march 2020
habitology
the bio -architecture issue
featuring: the organic architecture of Javier Senosian
volume 8
habitology {8} the bio -architecture issue
March 2020, habitology is a magazine dedicated to enriching our readers’ knowledge about the endless possibilities within architecture. Through different themes in each volume of our publication, our goal is to bring to light the various philosophies and deeper inspirations behind architectural creations, in hopes that it will change the way people view design throughout their journies wherever life takes them.
contents Bringing the Outside In
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Therapy in Nature
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The Organic Architecture of Javier Senosian
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Bringing the Outside In famous architects and their philosophies on bio-architecture
FRIEDENSREICH HUNDERTWASSER Thought straight lines were souless, boring; he hated how they were the accepted thoughtlessly as the standard for architecture, confining human beings within inhuman boundaries Hundertwasser was also an early advocate of environmentalism in architecture. The idea of mold being a part of someone’s daily living situation is a bit much, but several of the buildings pictured here use vegetation in pleasing ways.
For Wright, a truly organic building developed from within outwards and was thus in harmony with its time, place, and inhabitants. “In organic architecture then, it is quite impossible to consider the building as one thing, its furnishings another and its setting and environment still another... the spirit in which these buildings are conceived sees all these together at work as one thing.” he designed furniture, rugs, fabrics, glass, lighting, dinnerware, and graphic arts.
BRUCE GOFF
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FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT
During a truly eccentric career, he kept pushing the limits of organic architecture, both as a respected teacher and a prolific architect, by designing roughly 500 buildings, nearly 140 of which were built. He practiced what writer David G. De Long called “folk art,” delivering customized homes for those who appreciated his style, and clients tended to share Goff’s comfort with being iconoclasts.
Therapy in Nature calms depression
improves sleep
encourages balance
The inherent ‘peace and quiet’ of natural environments can help to clear your mind reduces feelings of tension and eases some of the symptoms of depression.
Poor quality sleep can have a negative impact on your mental health. Problems with sleeping are commonly linked to mental health disorders. Spending more time in nature exposes your body to natural light. Natural light helps to regulate your natural body clock, and having a good dose of sunlight regularly will allow you to normalize your sleep schedule and ensure you wake up feeling rejuvenated.
Research shows us bio-diverse nature has particular positive benefit for mental well-being. Multi-sensory elements such as bird or frog sounds or wildflower smells have well-documented beneficial effects on mental restoration, calm and creativity. Other senses – such as our sense of ourselves in space, our balance and equilibrium and temperature – can also contribute to us feeling restored by nature.
It encourages physical activity, which is a major factor in battling depression. Exercise increases your energy levels and makes you physically stronger; while movement also produces endorphins, the natural chemicals in your body that elicit feelings of pleasure.
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The Organic Architecture of Javier Senosian
In 1985, after years of researching bio-architecture and free-form design, Mexican architect Javier Senosiain set out to build his first project: a peanutshaped home set partially underground on a grassy hillside. Senosiain’s goal was to create spaces that completely embrace the human body, adapting to its scale and morphology without taking any notice of conventional preconceptions about what a proper house should look like. “The straight line is pretty much absent from nature: everything from microorganisms to the macrocosm, from DNA strands to galaxies, shifts in spirals,” explains the softly-spoken silver-haired 68-year-old. “Before we’re born, we’re floating in our mother’s belly, like astronauts in space or a permanent Jacuzzi, but then we’re pushed into a box, a crib, and we move from one box to another throughout our lives — playpens, bedrooms, square houses — until we die and are put in another box. We make life for children very square, killing off liberty, spontaneity, and creativity. My designs want to go against this rule of life.”
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CASA ORGANICA, 1985 | Naucalpan de Juarez, Mexi
“Principles of function, space, structure, and form apply to animals just like they do to us.”
ico
This proposal arose based on the requirements of the elementary functions of man: a space to live together, with room, dining room and kitchen and another to sleep, with dressing room and bathroom. The original concept is defined in two large spaces: one day and one night, looking for the feeling that inside the person will enter the land, that was aware of the uniqueness of this space without losing integration with the exterior green areas. The Casa OrgĂĄnica, overlooks the boxy gray sprawl of Naucalpan, an industrial-residential suburb northwest
of Mexico City. But, in contrast to its surroundings, there’s absolutely nothing gray or boxy about it. It took over four years to build because of limited funding and minor design issues. The result is a bespoke home that is divided into two zones, one social, the other more private and intimate. Outside, the building is covered in grass to form a rolling lawn that dips and dives like a landscape from the Teletubbies. As the round hobbit front door swings open, a narrow, white, carpet-lined corridor appears, which winds down to a series of wide and open multifunctional spaces. 9
Dotted with plastic skylights, cave-like lounge areas, and Flintstone-style gadgets, laundry-chute burrows, and waterfall sinks and showers, the interior is inviting, dizzying, and animalistic. Senosiain takes his cues from obvious organic-architecture references like Gaudí, Hundertwasser, and Frank Lloyd Wright, but is also heavily influenced by local experimental Modernists such as Félix Candela or Juan O’Gorman, whose neo-Aztec phase involved a radical shift from the rationalist projects to the outlandish pre-Columbian organic style of his 1956 studio house, which he built in Mexico City’s Jardines del Pedregal de
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San Ángel. Surprisingly, Senosiain also credits Luis Barragán as an inspiration. “Most people don’t see the connection to Barragán,” he consents, “but I had the good fortune to know him, and to visit his house and talk with him a number of times, and I believe there are many connections with his work — the enormous influence of nature, color, and craft. Also, the heavy volumes that are so important in vernacular Mexican architecture are very present.” Moreover, Senosiain’s home, just like Barragán’s own house and studio, represents a live-in model, a space that reflects the architect’s thought processes
and principles, his trials and errors. It’s a design philosophy and also a constant work in progress. Senosiain explains, “When we bought the land, the relationship with the context for me was tricky. But I figured that originally this site was green fields, so we tried to adapt to that original context. I am into this idea of organic architecture, it’s a process that has to be enjoyable.”
“In a way, like Barragán’s work, it is constantly changing, thinking by doing & living through the process, which is very important to me as well.”
Senosiain also values the emotional effect of moving from narrow, dark spaces to broad, open, illuminated ones. “Barragán always said that excessive light can be blinding, that animals are always looking for semi-darkness... In nature we see spaces like the bird’s nest where the male bird fetches materials and the female bird adapts them to her needs with her body. Rabbits, ants, and moles also create their burrows with their bodies, fabricate their home as a shell, with their secretions and excrements.” “Nowadays people are more aware of the environment, and the negative impact we’ve had on it. When I built this house people saw it as a wacky idea, but today I think people understand it better. The ideas of microclimates and natural insulation are better understood. Most of my clients are artists, bohemians, or nature buffs,” he proudly recounts. With a dozen projects completed over the past three decades, and teaching at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, has an expert perspective on the evolution of environmental design.
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the bio -architecture issue
habitology {8}
