Any place

EMMA BLUNDELL ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN: ANY PLACE s1002991

hide and seek

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION ‘THE WORK OF ART IN THE AGE OF MECHANICAL REPRODUCTION’ EXPLORATIONS journey ‘searching for light’ sliding walls and planes PECHA-KUCHA CHINESE WHISPERS LOCATION: ROME 1:5000 location plan public / private - layers of rome SITE 1:500 site plan 1:500 site sections hidden site and seeking site site analysis DESIGN DEVELOPMENT LIBRARY 1:200 plans 1:200 sections model SPACE exploring materiality: influencing browsing 1:100 textural plan 1:50 section + structural strategy 1:50 section + environmental strategy visualisations

hide and seek

A library is a place for both investigation and exploration. Within the 21st century information has become far more accessible - with no need to travel to search for knowledge. The differentiation between investigation and exploration provided the stimulus for my hide and seek project: initial explorations investigated ideas of journey and architectural metaphors of browsing and seeking, rather than direct searches and terminative journeys. When creating my own brief I decided to design an art library, with the intention that users would stumble across a book, and read it where they find it or find a place to sit. Drawings and models of sequential spaces developed into an architectural language of sliding walls and planes that avoid ‘endings’ and directionality. The thinnest walls became those that blur boundaries and encourage movement, while the thickest became those that encourage termination. The joining of two planes at corners become the most private spaces, contrasting with views outside and encouraging reflection. The architectural parti was looking at how to encourage browsing, and encourage reflection.

In Rome the juxtaposition of public and private space is a strong theme: massing hides private internalised courtyards while public squares offer meeting spaces and socialisation. As part of a larger location, the hide and seek library became part of this context by providing a ‘secret’ reading retreat focused internally to encourage such reflection and discovery. Placed on the Via del Foro Olitorio, beside the ruins of a vegetable market and beside the ancient Teatro de Marcello, a design and structural grid (2000mm centres) was extended from the ruins to place the building firmly in its context and an architectural continuum. From this walls and planes were aligned and the structural strategy was determined. The library is also explored as a threshold between inside and out. The juxtaposition of spaces, materiality, and the spectrum of exteriority present different spaces that inspire both continuation and termination. As part of a temperate climate the design incorporates both heating and cooling methods. The exterior courtyards allow for air flow during summer, while the lack of south facing glazing prevents too much solar gain. In Winter, fenestration ensures the building can become fully internal and brick cavity walls ensure that the library is fully insulated.

A secret reading garden, it unfolds and reopens, inviting the user to hide, and seek.

‘ I can no longer think what I want to think. My thoughts have been replaced by moving images.’

DUHAMEL

EMMA BLUNDELL

RESPONSE When designing an art library for the 21st century function is inevitably bound up with what technological innovation may hold for books in the future. Digital media growth perhaps means the end for books as more is read on devices and more information is sourced on the internet. At the start of the design project I decided to focus on ideas of exploration, rather than investigation. From Benjamin’s essay, I propose we all become actors, actively browsing rather than definitively searching, entering on personal journeys of discovery, and trying to find a sense of ‘aura’ by creating an internalised library removed from political context.

‘THE WORK OF ART IN THE AGE OF MECHANICAL REPRODUCTION’ WALTER BENJAMIN 1935

Walter Benjamin’s ‘The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Production’ is an essay exploring the interrelationship between politics, technology and art. Focusing largely on film, which he states is the art form for modern times, his main argument centres on the idea that the mode of artistic production in a given era is determined by the level of technological development at the time.

As part of this, the potential for the spread of art with the introduction of lithography and film is, he argues, closely bound to political potential. Art previously only shown in a wealthy gallery could be reproduced for the masses. Newspapers made daily affairs part or everyone’s lives. It is these developments that open up what he calls ‘mass culture’ and ‘mass politics.’ This has democratic potential but also the potential for exploitation - in Nazi Germany for example, Leni Riefenstahl’s films were used as propaganda to try and sweep mystified passion for the Fuhrer and the Fatherland. The balance between audience and art changes and develops not only with technological advances, but political ones also.

‘AURA’ Central to Walter Benjamin’s essay is the idea of ‘aura’. He explains ‘aura’ to be the effect one gets when in the presence of a work - usually based on authenticity of that work. If the mystique of ‘original’ is destroyed then it loses its dependence on tradition, and therefore its false importance. The function of art changes, with reproduction, from art for art’s sake to politics. Art and media have, with technological advances, inevitably merged. With the introduction of film, Benjamin argues, the withering of ‘aura’ becomes even more apparent. With a film there is no audience; the ‘audience’s identification with the actor is really an indentification with the camera.’ There is a sense of distance, and the viewer is more likely to take on the role of critic. In a similar way, the art / science disctinction no longer holds - when filiming something it is hard to say if the artistic value or value for science is more interesting.

As such the role of art has, here argued, become tightly bound up with technology, and inevitably, with politics.

He suggests that when we all become actors passivity is avoided and the potential for self motivated creative and political activity increases. These ideas raise fundamental questions about the form of art and its role in society. How does it relate to human sense? History? Is, even more fundamentally, human sense universal?

READING SEMINAR ANY PLACE: hide and seek

‘EXPLORATIONS’ Journey- sequential spaces and curated space

EMMA BLUNDELL

ANY PLACE: hide and seek

‘EXPLORATIONS’ Journey- sequential spaces and curated space

EMMA BLUNDELL

ANY PLACE: hide and seek

‘EXPLORATIONS’ Journey- sequential spaces and curated space

EMMA BLUNDELL

ANY PLACE: hide and seek

‘EXPLORATIONS’ Journey- sequential spaces and curated space

EMMA BLUNDELL

ANY PLACE: hide and seek

EMMA BLUNDELL

‘EXPLORATIONS’ Sketches and concept model: ‘searching for light’ For my intiial explorations I looked into how library could be about browsing and journeys between different spaces and experiences. These models and sketches investigated how spaces can be composed and how boundaries between them can be manipulated through light.

ANY PLACE: hide and seek

EMMA BLUNDELL

‘EXPLORATIONS’ Developments and inital designs: sliding walls and planes Boundaries between spaces and the act of searching became a crucial part of the architectural parti. Developing ideas from the early work, I looked into how sliding walls and planes may be composed so as to permit continuation, and termination. These planes allow for the joining of differnt types of spaces, particularly from inside to outside.As a library is both a public and individual building, inviting and hiding was a juxtaposition I wanted to explore.

ANY PLACE: hide and seek

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Morgan Library and Museum, New York USA, Renovation by Renzo Piano, 2009

EMMA BLUNDELL

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Parque Biblioteca Espana, Colombia, Giancarlo Mazzanti & Arquitectos 2005

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PECHA-KUCHA PRESENTATION

Researching two precedents (pairwork with Sophie Boyle)

ANY PLACE: hide and seek

chinese whispers Chinese Whispers is a game which demonstrates how a simple piece of information can be miscommunicated.

A route from Minto House using a series of rights and lefts passed between our group, changing the destination from the Museum of Childhood, as intended, to such places as Carlton Hill or the grave of Greyfriars Bobby when each person then walked it.

Just as the relationship between our point on a map and our place in the world can become warped through GPS, the route transformed itself through the means of miscommunication.

GPS: DRAWING WITH SATELLITES EMMA BLUNDELL

ANY PLACE: hide and seek

ROME

1:5000

The relationship between public and private spaces in Rome has existed for many centuries (inset: Nolli Map) and served as an important stimulus for the hide and seek project. Grey fills highlight ‘secret’ private courtyards within massing throughout Rome. This design proposal sits as a secret reading retreat - reflecting such courtyards whilst inverting and overlaying the idea with a public function.

LOCATION EMMA BLUNDELL

ANY PLACE: hide and seek

St Peter’s Basilica

EMMA BLUNDELL

THRESHOLD Via Giulia

EXPOSE / REVEAL Musee di fori imperialle

public/private - secret/public entrances: VIA GIULIA, ROME pairwork with Vikki Rae

LOCATION ANY PLACE: hide and seek

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1:500 Site Plan SITE

EMMA BLUNDELL

ANY PLACE: hide and seek

EMMA BLUNDELL

1:500 A:A cross section

Through ruins - Chiesa di San Lorenzo in background

1:500 B:B long section Through River Tiber and Chiesa di San Lorenzo

SITE ANY PLACE: hide and seek

HIDDEN SITE: Elevation from Tiber Island

EMMA BLUNDELL

SEEKING SITE: unfolding elevation

SITE ANY PLACE: hide and seek

Blurring boundaries: extending enclosed and open.

9am, 12pm and 5pm summer 9am, 12pm and 5pm winter

Qualitative and quantative shadow anaylsis. Existing shadows on site (left) with contrast between ruins and street corner.

SITE EMMA BLUNDELL

ANY PLACE: hide and seek

Development models: creating space through light

When exploring how my ideas would be applied to the site, I made an early decision to use the ruins of a vegetable market and use them as part of the architectural language. This would not only embed the building in its context but also allow boundaries between exterior and interior to be manipulated. Focusing inwards as a secret reading retreat, the ruins would be a natural extension and would allow for outside reading space. As part of the process, I started by continuing the lines of the ruins in plan and looking at how main spaces may be composed, before developing this language into a working art library.

EMMA BLUNDELL

Selected sketches showing development of design on site

First review example: sections

DEVELOPMENT ANY PLACE: hide and seek

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT

EMMA BLUNDELL

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT

DESIGN DEVELOPMENT PROCESS ON SITE 1:500 diagrams left to right: ruins, grid from ruins, sliding lines and planes from grid, to ground floor plan Contrasting the interior and exterior, the private and the public, while encouraging movement, became a central concern in the development process. From the general sketches I drew a grid coming from the ruins at 2000mm centres . This contrasts the order of the new against the randomness of the existing and metaphorically represents a library in the 21st century: where the juxtaposition of investigation and exploration is so apparent. This grid would also work as part of the structural strategy.

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT ANY PLACE: hide and seek

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT

Exterior Interior

DIAGRAMS LEFT TO RIGHT: design grid, main spaces, exterior to interior

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT

EMMA BLUNDELL

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Public cafe with separate food preparation area

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Staff room connected to reception area and storage room

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Exterior social courtyard (potential space for cafe tables)

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Exterior reading spaces

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Semi-exterior social and reading spaces

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Interior study rooms

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Washrooms

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Paved platforms on ruins with benches for private reading

1:200 GROUND FLOOR PLAN

ANY PLACE: hide and seek

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT

DIAGRAMS LEFT TO RIGHT: design grid, main spaces

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT

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General browsing and reading areas

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Private group meeting room

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Individual study area

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Exterior balcony

1:200 FIRST FLOOR PLAN

EMMA BLUNDELL

ANY PLACE: hide and seek

1:200 section

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT

LIBRARY EMMA BLUNDELL

ANY PLACE: hide and seek

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT

1:200 section PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT

LIBRARY EMMA BLUNDELL

ANY PLACE: hide and seek

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT

1:200 long section PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT

LIBRARY EMMA BLUNDELL

ANY PLACE: hide and seek

Sequence of courtyards. Final model: ground floor (first floor removable) left and roof view on right.

EMMA BLUNDELL

Final model: seeking the hidden

ANY PLACE: hide and seek

I decided to use brick as the principle material for the library. A material that can fit directly into the hand, it is closely related to human dimensions and the human body and is as such capable of creating intimate and personal spaces. As the library is designed for personal exploration and discovery, the potential for intimate spaces was investigated through how paving and material might encourage movement, socialisation, retreat and termination. It also reflects Rome as a material city - the immediate ruins are brick, and many of the historic layers surrounding the site are rich in texture and expression.

By exploring how materials can be juxtaposed the library transforms itself into a flow of textures and discoveries: a metaphor of browsing and knowledge. This flow between spaces is at the heart of the concept. As such the materials lead from the street in to the building and through to the ‘secret’ ruins - providing seamless transitions between spaces.The exterior courtyards ‘disintegrate’ into the open through the use of perforated brick walls that fuse inside to out.

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materiality precedents

Peter Zumthor, ‘Kolumba Art Museum’ Cologne, 2007

Bearth and Deplazes, ‘Winery Gantenbein’ Switzerland, 2006

seek.

EXPLORING MATERIALITY: INFLUENCING BROWSING EMMA BLUNDELL

ANY PLACE: hide and seek

EMMA BLUNDELL

Initial qualitative shadow plan

HISTORIC ROUTE Paving stones from outside to in follow route

1:100 TEXTURAL PLAN Brick: study areas Grass: exterior courtyards Paving stones: circulation: in to out Herringbone brick: ‘special’ reading spaces Exposed concrete: service spaces

SPACE ANY PLACE: hide and seek

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PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT

Timber joist plan

The structural strategy follows the same grid used for the design process. The timber joists are spaced along it, therefore at 2000mm centres.

These joists help support the first floor while the loads are primarily taken by loadbearing masonry walls. The use of brick was chosen for its textural potential and relation to the human scale.

Bricks fit easily into the human hand and therefore make the scale of the building readable and understandable - important for making private spaces and encouraging private exploration.Roman brick is also used extensively around the city, including the ruins on the site, therefore the use of brick physically links the library to its context.

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT

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1: Exterior cavity walls - loadbearing masonry, insulation, air gap, wall ties 2: Bookcases built within the walls (inner leaf ) 3: Drainage in courtyards 4: Roof - supported by timber joists with tapered insulation.

Tapered battens supporting the overhangs for a thin roof profile (sliding walls and planes)

1:50 CONSTRUCTION SECTION EMMA BLUNDELL

ANY PLACE: hide and seek

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT

The library’s environmental strategy is also part of the design. As Rome is within a temperate climate concerns relate to both heating and cooling methods. The courtyards act as a cooling device during the summer by permitting air flow and allowing hot air to escape. At the same time the trees and timber loggias around the building provide shade from direct sunlight and make more pleasant reading spaces. To prevent too much heating and solar gain in summer glazing to the south is restricted, with the majority of openings facing the ruins to the North for a constant light suitable to study. The cavity walls and roof both contain insulation to help make heating the building efficient in winter, while the building can become entirely internal in bad weather through fenestration placed around the courtyards.

1:50 CONSTRUCTION SECTION EMMA BLUNDELL

ANY PLACE: hide and seek

PUBLIC / PRIVATE: social space at entrance

SPACE EMMA BLUNDELL

ANY PLACE: hide and seek

PUBLIC / PRIVATE: exterior reading courtyards overlooking the ruins

SPACE EMMA BLUNDELL

ANY PLACE: hide and seek