Thesis Document Derek Pirozzi USF Masters Research Project

drift* A series of architectural studies which speculate on the future of a Gulf Coast Florida identity and the celebrated expression of unity between the natural and man made environment.

by:

Derek Mark Pirozzi Masters Research Project The University of South Florida School of Architecture and Community Design College of the Arts

Fig: 1. MP1 Final: Process

drift*

A series of architectural studies which speculate on the future of a Gulf Coast Florida identity and the celebrated expression of unity between the natural and man made environment.

Documentation by:

Derek Mark Pirozzi A masters research project presented to the Graduate School of Architecture and Community Design at the University of South Florida in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Masters of Architecture.

Thesis Chair: Micheal Halflants Professor of Architecture and Principle of Halflants + Pichette

USF Tampa FL | Sarasota FL

Thesis Committee: Steve Cooke Professor of Architecture

University of South Florida | Tampa FL

Robert Macleod Director, School of Architecture

University of South Florida | Tampa FL

Micheal Calvino Principle, Calvino Architecture Studio Inc. Tampa FL Date of Approval: May 3, 2012

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Dedication I would like to dedicate this document to my friends and family who have always believed in me and have been such a source of strength over the years.

To my Mother and Father and to the love of my life Mallory

Acknowledgments This school has changed my life.

I have been fortunate enough to be apart of something great that is happening at the University of South Florida. Over five short years, I have witnessed as school grow by leaps and bounds from advancement in fabrications to continual dedication amongst the faculty and staff. Our school is one of the best and will continue to produce great work for many years to come.

I would like to thank all of my colleagues present and past for their constant source of inspiration. My education could not have happened if it were not for the close-knit family of the S.A.C.D. student body. We are all a product of learning from each other, from sleepless nights to prolonged critiques. The studio experience is unlike anything else.

I would personally like to thank my professors Michael Halflants, Steve Cooke, Robert Macloed, Mark Weston, Nancy Sanders, Jan Wampler, Martin Gundersen, Dan Powers, Stanley Russell, Beverly Frank and Albert Alfonso for giving me a unique education and guiding me to become the designer and intellect I am today.

I would personally like to thank Giancarlo Giusti, Michael LeMieux and Mike Calvino, your dedication to teaching me the virtues of architecture and craft have left a life long impression.

I would also personally like to thank my classmates Leonardo Morantin, Dimitar Dimitov, Daniel Johnson, Stephanie Herring, Brian West, Nate Boyd and David Zawko. All of you have continued to push me to be the best that I can be and for that I am forever grateful.

And finally, I would personally like to thank my family and friends for every once of support. Thank you to my mother and father for always believing, and thank you Mallory for being my everything.

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Table of Contents List of Figures 08 Abstract 14 The Preconceived Notion 16

Historical Reference | why is this place?

Indigenous Florida 18 Regional Concepts 20 Mediterranean Influence 22 Modern Ideas 24 Sarasota 26 Notions of Fantasy 28

Identity | umbrellas, boardwalks, and screened porches

A need for change 30

Precedence | case studies

Artistic Environment: Stacy Levy 34 Desert Vernacular: Rick Joy 36 Leca Swimming Pools: Alvaro Siza 38 Firminy Church: Le Corbusier 40 Versatile Design: Tom Kundig 42 Light and Lightness: Renzo Piano 44

The Coastal Environment | Venice, FL

Exposed Context 46 Haptic Experience 56

Context and Dialogue | designing the moments

Concept Design A 58 Concept Design B 62 Concept Design C 66 Concept Sections 70

Speculating the Coast | the edge condition

Concept Sketches; Graphic Study

74

Concept Model; Vertical Construct 80

Introduction of Site | the Florida coast

Waterways, Coastlines and Avenues

90

Constructed Concepts | design studies

Snake Island Sunset Pavilion

92

Caspersens Beach Boardwalk 108 Venice Avenue Observation Tower 122 Works Cited 126

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List of Figures

Fig: 1.

MP1 Final: Process* 00

Fig: 2. Florida Sunset on the Coast* 12

Fig: 3. Environmental Relationship Section Study 14

Fig: 4. Preconceived Notion: Diagrammatic study 17

Fig: 5. Calusa Indian Village; http://www.floridadesototrail.com/ 18 photo_gallery.html

Fig: 6. Calusa Fishing net; http://fcit.usf.edu/florida/lessons/ 18 calusa/calusa1.htm

Fig: 7. Palm Fiber Cord; http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/scrolls/ 19 images/cordage.jpg

Fig: 8. Wood Burning: Dugout Canoes; http://www.learnnc.org/lp/ 19 multimedia/6271

Fig: 9. Castillo de San Marcos: St. Augustine; http://flnature.blogspot.

20 com/2012/03/coquina-brown-sands-beaches-of-florida.html

Fig: 10. Coquina Rock; http://www.flickr.com/photos/volk/2518785234/ 20

Fig: 11. Florida Cracker House; http://www.treehugger.com/ 21 sustainable-product-design/university-of-floridas-entry-at-solar decathlon-mixes-old-ideas-new-technology.html

Fig: 12. Gamble Plantation: Ellenton, FL; http://www.choosesarasota.com/ 21 Gamble_Plantation_Historic_State_Park-a-82.html

Fig: 13. William Gray Warden House; http://www.oldhouseonline.com/ 22 8-great-addison-mizner-buildings/

Fig: 14. Red Barrell Tiled Roof; http://www.roofinghelper.com/images/ 22 red_tile_roof.jpg

Fig: 15. La Ronda: Addison Mizner; http://www.oldhouseonline.com/ 23 8-great-addison-mizner-buildings/

Fig: 16. Vizcaya Museum and Gardens, Miami; http://travel.aol.com/ 23 travel-guide/united-states/florida/

Fig: 17. Art Deco: Ocean Blvd. Miami Beach; http://tiger.towson.

24 edu/~mquese1/miamibeach.html

Fig: 18. Frank Lloyd Wright’s Florida Southern Design; 24 http://www.franklloydwrightatfsc.com/

Fig: 19. Joost Schmidt: Poster for the 1923 Bauhaus exhibition 25 http://www.co-operationblog.com/2009/12/562/

Fig: 20. Paul Rudolph’s Finney House Floor Plan 26

Fig: 21. Paul Rudolph’s Healy “Cocoon” House 27

Fig: 22. Ponce de Leon: Fountain of Youth; http://www.vagobond.com/ 28 deadly-vagabond/

Fig: 23. Disney World MGM Studios; http://andyboyle.typepad.com/blog/ 28 2011/09/disney-nightlife-a-magical-place.html

Fig: 24. Liftoff: Kennedy Space Center Florida; 29 http://www.callofbeauty.com/gallery/v/Space/Deep+Space/Liftoff

Fig: 25. A Florida “Dream Home”; http://www.dreamhomesource.com/ 30 house-plans/dhs/styles/mediterranean-house-plans.html

Fig: 26. Florida Postcard; http://www.flickriver.com/photos/ 31 24730273@N03/sets/72157622012955882/

Fig: 27. Christmas in Florida Postcard; 32 http://www.shellbellestikihut.com/

Fig: 28.

Board Walk: Venice, FL* 33

Fig: 29. Screened in Porch: Sarasota, FL; http://www.flickr.com/ 33 photos/58489585@N05/5861155105/

Fig: 30. Riverine (ikura): Stacy Levy; http://www.stacylevy.com/ 34 installations/riverine.php

Fig: 31. Tide Flowers: Hudson River NYC; http://www.stacylevy.com/ 35 installations/tide_flowers.php

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List of Figures

Fig: 32. Melting Point: Philadelphia, PA; http://www.stacylevy.com/ 35 installations/melting_point.php

Fig: 33. Catalina House: Interior; Joy, Rick (2004) Desert Works 36

Fig: 34. Tucson Mountain House; Joy, Rick (2004) Desert Works 37 Fig: 34b. Tubac House: Exterior Space; Joy, Rick (2004) Desert Works 37 Fig: 35 - 37. Alvaro Siza’s: Leca Swimming Pools; 38, 39 http://www.archdaily.com/150272/ad-classics-leca-swimming pools-alvaro-siza/

Fig: 38. Firminy Church: Interior of Chapel; http://www.flickr.com/ 40 photos/pietermorlion/3318905702/ Fig: 39 - 40. Firminy Church: Exterior; Photography by: mathieu noël 41 www.mathsphotoblog.fr

Fig: 41. Chicken Point Cabin: “Gizmo” Detail; Ngo, Dung. (2006) 42 Tom Kundig: Houses.

Fig: 42. Delta Shelter Concept Sketches; Ngo, Dung. (2006) 43

Tom Kundig: Houses.

Fig: 43. Pressurized Skylight Lift; Ngo, Dung. (2006) 43

Tom Kundig: Houses.

Fig: 44. The Nasser Sculpture Museum Dallas, TX: Roof Detail* 44

Fig: 45. Tjibaou Cultural Center #2: Beam Details.

45 http://www.flickr.com/photos/ximo_michavila/6843313479/in/ photostream/

Fig: 46. Chicago Modern Wing: Museum Light Conditions* 45

Fig: 47. Sunset Time lapse over the Gulf* 47 Fig: 48.

Umbrella Providing Shade* 48 Fig: 49.

Beach Context: Path* 49 Fig: 50.

Beach Context: Path* 49

Fig: 51. Beach Pelican: Complexity of the Natural* 50

Fig: 52. Ecological Materiality: Barnacle Growth* 51

Fig: 53. Ecological Materiality: Barnacle Growth* 51 Fig: 54.

The Water’s Glare* 52

Fig: 55. Waterway Context: Bridge Pillar* 53

Fig: 56. Jetty Rock Bed: Coastal Edge Condition* 54

Fig: 57. Through the Waters Surface* 55 Fig: 58.

Mans Temporal Imprint* 55 Fig: 59.

The Coastal Edge* 56

Fig: 60. Context Relationship Diagram* 57

Fig: 61. Longitudinal Section Study 58

Fig: 62. Cross Section - Relationship Studies 60

Fig: 63. Cross Section - Relationship Studies 61

Fig: 64. Concept Design A Model 63

Fig: 65. Overhead view of spatial relationships 64

Fig: 66. Extended view looking pass spatial volumes 64

Fig: 67. View looking down on main vertical space 65

Fig: 68. Concept Design B Model 67

Fig: 69. Light wells with exterior rain chain concepts 68

Fig: 70. Rain channel details; directing water over slope 68

Fig: 71. Dialogue between light wells and rain wall 69

Fig: 72. Concept Design Model C 71

Fig: 73. Overhead shading condition 72

Fig: 74. Large vertical panels which open to the coast 72

Fig: 75. Adjacent space carved out by folding roof 73

condition and vertical element Fig: 76. Speculative Graphic One 75 Fig: 77. Speculative Graphic Two 77 Fig: 78. Speculative Graphic Three 79

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List of Figures

Fig: 79. Vertical construct process photo 81

Fig: 80. Vertical construct process photo 82

Fig: 81. Vertical construct process photo 82

Fig: 82. Vertical construct process photo 82

Fig: 83. Vertical construct process photo 83 Fig: 84.

Fabricated details 84 Fig: 85.

Fabricated details; construct 84

Fig: 86. Vertical spine of construct 85

Fig: 87. Final construct; welded stand 86

Fig: 88. Vertical Spin; concepts of bridging 87

land and seas

Fig: 89. View from above looking down construct 87

Fig: 90. Interactive Vocabulary: Contemporary Water Wheel 88

Fig: 91. Interactive Vocabulary: Contemporary Water Wheel 89

Fig: 92. Site studies and graphic diagrams 91

Fig: 93. Initial sketches for canopy condition 92 Fig: 94.

Light well module 93

Fig: 95. Sunset canopy fabricated components 94

Fig: 96. Sunset canopy fabricated components 94

Fig: 97. Sunset canopy fabricated components 94

Fig: 98. Sunset canopy process photos 95

Fig: 99. Sunset Canopy Process Photos; Structural Braces 96

Fig: 100. Sunset Canopy Process Photos; Structural Braces 96

Fig: 101. Sunset Canopy Process Photos; Creating the Gesture 97

Fig: 102. Section study of project 98

Fig: 103. Mechanical Details; Fabricated Parts

100

Fig: 104. Mechanical Details; Overall Composition 101

Fig: 105. Light well studies; concepts 102

Fig: 106. Light well conditions; the sunset canopy 103 Fig: 107. Final Model 104 Fig: 108. Final Model 106 Fig: 109. Final Model 107

Fig: 110. Constructed vertical elements 109 Fig: 111.

Fabricated elements 110 Fig: 112.

Fabricated elements 111 Fig: 113.

Fabricated elements 111 Fig: 114.

Fabricated elements 111

Fig: 115. Constructed vertical element; “light� panel 112 Fig: 116. Fabricated elements 113 Fig: 117. Constructed vertical path 113

Fig: 118. Unify architecture and context 114 Fig: 119. Boardwalk element 114

Fig: 120. Entrance piece; view from the coast.

115

Fig: 121. One of two U Shaped apparatus on east side 116 Fig: 122. Framing the context 117 Fig: 123. Final Model 118

Fig: 123. Graphic study of sand bar condition 119 Fig: 124. Final Model 120

Fig: 125. Initial sketches of avenue project 122

Fig: 126. Plan and section of observation tower 124

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Fig: 3. Sunset Canopy: Tectonic Study

Abstract “The Expression of Place�

Our environment is the defining character of our self image.

The discovery of ones existential sense comes only through the intimate connections with our immediate surroundings. It is through a lack of relationship between our environment and our constructed context which brings us to adapt a weak sense of identity. Through a globalized approach, the public Florida realm has forged a fraudulent imitation, a sterile aesthetic synonymous with the combination of superficial historical styles. As a result, many architectural integrations have created a disconnected inhabitant, detached from any valuable concepts of place.

Multiple coastal cities in the state of Florida have imitated cultural fads and popular idiosyncrasy while drawing of a diluted interpretation of foreign concepts to translate a defining character. Through the understanding of historical Floridian settlements to the recognition of regional traditions, we can begin to speculate on an architectural language with an independent relevance and virtuous quality. Authentic identity can only be achieved through the acknowledgement of the original historical content which defined the past and a willingness to embrace an architectural language of its own time and contextual atmosphere.

Influenced by the regional precedence found in the south western United States, this thesis speculates on an architectural narrative that expresses the local and environmental qualities that define a south west Florida coast. Through the adaptation of a deeper, more intimate relationship with our surroundings and heightened sensory experience can we begin to create an architectural language which becomes representational of the rich qualities of our adjacent context. A dialogue must be created, a conversation between man and the natural elements, as well as the elements to each other. The intent is an architecture of unity, a marriage between the natural and the man made. A true expression and celebration of place. Nature becomes our guide.

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rain water swimming sailing tides propeller waves salinity (salt) movement counterweight fishing marine life buoyancy shade light time windmill water wheel glass (rain) humidity tracks dichotomy sun dial tension sliding ropes - knots gravity absorb measuring dripping floating measuring dripping (time) floating hourglass sand connecting technology system form space

The Preconceived Notion What is Florida Architecture?

How does one begin to inhabit the land?

How do I begin to address the coastline? the edge?

“Beaches are the easily accessible margins of a spectacular wilderness - the sea.”1 Florida has long been a destination for many tourist from around the world. During the winter season, many communities along the coast will see there populations swell in size. It is this type of tourism that helps generate a large amount of economic value for the state. Most cities have gone to great lengths to create some type of attraction while others try to keep there city as peaceful and low key as possible. No matter what the appeal, there is always one constant, the Florida coast.

How we begin to treat the public realm along the shoreline becomes an important trademark of this priceless environment. Preserving the beach front and allowing the natural flow of the environment should always be a corner stone for any coastal community.

If the coastline was addressed through an architectural intervention, how would you begin to approach such a condition?

Florida is a Hot and Rainy Environment - Can we begin to incorporate the dark as well as the light. Can the Florida darkness begin to reveal another layer of light? How can this begin to be portrayed through an over head condition?

At first attempt, one could imagine a “pier” like condition, or maybe a boardwalk spanning from in land and stretching, breaking the coast edge, and shooting out towards the horizon. Do most piers break the line that is the coast? Does this interrupt the flow of nature? the flow of man?

In order to approach such a design process, one needs to formulate a set of rules and principle that begin to shape such questions.

For the Florida coast, one principle should always be found: Allow the environment to move uninterrupted; the intervention is always second.

1. Witherington, Blair and Dawn. (2007) Florida’s Living Beaches; A guide for the curious

beachcomber. (p.ix)

Possible programs:

Lighthouse Condition

Pavilion - Canopy Space

Campground Condition

Natural Gardens

The Pier

The Boardwalk

The Release

The Impact The Progression The Shift

How do we begin to approach building on the coastline, In a protected environment?

Interior / Exterior Light: Roof Seasonal Shift The Structure Housed Program?

Engaged Senses

The Beginning The Promenade Fig: 4. Preconceived Notion: Diagrammatic study

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Historical Reference 01 Indigenous Florida

Fig: 5. Calusa Village

The human history of Florida and the adaptation to the environment were as varied as the environment themselves.

The State of Florida is a reflection of historical influences and multiple inheritance. Florida is the quintessential melting pot, inhabited from multiple directions over time and still in its infancy as far as settled communities. In order to find its true identity, the state need only to look to its own historical past and not the adaptations of traditions located across the globe. “It has long been recognized by prehistorians that the lifestyle practiced by indigenous Florida Gulf Coast populations prior to the arrival of Europeans was organized around the use of maritime resources. Perhaps nowhere along the Florida Gulf coast have human ties to the sea been emphasized more than for the south Florida Calusa of the Charlotte Harbor region.”2 The Calusa lived on the coast and along the inner waterways. They built their homes on stilts and wove palmetto leaves to fashion roofs, but they didn’t construct and walls. “I suspect that most houses in prehistoric southwest Florida were indeed pile dwellings out over water...”3 The Native Americans of the state used any materials they felt could help construct their surrounding environment and allow for a way of life. At Estero Bay in Lee County, a shell mound site was found with the construction methods utilized entirely by shells and clay. “Among these were the formation of larger and more permanent settlements, the construction of earthen mounds and other earth works, long-distant trade, and burial ceremonial ism that incorporated personal utilitarian and exotic adornment items.”2

Fig: 6 Calusa Fishing Net

2. Hutchinson, Dale L. (2003) Bioarchaeology of the Florida Gulf Coast: Adaptation,

Conflict, and Change. (p.14) 3. Cushing, Frank Hamilton. (1897) A Preliminary Report On The Exploration Of

Ancient Key-Dweller Remains On The Gulf Coast Of Florida. (p.23)

Many southeast mounds found were constructed of shell, thought to be a representation of symbolism and society.

“The use of shell for ornaments and tools became important. Textiles made of plant fibers, including nets, bags, baskets, and clothing, have been found in contexts where preservation in possible such as submerged sites and dry caves.”4 The Calusa people also used long pine or cypress poles as a form of structure for their oval elevated dwellings.

Fig: 7. Wood Buring; Dugout Canoes

Along with the construction of dwellings, it is imperative to draw from historical precedence of craft and making.

The arduous process of making becomes increasingly prevalent when studying the indigenous people of this environment. Two of the most common plants in Florida are the Sabal (cabbage) palm and the saw palmetto. Both are a likely source of fiber for prehistoric rope making.

Other indigenous rope making included fibers from plants like spanish moss, Sabal palm (yarn and two ply cord), willow bark, mulberry bark palmetto trunk fiber, century plant and cypress bark.

Native Americans prided themselves on craft. Dugout canoes were made from hard yellow pine because of the method used to hallow out the boat; burning out the center. Hollowing out an object with fire created many different objects for the Native Americans such as bowls, spoons, and pipes. Many pieces were made from “soft wood that carves easily like cypress.”5 “Today the museums are collecting objects, but tomorrow it will be technology. It will then be necessary to take a new approach, for you can’t save practical knowledge by putting it in a museum storeroom. You must pass it on.” 5

Fig: 8. Palm Fiber Cord

4. Hutchinson, Dale L. (2003) Bioarchaeology of the Florida Gulf Coast: Adaptation,

Conflict, and Change. (p.14) 5. Brown, Robin C. (2003) The Crafts of Florida’s First People. (p.7) (p.49)

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Historical Reference 02 Regional Concepts From European influence, to the use of regional materials, and the vernacular constructs of Northern Cracker living, Florida has always been a place whose environment has defined the various inhabitants.

Fig: 9. Castillo de San Marcos; St. Augustine

Fig: 10. Coquina Rock

When first settled, Florida followed in design concepts rather than adapting its own. Builders crafted homes using local materials to reflect Florida’s Pioneer status. Florida’s intensely hot, rainy climate, and its abundance of readily available building materials shaped its early architecture.

“Spaniards, British and later Americans found coquina, a natural lime and seashell conglomeration from Florida’s shores, admirably suited for construction.”6 Florida was constructed by the Spanish settlers first with this natural native coquina as well as tabby, a man made conglomerate of lime, sand and crushed oyster shell.

Missions later included native homes of wattle and daub woven twigs and branches covered with clay mixture. “..Vernacular structures were crafted of locally available materials without formal architectural design. Settlers learned the benefits of high ceilings, cross ventilation, and good building orientation to take advantage of wafting breezes for relief from sweltering heat. Native long leaf pine, once blanketing much of the state, provided lumber for many pioneer homestead.”6 The more sustainable dwellings were generally 2 stories, with the first made of coquina and the second of hewn cedars. Many techniques used for construction were European in origin. “Florida cracker” as these vernacular structures came to be known, continued to be constructed well into this century, with distinctive regional variations.”6 6. Young, Vivian. (1996) Florida’s Treasures; Celebrating Florida’s Historic Architecture.

Many cracker homes of Florida augment shade and air movement; Living with out air conditioning. Built of logs quickly and without decoration. Incorporated were broad shady porches which the hot and humid climate of the region demanded it.

Fig: 11. Florida Cracker House

Fig: 12. Gamble Plantation: Ellenton, FL

As Florida was further settled, most inhabitants built with a knowledge of what they recalled from previous establishments. “Those attempting an architectural style often chose classical revivals, which by the early 1800’s were sweeping the young nation. These revivals borrowed heavily from ancient Greek and Roman architecture, which to early Americans symbolized the lofty ideals of democracy and enlightenment. With an emphasis on symmetry and columns, Classical Revival styles became popular for churches, plantation houses and other landmarks. They could also be copied from design books, and did not require elaborate mill work difficult to obtain in frontier areas.”6 It is these adopted styles which influence most of our contemporary buildings today. One can begin to trace the lineage and begin to understand why Florida has lost its environmental identity over time.

It is only by researching how our contemporary constructed environment came to be, can we begin to build responsibly in such a diverse atmosphere. “Concern for this lack of discrimination in post-modern historic allusions has led some architects to a more accurate and detailed study of regional tradition. Given a clearer understanding of this historic architectural forms around us, we might envision new designs that build appropriately on the same forces of nature, regional culture and available technology that originally gave shape to our architectural heritage.”7 6. Young, Vivian. (1996) Florida’s Treasures; Celebrating Florida’s Historic Architecture.

7. Haase, Ronald W. (2008) Classic Cracker: Florid’a Wood-Frame Vernacular Architecture.

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Historical Reference 03 Mediterranean Influence The early turn of the century brought a influx of vacation seeking Northerners to South Florida. Infatuated with the Mediterranean scene, many turned to the works of Spanish influenced architects such as Addison Mizner.

“Having toured the world he brought back the vocabulary of the Mediterranean - including red stuccoed walls and red barrel tile roofs.”6 “Other architects around the state became proficient in the Mediterranean Revival vocabulary, melding Italian, Spanish, and other motifs into buildings they made distinctively “Florida.”6 However over the decades it can be argued that an obsession with such works turned to a dishonest replication which lacks the true integrity of what these great pieces of historic architecture were meant to speak about.

Fig: 13. William Gray Warden House: Addison Mizner

Fig: 14. Red Barrell Tile Roof

One of Mizner’s passions of building falls with the window - never too many - and every room must have a cross draft.

One had the feeling that inside the house he was as much in the marvelous Florida air as if on the beach or in the garden without. There were great courts and arcades with round arches and capitals alive with animals and grotesque figures; Accompanied by innumerable details. Mizner wrote of his architecture “... I had often been heavy hearted in Florida over what appeared an amazing indifference to the fascinations of the country, an inability to catch and emphasize her real charms, to make a typical Floridian thing.”8 What Mizner sought was to give to the outside as well as the inside, lightness and openness, free access of all to the sun and air of the country. Creating a Narrative of his own time, Mizner sought to capture the qualities of spatial relationships to an environment he felt so much apart of.

6. Young, Vivian. (1996) Florida’s Treasures; Celebrating Florida’s Historic

Architecture. (p.35) 8. Mizner, Addison. (1992) Florida Architecture of Addison Mizner (Dover

Architecture). (p. 42)

Many of the homes created in the spirit of true Mediterranean concepts brought forth new ideas that could also be applied to this environment. The very “feet” of several Mizner homes sat right in the ocean. As you walk on the balconies, you hang over the water. Upon entering the home, straight ahead you are framed a glimpse of the sea. These moments created were always a constant reminder of ones surroundings, never impeded by glass or the detachments of conditioned spaces. His houses were generally one-room deep to allow cross ventilation, with kitchens located in wings to keep their heat away from living areas.

Fig: 15. La Ronda: Addison Mizner

Fig: 16. Vizcaya Museum and Gardens: Miami, FL

The courtyard becomes the reconnection of the interior spaces to the exterior. Spaces, since conditioning, have become internalized. It is the idea of opening themselves up to the sub tropical climate. The scale of the space and the connection to the environment, allowing for degrees of transparency through heavy architecture, represent the Mediterranean. The core beliefs behind Mizner’s work should be a precedent for future design, not just the style or “grandness” of such structures.

Many designers and communities followed in the foot steps of Mizner and began to create an atmosphere of thematic grandeur. The town of Coral Gables near Miami Florida envisioned “a beautiful thematic developments that melded the Mediterranean vocabulary with the planning concepts of the City Beautiful movement.”6 With such great idealized delusions, many Floridians were quick to adopt these styles of design as most saw them to be a symbol of prestige and wealth. It is this train of thought which drives many consumers even today.

6. Young, Vivian. (1996) Florida’s Treasures; Celebrating Florida’s Historic

Architecture. (p.37)

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Historical Reference 04 Modern Ideas As the state evolved, so did technology, and with this a new modern appeal came. Starting in the 1930’s, the sleek ideas of streamlined buildings began to appear with strong influence by European designers. This new “moderne” style became synonymous with art deco, which refers to the “decoration applied to everything from buildings to jewelry to appliances. “Moderne” refers to the form of the building itself - streamlined, geometric and heavily influenced by industrial design of the period.”6 Miami Beach is the most famous for this style.

Fig: 17. Art Deco: Ocean Blvd. Miami Beach

Fig: 18. Frank Lloyd Wright’s Florida Southern Design

Continuing with the aspirations to breath new life into the Florida constructed context, Frank Lloyd Wright introduced his Florida Southern Campus in Lakeland. “Wright called for the buildings to rise “out of the ground, into the light and into the sun,” using steel for strength, native Florida sand, and glass to bring God’s outdoors inside.”6 For Wright, the built environment was about reconnecting man with his given surroundings. The campus, originally set in an orange grove, was to convey the feeling through sight, smell, sound, and touch of being integrated into the Florida landscape.

During this period of time, while Wright began to change the way people built in this context, other future designers were being introduced to a set of principles that would help change this state, as well as the country. Through philosophies of simplicity, functionality, economy, geometry, and aesthetic beauty determined by materials rather than applied ornamentation, Walter Gropius was shaping the next generations at Harvard a new outlook on spacial relationships.

6. Young, Vivian. (1996) Florida’s Treasures; Celebrating Florida’s Historic

Architecture. (p.41) (p.43)

The key principles of geometric, functional and modern order, asymmetry, rectangular grid structure, circles, squares, rectangles, triangles, bars, and rules were used to unify or separate elements versus defining decoration.

By allowing the basic principles of design to determine and generate the architectural language, our relationship with the surrounding context will be elevated. By not competing with nature, but instead embracing it, we will be able to draw closer to an identity which represents our context.

For the proprietors of the Bauhaus, horizontals and verticals became a dominant component which draws a closer relationship to the organic context. The relationship of a house to its landscape was of paramount importance. The large plate glass windows became part of a dual purpose: they visually bring the outdoors in, but also permit passive solar gain.

Other principles included the resolute affirmation of the living environment of machines and vehicles. The design principles strived for “organic design of things based on their own present-day laws, without romantic gloss and wasteful frivolity.”9 Only structurally essential components used elementary forms while simplicity in multiplicity, economical utilization of space, material, time, and money became primary goals of the design process. “Open composition on an implied grid system of sizes for type, rules, and pictorial images brought unity to the designs.”10 The Bauhaus stressed that architects, sculptors and painters must all return to the crafts!

Fig: 19. Joost Schmidt: Poster for the 1923 Bauhaus exhibition

6. Young, Vivian. (1996) Florida’s Treasures; Celebrating Florida’s Historic

Architecture. (p.37) 9. Wolfe, Tom. (1981) From Bauhaus to our House.

10. Herdeg, Klaus. (1983) The Decorated Diagram.

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Historical Reference 05 Sarasota “The Sarasota school sprang out of its special circumstances of location, personalities, and talent to reach its zenith of world architectural prominence in the 1950’s.”11 No where else in our continental U.S. does a place such as this exist. It is only right that a different way of living, as well as a different meteorological character, be treated through a new form of post-war modernism.

The goal of the movement, was to delineate and define a unique environment through a set of philosophies and beliefs on how one could begin to adapt a structure to the warmer context. The beliefs were conjured through the appreciation of the land and climate, as well as an understanding to how a building should appropriately fit into its surrounding context. Architects Ralph Twitchell and Paul Rudolph were some of the first to start to set these ground rules which focused an eye for the appreciation of past Florida design typologies as well as local materials and the use of new construction methods.

Fig: 20. Paul Rudolph’s Finney House Floor Plan.

Through clarity of structure, maximization of material potential, simple volumes penetrating vertically and horizontally, and honesty in details and structural connections, Rudolph and Twitchell were able to pave the way for a new Florida modern.

Florida vernacular also benefited greatly from a post-war technological way of thought which was starting to be employed by the modern architects building in the environment. Through a single story rectangular design, the Florida prototype was able to achieve a strong cross ventilation which assisted with the intense Florida heat.

11. Howey, John. (1995) The Sarasota School of Architecture. 1941-1966.

“Rudolph earned renown recognition for humanizing the international style through a distinctive synthesis of it’s ideas and principles with a sense of fantasy.”12 By the turn of the 1950’s, Florida vernacular started to come into its own. Much of Rudolph and Twitchells work had started to gain them great publicity and which in turn started to attract new clients and design strategies as their philosophies evolved.

“Several features made these Sarasota designs regional: native materials such as local cypress were used; floors were often raised to avoid the Florida dampness; a typically southern dogtrot was used to obtain maximum interior ventilation; the chimney was placed tangential to and separate from the main structure. Windows, grilles and shutters were used to filter the intense light and help control the sun; and other basic building components were separated to lessen heat transfer and to break down the sun’s rays before they penetrated glass or struck exterior walls.”11 The main mass of the houses were raised to the second level for better views and breezes as well as sun protection. Two or three story high shells or upper umbrella roofs evolved to protect or enclose the smaller living units. Rudolph used hinged shutters or flaps so large in scale that they became major building units and could change the perception of the structure when rotated.

The Sarasota School of Architecture became It was an active, unified group that regarded architecture as an art form and that took advantage of structural evolution and new technology.

Fig: 21. Paul Rudolph’s Healy “Cocoon” House.

11. Howey, John. (1995) The Sarasota School of Architecture. 1941-1966.

12. Hatton, Hap. (1987) Tropical Splendor: an architectural history of Florida.

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Historical Reference 06 Notions of Fantasy “We come to realize that fantasy - of tropical breezes, of agricultural bounty of new land to explore - can propel us into uncharted territory. The architects and builders who designed Florida’s historic landmarks were reflecting the fantasies and realities of their time.”6

Fig: 22. Ponce de Leon: Fountain of Youth

“All Florida at the moment saw visions - completed things, apparently the day when every acre of its soil had been transformed into town lots, with white villas set in the palms, backed by orange and banana groves and always with a water front, natural or artificial.”13 The architecture of Florida is a living, changing testament of historic events and human fantasies, of aspirations and dreams. Florida remains a state that people drive to instead of through. This is a place of destination and has been for most who want to get away from the colder northern climate.

Once rebuilt after the civil war, the southern railroad line brought wealthy vacationing northerners to Florida. Florida’s booming 20’s and other successful time periods have always been contributors to the Florida Kitsch, the theme subdivisions such as Glen Curtiss’s Southwest Indian Pueblo-style and Arabian Nights developments. In the late 1930’s Art Deco became the scene in Miami. Applied nautical and tropical motifs stressed escape to the exotic, always catering to fantasy. “This creates an architecture for a blue world in which the sea determines the final configuration and in which the distant harmonious horizon seems to be closer than ever.”14

Fig: 23. Disney World MGM Studios 6. Young, Vivian. (1996) Florida’s Treasures; Celebrating Florida’s Historic

Architecture. (p.45) 13. American Institute of Architects. (1968) Architecture for Florida Living.

14. Chueca, Pilar. (2004) Today’s Beach Houses.

“The architecture of Florida is a living, changing testament of historic events and human fantasies, of aspirations and dreams. Nowhere else on earth have economics, geography, and climate conspired so serendipitous to produce and architecture of such special appeal.”13 The states economical drive has identified with the influx of tourism and has allowed this to generate concepts of design. Instead of using nature as a model, many designers have catered to superficial ideals about concepts of non reality. This in turn has generated many Main Streets which consist of an approach that is sympathetic style or an intellectual “ism” that is so popular with the designers of today.

Florida always has been a land where architects let imagination reign. “Folk architects” building such homes as the lighthouse and ship residence in Sarasota have been inspiration for some. The architecture along highways offers exciting documentation of changing trends, from tourist cabins to sprawling motels, mom ’n’ pop restaurants to stage-set extravaganzas, small roadside attractions to multi billion dollar theme parks such as Walt Disney World. It is these types of get-a ways that detach us from reality, as they are intended to do. An escape from the mundane everyday, launching us into a world of careless wonder, of relaxation. This, however, can disconnect us into a world of nothingness, a fantasy which gives us an misidentification. In return we begin to create a fake sense of self to fill the lack of a virtuous originality which is no longer there.

Fig: 24. Liftoff: Kennedy Space Center Florida

13. American Institute of Architects. (1968) Architecture for Florida Living.

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“Modern man, who no longer dresses in historical garments but wears modern clothes,

also needs a modern home [place] appropriate to him and his time, equipped with all the modern

devices of daily use.”

- Walter Gropius

Identity | umbrellas, boardwalks, and screened porches “The common perceptions of Florida’s architecture are those of Spanish Mediterranean revival mansions with arched verandas and red tile roofs, Key West Caribbean Colonial wood houses, Miami Beach’s pastel colored Art Deco hotels, and the spectacular multicolored geometric slabs of Arquitectonica’s high rise apartments.”15 It can’t but help be noted that all of these styles are truly indeed just that, styles, all drawn from historical precedence and brought to life through an aspiration to shape our surrounding context. What is it about these styles (in particularly for the west coast of Florida the Mediterranean revival) which most feel so appropriately represents our environment? Is it simply the idea that our surrounding bodies of water evoke the notions of the Mediterranean Sea? If this is the reason, are these not two completely different locations developed and inhabited at two very different times in history?

Should they not be developed with their own merit, or of there own Identity?

The state of Florida is unique. It’s personality and character are exceedingly different from most regional conditions around the United States. Florida’s subtropical climate boasts an atmosphere saturated with lush vegetation and an a constant kinship to the temporal coastal edge which bounds the state. These settings become a permanent reminder that nature’s beauty is incomparable to the man made context. Be it the work of God or evolution, the natural environment should always be held in the highest regard and celebrated through our architecture. It is for this reason that “style” should not be what is in question, but instead the regional identity should come from our ability to create an intimate relationship with nature and it’s many characteristics.

Fig: 25. A Florida “Dream Home”

15. Hotchstim, John. (2004) Florida Modern. (p.13)

Architecture begins to inform the inhabitant about the communities attitude towards a given location, yet it is the environment itself which actually defines our demeanor, not the man made vocabulary. Style (identity) should not be sought out, but instead achieved through an intimate relationship between context and culture, with an acknowledgement to traditional methods of making.

Design begins to take shape from many forms of inspiration, most of which come from man’s recollection of what once was and what currently exists. From concept to construction, the ideas of space begin to take form and bring to reality a notion of the designers memory and aspirations. “Today the practice of architecture seems to be increasingly polarized between, on the one hand, a so-called “high-tech” approach predicted exclusively upon production and, on the other hand, the provision of a “compensatory facade” to cover up the harsh realities of this universal system.”16 Like a mask, many built work in Florida today attempts to dilute the sense of place through the ornamentation of historical values without the attempt to annunciate the beautiful environmental language that already exists.

Fig: 26. Florida Postcard

It is the climate which allows our states to grow and perform in the way that it should. These key aspects of what it means to live in Florida begin to define who we are as a society. If design looks towards the natural Florida environment and engages it with the intent that architecture becomes nothing more than the frame of a canvas, then we can create an identity that is not about the architecture, but instead an architecture whose identity becomes the environment.

16. Frampton, Kenneth. (1983) Towards a Critical Regionalism: Six Points for an Architecture of Resistance.

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The sunshine state has become synonymous with a multitude of events and activities, each playing a key role in what defines the Floridian “way of life.” An architecture that begins to encourage our life-styles and not define them, becomes an architecture of humility.

South West Florida maintains a comfortable atmosphere throughout most of the year. Our ability to be outdoors with nothing more than a bathing suit during the winter months is a attribute that most visitors envy. This type of quality is crucial to the way Florida design can begin to developed a unique language.

Conscientiously designing where the outside begins and the inside stops becomes a vague line that is blurred through a unique concepts of architecture. As suggested by this sections title, umbrellas, boardwalks, and screened porches becomes a metaphor for how we can begin to think about coastal Florida design.

The horizontal planes become the defining character of the contemporary Florida building. It is the “floor” condition which allows us to create minimal impact on the easily affected context, and the overhead condition which protects the inhabitant from excessive heat and rain, much in the way an umbrella would. When a strong language of horizontal planes is established, this in return allows for the vertical conditions to disappear and become one with nature.

23. Henry, Saxon. (2010) Four Florida Moderns. Forward by

Robert MaCarter (p.13)

Fig: 27. Christmas in Florida Postcard

Fig: 28. Boardwalk to the Beach: Venice, FL

Fig: 29. Screened in Porch: Sarasota, FL

“This disengagement from the particularities of Florida as a tropical place is exemplified by the dependence on air conditioning in these so-called traditional buildings, largely because they fail to employ such place determining and experientially beneficial aspects as solar orientation, shading, and prevailing breezes, while at the same time they eradicate existing vegetation, replacing it with lawns and “landscaping.” Far more important that the fact that they are not suitable by any definition of the word, these buildings deny their unfortunate occupants any sensory engagement of their environment. It is clear that these so called traditional buildings could in fact be constructed anywhere, and thus those inhabiting them are, quite literally, nowhere.”23

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Case Studies

Artisitc Environment | Stacy Levy “Meshing the clarity of maps and diagrams, and the accessibility of science with the visceral sense of the site, I try to create an instant of wonder and understanding for the viewer.”17 Allowing the natural environment to speak through her work, Levy has found a way to balance art and expression through a language which informs the viewer about the ecological topic at hand. The beauty of the natural environment and it’s inner workings are mostly at a loss for the common onlooker. Through the celebration of these conditions, the artist is able to bring to life the functions of ecology which are mostly invisible to the naked eye. By allowing the natural environment to become the framework for expression, the artistic has been able to capture the inevitable tie of intimacy between time and nature’s fragility.

Engaging the environment through a serious of haptic encounters, the art work is able to reconnect us with the tactile qualities of our already existing surroundings. This work can remind us that the man made does not need to substitute for the longing of a sensory experience, it is already created for us and it is our job to embrace such things. Levy says in an interview that she especially enjoyed exploring drainage ditches because “when it rained, there would be a torrent of water, and you could make dams and drop sticks in and watch as they were swept away…I just loved that.”18 “As a sculptor, my interest in the natural world rests both in art and science. I work within the two fields using art as a vehicle for translating the patterns and processes of the natural world into the language of human understanding.”17 17. Stacy Levy, Sere Ltd. (2012) http://www.stacylevy.com/ 18. Gleeson, Jill. (2011) Nature Girl

Fig: 30. Riverine (ikura)

Fig: 32. Melting Point: Philadelphia, PA

Tide Flowers “Nature does not stop in the city. The Hudson River, brushing against the concrete and glass of the urban fabric, rises up and down twice a day with the eternal clock of the tides. This tidal activity connects us to the ocean, to the moon and to a daily schedule that is nature’s own.”17 Melting Point “The exterior sculpture is a tall, hanging column filled with hundreds of glass balls, each containing different vegetable oils that respond to the ever-changing temperature outside.

The response of the oils to the environment marks the ordinary seasonal fluctuation of temperature, but also hints at the sensation of an impending heat looming on the horizon.”17

Fig: 31. Tide Flowers: Hudson River NYC

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Case Studies

Desert Vernacular | Rick Joy An architecture with true regional identity, is an architecture that can not be placed anywhere else but the location it was designed for. The desert work of Rick Joy Architects whole-heartedly evokes the notions of what it means to build amongst ones environmental context. “We are continually striving to create architecture that is regionally sympathetic and well grounded in the context and community of it’s place, wherever that place maybe, and does not rely on responding to the superficial fads, historical styles, or the intellectual “isms” that are so popular with architects today. I believe we can learn a lot from the buildings we have inherited, but imitating their forms without recognition of the original content degrades their importance, creates skin-deep style, and limits the sense of wonder and inventiveness that is critical to creating memorable places.”19 The work of Rick Joy stands as a reminder that architects everywhere have a responsibility to engage their surroundings and use the environmental clues to help generate concept and design. This is no where more appropriate than in “ideal” regional conditions which provide a rich natural context that should be celebrated such as the our Florida tropical condition.

The work begins to look towards the intimate relationships of inhabitant and their sensorial experiences which provide a deeper, richer connection with the desert. The sounds, smells, tactile qualities, and emotions of the constructed environment are often more important than the architecture itself. Allowing such spaces to unify themselves with nature give a unique architecture condition that can only be held as a regional thing.

19. Joy, Rick. (2002) Desert Works. (p.13)

Fig: 33. Catalina House: Interior

Fig: 34. Tucson Mountain House

Timelessness “Bold, modern architecture that is rooted in the context and culture of its place and that is developed in combination with the basics of proper solar orientation and site protection, and the responsible use of sensible materials and fine craftsmanship, will have the quality to withstand the tests of time.�19 Fig: 34b. Tubac House: Exterior Space

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Case Studies

Leca Swimming Pools | Alvaro Siza Although there are multiple cases of integrated man made works along coastal boundaries found throughout the world, none find a more successful approach towards a seamless unity than the Leca Swimming Pools in Portugal.

This popular retreat demonstrates an architects careful mediation between context and design. Situated at a lower elevation below the adjacent coastal avenue, the pools allow for a constant view of the ocean from the roadside above. Through gestures aimed toward an accepting relationship between topography and architecture, the project intends to create a continuity between the vast Atlantic ocean and the sculpted rocky terrain.

“Visitors to the Leça Swimming Pools enter down a smooth concrete ramp parallel to the road. As they walk towards the corridors to shower stalls and changing rooms, the rough concrete walls begin to obscure the views of both the traffic behind and the ocean ahead. With no views, the ocean beyond becomes audible and the transition between roadway and ocean is captured in an sensory experience within the building.”20 Allowing for moments such as this to happen, the pools are able to celebrate the virtuous qualities of the natural environment through there overpowering of the artificial sounds emanating from the road behind.

Creating subtle reveals towards sky and ocean, the concrete walls cut through the landscape, allowing the visitor to focus on their natural surroundings. It is this kind of isolation which reconnects you through mind, body, and soul, and allows for the acceptance of relaxation, the true intention of such a project.

20. Balters, Sofia. (2011) AD Classics: Leca Swimming Pools/ Alvaro Siza.

Fig: 35. Alvaro Siza’s The Pools

Fig: 36. Alvaro Siza’s The Pools The large adult swimming pool and the kids swimming pool with the ocean in the background.

Fig: 37. Alvaro Siza’s The Pools The kids swimming pool enclosed by a low concrete wall.

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Case Studies

Firminy Church | Le Corbusier Always a source of inspiration for design methodology, the work of Le Corbusier’s Firminy Church demonstrates the purity of spatially poetic moves and the qualities of illumination. Le Corbusier stated that the space must be “vast so that the heart may feel at ease, and high so that prayers may breathe in it.” A powerful design with religious expression, the shape of the chapel itself, a square base to a circular roof, becomes a metaphor for the transition from the earth to the heavens above. “Natural light floods in through light boxes and through a series of organized openings that are a direct reference to the constellation Orion. The light boxes are designed in a way that will bring light to the alter on specific religious holidays, like Good Friday and Easter Sunday.”21 On the outside of the church, a layer of concrete channel like conditions allows for the celebration of the natural occurrence of rain water. The church’s drainage system operates as the main expression of exterior decoration.

Almost as if the building itself were acting as a large industrial funnel, the concrete gesture performs like a mediator between the rain falling from above and earth below. The form, although unique to it surrounding context, still begins to evoke the notions of a deeper connection to the natural, as well as spiritual, environment. Its organic gesture lends itself to a play of how we can create rich context that unifies itself with the environment through its acceptance of the natural forces, in this case, the way the rain falls on the earth. The solid concrete walls allow for a strong, dark presence with in the church, however, because of this presence, the light found within becomes more intense and powerful, allowing the visitor to view the natural phenomena of sunlight in a new context 21. Sveiven, Megan. (2011) AD Classics: Church at Firminy/ Le Corbusier.

Fig: 38. Firminy Church: Interior of Chapel

Fig: 39. Firminy Church: Exterior - Rain Water Conditions

Fig: 40. Firminy Church: Exterior - Rain Water Conditions

“Space and light and order. Those are the things that men need just as much as they need bread or a place to sleep.�

- Le Corbusier

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Case Studies

A Versatile Design | Tom Kundig The natural environment can always be admired with a sense of wonder and intrigue. However beautiful our surroundings become, they can just as easily lead to our ultimate demise. Through an adaptive response to meteorologic conditions, man is able to achieve an architecture of versatility, one that will allow him to embrace the natural condition yet protect from it as well.

The concepts of a kinetic vocabulary can allow the architecture to integrate itself more intimately with the surrounding context and provide the spatial flexibility that allows for a more suitable experience.

Many of the projects which take on these adaptive qualities have done so through detailed mechanisms which allow for the easy mobility of architectural elements. “Gizmos are what Tom calls the mechanical devices in his projects that turn static architectural elements into those with dynamic movement, often with the direct participation of the users. In a way the gizmos are also a reinvention or appropriation of engineering into the realm of architecture. Two of his most well known gizmos are at the Chicken Point Cabin and the Delta Shelter, where hand-cranked mechanisms directly connect the architecture to its surrounding nature.”22 Reminiscent of the way a skiff adjusts its sails to the prevailing wind so that it might capture and harness the power of natural context, our architecture can begin to utilize our surroundings through the same concepts.

Through the utilization of solar power, or the ability to allow the change in tide create a change in space, or the use of local water pressure to help move a kinetic element, our natural environment provides all the power we need, we just need to push our designs to take advantage of the context.

22. Ngo, Dung. (2006) Tom Kundig: Houses.

Fig: 41. Chicken Point Cabin: “Gizmo” Detail

Fig: 43. Pressurized Skylight Lift

Seattle’s water supply system “Utilizing the forty pounds-per-square inch pressure of the city’s water- aided by a counter-balance ballast- an existing untapped power source is surreptitiously pressed into service, bringing fresh air and light into the two-story office space.”22 Fig: 42. Delta Shelter Concept Sketches

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Case Studies

Light and Lightness | Renzo Piano “To construct an interpretive framework for Renzo Piano’s architecture it is salutary to consider the duality of light and lightness – not just the quality of light in the visual sense but the idea of “lightness” in a tactile or structural sense.”24 The concepts of layers and transparencies evoke the ideas of a constructed environment with the intention of reconnecting its inhabitants with the surrounding context.

Piano talks about in much of his work the ideas of immateriality, that when one begins to take away the walls and confinements which typically dictate the man made object, we begin to discover the poetic qualities of transparency.

In Piano’s first practice, “he devoted himself to designing lightweight enclosures, experimenting especially with plastics and tension structures.” “The architecture of the building Workshop consists, at least in part, of assemblies of tailor-made pieces, the identities of which are as intrinsic to that of the building as is that of a leaf to a tree, the buildings being similarly recognizable form their pieces alone.” It is also the scale of such pieces which begins to relate back to the presence of man. Like many native cultures constructing there dwellings with branches and natural objects, the scale of such “architectural elements” begin to relate back to the hand, and the very essence of crafting and building which started so long ago.

Creating and architecture which tries to convey itself through an intimate relationship between the natural and the conditioned space must come about through the use of transparent elements of vertical and horizontal traditions.

Through the crafting of modular elements, we can begin to breakdown our opaque surroundings and reconnect with our context.

24. Metcalf, Andrew. (2011) Renzo Piano: Light and Lightness.

25. Buchanan, Peter. (1993) Renzo Piano Building Workshop Complete Works

Volume One. (p.46)

Fig: 44. The Nasser Sculpture Museum Dallas, TX: Roof Detail.

“…logical and poetical continuity” about “working with light in the quest for lightness and transparency. Natural light [often diffused from above] is a constant feature of my work.”

- Renzo Piano

Fig: 45. Tjibaou Cultural Center #2: Beam Details.

Fig: 46. Chicago Modern Wing: Museum Light Conditions.

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A Coastal Environment | Venice, FL “Florida’s landscape is much more varied than most people realize, and it supports a surprisingly great variety of ecosystems. Florida;s natural ecosystems include forests, prairies, cave communities, swamps, marches, bogs, streams, ponds, estuaries, sea grass beds, coral reefs, and many more.”26 It is for this reason, that no one single identity can be representative or stated as a Florida vocabulary.

Florida is bordered by miles of uninterrupted coastline and it has and always will be a dominating feature of the Florida identity. Most of Florida’s population and annual tourist are drawn to the coast for its natural beauty and invigorating Florida activities.

The city of Venice is located on the South West coast of Florida. It is one of many Florida communities which boasts miles of public beach fronts as well as an integrated water front community with a large interest in the boating lifestyle. Venice has been listed in many publications as being the “Shark’s Tooth Capital of The World” and hosts an annual festival to celebrate the abundance of fossilized shark’s teeth that can be found on its coastal shores.

The communities charm and allure does not come from its architectural context, but instead from the environmental conditions which identify the region with its Florida context. It is the daily occurrences of prevailing Florida breezes, natural wildlife and sunsets over the horizon which create a more intimate experience. It is these characters, which are captured in the following photographs, that truly represent a Florida atmosphere and it is the architecture which must become representative and encourage such context so that the city, and others like it, can retain a unique Florida Identity.

25. Ellie Whitney, D. Bruce Means, and Anne Rudloe. (2004) Priceless Florida.

Fig: 47 Sunset Timelapse over the Gulf

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Beach-scape Our environment is about time; The temporal qualities of coast which are constantly changing in space. Mans allure towards the edge supplements a Florida lifestyle.

Fig: 48. Umbrella Providing Shade

Fig: 49. Beach Context: Path

Fig: 50. Beach Context: Path

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Fig: 51. Beach Pelican: Complexity of the Natural

Fig: 52. Ecological Materiality: Barnacle Growth

Fig: 53. Ecological Materiality: Barnacle Growth

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The Horizon The Florida horizon becomes a predominate element which creates a specific identity with the region. The constant expanses of land and water create notions of flatness.

Fig: 54. The Water’s Glare

Fig: 55. Waterway Context: Bridge Pillar

Fig: 56. Jetty Rock Bed: Coastal Edge Condition

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Fig: 57. Through the Waters Surface.

Fig: 58. Mans Temporal Imprint

Fig: 59. The Coastal Edge

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Experiential | designed through nature “It is evident that ‘life - enhancing’ architecture has to address all senses simultaneously and fuse our image of self with our experience of the world. The essential mental task of architecture is accommodation and integration. Architecture articulates the experiences of being in the world and strengthens our sense of reality and self; it does not make us inhabit worlds mere fabrication and fantasy.”26 The coast, the beach are unique to the world. It is the condition were mans inhabitants ends and a sometimes terrifying yet intriguing world begins. This edge condition is the quintessential idea of passing through the threshold. Ground to water and vis versa, this transition transposes mans immediate surrounding and provides the ultimate sensory stimulation. We live in a dry world, not to be submersed in water, yet it is this vital element that we require to live. Man has always had the natural inclination to go to sea. This has started since the first inhabitants on this earth. We are reaching out, trying to connect with the unknown world.

How can we utilize certain aspects of this environment and have them benefit our design principles? High salinity levels are a constant in the Florida environment. Is there any way to use that to an advantage?

Freshwater floats on top of saltwater, can this be used to an advantage? The changing of tides: high and low tide can effect spatial conditions. The diagraming of sun exposure. This can be predicted and designed for. Are we bring nature to us instead of excepting nature how it is? Or are we just merely shaping nature and if so, is it still considered natural?

26. Pallasmaa, Juhani. (1996) The eyes of the skin

Fig: 60. Context Relationship Diagram

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Fig: 61. Longitudinal Section Study

Context and Dialogue | Concept Sectional Studies It can be argued that in our environment, the roof becomes the key single most important aspect of the design. It is the protector, the umbrella which provides shade and shelter from the elements. How can we capture the light and dark which provided in a Florida climate and connect to the sky?

The goal of the individual studies is to find the architectural or spatial equivalent of the influencing conditions. The concepts are addressing the environmental conditions which are influencing the spacial moves but it is also giving a narrative on how these influences relate to each other and there dichotomy or conversation.

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Fig: 62. Cross Section - Relationship Studies

Fig: 63. The Coastal Edge

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Context and Dialogue | Concept Design A The goal of the individual concept design modules is to work with unrestrained perimeters of spatial design. With no site, program, or rules of constraints, the intent of each section study is to allow the design to flow naturally as each space became about the dialogue of nature and mans relationship. The goal of each design study was an attempt to answer a very basic question in “how do I design a series of spaces that are just about there relationship to the elements which begin to define the Florida Identity?�

Concept Design A began with the inquisition of how one would design a space that was about the relationship to above. Creating a tall vertical space in the heart of the construct allowed for a vertical condition which would force the eyes gaze up to the sky. Situated between the thick hierarchical wall composed of Florida coquina rock and the thin white concrete wall adjacent, the inhabitant finds themselves in a change of spatial parameters. Underneath the path which leads you through the space runs a channel of saltwater flowing in from the near by water source. The reflection of light in the water and the glimmer of the natural ocean on the wall begins to surround the onlooker and involve almost whole-heartedly in the ongoing conversation of sky and water. The walls begin to focus our attention on the dialogue of above and below.

As one makes his way further in the construct there is always the constant change of interior and exterior like space. It is this blurring of the line between outside and in that allows the voyager to become further connected to the Florida elements.

Fig: 64. Concept Design A Model

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Fig: 65. Overhead view of spatial relationships

Fig: 66. Extended view looking pass spatial volumes

Fig: 67. View looking down on main vertical space

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Context and Dialogue | Concept Design B The concepts of dialogue and relationships became a stronger approach in the second construct. Acknowledging an approach towards the consistent rain which is prevalent during several spring months in Florida, the concept begins to integrate the flow of rain water into the design and perception of space.

The three prevailing vertical chambers to the side of the construct act as not only light wells for the interior condition, but also as rain funnels which channel the water through the space and allow for an interaction between man and environment. On the exterior, “chain- like� elements help control the flow of rain water into a metal U like conduit which helps direct the rain water flow of the side of the adjacent slope.

Connected to a piece of cypress wood, the chains rise and move as the conduits fill with water. This activity allows for another level of interaction between inhabitants and nature.

In the interior corridor, you witness the rain falling from deliberate slots from above which allow the water to flow into the interior space and amplify the condition with the audible connection of the flow of water.

As the rain pours from the roof opening, it is greeted by a inclined metal panel which allows the water to flow down the backside of the steel and into the collection channel below. As one passes by the event, they cant but help be amused over the whimsical qualities of architecture and nature as they dance together in an unified manor bringing enhanced qualities of the existential experience.

It is the natural occurrence that brings life to the structure and animates dialogue of man and environment.

Fig: 68. Concept Model B

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Fig: 69. Light wells with exterior rain chain concepts

Fig: 70. Rain channel details; directing water over slope.

Fig: 71. Dialogue between light wells and rain wall.

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Context and Dialogue | Concept Design C The third construct was contrived with the notions of dialogue between the thermal experiences of coastal properties. Deriving from personal experiences of childhood camp outs on the coast, the space begins to depict a framework for the thermal delight one would receive from positioning themselves between the cool breeze of the coast, and the warm fire of the exterior chimney. The exterior space would open up to the waterfront via large wooden panels which situate themselves along the front of the construct. These panels would swing open and close changing the spatial relationships between the interior and exterior conditions.

Animated during the afternoon hours, the overhead condition allows for the intense filtering of light as one occupies the space. Acting in the way a thick forest canopy would filter the sun light, the roof structure allows for the play of shadows as the fabricated exterior panels decrease the overall sun exposure of the space. The double heighten exterior space becomes a ideal representation of the Florida environment through it high horizontal elements and its versatile vertical walls which allow the space to open to the environment. The ideas of lightness allow for a breathable condition which encourages the natural ventilation and cross breeze to cool the space.

Fig: 72. Concept Design Model C

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Fig: 73. Overhead shading condition

Fig: 74. Large vertical panels which open to the coast.

Fig: 75. Adjacent space carved out by folding roof condition and vertical element

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Speculating the Coast | the edge condition Moving from individual spatial relationships to a more speculative depiction of the coastal edge, this series of graphic studies attempts to construct a new language for the coastal boundary condition. The series of drawings attempt to blend the boundaries between the synthetic and the natural, allowing for shifts in composition of landscape and architecture. Sited at the Florida coastal edge, the constructs begins to take on the notions of public space as varied architectural elements begin to create spatial parameters evoking interaction between visitor and nature. Almost in the way a stream or river slices its way through the natural landscape, the speculative vocabulary begins to hint at notions of carved mass juxtaposed against revealed shore line conditions.

The idealized environment provides the base for grafted trajectories which begin to underline the explicit inner beauty of the land to water condition. In order to create hierarchy through the composites, each series consists of an understood language of identifiable metaphors: the spine, the knuckle, and the skin.

Fig: 76. Speculative Graphic One

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The graphical studies attempt to depict history, spatially inventive memories, depiction of characteristics, measure, map and critically determine links between character of atmosphere and site. Final drawings represent the shared historical and inventive spatiality of the Florida coastline.

Fig: 77. Speculative Graphic Two

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The graphical studies attempt to depict history, spatially inventive memories, depiction of characteristics, measure, map and critically determine links between character of atmosphere and site. Final drawings represent the shared historical and inventive spatiality of the Florida coastline.

Fig: 78. Speculative Graphic Three

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Vertical Construct | the temporal perception The vertical constructs focuses on the blurring of graphic and constructed model. The intent was to create a series of dematerialized vocabularies which define the evolution of identity in architectural space making. Evoking the connotations of a pavilion like system which stretches over the coastal edge, the model brings forth a new identity for social gathering areas along the shoreline. The project responds to environmental conditions through ideas of interaction with the changing tide and flow of water through the contemporary water wheel feature that happens above the top of the piece.

The model begins to speak about the intuitive, the unfolding of spatial experiences and the interplay of light framework constructed in a way so that the structure might have minimal impact on the context.

Neither plan nor section, the construct was intended to be read from the perspective of the onlooker, interpreted in the manor which best suits emotions conjured. The character of the project is intended to be loosely viewed as an expression of archetype and identities set forth by the ideas of the thesis.

Fig: 79. Vertical construct process photo

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Fig: 80. Vertical construct process photo.

Fig: 81. Vertical construct process photo.

Fig: 82. Vertical construct process photo.

Fig: 83. Vertical construct process photo.

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Fig: 84. Fabricated details

Fig: 85. Fabricated details; construct

Fig: 86. Vertical spine of construct

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Construct The construct is composed of steel, basswood, white museum board, plexi- glass, piano wire and small tac nails.

Fig: 87. Final construct; welded stand

Fig: 88. Vertical Spin; concepts of bridging land and seas

Fig: 89. View from above looking down construct

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Fig: 90. Interactive Vocabulary: Contemporary Water Wheel

Fig: 91. Interactive Vocabulary: Contemporary Water Wheel

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Introduction of Site | waterways, coastlines and avenues The thesis begins to define itself through the breakdown of the site and context itself. Obtaining the best possible sample of what it means to construct on in a Florida coastal environment, three sites where chosen so that all aspects of such environment can be exploited through an architectural intervention. Choosing site of different nature, the first site is located in the intercoastal waterway that cuts through the town of venice. The site is composed of a small recreational island that is only accessible by boats. The intervention will be constructed on the water and hold relationships with such condition. The second site is located at the south end of the community the public Caspersens beach. The project will demonstrate the relationships of connecting a site between land to water. The third site is located inland and attempts to focus on the relationships to a coastal edge despite not being directly located on it.

Fig: 92. Site studies and graphic diagrams

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Snake Island Sunset Pavilion | Final Construct Located directly off a small recreational island in the heart of the Venice Intercoastal Waterway, the Snake island construct strives to create an architectural vocabulary which enhances the context and brings intimacy between man and nature. Oriented in the direction of the sunset, the constructed is composed in a way that captures the different tones and hues through its extruded light wells. Each module consists of a light well composed of fiberglass material with a reflective surface on the inside. these well like conditions are composed in a way that each well in oriented towards a time of the day from sunrise to sunset and spread out over the course of the year. These modules come to life as the sun begins to set over the horizon casting different pinks, purples, yellows and blues which light up the sky and draw thousands of visitors a year to see.

As the canopy of the pavilion wraps around the deck and breaks the waters surface, the well conditions become pot like feature which inhibit the growth of ecological systems and fish estuaries.

The intent of the project was to enhance the experience that captives Florida inhabitants on a daily basis while also bring a predominate language of architecture to the Florida Identity.

Fig: 93. Initial sketches for canopy condition.

Fig: 94. Light well module

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Fig: 95. Sunset canopy fabricated components

Fig: 96. Sunset canopy fabricated components

Fig: 97. Sunset canopy fabricated components

Fig: 98. Sunset Canopy Process Photos

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Fig: 99. Sunset Canopy Process Photos; Structural Braces

Fig: 100. Sunset Canopy Process Photos; Structural Braces

Fig: 101. Sunset Canopy Process Photos; Creating the Gesture

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Fig: 102. Section study of project

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Fig: 103. Mechanical Details; Fabricated Parts

Fig: 104. Mechanical Details; Overall Composition

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Fig: 105. Light well studies; concepts

Fig: 106. Light well conditions; the sunset canopy

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Fig: 108. Final Model

Fig: 109. Final Model

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Caspersens Beach Boardwalk | Final Construct The second initiative of the thesis perspective began to focus more on the traditional context of land and water relationship. Located in south Venice at Caspersens beach, a public beach along the Venice coastline. The project site is composed of a strip of shoreline which spans north and south. On each site of the strip holds a body of water, towards the west, the Gulf of Mexico and towards the east, the intercoastal water way. The intent of the project is to bridge physically and metaphorically the gap which separates water and land. The site will also act as a secluded camp ground, divided by the constructed boardwalk which dictates the public and private realms.

In the distance off shore sits a pubic apparatus which acts like a raft tied back to the sand bar condition. This becomes a intriguing place of recreation where multiple users can inhabit the deck and sun bath, dive off, or just lounge under the sun. The deck acts as the satellite condition, linking its inhabitants back to the land through its similar architectural vocabulary and flexibility of space. Located on the piece is a crank mechanism which allows the versatility of structure to expand and spread out with wing like armatures.

On land sits the main component of the project, the boardwalk, which stretches from beach to waterway, and bridging over to the other side of the canal literally connecting the sites. Along the path, multiple flexible conditions allow for various camping apparatus. Like the stakes of the tent, the boardwalks vertical structures act as the permanent features which transform in a way which allows for the use of campsite features, tents, sleeping cots and other pubic amenities. At the end of the walk, you can find one of the quintessential pieces, a mechanical draw bridge which connects the boardwalk to the other side of the waterway.

Fig: 110. Constructed vertical elements

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Fig: 111. Fabricated elements

Fig: 112 Fabricated elements

Fig: 113 Fabricated elements

Fig: 114 Fabricated elements

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Fig: 115. Constructed vertical element; “light” panel

Fig: 116. Fabricated elements

Fig: 117. Constructed vertical path

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Fig: 118. Unify architecture and context.

Fig: 119. Boardwalk component

Fig: 120. Entrance from beach

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Fig: 121. One of two U Shaped apparatus on east side

Fig: 122. Framing the context

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Fig: 123. Final Model Fig: 5

Fig: 123. Graphic study of sand bar condition

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Fig: 124. Final Model

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Venice Avenue Festival Tower |

Future Concept

The last site of the proposed three focuses on a land condition which is a miles off of the coast. The concept behind the third site is to create an intervention that becomes a part of the community downtown life and allows for the recognition of the coastal environment.

Throughout the year, the city of Venice holds multiple types of festivals for city dwellers and nearby inhabitants to come and enjoy the festivities of the town.. Located on the Venice Main Street, the construct attempts to address the median condition which is surrounded by two lanes of traffic and an urban downtown full of shops and restaurants. With in the median during daily events, the construct will be composed of seating, vegetation, and water features which will allow for daily use.

During the times of the year when the Venice festivals are being held, the median will transform itself into an exhibition space with the center of that space becoming an observation tower which seems to grow out of the median condition.

Like a flower growing in the field, the tower will open open up to the sky and allow for visitors to reach its 100 ft height and observe the cities surrounding coastlines and waterways. This temporary structure will become a landmark for the community and a symbol of the Venice festivals.

Fig: 125. Initial sketches of avenue project

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Fig: 126. Plan and section of observation tower

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the end.