MAKING PLACE STORE Art & Architecture Summer School 2018 Warsaw
Magdalena Bednarczyk Jan Kozlik Miriam Spalinska Barbara Nohr Zofia Szewczyk Dominika Kolenda Wiktor Przygoda Ewelinka Dochan Maja Kopyra Kirill Vilshenko Aleksandra Rokicka Tutors: Frederik Andersen Kevin Green Ashley Hinchcliffe Nyima Murry Gabriel Warshafsky
INTRODUCTION The Jazd혰w community is an extraordinary network of intimate, informal green spaces in the heart of Warsaw, framed by a collection of cabins inhabited by a wide NGO's and a handful of residents. Originally built to house architects and engineers during the city's postwar reconstruction, these cabins and their gardens now support a wealth of publicly accessible cultural activity. Yet many Varsovians, and even those walking through the surrounding Ujazd혰wski Park, remain unaware of the vital and verdant landscape in their midst. Students of our Warsaw Summer School were challenged this year to use techniques of play to draw passers-by to linger, wander into the Jazd혰w and engage with its cultural programme. Working for the second consecutive summer with Otwarta Pracownia, an open access workspace in the Jazd혰w community, students designed and constructed their installation together over the course of two weeks.
SITE GAMES As an introduction to the Jazd—w, students worked in pairs to develop a series of games for site investigation. Playful techniques helped to open eyes and ears to the unexpected, and encouraged a closer examination of the site's deeper corners and unique quirks, its patterns and essential character. -
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1 Walk the kerb Place one foot carefully in front of the other, following the kerb wherever it wants to take you. Feel where it dips, tilts and cracks. Don't rush: if you lose your balance and step off the kerb, return to the start.
2 Grandma's footsteps Your goal is to walk stealthily across the orchard, avoiding dry leaves and twigs, to touch a tree trunk at the other end of the garden, without being heard by your friend who sits at its base.
Sound maps
Leaf trails You must cross the woodland, stepping only on dry leaves. If you can't go any further, then you have five seconds to quickly cross the grass to the next patch of leaves. Repeat as the seasons shift.
4 3 Parallax progression Start at one end of the side walk. Look deeper into the Jazdรณw: you can only advance to the next paving stone once you spot the next orange triangle marker, which are carefully positioned so that only one can be seen at any given time.
Taking a pre-approved stick, sound out the surfaces of the site by hitting, scraping and prodding. Out of sight on the other side of the wall, your friend draws and aural map to guess the shape and texture of the space beyond.
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MAPPING TOOLS Following the emergence of a set of rules for each game, students were tasked with developing a tool to enhance or facilitate these site investigation techniques. This exercise doubled as an introduction to steam bending timber. By first soaking, and then steaming lengths of timber in a purpose built chamber, students were able to bend and twist a range of prototypical implements. In the process, careful observation of variables - soaking time, steaming time, timber thickess, tightness of curve, clamping technique, jig construction - allowed us to hone a reliable methodology, while suggesting the formal possiblities for the final installation.
Advancing on the principles of the ‘parallax progression’ game, lengths of spruce and ash are steamed to take the curve of tree trunks. From a single point, they align to echo the roof pitch particular to the Jazdów cabins in simple anamorphosis..
A length of ash, curved to follow the form of the shoulders, forms a yoke hung with glass bottles. This noisy burden enhances the difficulty of sneaking through the trees in ‘Grandma’s footsteps.’
An improved muscial stick for sound mapping features a tensioned wire and a comb of twigs to tease out the particular resonances of rubbed and scraped surfaces of the site.
Pre-soaked timber is steamed inside a ventilation pipe connected to a steam generator (in this case, a tea urn). Working quickly, before the timber fully cools, the length is bent slowly and smoothly around a jig, here improvised using palettes and logs.
Timber is held in place with clamps and screwed battens until fully cooled and set. Even at this stage, a certain degree of ‘spring-back’ is to be expected.
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PROTOTYPING Synthesising observations and themes from their site investigations, students began to explore ideas for the final installation through 1:1 tests. By drawing people in through playful activity, designs aimed to engage, surprise and subtly shift perception. In the 'follow the kerb' game, it was noted that the precariousness of the footing sensitised the body to the particular topography of the site. Balance became a key theme, explored through the proposition of new 'kerb' routes into the site, as well as the creation of seats linked in tension. Here, balance not only encourages a more intimate relationship with site, but encourages social activity: the seats require two people to sit at once, held in tension by one another's weight.
Initial prototype for tensioned seating: chairs that need two people to sit comfortably, whether facing one another or away.
Refining pairs of rocking seats through modelling, physical protoyping and testing.
SCHEME MODELLING In developing site-specific proposals, students were challenged to integrate play techniques from site games, but also to consider the making process as intimately linked with the spectacle of the closing event. A hybrid scheme combining balancing beams to draw passersby on adventurous routes into a site adjacent to an vacant cabin. Interlinked tension seats provide moments for more social play along the route. The site arrangement and an entrance portal offer the opportunity for anamorphic play, highlighting key elements of the unique architecture of the Jazd—w and drawing the eye ever deeper in. At the centre of the assemblage, a rank of timber steamers are used - for one night only - to serve a steamed feast. Developed through collaborative drawing and modelling, designs were presented in to a critique panel including Akademeia teaching staff and members of Otwarta Pracownia.
Iteration of scheme models at 1:20 and 1:50 forming the basis of informal discussion and design crits.
CONCRETE CASTING
In the lush green context of the park, and surrounded by trees, new concrete foundations for the installation were not appropriate. For stability, security and longevity, the installation would require pre-cast concrete anchors. Working with steel mesh and glass fibre reinforcement, we cast a set of three different elements: rocking bases for our tension seats, anchors to receive chairs at their interface with the balancing beams, and taller freestanding anchors for the beam.
Slender concrete rockers with a lap joint to fit a plywood stabiliser, heavily reinforced. Sheet steel was used to create a smooth base curve, and bolts cast in to receive the timber superstructure.
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3 Interface anchors, with slots and bolts on the upper surface to receive balancing beams and hardwood jaws to receive chair rockers.
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‘A’ shaped anchors to support beams in a higher position for use as tables at the final show.
STEAM BENDING Experimentation through early prototyping led to the selection of ash as the most viable timber for the balancing beam. A resilient hardwood, knot-free and relatively easy to bend once steamed, ash would combine strength and longevity while allowing ambitious forms. A set of jigs formed of stacked plywood sections on a palette base were used to define the curves for three standard modules, to be repeated and assembled to create multiple, meandering balancing beams. To create solid linear members resistant to twisting, curved sections of ash were doubled, sandwiched apart by further hardwood blocks and dowel jointed through. Finally, coat of clear oil adds weather resistance.
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Timber is soaked overnight in a tub.
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Each length is steamed for approx. 45 minutes per inch thickness.
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The straight length is pulled from the steamer and laid quickly into the jig, with straps and clamps at the ready.
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Working in a team, the timber is steadily pulled around each of the bends. A steel strap on the outside prevents splitting. The timber is then clamped in place at multiple points to cool.
SPECTACLE
In shaping an event to celebrate the inauguration of the new play installation, students sought to incorporate and amplify the theatricality of the steam-bending process, together with the sensory play of early site games. Experimenting with visual, audible and olefactory cues, students looked to place the timber steamers at the heart of a performative mechanical spectacle, using forced perspective, pulleys, catapults, bursting ballons and perfumed steam.
STEAM FEAST
After a week of construction, largely around the corner from the site at Otwarta Pracownia, the installation of our concrete and timber playscape was celebrated with a steam-powered feast. In the foreground, a double-barreled steamer completed a forced perspective aligned with the window of the derelict cabin behind, drawing the eye to the idiosyncracies of the Jazd—w's architecture. A pulley system was used to pull trays of bread, fish and dumplings out of the steamers, while elaborate mechanical spectacles announced that food was ready. Concrete anchors were cast to accommodate the balancing beams in two distinct arrangements. For the openeing event, beams arched high to form narrow tables for resting glasses and parcels of food. Turned later on their side, these curves form a sinuous low rail for walking along. Facing across these 'tables', pairs of linked rocking seats draw diners into a tentative game of balance. While the steamers were initially cleared away after the feast, the intention is that these rails should form part of an enduring playscape, drawing passers by through the park and into the unexpected pleasures of the Jazd—w world.
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Food is pulled on trays in and out of the timber steamers
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Parcels of fish and dumplings are laid in wire trays to allow steam to permeate on all sides.
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A shower of coloured salt is catapulted in the air to announce that food is ready.
WITH SPECIAL THANKS TO:
Akademeia High School, and especially Magdalena Strzelczyk for her support, guidance and invaluable input throughout the course.
Otwarta Pracownia for hosting our Summer School for the second year in a row. Particular thanks to Mateusz Potempski for giving his time to explain the history of the Jazdรณw and to critique our students, and to Karolina Bondar for her immense and continous support throughout. .
STORE STORE is an association of artists, architects and designers located in London. Founded in 2011, STORE has hosted and curated events and exhibitions, organised, designed and built projects, and delivered a range of educational programs. STORE is a non-profit social enterprise based in Hackney, where we recently became one of the first 15 businesses to be awarded the social enterprise mark award by the Mayor of Hackney. We have run education programmes in Hong Kong, London and Warsaw. We also organise and facilitate one-day workshops at various schools across the UK. Participants in STORE Schools spend a two week period engaged in a live project, where they are involved in processes of design, fabrication, and installation of new work, operating as part of a team of experienced tutors and craftsmen. Our summer school courses are designed for students from all backgrounds and disciplines who want to become involved in the creative industries. The rapid pace of technological, social and economic change pose great challenges for creative practitioners of every kind. In order to take advantage of new ideas and technology to create and disseminate work, it will be vital for the next generation of artists, architects and spatial practitioners to be able to collaborate, to work between disciplines, to operate independently and act unconventionally. STORE Schools offer participating students the opportunity to develop an independent and ambitious vision for their own future practice. We immerse our students in an active social environment, working in dialogue with local individuals and community groups to realise projects and events which can be experienced and enjoyed by the general public. Working alongside leading young practitioners in fine art, architecture, film-making and sculpture, in a non-hierarchical and collaborative environment, we aim to empower our students with the confidence, knowledge and skills to intervene effectively in the public sphere.
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