Agoruna Culture House & Kiruna PUB

FROZEN TIMBER

AGORUNA CULTURE HOUSE

UNIT 04|LOGBOOK Jonas Bertlind | JEB0634 UNIT 04 2017/2018 London Metropolitan Univeristy Professional Diploma in Architecture | RIBA part II Module AR6026 Integrated Design Study

AGORUNA CULTURE HOUSE & KIRUNA PUB A Public House - A house for the people, by the people

‘The relation between locality and homogeneous globalisation of architecture is by no means new to the architectural discourse, and even though the formal potential has been foregrounded and persued, non-standard architectures can just as easily be particularised to local conditions as any other architectures, yet facilitate a greater scope of variation in spatial organisation and tectonics.’

‘If the objective is to engender locally specific performative architecture and environment interactions, it would seem evident that no singular architectural expression or style could result from this, but rather a new attitude and approach to architectural design.’ 1 - Soren Sorensen, En Route to Non-Standard Performative Architecture

1._Sorensen, S. (2015). En Route to Non-Standard Performative Architecture. Architectural Design, AD.

_CONTENT

1.0 | Assignment_01 - Precedent Study Re-Imagined | 6 | 13 2.0 | Assignment_02 - Campo Marzio 2.1 - Object Scanning 2.2 - Environment Scanning 2.3 - Workflow - Described and concluded 2.4 - Workflow Part 1 2.5 - Workflow Part 2 2.6 - Workflow Part 3 2.7 - Workflow Part 4 2.8 - Campo Marzio Tile 16

3.0 | Assignment_03 - Arcitc Shelter 3.1 - Initial Research 3.2 - The Arctic Low-Tech Pod 3.3 - Further Research 3.4 - The Arctic Shed

4.0-5.0 | Assignment_04 - _05 - Field Trip Books 6.0 | Assignment_06 - Agoruna & Campo Kiruna 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 6.6 6.7 6.8 6.9 -

Situation Precedent Studies Formfinding & VR Campo Kiruna Structural Strategy New Town Plan Programme The Portal Kiruna Pub (Public House) Images

7.0 | Bibliography_07

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_Assignment_01 The first assignment is to look for CLT precedents and model one of these. In drawings explain how they work and how they are designed.

_ASSIGNMENT_01 BUILDING STUDY

1. Initial Research; Ralph Erskine, Buildings in the north of Sweden 2. Case Study, Avluftningstorn (Exhaust Tower) in Stockholm 3. Avluftningstorn re-imagined as a small cartoon residential tower

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Everything at Once, See Appendix Odyssey, Iron Root. (2016). [Iron ore] London: Lisson Gallery.

Imagine you are driving (Sculpture 4). (1988). [Concrete sculpture] London: Lisson Gallery.

Minster. (1987). [Metal machined parts] London: Lisson Gallery.

Fig. 2

INITIAL RESEARCH Ralph Erskine

1. Ormen Långe (Snake long)

Brief research on the British Swedish architect & his buildings.

Analysis of Northern Architecture

Ormen Långe is a residential building in Svappavaara.

Ralph Erskine came to Sweden 1939 via Denmark on a bike with a rucksack and a sleeping bag. He had recently finished his studies at Regent Street Polytechnic in London.

He was impressed by Swedish architects Ragnar Östberg, Sven Markelius, Sigurd Lewerentz and Gunnar Asplunds work. He wanted to study the Swedish functionalism (the Swedish equivalent to Modernism) and the welfare society, characterised by the close connection of form, architecture & social responsibility, and he took particular interest in the World Exhibition in Stockholm 1930.

Eskine fell in love with the northern nature and stayed in Sweden with his wife Ruth Francis whom had come with him from England, and they married in Sweden in 1939. He was fascinated of how the climate and nature dictated the buildings and he used the sunlight more than anything to form his buildings and town planning. The light and heat from the sun was effectively used in placing and directing buildings in the landscape. He used deflectors to catch the low winter sun, and to lead light into the buildings.

He became one of the most influential architects of Sweden and had great influence on the architectural debate domestically and internationally. He sought to affect and improve living conditions socially and politically.1

Erskine wanted to realise his ideas and studies in regards of residential design in Arctic climate. He drew a long house that opens up towards south in a crescent. Balconies and large windows was also facing south. The facilities were closed as a barrier towards the north, this to protect from cold northern winter storms. The inner street was laid out as a weather protected and sun lit gathering point for local mine workers, who the building was meant for. Covered streets would tie together services, such as medical reception, shops, bus stops and school.

This was thought of as a precedent experiment for future town planning in the north of Sweden, but the whole project was stripped and became exhausted. A total of three separate parts were built and because of the enforced changes the project never became what Erskine imagined. The project were even blamed for dividing the workforce with the management ending in the infamous LKAB-conflict.2

2. Hotell Borgafjäll (Hotel ‘Fortress-Mountain’) The hotel is located in Dorotea municipally. It was initiated in 1948 and stood ready in 1955.

The hotel is Eskines first larger project where he displays his sensitive skills to handle the building in relation to the raw mountain terrain.

To a significant extent his intention is not touch, or disturb the nature, and the hotel was built with locally sourced materials to adapt and integrate it into its sur-

roundings. The slope of the roof is meant to speak to the surrounding mountain tops and tie the building naturally to the sloping hill-side. In winter the roof served as the start of a ski pist, and so the building became a natural extension of the landscape.

It is made from local materials; pine, stone and bricks. The design reminds slightly of Frank Lloyd Wrights desert house Taliesin West in Arizona from 1938.3 Relevance to Unit 4: This project seeks to integrate to the natural environment and is made from locally sourced materials.

The surrounding nature is left untouched as far as possible.

Fig. 3

Relevance to Unit 4: The project housed mining workers from the very company who runs the mine in Kiruna, LKAB. It is located close to Kiruna, just about 20km to the south east.

Fig. 1

Here follows four archifacts by Erskine that I feel can be useful for Unit 4 this year.

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1._Wikipedia (n.d.). Ralph Erskine. [ONLINE] 2._Wikipedia (n.d.). Ormen Långe (hus, Svappavaara). [ONLINE] 3._Wikipedia (n.d.). Hotell Borgafjäll. [ONLINE] 4._Wikipedia (n.d.). Kvarteret Ortdrivaren. [ONLINE] 5._Wikipedia (n.d.). Shopping, Luleå. [ONLINE] Fig. 1._Sundahl, S. (n.d.). Ralph Erskine. [IMAGE] Fig. 2._Wikipedia Commons (n.d.). Svappavaara 1965. [IMAGE] Fig. 3._Cortes, M. (n.d.). Hotell Borgafjäll. [IMAGE] Fig. 4._Hotell Borgafjäll (2015). borgafjallhotell. [IMAGE] Fig. 5._Wikipedia (n.d.). Kvarteret_Ortdrivaren. [IMAGE] Fig. 6._Wikipedia (n.d.). Shoppings entré, 1959. [IMAGE]

3. Kvarteret Ortdrivaren, Kiruna This cluster of buildings is located in Kiruna and consists of two high-rise buildings (14 & 12 stories) and a two lower blocks.

The project was completed in 1961.

Large parts of one family houses in central Kiruna was demolished around mid- century to give way for modern housing. This project is located in one of these sites.

Erskine’s buildings are of strong character and apart from the four building blocks, it includes a church.

Erskine considered both the functional and the aesthetics as he designed these blocks. The blocks are designed to reduce turbulence and heat-loss due to large surface area. The roofs towards north are of steep character not to cast shadows onto building behind the blocks.

Towards the north there are also pockets to catch the snow that is sliding off, or melting away. These pockets prevents snow and ice to fall onto the sidewalks below. Small balconies are hung onto the façades rather than cast into the concrete floor-slab, to reduce cold bridging. These balconies were also thought of as an extra freezer wintertime. The balconies are placed on the southeast side to catch the early morning sun and the heat it gives. The buildings are also situated on a slope to catch as much of the low winter sun as possible.

The lower buildings together forms a central communal space with considered landscaping that enhance a private character. The buildings are made from painted concrete, in the tones of brown to yellow.4 Relevance to Unit 4: Erskine really tried to make these buildings as practical as possible while using the aesthetics the function automatically brings. Moreover he chose colours that are naturally occurring in the surrounding context - earth-tones.

These buildings and the way they are organised in the landscape, really gives them a sharp character form-wise.

As a Swede (and former construction worker) I have to say that, at least nowadays, most of these features are considered even before ‘the pen hits the paper’. Also it would make more sense

to build these building from timber, rather than concrete, although I appreciate CLT was not invented, and no 13 story building could ever be built from timber at that time.

4. Shopping, Luleå Shopping is the worlds first indoor mall and opened the 27 October 1955. Since then this has become the norm for malls in town and suburbs in Sweden.

The mall is situated in the central of the town of Luleå. Erskine wanted to create something more than a mall - he tried to imagine the sprawl of the city moving indoors during the winter months. Shopping was designed to encourage social life and the mall worked as intended for many years; both socially and commercially. It separated itself from its American precedents in the respect that it was designed to work all year around despite the harsh climate wintertime.

The plan is unconventional; there is no traditional floors, but it is divided into semi floors connected with ramps, stairs and escalators. This enhance the feeling of a maze that forces a sense of exploration and investigation to get a grip of. It is however considered a small mall. The internal public (semi-public) spaces are have the finish of beton brut in walls, ceilings, ramps and columns, but the floors have a finish of cement mosaic. As a contrast the shops interior were made from light and bright materials.

In the bottom floor there was a cinema named Spegeln (the Mirror) but commonly referred to as ‘the Grotto’ because of its roughly, but flowing 120mm concrete walls and roof. This is a feature that has been common in road tunnels and in the tube stations in Stockholm.

It has in later years undergone insensitive restorations and much of the original qualities has been lost. Nowadays it also has to compete with more modern malls nearby, and many of the small retail shops has been taken over by franchise branches of larger companies.5

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Relevance to Unit 4: As a Swede I can really relate to Erskine’s idea of the indoor mall. Although I’d rather be outside when shopping, walking outdoors between shops, I have experienced the unpleasantness of really bad weather and temperatures. I think his idea of the indoor mall is great in many ways, but these days his ideology has been hijacked by commercial forces and these days most malls are formed purely for commercial interests. A lot of public space qualities are set aside to encourage shopping, which is not a necessarily a social act, especially when shops are the same, and look the same everywhere in the city, country and the world.

In this instance I think Kulturhuset in Stockholm works way better - here very few commercial business are allowed, but it holds many social areas, and free access to spaces of culture and interaction, along with free exhibitions.

I also have personal taste for mazes, or labyrinths; I highly enjoy trying to get a grip of a complex space - when I do understand it, it starts to feel a lot more like home, where you know how to find privacy and where to go when you seek a more social space with sprawl. I enjoy finding shortcuts to key spaces; spaces of recreation, or hide-outs.

On that note I actually come to think of the old Public House, the Pub; this classic British social house where you tend to errands, but also have a central social space; the bar and the restaurant - all indoors under one roof. There will be a research page about this too I feel.

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3. Kvarteret Ortdrivaren, Kiruna 1. Ormen Långe, Svappavaara

4. Shopping, Luleå 2. Hotell Borgafjäll, Dorotea

CASE STUDY Investigating CLT Stacking Trätorn Norra Länken / Exhaustion Tower Architect: Rundquist Arkitekter AB A quick glance Description: Rundquist Architects was awarded a price for their CLT exhaust tower in Stockholm. The towers main function is to divert air from the Norra Link road underneath; it reduce the emission levels in the tunnels.

It is designed in stacked CLT and cladded with cedar panels in conjunction with the surrounding environment, which largely consists of trees.

The tower seeks to challenge the idea of how technology functions usually are styled. It is made from locally sourced timber, which serves as a symbol of a environmentally friendly alternative. The towers have been optimized for function in interaction with architectural form. Natural wood material represents low-tech but at the same time high-tech, as the modern day timber construction technology has evolved with the CLT, and other forms of engineered timber, and prefabrication and assembly methods.

The tower is 20 meters high and is shaped like a supertriangle that turns upward along its own axis. The internal geometry and design affect the resistance to exiting air and the airflow can be optimized, more space in the bend into the tower and at the top where the triangle area is larger which reduces the air resistance. The twist gives the towers a slimmer and more interesting gestalt, and the sweeping shape accentuates the sculptural impression and gives a varied and beautiful expression that changes over time and with the viewing angle.

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The towers have been modelled parametrically in 3d programs in order to be optimized and adjusted late in the process. The components have since been taken out of the model, littered and sorted on work-pieces in an automated process before files were exported to the CNC machine that cut out the parts of cross-laminated slabs. The items have then been delivered on site and assembled into super-triangles stacked to each other and tied together with vertical steel spring-rods so as not to break the structure when the wood moves. 1

Fig. 1 1._Svenskt Trä (2016). Trätorn Norra Länken - Svenskt Trä. [ONLINE] Fig. 1-3._E:son Lindman, Å. (2016). Trätorn Norra Länken. [IMAGE] Fig. 4._Rundquist Arkitekter AB (2016). elevationer-plansitt-toppvy-tratornen-norra-lanken. [IMAGE]

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Project Summary: Construction manager and project management: Trafikverket, Martin Hellgren, Magnus Enblom, Mats Broman in collaboration with the Royal Djurgården Administration, Gunnar Haeger, Henrik Niklasson.

Architects: Rundquist Arkitekter AB, Henrik Rundquist, Jonas Nyberg, Anna Undén, Peter Sundin, Johan Kronberg.

Constructor (request form): Ramböll, Bengt Pettersson.

Constructor (contracted): Martinsons, Greger Lindgren.

Contractor: Martinsons, Daniel Wilded.

Other consultants: Ramböll.

Gross area: 44.8 sqm / tower.

Construction cost: 7 million sek / tower.

Year built: 2013-2015.

Foundation: Concrete.

Construction: Prefabricated solid wood elements of CLT. Surface treatment: Transparent swab protection. 1

Why is this case study relevant?

In Unit 04 we are dealing with computation and digital design. We aim to explore contemporary and new ways of environmentally friendly CLT construction. Here the structural concept of Stacking appealed to me. What is also interesting is that it has been modelled in 3D software, and the computer file has served as cutting instructions for the CNC machine.

Moreover the project is situated in Sweden which implies that the technological skills already exist in the country where this years project is located.

Fig. 4

MODELLING Trätorn Norra Länken reimagined Inhabited Tower Cartoon-like features Rhino 3D modelling To further engage with this case study I imagined that this was not just an exhaustion tower, but an actual inhabited building. As part of our Assignment 1, I quickly modelled it and sketched out a few basic features, such as construction method and imagined bioclimatic features: Inspiration - Narrative: Plupp is a blue-haired, clown-like cartoon creature created by author Inga Borg. In a series of children’s books Plupp teaches us about the animals, landscape, history and culture of the very north of Sweden and Lapland, and the indigenous Sami people.

Peter Cook was advocating a more fun side of architecture in a lecture at the Bartlett on Friday the 13th 2017, that I attended. 1 Inspired by the beloved children’s books about Plupp, and Peter Cooks call for a more humoristic architecture, I set out to reiterate this precedent. My aim was to transform it into an inhabitable structure, with more human features interpreted in a humorous, cartoon-like manner; The doors and windows have the form of the very super-triangel shape that makes out the original form, designed by Rundquist Arkitekter; one balcony per floor - they are gradually moving from one side of the triangle to the next (on the next floor) in a clockwise manner, in the same direction as the tower is slowly twisting around its own vertical axis; At the top one of the three corners of the triangle is lifted to create an interesting and useful end of the form. This creates a practical slope of the roof. The sloping roof is then punctured by a smaller version of the triangular shape.

This shape holds a window in the same triangular form and works as a “skylight”, but is in fact a vertical window facing south (South is where direction you are most likely to come from when going to Kiruna too!). This feature of the top of the tower is meant as a comical reference to a lighthouse-top, with its fire, or optical lens, that is meant to attract attention from a far, and guide you under dark conditions.

The stacked CLT structure is insulated externally and dressed in the same cedar shingle skin as the precedent. Alternatively it can be dressed in Siberian Larch, which is suitable in these conditions. This skin gradually shifts from closely dressing the structure to enshroud the balconies, leaving a much larger cavity behind.

1._1. Cook, P. (2017). Architecture Can Be Weird; Creative Cynicism and the Cheerful Response.

2._ Stora Enso (2013). CLT | Stora Enso. [ONLINE] 3._ Stora Enso (n.d.). Cross Laminated Timber | Stora Enso. [ONLINE] 4._ Cellecta. (2014). Cross Laminated Timber Project Partnered with Cellecta Products « Cellecta. [ONLINE]

‘Simulations of various CLT-layer compositions taking into account different climatic conditions confirmed the unproblematic and solid hygrothermal building element-behaviour of CLT-constructions!’ 2 ...‘comfortable and healthy indoor climate’

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Timber has preferable properties in terms of thermal bridging - it is more favourable in cold climates as it does not lead cold nearly as well as concrete or brick/ blockwork. In summer though it cannot cool internal spaces in the same way as concrete because if its less thermal mass. But up north the summers are generally much colder which makes this property more suitable there.

Solar panels on the roof can convert sunlight into electricity. In this case the tower has relatively little roof area, but several floors. It is harder to gain electricity from sunlight in a tall and slim building, but imagining this building quite far north also makes the summer days longer, and during summer-times a significant amount of electricity can be generated.

The roof is tilted to the south to give a better angle towards the sun. This is also preferable in the north since the weight of snow can be significant. A sloping roof allows the snow and rain to slide off and the lateral load is reduced.

Glazing in all directions is perfectly fine, but larger windows and glazed doors should face east or west or preferably south to help heat internal spaces. The days that risk overheating internal spaces are much fewer in the north, then in central, or southern Europe.

Winter-times there is only daylight for a few hours and to get the most out of the low sun, more and larger windows can with benefits be placed facing south. All windows in north Europe should be at least double gracing, but triple glazing is preferred.

Facade cladding could be made from Siberian Larch which is both hard and durable, which translates into low maintenance. It is also a renewable natural recourse and is reusable. It is grown in Siberia and is considered a very sustainable material. Ecoforestry is not only good for the built environment but for the actual site where it is grown.

Heat recovery ventilation system is operated by two fans; one that extract stale air from the building - hot air rises in the building, and another fan that supplies fresh air from outside. The system intertwine; the two airflows pass through a heat exchanger to regain some of the heat of the stale air and transfer it to the fresh air from outside. This is a good way to ensure less energy use in the household in the North of Europe, especially winter-times.

A geothermal heat pump also helps reducing energy consumption. This is a somewhat expensive installation, but the cost divided on the, practically maintenance-less, system over the years makes it a good investment. Heat from deep down (in Scandinavia usually between 90-200m) the mountain is pumped up to the building, to ease heating the building. The system can also help cooling the building, but this is rarely necessary in the north.

The system is normally used to heat water, that is then run through pipes to radiators. It also increasingly common to put in pipes that run hot water for underfloor heating. It makes sense that the applied heat comes from the floor since hot air rises, making the distribution optimal. However this works better with a high thermal mass, i.e. concrete slabs, tiled floors. Timber does not lead heat as well. There are solutions for this. For example in conjunction to soundproofing of CLT structures, which can sometimes be an issue; ‘ScreedBoard 20 dry screed boards, HEXATHERM XFLOOR routed insulation panels and FIBREfon 8 resilient layers the system was recognised as the ideal soundproofing and under floor heating floating floor system for the modern development.’ 4

_Assignment_02 In this second assignment in Unit 04, each student is given a tile in Piranesi’s speculative Campo Marzio, of the city of Rome. The form of each tile is decided by a voronoi diagram, where the central point is a significant space, or object, free for interpretation by the student. I ended up interpreting tile 16. Along with Alex (tile 17) and Mika (tile 4) we formed group 5.

The task was to extrude parts of an existing plan, and to capture objects and environments with the photogrammetry software Context Capture. Some of these scans, along with our extrusions, populate the tiles and becomes our interpretation of our respective central piece.

_ASSIGNMENT_02 OBJECT SCANNING

1. A rather successful initial scan was executed.

After the positive response from the first object scan, I decided to test the software’s capabilities.

2. Four experiments of capturing white, or off-white objects.

3. Four experiments of scanning a tricky black espresso maker.

4. Four experiments of scanning various glass containers & jars.

After scanning smaller objects I moved on to scanning larger objects outdoors.

5. Two metal statues.

6. A pair of metal sculptures.

7. A small park pavilion.

8. Boat sculpture.

9. Goat on boxes sculpture.

From the exhibition Everything at Once by Lisson Gallery and The Vinyl Factory at the Store Studios, 180 The Strand, I picked out and scanned three more objects.

9. Iron Ore, sculpture by Ai Weiwei.

10. Concrete sculpture by Julian Opie.

11. Sculpture made from Metal machined parts by Tony Cragg.

INITIAL SCAN TEST Scanning A Tool With Another Tool Object Scanning Trial & Error Bently Context Capture & iPhone 6 As a nice metaphor I thought if would be good to try to scan a more conventional perception of a tool. Hence I turned to my physical toolbox and got out a pair of pliers. These pair of pliers is a symbol of one item of my digital toolbox for my project this academic year.

This object is an appropriate first test because it is fairly straight forward in form; some fine details where the pliers pinch, clear contrast between ground plane and colours of the object. I know from experience that good artificial lighting with support from passive natural light from windows provides good contritions for a scan. The scan made during daytime.

Two small concerns; reflective materials (i.e. the metal) can be difficult to capture, and black. Any type of black is difficult to capture. Matte black absorbs light and makes it difficult for the software to determine distance and relation to its context. Blank black is both reflective and somehow absorbing, possibly making it even more difficult.

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1. One of the 61 photos of the object submitted for aerotriangulation.

2-3. The aerotriangulation show a worrying preview result, but from experience I know the preview can be deceiving.

The preview also shows the positions of the camera for each of the 61 different photos. It is obviously important to circulate the object and try to cover all surfaces, with 65-70% overlap of previous photo so that the software can recognise and orient itself in the model space.

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4. The production result is really quite stunning. The software has managed to determine what is part of the object and what is part of the plane. The black bits are not merged with the shadow underneath and the metal has been distinctively recorded, without any compromises due to reflections. The metal bits are not polished or shiny though, which could have complexified the scan and given a poor result.

The outcome must be considered excellent.

5. The mesh is very dense and could potentially be heavy to engage with in other softwares, especially with the texture map file applied.

6. The image again show the positioning of the camera shots that has together produced the mesh and texture.

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OBJECT SCAN White Object Object Scanning Trial & Error Bently Context Capture & iPhone 6 Relevance: Since there will be snow in Kiruna, in January on our field trip, I intended to scan something somewhat smooth and white. I tried an off-white object because I have a feeling very white will be difficult to capture. If this works then perhaps very white can work too. If it doesn’t then perhaps I can tweak the settings or the exposure in the photos in Adobe Lightroom.

1. One of 51 photos.

2. The aerotriangulation seems ok but I feel some concern about the sides of the garlic.

3. The production shows a surprisingly good result!

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4 & 5. Looking at the result in Rhino; The scan is practically flawless. Really dense mesh and the white texture came out just fine. Even the roots - intertwined as they are - was near perfectly recorded. A very promising start, but also a very small object scanned in very good conditions.

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White “Landscape�

Object Scanning Trial & Error Bently Context Capture & iPhone 6 Relevance: I wanted to try to scan another white object. This time I decided to test a very white object in a complex form. The towel has a very distinguishable texture that should be recognisable. This object is one step closer to a snow covered landscape which is what we will encounter in Kiruna. However,It is important to acknowledge that this towel was photographed as an object, not as an environment while on foot.

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1. One of 126 photos 2-3. The aerotriangulation is very promising in deed; no failed photos, and a preview that gives me high expectations. I used 2 tie points to further help the software orient itself, and to set a scale.

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4-5. For some reason the scan decided to include a large chunk of the fake timber floor on one side of the plane on which it was placed. I decided to decrease the scanned 3D space to get rid of it.

5. The outcome of the production is very impressive. I was very careful while photographing the object, but the result is beyond my expectations. Even in the folds, wrinkles and cavities the texture is recorded and the mesh is almost complete.

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OBJECT SCAN White “Landscape“ Object Scanning Trial & Error Bently Context Capture & iPhone 6 Relevance: The white towel came out as a really good scan. Now the testing process moves on to a white and smooth object with little texture for the software to detect. A randomly formed piece of paper serves as this objectified landscape.

1. One of 71 photos.

2-3. The aerotriangulation failed 15 photos, which is not too bad, and does not mean the scan will be a fail per se. However, when observing the preview of the production it is clear that the 15 photos that were dismissed all was from the same side. These 15 photos may have a bigger impact than what 15 dispersed failed photos would have.

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4. The production shows the side that did not have failed photos came out pretty good. Some holes in the mesh do exist, but overall the result is pretty good.

5-6. The side that had the failed photos came out pretty bad, just as I suspected. It’s not a disaster, but compared to the towel scan, that had detectable texture (and therefore form), this must be considered a bit of a failure.

Conclusion: It was surprising to see how well a very white object was detected and recorded, although I think the texture of the towel helped a lot. It also helped that it was lit by mostly artificial lighting, and some passive daylight. I’m sure direct sunlight, or too strong passive daylight would have caused significant problems.

White and smooth objects is harder to scan successfully, even though the result of the paper was above expectations.

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Cactus Plant Object Scanning Trial & Error Bently Context Capture & iPhone 6 Relevance: Trees and larger plants are very hand to properly capture - they consist of so many smaller branches & leaves that are in specific relation to each other, and they move in the wind; it makes practically impossible to scan properly.

I decided to try to scan a cactus plant - a simple form for being a plant, but still a somewhat complex form.

This cactus has not just one “front” and one “back”, but several from every angle. Moreover it has very fine spikes which almost look like white fuss on its limbs. I thought that this white fuss could resemble snow on a tree or a building, which is why it could be relevant to our site in the time of year we are going there.

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1. One of 92 photos.

2. Aerotriangulation accepted all photos. Moreover it showed a somewhat promising preview.

3-5. The result is stunning. Not one single hole in the mesh and everything, from concrete pot and soil, to spikes was recorded. Success!

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OBJECT SCAN Black Object Object Scanning Trial & Error Bently Context Capture & iPhone 6 Relevance: After the successful scan of the pliers, with its matte black bits I wanted to do more testing of black objects and surfaces. I decided to try to scan my matte black aluminium espresso maker. It is made in an un-uniform shape, which in my experience helps the software determine orientation. It is placed on a black tea-towel to further test the capabilities of the software.

1. One of 75 photos.

2-3. The result of the aerotriangulation shows a worrying result; it does not seem to understand the positioning of the camera, which is normally not an issue at all. However it only failed 5 photos.

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4-5. The scan is a failure; it somehow manages to capture most of the uniform(!) bottom-bit of the object even though it is situated on a black towel. The towel itself is almost perfectly recorded. This result is surprising, especially since the handle clearly sticks out from the object. I would have expected a handle in a distorted form hanging in thin air at least.

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Black Espresso Maker Object Scanning Outdoors Trial & Error Bently Context Capture & iPhone 6 Relevance: I decided to do further tests on my matte black espresso maker, this time in different light conditions. Even though I have had very successful scans of previous objects indoors with artificial light backed up by passive daylight, the espresso maker clearly demands other light conditions, so I decided to take it outside. I placed it on top of a OSB-board, rather than a black tea-towel, in shade to give it more natural light in hopes of that this would make its surface and form more distinguishable to the software. I also tried to set “Tie points”, meaning I’m telling the software the relation between different point on the Espresso maker in several different photos of the scan.

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1. One of 60 photos.

2-3. Although the aerotriangulation only failed 2 of 60 photos it could not relate to the 5 tie points, and decided to skip this computation. Tie point are usually useful to the software. Aerotriangulation shows little hints of a successful scan, but it does show it understands where the photos were taken from which contradicts it message that it cannot relate to the tie points.

4. The production result shows only slight improvement from the scan made indoors.

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OBJECT SCAN Black Espresso Maker Object Scanning Outdoors Trial & Error Bently Context Capture & iPhone 6 Relevance: I decided to give the espresso maker one more try, even if this was with very little hope; I felt this time I gave the software even less chance than in the previous attempts, because I decided to put it in direct sunlight. In my experience it is always best to use passive daylight, i.e. in shade or indoors with backing of artificial light. Now the surface looks both matte and blank at the same time, plus it is hard to distinguish form when photographing in the direction towards the sun, even if the object itself blocks the sun.

1. One of 45 photos.

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2. Just as I expected the result of the aerotriangulation is really worrying. It is clear that the shade of the espresso maker is not recorded, just like the object itself. This makes me suspect that the object (if recorded at all) will merge with the shade it creates.

3. After production I can establish that even though the shade did not merge with the object, only the side of the object facing the sun is recorded. The scan is better than expected, but still insufficient. But I was not expecting the side facing the sun to be read at all, since the object almost become reflective, despite its “matteness�.

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Black Espresso Maker Object Scanning & Adjustment in Lightroom Trial & Error Bently Context Capture & iPhone 6 Relevance: One last try to capture the espresso maker - this time back indoors, with best possible light conditions, and with a white background all around to make it stand out. First I tested the original photos, but I also tried to put all photos in Adobe Lightroom to see if brightening up all photos could help the software determine the form and record the texture.

1. One of 50 photos before being adjusted in Lightroom.

2. One of 50 photos after being adjusted in Lightroom.

3. Aerotriangulation failed 40 of 50 photos before using Lightroom. 10 photos is not going to be enough for reconstruction & production.

4. Only an extra four photos were approved, and this is nowhere near enough for a successful scan.

Conclusion: This Espresso maker has proven too tough for the software. Its matte, and at the same time blank black surface cannot be captured properly. Texture could have helped this capture this object but the colour and material makes it hard despite the distinguishable form.

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OBJECT SCAN Frosted Glass Object Scanning Trial & Error Bently Context Capture & iPhone 6 Relevance: Context Capture understands textures and surfaces in conjunction. Glass is transparent, thus makes a texture hard to “understand” for the software. The software cannot detect the glass, but I’m certain the program can detect a difference in the tone of what is behind the glass. Can it record the surface of the glass as a place with a projection of what is behind, or does it interpret the difference of what is behind as a failed photo or a distorted one, unfit for use? I decided to try a frosted glass bottle containing “golden” olive oil as this is more likely to be a successful scan in my experience.

The top of the bottle is from reflective metal and this becomes a second “test within the test”. If the top is recorded at least, despite its reflectiveness, it should be hanging in thin air. Perhaps the top can help the software to determine the shape of the bottle..?

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1. One of 42 photos.

2-3. Again the aerotriangulation shows a worrying result, but it only failed 7 photos.

4. The result is quite bad. The golden olive oil has been recorded on the sides where it is in contact with the glass, but the frosted glass has made it impossible for the software to record the “top” of the oil, thus made no mesh there. Nor is the metal top-cap recorded. The whole scan must be considered a limitation for the software.

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Lettuce in Water in a Glass Object Scanning Trial & Error Bently Context Capture & iPhone 6 Relevance: I decided to try another scan of glass. A piece of lettuce was put in water in a small glass.

1. One of 86 photos.

2. The aerotriangulation was giving several warnings and failed 7 of 86 photos, and I was really sceptic about this scan, but decided to test it anyway - sometimes Context Capture surprise you, and also I was curious about the result of the lettuce.

The preview seemed to show no recordings of the glass but was promising about the lettuce.

3-4. The lettuce came out really well, with all its little cavities - almost none were recorded as holes, which is very impressive. The glass however was practically not recorded at all, apart from the more solid base which came out like a melted lump that merged with the bottom of the lettuce in a hourglass shape.

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OBJECT SCAN Glass Jar & Cereals Object Scanning Trial & Error Bently Context Capture & iPhone 6 Relevance: I wanted to try to scan a big glass jar, filled to 1/3 with cereals. This glass jar has a top with metal rods and an orange rubber membrane to keep it air tight. I thought that the top with its colours and other materials, could help the software detect it. Perhaps this could help it determine the form of the jar, unlike the top of the olive oil bottle which was dismissed all together.

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1. One of 42 photos.

2. Aerotriangulation gave similar warnings as in previous difficult scans, but did not fail many photos. The preview was looking pretty promising.

3-4. The production result was better than expected but still not satisfactory. A big chunk of the jar with no immediate contact with cereals was not recorded. In fact no parts of the glass around its main “body� was recoded at all, only the parts that were in contact with the cereals close to the top were merged with the top. The tops itself was recorded with some distortions; not even the steel rod and the rubber was homogeneous.

Conclusion: It is very hard, not to say impossible, for Context Capture to record glass. It tends to be distorted when recorded, but for the most part it is ignored.

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Frosted Glass Object Scanning Trial & Error Bently Context Capture & iPhone 6 Relevance: I gave the olive oil bottle one more try. This time I scanned it on a black surface in order to give the software a better chance to detect the difference between bottle and base plane. I think the frosted glass has a slightly better chance of being captured.

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1. One of 52 photos.

2-4. Context Capture crashed again, and would not make any sort of work, so I had to reinstall it. Again.

5-6. Again the aerotriangulation shows a worrying result failing far too many photos, and a poor preview.

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7-8. Looking for a solution, I ran all photos through Lightroom. Aerotriangulation worked better this time, failing “only� 23 of 52 photos.

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9. Although the result is significantly better, the scan is still really poor.

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Conclusion: It is very hard, not to say impossible, for Context Capture to record glass as an object. It tends to be distorted when recorded, but for the most part it is ignored.

The actual context of the glass-as-an-object has some impact on the result but cannot make a scan successful.

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Reflections on Ignorance & Surprise, 2010 Chapter in Matthias Gross book on the importance of imagining.

Gross is highlighting the fact that a lot of innovation comes from the unexpected. He encourages experimentation and research, but in no way is he of the opinion that too much time and effort should be put into research before actually undertake an experiment.

He gives examples of how innovative ideas has been the result of experiments for something completely different than what the experiment was actually meant to examine.

‘I believe that both interpretations — the one that claims that precaution means paralysis and the one that says that precaution must be a key feature in regulatory politics — have not dealt seriously with the importance of ignorance and surprise. The critics ascribe a “ better safe than sorry ” attitude to the precautionary principle and recommend turning back to cost-and benefit analyses and risk assessments based on known facts, thus ignoring the inevitability of uncertainty and ignorance.’

He cites Ludwik Fleck concluding, “every new finding raises at least one new problem: namely an investigation of what has just been found”. By this he means that even if you are certain of the outcome from an experiment, you still will be surprised by the result. Therefore an experiment is always legitimized in a way; “new knowledge also means more ignorance”, as Gross puts it. “Thus, surprising events will occur more frequently and become more and more likely.”

When it comes to ‘ecological design’, or ‘ecological restauration’ Gross is of a non-nostalgic attitude. He says that in order to act upon a brown field site, or similar, start with an aspiration, but do not hold on to it too tight - you might end up banging your head against the wall in a very impractical manner. Instead, when posed with new findings, use them to your benefit. Perhaps this will alter the original intent some, or a lot, but this is an opportunity that can be seized, rather than an obstacle to climb.

I do agree with him in some ways; nothing wrong with restoring, but let us not forget that turning the place back to what it once was, does not mean that nothing ever happened. Instead embrace it, work constructively with it. This was the main strategy for my 4th year project Solomon’s House.

Gross then lead us in to how this process is communicated, or rather, not communicated on the main stage of public debate, by paraphrasing Moore; ...”when it comes to making decisions based on science and technology and communicating them to the public, undisputed scientific evidence with no side effects is demanded. Contrary to popular belief, there has never been a general belief in absolute truth and certainty among modern scientists and technologists”. (p.3) He briefly touches upon the example of climate change to illustrate his point; is it not better to assume that emission is causing the globe to heat up and that this will have a very rough impact on our lives, than to wait until sufficient evidence has been collected to conclude beyond doubt that this is the case?

By assuming climate change is happening, we can start experimenting and be innovative about solutions to deal with this. Innovative work towards a fossil fuel free world will lead to unexpected new technologies that will benefit us, whereas to go on living as we have, because we are need proof beyond uncertainty to actually address the potential issue, will get us nowhere.

1._Gross, M. (2010). Ignorance and surprise. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, pp.1-8.

2._Sparrow, J. (2017). Can democracy survive the fourth industrial Fig. 1revolution? Should it?. [ONLINE] the Guardian. _Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (n.d.). Matthias Gross. [IMAGE]

When reading the introduction text I recall an article in the Guardian where Jeff Sparrow (Guardian) brings up Jason Brennan’s example of a model for future democracy (Against Democracy); namely that it should not apply to everyone. That you should have to be somewhat sensible/well-informed and have insight into topics and things that affect all, in order to be eligible to vote. This , Brennan means, will be beneficial for the progression of policies that deals with very important topics that can have a severe impact on life of all, such as climate change.2 His ideas applied to many climate change deniers that voted for Donald Trump’s statement - that climatic change because of emissions is a ‘Hoax’ - could have had a big impact on US policies on this topic. With Brennan’s suggestion these voters could have been dismissed. Even Trump himself would probably have a different election speech agenda. Of course such a political system has many other ethical difficulties, which I will not ponder, or elaborate on here and now.

How does this relate to Unit 4: Learning by doing; a bit of ignorance is beneficial because you are now open to new ways of looking at things, rather than to iron out exactly what an experiment will show - and then show it with this experiment.

Gross text is an encouragement of taking the step into the unknown to see where it leads.

Gross covers a lot of ground, but to me the part where he argues that research and innovation for the sake of preventing catastrophic environmental changes on earth is of out-most importance. Here there should not have to be as much evidence as is often requested by authorities (often pressured by large corporations), to act on it. I might have put my own take in my interpretation of this section, but I very much believe in this.

‘Precaution suggests what should not be done, not what should be done. Critics of the precautionary principle thus claim that it is contradictory and, if taken seriously, will block desirable changes and stop us from adopting better technologies.’1

Fig. 1 Matthias Gross is Senior Researcher in the Department of Urban and Environmental Sociology at Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research–UFZ.

OBJECT SCAN Statue A Object Scanning Outdoors Trial & Error Bently Context Capture & Canon EOS 1100D Relevance: In Kiruna we are going to scan objects outdoors and faรงades while on foot. It is now time to test scanning larger object in an outdoor environment. At the Emirates (Arsenals stadium) in Holloway, we found a few statues that I decided could be useful for this test.

When looking for decent quality in close-up to the finished capture, you need to move in closer to the object.

In some cases you cannot have the full object even in one image, even if you can move back and zoom out in most cases. I decided to do a test - the whole statue was not captured in any of the photographs submitted for aerotriangulation, but the photos together captured all of it.

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1-5. Five of 131 photos.

6-7. Aerotriangulation gave high expectations for the outcome, but also captured bits & pieces of the surrounding environment.

8-9. The production result is considered really good, but it also captured a larger copy of the head and shoulders slightly higher and behind the statue. This is probably a result of taking photos towards the sun, even if this was a cloudy day.

I decided to submit production of the mesh with all its surroundings to see how well these other bits would come out. Pretty much all bits are heavily distorted and morphed with the texture smudged on the mesh.

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Statue B Object Scanning & Adjustment in Lightroom Trial & Error Bently Context Capture & Canon EOS 1100D Relevance: While taking shots of the second statue, the clouds dispersed, and the sky became a lot brighter. The statue was in shade by the stadium but while photographing the top of the statue, in the direction of the sun, felt hazardous. These photos came out with an extreme contrast, where the statue looked black. In order to deal with this problem I put all the photos in Adobe Lightroom. The outcome was far better and fit for aerotriangulation.

Same as in the scan of statue A, non of my photos actually captured the full statue, but together the covered all of it. I also added tie points to see if the outcome could be more successful than statue A.

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1-6. Six of 101 photos.

7-10. Aerotriangulation captured a lot of the surroundings but this time I decided to crop most of the scan.

Scan output was a great success!

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OBJECT SCAN Guns Object Scanning Outdoors Trial & Error Bently Context Capture & Canon EOS 1100D Relevance: This capture was performed as a test of the relations between two objects - two identical objects at that. Without tie points I tried to scan these guns outside Emirates stadium.

1. One of 147 photos.

2. Aerotriangulation looked promising, but the gun barrels was a concern.

3. The mesh, for some reason, is created in tile-like pattern. It seems fine, and I see no reason for being sceptical about the production.

4-5. The production turned out really good.

Conclusion: To scan outdoor, larger objects can be really successful, even if, as in these cases, they are somewhat blank and black, or dark grey (and overall monochrome). Adobe Lightroom can help, but in the case of the guns, Lightroom actually made areotriangulation read four guns rather than two. So in that case the original photos actually resulted in a better scan. All these scans has been made daytime in cloudy conditions, and the best result was also shot in shade, i.e. in passive cloudy daylight, just like the most successful scan of the espresso maker in previous tests.

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OBJECT SCAN Old Pavilion in Park Environment/Object Scanning Trial & Error Bently Context Capture & Canon EOS 1100D Relevance: This pavilion is very complex. It has no facade but four identical, three-dimensional seating areas in an angle. Another big issue is that it is see-through, or open between ceiling and seating. Moreover the ceiling is in a repetitive ‘‘pattern’’ and must be shot with a reference in order for the software to orient itself. Photos must also be taken from inside the pavilion to cover all surfaces. In other words it needs to be treated both as an object and an environment.

1. One of 394 photos.

2. One side of the pavilion looks funny - as if Context Capture is trying to create a duplicate of part of the seating area on one side. This copy is situated outside the real footprint. The software is obviously confused about what goes where.

3. After aerotriangulation, you can detect each photo submitted. This gives you a hint of which photos that might cause the copy. In this case I ended up deleting more than 100 photos to get rid of what looked like the duplicated part of the pavilion. Not a good sign at all.

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4. At first glance the scan looks really successful, with just minor faults.

5-6. But when I started orbiting around the 3D mesh, I realised that the scan was a lot less successful. The software has apparently misinterpreted the distance in many photos and even though the resolution and mesh is correct, the positioning of several bits is wrong by approx 500 - 1000 mm. For example; the back support of the seats are created closer to the camera than the seats, and parts of the ground, and steps are positioned lower than the surrounding ground.

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OBJECT SCAN Sculpture at Spitalfields Market Object Scanning & Adjustment in Lightroom Trial & Error Bently Context Capture & Canon EOS 1100D Relevance: The sculpture Wooden Boat with Seven People (2011), by Kalliopi Lemos posed an interesting test because it consists of several man-shapted figures made from dense, matte black meshes. This material has already proven very hard to capture, but the texture it forms could possibly significantly improve the scan. The boat they sit in should not be as hard to scan successfully. Scan was performed along with Martins, and our photos were combined.

1-2. Two of 327 photos. The form is very complex and I was quite sceptical despite perfect lighting conditions.

The production showed it would require 54Gb of RAM, which is why Martins was kind enough to process it on his computer which is stronger. It still took 4 tiles to finish the production.

3. The result is exceptional! First the mesh was reduced with Meshlab. Image of scanned sculpture here rendered in Rhino. However the texture gets a bit messed up on the second tile in Rihno...

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Sculpture at Spitalfields Market Object Scanning & Adjustment in Lightroom Trial & Error Bently Context Capture & Canon EOS 1100D Relevance: From a black matte metal mesh object outdoors to a white object; White objects has previously proved pretty straight forward to scan, with only minor issues. The Goat sculpture is somewhat blank and many pictures are taken towards the cloudy, but ‘bright/illuminated’ sky. I’m very sceptical to this scan, even though I expect the concrete plinth to be really well captured.

1-2. Two of 102 photos.

3-4. Aerotriangulation showed virtually no sign of any white goat. Plinth seemed fine though, as expected.

5. To my surprise the goat came out really well. Top of the goat and the plinth, which I obviously could not cover, was automatically ‘healed’ by the software. Naturally without texture.

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6. After the sculpture was generated I trimmed and reduced the mesh. Goat rendered in Rhino, with an overlay of the final vector mesh.

Trimming & reducing mesh, as well as exporting files and generating drawings is explained under ‘Workflow’.

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OBJECT SCAN Sculpture at Everything at Once Scanning Environment as an Object Trial & Error Bently Context Capture & iPhone 6 Relevance: With the assignment brief in mind I thought of scanning this sculpture, ‘Imagine you are driving’ by Julian Opie, to include in my interpretation of tile 16. It is easy to imagine this as a piece of infrastructure (i.e. more of an environment) that is being scanned by a drone. In next the next section I have collected my attempts to capture environments around London.

1. Two of 158 photos.

2. Even though the aerotriangulation show everything but the actual road sculpture I had a really good feeling about this scan.

3. And the result was really satisfying.

4. I cut out the sculpture from the floor and rendered it in Rhino. The mesh was then exported as vector lines (heavy!!) and put on as an overlay to the rendered image to get to a kind of X-ray feature. It is clear that the software could not fully understand what was going on under the elevated bits. The dark voids has taken “physical” form.

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METAPHOR SCAN Metaphor at Everything at Once Object Scanning & Adjustment in Lightroom Trial & Error Bently Context Capture & iPhone 6 Relevance: As a metaphor and a real challenge for the software I tried capture this golden iron ore sculpture,

by Ai Weiwei at the exhibition. Metaphor because the sculpture is made from iron ore - the same raw material LKAB is extracting from the mine under Kiruna. But also because of the golden paint - The mine is the very reason the town exist, and is so precious it is worth moving the whole town to be able to continue extracting it.

This new context somehow still feels very much related to Ai Weiwei’s work and context of political criticism.

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The photos were run through Lightroom but the complex form and the reflective paint makes this virtually impossible to capture properly.

1. One of 168 photos.

2-5. The outcome is fragmented, even more morphed and has merged with its surroundings. The software has also partly created a copy of the sculpture, along with other parts of Weiwei’s complete art work.

In some ways the outcome reminds me of Lebbeus Woods iconic drawings.

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Sculpture at Everything at Once Object Scanning & Adjustment in Lightroom Trial & Error Bently Context Capture & iPhone 6 Relevance: Tony Cragg’s sculptures Minister were displayed in an artistic way with hard spotlights with darker surroundings, and with the background of London at dawn behind (reflective) glass. But with my tile for assignment 2 in mind I wanted to capture them. It also starts becoming an environment, or at least several objects rather than just one.

Could they serve as some sort of weird high-rise steam punk towers in my tile?

A total of 157 photos were taken of these sculptures.

1-2. Although some bits of the ceiling was captured the scan came out quite good, despite the circumstances.

To trim it, while keeping the texture was initially a really tough challenge, but later sorted. See ‘Workflow’ for more details.

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‘‘Field conditions’ [here] implies the acceptance of the real in all its messiness and unpredictability. It implicates architects in a material improvisation conducted on site in real time. Field conditions treat constraints as opportunity. Working with and not against the site, something new is produced by registering the complexity of the given.’1 - Stan Allen, From Object to Field

1._ Allen, S. (2009). Practice Architecture, Technique and Representation, p.119.

_ASSIGNMENT_02 ENVIRONMENT SCANNING

The scanning objects task showed various results. It is now time to test scanning environments.

1. Facade A of an old brick building in Shoreditch 2. Facade B of the same old brick building 3. Concrete skate park in Finsbury Park 4. Alleyway covered in graffiti, perpendicular to Shoreditch Highstreet.

5. Concrete seating outside Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium in Holloway 6. Urinal at the pub The Hercules Pillars, Covent Garden 7. Installation art/sculpture and wall/foundations near Spitalfields Market (from behind glass) 8. Front of Christ Church Spitalfields 9. ARSENAL letters ‘sculpture’ outside Emirates Stadium 10. Canteen in Calcutta House in Aldgate campus of London Met

ENVIRONMENT SCAN Brick Gable Facade (A) with Graffiti

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Environment/Object Scanning Trial & Error Bently Context Capture & Canon EOS 1100D

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Relevance: As we are likely to be scanning façades in Kiruna I thought I might have a go at this task. In Shoreditch we found a suitable building. It is very ‘‘2D’’ in its design, and with quite a lot of graffiti on its gables.

Rather than scanning the whole building, we tried to capture one facade at a time, putting each one in production on its own.

1-8. Eight of 194 photos. Here I have tried to illustrate my tactics for capturing objects and environments. Each photo should have at least 65-70% overlap with its predecessor and successor.

9. Here we can clearly see the position of the building across the road: I walked along its facade while trying to capture the whole gable from ten different positions.

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10-11. Result is practically flawless. This is a very promising test for the Kiruna trip!

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ENVIRONMENT SCAN Brick Front Facade (B) with Graffiti Environment/Object Scanning Trial & Error Bently Context Capture & Canon EOS 1100D Relevance: This facade is very long. I can appreciate that the software can detect and record objects, or façades as elevations. But this scan was a challenge because I could not take photos from the ideal distance - they were taken from across the road (too far for the program to pick up small differences and geometry at high resolution), and really close (which meant a lot of images since ‘rule’ of 65% overlap of each photo was followed). Moreover the road and sidewalk was busy - there was a lot of movement, even though I pursued to record as little of this as possible.

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1-3. Three of 249 photos. I did not take one single photo covering the whole facade, but this stitched image, made from 3 different photos, cover the full length of this facade.

In these shots I managed to get up a set of stairs to take one burst of photos that hopefully helps the software create a good scan.

4. I took bursts of photos on 9 locations in two rows along the facade, from the sidewalks. The road runs between these two rows, as can clearly be seen in aerotriangulation.

5-8. Aerotriangulation gave me the option to produce the mesh in six tiles, according to my 16 Gb of RAM, and it took several hours to complete.

The result was stunning.

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ENVIRONMENT SCAN Concrete Skate-park With Graffiti Environment Scanning Trial & Error Bently Context Capture & Canon EOS 1100D Relevance: Last year some students had very good results from scanning that incorporated a lot of grafitti. Some captured a skate park, while some others scanned the Nomadic Gardens in Shoreditch.

For my second evnironment scan I figured I would try a similar environment. This skate park is located in Finsbury Park.

Towards the last shots of this skate park the sun came out. I was a bit worried that this would affect the scan.

The last photos were also shot towards the direction of the sun.

1. One of 249 photos.

2-3. Being in an open environment trying to capture one part of it, Context Capture will still snap up elements quite far from your intended area as can be seen in illustration 2.

The intended area looks very promising, although I had to deal with quite a lot of movement from skate boarders.

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4-6. The scan came out really nice and, by the looks of it, fully intact towards the centre. This despite the movement of skate boarders, although I did spend some time trying to avoid them in each shot. And just like before the graffiti helped tie the scan together.

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ENVIRONMENT SCAN Alleyway framed by faรงades Outdoor space Trial & Error Bently Context Capture & Canon EOS 1100D Relevance: This is a more rigours test. Me and fellow unit 04 student Martins tried to capture a 40m long alleyway on ground level including lamp posts, faรงades on each side, and the paving. This ally is located close to Spitalfields Market, and lies perpendicular to Liverpool street.

We both ran out of memory card space while trying to capture this ally, and the amount of input data demanded 60Gb of RAM to process the scan. Martins computer, which is way more powerful than mine processed the scan. On his computer the scan came out in 7 tiles, with incredibly heavy mesh, where every brick was modelled. A total of 853 photos were shot in and the scan was processed as one model. We used different cameras, with different camera lens lengths in this scan, but the software did little, to no complaints about it.

We were fairly certain this scan could come out really good because of the graffiti, which has proven to really boost the outcome of the scans before.

1-3. Rendered views of the faรงades of each side of the alleyway.

Reflections on Breaking the Curve Chapter from Carpo’s book The Second Digital Turn Analysis of Digital Architectural Design The spline was invented in France in the 50’s by two automobile engineers/designers according to Carpa. We have seen it become immensely popular in computational architecture, as well as in kitchen objects, jewellery and car- & yacht- design (especially in the concept of “concept cars”, whatever that means it’s context?!).

Carpa says about this; “Bézier’s and de Casteljau’s splines are pure mathematical objects. As such, they do not fit with the phenomenological world we inhabit; designers using spline modelers “model” reality by converting it into a strippeddown mathematical script...”

My own interpretation is that especially cars have been seen as “fine piece of engineering/machinery”, as pure wonders of maths and physics, whereas buildings are seen as something static, something solid and still, where the human body and mind can rest (dwell). Le Corbusier tried to make “a machine for living” and was particularly interested in cars. We all know what happened with this concept in architecture - the house should not be a machine for living, in the same way as a car is a machine for getting from point A to point B. Perhaps it is the mathematics that frighten us, and make us shrug when imagining the house is not made by a caring architect (as we are perhaps historically often perceived), but by a mathematician and physicist trying to stretch and bend natural laws for the sake of science; they deal with complexities we don’t understand.

Moving on to today’s computational design and analysis; Carpa suggests that our ever more fast and powerful machines and computer power could replace our scientific search and mathematical rules, that we’ve spent hundreds of years evolving. (If? when?) now that Big Data can record an actual event it can be stored and used as a precedent for any given scientific outcome; we no longer need to investigate, calculate and create laws of physics and maths if we can just look at old recordings to understand what is going to happen in a scientific context, or as Carpa puts it; ... ‘data analysis as a new kind of “agnostic science,” which can make effective predictions without any understanding of the reasons or patterns (or laws or principles) we used to need to make some sense of the world.’

He further elaborates on this; ‘This means that design choices that used to be based on analytic calculations can now be made by trial and error, or even by intuition. Digital designers are discovering that they may often learn and design by making, just as artisans always have, but now at much bigger scales.’

What this leads to is something Carpa calls ‘a disorderly offspring of postmodern digitality’. The mathematics of the spline in the 90’s and early 2000’s is now becoming redundant, since we no longer are dealing with mathematics. The elegant spline is to the digital age what the (often elegant, minimalistic; i.e. Mies) modernism was in the 1930’s and 1940’s. We are now dealing with the complexity of nature in building, via a trial and error testing in large scale, leading to the possibility of construction of buildings.

Carpa ends his text by stating;

Fig. 1

‘This is why today’s digital style looks messy and rough.

This is the way Big data looks, because we have no clue how to interpret it, and this is the way digital computation works, even if we cannot say why, or how. It is a jungle out there, and it increasingly looks like it.’

Big Data to us in Unit 04 is recorded in our scans of objects and environments that we incorporate in our projects, but it also exist in open-source scripts for digital design.

Mario Carpo is Reyner Banham Professor of Architectural History and Theory, The Bartlett, University College London.

He is a specilist in history of architectural theory and history of cultural technologies, with focus on the early modern period (the Vitruvian tradition and the Italian Renaissance, from Alberti to Vignola) and on contemporary digital design theory (1990 to the present). Theory and criticism of contemporary architecture.

He has lectured and held professorships at University of Copenhagen (1997), MIT (2002), Polytechnic of Milan (2007), Yale University (History of Art: 2008), Princeton School of Architecture (2013), etc.

He has written a range of essays and books including Breaking the Curve which is part of his book The Second Digital Turn: Design Beyond Intelligence in the Writing Architecture Series.

1._Carpo, M. (2017). The second digital turn. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, pp. 46-52.

Fig. 1_Carpo, M. (2014). Fabricate 2014 - Keynote: Mario Carpo. [IMAGE]

Reflections on From Object to Field Article by Stan Allen on Big Data & Design.

Article from AD - The Digital Turn in Architecture Analysis of Digital Architectural Design In the text the author pins down the essentials of the creative process in architecture - an occupation that is as rich and complex in real life as it is in academia; ‘Architects work not only in the office or studio but in the field [of architecture].’ ... ‘Field conditions’ here implies the acceptance of the real in all its messiness and unpredictability. It implicates architects in a material improvisation conducted on site in real time. Field conditions treat constraints as opportunity. Working with and not against the site, something new is produced by registering the complexity of the given.’1 But the essential of this is that reality is always more complex and full of “messiness” that cannot possibly be conveyed in drawings. Until recently. In realising this mess and actually incorporating it in the representation of the context in visuals, the project grows; embraced, this can add even more understanding, leading to another layer of quality to the project. “From object to field”, in this text, refers to acknowledging that the real context is far more gritty than any £10 000 render can ever communicate, and therefore becomes more alive in representation.

This also relates to Kengo Kumas Anti-Object.

1._Allen, S. (2009). Practice - Architecture, Technique and Representation, p.119.

Fig. 1._Allen, S. (n.d.). Stan Allen. [IMAGE]

Stan Allen established his practice SAA (Stan Allen Architect) in 1990.

He holds degrees from Brown University, The Cooper Union and Princeton. He has been Dean of the School of Architecture at Princeton University, and is currently the George Dutton ’27 Professor of Architecture.

The essay From Object to Field is also published in his book Practice: Architecture, Technique and Representation (Routledge, 2008).

He has also published; Points + Lines: Diagrams and Projects for the City, (Princeton Architectural Press 2001) and Landform Building: Architecture’s New Terrain, Published by Lars Müller in 2011.

ENVIRONMENT SCAN Concrete Seating Environment Scanning Trial & Error Bently Context Capture & Canon EOS 1100D Relevance: From experience I know that an environment can only be fully and successfully photographed in a larger scale as an object from above in the same way I have recorded objects. This must be done with drone or a helicopter. Only then does it become fully manageable, and a successful outcome can be expected.

Attempts of capturing parts of an environments will be tested on ground level, and/or from a height. In this case I focused on concrete seating with simple geometric form, outside Emirates stadium.

1. One of 283 photos.

2-3. I have 16Gb of RAM on my laptop. Because this is a large scan from many photos, the software cannot create one great mesh with texture, but divides the mesh according to RAM limitations. In this case aerotriangulation gave me the option to create this mesh in 6 tiles. Each tile runs separately, one after the other.

Estimated RAM usage during each production is 13Gb. Large scans like this is very time consuming to produce.

4. After not being able to produce tiles 1 & 2 I had to reinstall Context Capture for the second time in two weeks for similar reasons. It is an unstable software.

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5-7. The production is quite bad - distorted and morphed, copies made in a slightly higher location.

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ENVIRONMENT SCAN White Blank Urinal Interior Space Scan Trial & Error Bently Context Capture & iPhone 6 Relevance: White objects posed some sort of issue from time to time, and especially shiny objects. How about white environments I thought to myself? Why not try this?

1. One of 81 photos.

2. The result is decent, but some blank spots were ignored by the software.

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Artwork & Foundations behind Glass Space Scanning & Adjustment in Lightroom Trial & Error Bently Context Capture & Canon EOS 1100D Relevance: What happens when you try to capture something from behind glass? This piece of wall/foundations should normally be quite easy to capture, but the glass is reflective; it shows both my own reflection and it redirects daylight.

1-2. A total of 112 photos were taken.

3. Aerotriangulation looks somewhat promising.

4. The result is not as bad as first expected and is in the line of what aerotriangulation shows. A the same time it is not a really successful scan.

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ENVIRONMENT SCAN Church front and Columns Semi outdoor space Trial & Error Bently Context Capture & Canon EOS 1100D Relevance: I wanted to put some sort of historical columns in my tile environment. Since the front of the church holds an interesting indoor/outdoor relationship I tried to capture both the front and the space outside the interior.

1. One of 404 photos.

2. The scan is a complete failure, despite many photos.

3. However I did manage to get one really good column from the scan that will go into my interpretation of my tile.

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Artwork & Foundations behind Glass Space Scanning & Adjustment in Lightroom Trial & Error Bently Context Capture & Canon EOS 1100D Relevance: What happens when you try to capture something from behind glass? This piece of wall/foundations should normally be quite easy to capture, but the glass is reflective; it shows both my own reflection and it redirects daylight.

1. One of 406 photos taken of the large ARSENAL letters.

2-3. Although Context Capture only failed 6, and the scan of the faรงades opposite the letters looks really promising, the software completely fail to understand that there is only one row of letters. It creates one copy on each side of the main capture.

I did not produce a model from this even though I can imagine that trimming off the copies can leave me with a quite good scan. The faรงades opposite could potentially come out really well.

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ENVIRONMENT SCAN Calcutta House Canteen Interior Space Scan Trial & Error Bently Context Capture & Canon EOS 1100D Relevance: The canteen in London Met’s Calcutta House served as a large scale test for scanning indoor environments. The space is large, but not too complex.

It also has an open loft corridor from which I could take images from above. This should help the scan.

1. One of 461 photos. But the software failed 90 images 2. The aerotriangulation shows something long but this does not looks promising.

3-6. The scan is terrible. But yet really interesting. Again this reminds me of the drawings by Lebbeus Woods.

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We as students of Unit 04 are interested in capture reality to recreate, or rearrange it digitally in order to be more true to the context, to acknowledge it. By doing this I believe we can get better responding architectural proposals designed and tested in site specific conditions and the “real” context. Photogrammetry thus is very much linked to Kengo Kuma’s Anti-Objects and a part of the term Big Data.

Big Data is increasingly making reality available to many people digitally. In not too long, we might have scanned the whole world in superfine detail and can experience it virtually, much like in the film Matrix, use it much like the film Ready Player One. In the realm of Unit 04, however, it is important to realise the difference between the gaming industry, virtual reality and architecture. But when tools developed for these other industries are used in the right way I’m sure they can add another level to the architectural profession.

_ASSIGNMENT_02 WORKFLOW

Partly Assignment 2 is about experience scans in VR, but also to extract drawings.

1. Workflow Over-view 2. Workflow Part 1 - From Photo scanning to Reduced mesh model with textures 3. Workflow Part 2 - From Reduced mesh to Unity 4. Workflow Part 3 - From Unity to Virtual Reality 5. Workflow Part 4 - From Unity to Architectural drawing 6. Concept & Design of Tile 16

WORKFLOW Over-view of Workflow for Assignment 2 Established step-by-step method Scheme of processes and softwares used

PART 1 To have an established workflow in the beginning of the academic year is very beneficial. We will use this method as a design tool for our final projects in Kiruna. The project will not only hold scans and be presented in VR, but these features will be used to assess our progress of the project throughout term 2 & 3.

To get to a working scheme the unit has been through many, many hours of trial & errors, and a lot of frustration. But we finally arrived in a scheme that will get a scan into a VR environment, where you are able to walk around freely.

1. Take photos, as many as you think is needed, of an object or environment.

2. Produce two files in Bentley Context Capture; one .dgn file for retouch (without texture) and one final .obj file.

3. Open file for retouch with Bently Descartes CONNECT. Cut away unwanted mesh - morphs or ground, etc.

Replace original file for retouch with the one you just worked on in Descartes.

4. Back in Context Capture, resubmit update of original final .obj file.

5. Open updated .obj file in MeshLab. Copy original texture to a new folder and rename them to something unique. Reduce mesh as much as possible (up to 90%).

Save it in the same folder as your renamed texture files and reassign the files texture memory to your renamed texture files.

PART 2 6. Create a 3D Metric Master Seed file in Microstation CONNECT (a 64-bit program). Attach your new .obj files as References. Scale, rotate and move them into desired position.

7. Turn off all references but one or two, depending on how heavy they are, how large they are. Save file.

8. Open the same file with Microstation V8i (a 32-bit program). Export file(s) as .fbx straight into Unity Assets.

PART 3 9. Assets should come with textures into desired position straight away.

10. Import Steam VR and VRTK from Unity Asset Store.

Make adjustments to the VR Script if necessary.

11. Set up your HTC VIVE. Done. Experience your scans in Virtual Reality and move around in the model with the handles.

Seamless Workflow: To get to the point where you can experience scans along with a 3D modelled environment in VR you can follow this workflow that has been developed by the students in Unit 4. To begin with you need to take photos. Lots of photos. The successful garlic scan I did, for instance was about 35 photos. A 50m long facade in Shoreditch, that i scanned pretty successfully, was about 450 photos. There really is no clear answer to what a successful scan demands, but certain things really most likely makes a big difference.

Some of these things are; SLR camera rather than a mobile phone camera (but make sure the settings are medium to high. Although some mobile cameras manages to produce better quality than even an SLR. Sometimes movies shot with any camera turns out better than stills, but mostly not.), cloudy sky but full daylight (this mostly seem to be valid if you take pictures of medium dark to dark objects. If your objects are very light coloured then a clear blue sky might be preferable), not take pictures towards the sun (this is obviously very hard in deed when circling an object or environment. Ultimately your call on the spot but be very aware), artificial light is very beneficial as a second light-source (but should sometimes be treated as the main light-source, with daylight as secondary lightsource; i.e. backup illumination), white objects with texture has very good chance of coming out great when they have somewhat rough texture (but fine, very fine, to very-fine-with-no-texture is a bit more tricky most of the time, but not always), black objects tend to benefit from mostly artificial light (especially in hart artificial light, but not in hard natural light in general, although in some specific cases hard natural light seems to be the only way to capture a matte black surface. In these instances the shaded part should most likely be heavily lit by artificial light), not too symmetrical (most of the time the capture is better if there are clearly distinguishable geometric forms. The program can more easily relate to specific points if it can pick out a specific relation between two points in a three dimensional space), glass cannot be captured it will be treated as non-existent or as a black surface (a surface that can have indefinite depth, or it will make up where the reflections are in relation to the surroundings in the three dimensional space), blank objects and environments will be treated similarly (the software will determine if the white reflection of light is an object itself, located in a random place in space, or if it is just a reflection not worthy of taken notice of), super complex object will be better recorded if you can live with a bit of mistakes so keep distance (since the program cannot possibly understand too small movements in relation to larger movements of the camera. In cases of “close-ups” and shots from distance it often gets confused, and starts to create a copy on the scan in a different position), not too many people in motion in front of camera (even though the software most of the time manages to understand that these are temporary object, e.i. don’t seem to really exist and being considered a glitch, or a failed photo) too many people, or cars might hinder the software of determining the relation between fixed points, and therefore will either incorporate them, merge them into the scan, or ignore the whole thing, leaving a hole in the mesh), and finally graffiti helps. A lot. Graffiti seems to support the program to determine the relationship between physical parts in

three dimensions, whether they be in straight angles or on curved faces, rough or smooth faces makes no, or little difference. Objects and environments covered in graffiti has a very good chance of being recorded properly even if the photos have been taken with different devices, combined in the aerotriangulation, which is the phase where the software try to sketch out the form and locate where the photos have been taken from. Estimated time for aerotriangulation process depends on the amount of photos included. Before this process starts you get a messages of the imported photos; if they seem to be of sufficient quality, etc.

Normally most photos can be used but sometimes the software disqualify more of them. This happened when I tried to submit photos of the espresso-maker indoors in the last attempt. I disqualified so many that I discarded the aerotriangulation process all together. Before you start the process you can also add tie-points. These are points that will help the software determine a specific part of the scan in several photos (how many points and how many photos you choose to use for this seems to be arbitrary). In theory this should help the software orient itself better in, and around the scanned space/ object, but can also set a specific scale of the scan.

You are encouraged to set the amount of mm between two points and the model will be scaled according to this measure. Once aerotriangulation process is finished you get a preview of what and how the software has read the photos; location of each shot, and a hint of the potential of the outcome. Sometimes you can also see possible issues, such as if the software seems to want to create a copy of a certain part of the scan, in a slightly different location. In these cases you can detect which photos that seems to make up this abnormality, and you can exclude them from the process. Be aware though that sometimes aerotriangulation does not seem to detect the object at all, but in fact after the production it comes out really good, or even excellent. After the aerotriangulation process it is time to create the first file which will be a master .obj file with textures. Although there are several other options at this point; file formats, jpg quality of the texture, various options of open, or closed meshes, etc, I/we have not been able to see the usefulness of the other outcomes, apart from creating a 3mx file. This file will let you see the result in the viewer of the software even if it is made up from several tiles. However, normally an .obj file made from one or two tiles can also be viewed, so it is only in the really heavy, large scans (often of an area) this feature really is useful. Before you start the production of the .obj file you will be notified how much of RAM the software requires to ‘bake’ the mesh model.

Objects are usually fine, but with better quality photos, more photos and complex objects it can exceed 16Gb or RAM. It is how much RAM I have in my laptop, and only one or two other students have more than this. In these cases you can divide the process into tiles. Each tile will then be processed separately and therefore require less RAM. You can adjust how big the tiles are (volume) and set your target RAM and the software will then calculate how many tiles the production needs to be divided into. During this stage you can also ‘crop’ away parts of the model that are undesired. Once this is set you start production. Normally a 15Gb production takes about 2-3h on my computer, which means about half a day for larger scans with many tiles. If the targeted RAM is set for something close to the total available

RAM on the computer, the production is sensitive and will fail if you work with other heavy processes, such as large 3D modelling files in for example Rhino. When the production is finished you can look at the result in the viewer. Now it is time to decide if this was a successful scan and if its worth continuing working with it or not. If you do decide it is, then you make a new production of the exact same way; change no settings(!) apart from a new file format, a new .obj for retouch, or a .dgn. You also want to choose not to include textures in this second file production. Luckily the second production is always faster, normally around 30 minutes per 15Gb of scan. A scan is almost never perfect straight from production, and even if it is, the base it sits on will always be attached to the desired object either way, so trimming is practically always needed. This second scan, when finished, should be opened with Bentley Descartes Connect. We were instructed to import the . obj for retouch, ‘drop element’ once and only once (otherwise it will be exploded into the bare vertices and this action cannot be undone, so you would have to restart the program, without saving, to start over) and then use the ‘fence tool’ to determine what parts of the mesh that you want to cut away. You then choose to delete fence content. However the ‘fencing tool’ has several options of how to go about the trimming, and I have come to the conclusion that with certain options there is no need to ‘drop element’ at all which reduces the risk of a failed trimming procedure. No matter how you choose to go about the trimming the deleting of vertices is very slow and you can end up waiting for the program for minutes for each trimming sequence. When the trimming process is done you have to save the file; overwriting the file you have been working on in the same place it was created. You then go back to ContextCapture to submit update. The software will detect a change has been made, confirm it has been loaded, and then you will resubmit production of the first .obj you made (the master .obj I call it). The software will now apply the texture to the mesh model as it is after you have trimmed it. This process is usually about 45minutes to 1h for a 15Gb scan. Once done it is time to open the .obj file in MeshLab. You choose to reduce the complexity of the mesh but to keep the textures.

Ideally you want to reduce the mesh to about 10%, and definitely below 61 000 vertices, since this is the number Unity can handle without having to devide the mesh into several bits. If the mesh model is something quite flat, like a facade for example, this might not be so difficult, but when dealing with more complex forms/ objects, this can be quite hard to achieve, without messing up the form. It is normally more feasible, I have found, to be able to reduce the mesh to about 40-50% of original vertices. Either way the size of the file is drastically reduced; often it ends up about 1000% smaller or more. Before saving the file you need to rename the texture/textures of the scan. They need to have a unique name in order to keep its texture in Unity.

Before you even open the file in MeshLab you should create a new folder where you paste copies of the original texture files. After reducing the mesh you save the file to this folder and the copied texture files will have new names after the MeshLab process. For larger scans consisting of several tiles, this procedure must be made for each one of them, since they in theory and practice now are independent meshes. It is now time to open the master compiling .dgn master 3D Metric

Seeding file in Bentley Microstation Connect Edition 64-bit that you have made. This file keeps track of all your scans and allow you to scale, move, rotate and copy them into position, where they will end up in the Unity Scene. Because this file has meters as units your attached scans (which are in mm) will be enormous.

You need to scale them down by 1:1000 to get them to the right size. Choose to ‘Attach file’ and organise each one the way you like. This is a tedious process since the tools available suits this job really poorly. Microstation is also very unstable and crashes are common. Other errors also occur randomly so be prepared to force quite program, restart program, reboot computer, and uninstall/reinstall the software several times per week when using it frequently. Once you have the files in place and in position, choose 1-6 scans and turn all other attached files off (each tile is of course still a separate mesh and needs to be attached and exported separately). Save file. Open file in Bentley Microstation V8i 32-bit. Choose Export .fbx, and make sure you invert the Y and Z. Save the .fbx file in to a designated folder under Assets in Unity. When opening Unity you need to create a new project. You will be working under the tab ‘Scene’, and you will need to experience you creation at first hand under the ‘Game’ tab when pressing play. It is important to make adjustments under the ‘Scene’-tab, otherwise your changes will not be saved. Because you scaled your scans down to 1:1000 in Microstation, you now need to scale them up to 1000:1, and they should come in the right position with textures. If they end up in another position, delete them in Unity, restart Microstation V8i and export again. Now it should work. In Unity you need to create colliders not to walk through scans, or fall through them. However creating colliders on really heavy meshes can take minutes and can slow down the experience. In these cases it is better to create a ‘fake’ box, sphere, or other suitable form of collider, and place it in the same position as the scan. In this way Unity has less vertices to calculate colliders for, but the experience should be the same, or close to it, but without the lagging. Now go back to Microstation Connect Edition, turn off the scans you just exported, turn on 1-6 new ones you with to export and save. Open file in Microstation V8i 32-bit, and export in the same way as before. Keep doing this until you have exported all your scans to Unity. Once you have your scans imported to Unity you need to address the environment. Import package ‘Standard assets’ form the ‘Asset Store’ that is included in the Unity software. Next to the game and scene tabs you will find the asset store. Once imported apply skybox (or create your own in another software, such as Autodesk 3DS Max). Directional light is standard, but if you want to create a sun daylight cycle that is possible too. When trying to make your environment more ‘realistic’, or believable (at least get away from the very ‘flat’ and plain expression the default mode gives) there is really no limit to how much work you can put in. Game creating companies have hundreds of expert people employed working full time with creating the environments for even a standard video game. The free version of Unity is good and quite nice experiences can be created for free, and some assets that can help you take shortcuts to creating the environment you are looking for are also free. However, in order to get to a really nice experience you need to pay for assets or program them yourself. For this you need programming

skills and you should use scripting software C Sharp for this. If you have modelled the environment in another program, such as Rhino or Sketchup, you can export straight into Unity. Create a designated folder under Assets in Unity, and export as .fbx to here. Since .fbx files are meshes Unity can handle them. However you will not be able to manipulate your environment with the Unity tools that are available to create environments.

Unity has its own ways of dealing with environments and is able to create this quite easily, to a quite satisfying standard. This is called Terrain. You can create trees, grass and topography, textures of different materials are available in the Standard Assets - pack for free. If you want to use textures added in Rhino that is possible but they cannot be altered in Unity. Too many meshes (including your environment) can be slow to handle in Unity and they can create a lagging experience. To solve this you need to convert your meshes into terrain.

This can easily be done with the Asset ‘Mesh to Terrain’ which can be bought in the asset store for about 22 Pounds. However this asset cannot make an exact replica of you mesh, but will simplify it, which almost certainly creates disjunctions between object which will be very hard to fix in Unity. It is therefore better to export the environment first, turn it into terrain, then go back to Rhino to export your objects (buildings and infrastructure) as meshes. No easy fix can be made when trying to export several pieces of a very large area independently, since they will not match up when turned into terrain. A possible fix is to export the full environment-area in mesh format to Unity, turn it into terrain, and then export it back as mesh format to Rhino. Once in Rhino export it back to Unity again, although it is still unclear if Unity can then turn this new mesh into terrain without altering its form once more. It is also unclear if Rhino can handle the presumably very complex mesh. If you decide to keep environment as mesh in Unity the textures added in Rhino will be automatically added, however they will not look good. To make them slightly better you can create and add different types of texture maps to these meshes. This is likely to make them look better and to make your environment experience less artificial and more enjoyable. Normal maps and height maps should be added to the meshes to compliment the regular texture. A normal map will allow a textured surface appear more three dimensional as creates the illusion of depth. It convinces the light incorporated in the Unity scene to cast shadows on areas suggested to be further back, such as the mortar joints between bricks. Height maps will quite literary make highlighted areas to pop out, and obscure/block out the visual sight of other areas that are shaded (i.e. supposedly further back). The hightmap will have most impact on a surface seen from an angle, whereas a normal maps will have the best effect when seen in elevation. These can be made in Photoshop for instance. Make sure you work with texture files larger than 1000 pixels in both directions, and that they have the same amount of pixels in both directions. They should ideally also be of a seamless type and preferably be of the dimensions 256, 512, 1024, 2048, and so on, in order to enhance performance in Unity. To create a normal map, open the texture .jpg or .png file in Photoshop. Copy it. Create a new file of the same size as the texture file. From this create new 3D object.

Choose to edit diffuse, then the past the texture in the new edit-diffuse-file. Your 3D object will now have the

texture applied. Choose to create normal map. Fix the settings as you think is suitable, although it is hard to know what the ideal settings will be. Save it, then choose to edit normal map. Your normal map will show as a file of its own, and it is now possible to export it.

Export to Unity and apply it under the inspector tab.

Your material should now look slightly better and you can adjust the settings in Unity as well. In many cases this gives the impression that the material is very glossy, but three dimensional. There is no fix for this, but play with settings of the normal map until satisfactory result is achieved. To create a height map open the texture in Photoshop again. Desaturate it and adjust levels. Save it to unity as a .jpg or .png file, and apply it to the mesh under the inspector tab. The map is a gradient and the whitest parts will be popping out most, where as the blackest areas will stay at the back of the surface where the height map is applied. Play with settings until satisfactory result has been achieved. Unity also has different shades that can change the appearance and experience of a material too. Some of these will only allow for a texture file and a normal map. Play with shades until satisfactory result has been achieved. There is no easy way of getting a perspective drawing of your environment including scans, if there are more than a few. Depending on how many scans you have you can possibly import them along with your modelled environment into Rhino or Sketchup, but they can be extremely heave and can cause the software to freeze or crash.

Since they do not consist of NURBS these programs will not be able to make a line drawing, but you best option is a type of render, called Toon. This option will try to make an outline of all objects, but since the result is an image, the lines will not be vectorized. You can of course vectorize a rasterized image but there will be lots of work getting it to look decent. Because the scans are in very complex mesh format these softwares cannot draw just some lines, but will vectorize every mesh triangle. Even though you’ve reduced the meshes of your scans in MeshLab, they still consists of many thousands of triangles that will all be drawn, if not hid behind another object. If many scans are included the file could end up being made from several hundred, or even millions of vector lines, making the file (.pdf, .ai or .dwg) to heavy to open in any other software. Even if you manage to open it the file will be too heavy to work with and the amount of lines alone, that needs to be deleted, demands hours of work. The best option I found was finally making the file open in Sketchup and export with edges, but no profiles, and then mask the rasterized lines that are unwanted.

These instructions must be followed very carefully, otherwise there is an imminent risk of failure to achieve the stage of a desired smooth Unity/VR experience with decorous scans and over-all good perception of the virtual environment, and to get illustrations from the project.

Text ‘Seamless Workflow’ has been inspired by Rem Koolhaas’ text ‘Junk Space’. I have taken inspiration from lectures by Peter Cook and CJ Lim, where they have been advocating more humour in architecture. With the above instructions I’ve tried to describe my efforts in a rant-like manner, a flirt with dark humour and sarcasm.

The next phase of this chapter will continue along the same line.

Fig. 1

- Jonas Bertlind

Fig. 1._Bertlind, J. (2017). Mental Breakdown. [WhatsApp Chat Unit 4].

I am quite proud of Unit 04, and my own achievements in term 1. We have faced a lot of software process related issues, but have overcome most of them in a short amount of time.

Nietzsche allegedly said;

- In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule.

Following the theme of humour in architecture, which has been the cornerstone of many of the talks I have been to by CJ Lim, Peter Cook and Kibwe Tavares, my aim with the following pages is to show the workflow in a quite humorous way, but also the actual discussions/collaborations we have had to overcome many of the obstacles we have faced.

I have broken down the process into different phases to make it more graspable. I aim to convey the quite intense struggle this experience has meant for all of us, and tell the story of getting from photographs to 3D virtual reality.

Enjoy.

WORKFLOW PART 1 Bentley Context Capture & Descartes Described and Concluded Trial & Error The process of making a mesh model with textures is somewhat straight forward, but there are many many things that can go wrong. And just because it is a somewhat simple process does not mean it is made in a heartbeat.

Especially the softwares stability has been a large part of the struggle. I, and we, have encountered many errors that does not seem to have any kind of logics to them. ContextCapture, for instance, can just stop working at any moment without any explanation. Processes can suddenly just stop. Some conclusions have been drawn but largely it is still very unclear what causes these different errors.

Bentleys Descartes has been used to trim meshes before the mesh is reimported into ContextCapture to reassign the texture onto the modified mesh model. I find this software quite crude and hard to manoeuvre, but after spending some time with it, it will do the job of trimming. There is also a command to fill holes that naturally occur in the mesh, when making it in ContextCapture. These holes are located where in areas that no photo cover, or where there has not been enough information for the software to extract to build mesh here. Holes can also occur in heavily shaded areas.

Here the software cannot determine where the surface is located in relation to the rest of the model, so it skips it. This command in Descartes can often fix this issue by filling the hole with mesh. However, we have still not managed to find a way of telling the program HOW to fill the hole and sometimes it will be very crude. This topological change can cause large black patches on the mesh, and ContextCapture cannot manage to project the texture onto these rather large changes in the mesh.

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In this example (a scan of a towel) I tried to fill some of the small holes in the mesh (see Fig 2). The yellow outline shows many small holes in the mesh. In Fig 3, we can see the result, with smaller black patches that are not a problem for ContextCapture to deal with. But we can also see a really large black area. Here the topology has changed drastically and I ended up with a worse result than before trying to fill the very small holes.

ContextCapture stretched the texture over this patch, and the end result was really poor.

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WORKFLOW PART 1 MeshLab Described and Concluded Trial & Error MeshLab is only used to reduce the polygons of the mesh model, and to reassign, and rename the texture. To me it is very strange that it does not seem as if Bentley have a program that should be used to handle mesh models produced by ContextCapture. To me it would make sense to incorporated it in ContextCapture, or at least in the Benley Suit. Perhaps a smaller suite including programs that could be useful to deal with outcomes from ContextCapture should be created? However, MeshLab has proven to do the job we need it to do. The mesh models that come out of ContextCapture are so heave they must be reduced to become useful in Unity. Unity can handle assets up to 61,000 polygons, otherwise it will split imported meshes into bits. This is not a complete disaster, and I have had to accept this with some large and complex scans. However, MeshLab can reduce the number of polygons in a mesh and then reassign the texture onto the altered mesh. The reduction of polygons can often be quite drastic and makes a lot of difference in file size, and ultimately how well Unity can handle the meshes. It is not uncommon to be able to reduce the polygons by 80-90% without loosing to much detail.

The reduced mesh has the same texture as before but it is readjusted to ‘fit’ the new mesh. It is also very important to rename the texture file to something unique in this process, otherwise other programs that handle more than one scan, including Unity, will get confused about which texture map goes where. Before we figured this out we had many hours of confusion and frustration.

1. The Road sculpture scan has lost its texture. Only the file name is printed on an otherwise completely white texture, that is projected onto the mesh.

2-3. Screenshot shows the difference in file size before (2) and after (3) mesh has been reduced in MeshLab.

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WORKFLOW PART 2 Bentley MicroStation Described and Concluded Trial & Error MicroStation has been used as a compiling program.

This is where you end up placing scans, and models in the chosen composition before exporting them as .fbx to Unity. In this way the models show in Unity exactly where you want them. Because all scans and models are just referenced into the master seed file, you can change any of them in another program, and they will be updated in this file. In theory this is a very smart way of dealing with large environments that consists of many smaller models. This is also how offices work with projects that consists of many smaller files. However, there are a few flaws that makes this step in the process a lot harder than it should be.

First, personally, I find Microstation very crude and unnecessary difficult to use when moving, scaling and rotating the imported reference models. I have previously used AutoCad and Rhino to perform similar tasks and it is much more user friendly.

Secondly the software is very unstable. I have encountered countless crashes, and many times I have had to uninstall the software. Bentleys site has sometimes not worked, so I have had to wait several days to reinstall the software again.

Third; The newest Microstation, MicroStation CONNECT Edition, is not capable of exporting models as .fbx files with texture, which defeats the purpose to use it at all.

We have read in forums that other people have had the same problem, but there is nothing that points to the fact that Bentley is trying to fix this. To get around the problem, we use a previous version of Microstation.

The problem with this version though is that it is a 32bit program, and it cannot deal with more than just a few mesh model references at a time. It can, however, export .fbx files with the texture, which is what we need it to do.

Fourth; we have found no easy way of getting a proper line drawing from the compiled Microstation file. This is a shame since we put so much effort into the composition, and the scans. This, however, is not just a problem with Microstation, it goes for all other 3D softwares we have tested.

1. An example of my tile with geometry modelled in Rhino and applied textures, along with some of my scans.

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WORKFLOW PART 3 Unity and Steam VR, VRTK & HTC Vive Described and Concluded Trial & Error My computer is not strong enough to run HTC Vive.

However, as a group we have encountered some issues trying to set up a Unity file for VR, and since I cannot test it myself, I have been limited, for test occasions, to the presentations we have had during term 1.

Before producing the file in Unity, you need to set up a scene for this purpose. You also have to import VRTK and Steam VR from the Asset Store in Unity to be able to produce a file that works with HTC Vive. I have always managed to produce a VR file that works, even though I have had to try several times on some occasions. I still cannot claim to know exactly how it works, and sometimes I have experienced certain errors in Unity.

With HTC Vive you must also go through a set up with the computer that will run the VR before each session.

This is to calibrate the physical space with the artificial one. This process is usually more straight forward and is pedagogically explained in the HTC Vive Set Up process.

Fig 1 shows a small patch of texture issue on the towel scan which has been put in Unity. The scan has adopted its assigned texture on all the mesh apart from this specific spot. Here instead is has literary projected the complex texture map onto the mesh.

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WORKFLOW PART 4 Rhino, Sketchup, V-ray Getting a drawing from Workflow Described and Concluded Trial & Error As it turned out so far we have not yet been able to get a line vector drawing from our tile with the collection of extrusions and scanned objects. A mesh is a complex form triangulated and all software’s has (understandably) problems determining which lines to print, if not all of them. This means ALL triangles in the mesh will come out as three vector lines. In a normal facade scan, after being reduced, this generally mean about 60 000 triangles. This means the vector output comes in an incredibly heavy file, and most of the time it is impossible to work with.

I did manage to open a 82Mb .dwg in AutoCad in an attempt to delete lines, but every time I selected vectors the program froze for around one minute. This makes the process incredibly long, and it would be faster to trace over the image as a .jpg screenshot from the MicroStation master seed file.

The .pdf file would not even open in Acrobat Reader.

WORKFLOW PART 4 Rhino, Sketchup, V-ray Getting a drawing from Workflow Described and Concluded Trial & Error This is a Toon Render from V-ray in Rhino. It tries to draw outlines from distinguishable forms and draws the outline of each mesh. It does not come out as vector lines, but as rasterized lines. I have tried to get vector lines from Sketchup, but it just creates too many vector lines for the file to be useful. The same happens with Rhino when trying to extract vector lines from the 3D model.

Fail City Error Render of Tile 16 Described and Concluded Trial & Error Continuing on the humours theme in explaining the issues we encountered with the workflow, this is another render. This time I decided to “dress� the meshes in screenshots of FAIL messages and ERRORs that we have encountered throughout the process of finding a functioning workflow.

‘Drawings using the technique of the Exquisite Corpse, because of their primary function as a proposed delineations of personalities, tend inevitably to raise anthropomorphism to its highest pitch and to accentuate vividly the continuing relationship uniting the exterior with the interior world.’ 1 - André Breton, Le Surréalisme et la peinture, 1928

1._Breton, A. (1972). Surrealism and Painting, p.290.

ASSIGNMENT_02 CAMPO MARZIO TILE 16

Partly Assignment 2 is about experience scans in VR, but also to extract drawings.

1. Workflow Over-view 2. Workflow Part 1 - From Photo scanning to Reduced mesh model with textures 3. Workflow Part 2 - From Reduced mesh to Unity 4. Workflow Part 3 - From Unity to Virtual Reality 5. Workflow Part 4 - From Unity to Architectural drawing 6. Concept & Design of Tile 16

CONCEPTUAL STRATEGY First Iteration of Tile 16 Initial response to interpretation of Piranes’s Campo Marzio map

My first idea was to open up the fabric at tile 16 since it appeared to be a massive and dense building to the east, towards the very centre of the full map. The tile next to mine, towards the centre was hard to interpret was it a massive building, or a massive square? Never

the less I was asked to extrude the map to a preset height around the edges to match it against my neighbouring tile, to get coherency throughout the Campo Marzio. This then, to me, meant it had to be a massive building to east. Unfortunately my neighbouring tiles were not extruded so a lot of the coherency was lost.

Adjacent tile, and centre of Campo Marzio

Beginning of Tile 16 and where I imagine you enter it

Design of Tile 16 Piranesi’s speculative Rome Designing from First Person View OMA’s proposal for Parc de la Villette served as a conceptual precedent for my tile. As I saw long strips of either buildings or open space I imagined these could serve as long perpendicular zones that the visitor would pass through. Each Zone would have a different feature, and since I felt I had to loosen up the fabric of my tile, to ease the sense of obtrusive density of the built form, these zones could be open but differ in appearance.

The space was divided by colonnades to enhance the transition of the zones. From the map, there is only one way through the built fabric, but since I decided to turn this into zones instead, the ‘this way’ was signalled by a different type of columns.

I find Unity and VR a very handy tool when designing.

I used the first person mode to determine heights of columns, the density and height of the trees, etc to make sure I got the visual connections that I sought. It is very simple to test and evaluate the design and master-planning this way.

Fig. 1._OMA (n.d.). Parc de la villette. [IMAGE]

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CONCEPTUAL STRATEGY First Iteration of Tile 16 Initial response to interpretation of Piranes’s Campo Marzio map

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1. View mean to show several of the zones the visitor pass through; Red marble zone with colonnade, ponds, tiled extruded part with trees. In the background one of the two parallel wings, that were ‘kept’ from the plan.

2. The other wing with stairs leading up to the roof and...

3-4. ... the skate park. From here you can look out the windows towards neighbouring tile and towards the centre piece of tile 16.

5. Composition of tile centre.

6. From the very centre of the tile the path leads towards the river crossing and tile 17.

7. Crossing one of the two bridges.

8. Crossing the other bridge 9-11. This part of the map was quite empty, but the docklands of London served as a precedent here, since the situation seemed similar. The alleyway scan with the graffiti was positioned here.

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CRITIQUE Presentation and Feedback Presenting in Group 5, tile 4, 16 & 17 VR presentation The feedback from the crit was that I might have misunderstood the concept of Campo Marzio, where the play between what is inside, and what is outside is the main feature. I deliberately avoided extruding too much of the map but tried to create perpendicular ‘zones’ in order loosen up the very dense urban fabric, to allow a more open cityscape. I did this because the adjacent tile looked just as dense as my tile and I fugued it would make sense to break up this experience to a contrasting one.

Although I realise that this is valid feedback, I must confess I have not had the time to properly dive into the written work about Campo Marzio, but merely scratched the surface of this very interesting project. I (and we) have been preoccupied with, and struggling to manage to get the workflow actually working properly for the crit. I mean to revisit my interpretation during the holidays and to try to make this task respond better to the original concept of Piranesi’s Campo Marzio.

Another useful part of the feedback was that in Campo Marzio, the centre of each tile, determined by the voronoi diagram, was perhaps not to be seen from afar, but would come as a bit of ‘a surprise’ by the visitor, while still feel very logic in the urban fabric. The way I went about this was the exact opposite.

The presentation format itself was also discussed. VR works really well for the person experiencing it, but for the rest of the audience it makes less sense. Here I think a solution for the narrating must be invented. I presented a slideshow of assignments 1-3 after the VR which explained what had just been experienced in VR. But it made little sense up until my slide show. Perhaps it is better to start with the slide show, or perhaps well design story-telling needs to be developed to support the experience in VR? Perhaps both? An integrated map in Unity showing both audience and the person in VR where you are and what we are looking at was also discussed as a possible support of orientation.

RESEARCH CAMPO MARZIO Further Research into Tile 16

Fig. 1

Searching for previous iterations as precedent and template I found this model that is a response to Piranesi’s map.

In this model it is clear that the centre piece of tile 16 is a tall tower. What can also be seen is that the fabric around the tower is really dense, and what I previously interpreted as triangular ponds, might very well be ponds, but they are surrounded by walls. Across the bridges there is more dense urban fabric, but this does not show on the map.

I started to slightly reorganise my scans but mostly I decided to extrude more of the map to intensify the urban fabric. I need to approach the idea of this tile as more of a part of the city, rather than simply a park. In addition I placed a lot of smaller copies of my scans in an attempt to work across different scales, and spread them out around the extrusions.

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Fig 1-3._Zanatta, N. 2016, Fragment 1. [ONLINE]

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A NEW ITERATION New Iteration of Tile 16 Response to feedback from crit and precedent model of Piranes’s Campo Marzio In the new iteration of Tile 16 I played down my own likings and instead tried to be more true to the premade map of Campo Marzio. Each tile is huge and to fill them all with scans is just not feasible with our computers - they simply cannot process it, despite reducing the meshes quite drastically. Instead I tried to combine the extrusions of the map with my scans in order to address the feedback, and to make the tile more ‘city-like’.

The critique was that I had worked too much with large scale scans, and too little with scans on a small scale. I also reduced the centre piece (centre of the voronoi of my tile) to make it less visible, and to allow the visitor to wonder about before it is fully relieved.

WORKFLOW RESEARCH Online Lecture by Alex Alvarez Further researching Workflow & Tools Founder of Gnomon explains his techniques Photogrammetry

Alvarez explains that it is possible to get to a believable level of detail, in trees and rocks for instance, when modelling in 3D. It is also possible to add texture maps to these models to make them look real. However this takes an enormous amount of time and skill. With photogrammetry it is possible to almost by-pass this step, and since, in our case, we look to recreate reality, this is a very useful tool. He shows several slides of his established workflow regarding photogrammetry. Some of these bits we have already established, but some are new useful information;

What is the point of photogrammetry?

Nowadays it is no longer needed to 3D model elements for a scene or 3D experience. With photogrammetry you can get finished mesh models with very detailed textures and you can thus recreate reality in the virtual world and experience it wherever you are with Virtual Reality.

Alex Alvarez is the founder of Gnomon - a company that teach 3D modelling techniques and animations for gaming environments. In this 2h 30min lecture from December 20161 he explains how photogrammetry is useful, what tools he uses, how he uses them and what the end result can be. However, it is important to realise the difference between the gaming industry and architecture. Alvarez exclusively uses these techniques to create fictional worlds.

We as students of Unit 4 are more interested in capture reality to recreate it digitally in order to be more true to the context, to acknowledge it. By doing this I believe we can get better responding architectural proposals designed and tested in site specific conditions and the “real” context. Photogrammetry thus is very much linked to Kengo Kuma’s Anti-Objects and Big Data. Big Data because what it means is that all the ‘stuff’ out on the internet is available to most people, and actually this is becoming a parallel to the reality (of the natural environment), which is highly complex. Big Data is increasingly making reality available to many people digitally.

In the end, we might have scanned the whole world in superfine detail and can experience it virtually.

To illustrate my point I have two examples. Fig. 7 shows part of a larger realistic model, by a train and model devotee in the US. The building model is not an architectural proposal, but it is showing ‘vernacular’ architecture in a very detailed context. Fig. 8 shows an architectural proposal (by LAN Architecture) in a town in France.

Here the model shows high level of detail of the intended architectural proposal, but the context is represented by white planes and blocks. It becomes anything but one of Kengo Kuma’s Anti-Objects; in fact it very much is an Object. In both these cases the models are true to a certain scale. This scale is pre-set and cannot be changed, so the only way to experience it in 1:1 is to try to film it somehow. The benefits of digital models in VR is that scale can be changed, and that it is possible to experience ‘reality’, and the proposed architecture, in 1:1 freely, i.e. no pre-set route has to be followed, or the visitor does not have to relate to a filmed sequence.

Fig. 1-6._Gnomon (2016). Creating Natural 3D Environments with Alex Alvarez. [VIDEO] Fig. 7._Barcroft TV (2016). Tunnel Vision: Man Builds Million Dollar Model Railway. [VIDEO] Fig. 8._LAN Architecture (2013). Multus - Zac centre ville. [IMAGE] Fig. 9-13_Gnomon (2016). Creating Natural 3D Environments with Alex Alvarez. [VIDEO]

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In this example (Fig. 9) Alvarez has created a collage1, meant to be experienced as a still image. It is based on a photograph of his, but all geometry is modelled, or consist of scanned physical objects. The scans are collected from several photo sessions in random places and of random objects, and have been put together in this scene.

The composition was made with Maya, but cannot be fully appreciated as a 3D environment, since it is designed for this specific camera shot. This technique is thus not exactly relevant for us in Unit 4, but I feel it can become very useful to know about for future endeavours. Figure 2 shows some of the scanned objects included in the scene.

It is also interesting and useful to see his tools and his strategies to manipulate and handle the mesh models that comes out from the scanning procedure. I think this can be really useful to our projects during the final design project.

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Via this online lecture/tutorial I have gained several ideas how to go about manipulating, handling and eventually use my scans in VR via Unity, without texture issues or lagging. I also got an idea how I can construct a fairly accurate 3D digital model of a larger part of the new Kiruna site from rasterized satellite images. I have looked into several sites that provide measured data of the earth from satellite images and point clouds, but no accurate digital data (i.e. measured points - point clouds) exists from this part of Europe. This lecture has been really useful, even though I realise my hardware, the time that I have at my disposal, and the softwares I have access to will restrict the outcome to a certain degree.

Exhibition: Everything at Once Lisson Gallery and The Vinyl Factory at the Store Studios, 180 The Strand ‘As Cage predicted, we increasingly live in an all-at-once age, in which time and space are no longer rational or linear concepts and great distances can be traversed with an instantaneous click.

More than ever before, contemporary art, like life, assaults us simultaneously from all angles and from anywhere on the globe, existing also as multisensory visions of an accelerated world.’1 In the unit we have discussed cultural context and contemporary society, locally and globally. When trying to put words to the answer of what architecture is to me I said that; It is the physical representation of culture. However I also concluded that these days buildings can look similar, or the same in any given city on the globe. This I mean, is the result of multicultural societies; These days many of us live in cities and countries that we were not born and/or raised in.

This means we bring our culture with us and affect/add to the culture where we decide to live. Praised by many, especially in these urban areas, but also often rejected by other parts of a country. I am thinking mostly of UK and Sweden now, since these are the most influential countries during my 5th year in architectural studies in London, and of course, I’m Swedish and the project is situated in the north of Sweden too.

Brexit happened, but London voted to stay. In Sweden the far right party National Democrats has gained many votes and the polls show they are now the second largest party in the country.

Mostly supported on the countryside. Although I will not elaborate further on this right here I think this current issue is a very interesting and alarming one that must be taken seriously.

1._Lisson Gallery (2017). EVERYTHING AT ONCE. Fig. 1._Opie, J. (1993). Imagine you are driving (Sculpture 4).

Fig. 2._Cragg, T. (1986). Minister.

Fig. 3._Weiwei, A. (2015). Iron Root.

Do people feel their inherent culture is being greyed out, rather than be enriched by people from other countries moving in?

Although, this topic has very little to do with the actual exhibition. This show is a display of various artists and different types of artwork; installations, film, sound & visuals, & sculptures.

I used this exhibition to further test scanning with the Context Capture software to populate my tile of Unit 4 interpretation of Piranesi’s Campo Marzio in Assignment 2.

Fig. 1

‘Imagine you are driving’ by Julian Opie. Concrete sculpture.

The scan of Opie’s sculpture came out really well even though the darker ‘tunnels’ were not read as voids, but as solid darker parts.

‘Iron Root’ by Ai Weiwei. Iron ore sculpture.

This sculpture was scanned, but it seems it was too complex in its three dimensional form for the software to successfully scanned.

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‘Minister’ by Tony Cragg. Metal machined parts.

This sculpture was also scanned, and it came out a lot better. But the spotlights lighting the sculpture was a bit of a problem, which is why they did still not come out ‘perfect’. The light made the ‘back’ of the sculptures hard for the software to handle.

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O.M.A. Rem Koolhaas

REM

Film by director Jef Cornelis Release 1985

Film by director Tomas Koolhaas Release 2016

One of the most influential architects in recent decades is Rem Koolhaas, and his practice OMA. In this movie Rem explains his approach and his offices drawings and models that has got to do with realised projects, but mostly unrealised projects and processes in the early days of the practice.

Film maker, director, and son to Rem Koolhaas, Tomas Koolhaas, has made this movie about his father. It is more of a homage than anything else. In this movie we see little to nothing of Rem’s exceptional mind turning architectural concept, and perception into the build form.

What is mostly inspiring about this movie is his take in conceptual thinking and analysis that in the early days (first 10 years or so!) made the practice a name and a key player in the market, way before they actually was commissioned to actually design an architectural piece.

To Rem architecture is about critique of past, present and future perception of the city. It is often extremely exaggerated and imaginary/speculative, but what is key in OMA’ work is the critique of contemporary political, social, and economical circumstances.

As a real fan of architectural theory and concepts I found this movie very inspiring.

It is fascinating to see Rem’s drive for realising the silly, while sticking to the core values of architectural practice - to make the design tangible, real, and beautiful (in all it’s wackyness). Rem truly has managed to deliver contemporary critique and observations in paper architecture as well as the built format, while keeping academic and personal integrity, and is now, by all rights, the most influential architects that still walks the earth.

His sharp mind, and his ways of thinking in the built form has inspired many architectural designers, and I think his way of being critical and conceptual should be adopted by more design professions apart from architecture.

To me, apart from Bernard Tschumi’s Fresnoy Centre and Parc de LaVillette, Rem has had the most impact on my way of thinking critically about architectural design and he’s been the most dominant influence on my way of thinking architecture.

Although I consider Tschumi’s winning proposal for Parc de LaVillette the most thought-through architectural project in recent decades, OMA’s many projects holds the same sharp-eyed observations, and, these days, the practice manages to realise many fascinating designs.

To me it feels a bit sad to see a son making a film about the greatness of his father, where it seems the son has not grasped/completely missed the point of why others worship him. I do acknowledge Tomas’ ambitions of not getting ‘too architectural’ with this film, but in fact almost the whole movie is about people taking about how amazing designer Rem is, and Rem in person sneaking around his realised projects. This makes the whole point of the film confusing and adds to the feeling that there is a huge gap between the complex mind of Rem and the understanding of it, by Tomas.

Personally I think Rem is one of, if not the one, most interesting practicing architect alive in the world. But the previous film about his thoughts on architecture seems to have swept by Tomas’s head without actually anchoring properly. I do appreciate that Tomas, if anyone, has gotten more inside information than any of us, but I can’t help thinking this movie misses its own point quite brutally. It is a homage for sure, but it does not fill the criteria of a homage to a father, nor the most prominent architect of the late 20th century and beyond.

If the film is trying to show the world that Rem is more than an architectural mastermind, why is the movie shot in buildings he once designed? If the movie is trying to show why he was not a great father then it almost succeeds, but it is still counterparted in the form of people filling up the film time speaking of how amazing Rem is as a person. After the film I cannont help feeling confused abouyt the point of the film, but I must say it is still interesting seeing Rem running around his own designs, whereas we are used to seeing statements and writing by him on his own projects, but I, for one, has never seen him acctually meet the clients, or seen him on the site of OMA’s creattions.

However, in the end I cannot help wondering about the point about this film, apart from documenting Rem in the archtectural realm. But I’m afraid i have to say the film is really not that interesting.

_Assignment_03 The brief of this assignment challenges us students to design a building that is adapted to an Arctic climate, and uses CLT, or engineered timber, as a structural starting point. This shelter should consider bioclimatics and conceptual strategies informed by the extreme climate of the Arctic.

Furthermore this exercise ties into previous assignments, and should thus be presented accordingly.

_ASSIGNMENT_03 ADAPTIVE CLIMATIC SHELTER

The assignment seeks to combine our new-found skills in VR and climatic adaptations. The task is to design a small shelter for an Arctic environment that can be experienced in VR. 1. Initial research and precedents 2. Design strategies 3. Further research 4. Form development 5. Generative structure 6. Final outcome

1. XXXXXXXX, See Appendix

PRECEDENTS What is a shelter?

Contextualising

As a starting point I had a look at the definition of a shelter, but also what structures are most closely linked to the word. It seems the definition of a shelter is often perceived as an enclosed structure with an opening that allow for entering, but in some cases shelter just mean a roof or one or two walls. In other cases it can refer to more sophisticated structures, or pod-like designs. On Wikipedia it says;

Shelter “A place giving temporary protection from bad weather or danger.”1

‘A shelter is a basic architectural structure or building that provides protection from the local environment.

Having a place of shelter, of safety and of retreat, i.e. a home, is commonly considered a fundamental physiological human need, the foundation from which to develop higher human motivations.’

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1._Oxford Dictionaries | English. 2018. Definition of shelter by Oxford Dictionaries. [ONLINE] Fig. 1._Grafton Lakes State Park (n.d.). shelter_0. [ONLINE] Fig. 2._St. Edwards (n.d.). Shelter Project. [ONLINE] Fig. 3._Duffy London (n.d.). Duffy Shelter. [ONLINE] Fig. 4._Crystal Bridges (n.d.). Tulip Tree Shelter. [ONLINE]

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Vernacular Arctic Design Contextualising

Traditionally inuits have sought a round footprint, the base is a polygonal shape of finite chain of straight line segments. The more segments, the rounder the base.

This is useful to reduce cold corners, to reduce the surface in contact with the cold outdoor air. It is also beneficial structurally to centre the support.

A Mongolian Yurt are more round than the traditional Sami Goahti but share the principal design. Whereas the goahti has a very primitive structure consisting of sticks and branches leaning towards a centred point, the yurt has a more sophisticated fine cross-bracing timber structure that weaves around the round base.

Both dwellings are wrapped in cloth/fabric and centred is the fireplace to heat equally in all directions. Indoor animal furs, and cloth placed around the ‘walls’ further help insulate from the cold outside.

1-2. There are several different Sami dwellings, that are more or less sophisticated and rigid. This type of goahti is more temporary and can easily be demounted and moved, or just deserted.

3. Mongolian Yurt. These dwellings can also be temporary or fixed, but there dwellings are rarely left behind.

When the people move site, the yurt is demounted and moved.

A non-inhuit based architecture that deal with harsh winter conditions is this example. The building has been put the building on granite blocks to elevate it off ground. In this way the timber will not be able to absorb water from the ground, thus preventing it from rot. This will also prevent cold bridging from the ground. Image of a storage building in Pitea, Sweden, from 1662.

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Fig. 1._Jin, J. (2014). ZONE OF ABSOLUTE DISCOMFORT. [ONLINE] Fig. 2._Karlsen, M. (n.d.), Bågstångskåta [ONLINE] Fig. 3._austinbuntondesign (n.d.), Yurts. [ONLINE] Fig. 4._Tham, B. and Videgård, M. (2017). RIBA, Europa 3: Nordic Countries.

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CONCEPTUAL STRATEGY The Arctic Low-Tech Pod Initial sketching

Tiber is often referred to as Low-Tech, but at the same time CLT and ET are considered a revelation. A proven material composed in a new way has created a construction material that allows for new ways of constructing architecture.

I started from a polygonal form that, in plan, use the tested base shape of Inuit traditional dwellings. Inspired by other Arctic research expeditions, and the shelters designed for these, I began to form modular structure that I imagined could be combined in many different ways. This modular design would also ease transportation to site, since each piece was quite small and of repetitive size.

Just like the precedents, and traditional Nordic architecture, I wanted to elevate the construction off ground level. This feature also allows for the use of the ground beneath the structure as an outdoor storage; for skies, fire wood and other equipment that does not require above-zero storage, but that you would not want covered, or hidden in snow.

I imagine each pod could have a different use; there could be a pod for sleeping, consisting of mainly beds, an composting toilet, one with largely a kitchen and dining, one with desks as working-stations, one with a leisure lounge, and one as a sauna and relaxation part.

These same-but-different pods could be combined to create a small village with different functions, and could have internal access links/routs.

The design of the pod has taken inspiration both from the inuit traditional shelter, and the more conventional vernacular Nordic architecture, built with timber/logs.

1. Time | Bryan Walsh. 2015. (Online)

MATERIAL STRATEGY The Arctic Low-Tech Pod Material response to Arctic climate

The design tries to respond to both the climate, but also to the terrain of the wilderness. The concept of a shelter in the Arctic gives the opportunity to imagine different functions, in different contexts. As I have tried to make the Arctic Low-Tech Pod as flexible as possible, I can imagine it being used a shelters in the mountains for trekkers, downhill sking off-pist, a hunters cabin, or perhaps a research station for arctic expeditions.

1. To raise the Pod over ground I suggest legs from steel or aluminium, which can allow it to be levelled and stable even in the case of uneven terrain. Besides CLT should not be placed straight onto ground anyhow.

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2. Glulam beams are placed as a base structure.

3. CLT base (in tow pieces) and structural walls (8 pieces) are mounted.

4. Window set cassettes of plywood are put in place.

Front door of timber added.

5. CLT roof in two pieces are added.

6. Two vertically mounted CLT blocks, cladded with sheet metal forms an entrance. Between them joists are fixed to add rigidity to the entrance and to allow for the cladding to be fixed. Steps of aluminium are mounted between.

7. The pod is dressed in 500mm rockwool insulation, and a framework of this timber joists are added, to allow for fixing final cladding.

8. Sheet metal cassettes are mounted on the joists.

9. Additional skirting can be added to prevent snow drifting in under the pod. The space underneath can be used for storage of items that does not require above 00C temperature.

FURTHER RESEARCH What is a Shed?

Contextualising

It is common that the words Shelter and Shed are used in the same context. What are the difference and what do they have in common? Can this present new ideas on how to go about evolving the Arctic Low-Tech Pod?

Shed “A simple roofed structure used for garden storage, to shelter animals, or as a workshop.�1

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Fig. 2 1._Oxford Dictionaries | English. 2018. Definition of shed by Oxford Dictionaries. [ONLINE] Fig. 1._Homefix Handyman. 2018. Finding the Perfect Shed to Erect in Your Garden - Homefix Handyman. [ONLINE] Fig. 2._Emaze presentations. 2018. slave catchers. [ONLINE]

PRECEDENT Mobile Media-Centric Habitation And Work Unit First price winner of open design competition initiated by Arctic Perspective Initiative has an interesting form, while sticking to the concept of designing for an Arctic climate. The unit is mobile and the author says it is;

This winning proposal by Giuseppe Mecca

‘designed to incorporate high tech solutions while utilizing sustainable resources.’

Although I cannot determine from the design if it responds to specific weather conditions, apart from that the sloping form will allow for the snow to slide off, and not accumulate. It is built from an aluminium frame, which is beneficial since it is allegedly mobile. The aluminium frame makes it light, but also stiff and strong.

Furthermore this type of structure allows for many cavities, which can be filled with insulation to keep the indoor temperature.

The production of aluminium, however, is not particularly environmentally sustainable, as we can see in this chart.1

Fig. 2

Fig. 1

Fig. 4 Fig. 1._The Woodmiles Forum, 2003. Energy Chart. [ONLINE] Fig. 2-4._Mecca, G. 2015. Giuseppe Mecca · The Arctic Perspective Initiative Mobile Media-Centric Habitation And Work Unit. [ONLINE]

Fig. 3

LOCATION & USE Local & Regional Climate Architectural design strategies explained through diagrammatic sketches Fig. 1

I imagine the Arctic Shed is located near Abisko, in the Abisko National Park, south of the lake Tornetr채sk.

Perhaps it can be useful for visitors to the national park, or by the researchers and scientists that work at the Abisko Scientific Research Station by the waterfront, when out in the field.

Lule책

Oslo Stockholm Moscow Copenhagen London

Riksgr채nsen (National Border, Ski resort & Village) Tornetr채sk Abisko Scientific Research Station Abisko National Park Lapporten (the Lapponian Gate)

Svappavaara Fig. 1 Fig. 1-2._Google (n.d.). Google Maps. [ONLINE]

RESEARCH Climatic Analysis by Ralph Erskine Architectural design strategies explained through sketches “Both houses and cities must unfold itself as flowers do in the summer sun, but also like flowers should turn away from shadows and cold northern winds, providing the warmth of the sun and wind protection to the terraces, gardens and streets.” 1 Ralph Erskine made extensive research and analysis of the Arctic climate, and created strategies of how to build in these harsh conditions. Some of his sketches explain the low winter sun’s impact on design. Other sketches show the strategy how to deal with cold northern winds. He also shows how the natural phenomenon of snow drifting can be dealt with, and how snow-loads must be considered but that flat roofs provide possibilities of using the snow as insulation, whereas a pitched roof with overhang will not.

Fig. 1

“Snow when dry is an excellent insulator, which all natives have used” Fig. 1

Fig. 2

1._Hidden Architecture 2015. Arctic Town. [ONLINE] Fig. 1-3._Hidden Architecture 2015. Arctic Town. [IMAGE]

Fig. 3

CONCEPTUAL STRATEGY An Artic Shed?

Evolving the Arctic Low-Tech Pod

I do not necessarily need to keep the Arctic Low-Tech Pod mobile, or the design more or less modular in a repetitive manner. Evolving the low-tech pod towards meeting the conceptual climatic strategies of designing in an Arctic environment is perhaps more interesting.

Revising the conceptual strategy I stared evolving the polygonal base form by first change the outer triangular bases, and then extending them in both directions.

Each baseline was then turned into what I imagined was a rectangular CLT element, before they were raised up by rotating along one long side. They were rotated in the third dimension towards the centre. While rotating each rectangle I kept Ralph Eskine’s climatic sketches in mind, seeking to achieve angles that could deal with cold north winds and snow-drifting, while also open up towards the entrance towards the south and south-east.

I made my own definition by combining the Oxford Dictionary definition of a Shelter and a Shed: Arctic Shed A simple roofed structure giving temporary protection from bad weather or danger.

1

1-2. With the rotation I ended up with a cluster of seemingly random rectangles that were now intersecting in many different positions.

3-5. I stared deleting the bits pointing out from the base form and ended up with an angular base geometry.

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3

4

5

I ended up feeling quite happy with the conceptural strategy, but not so much with the acutal form.

CLIMATIC STRATEGY Form Derived from Climatic Strategy Diagram of wind, daylight, snow, and snow-drifting As a Swede I can confirm that Erskine’s analysis is right; Swedes are quite familiar to, and has an understanding of most of his analysis because for generations we have learnt, and passed on this vital and practical knowledge.

The shelter is lower at the back in order to re-direct cold northern winds. This in turn will make the ground in front (south) of the shed less exposed to snow accumulation.

The high front will catch much of the low winter sun and allow for daylight to penetrate the whole length of the building, all the way to the back.

The building sits on plinths to avoid contact with the ground and the moist in it. Water expands when it turns to ice so wet materials are put under a lot of stress.

Moreover the fibres in timber absorbs water, which is why you want to avoid contact with it, as far as possible. The snow accumulates towards the north wall and blocks out snow from accumulating underneath the building to a large extent. The snow also blocks cold air to cool the building from underneath.

Snow drifting and cold winds most of the time comes from the north and north-west, from the mountains towards Norway. The form of the building re-directs the winds to the sides and over the top of the building because of its somewhat pointy form towards north-west.

The south facade is larger to capture more heat generated by the sun.

N

FORM FINDING Re-booting from a Hexagonal Base Evolving form from basic idea in plan

Going back to a round-like form as a reboot starting-point; The traditional base of the Inuit shelter for the Arctic, in this case a hexagon.

I created several hexagons with one common angle.

I then started cutting away some parts, tilting others, and giving a bit of thickness to walls - all with climatic strategies in mind.

Cold winds and drifting snow comes from north-west Protecting barrier

South winds are not ‘warm’ in this climate Protected entrance

N

Form Evolving 3D sketching a volume

The form of the volume eventually appeared, but in order to further shelter from the Arctic climate, protective barriers are incorporated in the design.

Weather protected zone

FORM Design Over-View of Adapted Form Design driven by climatic adaptation

The volume feels a lot better than previous iteration, and it still responds really well to the climatic strategies that deals with Arctic climate. Northern winds are redirected over the volume, because of the tilted north wall.

1. The north-east view shows the form, and function of the roof and north walls. This part of the building aims to redirect the wind and allow for accumulated snow to slide off.

2. In the south elevation we can see that the front gets a lot warming sunlight from the south, and allow for the low sun to lit up the interiors. We can also see how the barrier towards the west protects from snow and wind, while still allowing a lot of sun.

The south barrier prevents snow from imposing the building from the south, but does not block the sun.

1

2

EMERGING DESIGN TOOLS AD, Architectural Design Material Synthesis: Fusing the Physical and the Computational Issue 2015:05 “The New Cyber-Physical Making in Architecture - Computational Construction”

by Achim Menges.

Menges explains the what lies at the core of the fourth industrial revolution for architecture by stating that ‘there is no question that, in the same way that previous technological advancements in other industries have had a major influence on the development of those disciplines, the ideas, logics and technologies of Industry 4.0 will have a significant impact on both the conception and production of architecture. It is important to note, though, that the Fourth Industrial Revolution differs from the previous three, because its primary objective is not to increase productivity, but instead higher levels of flexibility, adaptability and integration. This industrial transformation may therefore have an even greater effect than its precursors in terms of its relation to architectural design.’

‘In architecture, the very same technologies may take on a generative character that allows for the exploration of new spatial, structural and even ecological potentials through these emerging modes of making.’

Menges talks about how the construction business is changing - ‘From instruction-based to behaviour-based construction, fusing design and making’; ...’truely computational making entails the unfolding of an explorative process of materialisation driven by cyber-physical feedback, which extends design rather than merely realising it.’

‘In behaviour-based making, data is continuously gathered and fed back to the system, which means that new information is gained on the run and new insights can be had; or in other words, design can evolve in the process of making. Gone is the idea of dump machines that simply execute static and predetermined tasks, replaced with that of production environments that allows the processes of fabrication, assembly and construction to have a say in the forms we create.

Materialisation thus becomes an active driver of design, not only through the anticipation of its affordances and constraints in the domain of virtual design computation, but also by extending this towards the physical computing form, structure and space during ongoing material unfolding.’

1._Menges, A. (2015). The New Cyber-Physical Making in Architecture - Computational Construction, pp.31-32.

‘As materialisation becomes more computational and generative, design becomes increasingly physical and procedural, leading to a potential point of convergence where design and construction merge.’ 1

I also had a look at AD Special Issue: Digital Property: Open-Source Architecture, where I found a few interesting articles: 1. From Authorship to Ownership: A Historical Perspective,

by Antoine Picon 2. Architectural Patents and Open-Source Architectures: The Globalisation of Spatial Design Innovations (or Learning from ‘E99’), by Mark Garcia 3. Design Signals: The Role of Software Architecture and Paradigms in Design Thinking and Practice, by Panagiotis Michalatos 4. Opening Up the Future of Open Source: From Open Innovation to the Internet of Things for the Built Environment, by Wendy W Fok

Bartlett B-Pro Exhibition New ways of thinking of design in the realm of digital softwares and Big Data The show displayed a wide variety of new ways of designing and experimenting with digital softwares. One thing that I find interesting is the merging of biology and digital design - how coding and genetics can be linked, like in the BiotA Lab studio. Are we going to be able to program biology in the future? Will we be able to control growing of building parts, or whole buildings, or structures?

Fig. 1 Fig. 2

A few common denominator between the different studios were Big Data, coding, and generative design.

For my Arctic Shelter assignment I am trying Panagiotis Michalatos coding plug-in for Grasshopper, Millipede.

With this software I am trying to generate an optimised structure, that can then help me determine where, and how much fenestration is possible without weakening the structural properties of the walls.

Fig. 4 Fig. 1-4._The Bartlett (2017). Bartlett B-Pro Show.

Fig. 3

STRUCTURAL STRATEGY Sophisticated Digital Analysis of Loads Openings decided by load-bearing capacity Rhino, Grasshopper and Millipede (a topological optimisation plug-in) Each plane triangular element that together makes up the building volume is tested for structural loads. What I am interested in here are two things; - How much material can I strip of each element?

The location is remote, and less material means less weight, which means easier transport.

- Where can I put fenestration, without weakening the structural properties of each element?

1-2. Diagram shows loads (Red) affecting wall element A from roof and from wall element B, and the support (Green) that element A has.

A

A

3-4. Over-all view of the volume and the wall elements.

The analysis clearly prefers arching between supports.

It also arcs when the load comes from an angle. In this case the arch starts to tilt slightly to deal with the position of the load.

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1

A B B A

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4

By testing all elements of the volume I get information of where it is possible to place fenestration without weakening the structural properties.

5. Overall view of initial loads and supports. The form of each new tested element will then add extra support or load for the next wall element analysis.

6. When generating wall element B I thus need to place an extra support region where element A is located.

Moreover I already know that element C will use the same support as element B, which means I can add an extra support boundary here too.

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B C A

6

STRUCTURAL CONCEPT Visualising the Structural Properties The openings displayed by ‘weak’ pattern

I wanted to display the structure, and I also need fenestration. Because the result of the topological optimisation displays structure, I felt I should display a non-structural form/pattern where there is no need for it. But since the form is anything but conventional, a method needs to be invented.

Many patterns automatically has a rigidity to them. Voronoi pattern, on the other hand, does not; It is a ‘weak’ pattern in this sense. The voronoi pattern, because of its nature, allows for stripping away material to any desired level, without creating one big opening - it allows structure for the smaller windows, and it works as an indicator of where there is no structure, but not necessarily a window either. The unconventional voids are filled with a coherent pattern that mediates between the two fundamentally different design languages.

It also allows me to have a slight gradient between solid and ‘void’. It gives me an opportunity to have smaller windows, thicker muntins, or no windows at all, but just a niches, where suited.

Strategically, elements facing south, and south-east have a larger pattern (i.e. larger voids in the pattern, and smaller muntins).

Towards north the voids are smaller and the muntins larger. Some of the voids the pattern creates are just niches to indicate non-structural properties.

1. Image show voronoi pattern in the voids of wall element A. 2. Image show unfolded elements A-J that together forms the whole volume. Patterns of smaller scales are facing north.

FENESTRATION Displaying Structural Properties Structural analysis and daylight

Holes are punctured according to structural analysis of each CLT element that makes up the Arctic Shed. Stress and tension analysis show where the elements needs to be solid, and where they don’t have to be. This is where the windows are placed.

The voids can be cut with CNC milling techniques. The structural analysis also shows that joints are only needed on certain points, and this furthermore allows for milling on the fringes of each element, so that when assembled, they match up and allow for more daylight in the building.

In the section we can see that the north wall is not tilting. The cladding however, is, to create the desired form to deal with the Arctic climate. The thickness of the north wall thus allow for even more insulation on the coldest side of the shed.

REAL-TIME RENDERING Images From Unity Game Engine An attempt to show what the project looks like from inside VR

...’every new finding raises at least one new problem: namely an investigation of what has just been found’1

1._Fleck, L., Bradley, F., Merton, R. and Trenn, T. 1979. Genesis and development of a scientific fact. p. 51

_ASSIGNMENT_04 - _05 BOOKS

_Assignment_04 | This assignment was completed by Unit 4 after the field trip, when we produced a one book that was a documentation of our experiences from the field trip. _Assignment_05 | The other task was to produce gathered research about the Arctic and all that relates to the Unit 4 project this year. It was completed shortly after previous assignment.

Next chapter means to provide a glimpse of our experiences from the field trip. For full documentation please see these two documents.

1. Photos from Rikgränsen 2. Scanning Kiruna 3. Excursions 4. Brief research

FIELD TRIP

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ARCTIC EXCURSION Beautiful Views Climbing Riksgränsen (The Border) The mountain and the ski resort, with the same name Because Riksgränsen is a ski resort, the mountain side is organised all-year around. Pist machines, and snow-mobile tracks run on the mountain side. This makes the mountain easier to ‘climb’ (walk up), than if the accumulated snow would have been left untouched. Our snow-shoes were not needed, and it took us about 2h to walk all the way to the top. The photos were taken after the first rise - after this comes a small dip, before the second, and more steep mountain side was ‘climbed’ (to the right in the images). Temperature in the valley was about -220C. It was even more cold at the top.

The ski season starts in late February. This is when the lifts starts running.

Norway

1. Photo from Katterjokk village towards south-east 2-4. Photos from first peak on our climb to the Riksgränsen peak 5. Photo towards north-east from the Riksgränsen peak 6. Photo of Ben with a Raised Fist, while climbing first peak towards Riksgränsen

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2-4 6

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1

3

4 The fog is never far, it comes from nowhere - it does not matter if the weather is clear or cloudy. Cold air roll down the mountain sides and collects in the valleys.

Hot air rises, and the meeting between the two mist is formed.

The mountains to the north continues all the way to the Arctic Ocean coast. Between Riksgränsen and the mountains in the horizon lies the frozen lake of Vassijaure.

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RECORDING KIRUNA A Digital Conservation Collection Scans of buildings and artefacts to collect local physical culture By collecting several historical and typical buildings and artefacts we can create our own inventory of old Kiruna, and use it in the new town in various ways - conceptual or more tangible.

Here is a recording of the tallest building in Erskine’s Kvarteret Ortdrivaren, in central Kiruna, next to the town centre, which is the car park.

Unwrapped texture map, image form

Mesh wireframe

Elevation of mesh and textures

Perspective view, mesh and textures

This scan of a large boulder can be used as an explanation of Erskine’s sketches of snow-drifting analysis.

1. The north-west side of the rock is covered with snow, and there is no cavity between the ground and the rock. Note sun angel - the time is around 2pm.

2-3. Snow-drifting from the north has left the ground almost bare on the south side of the rocks.

1.

The quality of the scan is incredible because of the texture, which is of course made up from real photos.

2.

2.

Scan by peers of another part of Erskine’s Kvarteret Ortdrivaren in Kiruna centre.

PRESERVING LOCAL CULTURE Saving the Physicality of Folkhemmet The Swedish concept of Folkhemmet is now partly digitally ‘saved to file’

Amazing scan by peer Ben Salter of part of central Kiruna (and the Folkhemmet culture)

Amazing photo by other member of Unit 4 from our attempt to scan the under construction new Town Hall during our site visit.

Ice Hotel, Jukkasjärvi Visiting the world famous attraction built entirely form ice and snow Its all made from ice. All of it. The ice comes from the river Torneälven that runs next to the hotel. Each year artists are invited and selected to come and create one specific room, each one with a different theme.

Brittas Pensionat - Tree Hotel Hotel and Pension in Harads, Sweden.

Our guide tells us a quite amazing story of how the couple Britta & Hans got a bit bored of their ‘normal’ jobs (and apparently they both had more than one!) and bought a closed down home for the elderly. As they started their hostel business, the Swedish director, Jonas Åkerlund (who is from this small town), and some friends asked for permission to build a tree hut in the adjacent wood and to make a documentary about it. The couple agreed and Åkerlund’s project was conceived. As time went by people started asking about staying in Åkerlund’s tree hut, rather than in the main building.

The couple saw this as quite strange but agreed on some occasions.

Hans told his friends about this odd situation on a fishing trip to Russia. As it happened, some people of the company was architects, and he quite frankly asked them if they would have any interest in designing more tree huts for the couple’s business. They were. Although at first they assumed there would be an issue getting the plans approved by the local council, but as it turned out they were just happy they anything got built in the municipality, and approved construction without much fuss.

Today seven tree huts and the original building make up the complex, but there is also additional art pieces in the area donated, and sometimes placed in the area without the knowledge of Britta and Hans.

The tree hotel has had a number of famous people staying with them, but they keep this type of information secret as their main focus is to provide guests with peace and calm, and for them to enjoy the nature, aurora Borealis, and the hiking, and winter-activities that the hotel, and it’s guides provides.

The profile of the tree hotel is that it is environmentally friendly, and sustainable, which shows especially in the handling of excrement & faecal matters, which is turned into heating, and the reuse of water.

Shopping, Luleå Visiting Ralph Erskine’s mall - the worlds first indoor mall (1956) Having recently read about this shopping mall by Erskine, I figured it would be interesting to see it in person. Especially since my project will incorporate public/ semi-public space indoors, with some commercial business, situated in an Arctic climate.

your errands. One might in fact say that Erskine’s Shopping was not at all the first indoor mall, but that the English Pub was.

I’m looking forward to further dig into these concepts and spatial organisations, and I feel they might have a great deal of impact on my final project this year.

We came to this mall with not much time to spend after a long day, and a flight to catch in the evening form Luleå Airport.

A lot of Eskine’s ideas about a temperated shopping centre indoors are nowadays standard in Sweden, and many other cities. There are plenty of examples; Westfield in London, and the newely opened Mall of Scandinavia north of Stockholm for instance.

This way of dealing with shopping came about because of the change in the way we went about shopping fundamentally changed with the car. What is interesting here is that the mall is located within the city centre, whereas, nowadays, new shopping malls are mostly located outside the city centre. However, we have now entered a time where we are trying to reduce the amout of cars, and are trying to reintroduce the idea of public transport again. Most of the new malls that are being built are still located outside the city centres, but are now part of a multifunctional travelling stations, where many different public transports are interconnected.

Erskine’s idea about an indoor shopping mall was in many ways related to the sub-arctic climate, whereas most of the new malls are located in a climate zone that allows for ‘outdoor shopping’.

Erskine’s indoor shopping mall still leaves much to ponder upon; if this is a great way of meeting, why is there nowhere to hang your coat? If the idea is that this is a meeting place, why is everything strictly commerical?

I like the link to the old English concept of Public House (Pub), where you can do

At the centre of Shopping, an atrium is located, so that natural light can spread throughout the different floors and the shop-fronts.

The ramps and stairs are meant to be somewhat confusing; to create a ‘transparent’ maze where the visitor can ‘get lost’.

‘The Grotto’ at the bottom floor was originally a cinema, but has now turned into a shoe store with generous ceiling height, and behind the back wall of the store the original space has been sealed off. On the other side of the wall storage space for several shops has been allocated.

The ceiling is the original design; this is where the original name ‘The Grotto’ comes from.

Laponia, Lule River, & Luleå

Riksgränsen & Katterjokk

The river, the town, the land of Laponia, & the link between them.

Northern lights excursion & Pulka riding

The land that is called Laponia (9,400 km2) has named the very large province in the north of Sweden; Lappland (Lapland, 109,702 km2). The area is called Sápmi in Sami language.

Pulka is a type of sled made from plastic - a very common thing most Swedes have in their storage. It is mainly used for riding downhill as a good fun activity, and is mainly used by young children.

Because they are mede from rigid plastic they often crack when adults try to ride them, and because the extreme temperatures makes the plastic more ‘tense’ or sensitive. We managed to make their already torn appreance worse!

The word Laponia has named the river Lule älv, and the town Luleå (‘å’ means creek, ‘älv’ means river). Luleå town is located on the east coast at the end of Lule älv. The town holds a train station and an airport. Some of the minerals extracted from the mines in Kiruna are being shipped from here, but most of it is being shipped from the Norwegian town of Narvik.

About 45,000 people live in Luleå, and in the centre of town the worlds first indoor mall was designed by Swedish/British architect Ralph Erskine, named Shopping.

Lule älv has its origin in Laponia, a region adjacent to the Norwegian border, south of Abisko, Torneträsk, and south-west of Toreälv and Kiruna. It is the main river that transports melted snow from the national par Sarek to the Baltic Sea. It’s Sami name is “Stuor Julevädno” (‘Stor’ in Swedish means ‘Great’). The Sami-name referrs to ‘the one who lives in the east’, and used to be referred to as ‘forest Sami’, hence ‘skogssamernas älv’ (‘The forrest Sami river’).

Perhaps this is the origin of J. R. R. Tolkien’s fairytail creatures Elves; the Scandinavian history of Elves (älv meaning river) can very well be skogssamer (forrest Samis).

It is commonly know that Tolkien had a particular interest in Nordic languages and cultural history.

The province of Lappland is huge, but the area that is called Laponia, is a lot smaller. It is located just east of the Norwegian border, and south west of Kiruna town.

Fig. 1._Riksantikvarieämbetet (2006). Laponia – ett världsarv. [IMAGE] Fig. 2._Focus Laponia - Ájtte Museum (2011). Laponia. [IMAGE]

Fig. 1

Fig. 2

Abisko National Park Kiruna

Province of Lappland Luleå

Riksgränsen

Although we went half way up the mountain at Riksgränsen, where it is almost pitch dark, we did not see much of the Northern Lights. We could barely dicern the weak greenish haze in the horizon dispite new attempts every evening.

Oh well, next time...

Abisko National Park Area

Laponian Gate, south-east of Abisko

Fig. 1

Nature park & village next to the lake Torneträsk, in Kiruna municipality The national nature park is located next to the lake Torneträsk, and consist of a valley that spreads out between several mountains, and that slopes towards the lake, and incorporate parts of these mountains. The valley ends at the seafront where the village, and the railroad station is located.

To the southeast the famous mountain formation called Lapporten (Laponian Gate) can be seen. It is considered the gateway to Lapland and the Arctic region in Sweden. Its famous feature is the rounded valley between the peaks Tjuonatjåkka and Nissuntjårro, 1540 respective 1721 meters above sea level.

Abisko is also where the Gränsförsvarsmuseum (Border Defence Museum) and the Rallarmuseet (Navvy Museum) is located. It is also the home of the Abisko Scientific Research Station, which is doing advanced climatic research on the impact of global warming on Arctic environments.

Abisko is the beginning, or the end, of the trekking trail through the Swedish Alps, Kungsleden, that holds several cabins and resting places along its 450km long trail towards the south.

Torneträsk (lake) Abisko Scientific Research Station Abisko National Park Lapporten (the Laponian Gate)

In the village of about 150 all-year around residents, there still is one grocery store. This store has become a ‘hot potato’, since another store has opened up in the small village of Riksgräsen, which right at the Norwegian border. The debate concerns the fact that the store in Abisko cannot financially survive on the people in the small village, despite tourism, but has to rely on Norwegian customers too.

Now that the new store has opened up closer to the border, the store in Abisko cannot survive the competition, and is threatened by being closure. However, the other store is a seasonal one, and will not be able to provide permanent residents with groceries in out-of-seasons, and will therefore force the residents and tourists of Abisko village to travel great distances to get groceries.

Fig. 2

Norway

Kiruna

Fig. 3

Coop grocery store Fig. 1._Jinton, J. (2016). Lapporten. [IMAGE] Fig. 2._Google (n.d.). Google Maps. [ONLINE] Fig. 3._The Shy Vegan (2015). Our Abisko haunt. [IMAGE] Fig. 4._Lehnert, L. (n.d.). Abisko naturvetenskapliga station. [IMAGE] Fig. 5._Distant North (n.d.). Kungsleden north abisko to kvikkjokk 216 km. [IMAGE]

Fig. 4

Abisko Scientific Research Station

Kungsleden, The Kings Trail

Fig. 5

Torneälven, Torneträsk & the Northern Lights

View from dining room at the research centre towards north; Torneträsk Abisko National Park Torneträsk Torne älv, Jukkasjärvi, Ice Hotel

The river and the lake, and the natural phenomenon of The Lights Torneträsk (Torne marsh) is the 7th largest lake in Sweden, and the second deepest (178m). It is over 70km long and most of the lake is covered with ice from December to June. The lake can be considered a large and wide motorway for snow-mobiles winter-times as there is little (if any) competition for space, and no speed limits.

North of the lake the nature is practically untouched and unused, whereas south of the lake, in Abisko and Björkliden, there are plenty of tourists enjoying the national park, with cross country sking and downhill skiing, and even golfing in the short summer season (Sweden’s most Nordic golf course, consisting of a 9 hole course). Björkliden has around 20 permanent residents, and Abisko around 150.

Aurora Borealis

Fig. 1

Fishing in Torne River

Fig. 2

The area of Abisko and Björkliden is generally considered the best places to witness the Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis). The lights are a consequence of Solar winds that affect the earth’s magnetosphere.

The river Torneälv flows by the location of the world famous Ice Hotel. The ice is being harnessed from the river in spring and kept in a large freezer until October, when the construction begins. Each block in ‘glued’ to the next with water, that instantly freezes and ‘glues’ previous block to the next, much like mortar.

The Torne river is widely considered a very good place for fishing, and has during centuries attracted (first and foremost) Sami people, but later on also Swedes, Finns and even Vallons (with whom Sweden’s had much trade in the 15th and 16th century).

Fig. 1._Wikimedia Commons (n.d.). Aurora Borealis. [IMAGE] Fig. 2._Saittarova-fishing (n.d.). Saittarova-fishing. [IMAGE]

Block of ice from The Torne River

RAISED FIST - ‘MAN & EARTH’ ...from the 2015 album ‘From the North’ “Stop and listen Standing on top of this beautiful world Watching the clouds rearrange But I’m not the least entertained I want to complain about climate change It might not be of your concern Finish your bottle of water and return To the beach in order for the sun to burn a little more You will never learn When you play with your kids on the grass in box of glass Connecting the dots from the past and the shadow it casts Called greenhouse gas Stop and listen It takes impressive wisdom Corporatism in order to stand up straight By living in symbiosis with this ecosystem”

“Dinnertime with wine, pantomime Nobody wants to discuss and underline Any signs of environmental crimes Keep playing Angry Birds on your iPhone Keep filling your breasts with silicone Keep building muscles with testosterone Stay away from all the unknown Keep moving around in your comfort zone Keep filling your head with shit ‘til it blows Keep cutting up wounds that can’t be resewn Keep cutting down trees that took thousands of years to grow Keep ignoring the next cyclone Keep on postponing Keep on going until you’re all alone Keep on going until you’re all alone”

“We take another bank loan to buy new homes Where we can sit and moan And consume pain relieving methadone Relaxing on the porch, the passing of the torch Now take your last breath, you just found death Stay away from all the unknown Keep moving around in your comfort zone Keep filling your head with shit ‘til it blows Keep on postponing Keep on going, keep on going on until you’re all alone”

“It’s a new day, another game This is how we play When we betray Man and earth A bad combination People are asleep Maximum sedation”

“It’s a new day, another game This is how we play When we betray Man and earth A bad combination People are asleep Maximum sedation”

“It’s a new day, another game This is how we play when we betray”1

Music & Lyrics by Raised Fist, a Luleå-based Hardcore band Photo by me, around 07.45 am. Shot from Old Kiruna, towards the much lower situated site where New Kiruna will be built.

1._Raised Fist (n.d.). Raised Fist - Man & Earth Lyrics | MetroLyrics. [ONLINE]

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_Assignment_06 Assignments_04 and _05 was to create one research book and one field trip book. New we move on to the final assignment.

‘A closer look at the plan shows the new town bears little relation to the original Kiruna at all. The current town is a sprawling suburban network of winding streets, home to detached houses with gardens. White’s plan incorporates a much higher-density arrangement of multi-storey apartment blocks around shared courtyards, lining straight axial boulevards, down which the icy winds will surge.’

‘It is an opportunity, say the architects, for Kiruna to “reinvent itself” into a model of sustainable development, attracting young people who wouldn’t have stayed in the town before, with new cultural facilities and “visionary” things such as a cable car bobbing above the high street. But it is a vision that many of the existing residents seem unlikely to be able to afford.’ 1 - Oliver Wainwright

1._Wainwright, O. (2014). Kiruna: the town being moved 3km east so it doesn’t fall into a mine. [ONLINE]

_ASSIGNMENT_06 FINAL PROJECT

I started the assignment with a recap of what we have studied so far this year, and how it is relevant to the final project - the design of the new Culture House in New Kiruna.

1. Situation and maps 2. A set of relevant precedents to frame my own take on a Culture House in New Kiruna 3. Recap of Campo Marzio and Exquisite Corpse, and the link to town planning 4. Architectural trends in the north of Sweden. Precedent studies 5. Design thoughts 6. Questioning proposed townplan for new Kiruna 7. Structural strategy and townplanning 8. New Townplan - Campo Kiruna 9. Building programme and organisation 10. Space and material concept 11. Means of communication & experience

SITUATION KIRUNA Existing Town of Kiruna Part of town within deformation line area will move to new site due to mining activities.

Deformation zone will expand further and could potentially reach new site in 2100. Deformation line show in map is estimated for the year 2033.

Deformation Line year 2033

New Kiruna Site

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Old Town Hall

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New Kiruna Town Proposed townplan by White Architects.

Unit 4 has divided this plan into 6 tiles, each one with a public building. a closer lo

Tile 6 Wintersport centre Tile 5 Sami parliament Tile 2 Crematorium

Tile 4 Culture centre Tile 1 Swimming centre Tile 3 Transport centre

NEW TOWN CENTRE The New Town Hall & A Culture Centre Proposed new town plan for Tile 4 by White Architects Key points of the White masterplan has been to bring nature close to the city centre, and to have a long park-route running through it. This park is meant as a ‘green corridor’, a place for leisure and recreation with many activities, but also a way to transport yourself through the city.

The E10 highway, is moved to pass north of the town, rather than through it, to ease traffic, and to allow higher velocity for vehicles passing through. The transport

centre is located in direct visual connection to the new Town Hall and the public square, as well as the planned new hotel. Close to Tile 4, the most central tile, each of the other tiles has a public building, a centrality. This is to keep the town centre dense and provide short distances between these centres of leisure and recreation. The new town centre is thought of as a more or less car-free zone.

Sami Parliament, Tile 5

Wintersport centre, Tile 5

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Transport centre on Tile 3

LKAB Towers

TILE 4

New Sami Parliament Hotel Tuolluvaara mountain

The New Town Hall & A Culture Centre Proposed new town plan for Tile 4 by White Architects Site

The only thing that exist on site at present is the new Town Hall, which is being completed this summer. Sewers, power grid, and other infrastructure is also in place, but no other building has yet been erected, and no foundations or piling-work have begun yet.

The two tallest buildings on Tile 4 is the new Town Hall and the Hotel (42m).

The Sami Parliament sits on a hillside and from the upper floors an overview of town will be possible. Behind the Parliament building two existing towers stands. These are left from mining operations (closed down in 1980’s)

by LKAB in the area named Tuolluvaara.

View from south-west

Site for the new Culture House

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EXQUISITE COLLAGE CITY Exquisite Corpse & Campo Marzio A modernist-rejecting concept of town planning In Assignment 2 Unit 04 has had a closer look at piranesi’s Campo Marzio. We have adopted the conceptual strategy of the Exquisite Corpse as a design tool. But what is it, and what does it have to do with this years endeavours?

‘What, in fact, excited us in these composite productions was the conviction that, at the very least, they were stamped with a uniquely collective authority and that they were endowed powerfully with that power of drifting with the current which poetry should never undervalue.’1

Fig. 1

Fig. 2

Fig. 4

Piranesi sketch of old imaginary Campo Marzio. The gradient of inside and outside is porous, and layered.

- Andre Breton, Surrealism and Painting Andre Breton was a surrealist painter and he is considered the founder of the concept of ‘Exquisite Corpse’.

The origin of this concept was taken from the same game, but with words, that had long existed. But the game also has clear links to more philosophical ideas, for instance; A more complex concept can be found in Barthes, and Derrida’s work - where they argue that a text becomes more rich when the reader is in control, rather than the author. Hence - ‘Death of the Author’ by Barthes, which also had huge influence when it was published.

These philosophical concepts was also explored architecturally by Bernard Tschumi in the his magnum opus project Parc de LaVillette, and his book ‘Architecture and Disjunction’.

Fig. 3

Fig. 1-4: Exquisite Corpse collages.

Fig. 5: Piranesi etching of Campo Marzio Fig. 6: White Arkitekter illustration of new Kiruna Fig. 7: Nolli & Piranesi map of Campo Marzio Fig. 8: New Kiruna town plan by White Arkitekter Fig. 9: Årstafältet town plan, outside Stockholm by Utopia Arkitekter

Colin Rowe’s book Collage City became hugely influential for new ideas of town planning since its publication in 1978. It opposes the utopian modernist idea of a through and through coherent city, with clear layout and transportation routs. Instead it Rowe argued that a city grows slowly and organically, and should be allowed to. Different styles from different epochs will meet, overlap, and collide quite crudely and violently within the city, which will actually enrich it. Architecture should thus ‘engage the existing fabric of the city and respond to its textures and heterogenity’.2

1._Breton, A. (1972). Surrealism and Painting.

2._Haddad, E. and Rifkind, D. (2015). A critical history of contemporary architecture 1960-2010 Fig. 1-4._Breton, A. (1972). Surrealism and Painting.

Fig. 5._Graphicine (2018). 04_giovanni_battista_piranesi_graphicinepiranesi.jpg. [IMAGE] Fig. 6._White och Tegmark (n.d.). Kiruna13_w-644x460.jpg. [IMAGE] Fig. 7._wikimedia.org (2018). Piranesi-10013.jpg. [IMAGE] Fig. 8._kiruna.se (2014). 20140213_kommersiellajpeg.jpg. [IMAGE] Fig. 9._Utopia Arkitekter (2012). årstafältet5.jpg. [IMAGE]

Fig. 5 White Arkitekter’s illustration of the new Kiruna. Here there is no doubt of what is inside and what is outside. The boundaries of the two are clear. The only thing that evokes any type of relation to Piranesi’s Rome is the light cables between the buildings.

Fig. 6

Exquisite Corpse & Campo Marzio A modernist-rejecting concept of town planning In 1978 Colin Rowe took part in Roma Interrotta, a project that directed critique at modernist planning of 19th century Rome. In this project a dozen critiques and architects re-imagined the tiles that made up the 1748 map of Rome by town planner Nolli and etcher Piranesi.

Roma interrotta was executed in the format of Exquisite Corpse, and lead to wide-spread discussions of contemporary and future town planning, historical public and urban space, and manipulation and conservation of urban interactions in the city.2 ‘‘This idea of communication should clearly be limited by the known factors governing the calculation of probabilities, but I am confident, nevertheless, that it remains valid.’1 This year we adopt this concept for further analysis and elaborations of the White Arkitekter’s new town plan for Kiruna.

The Nolli-Piranesi map looks very much like a collage city, and it still holds order and coherency. If the new Kiruna town plan does this is up for debate, but what is certain is that it does not seem to respond to the extreme climate, but rather appears more or less generic.

As if it could be anywhere in Sweden, or the world. It is also clear that the Nolli-Piranesi map shows porosity and gradients. This feature does not exist at all in the Kiruna plan. The Campo Marzio map does not have major long axis either, which seems to be a given in the Kiruna plan.

Fig. 7

Fig. 9 Fig. 9: This is a project outside the centre of Stockholm. It is a masterplan of a new housing area, a bit smaller than the new Kiruna town centre (Fig. 8). Although these two cities have a quite different climate, not much separated the two plans.

Fig. 8

INITIAL IDEAS Conceptual Masterplan Strategies Hand sketches of imaginary new town Kiruna that responds to topological desires In interviews, and in the meeting with the municipality we learned that one of the most important features of the existing town of Kiruna, views, will be much missed by the inhabitants.

As an initial response to this, I sketched out two concepts; Vertical Landscapes briefly explores what would happen in the lost views of the landscape could be reinstated in the architectural form of the new town centre. Analysing the existing views as an image composition, and reinterpret them in vertical form. Rather than a flowing topological landscape, this response tests if the flat new site can become another type of flowing landscape.

Inverted Landscape tests the concept of a flowing roofs-scape, where not just every building has a different height, but also if the building itself can have height differences, in a naturally flowing landscape-manner.

This result is then inverted, so that the streets becomes the roof-scape of the town, and the buildings to be inhabited.

TRENDSPOTTING New Trend of Highrise in Norrland

Kiruna

Article by Arkitekten (in Swedish), translated by me.

Piteå, 16 Stories Skellefteå, 19 Stories & 12 Stories Östersund, 16 Stories

Norrland is the northernmost region and includes approx. 50% of the Swedish land area. It begins in the middle of the country and covers all land to the north.

Sundsvall, 38 Stories

Many towns in Norrland have in recent years been been subjects for plans of highrise buldings, practically unprecedented in the region. Although a few examples exist (in Kiruna Erskine designed Kvarteret Ortdrivaren, see p. 7), very few, if any has been built in recent years.

The Swedish architecture union weekly newspaper, Arkitekten, has had a closer look at the phenomena, the public opinion, and possible reasons for the trend;

In New Kiruna however, there is no historic centre - it is a blank canvas - which means much of the scepticism to highrise buildings will, in theory, be non-existing. This leaves mostly positive critique - again in theory.

This new trend is often dividing the local opinion between for and against, but the reasons can vary; ‘Many of the debates that criticize the project are still positive to the architecture itself. But not at that particular place, even though the project does not involve any demolitions of the turn-of the-century-buildings. To many debaters, it is the changing cityscape that is the problem; that the older architecture is mixed up with a new one.’

This ‘stigma’ is deeply rooted, especially in Sweden I would say, and has its origin in the clash between modernist architecture and historical buildings, and it is often the older generation that is more sceptical.

‘Gert Wingårdh (Wingårdh Arkitekter) believes that part of the explanation is found in the firm, sometimes brutal, urban transformations of the sixties, with demolitions of older buildings and the construction of modern architecture. Sundsvall had its own ‘Klarakvarter’ (infamous demolition of a several central blocks in Stockholm in the 1950’s & 1960’s) in the Norrmalmskvarteren (site) by Selångersån (river), which started to be demolished in 1955 and completely disappeared in the early 1970s.’

“My view is that it led to a strong opinion of modernist architecture, and architects, which in turn led to the fact that it was largely impossible to build until the mid-70’s.

In the 80’s construction began to speed up again, often in a postmodern style. Many towers were built, such as the Läppstiftet (‘the Lipstick’) in Gothenburg. After the real estate crisis in the 1990’s icon buildings began to emerge. Turning Torso in Malmö was written down enormously before it was finished, but today it is a symbol for Malmö”, says Wingårdh.

1._Bergmark, A. (2018). Höga hus i norrländska städer väcker debatt - Arkitekten.se. [ONLINE] Fig. 1._Arkitekten (2018). kampanilen. [IMAGE] Fig. 2._Arkitekten (2018). Höderskrapan. [IMAGE]

Fig 1.

Höderskrapan by Collage Arkitekter, cental Skellefteå Fig. 2.

Kampanilen (the Campanile) by Wingårdh Arkitekter Fig. 1

Fig. 2

PRECEDENT Fig. 3

An Approved Culture House in Skellefteå This 19 story Culture House by White Arkitekter will help estimate size of programmatic spaces needed.

The new Culture House in Skellefteå is a very handy precedent. Skellefteå is located in the north of Sweden, and is almost exactly twice as big as Kiruna. This means that it is very likely that approximately half as many people will use the facilities of the Kiruna Culture House.

Because I have the plans of the culture house in Skellefteå, I can start estimate size of spaces needed.

Kiruna (ca 18,000 inhab.)

Skellefteå (ca 36,000 inhab.)

Fig. 1

Fig. 2

Spa Skybar

Hotel

Conferance Second Balcony

First balcony Restaurant Lobby Ceiling

Upper Stands/ seating Lounges

For example: Skellefteå Performance Stage, 350m2 Stands/Seating, 305m2, 300 seats Kiruna Performance Stage, 125m2 Stands/Seating, 208m2, 102 seats

Fig. 1-3._White Arkitekter (n.d.). skelleftea-kulturhus. [IMAGE]

Lobby & Public Space Library Cafe & restaurant Scene Museum & Exhibition Service, Tech. & Staff Workshop Lounge Conferance Terrace Hotel Spa Stairs Site Boundary Entrace Deliveries

Entrance from travel centre Lobby Delivery

Entrance from street Hotel Library

Fig. 1

PRECEDENTS The Agora, The Basilica, and the Pub Aberrent Architecture had a look at Elephant & Castle in Lambeth. I had a look at the similarities with the Agora, and the Basilica.

The literal meaning of the word Agora is “gathering place” or “assembly”, and indeed it was the centre of social, cultural, and political life of Athens.

‘Originally occupying open ground to the northwest of the Acropolis, the Agora became the official site of athletic and artistic events, political discourses, markets, festivals - any social event taking place in Athens.

The arrangements of the Athenian roads, in particular the Panathenaic Way, which led from the main gate (the Diptyon) to the Acropolis, dictated the position of the Agora. As the reputation and influence of Athens grew both in artistic and commercial terms, the Agora increased in size and importance.’1 ‘Conceived as the new commercial centre, the Roman Agora was linked to the old Agora in A.D. 100 by a street lined with stoae (covered walkway, or portico), which began at the Library of Pantainos and ended at the West Propylon.’1 “Lambeth’s now-demolished Elephant & Castle had a variety of different public and private environments, each with different entrances, designs and materials – from intimate comfy booths to standing areas with sawdust on the floor.”2 “The Elephant & Castle acted as a meeting place, post office, job centre, games room, auction house, library, hotel, a bureau de change and a place where workers would get paid. Longer opening hours, from 5am to 12.30am, facilitated this intensity of use. Some pubs even acted as a kitchen, with evidence of a worker bringing his own steak to be cooked at the pub”...2 “The way the Victorian pub catered to the needs of the urban population can be repackaged for a contemporary society short of storage and living space, in which city dwellers increasingly prefer to share ownership of cars, power tools and even clothing.”2

Fig. 1._Kennedy, S. (2016). Model for a new Victorian Pub, Aberrant Architecture. [IMAGE] Fig. 2._Agathe.gr (n.d.). Agora. [IMAGE]

“In the UK today, pubs are closing down because a business wholly reliant on drinking is no longer sustainable. Here the Elephant & Castle model of intensified usage is immediately relevant. The way the Victorian pub catered to the needs of the urban population can be repackaged for a contemporary society” “To us, though, the lessons from the Victorian pub can inform the general design principle behind any public workspace. Most coffee shops turned workspaces try to squeeze it all into one space and make it a compromise all over, rather than offer a variety of spaces and variety of activities.”

The Basilica (Greek; Stoa Basileios, meaning “Royal Stoa”) of the Agora was a place where law, business and legal matters was exercised. When the Roman Empire adopted the Basilica, they continued the tradition of using the interior colonnades on both sides of the nave, where the roof was lower, as pocket-spaces where deals could be struck, and business arrangements agreed.

The old Victorian Public House here holds a variety of attractive and useful spaces. It holds a variety of more or less enclosed spaces, much like the Agora and the Basilica. The Agora, in turn, has clear links to Piranesi’s etchings of old Rome, and the Nolli-Piranesi map of Campo Marzio, with its patch-work of buildings and colonnades.

Fig. 2

PRECEDENT Fig. 1

Netherlands Embassy Berlin, by OMA Connecting vertical spaces with a continous path

View outside

The unfolded plan of the Embassy becomes a linear journey. An embassy is in need of security and private spaces, unlike the Culture House in Kiruna. I am seeking to activate the circulation space too, and this concept allows for an Exquisite Corpse exercise of each space along the vertical circulation, and the relation between these public spaces, and the outside.

Circulation Programmatic Space Fig. 2

‘From the entrance, the trajectory of the path leads to the library, on to the meeting rooms, skirting the offices, leading up to the fitness area and finally the restaurant on the roof terrace.’ ...

‘At one point the path escapes the constraints of the cube and cantilevers over the courtyard.’ 1

View

- OMA

Fig. 3

View

1._OMA. (n.d.). netherlands Embassy. [ONLINE] Fig. 1-3._OMA (n.d.). netherlands-embassy. [IMAGE]

PRECEDENT Fig. 1

Kunsthal, Rotterdam by OMA Experiencing a change of levels in height while experiencing spaces and views - inwards and outwards.

This project by OMA takes the visitor on a continuous adventure through the building. Ramps and stairs are not just vertical transportation, but are activated in themselves, while giving glances outwards and inwards.

View in

View out

View out

View in View in

‘How to design a museum as four autonomous projects - a sequence of contradictory experiences which would nevertheless form a continuous spiral. In other words, how to imagine a spiral in four separate squares. The concept of the building is a continuous circuit.’ 1

Level changes gradually

Level changes gradually

- OMA Fig. 2

View in/out

View in/out View in/out

Fig. 3

1._OMA. (n.d.). Kunsthal. [ONLINE] Fig. 1-3._OMA. (n.d.). Kunsthal. [IMAGE]

View in/out

Space of experience

View out

TOPOLOGIC CONCEPT Views & the Sense of Verticality is Lost How can OMA concepts amend a flat new site, and invoke the memory of qualities of old Kiruna?

Here I am analysing old Kiruna, and testing OMA’s concept as a tool to address the acknowledged issue of lost views and topology. Because the Culture House is a lot smaller than a mountain-side, an imagined ramp must change direction, and fold many times. I seek a plan that is in the line of Piranesi’s etchings of Campo Marzio to help me with this.

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A. Photo of/from typical street B. Views lost on new site. The experience of seeing buildings from a birds-eye perspective is lost. Mine in the background C-D. Dividing the sidewalk in more and less dense structure to imitate Campo Marzio E. The sidewalk folds on itself and starts to climb up the side of the building.

F. Without topologic context, it is easier to imagine the sketch being part of one coherent building on a flat site.

View

View

View

While the density of the structure around the ramp can vary in a gradient-manner, where the density of framing can be more intense the closer to the building body, the ramp itself can offer views both inward and outward. The higher up the wanderer gets, the more of the surrounding landscape he can see.

F

View

VOLUME STUDIES Physical and Visual Connection Volumetric and spatial relation to main square, new Town Hall, the Hotel, and the Sami-Parliament

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Views from the Culture House will be limited. There will not be any views towards nature, and there will be no visual connection to the Sami-Parliament - even though it sits slightly higher.

A: Culture House B: Town Hall C: Hotel D: Sami-Parliament

The origina footprint extruded to the same height as the town hall gives a feeling of comprehensive density to the area.

200%

With the altered geometry the Culture House can offer views of the landscape in many directions, and it would be able to have visual connection to the Sami-Parliament. It also allows for better visual connections with the hotel and the Town Hall, as well as more dynamic relation to the two buildings.

When the volume is extruded to twice the height the volume feels imposing - too big.

100%

By slizing the extruded volume in half, but at an angle, the south corner of the building lands really well on the squre. It invites and opens up the space between the hotel and the town hall.

Foster + Partners Lecture London Metropolitan University Human Intuition, Computational Rigour

by Francis Aish As Head of Applied Research and Development, and partner at Foster + Partners Francis is part of truly progressive technology in the field of architecture and engineering. This lecture was very inspiring and we got a glimpse at many cutting edge techniques used in the office for several different purposes, for example communication, analysis, structural engineering, and generative design. We were asked not to take images during the presentation.

Communication: Francis showed us how they can interact with clients via color coded, back lit/ambient surfaces which calculate the relation between objects placed on the surface. In his example the planning of an office floor was displayed. Colours showed the intensity of analysis of physical collaborations between different departments in the office space, to find a good solution where to place them in relation to each other.

The client can now see the result of the analysis, and how and where there will be most movement of people between the departments across the floor. By moving physical objects representing a department the flux of people change. A client-desired positioning solution can be reached right in front of the client.

Analysis: Francis also showed us how wind had been measured at a large site in central London. This analysis helped determine the most suitable form for the design, but also what impact the wind would have with various iterations of building bodies in this space.

Virtual Reality: AR and VR has also been used successfully by Foster + Partners as a tool to make the client truly understand the size, form and design of a space that Fosters + Partners were commissioned for. It has also been used together with unity as a design tool.

One example of this was where a small model of a floor with walls were placed in front of you in VR. This same virtual space, along with the model, existed inside the same very model that was in front of you, but on a 1:1 scale, and while you manipulated the smaller model, the space you were in transformed accordingly instantly.

Another example showed how you could model a 3D volume in VR, you can manipulate it, and you can zoom ‘yourself’ in and out of the model. This allow you to orbit the model but also to experience what you model from street level in scale 1:1.

Fig. 1.

Scanning: For the UAE pavilion in Dubai they managed (at least partially) to scan sand ripples on a sand dune, which were then analysed digitally. This translated into a script to find a rhythm in the design that made it look less repetitive, and feasible to manufacture.

Structural Engineering: Foster + Partners have many different ways of designing the structure of buildings, and to find the most suitable and desired kind. Francis showed us several softwares and images of physical samples of structural elements, and techniques they use. This includes stress analysis and choice of material for example.

Image from Foster + Partners Twitter account showing the volumetric modelling in VR, with the possibility to zoom in and out.

Generative Design: Topological Optimisation was used to find the best structure for a highrise building, but there were several different examples in this lecture which showed various ways to use algorithms to generate design.

Workflow: Francis also showed us a highly efficient workflow developed by the practice, this was interesting since this is what we have been struggling with this year.

1._Aish, F. (2017). Human Intuition, Computational Rigour.

Fig. 1._Foster + Partners (2017). F+P exhibition. [IMAGE]

Digital Construction Week (DCW) Exhibition at ExCeL in East London 18-19th of October, 2017 Emerging construction business technology Why is this relevant?

DCW is the corporate side of cutting edge of technology in the field of construction. This is the representation of what progressive technology within construction looks like in the hands of geeks dressed in shirts! It is mostly directed at developers and investors, and tries to deal with computation and digital means to deal with logistics and to increase control and profit.

This exhibition tries to deal with six trends within digital media and construction. Each of these trends had their own theatre and a speakers program. These wore: 1. Industry Transformation - Technology 2. Building Information Model - BIM 3. GEO Spatial 4. Industry 4.0 5. Smart Buildings 6. Visualisation Unfortunately we only had time to come to this free exhibition on the second day in the afternoon. I went to two talks at the Visualization Theatre.

The only fully physical stoll with interaction was dominated by fellow student & peer Thomas. The Italianos!

1. Building the perfect storm: Bridging reality and cutting-edge visuallizations, with Katie Jeffery from DIRTT. This talk was about how DIRTT have created a way of extracting a room from a BIM model (Revit as an example) to put it into a 3D program ICEreality. In this program the user can easily draw in the interior materials and furniture provided as a pallett by DIRTT. As you drew in your choice of interior the total cost was uppdated constantly. Once the user, client or architect was satisfied with the interior planning, the model could be submitted and the construction drawings went straight to DIRTTs factory for manufacturing. What the talk did not mension is if you were strictly tied to DIRTTs own material pallette. Most likely you are, and that makes the whole idea quite restricted. The visualization program (ICE) was also not giving you very clear visuals of the actual material, but felt a lot like Sketchup, which does not do the final result justice. Nor does it give the user a clear view of what the space will actually look like. At the moment the “cutting-edge” visuals are not very real at all.

Personally I think this is far from being a perfected concept, but the basic idea is somewhat interesting, and could be useful as the programs and visuals are upgraded to give more flexibility and better visuals closer to reality.

2. HoloBuilder - 360 Reality Capturing for Construction Teams, by Nicolas Arnold.

In this talk Mr Arnold showed us his company’s concept for capturing construction during various stages of a project. This is a very simple concept, but I’m not sure how useful it really is.

The project team simply take a 360 photo from a specific place as often as they like, and then upload it to the cloud. This service then organise these photos according to date and position so that it is possible to go back in time to see what it looked like during the construction process, and enable you to see the progress as days, weeks, and months pass. He also stated that this could be experienced in VR, but failed to explain what type of recording was needed to allow for this to work.

I could imagine that if disagreements occur, or if a client, that cannot go to site themselves, needs to be updated visually from site - this could come in handy.

But since the 360 photo gets distorted and the quality of a photo in general can be questioned, I do not see this as anything revolutionary. I can however see that it could be useful to have images organised according to place and dates.

Extras: Some of us tried what VR could mean during the construction phase.

We also stopped to talk to the Bentley Team about Context Capture, but it turned out that the staff in the stall were no specialists, so not much more than we already knew came from that discussion.

We also stopped at a stall with a robotic arm, and had a go at program it to do simple tasks, with instructions from and exhibitor. Mesmerizing but not in our field of expertise or future field of work.

FORM FINDING Issues Adapting Form to Brief Fumbling with geometry to respond to climatic strategies, the Piranesi plan, ramp & topography Initially I tried to imagine various geometries that first and foremost contained the idea of a continuous ramp and the sun-studies undertaken. But When trying to adapt it into a folded format, as an initial response to climatic strategies while still provide indoor space for a ramp, the result did not make much sense, and I was fumbling in the dark for a couple of day. What nonsense this was!

N

SITE FLUX Study Of Expected Flux Using Tilt Brush to sketch flux in VR

Tile 4 is one of 6 tiles that makes up the New Kiruna Town Plan. It holds the new main public square, the almost finished new Town Hall, and just south of the new square is the new travel centre. Tile 4 is the centre of New Kiruna and it will hold most of the flux apart from the long new park stretching from south-west to northeast of tile 4.

The new travel centre will bring plenty of flux to tile 4 - Here trains, buses, and potential future trams or cable cars will transport residents and tourists to the airport or the next town, but also locally; to the mine, nearby Ice Hotel, etc.

I used Tilt Brush in VR to try to understand the connections between the different centralities that are spread out across the six tiles that makes up the New Kiruna Town Plan. Because we have mass-modelled the full proposed town plan this flux can be explored in true 3D in any scale; Tilt Brush VR lets you zoom seamlessly, and you can experience ‘God mode’, just to switch to a first-person perspective in a few seconds.

VR-SKETCHING Issues Linking Building to Surrounding Fumbling again to form a bond to the townplan. Here testing connections to adjacent blocks. Sketching in VR Not too pretty but neither are much of my personal scribble in my sketchbook... and it gave me an idea, which is what sketching is about.

Sketching in 3D is truly fascinating. At this table I can of course scribble down ideas in a sketchbook with a pencil, but here I am at the desk, twisting and turning a site model in 3D, zooming in and out at will, while being able to test out ideas almost as easy. I get a real sense of scale and the space in which I ‘think’ with the virtial pen.

VISITING A CULTURE CENTRE Artipelag Art & Archipelagio - Exhibition & performance space east of Stockholm, Sweden

By Nyréns Arkitektbyrå “As you approach Artipelag - it’s a sequence of experiences. When you come from Stockholm, for example, you will cross over these bridges, and you will see glimpses of the archipelago. And then when you turn off the main road, you drive down a hill, with big oak trees, and you enter a stunning landscape. There you have these beautiful valleys with big oak trees and you can see the water below. As you continue you get up in the woods, and then it becomes quite dark. Here you don’t see the water, and when you arrive at the Artipelag, you will be greeted with a large welcoming entrance. The symbol for the entrance yard is like a glade in the forest.”

- Johan Nyrén

Photos by me. Translatate citation from video of Johan Nyrén: https://artipelag.se/artipelag-play/arkitektens-artipelag/

Exhibition: I Stormens Öga (Eye of the Storm) Artipelag Exhibition by Bigert & Bergström “Bigert & Bergström’s works are like a centrifuge, a rolling point of intersection between man, nature and technology.”

I found this exhibition both funny and innovative. Funny because the artists (Mats Bigert & Lars Bergström) have a sense of cynicism about their work, and the reality that we do face more or less drastic climatic changes. Innovative because of their engineering and scientific approach, rather than purely critical stance. Their innovative and exploratory take rubs off and just like Keith Larsson, in his lecture at the Abisko Research Centre, they accept that climate change is beyond fixing. They rather elaborate on what impact this can have (for good, or bad), but also how we can realise how to live with it.

But most of all the lasting impression is how new technology can amend the human race to cope with these changes, and how we can use technology to adapt - or create a resilience to climatic changes that will inevitably come.

Below: An interpretation of the new highest mountain peak in Sweden, which name is unknown to people. What impact does this have on cultural heritage?

Above: The Solar Egg is the duo’s most internationally published work - a sauna in the form of an egg, with highly reflective metal panels.

Artipelag further enhance the beauty and delicacy of existing nature that might change quite drastically in years to come because of the reality that the exhibition is dealing with.

The work that I found most intriguing and humorous was the insulating cover the duo designed for the top of the highest mountain in Sweden; Kebinikaise.

Apparently the top of this mountain is just centimetres higher than Sweden’s second tallest mountain, but with climate change, the top of Kebinikaise is rapidly decreasing, and soon the second tallest peak will be the highest mountain in Sweden. However, no Swede no what this mountain is called - which puts us Swedes in somewhat of an identity crisis - history that has been widely taught for decades is no longer correct so how do we relate to this new situation?

Above: A wind chamber allows the visitor to experience a whirlwind, and in the centre of the room the air is still - The eye of the storm.

PROGRAMMATIC LAYOUT Testing Distribution of Key Spaces Using Gravity Sketch to test spaces needed and the logic of site. Test 1

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The Public House & the library should face the Townhall and the main square in order to emphasise that this is a public building, and to add visual flux and activity.

The existing Granden is located in the very centre of Kiruna, but is also a bit ‘sealed off’, or ‘hidden away’.

My understanding of this space is that it resembles a teenagers room in a household - its close to the heart of the household, but also enclosed for privacy. Therefore Granden is positioned to the north, adjacent to the main shopping street. This will give the younger people a feel of being included in the central active space in town, positioned between the heart of the town (the Town Hall and public plaza) and the man commercial centre (the shopping street). The space is elevated to give the youth a sense of ‘privacy’, but allows for them to have a good chance of overlooking public activity.

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The Cinema/performance stage is located towards the north, since no, or very little, daylight is desired. The Auditorium is also located here, but higher up, to have a good chance of getting more passive daylight.

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Key Programmatic Spaces A1: Public House A2: Restaurant B: Granden C: Cinema/Stage D: Library E: Auditorium Reference Points H: Hotel S: Sami-Parliament T: Town Hall Reflections: - With this strategy all key spaces are located to the west and north of the site, which leaves too much ‘empty’ space on the rest of the site.

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- On top of the auditorium one will have a clear view to see the surrounding town and nature, which is a nice metaphor, but also an important visual link to the Sami-Parliament.

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Testing Distribution of Key Spaces Using Gravity Sketch to test spaces needed and the logic of site. Test 2

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In this second test the principle of keeping the Library and Public House adjacent to the Town Hall and main public plaza. The location of Granden is also the same but is now partly positioned over the main shopping street.

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The Cinema/stage sits to the south-east on the site, And the Auditorium is positioned to the east. From here there can still be very good visual contact with the Sami-Parliament, whilst receiving sufficient passive daylight after noon.

Reflections: - This layout distribute the programme across the site in a better way.

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- It starts to connect to the surrounding building blocks as a counteract towards present town plan, which is built on traditional Modernist preconceptions of efficiency, rather than putting intimacy and social interaction first.

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Exhibition - Walkable London: Upgrading the urban prosperity engine. A ZHA supported proposal to the Mayor of London office It is quite different to see Patrick Schumacher stand in front of a crowd promoting Jan Gehl’s since long established strategies for a more sustainable urban lifestyle. This was however the case in this open introduction to the exhibition, where there was no ZHA architectural proposals presented. Schumacher inaugurated the exhibition with words not normally associated to ZHA practice.

He did however indeed sound like a true believer of Walkable Cities.

The exhibition consists of extensive research of the town-planning of the many different boroughs of London, and how they now seem to have an approach of town planning which goes hand-in-hand with promoting pedestrianising streets and zones within the city of London.

Indeed the Mayor of London, Kahn, has shown a great believe in designing the city for the people on foot, not for the people in cars, and it seems ZHA has embraced this strategy.

Where you are used to hear Schumacher promote, or defend, strategies that has to do with privatisation, (often expensive) one-off’s, and pushing technology and the industry, in many cases on the expense of socialistic ideals, in this case ZHA was a completely adopting inclusive strategies. Although Gehl himself, or Amsterdam and Copenhagen (as precedents) were never mentioned, he advocated leaving you car at home and instead use your bike or your legs to get you to your destination.

He talked about how horrible many of the highstreets of London are because of the traffic, the air-pollution, and the sound pollution the traffic cause. Apparently you can get to your destination within 600m from whichever tube station, or train station you use in central London.

1._Schumacher, P. (2017). Walkable London.

Schumacher’s more commonly known advocacies were just briefly touched upon as he spoke about how much the properties that are situated along the high-streets would increase in value if there were less traffic on these roads.

What I can say is he made a lot of sense, but also a lot of common sense. I would have expected a lot more innovative ideas from his talk, rather than just promoting a strategy that Gehl has been advocating for several decades. Does the approach of favouring collective travels, bicycling, and walking in a dense city make sense? - Yes! Does disqualifying the idea that everyone needs to own and drive a car in a dense city make sense? - Yes! Does these strategies almost automatically give the inhabitants better health, more social interactions that could possibly lead to more integration and inclusiveness, and less cost for the NHS, which would save tax-money? Yes! Would more pedestrians mean more business for local commercial activity, and benefit street life in general? - Yes! All of these arguments make sense, but they are not new. And even though Gehl has advocated this for many years, and although there are established precedents, Schumacher chose to talk about a trend in German cities that respond to these strategies. Which is good! Because these strategies need new blood, or in this case, revised advocacies, by already established practices such as ZHA. According to the study the transport system can cope with whole car-free zones during office hours, and it is feasible to completely ban cars on several main routes or main roads, and even zones in central London.

I do believe Schumacher sees financial benefits of perusing this kind of promotions, but ultimately it does not matter: Whomever is arguing for less cars (especially cars with combustion engines) is arguing for a more humane city. ZHA has spotted the trend and realised a financial potential, but it will ultimately serve mankind, and therefore I welcome his advocacy on this topic.

TRANSFORMING TOWNPLAN Altering Surrounding Blocks An attempt to adopt Piranesi’s language to Kiruna Culture House and surroundings.

I realised that in order to place the programmatic spaces the way I really wanted, while connecting them to the surrounding blocks it gave me an opportunity to engage with ‘Piranesi-style adaptation’. But it soon became clear that altering the surrounding blocks made the whole town plan appear very strange and incoherent.

CAMPO KIRUNA A short Study of the Pattern of Cities and Landscapes Searching for a contemporary language for New Kiruna town

Barcelona

Camberra

OMA, China

Manhattan, NYC

Brasilia

Angkor Wat

Paris

Ellicot Plan Washington

Salt ponds, Peru

Madrid

Vatican, Rome

Yunnan Rice Fields, China

Amsterdam

Rome

Basalt, Iceland

I used Google maps to find very distinguished city patterns, but not just urban pattern, but also man-made and natural landscapes, such as salt-ponds, rice fields, and rock formations.

I then chose a few of these and superimposed them onto Tile 4 in the new Kiruna Town plan. While modelling in 3D I also made sure to merge these patterns into each other, rather than have a hard clash between them - an exquisite corpse exercise with myself so to speak, since I already knew what the neighbouring blocks would look like.

Paris

Slightly altered pattern of Basalt, Iceland

Organically grown Rome

Salt ponds, Peru

Contemporary Singapore ‘Interlace’ by OMA

Organically grown Madrid

Modernist/Brutalist Rome

Narrative | Making | Space - Lecture Royal Academy of Arts, RA Making Space series ‘An evening exploring how architecture’s use of different media can tell stories that create a sense of meaning in our environment.’ 1 As a great advocate for narratives in architecture this lecture was very fascinating to me. I am very interested in storytelling; a huge fan of film and music. I believe a strong narrative is crucial to make sense of an architectural proposal. I often find that as you are very aware of the choices you make for the project you are working on, it can still be difficult to explain the project, to tie it together, without certain illustrations. And in fact I think we, as architects, have developed a very specific “style” of communicating via drawings and illustrations that is often hard to interpret/understand, or “decode” by any other person outside our occupation. This is of course quite absurd, since we need to “sell” our ideas, and since we intend to create spaces for people outside our own line of profession. I think this is why CGI rendered images have become so popular - the technology is now very accessible, the softwares are easier to handle, and the need for powerful computers to achieve these images have been reduced. I do however find most rendered images quite “empty” or “hollow”, they are often futile in the sense that they do not speak of the project as a whole; Yes I can see the spaces, and yes they look nice - but what is the over-arching concept?

I find myself wondering why this space is designed this way? Such images tells me little to nothing about what the design is trying to achieve. I find it quite absurd that for competitions, or early concept work, rendered images are included at all. Surely the architectural concept is what really matters, rather than a neat image of an object that we do not know the story of! I don’t mind these images as some sort of final explanation of the spaces, but in order to get there one must first know what one is trying to achieve.

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4 1._Liangi, I., Loewenson, T., Stewart, C. and Tavares, K. (2017). Narrative | Making | Space.

I think the complex architectural drawings are the most powerful when discussing amongst ourselves, in the architectural realm. This is when we can really go into depth analysing and criticising our own, and others work; to break it down and assess in detail the concept of a project. But when communicating with the outside world, we need to speak a language that everyone can understand.

In an interview I once read Bernard Tschumi said something in the line of; no architectural jury of today could understand the concepts and drawings of Parc de LaVillette. This I feel is a bit absurd, even though I’m not sure that is completely true. That might be the case in many instances, but it is not just about convincing a jury, but ultimately to communicate the proposal to the public. Tschumis drawings are fascinating to me, but it takes one to know one, i.e. when analysing his drawings I can understand his concept. But would anyone from outside the architectural realm be able to understand the genius of his proposal, when not even a (some) jury(s) can? In all fairness, in this case, I’m not sure they have to, but very few architectural proposals are this democratic and pro-social.

This is when storytelling comes in handy. Because we work on so many levels, in so many layers and move between philosophical and historical concepts, materiality and technical solutions, culture and economics, and environmental discourses, we need to convey these in a comprehensive and clear way. Stories do just this.

They manage to describe feelings, mentality, gestures, textures, connections and links. This is what needs to be told. Film, novels and comics do this very well, and I feel this is an excellent way of “decoding” the architectural language and render it clear to the public.

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Presentations by: 1. Ifigeneia Liangi – PhD candidate, architectural designer, illustrator, storyteller 2. Thandi Loewenson – PhD candidate, architectural designer, venture futurist 3. Catrina Stewart – architect, architectural designer for BAFTA winning video game Lumino City 4. Kibwe Tavares – architect, animator and filmmaker; co-founder of Factory Fifteen I found Liangi’s and Tavares’ work particularly appealing and relevant to my own aims, even though I highly enjoyed Stewart’s playful work too. Liangi’s project is a PhD Thesis at the Bartlett - The Architectural Novel: A study on the Greek spaces of magical realism. It is a very poetic project with dreamy illustrations. In the lecture we learned that she had recently discovered scanning as technique incorporated in her illustrations.

EXQUISITE KIRUNA Testing an Alternative Tile 4 on Site A messy pattern to shake things up

Although I found this experiment interesting, I acknowledge that the critique towards White Architect’s masterplan is that it looks too generic, does not responds to a car-free zone (why would the streets look like they do unless you were planning for cars?), or climatic strategies (some streets runs in a north-west/south-east direction - exactly where cold winds and snow-drifting comes from) has not been taken under consideration,

and many of the patterns are directly inappropriate from this point of view.

However, this experiment did give me an idea for what a conceptual townplan could look like.

CAMPO KIRUNA Randomness Within a Strict Rules Voronoi-framework fills all criteria that is sought after The pattern allow for many tweaks but stays coherent.

Street layout can respond to both the car-free zone and climatically sound strategies. The density can easily be controlled without loosing coherent identity, but does hardly become too repetitive, since it is in the nature of the pattern to evoke randomness.

PRECEDENT Casa Ventura (2011) by Tatiana Bilbao Spatial layout and experience in both x, y, and z-axis.

This house sits on a hillside and is made up from a voronoi pattern. The section resembles Erskine’s section of a hillside town, and the link to medieval organic mountain village is easy to find. The levels vary and this rhymes well with my idea about a ramp. Interior spaces have much qualities that I have had in mind for the Kiruna Culture house.

Fig. 4 External views Natural landscape

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Fig. 5 Internal views Man-made landscape

External views Natural landscape

Internal topography A journey Different heights, rather than walls frame spaces

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Fig. 3 Fig. 1-7._Jodidio, P. (2015). 100 contemporary concrete buildings =. Cologne: Taschen. pp. 164-171

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MATERIAL CONCEPT Exterior Material Palette References to iron throughout as a metaphor of what has built Kirunas culture and history.

Metal cladding is durable, and especially corten as it only increases in character as years pass, unlike painted metal cladding, which has a tendency of looking boringly bleached with time.

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Iron ore mine Kiruna

Iron Sulphate is used medically to treat various syndromes, including iron deficiency, but also for industrial applications. The blue-green sulphate dissolves in water1 - the solution turns brown/rusty within 24h. On timber panel though, the rust colour never shows. Instead it bleaches, or weather the timber, giving it a grey-silver tone. It can be applied with a paint roller, or with a brush. Normally 4-7 coats are preferable to get desired effect.

1._En.wikipedia.org. (n.d.). Iron(II) sulfate. [ONLINE] Fig. 1._Ichigo, R. (2014). Iron ore mine at Kiruna. [IMAGE] Fig. 2._Els, F. (2017). Iron ore lump. [IMAGE] Fig. 3._De Bron (n.d.). Iron sulphate. [IMAGE] Fig. 4._Fireplace Products (n.d.). laevolucindelavida. [IMAGE] Fig. 5._Byggahus.se (2017). stort-hus-staende-panel-jaernvitriol. [IMAGE]

Iron ore lump

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Iron Sulphate (Green vitriol)

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Cor-ten Steel

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Timber panels treated with Iron sulphate

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View from public square looking towards the Culture House from south-west. The Town Hall can be seen to the left, and just outside the frame to the right is the Hotel.

View from rooftops of the Hotel. Looking towards north, the townhall can be seen to the left in the image.

PRECEDENT Sumika Pavilion (2009), Tokyo by Toyo Ito Timber structure in a random voronoi pattern

The project was initiated by Tokyo gas co., ltd. and the brief was to imagine ‘the aim of the sukima project is to provide more primitive, free and prosperous housing which connects to nature and awakens the five senses.’

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Every column has to be bespoke, which obviously means it will be expensive. However I do think these columns looks very beautiful, and will see if they suit the Kiruna Culture house.

The roof structure seems very complex, and I do not imagine my project using such a structural scheme. It needs to take a lot more loads than this building, and the scale makes it hard to imagine.

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Fig. 3 1._designboom | architecture & design magazine. (2008). sumika projects by sou fujimoto, toyo ito, terunobu fujimori and taira nishizawa. [ONLINE] Fig. 1-3._Baan, I. (2009). Sumika House, Tokyo – Toyo Ito. [Image]

STRUCTURAL CONCEPT A Flexible Framework of Glulam Framework allows concept to be realised

Unlike the Sumika Pavilion, I quite like a little bit of space between the supportive columns. In tutorials with structural engineer I learned that special fittings easily can hold the three glulam posts (there is always 2 or three in a voronoi pattern) together if fixed every meter in height. This gives an opportunity for a nice detail.

When a full wall is required, a CLT wall element can replace two posts and the glulam beam as support. If two or three walls meet, they can form a closed joint.

Closed voronoi-’cells’ will be staircases and the lift shafts for example, but also around kitchens, dressing rooms, study rooms, some studios, etc.

Semi-closed ‘cells’ (i.e. with two or more walls around the cell, can also help form fire barriers.

This structural scheme also allows for the CLT floor slabs to be positioned at different height from the next cell, which helps me achieve my conceptual strategy.

STRUCTURAL SCHEME Structural Elements Set - to Mix n’ Match Timber structure in a random voronoi pattern

Three glulam frames meet.

Holds together with metal fitting every meter in height and creates a cavity between them.

This structural scheme also allows for the CLT floor slabs to be positioned at different height from the next cell, which helps me achieve my conceptual strategy.

When needed the floor slabs can share beam & post.

When its not needed they need to stretch to the edge to provide support for the post that sits on it.

One glulam frame and two walls meet. Holds together the same way and the cavity still exists.

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Closed cells are desired, three walls can meet to form air-tight joint.

Floor slab sits on half post and beam

When needed the floor slabs can share beam & post. When its not needed they need to stretch to the edge to provide support for the post that sits on it.

Floor slab does not need to share post and beam ( in facade for example)

Fig. 1._Roca Gallery (2018). Timber Rising.

Book: Atlas of Novel Tectonics Chapter 11. Intensive & Extensive

By Manuel DeLanda I extracted a few quotes from this text which I found interesting, and that might be relevant to what I am trying to achieve: ‘If we divide a volume of matter into two equal halves we end up with two volumes, each half the extent of the original one. Intensive properties on the other hand are properties such as temperature or pressure, which cannot be so divided.’

‘The most important distinction in our changed notions of architectural design is the shift from geometry as an abstract regulator of the materials of construction to a notion that matter and material behaviours must be implicated in geometry itself.’

‘In the older models, the sovereign role of geometry was to regulate or impress itself upon the irrational and accidental condition of matter, thus measurement, proportion, and all of the elements of pure extension maintain a priority over that which they regulate. The new model must be understood not as a supercession of measuring but as the interplay between intensive and extensive differences.’

‘Intensive differences, also known as gradients, are properties of matter with indivisible difference, such as weight, elasticity, pressure, heat, density, colour, and duration. Any intensive property that is halved maintains an equal property in each half.’

‘We must not fall into the trap of saying that the extensive is quantitative and the intensive, qualitative. In fact, the one is simply quantitative, and the other, since it is inherently embedded in a material field, exists always as quantitative and qualitative.’

‘The legacy of the essentialist approach to architecture, which elevates rationality (mainly in the lineaments of geometry) above matter, precludes the productive and rich capacity of matter to define or influence geometry. Allowing this dynamic to operate is especially important not so much in the realm of new materials for architecture but as a way of reconceiving tectonics and organisation.’

Book: Tooling; Pamphlet Architecture 27

By Benjamin Aranda & Chris Lasch This book was quick to read, and included many sections which relates to the Unit 4 agenda. From this book too, I extracted a few quotes that argues my own case: ‘Today, as modelling, representation, and fabrication technologies shift from manual to automated processes, this issue of algorithm is pressing precisely because it confronts the design of procedures themselves.’

‘The intent in sharing these algorithms is to encourage diversity, allowing others to import, model, and evolve more critical and insightful tools.’

‘Algorithms also offer a non-technological implication in architecture.

They break down the elusive and sometimes problematic phenomena of shape. Shapes are never unwilled figures. Deep within them is a struggle between the predilections of the architect and the inherent properties of the geometries encountered. The algorithm mediates these two, acting as a kind of slovent to liquefy them and create the potential for crystallisation. Tooling traces the movement between this state of potential and manifest architecture.’ p.9 ‘Blending holds that given any two original states - such as speed, time, shape, or contour - an infinite number of substates are available to establish a connection between them.’ ... ‘Their underlying mathematical logic is encouraging because it dictates that a commonality between any two states can be easily determined.’ p. 42 ‘Along with repetition and modularity, the characteristic of tiling that provides such inspiration to tectonics is the issue of adjacency. The minimal enclosure system of bubbles and cells show that tiling need not be a flat system. Rather, its thickness in three dimensions organise a constructive expansion toward infinity in all directions without any gaps.’ p. 76 ‘The idea of Urform was never properly understood and furthermore became trapped in reductionist prejudices against Romantic philosophy.’ ... ‘By the late 1930s, the phenomena denoted by what Goethe called Urforms received a new name and status through the research of Alonso Church and Alan Turing. They saw that numbers could be automated within functions - this was the twist - in order to express precisely and in a controlled environment what Goethe could only hope to glimpse in the wilderness of nature. Church and Turing invented the modern day performing algorithm. (They could only imagine these as machines, but since no such machines existed, they effectively invented them: computers.)’ p. 93

1._Reiser, J. and Umemoto, N. (2012). Atlas of novel tectonics. pp. 72-74 2._Aranda, B., Balmond, C. and Lasch, C. (2010). Tooling.

AD, Architectural Design Constructions: An Experimental Approach to Intensely Local Architecture Issue 2015:02 En Route to Non-Standard Performative Architecture

by Soren S Sorensen.

In this article Sorensen relates to the ‘Architectures Non Standard’ exhibition in Centre Pompidou in December 2003. This article argues that new digital design technologies has the ability to enhance local ‘styles’ which responds to input local parameters, rather than drive architecture towards a global generic ‘style’. This is how we try to address the situation in Kiruna. Therefore I extruded a few quotes from Sorensen’s text that help us argue our case; ‘Presupposing changes in design and production tools of architecture based on a widespread use of algorithmic systems, the exhibition also aimed to demonstrate how the architectural profession is being redefined.’

‘Grounded in a fear of unfamiliar technology this is still often the case both within the architectural community and outside, especially when discussing iconic buildings developed through computational design methods. It is therefore important to look closer at what has become of the non-standard architecture approach and the latent potentials that may change the way architectures are designed and materialised.’

“Positioning non-standard architectures within a framework of performance-oriented architectural design for such data-driven recursive processes integrates evaluative simulations processes and form generation to achieve performance based on data, variations, analysis and optimisation. Integrating context-specific and real-time data sets, for example climatic conditions like temperature, wind and humidity, in the computational data-driven design methods and generative design processes can lead to what can be termed ‘‘informed non-standard’’ architectures.’

‘Non-standard architectures and the re-emerging role of the local, context-specific conditions that may underlie and inform integrated computational design approaches signals a needed shift that emphasises architecture and environment interactions.’

1._Sorensen, S. (2015). En Route to Non-Standard Performative Architecture. Architectural Design, AD.

‘Quantifiable datasets of local conditions as input in the design process will influence solutions, adaptation to site, use of materials and so on that could benefit sustainability and, in turn, affect building codes and regulations.’

‘The relation between locality and homogeneous globalisation of architecture is by no means new to the architectural discourse, and even though the formal potential has been foregrounded and perused, non-standard architectures can just as easily be particularised to local conditions as any other architectures, yet facilitate a greater scope of variation in spatial organisation and tectonics.’

‘If the objective is to engender locally specific performative architecture and environment interactions, it would seem evident that no singular architectural expression or style could result from this, but rather a new attitude and approach to architectural design.’1

A NEW TOWN PLAN A Climatic, Car-Free Tile 4 Creating a Grasshopper definition which gives a gradient coherent pattern The definition uses image sample when applying the voronoi pattern. It leaves the larger ‘cells’ where the colour is more black, and gradually, as the black becomes more white, leaves the ‘cells’ smaller and smaller.

I market out the new Town Hall, since it is an existing building, but also left a few programmatic key spaces - such as the Portal, which I wanted to incorporate into the culture centre. Also a big central courtyard/atrium was marked out, along with the main auditorium.

The white now can become roads and paving, and as the voronoi cells become larger, buildings can start to be extruded.

Although the cells become more stretched towards the more black parts of the image, I am left very happy with the result and I was able to control the sizes of the cells that was generated, and the size of the cells located on the gradient. A very different town-plan has emerged - one that responds to what I set out to design.

The new plan seeks to weaken most of the northern wind and snow-drifting to penetrate the streets,

ADOPTED CLIMATIC STRATEGY Principal Diagrammatic Sketches Method to get a terraced voronoi cluster

Fig. 1. Eskine’s section of a town on a hillside is something I look to achieve with the Kiruna Culture House. For this I developed a strategy; 1-2. We imagine an Erskine-like terraced section swept along a spiral 3. This create something like a ‘terraced cake’

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Fig. 1._Hidden Architecture 2015. Arctic Town. [IMAGE]

6. The cake is deleted, and left is just terraced voronoi cells at an angle. The ridge is shown with the red line.

4. A theoretical ‘ridge’ is imagined perpenducular towards north-west (red dashed line)

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7. Erskine’s section can now be almost distinguished again, but is not swept around a centre or straight along the ridge, but a bit of both while constantly changing.

5. The cake is then penetrated to different degrees by edtruded voronoi cells, and shamfered to respond to snow-drifting and north-west winds.

NEW FACE OF TILE 4 Peaking Heights Form ‘Walls’ Evolving Eskine’s strategies in new scheme

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Erskine had the idea of having a liveable wall towards the north, while - towards the south - terraced housing could be more pleasant. I have adopted this idea in the new town plan for tile 4, where each block has a peak hight, like a ridge running from east to west, and less dramatic slope towards the south.

My contribution to the New Kiruna Town plan and Exquisite Corpse, exercise for Unit 4:

3D-SKETCHING ATTEMPT An Unknown Error The new town plan for tile 4 seems to heavy to handle, although it shouldn’t be...

A rather strange problem occurred when I tried to take the new Tile 4 into VR to have a closer look, at perhaps decide adjustments. No matter how much I left out of the model, it was extremely glitchy in Tilt Brush, and I barely managed to turn it and zoom in and out of it. This is very strange since this has not been an issue before - not for me or anyone else in Unit 4 as far as I know. The issue could not be resolved, but at least I manage to have a look at what I created in VR - both from a first-person view (i.e. scale 1:1) and on a much smaller scale. This is a clear benefit with VR - the model is as real as any card model ever made, but much more neat. The real gain with this technique is that you can change scale in a heartbeat, and experience your massing model in 1:1.

In my case I actually experienced this new town plan a lot ‘smaller’ than I would have expected. It was less ‘intense’ which is a really good thing!

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The smaller images show what it looks like from ‘the inside world’, inside VR. You can see the icons of the menus-panels I have on the handles in VR. 1. Here I am moving, scaling, and rotating the model. It is really easy. When it works...

2. Here I am taking a screenshot of the model from inside VR, in the same session.

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Site

I travelled down the main shopping street in 1:1

Because the model was so heavy I could not even get the Culture-House-in-progress into the model, which was a shame. My computer hardly managed just a few fragments of it, and I had to leave the site empty.

Site

PROGRAMMATIC LAYOUT Stacking Programme Along Ramp Collection of spaces are layed out along the ramp which spirals upward For full explanation of programme see IDS Report.

The programme responds to the original brief, but I have also my own take on it. I mean to provide the Culture House with a Pub & restaurant on at the start of the ramp, closest to the public square, and the hotel. Pub is of course short for Public House, and along with the

Kiruna Pub - Restaurant Kiruna Pub (Public House)

Portal (the recyle-old-Kiruna building centre) I mean to provide a livingroom for the Kiruna residents that brings back parts of old Kiruna, that will in this case not be lost forever.

Workshops to refurbish old building parts are placed along the main shopping street et re

ing

Sh

p op

St

Maintenance Loading bay

Workshops

Exhibition space 1/5

Gift Shop

Studios Youth Centre

Studios Changing rooms

Offices Cinema/ Venue

Art studios Art studios Exhibition space 2/5 Libray & Learning skills facili ties

Main auditorium Restaurant Exhibition space 4/5 - Same Exhibition space 3/5 Central exhibition space 5/5, and core of Kiruan Agora

STACKED PROGRAMME Stacking Programme Along Ramp Collection of spaces are layed out along the ramp which spirals upward, and wraps around the central courtyard/atrium For full explaination of programme see IDS Report.

The programme responds to the original brief, but I have also my own take on it. I mean to provide the Culture House with a Pub & restaurant on at the start of the ramp, closest to the public square, and the hotel. Pub is of course short for Public House, and along with the

Site for attached Portalen (The Portal) Building recycling

Main auditorium, restaurant & Exhibition 4/5 Sami Below: Studios

Maintenance & Loading bay

Main Courtyard/Atrium, Exhibition space 5/5 Exhibition space 3/5

Performance & Dance Studios. Changing rooms.

Youth Centre Art Studios

Exhibition Space 2/5

Office space Library Gift shop Cinema/Venue

Workshops Kiruna Pub Restaurant Kiruna Pub (Public House)

Town Hall sits here

Hotel

Portalen (The Portal) Building Recycling Centre

Another entrance to Youth Centre

Another entrance to Library

Another entrance Cinema/Venue from the Hotel

THE PORTAL A Recycling Centre with Cultural Value The proposed Portal seek to re-use culture

In the winning proposal by Ghilardi+Hellsten Arkitekter / White Architects, a centre to recycle skills and culture was incorporated. This part of the proposal motivation reads: ‘‘The Kiruna Portal: An open structure for management and communication of the process, A toolbox for recycling and production of urbanity.’ 1 I like this idea, but since the winner was announced little has happened and it seem the plan for the Portal is moving forward very slowly. There is not much to read about it either. So I will continue the work with the concept of the portal, which I have deliberately incorporated in the programme Culture Centre complex, next to the workshops.

Unit 4 has been engaged with recording and conserving the physical culture of Kiruna, digitally, through our scans.

1._Ghilardi and Hellsten (2012). Ghilardi+Hellsten Arkitekter. [ONLINE] 2._Kiruna.se (2013). New Urban Centre for Kiruna. [ONLINE]

The jury motivation statement to announce project-team Ghilardi+Hellsten Arkitekter / White Architects, as winner of the competition for the New Kiruna project, said:

‘The Kiruna Portal, which is a virtual and physical place where knowledge is collected, is judged to have the potential of being an extremely important instrument. During 2013 it will already be possible to establish the small Kiruna Portal outside Folkets Hus community centre, later to be moved to the west industrial area. At the Kiruna Portal in the industrial area it will be possible to recycle building material from demolitions and prepare house construction at the same time as knowledge is developed. The discussion touches upon a highly important aspect of urban development. If reusing buildings and material – and the landscape itself – is successful, then Kiruna can become an example to follow. The re-use of buildings and the knowledge that can be developed around this can be developed into an industry – a productive sector unique to Kiruna. The Kiruna Biennial is to create international focus surrounding the urban development issues in Kiruna. This can contribute to increased pride in the creative achievements in Kiruna.’ 2

RECYCLING CULTURE The Swedish Cencept of ‘Folkhemmet’

Fig. 1.

Fig. 2

To demount, disect, reassemble and reinstate ‘The People’s Home’.

The political concept of Folkhemmet has been an important part of the Swedish Social Democratic Party’s history, and the Swedish welfare state. It often refers to the long period between 1932–1976 when the Social Democrats were in power. This was when the concept was put into practice with major social reforms. But it has also worked as a national poetic name for the Swedish welfare state. It was viewed as ‘the Swedish Middle Way’, somewhere in-between capitalism and socialism. ‘The base of the Folkhem vision is that the entire society ought to be like a small family, where everybody contributes.’

Per Albin Hansson introduced the concept on 18 January 1928, when he was leading the Social Democratic Party, saying that ‘Sweden should become more like a good home’. With this he meant it should be ‘marked by equality and mutual understanding.’ Hansson advocated that the traditional class society should then be replaced by “the people’s home” (folkhemmet).’ 1

Food Chair, type B

Cusion Table cloth Curtain Lamp Armchair, type A Painting Chair, type B Rug with pattern

Suitingly this was also one of the main reasons Ralph Erskine emigrated to Sweden.

When searching for ‘Folkhemmet’ on Google Images some of these images come up. In all these three images the essence of what Kiruna Culture House should be about, because this is the labour that worked in the mine, and the labour that built Kiruna. And I’m certain this is still what many homes look like in the inside.

1._En.wikipedia.org. (n.d.). Folkhemmet. [ONLINE] Fig. 1._Jonathan (2017). A Home for the People. [IMAGE) Fig. 2._Norberg, B. (2012). Folkhemmet. [IMAGE] Fig. 3._Jeppsson, T. (2017). Oscar och Greta och huset de byggde. [image]

Basement

Panel

Window

Fig. 3

SPATIAL AIM Folkhemmet Inside A Mall

Fig. 1

Erskine’s mall Shopping in Luleü holds connected levels, and a variety of spatial scales The shopping centre features multiple levels connected by walkways and stairs.

Fig. 3

Fig. 1-3._Alm, C. (2012). Shopping. [IMAGE)

Fig. 2

INTERIOR SURFACES

Design Name: PERFORMANCE Design Ref: Traditional Design Repeat: 6’0”x 3’0” Print Scale (approx.@A4): 1:7

Cavalier CA R P ETS

Kiruna Public House A palette as random and ordinary as people are Random wallpapers, reused timber-panels, and carpets is what I imagine. Even in the same voronoi-cell I feel there is room for a variety of colors and patterns. In a family the members must compromise, and no one can have it exactly as they want - this is my aim with the Kiruna Culture House too. It should not feel like someone’s home - it should feel like everybody’s home.

Cavalier CA R P ETS

Design Name: AZTEC Design Ref: Geometric 11 Design Repeat: 3’x3’ Print Scale (approx.@A4): 1:5

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This design is copyright and must not be reproduced without the written permission of Cavalier Carpets Ltd. Cavalier Carpets Ltd will take legal action against all infringements of copyright.

Cavalier Carpets Ltd., Dixon Street, Blackburn, Lancs BB2 1TX Tel: 01254 268000 Fax: 01254 268081 email: designer@cavalier-carpets.co.uk www.cavaliercarpets.co.uk

Cavalier CA R P ETS

Design Name: VECTOR Design Ref: AP-11910 Design Repeat: 1’9”x 1’7” Print Scale (approx.@A4): 1:4

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This design is copyright and must not be reproduced without the written permission of Cavalier Carpets Ltd. Cavalier Carpets Ltd will take legal action against all infringements of copyright.

Cavalier Carpets Ltd., Thompson St. Ind. Est., Blackburn, Lancs BB2 1TX Tel: 01254 268000 Fax: 01254 268081 email: designer@cavalier-carpets.co.uk www.cavaliercarpets.co.uk

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This design is copyright and must not be reproduced without the written permission of Cavalier Carpets Ltd. Cavalier Carpets Ltd will take legal action against all infringements of copyright.

Cavalier Carpets Ltd., Thompson St. Ind. Est., Blackburn, Lancs BB2 1TX Tel: 01254 268000 Fax: 01254 268081 email: designer@cavalier-carpets.co.uk www.cavaliercarpets.co.uk

Corten

Shopping-mall automatic doors Window, type A, recycled

Panel, type A, recycled

Panel on the floor, recycled

Window, type C, recycled

Window, type B, recycled

Rug, pattern Wallpaper Rug, pattern

Window, type D, recycled

Weatherd Panels Wallpaper

Wallpaper Wallpaper

IMAGES EXTERIOR Mass Model Views Evlevations and site plan

1. Elevation from North 2. Elevation from South 3. Site plan Tile 4

1. Birds view from east, Tile 4 2. Elevation west 3. Elevation east

IMAGES INTERIOR Views of Kiruna Public House Experiencing a change of levels in height while experiencing spaces and views - inwards and outwards.

This project by OMA takes the visitor on a continuous adventure through the building. Ramps and stairs are not just vertical transportation, but are activated in themselves, while giving glances outwards and inwards.

Outdoors (approx -200C Wintertime)

Climatic buffer zone (approx. +50C wintertime)

Outdoors (approx -200C Wintertime)

Climatic buffer zone (approx. +50C wintertime)

Indoors

COMMUNICATING Reflecting on Strange Harvest strangeharvest.com (Online) by Sam Jacob.

Tschumi and Kuma.

Architectural Drawing Last year I made a few illustrations that sought to explain my own interpretations and experiences of the unit brief and my own project that was formed during the academic year at London Met. I also tried to tell “my story” of my project Solomon’s House. Although the illustrations mostly were of some fictional-alter ego character in a fictional world it also tried to tell about the research I undertook and how this formed my concept.

In an article by Sam Jacob at Metropolis Magazine the importance of the story, narrative and concept is discussed. He says; ‘Digital culture, up to now at least, has categorized drawings as either technical or illustrative, as building information or money shot. But in doing so, the drawing’s role as an exploratory, inquiring design tool has diminished.’ 1 Jacob is advocating the importance of narrative illustrations that are whimsy, perhaps flat and/or juxtaposed with other images. Different perspectives and scaled might be used, and that’s all fine, because this is not supposed to be a copy of the proposed physical reality. He suggests that these totally unrealistic-looking collages, or illustrations are invaluable as a way of story-boarding the architectural qualities that gets hidden in a slick, renderd image or a section drawing with emphasis on line weights and technical qualities.

I for one, fully agree. I have always loved film and manuscripts. The way a film or comic book, (or novel pure text!) tells a fantastic story gives me more insight into what the author is trying to achieve (or tell) than a polished render, which by the way often is whitewashed way beyond reality. This, I think, could even be harmful for the architect, and the trade since reality often is strikingly ordinary - the risk is that the client, or user/buyer, feels cheated when the end product is finally unveiled.

Jacob says; ‘Instead of striving for pseudo-photo-realism, this new cult of the drawing explores and exploits its artificiality, making us as viewers aware that we are looking at space as a fictional form of representation. This is in strict opposition to the digital renderings desire to make the fiction seem “real.”1 I also think that much can be learnt from Bernard Tschumi and his Manhattan Transcripts, leading up to the built project Parc de LaVillette and his book Architecture and Disjunction. In this process Tschumi designed a brilliant piece of architecture, largely by avoiding drawing and thinking of architecture in a conventional ways. He says; ‘Obviously, it is secondary to try to determine in advance the architectural forms that are most appropriate to such transferential situations. All that counts is that the folie is both the place and the object of transference’.2 The argument is that the emphasis should be on the function and the experience of the space, rather than what it looks like, therefore form becomes secondary.

With conventional drawings and illustrations you are very unlikely to end up with “the football player skates on the battlefield”2 Kengo Kuma can also contribute here with a conclusive quote; “No particular skill or effort is required to turn something into an object. Preventing a thing from becoming an object is a far more difficult task”.3 I will try to continue my work with narrative drawings this year, to tell about my research, concept and strategies in a more comprehensible way, but also to convey my design decisions.

Moreover the rendered image should, in my opinion, not be produced until the design is practically set. This because they are often mistaken for a ‘final money shot’, rather than a sketchy idea. If it is a sketchy idea, this needs to be clear to people outside the industry too, because it is the public realm we alter with new buildings and environments.

1._Jacob, S. (2017). Architecture Enters the Age of Post-Digital Drawing - Metropolis. [ONLINE] 2._Tschumi, B. (2001). Architecture and disjunction, pp. 178-182 3._Kuma, Kengo. Architecture Words 2: Anti-Object, 2008 (Kindle Locations 31-32). Architectural Association. Kindle Edition.

Mario Carpo argues, in his book ‘The Second Digital Turn’, that the 2D images is outdated and is inevitably becoming a less important feature in our communication. 3D models on the other hand is now easy to use in various tools and viewing softwares, and it is rapidly replacing the 2D image.

I have started making these illustrations more and more in 3D in an attempt to merge the future of communication with the traditional (and by academia standards - the mandatory/requested 2D format). They are compositions of gathered 3D objects that is free for anyone to download, alter, re-scale, and re-arrange. We are already engaged in swapping 3D models online in open-source forums, where we for the past 20 years have been swapping 2D images online. Moreover we are now also exchanging codes and definitions in open source forums for complex 3D forms and parametric/algorithmic designs. The paradigm shift is real.

Some of my notes on the project

Drinking too much coffee A Grasshopper Traditional Sami symbols on rug Real article about Kiruna A lot of software sketching rather than pen-sketching

A 3D scan of my hand Kiruna Culture house ramp Exquisite Corpse sketch

by Andre Breton

Experiencing the design from within - While designing it

The hostel where we stayed in Kiruna Architectural Education can be stressful

EXPERIENCING A Stroll in New Kiruna Evaluation of design desicions made can be performed from first hand with VR

We work from within VR, but also test models and scans made in other software in VR, on site. Although the process is demanding and sometimes time consuming, I feel we are touching upon a new way of engaging with architectural design. A friend of mine who works at Fosters + Partners also recently told me that for more or less all project these days a VR experience or short film has to be produced, mostly because the client demands it. But since the technology becomes ever more easy and many people strive to integrate it into architectural design practice, these tools will be standard in a not too distant future. I am glad I have had this opportunity to explore and speculate on emerging design techniques.

_BIBLIOGRAPHY

01 02 03 04 05

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_Books & Magazines _Lectures, Talks & Exhibitions _Webpages _Online Images _Other

01_Books & Magazines

03_Webpages

1._Allen, S. (2009). Practice Architecture, Technique and Representation: Revised and Expanded Edition. 2nd ed. London: Routledge.

4._En.wikipedia.org. (n.d.). Folkhemmet. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folkhemmet [Accessed 24 May 2018].

2._Aranda, B., Balmond, C. and Lasch, C. (2010). Tooling. New York: Princeton Architectural Press.

5._En.wikipedia.org. (n.d.). Iron(II) sulfate. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron(II)_ sulfate [Accessed 22 May 2018].

3._Breton, A. (1972). Surrealism and Painting. London: Macdonald and Company.

4._Carpo, M. (2017). The second digital turn. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.

5._Fleck, L., Bradley, F., Merton, R. and Trenn, T. (1979). Genesis and development of a scientific fact.

Chicago [u.a]: Univ. of Chicago Press.

6._Ghilardi and Hellsten (2012). Ghilardi+Hellsten Arkitekter. [online] Ghilardi+Hellsten Arkitekter. Available at: https://www.ghilardihellsten.com/kiruna4ever [Accessed 24 May 2018].

7._Jacob, S. (2017). Architecture Enters the Age of Post-Digital Drawing - Metropolis. [online] Metropolis. Available at: http://www.metropolismag.com/architecture/architecture-enters-age-post-digital-drawing/ [Accessed 24 May 2018].

6._Gross, M. (2010). Ignorance and surprise. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.

7._Haddad, E. and Rifkind, D. (2015). A critical history of contemporary architecture 1960-2010. Farnham, Surrey: Ashgate.

8._Jodidio, P. (2015). 100 contemporary concrete buildings =. Cologne: Taschen.

9._Kuma, Kengo. Architecture Words 2: Anti-Object, 2008 (Kindle Locations 31-32). Architectural Association. Kindle Edition.

10._Menges, A. (2015). The New Cyber-Physical Making in Architecture - Computational Construction.

Architectural Design, AD, (2015:05) 11._Reiser, J. and Umemoto, N. (2012). Atlas of novel tectonics. New York, NY: Princeton Architectural Press.

12._Sorensen, S. (2015). En Route to Non-Standard Performative Architecture. Architectural Design, AD, (2015:02)

8._Kiruna.se (2013). New Urban Centre for Kiruna. [online] Kiruna.se. Available at: http://www.kiruna. se/contentassets/aa595c2b9754426ba6d1d9a19230f03b/new-urban-centre-for-kiruna.-competition-results-march-2013.pdf [Accessed 24 May 2018].

9._OMA. (n.d.). Kunsthal. [online] Available at: http://oma.eu/projects/kunsthal [Accessed 24 May 2018].

10._OMA. (n.d.). Netherlands Embassy. [online] Available at: http://oma.eu/projects/netherlands-embassy [Accessed 24 May 2018].

11._ Oxford Dictionaries | English. (2018). shed | Definition of shed in English by Oxford Dictionaries. [online] Available at: https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/shed [Accessed 13 Jan. 2018].

12._ Oxford Dictionaries | English. (2018). shelter | Definition of shelter in English by Oxford Dictionaries. [online] Available at: https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/shelter [Accessed 13 Jan. 2018] 13._Raised Fist (n.d.). Raised Fist - Man & Earth Lyrics | MetroLyrics. [online] Metrolyrics.com. Available at: http://www.metrolyrics.com/man-earth-lyrics-raised-fist.html [Accessed 24 May 2018].

13._Tschumi, B. (2001). Architecture and disjunction. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press.

02_Lectures, Talks & Exhibitions 1._Aish, F. (2017). Human Intuition, Computational Rigour.

2._Cook, P. (2017). Architecture Can Be Weird; Creative Cynicism and the Cheerful Response.

3._Cragg, T. (1986). Tools & Minister.

4._Liangi, I., Loewenson, T., Stewart, C. and Tavares, K. (2017). Narrative | Making | Space.

5._Lisson Gallery (2017). EVERYTHING AT ONCE. 6._Opie, J. (1993). Imagine you are driving (Sculpture 4).

7._Roca Gallery (2018). Timber Rising.

8._Tham, B. and Videgård, M. (2017). RIBA | Europa 3: Nordic Countries.

9._The Bartlett (2017). Bartlett B-Pro Show.

10._Weiwei, A. (2015). Iron Root.

03_Webpages 1._Bergmark, A. (2018). Höga hus i norrländska städer väcker debatt - Arkitekten.se. [online] Arkitekten.se. Available at: https://arkitekten.se/nyheter/hoga-hus-norrlandska-stader-vacker-debatt/ [Accessed 24 May 2018].

2._Cellecta. (2014). Cross Laminated Timber Project Partnered with Cellecta Products « Cellecta. [online] Cellecta.co.uk. Available at: http://www.cellecta.co.uk/2014/10/cross-laminated-timber-project-partnered-cellecta-products/ [Accessed 24 May 2018].

3._designboom | architecture & design magazine. (2008). sumika projects by sou fujimoto, toyo ito, terunobu fujimori and taira nishizawa. [online] Available at: https://www.designboom.com/architecture/sumika-projects-by-sou-fujimoto-toyo-ito-terunobu-fujimori-and-taira-nishizawa/ [Accessed 22 May 2018].

14._Sparrow, J. (2017). Can democracy survive the fourth industrial revolution? Should it?. [online] the Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2017/jan/11/can-democracy-survive-the-fourth-industrial-revolution-should-it [Accessed 24 May 2018].

15._Stora Enso (2013). CLT | Stora Enso. [online] Clt.info. Available at: http://www.clt.info/en/media-downloads/wufi/ [Accessed 24 May 2018].

16._Stora Enso (n.d.). Cross Laminated Timber | Stora Enso. [online] Buildingandliving.storaenso.com.

Available at: http://buildingandliving.storaenso.com/products-and-services/cross-laminated-timber [Accessed 24 May 2018].

17._Svenskt Trä (2016). Trätorn Norra Länken - Svenskt Trä. [online] Svenskt Trä. Available at: https:// www.svenskttra.se/trapriset/traprisbockerna/tratorn-norra-lanken/ [Accessed 24 May 2018].

18._Wainwright, O. (2014). Kiruna: the town being moved 3km east so it doesn’t fall into a mine. [online] the Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/architecture-design-blog/2014/oct/22/kiruna-sweden-town-moved-east-iron-ore-mine [Accessed 24 May 2018].

19._Wikipedia (n.d.). Hotell Borgafjäll. [online] Sv.wikipedia.org. Available at: https://sv.wikipedia.org/ wiki/Hotell_Borgafj%C3%A4ll [Accessed 23 May 2018].

20._Wikipedia (n.d.). Kvarteret Ortdrivaren. [online] Sv.wikipedia.org. Available at: https://sv.wikipedia. org/wiki/Kvarteret_Ortdrivaren [Accessed 23 May 2018].

21._Wikipedia (n.d.). Ormen Långe (hus, Svappavaara). [online] Sv.wikipedia.org. Available at: https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ormen_L%C3%A5nge_(hus,_Svappavaara) [Accessed 23 May 2018].

22._Wikipedia (n.d.). Ralph Erskine. [online] Sv.wikipedia.org. Available at: https://sv.wikipedia.org/ wiki/Ralph_Erskine [Accessed 23 May 2018].

23._Wikipedia (n.d.). Shopping, Luleå. [online] Sv.wikipedia.org. Available at: https://sv.wikipedia.org/ wiki/Shopping,_Lule%C3%A5 [Accessed 23 May 2018].

04_Online Images

04_Online Images

1._Agathe.gr (n.d.). Agora. [image] Available at: http://www.agathe.gr/overview/the_archaeological_site.html [Accessed 24 May 2018].

24._En.wikipedia.org. (n.d.). Folkhemmet. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folkhemmet [Accessed 24 May 2018].

2._Alm, C. (2012). Shopping. [image] Available at: http://www.ultraswank.net/stores/a-mid-centuryshopping-centre-in-northern-sweden/ [Accessed 24 May 2018].

25._Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (n.d.). Matthias Gross. [image] Available at: https:// www.ufz.de/index.php?en=34255 [Accessed 24 May 2018].

3._Arkitekten (2018). Höderskrapan. [image] Available at: https://arkitekten.se/nyheter/hoga-hus-norrlandska-stader-vacker-debatt/ [Accessed 24 May 2018].

26._Hidden Architecture (2015). Arctic Town. [image] Available at: http://www.hiddenarchitecture. net/2015/11/arctic-town.html [Accessed 24 May 2018].

4._Arkitekten (2018). kampanilen. [image] Available at: https://arkitekten.se/nyheter/hoga-hus-norrlandska-stader-vacker-debatt/ [Accessed 24 May 2018].

27._Hotell Borgafjäll (2015). borgafjallhotell. [image] Available at: http://www.borgafjallhotell.se/ wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Vinterbild-av-hotellet.jpg [Accessed 24 May 2018].

5._austinbuntondesign (n.d.). Yurts. [image] Available at: http://www.austinbuntondesign.com/yurts. html [Accessed 12 Jan. 2018].

28._Ichigo, R. (2014). Iron ore mine at Kiruna. [image] Available at: https://www.lonelyplanet.com/ news/2014/10/23/plans-shift-swedens-northerly-town-announced/ [Accessed 22 May 2018].

6._Baan, I. (2009). Sumika House, Tokyo – Toyo Ito. [online] Iwan Baan. Available at: https://iwan. com/portfolio/sumika-toyo-ito/ [Accessed 22 May 2018].

29._Jeppsson, T. (2017). Oscar och Greta och huset de byggde. [image] Available at: http://www. storaord.se/2017/01/livet-i-folkhemmet/ [Accessed 24 May 2018].

7._Barcroft TV (2016). Tunnel Vision: Man Builds Million Dollar Model Railway. [video] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hR5P8noSdWk&t=2s [Accessed 24 May 2018].

30._Jin, J. (2014). ZONE OF ABSOLUTE DISCOMFORT. [image] Available at: http://www.justinjin.com/ portfolio/photography/arctic/ [Accessed 12 Jan. 2018].

8._Byggahus.se (2017). stort-hus-staende-panel-jaernvitriol. [image] Available at: https://www. byggahus.se/forum/attachments/stort-hus-staende-panel-jaernvitriol-jpg.249050/ [Accessed 22 May 2018].

31._Jinton, J. (2016). Lapporten. [image] Available at: http://jonnajinton.se/ett-avslut-och-en-ny-borjan/ [Accessed 24 May 2018].

9._Carpo, M. (2014). Fabricate 2014 - Keynote: Mario Carpo. [image] Available at: http://www. fabricate2014.org/keynote-mario-carpo/ [Accessed 24 May 2018].

10._Cortes, M. (n.d.). Hotell Borgafjäll. [image] Available at: https://obj.fotosidan.se/obj/ docpart/50/5047fe9df951e5410aec3c388c324a79.jpg [Accessed 24 May 2018].

32._Jeppsson, T. (2017). Oscar och Greta och huset de byggde. [image] Available at: http://www. storaord.se/2017/01/livet-i-folkhemmet/ [Accessed 24 May 2018].

33._Karlsen, M. (n.d.). Bågstångskåta. [image] Available at: https://laponia.nu/naturum/omnaturumlaponia/vistet/ [Accessed 12 Jan. 2018].

11._Crystal Bridges (n.d.). Tulip Tree Shelter. [image] Available at: https://crystalbridges.org/blog/artand-architecture-the-tulip-tree-shelter-2/ [Accessed 12 Jan. 2018].

34._kiruna.se (2014). 20140213_kommersiellajpeg.jpg. [image] Available at: http://www.kiruna.se/ contentassets/8bb44d4aed5e499d9fbf9db6074f75b0/20140213_kommersiellajpeg.jpg [Accessed 24 May 2018].

12._De Bron (n.d.). Iron sulphate | De Bron. [online] Debronbv.com. Available at: http://www.debronbv.com/en/products/trading-products/iron-sulphate/ [Accessed 24 May 2018].

35._LAN Architecture (2013). Multus - Zac centre ville. [image] Available at: http://www.archilovers. com/projects/27624/multus-zac-centre-ville.html [Accessed 24 May 2018].

13._Distant North (n.d.). KUNGSLEDEN NORTH ABISKO TO KVIKKJOKK 216 KM. [image] Available at: http://www.distantnorth.com/destinations/kungsleden-trail-which-section-of-the-trail/ [Accessed 24 May 2018].

36._Lehnert, L. (n.d.). Abisko naturvetenskapliga station. [image] Available at: https://polar.se/forskning-i-abisko/ [Accessed 24 May 2018].

14._Duffy London (n.d.). Duffy Shelter. [image] Available at: https://duffylondon.com/product/products-2/the-shelter/ [Accessed 12 Jan. 2018].

15._E:son Lindman, Å. (2016). Trätorn Norra Länken. [image] Available at: https://www.svenskttra.se/ trapriset/traprisbockerna/tratorn-norra-lanken/ [Accessed 24 May 2018].

16._Els, F. (2017). Iron ore lump. [image] Available at: http://www.mining.com/iron-ore-price-rebounds/ [Accessed 22 May 2018].

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_Thanks To Jonas_Lundberg Tutor Unit 04 at London Met, Professional Diploma in Architecture - RIBA2

Andrew Grant Assistant tutor Unit 04

Eva Diu Assistant tutor Unit 04

Dr Matthew Barac Course leader for Professional Diploma in Architecture (RIBA Part 2) at London Met

Also Thanks to Connor Scully, George Tsakiridis, Arrash Fakouri, Francis Aish, David Grandorge, Signy Svalastoga and fellow students at Unit 04

“Well written and enjoyable to read, the personal responses to Erskine’s work is a great introduction to the unit’s work in Northern Sweden. I also appreciated the serious investigations into new timber technology and its role as a tectonic element integrated into environmental and services strategies. Rigorous and scientific testing of the object scanning process, a good understanding of its possibilities and limitations. Interspersed with these experiments are readings of relevant books and theoreticians. Your account of the processes of the year Is an invaluable and accessible guide to Unit 04, perhaps you should write the ‘idiots guide’ to this new technology.”

“Good research into climatic architecture, overall an impressive and experimental body of work is covered here, my only criticisms are that it could be edited down from 47,000 words and that the final project development is not as detailed as it could have been.”

- James Payne, tutor IDS, Integrated Design Studies