INFORMAL
Claire He . Beijing . OTHER NATURES . S14
...
Planting not to exploit nature to satisfy our practical needs
Planting not to exploit nature to satisfy our practical needs
... instead cultivate the reverence for nature for its inherent value.
Buckminster Fuller, Geodesic Dome Manhattan breaking: reference to devaluation of plants in aesthetic, and devotion for commercial purposes. See Greenhouse History chapter.
INTRO.
site choice
Hobbyists’ Dilemma
The project is sited in Beijing, China in reaction to the demolition of traditionally established hutong type in recent years. With the decimation of these inefficient single-level courtyard dwellings, so is lost the connected lifestyle that involves four or more families with the central courtyard that they shared. Hutongs are commonly associated with poor sanitation, crowdedness and the elderly fanning their exposed abdomens and other neighborhood activities under a fig or date tree in the summer.
image source:Baidu
INTRO.
site choice
Hobbyists’ Dilemma
Not only are the traditional housing types losing ground, Beijing prohibits excessive extensions over the roof. Complete with rock garden, water features ancient arboretum, trellis gardens, the penthouse rooftop was a dream garden for the professor. But in face of unsettled residents below claiming the structure to be a hazard because of potential for leakage (and absence of building permit), the project that took 6 years to complete was condemned to be removed within 15 days. image source:Sina News
INTRO.
site choice
Hobbyists’ Dilemma
“Nutty Professor’s Astonishing Blockbuster“ domain
“‘This was originally a small attic when he bought it. But he tore that down and built this mountain on top of us“ lower resident
“Beijing’sIllegal Roof-Top Garden Dismantled“ xinhua news
“Professor builds dream mountain villa where he can get away from it all. Only problem is, it’s on top of a Beijing apartment block (and the people underneath aren’t too happy)“
daily mail
There is a nostalgia for informal planting. Then, is it possible to accommodate it by reaching a balance between top-down, bottom-up opinions, and finding a system that is well-communicated and informed by both parties?
Informal
Carnegie Mellon School of Architecture 48-505 OTHER NATURES, Spring 2014 Instructor: Dana Cupkova Class of 2014
Responsible to both sustainable and social prospects to the existing tabula rasa apartment tower over Beijing, China, Informal renovates the stacked residences with chances for gardening conversations with neighbors in mid-air. The alien bamboo structures justify the encroachment with cleansing planters of cattails that promise residents that the conciliation would favor them with reusable water. The structures actually climb with the determination that there exists planting, not for the purpose of exploiting nature for practical needs, but instead, appreciating nature for its inherent value as something worth cultivating and revered. They meet the building with accessible platforms inviting such informal planting and renew with harvested stalks from the earth.
SITE
SITE.
city scale
39.9139° N 116.3917° E
颐源居 Yiyuan Ju Beijing apartment block area: 215535 m2 (53 ac) aging population among older population within city adjacent to major park
world weather online www.worldweatheronline.com
Temperate Elevation: 44m (143’) Temperature: winter [-5°C - 2°C] summer [18°C - 35°C] Precipitation: 576.9 mm (22.7”)
SITE.
neighborhood scale
exercise equipments planted area informal planting
SITE.
photos
Baidu www.baidu.com
ECOMACHINE.
resident background and living machine algorithm
bathroom Kitchen
bedroom bedroom
living
3.5 residents per unit Septic Tank
Wetland Area
261 L (69 gal)
X
8 units per floor
X
7 m3
27 floors
189 m3
per resident
per floor
building total
4 m2 (32 ft2)
112 m2
3024 m2
per resident
per floor
The living machine system to be integrated with the building will be serving the residents with 20% redunancy. Most families are middle-class, with the first 5 floors less affluent. Units were purchased 2002 mostly to middle-aged couples starting families. Some units are on the market for rent for both housing and office space. The lower floors with less mobility have stayed relatively constant.
building total
ECOMACHINE.
test fit filtration area per floor
placed on roof
Septic Tank 2.5x2.5x1 m3 = 7 m3 Wetland Area 10.5x10.5x1 m3 = 112 m3 dispersed vertically infilling building cruciform geometry
DEMOGRAPHICS.
projection + vertical stratification
current
projection 2034
FEAR
diseases: alzeimers, dementia, heart constant monitor defficiency social isolation
9.5% 80 people above age 65
Socializing demand source: The Economist, Healthcare Strategies For an Aging Society
37% 304 people above age 65
RESPONSE emergency clinic board game facilities plaza (dance, exercising) classroom/ ampitheater
The project anticipates the accentuated demand for semi-public spaces within the residential tower at the prelude to retirement and the rise of the graying age. The accessible gardens provide tertiary semi-public zones that starts to delight the transition between the existing primary large open public zone at ground level and secondary circulatory tight core space. Year 2034 is chosen as sample year because in 2034 major wave of residents reach the retirement age of 65.
IMPLEMENTATION
IMPLEMENTATION.
wetland distribution basics
IMPLEMENTATION. system diagram
ECOMACHINE.
scheme
3 towers
The wetland load is divided to infill East, South and West of the existing building.
tower accessibilty
The East and West towers are accessible to all residents through core access. With the change of dropping the existing window in the core into a fulllength doorway. The South tower is assible through the balcony for adjacent units.
accessible floor-intervals
Accessible platforms are spaced every 6 floors to provide enough air space and solar access for domestic orchards and imply mini vertical communities. While wetland plates occur every other floor.
IMPLEMENTATION. system section
septic tank resevoir
IMPLEMENTATION.
main access paths
site reference
IMPLEMENTATION.
site plans
roof
typical floor
IMPLEMENTATION.
solar varitations Final
March
9:00
12:00
15:00
* see solar iterations in miscellaneous chapter
June
December
IMPLEMENTATION.
solar varitations with structure Final
March
9:00
12:00
15:00
June
December
IMPLEMENTATION.
Big Bambu
material precedent
The materialistic system proposed by Big Bambu’s thinking of continual growth, redundancy that speaks through their work is a precedent for Informal.
IMPLEMENTATION.
program precedent
Garden and House Ryue Nishizawa
Programmatically egalitarian between plants and humans, this is a precedent for the project to look for a balance and ambiguous hierarchy. Rather than favoring one over the other, the responsiblity from both parties, plants and humans, for each other is showcased.
IMPLEMENTATION.
assembly module
skeleton
skeleton
stablize
inter-level
stablize
threshold
threshold
access
staged
access
duo-ism
Residents are baffled by this anomaly. They now share a project that has no correct answer, one that is never quite finished and perpetuates on growth and disintegration. The activities of the wetlands and growers inform it to extend, shade, or expel.
“Even though it gives us satisfaction keeping this organic mechanical filtration system for the benefit of our planet... the fragrance from our neighbor’s jasmine plant shames us all of our planting skills.�
“Did you hear? They voted on making a raft from the felled ones from the thunderstorm last night. Completely pointless if you ask me. Hey! Those stalks weren’t there before!“
THANK YOU Claire He . Beijing . OTHER NATURES . S14
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MISCELLANEOUS
MISCELLANEOUS.
models
MISCELLANEOUS.
wetland distribution matrices i
V1
V2
V3
V4
MISCELLANEOUS.
wetland distribution matrices ii
V1
V2
V3
V4
MISCELLANEOUS.
East
9:00
12:00
3:00
solar rotation analysis East
MISCELLANEOUS.
West
9:00
12:00
3:00
solar rotation analysis West
MISCELLANEOUS.
South
9:00
12:00
3:00
solar rotation analysis South
MISCELLANEOUS.
material matrices i
Basic XY, ZY surfaces and points defined
Points defined by surface division, distances to attraction point(s) drawn.
ZY dimension surface divided, no relation to XY Pipes dimensions were toggled depending on division points except for common attraction point. proximity to attraction point.
MISCELLANEOUS.
material matrices i
MISCELLANEOUS.
material matrices i
MISCELLANEOUS.
material matrices i
GREENHOUSE HISTORY
GRENNHOUSE HISTORY
“Is it contrary to nature to require a rose in winter and to use hot water to force them from winter the later blooms of spring?“ - Seneca
BEGINNINGS Ways to preserve nature limited to horticultural shelters. The first documented was Caesar Tiberius’s wheeled cucumber carts and sheltering that allowed his majesty to treat his ailments with everyday doses of the vegetable. Until the 16th century, these plant mobiles were a dominant strategy for up-keeping treasured crops through winter. Italians developed similar strategies to transport precious foreign plants into the sun in day, and more conditioned shelters at night. Gowning individual plants for their comfort e.g. providing protection using straw caps over fruits, was once a popular way for preservation too. These individualized adornments for plants receded at the integration of removable panes of sheltering and later glass.
14~37
Tiberius Caesar used hotbeds on wheels or hotstones to maintain temperature for planting
23~79
Pliny describes protects young plants using straw caps
380
winter roses forced by pouring warm water into planting ground trenches twice a day
1385
flowers grown in a glass pavilion oriented to the south
“...exhibit spring and summer in the midst of winter...to give man so proud a command over Nature.“ - Loudon
LIBERAL age: The Liberal Age is a time for scientific, empirical fascination, world travel, and collection of specimen. Scholars frequently exchanged letters, books, pamphlets of their findings with botanical illustrations of exotic plants shipped from voyages across seas. Botanical conservatories thrived in the attention, so much that the late Victorian writers would refer this age as having a “mania“ for glasshouses. But the craftsmanship for forming glass panels and structures were passed down by an eclectic 10 families. Ownership of greenhouses was a sign of status.
16thc
Renaissance period, the middle class emerged with the interest for empirical methods
1500s
carnations available during winter because of orientation and accumulative solar heating
1500s
glass craftsmanship develops, manufacturing glass bells to cover plants
1385
Fugger of Augsberg builds orangery in Germany referencing Italy’s models
1597
plant beds insulated with mats, cloth, straw, etc.
“...such artificial climates will not only be stocked with appropriate birds, fishes and harmless animals, but with examples of the human species from the different countries imitated, habited in their particular costumes and who may serve as gardeners or curators of the different productions.“ - Loudon
ARTIFICIAL haven, The control over our living environment could be seen today as mundane conditioning of ambient spaces for human activities, but for the 18th~19th century, this practice resembled the blossoming confidence, positivity for technology. The glass cases often were filled with artefacts from archaeological digs, and sometimes species from the animal kingdom besides romanticized exotic botanic pieces. Creating the artificial environment went through a history of trial and error with heat circulation, air ventilation, chemical attributes (forcing CO2, conducting rainwater pH for instance) that resulted in many forms of mechanical systems for the created environment.
16thc
orangeries typically adopted the southern glass façades
1610s
Mollet proposes frames covered with glass panes, and indoor environment heated with manure
1611 subtropical trees were imported and maintained with removable panels for open air and radiation growth in the summer 1668 Lord Sandwich discovers burning of high-sulfur coal in greenhouse is toxic to plants, new ventilation strategies were sought for 1675
invention of greenhouses with warm water system
“In hothouses, nature has been imitated, more or less perfectly in most things...There is still something missing. What makes up the want of those refreshing and genial breezes, which fan and invigorate the real nature?“ - Loudon
AUTOMIZATION Automation of the botanical gardens gained prominence in the mid 19th century. The series of technological advancements enlivened many other fields that required constructions from iron and glass, and the transportation of liquid, solid, gaseous materials and energy. This made greenhouse construction considerably cheaper material wise, but industrial revolution deprived private garden owners of free labor, and prices for labor were not dropping. Botanists and horticulturists then grew in sensitivity for the elements that influence the formulae of growth for their collections, and technology tried to reach these desired conditions for plant growth, with minimum help from the hands of humans as possible. Meanwhile, the heat loss through the glass form caught engineers’ attention as well, conflicting with glassy crystallized aesthetic aspirations.
18thc
lean-to greenhouses with heating flues became popular
1714
Wolkames describes below ground flue heating with heated water system
1718
hot water heating system introduced
1720
first greenhouse with glass on all sides installed in Boston and Chicago
1731
Fahrenheit and Celsius thermometers were invented
1787
lead frames discovered toxic to plants, wood and iron frames preferred
“Who loves a garden, loves greenhouses too. “ - William Cooper
PRIVATE gardens In the early 18th century, the glass appendix to a household became a symbol of elegance, refined taste, and knowledge. Architectural concerns touched on the immense heat loss from the rising domes, the ambiguity of the view of the master to the slaves tending the gardens, and the open planning and flexibility of the plants to be carted away to make space for larger gatherings of entertainment. From dance, to everyday stroll, the conservatories continuously served as the summer house. Automated systems reduced the labor force of maintaining the gardens, but the garden typology has evolved to house the head caretaker of the gardens within the garden building cloisters, and accommodate up to 150 gardeners off site.
19thc applied engineering; development of even-span greenhouses and steam and hot water heating systems; commercial greenhouse enterprises budding 1811
forced air ventilation available to households
1824
Joseph Fourier proposes Greenhouse Effect
1836
Boston becomes the center of frame-greenhouse vegetable production
1849
hot water heating systems became common
1845
tax abolishment on glass, making glass an accessible construction material
“A few years ago, before the true flower garden began to get a place in men’s minds, many of the young gardeners refused to work in places where there was no glass...glass houses are a precious gain; but for a beautiful flower garden, they are almost needless...“ - William Robinson
PUBLIC gardens Construction of public gardens earned enough funding in the 19th century, as large spans of iron and glass costs and taxes fell. Besides reducing the price of construction, industrial revolution also empowered the middle and working-class the privilege to live in the city, where wealth concentrated. If the privately owned gardens carted the botany to the background to ensure space or the activities of the parties, public gardens involved permanent relegation of plants to the edges of the garden for installations to accommodate for public necessities. These stalls include refreshment cafés, bars, and assembly rooms, camouflaged at times, to imitate in various geographies, climates and cultures. The growing anthropocentric-ism of these houses contradicts with the previous ages’ awe for the existing, objective and scientific.
1851
Paxtons’ Crystal Palace opens
1860
hotbed mass vegetable production became economic stable near Boston
1890
incandescent lamps for up-keeping being experimented
1894
1/3 acre greenhouse built outside Boston
1899 greenhouse industry produced on 2,200 acres floriculture and agriculture combined wholesale to be $2.25 million
“This (great exhibitions) was the result of the desire to amuse the working class by holding festivals of emancipation“ \ - Walter Benjamin
“And last came Prince Albert to proclaim that England should no longer be misunderstood; that from the ends of the earth foreigners should come to universal jubilee of the arts of peace; ... that mistakably should be exhibited the results of many varying races: the artistry of the Celts and dark skins, and the mechanism of the fair-haired Saxons.“ - W Bridges Adams
GREAT exhibitions The 1851 London Great Exhibition was a turning point for the culture of encasement. The event symbolized the graspable, harmony and peace, and the ability of the glass case to embody this atmosphere of transparent communication of the world. The structure and mechanization was a miracle advancement in itself, and inspired the next century of Great Exhibitions to come to vie for the same splendor that the Crystal Palace had dazzled the generation with. “i remember from my own childhood years how the news of the Crystal Palace reached over into Germany...All that we imagined from old fairy tales of princesses in glass caskets, of queens and elites who live in crystal houses, seemed to us to be embodied in it.“ - Julius Lessing
use of electricity in greenhouses; expansion of glasshouse production with reduced frame to glass ratio for building models; industrialization and mass automation of greenhouse production 1904
(Europe and USA) 80-90% of area under glass is converted from frames to plantable area
1909
Proposals for vertical farming in its infancy
1914
Bruno Taut’s Glass Pavilion was completed at the height of German Expressionism
1924
artificially lit growth chambers integrated
1929
hyprodponics introduced
1929
initiation of education of environmental historians
“Ninety-nine percent of who you are is invisible and untouchable.“
Utopian device for the production of unlimited numbers of virgin sites on a metropolitan location.“
“Pollution is nothing but the resources we are not harvesting. We allow them to disperse because we’ve been ignorant of their value.“ - Rem Koolhaas - Buckminster Fuller
BEYOND the crystal The crystal palace not only marked an explosion of public attractions to the universal cosmos, peace and world communication, progression, it also broadcasted and proved within reach, the architectural fantasies of the glistening jewel. The protective properties of glass foretold a future of transparency and a multitude of structural expression. Greenhouses, on the other hand, lost their initial allure as the generation fantasized about the possibilities of larger constructions with the new material. With the prediction and rising of skyscrapers, the fervor for investing in glass for horticulture waned in the cities. Greenhouses now have fallen into the hands of the mass production agricultural or sustanable cultures.
“And last came Prince Albert to proclaim that England should no longer be misunderstood; that from the ends of the earth foreigners should come to universal jubilee of the arts of peace; ... that mistakably should be exhibited the results of many varying races: the artistry of the Celts and dark skins, and the mechanism of the fair-haired Saxons.“ - W Bridges Adams
1940 Buckminster Fuller’s Dymaxion Deployment Units, low-cost shelters built from Butlerís metal grain bins, deployed 1953
The Ford dome, the first practical application of the geodesic dome, is completed
1960
environmental movements in the US
1970
computer-aided environmental climatic regulation is introduced
1980
initiation of acrylic and polycarbonate panels used as glazing materials
1987 Biosphere 2, an artificial, materially enclosed ecological greenhouse constructed for scientific purposes 2000 change
United Kingdom bring together scientists, economists, engineers, to address issues from climatic