ingrid bengtson selected works
project
title
0 1 performance 0 2 symbiotic infill 0 3 picturesque machine 0 4 urban dualities 0 5 architecture of the urbs 0 6 another brick in the wall
o1
0 1 pe r fo r man ce A 300,000 sf mixed-use tower for Berklee College of music at Massachusetts Avenue & Boylston Street in Boston. The program includes a 300-bed dormitory; two theaters with amenities; educational, rehearsal, and back-of-house spaces; retail; cafe; and a satellite gallery for the Institute of Contemporary Art.
This project seeks to reveal the depth of the tower and to put the public and performer-students of Berklee College of Music in dialogue with each other and with the city. Large carvings reach far into the building, revealing musical program and encouraging visual and physical entry. The materiality is both environmentally and urbanistically motivated, creating a new aesthetic for concrete in the Boston cityscape. Large carvings in the “typical plan� let light and air deep into the floorplate, facilitate circulation, and hold musical program. Erosion at the street wall encourages entrance from pedestrian thoroughfares. The public circulates up, through and around Berklee program such that they have the opportunity to see the preparation and informal life of the performers. Students, in turn, have constant opportunities to be with and be seen by an audience, without the security of the dorm or classroom spaces being compromised.
Harvard GSD Core Studio III Fall 2012 Critic: Danielle Etzler This project is featured in the GSD Platform 6 book and exhibition.
massing & program concept
208’
DORMITORY/CLASSROOM +208
28’
BACK OF HOUSE +28
0’
GROUND FLOOR +0’
75˚ ju n june 21 a21 lti altitude tu d e 75 ° window depth prevents heat gains window depth prevents heat gains
december altitude d e c 2 1 al21titu d e 225˚ 5° direct heat gains
direct heat gains
to maximize windows windows placedplaced to maximize convective flow convective heat flow
forl daylighting 25% 2 5% gl az in g glazing for d ay igh tin g
to prevent set back windows windows set back to prevent summer heat gains summer heat gains
w in d owwindows s p l aceplaced d in sinside id e thermal break thermal break 16’
ayli
for d
dedicated outdoor system outdoor dedicated air system in airhall suspended in hallway
vent/exhaust ven t/exh a u st
th erm a lly a cti ve su rfa ce thermally active surface reinforced concrete reinforced concrete
radiant heating/cooling radiant heating/cooling
ng
ighti
dormitory thermal strategy
o2
0 2 s ymbi o t i c in fil l A “machiya of today.” The studio aims to apply research done on a macro-scale urban system (in the case of this project, energy systems) to a traditional typology, making it viable in the 21st century. The studio research is featured in Toshiko Mori’s essay “Innovation and Cities,” A+U, 2013:12.
This project proposes a strategy for urban infill, and tests this strategy at three scales. The live/work interventions are conceived as dynamic, symbiotic creatures based upon and built within the unique “machiya” typology of Kyoto, Japan. While partially appropriating the gardens accessible within the city fabric, these “vertical machiya” increase density and introduce economic viability to the existing block. The vertical machiya also increase daylight and enhance the functioning of the thermodynamic system inherent to the surrounding city fabric through materiality and formal composition.
sm a ll m e diu m la rge
atelier and studio apartment (900 sf ) small business, showroom, residence for three-generation family (1300 sf ) business/shop, apartment complex (900 sf/unit)
Each vertical machiya is built using a system of lightweight steel frame and concrete panels for ease of construction, thermal performance, atmosphere, and minimized environmental impact. The panels are strategically inlaid with small glass light tubes to bring light into the garden, or layered with wood sheets where the program demands low thermal effusivity.
GSD Option Studio: Kyoto Studio II, Fall 2013 Critic: Toshiko Mori This project was nominated for GSD Platform 7.
structural walls
thick wall
enfilade
gardens
machiya typology
heat sinks
porosity
ventilation
heat source
chimney
intervention
vertical enfilade/porosity (light & air)
ventilation intervention
increased local airflow
increased light (fiber optic panel)
machiya & intervention performance
small machiya section
medium machiya plans
medium machiya: interior
o3
0 3 pi c t ure s q u e m ach in e
35,000 sf greenhouse and educational program at Wellesley College.
Inspired by the peripatetic, picturesque Wellesley College campus, the greenhouse reinterprets the classical dome typology as a machine for viewing and passage. Orthogonal paths skew toward key elements in the landscape in plan and section, scaling the domes via script to create diverse indoor plant environments and occupied interstitial spaces. The tight fit of the Platonic perimeter presents occupants with moments of compression between Nature and Artifice.
Harvard GSD Core Studio II Spring 2012 Critic: Cameron Wu
init ial st at e
shift_01
me a d ow s k ew
s hif t_ 0 2
site plan & scripted formal development
g reen ha l l s k ew
n ew circu l a t i on & p r iva te zo n e s
rth
no
o4
0 4 ur ba n dua l itie s i
part i: Design a code to produce a new city paradigm in the area of the Gowanus Canal, Brooklyn, New York. part ii: Design a block and a building within the parameters of this new paradigm.
part i. Gowanus Watershed is a network of complementary systems both running in parallel and feeding off of one another to maximize the use of energy available on the site. Industry runs in parallel with residential development as a dual unit of tower and mat building, in which each component is proportioned such that thermodynamic gains and grey water from each are captured and re-looped into the consumption of the other. The constructed landscape runs in parallel with buildings to harness water, provide thermal mass and supplement industry while feeding off the organic waste of building occupants. A naturally productive ecological system-the coastal marsh--is introduced in tandem with urban development. A system of bioswales occupies the shadow footprint of the tower units, turning what is normally an unproductive urban zone into a space of value in terms of flood mitigation, oxygen production, land remediation, recreation, and aesthetics. (Part i designed in collaboration with Lina Kwon, Michael Meo, and Weishun Xu. All drawings and diagrams by Ingrid Bengtson.)
Harvard GSD Core Studio IV, Spring 2013 Critic: Renata Sentkiewicz
site model (Ingrid Bengtson & Michael Meo)
sewage
sewage treatment
fuel biomass converter
sun active solar
dwelling
non-recyclable reuse production
growing related production
commercial
recyclable reuse production
water
growing canal
ideas
goods
consumption
water 1 sej/J
organic matter 5,000 sej/J
consolidated fuel 18,000 - 58,000 sej/J
food: greens/grains 24,000 - 200,000 sej/J
gowanus watershed district “Emergy�
food: proteins
human services/information
1,000,000 - 4,000,000 sej/J
4,000,000 - 100,000,000,000,000 sej/J
01_Connections
02_Canal Release, Marsh, Waste Treatment
03_Canal Release, Buffer Zone
04_Growing Intensive Production, Urban Farm, Commercial Zone 1
05_Canal Release, Growth, Commercial Zone 2
06_Growth, Commercial Zone 3
07_Public Bookends
08_Final Plan
0 4 ur ba n dua l itie s ii
part ii. Sited on the cusp of the natural wetland reintroduced to the Gowanus Watershed as a flood mitigation strategy, this block exploits the properties of water in exchange with environment and building material for architectural performance and experience. The folding of the landscape negotiates the liminal zone between saltwater marsh and city block. Two industries, district CHP and oyster aquaculture, are established to utilize both fresh and brackish water. The cooling processes from each industry are coupled with dwellings and public program, creating a twodirectional thermal system that maintains human comfort and provide spaces of thermal delight. Part ii was completed individually. This project was featured in the GSD Platform 6 exhibition, Spring 2014.
membrane wind protection
vapor collecting membrane
10� air space creates cross ventilation air movement is aided by verticality and temperaturedifferential of the cooling tower
double skin curtain wall naturally ventilates and exhausts heat
automated brise soleil manages direct heat gains
73°
26°
operable louvers
common spaces open to primary wind directions in summer to create cool, dehumidified spaces adjacent to packing
landscape & building form increase air intake from below
district cogeneration
steam @ 400psig/600F steam distribution
power steam turbine
reservoir
boilers
chillers
steam turbine
chilled water @ 41F steam turbine
sector consumption
steam @ 150psig
hot water @ 85Ëš F condenser
residential tower
cool water @ 63Ëš F cooling tower
oyster aquaculture
clutching
industrial refrigeration
condenser
restaurant
commercial building
cooling tower
diagram: ventilation strategy, winter mode
o5
0 5 architecture of the urbs
A studio experiment in abstract, plan-based design. Mid-rise 1-2 bedroom luxury apartments in Redondo Beach, California.
Somewhere in the ever expanding grid of Los Angeles stands a building. Completely solipsistic, in exists completely for itself, agnostic and non-orientable. The mid-rise tower is the architectural embodiment of the individual in the swarm of the urbs: its core is centered and defined, while its perimeter remains nuanced and ambiguous. Expanding in concentric layers around a hearth-like center, the transition between these two conditions is expressed through an interplay of heavy and light, compressed and expansive. One enters directly into the aparment from the elevator-sometimes it is a luxury not to have to see the neighbors. In an age where the default housing arrangement is one of interchangeability and extreme privacy, this residence unfolds from inside out and end-to-end, harkening back to the intimacy and sequence of a pre-modern enfilade plan. The central kitchen gathering area evokes a sense of protectedness, surrounded by a belt of ample closets and bathrooms. This warm, cave-like condition is made more accommodating through the increased height of the ceiling. On the other side of this thickened wall, living areas are articulated through modulations in the pleated facade as the space becomes entirely oriented towards the endless horizon.
Harvard GSD Option Studio Fall 2014 Critics: Sharon Johnston and Mark Lee
typical plan
interior view: inversion of typical interior/periphery ceiling level relationship
facade detail model: 1/4” = 1’
o6
0 6 a no t he r b rick in th e wal l The afterlife of Battersea Power Station.
This thesis explores new possibilities for an architecture in crisis, and in so doing proposing an alternative to the spectacular banal that characterizes much of large-scale urban development today. The ruin of Battersea Power Station is a site burdened by a history of failed, totalizing visions. Today a mere facade on the bank of the Thames, it is a symbol of the strife between civic and economic values in London today.This thesis proposes a program--a world class venue for the London Symphony--is, according to the current press, contextually both necessary and excessive. The hurdles for both site and program are enormous, but the new Symphony and Battersea have the potential to engage in a mutually beneficial relationship. Both need a different approach to time, scale and monumentality to be a success. Architecture should be conceived as a thing where different dimensions like use, materiality and economy play out on different time scales. The “reuse” of a building should be an open-ended afterlife, rather than a singular “new life.” I have aimed to think of architecture and the built environment as dynamic without necessarily being temporary, where the work of the designer is about creating new relationships, changing meanings, and rereading of spaces. Rather than taking an all-in-one approach, it unfolds as a collection of independent constructs that treat the architectural project as an accretive process, where the architectural language of transition becomes the thing that persists and the decay of the existing structure is both prolonged and celebrated. The approach does not insist upon a form, but allows new spaces to be both inserted and discovered. Like a small city, they are read as independent volumes and the associated programs become a public, more porous, open fabric. Almost like a stage set, the language of the support structure that currently extends the life of the existing facade begins to take on a life of its own: the system of preservation becomes the system of the new construction. The reading of the volumes as separate entities both from each other and from the original structure emphasizes the civic nature and monumentality of existing interior. The masses are proportioned to create a sense of tension between compression and expansiveness, expectation and revelation. The thesis aims for a middle ground that is between the Romanticism of the modern ruin and the dull determinism of “stuffing the turkey.” I believe that ultimately this kind of approach can create a project that is more ambitious and more beneficial to the city, which both the program and site demand.
Harvard GSD Thesis Spring 2015 Advisor: Toshiko Mori This project was nominated for the James Templeton Kelley Thesis Prize.
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1- symphony (precise, fast construction) 2- institute for electroacoustical musical research (flexibility) 3- opera house (structural gymnastics) 4- tertiary theater (accommodating demand) 5- reading room (extended use) 6- experimental music (temporary constructions) 7- amenities (accommodating demand, extended use) 8- pig (ephemeral use)
a series of interventions & priorities
carving out the entrance
a no t he r b rick in th e wal l
continued
Everyone enters the London Center together, on the primary axis. The entrances slope down from the outside, and through existing openings at the first basement level. Anticipating the large crowds associated with the capacity of the Center, the volumes are lifted, creating a free zone of circulation beneath that are partially territorialized by the masses above. The anticipated view of the iconic chimney is partially withheld upon entry, and only fully realized at the epicenter of the public plaza. The existing basement floors are removed and the new plaza slopes down, so that at the center the already monumental space feels exaggerated. Each individual component is legible from virtually every point in the plaza. Initially differentiated by the materiality of the facades, each volume begins to peel up at the corner, as if one is peeking under a curtain. These apertures hint at the activity within, creating connectivity with the exterior without compromising the acoustic performance of the interior. Entry to the spaces themselves occurs through the shadowy, industrial colonnades of trusses and metal frames that blur the boundary between interior and exterior, and front of house/ back of house. Once inside the glass envelope, the form of which is camouflaged by the forest of structure, one is presented with the box office and reception area, followed by a bank of elevators and stairs ascending into the canopy, and the coat check and other support spaces. The lobby extends upward, between the performer’s pre-stage areas and the volume of the concert spaces, scaling the wall to an observation deck that runs along the window level of the high eastern wall.
visual connection of interior and exterior (opera house)
entrance aspect South
ingridbengtson@gmail.com