JENS BUCH JOHANSENs ARCHITECTURE PORTFOLIO Bachelor Assignment 2015
So who do I think I am!?
jens-buch.com
I’m an architecture student, graphic designer, boardmember and globetrotter from Aarhus, Denmark. I grew up in Hjortshøj north of the city and now I live with my girlfriend in Møllevangen, Aarhus. If i were to try to describe myself with a few words I’d say; calm, determined, hardworking, intelligent and outgoing. I started doing graphic- and web design when I was just 13 years old. In those early days I volunteered my work to improve my skills programming, designing and layouting.
“I hope you will take the time to look through the projects on the following pages. They are all short and sweet and with a QR code at the top if you want to read more.”
I do still volunteer in various places, but now I do it to help good causes. Most notably, I have been active on the board of a nature and environmental NGO called ‘Natur & Ungdom’ since 2005. This has given me a lot of experience with international work, management, project work, fundraising, networking, etc.
Also - I’m a traveller at heart, before high school I was an exchange student in Michigan and have since then visited more than 30 countries. I am the happiest when I’m meeting new people, and doing things that aren’t routine. The experiences and skills I bring with me from all these parts of my life have (in my oppinion) matured me and given me a perspective that has been a massive advantage during my studies. This extended portfolio entry is all about my bachelor’s project, which i made in collaboration with Michael Nykjær Andersen. Our Tutor was Professor Karl Christiansen. Best regards Jens Buch Johansen
1:20 model (steel, MDF, matt plast) - April 2015
CURICULUM VITAE
Education, work experience, volunteer experience
WORK EXPERIENCE
EDUCATION
Oct 2014 – Present Jens Buch Designs - www.jens-buch.com WEB / GRAPHIC DESIGNER I started my own company, to better be able to work freelance as a graphic / web designer.
Sep 2012 – Present Aarhus School Of Architecture
Aug 2013 – Present Natur & Ungdom - www.nogu.dk WEB / GRAPHIC DESIGNER Responsible for PR and graphic design. I maintain and build the website as well as handle most of the NGO’s communication. Sep 2008 – Jul 2012 Kvickly Vericentret SALES ASSISTENT + GRAPHIC DESIGNER I got the chance to use my skills as a graphic designer to make new signs and concepts for instore marketing. My ideas caught the attention of all the Kvickly stores in Aarhus, which lead to a dialogue with the national office.
Aug 2008 – Jun 2011 Egå Gymnasium Social sciences & English line Sep 2006 – Jun 2007 Bay City Western High School, MI, USA Aug 1997 – Jun 2006 Virupskolen
COURSES (teacher) 2014 Introductory course to Adobe Illustrator for Biochemistry Students at Aarhus University. 2013 and 2014 Courses in the CMS system Wordpress and using it for local NGO leaders.
VOLUNTEER WORK EXPERIENCE
LANGUAGES
Sep 2014 – Present Lufthavn Til Aarhus GRAPHIC DESIGNER Creating campaigns for Facebook including infographics, photo manipulation, etc.
Danish (Native), English (Fluent), French (Conversational), Norwegian (Advanced), Swedish (Conversational), German (Beginner)
Sep 2005 - present Landsforeningen Natur & Ungdom VICE CHAIRMAN Board member since I was 13, currently VC and responsible for PR & communication.
SPECIAL SKILLS Digital fabrication, Parametric Design (grasshopper, kangaroo), Illustrator specialist, Graphic Design, Light programming (PHP, Javascript, HTML, CSS, etc.), Project management, board work.
THE BACHELOR a Turkish Bath
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THE STARTING POINT Culture, tradition, principles.
bit.ly/1uBHHyi
The assignment
We were assigned the task of making a modern turkish bath, with a café / restaurant attached to it, on one of four sites in Istanbul. To do so we first investigated middle eastern architecture, traditional baths, our site and the city around it.
What is a turkish bath?
As the name suggests a turkish bath is a place of bathing, but today it’s much more of a social occasion, than a hygienic one. Traditionally one enters through a large, light space which is called ‘the cold room’ - here you change into a towel and move into smaller, darker, hot rooms where one sweats to clean the pores, and then bathes and gets massaged. Afterwards, you return with your friends or business contacts to the cold room to relax and drink tea. This is where most of the time is spent - not bathing - but relaxing.
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A modern turkish bath
Our basic idea was that the hamam is an orderly, ritualized space, where one moves through different stages of intimacy, temperature, atmosphere and relaxation in a very certain order. With the massage in the hot room being the hottest, most intimate phase. We wanted this to reflect on our architecture, which should be simple and ordered around axis and symmetries (which is traditional in Islamic culture). In addition, the different stages should be clearly visible in the changing spaces the bather goes through.
Section through traditional turkish bath, February 2015
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THE PROGRAM Connections, light, etc.
bit.ly/1uBHHyi THE FINAL CONCEPT
cold room
hot rooms reception & changing toilets personel
restaurant
CANTILEVERING BOXES
About stacking boxes
The house is in essence divided into two parts. The top floor is the hamam; the lower floor is the restaurant. We wanted this split in the building visible in materiality as well as in geometry. This led us to a modular approach. Using the idea of clearly defined boxes, stacked on top of one another. The Hamam is made of thick concrete walls, which cantilever out from above the restaurant, which in turn is made of greyish/yellowish unevenly sized limestone bricks, which let light in
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through cracks between them in various places, such as the employees’ rooms – thusly retaining the pure geometry and allowing privacy. The only connection between the two floors is a stairwell from the hot room, which leads down to two toilets. This ‘box’ is retracted from the others, and is constructed of reused bricks from the existing ruin – on the same spot as the original medieval tower. It’s also down these stairs that the employees have their private area, laundry space, etc.
THE FINAL CONCEPT
The cube
The centerpiece that influences the whole buildroom ing is a large cube, suspended cold through both floors of the building and extending above the upper floor. This cube contains the cold room, hot rooms which is where the visitor spends the most time. reception The cube is suspended and ‘floats’ above the restaurant bringing down around& changing it through a half-meter gap in the roof. The idea of using slits toilets or shafts for bringing down light became an ongoing theme throughout the building. personel
restaurant
CANTILEVERING BOXES
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THE SITE
Relations and alterations
bit.ly/1uBHHyi
About the site
Our chosen site is situated south of the golden horn, on the peninsula where the city first formed. It consists of a ‘plateau’ on a slope, resulting in there being different levels and stairs around it.
neighboring buildings and has a small square in front of it lined with parked cars and a road. The façade is ‘split in two’ by a staircase taking up the difference between the road, and a path to the west.
The site currently contains 600-year-old ruins in red/grey bricks and newer poor quality buildings of concrete.
What made us interested in this site was the diversity of experiences, levels, flows of people, traffic and businesses around it. It is a truly chaotic place in a truly chaotic city. In contrast to this, we wanted to create a hamam where everything is calm, organized and controlled.
To the south, the site is completely free from
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The fourth staircase
On the 4th side there is a small annex, which will be rendered useless by demolishing the current buildings. We therefore decided to remove it and create a path with stairs in its place. This means that the site will be free from neighbors and have stairs on all four sides.
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MOVING THROUGH THE BUILDING Rythm, axis, symmetries, open flow.
Description
The entrances to the two floors correspond with heights in the terrain around the building. Even though there is no direct physical connection between the hamam and the restaurant, there is a very strong visual one. Many of the same spatial and especially lighting qualities of the hamam are present in the restaurant. The cube of course being the most obvious connection.
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bit.ly/1uBHHyi
We decided early on, that there should be no doors on the route through the hamam. Instead, the visitor walks freely through the rooms on an axis, which is split by dividing walls where one passes into a new space or where privacy is needed, creating rhythm and symmetry.
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HAMAM AXIS THROUGH CUBE
RESTAURANT AXIS BELOW CUBE
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OUTSIDE & THE RESTAURANT the courtyard and below the cube
The restaurant
The restaurant is positioned below the bath. You enter it by walking down a path on the eastern side of the building. As you walk, you get to a small doorway – through which you get a dramatic view of a courtyard, and the cube penetrating the entire building. As you enter, you notice that the courtyard space continues in behind a glass façade with the same paving and materials continuing inside.
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bit.ly/1uBHHyi
Light passes down the sides of the cube, and its bottom becomes the ceiling of the restaurant and creates an interesting backdrop with its grid of steel and wood while also containing all artificial lighting for the restaurant. In the bathrooms, along the northern wall, the same sort of skylights are used, as in the hot room.
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9300 cube ceiling
7100 level 3
D7 (book)
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3400 2900 D5 (book)
level 2
level 1 Cube floor
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0 level 0
D3
D1 9300 cube ceiling
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D2 7100 level 3
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3400 2900
level 2
level 1 Cube floor
0 level 0
Arriving at the Hamam
After paying for the wanted treatment, you walk around the first wall and down a few steps. Here the floor changes from concrete to marble tiles – you are in the ritualized space. These same tiles continue through the entire hamam. On this level, you find lockers and changing booths. After
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changing, you walk through the cube, crossing the two tiny bridges leading to and from it. You get a dramatic view up and down the entire side of the cube and can look up to the sky, as well as down to the restaurant below.
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THE HOT ROOM
Inside and below the cube
bit.ly/1uBHHyi
Arriving in the hot room
Upon entering the hot room you are in a totally serene, white space, with the marble tiles continuing up the walls, seating benches and the plinth for massaging and relaxing. Along the entire length of the northern wall are skylights,
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which bathe the wall in light that moves across the wall according to time and season. There is a skylight above the plinth. Allowing the bather to look up at the sky. A remnant of the traditional dome.
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THE COLD ROOM Inside and below the cube
bit.ly/1uBHHyi
The cold room
After finishing the bath, you change to a dry towel or a kimono in a separate booth and walk back into the cold room where there are social booths with sofas on the ground floor, and private booths on the two levels above, which can be reached via stairs around the edge of the cube.
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While sitting in the cold room, you will notice how the sun moves across the sky, and the wooden blinds behind the frosted glass turn to face it, and block out as much direct sunlight as possible. When you are done, you exit the same way you came.
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THE CUBE
Isometric drawing, April 2015
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REFERENCES & INFORMATION REFERENCES Annette Rask Krogsøe HEAD OF SECRETARIAT NATUR & UNGDOM ANNETTE@NOGU.DK Jacob Frentz CONSTRUCTION ARCHITECT, CHAIRMAN, LUFTHAVN TIL AARHUS SCHMIDT, HAMMER & LASSEN ARCHITECTS. JAF@SHL.DK
CONTACT INFORMATION www.jens-buch.com jensbuch@live.com +45 29278627 Viggo Stuckenbergsvej 25 st. th. DK-8210 Aarhus V.
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VIGGO STUCKENBERGSVEJ 25 ST. TH. - 8210 AARHUS V
WWW.JENS.BUCH.COM JENSBUCH@LIVE.COM 29278627