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Course of ‘Interiors Architecture’ School of Architecture and Society,Politecnico di Milano a.a. 2014-2015 – Bachelor of Science in Architecture Prof. Francesca Lanz,PhD The Booklet - Interior ”Suspended” Space Group 16 | Students: Evangelia Lavranou, Shir Talor and Noora Lehtinen
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CONTENTS 1. Definition of ”Suspended Space”
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2. Architectural Theories and signature projects dealing with suspended spces
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3. Critical Bibliography
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4. Case Studies
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5. The Model
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Bibliogrphy
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1. DEFINITION OF SUSPENDED SPACE”
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Dali Atomicus by Phillipe Halsman
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To begin with, we looked up the definition of the term Suspended in different contexts: The definition of ‘Suspended’, according to the Collins English Dictionary, is: To bar for a period from a privilege, office,or position, usually as a punishment: suspend a student from school. To cause to stop for a period; interrupt: suspended the trial. To hold in abeyance; defer: suspend judgment. See Synonyms at defer To render temporarily ineffective: suspend a jail sentence; suspend all parking regulations. To hang so as to allow free movement: suspended the mobile from the ceiling. To support or keep from falling without apparent attachment, as by buoyancy: suspend oneself in the water.
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In the psychological sense,the feeling of suspension or a person that feels suspended is the feeling of instable reality,a sensation of not having a solid anchor in the ground,the feeling of hanging in the air”without knowing when or where something solid to hold on to will appear. For example, a verse from the song Suspended by Kelis:
I feel like I’m falling What happens when I hit? Must mean then that’s it This black abyss,this pit It all seems shades of gray I’m never ready for lig ht of day This isn’t just in your mind We’re suspended from space and time
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In the structural sense,suspended Structures are defined as those with horizontal planes i.e. floors are supported by cables (hangers) hung from the parabolic sag of large, hig h-strength steel cables. The strength of a suspended structure is derived from the parabolic form of the sagging hig h strength cable.
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Taking from these different definitions,we would like to refer to the term ”Suspended Space” as a space that involves a hanging element (the whole structure,a specific space,or an object within a space) that feels like it is not so much depended on gravity. Such a space has unique qualities that are derived from it’s being ”suspended”: Flexibility - It is relatively flexible as it has no direct rigid foundations in the ground Better usage of the 3D space - It offers a usage of the 3D space in a way the doesn’t rely on a single floor space as it multi plies the floor space in some way Diverse points of view - It creates multi-dimensional looks and points of view Interaction with the surroundings - It creates interesting tension with the existing surrounding surfaces,creating different degrees of connections and separations Allowing light and air flow – it does not create ”barriers” on the ground floor and therefore frees it up for better lig ht entrance and air flow.
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The Story of Gulliver’s Travels
Metropolis (1927 Film)
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Suspended Spaces, according to our definition above, have fascinated different artists and authors throug hout the history since they put the person interacting with them in an unusual situation of experiencing reality not in the horizontal - linear state that he is used to. Two examples for that from the world of fictional movies and literature demonstrate the fantastical sensation of interacting a suspended space, from below and from above: From below: in the German expressionist movie Metropolis, by Fritz Lang, the city is presented as a multi-leveled wonder that puts the tiny person standing at the ground floor in owe of it. Lang talks about the inspiration for this sensation as derived from his first encounter with NewYork City: ”The film was born from my first sig ht of the skyscrapers in New York in October 1924 ... the buildings seemed to be a vertical sail, scintillating and very lig ht, a luxurious backdrop, suspended in the dark sky to dazzle, distract and hypnotize”. From above: on the other hand, in the story of Gulliver’s travels by Jonathan Swift, there is a clear demonstration of the sensation of power the suspended space possess when the person is on the top side – the king of the flying island of Laputa uses the fact that the island can move above places to control them by denying them sun or rain.
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2. ARCHITECTURAL THEORIES AND SIGNATURE PROJECTS DEALING WITH SUSPENDED SPACE
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The suspended space as we define it can be perceived as a relatively new feature in architecture,since it has much to do with the development of the ability to mani pulate the way forces are transmitted to the ground. Schematically,the way this aspect has been developed in architecture during the past +-100 years can be described as such:
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According to Adrian Forty, the author of the book Words And Buildings, the word space was developed from the German word raum, which signified both a material enclosure, a �room�, and a philosophical concept. In the modern architecture,during 1920s, the term continuum of space arouse among architects. According to Forty,continuum means that inside and ouside are connected - they are continuous when structural members are detached, so the that continuum of space,that runs throug h the building, is created in voids between them. In addiion,when talking about flexibility, that Forty names to be an important modernist term, we are considering it to be connected with suspended places by its technical means. This term includes,according to Forty,the feature that the flexibility is achieved throug h an element of building,such as a wall or window, to be movable. In the post-war period this system concentrated upon the development of lig htweig ht building structures,which was important for developing spaces that were somehow suspended.
Suspended spaces have been studied by different architects,naturally most originating from modernist architecture. The special qualities or the suspended space,as were mentioned before,can be explored further throug h the following selected works:
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New Babylon by Constantin
New Babylon byConstantin
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Flexibility The possibilities of hig h flexibility in suspended spaces is suggested clearly in the idea of the utopian anti-capitalist city of ”New Babylon”, designed in 1959-74 by artist-architect Constant Nieuwenhuys. New Babylon was a megastructure out of a series of linked transformable structures, which created a temporary city that could be constantly remodeled in order to create different environments. The space of New Babylon has all the characteristics of a labyrinthine space. It consists of a network of units that allow interactions among the city and the inhabitants, where no space is unexploited. The goal is to allow people to have alternative life experiences and arrange their surroundings according to their needs. It’s a social model that is far away from the rapid movement of modern society. Within the megastructure there is constant movement since nothing is permanent, but it derives from the activities inside. The structure is organized on many levels and terraces that can change each time and take a new program. On the ground there is only the network of the traffic while all the other systems are above. This way, a more autonomous society is created on top. It could be said that the suspended system allows New Babylon to be a flexible city that leaves the metropolis below. People are introduced to a nomadic way of life in a constructed environment and it’s up to them to adapt it to their imagination and make it real.
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La Villa Spatial / Yona Friedman
La Villa Spatial / Yona Friedman
Paris Spatial / Yona Friedman
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Better usage of the 3D space & diverse points of view Another important quality that is provided by the suspended space is a newer, better, method of utilizing the 3D space and therefore experiencing it. This quality can be seen in the concept of ”La Ville Spatial”, developed by French architect Yona Friedman. This concept suggests a spatial super structure that allows spaces suspended inside to be shifted around as necessary. The super structure is made or a multilevel space-frame grid lifted 10 meters above ground level, supported by columns at intervals of between 40 and 60 meters. Friedman offers this model as an infrastructure made to be added as a fixed part of a city, for example, the suggestion for the renovation of Paris under the idea of ”Paris Spatiale”, in which the spatial super structure is suggested to be located above the existing city, thus allowing the urban space to be multi plied and yet leaves the existing ground floor consistent of the historical urban tissue free to remain as it is. While the intention in using such a structure is to find a way to deal with rising density required of the global metropolitan areas, one of the main advantages it offers since it is suspended that it can be superimposed on the existing city, such as Paris,without impinging upon it. This structure respects the authority of the existing built fabric and creates a situation where the same urban space is used in a 3 dimensional multi-leveled way, thus allowing the existing city life to continue on the ground floor while at the same time enriching it with needed functions of services without having to demolish and reconstruct.
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Instant City by Archigram
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Interaction with the surroundings Suspended architecture is no longer so much limited by the traditional rules of gravity. Therefore, the situations and tensions created between the suspended system and its surrounding can be diverse and unusual, including different levels of connections and detachments. In the project of ”The Instant City” by Archigram, these situations are tested to the limit, as it suggests a travelling metropolis that stops in different areas, stays there for a limited period, taking into account the site and the local characteristics and is transformed according to its needs and then it moves on to the next location. Before the visit of the ‘City’ a number of experts analyze the situation and extract information of the urban reality. Then the ‘City’ acts according to its site needs and events,festivals,educational programs, markets, displays take place in elements that are unfolded from the sky and mix the existing city with the technologically advanced components of the Instant City. The concept behind it is the airshi p effect upon the sleeping town,which creates a network of information that spreads the culture. The components of the Instant City are loaded to trucks and trailers at base. A series of tents are floated from balloons which are towed to the destination aircraft. The vital device is the airshi p,either a simple one with apparatus carried in the belly and able to drop down or a more sophisticated megastructure of the skies and audiovisual elements scattered around, Instant City is like a dream that descents from the skies and wake cities up. The project is a form of experimental architecture that wishes to bring into the urban life a taste of the metropolitan dynamic. This,it wishes to do by studying the existing surrounding and reacting to it physically and ideally. The goal of the Instant City is to contaminate the monotonous life in the cities and create an environment where technology,entertainment and education are vital for the social daily routine.
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5 points of architecture / Le Corbusier
Villa Savoye,LeCorbusier,Poissy (France),1931
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Allowing lig ht and air flow The suspended space is, by its nature, lifted from the ground and therefore allows lig ht and air to enter the traditionally dark ground floor,while still providing protection from hot sun and rain due to its location above. This quality was well recognized by Swiss-French architect Le-Corbusier who wanted to change roots of architecture radically in 1920s. Back then he understood, that the modern life demanded a new kind of plan where exterior was a result of interior. His architectural theories contributed a lot to the forms of buildings and to the spaces inside of them. Therefore,with his advanced ideas, he became the most successful advocate of modern architecture. The elements of Le Corbusier’s architecture are lig ht and shade, walls and space. Five Point’s of Architecture was a set of princi pals, that LeCorbusier developed and justified the opportunities for those elements. First of them, and the most important when thinking about suspension,was Piloti. It lifts the structure off the ground with reinforced concrete columns,that are providing the structural support for the building. With the help of pilotis the ground floor is free of the built mass and it allows the air and lig ht flow underneath the building. With the theory of Pilotis, LeCorbusier discovered that it was also possible to get ia free facade and an open floor plan,which meant that the floor space was free to be configured into rooms without concern for supporting walls. The theory of five points of architecture can be seen most clearly in LeCorbusier’s work of Villa Savoye.
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Section of Tel-Aviv Columns / Zeev Rechtel
Tel-Aviv Columns / Zeev Rechtel
Tel-Aviv Columns / Zeev Rechtel
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The same ideas were later on realized by Israeli architect Zeev Rechter, that wished to manifest Le-Corbusier’s concept of the Piloti and free ground floor in the young city of Tel-Aviv, as a way to resolve a local problem of extremely narrow lots planned in early Tel-Aviv (about 15 meters wide) with street border all around, which created a hig hly dense morphology with very little intimacy between the buildings. Lifting up the buildings and releasing the ground floor allowed, at least at the level of the street, the creation of a larger, more open, space. Rechter’s suggested solution to this problem, as portrayed in his plan for Engel House” in Tel-Aviv,is to ”air out” the street by lifting up the first floor of apartments by suspending it free standing columns,instead of having it standing directly on the ground. This,aims to keep the lives of the in habitants ”lifted and thus disconnected” from the eyesig ht of the street passers,while creating an urban semi public space that is both open to wind, air and lig ht,but at the same time protected from direct scorching summer sun as well as winter rain. In addition,Rechter had hoped that this new morphology will allow the creation of a green streak on the ground floor that will go all along the street and enrich the pedestrian movement thoug h the streets.
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3. CRITICAL BIBLIOGRAPHY
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Crompton D. et al. / Concerning Archigram / Archigram Archives / London / 1999
This book,edited by the member of Archigram Dennis Crompton presents the work of the visionary London-based sixties group of architectural theorists. Archigram started being critical of the idea of the total built environment in the cities. According to them,cities should generate, reflect and activate life. The movement in the city is more important than the built space. They treated architecture as one of the consumable products in the society and were in favour of the impermanent structures whereas most of their contemporaries weren’t. They suggested a flexible,nomadic lifestyle in which information is a vital substance. Architecture is not anymore a stable structure,it moves and it’s more the means to bring life in the city rather than the city itself.
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Fentener Van Vlissingen H.,Lebesque S. / Yona Friedman: Structures Serving The Unpredictable / NAi Publishers / Rotterdam / 1999
In this book the French architect Yona Friedman discusses his ideas of a spatial 3d system of suspended spaces as a suggested new urban infrastructure aiming to provide a flexible,new,use of the space. The concept was developed during Friedman’s years studying and teaching the subject of mobile architecture in the Technion,Israel, during the 1050’s,as an attempt suggest a more flexible architectural system that would allow common people to decide for themselves about the architecture in which they live,and not have it imposed on them by an architect that doesn’t live in it.
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Forty A. / Words And Buildings A Vocabulary of Modern Architecture / Thames & Hudson Ltd / London / 2000
Adrian Forty’s book handles the study of the complex relationshi p between architecture and language. Its six chapters investigate the language of modernism, language and drawing,masculine and feminine architecture,language metaphors, scientific metaphors in architecture,and the social properties of architecture. After that follows a vocabulary of key words, such as Character,Form,History and Space. Forty gives each word modern meaning with an historical and theoretical framework.
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Le Corbusier / Towards a new architecture / J. Rodker / London / 1931
LeCorbusier’s classic book is a collection of essays he wrote in advocacy for modern architecture. It contains seven essays of technical and aesthetic theories demanding a rebirth of architecture based on function and a new aesthetetics based on pure form. Each essay aims to give reason for an architecture that fundamentally changed how people interacted with buildings. The book of LeCorbusier starts with the praise of the engineer’s aesthetic and continues talking about the theme of the revolution of architecture. LeCorbusier uses strong and therefore impressive language. The book is a manifesto and critical piece of architectural theory and it has had a powerful and lasting effect on the architectural profession.
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Shchori R. / Zeev Rechter, The Culture and Art Public Committee / Keter Publishing / Jerusalem / 1987
Rechter was educated within the French modernist school of Le-Corbusier,and returned to Israel in the 1930’s with the dream to improve the overly dense, to his view,young city of Tel-Aviv. The concept of ”Tel-Aviv on columns” generated from Rechter’s reaction to traditional urban planning that characterized dense cities such as Paris and London,and suggested a relatively open public ground floor street space created by suspending the first floor of apartments on free standing columns. Rechter criticizes the hig h density in these places,and perused an idea of a city where there is separation of uses, separate spaces for pedestrians and cars and an abundant of air and natural lig ht due to the free public ground floor.
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4. CASE STUDIES
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We chose to examine the manifestation of suspended spaces in current architecture throug h 3 types of spaces:
The space itself is suspended
A space suspended within a space
Nykredit Headquarters / Schmidt Hammer Lassen Architects, Kopenhagen,2005
A space with suspended elements inside it
The Lego House Central Staircase Installation / Bjarke Ingels Group Billund, Denmark,under construction
Free Spirit Spheres / Tom Chudleig h Vancouver Canada rainforest
Bastard flagshi p store / Studiometrico, Milan, 2007 WoZoCo / MVRDV Amsterdam,1994-97
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Every Beating Second / Janet Echelman San Francisco, 2011
The 3 specific projects we selected to analyze more deeply are all public uses (a restaurant,a university faculty and an exhibition) and in all of them we recognized the use of the suspended element as a means to create some kind of separation in the space. The degree of separation varies from one project to another,and so do the manifestation of the other qualities we mentioned earlier as typical for suspended spaces. According to this,we will analyze and compare the selected study cases throug h the examination of these qualities,while focusing on a critical view of the degree of separation created in each project: Constructive system – the relationshi p between the fixed-permanent supporting system and the flexible-temporary system suspended from it Flexibility – the degree of which the suspended system is (or can be imagined to be) adaptable to different permanent supporting systems Accessibility – the ”way” connecting between the supporting system and the suspended elements allowing them to be accessed Light and air flow – the effect that the location of the suspended element has on lig ht and air flow in the space Points of view – unusual points of view created in the space as a result of the presence of the suspended element Separation – the sensation of separation created in the space due to the presence of the suspended element and all of the above mentioned qualities it provides
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The space itself is suspended
The plan and accessibility
Plans and section
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The view from the inside
The view from the outside of the restaurant
Yellow Treehouse Restaurant The architects describe the project as a dream from childhood that came true. It’s a treehouse restaurant in Auckland that has the shape of a cocoon and surrounds a redwood. Its shape derives from the emerging butterfly and its goal is to be camouflaged and completely intergraded with the natural landscape. It’s an oval structure wrapped around a tree. The plan is circular and is split apart on the axis. Access is throug h a 60 meters tree-top accessible walkway. It sits almost 10m wide and over 12m hig h,with the split-level floor sitting 10m off the ground. Timber trusses are the main structure. It is consisted of plantation poplar planks that are not placed closely to each other so they let the chance for natural lig ht and fresh air to come in and also they cause interesting points of views. The shape itself and its suspension suggest the separation from the environment but at the same time,a complete incorporation in it and also a connection throug h the openness of the views. Also,it is a structure that could be temporary and could be enforced in different places,so it encourages the idea of an unstable architecture.
Architects: Pacific Environments / Peter Eising & Lucy Gauntlett Location: Auckland,New Zealand Project year: 2008-2009
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Constructive System
Accessibility
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Lig ht Entrance
Points of View
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Separation
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Flexibility
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A space suspended within a space –
Plan
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Capsule suspended inside main Atrium hall
Inner space of the Capsule
Section
LED lig hts projecting environmental DATA
THE PORTER BUILDING The Porter Building,located in Tel-Aviv,Israel,was built in 2012 as the residence of the Tel-Aviv University School of Environmental Studies. The building, 4000 mq large, was designed to be one of the most environmentally conscious buildings in Israel and incorporates a variety of technologies meant both to save energy and water,and to educate visitors about the importance of ecological and environmental awareness. As part of this approach,the unique architectural element of the ”Eco Capsule” was placed in the middle of the eco-wall of the southern façade, overlooking the busy Ayalon hig hway from the exterior and the main Atrium shaped main hall from the interior. The ”Capsule”, which is covered with a shell of LED lig hts projecting real time environmental data,is used as a separate meeting room,reachable from the interior or the building by a system of bridges. The fact that the capsule is a suspended element separated from the building makes it hig hly noticeable from both the outside and the inside,and therefore serving its educational purpose,while at the same time providing a unique work space that is detached from the rest of the building both by position and sensation. Architects: Axelrod Grobman Architects, Geotectura & NCArchitects Location: Tel-Aviv,Israel Project year: 2012-2014 47
Constructive System
Accessibility
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Lig ht Entrance
Points of View
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Separation
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Flexibility
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A space with suspended elements inside it
Plan
Views from the outside
View from the inside
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SUSPENDED PAVILIONS Cristina Iglesias creates rooms of imagination. She separates the space from the surrounding room by using patterned facades that are suspended vertically from the roof. The patterns in the woven metallic screens image her inspiration of text fragments transforming the space full of figurative shadows. The inner space is obscured and revealed at the same time,and the observer inside can barely be seen from the outside. The interesting effect,that suspension creates,is that one can only see clearly the feet of people standing inside of the separated space. Meanwhile,entering the sculpture,the viewer can experience a feeling of separation and,on the other hand,an amazing adventure in the world of natural shapes. Suspension creates a subtle tension between the floor and sculpture,and the shadows that this separation makes hig hlig ht the gap between floor and the wall. With lig ht coming perpendicular from the top it creates the space and the observer to be in the darkness and lig ht at the same time.
Artist: Cristina Iglesias Location and Year: 2005 in New York, 2007 in Madrid, 2008 in Sao Paolo and 2009 in Milan 53
Constructive System
Accessibility
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Lig ht Entrance
Points of View
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Separation
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Flexibility
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5. THE MODEL
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The main idea we have explored in our analysis of �Suspended� spaces, is the relationshi p between the flexible-temporary suspended space to the fixed-permanent supporting system that is below/ above / around it. While the suspended system can theoretically always change and adjust itself to new surroundings,the supporting system is constant and doesn’t change as a result. In this relationshi p we have noticed that the difference between the two systems always creates a degree of separation in the space,which is used in different cases for different needs. In the model,the lower part,the city,represents the fixed-permanent supporting system,whereas the upper part,the suspended spaces,is the flexible-temporary system. The net,represents the degree of separation, which changes constantly as a result of the changing positions of the movable suspended spaces. While the changes created in the net,thus the degree of separation,is only temporary,the city remains unchanged.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY Books Cook P.,Archigram,Praeger Publishers,Michigan,1973 Collins H.,Collins English Dictionary,Harper Collins,New York,2009 Crompton D. et al.,Concerning Archigram,Archigram Archives,London, 1999 Fentener Van Vlissingen H.,Lebesque S.,Yona Friedman: Structures Serving The Unpredictable,NAi Publishers,Rotterdam,1999 Forty A.,Wo rds And Buildings - A Vocabulary of Modern Architecture, Thames & Hudson Ltd,London,2000 Grayson Trulove J.,Tree Houses by Architects,New-York,2004 Henderson P.,Mornement A.,Treehouses,Frances Lincoln Limited, New-York, 2008 Le Corbusier,Towards a new architecture,J. Rodker,London,1931 Sadler S.,The Situationist City,MIT Press,Boston,1999 Shchori R.,Zeev Rechter,The Culture and Art Public Committee,Keter Publishing,Jerusalem,1987 62
Van Schaik M.,Macel O.,Exit Utopia: Architectural Provocations 1956-76, Prestel Verlag,New-York, 2005 Zack M.,Mashiah-Gordon D.,Helbrecht K.,Exhibition catalogue Zeev, a window to the work and thoug ht of the architect Zeev Rechter�, Matania Zack Publishing,Tel-Aviv,2009 Catalogues Axelrod Grobman Architects,Geotectura & NCArchitects,Porter building project presentation,The Porter School of Environmental studies archive,TelAviv University,2012 Cristina Iglesias Exhibition Catalogue,Marian Goodman Gallery,New York, 2005 Websites www.archigram.net www.cristinaiglesias.com www.environment.tau.ac.il
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