Utopia: act as hired instruments responsible Heremerely Goes The Title
to see it through to realization. As architects, we have the ability to see both positive and negative characteristics of the urban-fabric as well as the eye to see its many potentials. Through our own visions, we have the interesting opportunity to change and better our environment. The problem today seems to be one of motivation and political organization. Given that we have the better eye for built space, atmosphere, human interaction, and spatial relationships it would seem that we should be the one’s changing cities not our clients.
URBAN OASIS
Sustainable Desert City
Brian Britton Architecture Thesis 2012
Chapters - 1
Contents
Studio:
Senior Architecture Thesis Work - 2012
Studio Ampersand
Inspiration Precedents
07
Professor Tom DiSanto
25
California Polytechnic University
Introspection
43
Future Utopias
51
Parameters
65
Project
81
Architecture Thesis 2012
Brian Britton
Contents - 3
Thesis Abstract Preliminary Motivation
“What has originally provided us freedom, has now become our bondage,”
“We have become an indoor species that favors destination over journey, and fosters a lifestyle of isolation over community.”
Today’s urbanization has become a product of modern transportation. With the development of the automobile, and its inherent freedoms of transit, our world has become much smaller, yet increasingly disconnected. Upon its conception, the automobile had liberated us from our previously dense and destructive urban environments, and has provided the opportunity for individuals to escape their fate in large cities in search of a higher quality of life. Historically, Industrialization has led to a severe dissatisfaction within larger urban centers; and now thanks to the automobile, people have the convenience to choose where and how they live. Contrasting previous trends, people have begun migrating out of cities in search of a cheaper, less populated, and less polluted environment most commonly to the suburbs. The suburban ideal is that of freedom. The freedom to be able to pick
where we live, where we work, where we shop, and where we play; it is the idea that the world is at our convenience. Before automobiles and the ease of transportation, this convenience of choice remained solely within cities. However, as the age of automobiles continues, these elements of daily life have become increasingly spread out. Simply put, where we live, where we work, and where we play are now so disconnected that we have become auto-dependent. What has originally provided us freedom, has now become our bondage. What we have now, is a public infrastructure that favors automobiles over pedestrians. The scale of our cities have become far too impersonal as they foster a lifestyle of deteriorating health and isolation. Our most common streetscapes have become hostile to pedestrians, discouraging travel by foot while encouraging the proliferation of the auto-ideal. Furthermore, our current love-affair with
Thesis: driving has disconnected us from the real world and effectively replaced the here and now, with the where and when. We have become an indoor species that favors destination over journey, and fosters a lifestyle of isolation over community. Today, we are at an unprecedented time in our history where we have the opportunity and urgency to rethink where and how we live, work, and play. Architecture, as a tool, provides the opportunity to redesign the built environment in a way that supports a higher quality of life, and promotes a healthy and sustainable lifestyle. The idea is not to dwell on the wrongs of the past, but to design a more compelling future. The project in question is the rethink aspects of the urban community and our unhealthy relationship with the automobile. The vision is to reinvigorate our urban centers with a more community oriented, pedestrian friendly atmosphere. Can we develop a community-oriented system or oasis that can be plugged into any city to help
catalyze and reorient a neighborhood? Can the dead space within urban neighborhoods be reinvented to social advantage? And most importantly, can we reshape how pedestrians interact with the excitement, culture, and convenience inherent of cities?
Sustainable Community Development
“The vision is to reinvigorate our urban centers with a more community oriented, pedestrian friendly atmosphere.�
Abstract - 5
Analogs Vision Perspective Motivation
Inspiration
Analog Investigation and Musings Inspiration - 7
Dream World Duality Parallel Worlds Combined
To begin our architectural thesis abstract research, we were told to develop a couple analog investigations that would help draw inspiration from our intuition. Essentially, by being forced to create your mind’s image of a project, an artifact will be created that may or may not inform your next ideas. For this analog discovery, I used watercolor, charcoal, and spray paint to help evoke the feelings I wish to exact within my architecture thesis sometime this year. By using and combining several watercolors, the process of growth and composition is informed organically, creating a backdrop of existing conditions to work on top of. These watercolors might represent real world problems, and conditions in the built environment that a project must respond to rather than neglect. The next addition to the composition was to ground the analog with the heavy and destructive media of charcoal. It was used to create a diagram of urban
decay which provides a horizon and perspective point that noticeably scars the beautiful watercolor fabric. Finally, the addition of the spray painted circle stencils intends to evoke the notion of play, and lighthearted discovery. By juxtaposing the light use of circles with the heavy blocks of urban decay, the composition finds a balance between two conflicting worlds. On one side, there is the world as we see it now, filled with traffic, pollution, noise, and people. And from the opposite viewpoint, an ideal world of adventure and organic continuity awaits the optimistic urban designer. By the end of this thesis year, I intend to uncover the forces which keep both these worlds alive.
Utopia: Symbiotic Union
Inspiration - 9
Ju Dou
Thinking Intuitively - Letting Creativity Flow
“This brought me to investigate a parallel in my own life about how emotion, rationality, and intuition can all coalesce together to change my perception on life.”
Looking back on my notes and from what I remember about the discussion concerning the film Ju Dou, I have taken a more introspective approach to this discussion paper. The movie felt like a holistic piece of art where many aspects of the film worked extremely well together. Specifically, the underlying agenda of the film to expose the absurdities of traditional Chinese culture in combination to the emotional affects of how color is used to dictate mood and atmosphere. This brought me to investigate a parallel in my own life about how emotion, rationality, and intuition can all coalesce together to change my perception on life. Recently I have come to the realization that life has the potential to be much slower and less difficult than we make it seem. We fill our time with the anxiety of motion, always perceiving a benefit to our production. This would in case be true if our time in motion were as productive as we would like
to imagine. However, we tend to fill our time - at least while in school - by working for hours on end only to realize we’ve been sitting around frivolously expending our time. A great example of this is when we brag about how little we have slept, but choose to present these facts on facebook or as we continue to stare at the computer screen, gradually watching more and more of the movie we intended as a backdrop. Pretty soon these background noises begin to fill our time, and we are left with a sense of motion without moving. In essence, we look back on our time and wonder - just how did that take so long? Over the past couple years, I have begun to develop for myself an understanding of time and the value of efficiency. However, I am still in the opening scenes of this realization and inherent of a learning curve, still find myself wasting time on a multiplicity of distractions. It is said that the first step to recovery, is admitting your mistakes - and I can see
Film: them clear as day. I have effectively been filling my time with worry and needless anxiety about how I am to attack a solution, when in fact had I not worried as much, I would be half-way to completing a set goal. This brings me to a second recent realization about time and efficiency - how to work intuitively. While in Switzerland, I learned the values of freedom and intuition while at the same time harnessing much more from life than I had in the previous three years of architecture school. Before, school was about dedicating most of my time to finding the best, most precise solution to any problem. Although this is a great precedent to learn dedication and become passionate about architecture, it is also architecture’s greatest pitfall - architecture consuming all other aspects of life. While in Switzerland, I had the opportunity to devote a larger portion of my time to travel and discovery of the grander aspects of life. Although in school, Switzerland allowed me to be set free from the classroom and to explore for myself the finer aspects of ar-
chitecture, culture, and life in general. Among the top influences of my recent discovery to work intuitively and efficiently, was my introduction to watercoloring. Since I had no background in art - in the conventional sense - I began with the mindset to let my inner-creativity take over. With inspirational instruction, I began to trust my hand as the vehicle for portraying what was inside my mind. What ended up happening, was the previously analytical and dominant portion of my mind began to meld with this new-found creativity to produce a beautiful and meaningful work of art. It allowed me to stop thinking solely in meticulous calculation and start feeling the emotion pour from my mind through my hand. In effect, an intuitive bridge was formed between the dominant and the dormant hemispheres of my brain to evoke a well-crafted and creative way of perceiving life.
Vibrancy Tone Intuition
“In effect, an intuitive bridge was formed between the dominant and the dormant hemispheres of my brain to evoke a wellcrafted and creative way of perceiving life.”
Inspiration - 11
System Reboot Investigating Hidden Potential
The idea behind this form analog was to rediscover the potential of a dying object. In today’s society, this old VCR player has become obsolete technology. It has become disregarded and was left hidden from the world. The concept behind the making of the form analog was to deconstruct and reassemble lost connections that might facilitate new growth. Using string, new paths were weaved through the remains of the old VCR using a process that maintains the natural curvature and direction of the lengthening string. As strings follow their path around the artifact, there are moments of tension and visual hierarchy that grab the eye’s attention and yearn to become centers of activity and new growth. Each successive string acts as a new connection being forged throughout the network of decay; and from the death of the VCR, comes the birth of a symphony of color and direction.
This investigation into the eternal life of a dying object can be compared to our modern fascination with urban redevelopment. From the ashes of unsuccessful communities and projects, new lessons are learned about community living and engagement. With a new understanding of urban life, and all its accommodations, new communities will thrive and stay connected to each other by use of publicly-oriented infrastructure which will again bring our cities to life.
Analog: Technologic Renovation of Lost Potential
Inspiration - 13
Rivers and Tides Natural Discovery - Patterns in Nature
We just recently watched the documentary Rivers and Tides about landscape artist Andy Goldsworthy. It was a beautiful piece that inspires one to look deeper into the inner workings of our surrounding environment. For Goldsworthy, nature is the ultimate art, and it is his duty as an artist to transform the way it we perceive it. His aim is to unlock the secrets that are buried just out of view from our daily understanding. For us, the ocean tide creates beautiful atmosphere and provides the backdrop for our favorite recreations. But for Goldsworthy, the same scene is heavily laden with the spirit of rejuvenation and contains a vast history of the ocean’s life cycle. What may seem ordinary to us, is filled with underlying potential and context for which Goldsworthy attempts to uncover with his landscape interventions. With this careful eye for nature’s potential, we were given an assignment as a studio to do our own landscape in-
tervention. It was a group project to take place at Spooner’s Cover, Montana de Oro and was intended as a one day endeavor. The guidelines were simple, be inspired by some form of the natural environment and manipulate the existing through either construction or excavation. With the rules set, we were free to roam the beach in search of the perfect microclimate. As a four-person group is was slightly difficult to choose the perfect site and installation, but in the end we decided on two projects that evoked the same sensations from the beach. Our site was near one cliff of the cove and contained a condition unique to the beach. Following the cliff out towards the incoming tide, we noticed a backward running spring that flowed back into the ocean. It was a small river that ran from the top of the beach, along the cliff face and
Utopia: Film: Sustainable Rivers Desert and Tides City Andy Goldsworthy
Inspiration - 15
Rivers and Tides (cont.) Thinking Intuitively - Letting Creativity Flow
“the power of water to both create life and destroy permanence”
back toward tide pools. As we followed upstream, we noticed a giant and seemingly temporary saltwater lake that has been formed from either the recent rainfall or the incoming tides of mid-day. As a group, we found this ecological system very interesting and decided to base our interventions off the flow of water. Our first project had to do with the juxtaposition of these two water sources both flowing into each other. One, the tides from the ocean which cascade over tide pools and into the river, and the second the steady stream from the temporary lake at the top of the beach. Inherent to both water sources was the seemingly permanent backdrop of the cliff and the carved out rock forming the tide pools. As we watched water flow from both directions, we noticed the same material - rock - that formed these permanent structures also present in a more transient state as smaller rocks and pebbles flowing through and around their permanent counterparts. It was this
observation that led to our first intervention, a more direct investigation into the life cycle of rock that has been affected by this perpetual flow of water. Our second project had to do with a more sensitive observation concerning the power of water to both create life and destroy permanence. For this project, we noticed that the casual flow from the river has ultimately shaped the base of the cliff as well as provided a source of life for the algae growing on the rock’s face. For our second intervention, our goal was to simultaneously steady water around the rock to provide a permanent source of life, as well as redirect the water’s sculptural power toward untouched land. Ultimately our second project took form as dam constructed of rock reminiscent of similar dam’s any child could have made. Looking back on it now, and perhaps filling it with meaning, I have noticed another force at play on the beach - human creation. Interestingly enough, our theoretically based version of a child’s
Nature: dam provides similar results and goes to show humanity’s inherent infatuation with controlling our surroundings. Extrapolating this back toward architecture and our impact on the environment combined with what we have learned from people like Andy Goldsworthy, it seems we have accepted a flawed system of construction that works destructively instead of symbiotically. Perhaps the sensitivity and awareness of the environment that Andy Goldsworthy has portrayed through with his art, we might strive to realize within architecture.
“it seems we have accepted a flawed system of construction that works destructively instead of symbiotically. “
Inspiration - 17
Tidal Manipulation Merging Landscapes
With this careful eye for nature’s potential, we were given an assignment as a studio to do our own landscape intervention. It was a group project to take place at Spooner’s Cover, Montana de Oro and was intended as a one day endeavor. The guidelines were simple, be inspired by some form of the natural environment and manipulate the existing through either construction or excavation. With the rules set, we were free to roam the beach in search of the perfect microclimate. Our first project had to do with the juxtaposition of these two water sources both flowing into each other. One, the tides from the ocean which cascade over tide pools and into the river, and the second the steady stream from the temporary lake at the top of the beach. Inherent to both water sources was the seemingly permanent backdrop of the cliff and the carved out rock forming the tide pools. As we watched water flow from both directions, we noticed the same material - rock - that formed these permanent structures
also present in a more transient state as smaller rocks and pebbles flowing through and around their permanent counterparts. It was this observation that led to our first intervention, a more direct investigation into the life cycle of rock that has been affected by this perpetual flow of water. Our second project had to do with a more sensitive observation concerning the power of water to both create life and destroy permanence. For this project, we noticed that the casual flow from the river has ultimately shaped the base of the cliff as well as provided a source of life for the algae growing on the rock’s face. For our second intervention, our goal was to simultaneously steady water around the rock to provide a permanent source of life, as well as redirect the water’s sculptural power toward untouched land.
Project: Landscape Intervention
Inspiration - 19
Article: “Atmospheres” Peter Zumthor
Atmospheres A Way of Looking at Things
In “A Way of Looking at Things,” Peter Zumthor takes us through several aspects of the architectural design process. One of the most interesting elements of his discussion starts with the beginning of his text. Zumthor notes, “There was a time when I experienced architecture without thinking about it.” He refers to a time before beginning his architectural education, where he replays distinct memories from his childhood. He notes that as we develop a deeper architectural appreciation - we notice certain subtleties in our design process that directly correlate with our experiences from the past. For Zumthor, these memories of past experiences are “the reservoirs of the architectural atmosphere and images which I explore in my work as an architect.” Simply put, when we attempt to design something new, we tend to draw from the past - from what we know, what we’ve experienced, and what we perceive as influential to
our current projects. This observation couldn’t be more true. For me, when I look for inspiration in other works I tend to create a virtual catalogue of memories and spacial qualities. This is especially true for real life experiences over 2D images. I can now sense the quality of spaces and trace the characteristics which produce their quality. It is exciting to be able to detect elements of your environment and effectively replicate the desirable - but it hasn’t always been that way. Before my architectural education, I was just like anyone else. I experienced what it meant to be “home” by the distinct feeling of entering through my kitchen and the route through to my room. Even in my childhood I could sense how my home radiated a certain atmosphere of comfort and security. Then, it didn’t mean much - I barely even noticed how secure and comfortable I felt at home. However, now as an imminent architect, I have developed a sense for the
Intention: composition of elements needed to evoke a similar feeling - but until this reading, I didn’t know the extent to which my preconceptions of space have influenced my current designs. Looking back on my architectural education - there is a particular trend in my design philosophy. I have noticed many similarities over the years on a variety of my projects. Most notably, the idea of creating some scale of oasis within a project. No matter what the program is, I have found a way to squeeze moments of “relaxation and leisure” into it. Although the genesis of exactly why I design this way is uncertain - it can be traced back to my own relationship between work and play. Over the years especially due to architecture schooling, I have grown to have an extreme work ethic at the expense of time for play. I have been around and experienced for myself both the power of work and the power of play - but as long as I can remember, they seemingly have always been segregated. Not that work
cannot be fun - because it is incredibly rewarding - but sometimes work leads us to forget that there is simply much more in life to experience. This realization has found its way into the way I design architecture today. My most current indulgence into this relationship between work and play will manifest into a thesis project to bridge this great divide of work and play.
“this relationship between work and play will manifest into a thesis project to bridge the great divide of work and play.”
Inspiration - 21
Strip Appeal Reinventing the Strip Mall
In many neighborhoods across North America, small 5-8 store strip- malls, once anchors of local retail activity, have become today’s suburban blights: intented for community hubs of consumption and stores, many of these places are being abandoned, becoming underutilized and dilapidated as the services move out of local neighborhoods in favour of larger-scale shopping districts serving greater catchment areas. Long deplored for their inefficient use of space and lack of aesthetic appeal, strip malls are uncelebrated, unloved, and overlooked. At the CRSC we beleive it’s time to rethink our relationship with the strip mall. The small-scale strip can play a vital public role in the urbanization of the postwar suburbs. Strip malls can become as important to these communities as the old warehouse and market districts have becme to the inner city.
Competition Sustainable Community Design
Competition Goals: - Can the car-orientated, aesthetically nondescript strip-mall be imaginatively reinvented? - What potential might there be for mixed-use renovations, community farming, social spaces and regreening? - How might landscape architecture, streetscaping strategies and and creative planning make these sites more pedestrian friendly?
Inspiration - 23
Urban Development: City Rejuvenation Projects Community Interaction
Precedents Connected Communities
Precedents - 25
PUSHAK Norway Urban Waterfront Development
PUSHAK Architects proposes a 35000 square meter social hub on a former brown-field site in a Oslo harbor. Each mixed-use building opens up to the harbor and frames the view of the “speciesrich� islands. The buildings wrap around a wooden terraced courtyards, providing play spaces and introducing the islandlike nature into the site. In order to satisfy code, 10 percent of the seawater will be treated in three floating basins, separating the courtyard from the public promenade. Due to the low water quality, the basins can be both closed and partially closed, allowing control of the water circulation. The basins will also be used by local restaurants for oyster, lobster and seaweed farming. Passive solar heating is made possible with the geometry of the structure while a compact building strategy minimizes heat loss. The courts allow for natural ventilation in the summer and shield cold winds in the winter. Solar energy,
seawater-based heat pumps and sustainable district water heating. Nearly all units have a private balcony or terrace. Semi-public pavilions further buffer the boundary of public and private while creating pleasant outdoor spaces. Common rooftop terraces provide all residences access to the ultimate views.
Location: Oslo, Norway Geometric Optimization for Sustainable Communities
Precedents - 27
Nine Dragon Housing Integrated Sky Tower Community
Located next to their apartmentfactory project in Suizhong, China, the design for the mixed-used development of residential units and sales center for the apartment-factory by YKH_LAB (to be converted later as a retail center for the residential development) is a part of the Korea Town development. Relevant to the core idea of its sister project Suizhong Apt-factory, the conceptual qualities of this project are in response to this relationship with 8 distinctive courtyards and roof gardens. Their mission was also to reflect the needs of the owner: to maximum density and marketable residential prototypes. Community spaces are interwoven throughout the housing complex to create a livable and safe environment. The spaces include eight courtyards, four connecting roof gardens, and four indoor community spaces that are flexible in program from
cafes, library, health clubs, to event halls. Each courtyard holds different approaches to its landscape design and can be a place of rest or be activated as outdoor event spaces. These public spaces promote pedestrian life, physical activity, and a sense of community to this new development.
Architect: YKH_LAB Retail Residential Mixed
Precedents - 29
Article: “Whatever Happened to Total Design” Mark Wigley
Total Design
Can and Should Ideals be Maintained?
“What is the difference between God and an Architect? God knows he’s not an architect.” This quote about sums up our profession - or at least what we think of it. Thanks to my architectural education over the past five years, I have gained the perspective that nothing is too complicated to straighten out. Seemingly all problems and projects have numerous creative solutions - they are just waiting to be solved; at least, that is how it seems... As architects, we are the orchestrators of the built environment. We understand that a multiplicity of different factors, elements, and professions must come together to solve even some of the most prevalent issues of our built environment. This article, “Whatever Happened to Total Design?” by Mark Wilgey touches on the complexity of our profession. The article brought up some very interesting topics for discussion, most notably - the architects obsession and
role within “total design.” Because our service is to synthesize a multitude of complex factors, we tend to spend most of our time trying to untangle the mess. On top of this creative problem solving, we introduce a more self-induced pressure - architectural responsibility. As architects, we feel responsible for our impact on society and in turn develop concepts to improve a larger scale than just the client’s wishes. In a way, we try to make everyone happy - from the client, to the community - whether vice or virtue, we believe we can make a difference. However, in the process of satisfying our client’s needs and desires, we must make adjustments to our design - whether beneficial or detrimental to our goals. This regulation of design leads to the negative perception that architect’s are un compromising in their ideals. Seen from both perspectives, each side is right. The client is the one investing in a project and therefore should have a
Total Design: considerable say in the project’s outcome. The architect meanwhile has spent months tediously configuring and reconfiguring detail after detail of the project. Naturally, the architect has a supreme sense of ownership over the project as he has been there from conception to realization. Upon collaboration, the architect presents his/her case for each detail of design while the client acts to refine the presented design to his standards or goals. Inherent to collaboration, differences in opinion arise and both parties feel they are right. However, since the architect has invested his/her own creativity toward the design solution, a sense of righteousness is imbued within the conversation. The architect’s convictions are then seen as uncompromising, leading to either increased confidence or resistance between the client and architect. In the end, we are still left with the question of the architect’s role in “total design.” Ultimately, should the architect be commissioned to control all aspects of a built project, or should there be room for
refinement and collaboration from the client and exterior forces? Put another way, if the architect is seen as providing a service, does “total design” even exist or is it relegated to the “ideals” of the architect?
‘does “total design” even exist or is it relegated to the “ideals” of the architect?’
Precedents - 31
Avant Urbanisms - Subtext
Bishan Central Destination Resort -High Class Apartments
Safdie Architects recent design, ‘Condominium at Bishan Central’, a 38-story residential complex in the Bishan district of Singapore. The structure specially provides air movement to individual units while the upper balconies provide ventilation. The cluttered blocks of vertical space helps blend in the connections with natures with personal access to outdoor gardens. Who would have known gazing at a mind blowing complex would personally release endorphins and dopamine?
Location: Bishan, Singapore
Architect: Safdie Architects
Precedents - 33
Social Rejuvenation Community Reorientation + Place Making
The project site is located in San Luis Obispo, CA. It is positioned just a mile from the Cal Poly University campus, and 1.5 miles from the walkable downtown center. Currently, the strip mall contains only one main attraction - Albertson’s the main grocery store. As with most aging strip malls, the stores are located on the periphery closest to the street while parking dominates the majority of the site. The major shortcomings of this strip mall (and others like it) are its total domination by the automobile, its lack of public space and community engagement, and the physical and social isolation caused by
our dependence on the automobile. Today’s urbanization has become a product of modern transportation. With the development of the automobile and its inherent freedoms of transit, our world has become much smaller, yet increasingly disconnected. Upon its conception, the automobile had liberated us from our previously dense and destructive urban environments, and has provided the opportunity for individuals to escape their fate in large cities in search of a higher quality of life.
Competition: Reinventing the Strip Mall
Location: San Luis Obispo, CA
Competition - 35
Social Rejuvenation Community Reorientation + Place Making
However, as the age of the automobile continues, the elements of our daily lives have become increasingly spread out. Simply put, where we live, where we work, and where we play are now so disconnected that we have become auto-dependent. What has originally provided us freedom, has now become our bondage. What we have now, is a public infrastructure that favors automobiles over pedestrians. The scale of our cities have become far too impersonal as they foster a lifestyle of deteriorating health and isolation. Our most common streetscapes
have become hostile to pedestrians, discouraging travel by foot while encouraging the proliferation of the auto-ideal. Furthermore, our current love-affair with driving has disconnected us from the real world and effectively replaced the here and now, with the where and when. We have become an indoor species that favors destination over journey, and fosters a lifestyle of isolation over community.
Society: “We have become an indoor species that favors destination over journey, and fosters a lifestyle of isolation over community.�
Competition - 37
Concept Section
Program Scope: At a Glance
Additional Retail - Economic Value Apartment Complex - Increased Density Community Greenhouses Communty Grocery Plaza for Community Events Green Roof - Biodiversity + Insulation + Water
Community: Energy Generation Community Gardens Sustainable Recycling Systems Vertical Access Increased Density
Photovoltaic Energy Panels Recycling and Energy Generation Facility Bicycle Ramp and Path Vertical Parking - Encourage Vertical Circulation
Competition - 39
Competition -41
Avant Urbanisms Avant Urbanisms - Subtext
Thoughts: Good Start, But Now What?
Introspection
and Theoretical Underpinnings Introspect - 43
Poetry
Inspirational Musings
The Daily Struggle Where is home? home is not near life is too far and certainly not here but life is work so work for life and when to play? its not yet five so on to the streets and back to paradise with everyone else to get just a slice but can’t there be more? for us in this city apparently not as life is a pity.
History as an Architect An Introspection Manifesto
So far, my main thesis goals seem to be far too general. “I want to save the world!” is the first statement I seem to be coming back to every time I try to explain myself. “I want to make the world a better place!” Okay, so far so good - but what and how am I trying to save the world? This seems to be the question that begs to be answered. What am I trying to “save the world” from? Perhaps before we try to attempt an answer we should figure out where we are and where we came from. Not in the existential “What is the meaning of life,” cliche, but on a more personal level. What in my architectural education has lead me to where I am today and what seems to be my underlying agenda throughout my projects? Good question, now where to start? Perhaps the beginning is a fitting place. It is my first year of architectural design courses and I am an 18 year old freshman with bright eyes and no previous background in design. I have no real
idea what “architecture” means, and our first assignment is to design abstract concept models based on vocabulary. Build “hierarchy”, design “symbolism”, and construct “appropriateness” out of sticks. Okay, what does any of that even mean? Lets see how this goes... It is my first day of college, my first design project, and my first night without sleep - this is going to be rough. Too soon its time for class and I head to studio with a nervous excitement in my stomach. I lay my abstract models on the table amongst everyone else’s - “these are all really good, why didn’t I think of doing something more like that one,” I think to myself. Our teachers come around and scrutinize some while praising others. Of course, they are right - it all seems too simple in hindsight... but wait, the two teachers don’t agree on a piece - how can that be? Before I know it, my entire
History: A Brief Background of an Architect’s Education
“I want to save the world!”
Introspect - 45
Context: “architecture deals with the entire environmental context - not just built forms, but concepts of ambiance, connection, environmental obligation, history, and social relationships. “
academic understanding of how something is judged and graded is thrown out the window. From my first introduction to design I learn the valuable lessen that all design is subjective - but some can have higher quality than others. Nearly the whole first year goes by and I still haven’t designed any “architecture.” I’ve learned design, composition, spatial relationships, and a healthy dose of competition. However, I still am no closer to understanding “architecture.” Finally second year comes around and I am re-introduced to my previous notion that architecture means buildings. For my first “real” project, I get to design a house in Tokyo! How exciting, I have a client and a family to design for, this is going to be fun. I’ve lived in a house my entire life and I know what it should feel like to be home. It was through this initial project that I was forced to look through someone else’s eyes, not just my own. It was no longer about what I wanted, but what my client wished for. The same went for the other projects in my second year education - a lunar station and an olive oil farm. I learned very quickly that if I wanted to be an architect, I had to develop an understanding of the needs and desires of people outside myself. The other notable project coming from my second-year architectural education was
to design an olive oil farm. From this project, I learned scale, environmental issues, as well as the importance of landscape in design. Here, I learned that “architecture” means much more than just tangible buildings - it might more correctly be described as “built space,” and the manipulation thereof is the profession of architecture. From this as well as a healthy introduction to architectural theory, I learned that architecture deals with the entire environmental context - not just built forms, but concepts of ambiance, connection, environmental obligation, history, and social relationships. In short, it was second year that I learned humility and began developing a social conscious. So far, so good. I’ve learned design, context, environmental issues, and social responsibilities, but I have yet to develop a particular interest or passion within the realm of the architectural profession. What exactly is it about architecture that turns me on? Third year I had to find out. Luckily for me, I had the summer before third year to have a mini-break down about architecture to spur this interest. Fortunately, my first quarter of third year I was presented with a project to design a new architecture studio for any architect I admired. I took this project and quarter as a personal jumping point to actively pursue my own architec-
tural interests. Now, what is it that I want? If I were to design the perfect architecture studio for myself, what would it be like? Looking back on it now, I don’t remember actively designing with some abstract concept in mind, but in hindsight I have come to a realization. All quarter, I had been designing my own happiness; both architecturally and socially. What I found came out of my quarter was an intimate relationship with ambiance, atmosphere, and personal connection. What is more, is that this wasn’t even the most profound personal discovery of my third year. Next came my relationship with Professor Marc Neveu and the intricacies of architectural theory. Coming straight from the previously described studio, I was immediately thrown a curveball with this next project. It was to design a library in the fictional world of Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451. The question I faced: What does it mean to design a library in a world where libraries are illegal and all books are burnt? The plot of the novel, combined with my personal affection for the knowledge obtained through books led to a unique project that I will never forget. The idea was to create a sanctuary within the city that would effectively rejuvenate anyone’s passion for knowledge. It was to be accessible to anyone with enough curiosity to find it while remaining hidden to those who would wish to destroy it. In
a way, this was my first attempt to save the world through architecture. I think because the problem was simply outlined, the solution became achievable. I hope by the end of this investigation my most recent intentions might similarly be revealed. The following quarter can be easily skipped over as it was a turn toward a more practical approach to architecture. Simply, our project was to design a cookie-cutter type lowincome housing project in forgettable nowhere. However, from this quarter I found out that I was accepted to a couple study-abroad opportunities to both Europe and Japan. As a part of this knowledge I attempted to salvage what I could from the lowincome housing project and harness my hand-rendering skills that would eventually pay off that coming summer in Switzerland. Finally, spring quarter is over and it is time to head to Switzerland to study architecture under professor Tom DiSanto! This summer in Switzerland was perhaps one of my most influential growing experiences. Aside from becoming more culturally and geographically aware, my summer was spent in a fast paced traveling
Lessons: “an intimate relationship with ambiance, atmosphere, and personal connection”
“because the problem was simply outlined, the solution became achievable.”
Introspect - 47
Path: “I was taking life as it came and discovering my own path based on instinctual queues. And in the end, with a pack on my back, I felt it was all I needed to thrive.”
studio that allowed me the opportunity to challenge myself both artistically and collaboratively. Because the intention of this study-abroad program was to take advantage of our destination, I was effectively set free from the pressures of studio and let loose into the excitement of European culture. In short, it was an amazing summer of travel, architectural sightseeing, and artistic workshops that pushed me to work creatively through different mediums. After the Swiss program, I took a quarter off school to stay in Europe and backpack around for the next two months. The goal was to not have a goal and to just enjoy life while soaking in as much of the culture as I could. Undoubtedly, it was a success as I made a full circle around Europe. The importance of this trip however wasn’t nearly felt until my trip back to the United States, as it was upon my re-assimilation back into my old life that I really began to see retroactively. Europe was truly a remarkable place; the history, the social and political context, the cultural diversity, the mentality, and perhaps most importantly for me, the ease of mobility throughout the entire continent. In effect, I had visited and discovered the major cities of more than ten countries all by reach of prompt public transportation by either train or
metro. Perhaps to most this might not seem all too profound, but given that at age 21, I had never before felt this free and unattached to an automobile or lifestyle. While in Europe, I was taking life as it came and discovering my own path based on instinctual queues. And in the end, with a pack on my back, I felt it was all I needed to thrive. As all good stories, the trip had to end and I was forced to come back to reality. Fortunately, this reality was only just the beginning. It is winter quarter back at Cal Poly and my current architecture studio is a collaboration between architects and landscape architects. Our group project for the quarter was to design a “spiritual retreat” in the center of Los Angeles that had a program open to interpretation. Naturally, with any opportunity for an open-program, I was again ready to figure out what I was interested in. Having just come back from Europe, my mind was fresh with notions of pedestrian friendly atmospheres and great public spaces. And at the time, looking back seemingly all of European cities teemed with appropriate examples. The key observation of my love for European pedestrian spaces was their apparent lack of intention. It appeared that my most fond memories of these pedestrian avenues took place on regular streets with
regular programs. Simply, there was no one particular pedestrian draw to these streets - just the intimate atmosphere the naturally created. With this in mind, my winter quarter project intended to create a “spiritual retreat” within Los Angeles using only typical programs that already existed along the current street. The end product resulted in a neighborhood block with a lush garden surrounded by activated pedestrian friendly programs such as cafes, bookstores, movie theaters, and restaurants. This project was the beginning of my interest in creating local destinations within cities. The next quarter and my most recent endeavor toward developing these ideas of local destination within cities came from designing a building in a highly commercial and entertainment district of Tokyo, Japan. Here, our professor intended the quarter to be a pre-thesis investigation into our architectural desires for next year and beyond. Again, the only thing chosen for me was the site, and this time it would only fit a building. Launching off of the previous quarter’s work, I was genuinely interested in creating a local destination unique to the city by compiling only the programs currently in use around the neighborhood. It was this quarter that I began to think of this urban destination as an oasis within the city. Here I envisioned a building that would integrate
the typical consumers and activities inherent of this exciting commercial entertainment district while simultaneously juxtaposing elements that have been left void from the dense city. In the end, the product was a vertical stack of terraced shops and meditation gardens that would provide an escape from city life by integration into daily life. Luckily, I now have a chance to digest this part summary, part biography of my past quarter’s architectural experiences and return to Europe to re-inspire the thoughts that began this urban oasis ball rolling. I hope to continue this writing on the plane back from Paris and see where my thought have taken me..
Leisure: “This project was the beginning of my interest in creating local destinations within cities.”
Introspect - 49
Utopia: Visions of an Ideal City
Future Utopias City Visions for The Future
Utopia - 51
Avant Urbanisms Avant Urbanisms - Subtext
Stack City
Utopia:
Future City - Behrang Behin
Building upon an adaptation of Jorg Schlaich’s solar chimney power generators, Behrang Behin’s project employs the stack effect to moderate the temperature of the city, and to provide for some of its energy needs. A sectional perspective reveals the different layers of inhabitation that occur within the urban fabric: a top zone supporting air flow associated with the solar chimney along with transportation and energy infrastructure (including photovoltaics), a middle zone containing cellular spaces such as homes and offices, and a bottom zone comprising a continuous ground which is thickened to support large-scale and communal programs. Academic theorizing is important because, abandoning the future as a cultural construct deprives us of a valuable instrument for defining ourselves in the present. You can learn a lot about the ethos of a society by looking at their science fiction. In that sense, the future is a
place in our collective imagination, a terrain on which we fight our ideological battles and air out our common neuroses. This is precisely where architecture must play a role. Sustainable architecture shouldn’t just be concerned with the tactical level of engineering efficiency and the preservation of resources, but should also participate in the invention of alternative futures in cultural imagination.
Sustainable Desert City
Utopia - 53 Chapters
Sietch Nevada Desert Oasis - Santuary for Water
In Frank Herbert’s famous 1965 novel Dune, he describes a planet that has undergone nearly complete desertification. Dune has been called the “first planetary ecology novel� and forecasts a dystopian world without water. The few remaining inhabitants have secluded themselves from their harsh environment in what could be called subterranean oasises. Far from idyllic, these havens, known as sietch, are essentially underground water storage banks. Water is wealth in this alternate reality. It is preciously conserved, rationed with strict authority, and secretly hidden and protected. Sietch Nevada projects waterbanking as the fundamental factor in future urban infrastructure in the American Southwest. Sietch Nevada is an urban prototype that makes the storage, use, and collection of water essential to the form and performance of urban life. Inverting the stereotypical Southwest urban patterns of dispersed programs open to
the sky, the Sietch is a dense, underground community. A network of storage canals is covered with undulating residential and commercial structures. These canals connect the city with vast aquifers deep underground and provide transportation as well as agricultural irrigation. The caverns brim with dense, urban life: an underground Venice. Cellular in form, these structures constitute a new neighborhood typology that mediates between the subterranean urban network and the surface level activities of water harvesting, energy generation, and urban agriculture and aquaculture. However, the Sietch is also a bunker-like fortress preparing for the inevitable wars over water in the region.
Utopia: Sustainable Desert City Sietch Nevada is an urban prototype that makes the storage, use, and collection of water essential to the form and performance of urban life.
Utopia - 55
Avant Urbanisms - Subtext
Green Desert Mine Desert Oasis - Reclaimed Land
Green Desert Mine is a design for a self-sufficient desert city clustered around the bases of huge thermal chimneys that are capable of recycling heat. Some 1.400 citizens would be concentrated around the towers’ superstructures. By stacking and elevating the city’s functions and properties above the ground the footprint is limited to 1000 sqm thus freeing the surrounding area to function as a “garden”. Sheltered by a translucent double membrane capable of collecting solar energy and transmitting it as thermal energy to the chimneys’ turbines, the garden also functions as a mineral and biological filter system for the city’s black water. Evaporating water is collected from the underside of the membrane and recycled. A drip irrigation system brings more water from nearby hills so that a rich and diverse biosphere can be encouraged alongside crops grown for food. The described updraft power plants are being actually developed by Schlaich Bergermann Solar.
They under- took already in 1982 the first attempts to build an updraft power plant in Spain. The difficulty of this construction lies in its hugeness: the ideal chimney would be 1000 up to 2000 meters high.
Utopia: Sustainable Desert City Green Desert Oasis Stack Ventilation Biological Filter
Utopia - 57
Keywords: Keywords:
Recovering Berlin Chemical Restructuring of City Fabric
This studio explored a variety of themes, loosely organized under the title Cryptoform, Polytics, Noise. The focus of the studio revolved mostly around issues of the near future, and how rapid developments within technology, genetics, and biology will impact our physical world and how we inhabit it. Besides physical space, we were also interested in how the miniaturization of these technologies will ultimately break the barrier between our bodies and the physical world around us. The investigation began with a question: how will architects approach the issue of space once in light of these temporal and scale shifts? In order to investigate these issues, our group positioned ourselves in the future, taking on the role of a research group under the heading Protocol Architecture, which would investigate potentials for future design through the creation and analysis of hyper-fictional documents. These document sets created evidence for fu-
ture scenarios that strung together a specific history of political, social, and technological developments.
Architects: Protocol Architects Chemical Remodelling of the Landscape Cerebral Tunnelling
Utopia - 59
Architect: Mario Botta “Architects must feel the problems of the world and take charge... architecture is not an aesthetic fact, but an ethical one!”
Church at Mogno Fusio Community Significance + Context
As Mario Botta points out in his writing, “The Church of Mogno-Fusio,” architecture is much more than a service-based profession. For him, architecture shouldn’t even be considered a “profession” because our work deals with much more than specific solutions. Sure, we deal with real clients, real budgets, and real timelines, but that doesn’t mean we are relegated to the world of black and white. For Botta, architects should be considered metiers, which is most easily understood as professionals with creative license and a moral obligation towards humanity. For him, architecture does not exist in a vacuum where any solution is “good enough,” it exists in a context with historical, social, and economic implications. As architects, we balance real conditions with ideal conceptions. For Botta, It is our responsibility to be creative dreamers and to envision our environment’s truest potential. In his own words, “Architects must
feel the problems of the world and take charge... architecture is not an aesthetic fact, but an ethical one!” Simply put, architects are much more than just designers and it is inherent of our profession that we help strengthen the community. These views are not far from my own. Throughout my architectural education, my design projects thus far have been made up - no client, no budget, no compromises - it has either been a project handed down to me or something of my own conception. Either way, the strongest projects have been ones that participate in the realistic realm; ones with tangible roots and an understanding of the social and cultural demographic. With this in mind, each project requires a deep understanding of context and situation within a community to be effective solutions. While in school, I have been able to mend and manipulate the “program” within designated projects to either add or extend the project’s partici-
pation within the community. For example, a professor might give the assignment to design a library in a dense neighborhood in Chinatown, while one could design a generic library that could potentially “work” anywhere, a better solution could be offered. Here, it is the job of the architect to challenge his pre-conceptions of what it means to be a “library” when it is subject to a unique site and demographic. The architect might ask him/herself “What does a library do? Why does the community need a library? What services might it render? What services could it render? Maybe the community needs more active participation through learning, or maybe it needs a better center for technology and communication.” It is through this process of understanding unique conditions that makes architecture much more than a profession. When we start asking the right questions, we might begin to see ourselves more as a metier who transforms good architecture into great architecture.
“When we start asking the right questions, we might begin to see ourselves more as a metier who transforms good architecture into great architecture.”
Utopia - 61
Article: “Duck Soup” Peter Eisenman
Duck Soup
Concerns for Contemporary Architecture
Over the ages, architecture has been shaped by visionary architects and environmental planners with creative and innovative ideas for recycling historic and cultural symbols. The grand projects of the preceding eras relied heavily upon recognizable symbols and motifs - that of grand-scale gothic cathedrals and elaborate ornamentation. However, in today’s design world, symbols have become little more than lost cliches. What is expected of architecture today is a profound change from that of the past. Today, architecture is continually being reshaped by technology, and through its use, it seems to have lost some of its integrity. With the innovative use of computer-aided design, new forms and compositions are perpetually reinvented. However, as a result, technology-based design and representation has changed so much that it has led to the consumption of architecture as a purely visual art.
Because of our contemporary infatuation with television and the internet, technology has allowed information and images to rule our lives. Simply, we have become so over-saturated with images from these outlets that we are living in a perpetual state of distraction. The more we see on television combined with the over-stimulation of information from the internet, the more desensitized we become to the real world. It has become so bad that most of us can no longer remain unplugged from any our devices. Although this is a wide-spread concern for most aspects of society as well, architecture has been greatly impacted by this dependence upon visual stimulation. Contemporary architecture has only yet begun to feel the impacts of a new generation of image-based consumers. Because architecture will always be a service-based profession, we must always adhere to our client’s appetite. Unfortunately for most architects, this
means future clients along with most contemporary clients, desire something they’ve never seen before. They come to us seeking and icon; they want something unique, recognizable, and most importantly consumable! This trend of producing icons is a direct product of our modern-world. Because we have continually been exposed to the unique - we feel we need it. Arguably, this is a great thing for architecture - we finally have the investment from the general public to reclaim architecture as the centerpiece for the city! However, architecture to the client as well as the general public, is still only a visual art. Most of the built environment is not used by everyone on a daily basis and so it tends to become nothing more than a beautifully expensive backdrop. This, is contemporary architecture’s concern. How can we reclaim architecture in its entirety? Historically it has always been a visual production, but at one time there was certainly more depth! Architectural design is much more than simply visual stimulation,
it is the manipulation of the environment around us. It is the conglomeration of our senses and experiences of how space is felt and can affect us. If the future of architecture lies in the creation of the icon, then let us not forget that an icon can be much more than a simple visualization!
“Architectural Design is much more than simply visual stimulation, it is the manipulation of the environment around us. It is the conglomeration of our senses and experiences of how space is felt and can affect us.”
Utopia - 63
Avant Urbanisms Avant Urbanisms - Subtext
Framework: Guidelines for Constructing A City
Parameters
Framework for Constructing a City at Sea Parameters - 65
Population: Disproportionate along coasts and waterfront Between 30 degrees of the Prime Meridian
Global Statistics Demographics for an Imbalanced World
This map displays the World’s Population Density, the darker the color, the more people per square kilometer. This map displays the disproportionate and decentralized population of each respective continent. Notably, most of the population is centered along the coast, where 13 of the 20 mega-world cities are located. Traditionally, people gathered and developed towns around water as a means of defense as well as trade.
N. America
S. America
Europe
Asia
Africa Urban Polulation
255,745
21,489
319,629
24,648
500,943
39,709
1,430,917
235,258
282,143
32,390
Coastal Urban
(at risk)
% Urban on Coast 88.7%
73.4%
79.1%
52.3%
Resources: UN Global Statistics World Health Organization
58.2%
Water Availability 80-90%
70%
90%
65-70%
30-40$
Food Availability 95%
90%
95%
80%
70%
Energy Production 101.7 Q
+++
29.56 Q
+++
85.74 Q
++
204.53 Q
++++
37.47 Q
++++
Renewable Energy Potential
Parameters - 67
Waterfront Typology Life on Both Sides - Port + Harbor + Beach
Today, these waterfront cities are beginning to recognize the negative consequences of such a massive population movement into urban areas. In order to deal with the growing density of these urban metropolises, the natural instinct is to build up and in, creating a much more dense area within their city boundaries. However, since the conception of these
waterfront port cities, urban sprawl has led to cities branching out in all directions to accomodate the growing population migration. Unfortunately, the majority of the world’s most populated mega-cities are located along the coast, and with the growing concern over the inevitable rise of ocean sea levels, a new typology for mitigating urban has been conceived.
Resources: Rising Ocean Water Levels 2 m = 100 yrs 4 m = 300 yrs
Dual Waterfront Encompassed Waterfront Waterfront Datum
Parameters - 69
Solar Exposure Optimization of Light and Life
As for much of life in the natural world, sunlight is necessary for the life and proliferation of an individual or species. For organic life in particular, sunlight is the immediate source of life and energy. Because survival has driven a plant through the evolutionary process, it has become optimized to harness the sun’s rays and store as much energy as possible.
The same will be said for this City on Water, because life on the ocean will depend on solar satisfaction and optimum exposure for growth, sunlight, and how it is incorporated into the daily life of the city will become integral to the city’s design.
Maximum Exposure Between 30 Degrees of The Prime Meridian 30 - Winter 45 - Spring 60 - Summer
Parameters - 71
Water Studies Design for Efficiency and Sustainability
We know that the world’s ocean levels are rising, and that nearly 2% of our coastlines will be affected by Global Warming, but does water really have to be the enemy? What can be learned from studying the form, texture, permeability, and density of such a membrane? What was discovered from such an investigation was one of dexterous and dynamic results. When looking at the height field created between even
the slightest waves, one notices the ever-changing topography of the ocean’s surface. When taking snapshots of the membrane, patterns of density can be founds relatively commonly which produce a foundation for relative centrality, with peaks and troughs equating to rules to expose and shelter varying programs to sustain the city.
Water: Can only mitigate water so far. Can it be incorporated into design? Can we live symbiotically with it?
Parameters - 73
Formal Optimization Evolution of Form - Informed by Sunlight
The previous element studies of light and water led me to investigate evolutionary perfections of natural form such as the nautilus shell and its geometric blueprint the Fibonacci Sequence. These discoveries fueled my desire to find the perfect construction algorithm from which an entire city could naturally grow. The result was an organic replication of the Fibonacci curve being arched at its spine to be optimized at certain solar angles. From our solar study, we found three primary seasonal solar angles for which our city could be molded around. The lowest, in Winter is 30 degrees, 45 in Spring, and 60 degrees in the Summer. Each of these angles became a parameter set inside Rhino’s Grasshopper - a program used to create geometric algorithms based from digital coding - which would reshape and conform the growth with preference to these angles.
Several trials were performed and data manipulated to generate several diagrammatic city forms. From this investigation, it became apparent that when one angle is manipulated, the rest much be organically adjusted, and each piece custom made. Although the generated forms were perhaps too organic, the search for the optimum shape continues.
Generative Modelling: Rhino’s Grasshopper Parametric Solar Optimization
Parameters - 75
Density Distribution Accomodating Attraction + Direction
One of modern civilization’s biggest problems is one of population density. In the hyper-developed countries of Europe, urban densities are generally pretty balanced. There is a main center of town - usually the old-town - where most of the city radiates outwards from. Around the center are various neighborhoods with their own distinct cultural communities and respective population densities. for these developed communities, a rapid transportation network connects individuals throughout the city and provides an affordable and efficient form of transportation leading to a more sustainable integration of daily life in urban areas. The same parametrically controlled digital program - Grasshopper - was utilized to generate a series of attraction points mimicking the public plazas and
entertainment areas found in cities. The design accounted for a sequence of high to low densities creating a topography of peaks and valleys which will guide circulation, access, viewpoints, and resources. The resulting generated forms helped to find a balance between high to low-density accommodations.
Circulation: Grasshopper Polyline Attractors Peak - View Valley - Event Low - Path
Parameters - 77
Organic Growth City Construction Over Time
One of the main critiques I received on my first iteration of this Floating City concept was one of total design. The notion was that no existing cities had one particular form or style, but that there were instead invisible guidelines for how the city could grow naturally. This notion of creating a framework for city growth intrigued me and helped me establish a set of rules to allow the city to construct itself after an initial architect’s plan. The idea was that this Floating City could start as small as necessary. In the beginning, free floating platform technology will provide the first uses for seafaring buildings. The City may start out as an off-shore energy production facility with solar panels, wind turbines, and integrated ocean thermal energy converters that will allow energy generation 24/7 for any shore-line community.
When the city government, or a private enterprise discovers the value and ultimate potential of such a simple and easily repeatable floatable framework, the city will find room to grow in all directions. With just one repeatable hexagonal module, an entirely organic and natural process of growth can occur. Simply, when there is enough money for expansion, hexagonal modules can be added to any area of the city and can be retrofitted to accommodate any new program for the floating city.
Smart Growth: A Framework to allow smart growth to new areas of development Relative Centrality Self-Constructing Modules
Parameters - 79
Floatopia: Prccess of Conception
The Project Unravelling Process - Architecture Thesis
Project - 81
Modular Geometry Design for Efficiency and Sustainability
One geometry that has become particularly cliche nowadays is the use of the Hexagon. The reason behind its use and success lies in its extreme practicality. With six equal sides, the hexagon can be broken into six equilateral triangles, perfect for easy replication of equal members. With this discovery, the first building module was established and could easily be surrounded or stacked upon. By using this one versatile module, additional piec-
es of each module can be customized and added to the composition by anyone at anytime. Much like the building regulations based on land, this module affords the floating city inhabitant to create and realize his/ her ideal spatial environment.
Module: Hexagonal Modules Hexagon - 6 Sides - 6 Equilateral Triangles - 18 Identical Members Perfect for Replication and Natural Addition
Project - 83
Modular Geometry Design for Efficiency and Sustainability
Form: Interior Perspective Bird’s Eye View Branching Module Various Ports Harbors and Beaches
Project - 85
Molecule Geometry An Infinitely Connectable Structural Module
The next, most significant breakthrough for this project was the discovery of an optimized form, perfect for modular connectivity. The shape is referred to as a bitruncated cubic honeycomb, and is composed of eight hexagons, and six squares, each with members of equal length.
Such a module allows for unlimited three-dimensional connectivity, a maximum volumetric space, and a maximum surface area allowing maximum solar exposure. The module form is modelled after the geometric ideal for soap bubbles.
Form: Bi-truncated Cubic Honeycomb Maximum Surface Area Maximum Solar Exposure Infinitely Connectable
Project - 87
Fractal Growth Mimicking Construction of Organic Life
With an ideal module discovered, a new parameter for growth and connection needed to be established. By providing a one-size repeatable module, the spatial quality around the city was incredibly boring; there was only one type and scale of space. However, when looking into nature, usually there is a simplified form - such as a leaf - which is mass produced, and with
the same module, allows growth and proliferation of different sized modules. For this next step, our original module has been scaled down to several different sizes allowing a much more rich interconnection of city programs and interstitial circulation spaces.
Fractal: Growth Divisions Influenced by Nature Natural and Casual Growth Allowing Dynamic Interconections and Multi-Ccale Programs
Project - 89
Fractal Growth Mimicking Construction of Organic Life
The result is a city structure based on the ideal form for soap bubbles. With more than three different sized modules, a vocabulary of hexagons is established and spaces within the city are sculpted away with each new addition. There are three primary modules that inform city neigh-
borhoods. One is 16 stories tall, and is referred to as the Community Module. One is 8 stories tall, and is the Neighborhood Module, and one is 4 stories tall, which is the Residence Module. Each scaled module contains multiple programmatic uses.
Module: Residence Modules 4 Stories Neighborhood Modules 8 Stories Community Modules 16 Stories
Project - 91
Fractal Growth Mimicking Construction of Organic Life
Seen here, each multi-level module contains a rich spatial structure that may be manipulated with the addition or subtraction of modular plates. These modular connections work so well together, circulation acess winds easily around the main levels of each module. By placing
each circulation path at the center and bottom floors of each module, a dynamic network of city street life is established. Most open spaces will account for a higher density of pedestrian trafic as well as increased solar penetration.
Module: Residence Modules 4 Stories Neighborhood Modules 8 Stories Community Modules 16 Stories
Project - 93
Section Show Merging Landscapes
The next step was to visualize how these modules would come together, and what if anything would be necessary to create dynamic pedestrian paths connecting each community module. The answer came from studying the inherent structure of each module, and by uncovering a pattern which would allow maximum structural integrity and an optimum circulation artery. The result is an interior-exterior bridge walkway which merges communities by providing direct thoroughfares between neighborhoods. Because there is so much emphasis on solar integration, the bridges are glazed on both sides, and includes a layer of grass just under the feet of the pedestrian. The grass intends to clean the urban air, while providing a healthy backdrop for an urban environment.
Section: Major Circulation Passageway Integrated Green Walkway
Project - 95
Floating City City Inspired by Bubbles
Due to our current global warming conditions, the world’s seawater level is expected to rise 4.5 feet by 2100. While this may seem insignificant at scale, it will certainly have catastrophic results for shore based communities. Given that nearly all our world’s cities were founded near the ocean, the great body of water has brought and proliferated life, but now looms in the future with certain destruction. As a force that can be mitigated only so far, the world has turned to creating alternative typologies to sustain life. This proposal is for a ecologically closed loop,
floating utopia of the 21st century. This “urban oasis” will be floating in tropical ocean waters and will provide all the necessary elements to sustain modern life. The project will take cues from our physical sciences (biology, chemistry, and physics) to reenact processes of the natural world to harness the generative and restorative energies of the world’s oceans.
Information: Occupancy: 20,000 Inhabitants Marina: 3,000 boats Four Main Resort Pools Four Main Hotels Vertical Agriculture Tower 360 Degree Panoramic Views
Project - 97
Island Program Organizing Elements to Sustain Life
Programmatically, the city is divided up into a series of public and private spaces. Each space serves a specific program and can be found relatively easily in relation to the others. The main structure and form for this Floating City is made up of the previously described community modules which are each sixteen stories tall, and are partially submerged below the ocean water. There is a hierarchy within
the city which promotes more solar and publicly oriented functions near the top and interior, while organizing the city’s service spaces near the bottom, being partially submerged. Sitting near the top of the city structure, you will notice a continuous promenade functioning as the city’s main street, where public markets, resort hotels, and public entertainment activities are located. At the city’s heart, there is an ever-growing agriculture tower which provides enough food to feed its 20,000 inhabitants. And underwater, these modules provide service space to house the city’s massive recycling and waste regeneration facilities.
Information: Occupancy: 20,000 Inhabitants Marina: 3,000 boats Four Main Resort Pools Four Main Hotels Vertical Agriculture Tower 360 Degree Panoramic Views
Project - 99
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2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Floating City Form
Ocean Surface Footprint
Interior: Promenade Level Main Commerce and Leisure Level Flamingos Optional
Project -101
Floatopia: Aerial View Close Proximity to LandBased Cities Multiple Public Promenade Levels
Project -103
Floating City Terraced City - Shaped by Sunlight
Thanks to the city’s porous design, there are numerous interstitial spaces throughout the city’s construction. These voids are utilized as urban public space and allow vertical and horizontal circulation. Each new level of circulation cascades away from the next, offering unobstructed availability to light, views, and fresh air. in addition, where the city meets the water, new harbors and maritime activities emerge, offering a water-taxi service to promote tourism and circulation.
The city comes alive at night and with a combination of warm wood and buoyant concrete, the city partitions radiate heat onto the night-lit promenades. From each terrace encompassing the city, multiple stories of activity can be seen and easily accessed; and with the radial city design, nothing is more than a twenty minute walk in any direction.
Floatopia: Night View Green Walkway Cascading Terraces Vertical Landscaping Improved Biodiversity Symbiotic Relationship to Water
Project -105