/84
// Transmigrations
Kenji Hattori
Design Studios Visual Studies Applied Studies Cultural Studies
/2 /36 /52 /60 /1
/2
// Design Studios
Obfuscated Figurations Google Plays Vortex Flow Transfigured Geometries
/SP15 /FA14 /SP14 /FA13
/4 /14 /20 /28 /3
Obfuscated Figuration with Eui-Hyuk Choi 2GB Instructor: Ramiro Diaz-Granados Spring 2015
The project started with an interest in the use of the terrace typology to renegotiate the traditional approach to designing a tower. We took the penthouse terrace type and multiplied it downwards to create an urban idea. The interior volume is defined by two massing figures that move through and between the terrace plates with varying relationships between them. They begin and end as separate entities but shift and twist to produce moments of connection and conflict. This allowed us to play with degrees of uncomfortability by placing different programs next to each other on the same floor. Units are then organized on locally defined grids which read against the regularized orientation of the cores. With the majority of the edge defined by the terrace plate, the mass is obscured and subsumed creating a difficult and incomplete reading which does not priviledge any singular view or perspective of the building. However, we also wanted to break the dominant horizontality of the plates which could override this aspect of the project. The columns are used to counteract the horizontal datum established by the tyranny of the plates, while also sharing their materiality. Their organization is independent from the other elements but their orientation and verticality negotiate with the figures of the massing. They are related but not tied to the other elements of the building. The graphic experiment of the slitscan becomes a generative source for the envelope of the project. The overlay of different interpretations, through scripting and our own visual evaluations, produce a complex and multi-layered exterior which reinforces the the indecipherability of the tower. /4
/5
/6
Roof / + 210.0m /
59 / + 206.5m /
58 / + 203.0m /
57 / + 199.5m /
56 / + 196.0m /
55 / + 192.5m /
Penthouse
54 / + 189.0m /
53 / + 185.5m /
52 / + 182.0m /
51 / + 178.5m /
50 / + 175.0m /
49 / + 171.5m /
48 / + 168.0m /
47 / + 164.5m / Residence 46 / + 161m /
45 / + 157.5m /
44 / + 154.0m /
43 / + 150.5m /
Hotel
42 / + 147.0m /
41 / + 143.5.0m /
40 / + 140.0m /
39 / + 136.5m /
38 / + 133.0m /
37 / + 129.5m /
36 / + 126.0m /
35 / + 122.5m /
34 / + 119.0m /
33 / + 115.5m /
32 / + 112.0m /
31 / + 108.5m /
30 / + 105.0m /
29 / + 101.5m /
Residence
28 / + 98.0m /
27 / + 94.5m /
26 / + 91.0m /
25 / + 87.5m /
24 / + 84.0m /
23 / + 80.5m /
22 / + 77.0m /
21 / + 73.5m /
20 / + 70.0m /
19 / + 66.5m /
18 / + 63.0m /
17 / + 58.5m /
16 / + 55.0m /
15 / + 52.5m /
14 / + 49.0m /
Residence
13 / + 45.5m /
12 / + 42.0m /
11 / + 38.5m /
10 / + 35.0m /
9
/ + 31.5m /
8
/ + 28.0m /
7
/ + 24.5m /
6
/ + 21.0m /
5
/ + 17.5m /
4
/ + 14.0m /
3
/ + 10.5m /
2
/ + 7.0m /
1
/ + 3.5m /
G / Âą 0.0m /
Office
Retail
Lobby
G-1 / - 3.5m /
G-2 / - 7.0m /
G-3 / - 10.5m /
Parking
G-4 / - 14.0m /
/7
1:100 0
1
5
10 m
Lobby / Commercial
1:100 0
/8
1
5
10 m
Residence / Office
1:100 0
1
5
1
5
10 m
Hotel / Residence
1:100 0
10 m
Penthouse
/9
/10
/11
/12
/13
Google Plays with Tatiana Sarkisian 2GA Instructor: Russell Thomsen Fall 2014
Beginning with the unassuming figure of the plush toy, relations between part to part and part to whole were explored, prodded, and interrogated to create a Google campus in Barcelona. Taking advantage of their unique features, the plushies were transformed and aggregated through operations of seaming, creasing, strectching, and folding. The result is a loose aggregate of figures that are no longer individual elements nor do they simply disappear into a new whole. At times individual elements seem to pop out of the whole to just as quickly sink back into it and there is a playful juxtaposition of soft forms to rigid ones. The program was spread throughout the building to accomodate the new approach to work environments of large spaces for interaction favoured by tech companies, while circulation between them moves through seamlessly. The exterior colouration speaks both to its contextual surroundings and to its ludic qualities.
/14
/15
.
Theater
.
Plaza Sub level
.
Google Docs
.
.
Google Docs
E
Conference room
E
Main Entrances E Entrances
Exterior Circulation Interior Outdoor Circulation
/16
/17
/18
/19
Vortex Flow 1GB Instructor: Jenny Wu Spring 2014 This project explores the idea of how the center defines the house. Looking at the precedent of the Villa Mairea, where the figure of the house defines the central courtyard, an effort was made to invert this notion and create a center that is a figure which in turn informs the form of the rest of the house. Distortions were applied to a three-dimensional grid to create a framework from which the house could be extracted and composed. Developed in two phases, the project worked first from plan to define circulation around, within, and through the center, and to unify program and volume about the center. The second phase saw the project further developed prmarily in elevation where an extruded twisting core formed the central figure while the circulation and volume rotates and steps up in conjunction with it. Finally, to anchor the house to the site, the ground floor is dug into the side of the slope on the site, allowing the floatig wing to feel lighter and further elevated from the datum.
/20
/21
/22
/23
/24
/25
/26
/27
Transfigured Geometries 1GA Instructor: Anna Neimark Fall 2013 The project was to develop a bank on a site in the Boyle Heights area of Los Angeles. Beginning with analyzing the geometry of the sculpture Smoke by Tony Smith, we expanded and then transformed it to create a new system of geometries from which the form of the bank could be extracted. The first step of the project was to take the geometry of Smoke and expand its boundaries to a point where it is no longer an object but a field of geometry that has no bounds. The expanded field was then bound by a box, where three sides would trim and three sides would cut any extruding limbs. The plan of the cathedral Santa Maria Dei Miracoli in Rome was analyzed and recreated using strict geometries. A transformation to the poche of the church was applied by splitting the center point, first along the horizontal and then the vertical axes. By applying the transformation strategy from Santa Maria dei Miracoli to the geometry of the expanded field, a new set of geometries are created which transform the grid. These transformations are applied radially from a central negative space, increasing the density and volume of the geometry on the periphery. The geometry of the grid is transformed further until their elements become large volumes which overlap and engulf eachother. Finally these volumes are broken from the grid and pulled to the datum where they begin to define the mass and program of the bank.
/28
/29
/30
/31
/32
/33
/34
/35
/36
// Visual Studies
Digital Tapestries Hugging Form Legible Form Techniques of Representation
/SP15 /FA14 /SP14 /FA13
/38 /42 /44 /48 /37
Digital Tapestries Spring 2015
/38
/39
/40
/41
Hugging Form Fall 2014
/42
/43
Legible Form Spring 2014
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
1 a
c
d
e
f
g
h
1
b
a b
2
2
2
3
3
3
3
4
4
4
4
5
5
c
d
e
5
f
e
c
d
f
6
6
6
6
7
7
7
7
8
8
8
8
9
9
9
9
10
10 g
11
10 g
11
i
12
12
13
13
14
14
15
a
10
h
15
/44
b
1
2
5
j
a 1
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
h
11
11
12
12
13
13
14
14
15
15
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
a b c
d e f
a
g h
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8 1
2
9 3
4
10 5
6
11 7
8
12 9
10
13 11
12
14 13
14
15 15
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
ha
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
/45
/46
/47
Techniques of Representation Fall 2013
/48
/49
/50
/51
/52
// Applied Studies
Design Development Environmental Systems Materials & Tectonics
/SP15 /SP14 /FA13
/54 /56 /58 /53
Design Development Fall 2014
with Eui-Hyuk Choi, Ana Derby, Tatiana Sarkisian
/54
/55
Environmental Systems Spring 2014
with Rachael Burke, Eyad Kalaji, Tatiana Sarkisian, Tri Ta
/56
/57
Materials & Tectonics Fall 2013
with Eui-Hyuk Choi, Jacob Falk, Meghan Hui
/58
/59
/60
// Cultural Studies
Urban Culture Architecture Culture II Architecture Culture I Intro. to Contemporary Arch.
/SP15 /FA14 /SP14 /FA13
/62 /66 /72 /78 /61
Field Conditions and Parametricism Urban Culture Spring 2015 Architecture and urbanism has long been defined as the composition of separate elements into a cohesive whole. From the Classical orders of Vitruvius and Palladio to the Modernist regimes of Le Corbusier, there has always been a sense that the object must be completed. However, the extents to which compositional variation can create and sustain has reached its limit. The future of cities and the buildings that occupy them can no longer be held separately. By looking closely at Field conditions and Parametricism, local connections and part to part relations, we can begin to describe new methods and styles that will come to define the next era of architecture and urbanism. In his essay Field Conditions in Architecture + Urbanism, Stan Allen states that field conditions move from the one to the many, the individual to the collective, from objects to fields. (Allen 241) As systems they accept the implications of messiness and unpredictability found in reality and favour unforeseen consequences and outcomes. Constraints become opportunity. In general they are any formal or spatial matrix that becomes capable of unifying diverse elements while at the same time respecting the identity of each. They are loosely bound aggregates that are highly porous and characterized by local interconnectivity. Their overall shape is thus highly dynamic and becomes less important than the relationship of their parts. Fields are relational not figural. They do away with conventional relationships of axiality, symmetry /62
and hierarchy established through Classical geometric principles. Yet scale matters as a certain expanse is required to register the repetition they depend on. They are not defined by overarching schemas but rather bottomup local connections have the ability to register abstract forces and make them visible. What matters then is not the form of the objects themselves but what is between them. The possibility of incremental growth is anticipated in the relations of parts. Whereas in the past architectural systems sought out a completion, field configurations are inherently expandable. In Classical architecture, geometric systems of proportion organize diverse elements into coherent wholes dictating the proportions of individual parts and also relationships between them. Parts form ensembles which in turn form larger wholes. Strict rules of axiality, symmetry and/or formal sequence govern their organization. Overall unity is preserved through hierarchical order of extensive geometric relationships. Geometry thus becomes “the invisible scaffold that at once controls the distribution of parts, but disappears in the final building.� (Allen 243) However in field conditions we can begin looking at moving away from the idea of a whole down to a part. Detail is no longer the verification of a larger composition. Starting with an individual element and seeing how it joins to the next, and the next, and so on, we can focus on part to part relation. Difference and figure then, can be produced not through the external imposition
of disjunction, but incrementally through repetition and the constructional logic of the fabric. Transitions remain small and incremental and “there is nothing of fragmentation in this language.” (Allen 253) The joint or detail becomes a locus of intensive design energy that ripples outwards to condition the form of the whole field producing an overall effect of unexpected formal permutations. In this way field conditions allow for the rethinking of the identity of the part/local difference to the whole/overall stability. “All grids are fields, but not all fields are grids.” (Allen 255) The grid is given as a convenient starting point. It is one of architecture’s oldest and most persistent organizing devices. At once it is a simple and pragmatic means to partition space or standardize elements, and at the same time takes on greater meaning as a symbol of universal geometries with the potential of metaphysical or cosmological overtones. The grid is not bound by strict geometric principles however, it can easily accommodate accidents of history and geography. Extensive subdivision, addition and subtraction create local variation that undercuts the regularity of the grid. Over time the accumulation of these small variations establishes a counter principle to the universal geometry of the grid. It is no longer a tool of universalizing, but rather a condition where local difference unpacks the ideality of the grid. Borders become loosely defined and porous, while local variation is smoothly accommodated within the overall order. The order of the grid adjusts to local contingency without compromising the overall sense of coherence. Formally this suggests that the figure can be read not as a demarcated object against the stable field, but rather as an effect emerging from the field itself, manifesting itself in moments of intensity. (Allen 255) Field conditions oppose both conventional modernist and classical rules of composition. The
provisionality of the whole undermines classical aspiration towards totality, while the self-similarity of parts and the intricacies of their connections work against the fragmentation of modernism. (Allen 263) There is no attempt to directly instigate changes in behaviour or thought, the formation of the institution is directed toward connection to the city and landscapes around it creating space for tactical improvisations for future users. Field conditions are more than a mere formal condition, it implies an architecture and urbanism that admits change, accident and improvisation. It is no longer invested in durability, stability, and certainty but revels in the uncertainty of reality. (Allen 263) Patrik Schumacher, in his essay The Instrumentality of Appearances in the Pursuit of a Legible Urban Order, seeks to establish Parametricism as the new style and paradigm for the architecture and urban design of the 21st century. (Schumacher 11) Schumacher begins by outlining the function of aesthetics. Beauty, he says, is an instinctive gut reaction based on intuitive appeal. (Schumacher 1) The recognition of the beauty within a built environment is the recognition of its vitality, in short we value what has function and will inevitably come to see it as beautiful. Although aesthetic judgement has its roots in evolution, our aesthetic preferences evolve with history. As society evolves, what was once a vital aesthetic might have become dysfunctional, and what is new and vital might be constrained by already established canons of beauty. (Schumacher 2) Since the physiognomy of beauty is impermanent and aesthetic regimes are transitory, aesthetic sensibilities need to be periodically brought in line. (Schumacher 3) “Each major historical (epochal) transformation implied adaptive transformations in the morphology of the built environment which in turn required /63
aesthetic revolutions, the relearning of the aesthetic sensibilities and values of both designers and end-users.” (Schumacher 6) Schumacher emphasizes the importance of order as the functional principle behind aesthetics. The sensation of beauty is always bound to a sense of order as distinct from chaos. (Schumacher 3) History and functionality are intrinsically linked for Schumacher. He goes on to state that “the most important contribution of the built environment (and thus architecture’s task) is not physical shelter (as is often presumed) but its indispensable contribution to the build-up of social order, its contribution to the construction/evolution of sociality and society itself.” (Schumacher 5) Without spatial order, there can be no social order. Thus, a gradual build-up of artificial spatial order goes hand in hand with the gradual rise of large structured social groups. Abstractly this means the evolutionary trajectory of world civilisation has been an increase in the level of differentiation and complexity in society and its spaces overall. Schumacher touts Parametricism as the next epochal style to replace what has come before in an aesthetic revolution. (Schumacher 11) Whereas Classical regimes of proportion represented the accumulation of building experience allowing for ‘blind’ design and the easy reproduction of social pattern via rulesets, and Modernism’s formal regimes of stretched proportions, serial repetition and separate articulation of distinct parts delivered the aesthetic expression of new industrial mass society, both sought the completion of composition as the attainment of functional order. (Schumacher 2) Parametricism on the other hand, aimed to pursue radically new ordering principles. Instead of a reliance on ideal geometric figures – like straight lines, rectangles, cubes, etc. – the new primitives of Parametricism are /64
animate, dynamic, adaptive and interactive geometric entities – like splines, particle-springs and agent based systems. This is a fundamental ontological shift within the basic constituent elements of architecture. (Schumacher 11) Using the key techniques of scripting functions to establish associations between properties of various elements, the style cannot be simply reduced to its techniques and tools alone. It is rather characterized by new ambitions and values in terms of both form and function, “the goal is to intensify the internal interdependencies within an architectural design as well as the external affiliations and continuities within complex, urban contexts.” (Schumacher 11) This differentiation and local adaptation is the very essence of Parametricism. The articulation and visual-aesthetic however, needs to be controlled as it is critical for spatial order to be visible and legible to qualify as architectural order. (Schumacher 11) Thus the design agenda of Parametricism and parametric urbanism is to motivate architectural attempts to articulate complex, variegated urban order to allow intuitive navigation and orientation within information-rich built environment that is visibly accessible. (Schumacher 17) The built environment should be conceived and designed as a three-dimensional, 360 degree, layered interface for communication. Communicative capacity relies on the coherency of an internal order; what is seen can lead to inferences on what is invisible and not yet visible. (Schumacher 19) Since all design moves are now rule based, there is the potential to enhance visual order which in turn increase the legibility of the built environment in the face of increased complexity. Parametricism then becomes the first style that is able to simultaneously deliver further degrees of freed and versatility in conjunction with an increase in its capacity to create order. (Schumacher 24) Via principles of
lawful differentiation and multi-system correlation, there are essentially infinite ways to transform, affiliate, and correlate its inherently open-ended compositions. Both Allen and Schumacher espouse a new method or paradigm for architecture and urbanism centered around local differences and their effect on a larger whole. However, to Allen, field theory does not create a systematic theory of architectural form or composition, it is intended rather as a catalogue of working strategies for appropriation, testing and adjustment and anticipates its own irrelevance in the face of the reality of practice. (Allen 243) Architectural theory arises not in a vacuum but from constant dialogue with the ongoing practice in the field. Schumacher on the other hand sees Parametricism as containing the possibility of a new urbanism that produces emergent order and local identity in a bottom-up process which wouldn’t rely on existing political or bureaucratic power. Schumacher’s championing of Parametricism and his dogmatic approach to its use and development border on the same imposition that he sought to differentiate himself from in both the Classical and Modernist styles which preceded him.
Allen, Stan. Field Conditions in Architecture + Urbanism. 1994. Print. Schumacher, Patrik. The Instrumentality of Appearances in the Pursuit of a Legible Urban Order. 2014. Print.
/65
The Expression of Structure Architecture Culture II Fall 2014 The history of modern Architecture can be characterized by a desire to affirm form in relation to an ideal past on one hand, and the advancement in materials and tectonics leading to new expressions of form and function on the other. Architecture is not afraid to embrace new technologies, however there is often initially an effort to hide it behind the thin veneer of a traditional formal language. As technological advancement further infiltrates society, there comes a moment when the pressure of a promised future drives a change in style. What was initially seen as only a measure to express what had come before can become an expression of it’s own inherent formal language.
Out of the Renaissance grew the roots of a style which looked to the past for an ideal aesthetic. It came to be believed that the ancients had long ago perfected the expression of form and further improvement of aesthetics /66
could not be achieved. Expression of these forms was traditionally through solid and massive masonry, however as technology advanced formal concepts defined by this heaviness began to lighten.Through the Baroque, churches employed new techniques of masonry to achieve larger and lighter construction leading to immersive expressions of space. It became common for the grand palaces and public works of the European states to emulate the lost grandeur of the ancients. Riding the cusp of the transition from the Baroque to a neo-Classical style was the Residenz at Wurzburg by Balthasar Neumann. The neoClassical palace employed many new structural systems, which allowed for spaces that were hardly possible for the period. The achievement of these new systems is best exemplified in the enormous vault spanning over the grand staircase. However, in the end all of the tectonics and framing were covered over with Baroque and neoClassical ornamentation. They were not ready for the expression of space through a structural system.
With the 19th century there came a wave of technological innovation in the industrial revolution. Steam power and steel production helped spur the rapid spread of railroads across Europe and the new rail networks required an entirely new building type in the station. In London, St. Pancras Station was a marvel of tectonic achievement. The use of a wrought iron framework allowed for a single vault to span the entirety of the platforms with relatively little material. This allowed for an incredible lightness in the in the space accentuated by the large amount of light able to pour in from above. Nevertheless, upon the street there was an effort to cover up this tectonic system and hotel in the style of Gothic revival hid away the station from the city. Pressure from the future was mounting however, and these new materials were beginning to be expressed on their own terms.
reinforced concrete frame, and allowed for an interior where almost none of the walls were load bearing. Although much of the structure is covered by ornamented stonework the surface articulation is implemented in such a way that it reads as a map of the underlying structure. The facade is no longer simply adorned with ornament hiding the truth of the structure, but rather begins to turn that structure itself into an ornament defining itself.
The celebration of material and tectonics comes full circle in Mies van der Rohe’s campus for the Illinois Institute of Technology. Here the steel frame of the buildings are either entirely on display, or at least intricate details are crafted to allude to the presence of their members. In the Crown Hall building, Mies almost overly emphasises the presence of the system, and the meticulously designed connections are apparent and take center stage. The building is essentially the pure expression of the structure and how the individual Across the English Channel in Paris, at the members of it come together. Though his other buildings beginning of the 20th century, Auguste Perret began on the campus do not quite so literally embrace the working with what was to become the defining material of expression of their tectonics, they nonetheless also the century. Reinforced concrete allowed for much lighter attempt to show off what is underneath the thin skin. and stiffer construction, drastically increasing the amount Corners of buildings are chamfered to illustrate the idea of usable space on the interior. Perret’s apartments on of the steel members inside, even though in reality they Rue Franklin were one of the first buildings to use a are encased in concrete for practical reasons. For Mies, it /67
is the simple beauty of the structural tectonics which he adores so much. He embraced the technology of the era and no longer looked to the past to define the aesthetic value of his architecture. Architecture’s story can be defined by the ever present pull from the past and allure of the future. This dichotomy of new technology being appropriated for what has come before can be seen even in the digital age. Where digital representation and fabrication through computers and 3D printers were initially only used to represent what we know we could do, they are now already past the point of finding out what we might do. There is always an effort to look back, examine and declare what constitutes the right form, but something new will inevitably come along. The pressure of that new force will eventually overpower any sense of nostalgia and become the dominant mode for expression. In the end what was new will become old, in turn only to become replaced by whatever the future has in store.
/68
/69
Villa Müller & Darwin D. Martin House Architecture Culture II Fall 2014 The 20th century in architecture saw the ascent of new typologies that sought to distance themselves from the past. Many architects who would come to lead the development of the modern style sought to interrupt or deny the historical continuity enforced upon them. In the new world, architects like Frank Lloyd Wright looked to create an indigenous architecture to America. He emphasized the importance of hand crafted, artisan work -- as opposed to the low quality of mass assembly line production -- and the disciplined use of ornamentation. Around the same time In the old world, those like Adolf Loos were looking to be done with the old entirely. If culture was to continue to progress, ornament would need to be denied completely and the merits of industrial production would have to be embraced. Both men sought to push the practice and discourse of Architecture forward from the stagnance of the various revival styles of their predecessors. Their differing approach to the great challenge of progressing architecture can be seen in their respective seminal works, Wright’s Darwin D. Martin House, and Loos’ Villa Müller. To best understand each project and what Wright and Loos were trying to achieve we must look at how they each addressed the relationship between interior and exterior. The Villa Müller sits stoically above a main thoroughfare in Prague. The house is cemented right into the middle of its urban surroundings. From the outside it is a building reduced to it’s simplest form, a box, belying the true complexity of the raumplan within. On the other hand, /70
the Darwin D. Martin House and it’s surrounding complex sit on a quiet street in a quiet neighbourhood of suburban Buffalo. Here the horizontal organization of the elements of the facade begin to indicate the simpler, more open plan of the interior. The simplicity of the exterior of the Villa Müller with it’s clean white facade speckled with windows precisely where they need to be is due to Loos’ desire to do away with ornament. To him the continued use of ornament goes against the cultural evolution of man. Whereas ornament was once used to arouse feelings of pleasure, Loos argues that in the modern world it is no longer able to produce such an aesthetic effect. He goes so far to say that the continued use of ornament is a criminal waste of human labour, money and material. Since Loos believes that ornament is no longer a product of the current stage of cultural development it is essential that a modern individual would seek out the simpler, more mundane and cheaper options available through industrial mass production, lest they be considered a degenerate. On the contrary, Wright argues for bringing back the quality and uniqueness that comes from artisanal hand craftsmanship. From the art glass windows and other ornamentation, to chairs, tables and cabinets, Wright believes in a comprehensive design methodology where detail and decoration are intrinsic parts of the building. It is to make a dwelling a complete work of art in order to intimately relate it to modern life no longer confined to archaic and insensate aggregations of parts.
For Wright architecture was thought of as organic, as if the building and the landscape were intrinsically linked as one. Thus we can see in the plan of the Martin House the large open spaces of the interior and the outside natural environment beginning to bleed into each other. By reducing the number of separate rooms and making them come together as a singular open spaces, light, air and view can permeate inwards and outwards. The two-dimensionality of the plan plays out in elevation through the horizontally banded windows which act almost as maps for reading the interior organization. The interplay of inside and outside is ever present no matter where in the house you are, in this way continuity of the exterior and interior is maintained. Loos’ architecture is not conceived of in plans, sections, or elevations but rather in spaces. For him there are only contiguous and continuous spaces that merge and relate to each other. This three-dimensional method of organizing space helps to create a choreographed movement upward through the house. Warm and lavish materials, like wood and marble, indicate the function and symbolic importance of the spaces within in contrast to the exterior. As you circulate through the space there is the constant excitement of discovery of views into the interior of the house. Once inside you are in a world wholly consumed by the interiority of the building. The lack of decorated surfaces in the Villa Müller helps to obscure the tectonics of the building. The simple, white, cubic volume with irregular windows conceals any information of the interior organization on the outside. Where traditionally the windows would denote where floor slabs could be identified on the interior, the three-dimensional organization of the raumplan
blurs the reading of any interior layout. There is an effort to completely separate the public world of the outside from the private realm of the inside. This separation is maintained even on the terrace on the roof through the framing of the views to the city, even though you are technically outside at this point there is a sense that you are still within the building and looking through a window. For studio we have been tasked with designing a Google office. Both the site and the required program of such a building call for mat building, not unlike the spatial organization of Wright’s projects. However the method in which we were asked to create the massing for our projects, that is the aggregation of various parts to make a whole where features of the parts are still recognizable seem at odds with this method of organization. Rather than large open spaces within the massing, we are left with cellular compositions that want to fight against the programmatic requirements. A quick solution would be to simply shell the exterior figure and jam floor slabs into it. Undoubtedly this would be the incorrect method. Some have tried introducing rectilinear objects to regulate the cellular parts against a more normative condition. Again this seems to be an easy way out, as the new object has no relation in the family of parts. So then how do we reconcile these counteracting systems ? Perhaps it is by looking three-dimensionally as Loos did, with an interior and exterior that do not relate. In that sense the exterior figures can be read as one condition for the public outside, while the interior is appropriated for the private inside. In the end the exterior only alludes to what may be happening on the inside. This is something I imagine that we will all continue to work on in studio.
Colomina, Beatriz. “On Adolf Loos and Josef Hoffman: Architecture in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction” in Raumplan Versus Plan Libre. Ed. Max Risselada. New York: Rizzoli, 1988.
Hildebrand, Grant. The Wright Space: Pattern & Meaning in Frank Lloy Wright’s Houses. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1991.
Duzer, Leslie van and Kent Kleinman. Villa Müller: A Work of Adolf Loos. New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 1994.
Loos, Adolf “Ornament and Crime” 1908. Wright, Frank L. “Organic Architecture” 1910.
/71
Norwegian Stave Churches Architecture Culture I Spring 2014 practice in the rest of Europe. Indeed the Stave churches could be said to be the pinnacle of European wooden architecture through its elaboration of form and ornament. Through the treatment of the timber frame, pitched roofs, use of light and height to establish spatial volumes and architectural expression there come extreme elaborations on the typology of the Stave church. Norway’s Stave churches are rooted in duality. At once they represent the coming of ‘civilization’ from the Christian parts of Europe during the period of Christianization of Scandinavia stemming from 12th – 13th centuries, yet there was also “a national or native trend in architecture and ornamentation [that] defied all attempts to dislodge it.” (Hauglid 6). For the most part early Norwegian churches were not dissimilar to the old temples The Cathedrals of Europe are famous around the of worship devoted to the pre-Christian pagan gods, whose world as symbols of a culture and civilization. The mastery structural organization was defined by free-standing posts. of the use of material and manipulation of space act as (Bugge 23) However as culture and religion from the south architectural expression of the cultural impulses of the spread ever further into the heart of Norway, it brought time in which they were built. In Norway these impulses with it the Gothic style to the Nordic lands and great stone lead to the construction of Stave churches. These Stave cathedrals began to be constructed in Norway’s urban churches combine traditional construction techniques centers. Even as the style of church from the continent and materials, and a highly vernacular ornament and became pervasive there was still a tension between the culture along with new architectural and cultural ideas old and new. This “sense of dramatic tension that is such a from the rest of Europe to produce a wholly unique feature of Norwegian mediaeval art, a tension latent in the building typology. Although there was an effort to imitate interplay between old, native tradition on the one hand and the stone architecture of the continent, with a rich history strange innovations on the other, the struggle between the and technical expertise Norwegian churches developed Dragon and the Cross, a struggle in which two worlds, two and elaborated on a building style that largely went out of ways of life, clash.” (Hauglid 5) Thus, in the rural heartland /72
that comprised most of Norway, traditional construction methods remained preferential to the local people.
new constructive elements begin to emerge in Stave church building which enters a new golden age not just to “be dismissed as provincial art, involving a backward technique and style.” (Hauglid 9) The innovation of crossbraced timber framing, supported on the earth by stone foundations, was a structurally radical transformation from earlier constructions where posts were set into the ground. By “freeing the timber entirely from the earth… the structure [had] to be both conceived of, and built, as integrated, freestanding, braced frame,” (Andresen 2) and indeed “this construction necessitated a succession of columns running right round the nave inside, not only along longitudinal but also along lateral walls…a feature that had been unnecessary and therefore unknown in the The construction methods of the Stave churches stone-built basilicas or the wooden churches with their are heavily rooted in the pre-Christian vernacular building pillars or columns sunk into the earth.” (Hauglid 15) Along with these braced frames another new technique was style of Norway. Stave construction differs from other in the construction of the roof. The typical cross-beams timber construction styles in that the logs are placed vertically, rather than horizontally, like masts. The earliest which held up the roof were replaced by the scissor-beam construction of stone churches in order to accommodate Stave churches descend from the style of building known as palisade construction, where logs are hewn in half and the increased vaulting and number of gables that the new set or rammed into the earth. The principle problem with this method was that the logs which were in the ground were extremely susceptible to moisture which could lead to rot. This meant that these buildings tended not to last very long and had to be maintained and even replaced relatively frequently. A later variation, the earth-post technique, saw only the corner posts set into the earth with the wall panels set between posts sitting on sill beams. Though this did help to mitigate the rate at which timber members needed to be replaced, in the long term it was less than ideal. Regardless, “both the types of church [earth-post and palisade] here mentioned…may be regarded as the forerunners of later stave churches in Norway.” (Hauglid 13) By the beginning of the 13th century, even as great stone cathedrals were being built in Trondheim and Oslo, /73
frames allowed for. The sturdier frame and higher ceiling allowed for the expression of the architecture through great central lofty spaces, “its enclosing walls‌cast in shadows dissolving the space into darkness intensifying the spatial mystery. The verticality of the interior space is further dramatized by the close presence of timber masts that fill the interior as if the space itself were carved out of wood to dissipate mass.â€? (Andresen 2)
Stave churches come in many shapes and sizes, but they can all be categorized into a couple types and subtypes. The first and earliest type is the simple single nave church. These are characterized by a frame with no free standing posts, but rather the presence of heavy sill beams at the base. The entire structure of this type is made up of frames; the roof trusses are held up by the wall frames made up of sills, corner posts, and wall plates which are in turn held up by the sill beam frame set on the foundation stones. Most of this type of Stave church consist largely of a rectangular nave and choir of the same width with a simple hipped roof lacking the raised center of the basilica type. Ornamentation in this type varied widely from traditional motifs to the adoption of different styles influenced by the stone architecture from the continent. As the Church became more established in Norway there was a desire for larger and more magnificent churches. Over time the basilica type of Stave church became /74
the favoured type over the earlier, simpler, and smaller single nave type. The basilica type Stave church can be characterized by its raised central roof and system of free standing internal posts. The tall internal posts hold up the roof frame over the central nave and out across the aisles where the roof then meets an outer frame sills supporting the wall planks. The roof thus tapers down in two steps like the stone basilicas to the south. The basilica type can be further divided into two sub-categories, the Kaupanger group and the Borgund group. The former group is characterized by having an arcade row of posts along the sides with details mimicking the stone capitals of Norman churches. The latter group is largely identified by its use of cross-bracing to join the upper and lower string beams with the posts, often resembling the triforium of stone basilicas. While ornament in the Kaupanger group was often an effort to imitate the austere style of the Norman churches, the Borgund group sees extreme elaboration of vernacular styles especially in the dragon carvings which adorn the roofs of most of this type.
Reinli church is a Stave church of the first type dating back to the 13th century. The frame is built upon six posts set into the walls. The design of the church, which has the chancel, nave and apse, at the same width, is influenced by Gothic hall churches from
the continent and shows little ornamentation attributed to vernacular tradition.
patterned ornamentation,” (Valebrokk, et al. 19) and also an example of the adoption of an austere style “The elegantly carved posts and pilasters lacking in ornamentation attributed to Norman stone enhancing the church’s three portals are churches. Urnes is a single nave church of the basilica also unquestionably influenced by Gothic type, with a frame supported by sixteen columns with no stone architecture. In this church, dragon cross-bracing. Here the columns are “more than strictly carvings are conspicuous by their absence.” necessary to support the roof, but [reproduce] the effect (Velebrokk, et al. 67) of the rows of columns in a stone basilica.” (Bugge, 20) At Here there is an effort to replicate the stone architecture a time when the influence of Romanesque churches with of the churches to the south, however the wooden flower and leaf motifs were becoming the norm, Urnes construction and frame nonetheless heavily evoke the is one of the latest examples of the indigenous style of vernacular expression of the architecture of the Stave animal ornamentation which had its roots in the prechurch. Even without the dragon heads and other Christian era. However, with the Protestant reformation ornaments, there is a connection to tradition through many changes came to the church. The influence of the the construction that a stone church would not have. The austere Norman style meant that much of the pagan frame connects the exterior countryside with the interior of ornamentation was removed and what was left was largely the church, bringing the natural world of Norway into the consigned to a single wall. We see the replacement of space of the congregation. At Reinli we see an attempt to formerly lavish decoration with that of simple, mimic the stone churches of the continent. Yet through the round-arch portals and, columns and capitals with faint frame and material construction we find that the church figures in relief. stands with, rather than apart from, that tradition.
Constructed in the mid-12th century, Urnes Stave church is the oldest still left standing and is built upon the remains of one of the oldest Stave churches found. It provides a rich study of how the churches evolved and changed over the centuries. At once it is both considered “the swan song of pagan animal-
However, even with all the changes, the essence of the church remains the same. Indeed here we can see the timber frame in its purest form, and they “presented little more than the bare skeleton of a stave basilica.” (Bugge, 25) At Urnes we can clearly see the dual nature that the Stave church is rooted in. At once there is the desire to imitate the stone churches to the south, but also there /75
is a high level of interpretation by the traditional culture. Nevertheless the common theme that unites all stave churches is just as strong here, the use of timber frame to create a holy space wholly unique to the Norway.
supporting the high main roof, separating the church into a lofty middle with peripheries of narrower, lower ceilinged rooms. The effect is described thus, “If the doors are closed, we are surprised to find ourselves in almost total darkness, a darkness which is magnified by small strips of light that occasionally force their way from the original window in the west gable or from the small peep-holes along the top of the longitudinal walls…” The altar, graced with sacred vessels of gilded
Borgund represents the “stave church neither in its first nor its last form,” (Bugge, 14) yet is perhaps the most iconic Stave church still around today and the pinnacle of the architectural expression found in the Stave church typology. Constructed in the late-12th century, it is also representative of the layers of cultural expression through architecture we can see in many other Stave churches. Borgund is a three nave Stave church built upon 12 posts, with a chancel and an apse. Later, in the 13th century, smaller steeples were added followed by a Romanesque gallery with carved portals ringing the exterior of the church. In its final form, the quantity of roof lines, gables, and spires is reminiscent of the Gothic style. The apparent contrast between the intricate exterior forms and the comparatively simple interior allows for the greatest level of expression of space. The interior is for the most part unadorned and kept in near darkness. The central nave is dominated by the frame posts Andresen, Brit. “The Expressive Capacity of the Timber Frame” School of Geography, Planning and Architecture. University of Queensland, 2007. Web. 19 April 2014 <http://epress.lib.uts.edu.au/ocs/index.php/AASA/2007/paper/viewFile/54/7> Bugge, Anders Ragnar. Norwegian Stave Churches. Trans. Ragnar Christophersen. Oslo: Deyer, 1953. Print. Bugge, Gunnar. Stave Churches in Norway: Introduction and Survey. Oslo: Dreyer, 1983. Print.
/76
silver or copper glowing from the light of candelabras and wrought-iron torches, must have been a powerful and dramatic contrast to the dark church. The priest and his sermon must have commanded the full attention of the congregation.” (Valebrokk, et al. 18)
In Borgund we again see the two interacting forces of foreign and traditional cultural expression coming together. However, as much as there was an effort to recreate the stone cathedrals and basilicas of the continent, the timber frame construction creates a space and architectural expression that supersedes any other element of the building. The verticality of the timber staves draws attention upwards into a space veiled in darkness, creating a sense of mystery and awe.
Bugge, Gunnar and Christian Norberg-Schulz. Stav of Laft I Norge: Early Wooden Architecture in Norway. Oslo: Byggekunst, 1969. Print. Hauglid, Roar. Norwegian Stave Churches. Trans. Ragnar I. Christophersen. Oslo: Dreyer, 1990. Print. Valebrokk, Eva and Thomas Thiis-Evensen. Norway’s Stave Churches: Architecture, History and Legends. Helsinki: Boksenteret, 1994. Print.
/77
The Awkward, the Sensual, the Absurd: Or How to Affect the Discpline Intro. to Contemporary Architecture Fall 2013 Architecture is facing an identity crisis. For generations the rules were simple. Master the skills and techniques required and build a nice, solid building. To gain mastery, one had to be able to expertly intertwine attributes like intelligence, industriousness and experience with knowledge of classical orders and principals of proportion, and many other learned abilities. Authenticity would automatically follow form if you had the expertise in the ordained methods of the discipline. With the advent of the modernist period, these traditional notions of mastery were for the most part rejected. Replaced with new tenets of aesthetics, technology and politics. (Zago 210) These were again rejected by the post-modernists who with their sense of irony overthrew the established systems of power and oppression. Even this couldn’t last, and with the fading away of po-mo architects branched out to define their own authenticity. However in all of architecture’s history it has remained largely isolated as a discipline. This self-imposed quarantine has at once inflated the selfimportance of architects and at the same time instilled a deep self-consciousness into the field. In order to push the discipline forward architects must embrace what other fields have to offer. A deeply cross-disciplinary approach will not only introduce new ideas, but will also help to define the architectural discipline itself. There are many ways we can begin to bridge architecture with other disciplines. For instance in his essay “Awkward Position”, Andrew Zago speaks of how /78
architecture in the post-modern era needs to reconceive of a technique in which to regain authenticity in order not to sink into a mire of untenable irrelevance. This, he says, can be achieved through the imposition of the ‘awkward’. Where “traditional mastery strove for perfection of form, new mastery stumbles into an awkward postion.” (Zago 213) Architecture has always needed to prove itself correct and in many ways this has alienated it from other disciplines. Traditional notions of mastery of technique had long led architects to hold themselves apart from other fields in an effort to label themselves ‘correct’. Embracing awkwardness in architecture does not necessarily mean the subversion of mastery, rather it implies a perversion of it for effect. In order to understand how we may embrace the awkward, architects must look to other fields as sources of not only inspiration, but eventually co-creation. In one instance Zago juxtaposes the work of architect Peter Zumthor and photographer Hiroshi Sugimoto. While Zumthor revels in his technical mastery of stonework at his bathhouse in Vals, Switzerland, Sugimoto takes another of Zumthor’s works – the Kunsthaus Bregenz – and purposefully and skillfully reproduces it with amateur error. (Zago 217-18) The effect is the transformation of the subject through a perceived amateur error to create new spatial and phenomenal qualities. We can see the beginnings of this awkwardness being applied in an architectural context through Greg Lynn’s series Toy Furniture. Lynn, seemingly and disturbingly smashes and
melds toys to create a table. While at first it looks as if it is technically inept, it has an extremely technical degree of formal expertise. A shift in scale could see this applied to architecture. The intertwined forms have the power to create new sensory experiences of architecture. Sense is an integral and indelible part of architecture. While for so long it had been ignored, it is something other disciplines like the fine arts had long expressed and explored. Sylvia Lavin in “Kissing Architecture” addresses the need and merit of melding architecture with other fields to affect and effect the experience of architecture. She cites an installation by the artist Pipilotti Rist at the Museum of Modern Art, called Pour Your Body Out, as beginning to merge installation art and architecture. The artist speaks of ‘kissing’ Yoshio Taniguchi, the architect of the current MOMA space, not physically but through the sensory experience of her work on his walls. (Lavin 1) Long has the building simply been a canvas for the display of other’s works, including other more ‘daring’ architects, that the coming of Rist’s installation provided a new experience not just for those visiting the gallery but for the building itself. It is the creation of a new medium – one Lavin calls superarchitecture – that combines visual performance and effect with the structure and mass of architecture. (Lavin 4) Using the metaphor of kissing, Lavin describes how architecturally two similar but non-identical surfaces/ forms can come together to flex, soften and deform. Their separation while seemingly inconceivable is inevitable, as it is but a temporary performance. Kissing is thus a topological inversion, it renders geometry fluid, is reliant on atectonics and destabilizes the metric of time. (Lavin 5-6) It has the power to lift architecture out of the mud and loft it to the heights of poetry, language, and painting. It can do away with the discipline’s sense of inferiority at not
being able to produce narrative as the other creative fields can. (Lavin 10) This kiss between architecture and art can have a profound transformative affect on the discipline regardless how absurd the metaphor may seem. In truth, architecture needs to pursue the absurd. Architects are walking contradictions. The fact that they regard themselves so highly, enough to utterly separate themselves from other disciplines like they have the plague, yet are so self-conscious of whether what they do has the same intellectual and artistic merit of those very same fields that they avoid so fervently is a prime example. One of the problems is that it is often such a small group, even within architecture, that hold the discourse that there is little to no outside objectivity. Architects have no method of communicating to and with the outside world other than their built works. The thing is, built work is often not the seminal forefront of architecture as a discipline but rather what the practice thinks will be palatable to the public. Michael Meredith illustrates this point in his article “For the Absurd” where he equates architecture more to a book club than to a rigorous discipline. He speaks of how cultural fictions are the core of the discipline, that “all we are is a group of weirdos who share a common disorder.” (Meredith 8) Indeed writing anything at all about architecture is absurd and ridiculous. We are speaking into tin cans that are connected with string, only the other can links straight back to the speaker. The public only notices when what we do goes wrong. If it looks out of place, if the roof leaks, if it falls down. Trivial compared to the possibilities of how we see the world as it could be. Nevertheless, if we were able to convince them that architecture is not just putting up four walls and a roof, but rather what those walls and roof imply (security ? isolation ?). Then the discourse could be advanced, the practice could be pulled with it. Thus it is /79
imperative to work with other disciplines, ones the public already perceives as a discourse with something to say to the public. Then architecture might find itself once again, only this time not sitting in an echo chamber alone but in a forum where new ideas can be discussed and debated with non-architects and architects alike. Of course the building would still be left to us. So architecture is again at a crossroads. A pivotal point in its long history where the next step forward will be crucial for everything which comes after. Do we continue alone, on an incredibly steep path for some unattainable, unsustainable goal which may or may not be at the top of the trail ? Or do we go to town and talk to the others ? Learn from them and in turn teach them too. Incorporating the awkward, the sensual and the absurd. Maybe then the discourse can be nudged into a realm more open, maybe then more can participate. Maybe then the practice will finally catch up.
Michael Meredith, “For the Absurd” Andrew Zago, “Awkward Position” Sylvia Lavin, excerpt from Kissing Architecture
/80
/81
Old and New: A Dichotomy of Patterns Intro. to Contemporary Architecture Fall 2013 It is said that imitation is the highest form of flattery, but are all imitations necessarily trying to explicitly replicate the original? To simply become exact copies? In our studio we have begun to explore the simple geometries Tony Smith used to create his complex and oddly ambiguous sculptures, but we are not attempting to become good copies. On the contrary, our aim is to intentionally disrupt what has been laid out before, to create something new and entirely unto itself. We must, however, also acknowledge the lineage of precedent from which our explorations come from. There can be no new without the old, therefore whatever it is we seek to create will inevitably be informed by what has preceded it. This does not mean that it is a copy that is being made, or even a simulacrum, as the latter suggests an effort to completely break from precedent, but to seek out the patterns of the past in order to better see the emerging patterns of the future. Thus, while we seek to create something new, we are inevitably building upon the old, but in ways we have not before discovered. When asked to consider the geometries explored by Smith in his sculptural works, we were also asked to disregard Smith as the originator of the system we would be working with – and it is also important to note that the geometry Smith employs has existed long before he began working with them. Immediately we were asked to break from what has come before, to not let it cloud our exploration of the geometric system. This method of understanding where we are heading inherently obscures /82
where we have come from. Though probably without malicious intent, a collective amnesia was enforced upon us. Yet when it came time to try to understand and analyze what it is we have supposedly created entirely of our own will, the underlying grid, the intrinsic system established by Smith continued to exert its presence. As Moss would say, “you [could] still see the violent intersection of two very different spatial conceptions” (Moss 2). I, Trajan, have run smack dab into the legacy of Smith, Nero. Though I am able to alter the contemporary geometric presence of the system, just as Trajan was unable to entirely eradicate his predecessor, I am unable to entirely demolish the system laid out by Tony Smith. While it is clearly not a direct copy which I am producing, it also cannot be understood as a simulacrum of Smith’s sculpture. In effect, the further it is transformed from the original geometry and the more pronounced the superficial differences become, the stronger the correlation between the underlying systems. In, “The Mathematics of the Ideal Villa” Rowe states that, “…when the senses are confounded by what is apparently arbitrary and the intellect is more than convinced by the intuitive knowledge that, despite all to the contrary, here problems have been both recognized and answered and that here there is a reasonable order” (Rowe 15).
When all is said and done, no matter the differences one immediately notices on the surface, there is and always will be a relation to the ordering principles that govern both the original, the Old, and what succeeds it, the New. Thus rather than the production of a break, a simulacrum, there is the production of something that is fundamentally and systematically linked. That is not to say what is New is directly a copy of the Old, the difference herein lies in the distinction between imitation of original and a lineage of precedent. In order to understand what can be considered New, we must harken back to where it is it has come from, and in the process hopefully illuminating where it is headed. The Italian Futurists believed that modernity would be built upon the rubble of the past, that in order for the New to happen we would have to break from the Old. In essence they wished for the continuous creation of simulacra to force a break with the past. However, what they did not realize was that a modernity built upon ruins uses the past as foundation. There is no concept of the New without its dichotomy, Old. In order to produce a true simulacrum, one that will break radically and permanently break from its precedent, there can be no notion of Old. There can be nothing for it to build upon if it truly wishes to be so utterly different. The difference between the New and simulacra here is that the latter negates the ordering principle it requires to relate back to its originator. On the other hand, the New, while still relating back to the Old, attempts things entirely novel within the context of this duality. As we explore the patterns of the past, new possibilities of the present and the future will reveal themselves. Therefore the relation of Old to New is not simply the fact that one chronologically proceeded the other, but rather how fundamentally categorizes the Old into a system opposite the possibilities of the New. The Old in this way fits together to frame the
continuously developing possibilities of the New as breadth of knowledge and exploration and understanding of the past deepens. The patterns that can be read in the past do not necessarily predicate what will be, rather they are useful tools to see what could be, what we want to make what is thus to be. What we are making in studio is inherently not a copy. From the start we were tasked with distorting and transforming Tony Smithâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s original system to produce something with the quality of the New. In this sense it is not a simulacrum either, as the connection to the past is still too evident. It is a product of the New, the dichotomy of what was and what can be. As we continue to explore the patterns of what has come before, new possibilities will continue to emerge and present themselves, representing paths that we could take to reach ever more possibilities.
Moss, Eric Owen, Who Says What Architecture Is? (Los Angeles: SCI-Arc Press, 2007) Rowe, Colin. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Mathematics of the Ideal Villa,â&#x20AC;? Architectural Review (1947), reprinted in The Mathematics of the Ideal Villa and Other Essays Cambridge, MIT Press, 1976. 2-27.
/83
/84