In a World Where Buildings Are Alive, Architects Are More Like Gardeners by The Kubala Washatko Architects

LIVING FUTURE

In a World Where Buildings are Alive Architects are More Like Gardeners

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ARIEL STEUER 3 TOM KUBALA 4 5 6 7 8

THE KUBALA WASHATKO ARCHITECTS C E D A R B U R G ,

W I S C O N S I N

1 Targets of Understanding 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

1. See how pattern writing can bring a new kind of accuracy to your work. 2. See how the process of Pattern Writing can be Creative in its own right. 3. Consider a New Definition of Beauty and Inspiration. 4. Recognize how Pattern Writing can bring Beauty and Inspiration into a central role in the making of buildings.

1 Chapter One: On Undividedness and Beauty 2 Chapter Two: Can a Building be Alive enough to Smile? 3 Chapter Three: Reduced to Tears 4 Chapter Four: The Dance that is a Pattern 5

Chapter Five: The Beauty of Becoming

6 Chapter Six: Patternsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Unfolding Potential 7 Chapter Seven: To Beautify the Gaze 8 Thoughts & Questions

1 On Undividedness and Beauty

â&#x20AC;&#x153;It is shown that both in relativity theory and quantum theory, notions implying the undivided wholeness of the universe would provide a much more orderly way of considering the general nature of reality.â&#x20AC;?

David Joseph Bohm

We presume that the world is undivided, whole and meaningful, that a Unity of Creation Exists and it is Beautiful.

Minnesota Tall Grass Prairie

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Wholeness is grounded in that which is fundamentally conducive to life.â&#x20AC;?

Stuart Cowan

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Wholeness is grounded in that which is fundamentally conducive to life.â&#x20AC;?

Stuart Cowan

Undivided = Whole = Healthy = Beautiful = Alive

1 2 Can a Building be Alive enough to Smile?

“People are not perfect (except when they smile).” Author Unknown

“All the statistics in the world can’t measure the warmth of a smile.”

Chris Hart

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First things firstâ&#x20AC;Ś

Can a Building be Alive?

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If soâ&#x20AC;Ś

What is it that makes a Building Alive?

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If a building can be aliveâ&#x20AC;Ś

How can I recognize one?

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As architects, it eventually comes to thisâ&#x20AC;Ś

How can I make one?

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Whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s stopping me?

1 2 3 Reduced to Tears

“Our times are driven by the inestimable energies of the mechanical mind…” John O’Donohue

1 Reductionism’s Henchmen 2 3 STYLISTIC THINKING “It deals in pure and simple shapes, often at the expense of problem solving.” Robert A.M. Stern

MECHANISTIC THINKING The theory that every complex phenomenon, especially in biology or psychology, can be explained by analyzing the simplest, most basic physical mechanisms that are in operation during the phenomenon.

1 Surrounded 2 3

1 Beauty vs. Glamour 2 3

â&#x20AC;&#x153;the first effect of the lines is the only effect they will ever have, no amount of pondering will make them glowâ&#x20AC;? Robert C. Morgan

April 2014

1 Surrounded Professionally 2 3

“There is an unseemly coarseness to our times which robs the grace from our textures of language, feeling and presence.”

John O’Donohue

May 2014

1 Surrounded by Reductionism 2 3

What was a fully alive ecosystem becomesâ&#x20AC;Ś

Leveled parcels of zoned uses connected to customers and services by a vehicle conveyance system.

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Stylistic Thinking

1 A Style driven process starts with a concept 2 3 4

concepts are usually fashionably avant-garde & architect-centric

1 Functions are made to fit the concept 2 3 4

virtually ignoring the complex richness of Culture & Place

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1 Stylistic Thinking 2 3 4

1. forces designers to stop listening. 2. is not easily shared. 3. must over-simplify complexity. 4. is deaf to ecological needs. 5. lacks long term value.

The digesting Duck of Vaucanson â&#x20AC;˘ 1738

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Mechanistic Thinking Descartes held that non-human animals could be reductively explained as automata. De homine, 1662

1 Mechanistically driven process Programmed Space

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Programmed Space

Programmed Space Programmed Space

Programmed Space

n o i t a l Circu Programmed Space

Programmed Space

Programmed Space Programmed Space

â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Roomsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; are often considered the real parts of a building

1 â&#x20AC;&#x153;High Performanceâ&#x20AC;? buildings are often conceived as energy machines 2 3 4

reduced to the measurement of its Energy Utilization Intensity

1 Mechanistic Thinking 2 3 4

1. fragments a larger continuity. 2. discounts Feeling & Emotions. 3. marginalizes Art & Beauty by definition. 4. is often imposed on Nature. 5. artificially separates Form from Function.

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So, what way of thinking has a better chance at producing a building that is alive?

1 2 3 4 The Dance that is a Pattern 5 6 7 8

“…when we find ourselves in a place of great beauty, clarity, recognition and excitement awaken in us. ” John O’Donohue

1 Eddy 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

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A Pattern is a recognizable dance between human activity and the built and/or natural environment.

1 Eddy as PART 2 3 4 Thinking about how the world is organized. 5 6 7 8

1 Eddy as a differentiation of the whole 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

1 Slaterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Hammer: a dense nesting of patterns 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

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A Pattern is whole, in that it excludes nothing and is connected to everything.

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A Pattern can be archetypal, crossing cultures and history.

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When a building is alive, Patterns occur at all levels of scale, nested in a continuous, unbroken field.

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Do Patterns represent the Authentic Parts of the Built and Natural World?

1 2 ways of seeing the PARTS of the world 2 3 4 5

Differentiation

Assembly

Begin with the Whole

Apply a Theory

Conscious Participation

Spectator Consciousness

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1 Discovering Patterns 2 3

1. Observe everything, without abstraction.

2. Hold what you observe in your mind.

3. Feel where discontinuities and features occur.

4. Name the discontinuities and features.

5. Discover the reasons for their appearance.

6. Propose a solution that resolves these forces.

1 Aldo Leopold Legacy Center 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Center to Area Connection 1. The Land Ethic 2. Thread to a Pre-Settlement Ecology 3. Portals to the Legacy 4. Home Base 5. Local Materials, Ways and Means 6. Window to the Sun 7. Rain is Treasure 8. Wall of Noise 9. Fresh Air Naturally 10. No Such Thing as Waste Building to Land Connection 11. Park and Hide 12. Electric Roof 13. Positive Outdoor Space 14. Building Cluster 15. Forward Garden 16. Welcome Garden 17. Sheltered Edges

18. Gathering Under a Tree 19. Seed Gathering Hall 20. Dialogue House 21. Inside-Out House 22. Leopold Memorial Trailhead

Building Internal 23. Comfort Gradient 24. Acoustic Variation 25. Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t Turn on that Light! 26. Never too Far from Outdoors 27. Mudroom In-Between 28. Leopold Reading Room 29. Archival Core 30. Deep in Dialogue

31. Working Home 32. Personal Home-Base 33. The Execâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Parlor 34. Intern Niches 35. Kitchen in the Middle 36. Copy Cell

Construction Process 37. Small Machines 38. Strike While Dormant 39. A Healthy Fear of Landfills 40. Scrap Bank 41. Posting a Scrounge List

Details 42. Rough Trim

Daily Work 43. Working at Low Power 44. Connected Through Record Keeping 45. From Tree to Stove

Organized by scale, not importance

1 Aldo Leopold Legacy Center 2 3 4

18. Gathering Under a Tree 19. Seed Gathering Hall 20. Dialogue House 21. Inside-Out House 22. Leopold Memorial Trailhead

31. Working Home 32. Personal Home-Base 33. The Execâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Parlor 34. Intern Niches 35. Kitchen in the Middle 36. Copy Cell

Construction Process 37. Small Machines 38. Strike While Dormant 39. A Healthy Fear of Landfills 40. Scrap Bank 41. Posting a Scrounge List

Details 42. Rough Trim

Daily Work 43. Working at Low Power 44. Connected Through Record Keeping 45. From Tree to Stove

Sustainability issues are solved along with all other issues

1 First Unitarian Society Meeting House Addition 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

1. National Treasure 2. Bike, Bus & Walk 3. Parking Pockets 4. Shuttle System 5. Auto Underground 6. The Dance of Delivery 7. Open Green 8. Building Shape 9. New Front Door 10. Family of Entrances 11. Universal Access 12. Trust in God, but Tie your Camel 13. Conference Capable 14. Family of Venues 15. The Community Crossing

16. Gathering Together 17. Staff Hearth 18. Privacy Gradient 19. Education Hall 20. Gradient of Classroom Sizes 21. Musical Suite 22. Coming of Age 23. Information is Like Food 24. Sounds Like a Green Room 25. Kitchen Party 26. Home Away from Homelessness 27. Small Child Care 28. Written Word 29. Archive

1 First Unitarian Society Meeting House Addition 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

New Front Door

2 Problem Statement The bottleneck at the current front door and lobby cannot be repaired without either 3 reducing the number of people utilizing that entrance, or by greatly increasing the size of 4 the lobby, thereby altering forever its original character and presence. 5 Solution Statement Create a new prime door and lobby sized appropriately to handle 6 anticipated population levels. Give the 7 door clear markings as to its function and importance. Locate the new front 8 door within visual proximity of the historic entrance. First Unitarian Society Meeting House Addition

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The Community Crossing

2 Problem Statement With the contemplated addition of 15-20,000 sf of new facilities, it will be a 3 challenge to insure that the campus feels like a single entity with various parts, not 4 the other way around.

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Solution Statement

Establish a place where all paths cross. Make this place adjacent to the new front door. Give it a distinctive character, a strong place on everyoneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s cognitive map.

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Patterns as Poetry. The Creative Power of Metaphor.

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tenor

vehicle

The hearer participates! Meaning is not imposed or predetermined. “…a process must occur for the metaphor to work effectively…” John Hatcher

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“Landscape Visits the Writer” A pattern title for an inprogress design of a Writers’ Retreat Center in Wisconsin.

Offered by the team’s Landscape Architect: Nancy Aten

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The Beauty of Becoming

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Architects are much too concerned with the design of the world, and not yet concerned enough with the generative processes that create the world.â&#x20AC;? Christopher Alexander

The process controls the organized spatial distribution of cells during the embryonic development of an organism.

5 Nature models a living process:

Morphogenisis

from the Greek morphĂŞ: shape and genesis: creation, literally, beginning of the shape

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even our understanding of this is evolving

1 2 3 4 5 Gene expression vs. Genetic blueprint intra-genome complexity

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gene-centric view

1 2 3 4 5 6 Patterns’ Unfolding Potential 7 8

“…the beautiful offers us an invitation to order, coherence and unity.”

John O’Donohue

1 Pattern Writing is a par t of our overall design process 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

1. Discover ALL the forces at play. 2. Identify recurring conflicts, diagnosis. 3. Write patterns, gain consensus. 4. Produce pattern resolution map. 5. Obtain feedback. 6. Unfold Permutations. 7. Narrow the Choices. 8. Choose a Direction. It is roughly similar for every one of our projects

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Order is not only helpful, its crucial, promoting smooth unfolding

8 First Unitarian Society Meeting House Addition

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First Unitarian Society Meeting House Addition 1. National Treasure 2. Bike, Bus & Walk 3. Parking Pockets 4. Shuttle System 5. Auto Underground 6. The Dance of Delivery 7. Open Green 8. Building Shape 9. New Front Door 10. Family of Entrances 11. Universal Access 12. Trust in God, but Tie your Camel 13. Conference Capable 14. Family of Venues 15. The Community Crossing

1 Unfoldingâ&#x20AC;Ś

Site Constraints & Conditions

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Setbacks

Sacred Ground

Protected Views

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Untouchability Gradient

8 First Unitarian Society Meeting House Addition

1 Unfoldingâ&#x20AC;Ś

Probable Locations for the proposed Addition

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 First Unitarian Society Meeting House Addition

1 Unfoldingâ&#x20AC;Ś 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Geometry meets Pattern

9. New Front Door

Create a new prime door and lobby sized appropriately to handle anticipated population levels. Give the door clear markings as to its function and importance. Locate the new front door within visual proximity of the historic entrance.

First Unitarian Society Meeting House Addition

1 Unfoldingâ&#x20AC;Ś

Geometry meets Pattern

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60Ë&#x161;

5 6 7

New Auditorium

8 First Unitarian Society Meeting House Addition

1 Unfolding…

Geometry meets Pattern UP

Loggia A17

West Living Room A16

Corridor A18

Oﬃce A12

Oﬃce A11

Oﬃce A10

Open Oﬃce A8

Oﬃce A9

Conference A7

FIREPLACE

Classroom B1

TERRACE

Toilet B2

LC ON

Corridor B4

Historic Entrance

Stair 3

Open Oﬃce B3

Corridor B5

3’5”

Link D31

1’-1 0”

do wn

2’-

wn d o 7R 1

0”

Stair 1

1’-

9”

Upper Crossing North D32

1’-9

”

2’-1”

SEL

ECT .

Stair 2

Elevator 1

ThyssenKrupp Seville 35 Oildraulic

Line Of Roof

up 1R dn 1R

up 2R

Vestibule D36

Upper Crossing South D33

up 4R

Balcony D34

up 1R

New Front Door

Coats D35

dn 1R

up 4R

Existing Skylight

Upper Level Plan

up 2R

up 1R

Existing Skylight

8 First Unitarian Society Meeting House Addition

1 Unfolding…

Geometry meets Pattern

2 Unexcavated

A Mech. 1

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ELEC. D H

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