Daniella Netrebko Eskildsen PORTFOLIO Aarhus School of Architecture
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THE BRUTALISTIC CIRKUS
My thesis project explores the possibility of bringing back the architecture of the past as an important layer in cityscape of the present and the future. Krasnodar Circus is a part of a Soviet typology, both programmatic and architectural, and the preservation and restoration thereof is therefore considered a necessity. A method on how to approach existing architecture is developed throughout the project. It proposes a way of handeling this brutalistic architecture of the past, which may otherwise seem somewhat neglected in the present-day Russia. These buildings, from the later part of the Soviet Union, remain as a physical reminder of a complex history that is important to preserve and to tell. That is why I see Krasnodar Circus, with its brutalist aesthetics and Soviet modernist features, as an important cultural relic of a bygone era - despite its almost 50 years of life. The project initiates through a thorough analysis and insight into another culture in which society, economy and the ideologies of the communism governed and formed the architecture. I soon realised that working with this specific kind of architecture is impossible without the understandign of its historical, environmental, stylistic and cultural context. The thesis project seeks to develop a nuanced narrative for this existing building through which a neglected Soviet typology can continue to live on in an exemplary picture of the Soviet modernism. It’s about making the building remain as a clear monument, while allowing the function of the to circus continue within its frames. The project has been a study of the style-historical approach to the subject, as well as how the restoration should result in a cohesive shape of the building that in its overall image can restore Krasnodar Circus as an attractive meeting point in the city of Krasnodar.
P O R T F O L I O . Daniella Netrebko Eskildsen . Architect
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Krasnodars historiske centrum er opbygget i et tydeligt grid. Inden for dette grid placerer bygningerne sig selvstændigt. En blanding af usammenhængende typologier, i forskellige størrelser, står side om side, uden at være i dialog med hinanden.
Krasnodar
50km
CONTEXT The building covered by this project is located in the center of the southern Russian city, Krasnodar (population: 773,970) 1. The city is located in the lush and scenic area, Krasnodar Krai, located north of the Caucasus mountain ranges and east of the Black Sea. The building was erected as a circus in 1969, for the clear purpose; to entertain the people. The most widespread notion of a circus, especially in the western world, is a flexible and removable typology, typically in the form of a tent. But this is not the case with Krasnodar Circus. Almost squarely framed in Krasnodar's gravel road, the UFO resembles the circus with its distinctive volume, erected in white-plastered concrete, as a clear landmark of the city and a strong example of Soviet brutalism.
6 A SOVIET TYPOLOGY
P O R T F O L I O . Daniella Netrebko Eskildsen . Architect
As part of my study in getting closer to and understanding the Soviet circus typology, I have created a catalouge finding repeating features in style, materiality and geometry. It is to understand that the building my project is ab the USSR on almost as contextualizing lacking a way as the circus tent we know. But in this case, the movable ten anchored using solid and load-bearing concrete columns. It has taken its place where necessary, strictly determin
e of circus buildings from about the same period as Krasnodar Circus. The study is created with the intention of bout should be considered and worked with as a typology that in its copying and pasting has been placed around nt has been replaced with heavy concrete facades, and instead of innumerable cords, the overall geometry is firmly ned by the state, and not with the intention of moving at any time soon. An entertainment created to stay.
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THE SOVIET MOSAIC
P O R T F O L I O . Daniella Netrebko Eskildsen . Architect
The mosaic was a common decorative element as a way of adding colour and life onto the monotone Soviet facades. Longest to the top right is an image of the facade to 1st and 2nd floor of the backstage area. This facade is reserved in the restauration of Krasnodar Circus as a clear cultural heritage. On my study trip to Krasnodar I found broken mosaic pieces in the grounds of parks and playgrounds that has been removed from facades after the Soviet Union because of for example communistic propaganda. The mosaic is re-interpreted by adding broken mosaic pieces as flooring in the entrance hall (image to the left). As a way of showing beauty even in the broken elements if they are combined in a new way.
THE WATER TABLE
The water is of great importance to the cityscape in Russia, and you see in many places, especially in front of cultural buildings, that it is used as a way of attracting people. Either it becomes a core for staying, or a place where larger or smaller fountains lead to interaction and play. In Krasnodar's modern parks, however, stagnant water is not as widespread as the moving water is. But since it is a distinctive Soviet and modernist trait, this element is wanted to be added as part of the building. This means that the surface's horizontality is maintained without removing the focus away from the strong geometry of the building. To the right is an image of an added water table. Before this outdoor area to the building was an unuesd courtyard, left only to trash and as a place for smoking in the breaks.
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P O R T F O L I O . Daniella Netrebko Eskildsen . Architect
BEAUTY AND BRUTALISM
Already long ago, from when we sold our vote to no man, the People have abdicated our duties; for the People who once upon a time handed out military command, high civil office, legions — everything, now restrains itself and anxiously hopes for just two things: bread and circuses. - Juvenal, Bread and Circuses Roaman satire, year 100
VIOLLET LE DUC - RESTORATION In the work of Krasnodar Circus, I will restore based on a classification and presentation of the building's period style history. This is accomplished through an understanding of the social, economic and political context of the building, that is, the whole human way of thinking during the building's construction time. All this has been guiding the existing architecture. It is not about wishing for a lost time, but respecting the remnants that may be left of it and recommending the study of the art form and style of restoration. The project therefore results in a building completed in the style that is special to it. In a study of the phenomena of the past, the building can be reproduced in its architectural entirety.
P O R T F O L I O . Daniella Netrebko Eskildsen . Architect
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Ilya Chashnik, Compositiondrawing and model 1921
THE PLAN The final plan is the result of a reinterpretation of the existing building body, a clarification of the building’s lines, a functional space division that is based on the facade’s tactic openings, and the preservation of the internal circulation pattern. The circulation in the backstage section is close to the patio, which is maintained and activated, whereas the public circulation is defined by the manege. These two units are connected by a clear through-axis of circulation.
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P O R T F O L I O . Daniella Netrebko Eskildsen . Architect
PHENOMENAL VALUES are based on the experiential qualities of architecture. The meeting between light and dark rooms, the elongated Soviet corridor, the distorted reflections of the cityscape in the glass facades, scale variations of the rooms, it all contribute to creating a surden variations of mood and atmosphere throughout the building. These are phenomenas that one cannot necessarily measure, but which are just as important to the overall understanding of the building as the measurable elements. The predictability of the symmetrical circulation, the almost inhuman scale of the representative arena, as well as the mystery behind the closed walls of the circus, help to give this brutalist building its special Soviet character. Likewise, how the colorful movements of the circus program take place within the cool and rustic concrete frames, in a constant and lifelike movement that is intertwined in an axis of flow through the building, ending in the heart of the building; the sublime arena. In the work with Krasnodar Circus, the restoration attempts to emphasize the atmospheric, sensory and emotional qualities of architecture.
P O R T F O L I O . Daniella Netrebko Eskildsen . Architect
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INTERPRETATION OF THE SOVIET FACADE
EXISTING BUILDING
P O R T F O L I O . Daniella Netrebko Eskildsen . Architect
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REFLECTION The project explores the possibility of bringing back the architecture of the past as an important layer in the present and future cityscape. Krasnodar Circus is part of a Soviet typology, both programmatic and architectural, and its preservation and restoration is therefore considered a necessity. Throughout the project, a method is being investigated on which existing buildings can be used. It proposes a position on this brutalist architecture, which may otherwise seem somewhat neglected in present-day Russia. These buildings, from the later part of the Soviet Union, remain as a physical reminder of a larger and complex story that is important to preserve and tell. That is why I see Krasnodar Circus, with its brutalist aesthetics and Soviet modernist features, as an important cultural relic of a bygone era - despite its nearly 50 years of life. The project has started out with an in-depth preparation and insight into another culture in which society, the economy and the ideologies of communism governed and formed the architecture. You cannot work with this kind of architecture without understanding its historical, environmental, stylistic and cultural context. The project seeks to form a nuanced narrative of this existing edifice through which this neglected architectural typology can continue to live on in an exemplary picture of Soviet modernism. It’s about letting the building function as a clear memorial, while allowing the circus function to continue within its confines. The project has been a study of the style-historical approach to the profession, as well as how the restoration should result in a cohesive building body that in its overall picture can restore the Krasnodar Circus as an attractive meeting point in Krasnodar. Throughout the project, I have challenged myself and my thinking within the cultural heritage. And working with this type of existing architecture has been instructive and rewarding.
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THE READING OF TEMPIETTO BRAMANTE
The following project is a study of the phenomenological approach to excisting architecture, in this case the Tempietto Bramante, 1502, in Rome. On a study trip to Rome we where assigned the task to sketch and draw the small temple from the Italian Renaissance and present the temple in a drawing made through the measurements of the body. This led to a deeper understanding of the proportions of the tempel, though not from a given precise drawing of it but from a subjective perspective of the architecture at eye level. From these gathered observations and memories of the monument, the further process of the project results in an three-dimensional understanding of Tempietto Bramante. A sculpture (or a physical memory) is created to underline the individual development of impressions that appears in the meeting of the architecture, resulting in an architectonical expression that allows to break up the predictability from its classical symmetric plan and section. This project is not a reinterpretation of the temple, but more a result of the personal reading of it. It is a focus on the meeting between man and architecture rhtough a reading only based on memories, feelings and senses.
The term “monument“ can only be meant subjectively, not objectively. We modern viewers, rather than the works themselves by virtue of their original purpose, assign meaning and significance to a monument Alois Riegl
P O R T F O L I O . Daniella Netrebko Eskildsen . Architect
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THE MUSIC PAVILLION As a part of a restauration of the Castle of Frederiksdal in Denmark (see project 4), a pavillion for music is created. The castle in itself is transformed to a music refugium and as an expansion of the program the barouque garden in front of the castle is designed as a place for exploration, recreation and music concerts of different genres. This part of the refugium can become public when needed. Up against the very rigorous part of the baroque park a forest is framing the area. Right at the border of the forest, discretely hidden by a few trees the path from the garden bends. Here the pavillion is placed. The simple geometric shape is a translation of the geometric lines from within the ornamentation in the castle itself. And the combination of a cube, an arch and a waving wall makes the view of the pavillion unpredictable and changing from whichever side you enter it. The concave shape is created as a negative space meeting the cube, shaping the concert area while optimizing the experience of sound in a sorround effect. A part of the round plateau is protected by a ceiling, which makes it possible to use the pavillion for smaller intimate concerts even when it is raining. When the pavillion is not in use for concerts is stands as a geometric element in the garden, almost as a sculpture. This is to emphasize the original use of the garden as a sculptural park.
P O R T F O L I O . Daniella Netrebko Eskildsen . Architect
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THE CASTLE
On the border to the little old Danish town, Virum, lies the Castle of Frederiksdal from 1700 in the forest. The Castle is first and foremost a project about creating a connection and understanding of the buildings history in a time period that expands from the beginning of the building in 1700 with its intentional life and until the modern way of living as is today. The family living in the castle today wants to open the doors to a different program than what the building has housed in the past, only being a resident for the Sundlin family through many years. A music refugium is wanted in the basement, public consert halls on the ground floor and a private home for the Sundlin on the top floor. The building is listed as protected architecture because of its rare baroque ornaments and highly exclusive and qualitative 1700 aestetics. Therefore the building, being a physical memory from another time, does not allow the most radical transformation but every intervention has to happen based on a strong argumentation and a thoroughly developed valuation of the exsisting values in the building. Because of these architectural design limitations, the project has been a long study and understanding of the castle and its many layers through archeological measurings and analysis - but as importantly a more personal registration of the given atmosphere in this fantastic piece of architecture. The different parts of the program and different architural conditions within the building leads to a design strategy that varies in the scale of how much and how strongly I can leave my footprint as the architect within the building. Although this is the case I as the architect stand by leaving my footprint within the building in a new layer that can communicate, stand out and meanwhile harmonize with the building and its program. I believe this is important for its restauration, in order to realize a new life and a modern program in the future. The castle undergoes a restaration with the goal of combining the music program with the architectural design. Every detail is made from an understanding of the overall symmetric plan down to the geometrical measurements and proportions of the ornaments in the smaller details. A new geometric language is developed from this understanding of the exsisting. The project reaches to give the architecture a varied story of the history through its many layers, the old as important as the new.
P O R T F O L I O . Daniella Netrebko Eskildsen . Architect
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THE DR MEDIA HOUSE Knowledge. The availability of news is open for everyone all the time on social medias. Communication has become the keyword for our modern society - we are connected, or can be connected 24/7. This open approach and availability is the interpreted into the program of the building, being the optimal work enviroment for this specific media house. Opening the building up for the public, inviting and engaging them into participation, reinforcing their knowledge and interest. From a contextual analysis we found axes going from the building, visually connecting the city and the harbor to it. These axes inspired us to create visual and physical axes and connections places through the building. TRANSFORMATION “It is the unchangeable that creates conditions for changeability, the permanent that frees the temporary.” Leupen Bernard, ‘Frame and generic space - a study into the changeable dwelling proceeding from the permanent’ The transformation of the building was an essential and delicate part of this project. Our intention was to make an honest intervention using the already given strength of the building, keeping in mind the atmosphere and identity of the context. One of the main questions was - what is relevant to preserve? The purpose of this project was not to make a restoration of an industrial ruin, but to understand the qualities of it in a new context - a media house. We want to preserve and design to improve.
The conceptual models show a study on how to cut through a building, what to add, remove or preserve.
The axo show what we chose to add, remove and preserve. It also shows the two openings in the building and the public part (white) and private part (black)
PROGRAM The intention with the new media building was to create a workspace that feels as open and light as possible within the frames of an old industrial building.
The need for privacy is also a very import-
ant part of the mediahouse. After visiting several media houses and interviewing several journalists we understood that there was a clear need for a level of privacy and personal recreation. The word safety was mentioned many times. It is to remember that even though medias are very public the people working there are private individuals. Therefore we have a clear boarder (glass facade) between the private and public part of the media house.
By using screens with different shades we
achieve the flexibility for the workes to organize their own seperate workunit, which all together create one connected and open workspace. For this we use the existing columns in the building to create the dirrection and system for the screens surrounding the workunits.
P O R T F O L I O . Daniella Netrebko Eskildsen . Architect
36 GROUND FL OOR
R 1ST FLOO
SECTION
DR STUDIO
THE OFFICE
PUBLIC ENTRANCE
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THE ATRIUM
P O R T F O L I O . Daniella Netrebko Eskildsen . Architect
The three atriums contain green elements, contrasting the cold and raw atmosphere in the industrial building. They work as a visual connection between floors, a physical connection, a light source and a place for relaxation.
THE CANTEEN
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THE OLD FARM An old house and farm from 1700 in the South of Denmark needs a new function. The walls are of brown bricks characteristic from that specific area, the roof is of thatch and the interior has only undergone minor changes since its construction time. Almost as a physical memory from the past, the building stands out in the vast landscape of Denmark. It contains of three building elements: the housing part (good shape), the stable (bad condition) and the barn (added in 1970 and in good shape but of cheap materiality). According to the varying conditions found in the building, a strategy of working with the architecture is developed. The focus in the assignment is to contain the atmosphere of a different time standing still, while adding a new function that can live and change within the old frames. Newer elements are added through the reversible thinking mentioned by Johannes Exner, with a respectful distance and offset to the existing. The new function will be housing in the former housing part, architecture firm in the stable where there is more to be transformed because of its bad shape and at last a transformation of the barn that will become into a conference and meeting hall connected to the architecture firm, and also allowing the building to open up towards the public. The landscape around and the central yard of the building is public, and through the directions of the path in the park, different experiences of the building are represented to the visitors, either distancing the visitor form the parts of a more private program or almost exhibiting the old architecture as the cultural heritage it is. The intention of this project is to preserve this cultural heritage, restore it within its old ways while giving it space for newly added elements, that harmonize with the excisting without removing the focus from it. Newly added architectural elements are clearly new in materiality, allowing it to be read as a new layer of our modern times. A storytelling of the building shall become clear through the experience of different atmospheres in the architecture.
The kitchen
The meeting room
The meeting room
Through the reversable way of thinking, three different boxes are placed within the building containing funcions that facilitates the program. The boxes folliw the repeated structure of the beams and the materiality is thin concrete walls.
P O R T F O L I O . Daniella Netrebko Eskildsen . Architect
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THE BARN The barn is more radically transformed than the rest of the building. The old reused beam- and woodwork in the construction is preserved, but everything else is more or less removed.
Træspån Forskalling Afstandsliste for ventilation
Preserving the construction leaves a given height and plan in
Vindpap Isolering min. 250 mm
Dampspærre
the conference hall. The openess of the new building is an in-
Let betonvæg
spiration of the big room that already existed in this space. A few and small windows are placed in the roof. They limited amount of neatural light bring the barn atmosphere into the
Opmuret facade, munkesten i krydsforbandt
new function of the building. The materials are wood, concrete
Kantisolering
Snit A
Syldsten
floors, exsisting brick walls and at last corten steel for the new
Grussti
staircase leading you to the inserted box which contains a me-
Stabilgrus Sundolitt isolering, min. 300 mm Beton fundament til tømmer
Beton min. 30 mm over rør Varmerør pr. 300 mm
eting room.
Dræn
THE HOUSING The housing area undergoes a gentle renovation based on a
Syet stråtag
Taglægte pr 400 mm
study and understanding of the excitsting architecture. As
Spær
much as posible is preserved. An extra glass layer is added to
Eksisterende gulvbrædder Bjælke Mineraluld, min. 300 mm Dampspærre Forskalling
the excisting windows for a better indoor climate and insulation is added in the loft, without affecting the excisting planks
Optoglas (4mm) med skjult tætningsliste Eksisterende enkeltlags rude
Snit B
and or beams that underline the construction of the building.
Opmuret facade, munkesten i krydsforbandt
New modern windows are added where the thin plank doors
Kantisolering Syldsten
Grussti
are, for termal reasons but also to create a source of more naStabilgrus Dampspærre
tural light withing this part of the building, where the rooms
Sundolitt isolering, min. 300 mm Beton min. 30 mm over rør Varmerør pr. 300 mm
Dræn
Teglklinker i sildebensmønster
can seem quite dark.
THE ARCHITECTURE FIRM
Syet stråtag
The architecture firm is in the old stable, where the overall
Taglægte pr 400 mm
Mineraluld, min. 95 mm Dampspærre
materiality is cocrete, wooden planks and forged iron decora-
Forskalling pr. 300 mm Pudset loft, mørtel, rørvæv
tions. Most of the old windows are intact. All of these details are preserved, although in order to optimize the inner climate the floor is remade with new conrete containing a heating
Rem-bjælke Eksisterende enkeltlags rude
Optoglas (4mm) med skjult tætningsliste
system underneath and storm windows are added to the excisting windows. The ceiling in this area is made of timber
Opmuret facade, munkesten i krydsforbandt
Snit C
Kantisolering Syldsten
Eksisterende pigsten Grussti
openings many places. Te condition of the ceiling supports the
Stabilgrus Sundolitt isolering, min. 300 mm Beton min. 30 mm over rør Varmerør pr. 300 mm
that has been exposed to moisture damage and has dangerous
Dræn
decision to take it down and open the room up to the kip.
P O R T F O L I O . Daniella Netrebko Eskildsen . Architect
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HOUSING
ARCHITECTURE FIRM
THE BARN
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THE SHIP, A CULTURAL PAVILION Man settled in the place we today call Aarhus because of the water - the Old Norse word Ä rĹ?s directly means the city at the mouth of the river. The river gave its protection to the people and ships that sailed out to overcome the waves, trade in exotic goods and bring home the newfound knowledge and wealth. Today it gives the big city Aarhus its valuable green mark. In this place, in the intersection of nature and the city center, we create a pavilion inspired by the river and the Viking ships that sailed on it. We stretch out a distinctive roof profile in corten steel as a negative of a long ship's hull. We raise two curved walls, stacked with recycled wood - surplus material from a fast-growing city - because the past teaches us about a sobriety and a need for recycling that is as important today as it was then. We define a single room that is open and closed at one time and where the light perforating the walls is soft and comfortable. We rethink architecture as the vessel that has to go from Aarhus to the world again to build bridges, exchange knowledge and sow a seed for the future.
P O R T F O L I O . Daniella Netrebko Eskildsen . Architect
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cortenstål, 10mm vinkelbeslag træprofil, parallelogram 95mm x 45mm afstandsklods, eg 9mm x 16mm
detalje 01, 1:5
cortenstål, 10mm søjler, cortenstål fæstnet til taget rammer, cortenstål fæstnet til tag fæstnet til træprofiler pælefundament, borepæl boltet til søjle ved foden
02
detalje 02, 1:5
detalje, tværsnit, 1:50
01
træprofil, parallelogram 95mm x 45mm afstandsklods, eg 9mm x 16mm bolt, ø=10mm U-profil i stål, nedsat i jorden
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LIANGMEN SCHOOL
The canteen and library building of the LiangMen School is placed in the Guizhou province, in the beautiful fields of China. The vegetation is rich, the place contains many resources, and farming has been of great importance in the area for many generations. We would like to highlight the meaning of local resources by giving the school the possibility to have its own system of self-sufficiency. Imagine if you could make your own rice from scratch or collect several spices for soup in your own garden? Or build your own bamboo flute or basket or toy? The children would not only learn about food and agriculture, but also learn about taking care of themselves and about their own culture. In the garden we place our building. The top of the building is painted with a strong blue colour to make the school visible from everywhere down the hill - an icon and a fun place to go to. We chose to divide the building into two floors, one for each program. As in the vernacular chinese architecture, the most functional space, the canteen, is placed on the ground floor. The place for relaxation and reflection, the library, is placed on the upper floor. The staircase is placed outside to get the best use of the 96m2 inside. This creates a natural flow from inside to outside, juxtaposing the exterior and the interior. The two floors are open and flexible with no partitions or dividing elements. The groundfloor contains only a kitchenette, nothing fancier is needed for teaching the kids how to prepare food. The building is based on a simple wooden structure, in order to maintain an honest approach to the architecture, where every joint is visible and every material readable. Taking the economical situation into account, we want to use a minimum of glass, while still creating a panoramic visual connection to the surroundings; the garden and the hills.
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DANISH ARCHITECTURE CENTRE
As a part of my internship at COBE Architects in Copenhagen I helped with building their exhibition at The Danish Architecture Centre. The exhibition took over the area of the ground floor, where the an timber structure of a continous filled out the space within the old building´s walls. Negative spaces within this grid structure defined the circulation and divided the exhibition into a storytelling. OUR URBAN LIVING ROOM is about architecture, not just as a building design in itself but a piece of a bigger picture that is the space and life between buildings and the connecting eements within the urban cityscape. On the right is a 1:20 model build of the exhibiton and as a part of the exhibition.
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CERAMICS