CHRISTOS CHRISOVALANTIS BOLOS YALE SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE M.ARCH I DEGREE CANDIDATE CLASS OF 2012
Semester
1A▷
4000CF
1B▷
SEAM
1C▷
MOVE
semester
2A▷
TRANSMOGRIFICATION
2B▷
REPLICATION
2C▷
VLOCK BUILDING PROJECT
semester
3A▷
THE YALE CONTEMPORARY
semester
4A▷
PROVIDENCE URBANISM STUDIO
01
studio
02
03
04
studio
studio
studio
-------------------------
additional projects
0A▷
BIO-URBAN NETWORK
0B▷
FORMAL ANALYSIS
0C▷
MATERIAL FORMATION
0D▷
VISUALIZATION
0E▷
RETROSPECTA 2009-2010
0F▷
ARCHITECTURAL THEORY
0G▷
AGGREGATING COMPONENTS
0H▷
SPACE, CRIME, AND ARCHITECTURE
0I▷ WOODERFALL
EDUCATION 2009 - 2012
Yale University School of Architecture. New Haven, CT
Master of Architecture I Candidate, Class of 2012 2005 - 2009
University of Utah. Salt Lake City, UT
Honors Degree of Bachelor of Science Cum Laude, Architectural Studies
Departmental and University Honors Undergraduate Research Scholar Distinction Dean’s List All Terms
work experienc e Yale School of Architecture. New Haven, CT 2011-2014 Editor, Perspecta 47: Money (Forthcoming) 2011
Teaching Fellow, 1016b Visualization III: Fabrication and Assembly
2011 Model preparation at Kevin Roche John Dinkeloo and Associates for YSOA exhibition Kevin Roche: Architecture as Environment 2009 - 2010
2003 - 2008
Lomond View Designs & Engineering, LLC. Pleasant View, UT
2008
Editor, Retrospecta 2009-2010
Thomas A. Hales, S.E. Intern, Architectural and Structural Design
lu’na Design Studio. Salt Lake City, UT
www.lunaarchitects.com M. Louis Ulrich, AIA Website Design & Development
PUBLICATIONS 2010
Retrospecta 2009-2010.
‘Move’ Project. August 2010. Yale School of Architecture. New Haven, CT 2009
University of Utah Undergraduate Research Abstracts Journal.
‘Transitional Space in Architecture: Elements and Profound Experiences.’ Volume 9, Spring 2009. U of Utah UROP. Salt Lake City, UT 2009
Crit Journal.
‘Rebuilding Iraq: The Necessity of an Architecture of Emotion.’ Issue 67: “From Conflict,” Spring 2009. Washington, DC
STUDIOS
4000CF TERM: FALL 2009 COURSE: 1011a ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN STUDIO I CRITIC: JOYCE HSIANG ------------------------------------------------------
Studying the surface logic of the Signal Box by Herzog & de Meuron as precedent, this project was an exploration in transforming the Signal Box tectonic to a three-dimensional system in order to accommodate the storage and use of a book collection. Conceived on an abstract site, which incorporates an elevational change, the new surface becomes volumetric rather than planar and negotiates level changes and circulation, while also creating sheltered areas for reading. Employing a similar two-fold system as HdeM’s, the surface form is defined and manipulated by a secondary support structure. This allows the striated system to adjust through multiple points of support, calibrating each striation in the project for programmatic requirements or solar conditions.
Process: Surface deformation study models
SEAM
SOCRATES SCULPTURE PARK KAYAK PAVILION TERM: FALL 2009 COURSE: 1011a ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN STUDIO I CRITIC: JOYCE HSIANG ------------------------------------------------------
This addition to Socrates Sculpture Park in Long Island City, New York charged students to consider an intervention to serve as a point for kayak storage and launch, additional display area for large-scale sculpture, and the negotiation between land and water. My proposal considered the rhythms and organization of both the park and the surrounding city fabric, operating as a conceptual “knot� which links together these various programs. Three paths interweave across the site. The first is primarily for kayaks, connecting the city with the water and extending into the East River to serve as a launching pier. The second is a pedestrian path, taking visitors to vantage points of primary views and to the sheltered pavilion area. The third acts as a connection between these two user groups and Socrates Park. The residual space between the three paths becomes two courts characteristic of the landscape of the site: one containing vegetation and another showcasing the ever-changing water level.
Site Analysis w/ Greta Modesitt Opposite: Site rhythm + pattern analysis Right: Analytic site model
Process MODELS
SHELTER OFFICE
PROGRAM
KAYAK STORAGE
VEGETATION COURT COURTS POOL COURT
EAST-WEST PIER SECTION
CONNECTION PATH
VIEW + SHELTER PATH
PATH TO/FROM RIVER + CITY
SECTIONAL MODEL
SITE PLAN
EAST-WEST LONGITUDINAL SECTION
NORTH-SOUTH TRANSVERSE SECTION
PUBLISHED IN RETROSPECTA 2009-2010
MOVE
THEATER FOR DUMBO, BROOKLYN TERM: FALL 2009 COURSE: 1011a ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN STUDIO I CRITIC: JOYCE HSIANG ------------------------------------------------------
This project investigates the potential architecture possesses to very deliberately orchestrate experiences through the screening of a building’s surroundings. The site, located directly underneath the Brooklyn Bridge, posed the unique problem of utilizing the empty shell of the Tobacco Warehouse in Brooklyn Bridge Park. The scheme addresses this imposing site by formally becoming a filigree, editing to various levels its context in order to immerse its visitors in a specific series of events. The varying degrees of transparency created through the overlap and assemblage of disparate elements creates a visual sieve while allowing the project to engage directly and intimately with the existing walls as a key component of the new building’s structural and tactile interface. In doing so, the theater denies the inclination for the Tobacco Warehouse to become a container, allowing both old and new to swell into each other and contribute equally to the overall architectural character.
CLADDING INSULATION RIGID STRUCTURE INSULATION FINISH
BASE PLATE
EXISTING WALL
TECTONIC ASSEMBLY
OUTDOOR PERFORMANCE ENTRY LOBBY INTERMISSION INDOOR PERFORMANCE
PUBLIC GALLERY
STRUCTURAL SYSTEM
EXISTING WALLS
INTERIOR PROGRAM
UNDERGROUND CORRIDOR
EXTERIOR PROGRAM
REMOVED WALL PORTIONS
Edited Site: Orchestration through visual “sieve”
Process MODELS
BACKSTAGE
STAGE
7
6
DOWN
5 4 8 PREP
9
3 COATS
2 1
N
FLOOR PLAN
1 COAT CHECK
4 INTERMISSION
7 INDOOR THEATER
2 LOBBY
5 OUTDOOR SEATING
8 PUBLIC GALLERY
3 CAFE
6 OUTDOOR THEATER
9 STORAGE
west-east section
north-south section
Sectional Perspective
Interior View: Theater
COHABITATION
LIVING CONDITIONS FOR TWO TERM: SPRING 2010 COURSE: 1012b ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN STUDIO II CRITIC: JOEB MOORE ------------------------------------------------------
Two cohabitant characters, each with specific needs, occupy an abstract site within a tight 14’x14’x16’ volume, elevated 10’ above ground level. This particular dwelling is one among a field of similarly constrained units, allowing air, light, and physical access to occur only above and below the raised volume. A polymorphic space attempts to resolve the requirements of both individuals. An elderly baby sitter resides on the lower level, where all the spaces are arranged on a flat floor plate to accommodate her age and limited mobility. Shallower spaces are reserved for the youngsters she cares for while ample space is provided for a daily routine. The second character, a yoga instructor, calls the upper-most floor home. Dynamic level changes and furniture created by a swelling of the building’s form allow this young lady comfortable exercise area, a workspace, and all domestic amenities. The extension of the form both up and downwards brings the cohabitants into the residence from the lower ground plane and shares the light and air above between them.
MODELS
TRANSMOGRIFICATION
SPACE STATION MIR VS the NEW HAVEN HOME TERM: SPRING 2010 COURSE: 1012b ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN STUDIO II CRITIC: JOEB MOORE COLLABORATION WITH: MIROSLAVA BROOKS, VINCENT CALABRO, ILSA FALIS, MARCUS HOOKS, DINO KIRATZIDIS, MICHAEL MORIANO, ASHLEY OZBURN, MELISSA SHIN, IAN STARLING ------------------------------------------------------
Colliding the Russian Space Station Mir with a typical New Haven home, this group analytique attempts to better understand domesticity by contrasting the familiar with the extreme living conditions and spacial logics of space travel. The resultant model exaggerates these differences by making two key observations of the domestic space condition: (1) the convergence of plan and section due to lack of gravity and (2) the unitization of space stations allowing infinite spatial expansion through a universal locking interface. As these two housing typologies are forced to negotiate within one system, a representation of a typical house transforms into an armature for attaching hyper-articulated “pods,” each accommodating different programmatic functions and allowing walls, floors, and ceilings to be interchangeable surfaces.
TYPICAL NEW HAVEN HOUSE
FLIP AND ROTATE PLAN BECOMES SECTION, WALLS TRANSFORM TO FLOORS
ADDITION OF PODS
REPLICATION
HOUSING FOR NEW HAVEN’S AT-RISK YOUTH TERM: SPRING 2010 COURSE: 1012b ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN STUDIO II CRITIC: JOEB MOORE ------------------------------------------------------
The prompt for this project surrounds the sensitive issue of housing at-risk youth in New Haven, Connecticut. Two zones exist within the scheme, a boys and girls side, each for five youth and their adult supervisors. By establishing a gradient of social interaction across the site from public to private, the programmatic distribution in the building creates charged temporal conditions which allow for the residents’ privacy while encouraging communal interaction. Vertically, the emphasis also shifts from public to private. At the base level, group functions such as classes and a market connect the project with the greater community. The second floor houses group dining and recreational activities along with study and meeting rooms. Terminating at the top level, individual bedroom units form micro-communities around shared baths in an interlocking arrangement.
Process AND CONCEPTUAL MODELS
001. SYMMETRICAL PROGRAM
002. PROGRAM EXTENSION
003. LOCAL PUBLIC ZONES
004. SOCIAL GRADIENT
005. SOCIAL DIRECTIONALITY
006. SOCIAL ARMATURE
+00 GROUND FLOOR
+01 FIRST FLOOR
+02 SECOND FLOOR
+03 THIRD FLOOR
IES
NIT
U MM
O OC / MICR / 1 00 ITS S UM UN AT UAL ITIE R UN ST IVID / MM / O IND 2 ION 00 IRL C CT UM /G RA AT BOY TE R N I ST CAL OD / HO LO 3 / BOR 0 H 0 IG M E TU ED N RA ST TEND EX
FINAL MODEL
LONGITUDINAL SECTION
VERTICAL ORGANIZATION
TRANSVERSE SECTION
YALE BUILDING PROJECT TEAM ‘E’ PROPOSAL
TERM: SPRING 2010 COURSE: 1012b ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN STUDIO II COLLABORATION WITH: JAMES ANDRACHUK, JONAS BARRE, MIROSLAVA BROOKS, AMY DEDONATO, DANIELLE DURYEA, CLAY HAYLES, DINO KIRATZIDIS, SCOTT KUNSTADT, NANCY PUTNAM ------------------------------------------------------
Team ‘E’ proposed a flexible programmatic solution for low income housing, while minding the contextual specificity within the neighborhood. Through the simple adjustment of a partition on the second level, the house may be configured in six different ways based on owner/tenant needs. Although the design allows for maximum adaptability over time or in replication, the proposal adheres to the vernacular sensibilities of the neighborhood through its siting, materials, and formal strategy. The ground floor size is minimized to reduce the home’s footprint and save cost, while the upper floor is cantilevered on all sides to maximize the usable space on the second storey. Conveniently, this creates covered social space both in the front and rear in the form of a front porch and rear patio and allows both stairways to be hung on the sides from the second floor structure.
Process MODELS
PROGRAMMATIC FLEXIBILITY DIAGRAM
GROUND FLOOR PLAN
SECOND FLOOR PLAN
STREET ELEVATION
EAST ELEVATION
WEST ELEVATION
CROSS SECTION ‘A’
CROSS SECTION ‘B’
LONGITUDINAL SECTION ‘C’
FINAL 1/2”=1’0” MODEL
STRUCTURAL MODEL
Structural Model
THE YALE CONTEMPORARY RE-INVENTING THE UNIVERSITY MUSEUM
TERM: FALL 2010 COURSE: 1021a ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN STUDIO III CRITIC: MARK GAGE ------------------------------------------------------
In considering a new museum for Yale’s campus to accompany Louis Kahn’s Yale University Art Gallery and the Yale Center for British Art, the primary impetus was that contemporary art has necessitated such a museum be one for housing objects of radically different scales. Therefore, the motivation became to pursue a language of containers for the building, read clearly from both outside and in. The focus of the museum is a tripartite gallery organization, served by a central staircase. Each large gallery volume contains another, smaller volume within, allowing art to be displayed either in a more open, day lit environment, or in a precisely controlled, hermetic gallery. The various scales of exhibit space also account for the ranging sizes and types of art, for instance accommodating field conditions such as Roxy Paine’s Scumaks as easily as larger single objects like Gabriel Orozco’s Mobile Matrix. The formal language also incorporates a continuous dialog between interior and exterior by shifting the experience of the user occupying “solid” volumes, interstitial space, and rooftop outdoor gallery space as he or she ascends.
Process MODELS
Site Analysis
Final Model
First floor & SITE PLAN
fourth floor
third floor
second floor
Interior View: Gallery
transverse section ‘a’
longitudinal section ‘b’
Section Perspective
Final Model
THE KNOWLEDGE DISTRICT PROVIDENCE, RI URBANISM STUDIO
TERM: SPRING 2011 COURSE: 1022b ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN STUDIO IV CRITIC: DEBORAH GANS COLLABORATION WITH: DANIELLE DURYEA ------------------------------------------------------
Across the country, defunct highway infrastructure is demolished as newer routes are built, leaving scars in the urban fabric of cities while wasting money and resources. Our proposal for the redevelopment of the decommissioned I-195 corridor in Providence, RI asks, what else could we do with these modern artifacts? At once, this site posed two specific problems. First, the removal of I-195, which originally separated Providence’s old Jewelry District from the downtown, leaves the area without any traffic from the remaining exits off the city’s freeways. Second, most commuters to Providence enter the city by automobile, flooding the downtown with potentially over 50,000 vehicles every day. As a consequence of this routine, the site is currently surrounded by numerous surface parking lots. This distancing between potential development and existing urban context limits the density and urban energy which can be brought adjacent to our site to ensure its capacity to sustain vibrant urban life. Immediately, we sought to restore entry points from I-95 and I-195 to ensure access to the Jewelry District. In an effort to allow for redensification of its downtown, the city would relocate the adjacent surface lots through incentives to their owners and consolidate all parking within larger parking structures which serve as landmarks and icons for Providence. Also facilitated is a heightened public/private interaction between the city of Providence and the key institutions of Brown University, the Rhode Island School of Design, and Johnson & Wales University. Brown, in particular, is interested in immediately developing five laboratory buildings as a means of creating a “Knowledge District” extension of its campus. We sought to intensify this process. Through an investment of both public and private funds, the cost of tearing down the defunct highway would instead be used to install all the necessary infrastructures onto the existing highway, turning it into a continuous conduit which development can connect to. This provides the area with dedicated systems, also allowing adjoining buildings to be smaller and less expensive because key mechanical components would be located in the highway and collectively shared. Our proposal feeds on the existing public life on College Hill, bringing that energy to the Jewelry District, creates a potent storm water management system, and rethinks the laboratory building typology in a way which promotes constant urban activity.
process & urban-scale MODELS
sectional composition diagram
PARKING CYLINDER
childrens museum
public courthouse park square
phase 1 lab buildings
phase 2 lab buildings
hotel
dormitories
site plan
phase 1 detail - highway level plan
phase 1 detail - street level plan
north-south section
east-west section
SEMINARS
BIO-URBAN NETWORK
PARK INFRASTRUCTURE FOR A FUTURE NEW HAVEN TERM: SUMMER 2010 COURSE: 1017c VISUALIZATION IV INSTRUCTOR: BRENNAN BUCK COLLABORATION WITH: SIERRA COBB ------------------------------------------------------
New Haven, even at first glance, is a city of massive infrastructure. The residue of urban renewal has left the city with an unusual bleeding of transportation infrastructure and urban fabric, evidenced by the numerous oversized and prominent parking garages and the city’s unique relationship with its freeway system. As a conceptual urban intervention for a future New Haven, this project explored through scripting the possibility for the existing open space and vacant lots of New Haven to become an network of green space, creating an infrastructure of parks. These “bio-domes” would act like greenhouses, providing comfortable “outdoor” space year-round and would be connected to one other via elevated walkways. The biourban network would also provide access to key areas of commerce within the city and would establish a pedestrian link between the east and west sides of New Haven, re-amplifying linkages which previous transportation infrastructure has severed.
SITE PLAN
Section Perspective
FORMAL ANALYSIS TERM: FALL 2009 COURSE: 1018a FORMAL ANALYSIS INSTRUCTOR: PETER EISENMAN ------------------------------------------------------
These drawings represent a series of analytic investigations over the course of a semester of canonical buildings throughout history, as well as a final analysis of Mies van der Rohe’s S.R. Crown Hall at the Illinois Institute of Technology (right). These drawings were considered through the lens of the grammatical vs. rhetorical formal language of each building studied and in many cases between two different projects, attempting to uncover and establish the differences therein.
Analytic Sequence of S.R. Crown Hall, Mies van der Rohe
MATERIAL FORMATION TERM: FALL 2010 COURSE: 2217a MATERIAL FORMATION IN DESIGN INSTRUCTOR: Kevin Rotheroe ------------------------------------------------------
The motivation for the design of the singular panel was to create a primitive unit which had qualities of an almost-dicernable subordinate geometry, thus creating a more irregular surface articulation when tiled. The fabrication of this panel was tested using both additive and subtractive fabrication methods, employing plaster, concrete, plywood, and high-density foam as materials. A secondary layer of investigation concerned indirectly applying a type of “graphic� to the panel, which was explored through casting manipulation, material layer striation, NURB and polygon conversion exploitation, and CNC toolpath reside.
Primitive
Aggregated Field
Panel Propagated Across Facade
VISUALIZATION TERM: FALL 2009, SPRING 2010 COURSE: 1001C, 1015a, 1016b, 1017c Visualization i, ii, III, iv INSTRUCTORS: SUNIL BALD, KENT BLOOMER, JOHN EBERHART, joyce hsiang, GEORGE KNIGHT, BEN PELL ------------------------------------------------------
These representations are drawings created throughout the Visualization series of courses, exploring such themes as representing three-dimensional space in two dimensions, understanding interior volume and volumetric manipulations, prototype preparation and rendering, and constructed hypothetical space.
IPMS
Connection Detail Renderings
Generative Interior Volumes
Yale College Lamp Post
Gate, Old Campus
English Station Imagined Interior 6’x6’ charcoal on paper w/ Diana Nee
RETROSPECTA 09-10 FALL 2009 - SUMMER 2010 EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: CAN VU BUI EDITORS: CHRISTOS BOLOS, JUSTIN TRIGG ASSISTANT EDITOR: DIANA NEE GRAPHIC DESIGNERS: JI-EUN RIM, JUAN ASTASIO SORIANO ------------------------------------------------------
Our aim as editors was to make the 2009-2010 issue of Retrospecta, the Yale School of Architecture’s yearly archive of the best student work, easily navigable by those familiar with the School and prospective students alike. This led to a splitting of the book conceptually into two smaller volumes, one for the fall term and one for spring. The two sections were then bridged by a starkly different yellow pamphlet containing the culture and life of the School. Fall and spring were distinguished and separated with the use of separate graphic styles as well as a tactile interface along the front due to the middle pamphlet being trimmed back from the book edge. Casual readers of Retrospecta are thus drawn to the center first, welcomed by the Dean’s message, the editors’ introduction, lectures, symposia, etc., and are then free to roam across a chronologically sequenced year’s worth of student work.
The Autonomous “Project”
the shift from the visionary to the conceptual TERM: FALL 2010 COURSE: 3021a ARCHITECTURAL THEORY I 1750–1968 INSTRUCTORS: EMMANUEL PETIT, MARTA Caldeira ------------------------------------------------------
Premise In 2001, Jeffery Kipnis published a collection of architectural representations created between 1972 and 1987 by five of today’s most notable architects. These projects, touted by Kipnis as Perfect Acts of Architecture, seemingly exemplify Etienne-Louis Boullée’s assertion that the art of architecture is the pursuit of a “product of the mind…designing and bringing to perfection any building whatsoever.” 1 The six sets of drawings, created as a means of sustaining architectural discourse during a period where economic conditions had brought building to a standstill, bear striking resemblance to other “paper architecture” preceding the 1960’s and contemporary architectural theory. However, when viewed in contrast to earlier visionary works, it is clear that something had changed. The transformation seen in hypothetical architecture in the past ±200 years is due to the level of autonomy of a project. Of course, the word “autonomy” in architecture carries two possible meanings. In the first, autonomy is synonymous with criticality and the general generative capacity of architecture as an internal discipline. Not to be confused with this Project of autonomy, the second implication is the one at stake in this essay: the autonomy of an architecture’s conceptual “project” as it manages to establish a complete fissure with and independence from its forecasted or realized building. In this arena, the conceptual “project” then can become the entire work. This essay will attempt to track the evolution and growth of the autonomous project by indexing three different points in time via four influential architect/theorists. From the late 1700s to early 1800s the writings and work of Etienne-Louis Boullée and Claude Nicolas Ledoux will be looked at simultaneously as they constitute a rich and cohesive body of written, hypothetical, and built work from the same time period. The midpoint in the investigation will be Le Corbusier as representing a radically new paradigm and formal language both in built and visionary work. From the Perfect Acts,
1
(Rosenau, 1976, p. 83)
the only realized project, House VI by Peter Eisenman, will be used as the example of total autonomy of project from building.
Bernard Tschumi, The Manhattan Transcripts
Claude Nicolas Ledoux, Théâtre de Besançon
The goal will be to describe a shift in seemingly similar architectural production from the visionary work of Boullée, Ledoux, and Corbusier to the conceptual realm of Eisenman and his contemporaries (Archigram, Archizoom, Superstudio, etc). Further, this essay will propose the theories of phenomenology of the 1960s and 1970s as the source of agitation reacted against by these latter architects, instigating the ideological hinge which abruptly drove the hypothetical project toward autonomy and a conceptual ambition. Thus, the theories of Christian Norberg-Schulz studied in this course, and specifically Genius Loci: Towards a Phenomenology of Architecture will serve as a conceptual backbone for testing the various projects and grounding the investigation within the scope of the course’s themes. The ideologies from each of the three time periods will be compared to Norberg-Schulz’s writing and the theories of phenomenology as a means of gauging the necessity of the physical object as we progress. Moving forward, clear definitions of what is visionary versus conceptual are necessary. What separates the two camps is that when dealing with visionary projects, something is left to be desired at the conclusion. These works propose either a change or a new way forward for the discipline of architecture through inspirational scenography or radical concepts. They are open-ended ideas, urging practitioners to adopt them and bring them to fruition for deployment. Conceptual work, on the other hand, presents the hypothetical project as a self-fulfilling prophecy. These projects are complete as-is; no further action is necessary upon their delivery from the designer. They posit no vision or suggestion for what is to come; they simply resolve themselves within their individual micro-vacuum or tell the final chapter in a narrative and slip neatly into the filing cabinet, clearing room for the next autonomous project. Throughout this essay, these two terms, “visionary” and “conceptual,” will be used to identify the two diverging means of representation, with “hypothetical” or “paper architecture” acting as neutral terms to address both sides at once. The Idealized Neoclassical
Archigram, Walking City
Boullée in his Essay on Art advocates a refocused emphasis on the design of a building rather than a primary focus on its pragmatic or technical aspects. He does this while never questioning the necessity or intention of building architecture, but rather ensuring that the “art of designing” receives its due diligence. Boullée clarifies and inverts the Vitruvian conception of architecture, the “art of building,” by explaining that building is the effect of the art of architecture—i.e. a competent construction does not necessarily produce quality architecture. This establishes a definitive balance: “Art…and science, these we believe have their
place in architecture.” 2 It is also important to note that in Boullée’s essay, “Architecture” and “Building” are both capitalized, showing his belief in the importance of their co-dependence. Norberg-Schultz similarly describes “the practical, ‘functional’, dimension…as part of a comprehensive system.” 3 Further bringing the ideas of Boullée and the theories of phenomenology closer is Boullée’s elaboration on Jacques-François Blondel’s idea of architectural “character”: Let’s look at an object! … The feeling that we first experience obviously comes from the way in which the object affects us. I call character the effect that results from this object, which causes in us some impression. 4 Etienne-Louis Boullée, Metropole, Interior View
These impressions he describes and claims are shared by the general public (Boullée gives the example of low forms being saddening, etc.) correspond to Norberg-Schulz’s conception of “atmosphere” of space: the character of “the intuitive three-dimensional totality of everyday experience, which we may call ‘concrete space.’” 5 Moving from the written theory to their architecture, the visionary projects of both Boullée and Ledoux are meant to act as provocation, moving architecture toward a direction they deemed favorable. Indeed, Boullée uses his projects as a roadmap in his writing to explain his view of the ideal treatment of various typological situations, each with its own “character” (these include the library, the basilica, the theater, etc.). As visionary paper architecture, these works were never intended to be built as designed, but rather are radical, extreme conceptions meant to act as an archetype for later projects to follow and aspire to.
Etienne-Louis Boullée, Cenotaph for Newton, Night
Boullée’s use of the exaggerated and over-scaled is essentially a critique of society and the city, providing images meant to shock his audience into appreciating, for instance, the power of monumentality. In terms of funerary monuments and cenotaphs, he cites the need for simultaneously a poetic architecture and one which can “withstand the ravages of time.” 6 It is clear in the nighttime rendition of Boullée’s Cenotaph for Newton with its mysterious central glowing object and incredible scale that it was created less as a realistic proposal and more as a method of provocation to awe. It embodies the spirit of what monuments should aim to be. It is precisely because of this desire to inspire others that we see the effect of a starlit interior space demonstrated in the daytime rendering of the Cenotaph realized in Le Corbusier’s Firminy church, designed over 180 years later. Boullée presented the ideal so that in aiming for a visionary perfection, we may achieve wonderful architecture.
Etienne-Louis Boullée, Cenotaph for Newton, Day
While Boullée uses the architectural drawing as a tool of scenographic provocation, Claude Nicolas Ledoux’s proposals take this visionary scenography and both expand it to the urban scale and narrow the
2 3 4 5 6
(Rosenau, 1976, p. 83) (Norberg-Schulz, 1979, p. 5) (Etlin, 1996, p. 15) (Norberg-Schulz, 1979, p. 11) (Rosenau, 1976, p. 105)
focus to smaller, less monumental buildings. Ledoux’s hypothetical works embodied notions of how architecture and/or society should be, and were not intellectual exercises in and of themselves.
Le Corbusier, Saint-Pierre, Firminy, Interior Firminy, France
Taking Ledoux’s project for the ideal city of Chaux as an example, we see a visionary project loaded with an even greater focus and expediency toward being realized than Boullée’s work. The springboard for the conception of Chaux was his commission at the Royal Saltworks at Arc-et-Senans, around which Ledoux designed his idyllic city. One phase of the larger master plan was built, including the entrance building and the house for the director, but both the realized and unbuilt work remains visionary. The plan for the town itself is in the form of a perfect circle, with the entrance building at a quadrant point and the director’s house at the center. The designs for the Saltworks buildings, each using a basic Platonic form, capture geometric ideals and concepts of rationality and metaphor: Thus, the agricultural guards are housed in a spherical building, symbolic of the earth. The guards of the river Loue are given a house whose central form is a cylinder, a double abstraction of conduits for water and of the overturned urns … In his civic buildings, Ledoux uses the cube as the basic compositional element to convey moral stability, rectitude, wisdom, and virtue. 7
Claude-Nicolas Ledoux, House of the Guards of the River
Visionary in their radical conception, it is important to remember that all of Ledoux’s designs for the various buildings of Chaux were very much designed to be constructed. So even though buildings such as the perfectly spherical House of the Gardener are reminiscent of the fantastical drawings of Boullée, these utopian designs are in direct dialog with an anticipated product and their smaller scale made them a more realistic feat. To-morrow’s Visionary When reading the theoretical writings of Le Corbusier, there is never a question as to whether his visionary descriptions and images are meant to be built. During his career, he realized nearly all of his ideas concerning the modern aesthetic and the contemporary city. Further, the language Le Corbusier chooses to use stresses the present moment. Beyond his repeated proclamation of a new epoch and spirit, the tone of his propositions advocates an immediate utopia.
Pavilion based on designs for House of the Coopers by Claude-Nicolas Ledoux Jura National Park, France
In Towards An Architecture we can see parallels with previous themes and the phenomenological. Corbusier writes that, “Architecture is a thing of art, a phenomenon of the emotions … The purpose of… architecture [is] to move us.” 8 This can be seen in dialogue with Boullée’s lamentation at, “What little attention has been paid in the past to the poetry of architecture, which is a sure means of
7 8
(Etlin, 1996, pp. 110,113) (Corbusier, Towards a New Architecture, 2008, p. 19)
adding to man’s enjoyment,” and Norberg-Schultz’s assertion that, “Poetry in fact is able to concretize those totalities which elude science, and may therefore suggest how we might proceed to obtain the needed understanding.” 9
Le Corbusier, Maison Cook
Etienne-Louis Boullée, Cenotaph, Detail
Le Corbusier, Mass-Production Workmen’s Houses
Two issues make Le Corbusier an important stopping point on the journey towards the autonomous project. The first is a continuation from Boullée and Ledoux of the relationship between the project and built form. Corbusier gives us both the image of the Maison Domino diagram and visionary ideas for a new way of living in his drawings for Mass-Production Houses in Towards An Architecture. Clearly both act merely as starting points. The Maison Domino was meant to be a prototype for accelerated building post-war and was manifested repeatedly by Le Corbusier, most clearly in his numerous villas. Furthermore, we can see the ideas of the mass-production house and standardization, with all of Corbusier’s admiration for what reinforced concrete could provide, in the contemporary suburb and city. 10 The second important point to make with Le Corbusier is in fact a departure from the theories analyzed so far. Boullée considered the properties of materials an important part of how the typological readings he discusses could be articulated. 11 Material importance is even more evident in his renderings, particularly in his conical Cenotaph project. For Ledoux, materiality was most prominent in rustication, a means for him to establish a dialogue with and evoke nature. 12 Of course in the theories of phenomenology, material carries an even greater conceptual weight—the interaction between human and physical object through the five senses is paramount. From Genius Loci: What, then, do we mean with the word “place”? … We mean a totality made up of concrete things having material substance, shape, texture and colour. … The character [of a place] is determined by the material and formal constitution of the place. 13 It is from this value of materiality that the early and visionary projects of Le Corbusier begin to move away. Corbusier’s Project of a new aesthetic symbolizing the post World War I zeitgeist and a removal of meaning from form led to the International Style, which in effect created an abstracted material. This new formal language of immaterial white planes which bore no clues as to tectonic or assembly, and glass reflected Le Corbusier’s initial belief that Architecture exists “outside questions of construction and beyond them. The purpose of construction is to make things hold together...” 14 Corbusier still considered building a necessity,
9 10 11 12 13 14
(Rosenau, 1976, p. 82), (Norberg-Schulz, 1979, p. 8) (Corbusier, Towards a New Architecture, 2008, pp. 229-265) (Rosenau, 1976, p. 90) (Etlin, 1996, p. 109) (Norberg-Schulz, 1979, pp. 6, 14) (Corbusier, Towards a New Architecture, 2008, p. 19)
but he regarded what has been called to this point the “art” of construction as a means to an end. Whether or not this view changed during his later work, the establishment of the International formal language allowed for the idea of an abstracted building, which set up a needed component for post-1960’s paper architecture.
Le Corbusier, Plan Voisin, Paris
To use an example from Le Corbusier’s visionary work, his plan for the redevelopment of the Parisian center aimed to better society by improving living conditions and establishing an apparent order and permanence. 15 “But it is the city’s business to make itself permanent,” writes Corbusier in The City of To-morrow and its Planning, bringing his ideals in relation to Boullée’s notions of rationality and monumentality. 16 The fact that Le Corbusier built to some extent most of his projects or ideas is irrelevant in this discussion—the critical distinction is that he designed an anticipated spatial product which keeps his work in the realm of visionary hypothetical projects. As purely paper architecture, the project is not complete because the terms of its objective cannot be tested autonomously. Furthermore, the Plan Voisin project is so striking because although not built in Paris, Corbusier’s ideas for the utopian city had a major impact on the modern American city, ideas which are now known to largely function unsuccessfully. The Phenomenological Schism
Office for Metropolitan Architecture, The City of the Captive Globe
Peter Eisenman, House VI
The formal language resultant of Modern abstraction together with the catalyst of phenomenology created the arena and tools necessary for the new type of hypothetical architectural project, the conceptual, to emerge. It is not difficult to understand the resistance to an emerging set of theories which regarded so highly the final product, the building as object, and its subjective effects that the academic conception of architecture was seemingly abandoned. Moreover, the built products of corporate modernism during the emergence of conceptual paper architecture held lackluster qualities of “place” or “character” the phenomenologists pursued. And so, the avant-garde retreated to paper to foster their ideas. Ostensibly frivolous concepts like nature, poetry, and sense of place were replaced with objectivity, criticality, and studious rigor. In the previous two sections, the writings of Norberg-Schulz were cited in order to show similarities between his theories and the viewpoints of the architects of those time periods. At this point, however, there is an abrupt break and shift in ideology, and we see a completely opposite view of the building as a physical object and spatial product emerge. In response to this analytic, “critical” method, Norberg-Schulz writes: When we treat architecture analytically, we miss the concrete environmental character, that is, the very quality which is the object of man’s identification, and which may 15 16
(Corbusier, The City of To-morrow and its Planning, 1987, pp. 15-25, 44-53) (Corbusier, The City of To-morrow and its Planning, 1987, p. 53)
give him a sense of existential foothold. 17 The two points of view were dichotomously opposed, and the new version of paper architecture was instigated. Since real buildings had been abstracted through Modernism, it was now not a far stretch to abstract the abstraction using the same language. The “project” of a building or urban scheme became detached from any expectation or intention of an anticipated reality. Each narrative, series of geometric operations, or aestheticized architectural representation became resolved and complete on paper. This completeness allows the “project” to exist autonomously even from the built building, if existent, thus establishing a conceptual branch of architecture. Peter Eisenman, House VI
Peter Eisenman, House VI
In Perfect Acts of Architecture, Terence Riley explains that perspectival renderings of banal 1970s and 80s architecture had become a means of distracting the general public. 18 The same could be said of the conceptual camp of architecture, where representations are used again to distract the audience, causing them to interpret something architectural as indeed Architecture. The distinction or ideological break of the conceptual is perhaps most evident when we view these projects in terms of their subject relationships. Phenomenology deals with a collective subject, and in that regard inherited a metaphysic from Modernism which remained unchanged. It is because of this collective subject that we maintain visionary work through Modernism. However, when we arrive at conceptual paper architecture (and to use Peter Eisenman’s work as an example), “the subject is the evolution of the concept itself.” 19 We see the emergence of a new metaphysic, perhaps the early posthuman, the argument being that both the subject and what it meant to build had changed. In terms of Eisenman, Jeff Kipnis explains that, “’Building’ became a matter of enlarging and rendering certain drawings.” 20 As House VI is the only project from Perfect Acts to be realized, it is a convenient example for analyzing the conceptual architectural project. The drawings produced for House VI by Eisenman track step-by-step the transformations which take it from an origin of simple planes to a completed, complex volumetric composition. However at the last diagram, even while still on paper, the problem which the project of House VI poses is both solved and exhausted. Due to the fact that the project is encapsulated and can operate independently of either an existing or projected building, it has achieved an autonomy from the “building” itself. The fact that House VI was built becomes irrelevant; its construction adds nothing to the “project.” Similarly, the other “House” projects of Eisenman suffer no loss because of their never having been realized; because each compositional disposition is fulfilled and there exists no residue of visionary apprehension.
17 18 19 20
(Norberg-Schulz, 1979, p. 5) (Kipnis, 2001, p. 9) (Kipnis, 2001, p. 9) (Kipnis, 2001, p. 34)
Foreword It seems appropriate to conclude an essay concerning visionary architecture with a “foreword” addressing where this duality between the visionary and conceptual leaves us today. As conceptual architecture was a product of the circumstances in the 1970s and 80s, it seems that we have exited that phase of hypothetical architectural projects. If we have a reasonable parallel in today’s architectural climate, it is perhaps the unbuilt work of individuals such as Greg Lynn, Tom Wiscombe, and Hernan Diaz Alonso—work which has the ambition of being realized but lacks the current economic feasibility. In this regard, such contemporary work could be seen as the return to a visionary practice, projecting future possibilities for the discipline. The difference in today’s work is the lack of a utopian vision or ideal and more of a discussion of what is the contemporary and how that is articulated. Perhaps as we move forward, a radical contemporary will emerge again as it did in any of the three previous moments discussed, “[making] their way into the world again anew, for a new audience, a new generation.” 21
Works Cited Le Corbusier. (1987). The City of To-morrow and its Planning. New York: Dover Publications. Le Corbusier. (2008). Towards a New Architecture. United States: BN Publishing. Etlin, R. A. (1996). Symbolic Space: French Enlightenment Architecture and Its Legacy. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Kipnis, J. (2001). Perfect Acts of Architecture. New York, Columbus: Museum of Modern Art, Wexner Center for the Arts. Norberg-Schulz, C. (1979). Genius Architecture. New York: Rizzoli.
loci:
Towards
a
Phenomenology
of
Rosenau, H. (1976). Boullée & Visionary Architecture. London: Academy Editions. Topic developed in part thanks to conversations with Karl Schmeck, ARC ‘12.
21
(Kipnis, 2001, p. 13)
AGGREGATING COMPONENTS TERM: SPRING 2010 COURSE: 1016b Visualization III INSTRUCTORS: John Eberhart, Ben Pell collaboration with: diana nee ------------------------------------------------------
Using both additive and subtractive fabrication techniques, the design of this project explored a component logic which could be aggregated and locked together in a multitude of ways to create highly irregular larger forms, resulting in an unexpected partto-whole relationship. The units themselves are identical, using a variably-locking top and bottom surface to accomplish the variety of shifts and aggregation.
SPACE, CRIME, AND ARCHITECTURE TERM: SPRING 2011 COURSE: 3220b CONTEMPORARY ARCH’L DISCOURSE COLLOQUIUM INSTRUCTORS: Andreas kalpakci, eero puurunen, david rinehart, jimmy stamp ------------------------------------------------------
Over the course of a semester, the developing story of a crime committed on January 11, 2011 was followed. The crime was analyzed in an effort to reveal latent spatial potentials of the place where the crime occurred, which facilitated the event. The diagram to the right maps the timelines of the persons involved in the circumstances surrounding the murder of Portuguese reporter Carlos Castro. Through the overlaps and divergences, the consequence of spatiotemporal relations are explored in an effort to determine the threshold which would allow the crime to occur.
1 3 >Turn to the left, Renato, and look up slightly. Now hold, and can we adjust the lights? Perfect, take that shot and then let’s get the rest of the models for the next picture. Renato, you may go back and change for the next ad. ... >Hello, Renato? My name is Carlos Castro. >Yes of course I recognize you. How are you? >I am well, thank you. I was wondering if you could spare a few minutes for a brief interview. >We’re starting a new series of shots shortly, but I have a few minutes to spare. >It won’t take very long. I just want to ask you a few questions about your appearance on Face Model of the Year and your current modeling endeavors. >Sure, would you like to speak further in the lounge? ... / / / >Hello, there should be a reservation under Castro? ... >Yes, Mr. Castro I see your reservation here. You’ve arrived a bit before check-in time and your room is not quite ready as it is being cleaned right now, but it shouldn’t be too long. While you wait, could I interest you in an upgrade to an Executive Club Level room for only one hundred fifty dollars more per night? It includes unlimited access to the business center, free valet service, and complimentary morning paper daily. >No, thank you. We have much planned, so we won’t be using the room very much. >As you wish. You are free to make yourselves comfortable in the lobby until I am notified that your room is ready. There are still some breakfast items in the dining room that you may help yourselves to. >Thank you. Can we leave our luggage here and have them brought up when our room is available? >Of course Mr. Castro. I will let you know when they are finished with the cleaning and make room keys for you then. / / / >I don’t understand why you’ve been so hostile towards me these last few days, Renato. I wanted this trip to be a relaxing one where we could spend these special moments together. Instead, you have been angry with me the entire time for no reason! Now get ready, we must call Wanda and arrange to meet. We are late and she has been waiting to hear from us. >No! I won’t do this anymore! I must rid myself of these demons! >Renato, what demons, what are you talking ab— / / /
4 3 >Mom, do you think something is wrong? Why wouldn’t Carlos and Renato pick up? The man at the front desk said he hadn’t seen them leave right? So why wouldn’t they answer the hotel room telephone? >I don’t know, Monica. I hope everything’s okay. Carlos sometimes forgets that he’s getting old, and this trip I’m sure has been very tiring for him and Renato. He seemed a little out of breath when we were at Paulino’s last night, I just hope he hasn’t been over-doing it. I’m sure everything is okay though, if something had happened Renato would have told the front desk. Still, I think it’s good we’re going to make sure. >I just wish we could get there faster, Friday night traffic in the tunnel is always so frustrating. >I know, dear. He’s probably calling us back right now and we’re stuck here without reception. And worse still, their hotel is in Times Square. It’s going to be at least an hour until we get there. At least we will all be plenty ready for dinner by then. >Yeah, hopefully tonight’s events go better than yesterday’s. Didn’t Carlos and Renato seem upset at each other last night all through dinner? >Well, yes, but you know how couples are. They’re bound to get in a fight once in a while. And Renato is so young. Mature for his age, but still so much younger than Carlos. I’m sure it’s frustrating sometimes to have a boyfriend who could be your father, or even grandfather. >I know you’re right. It just seemed like Renato in particular was really on edge. Sometimes he just spaced off, like he wasn’t there with us anymore. And when he would snap out of it, he would look very agitated. I just hope everything is okay between them. They should be enjoying their vacation, not fighting the whole time. >Oh, I’m sure they’ve been having a great time. Carlos said New Year’s Eve was amazing, and they’ve done so many fun things. Even Renato mentioned how much he loved the Broadway show they went to. They’ve probably been spending so much time together that they need a break from each other now, that’s probably why they are so frustrated. >Yeah, I know you’re probably right mom. / / / >Dispatch, this is Turner, unit 1832. I just arrived at Bellevue Hospital. I’m waiting for unit 647 and then we’ll go to the suspect. >Roger that 1832. >Has the hospital given word as to Seabra’s condition? >Affirmative 1832. They’ve confirmed a reported suicide, currently stable condition. He should be ready for you to question. He will be transferred to the psychiatric ward as soon as you’re done, and we’ll send a security team for him then until he is released. >Roger that, dispatch. Any new details on the victim? >Nothing we didn’t know before, but this should definitely be our guy. It all fits, the descriptions from Bellevue of the self-inflicted lacerations match the murder weapon from the Intercontinental, and the time frame matches too. >Roger. Okay dispatch, 647 just pulled up, we’re going to talk to him. Over and out.
wooderfall
Rudolph hall installation TERM: SPRING 2010 COURSE: 1016b Visualization III INSTRUCTORS: John Eberhart, Ben Pell COLLABORATION WITH: DANIELLE DURYEA, MARCUS HOOKS ------------------------------------------------------
The Wooderfall is a three-storey installation constructed in the original stairway of Paul Rudolph Hall. Using precise specifications, digital modeling, and CNC milling, the installation was supported at only two points: the handrails of the protruding balconies at the fourth and fifth floors. The installation cascades down the entire height of the open stairway volume, from the fifth to third floors. The wood scaffolding was then infilled with panels reflecting an abstracted version of the Parthenon metope casts on the building’s surface that face the Wooderfall.
ORIGINAL IMAGE OF METOPES
CONTRAST ADJUSTMENT
CONVERTED FOR DEPTH ANALYSIS
DEPTH OPTIMIZATION
VECTOR DRAWING CONVERSION
METOPE IMAGE PATTERN PRODUCTION
CRITICAL CONNECTION
INFILL PANELS
CRITICAL CONNECTION
ASSEMBLY PROCESS
CNC MILLED PROFILES
FILLED FOR FRITTING
miscellaneous
John Soane House & Oakland Museum Comparative Analysis w/ Amy DeDonato, Danielle Duryea
Massing Study
Formal Study
Stormwater Study for a 50-Acre Site
CHRISTOS CHRISOVALANTIS BOLOS WWW.CHRISTOSBOLOS.COM ◁W
MAY 2011