ACTS OF APPROPRIATION Syracuse University School of Architecture
Kyle Miller May 2016
COURSE DESCRIPTION The ambition of this theory and design elective course is two-fold: to analyze experimental forms of historic preservation and adaptive reuse, and to engage these burgeoning disciplines through the design of provocative physical interventions that preserve, reuse, and add to sites of cultural significance using techniques of erasure, mirroring, ghosting, agitation, doubling, and addition, to name a few. The goal of this course is to develop strategies for preservation of culturally significant buildings that do not render these constructions static, but rather take a proactive approach to preservation through reactivation. We will ask questions about how preservation theory and practice relate to one another, and how a keen understanding of the history of the discipline of architecture can help us articulate new ways of thinking and constructing historic preservation. The final projects for this course will project alternative futures for multiple historically and culturally significant buildings and sites currently occupying the list of UNESCO cultural properties with ascertained or potential danger.
PRIMARY ISSUES Cultural Heritage (Landmarks, Memorials, & Monuments): To understand how culture is embodied in architecture. Experimental Preservation: To disrupt the conventional understanding of and produce alternative strategies for preservation as a discipline. Successive Authorship (Unfinished Business): To add to notable historical acts of architecture and to speculate on their continuous evolution relative to dominant architectural and cultural paradigms.
GREAT PYRAMID OF GIZA c. 2580 - 2560 BC
(Khufu)
Cultural and Historical Significance
Visual and Physical Characteristics
The Pyramids of Giza house the tombs of past Egyptian pharoahs. Some radical theories suggest the cosmological relationship involved direct inter-terrestrial interaction. Today, the Pyramids serve as a major visitor site, contributing to Egypt’s major tourist economy. The tourist sector is currently suffering from the revolution when many artifacts were stolen. Major museums averted destruction life-risking actions of Egyptian patriots. Egypt, since the ancient civiliization has the reputation of a victim of looting and theft by conquering nations. Due to the age of Roman rule, Italy has more Egyptian Obelisks than the nation of Egypt. They pyramids remain one artifact that remains. Because of its shear size, it cannot be stolen by looters or national enemies, but it is still threatened by the harsh environmental conditions of the desert.
There are a total of 6 pyramids on the site, three 3 small and 3 large. The large ones are made for the Pharaoh of each generation (North to South): Khufu, Khafre, and Menkaure. The smaller pyramids directly south of Menkaure pyramid are made for each of his wives. The pyramids were each created using different scale of the stones and the techniques of stone laying. For example, Khafre's pyramid has a limestone cap on it which presumably was how the rest of the pyramid was covered. All of the pyramids are close enough to the city of Giza and is visible from the city. The complex is surrounded by many archaeological dig sites that still exist to this day.
EGYPT
CENTER PHOTO IN THIS SPACE
HASHIMA ISLAND 1887
Cultural and Historical Significance
Visual and Physical Characteristics
Hashima Island commonly called Gunkanjima (meaning Battleship Island), is an abandoned island lying about 15 kilometers (9 miles) from the city of Nagasaki, in southern Japan. It is one of 505 uninhabited islands in Nagasaki Prefecture. While the island is a symbol of the rapid industrialization of Japan, it is also a reminder of its dark history as a site of forced labor prior to and during the Second World War. The island reached a peak population of 5,259 in 1959. In 1974, with the coal reserves nearing depletion, the mine was closed and all of the residents departed soon after, leaving the island effectively abandoned for the following three decades. Interest in the island re-emerged in the 2000s on account of its undisturbed historic ruins, and it gradually became a tourist attraction of a sort. Certain collapsed exterior walls have since been restored, and travel to Hashima was re-opened to tourists on April 22, 2009. Increasing interest in the island resulted in an initiative for its protection as a site of industrial heritage. The island was formally approved as a UNESCO World Heritage site in July 2015, as part of Japan's Sites of Japan’s Meiji Industrial Revolution: Iron and Steel, Shipbuilding and Coal Mining. Japan's 2009 request to include Hashima Island, among with 22 other industrial sites, to be added to the UNESCO World Heritage Site list was initially opposed by South Korean authorities on the grounds that Korean and Chinese forced laborers were used on the island prior to and during World War II. North Korea also criticized the World Heritage bid because of this same issue.
The island's most notable features are its abandoned concrete buildings, undisturbed except by nature, and the surrounding sea wall. The island is increasingly gaining international attention not only generally for its modern regional heritage, but also for the undisturbed housing complex remnants representative of the period from the TaishĹ? period to the ShĹ?wa period. It has become a frequent subject of discussion among enthusiasts for ruins. Since the abandoned island has not been maintained, several buildings have collapsed. Other buildings are in danger of collapse. However, some of the collapsed exterior walls have been restored with concrete. The island was owned by Mitsubishi until 2002, when it was voluntarily transferred to Takashima town. Currently, Nagasaki city, which absorbed Takashima town in 2005, exercises jurisdiction over the island. A small portion of the island was re-opened for tourism on April 22, 2009. A full re-opening of the island would require substantial investment in safety, and detract from the natural state of the aged buildings on the property.
JAPAN
HUMBERSTONE AND SANTA LAURA SALTPETER WORKS 1872
Cultural and Historical Significance
Visual and Physical Characteristics
(1): The development of the saltpeter industry reflects the combined knowledge, skills, technology, and financial investment of a diverse community of people who were brought together from around South America, and from Europe. The saltpeter industry became a huge cultural exchange complex where ideas were quickly absorbed and exploited. The two works represent this process. (2): The saltpeter mines and their associated company towns developed into an extensive and very distinct urban community with its own language, organisation, customs, and creative expressions, as well as displaying technical entrepreneurship. The two nominated works represent this distinctive culture. (3): The saltpeter mines in the north of Chile together became the largest producers of natural saltpeter in the world, transforming the Pampa and indirectly the agricultural lands that benefited from the fertilisers the works produced. The two works represent this transformation process
The Humberstone site contains the attributes that express the quality of urban settlements, such as the living quarters, public spaces and the regular grid pattern of the Camp, with a main square around which communal buildings are clustered. Other relevant attributes are the remains of the railway line that linked Santa Laura and Humberstone, the gravel heaps, the construction techniques, architectural styles and materials, in particular the costrรณn and the Pampa concrete, distinctive construction materials together with the calamine and timber that were brought from other latitudes. The remains of saltpeter works are also present in the buffer zone which is also significant for the conservation of the characteristics of the natural setting of the Pampa which illustrate the relationship between the built environment and the adaptation to the natural setting.
CHILE
TAJ MAHAL 1653
Cultural and Historical Significance
Visual and Physical Characteristics
"The jewel of Muslim art in India and one of the universally admired masterpieces of the world's heritage." - UNESCO The Taj Mahal, constructed in the 17th century in Agra, India, is a mausoleum commissioned by the Mughal emperor, Shah Jahan, for his late wife, Mumtaz Mahal. This monument is significant in representing the historic past of the dominance of the Mughal empire in India. Elements such as the dome, minarets, the calligraphy on the facade and the motifs are very typical of Mughal architecture. Besides being an icon of the Islamic rule, it stands for a grand gesture of love and romance. The master plan also included the construction of another Mahal or monument that would be located on the opposite end of the strip of water that would contain the tomb of Shah Jahan. The building was supposed to be made in black marble, juxtaposing the white marble used to make the Taj Mahal. However, the construction was not followed through by the emperor's son, Aurangzeb. Another critical aspect that ties into the planning of the complex is the river Yamuna, which is very sacred to India. The Taj Mahal sits on the bank of the river and that greatly increases its cultural significance.
Taj Mahal contains Mumtaz Mahal’s tomb which is the centerpiece of this 42-acre complex that has been iconically designed using very Mughal architecture principles. The visual characteristic of Taj Mahal is its symmetrical organization of architecture, garden, and even the sculpture on the building along both horizontal axis and vertical axis. Its symmetrical composition and perfect proportions in both elevation and plan all present Taj Mahal’s architectural aesthetic value. Meanwhile, the sacred sense is reflected through bright and pure marble materials embedded with colorful jewels. Taj Mahal illustrates hybrid combinations of lines by vertical with horizontal lines and straight with curved as well. The combination of different solids and voids allows light playing as a vibrant element to architecture. In different periods of a day, architecture presents different visual experiences. The Yamuna River plays a significant role in visual composition of the complex since it acts as the backbone of the project.
INDIA
THE GREAT TORII 1168
Cultural and Historical Significance
Visual and Physical Characteristics
The great torii is the gate in front of Itsukushima Shrine, which was established for devoting to the worship of goddesses. The great Torii is the boundary between the spirit and the human worlds. Originally it was a pure Shinto shrine, where no births or deaths were allowed to cause pollution. For instance, pregnant women and the very elder people whose passing has become imminent are supposed to leave the island, further burials on the island are forbidden. It is believed that the goddesses chose this island because an enclosed bay was sought for the site of the shrine. Because the island itself has been considered sacred, commoners were also not allowed to set foot on it for maintaining its purity. And the sun and the moon are painted on the east and the west of the Otorii roof. Because the northeasterly direction is considered to be the demon’s gate in Feng Shui, The painted sun is said to block this demon’s gate.
The great torii was designed and built on pier-like structures over the bay so that it would appear to be floating on the water, separate from the sacred island. The shrine plays on the contrasts in color and form between mountains and sea and illustrates the Japanese concept of scenic beauty, which combines nature and human creativity. The vermilion color of the shrine and of the torii is considered to keep evil spirits away.
JAPAN
FUJIAN TULOU 1600-1900
Cultural and Historical Significance
Visual and Physical Characteristics
Fujian tulou is a unique large rammed earth local-style dwelling in mountain area in southeastern Fujian, China. Its existence manifests the combination of the perfect harmony between human and nature. Its potential, rational layout, not only absorbs the Chinese traditional architectural planning concept, which called "feng shui", but also adapts the requirements of living in groups. Because it bears a long time of defense from exotic invasion, and reflects sophisticated building traditions. Its exceptional size and function reflects society’s response to various stages in economic and social history within the wider region.
Located in Fujian mountainous area, tulou scattered distributes in the mountain slope or valley near river and steam, where the nature could become protective barriers. The clever use of narrow mountain plat and local raw soil, wood, stone and other building materials, becomes a economical and extremely rich aesthetic feeling of raw soil building type with strong defensive characteristics. The walls are one or two meters thick, with the material of raw soil mixed with lime, fine sand, sticky rice, brown sugar, bamboo, wood, etc. This creates comfortable physical environment as well as anti-seismic and fireproof. The layout of Tulou is designed with traditional Chinese Feng shui theory, such as the site should near water and roads; the gate should toward the north; there should be pond front of the building and mountain back of the building, etc. These make the gradation distinct and also be advantageous for damp-proof. Tulou’s simple shape has relationship with Feng shui. Buildings with perfect shapes, such as circle or square, could drive “sha”, which is a evil thing, and bring lucky to the residents.
CHINA
UFFIZI GALLERY 1765
Cultural and Historical Significance
Visual and Physical Characteristics
The Uffizi was commission in 1560 by Cosimo I de’ Medici, the first Grand Duke of Tuscany, as judiciary and administrative offices. Since then the Uffizi’s cultural significance lies it what is stored inside the building, which still includes artwork and sculptures collected by the Medici family. Its current use as an art museum attracts 1.9 million visitors every year and has become one of the most visited and popular museums in the world. During the time it was being built, the Medici hegemony was sustained and this project is a demonstration of the Medici dynasty’s political, architectural and artistic influence not only in Florence, but in Italy and beyond. This cultural significance manifests itself in the building formally and physically. The innovative formal design of the U-shape, and the reference to all’antica, symmetry and Roman mannerisms on the façade allude to greatness and power. The“Corridoio Vasariano” was built to celebrate Fancesco’s, Cosimo’s son, marriage to Giovanna from Austria in 1565, and was completed in five months. Bernardo Buontalenti was responsible for completing the building in 1581. That same year, Francesco de’ Medici, set up a private Gallery on the top floor of the Uffizi showcasing statues and part of the private family collection of art objects. In 1765, the Uffizi was officially opened to the public.
Architect Giorgio Vasari designed the U-shaped building. It’s location right next to Palazzo Vecchio (the town hall) and Piazza della Signoria but also adjacent to the Arno River, places the Uffizi at a significant location. The formal design of the building responds to the site in a distinctive way, the cortile (internal courtyard) is narrow, long and open to the river. References to Roman antiquity are shown by having a triumphal arch that is open and retains a transparency which serves as a passageway from the piazza to the river. The facade retains the Roman mannerisms.Another element of the Uffizi, also designed by Vasari, is the secret corricor used by the Medici that joins the Uffizi to Palazzo Vecchio, Ponte Vecchio, the church of Santa Felicita (a church where the Medici family would attend mass) and Palazzo Pitti.
ITALY
CENTER PHOTO IN THIS SPACE
THE GREAT WALL OF SAMARRA 851AD
Cultural and Historical Significance
Visual and Physical Characteristics
The Great Mosque of Smarra was an ninth-century mosque located in Samarra, Iraq. It was at the time the largest mosque in the world. The decoration of the mosque and its spiral minaret has since then form Samarra’s skyline and profoundly influenced the Islamic architecture. The mosque was destroyed in year 1278 during the Mongolian invasion of Iraq. But the mosque’s perimeters and its minaret were reminded until nowadays.
Great Mosque of Samarra is located Samarra Iraq, ordered construction by the Abbasid Caliph Mutawakkil in 848 years, and completed in 852 years. The historical complex is located in a vast rectangular site close to downtown Samarra, and play a role as a major Originally connected through a bridge, the minerate is now close but detached from the mosque perimeters. Although most of the architecture was destroyed during the war with the Mongolians in around 1278, the minerat and the remaining ruins are still the major elements of the Samarra’s skyline.
IRAQ
APPROPRIATION TECHNIQUES
ADDITION the action or process of adding something to something else
GRAND HOTEL COLOSSEO Superstudio, 1969
Conceptual Ambition
Visual and Physical Characteristics
Superstudio never built anything in the years the young men were together. But the images they created were provoked a discourse of how the practice of architecture should be. Superstudio designed this hotel built over the Colosseum in 1969. The image questions what is “the architecture of the monument� and how it could be challenged. It was not about how the new architecture is built on top of the existing well known architecture, but what the results of doing and changing how we view monuments and architecture. The Colosseum's identity is not lost, one can clearly tell that it is still the Colosseum. However, it instead gains a new identity through the mashup of two very distinct programs.
Grand Hotel Colosseo is a hotel created on top the the infamous Colloseum in Rome. The structure fits directly on top of the inner circle . The hotel tries to match the language of the Colosseum by creating windows in line with the openings on the existing structure. The construction holds its mechanical space on the roof , broken down into 4 small spaces in different directions. There is a cavity in the middle that most likely leads down directly into the arena space. Therefore the Colosseum's identity is not completely lost, but gains a new identity through the mashup of two very distinct programs
ADDITION
Addition
Superstudio Il Colosesso 1971
ADDITION the action or process of adding something to something else
MADDALONI Carmelo Baglivo, 2013
Conceptual Ambition
Visual and Physical Characteristics
Carmelo Baglivo argues that collages “deconstruct”, rather than build and image, by removing architecture from its context through elimination of function, place, or structure. Many of his collages sit suspended in a timeless space where future and past collide in order to isolate forms from their political, social, and cultural associations. The intervention made by Baglivo, although modern and minimal, challenges the design practices of contemporary architects responsible for the production of hyper-realistic renderings. He argues that recently constructed buildings surpass the spectacle of their rendered images, therefore liberating “paper architecture” to adopt other methods of representation. Collages prompt immediate association of dissociation of object through the addition of subtraction of other collaged objects. Baglivo argues this method holds greater potential for understanding because each collaged object possess a connotation more powerful than the denotation of form.
The image depicts the Roman Aqueducts running through a valley country scene with a farmer herding sheep in the foreground and a house nestled into the hills. Rising above the aqueduct is a framed structure by Carmelo Baglivo. Numerous silhouettes of gentlemen and ladies with parasols are visible strolling along the thin structure at the height of soaring birds. A group of silhouettes is also seen along the second level aqueduct, lending their scale to insist that the proportions of the framed structure are directly derivative of the arched bays constructed by the Romans. Composition of the image is arranged in increasing transparency and thinness as the eye moves upward. Baglivo manifests the thinness and the minimalism of the modernity while challenging contemporary representation by rendering his addition as a two-dimensional arrangement of lines rather than perspective.
ADDITION
Addition
armelo Baglivo (IaN+) Maddaloni 2013
ADDITION the action or process of adding something to something else
PRADA FONDAZIONE OMA, 2015
Conceptual Ambition
Visual and Physical Characteristics
The new Milan venue of the Fondazione, conceived by architecture firm OMA - led by Rem Koolhaasexpands the repertoire of spatial typologies in which art can shared with the public. The complex, which is the result of the transformation of a former distillery dating back to the 1910s, is articulated by an architectural configuration which combines preexisting building with three new structures, named “Podium”, “Cinema” and “Torre”. On the occasion of the opening of its new Milan venue, Fondazione Prada presents a wide range of activities. Robert Gober and Thomas Demand realized site-specific installations in dialogue with the cinematographic inspirations behind his artistic vision, through a new documentary and a series of film screenings.
The hall mark of the new venue is the so-called “Haunted House”, a 4-story building, clad in 24 carat gold foil, where pieces from the permanent collection of art of the Fondazione Prada are permanently on display. The entrance building welcomes visitors to two new facilities, developed through special collaborations. Rober Gober and Thomas Demand realized site-specific installations in dialogue with the industrial architecture and the new spaces in the compound. Roman Polanski explores the cinematographic inspirations behind his artistic vision, through a new documentary and a series of film screenings. Selections of artworks from the Prada Collection and presented in a series of thematic exhibitions.
ADDITION
Addition
OMA Prada Fondazione 2015
ADDITION the action or process of adding something to something else
THE STAIR MVRDV 2016
Conceptual Ambition
Visual and Physical Characteristics
The scaffolding system is a nod to 75 years of rebuilding the city, which is celebrated this year with the cultural event ‘Rotterdam celebrates the city!’. MVRDV create a new lookout where people can enjoy the unique views of this newly built city. From the cranes in the harbour, to the new city centre, the North and Blijdorp Zoo. Fun for everyone. The Stairs aim to animate the rooftop and to imagine a second layer in the next step of Rotterdam’s urban planning. A second reconstruction. It would be good to make it a permanent fixture.
At 29 metres tall and 57 metres long, The Stairs offer an impressive landmark for ‘Rotterdam celebrates the city!’. The scaffolding responds to the angles of the Rotterdam Central Station, connecting the contemporary icon with a historic monument, whilst through its construction referencing the reconstruction that the city has experienced. The steps not only offer a progression of perspectives over the city as you climb, but also give access to the roof of the Groot Handelsgebouw. Once at the top, a temporary observation deck gives you the opportunity to overlook the entire city. Also on the roof is the former cinema Kriterion, popular in the 1960s, which will open specially for the event to offer a wide variety of films, debates and performances. Furthermore, visitors will be able to enjoy refreshment facilities and find out more about the city and its development at the information point for the cultural event ‘Rotterdam celebrates the city!’
ADDITION
Addition
MVRDV The Stairs 2016
AGITATION the action of briskly stirring or disturbing something
CONICAL INTERSECT Gordon Matta-Clark, 1975
Conceptual Ambition
Visual and Physical Characteristics
Gordon Matta-Clark studied to be an architect. While it never became his profession, architecture—with its inextricable relationship to private and public space, urban development and decay–became his medium and subject matter. Using a practice that fused Conceptual art’s critique of cultural institutionalization, Earth art’s direct involvement with the environment, and Performance art’s engagement with sheer physicality, Matta-Clark literally sliced into abandoned buildings to create dizzying, Piranesian spaces sculpted from voids and fissures. By destructuring existing sites, he sought to reveal the tyranny of urban enclosure. With this landmark work of "anarchtecture," Matta-Clark not only opened up these venerable residences to light and air, he also began a dialogue about the nature of urban development and the public role of art. Considered three and a half decades later, Conical Intersect reveals the multivalent nature of the artist’s practice and his prescient focus on sustainability and creative reuse of the built environment.
Conical Intersect, Matta-Clark’s contribution to the Paris Biennale of 1975, manifested his critique of urban gentrification in the form of a radical incision through two adjacent 17th-century buildings designated for demolition near the much-contested Centre Georges Pompidou, which was then under construction. For this antimonument, or “nonument,” which contemplated the poetics of the civic ruin, Matta-Clark bored a tornado-shaped hole that spiraled back at a 45-degree angle to exit through the roof. Periscopelike, the void offered passersby a view of the buildings’ internal skeletons. Conical Intersect and the two buildings were demolished as part of a large-scale urban renovation of the historic market district of Les Halles; today we can know the work only from drawings, photographs, and a short Super 8 film.
AGITATION
Agitationw
Gordon Matta-Clark Conical Intersect 1975
AGITATION the action of briskly stirring or disturbing something
SPLITTING
Gordon Matta-Clark 1974
Conceptual Ambition
Visual and Physical Characteristics
The concept of splitting house is test physical potential of material. Matta-Clark split the whole house then exaggerate the abandon situation of the house. He did not change other things such as decoration or furniture of the house while totally get rid of the habitat function of the house. His idea comes from Richard Serra who used several strategies to manipulate material, but add something new in it. Firstly, he give new life to the abandoned house by store it in the photography and film. People can see the process of splitting while the house had been demolished three months after the splitting. It is a way of preservation. At the same time, he induce light go through the gap fill the whole house and reflect the sun moving during the day. It is a king of dynamic concept that contemporary architects always use in their project.
When looking at the project, it is obvious to see the gap in the middle. From the top to the bottom, the gap gradually decrease its width as a wedge cut into a piece of wood. It is clearly shows that the house is abandoned. The gap created a circumstance that no person live in there. However it created strong motion effect. This effect does not come from nature or human. It came from the way Matta-Clark made the gap. Abandon and empty situation become sublime that we cannot feel from any other abandoned house. Because of the gap, light can go through the whole house much easier, while the shadow the lights created inside the house became darker, too. In different time of the day, the light would go different direction inside and out of the house. People would see a different gap at different time.
AGITATION
Agitationw
Gordon Matta-Clark Spliting 1974
COVER put something such as a cloth or lid on top of or in front of (something) in order to protect or conceal it
THE TREVI FOUNTAIN Carmelo Baglivo, 2013
Conceptual Ambition
Visual and Physical Characteristics
Carmelo Baglivo thinks collage is the ideal tool of the historical avant-garde, because it’s an instrument immediately capable of handling and measuring reality. With collage you can just add or subtract. It can reinvent the past and create new connections between things and people. The image is not architecture. In it the city is represented outside any ancient-modern juxtaposition, without history, but as a place momentarily timeless. He uses architectural capriccios and utopian ideas as the basis for the collage. Using collage is an attempt to free architecture from the increasingly exhausted aesthetics characterising our commodified world, where the obligation is always to invent new forms. It’s an attempt to bring an end to the show-off period in architecture, and to think of architecture in terms of implementable and non-iconic buildings.
Trevi Fountain is a classical Baroque fountain which is given a new façade with a giant order of Corinthian pilasters that link the two main stories. Now, surrounded by many square frame window, it becomes a interior space from outerior space. Using modern glass material to surrounding classical style facade, people can see outside and inside classical buildings. The facade is a Baroque style, while it uses simple retangular glass box, it is a combination of modernity and classicism, simpleness and complexity.
COVER
Cover
Carmelo Baglivo (IaN+) Teca City at the Trevi Fountain 2013
DOUBLE become twice as much or as many
FRAC NORD-PAS DE CALAIS Lacaton & Vassal, 2013
Conceptual Ambition
Visual and Physical Characteristics
The FRAC is located on the site of Dunkerque port housing assembled collections of contemporary art. These collections of art are conserved and presented to the public or loaned to other galleries and museums through on-site exhibitions. The concept of this project is to embed FRAC in the site as a catalyst for the new area and meanwhile to keep the original halle in its entirety. To achieve this concept, architects double the halle to create the FRAC with same structure and same dimensions physically attaching to the existing building on its side. The FRAC houses exhibition and reserve programs for art collections. The halle remains its original avainble space to work with FRAC for its extended activities (such as temporary exhibitions, large-scale art works’ exhibitions, particular handling) or public events (such as concerts, shows, fairs). The functions of two buildings can be combined together or separated from each other. The existing halle and FRAC work together creating more flexible and vibrant possibilities for the site without competing nor fading each other. In a word, this project successfully redevelops the site of Dunkerque port by allowing architecture have more flexible capacities working in different scales and meanwhile keeps the integrity of the existing building.
By juxtaposing FRAC with the existing building halla, there are both visual similarity and contrast existing between each other. The visual similarity is reflected in their dimensions, which having the same dimension in both vertical and horizontal directions. Also the same profile gives two building equal attentions. The visual contrast is well presented through different materials of two buildings. The existing building halla keeps its original exterior concrete enclosure as an opaque box, but FRAC has a light and transparent membrane and glass skin as enclosure. Visual contrast endows existing building and FRAC their own characteristics but meanwhile keeping them in a united and harmonious relationship. Physical similarity is that they have the same steel structure. The existing building halla has steel structure imbedded with concrete and glass maintaining the old boat warehouse’s esthetic value. FRAC’s steel structure and its roof steel frame imbedded with transparent membrane and glass skin gives a new sense of vitality. Through the transparent skin of FRAC, the opaque volume for artworks reserve can be seen so it increases the continuity and unity meanwhile.
DOUBLE
Double
Lacaton & Vassal FRAC Nord-Pas de Calais 2013
FRAME surround so as to create a sharp or attractive image
HISTORICAL CENTER Archizoom, 1969
Conceptual Ambition
Visual and Physical Characteristics
Archizoom Associati is a design group founded in Florence, Italy in 1966. It is founded by Andrea Branzi, Gilberto Coretti, Paolo Deganello and Masssimo Morozzi who. Dario Bartolini and Lucia Bartolini joined the group later. Archizoom proposed the concepts of void and neutral, they made theoretical research into the city.Archizoom proposed a design for the historic centers of Europe, Residential Building for Historical Centre, in 1969. Residential Building for Historical Centre was serviced to people to have a new way to access the greatest historical architecture, which is the Florence Cathedral in this case. The megastructure as a living space, it allows people observed the Florence Cathedral from different angles. Moreover, the city will be seen from this specific perspective. This concept goes ahead 30 years and this concept become a commonplace nowadays. For example, Eisenman’s the World Trade Center competition or OMA’s proposed Louisville Museum Plaza.
The megastructure covers on the Florence Cathedral to show the boundary of the specific area, which would be protected and defined. The area becomes a focal point of the city and reinforces the subjectivity of the Florence Cathedral. The over scale frame will be seen in every corner of the city. It is a symbol of collective memory of the city. A simple frame becomes a high contrast object with a lavish decorative Cathedral. The linear frame also exhibits the differential atmosphere on the top of the city, which compares with the solid volume of the city.
FRAME
Frame
Archizoom Residential Building for Historical Centre 1969
INTERRUPT break the continuity of (a line, plane, or object)
VATICAN
Super Studio, 1969
Conceptual Ambition The concept of design is to intersect the St.Peter which is the ‘capital’ of christianity (Catholic) with the cross which is the ‘symbol’ of christinanity. The significant [cultural] here is intersecting the symbol with its the most important building.
Visual and Physical Characteristics The bigness of the cross over St.Peter make the building less important in a way that doesn’t seem to be important. The intersection of the Cross and the Obelisk monument are in conjunction with each other . What is appropiated here is the symbology of the christianity and its the most important building.
INTERRUPT
Interrupt
Superstudio Vatican 1969
INVERSION the action of putting something upside down or in the opposite position, order, or arrangement something
HOUSE
Rachel Whitehead, 1993
Conceptual Ambition
Visual and Physical Characteristics
The project House is a sculpture by British artist Rachel Whitehead. This was preceded by a project, Ghost that cast the inside of a Victorian room however, House goes a step further and casts an entire house. The project goes to make explicit the volumetric qualities of the implicit, or private: the inside of someone’s house. This house is not iconic but an ordinary house put on display for the world. This idea of the inside perhaps being exposed or revealed can go beyond form, and lend itself to function, possibly. Buildings like the Lloyd’s Building by Richard Rogers or the Pompidou Center by Reno Piano are examples of a certain kind of inversion of architecture conventions that allow for a revelation.
The work was a concrete cast of the inside of the entire three-story house, basement, ground floor and first floor, including stairs and bay windows, but not the roof space. The project allows for a three dimensional volumetric exploration of a space that is enclosed, rather than perceived as a volume. The project casts details and architectural conventions that can be read on the façade now, rather than observed as three dimensional objects. Thus, in a way, Whitehead inverses the reading of what is real and what is perceived: real being the tactility of stairs, windows, etc. and perceived being the space enclosed by the physical. This challenges the norms of something so traditional like a Victorian house, and allows for a different reading of it: one that removes entirely the iconic image that we have of it.
INVERSION
Inversion
Rachel Whitread House 8 1993
REBUILD build (something) again after it has been damaged or destroyed
MATRERA CASTLE Carlos Quevedo, 2015
Conceptual Ambition The intervention sought to achieve three objectives: to structurally consolidate the elements that were at risk; to differentiate the additions from the original structure (so to avoid the mimetic reconstructions that preservation laws from the region prohibits) and to recover the volume, texture and tonality that the tower originally had. The project was not intended to be an image of the future or an attempt to modernize, but rather as a reflection of its origin.
Visual and Physical Characteristics The reconstruction involves a differentiating material from the original structure; the finished coating of white mortar of lime. For the buttresses, the same limestone was applied, and a mortar was placed for the protection of lime in all the elements that enter in touch with the preexisting stonework. All the new hanging that consoli-dates the existing factories stays backwards fifteen centimeters to the original hanging.
REBUILD
Rebuild
Carlos Quevedo Matrera Castle 2015
REPLACE provide or find a substitute for (something that is broken, old, or inoperative)
CRYSTAL HOUSES MVRDV, 2016
Conceptual Ambition
Visual and Physical Characteristics
MVRDV’s Crystal Houses began its existence with the request of Warenar to design a flagship store combining both Dutch heritage and international architecture on the PC Hooftstraat, Amsterdam’s one and only luxury brand street that was previously primarily residential. MVRDV wanted to make a representation of the original buildings and found a solution through an extensive use of glass The design hopes to provide a solution to the loss of local character in shopping areas around the world. The increased globalisation of retail has led to the homogenisation of high-end shopping streets. Crystal Houses offer the store a window surface that contemporary stores need, whilst maintaining architectural character and individuality, resulting in a flagship store that hopes to stand out amongst the rest.
The development of new construction methods unearthed additional possibilities for future building, such as the minimisation of waste materials. In essence, all of the glass components are completely recyclable. Waste materials from the project, such as imperfect bricks, could simply be (and were) melted down and re-moulded or entirely repurposed. Such is also true for the entire façade itself, once the building has reached the end of its life span, the whole facade can be melted down and given a new life. The only exceptions to this rule are added features which ensure the security of the building, such as a concrete ram-raid defence plinth, hidden in a blend of reflective and translucent materials and built to withstand the force of a car crashing into the building. Repair-protocols were developed in the event of any damage, allowing for the replacement of individual bricks. With a façade made primarily out of glass it was important to ensure that energy requirements were supplied through renewable sources. Therefore, the building was designed around a ground source heat pump, its pipes leading up to 170 metres underground, allowing for an optimal indoor climate throughout the year. A crucial element when dealing with delicate, sophisticated detailing while striving for a proper energy balance at the same time.
REPLACE
Replace
MVRDV Chanel - Amsterdam 2016
SUBTRACT the process or skill of taking an amount away from another
DISSIPATE
Michael Heizer, 1968
Conceptual Ambition
Visual and Physical Characteristics
Michael Heizer’s Dissipate was installed in Nevada’s Black Rock desert in 1968. The piece consisted of five rectangular wooden trays, depressed in the desert floor and sloping from shallow to deep. The layout of the wooden forms was determined by chance. Heizer had dropped wooden matchsticks on a New York street and photographed the arrangement. The arrangement was enlarged to become Dissipate in the Black Rock Dissipate. Both the forms and the arrangement were generated by simple rules. In this case, the boundaries of the dry lake bed become the boundaries of the work. He introduces traditional sculpture language in the art; the environment and work perfect combination. The rock, earth and desert landscape constitutes the core of Heizer’s art aesthetics. From his work we can see the inspiration of primitive art. Due to the erosion of nature, his work will be finally destroyed with the passage of time. And this is one of his original intentions: the change of time and space is also a part of art recreation; all works are based on present space and time.
This architecture is more like a sculpture. We can image that the story behind this sculpture. That was a windy day, I suppose, with a little rain. Heizer carelessly dropped his wooden matchsticks to the ground, and he found he lost his five matchsticks because the ground is wet. He was sad, but had no alternative. He remembered the arrangement of these sticks, enlarged them and put them into the desert, which became the work Dissipate. When he looked at the Dissipate, he would revive the situation that happened on New York’s street. But the Dissipate finally was destroyed by the erosion of the nature, like the matchsticks. The destroy will also recall people the power of nature. The dispersals vanished before they were examined, destined to only exist in memory, memory will supplant abstraction as an alternative to life.
SUBTRACTION
Subtract
Michael Heizer Dissipate 1968
SUBTRACT the process or skill of taking an amount away from another
PERIMETERS/PAVILIONS/DECOYS Mary Miss 1977–1978
Conceptual Ambition As a land artist, Mary Miss has dedicated to interventions of occupants’ experience apporaching a particular landscape. By introducing architectural material to the environment, her artworks are created to highlight the site’s history, ecology or unoticed environmental aspects. Miss’s 1977-1978 Perimeters/Pavilions/Decoys, earth sculpture was given a new definition. When Mary Miss had decided “Sculpture in the Expanded Field”, critiques at her time responsed poetically. One major feature in this artwork, an pavilion was placed entirely underground. The only surface indication is a ladder that leads into the square opening on the ground. With a delicately trimmed-edges of the openings, the pavilion carves away the earth it took and replaced it with a space supported by structure of wooden beams. Her work therefore was saluted by some of the art critiques as a new effort of sculpturing.
Visual and Physical Characteristics Toward the center of an open field, a slight mound is the only warning given before the work is presented before the visitors are able to see the square pit. The ladder is needed to descent into the artwork which is entirely placed beneath the surface of the earth: atrium and tunel. The edge of the pit, a passage in between two openings of above and below, is delicately trimmed away, and supported by visible wooden structure indicating the entering moment.
SUBTRACT
Subtract
Mary Miss Perimeters/Pavilions/Decoys 1978
ACTS OF APPROPRIATION FINAL PROJECT
GREAT PYRAMID OF GIZA Killian Miles and Shuya Washido
HASHIMA ISLAND Kuo-Jui Lai
HUMBERSTONE AND SANTA LAURA SALTPETER WORKS Lina Wang and Yifei Li
TAJ MAHAL Luyao Wang and Nishuti Parulekar
THE GREAT TORII Lan Li and Zhaoqi Qiu
TULOU Ruting Li and Xiaoxu Sun
UFFIZI GALLERY Andrea Dominguez and Amir Jafari
SAMARRA ARCHAEOLOGICAL CITY Huaye Wei and Yisha Ding
ACTS OF APPROPRIATION Syracuse University School of Architecture
Kyle Miller May 2016