Archdesign portfolio: Library Bunker

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Volume I Conception


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Volume I concentrates on the first four weeks of experimentation and coming up with the concept of the design. It covers the approach to the library, the approach and motivation of the concept as well as the permutations of its aspects. The map on the right hand side is meant to help provide a summary of how this concept came to be and solidifies. The solidification of the concept is covered in volume II.

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Duality of Spaces and the library This first drawing reflects how I think a library was and should be. On one hand the library was this protected space, one that holds immense knowledge. On the other, the library is a user space, one that should be open and user oriented. This sketch is the one that allows me to think about duality of two spaces, opposites merging and protruding into one another. This drawing sets the tone for the atmosphere of the entire project, a library that consists of a protected space and an open one.

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Visual inspiration My drawings are often influenced by the textures I see around me, and arounf the time when I was finding ideas for my design concept, I was very influenced by an artist that I have been following for the past year and a half. The artist- Ryan Tippery - shows texture and movement through very simple execution of lines and he constrasts it with block fields that further help viewers value to complexity of his lines. The duality of quality here is very similar to the duality of space that I want to recreate in my design, for this juxtaposition allow us to understand and appreciate both kinds of spaces.

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Ryan Tippery Movement

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Implications Libraries are important landmarks of a city, they are important monuments to cultures and they symbolizes the importance of knowledge, creativity and awareness of one’s sense of self, sense of surrounding for with the information it contains, it allows us to makes sense of the world we live in and proceed from there. Too often libraries have however made into a manifestation of prestige, power and authority for an institution and it is time for libraries to manifest the culture of the people rather than the power and wealth of organisations. Therefore I have started to look into projects that relate to libraries, the state of libraries around the world as well as art projects that have to do with these buildings for Art, I believe is a powerful representation of a culture.

Artist Inspiration

Wafaa Bilal American Iraqi artist, professor at Tisch School of Art. He was prohibited from studying Art in Iraq, he laters studied Art in America and many of his projects laters on circles back to the conflict between the United States and the war in Iraq. The photos above are from his project “The Ashes Series�.

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Imagine a Short Talk on Impact of Art P: Your most known and most impactful art projects and installations have always revert back to the conflict back in Iraq. With projects such as Domestic Tension, Virtual Jihadi, Dog or Iraqi, the Third I, you have started them as protests to the war back home as well as reminders that the war we see on television is very much real in other parts of the world. Where did you draw all of these emotions and what hopes do you have for your installations to complete?

Wafaa Bilal, “The Ashes Series� Wafaa Bilal organised a show in Ontario where he urges the viewers of his show to come and bring books. These books, he laters explained, will be sent to the College of Fine Arts at the University of Baghdad. The library of the college had been destroyed by the American-Iraq war in 2001, yet now in 2016 the library had not been rebuilt yet, for even after 15 years, the area is still not stable enough and for these 15 years, students of the college have been struggling to find books.

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B: For these projects, the motivation to do them was drawn from a moral point as well as personal loss. In 2005, my brother died in an American missile strike and yet in the United States as well as other more stable parts of the world, the attack on my brother was just some depressing clip footage on television. People have become so numb to the burden of war when they haven’t felt the loss of it, meanwhile people in Iraq and other troubled parts of the world do not have the privilege to turn their worries about their security off and on for it was a constant hum. With my projects I hoped to bring awareness to the people in the US. For projects such as the Ashes Series, I hoped to display the weight of war on a culture, the loss of architecture, the loss of art, the loss of reflections of Iraqi people. With my installations, I hoped to deliver a more impactful wake up call that hopefully, people will realise that all these wars are a heavy burden to cultures and civilisations of the world. P: So you truly believe that your Art and Art in general can be a catalyst to greater change? B: Art makes human beings reflect, it makes us feel. I believe that no matter what Art you practice, your Art have the impact to change something in your viewers, and by connecting with your viewers, you can shed light onto important matters and from then on unify us all as human beings and bring about better change. So yes, I do believe in the power of Art as a catalyst to greater change.


War and Libraries 15 years and they have not rebuilt a library. 15 years and they have not salvage part of their culture. Wafaa Bilal believes in the power of Art in bringing about better changes, in connection between humans. Architecture is an Art, an Art that encompasses us wherever we are, physically and personally mentally. Perhaps Architecture is the ultimate Art than can play important roles in bringing about societal change. Not only working in the theoretical change, Bilal and his project to replenish the library of the College of Fine Arts at Baghdad also encourages his society, circle, friends, viewers to bring about an immediate change to rectify the circumstances. This is the impact humans should have through Art, the ability to connect to one another and bring change. It is horrifying to think about how despaired the community of Baghdad must be to not rebuild a monument to their civilisation because of war. This lead me to an investigation on the relationship between Libraries and War itself.

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The Library Typology and War We are all most too well versed in the destruction of the library of Alexandria. The fire that wiped it clean and the mourning for the loss of a monument to civilisation lasts until this day. Most destructions of libraries I have researched are caused by mankind. I have looked specifically into the destruction of libraries in the past 15 years, the number of libraries destroyed would perhaps be just another interesting stat. Within those 15 years, libraries in the Middle East, specifically Iraq have been destroyed more than anywhere else in the world.

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One of the issue with libraries is that they exhibit a tension between making the books accessible to the people and the duty to protect them. Most libraries have to reach a balance of such complex duality. This is why the concept of duality of closed and open spaces is fitting to the library for it also reflects the balance in duality of the programme that the library hosts. Interested and moved by Art, I really want to dedicate this library to Art, especially when Italy has such a phenomenal history of wonderful painters and atists. I would like to honour this as much as I can. This is personally important as Art has been the first objects to be looted and stolen during conflicts and wars. (See WWII and it’s stolen art.)


The destruction of libraries have also been used as invasive strategies in history. It happened in Baghdad before, as well as in other nations in human history. A pattern arose and this pattern outlines in fact the importance of libraries in a society.

Take their libraries. Take their libraries and burn their books. Burn their books and you could see their culture vanishing in smokes. Take their libraries. Take their libraries and throw their books in the river. Throw their books in the river and you could see the ink swirling into the water and you could see their culture disappearing with inky floods. Destroy their libraries, destroy their books, destroy their culture, you destroy their identity, all that’s left of it are ashes and mud sticking to all possible surfaces of what once were, sticking to all possible crevices of what they once named ‘us’.

We are currently living in the critical times of the conflict between east and west. The crisis in the Middle East has escalated, spreading to other parts of Europe and poses a threat to the cultures lucky enough to have stayed unharmed so far. So the question arises: Why not build a library that can resist natural disasters but mostly man-caused attacks?

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The Bunker Typology The war bunker is a direct solution to the idea of protecting the books, allowing the library to be a fortress. However, the bunker typology oft follow two strands: they usually are underground steel tubes or they are dense concrete masses. Both strands offer seclusion and protection in their own way. I started this project with the idea of two contrasting spatial qualities, one open and user friendly, one protected. The idea of a mass that evolves into a space that is more free seems to go well with the concrete mass. Having the concrete mass act as a complete separation between the internal environment and the external conditions, the bunker acts as an obstacle in ones path, and it would be more than fitting to have the more open and presumable organic space take shape around such mass. The library would then be a fortress that is both protective and user friendly.

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I then set out to study modern works on bunkers to tackle this idea of mass and revealing it to the users. In this project by RAAAF architects in the Netherlands, they have decided to slice the mass of the bunker into two to: 1. reconnect the internal environment that once was separated from the external environment; 2. make visible the mass, the thickness of the walls and the poche’d spaces within that mass. The slice is clean and simple and allows the visitors to pass through this looming mass where the boundaries of in and out are blurred and they are forced to comprehend this protected space that is not just compromised by the slice but glorified by it. 15


Models Following are the models made to explore the concept of duality of spaces, the concept of a mass invading an open space, porosity and several experiments . All of them are done with the design concept in mind yet some of them are done with a more experimental approach to test and discover new approaches should they arise.

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This model is meant to test out the spatial qualities of two adjacent spaces where one is more open and light filled whereas its counter part shields light away. To test out the effect of merging these spaces, I thought of a mass climbing over both these spaces, hovering. To move from the light filled space to the enclosed space, one must climb up to this ‘mixing chamber’ creating a ritual of transitioning between the open space and the closed and the protected space, and vice versa. This mass can also be used as the protected area of the library, it can be the meeting point between the users, who belong in the clear space, and the books, which will be retrieved from the closed space. So this white mass in the model is meant to be a contact point between the two extremes. Which scheme one sees depends on one’s interpretation. The concept of the mixing chamber is very similar to the mixing chamber found in the Seattle’s Public Library designed by OMA, although our approaches are very different.

Seattle Public Library Scheme with mixing chamber 18


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My approach to drawings of models are rather abstract, as are my models, I believe they should represent the concept conceptionally and not purely figurative. Therefore, the drawing on the left represents the concept of an enjambing mass protruding into both spaces without portraying the model figuratively. However, instead of a mass, here we have a void enjambing the two spaces, creating a rift between the two qualities and putting strain on the outer edges that have formed bridges and contact points between them. This drawing elicited a lot of consideration about the type of connection I felt was appropriate for the design of the library.

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The second model I made experimented with dividing the spaces into three categories: closed, transitioning and open. The model makes use of resin, for clarity and transparency; and concrete for that was to be the bunker’s material. This helps in contrasting the quality of textures specific to each other: smooth and fluid for resin, rough and bumpy for concrete. An important moment arises as they react different as they are merged in the mixing chamber, creating a somewhat entirely different quality, a crumbling concrete.

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This model started as a physical manifestation of the first sketch I drew as I came up with the concept of duality of spaces. Similar to Ryan Tippery’s drawing it shows linear elements becoming a mass. In this model I wanted to show that the open space can be a frame element introducing the outdoors in, and the mixing chamber is a mass that is transparent whereas the protective space is an opaque mass. This model not only demonstrate the gradient between light and dark, but also how open air spaces transforms into fully enclosed spaces by modifying the physical and visual barriers as one move through the space.

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Drawings of this model allows me to test the introduction of open pockets within the chamber and extruding the mass of the chamber into the outdoors of the design, making the threshold of a building following the scheme be determined by the visual contact between the viewer and the building. The drawing on the right continues to test the posibility of introducing frame elements into the enclosed space. It is similar to the scheme of have a transitional mass but this time the mass is replaced with a frame-like element.

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Dissolve or grow?

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This model experimented with making the contacts a blurred process rather than a pronounced contact point. It concentrates on the gradient of one merging and invading into the other as one slowly blurs and transform. This morphing process allows the spaces to be more varied, each of them falling on the gradient depending on their openess and enclosure rather than being classified into specific category: closed, mixing, and open that is present in the second model that I’ve discussed.

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Taking a slightly modified approach to the representation of my models in drawings, I started letting my drawings exhibit the more diagramatic quality. Herewe can see the three categorised spaces as mentioned but we continue to see the change in ratio of openess and closeness as one glides from one end to the other. this drawing shows that the scheme is both categorised spaces and continuous gradients merged into one, that it shows both separated spaces and continuous space of gradual change.

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The open space that is light filled is dedicated to the user. In the scheme I had in mind, it is where the users reside and carry out their activities. It is important that this space is articulated well enough for the users to be interested in the space for as they cannot access the more enclosed parts of the bunker/library, they cannot experience the dark enclosure, nor would it suit their activities. Therefore, I took an experimental approach in manipulating the surface of the resin to vary the lighting values and quality. At one end I also decided to make the resin invade into the user space, in a similar way to an impact of hypothetically speaking, a bomb, creating a crater in the surface of the users to communicate the theme. However I believe that the concept of the design is the most important part of such a building, rather than articulating it to overwhelm the user space more.

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As I made the model, I realised that the surface quality of the model has a beautiful abstract movement. The drawing on the right shows the crater and the light filtering through it as well as reflecting the sheen of the material. Overlaying the section, perspective and elevation of the model help intensified the abstract quality of lines found here. The invasion of the mass is clearly seen through the section, it has a monumentality that I enjoy although I don’t think that it is a necessarily critical part of the design at this stage.

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Reflection on page 40 38


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The model on the previous page consists of 8 opaque elements and 8 transparent elements. That model was an attempt at seeing the library as a complex with solid masses and transparent user spaces. The model was modular thus, it allowed for different configurations. It also allowed for an attempt at creating a monolithic building that was porose, where it’s pores were inserted with transparent elements to help carry light down to the lower levels. By doing so, it takes the scheme of previous models about transient space and rotates it into a vertical gradient of light and massing. This model proved to be very versatile and helpful in terms of testing breaks in the rhythm of the complex and the fabric of mass and transparency. Not only so, the contrast between the two qualities of space interwoven as on previous page allows of interesting juxtaposition of texture.

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I moved on from concrete and started testing with different opaque materials to see whether the effect of contrast is still present. Made with salt dough, the cover envelopes the resin mass leaving only specific openings to allow light. This is in a way a dough shell enveloping a pocket of what was supposed to be an open and light filled space. The salt dough is not as opaque as the concrete, and as the light shines from within the building, it emanates a glow similar to cracking. This is interesting as it inverts the relationship between light and mass envelope when the light within is turned on or off. Interestingly, this model reminds me of my previous experiment on translucent concrete.


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The drawing on the left is done with the interest of mass and the field of movement surrounding them. Inspired by Ryan Tippery’s very motion oriented drawings, this representation of my idea explores the concept of loose and fluid fiels that happen surrounding a mass, which acts as an obstacle. It also shows how a mass can be blurred by the fluid around it, so that not only does the mass shape the mass fluidity, but also that such fluid help hone the mass.

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The loose and freeform connecting fluids between two masses create fields of open spaces seeping in the solidity of the mass, establishing boundaries as they move, spread and seep.

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This model is a new aproach to the rather dystopian aspect of the design - a bunker for war. It looks at how spaces can be formed in the transparent facade by burning mass that would previously have occupied that place. It tests how the appearance of mass can be felt on a transparent surface. This model didn’t do what I had hoped it to do: which was that the deposit of soot would be engrained into the crevices of the resin surfaces. However, the fire started consuming the transparent block and created a blackened surface on the transparent mass that when lit, looks as if it was to explode from within. This is seen in the next page.

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This model is an alternative to the burning model that did not quite workout. Instead of burning voids into the transparent mass, this model simply allow the voids to be manifested as deep indents of the surface. These indents are all stopped at the same invisible barrier creating a difference in transparency when seen at different angles.

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This model is an attempt at seeing how scale should affect the building designed. It is meant to be seen as shifting ground plates extending to become shelter. It shows how the mass of the ground can protrude into the open space creating a swirling mixing space at the ground surface. The model is scaleless and does not make sense when one did not understand the scale. This model is not the first model to be made in such fashion, the previous attempts tried to follow the curves of the tomb of the Scipios in Rome and counteracts the street patterns of Rome whereas this updated version allows itself to be completely organic, combining both the Scipios curves and the sharp angles of street corners.

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Experimental Models Following are the models made adjacently to the main models previously presented. Some of them are accidental works and some are models made to test the design concept that did not really contribute to the progress of the design. In some ways they are considered as branches of the exploratory process that I didn’t take.

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These are experiments that allowed me to discover the translucnece of salt dough and helped me in advancing my thought process in considering the material for the bunker. Although the answer to the bunker’s material remains the same, the experiments did provide a chance for critical reflection. The experiments on the left is about testing whether a tesselated complex can allow for movement and disposition of mass and transparency across an expanse of land, however, it didn’t really fit with the concept, thus they were discarded.

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Exhibition (Not all models presented in the exhibition were explained in this portfolio.)

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