings are the most common in Corippo.

Double room buildings with its widest wall parallel to the mountain slope. These buildings usually have doors on the inside connecting the different spaces on a single level. Even for these buildings, vertical routing is on the outside.

Double room buildings with its widest wall perpendicular to the mountain slope.

Mixed types. Buildings consisting of two or more types combined into one building.

The types are free-standing volumes that don’t share walls, often placed next to each other with gaps less than a meter wide. Most openings are placed in the valley or mountainside wall.

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(26) Own research and (Amsler, 1959).

(27) The word type comes from the Greek word typos which means ‘model, matrix, impression, mould, mark, figure in relief, original form’ and from the Latin word typus which means ‘figure, image, form, kind’.

In architectural theory, the term can be explained by Quatremère de Quincy: “The word type presents less the image of a thing to copy or imitate completely than the idea of an element which ought itself to serve as a rule for the model.” For him, type is the idea or symbolic meaning that is embodied in an element, an object or a thing. Thus type is abstract and conceptual rather than concrete and literal (Younes, 2000). In my research I refer to a more relative or practical position instead of an ideal position. For Argan: “The birth of a type is therefore dependent on the existence of a series of buildings having between them an obvious formal and functional analogy.” (Argan, 1963, pp. 564-65).

(28) Mondada, 1975; Amsler, 1959; Amsler, Herrmann, Lohrer, & Weber, 1959; Gerosa, 1975 Left: The seven basic building types of Corippo and their routing. These are simplified, square versions.

In reality the site plan on page 32 shows these buildings vary greatly in position and size. (Mondada, 1975; Amsler, 1959; Amsler, Herrmann, Lohrer, & Weber, 1959; Gerosa, 1975.)

A more detailed overview of the different types is provided in the appendix report Drawing Voids and Abstractions in Architectural Heritage.

Research to Design How to respectfully use the existing structure in changing and creating within Corippo? The forms and types do not meet contemporary standards on light, space and view. The analysed physical elements that are shown on page 39 - 41 set the rules for the design of new buildings that can modestly be inserted into the four ruined, empty plots.

Right: A sample of facades that show the placement of windows, in particular their variations. A facade of my design is placed among the drawings to show how it blends into the existing situation. There are only a few facades in Corippo where the windows are placed exactly symmetrical and aligned. This notion combined with the need for light created the placement of windows. The design of the larger triangular window is based on the openings to the attics that can be seen in many buildings in Corippo (page 40).

The basic shape of the floor plan is already there on the four plots. They all have four walls left of the former buildings between 0.5 to 2 meters high. The shape of the facade and roof was copied from the existing types. For the design of a facade that blends into the existing village I chose a random placement of windows. As noted earlier and as visible on the right page, there are some rules that can be deducted from the analysis on placement of windows. Windows in the design were placed on the valley side facade. Designed facades have one to four windows per level and slightly vary in placement of them. Many of the existing types in Corippo have attics that are open on both sides (page 40). By copying this feature in the newly designed buildings I

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am able to combine existing outside features into designs that have more light on the inside.

The size of the designed windows was determined by averaging the dimensions of common windows in Corippo buildings (page 41).

Existing physical features of the village are made more visible on the outside than on the inside of the designs.

They have higher ceilings, stairs on the inside, more spaces per level and openings in the floors that allow light to enter the homes. Doors in the design will have to fit contemporary standards on height and are not exact copies.

There are many reasons why an exact physical replica of the original will not add anything to the values of the existing architecture.

They will not be built from autodidactic methods and we have changed our functional requirements and use of materials. The chapters Personal Notes on Dealing With Decaying Architecture and Abstracting as a Method (page 79 and 93) will further clarify why this is not possible and it will explain how to use abstraction in a design to avoid creating kitsch in architecture.

Left: Roof openings in Corippo. The facade on the bottom right is the designed back facade of the building on page 39. The design of this opening was also copied from openings in the existing types.

Right: Common windows and doors in Corippo.

Height, depth and width of the windows can be averaged into the design of a window that resembles the original. The windows and door in the design on page 39 are abstracted, simplified versions of the original with no visible wooden frame elements, sash elements or mullions.

Characteristics Construction and Materials Corippo’s main building material is the natural stone found in Ticino. Granite and gneiss for the walls and slate for the roofs. They used rocks to support the valley roads, pathways and stairs in Corippo. It is used everywhere in Ticino in solid fences that separate farm fields and guide roads. Agriculture on steep mountainsides was made possible by granite walls that levelled the ground. Walls of buildings in Corippo are approximately 0.5 meters thick (two rocks), with a mortar layer in between.

Limestone is found in Ticino and was made into lime mortar in one of the chalk ovens in the Verzasca valley.

Many of the houses are plastered on the inside with lime stucco and it sealed the rocky edges of the openings in the walls.(29)

chairs, tables and cabinets.(30) Research to Design One of the main reasons why the houses in Corippo have not been altered to fit contemporary needs is the structure of the walls.

They are up to 0.6 meters thick, heavy and not airtight because the mortar has eroded. The challenge for the design has been how to create openings in these walls and seal them at the same time. By removing stones from the roof and top of the walls, voids can be created in the existing walls. This will be explained in further chapters, the material on page 44 and served as the starting point.

There are a few oak trees in the Verzasca valley but the tree most used for constructive purposes was the chestnut tree. Roof construction, floor beams and balconies were made of chestnut wood. It was also used for the window sills and most of the commonly used household items such as

(29) A combination of own research and the book Corripo, Bauaufnahme an der TH Stuttgart was used for this section on construction and materials Amsler, Herrmann, Lohrer, & Weber, 1959).

(30) Ibid.

Left: Traditional construction of a roof in Corippo.

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Left: Basic sections of a building in Corippo.

Right: Possible details of openings, roofs and walls in Corippo.

Characteristics Understanding Abstract Values “The practical result of

so articulating the town into identifiable parts is that no sooner do we create a here than we have to admit a there, and it is precisely in the manipulation of these two spatial concepts that a large part of urban drama arises.

”

- Gordon Cullen, 1961 In the previous analytical chapters I explained how the physical environment of Corippo was created. As I stated in the beginning of this report however, architecture is more than the physical state of the built environment. It is also about the transformation of physical substance into symbols of civilisation with aesthetic, emotional and symbolic value. I referred to the values of architectural heritage. More specific for Corippo would be to refer to the values of vernacular architectural heritage. As Bernard Rudofsky explained in Architecture without Architects, architecture has been produced throughout the ages and around the world, without the intervention of planners or architects. We should learn from the aesthetic values and methods of ‘premodern architectural form’.(31) Corippo is an example of a vernacular village where

people created their own environment and values.

In the next chapter I will explain how some of the abstract, emotional values that Corippo provides can be interpreted and used in a design by making hand drawings. The writings of Gordon Cullen helped me in setting the first explicit design choices based on these. The first question should be how to define abstract values of architectural heritage?

The Built Environment and the Experience Values of architecture are difficult to understand as they can be described in subjective, qualitative terms instead of in objective, quantifiable terms as defined by science. In science, space is defined as a homogeneous medium, in which the physical environment is identified according to its

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(31) Bernard Rudofsky (1905 - 1988), was an Austrian born American writer, architect, collector, teacher, designer, and social historian. Many of his theories and designs focus on the idea that our built environment should reflect the history, culture and climate of a specific immediate context instead of standardised solutions. The book and exhibition Architecture Without Architects provides a photographic and written overview of the artistic, functional, and cultural richness of vernacular architecture throughout the world.

Left: Hand drawing made in Corippo.

Quote: Cullen, 1961, p. 9

three dimensions. Geometry has become the quantifiable means to describe the physical world, characterised by the point, line, curve, surface and figure. However, as remarked by philosopher Maurice MerleauPonty(32) (1948-2002), this notion of constant object characteristics does not explain how the representation of an object or space is mentally influenced by physical changes in its structure. By altering the existing structure of Corippo I am changing more than the physical situation. In scientific terms, my design only alters the object’s geometric features or physical conditions.

The theoretical concept of pure space, which science has put forward, sharply contrasts with the spectacle of Corippo brought to me by my senses. It is this contrast that Merleau-Ponty uses to draw our attention to the fact that the scientific idea of pure space can exist only as a hypothetical concept, because we are quite unable to relate to space in such a detached way, as a kind of bodiless or objective object. We, Merleau-Ponty continues, are all part of that space, we are one with it. Space, not defined by dimensions, but by its relation with the human body being in space.

His notion alters the task of the architect from not

only designing and creating physical environments to creating and designing spaces of corporeal presence.

(33)

I assume this statement is true. How can it help me in defining and expressing the emotional values of Corippo? Representing or presenting our being in the physical world - the tools of the architect - should provide us with an idea of the sensuous aspects of space. As determining and defining the qualities of space has traditionally focussed on the perspective of the eye, writers such as Juhani Pallasmaa have argued further on defining the qualities of corporeal space from the perspective of all senses. As Pallasmaa explains in The Thinking Hand, exploring this sensuous relation between man and space, or imagining the space as it represents itself can be done by drawing.(34) Whereas a photo provides a quick, ocularcentric image of the world, in the drawing the relation is made visible between the drawer and his perceived space.

It is that relation between myself and the perceived space that I tried to uncover during my stay in Corippo.

I made my drawings there with the idea that they are better suited to express my

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(32) Maurice MerleauPonty (1908-1961), was a French phenomenological philosopher influenced by Karl Marx, Edmund Husserl and Martin Heidegger.

The central focus of his theories lies in the notion that the human experience plays a fundamental role in understanding and interacting within our world: “Between my sensation and myself there stands always the thickness of some primal acquisition which prevents my experience from being clear of itself. I experience the sensation as a modality of a general existence, one already destined for a physical world and which runs through me without my being the cause of it.”

(Merlau-Ponty, 2005, p.

251) (33) Architecture supposes physical boundaries and human presence. In current literature, the term atmosphere is often used to define space as a concept with corporeal presence.

This can be seen for instance in Oase #91: “The introduction of the term atmosphere leads to this redefinition of the art of architecture: architecture is the creation and design of spaces of corporeal presence.” (Böhme in an essay on the works of Zumthor and Pallasmaa) (Böhme, 2013, p. 99) (34) Juhani Pallasmaa (1936) was a Finnish architect and former professor at the Technical University of Helsinki.

Left: Hand drawing made in Corippo.

experience of Corippian space than photos. At the same time, my stay gave me the opportunity to use hand drawings to start designing in Corippo itself.

“As a consequence of

the mental transfer from the actually of the drawing or the model to the material reality of the project, the images with which the designer advances are not mere visual renderings; they constitute a fully haptic and multi-sensory reality of imagination.

�

- Juhani Pallasma, 2009 The Qualitative Experience of Corippo Until now I have explained how a design in Corippo changes more than the mere physical state. There is a mental, corporeal meaning involved in walking through Corippo and I have used the hand drawing to express mine. Is there a way in which I can manipulate the physical environment into new corporeal meanings for people in Corippo? Ideas on how to redesign the diverse, organic built environment were provided by the work of Gordon Cullen(35) and his Townscape ideals. Gordon Cullen (1914-1994) wrote Townscape in 1961. He uses abstract terms such as excitement, drama and

other emotional responses to explain the values of cities in Great Britain. His attention to the variety of urban space provided an alternative to the monotonous, modernistic town planning of his time.

The general theme of Townscape is the emphasis on the individuals experience of the environment as the starting point for a design.

This theme is developed through several concepts.

Firstly, he describes an understanding of space as an environment of corporeal presence. Space is more than the added sum of the physical elements. It creates an emotional response within the user. He uses this starting point to point out the potentials for architects.

(36) Secondly, Cullen explains the concept of serial vision.

Drawings are used to narrate his individual perception or experience of the physical environment as a constant interplay of the existing view and the emerging view. The scenery of towns, as Cullen explains, is often revealed in a series of jerks or revelations. By manipulating the physical environment, the architect can create emotional responses from the physical environment as we move through urban space. Finally he formulates a casebook of design devices that explain the origin of emotional responses in the built environment. He

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(35) Gordon Cullen (1914 - 1994) was an English architect and urban designer. He is best known for the book Townscape (1961) later republished as The Concise Townscape.

(36) Cullen, 1961, p. 10 Quote: Pallasmaa, 2009, p.

61 Left: Hand drawing made in Corippo.

uses abstract terms such as juxtaposition, immediacy, punctuation, narrows, mystery and many more that all cause us to interact either emotionally or actively with the environment.(37)

(37) Cullen, 1961 (38) Rapoport & Kantor, 1965, p. 212 (39) Cullen, 1961, pp. 182 - 183 Right: Design of a new building in Corippo.

Quote: Cullen, 1961, p. 35

Townscape as a design philosophy can be related to the task of designing in Corippo because it is based upon satisfying a full range of human needs or rather emotions. From Cullen’s philosophy it can be concluded that the juxtaposition of physical elements in the urban landscape of Corippo is essential for the emotional effects the village creates.

According to Cullen, improving urban perception can be accomplished through understanding these effects, created by this diversity.

Among the many theorists continuing on these calls for diversity where Rapoport and Kantor. They put forward the hypothesis that there is a human need for complexity in the visual environment and that one of the most satisfactory ways to provide this complexity is through ambiguity or the creation of ‘... visual nuance, however slight, which gives alternative reactions to the same building or urban group.’(38) Research to Method Returning to Corippo, it is

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hard to argue that some form of diversity or complexity is not already inherently part of being in Corippian space. In my design I have tried to find ways of adding diversity to the urban space of Corippo.

Goals of my method concern ways of modestly changing and creating within the existing structure. From my analysis, my experiences and Cullen’s ideas on adding diversity I started to create openings or voids in the existing buildings as a way of changing the existing structure. The same three influences directed my goals of creating within the existing structure to designing abstracted, simplified versions of the original as statues. A further theoretical background for these methods will be provided in the next sections of this report. Drawings on the next pages show ways of making Cullen’s tools explicit in a design.

By opening the buildings to the public their intimacy or nostalgia is made visible from the inside. Openings were also created to create new meaning to the experience of hereness and thereness.

Cullen uses these terms to explain how a known or unknown there can create an emotional effect.(39) This effect can be strengthened by juxtaposing a diverse set of physical elements in the flow of experiences.

Building as sculpture

“

From time to time buildings (which normally observe the conventions and fit into the landscape as architecture) emerge as another art and to the extend that they do this they achieve a fresh significance due to the different standards to be applied.

�

- Gordon Cullen, 1961

A

B

C

A

B

Looking out of enclosure

“Having established the effect of

Hereness, the feeling of identity with a place, it is clear that this cannot exist of itself but must automatically create a sense of Thereness, and it is in the manipulation of these two qualities that the spatial drama of relationship is set up.

�

- Gordon Cullen, 1961

C

Change of level

“ Below level produces intimacy, inferiority, enclosure and claustrophobia, above

level gives exhilaration, command, superiority, exposure and vertigo; the act of descending, implies going down into the known and the act of ascending implies going up into the unknown.

�

- Gordon Cullen, 1961

Take for instance the drawings on pages 53 to 57.

An opening has created a new there inside a building.

This experience changes with every new space that can be entered.

•

• (40) Cullen, 1961, p. 28 (41) Cullen, 1961, p. 63 (42) Cullen, 1961, p. 93 (43) Cullen, 1961, p. 37 (44) Cullen, 1961, p. 74 Page 54 - 57: Creating exposition spaces and new, diverse experiences in an existing building.

Quotes: Cullen, 1961, p. 28; Cullen, 1961, p. 63 Right: Further chapters will explain how new interpretations of the structures are made possible by creating voids.

Quote: Cullen, 1961, p. 93

After entering an inside space it is possible to walk outside again into an enclosed outdoor space on the top level (page 56). It is an outdoor room but also an outside enclosure(40) Emotional effects are added to the enclosure by framing the view to the valley and lower parts of the village as a way of looking out of enclosure.

The valley - rarely visible from the narrow streets of Corippo - is visible again from this enclosure that people are guided too.

After going inside again, the voids guide people down into the basement.

The emotional effect of change of level is created.

The space becomes narrow, dark and intimate in comparison to the space on the highest level (page 57).

(41)

•

By opening the buildings their construction is made visible from every angle.

The visible natural building materials are related to the effects of seeing in detail and texture as

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•

explained by Cullen.(42) Finally, lighting on the inside and outside can be used to pinpoint the structures.(43) This effect could be created in the winter when the structures are illuminated and visible from the valley road.

As I explained earlier, four empty plots in the village will be filled again with structures that resemble the types of Corippo. In this way Cullens concept of narrows is strengthened. Perhaps even more important in the design of these buildings was the concept of building as a sculpture.(44) As I explained earlier, recreating the existing is not possible. A certain distance between the new designs and the existing structures is inevitable. This will further be explained in the chapter Abstracting as a Method.

Seeing in detail

“ By attention to detail, by training the eye to see in detail, the man-made world

starts to grow in interest and quality. Small elements like this seem to have a life of their own. Walls, which to quick glance have no significance, come to life upon more study.

�

- Gordon Cullen, 1961

2. Functional Goals for the Design in Corippo

Functional Goals on Living in Corippo The previous part explained the concrete and abstract characteristics of the architecture of Corippo.

It gave answers to my first sub-question; what are the characteristics of the architecture of Corippo? My second and third questions are directed at changing and creating within the village. In this chapter a set of functional goals are addressed to these questions.

My analysis and references to Cullen show a respect for the existing structures and layout. For my design, I have to assume that the existing village is still usable to fit contemporary goals on living. They are: •

•

•

Adding more space inside; by taking down inner walls and floors higher and wider rooms are created inside the buildings.

Opening the structures; by removing wall elements the Verzasca valley on the south east is made more visible from inside the structures.

Connecting different structures horizontally and vertically; more

•

rooms are added to single buildings creating direct routes between the inside spaces.

Enlarging the infrastructure; by creating a wider north road and more parking spaces people are forced to turn and park before entering the village square, which therefore can be closed for motor vehicles.

Who am I designing for?

An answer can be given by redirecting that question to the historical context of Corippo; who was Corippo created for? History shows, Corippo was made by people living and working in a small mountain community.

For me, it seems like a logical step to extend this inner reason of existence into my design in the 21st century. Architecture created for people who want to live and work in this village. Possible commuters can never be excluded from the village but my primary goals are directed towards creating architecture that is used twenty-four-seven.

Today, no more farmers are

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Left: First design ideas on how to create a single house from the separated spaces of Corippo.

left in Corippo. Architecture could help in creating contemporary opportunities for people who want to work in this village. Can it be made possible to work from, or close to home in this village in economic sections other than agriculture? My aim is to create structures that have home offices, shops such as a grocery store, studios for creating applied (vernacular) art such as carpentry, architecture or graphic designers, studios for creating and selling fine (vernacular) art such as paintings, wood carvings etc. There is a range of possibilities that can be provided by architecture for residents to fill in. Even farming could be possible again if there is space for it in the village.

Right: How to functionally change the existing structures? These are first sketches on how to add light, space and functions to the existing buildings (upper drawing) by creating openings, connections and inside stairs.

My design in Corippo is directed at creating opportunities to work rather than at directly creating work. Creating or designing a cheese factory or winery for instance does not automatically create a lively village, perhaps only a place where a few people could work. I can create and foresee only a small percentage of what is possible for a liveable Corippo. The actual socio-economical developments have to originate from the residents themselves.

Architecture can help though, by laying the structural foundation

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for people who want to live, work and recreate in Corippo. It creates functional possibilities that are not there at the moment.

Functional Goals for Corippo as a Museum “ Museum, [myoo-zee-uh m], noun: A building or place where works of

art, scientific specimens, or other objects of permanent value are kept and displayed.

”

- www.dictionary.com, 2016 If we follow the definition above, Corippo already is an (open air) museum. The previous chapter stated functional goals on living and working in the village.

This chapter addresses functional goals on Corippo as a museum to the questions of how to change and create within the village.

Corippo was redesigned as a literal open air museum with an entrance and administrative building, archive building and exposition spaces. In the design I have taken the experience of an open air museum as a means to create opportunities for people who want to sell or display their trade. By doing this, my functional goals become self-reinforcing; more visitors to the museum means more opportunities to sell or display goods for the residents.

My drawings show my experience of Corippo.

Earlier on in the design process I was able to visit

two open air sites that both have the qualities of natural open air museums; the Ecokathedraal in Mildam and Museum Insel Hombroich.

(45) The visited structures have not influenced my design choices directly.

The experiences inspired me though to maintain the routing structure that Corippo already has, as part of the abstract qualities I am preserving in my design. For reaching my abstract goals, the physical cues in the urban space as guiding principles can come from the buildings. I don’t need signs, street patterns or extra openings in the street patterns. My design will let people discover and experience hidden spaces and spaces that are right in front of them. At the moment this is already possible in the streets of Corippo. However, inspired by Gordon Cullen, my interventions will create structures that are accesible on the inside as well.

My starting point has been a respect for and re-evaluation

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(45) The Ecokathedraal is an art project initiated by Louis Le Roy in Mildam.

With the help of volunteers he creates structures that serve no formal goal.

Natural stones, pavement, bricks and other mineral materials are stacked in a forest without the use of mortar.

Museum Insel Hombroich is an open air museum in Germany. A variety of structures and art are placed in a park like setting.

The motto of the museum is ‘Art parallel to Nature’ (Kunst parallel zur Natur).

Previous pages: Design of a home and studio.

Left: Drawings made in Insel Hombroich (above) and Mildam (below). For me the quality of these projects lie partly in their close connection with their surroundings. Structures and art are blended with nature without opposing a strict infrastructural layout.

A diverse walk in nature has become a diverse walk among art, buildings and nature.

of the architectural heritage of Corippo. It served as a guideline for constructing a programme to fit an open air museum. Respecting and using the history of the built environment in design and function are brought together in the function of the Ticino Institute of Architectural Heritage. The programme only needs a few essential elements; •

•

•

An entrance and office building that serves as a starting point and administrative centre point for the museum.

Exposition spaces in Corippo that can hold a variety of expositions.

Partially indoors, partially outdoors.

A library and archive that can hold the physical elements such as models or drawings that are essential, displayed parts of the program of an architectural museum.

Living needs for employers are integrated in the residential redesign of the village. In the end, a master plan was created to visualise my goals (pages 72 - 73).

Right: Choices for the master plan were based on the positions of the buildings.

Walking in Corippo gave me the chance to experience the routing structure myself.

My drawings and the position I made them from show the main artery of this pedestrian routing. Publicly

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accessible spaces ,such as studios attached to houses and exposition spaces, are located on this artery in the master plan. They take advantage of the given opportunity of visiting tourists. Housing is located in those structures that have the possibility of sunlight coming in and the possibility to see the valley from inside spaces.

 



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     

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   

    

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          

            

           

           

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3. Methods on Saving Architectural Heritage

Personal Notes on Designing With Decaying Architecture This chapter introduces some of my personal ideals on dealing with decayed buildings which I will explain further in the next two chapters. What we recognise today as architectural heritage are the remnants of the built environment. They are testaments, showing the dissociative character of our physical world.

There are many examples throughout history that show the appeal of ruins.

This (aesthetic) appeal has been used by many artists and architects in drawings and writings.(46) For me personally, it is also one of the reasons why I started my design in Corippo. The old abandoned buildings raise questions, about memories and imaginations of a foregone past, and of potential futures. For an architect, this appeal poses an obvious question; how can new physical additions add anything to the appeal of ruined or decayed buildings?

What are the possible directions for designing with a ruin when we take this appeal into account?

The first option is to let it decay further. In this way the decaying appeal

is preserved. The second option is the concept of juxtaposing different structures, materials and/ or forms into the existing structure. The third option is to design additions with similar structures, materials, forms and building methods of the original structure.

The fourth option would be to re-imagine the forms of the decayed elements with new materials.

This overview is not complete but I believe ideals on reconstructing architectural heritage usually concern these concepts or a combination there off. I use them here to explain some of the choices I have made in the upcoming chapters; The first concept of letting it decay even further would mean the village of Corippo would eventually disappear.

At some point, changes in materials and structures have to be done to ensure Corippo’s existence. In the next chapter I will explain how reinforcing buildings on the inside and creating voids are used to fit my goals on changing the existing structures.

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(46): For instance Piranesi’s depictions of Rome (18th century), Hubert’s painting of the Louvre as a ruin (1796), Ruskin’s Seven Lamps of Architecture and Rose Macauley’s Pleasure of Ruins. Perhaps the most famous example from architecture is the work of Albert Speer, Hitler’s master builder. In his theory of ‘Ruin Value’ he stressed that a grand design should degenerate beautifully over time. When designing Germania, he was already taking into account how it would look as a ruin, as a monument of the past, resembling the greatness of the Roman empire.

Previous pages: Model of the design.

Left: The four options of dealing with decaying architecture as explained in the text. Starting from the upper left; • letting it decay further, • a new structure juxtaposed onto the old, • redesign of the decayed with similar materials, • redesign of the decayed with new materials.

chapter.

In the second concept of dealing with decaying architecture - juxtaposing a new structure into the old - the new design takes a distance from the old. It is can be made clear through the use of materials, construction and forms what the old building is and the extension. I believe however the use of this method often results in designs that show very little respect for the old building. If we look for instance to Daniel Libeskind’s design of the addition to the Royal Ontario Museum, my question would be what the design is celebrating: a respect for the old structure or the new structure? I already stated in the introduction that my interventions are meant to show ways of reusing the existing structures.

Right: The design of the Royal Ontario Museum in Canada. There are many ways to describe this juxtaposed ensemble of old vs new. For me however, the presence of the addition is to large to describe it as respectful to the old.

The third concept of dealing with decaying architecture reshaping the building with similar materials - can be a way of reusing materials and methods used to build the values of Corippo. In such a design, the village might loose some of the appeal I spoke about earlier. At some point it is not possible anymore to differentiate the old and the new structures.

Can a design make the existing structure visible and still create functional buildings? That will also be explained in the next

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Finally, there is the option of recreating the decayed forms in new materials and construction. In the chapter on Grassi I will explain how this method is used by me in Corippo to re-imagine the existing types as statues of the old, celebrating the characteristic architectural history I explained earlier.

The void as a method opening Corippo “Why hang things on a wall when the wall itself

is so much more a challenging medium? It is the rigid mentality that architects install the walls and artists decorate them that offends my sense of either profession. A simple cut or series of cuts, acts as a powerful drawing device able to redefine spatial situations and structural components. What is invisibly at play behind a wall or floor, once exposed, becomes an active participant in a spatial drawing of the building’s inner life.

”

- Gordon Matta-Clark, 1977 Earlier chapters explained the structure, typology and forms of the architecture of Corippo. In the previous section I set up my functional goals on what to change within the existing structure and I presented the first ideas on how to change the existing structure from a set of guidelines extracted from the work of Gordon Cullen. The main method in changing the existing structure of Corippo will be creating openings or voids. As a method, creating voids could influence more than the emotional values explained in Townscape. This chapter will further explain the implications of this method for the experience of the architectural heritage of Corippo.

The Void in the Built Environment The void in the physical

environment can be understood as representing the absence of the solid.

Together with the solid it forms the Gestalt of the architectural form. (47) What we perceive as space. As noted earlier, space is not only defined in scientific geometrical terms. The task of the architect does not lie in changing the existing physical situation alone.

We are designing space for a corporeal presence. At the same time, as explained

by Steen Eiler Rasmussen, designing spaces of corporeal presence should not only be concerned with changing physical substance. The real meaning of architecture is defined by changes in the empty space, or cavity, between physical substances.(48) The void can not exist without the solid. As explained by Rasmussen,

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(47) A psycho-observational term originating from the Berlin School of Experimental Psychology. It states that the whole form of elements is something else in the human mind than the summation of all it’s different elements (Koffka).

Its properties cannot be derived from a simple summation of its parts.

(48) Steen Eiler Rasmussen used the terms solids and cavities to explain this relation between the architect and the physical environment; “Instead of letting his imagination work with structural forms, with the solids of a building, the architect can work with the empty space -the cavity- between the solids, and consider the forming of that space as the real meaning of architecture.” (Rasmussen, 1964, p. 46) Quote: Lee, 2000, p. 35 Left: Gordon Matta-Clark’s Conical Intersect (1975) was a torqued, spiralling “cut” into two derelict seventeenth century Paris buildings adjacent to the construction site of the Centre Pompidou.

the first is important in understanding the latter.

Together, they create the boundary of space and the formal definition of the built environment.(49) The void narrates the experience of the solid. In the borders of the void, the structure can be read as well as the space behind the solid. The void guides the attention of the viewer as the solids are read.

Is it possible to expand the narration of the solid in the built environment? Can the void be used to create new meanings for the physical environment of Corippo?

The idea of using the void to expand the narration of a building was used by the American Gordon MattaClark in his ephemeral art work in the seventees. It interested me as his art shows techniques on how to unravel hidden potentials of the solids of disregarded built environment.

The Meaning of the Void for Matta-Clark Gordon Matta-Clark (19431978) had a short lived career as a rebellious artist primarily focussing on the relation between the built environment and the socioeconomical situation of American urban areas. Most of his works were created by cutting open abandoned or soon to be demolished houses. He made voids in buildings or situations that,

from a socio-economical standpoint, had lost their value. His voids were a critique on the subtle selfcontainerisation of higher and lower socio-economic urban areas. He opposed an American society that, from influences of modernism, had become physically and formally separated from each other based on social classes.

Physical manifestations of the separated classes had become rigid, unyielding boundaries that falsely portrayed a more diverse society.(50) Matta-Clark’s cuts tried to break the taboo of mutable space, questioning the perceived safety of the domestic situation.

By opening walls, floors and roofs, his projects showed new interpretations of buildings that were approaching their social exhaustion. As all of his projects were of a temporal nature what is left is photographed and filmed evidence of openings. The question is raised on why we are throwing these buildings away? His interests were even broader as his research and publications done in collaboration with Anarchitecture expanded to issues of abandonment and forgetting within city structures and daily routines.(51) Matta-Clark’s building cuts

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(49) The term ‘boundary’ is used by Heidegger in his essay Building. Dwelling, Thinking. The concept of space is defined as something that has been made room for, something that is clear and free namely within a boundary, in Greek Peras. A boundary is not a stopping element but, as the Greeks recognised it, that from which something begins its precessing.

(50) Lee, 2000; Disserens, Crow, Kirshner, & Kravagna, 2003 (51) An-architecture was a group of artists led by Matta-Clark, that collected, intervened in, and tried to preserve urban spaces from disappearance, . Drawing them into a structured artistic representation, was a way of proposing a critical alternative to the commonly accepted concepts of architecture, urban planning and the American myth of land ownership. At the same time, this interest led them to conduct experiments that produced new forms of representation and interpretations of the emptiness of those forgotten and fragmented places in the city. (Nonas, 1992) Left: The void as a method in Corippo to create new meanings and interpretations of the existing buildings.

have often been described as violent, iconoclastic or even misogynistic.

Most critiques tend to be directed at the destructive nature of his art, seeing it as works that celebrate the dissociative nature of our physical environment.

(52) What constitutes the meaning of an art piece is in the eye of the beholder.

My personal view, shared by people that have made overviews of Matta-Clark’s art,(53) is that I can clearly see his intentions in the photographic mementos of his building cuts.

The void in Corippo

(52) As described in the introduction of Object to be Destroyed (Lee, 2000) and the introduction and interviews in Gordon MattaClark. (Disserens, Crow, Kirshner, & Kravagna, 2003) (53) Ibid (54) From Wall, 1976, p. 76 and Bear, 1976, p. 2: And she said, “Oh, I see” -she’d come up with a functionalist view of it- “what you did was to bring light and air into spaces without enough of either of them.” And I thought that was fantastic!’

Right: As explained in the chapter Personal Notes on Designing With Decaying Architecture, new materials are blended with the old in the interventions in Corippo. These are sketches from an earlier phase. In later designs the concrete is only applied to the inside to keep the existing structures visible from the outside.

How are the outmoded American suburbs that Matta-Clark opened connected to a research on revitalising a Swiss mountain village? If we consider Matta-Clark’s incisions on the basis of their methodical or technical implications, the comparison becomes clearer. Using the void as a technique in Corippo is not about critiquing rational, subjective models of city planning but about creating new meanings for the architecture of a village that is dying, despite its inherent qualities. For Matta-Clark, the void was an instrument to stimulate public awareness about the subject in hand, in Corippo it can be an instrument used to combine my functional goals on space

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and light with my abstract goals on creating diverse urban spaces. As a technique, the void can create new meanings, interpretations and narrations of the built environment that guide the imagination of what was there and what could be there.

My design in Corippo already implements actual formal meanings of what could be there; I am designing houses and exposition spaces.

There is a certain paradox in using Matta-Clark as an inspirational source for my design that will inevitably fix some functions to segregated physical objects. However, in designing a village where people want to live again, some formal meaning has to be attached to the built environment. Matta-Clark did influence my ideals on creating multifunctional spaces attached to the homes. Spaces that are open to individual, functional layouts. At the same time, constructing usable buildings from the voided masses is also a way of continuing the explorations of Matta-Clark. He knew his incisions did not create new formal meanings for the houses, as he left them uninhabitable. However, he did recognise their potential.

He retells the reaction of a Paris concierge to his art, in two separate interviews.

(54) The concierge saw a

functional purpose in MattaClark’s voids, bringing light and air into the building.

A reaction Matta-Clark liked. Constructing actual formal meanings from his structures would have been the preferred next step, according to his statements.

A step I am taking now in Corippo. Perhaps he did not want to tackle the paradox between the meaning of his art and fixing a formal meaning to it by creating a functional structure. Perhaps he just died to young at the age of thirty five to continue with this next step.

my functional goals on living and visiting Corippo with my abstract goals on narrating the history of the built environment: •

•

•

“ I think of

it now as still being potentially functional. There’s no reason why one shouldn’t be able to live in that place. In fact, I would be very interested in translating cuts like this into still usable or inhabited places. It would change your perceptions for awhile, and it would certainly modify privacy a great deal.

•

•

”

- Gordon Matta-Clark, 1974 Research to Design

Quote: Disserens, Crow, Kirshner, & Kravagna, 2003, p. 19

Design drawings on the previous pages show how I started the design process of changing the existing structures based on the method of the void. The void is used to combine

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•

Voids are created in the facades, facing the main artery (page 32). They guide the visitor into the exposition spaces or studios attached to the houses.

Voids are created that open the view to the valley and let more light in.

Reinforced concrete will be used on the inside of the buildings to strengthen the walls that are opened. In the void, the new and old structure are made visible.

In the exposition buildings, some of the already existing openings will be closed to ad diversity and contrasts with light and darkness (page 54 - 57).

Diversity is also added by different void details.

There are three possible voids: 1. Open voids without windows that blur the difference between inside and outside. 2. Voids with windows in the walls of uninsulated exposition spaces. 3. Voids in the walls of insulated and heated spaces of the museum and houses.

In the next chapter I will

explain how to reach my goals on creating buildings within Corippo.

Voids are only made in the existing structures as they narrate the history of the built environment. The form of new buildings is based on the specific typological history of the built environment of Corippo.

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Abstracting as a Method Grassi and the permanent forms in Corippo “ In a certain sense, it is also a form of

self-defence, which comes from a general sense of insecurity that I have engendered for myself. I am conscious I have built a very restricted and limited world.

”

- Giorgio Grassi, 2007 The void as a technique is usable in changing the existing structure of Corippo.

As a didactic exercise in showing ways of reusing Corripo’s structures, it tells half the storey. My goals, for an architect that is trying to revitalise a village, should not only be about changing but also about creating within the existing structure. In the next chapter I will explain how to design new buildings on the four ruined plots by using the typo-morphological research provided in the first section of this report.

As an inspirational source I have used the works of Giorgio Grassi to guide me in a general direction. I was particularly influenced by his respect for the archetypal history of architecture and his use of abstraction as a tool to translate this respect in a design. To understand Grassi’s motivation and differences between his

theories and my research in Corippo, a few words on historical context are needed.

Understanding Giorgio Grassi Giorgio Grassi (1935), became an architect in a time when Italy was recovering from WWII. His written work and designs, that were done alone or in collaboration with other members of La Tendenza(55), responded to the functional urban planning of Italian cities. An integration with the existing city structures had become less important than the quantitative growth itself.(56) Members of La Tendenza believed that the inner logic of architecture, or the reason of its existence should be explained by its own, generic physical language.(57) Aldo Rossi and Giorgio Grassi described this as finding a

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(55) La Tendenza: A neo-rational movement that started in Italy in the 60’s. Their most prominent members were Ernesto Rogers, Aldo Rossi, Carlo Aymonino, Massimo Scolari and Giorgio Grassi.

The name was created

by Massimo Scolari to accompany their exhibition as rational architects at the 15th Milan Triennale.

As concluded by Tafuri however, the different tendenze of these architects lay to far apart: they are not one coherent group. (1990, p. 236) What they shared was an interest in finding the essential, physical aspects of architecture in which it can find its inner truth. Their methodical lines are described as analytical instruments, used to find the permanent morphology or typology of the city. (Tafuri, 1990) (56) Benevolo, 1988 (57) Tafuri, 1990 Quote: Tozzi, 2007, p. 22 Left: Typological influences on Grassi’s designs. From left to right; a colonnaded Roman street in Jarash (Jordan), the design of the Lange Straße in Karlsruhe,

by Weinbrenner (1808) and the design of the student housing complex in Chieti

by Grassi (1967).

language that could establish architecture as an autonomous phenomenon, based only on the rules determined by its own existence and not on ephemeral driving forces coming from society, economy, politics or technology.(58)

(58) Hays, 2000 (59) Jean de La Bruyère in Les Caractères, 1688: ‘AFTER above seven thousand years, during which there have been men who have thought we come too late to say anything that has not been said already, the finest and most beautiful ideas on morals and manners have been swept away before our times, and nothing is left for us but to glean after the ancients and the ablest amongst the moderns.’

(Grassi, 1997, p. 91).

(60) Grassi, 1997, p. 153 154 (61) Ibid. p. 18 (62) Grassi, 2010, pp. 192193 (63) Grassi, 1997, p. 150 (64) The student housing complex, Chieti: Grassi won the competition to design this building in 1976. Prior to this year not many of his designs were actually build and he was often seen as an influential ‘paper architect’.

As Barbieri, Claessens and Engel stated, in the epilogue of the 1997 edition of The Logical Construction of Architecture, the design of the Chieti student housing is a culmination of Grassi’s didactical line of that time.

(Grassi, 1997, p. 214)

As Grassi states in The Logical Construction of Architecture, the architectural discourse can never escape from the experience of the architecture on which it is based. He quotes Jean de la Bruyere by stating: ‘Everything is said and we are to late’.(59) What Grassi means by this is that the meaning of architecture is already defined. It is the same premise used by Grassi for the title of an overview of his work; Architecture, dead language. A validated description of what architecture is, can only come from its own autonomous language, stripped away from other ambiguous meanings such as aesthetics, functions or emotions.

(60) In Grassi’s writings, the architect takes on an intellectual role in which he searches for that formal language. By analysing and continuing our architectural history we are expanding our architectural intellect.(18) As Grassi states, recurring forms and themes cannot be reduced to a unitary theory that encompasses

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all interactions of meaning.

Their existence is solely based on the outcome of a long process of adaptation and refinement.

Existing architecture is seen as a line of historical responses to well-defined practical problems. All good works of architecture show this clearly and are demonstrations of these responses. Forms that were never sought but exist as testimony of that process.(62) This is also where Grassi’s theories relate to the built environment of Corippo.

An environment refined by autodidactic builders into the forms we still see today.

My research deviates from Grassi’s theories in its focus on the specific context of Corippo. Grassi’s written work and designs focus primarily on the history of the classical form in architecture.(63) Archetypes of these period are designed as abstracted monuments as for instance in the designs of a student housing complex in Chieti and a Roman theatre in Sagunto.

Examples of Grassi’s Designs: Chieti and Sagunto The student housing complex in Chieti is in many ways exemplary for Grassi’s early designs.(64) Type and form were designed by combining drawings of three

German rational designs of the enlightenment period(65) with references to vernacular courtyards of the region of Milan and the programmatic demands of a 1976 student housing complex.(66) The type of the colonnaded street is a direct copy of city fragments that were designed by using classical rules on symmetry geometry and proportion.

Smaller elements such as the windows were fitted in this symmetrical layout.

Their shapes were the result of earlier research and explorations in the Veneto region.(67) Another example of Grassi’s use of classical archetypes is the design of a Roman theatre in a small city in Spain.(68) As Grassi stated, earlier restorations of the Sagunto theatre had left an unbalanced form.(69) Restorations had focussed on two things: restoring the ruins and attempting (in vain) to complete the existing structure with similar materials.

For Grassi, these restorations seem to have had no concern with restoring the ideal of the Roman theatre but rather with trying to restore the picturesque qualities of the ruins as they were at the time of restoration. They did not represent the formal language of the archetype of a Roman theatre.(70) From a typological research, Grassi

extracted the classical rules and elements of a Roman theatre, which he made visible in an added structure.

(71)

Grassi’s designs are minimal, without ornaments or other references. The simplified forms distance themselves from the remains of the theatre. They are something else while at the same time representative of the formal language of a Roman theatre. The old structures are not completely gone but became archaeological remains put on display by the new structure. It is a simplification of a classical type, a stripped representation of a Roman theatre without focussing on subjective ideals such as aesthetics.(72) As Barbieri, Claessens and Engel state, he shows a design certainty. His rules, order and harmony are not temporary answers but doubtlessness, definitive propositions and solutions.

(73)

Corripo and the Abstracted Form Grassi’s theories and designs show ways of reusing classical types. Stripped away from ornaments and meanings, he reinterpreted classical architecture in contemporary, functional building designs. He used those forms that, from their recurring character in history,

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(65) Altes museum, Berlin, Schinkel, 1823 - 1828 Lange Straße, Karlsruhe, Weinbrenner, 1808 Landesschule, Klotzsche, Tessenow, 1925 (66) Grassi, 1981 (67) Grassi, 1994 (68) The Roman theatre of Sagunto: Originally built around the third century BC by the Roman empire. Only parts of the cavea were left in 1990 when Giorgio Grassi together with Manuel Portaceli was asked to redesign the original theatre.

(69) Grassi, 1988, p. 80 (70) Ibid.

(71) Ibid. p. 81 (72) Ibid. pp. 88-89 (73) Barbieri, Claessens, & Engel, 1997, p. 232

have proven their permanent character. As my analysis shows, my typological and morphological research stays within the boundaries of Corippo. I focus on those forms that, from their preserved character, have proven their permanent character.

The central method used to reach my goals on creating within the existing structure of Corippo will be abstracting the existing types.

Abstraction or omission is used by Grassi to remove ambiguous meanings from his design.

The method reveals elements of generality.(74) As the analytical chapters and chapter on Gordon Cullen explained, I believe the specific structures of the village of Corippo hold abstract values. In my interventions, elements of generality are visualised as statues of these values. As I explained in the chapter Personal Notes on Designing With Decaying Architecture, abstracting the existing types in a design can be a means of respectfully inserting new structures into the ruined plots. These abstractions re-imagine the essential formal language of Corippo while at the same time distance them self from the old, letting it keep its values as ruins in display.

This was also part of the method used by Grassi for

the design of the Roman theatre of Sagunto.

“In the project there is no

attempt made to imitate a historical unity, so that the outcome resembles the method of restoring sculptures and paintings where missing pieces or areas are filled in with ’blank’ patches.

Archaeological finds on site, parts of a frieze, columns, before then carted off to a museum, now have a place in the wall at the back of the stage.

”

- Crimson Architectural Historians, 1995 In his designs, Grassi tries to represent an idea of a historical type, a recurring form. Does this position or typological starting point hold when we are designing a twentieth century building that has to fit a variety of contemporary (functional) needs? For both designs in Chieti and Sagunto, the outcome of the analysis had to be mixed at some point with the functional demands of the program. In the student housing project for instance, Grassi designed a shared bathroom for two bedrooms. This functional layout was not solely based on the outcome of an analysis of existing forms.

We see something similar in

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(74) Grassi, 1979, p. 303 Quote: Architectural 1995

Crimson Historians,

Left: The design of the Roman theatre of Sagunto, Spain.

the design of the Sagunto theatre. As Grassi states, the conditions of necessity are wholly contained within its fixed form.(75) At the same time, he creates a form that has to fit the demands of a modern age. If we assume that the functional demands of a theatre have changed in some way over the past 2300 years, these two directions have to meet at some point in the design. This translation from analysis to a precise functional layout is less clearly explained by Grassi.

His analytical starting points are applied more pragmatic in his designs than Grassi explains in The Logical Construction of Architecture.

This is an important distinction between Grassi’s design choices and mine. My starting point has been a research on fitting a village to contemporary functions. My design explicitly addresses typological changes to fit needs on representation, light and other functional needs. Changes that Grassi tries to ignore in his designs.

Research to Design Many of my design choices based on Grassi’s theories have already been explained in the chapter on form and type. Some additional considerations were: • (75) Grassi, 1988, p. 83

The existing types had separated entrances to reach the different

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•

levels. New buildings have an inside routing.

Entrances to public spaces (studios) are situated on the main artery. There are separate private entrances, further away from the main artery.

In this way, influences of existing forms are mixed with privacy and representation issues.

As explained earlier, existing types are copied and changed on the inside for more space and light.

Details for Methods in Saving Architectural Heritage So far I have explained how Corippo was constructed and my goals on changing and creating within the structures of Corippo. In this chapter I will explain how these goals can be reached in the details of the buildings.

Reinforced concrete is the main material of choice for the interventions in Corippo.

Specifically, I chose insulation concrete. The advantages of this material can be seen in the design of a house in Chur by Patrick Gartmann.

(76) All the walls and roofs of this house were constructed from a monolithic layer of either ordinary construction concrete or insulation-grade structural concrete.(77) The properties of this material allowed me to combine my goal on strengthening the existing stone houses with the goal on abstracting the existing types in one monolithic material.

Detailing the Voids Creating voids in the walls and roofs of Corippo is possible if the mass of the granite stones is carried by added (steel) reinforcements in the lintel. My goal was a minimum use of materials in the narration of the

structure in the void. I wanted to create simple details as understandable overviews of old and new materials. This excluded the use of steel lintels that would be visible or hidden under a complicated constructional layer. The voids in my design will be made by removing stones from the top down. By doing this, the mass is transferred by push forces to the ground.

Voids can be made from the top of the roof or the top of the wall as the roofs are carried by wooden beams resting on the stone walls.

Floors are made of insulated concrete. Heating, ventilation and plumbing are left inside the poured concrete. Where the flooring meets a vertical window void, it extends outside as one monolithic layer.

There are no cold bridges as the concrete insulates the construction. Some of the original materials such as stones and wooden beams will be left as visible details of the old construction.

Finally all the stairs are designed in concrete. The smaller building elements such as window frames and railings are made from

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(76) For details see: DETAIL Magazine, 2006 1/2, pp. 32 - 35.

(77) U-value: approx. 0.58 W/m2K for the 0.5cm thick walls, U-value approx. 0.4 W/m2K for the 0.5cm thick roof.

Previous pages: Designs based on Grassi’s theories, implemented in Corippo.

Left: Scheme of creating voids in buildings.

chestnut wood.

Detailing Abstracted Buildings As explained earlier, Grassi designed minimalistic types.

He used different methods to arrive at his simplified forms. The student housing complex in Chieti was designed with monolithic layers of concrete and yellow stucco to create seamless details. The same walls are drawn in his early designs from 1966 to 1985(78) In later designs he started to use bricks for his abstracted forms as in the Sagunto theatre (1990), the Potszdammer Platz buildings (1993, Berlin) and the library of Groningen (1992).

For the design in Corippo I chose a monolithic use of concrete as in the earlier designs of Grassi. The same material and structure will be visible on the outer and inner walls, ceiling, flooring and roof as one abstracted typological layer.

No surface treatment will be applied to the concrete, except for on the roof, where a UV-resistant, permanently elastic coat of plasticmodified cement slurry was applied to prevent moisture penetration.

(78) Grassi, 1988; Grassi, 1994

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4. Overview

1. Living and Working Level views 1:200

1A

1B

Floor 2,5 + 3

Floor 1,5 + 2

Floor 1

1C

Floor 0

Floor plans working 1:100

living

and

1D

1E

1F

1G

Sections living and working 1:100



1A





1B



1C





 Details living and working 1:20 1. Wall: 500 - 600mm existing stone wall, 200mm reinforced insulation concrete.

2. Window in new void: 12mm toughened glass + 10 mm cavity + 8mm float glass, larch timber frame.

3. Roof: 200 - 300mm existing stone roof,

 200mm reinforced insulation concrete, existing timber frame left inside.

4. Door in new void: glass in larch timber frame supported by 100mm insulation concrete frame.

5. Door in existing void: glass in larch timber frame supported by wooden lintel.

6. Window in existing void: 12mm toughened glass + 10 mm cavity + 8mm float glass, larch timber frame.



  1D



 

1E

  1F

1G 



Details living and working 1:20





1. Wall: 500 - 600mm existing stone wall, 200mm reinforced insulation concrete.

2. Door in new void: glass in larch timber frame supported by 100mm insulation concrete frame.

3. Floor: 300mm reinforced concrete, heating concreted in.

4. Heating and services conduit.

5. Roof: 200 - 300mm existing stone roof, 200mm reinforced insulation concrete, existing timber frame left inside.

6. Existing supporting beams, concreted in.

7. Floor: 300mm reinforced concrete, heating concreted in.

8. Window in new void: 12mm toughened glass + 10 mm cavity + 8mm float glass, larch timber frame.

2. Living and Working Level views 1:200

2A

2B

2C

Floor 3

Floor 2

Floor 1

2D

Floor plans working 1:100

Floor 0

living

and

2G

2H

2F

2E

2I

2J

Sections living and working 1:100

2A 



2C

2B

4 











Details living and working 1:20 1. Sliding door: glass in larch timber frame.

2.Wall: 500mm reinforced untreated insulation concrete.

3. Window: 12mm toughened glass +

10 mm cavity + 8mm float glass, larch timber frame.

4. Supporting structural glazing vertical members.

2D







2E 

2F 







 



Details living and working 1:20 1. Wall: 500mm reinforced untreated insulation concrete.

2. Door: glass in larch timber frame 3. Window: 12mm glass + 10 mm

cavity + 8mm glass, larch timber frame.

4. Wall: 500 - 600mm existing stone wall, 200mm reinforced insulation concrete.

5.Floor: 300mm reinforced concrete, heating concreted in.

6. Heating and services

conduit.

2G



2I









2H

2J

 





Details living and working 1:20

 

1. Roof: 500mm reinforced insulation concrete with a 2-component fine stopper sealant.

2. Sliding door: glass in larch timber frame.

3.Wall: 500mm reinforced untreated insulation concrete.

4. Heating and services conduit.

5. Floor: 300mm reinforced concrete, heating concreted in.

6. Window: 12mm toughened glass + 10 mm cavity + 8mm float glass, larch timber frame, supported by structural glazing vertical members.

3. Entrance Building Museum Level views 1:200

Floor 1

Floor plans building 1:100

entrance

Floor 0

Sections entrance building 1:100

4. Exposition Building Level views 1:200

Floor 2

Floor 1

Floor 0

Floor plans exposition building 1:100

Sections exposition building 1:100

5. Ending

Concluding Remarks The original question - How can we use the characteristics of the rural architecture of Corippo to create a village in which people want to live and work, and that tourists want to visit? - is answered in this report, which has the form of a personal search. Values of existing architecture, as investigated by Cullen and Matta-Clark, are part of spaces defined by corporeal presence. My design is a personal answer in ways of reusing them. It started as an analytical research into the factors that created the built environment of Corippo. However, in the end my design changes more than this physical substance.

I realise the paradox of my resources. I doubt the theories of Cullen, Matta-Clark and Grassi have been used before in a single design. However, although their questions and solutions in their respective fields of architecture are different, they all originated from ideals on reusing our architectural history. It is no coincidence that all three designers responded to functional, modernistic city constructions in the middle of the 20th century. In the

end, all three designers provided parts of my personal answers on dealing with the values of Corippo.

This report provides answers and raises questions. There are two fields of interest for future research on the topics I discussed in this report: Firstly, this report focusses on reusing the values of the vernacular architecture of a village in Switzerland. My personal interest has always been wider: how to reuse the values of architectural heritage in other cities, other places? In my own city of Nijmegen for instance, I have recently witnessed how complete neighbourhoods were built as copies from houses built in the 1930’s.

Is that how we should reuse our architectural history?

Secondly, this report only answers a small part of how to deal with a widespread urban development worldwide: people leaving smaller villages to live in bigger cities.(79) I believe further research and designs are necessary if we want to preserve all elements of our architectural history.

(79) Cohen,2015

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There are more questions that can be raised concerning this topic than I will ever be able to answer.

In the end this report is only a starting point for my research in reusing values of architectural heritage.

In future I hope to continue this personal journey in texts and designs.

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Thank You I thank my tutors; Bernard, Renato and Wouter for inspiration, help and support - my supporting friends for getting me through challenging personal events during my graduation - my loving girlfriend Rebecca for having patience and support - my parents and family for faith, support, guidance and love.

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