FLEXIBLE ARCHITECTURE THREE TYPOLOGIES
THEMATIC PORTFOLIO FLORENT BAJRAMI | 901933
Politecnico di Milano School of Architecture Urban Planning Construction Engineering Architectural Design AA 2018 -19 September Graduation Session
PROLOGUE
CONTENT | INDEX
Flexibility enhances the experience of the architecture, being able to
FRAGMENTED UNITY MECHANICAL FLEXIBILITY
conform to the ever-changing demands of society and environment. Its non-rigid format allows for increased usage of the space, becoming thus more lively and enjoyable. Late-capitalist world’s side effect of affordable housing shortage, the environmental crisis and the rising culture of reuse and preservation are some of the main reasons flexibile architecture should be sought after.
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Spatial alteration provided by mechanical means, e.g. revolving doors, which provide enlargement of areas, merging of inside with outside, and vibrant architectural elements to an otherwise steady and monumental architecture.
Foundamentally, flexible architecture is gestalt architecture: it tries to take the sum of the parts to a maximum. Preaching this kind of architecture means requiring architects to design in a more sensible manner and rethink how their projects affect the users: they need to think more steps
THE CELL MIESIAN FLEXIBILITY
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ahead than before, to investigate user behaviour and refrain their desires to overdesign.
Application of Mies van der Rohe’s distinguished core - open plan
Focused on three typologies of flexibile architecture, this study is
concept: maximization of non-interrupted space, which can be altered
essentially a close investigation of form and function, their relationship
according to needs, by compressing the services to a minimum core.
with each-other and their boundaries.
ALONG THE EDGE SPECULATIVE FLEXIBILITY
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Distancing the relation between form and function with an architecture contained in an unfinished or vague state, which makes it subjected to speculation and thus adaptability of use.
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FRAGMENTED UNITY ARCHITECTURE OF DIALOGUE PARISH COMPLEX | CITTÀ STUDI, MILAN FINAL DESIGN STUDIO CRITICS | EMILIO FAROLDI, MARIA PILAR VETTORI, CECILIA ROSTAGNI COLLABORATORS | CATALINA MUTIS, OXANA LEMA, SALVATORE BORROMETI
MECHANICAL FLEXIBILITY
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A. E V E N T
B. S P A C E
C. M O V E M E N T
D. E S S E N C E
I.
I
BERNARD TSCHUMI’S MANHATTAN TRANSCRIPTS A
S
C
E
N
S
I
O
N
ANALYSIS
Conceived as a work in progress rather than a project, Bernard Tschumi’s Manhattan Transcripts offer architectural stimulus through their nature
II.
CO RE
of representation. The Transcripts’ components of event, space, and movement are represented by photographs, architectural drawings and diagrams in a broken down manner that innately suggest the consequent
III.
C O N N
CONNECTION
constructing of these components to a whole. Tschumi advocates for an
C T I O N
architecture of disjunctions, where form, use and social values are not interrelated but rather tangled in a new deconstructed reality.
IV.
DECOMPRESSION
CITTÀ STUDI TRANSCRIPTS The analogous nature of The Transcripts is not only helpful for an alternative reading of the city, but also offers an initial point of design.
V.
R R R R R
FR AG MENTED UNIT Y
The introduction of a new component to the transcripts (essence) through an additional representation method (verbal) helps to define the true essence of each of five case studies chosen in Città Studi. These
E. E S S E N C E
I.
essences then are transformed to architecture through manipulation A
of movement, space and event to arrive at a desired liturgical reality. As such the spirit of the site is retranslated in the parish complex itself.
II.
S
C
E
N
S
I
O
F. M O V E M E N T
N
G. S P A C E
E E E E E
C C C C C
U U U U U
R R R R R
H. E V E N T
DESIGN
CO RE
III.
C O N N
CONNECTION C T I O N
IV.
V.
DECOMPRESSION R R R R R
E E E E E
C C C C C
U U U U U
R R R R R
SITE ANALYSIS AS DESIGN GENERATOR | 04
Designing a successful parish complex in such a mixed urban
rea a clasdr eno’s omll m s r se ha
condition such as Città Studi means dealing with paradoxic
chil
aims: inclusive but specific-user oriented, distinguishable but not different, able to interact with the context but also function as a microorganism, able to host a large number of people but also remain local and personal. To be able to handle such task The Transcripts are used as a direct design tool that reinterpret the five essences in a liturgical architecture. The design process is a careful organization of distinguishable parts that correlate
OFFICE
ALTA RISTY SACR
S S CHO IR MA
SE L ’ST S HOU G HAL
PRIE
ultipurpo
EATIN SM BAPCTI H AP
EL
between each-other through their complex relationships. Thus Ascension, Core, Connection, Decompression and Recur cannot exist if the relationship between them is not thoroughly considered.
FRAGMENTED UNIT Y
Three volumes with different proportions are supposed to house all the program required. Their fragmented character tries to solve the paradoxic requirements of the parish. The unification of space, movement, and event through essential open spaces and mechanical devices brings the project to a conclusion: a Fragmented Unity - an oxymoron mirroring the reality of religion itself.
SEQUENCE OF INTERIOR AND EXTERIOR COMPONENTS
SPATIAL AND PROGRAMMATIC ORGANIZATION | 05
DUALITY OF MATERIALS FOR FUNCTION (STRUCTURE) AND SYMBOLISM (RELIGION)
SECOND FLOOR PLAN
STRATIFIED AND FORMWORKTEXTURED CONCRETE
GROUND FLOOR PLAN
FIRST FLOOR PLAN
MATERIALITY AND SYMBOLISM | 06
SECTION DESIGN THROUGH HEIGHT DIFFERENCE AND HORIZONTAL CONNECTIVITY
EUCARISTIC CHAPEL AND CHOIR
BAPTISM
MAIN ALTAR AND CONTEMPLATION SPACE
WEEKDAY CHAPEL
COMMUNITY EATING HALL
SUNDAY MASS
RECEIVEMENT HALL OF ANNEX BUILDING
SPECIAL CEREMONY
MOVABLE COMPONENTS ALLOW DIFFERENT SPACE CONFIGURATIONS
MECHANICAL FLEXIBILITY | INSIDE AND OUTSIDE | 07
THE CELL STREET FRONT INTERIOR MULTI-FUNCTIONAL INTERIOR SPACE | CORSO VENEZIA, MILAN INTERIOR DESIGN STUDIO CRITICS | YURI MASTROMATTEI, CRISTINA FEDERICA COLOMBO COLLABORATORS | DANIELLE NAKASH, VERA VINCE
MIESIAN FLEXIBILITY
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In part an attempt to solve the client’s extensive demands for
FACADES IN CORSO VENEZIA (TOP) AND VIA SALVINI (BELOW) HYPERBOLIC EXPRESSION OF ECLECTICISM
multiple functions, in part a reflection on the original architect’s intents, the project in Via Salvini is resolved using the idea of the cell, with a core and a membrane. It tries to overcome the issue of multi-functionality by using flexibility as the provision of space, where all the services are compressed to a minimum core,
leaving
the
maximum
adjustable
space
outside.
The
functional necessity of having a two-dimensional element is solved by introducing the membrane as a background and rack. On the other hand, Piero Portaluppi’s principles of oxymoron juxtapositions, hyperbolic expressions, and overstatement of details - possible testimony of his career as a cartoonist1, are simultaneous considerations of the design. The monumentalization of the core by its sculptural treatment, big scale, and expensive material - and on
TH E CELL
the other hand - the diaphanous effect of the membrane, back-lit and translucent, are conscious gestures driven by Portaluppi’s principles. 1
Antonello Negri, Cinque album e fogli sparsi. Piero Portaluppi disegnatore umoristico e satirico, 183-189
1
CONTRASTED MATERIALS
EMPHASIS OF THRESHOLD
CONTINUITY OF MATERIAL
PORTALUPPI’S LANGUAGE | 09
MONUMENTALIZATION OF CORE AND ENLIGHTENING OF SKIN AS HYPERBOLIC GESTURES
EXISTING PARTS PORTALUPPI’S LANGUAGE
CONCEPT
RIGID CORE FLEXIBLE MEMBRANE
PROGRAM ARRANGING STACKING
MATERIALS STRICT DIVISION OF PRIVATE AND PUBLIC
PALLADIANA SAPELE MAHOGANY AEGRELLE FROST ACRYLIC TRAVERTINE
CONCEPT | 10
PROVISION OF SPACE AS ULTIMATE FLEXIBILITY
CIRCULATION PUBLIC PRIVATE
EXHIBITION
LECTURE
VIEWS
ONE, TWO AND THREE DIRECTIONAL
RETAIL
ROUND TABLE
LIGHTING
DIFFUSED LIGHT SPOTLIGHTS
MIESIAN FLEXIBILITY | RELATION WITH OUTSIDE | 11
ACQUIRING GESTALT THROUGH CAREFUL ARTICULATION OF SPACE
TOP SPINDLE TOP PATCH FITTING 2 X 6MM TEMPERED GLASS
WALKING BEAM PIVOT BRASS HEADER
2 X 6MM TEMPERED GLASS WALL 10MM X 10MM STEEL ANCHOR 10MM X 20MM STEEL SUPPORT FROSTED ACRYLIC LED TUBE 10MM X 10MM HORIZONTAL STEEL ROD
2 X 6MM TEMPERED GLASS FRAME INSIDE THE WALL HANDLE
HINGE
OBLIQUE VIEW OF THE MEMBRANE
SECTION OF THE MEMBRANE
HORIZONTAL CUT OF THE MEMBRANE
SECTION OF THE DOOR
COMPOSITION OF SPACE | DETAILS OF THE MEMBRANE | 12
ALONG THE EDGE NATURE INSIDE THE BUILDING URBAN PARK | LIVIGNO-JENNER, MILAN MIAW WORKSHOP CRITIC | KATHERINE ASHE COLLABORATOR | ANCA DUMITRACHE
SPECULATIVE FLEXIBILITY
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EXPLODING EXISTING INGREDIENTS
CORRIDORE The Corridore is one of the earliest notions of the corridor meaning the space on and around the city walls. Due to its peripheral location and utilitarian nature, the bordering wall creates the perfect condition for the corridor. The wall determines a corridor by its mere physical presence, separating the inside from the outside and provides access to every part of the site thus becoming an orienting tool and a threshold.
THE EDGE CORRIDOR Historically planned as a hospital site, the site at Via Livigno-Jenner stands as an urban oasis north of Garibaldi railway station, an area going through recent rethinking and planning. It is now a walled park
BORDER WALL
with most of its fabric damaged severely and overtaken by nature, where
DISTRIBUTION OF TREES
DEMOLISHED AND PRESERVED FABRIC
CONSEQUENT BLOCKS
local residents find their retreat from the city. The park’s dense built and green environment hardly allows for more architectural input, although its confusing state calls for organization and clarity. Considering
URBAN OASIS
its components from an exploded analysis gives a better overall understanding of the site. Consequent layering is applied for the design phase, where the only architectural introduction is a pavement running along the edge of the park while existing environment is renewed and reprogrammed. The edge corridor, an act of enriching the peripheral quality of the space according to Juhani Pallasmaa’s teachings2, acts as a silent actor in space, never being the focus but rather assisting
A LONG THE E DG E
the original focal points of the site. Through its indeterminacy and bareness, the corridor is subjected to speculation: it acquires different architectural interpretations and functions allowing for a multiplicity of program and experience. The project therefore is a mere framework rather than a definite design. 2
See Juhani Pallasmaa, The Eyes of the Skin EXISTING CONDITIONS | 14
LAYERING DESIGN PRINCIPLES
PROGRAMMATIC STRIPS
ACCESS AND CIRCULATION
JUXTAPOSITION OF THE EDGE CORRIDOR
PROGRAM
EDGE CORRIDOR AS A FRAMEWORK FOR SPECULATION
SPECULATIVE FLEXIBILITY | CONCEPT | 15
ANALOGY OF THE DESIGN OF PAVEMENT WITH ARCHITECTURAL APPROACHES [T]he
quality
of
an
architectural
reality
seems
to
depend
fundamentally on the nature of the peripheral vision, which enfolds the subject in space3. The edge corridor acts as a peripheral actor to the site, while in its micro-system the existing wall is counteracted with a row of birch trees, that act as peripheral vision to the edge corridor. On the other hand, focus in the corridor is given to ephemeral structures that inhabit it occasionally. As one of the few design decisions in the project, the materiality of the corridor is given particular
ALONG TH E EDG E
importance. The process of the decision goes almost unconsciously through
the
main
architectural
approaches
of
rationality,
aestheticism, phenomenology, and finally sensibility: the material is made out of the rubbles from the demolished buildings in the park. 3
RATIONALITY
AESTHETICISM
PHENOMENOLOGY
SENSIBILITY
Juhani Pallasmaa, The Eyes of the Skin, Great Britain: John Wiley & Sons Ltd, 13 DIPTYCH: PERIPHERAL VISION (LEFT) AND FOCUSED VISION (RIGHT)
PERIPHERAL AND FOCUSED VISIONS | 16
EPILOGUE
to shrink and expand the spaces was a total success and fulfilled the clients needs. This dynamic way of flexibility was also what consisted the ideas of the Japanese Metabolism movement. The rhetorical avant gardism quality of the Metabolist projects prevented them from being realized, except for
Although flexibility is not a recent interest in architecture, it was mostly during
a few exceptions, such as Noriaki Kurokawa’s Nagakin capsule tower6.
the modern era that it went through thorough investigation and was put to
The idea behind this project was that a core would act as a structure for
extensive use. While the general tendency of the modern architect was to
independent living cells that could alter their position and configuration
follow Louis Sullivan’s famous “form follows function” motto, there were
in time. The non-truly-independent relationship of the core and the units
some that were more interested in getting to an architecture of flexibility,
prevented the original objectives of the building to be met: the capsules were
adaptability and minimalism. Probably, Adolf Loos’ denial of ornamentation was the first modern step towards flexibility4. By striping off the symbolism
1. Schroder-Schrader House, Rietveld, 1924
hard to be taken out or in so the tower remained as a monument to a failed avant gardism.
and aestheticism of the decor, Loos was able to focus more on the scale,
It seems as though the ability of mechanical flexibility to succeed is
proportions and materiality of his architecture. Seen from a historical lens,
strongly linked with the scale it is implemented and the level of technical
the removal of such symbolism has allowed a space to be indeterminate and
conception of the project. In Fragmented Unity the mechanical parts are
thus flexible. Another contributor to the flexible agenda was Mies van der
story high doors which merge or separate spaces. Considering the need for
Rohe. The minimalist attitude of the German architect and his emphasis on
the project to expand at given times it can be speculated that the flexibility
the constructive detail are what characterized his oeuvre. Mies believed the
would come in handy and be successful.
architecture should be capable to stand alone (e.g. Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin) and was one thus one of the pioneering architects to separate form
5
Kenneth Frampton, Modern Architecture, London, Thames & Hudson Ltd, 145
6
Kenneth Frampton, Modern Architecture, London, Thames & Hudson Ltd, 282
and function. With this he was able to defy architectural dogmas of the days, and push the limits of what architecture can be. 2. Nakagin Capsule Tower, Kurokawa, 1971 4
See Adolf Loos, Ornament and Crime
MIESIAN FLEXIBILITY The departure to USA was the beginning of the transformation of Mies’
MECHANICAL FLEXIBILITY
work. He started to move away from his dynamic, asymmetric spatial One of the major works applying mechanical flexibility is Gerrit Rietveld’s
configurations to a more formal, symmetrical architecture rooted in
SchrÖder-Schräder House in Utrecht. The anti-cubic architecture of the
Schinkel7. This later style was generally composed of an open plan with a
project, with its open, transformable plan is the physical manifestation of
rigid core housing all the services. The need for such spatial solution was
the De Stijl manifesto5. With its glazed and blind walls, the overhangs and
evident in his bigger scale project of 860 Lake Shore Drive and Seagram
balconies, and the mechanically removable interior partitions, the house is a careful articulation of surfaces: a three-dimensional Mondrian. Its ability
3. Mies van der Rohe, 860 Lake Shore Drive, 1948-51
skyscrapers. Mies, though, was not the first to investigate the open plan. | 17
Le Corbusier’s Dom-Ino house of 1915 was an early prototype of the open
His Central Beheer office building encourages its occupants to alter their
plan scheme, designated for mass producing. With the regularly placed
personal spaces to their liking by leaving some parts of the building unfinished
columns and the peripheral location of stairs, the plan of the house was
or dull and giving the building a form that might house a different program
able to acquire different layouts. However, the absence of the enclosing
in the future. More recently, Alejandro Aravena’s social housing work has
walls of the services, necessitated later in the bigger scale projects, is a
shown a tendency to speculative flexibility. By designing half-houses instead
reason for not being able to call the Dom-Ino house a proper “core-open
of building upwards, Aravena managed to give the inhabitants the
plan” project.
4. Le Corbusier, Dom-Ino, 1915
opportunity to expand their houses in the future while focusing the narrow
The risk in this kind of architecture lies on it being too boring and static. It is
budget to land acquiring and the provision of infrastructure.
generally a financially rational architecture, and an effective way to tackle
The examples of the speculative functionality show a rather positive result.
big scale projects, but if there is not a tremendous attention to details,
However, designing in a speculative way, without determinacy, might lead
materiality and proportion, the project can turn out to be a failure. In The
to not defined spaces that instead of being used in different ways might
Cell the core, the membrane and their relation to the existing elements
end up completely the opposite as dead spaces. In Along The Edge the
in the interior were treated in such a way to remove the boredom of the
corridor is in effect a cheap infrastructure that at least provides its initial
simple shapes and layout of the place, so that it is in sync with the highly
purpose of access and circulation, but due to its position and function
expressive architecture of the original building.
of the adjacent space, it can obtain different interpretations. Hence, it is
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conforming to the principles of Rossi, Hertzberger and Aravena.
Kenneth Frampton, Modern Architecture, London, Thames & Hudson Ltd, 231
SPECULATIVE FLEXIBILITY Aldo Rossi’s concern with architecture as the constituent of the city and his critique of functionalism were a mirror to his consequent architecture.
8
See Aldo Rossi, Architecture of the City
9
Herman Hertzberger, Lessons for Students, Rotterdam, 010 Publishers, 146
5. Hertzberger, Central Beheer, 1974
His “Urban Artifacts” are attempts to create a division between form and function, rendering his projects as a work of art8. Rossi’s preoccupation with monuments and the permanence of the buildings is a testimony of his concern of an architecture able to resist time and obtain different functions. Sharing some of Rossi’s principles, but otherwise more socially concerned, Herman Hertzberger’s architecture is centered around the idea of speculative flexibility. Flexibility is ostensibly inherent in relativity, but in actual fact it only has to do with uncertainty9. Hertzberger calls for a polyvalent architecture, where the form can be put to different uses without having to undergo change.
6. Aravena, Villa Verde, 2010
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
ILLUSTRATIONS
Frampton, Kenneth, Modern Architecture, London, Thames & Hudson Ltd, 1980.
1. Image retrieved from https://histarq.wordpress.com/2011/12/18/aula-5de-stijl-1918-1927/
Hertzberger, Herman, Lessons for Students, Rotterdam, 010 Publishers, 1991.
2. Image retrieved from https://www.inspirationde.com/image/37151/ 3. Museumm of Modern Art, New York, The Mies van der Rohe Archives
Loos, Adolf, Ornament and Crime, Penguin Books, Limited, 2019. Negri, Antonello, Cinque album e fogli sparsi. Piero Portaluppi disegnatore umoristico e satirico, 2003
4. Perspective view of the Dom-ino system, 1914. Image from Le Corbusier & Pierre Jeanneret, OEuvre Complète Volume 1, 1910–1929, Les Editions d’Architecture Artemis, Zürich, 1964
Pallasmaa, Juhani, The Eyes of the Skin, Great Britain: John Wiley & Sons Ltd, 2005.
5. Image retrieved from https://www.hertzberger.nl/images/nieuws TheFutureOfTheBuildingCentraalBeheer2016.pdf
Rossi, Aldo, Architecture of the City, New York, The Institute for Architecture and Urban Studies and The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1982.
6. Image courtesy of Suyin Chia, Cristian Martinez
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