UG 11
Archive of Romance Language Theatre whispers
archive
Heidi Au Yeung Yat Ning 歐陽逸寧
Prologue Archive of Romance Language Theatre is an excavation into the history of theatre, discovering its origins from Latin plays. The earliest recorded Latin Theatrical Literature was written in 254BC by Plautus. Through performance the plays became stories that were told through generations and recorded down by scribes. As books developed, original manuscripts were transcribed, became palimpsests, rewritten and into books and now digitized into e-books. With time these theatre plots were also translated into different languages as Latin developed into the various Romance languages. With each translation of the play, parts of the plots were lost and rewritten, creating the diversity of theatrical literature and media today. The archive will collect these materials from the original manuscripts to the digital version, from the Latin plays to their translations in Romance languages, allowing the history of theatrical literature to be traced. The Archive is situated within the facades of a city block in Flaminio District of Rome, retaining the fascist exterior and rewriting its content. The floorless excavates 30m underground with a 10 X 10 m structural grid which allows a flexible storage system for the archival material. Each level of storage is dedicated to a time period organised chronologically such that the building is a physical timeline of the development of theatrical literature. Spaces for the conservation of manuscripts, digitization of archival material, reading rooms, and recital spaces are carved this density of archived material.
Archive of Romance Language Theatre whispers
archive
Italy
SCALE 1.300 000
Apennine Mountains
River Tiber
Length : 406 km Depth : 7 - 20 ft deep Drain Basin : 17375km2 Flood Season: Late Sep - Early Jan 3rd Longest River in Italy, Main water supply for the country Significant to trade and commerce.
Rome Ostia
Adriatic Sea
Tyrrhenian Sea
Ionian Sea
Roman Cement
The Romans had pionered the global concrete production. Their cement mixture consisted of lime and volcanic rock producing C-A-S-H (calcium-aluminum-silicate-hydrate ) The higher aluminium content forms a crystal lattice that increases the strength and durability of resultant structure. Italy's Cement Industry Production North : 47% Central 18% South + Islands 35% The widespread distribution allows production plants to be relatively close to the construction site. Italcementi Group leads the market. Consumption Per capita cement consumption: 787kg Industries Housebuiling : 36% Portland Limestone Cement accounts for 65% of Civil Engineering : 33% consumption Commercial + Industrial : 31 % No. of Cement Plants: 91
Locations:
Map of Rome Scale 1.15000
Stadio Olimpico
Site
Palazeto Dello Sport Complex
Stadio Flaminio
Piazza del Popolo
Vatican City
Pantheon
Site
Cultural Locations
Libraries
Rome, Italy The building is situated in the ancient city of Rome, also the capital city of Italy. The city flourished from River Tiber that runs through its center, enabling commerce and trade. Whilst the city has been rebuilt through the years in layers, many concrete structures remain standing today from the Roman Empire.
Colleseum
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LocatingK the Site
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Scale 1.1000
Foro Italia Sports Complex
OfficeBlock
Rome, Lazio Province, Italy 12.47447; 41.93314
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RIVER TIBER Third largest river in Italy
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University Gym PalaLuiss
VILLAGIO OLYMPICO Ponte Duca D'Aoasta Reinforced Concrete Bridge (Built 1942) Designed by Fincenzo Fasolo Tram Station
Main Bus Station Entry point to the district
Club Circolo della Stampa di roma
FLAMINO DISTRICT
Private Parking Lot 80 Spaces
Residential Complex Shops at Ground Leve;
Littered Park Tennis Courts
Lung o
teve
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minio
Piazza Mancin
Small Open Ampitheatre
Low seating spaces to eat and watch games
Via
Lui g
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Art Secondary School Liceo Artistico Statale Via di Ripetta
Private Parking Lot 200 Spaces
Via
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Sports Club Cavalieri di Colombo - Campo Pastor Angelicus
zo
Ro
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no MAXXI Art Museum MAXXI Museo nazionale delle arti del XXI secolo
Via
le P
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Residential Complex Shops at Ground Leve;
Key
BUILDINGS
LANDSCAPE
WATER
VEGETATION/PARK
SITE AREA
ROAD PATHS
TRAM WAY
Site Model 1.5000
Stadio Olimpico
Foro Italico Sports Complex
Ministry of Foreign Affairs Fontana del Globo
Stadio della Farnesina
Piazza Mancini
SITE
Foro Italico Sports Complex MAAXI Museum
Stadio Flaminio Palazeto Dello Sport Complex
Parco De Musica
A site model understanding how the site relates to its surrounding context. The axes drawn informs the opennings that are required on the facade to create views from the building.
Translations Design Development
Romania
Italy
France Spain
Portugal
The site is overlayed with the European map at a scale of 1.20000 to identify the relative distances that the Romance languages have been translated.
This evolution of Latin Languages draws a parallel with concrete whispers.
The relative portion of literature produced by the Romance languages.
The building represents the translation and development of the Romance Languages. The Latin language originated from a small settlement on the Tiber River called Latium as a small tongue in 1000 BC. Latium later became the city of Rome and as the Roman empire grew, as did the usage of Latin. The Latin language is the bedrock of the language of Western Civilization. The Romance Languages of Spain, France, Italy, Portugal, and Romania developed from a hybrid version of spoken Latin and native tongues.
Parallel Translations Program Development
2000AD
1900 AD
1800 AD
1700 AD
1600 AD
1500 AD
1400 AD
1300 AD
1200 AD
1100 AD
1000 AD
900 AD
800 AD
700 AD
600 AD
500 AD
400 AD
300 AD
200 AD
100 AD
0
100 BC
200 BC
This evolution of Latin Languages draws a parallel with concrete whispers.
300 BC
Latin
French
Spanish
Catalan
Portugese
Italian
Romance Languages Literature Production The graph marks out the development of the Romance Languages with the density of literature production. The Red line traces the translation of Plautus' plays.
The Latin language originated from a small settlement on the Tiber River called Latium as a small tongue in 1000 BC. Latium later became the city of Rome and as the Roman empire grew, as did the usage of Latin. The Latin language is the bedrock of the language of Western Civilization. The Romance Languages of Spain, France, Italy, Portugal, and Romania developed from a hybrid version of spoken Latin and native tongues.
Romanian
Digital
Palimpsest Program Development
2000 AD Multispectral ophotography using UV and Infrared rays studies the Palimpsests
20 Full Copies Remain today
Amphitryon
Asinaria
Aulularia
Bacchides
Mercator
Miles Gloriosus
Mostellaria
Persa
Captivi
Casina
Curculio
Curculio
Poenulus
Pseudolus
Rudens
Stichus
Epidicus
Menaechmi
Trinummus
Truculentus
1900 AD Palimpsest discovered and read using a reagent.
1500 AD Codexkept in Germany
1300 AD Codex Ambrossian was palimpsested. 32 Parchments
Acharistio
Addictus
Agroecus
Agroecus 1100 AD Codex Vossians Leiderisis was palimpsested.
Artemo
Astraba
Bacaria
Boeotia 1000 AD Codex Camerarri was moved to a German monastery.
Caecus
Calceolus
Carbonaria
Cesistio
Colax
Commorientes
Condalium
Cornicula
900 AD Codex were rewritten from Majuscule to Miniscule script, causing the Manuscript to split into two sets
Copied Erased Translated Adopted Palimsest
Dyscolus
Faeneratrix
Fretum
Frivolaria
Fugitivi
Hortulus Lenones Gemini
Lipargus
Nervolaria
Phago
Parasitus Medicus
Parasitus Piger
Plocinus
Saturio
Schematicus
Sitelliter-
Trigemini
500 AD Plautus Plays recorded in Codex
400 AD Plautus Plays recorded in Codex
78 Lost Plays
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Codex Ambrosianus
205 BC Plautus Writes Plays
It is recorded that Plautus has written 130 plays. However, only 20 of them are extant today with many lost as they plays were staged, read, translated, and imitated in vernacular compositions. It is believed that Plautine plots furnished the basis for over five hundred comedies in every European language.
Whisper Archive 1.500 Model
The bulding is created from layers of books from which spaces are cut out from. The spaces represent the progression of language and through history such that the building is an excavation of language development.
Library of Libraries 1.200
Musahino Art University Sou Fujimoto
Dokk1 Aarhus Schmidt Hammer Lassen
Vennesla Library Helen & Hard
Sendai Mediateque Toyo Ito
Seattle Library OMA
Book Mountain MVRDV
Stuttgart City Library Yi Architects
Espana Library Giancarlo Mazzanti
Bishan Library LOOK Architects
Agadir Convention Center OMA
Tama Art University Library Toyo Ito
Hunt Library Snohetta
Tres Grande Bibliotheque OMA
Library of Birmingham Mecanoo Amsterdam Public Library Jo Coenen and Co.
Jussieu Two Libraries OMA
Rolex Learning Center SANAA Vasconcelos Library Alberto Kalach
Gifu Media Cosmos Toyo Ito
A series of existing libraries were studied in the design development to understand the spatial requirements and arrangements.
Library References 1.3500
Alberto Kalach / Vasconcelos Library Situated in Mexico City, the library is a 250m steel structure from which all its shelving is suspended, This project is relevant in its elongated site and arrangement of its book, and inspire in its structural system
Murphy/Jahn / Mansueto Library Situated in the University of Chicago, the library is composed of an underground Automated Storage and Retrieval System that maximises the library capacity to store 3.5 million books. This project is inspiring in its shelving system but also storage capacity.
OMA / Tres Grande Bibliotheque This was part of an international competition based on the concept of 'library spaces excavated as voids from a ''solid cube'' containing the archives'.
A set of references overayed on the building site to understand how the concept of the references could be applied in scale.
History of Libraries Program Development
684 BC Celsus Library. Ephesus 90m2 hall Decorated with Statues and Medallions Wooden shelving placed in recesses along the walls. Exclusive access to nobels Purely for the safe keeping of knowledge
800 AD Desk Libraries Special rooms with desk and seating were added to libraries.
900 Stall System Rows were perpendicular to the windows of outer wall to ensure better lighting whilst books stored in shelves.
1300 Hall Libraries Shelving integrated in richly ornamented walls of rennaisance architecture, combining architecture, sculpture, painting, books and crafts. uniting the three functions of libraries: storage, administration and use. Galleries crowned with vaulting dome and frescoes.
1700 Tripartite Library Library were divided into three sections associated with respective functions: storage, reading and adminstration. A large reading room sits in the centre of the building, ventilated and lit with four courtyards. Special rooms for manuscripts are sitauted around the centre. A catalogue room, archive space and individual rooms for the librarian and book binder are situated at the back. No relationship between function and built form - look like any community buildings.
1900 Functions of the building become explicit on the facade. Stock room volume becomes dominant section Separate tower like volumes for closed sotrage areas/ Library is no longer just a store, but a place where books could be lent
Open Plan lay out with Spatial Zonning shelving articulate the space into distinct reading zones, uniting users with the relevant media. Flexibility becomes key with layout based on a grid of low bearing columns and downstnad beams
2000 Social libraries OPen arrangement of stocks with distinctions ebtween various spaces for different age groups.
Mediateque Flexible Space and Free Access With technological development, libraries need to accomodate digital media and thus the introduction of multimedia libraries.
Roman Library
IN DOOR : BOOKS STORED
OUTDOOR : BOOKS READ
Large Room with shelving for the storage of books
Portico on which books are read / recited aloud to an audience
Garden where people would walk and read
The need for libraries began from the production of written material, creating places for the preservation of knowledge. The design of libraries have been influenced by three main factors: the materiality of the stored material, the number of stored material and the functions use.
Library Systems Program Development
DEWEY
0 0 0 . 0 0 0 . XXX Human Knowledge
Main Subject
Topic
Specific Subject
Author Surname
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
0 0 0 0
XX00 0 0 . X0 0 Subject
Author Last Name
Author Surname
UNIVERSAL DECIMAL CLASSIFICATION
0 0 0 . 0 0 0 . 0 0 0 ... Main Class
COLON CLASSIFICATION
X , 0 0 ; 0 0 : X . 0 0 ' X0 Main Class
Subject
Method
Matter
Location
Time
BLISS SYSTEM
XXX
XXX
XXX X
Main Class
WHISPER CLASSIFICATION
X , 0 0 X Language L F S I
Latin French Spanish Italian
Year
BC/AD
X
XX Playwright Initials
P Portugese R Romanian OR Other Romance OL Other Language
X0
Theme O M V P P
Opera Musical Verbutim Parody Political
T TC C H A
Tragedy Tragic Comedy Comedy Historical Action
X 0 LETTER
NUMBER
Library Systems define the way libraries are organised. The Whisper Classification is developed specifically for the Archive, allowing users to trace the history of their theatrical texts.
Original/ Translated
Version
Program Program Development
Street
Carpark Street Meeting Room
Delivery Meeting Room
Office Lockers
Meeting Room
Info Desk Foyer
Meeting Room
Toilets
Reshelving Stack
Storage
Issue/Return Books
Cafe
Assess Books
Exhibition Space Children Area
Digitizing / Publications
Restore
[ Special Collection ]
Theatre
[General Stack ]
R.R. Romanian Collection
R.R. French Collection
French Collection
Other Romance Languages
Other Romance Languages
Latin Collection
R.R.
Latin Collection
Toilets
Toilets
Other Languages Spanish Collection
Spanish Collection
Italian Collection
R.R.
Portugese Collection
Italian Collection
Portugese Collection
R.R.
R.R.
Special Reading Room
Digital Collection
Staff
General Public
Secured Assess
Books
Private Spaces
Public Spaces
Semi Controlled Highly Controlled Environments Environments
Libraries exist to preserve society's cultural artifacts and to provide access to them. A mapping of the different spaces required and their connectivity in the library, inspired by the references.
Toilets
Building : A Timeline Program Development
Year Represented
Depth underground Scale 1.500
The building represents the physical translation of original latin manuscripts into different languages through time. It is defined by a shelving system supported by five main cores. Each core represents a Romance language, positioned in their relative geographic location and height determined by the length of their history. Each shelf represents a decade, with the ground level being the current year and the building excavating downwards according to the history of each language.
Existing Facade Scale 1.500
Understanding the current design of the city block's facade and the openings they create.
Archival Materials Scale 1.50
2014 AD Audio Books
2001 AD Ebooks
1986 AD Encyclopedia. the first book, put on CD Rom
1939 AD Pocket Novels
1870 AD Introduction of dime novels
1500 AD Paper back book introduced
1440 AD Guetenberg invents book printing 400-600AD Illuminated Manuscripts Codex
1AD Codex
200 BC Wax Tablets
500 - 200 BC Parchment Scrolls
2400 BC Papyrus Scrolls
3500 BC Clay Tablets
Evolution of how literature has been recorded.
Catalogue of the different archival materials and sizes.
A catalogue of the different mediums in which literature has been recorded. As such the archive has to accomodate for the different sizes and environmental conditions required spceific to each product for their storage and conservation.
Internet Archive Program Research
Digitiation of books in dark booths with book scanners.
Digitized books are stored in an off site repositories, making space in central buildings for other functions. It aims to preserve one copy of every pulished work. 1. Books are cataloged, and have acid free paper inserts with information about the book and its location, 2. Boxes store approximately 40 books with labeling on the outside, 3. Pallets hold 24 boxes each, 4. Modified 40' shipping containers are used as secure and individually controllable environments of 50 or 60 degrees Fahrenheit and 30% relative humidity,
Digital Collection of Materials exceeds 15 Petabytes, stored in data servers. Whilst the material is digital, it is still stored in servers with a 3-5 year lifetime and will be replaced by new servers and means of storage.
Online Library accesible for all.
The Internet Archive is a Non profit organisation founded in 1996 to build an internet library from books to texts, audio, moving images and webpaged. They collect and digitize all accessible texts, storing them in a physical archive and in digital form on a Web Collection.
Storage Typologies Design Development
Open Shelving Minimally arranged spaces creates a grid of open access shelving with corridor walkways running inbetween.
Automated Storage and Rerival System The compact and digitized storage compacts storage space required. Used for the mass produced books published since 1500s.
Data Servers Storing digitized archival materials.
Overlayed Plan ''Landscape is a palimpsest upon which inhabitation is inscribed, physcially and metaphorically recording man's impact on the environment as layers are altered destroyed and added to, allowing us to understand our past and its relationship with the future''
Three storage methods have been adopted to accomodate for the different storage conditions required by the diverse and number of archival material. They have been designed to fit into the 10 X 10m structural grid of the site. Just as Rome is palimpseted landscape, the different storage typologies creates a palimpsetted plan.
Scale 1.200
Palimpsested Material Design Development
As new material is developed, new storage methods creating a palimpsest landscape within the building as data servers overwrites the ASRS system, which overwrites the standard open shelves in turn.
Scale 1.100
Underground Rome
The temple of the Divine Claudius and it's underground Quarry
Mithras Temples hidden below modern Rome
Passage down to the Aqua Virgo Aqueduct
The city of Rome, as we know it today, sits on top of a complex network of tunnels, chambers and passageway. These underground construction ranges from Ancient Roman's quarry for tuff - a building material from which cement originates, catacombs, religious cults gathering places, the Cloaca Maxima sewer and many more to be discovered. Geologist Matthew Scott Web explains tha the ' . Underground ancient Roman quarries, when plotted on a map make Rome look like a Swiss Cheese.'The building will add to this dense nework of underground construction, acting as another hole in the swiss cheese. Rome's landscape has been written over through the centuries, from an uninhabited piece of land to a densely populated capital city. Each layer of history is exposed as archaelogical excavation reveals the remnants of its past.
Book Capacity Program Development
0.35m - 0.50m
0.25m 0.01m - 0.10m
Books
0.35m - 0.50m
0.675m
4.0m
0.25m 1.0m
10 X 1.5 m Open Shelf Books have an average thickness of 7.8cm. Each shelf should only be 3/4 full to allow space of retrieving and ordering books. Thus each shelf holds 140 books.
Other Languages Shelf Romanian Shelf French Shelf Portugese Shelf 0.50m
Spanish Shelf Latin Shelf
9m
10m
9m
0.25m 0.25m 1.0m
10 X 1.5 m Open Shelf Each Open Shelf has a length of 9m with a 1m circulation space along its length and width. Fitted with shelving spaced every 0.50m
10 X 10m Open Shelf system Every 10 X 10 m grid will fit 6 open shelves. 100m
100 X 50m Site This is the largest rectangular area that could fit a 10 X 10 structural grid system to maximise flexibility of the library.
50m
Calculating the capacity of books on site. 140 books / 9m length of shelving 1400 books / Shelf 8400 books / 10 X 10m Grid of shelving
42. 000, 000 books / 5000m2 Ten million books is approximately the size of a world-class library.
Archive Shelf Design Development
A shelf in the Latin Section of the Archive. Scale 1.1
Colour Code Design Development
Cores Scale 1.500
Spanish Core R 196 G 122 B 127
Romanian Core R 149 G 60 B 255
Portugese Core R 140 G 221 B 162
Latin Core R 196 G 122 B 127
French Core R 22 G 200 B 222
Colours are symbolic, associative, synesthetic, and emotional
Color Psychology
Color Neuropyschology
Color + Visual Ergonomics
Color connotations and color mood associations are universal, creating psychological mood or ambiance that supports the function of a space
The way the brain processes and reacts to colours in a space affects the user experience and behaviour within the space.
Coloured surfaces have different light reflection and bsorption values, affecting the luminous density of a space.
Understimulated environment are weak intensities of colors, monochromatic harmonies, achromatic colors, weak or monotonous color contrasts.
Spaces should have a 3:1 light reflection ratio where the lightest color (60%) divided by the darkest (20%) is a ratio of 3:1
Overstimulated environment are highly saturated colours, with complex and incongruous color harmonies and patterns.
Floors should reflect about 20%, furniture 2540%, walls 40-60%
Not only do colours have an aesthetic impact, its use within architecture also affects the user experience and behaviour. Each Romance Language has an associated colour to identify where the archival material of the respective language are stored, aiding navigation through the building.W
Sketches Design Development
Recital Space Section
Plan
Transfer of languages
Entrance Level
Digital Reading Area
Children Area
Children Area
Initial sketches to design individual spaces of the building.
FunctionalSpaces Design Development
'French' Core Lift
'Romanian' Core Lift
'Portugese' Core Lift
'Spanish' Core Lift and Stairway
'Latin' Core Lift and Stairway
Buidling Cores Sized according to amount of speakers and situated relative to geopgrahic location.
Restoration Tools
Small Restoration Units
Large restoration lab
Manuscript Restoration Labs
Storage
Meeting Rooms
Working Desks
Staff Office and Common Space
Communal Space Digitization Booths Large Material Digitization Rooms
Book Digitization Studios
ASRS Collection Points Special Reading Room ASRS Collection Points
Special Reading Room
ASRS Collection Points
Automated Storage And Retrieval System Collection Points
Toilet
The specific functional spaces were designed in parts as an archaelogical excavation through the dense collection of archival materials such that storage space is maximised. Bookshelf Pathways
Children Reading and Recital Spaces
Children Reading Area Media Booths
Media Cluster
Toilets
Open Media Space
Digital Media Reading Spaces
Storage Space Dressing Space
Cloak Room I
Toilets
Recital Performance Space and Storage Room
Cloak Room II
Iterations Design Development
Iteration 1
Iteration 2
Iteration 3
Iteration 4
Iteration 5
Iteration 6
Iteration 7
Iteration 8
Iteration 9
Tracing the development of the Archive from the initial concept to resolved building.
Tracing Translations Building Concept
Portugese
Spanish
French
Latin
Romanian
Translation of Language
250 BC 1400AD
1200AD
900AD
250 BC
1500AD
Beginnings of Translation
The archive is an amalgamation of time and space; allowing the visitors to journey through the development of theatre from the Romance Languages. 1.500 Segmented Sections
Palimpsest Landscape Design Development
The plan evolves through the levels as the different languages and media develops and spaces are carved out for the different ctivities of the building.
Archive of Romance Language Theatre The building is a physical timeline of theatrical media. 1..200 Model
Archive of Romance Language Theatre An excavation into the history of Rome's soil and history of Romance Languages 1..200 Model
Archive of Romance Language Theatre The cores connect the morphing layers of spaces in the building. 1..200 Model
Archive of Romance Language Theatre The building sits within an existing facade of Flaminio District of Rome, Italy. 1..200 Model
Archive of Romance Language Theatre Each level is a palimpsest, writing over the previous level of space with adjusted functions. 1..200 Model
Archive of Romance Language Theatre : Level + 20m Under the data servers. 1..200 Model
Archive of Romance Language Theatre : Level - 5 m Under the ground floor path way. 1..200 Model
Archive of Romance Language Theatre : Level 0m Ground floor level under density of servers, sheles and concrete casts. 1..200 Model
Archive of Romance Language Theatre : Level +10 m Walking under the digital media reading space. 1..200 Model
Archive of Romance Language Theatre : Level 0m Ground floor level under density of servers, sheles and concrete casts. 1..200 Model
Epilogue
The translations of the text will continue as materials become digitized, manuscripts found, palimpsests discovered, as playwrights come to re-write plays, performers recite the scripts, visitors study the books, parents read the stories to the children and their plots retold. The collection will continue to grow, and new forms of recording literature will develop in the future. The archive will adapt to store these new forms within its structural grid, creating an architectural palimpsest as new theatrical media overwrite each other.
Archive of Romance Language Theatre whispers
archive