Michal Kubis_MArch portfolio (complete)

PORTFOLIO * Michal Kubis. MArch. 2013-2015

Stage 6 Charette ‘ Seeing The Unseen’

WHO AM I ?

Understanding architecture

‘It is not possible to live in this age if you don’t have a sense of many contradictory forces.’’

- Rem Koolhaas

Whereas the Bachelor’s degree in Architecture was definitely a course focused on learning and practicing design-based skills, I have always tended to view the Master’s as something slightly different. As architects, of course, design has to remain our major preoccupation, however, one could argue the practice to be the best place to perfect these skills.

I find this especially true, as I have been lucky enough to experience a wide range of different projects, in terms of both type and scale, throughout my year out in practice.

Therefore, especially after the completion of my year out, I felt the Master’s degree would be an opportunity to advance my learning in a different direction, covering the areas one has few opportunities to cover in practice. Having seen the previous year’s output, Newcastle seemed a particularly suitable place to do that. This then, is the mind-set with which I entered the course back in 2013.

What other opportunities would there be then to exploit? Given my background in the study of mathematics and computer science, I am definitely a person interested in understanding how things work; And I believe the research-based nature of virtually all the projects shown here attests to that.

Throughout the respective projects, this has been manifested in different ways – ranging from me striving to understand the historicalcultural issues grounding my first project at Tempelhof, to the much more politicoeconomically attuned research underpinning my thesis project ‘Refresh Paddington’.

My dissertation ‘Capsular Japan’, examining the changing architectural expression in a country undergoing cultural, social, political and economic transition follows this logic.

As I hope is clear to anybody reading it, I have attempted to use this work as a lens for understanding the environment in which we are situated today, which I believe is crucial if one is to locate themselves within and assume a stance towards it, as architects by the virtue of their work necessarily do. The same rationale underpins my thesis project, which can be seen as an extensive exploration of planning policies and patterns of growth pertaining to London – the UK’s largest and most complex city.

All of this, I believe, has been a very useful exercise, inevitably changing my views towards not only architecture in general but the world at large as well, the details of which are beyond the scope of this introduction.

Importantly, it has also allowed me to gain new analytical skills and understand their application in resolving design problems, which, I believe, is more important than the knowledge gained as a result of any of the respective enquiries by themselves, which, admittedly, represent only a fraction of my interests (the scope of which keeps only expanding).

The analytical method, I believe, is the one consistent thread running through all of the showcased work, culminating in my thesis.

To highlight this, I have dedicated several pages to the research underpinning my design decisions for each of these projects, all of which I have endeavoured to present in as consistently systematic way as possible, in line with the nature of my aforementioned working process.

* Media explored

Towards a multi-disciplinary practice

As a consequence of this, if there is one aspect of work that is somewhat lacking in this portfolio, it would be ‘making’ and ‘materiality’. In terms of showcasing my skills in this area, I believe the second Stage 5 project ‘The Total Theatre of the Ephemeral’ does that sufficiently – as I attempt to show in the ‘Matter & Detail Exploration’ section of that project. I realize, however, that ‘making’ has not been a consistent theme for me throughout the two years on this course, even if all of my design projects have actually resulted in a building. As explained previously, I attribute this to the decisions made at the outset of this course.

Where does this leave me?

To ‘compensate’ for this, I have often endeavoured to explore other media for the presentation of my projects, prominently including the literary, which I believe has worked particularly well for my ‘Tempelhof’ project. The media-based presentation (shown on three large screens simultaneously, see p. 99), accompanied by a narrative script (p. 111) was something I am particularly proud of, although it is difficult to document in a portfolio of this format.

Nevertheless, extracts of my various ‘scripts’ can be found throughout this book, including in ‘The Total Theatre of The Ephemeral’ (p.

157) and, prominently, the extracts from my essay ‘Reading The Trial’ and my dissertation.

The literary is a medium I continue to maintain a keen interest in, in addition to the visual media, more conventionally used to represent architectural projects. Rem Koolhaas would be an obvious influence to quote here – in terms of his ability to combine the career of a critic with that of a practitioner, manifested particularly well in his early Exodus project – which has served as a major inspiration especially for my ‘Tempelhof’ project, which one should read as a critique rather than a proposal.

In retrospect, I believe I have managed to build a portfolio that shows a range of skills not previously exploited and manifest in my Bachelor’s projects and portfolio (which is also admittedly true vice versa). Consequently, I believe that only these two documents in conjunction (the BA and MArch portfolios) can provide a complete picture of who I am as a designer, which is indeed how I intend to showcase my work in the future - when seeking employment to begin with. This, then, is my current tool set. How do I utilize it?

Recently, there has been a lot of discussion about the changing role of architects in the context of present day practice, including much advocacy for reform towards an openness to a more multi-disciplinary way of thinking. To some extent, this seems to be also reflected in the way our education is currently being delivered, especially at Newcastle.

In line with this approach, I do not wish to label myself as an ‘architect’, especially not one designated as a designer of, say, the high-tech or the vernacular (although one certainly can spot a stylistic preference for the former, throughout the projects shown here).

However, I do appreciate the word ‘designer’.

The more I think about it, the more I am convinced this is the word that best describes the way I would like to position myself within the wider context of the creative industries, rather than the somewhat narrow (although rich) field of architecture. After all, the key skill at the core of architectural practice is, I believe, problem solving, which has a much wider application than the word ‘architect’ (the chief builder) might imply.

At the moment, I know not what I wish to design and it does not concern me. But I am certainly intrigued by the possibilities of a disciplinary overlap and the application of an architectural designer’s skill set to tasks outside his jurisdiction, and vice versa.

Architecture is a highly synthetic discipline by any standard, which is its feature I find the most attractive. Why not take this approach beyond the field itself? I certainly won’t be the first to have done so.

Having completed six years of architectural education, I still don’t feel I have satisfied my eagerness for exploring new fields and methodologies, and how the different skills I have learnt throughout this period might overleap and combine. I think only time will tell and thus I would like to opportunistically leave many a door open for now, as I enter the field of practice, instead of excessively trying to rationalize something in the state of flux.

My short-term goal is to gain experience at as many different tasks, scales and media, as I can. A blank sheet instead of a manifesto.

The journey is only beginning…

T

E B O

N O C

U N TI

. . .

ED

10

78 124

STAGE 5 (2) Reading The Trial

(1) The Capsular Towers of Tempelhof

(6) Refresh Paddington

CONTENTS...

132 184 190

STAGE 6 (5) Capsular Culture

(4) Process & Management

(3) The Total Theatre of The Ephemeral

6

Refresh Paddington

‘How can we rethink large-scale commercial development to avoid creation of homogenous and sterile environments?’

GA 2.1 ⃝ ⃝ ⃝

GA 2.2 ⃝ ⃝ ⃝

GA 2.3 ⃝ ⃝

GA 2.6 ⃝ ⃝ ⃝

GA 2.7 ⃝ ⃝ ⃝

ability to generate complex design proposals showing understanding of current architectural issues, originality in the application of subject knowledge and to test new hypotheses and speculations

ability to evaluate and apply a comprehensive range of visual, oral and written media to test, analyse, critically appraise and explain design proposals

ability to evaluate materials, processes and techniques that apply to complex architectural designs and building construction, and to integrate these into practicable design proposals

problem solving skills and ability to take the initiative and make appropriate decisions in complex and unpredictable circumstances

ability to identify individual learning needs and understand the personal responsibility required to prepare for qualification as an architect

In Stage 5, the first project (Tempelhof) was predominantly based on research into histories, theories, arts and culture, tied to a specific urban condition. The second project (Total Theatre), on the other hand, while still being largely based on sound knowledge of its historical and spatial context, was predominantly driven by a technical exploration of materiality and space.

In the same vein, my thesis project is an outcome of an extensive research, conducted mainly throughout the first semester of Stage 6. The second semester was then dedicated predominantly to the development of my own scenario, based on the aforementioned research and its consequential testing on my chosen site at Paddington.

The final output is a combination of my research and my proposal, which is how I have eventually presented it (see end of portfolio).

Brief Refresh Paddington examines a London site that, thanks to its good connectivity to various infrastructures, has long been one of the engines of the city’s and the country’s economy – formerly in terms of industrial production, currently in terms of being one of the most prominent locations for large-scale development accommodating vast quantities of high-end office space, as well as housing.

Refresh Paddington sets out by examining the current nation-, city- and borough-wide policies implemented by the various tiers of Tory government, which are designed to encourage major growth at this site and deem it beneficial. Refresh Paddington sees the inevitability of this development and agrees.

However, when Refresh Paddington sets out to examine the environment that results, it is not impressed. Refresh Paddington poses a question of whether the benefits this development brings could be immediately visible on the site – enhancing the quality of the environment and uplifting the currently tainted image of these colossal structures in the eye of the public. Refresh Paddington would like to see a diverse and inclusive environment, which continues to be active after business hours, which is currently not the case. How can this be achieved?

Refresh Paddington finds that the current system of Section 106 Planning Gain is in the borough of Westminster being replaced this May by the newly introduced Community Infrastructure Levy, which explicitly dictates the amount of funding per square metre that has to be contributed by all new developers towards provision of vital but unprofitable facilities that these developers are unsurprisingly not interested in providing.

Refresh Paddington imagines what could happen if the local Council were to introduce a new supplementary policy ensuring that the money raised by future development in this area is invested back on the same site, instead of elsewhere, as is usually the case. What result could be achieved?

GC 1.1 ⃝ ⃝ ⃝

GC 1.2 ⃝ ⃝

GC 1.3 ⃝ ⃝ ⃝

prepare and present building design projects of diverse scale, complexity and type in a variety of contexts, using a range of media and in response to a brief

understand the constructional and structural systems, the environmental strategies and the regulatory requirements that apply to the design and construction of a comprehensive design project

develop a conceptual and critical approach to architectural design that integrates and satisfies the aesthetic aspects of a building and the technical requirements of its construction and the needs of the user

INITIAL

RESEA GC 4.2 ⃝ ⃝

GC 7.2 ⃝ ⃝ ⃝

GC 7.3 ⃝ ⃝ ⃝

knowledge of the influence of the design and development of cities, past and present on the contemporary built environment

understanding of the need to appraise and prepare building briefs

the contribution of methods of investigation in preparation of the brief

ARCH

Groupwork | Thesis Primer Y6 I S1-2 I Thesis I Refresh Paddington

Selected thesis studio: Infrastructures.

Tutors: Matthew Margetts + Zeynep Kezer.

Group members: Callum Brown, Rhys Dunn, Michal Kubis, Mayowa Onabanjo, Pippa Ramsay, Rich Taylor, Andrew Wilson

Infrastructures group model (thesis primer).

15

Research | Transport networks, UK Y6 I S1-2 I Thesis I Refresh Paddington

Own research and images.

London Underground stations 300

UK rail stations

250 9000 8000

200

7000 6000

150

5000 4000

100

3000

50

2000 1000

0

1947 1949 1951 1953 1955 1957 1959 1961 1963 1965 1967 1969 1971 1973 1975 1977 1979 1981 1983 1985 1987 1989 1991 1993 1995 1997 1999 2001 2003 2005 2007 2009

1862 1867 1872 1877 1882 1887 1892 1897 1902 1907 1912 1917 1922 1927 1932 1937 1942 1947 1952 1957 1962 1967 1972 1977 1982 1987 1992 1997 2002 2007 2012

0

no. of stations

Passenger stations

Goods stations

UK freight tonne-kms

Total stations

London Underground stations

UK freight tonne-kms 70 %

270 240

60 %

210

50 %

180 150

40 %

120

30 %

90

20 %

60

10 %

30

Total

Rail

Road

Water

12 %

800

11 %

700

10 %

600

9%

500

8%

400 300 200

Rail share (%)

2009

2007

2005

2003

2001

1999

1997

1995

1993

1991

1989

1987

1985

1983

1981

1979

1977

1975

1973

1971

1969

1967

1965

1963

1961

1959

30

10

4%

19 %

40

6%

0

24 %

50

20

5%

London Undergorund

Water (%)

60

7%

100

Rail

Road (%)

UK rail: passenger (*km) & freight (t*km)

900

Road

1957

Rail (%)

UK passenger-kms

Total

1955

1953

2009

2007

2005

2003

2001

1999

1997

1995

1993

1991

1989

1987

1985

1983

1981

1979

1977

1975

1973

1971

1969

1967

1965

1963

1961

1959

1957

1955

0% 1953

0

14 %

9%

0

4%

London Undergorund

Rail passenger

Rail passenger (%)

Rail freight (%)

Rail freight

modernisation plan

IC 125 trains introduced, ‘Age of the train’

Beeching reports

Cover spread image: Section through final proposal

Cover quote is the thesis question.

Metro modernisation, operations contracted out

bus deregulation

diesel introduced TWPTE

BR

London & North Eastern

North Tyneside Loop electrified

North Tyneside Loop linked

North Eastern Railway

Newcastle & North Shields

17

Objective:

Research the historic development of various forms of transport within the UK in the past 150 years.

Cover ‘brief’ is my own description of the project.

1840s Railway mania

Research | Transport networks, London Y6 I S1-2 I Thesis I Refresh Paddington

The area around the A40 in West London was selected as a focus for the entire studio group, to base our infrastructural studies in.

After an initial two-week period of group research, followed by a four-day group field trip, individual studies began, each focusing on our own selected topic, within the umbrella of ‘infrastructures’. My own focus was ‘transport’.

Own images, originally projected as a pulsating animation on the wall, showing the development of transport infrastructures in the selected part of London.

19

Objective: Research the development of transport networks in West London (in the vicinity of the A40), as well as the passenger volumes transported.

+ ‘How can we rethink transit-centred development to avoid creation of homogenous and sterile environments?’

E

D C

E

B

A

D

C

+

B A E

site Paddington Opportunity Area

E

‘How can we rethink transit-centred development to avoid creation of homogenous and sterile environments?’

THESIS CONCEPT

GC 4.2 ⃝ ⃝ ⃝

D

C E

B

E A

knowledge of the influence of the design and development of cities, past and present on the contemporary built environment

Research | Transport and development, London Y6 I S1-2 I Thesis I Refresh Paddington

Images from the internet, to illustrate some of my research. Originally included in my ‘research’ booklet, accompanying the project.

My investigations of ‘transport’ quickly gained an additional focus on the relationship between transport and development.

Impact on house prices —

MANOR PARK MARYLAND STRATFORD

GOODMAYES

ILFORD

FOREST GATE

GIDEA PARK ROMFORD

SEVEN KINGS

CHADWELL HEATH

BRENTWOOD HAROLD WOOD

SHENFIELD

TIME SAVING

into centre of London (minutes)

(percentage)

HOUSE PRICE INCREASE

40% BURNHAM MAIDENHEAD LANGLEY

TAPLOW

HAYES & HARLINGTON WEST DRAYTON HEATHROW

SLOUGH

TOTTENHAM COURT ROAD

HANWELL

IVER

EALING BROADWAY

SOUTHALL WEST EALING

ACTON MAIN LINE

BOND STREET PADDINGTON

WHITECHAPEL

30%

FARRINGDON

20%

LIVERPOOL STREET

10%

40% 30%

0

20%

10 20

10% 40%

0

30%

10

30 40

20%

20

10%

30

0

40

10 20 30 40 CANARY WHARF

WOOLWICH

CUSTOM HOUSE

EXISTING STATION

SURFACE LINE

NEW STATION

TUNNEL

ABBEY WOOD

8|9

21

2009 Mayor of London Plan

Objective: Research the effects of the proposed Crossrail underground railway on land values and property development in the vicinity of its future stations.

Research the attitude of the planning authorities towards these anticipated developments.

GC 4.3 � � knowledge of current planning policy and development control legislation and the relevance of these to design development

Research | Transport and development, Paddington Y6 I S1-2 I Thesis I Refresh Paddington

This has lead to an eventual narrowing down of my studies to Paddington, currently the site of the largest inner-London development since WWII. The site also lies directly on the A40.

Own images, originally presented as an animation on an iPad attached to our group model (see first spread).

23

Objective: Research the history of the selected site at Paddington and changes it has undergone in terms of infrastructures of transport.

GC 4.2 ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ knowledge of the influence of the design and development of cities, past and present on the contemporary built environment

Research | Transport and development, Paddington Y6 I S1-2 I Thesis I Refresh Paddington

With the help of historic maps, I have managed to reconstruct the site’s approximate development in section.

Own images, originally presented in a booklet.

1795

1860

1820

1910

25

Objective: Research and draw how these changes have translated into the shape of the built environment at Paddington.

1980

2014

2030

GC 4.2 ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ knowledge of the influence of the design and development of cities, past and present on the contemporary built environment

Summary | Transport and development Y6 I S1-2 I Thesis I Refresh Paddington

All of the previously shown research has ultimately led me towards drafting the following ‘manifesto’, identifying a set of problems I would be later dealing with through my design proposal.

The problem(s) of growth: A manifesto 1.

Whereas growth is usually desirable and necessary, as acknowledged by both the private and public sectors, it may also cause problems for certain individuals and groups, who may find themselves in the way of development and unwillingly sacrificing their liberties in service of public good (in case of public projects) or equally be disrupted by activities of the commercial sector, via the process of displacement and gentrification.

2.

Problematic or not, in case of London growth does and certainly will continue to happen – in terms of population, business and infrastructure (particularly transport) capacities – all of which depend on and support each other.

3.

Growth happens and will continue to happen unevenly, largely following established patterns and nodes, which may transform their function over time but often remain an important and vibrant location, despite this fact.

4.

In terms of transport infrastructure provision, both the public and private sectors seem to play important roles, depending on the particular context. Whereas private investment is needed, so is often a certain degree of government planning, intervention and regulation, as well as financing the whole enterprise in some cases (the HS2).

Nevertheless, the representatives of these two sectors often seem to view each other with suspicion.

6.

Established landscapes and infrastructures often provide new opportunities – some of which can be exploited commercially (the canalside renaissance), while others will happen through public channels (a community sports centre under the elevated A40) or charities (again, a programme of humanizing the environment under the flyovers) or via the act of subversion (graffiti artists or skaters taking over the same space).

5.

Can the simultaneous presence and activity of these different agents be channelled productively, creating positive clashes and interactions? Is a creative symbiosis possible? The historic case study of Paddington, as well as the whole transport system it reflects, seem to rule in favour.

Such an interaction is also anticipated by the Mayor’s Plan, where various publicly-funded interventions and concessions, such as the Crossrail (to mention just the most obvious one), aim to enable private businesses to flourish.

7.

While enabling both the commercial and the public sectors to do their job, what other unexpected opportunities and possible problems do these new and forthcoming developments present? How can some of the problems posed by these developments be turned into productive opportunities, such as is the case with the activities occupying the derelict landscape underneath the elevated A40? What new challenges and possibilities does the clustering of activities and facilities around the existing nodes present? With the changing role of the existing infrastructures, what new opportunities for their utilization arise? What may be the role of architects in forming potential proposals?

27

Principles of transit-oriented development (image from the internet).

Objective: Summarize the findings of the previously conducted research and highlight the questions this has raised.

GC 4.1 �

GC 4.3 � �

knowledge of the theories of urban design and the planning of communities

knowledge of current planning policy and development control legislation and the relevance of these to design development

Brief | Project definition Y6 I S1-2 I Thesis I Refresh Paddington

A summary of research conducted (top half), along with the brief definition this concluded in (bottom half).

The sheet used to introduce and explain my thesis, from the point it was drawn all the way until the final review.

CONNECT.

CONNECT.

SITE / GROWTH

COMPACT.

DENSIFY. DENSIFY.

Opportunity Areas, Greater London

Index of Multiple Deprivation

in Westminster

2009 Mayor of London Plan

Index of Multiple Deprivation

local

London Central Activities Zone

London Central Activities Zone

regional

national

connectivity

international

North Westminster Economic Development Area

Greater London

1. Paddington Opportunity Area North Westminster Economic 2. Area Victoria OA Development 3. Tottenham Court Road OA

Westminster

SW +

local

1998-2015 / 560.000 m2

2018 / 370.000 m2

rail link: regional / national / international

national

international

n

Paddington do Gr

rL te ea

on

do n

?

regional

SW +

rL te ea Gr

2025

on

Crossrail

BRIEF / HOW?

rail link: regional / national / international

£

ABOVE economic gain

1998-2015 1998-2015//560.000 560.000mm2 2

place creation

Generic City Generic City

+

= Instant City Instant City

+ office

2018 2018//370.000 370.000mm2 2

+ housing

makes money

Paddington 2.0 Paddington 2.0

developer’s realm developer’s realm

Two conceptual logics place creation

undercroft occupation

existing relationship

BELOW

proposal

+ retail catering entertainment services

+

small business skills and training Creative industries

£

+ social community arts culture

subsidized

public realm play space

29

Mapping the current pattern of uses at Paddington (used as a poster for the project throughout the year).

Objective: Define a brief based on the previously conducted research.

?

residential office retail / community / other

GC 4.3 ⃝

GC 7.2 ⃝ ⃝ ⃝

knowledge of current planning policy and development control legislation and the relevance of these to design development

understanding of the need to appraise and prepare building briefs

‘How can we rethink large-scale commercial development to avoid creation of homogenous and sterile environments?’

MASTE

ERPLAN

Precedents | Mixed-use

34

Y6 I S1-2 I Thesis I Refresh Paddington

I have analysed a number of large-scale mixed use developments with potential relevance to my proposal.

Apart from learning information that I could implement in my own proposal, this has helped me to situate my proposal in a wider historical and typological context.

FSI = 13.4

delivered by developers, government regulates use

ground floor commerce mid/high-rise residential / office

ground floor office atrium

public / leisure / commercial office / hotel / residential

X where are the public facilities?

12.900 m2 5.400 m2 33.500 m2 500 m2

X not really a public space

34.500 m2 31.000 m2 19.000 m2 72.000 m2 1.000 m2 4.500 m2

‘Vertical City 2.0’ De Rotterdam, 1998-2013

FSI = 19

delivered by the French state, designed by starchitect (Le Corbusier)

communal space (rooftop) X good, but inaccessible to public

commercial (mid-level) X unmarketable, commercial failure

+

mixed-use plinth high-rise residential

‘Vancouverism’ Woodward’s, Vancouver, 2009

residential parking hotel & congress office commercial, F&B leisure

FSI = 10.6

delivered by developers AND public sector

45.000 m2 residential 6.500 m2 commercial 3.400 m2 communal

‘City in the sky’ Unite d’Habitation, Marseille, 1947

ground floor atrium / public space

residential parking office commercial

‘Paddingtonism 1.0’ Paddington as is (site A)

public / communal private residential

FSI = 32

delivered by developers, designed by starchitect (OMA)

public space (hearth) √ inclusive, diverse

42.000 m2 15.300 m2 16.500 m2 11.000 m2 6.200 m2 4.500 m2 4.100 m2

residential (market) residential (affordable) parking university office retail public open space

GC 4.1 ⃝ knowledge of the theories of urban design and the planning of communities

Precedents | Form & Structure

35

Y6 I Thesis I Refresh Paddington

I have used a similar approach in respect to formal and structural precedents.

Below: ‘Precedent studies’ booklet, selected spreads.

Objective: Research precedents relevant to the proposed type and form of development and analyse these in terms of both morphology and programmatic composition.

parcelling

apartments

+

houses

stacking

1921

}

pub

+

div

ide

2004

com

bin

2013 X heterogenity purely formal

√ concept to be explored

√ concept to be explored

FAT - Community in a Cube, Middlehaven 1 building, 1 architect, 3 typologies, 3 formal elements

Will Alsop - Ontario College of Art 2 buildings, 2 architects, built independently, functional relationship

West8 - Borneo-Sporenburg, Amsterdam parcelled land, height restriction, each plot different architect

Steel

e

√ concept to be explored

Urban Initiatives - Middlehaven Urban Pioneers fixed lots, possible combination or subdivision, design code applies, self-built

Concrete W. Alsop – Ontario College of Art / Paddington Station, London / King’s Cross station, London

Le Corbusier – Unite d’Habitation, Marseille / Barbican Estate, London / Westway flyover, London

GC 7.1 ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ the need to critically review precedents relevant to the function, organisation and technological strategy of design proposals

Masterplan | Concept Y6 I S1-2 I Thesis I Refresh Paddington

The Engineered + The Organic (concept model).

I have used this model to mock-up the relationship between the two disparate elements of the proposal, translating this into a spatial form.

37

Objective: Develop the design concept spatially via a mix of different techniques.

Masterplan | As a critical response Y6 I S1-2 I Thesis I Refresh Paddington

The area currently contains large mono-functional enclaves, which are deserted after working hours and offer little engagement to the pedestrian and little provision for people other than the corporate employees and residents of the schemes being constructed here.

Moreover, the public space is privately owned, with security telling people off for doing mundane things like taking photographs.

Objective: Analyse the current mode of development at Paddington, in terms of its resultant form.

PROBLEM

Existing situation.

80 m developer

+50-60 m

0

250 m walk monoculture

Paddington now | dead enclaves

1:1000

39

Vertical division of the site into two distinct strata the upper part being put in charge by property developers, the lower part remaining in municipal ownership to be used for community infrastructure provision.

Objective: Propose a model capable of addressing the problems identified.

PROPOSAL

Proposed alternative.

27 m

+60 m

+10-25 m

developer communal + retail

0 design focus

Paddington 2.0 | truly active

OFFICE LOBBY

OFFICE

OFFICE O LOBBY

LOBBY

PARKINGPARKING PARKINGPARKING

RESIDENTIAL

RESIDENTIAL

RESIDENTIAL

RESIDENTIAL

section F’-F’, 1:2000

LOBBY

PARKINGPARKING PARKINGPARKING

PAR PAR

Planning | Regulations + Finance Y6 I S1-2 I Thesis I Refresh Paddington

The proposal takes advantage of Westminster’s newly introduced Community Infrastructure Levy. The developer-led upper part of the proposal is used to directly finance the community infrastructure at the bottom.

The financial and legislative aspect is an important part of my imagined scenario and I have initially spent a significant amount of time researching the borough’s and the city’s planning policies applicable to the site. The sheet below is a summary of these findings, with respect to their application to my proposal.

SCENARIO

The financial scenario enabling the project (summary image).

NPPF

developer

Section 106

London Plan Westminster’s City Plan

April 2015

proposal shown: 222.500 m2 - 269.000 m2

Community Infrastructure Levy

£

Paddington Opportunity Area Plan* Paddington 2.0

More information on this can be found in the ‘planning’ booklet, originally accompanying the project.

?

scheme raises: £30.000.000 – £108.000.000

local council

project

100 %

project

#1

#2

100 %

project

Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL)

scenario #1: £39.575.000

residential office retail / community / other

scenario #2: £84.000.000

NPPF

developer

London Plan

April 2015

Westminster’s City Plan Paddington Opportunity Area Plan* Paddington 2.0

Working in partnership.

The council, local community, private sector, and Section Community others.

106 Infrastructure Levy

?

+

£

+ local council

Working in partnership. project

project project

REF

‘How can we rethink large-scale c development to avoid creation o sterile environments?’

41

Diagrams explaining the financial relationship, as well as the form of my overall proposal.

The full masterplan for the site is shown at the bottom of the page, highlighting the part I have focused on in terms of resolved design (inside circle).

Objective: Design a feasible financial scenario for the proposal’s implementation, with respect to the current legislation and planning regulations.

de si g

de si g

n

+

+

+

us

us

+

c fo

c fo

£

n

community infrastructure level

GC 4.3 ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ knowledge of current planning policy and development control legislation and the relevance of these to design development

Masterplan | Placing in context Y6 I S1-2 I Thesis I Refresh Paddington

Site roof plan. Showing the complete proposal in its urban context.

D’

C’

B’

A’

F’

roof plan

F’

D’

C’

B’

A’

1:2000

43

Site sections. Showing the different ways in which the upper part of the proposal relates to the existing wider context.

Objective: Explore the proposal’s relationship to the existing urban context.

D’-D’

C’-C’

B’-B’

A’-A’

site sections sections_detail 1:2000 @ A1

GC 5.3 ⃝ ⃝ understanding of the way in which buildings fit in their local context

1:4000

Masterplan | Ground level Y6 I S1-2 I Thesis I Refresh Paddington

1:400 plan

44

45

Masterplan | Ground level Y6 I S1-2 I Thesis I Refresh Paddington

Masterplan | Ground level Y6 I S1-2 I Thesis I Refresh Paddington

Masterplan | Ground level Y6 I S1-2 I Thesis I Refresh Paddington

DESIGN

SYNTH GC 4.1 ⃝ ⃝

GC 5.1 ⃝ ⃝ ⃝

GC 5.3 ⃝ ⃝ ⃝

GC 6.3 ⃝ ⃝

GC 9.1 ⃝ ⃝ ⃝

knowledge of the theories of urban design and the planning of communities

understanding of the needs and aspirations of building users

understanding of the way in which buildings fit in their local context

understanding of the potential impact of building projects on existing and proposed communities

knowledge of principles associated with designing optimum visual, thermal and acoustic environments

HESIS

Proposal | Programme definition Y6 I S1-2 I Thesis I Refresh Paddington

Selection of the right programmatic composition is essential for the success of this project, to ensure an active and varied urban realm at the ground level.

unal | programme

The ‘client’ selection was based on the study of the existing provision of facilities in the area and Westminster’s plans for attracting certain types of users that are currently not taking place there.

FabLab + Maker Studios

People’s Kitchen

Creche + Toy Library

Free Library

Boxing Gym + Youth Club

Small Cinema (arthouse)

TrueStart business accelerator

?

design focus are

57

Client introduction sheet (selected example).

All Stars Boxing Gym + Youth Club community boxing gym Client: All Stars Boxing Gym Venture: non-profit, contribution-based Current status: A venue in NW Westminster, needs to relocate Space: [cca. 500 m2] Capacity: [TBD] Programme: boxing ring, practice space, changing rooms, social space, reception

Objective: Identify a number of potential clients for the ‘community infrastructure’ part of the scheme.

Community Creche + Toy Library community creche and play space

People’s Kitchen

A Small Cinema

True Start business accelerator

Paddington Basin Library

community kitchen

community screening space

a hub for technology start-up businesses

an open access library and resource centre

Client: People’s Kitchen Venture: non-profit, volunteer-run Current status: Several venues present in London and nationwide, currently none in Westminster

Client: A Small Cinema Company Venture: commercial, subsidized Current status: Lack of provision in the local area

Client: TrueStart Venture: commercial, incentivized Current status: 36 start-up incubators and accelerators present accross London

Client: Westminster City Council Venture: non-profit Current status: an offshoot of the currently-established Paddington Library

Client: Paddington Toy Library Venture: non-profit, subsidized Current status: a similar venue situated in Pimlico, South Westminster Space: [TBD] Capacity: [TBD] Programme: daycare, kitchen & canteen

Space: [cca. 150 m2] Capacity: [cca. 100 people] Programme: kitchen, dining & screening space

Space: [TBD] Capacity: 70 people (screening hall) Programme: reception, screening hall, cafe, gallery space, studio room back of house

Hours: 8 am - 9 pm, Mon - Sun

Hours: 7 am - 5 pm, weekdays

Hours: 3 pm - 6 pm (cooking), 6 pm - late (meal + screening)

Hours: mostly evenings and weekends

‘We are a charity providing boxing training and other leisure time pursuits to children and adults in the interest of social welfare so as to improve the conditions of life for those young people. All Stars offers the best coaching for both juniors and seniors, from beginner’s to experienced “elite” class boxers.’ Capable of holding various events, such as concerts and shows.

‘A friendly and supportive environment in which to encourage children’s development through social contact, games and play.’ A sessional service at an affordable price. Toy Library lends out toys at an affordable price.

For a voluntary contribution, serves donated food prepared by volunteers, organizes events such as film screenings, as well as occasional cooking classes.

An independent arthosue cinema, capable of hosting film screenings, theatre shows, conference events and parties. A studio space can also be used to teach drama and dance classes to people of all ages.

http://www.pimlicotoylibrary.org/ http://stmellonscreche.org.uk/

http://www.peopleskitchen.co.uk/ http://eathackney.com/the-peoples-kitchen-passing-clouds-e8/

http://www.asmallcinema.co.uk/ http://mostonsmallcinema.org.uk/

http://www.allstars-gym.co.uk/

Space: [350 m2] Capacity: [TBD] Programme: library and reading space, study area, meeting rooms, PC suite, Business Information Point, reception

Space: 400 m2 Capacity: [TBD] Programme: individual offices, flexible workspace, meeting rooms, lecture space Hours: 8 am - 6 pm, weekdays + 24/7 individual access

Hours: 8 am - 8 pm, Mon - Sun

Following in the footsteps of a number of succesful co-working spaces, business incubators and accelerators accross Westminster and all of London, the council is seeking to encourage the creation of more venues of this kind, to make the City a leading environment for investment, especially in the field of technology.

A free-to-all community library, housing a collection of books, openaccess computers, meeting rooms and a Business Information Point.

Also serves as a meeting hub for a Writer’s Group, a Reading Club and regular employment advice sessions. Offers training in IT skills and English Language courses.

http://www.truestart.co.uk/ http://www.oxygenaccelerator.com/

https://www.westminster.gov.uk/paddington-library

FabLab + Maker Studios community workshop and maker’s hub Client: FabLab London Venture: commercial, subsidized Current status: 1 venue open in London, near Bank station; under scrutiny by Westminster Council Space: 370 m2 Capacity: 120 people (event space) Programme: shared workshop space & fabrication lab (subscription-based), startup studios (mid- to long-term lease) event & learning space, cafe Hours: 9 am - 6 pm (public), 24/7 access for resident makers and for events To cater to Westminster’s vibrant designer and maker’s community. A making-oriented facility to supplement Westmisnter’s larger office-based creative industry startup and business spaces at Westbourne Studios and Great Western Studios. http://fablablondon.org/

GC 5.1 ⃝ ⃝

GC 6.1 ⃝ ⃝

GC 6.3 ⃝ ⃝

understanding of the needs and aspirations of building users

the duties and responsibilities of architects to the wider society

understanding of the potential impact of building projects on existing and proposed communities

Proposal | Sectional analytique Y6 I S1-2 I Thesis I Refresh Paddington

Main image, originally presented as a 1:50 banner (length: 2.1 m).

Shows the proposal’s relationship to existing context, the use of internal and external spaces, as well as the issues it aims to tackle and its means of doing so.

59

Objective: Synthesize the most important features of the proposal into a single explanatory drawing.

GC 5.3 ⃝ ⃝ ⃝

GC 6.3 ⃝ ⃝

GC 9.1 ⃝ ⃝

understanding of the way in which buildings fit in their local context

understainding of the potential impact of building projects on existing and proposed communities

knowledge of principles associated with designing optimum visual, thermal and acoustic environments

Proposal | Selected focus Y6 I S1-2 I Thesis I Refresh Paddington

Plans of the part of my proposal I have chosen to develop in detail.

A

2

1

A

1:200 L4 plan, level 4

1 excercise area 2 small studio

61

Objective: Resolve the selected focal part of the proposal.

A

2

4

5

3 9

8

1 6

7

A

1:200 L3 plan, level 3

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

bar movie theatre boxing ring rentable studio equipment storage changing rooms lobby for office / residential / hotel above lifts down to ground lifts to go up

Proposal | Selected focus Y6 I S1-2 I Thesis I Refresh Paddington

A

9

8 2

7 5

1

2 3 4 6

A

1:200 L2 plan, level 2

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

classroom rentable meeting rooms infromal gathering space library collections computer cluster open reading area check-out terminals staff office storage

63

A

10 9 11

3

8

4

7

2 1

5

6

A

1:200 L1 plan, level 1

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

main entrance (escalator) multi-purpose atrium rentable unit Oxfam store Ziferblat pay-per-minute self-catering cafe snack bar climbing wall ticket-booking terminals (for cinema above) storage creche + toy library boutique (upper level)

Proposal | Selected focus

64

Y6 I S1-2 I Thesis I Refresh Paddington

A

11

1

9

3

7 6

5

8

4 2

9

A

1:200 L0 plan, level 0

10

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

underground parking entrance (existing) bridge (existing) entrance plaza seating protected escalator to communal level lifts to lobby above communal level public toilets pop-up installations / events area fashionista boutique Grand Union walking trail ground floor retail (granted planning)

65 Y6 I Thesis I Refresh Paddington

Selected views of the ground plane realm, showing the imagined mode of inhabitation.

The re-imagined ground plane, along with its proposed relationship to the existing context is key to the success of this proposal. The selected views serve as a proof concept.

Objective: Design the selected focal part of the proposal and visualize its key spaces.

GC 5.3 � � understanding of the way in which buildings fit in their local context

DESIGN

TECHNO GC 8.2 ⃝ ⃝ ⃝

GC 9.2 ⃝ ⃝

GC 9.3 ⃝ ⃝ ⃝

understanding of strategies for building construction and the ability to integrate knowledge of structural principles and construction techniques

knowledge of systems of environmental control realised within relevant precepts of sustainable design

strategies for building services, and ability to integrate these in a design project

OLOGY

Technology | Construction Y6 I S1-2 I Thesis I Refresh Paddington

The proposal on site, exploded isometric.

P

An overview of the focal part of my proposal, with respect to its structural components.

1

host

de ve lo

pe

r

O

L

K

2

community infrastructure level

3

event space

N M

E

F

J A

undulating surface, light grey paving tile

B

yellow painted element

C

pop-up structure opportunity

D

reinforced concrete core, unfinished

E

lift entrance (for lobbies above)

F

retail unit, glazed

G

sanitation block, red brick cladding

H

escalator (glazed casing)

I

lift (glazed casing)

J

staircase (glazed casing)

K

suspended module (cladding varies, see instance below)

L

trussed deck

M

structural glazing

N

service ducts, yellow-painted metal casing

O

space frame, blue-painted steel

P

volume above (TBD by developer)

I

2 C

3

B G

D

H 1

(see technology booklet for material specification and more)

A

path sun

1

scene viewpoint

4

GC 5.3 � � � understanding of the way in which buildings fit in their local context

69

The structural logic of the proposal, along with the sequence in which it is envisioned to be constructed.

Objective: Elaborate the proposal structurally and design a feasible construction sequence, with respect to uninterrupted inhabitation of the site below.

1

4

2

5

3

6

GC 8.2 ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ understanding of strategies for building construction and the ability to integrate knowledge of structural principles and construction techniques

Technology | Pod assembly

70

Y6 I S1-2 I Thesis I Refresh Paddington

Construction of a selected module, exploded isometric.

Objective: Design a typical module in more detail, with rep sect to how it would be constructed.

+ pod construction (selected instance)

F

G

A

B

E C D

F

A

primary steel structure (painted yellow, where exposed)

B

secondary steel structure

C

lightweight composite slab with underfloor heating (finishing varies)

D

insulation

E

fibre cement board soffit

F

metal mesh

G

clear glazing (see 1:50 detail section)

GC 8.2 ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ understanding of strategies for building construction and the ability to integrate knowledge of structural principles and construction techniques

Building regulations | Fire escape

71

Y6 I Thesis I Refresh Paddington

The location of fire escapes and distances to reach them.

Spread taken from my technical report that accompanied the project.

Objective: Ensure the building meets the requirements set out in Building Regulations, Part B.

17 8

16 10

33 m 15

9

41 m 13

10 11

12 14

Level 0

9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17

Level 2

classroom meeting rooms infromal gathering space library collections computer cluster open reading area check-out terminals staff office storage

19

7 8 8 7

4

23

6

20

1

38 m 5a

5

28 m

35 m

21

28 m

18

2 2

22 3

Level 1

1 Oxfam store 2 Ziferblat pay-per-minute cafe + self-catering kitchen 3 snack bar + restaurant 4 rentable unit 5 The atrium 5a climbing wall 6 ticket-booking terminals 7 creche + kids toilet 8 boutique (upper level)

vertical circulation and fire escape Where multiple means of escape are provided, the horizontal distance of travel to the nearest exit should always be less than 45 m (Building Regulations, Part B).

Level 3

18 19 20 21 22 23

bar screening theatre boxing ring studio equipment storage changing + toilet

fire escape from communal level access to / escape from the premises above space frame level fire escape route vertical circulation not qualifying as fire escape

GC 9.2 ⃝ ⃝ ability to prepare designs that will meet building users’ requirements and comply with UK legislation, appropriate performance standards and health and safety requirements

Environmental strategy | Servicing Y6 I S1-2 I Thesis I Refresh Paddington

The servicing strategy is also of particular importance, reinforcing the parasitic relationship between the two parts of the proposal.

The overall servicing strategy (left) and the distribution of heat (right).

Spread taken from my technical report that accompanied the project.

de ve lo

heat exchanger

pe

supply

r

path sun

servicing inlet

parasitic servicing opportunity

HVAC, water, electricity and communication lines are supplied to the building via ducts plugging into the service area located within the depth of the space frame above. The various services are then distributed throughout the building underneath the ceiling, where necessary (see section opposite).

Possibility of heat recovery from offices above: Heat exchangers located within the depth of the space frame enable exhaust heat produced by the offices to supplement the building’s own heating system, when feasible.

73

The position of water installations and its relationship to the sanitary facilities inside the building.

Spread taken from my technical report that accompanied the project.

Objective: Devise a servicing strategy for the proposal.

17 8

16 10

15

9

public access 13

10 11

12 14

Level 0

9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17

Level 2

classroom meeting rooms infromal gathering space library collections computer cluster open reading area check-out terminals staff office storage

19

7 8 8 7

4

23

6

20

1

5a

5

21

18

2 2

22 3

Level 1 water installations

1 Oxfam store 2 Ziferblat pay-per-minute cafe + self-catering kitchen 3 snack bar + restaurant 4 rentable unit 5 The atrium 5a climbing wall 6 ticket-booking terminals 7 creche + kids toilet 8 boutique (upper level)

Level 3

18 19 20 21 22 23

bar screening theatre boxing ring studio equipment storage changing + toilet

Sanitation and kitchen areas within the building are located adjacenet to the vertically running ducts providing water supply and sewage extraction.

GC 9.2 ⃝

GC 9.3 ⃝ ⃝ ⃝

knowledge of systems of environmental control realised within relevant precepts of sustainable design

strategies for building services, and ability to integrate these in a design project

Environmental strategy | Sewage extraction

74

Y6 I S1-2 I Thesis I Refresh Paddington

The strategy for the extraction and outlet of sewage.

Spread taken from my technical report that accompanied the project.

Objective:

waste water outlet

waste water extraction

Devise a servicing strategy for the proposal.

main sanitation block

sewage extraction The main sanitation block running vertically through the building (see right) is the only part of the building coming down to the ground, where it becomes a public toilet facility, capable of catering to various events taking place in the open ground floor space. (A second level of parasitism?)

Elsewhere in the building, waste water is mechanically pumped back up towards the space frame level, from which it is extracted down to the ground, again via the main sanitation block (the sole outlet point in the building).

Environmental strategy | Sunlight

75

Y6 I Thesis I Refresh Paddington

Study of sunlight penetration into the undercroft space.

The daylight conditions of the undercroft realm are of particular importance, in order to make it a pleasant space to inhabit.

Software simulation of the Sun’s position throughout the year has been used to ensure the spaces would be adequately lit at all times.

de ve lo

Spread taken from my technical report that accompanied the project.

Objective: Design the undercroft spaces with respect to the Sun’s trajectory throughout the year.

pe

12 June, 11:25 am

r

A

B

A

sunlight strategy Low-rise Paddington Station to the south of the site enables direct sunlight to enter the spaces all year round, for at least part of the day. This is especially true in winter, when the sun is low in the sky and reaches all across the site.

(See selected shadow simulations opposite.)

21 December, 2:20 pm

path sun

B

direct sunlight penetration

GC 9.2 ⃝ knowledge of systems of environmental control realised within relevant precepts of sustainable design

LET’S REWIND...

2 YEARS BACK

1

The Capsular Towers of Tempelhof

‘Berlin is endlessly fascinating and surprising.

It is now a city with a young population bursting with creative energy and industry, home to many vibrant sub-cultures and counter-cultures – and there’s nowhere like it. But it’s impossible to appreciate Berlin’s distinctive spirit and curious urban fabric without appreciating the city’s violent and contested history.’

GA 2.1 ⃝

GA 2.2 ⃝ ⃝

GA 2.6 ⃝

ability to generate complex design proposals showing understanding of current architectural issues, originality in the application of subject knowledge and to test new hypotheses and speculations

ability to evaluate and apply a comprehensive range of visual, oral and written media to test, analyse, critically appraise and explain design proposals

problem solving skills and ability to take the initiative and make appropriate deaccessions in complex and unpredictable circumstances

79

This was a fast-paced project, focused predominantly on urban context, histories and theories, anchored in the complexities of the city of Berlin. The result is a collage of conceptual ideas and studies that synthesise into a unified approach, ultimately resulting in an architectural object.

In this critical project, the breadth of resources drawn on and conceptual rigour is much greater than the depth of architectural resolution, especially in terms of detail.

Essentially, this is a storytelling project.

Brief ‘Wherever you are in Berlin, history is always in attendance. In the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the city was the cradle of the European Enlightenment; seen, for example, in the fine neo-classical architecture of Karl Friedrich Schinkel and his contemporaries. By the turn of the twentieth century, Berlin had become capital of the newly united Germany and the cradle of European civilisation. Following the bankruptcy of Germany after the First World War, its capital became the epicentre of the Weimar republic, characterised by simultaneous political stalemate and cultural invention, attested by the architecture of Erich Mendelsohn and latterly the arrival of the Bauhaus from Dessau. The Nazis, famously, envisaged the city’s reinvention as Germania, the centre of a thousand year reich made architectural in the granite edifices of Albert Speer, while simultaneously sending the city’s million Jews to their deaths or into exile.

By 1945, 80% of the city centre had been destroyed and many of its outlying districts were in ruins. Post-war Berlin, its skyline punctured by three new hills made from the rubble of its destruction, was no less troubled.

As the wartime allies fell-out, it was divided into administrative sectors (following the somewhat arbitrary boundaries of postal districts) and relations between the powers became increasingly tense.

Blockaded by the Soviets, the American, French and British sectors were supplied solely by air in the remarkable Berlin Air Lift (Luftbrücke) of the winter of 1947 which required the hurried construction of two new airports. On 15 August 1961, residents awoke to find the city partitioned into East and West by the infamous Berlin Wall (Berliner Mauer), into two competing cities: the East (part of the GDR, German Democratic Republic) characterised by Soviet-style reconstruction; the West (part of the FRG, Federal Republic of Germany) characterised by huge US ‘Marshall Plan’ investment and the symbols of big corporations. Standing as a symbol of the Cold War, the wall’s ‘fall’ (die Mauerfall) in 1989 was equally symbolic, pictures of parties at the Brandenburg Gate beamed to television sets worldwide. A rushed reunification (seen by many East Germans as a western takeover) was accompanied by the instigation of huge infrastructure projects – of both practical and symbolic value – which almost bankrupted the new state, many of which have only recently been finished. It has also been accompanied

by curiously traditional urban fabric and the gradual erasure of East German architecture.

The city’s cheap rents and vibrant culture now attract a huge diversity of people, Europe’s fashionable young creatives rubbing shoulders with ‘guest worker’ communities (predominantly Turkish in origin) and Cold War veterans.

Contemporary Berlin – just over fifty years after the construction of the wall – bears conspicuously the traces of this uniquely troubled past. The new Berlin may be the centre of the state which has become Europe’s economic powerhouse but it is a curiously understated, self- conscious and informal capital. The legacies of its post-‘89 squat-culture remain as strong as those of its Enlightenment heritage and prominent memorials to Nazi crimes. Questions of what Germany was, is, and will be (mirroring similar questions about Europe itself) are played-out in the buildings and spaces of the city, where the politics of memory – who remembers what, when, where, how and for whom – are made manifest. Any new architecture inevitably implicates the past when anticipating the future, but in Berlin the issues are particularly acute. There is nowhere better to study the complex issues at work in urban fabric.’

GC 1.1 ⃝ ⃝

GC 1.3 ⃝

prepare and present building design projects of diverse scale, complexity and type in a variety of contexts, using a range of media and in response to a brief

develop a conceptual and critical approach to architectural design that integrates and satisfies the aesthetic aspects of a building and the technical requirements of its construction and the needs of the user

INITIAL

RESEA GC 2.1 ⃝ ⃝

GC 2.2 ⃝ ⃝

GC 4.2 ⃝ ⃝ ⃝

GC 7.3 ⃝ ⃝ ⃝

knowledge of the cultural, social and intellectual histories, theories and technologies that influence the design of buildings

knowledge of the influence of history and theory on the spatial, social and technological aspects of architecture

the influence of the design and development of cities, past and present on the contemporary built environment

the contribution of methods of investigation in [the brief’s] preparation

ARCH

Visits | Sites of memory Y5 I S1 I Design I The Capsular Towers of Tempelhof

Seven days of intensive sight visit individually and with a tutor, with a lecture on the city’s history at the Technical University, supported by extensive prior research (see next spread).

In the past 100 years, Berlin went through four radically different political regimes - from monarchy, through national socialism to communism and democratic capitalism. Each of these in turn left its own distinct marks on the city, which today is a chronicle as well as a graveyard of dreams and visions lived, buried and aborted.

The places I have visited represent a cross-section through all of these ‘ideologies’. A selection of images below -

Jewish Museum (x2) / Neue Wache / Potsdamer Platz (x2) / Keiser Wilhelm Memorial Church / Olympiastadion / Sanssouci Palace / Berlin Wall Memorial (x4) / Marx-Engels Forum / Scheunenviertel / Brandenburger Tor / Hauptbahnhof / Checkpoint Charlie (x2)

83

Research | Nazi Berlin Y5 I S1 I Design I The Capsular Towers of Tempelhof

Topography of Terror (exhibition). A photographic chronicle of Berlin’s Nazi rule.

Cover spread image: Project analytique.

Objective: Experience the fabric of contemporary Berlin and locate the traces of its past.

Understand how this has shaped the city and the processes shaping it now.

Cover text and quote taken from the original project brief.

Tutor: Sam Austin.

GC 2.1 ⃝

GC 2.2 ⃝ ⃝

GC 4.2 ⃝ ⃝ ⃝

GC 5.3 ⃝ ⃝

knowledge of the cultural, social and intellectual histories, theories and technologies that influence the design of buildings

the influence of history and theory on the spatial, social and technological aspects of architecture

the influence of the design and development of cities, past and present on the contemporary built environment

knowledge of the way in which buildings fit in their local context

Research | Berlin on film Y5 I S1 I Design I The Capsular Towers of Tempelhof

Research into the city’s historical, cultural and architectural climate was conducted through multiple media - including material written and audiovisual. This included watching a series of Berlin-inspired films, dealing with different periods of the city’s history and present -

Wings of Desire (1987) / Berlin: Symphony of a Great City (1927) / The Lives of Others (2006) / Lola and Billy the Kid (1999) / Run Lola Run (1998) / Good Bye Lenin! (2003)

85

Research | Literature review Y5 I S1 I Design I The Capsular Towers of Tempelhof

The Tools for Thinking about Architecture, linked to the design project, served as a catalyst for literary research on issues related to the city.

Exercises included writing a review of a selected book, in my case Street Scenes: Brecht, Benjamin & Berlin (top left).

Top right: excerpt from my review of Street Scenes.

Below: A selection of books studied or having been introduced to -

Present Pasts: Urban Palimpsests and the Politics of Memory / The New Berlin: Memory, Politics, Place / The Transparent State: Architecture and politics in postwar Germany / The Ghosts of Berlin / Neo-historical East Berlin / German Architecture for a Mass Audience / At Memory’s Edge / Writing the New Berlin / A Women’s Berlin: Building the modern city / A Woman in Berlin

Objective: Conduct a more in-depth research into the issues contemporary Berlin is facing and the way it is dealing with its contested past(s).

‘What is the city of Berlin? It is a city with multiple histories, always ‘trying out identities’, in the process of reinventing itself. It is a complexity consisting of many different layers of meaning that reveals thousand different faces to thousand different observers. In this sense, it is a prime expression of the fluctuating and transient character of modern life; And most importantly, it is the ‘performing city’.’

GC 2.1 ⃝ ⃝

GC 4.2 ⃝ ⃝

GC 5.3 ⃝ ⃝

GC 6.1 ⃝ ⃝

GC 6.2 ⃝ ⃝

knowledge of the cultural, social and intellectual histories, theories and technologies that influence the design of buildings

knowledge of the influence of the design and development of cities, past and present on the contemporary built environment

the way in which buildings fit in their local context

the duties and responsibilities of architects to the wider society

the importance of current methods and trends in the construction of the built environment

Studio choice | Tempelhof Y5 I S1 I Design I The Capsular Towers of Tempelhof

Out of three studio options, I chose Tempelhof - a studio focusing on the largely abandoned Nazi airport situated within the city of Berlin.

‘A designated national monument, most of its more than 10,000 rooms remain dormant, seemingly suspended in time since military personnel left and flights ceased.’

As now in London, Beijing, Bangkok or Abu Dhabi, the construction of new airports has long been seen as symbolic of a city’s – and often a country’s – status on the world stage, a promise of future prosperity, a sign of progress and power. For the Nazis, Tempelhof was just such a symbol, the terminal built between 1936 and 1941 as part of Albert Speer’s plan for the renewal of Berlin as ‘World Capital Germania’ – one of the few elements of that plan to be realized.

Technically and formally innovative, the complex was designed by Ernst Sagebiel to accommodate passenger numbers thirty times higher than those at the time of construction. With a 100m-long departure hall and 1.2 km arced roof sheltering gates and hangars, it remains one of the world’s largest interconnected buildings.

Airport expansion seems as inexorable as it is controversial. As urban airports have reached capacity, construction has moved to larger sites well beyond the complexities and constraints of city centres. So it is in Berlin, where a new airport, Brandenburg, will soon replace not only Tempelhof but also Tegel, as part of a plan, post-unification, to create a single hub for commercial flights.

This project asks you to consider what happens to a site left behind and ‘liberated’ by these processes of modernization, to its abandoned infrastructures, buildings, spaces and networks? What issues but also opportunities are opened up by the airport’s sudden ‘return’ to the locality? Such questions are particularly resonant at Tempelhof, where site and building are so loaded with historical significance – and with possibilities for eventful reuse. (from the project brief)

87

Left: past - pioneering aviation, political spectacles, bastion of the Reich (archive images)

Right: present - an (in)glorious ruin (photos taken during site visit)

Objective: Assuming a critical stance towards its contested past, find an appropriate use for the currently dormant ruin.

IMAGINATIVE

MAPP GC 7.3 ⃝ ⃝ ⃝

the contribution of methods of investigation in [the brief’s] preparation

PING

Mapping | Quantifying Tempelhof Y5 I S1 I Design I The Capsular Towers of Tempelhof

The project started with intense mapping of the building, accompanied by research into its past and proposals for its future. This was set up as a groupwork, with different people taking charge of the individual parts of the research.

How does one measure and map a building so vast and internally heterogenous? I constructed these charts to understand the quantitative possibilities of the building and its site.

Comparative studies (mapping Tempelhof’s attributes against other relevant giants) -

From top left: Number of offices / Possible alternative accommodation / GFA / Site Area compared to other urban parks

Opposite: Spectator accommodation / Site Area as football fields / Site area divided into Manhattan blocks / Site area divided into Barcelona blocks

1 room 100 rooms

1 office

offices in Tempelhof 10.000

x10.000 = 800.000 chicks OR

60.000 infants

rooms in Versailles 2.300

OR

40.000 office spaces intended for OR

30.000 prisoners

ALTERNATIVE USE

NUMBER OF OFFICES

total amount

24 ha

20.000 m2

Versailles gardens 800 ha

Pentagon 610.000 m2

Burj Khalifa, Dubai 465.000 m2 Tempelhofer Feld + Building 397 ha

CCTV Headquarters, Beijing 390.000 m2 Central Park, New York 341 ha

Tempelhof terminal building 284.000 m2

Sansoucci Park, Potsdam 290 ha

Louvre, Paris 210.000 m2

Hyde Park, London 253 ha

Versailles palace 67.000 m2

Tiergarten, Berlin 210 ha

St Peter’s Basilica, Rome 20.000 m2 Disneyland, California 65 ha

GFA

SITE AREA

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Objective: Understand and map the building and its site in quantitative terms.

5.500 spectators

Speer’s Volkshalle, Berlin (planned) 150.000

Kolkata Stadium (world’s largest) 120.000

Tempelhof rooftop 100.000

Nurmberg Party Congress, 1935 86.000

Olympiastadion, Berlin 74.000

site = 565 fields terminal building = 36 fields

O2 arena, London 20.000

Grosser Saal, Berlin Philharmonie 2.440

AS FOOTBALL FIELDS

SPECTATOR COUNT

550550 people people / block / block (or (or 60 at 60LA at density) LA density)

200 people / block

310 blocks 60.000 residents

BARCELONA PLANNING

5.500 people

180 blocks 100.000 residents

MANHATTAN PLANNING

5.500 people

Groupwork | Berlin Symposium Y5 I S1 I Design I The Capsular Towers of Tempelhof

Our initial individual and group analyses were collated into a 3-dimensional walk-through installation - containing models, visual printed and digital information.

Apart from being able to present our findings to the other studios, this gave us ample material to draw on in the next stage, when developing an individual project.

Group members:

Left: The installation

Robert Arthur, Michal Kubis, Alicea Berkin, Jess Davidson, Jenny Greveson, Ceri Turner, Andrew Wilson, Kathleen Ireland, Inga Laseviciute, Holly Lim, Mark Thompson, Thomas Kendall.

Right: site analysis diagrams (courtesy of Rob Arthur)

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Below: Site history (courtesy of Alicea Berkin)

Background: Projecting information onto a site model

quote from project brief

Objective: Collate individual and group findings into a coherent whole. Stage an informative exhibition.

‘This project looks at Tempelhof in context: TCA II during WWII - Forced Labour

Hall 4, assembly line for the Ju 87

The forced labour camp on Columbiadamm, Tempelhof 1944

During the war construction of Tempelhof drew to a halt and became a site for German aircraft production. By 1944, at the peak of employment 4,151 persons foreign workers were being used by “Weserflug”, most of them forced labourers from the occupied European countries.

as part of ever-changing interrelations,

The facility's focus was the mass production of the new Ju 87 dive bomber, a light aircraft specialized for diving attacks on tightly defined targets. During 1943/44 roughly 2000 “Stukas” were built and tested on the runway. In addition, other types of combat aircraft were built, upgraded, and repaired. The barracks areas were fenced with barbed wire, and were policed with machine guns and searchlights. The Eastern European civilian workers were also imprisoned, despite being recruited with promises of being able to work in freedom.

systems, flows and forces that constitute the

TCA II -US Airforce take control Heavy bombing raids starting in late 1943 destroyed the barracks and the old airport buildings; the new buildings, however, with their steel and reinforced concrete construction, remained largely intact.

The Soviet Army took the base in 1945 following a fierce battle with Luftwaffe troops. Russian soldiers had taken the airport in the last days of April 1945 but later had to hand it over to the US Air Force on the 4th of July as the area belonged to the American Sector according to the Yalta Conference which had been held in February of the same yea year.

Damaged departure hall of TCA II

The civilian air traffic starts again within 3 air corridors May 18 1946

The USAF started immediately to clear up what had been left by Weser Werke and the Russian Army. From the 1st September 1945, Tempelhof Airport was operated as a military airport, on 18th May 1946 the AOA started the civil air traffic with a weekly flight to Frankfurt.

city and extend beyond it, relations that are infrastructural, political, socio-cultural, environmental, historical and economic.’

The Berlin Airlift From the beginning of 1947 the political situation in Berlin, started to become more and more difficult. The Soviet Union's blockade of West Berlin in 1948 was the first crisis of the Cold War. Western allies answered the blockade of their land and water routes to Berlin with an airlift.The operation started on June 26, 1948- Sept 30, 1949.

The Berlin Airlift was carried out by the USAF, RAF and British Civilian aircraft. The aim was to sustain the 2.1 million inhabitants of West Berlin and their own staff. A plane was landing every two to three minutes at one of the three West Berlin airports

Trucks are responsible for the next leg of transport, Tempelhof 1948

Children wave to the Airlift pilots, 07 May 1948

2,325,510 tons of cargo delivered to Berlin 277,569 total flights 21,000 tons of goods made in West Berlin exportd to maintain their economy.

Kinderluftbrücke After the end of the airlift, which had provided TCA II with two new hard surface permanent runways, the everyday life of the military airport returned to normal. In 1950 the municipality of West Berlin received the right to operate a part of the airport buildings for civil transportation as a precondition to starting the civil use of the airport.

The departure hall was still partly demolished from the war so a small annex to the section next to the southern hangars served as departure hall, which was officially opened at the 9th of July 1952.

Children of the Kinderluftbrucke 1954

Children of the Kinderluftbrucke 1954

From 1953-1957 a remarkable campaign to help poor children, either of East German (GDR) refugees or of West Berlin residents, to spend holidays with German and American guest families in the Federal Republic of Germany was carried out with the help of the US Air Force.

10,000 children were flown out and back to the military section of Tempelhof Central Airport.

Departure Hall Between 1951-1961 the number of passengers travelling to or from Tempelhof airport increased five fold. The small departure hall (260 square metres) from the beginning of the 1950s, which was not as well connected to the ground services as the original departure hall (5,000 square metres) reached the limits of its capacity. In 1959 the Senate of West Berlin received permission to restore the still-damaged original departure hall.

It took another three years before the departure hall could be put into operation for the first time on July 2, 1962.

Passenger terminal building at Tempelhofer Damm, 26 January 1954

Large passenger terminal in “The Endless Night”, 1962

The reconstruction changed the original design in a number of ways. The entrance hall was divided into two separate storeys by a new ceiling. In the departure hall a new false ceiling was put in 4 metres below the original stucco one. The glazed view onto the apron and the airfield was blocked by the new airport restaurant.

Berlin Wall After the construction of the Berlin Wall in August 1961, the number of passengers dropped, reducing by 18% from then until November 1961.

In response, the government of the Federal Republic of Germany decided to subsidise Berlin flights from March 1962 onwards and the numbers went up again and reached their highest number ever with 6,121,406 passengers in 1971.

The Berlin Wall early in the morning of Sunday, August 13, 1961

Pan Am - 1970’s

The growing air traffic increased the exposure of local residents to the noise of the planes, and this was made worse as maintenance ground checks with running engines were done during the night.

To compensate, the houses along Tempelhofer Damm and nearby streets were equipped with sound protecting windows.

Tegel Airport In the middle of the 1960s another limiting factor became evident. The newly developed jet airplanes required longer runways which Tempelhof airport, because of its restricted inner city location, could not provide. After an evaluation of the different airports in the city, the Berlin Airport Agency decided to develop Tegel as new main airport of West Berlin. The construction works began in spring 1969.

Tegel Airpot

25th anniversary of the Berlin Airlift,Open Day, Tempelhof , 1973

Between 1971 and 1974, trains or road vehicles travelling between West Germany and West Berlin could now travel with fewer official restrictions and cheaper. Passenger numbers dropped by 30% while the number of passengers travelling with cars in the same time increased by about 25%.

TCA II Closure The new Tegel airport was inaugurated in October 1974, and from June 1, 1975 all the civil air traffic of West Berlin was carried out from the new Tegel airport.Tempelhof airport was closed as civil airport and returned to being exclusively a US military airbase until 1985.

USAF Tempelhof 1978

USAF Open House, 1984

GC 5.3 ⃝

GC 7.3 ⃝ ⃝ ⃝

understanding of the way in which buildings fit in their local context

understanding of the contribution of methods of investigation in [the brief’s] preparation

Analysis | Reading Berlin through Object Y5 I S1 I Design I The Capsular Towers of Tempelhof

An exercise in ‘reading’ an object which has the potential to contribute to the discourse on the context of Berlin. (part of the Tools for Thinking module).

I picked a Weimar period film by Fritz Lang (M, 1931), exploring the climate that lead to the Nazi regime and illustrating wider social issues prevalent at the time by an exploration of the leading character’s individual psychology.

Below: Object presentation poster

‘I have to roam the streets endlessly, always sensing that someone’s following me. It’s me! I’m shadowing myself!’

M

(1931) *

* movie by Fritz Lang In the Brechtian spirit, M can be read as a performative enactment of the city of Berlin, on the verge of Germany’s transition from Weimar Republic to the Nazi Reich. A dramatic relationship between a peculiar individual and the society is being played out here.

M against himself The main character (M) is a sick person that compulsively murders little girls. He does not feel responsible for his actions, for he cannot control what he does. The animalistic id is here engaged in a struggle with the superego. This split personality condition reminds me of the reflective Brechtian actor, assuming the identity of a regular citizen but being unable to fully identify himself with this role.

M against the society The Benjaminian concept of the immersed but detached flâneur comes to mind here, for while M is effectively a functional member of the society, at the same time he is an outsider, or ‘the other’ – as perceived by himself [see quote], as well as the other citizens, when his identity is revealed.

The fragmented city Zooming out, we find an image of an anxious and fragmented society, supposedly stemming from the alienated condition of the modern urban man. This feeds into the assumptions of Fascism about the importance of locating the individual within the collective. On the other hand, however, a strong critique of this ideology is implied, as we are clearly shown that the individuals, once united by the common cause against M, become subsumed by their collective identity and stop behaving as free and responsible agents. Their desire to execute (M) is very comparable to his own compulsion.

Here we can spot an antithetical relationship between the Brechtian critically reflective viewer that never gets immersed in the (illusory) spectacle and the spectacle’s use by Fascists to stage reality. Even though M is a sick person, a certain sympathy for him can be sensed and a serious question is implied here: Which takes precedence – the individual or the society?

Crowd absorption Dissociation

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Analysis | Reading Tempelhof through Fragment Y5 I S1 I Design I The Capsular Towers of Tempelhof

The previous exercise lead to the analysis and reading of Temeplhof through a selected Fragment - a microcosmic representation / reflection of the whole.

Provocatively, I chose the Chinese Pavilion in Sanssouci park (located off-site) as my Fragment.

I would use this as a mirror through which I would explore the underlying similarities and tensions between these two superficially widely divergent architectural objects.

Objective:

Below: Fragment presentation poster

Select a micro-scale object that resonates with the whole (of Tempelhof) as a way of getting into research on the building.

Rococo vision *

Nazi vision *

Gilding reality. Constructing Ideals.

A continuous fragment, evolving in time. Assuming new identities, recycling old idea(l)s.

Being German. Being bigger and better.

Right to growth.

1000 year Reich Continuity

1. Making connections The ideal is in both cases clear. The Chinese house enacts it through reference to a culture distant in space, frozen in time. It is the timeless image of the Orient. The Nazi ideal of the lost Volksgemneinschaft community, living in organic harmony with its soil and bonded by German blood is reffered to, in an attempt at resurrection of this ction and its applciation to the everyday reality.

2. The appeal Rococo Chinoiserie is a fantasy made by upper class, for the upper class. It is an escapest ction and is not concerned with the society at large. National Socialism is for the masses. In its simplicity, it is meant to be understood by everyone - by the masses this ideology needs to support itself.

* Tempelhof

Discipline!

Strength. Stability. Monumentality. Grandeur. Order. Conformity.

Repetition. Integrity. Appeal to the masses. Simplicity. Work.

Participation.

3. The scale The Rococo scale is life-size, to which the individual can relate. He becomes temporarily aborbed in a fantasy world, which appears life-like. The Reich scale is colossal, so that an individual can not relate to it. It dwarfs and threatens him, gives him a sense of awe. It is something larger than man, it is the State. The large spaces can only be lled by masses of people. The repetition of the elements also enhances this sublime effect.

4. The language The Chinese house is literal in its representation of its ideal. It shows graphically what it wants to present. The Nazi polished stone is devoid of any semantic traces. The message is implicit, it is meant to be absorbed emotionally.

(1934)

Stripping the excess.

Exposing the core bare.

But only in appearance!

5. Stone over Gold Although the intended effect greatly varies, each material signifying different values, there lies a commonality underneath. The gilded Chinoiserie veneer is no more of an illusion than the Nazi appearance of stripped bareness - being only a cladding over the reinforced concrete structure, to make it appear strong and solid.

1933 Collosal scale. Dwarrng. Suppression of identiy. Awe.

A gilded veneer.

Reening reality?

* Chinese House (1755)

Pleasure.

Decadence.

Reenement. Sensuality. Lightness. Frivolity.

Leisure. Escape from boredom. For the elite.

Individualism. Fragmented society.

Jews. Demoralisation. Erosion of values.

Metropolitan confusion. ?

?

Rococo Baroque Antithesis

The Orient

? ?

Life-size scale. Immersive. Enchantment.

Antithesis

Weimar Republic

Order.

Grandeur. Hierarchy. Control.

Ideal community.

Ideal community.

Bonds of Blood & Soil. Harmony with nature.

Family as the basic unit of Society.

Romanticizing the past.

Cultured leisure. Reened pleasure.

Harmony with nature. Romanticizing distant cultures.

The foundation of a Society. A State.

* Two narratives. Two Germanies. © Michal Kubis.

Rootedness

Medieval past

GC 2.1 ⃝ ⃝

GC 2.2 ⃝ ⃝

GC 3.1 ⃝

GC 3.2 ⃝

GC 3.3 ⃝

knowledge of the cultural, social and intellectual histories, theories and technologies that influence the design of buildings

knowledge of the influence of history and theory on the spatial, social and technological aspects of architecture

knowledge of how the theories, practices and technologies of the arts influence architectural design

knowledge of the creative application of fine arts and their relevance and impact on architecture

the creative application of such work [fine arts] to studio design projects, in terms of their conceptualisation and representation

Analysis | The logic of Tempelhof Y5 I S1 I Design I The Capsular Towers of Tempelhof

Principles behind the logic of Tempelhof.

(Slides from interim review presentation)

+ + +

97

Analysis | Gilding vs. Repression Y5 I S1 I Design I The Capsular Towers of Tempelhof

Following the Symposium, a period of in-depth analysis of my area of interest, connected to my selected Fragment, followed. This was linked to a creative exploration of my findings through a variety of media, concluding in a tri-screen image bombardment presentation, integrating image slideshow and scripted text.

Gilding vs. repression visualising a dichotomy.

Different readings of the same building, based on the studies of my Fragment.

Presented simultaneously on 3 large plasma screens.

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Objective: Research, analyse and critically respond to the selected aspect of Tempelhof.

GC 3.3 ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ the creative application of fine arts to studio design projects, in terms of their conceptualisation and representation

Analysis | A capsular microcosm Y5 I S1 I Design I The Capsular Towers of Tempelhof

I used collages to portray different regimes of spatial production, relevant to the history of the site.

From top left: Rococo escapism, Fascist state, The Repressed, Modern capitalism;

(The images below were originally presented accompanied by an individual story for each [omitted here].)

Opposite: Introversive escapism, Tabula rasa, Projection of Self

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Objective: Create conceptual collages exploring the various ‘ideologies’ associated with Tempelhof’s history, through the medium of the capsule.

GC 3.3 ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ the creative application of [fine arts] to studio design projects, in terms of their conceptualisation and representation

MASTE GC 4.1 � �

knowledge of the theories of urban design and the planning of communities

ERPLAN

Masterplan | Group strategy Y5 I S1 I Design I The Capsular Towers of Tempelhof

The main studio group was further divided into teams of three, each focusing on a given quadrant of the site. In each team, a comprehensive masterplan was produced, setting a common theme for the team’s members. Within the framework of this plan, each individual went on to develop their own proposal, focusing on a particular set of issues of their own interest.

Team members: Thomas Kendall, Jess Davidson, Michal Kubis

‘How might we respond to a site long enclosed, secured and controlled as a portal into and out of the city, a local outpost of international airspace decisively cut off from the practices, processes and patterns of daily life in the surrounding city?’

Left: Quote from project brief.

An Other place

Proposal

Berlin, with its rich history of regimes and ideologies can be seen as a testing ground for various visions and utopias. This is especially relevant for the site of Tempelhof, which was being variously (re-)appropriated by different groups and regimes for centuries.

In line with the site’s history, we propose the establishment of a constellation of three new symbolic ‘cities’ on the existing site, each guided by its own ‘ideology’ - manifested in the city’s physical form as well as a set of rules to guide the city’s future development. The respective position of each city is based on a symbolic interpretation of its site’s original use within Tempelhof. The proposed architecture of each city is emblematic of the scenario envisioned for the city.

From the domain of Knights Templar, a Prussian military parade ground, a landing field for the first historical attempts at aviation, to the arena for Hitler’s mass rallies; eventually to become a symbol of Freedom for the Berliners - Tempelhof has always been an Other place - an urban heterotopia, a part of Berlin, yet removed from it, with its own rules and regulations.

The result is in each case a prospective memorial - embodying the site’s past while asking questions about and testing scenarios for the city’s future.

‘The result is [...] a prospective memorial - embodying the site’s past while asking questions about and testing scenarios for the city’s future.’

105

Below: Team masterplan ‘Terminal cities, A constellation of metropolitan alternatives’ -

0 - Berlin.

Objective:

1 - The Border City An airlock influx regulator (Thomas Kendall)

Propose a masterplan based on the previously conducted research and analysis of Berlin and Tempelhof.

Acknowledge Tempelhof’s contested past, while bringing new use to the derelict site.

2 - The Archaeological City A testing ground for planned utopias. (Jess Davidson) 3 - The Vertical City A self-regulating capitalist machine. (Michal Kubis)

original use the public route

gates

3

departure hall

2

1

0

entrance court

GC 4.1 ⃝ ⃝ knowledge of the theories of urban design and the planning of communities

Masterplan | Individual strategy Y5 I S1 I Design I The Capsular Towers of Tempelhof

One of the project’s major foci was on dealing with Temeplhof’s relationship with the city - its complicated and ambivalent relationship to the surrounding urban context. This sheet explains the rationale behind my intervention, from an urban perspective.

Left: The proposed towers on site (red) within Tempelhof (black)

Key reading (right): Rem Koolhaas - Delirious New York / Bernard Tschumi - Event Cities / Michel Foucault - Of Other Spaces

Diagnosis

Solution

A homeostasis

There are currently 10.000 office spaces in Tempelhof, most incapable of being rented out. The main hall is too remote from the rest of the spaces, its potential is lying unexploited.

The large horizontally-spreading complex needs densification and activation, with heterogenous programme.

Two towers - Event generators to continuously inject ‘meaning’ and spectacle into the Event condenser - the Main Hall. Two towers Beacons to attract and absorb new occupancy from the passers-by.

107

Below: Diagram explaining the proposal’s relationship to the surrounding city.

Objective: Integrate the proposal with the urban fabric of Berlin, while preserving the intended separate nature of its biggest part. Use the new building to activate the surrounding parts of the Tempelhof complex.

GC 2.3 ⃝ ⃝

GC 5.3 ⃝ ⃝

the application of appropriate theoretical concepts to studio design projects, demonstrating a reflective and critical approach

understanding of the way in which buildings fit in their local context

DESIGN

SYNTH

HESIS

Vision | The Story of future Tempelhof Y5 I S1 I Design I The Capsular Towers of Tempelhof

For me, The Towers of Tempelhof is essentially a storytelling project, exploring the possibilities of a particular scenario. The design proposal is conceived as a satire-polemic, probably posing more questions than answers. Originally, the project images have been presented accompanied by the script shown below.

Image: ‘Reaching for infinity...’ (final scheme)

Quote below taken from the Situationist International, 1953.

1. Capsules of Self-realization

2. The (cancerous) growth

3. The emergent order

Fed up coping with the realities of your everyday life? Always wanted to unleash the artist inside of you? Do you need a canvas to project your dreams? You can have it all – now! Call 110-995 and rent your very own capsule in the brand new Vertical City of Tempelhof.

Over time, as visions are created and eventually deserted, capsules are being squatted by Strangers , visions are reappropriated and the Vertical City is being turned into a huge archive – a repository of dreams and nightmares – a condensed version of Berlin (physically and ideologically), as Tempelhof always has been. All the innovative and abortive political visions, utopias and private fantasies are being archived here, dormant in the building’s unconscious, ready to be pulled out, recycled and enacted again, perhaps, one day, or otherwise to remain forgotten forever.

As private initiatives and speculations out of self-interest emerge, some of the spaces develop into hubs serving the community and all the necessary and excessive amenities come to life. After all, private economic initiatives might lead to the emergence of a self-sufficient city with a sense of community.

The Towers become a proper vertical city, following the logic of Tempelhof, with its vertical and horizontal schism.

The Vertical City is a (dis-)topian retreat to extreme atomism. It enables the creation of your own private cosmos, within the restriction of given bounds - neutralizing limits of the Grid. It is composed of separated individuals, going on about their own business, enclosed in their capsules.

The voluntary prisoners (or tenants) will be locked in their cell, entrapped in a virtual reality created according to their own liking, watching the city of Berlin through a plate of glass – always beyond, out of reach. The reality of the city below for them becomes a mere virtual image. They are, however, content, being fed pleasure through pipes, taking in their doze of Soma. A plug-and-play high-tech machine. This is a logical continuity of the Chinese Pavilion, an anti-thesis of the Nazi vision of society, while following their formal logic to the extreme and endorsing the semantics of contemporary democratic openness.

It is an embodiment of the obsession with Self, atomized decadence unleashed, the Nazi nightmare of laissez-faire excess came true.

Welcome to the Vertical city of Tempelhof.

As demand rises and more cells are being rented out, the towers are symmetrically extended up towards the sky and also downwards, creating a new axis mundi.

Mirroring man’s obsession with accumulation and knowledge, a Library of Babel is being created, for the modern global Faust.

The prediction is that - from the initially uniform typology, various types of cells develop - private, communal, and commercial.

These serve different functions in the emergent community, each finding its own place and together capable of providing for all the human needs and wants. A capitalist machinery at work.

111

Epilogue In its final stage, the project is analogous to a collage city. Fragments of various utopian visions come together in an explosive mosaic, interacting and enriching each other.

Two pressures can be observed here. The top down force of the Grid demands conformity, in an attempt to contain the exuberance of each fragment. This is the formal logic of the original Tempelhof.

In opposition to this stand the bottom-up pressures of Individuality, breaking through the Grid and infecting (cross-fertilizing) each other. Transgression within the System exists, with some elements functionally spreading multiple Cells and some individual fragments forming larger composites.

As in the old Tempelhof, interesting and peculiar local boundaries start to develop.

Perhaps some areas with distinct personalities come to life - the Red Light District, the Central Business District, the gentrified Suburb... Topography of a true city, made vertical.

‘Everyone should live in their own cathedral.’

Story | Chapter 1: Capsules of Self-Realisation Y5 I S1 I Design I The Capsular Towers of Tempelhof

Below: 10 m2 / Cell - Realm of the Individual. One vessel, endless possibilities. The basic building block of the proposal.

Objective: Design a (neutral) vessel to enable inhabitation in a wide variety of ways.

113

Top: Precedents, density and interaction - Kowloon City, Hong Kong

Middle: Precedents, main hall space - place of exchange (Plaza de Jamaa, Marrakech) / a showroom (Apple Store Paris) / an archive of ideas (Peabody Library)

Bottom: Precedents, hyper-efficient organization and storage systems

Objective: Find an organizing logic for the individual cells.

GC 7.1 � the need to critically review precedents relevant to the function, organisation and technological strategy of design proposals

Story | Chapter 2: The (cancerous) growth Y5 I S1 I Design I The Capsular Towers of Tempelhof

Well-serviced cells, connected to the amenities network. Lifts operate horizontally and vertically to reach each cell. Cells can be pre-fabricated and slotted into place via the lifts.

Below: A Tower, detail.

115

Objective: Find a structural, servicing and access solution to enable maximization of the number of cells within each Tower.

GC 8.2 ⃝ ⃝

GC 9.3 ⃝

the ability to integrate knowledge of structural principles and construction techniques

strategies of building services and ability to integrate these in design project

Story | Chapter 2: The (cancerous) growth Y5 I S1 I Design I The Capsular Towers of Tempelhof

Below: Structural solution and integration of services -

1. Primary frame + 2. Secondary frame + 3. Building services + 4. Inhabitable cells

The Normalizing

Background image: A fly-through of the tower’s dark interior (view from inside a lift)

117

Objective: Find a structural, servicing and access solution to enable maximization of the number of cells within each Tower.

The Individualizing

GC 8.2 ⃝ ⃝

GC 9.3 ⃝

the ability to integrate knowledge of structural principles and construction techniques

strategies of building services and ability to integrate these in design project

Story | Chapter 3: The emergent order Y5 I S1 I Design I The Capsular Towers of Tempelhof

Bottom: Plan of a sample level, a cross-section through different individual worlds; exploring the possibilities of a 10 sqm space

119

Objective: Define and visualize the logic of the individual spaces’ inhabitation and their mutual relationship.

Story | Epilogue Y5 I S1 I Design I The Capsular Towers of Tempelhof

Collage City principle, concept visualisation. (a project analytique)

121

GC 3.3 � � the creative application of [fine arts] to studio design projects, in terms of their conceptualisation and representation

MY NAME IS...

MIC

CHAL

2

Reading The Trial

‘In [his] seminal work, Weber sketches (a practically dystopian) vision of a society deeply infested with bureaucracy which, he argues, is ’the distinctive mark of the modern era’ and ‘is technically superior to all other forms of administration, much as a machine is superior to handicraft methods.’

GA 2.4 ⃝ ⃝

GA 2.7 ⃝ ⃝

understanding of how knowledge is advanced through research to produce clear, logically argued and original written work relating to architectural culture, theory and design

ability to identify individual learning needs and understand the personal responsibility required to prepare for qualification as an architect

The Tools for Thinking module supplemented the Berlin project with exercises focusing on research into the context of Berlin and its histories (see beginning of previous project). It also consisted of a lecture series outlining various methods of architectural research and culminated in a written essay on a topic of my choice.

Although relatively short, the 3000-word essay offered an opportunity to conduct research on the selected topic in greater depth and learn more about the histories and theories informing architectural design.

Abstract ‘History does not realize the archetype of the reasonable being in the individual, but rather in a coherent ensemble comprised of partial institutions, groups and systems.’

– G.W.F. Hegel The bureaucracy could be seen as a perfect embodiment of such system. In 1922, Economy and Society – the opus magnum of the sociologist Max Weber was posthumously published. In this seminal work, Weber sketches (a practically dystopian) vision of a society deeply infested with bureaucracy which, he argues, is ’the distinctive mark of the modern era’ and ‘is technically superior to all other forms of administration, much as a machine is superior to handicraft methods.’

As my argument runs, I will attempt to show that the view of modernity outlined by Weber is also paralleled in architectural and sociological discourse of the time. To illustrate this, I will use scenes from the filmic version of The Trial, as my point of focus. To analyse these scenes, I will be using predominantly the critical lens of Henri Lefebvre, Albert Camus and Sigmund Freud, as well as architectural theories collated in books by Anthony Vidler.

With the assistance of these, I will endeavour to establish a relationship between the psychological conditions of Kafka’s hero and the spaces portrayed in Orson Welles’ film – using this link as an illustration of the reciprocal relationship between the urban spaces of modernity and psychological conditions of its populace. Put (perhaps too) simply, the thesis is – as the spaces of The Trial shape K, so the metropolis shapes us.

My observations are tied to the period in which the two versions of this story take place; which is one I am interested in and think is crucial in understanding analogous conditions of today. The resultant work can be seen as an overlap between sociology, psychology and architecture – linking these in a (to some extent) causal relationship.

GC 2.1 ⃝ ⃝ ⃝

GC 2.2 ⃝ ⃝

GC 3.1 ⃝ ⃝

GC 3.2 ⃝ ⃝

knowledge of the cultural, social and intellectual histories, theories and technologies that influence the design of buildings

knowledge of the influence of history and theory on the spatial, social and technological aspects of architecture

how the theories, practices and technologies of the arts influence architectural design

knowledge of the creative application of fine arts and their relevance and impact on architecture

Essay | Final output

narrated by Michal Kubis © January 2014.

Y5 I S1 I Essay I The Trial

‘

‘This place is not my home’ or

Reading The Trial as a (socio-psychological) critique of Modernity An exploration of ‘the dangerous proximity between phobia and reason’

1

1

A. Vidler, Warped Space, The MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 2001, p.49

Narrated by Michal Kubis © January 2014.

127

Opposite: Essay cover, as submitted.

Tutor: Sam Austin.

Images below: Dali, Bunuel - Un Chien Andalou (1929), short film / Bell Aircraft Corporation (1944) / A Nous La Liberte (1931), film

Cover spread image: A Scene from the Trial (1962), film by Orson Welles

Selected introductory passages, along with key images follow, giving a taste of the completed work.

The context It’s 1914. Franz Kafka starts writing The Trial. The place is Prague, part of the multiethnic Austro-Hungarian Empire, a melting pot of cultures and ideas. In the Empire’s capital Vienna, the psychoanalytical theories of Sigmund Freud are just being published, Schoenberg experiments with atonal music and overall a new aesthetic of modernity is being defined by artists and architects, breaking with all traditions, epitomized by the figure of the 84-year-old emperor Franz Joseph.

The new aesthetic is inspired by the automobile, being mass-produced

by Henry Ford in his massive new plants in the US, where he fuses the Scientific Management studies of Frederick Taylor with his own innovation of the production line – enabling him to manufacture cars faster and cheaper. In this generation, the Efficiency Movement spreads throughout all spheres of life, from industrial production to the government of corporations, nations, societies and individuals.

The machine is a perfect embodiment of this spirit, adopted as an almost universal point of reference for every aspect of life – including the human being, as conceived by the followers of Pavlov and eventually the behaviourists; and imitated and parodied in artworks such as À Nous La Liberte (1931) and Chaplin’s Modern Times (1936) or exploited by the surrealists through automatic writing and art.

These phenomena and the resultant new living conditions provided also a target for more serious critique, ranging from the various Marxist intellectuals (giving eventually birth to the Critical Theory of the Frankfurt School and the Situationists); to sociologists such as Max Weber and philosophers of existentialism – exemplified by Camus and Sartre.

On the other hand, there were those who openly embraced this modernity and its aesthetics – starting with the Italian Futurists and the industrially-inspired works such as Ballet Mécanique (1923) or Berlin: Die Sinfonie der Großstadt (1927) – whose celebration of machine and movement was later adopted by the pioneers of modern architecture – above all Le Corbusier, with his ‘machines for living’; drawing on the aesthetics of simplicity, celebrated earlier by yet another Viennese – Adolf Loos. Adding that 1914 was the year when the Great War erupted, it was definitely a time of turbulent change.

Essay | Final output Y5 I S1 I Essay I The Trial

Images below: Scenes from The Trial (1962), film by Orson Welles

Joseph K The Trial’s main hero, Josef K, is a conformist figure, a career climber, who thinks himself rational and in conformity to the System. As he, however, soon finds, he is being crushed on one hand by the bureaucratic facelessness of the very system he is trying to be a productive member of, on the other by various temptations that hinder the progress of his trial. These two elements are represented respectively by the various (almost exclusively male) legal personages and several females (femme fatales).

If The Trial is, indeed, a dream, both factors can be seen as externalized elements of K’s psyche, representing the clash between his conformitydemanding superego and its subversive antagonist – the id, screaming for instant gratification of its (primarily sexual) desires, which at times sharply clash with K’s rational judgement and directly inhibit the progress of his trial. In opposition stands the superego, which, following Freud , creates a moral ideal his ego cannot live up to, making K feel constant guilt, even in cases there is nothing to be blamed for.

He is thus doubly prosecuted – by his own (existential) guilt as well as by the system itself. Or are these two facets of the same coin?

The spaces in The Trial, instead of being objective entities, could thus also be read as mental projections of K’s psyche. Should The Trial then be seen as the biography of a peculiar individual, such as Kafka undoubtedly was, or can we read in his hero’s character something more – perhaps the portrait of a general psychological condition of the modern individual? The overall consensus seems to support this reading. After all, the usage of ‘K’ instead of a proper surname seems to deliberately suggest a degree of generality.

In an analogous way, Albert Camus, an admirer of Kafka, in his Myth of Sisyphus, uses the hero’s ‘ceaseless and pointless toil’ as ‘a metaphor for modern lives spent working at futile jobs in factories and offices.’ Likewise then, one can read The Trial as a portrait of, what is in the words of Anthony Vidler ‘…a nervous and feverish population, overexcited and enervated.’ As Camus affirms - ‘ The nature of art is to bind the general to the particular.’

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Image below: Le Corbusier - Ville Contemporaine (1922)

Bibliography (main sources) W. Benjamin, Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction, Penguin Books, London, 2008 [kindle edition] E. Burke, A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1990 [kindle edition] C. Camic, P. Gorski and D. Trubek, Making Sense and Making Use of Max Weber’s Economy and Society, Max Weber’s Economy and Society: A Critical Companion, Stanford University Press, Palo Alto, 2005 A. Camus, The Myth of Sisyphus, Vintage, New York, 1991 [.pdf version] F. Duffy, The Changing Workplace, Phaidon Press, London, 1992 F. Duffy, Work and the City, Black Dog Publishing, London, 2008 S. Freud, Beyond The Pleasure Principle, Acheron Press, Penguin Books, London, 2003 [kindle edition] S. Freud, The Ego and The Id, The Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud – Volume Thirteen, The Hogarth Press, Toronto, 1961 S. Freud, The Uncanny, Penguin Books, London, 2003 [kindle edition] F. Kafka, In the Penal Colony, Penguin Books, London, 2011 [kindle edition] F. Kafka, The Trial, Wordsworth Editions, Ware, 2008 H. Lefebvre, The Production of Space, Blackwell Publishing, Oxford, 1991 F. Nietzsche, The Birth of Tragedy Out of the Spirit of Music, Penguin Books, London, 2003 [kindle edition] A. Vidler, Warped Space, The MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 2001 A. Vidler, The Architectural Uncanny –Essays in the Modern Unhomely, The MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1992 M. Weber, Economy and Society, University of California Press, Berkeley, 1992

READY FOR THE

NEXT

ONE?

3

The Total Theatre of The Ephemeral

‘What the Immersive Theatre seeks is to return the spectator’s proximity to the action staged in the theatre. It seeks to create immersive and resonant experiences to counter the alienation of everyday environments, to engage all the bodily senses and ultimately perhaps to yield a cathartic effect.’

GA 2.1 ⃝ ⃝ ⃝

GA 2.2 ⃝ ⃝ ⃝

GA 2.3 ⃝ ⃝ ⃝

GA 2.6 ⃝ ⃝

ability to generate complex design proposals showing understanding of current architectural issues, originality in the application of subject knowledge and to test new hypotheses and speculations

ability to evaluate and apply a comprehensive range of visual, oral and written media to test, analyse, critically appraise and explain design proposals

ability to evaluate materials, processes and techniques that apply to complex architectural designs and building construction, and to integrate these into practicable design proposals

problem solving skills and ability to take the initiative and make appropriate decisions in complex and unpredictable circumstances

While being anchored in a close study of a precedent ‘Ghost’ building, the focus of this project was largely on construction, material and environment which, as a holistic strategy manifested itself in the ‘Tell-the-tale detail’ and a supplementary booklet explaining the construction and environmental strategies - which, although being integrated in the design project, was assessed as a separate Technology unit.

Brief ‘The ‘real world’ is something we often hear about: it is claimed as the place of rational decisions, of weighty problems and of efficient solutions. This ‘real’ world is important in architecture, too, a world of regulations, gravity, risk and calculation. But what about architecture beyond the real? By asking you to look at the unbuilt as a way to think about building, this project invites you to consider how the ‘unreal’ – as well as the surreal and the hyperreal – is always present amongst the fabric of our ‘real’ cities.

The briefs will ask you to engage with a ‘ghost’ of a structure embedded in the site’s history and imagination. Through this, you will be asked in varying ways to propose strategies, programmes and structures that respond to these fragments of unbuilt Berlin.

These strategies, programmes and material approaches will draw on close analysis of the specific character of the building. Through this, you will propose a project in the city which explores ways that material, structure, technology, atmosphere and programme can come together into an architecture of rigour, detail and depth.

Detail Some architects think about detail design separately from scheme design, parcelling them up as distinct activities. This separation is instituted in the organisational structures of some offices, where separate teams work on the ‘concept’ and ‘production’ phases of a job. This project aims to challenge this problematic distinction between ‘concept’ and ‘production’, between ‘design’ and ‘technology’. It proposes, instead, that detail is the microcosm of an architectural idea; that rich architecture contains an idea or ideas which pervade the proposal from site to strategy to fabric to environment to detail.

Marco Frascari writes of the ‘Tell-the-TaleDetail’. Thinking of Carlo Scarpa’s work, he argues that a detail should embody the whole.

It should have narrative content. It should tell a story – about how architecture is, about how the world is (or should be).

This project asks you to investigate details, materials and technologies, and, through those, to design a building. A clear narrative should link the detail with the strategies for the building. This same narrative will thread your proposal’s environmental, structural, climatic, lighting, acoustic and energy strategies together into a coherent whole.

Detail + Environment consultancies A detail + environment lecture series will accompany the project as part of the design module. In association with the project, the lecture series and its related assessment covers significant aspects of the architectural technology curriculum prescribed by ARB and the RIBA at Part 2. Structural, construction and environmental consultancies will be scheduled during the project to help you achieve a high level of technical resolution.’

Similarly, it might be said that every detail – however, precious, understated or seemingly ill-considered – has a tale to tell. Looking closely at the details of buildings can tell us a lot about the values, attitudes, and priorities of the culture in which they were produced.

Imagining and creatively appropriating the details of unbuilt or destroyed buildings is a way critically to understand and work in dialogue with them.

GC 1.1 ⃝ ⃝ ⃝

GC 1.2 ⃝ ⃝ ⃝

GC 1.3 ⃝ ⃝ ⃝

prepare and present building design projects of diverse scale, complexity and type in a variety of contexts, using a range of media and in response to a brief

understand the constructional and structural systems, the environmental strategies and the regulatory requirements that apply to the design and construction of a comprehensive design project

develop a conceptual and critical approach to architectural design that integrates and satisfies the aesthetic aspects of a building and the technical requirements of its construction and the needs of the user

INITIAL

RESEA GC 7.2 ⃝ ⃝ ⃝

GC 7.3 ⃝ ⃝ ⃝

understanding of the need to appraise and prepare building briefs

the contribution of methods of investigation in [the brief’s] preparation

ARCH

Studio choice | Express-ionism Y5 I S2 I Design I The Total Theatre of the Ephemeral

‘Expressionism proposes that aesthetic forms taken for granted need not be. That the urban environment is both cataclysmic and open to revolution. That ways of living and the spaces of the past are up for renegotiation.’

‘Expressionism imagines a new future.

Expressionism takes the forms of the past and proposes a rapid, material advancement to counter a bleak, dark and dehumanizing world of remorseless industrialization and urbanization.

Expressionism sets forth a worldview. A place of material, structural and technological ingenuity. In the immediate aftermath of the First World War, and the German Revolution of 1918, it appears true that ‘all that is solid melts into air’ .

Expressionism presupposes that the Dark and the Light live together. In an environment of technological change, cultural change, political change (especially in Germany, where our story is set).

The established political classes are in a constant state of reorganization and radically competing ideologies are starting to exercise their muscle across Europe. Expressionism reacts. It forms alternatives. It proposes new mechanisms for ways of living, ways of building, ways of painting, sculpting, dressing, acting. It is Europe’s avant garde.’

Expressionism proposes that aesthetic forms taken for granted need not be. That the urban environment is both cataclysmic and open to revolution. That ways of living and the spaces of the past are up for renegotiation.’

(from studio brief)

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Expressionist and expressionism-inspired theatre and film sets.

From top left: Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari (1920), Divine Comedy (1921), Midsummer Night’s Dream (1938), Laterna Magika (1958)

Cover spread image: Fritz Lang - Metropolis (1927)

Objective: Revive and apply the expressionist aesthetic and principles in a contemporary context

Cover text taken from the original project brief.

Cover quote from my design declaration.

Tutor: Ed Wainwright.

GC 2.1 ⃝

GC 2.2 ⃝

GC 3.1 ⃝ ⃝

GC 3.2 ⃝ ⃝

knowledge of the cultural, social and intellectual histories, theories and technologies that influence the design of buildings

knowledge of the influence of history and theory on the spatial, social and technological aspects of architecture

knowledge of how the theories, practices and technologies of the arts influence architectural design

knowledge of the creative application of fine arts and their relevance and impact on architecture

Research | Grosses Schauspielhaus Y5 I S2 I Design I The Total Theatre of the Ephemeral

Ghost building: Grosses Schauspielhaus by Hans Poelzig (1919).

Bottom: Auditorium - impression and reality. Entrance foyer.

Cloakroom.

139

Building history - changing uses (left), changing internal configuration (right)

Objective: Reawaken the spirit of the ‘ghost’ building on its original site

1873. circus

1910. high theatre

1924. popular theatre

1934. Nazi theatre

1936. operettas

1972. TV shows

1984. variety shows

GC 7.1 ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ the need to critically review precedents relevant to the function, organisation and technological strategy of design proposals

Research | Architectural context Y5 I S2 I Design I The Total Theatre of the Ephemeral

Buildings by Hans Poelzig - representing different principles implemented in the design of Grosses Schauspielhaus -

From top left: Haus Zwirner (1910) Rootedness in tradition.

Stage design for Golem (1920) - Emotionally resonant space.

Friedrichstrasse skyscraper, competition entry (1921) Monumentality. Salzburger Festival Theatre, proposal (1920) - Eclecticism. Palace of the Soviets, competition entry (1931) - Sociallyembeded architecture.

141

The emerging urban ‘age of the masses’ seeks a new architectural expression. Congregation halls for staging of mass spectacles resonate with various competing political ideologies. Coupled with implementation of new structural technologies, light (applied in various ways) is a major element in the design of all of the below.

Congregation halls, theatres and cinemas that inspired and were inspired by the Grosses Schauspielhaus -

From top left: H. Tessenow, Festspielhaus.

(1911). M. Berg, Jahrhunderdshalle (1913).

H. Poelzig, Salzburg Festival Theatre (1920). A. Hitler / A. Speer, Volkshalle (1925). H. Poelzig, Capitol Cinema (1926). W. Gropius: Totaltheater (1927). R. Frankel, Lichtburg Cinema, (1929). Lichtburg CInema, exterior. Mozartsaal, rebuilt (1931).

Achieved: Understand the formal, technological and ideological context behind the building’s architectural expression.

GC 2.2 ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ knowledge of the influence of history and theory on the spatial, social and technological aspects of architecture

Research | Gesamstkunstwerk Y5 I S2 I Design I The Total Theatre of the Ephemeral

Gesamstkunstwerk - a total work of art, multisensory experience.

Left: Gesamstkunstwerk, elements comparison: the precedent, the case study and contemporary relevance

Bottom left: layering of total experience (gestalt image)

Bottom right: ‘Everything that is solid melts into the air’ (Karl Marx). Spatial and material development.

Gothic:

Grosses Schauspielhaus:

21st century:

? light

sound

other senses

pattern

material

space

narrative

community

ideology

spatial expression

materiality

1200

1920

2014

GC 2.1 ⃝

GC 2.2 ⃝

knowledge of the cultural, social and intellectual histories, theories and technologies that influence the design of buildings

the influence of history and theory on the spatial, social and technological aspects of architecture

143

Gesamstkunstwerk as immersive experience.

From top left: Gothic. Expressionist.

Contemporary.

Quote: Hans Poelzig on his Grosses Scahuspielhaus.

Objective: Recreate the sensation using contemporary materials and technology.

‘...catharsis that transforms thousands, the unity attained through awe, the edifying, ennobling, consecrating power of such an evening performs the miracle of retransforming petrified, isolated individuals into a deeply moved, purified community.’

GC 3.1 ⃝ ⃝ ⃝

GC 3.3 ⃝

GC 7.1 ⃝

GC 9.1 ⃝

how the theories, practices and technologies of the arts influence architectural design

the creative application of such work [fine arts] to studio design projects, in terms of their conceptualisation and representation

the need to critically review precedents relevant to the function, organisation and technological strategy of design proposals

knowledge of principles associated with designing optimum visual, thermal and acoustic environments

Research | Contemporary relevance & Brief definition Y5 I S2 I Design I The Total Theatre of the Ephemeral

Top left: Image consumption.

Produce packaged and ready to be consumed.

Bottom left: Society of the Spectacle

Top right: Programmatic implosion Bottom right: The great schism - image and reality

GC 2.1 ⃝ ⃝

GC 2.2 ⃝

GC 2.3 ⃝ ⃝

knowledge of the cultural, social and intellectual histories, theories and technologies that influence the design of buildings

knowledge of the influence of history and theory on the spatial, social and technological aspects of architecture

the application of appropriate theoretical concepts to studio design projects, demonstrating a reflective and critical approach

145

Background reading: Jean Baudrillard - Simulacra and simulation. Michael Sorkin - Variations on a theme park.

The power of the Image

Towards an Immersive Theatre

The image sells. Everything from religion, emotions, lifestyles, political ideas, cities, even individuals is perceived through and often reduced to images; in a ubiquitous economy of image consumption - where the actual ‘product’ is becoming secondary.

In the Germany of 1920s, new theatrical concepts were being invented and exploited to bring this artistic form to the masses.

As is well illustrated by the case of Grosses Schauspielhaus, they, however, could not compete for the masses’ attention with the rising genre of cinema - and thus gradually these attempts have been largely abandoned.

Cinema, even more so than proscenium theatre, reduces the lived experience and human contact of the theatrical form to a framed image.

At the same time, curiously enough, experience economy is growing as well, perhaps to counter this. What matters here is the experience of consumption, the consumption of experience... An eternal cycle.

As Jean Baudrillard points out, the experience is, however, often one of simulation, under weight of which reality slowly dissipates.

There is something uncannily theatrical about this. In an increasingly heterotopified society, where public space is becoming privatized and cities swallowed up by commerce (all types of programme gravitating towards each other and being ultimately swallowed by the shopping mall) -

This is very relevant nowadays - especially with the rise and proliferation of mediating technologies, we tend to often perceive the Image rather than the actual thing. Thus -

Brief: Analysis of the context and ideologies that gave rise to Grosses Schauspielhaus resulted in the outline of a programme - which is an attempt to reinterpret the spirit of the original design transplanted into the context of contemporary Berlin.

‘What the Immersive Theatre seeks is to return the spectator’s proximity to the action staged in the theatre.

It seeks to create immersive and resonant experiences to counter the alienation of everyday environments, to engage all the bodily senses and ultimately perhaps to yield a cathartic effect.’

What room is there left for spontaneous action and creative innovation?

In Berlin, this seems to always be a sensitive question, especially when new development is discussed. Think of the controversial Mediaspree development, displacing heterogenous communities to make space for globalized commerce.

GC 4.1 ⃝

GC 5.1 ⃝

GC 6.1 ⃝ ⃝

GC 6.2 ⃝

GC 6.3 ⃝

GC 7.2 ⃝

knowledge of the theories of urban design and the planning of communities

understanding of the needs and aspirations of building users

the duties and responsibilities of architects to the wider society

recognising the importance of current methods and trends in the construction of the built environment

the potential impact of building projects on existing and proposed communities

understanding of the need to appraise and prepare building briefs

MATTER & DETAIL

EXPLOR GC 5.2 ⃝ ⃝ ⃝

GC 8.1 ⃝ ⃝ ⃝

GC 8.2 ⃝ ⃝ ⃝

GC 8.3 ⃝ ⃝ ⃝

understanding of the impact of buildings on the environment and the precepts of sustainable design

the investigation, critical appraisal and selection of alternative structural, constructional and material systems relevant to architectural design

understanding of strategies for building construction and the ability to integrate knowledge of structural principles and construction techniques

understanding of the physical properties and characteristics of building materials, components and systems and the environmental impact of specification choices

RATION GC 9.1 ⃝ ⃝ ⃝

GC 9.2 ⃝ ⃝ ⃝

GC 9.3 ⃝ ⃝ ⃝

GC 1.2 ⃝ ⃝ ⃝

knowledge of principles associated with designing optimum visual, thermal and acoustic environments

systems of environmental control realised within relevant precepts of sustainable design

strategies of building services and ability to integrate these in design project

understand the constructional and structural systems [and] the environmental strategies [...] that apply to the design and construction of a comprehensive design project

Material exploration | Light Y5 I S2 I Design I The Total Theatre of the Ephemeral

A primer exercise prior to designing my own building was constructing an object (inhabitable with the head) that represents the Ghost I have studied on a micro scale.

In the spirit expressionism, I paid special attention to the manipulation of light its filtration and reflection, with the objective of spatial multiplication, as well as the haptic properties of the object’s interior.

149

The primer was followed by a period of material testing where, again, I explored the possibilities of light filtration and projection.

Objective:

Quote:

By Karl Marx

Explore the properties of light to reinterpret the Ghost building’s theatrical use of the element in a contemporary setting

‘Everything that is solid melts into the air’

GC 8.1 ⃝ ⃝

GC 8.3 ⃝ ⃝ ⃝

the investigation, critical appraisal and selection of alternative structural, constructional and material systems relevant to architectural design

understanding of the physical properties and characteristics of building materials, components and systems

Material exploration | Light Y5 I S2 I Design I The Total Theatre of the Ephemeral

Light projection through my constructed lightbox (long exposure).

151

Precedent | Performance design Y5 I S2 I Design I The Total Theatre of the Ephemeral

All of these precedents question conventional ways performance (in its broadest sense) is done. They mix different technologies and borrow elements from various fields to create something new and unique. In the same way, the proposed Sphere of the Total Theatre is envisioned as a creative melting pot of artistic potential - functionally as well as symbolically.

From top left: 1 Lynn Nottage – theatre in the round / 2 Pina Bausch – Tanztheater/ 3 Punchdrunk: The Mask of Red Death / 4 Elafur Oliasson – Notion Motion / 5 Rain Room, London / 6 Diller + Scofidio – Blur / 7 White Sensation, Amsterdam / 8 Dragon’s Treasure, Macau / 9 Cirque du Soleil – Delirium / 10 Studio Edwin van der Heide / 11 Hiroaki Umeda – Holistic strata / 12 acoustic music gig

153

Range of desired effects to be implementable in a performance.

Air: fog bursts, mist saturation, low lying fog

Objective: Research experimental types of contemporary performance and the way they use the ‘elements’ as mise-en-scene. Select a range of ‘effects’ to be implemented in the proposal through imaginative detailing.

Light: full-dome projection, show lighting, natural light filtration Water: artificial rain, floor pool, light filtration through water

AIR

LIGHT

WATER

GC 3.1 ⃝ ⃝

GC 3.2 ⃝ ⃝

GC 7.1 ⃝ ⃝

knowledge of how the theories, practices and technologies of the arts influence architectural design

knowledge of the creative application of fine arts and their relevance and impact on architecture

the need to critically review precedents relevant to the function, organisation and technological strategy of design proposals

Concept | Auditorium - transformations Y5 I S2 I Design I The Total Theatre of the Ephemeral

The design of The Sphere seeks to enable and encourage the exploration of new forms of art - allowing established artistic genres to mix and overlap in possibly new and unexpected ways. Infrastructure of systems is provided to be incorporated and creatively re-imagined by artists and directors for their shows. In this theatre, no (substantial) props are used, this is no Fun Palace. Just the physical body and The Immaterial. The elements mix with technology. They are the stage sets. The bodies unfold the space.

Interior renders showing a variety of event types being staged at the Total Theatre, viewed from different places within the building -

Top row: Views from the ramp.

Bottom: Inside the sphere.

155

Interior renders showing a variety of event types and moods, employing different technologies, based on the precedents studied and their creative combination (viewed from inside the auditorium)-

1. The Cave

2. Moonlight Sonata

3. Enter the Inferno

Performance: live music (solo acoustic guitar & vocals); Arrangement: crowd on the floor & ramps, circular gathering around central focus; Technology: spotlights located near top of sphere, smoke injected into cushions for darkness, sound reproduction; Music pre-selected + on-demand; Mood: intimate

Performance: choreographed acrobatic show, live music (electric violin); Arrangement: crowd dispersed over the ramps and floor; Technology: sound reproduction, 360° projection, fog; Mood: mystique, surreal

Performance: dance party; arrangement: crowd and DJ on the floor, burlesque dancers and rest of audience on ramp; Technology: surround sound, video capture, layered 360° projection, rainfall, strobe lights; layered projection: background image for mood (alters with sound visualisation) + highlights of the crowd,

Objective: DJ and dancers projected on top (selected by assistant DJ on the floor); Mood: exuberant, narcotic

Visualize the spaces of the Theatre, as perceived during different kinds of performances, based on the research shown previously.

(These are actually final images created at the end of the design process.)

GC 9.1 ⃝ ⃝ knowledge of principles associated with designing optimum visual, thermal and acoustic environments

Concept | The script Y5 I S2 I Design I The Total Theatre of the Ephemeral

The experience of the Total Theatre in four acts.

Image: A walk-through interactive performance staged inside the Sphere.

I.

II.

As you walk past the river, a large canopy blocks your sky. The ground slopes slightly to your side. Jugglers perform, children play.

People drink coffee. A number of small domes block the view towards something glowing in the distance. You see people coming in and out. You swirl your way around, towards the lights. You see a giant sphere. You walk around it, examining the situation. There is a number of oval shapes, you can see through some, not others. There are some curtains drawn, blurry shapes moving behind them. You catch a fragment of some sort of a speech, as you walk by. You can’t resist. You move in and slowly draw the curtain away. There is a ring of people sitting around a duo circling each other. It seems like a play is being performed.

Or rehearsed. You can’t quite tell. Passing the graffiti artist, you finally make your way to the sphere.

Its surface is formed of smooth rounded cushions. You touch one, it succumbs to the pressure of your thumb. Some greyish substance inside of it swirls. You pass through a tunnel and enter. You appear in a forest of metal tubes. People move above your head.

A light curtain stands in front of you, blocking your way. Images shift on its surface. The light comes from beyond. You realize the platform you are standing on is sloping. It is a ramp. You walk up the ramp, passing people on the way, with their heads pressed against the surface. A strange kind of light seems to be illuminating from the individual strands of the hanging fabric. It is soft and rubbery to the touch.

And you can move it. As you do, glimpses of the space beyond open up. There is some activity going on. Lights flashing. As you walk up the ramp, you hear different sounds. Some coming from the space beyond, some from above and beneath you. It seems like you are walking through a forest of sounds. And images. And you are starting to get quite lost in it. You begin to rather enjoy...

157

III.

IV.

Enter. Pitch darkness. All around. A solo violin begins to sound out of somewhere, resonating through the space. People turning their heads, mesmerized. Floodlight turns on.

A small speck of light appears in the middle of the room, growing. The space expands.

You can’t quite see the edge of it, surrounded by the unknown - it is like sitting around the fire in the primeval times. Or at least you imagine so. Yes, people are sitting down. And standing. Some making their way through.

And lying. With their eyes closed. Or focused on different spots on the stellar dome above.

When suddenly certain stars begin to grow and transform into thousands of small images.

A sphere covered with a myriad of screens. All in the same space, yet everybody’s experience different. Personal. As the music unfolds, a peculiar kind of bond starts to form between the people. Quite a religious experience. You close your eyes and imagine Bach’s organ resonating through the walls of a medieval cathedral. You are moved. Music stops. The sound of silence hangs in the air...

Curtains rise - the sphere lights up. Different groups of performers enact several scenes at once, various-sized clusters forming around them. Geysers of fog erupt at different places, as you move around. All is getting rather blurry... Lights go off. The space seems to dissolve into darkness. Then thin streams of light start to filter into the space, as the fog inside the plastic cushions all around dissolves. Streams of light make their way through the forest of rods - diffusing the light in all directions. Acrobats appear in the air, suspended above your head. Music starts to play, synchronising with the strobe lights.

Glitters all around. Water starts falling from the air, first in gentle streams, then dispersed showers. A shallow pool starts to form at your feet. It feels like one of those really decadent parties portrayed in The Great Gatsby. Quite a spectacle. Pure exuberance. You feel dizzy.

Shapes swirling, people moving. And dancing.

You are not quite sure who is a guest and who a performer. Or are there any? People dance. You look up. You can see shapes moving behind the translucent curtain made out of thousands thin rods - shapes, resolving themselves into human bodies. Or so you guess. You can also see arms. Moving the curtain aside. And heads. Popping through.

It is unlike anything you have experienced before and you are quite sure you will visit again.

Detail | Systems & Servicing Y5 I S2 I Design I The Total Theatre of the Ephemeral

Extract pages from the original Technology submission booklet.

Top left: Structural system and material layers

Bottom: Smoke and mist production and deployment system

Top right: climatic control

The cushions

HOW?

behind the scenes

climatic control

inner layer

outer layer

AHU inflation: increase in U-value

projection surface - silicon rods curtain

transparent ETFE cushions, 0.2 mm sheeting, ultra-light

(infra) structure

polythene tube

AHU deflation: U-value drops

How it works?

cushion inflation system, water & fog ducting and electrical services integrated in the geodesic structural frame

smoke to fill cushions

mist to fill the space water based fog (dissipating)

oil-based fog (durable)

technical precedent: Media-ICT, Barcelona

Air is pumped into each ETFE cushionion for inflation. The volume of air pumped or sucked out regulates the system’s U-value, enabling thus easy alteration of the space’s temperature. Air intake is provided via ducts integrated within the sphere’s supporting structure, sharing the same ductwork and air handling unit with the oil-based mist circulation system. An automatic pressure monitoring system is provided.

ViCount smoke system

atmospheric precedent: Blur building, Switzerland

light filtration through fog-filled ETFE cushions, reflectors placed on the outside (own image)

Fog generating system: Concept Colt Turbo 4 How it works?

How it works?

Nitrogen-propelled (biodegradable, non-toxic) fog from the fog generator is injected into the ETFE cushions via the air intake pipes, regulating the cushion’s transparency.

Range of levels from clear (85 %) to virtually opaque (2 % light transmission) can be achieved. During the day, this can be used to regulate the direct solar gain, as well.

Each cushion has its own IP address and can be controlled independently - thus patterns can be formed.

The dispersal system is rapid, enabling quick transitions from darkness to light. Oilbased smoke is very persistent (hang time 3-4 hours) and will not dissipate easily unless sucked out in a reversal process. The propellant gas nitrogen is then extracted in an oil mist separator and stored back in the tank.

Fog generating system: Concept ViCount 5000 (typically used for fire simulations and air leak testing)

A smoke fluid chemical is heated above its boilding point withtin the heat exchanger of the smoke-generating machine and vaporised. This is then ducted by a pump into PVCu pipework integrated in the sphere’s supporting structure and released through nozzles protruding out of the structural tubes. On contact with the atmosphere, rapid condensation takes place and visible fog is produced. (Similar process is used to generate fog for the cushions, but here the fog is water-based, which makes it also thinner and lighter.)

The density of fog created can be regulated to range from thin haze to visualize illumination effects to a thick mist preventing visibility beyond 3 metres.

Each noozle has its own IP address and can be controlled independently - creating bursts of smoke in different places if desired, synchronized with sound or lighting. The system can also be linked to sensors - creating, for example, interactive installations where jets of smoke get triggered by movement or gestures.

Depending on the amount sprayed, the mist has a hang time of up to 1.5 hours and slowly dissipates as it rises. To create low-lying mist, a chiller is installed in the circuit, which, when turned on, cools the fog exiting the generator, creating thick clouds of fog that will lie close to the ground, if dispersed through the bottom nozzles.

If needed, the fog can be ventilated out through openable segments at the top of the sphere, using stack effect. To speed up the process, fan system installed in the sphere’s cavity may be used. These may also be implemented to create various wind effects, as part of a performance.

159

Top left: Projection surface material

Bottom left: Water circulation system

Top right: Stage lighting and sound system

Bottom right: Energy generation using algae

Objective: Research and design systems to enable deployment of the effects specified previously. Find a way to generate energy for these systems in a sustainable manner.

Projection surface: 1.350 m2

Light & sound technology

Viewing distance range: 0 - 30 m

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT

silicon rods fixing to the frame silicon rods

precedent: Sounds to Tabakalera, Tabakalera, San Sebastian, Spain, 2009 (sound mapping)

mist/water sprinkler PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT

The projection curtain Silicon rods installed in tension in front of the structural frame act as a surface for projection. Projection from the interior of the sphere provides a clear and continuous image over the whole surface, while producing an image on the counter side of the surface as well - creating different experiences for people viewing from the ramp - who may get a fragmentary close-up view of parts of the image, while still maintaining visual contact with the interior beyond.

Rods are elastic and thus allow appropriation - enabling people to move them aside and lean over to get closer to the action, if they wish. Over the entrances, the bottom ends of the rods are hanging loose, allowing passage of people and objects into the space.

Possible projections include image and video - which can be used as virtual stage sets, incorporation of live video feeds and integration of sensors into the system allows interactive installations, where the content is controlled by people’s movement, touch or gestures - having a potential to create unpredictable effects, if multitude of people interact at the same time.

Projectors Eight 8000 lumen projectors are used, placed around the sphere’s perimeter. (see diagram) The projectors are placed in order to provide the minimum amount of possible shadowing from the people (which would happen only at the edges of the platform, if they stand extremely close to the surface. These shadows, however, could also be creatively used as part of performance. Display mapping is used to create a seamless composite image. An additional projector ocated at top of sphere enables proejction onto the floor.

uses of water

Stage lighting

Acoustics & Sound systems

Includes flood lights, reflectors, strobe lights, lasers and possibly others can be installed and repositioned freely for specific performances or installations.

A 3D surround sound system is used - with an array of speakers and 16 subwoofers installed behind the projection skin. Apart from providing a 3D sound effect, different audial experiences can be created depending on where the visitor stands. Some sounds may be heard in particular spots only. Alternatively, participants can be provided with headphones for personalized experience in experimental pieces.

Equipment suspended from the sphere’s structural frame and beneath the circulation ramp, mounted to protrude through the silicon rods curtain (see detail section).

Can be integrated with the fog and sound systems to form composite patterns or for 3D visual mapping of the actual sound produced in the space (image above).

Acoustically, the cushions are relatively transparent with some levels of sound absorption - hence reverberation times will be very low and no echoes are produced, which enables to exploit the benefits of different sound outputs from different speakers fully, without interference. For increased accoustic absorption, acoustic mesh or other sound absorptive objects could be installed in the cavity in front of the the cushions.

a Brechtian approach to infrastructure? (the spectacle of) energy generation

bioreactor biomass

CO2

heating

algae bioreactor, common configuration biogas

silicon surface is inherently hydrophobic

pressure nozzle to release water

fuel cell

electricity

water projection into underground spaces (own image)

biomass / biogas

Collection & dispersal

Recycling

The system

Rain water is collected and stored in an underground tank for use in special effects.

As it flows down the exposed peak of the sphere, it also manages to clean the ETFE surface. Piping for water collection and distribution is integrated in the hollow tubes of the dome’s structural frame, release happens through pressure nozzles situated on the frame (see Projection page for diagram).

The silicone material of the projection surface is inherently water repellent, allowing water to drip down along the surface to be collected in a sink at the bottom of the sphere. It accumulates here until pumped out to be filtered and stored back in the main tank underground.

Cushion canopy on the roof (structure reinforced by steel cables) is used to grow microalgae. An ETFE membrane provides sufficient visible and UV light transmittance to allow algae to grow inside. Algae live in a water solution and are provided CO2 and nutrients by an automated system and absorb energy from the sun. The more sunny it is, the faster the algae grow (on sunny summer days, their amount may double every 4 hours! ); and thus also more shading is provided for the areas below. This dynamic system (with O2 bubbles continuously forming and dissipating as the algae photosynthetise) filters light in interesting and ever-changing patterns, enhancing the spaces beneath the cushions.

When there is water in the sink at the bottom of the sphere, it can be lit by reflectors from above to create rippling projections in the underground spaces (see bottomright image on summary page, previously). The floor plate inside the sphere is slightly concave, with a remotely-controlled drainage opening in the middle, enabling creation of a shallow pool (as envisioned in the image of expressive theatre, opposite the Systems title page) - before letting the water pass down into the sink.

electricity

heat

CO2

modified version of diagram from http://www.iba-hamburg.de/

algae bioreactor - detail of light-filtering liquid surface

Water jets with varying intensities (possibly interactive) can be created in particular places around the sphere edges or a rain effect can be achieved, if the upper nozzles are activated uniformly.

heat stroage

Excess heat that builds up inside the solution-filled cushions is transfered into saline water tanks underground for later use. When the algae grow sufficiently, some are automatically harvested via pipes (a monitoring system controls this). In a facility located in the building’s basement, the biomass is converted into biogas, which is then incinerated (in a fuel cell) to provide electiricty as well as additional heat - used for heating of the building, as well as creation of fog and climatic manipulation of the main sphere. Moreover, incineration of the biomass generates CO2 which is then fed back into the system, forming a cycle.

This technology combines use of solar thermal and geothermal energy by implementation of a living ecosystem.

GC 5.2 ⃝ ⃝

GC 8.2 ⃝

GC 8.3 ⃝ ⃝ ⃝

GC 9.1 ⃝ ⃝ ⃝

GC 9.2 ⃝ ⃝

GC 9.3 ⃝ ⃝ ⃝

understanding of the impact of buildings on the environment and the precepts of sustainable design

understanding of strategies for building construction and the ability to integrate knowledge of structural principles and construction techniques

understanding of the physical properties and characteristics of building materials, components and systems and the environmental impact of specification choices

knowledge of principles associated with designing optimum visual, thermal and acoustic environments

systems of environmental control realised within relevant precepts of sustainable design

strategies of building services and ability to integrate these in design project

Detail | Systems & Servicing Y5 I S2 I Design I The Total Theatre of the Ephemeral

From top left: Air and heat circulation; Light and sound technology; Water circulation and energy production

Servicing systems.

fog spray nozzle

light technology

cushion air intake

projector

fan

surround sound system

heating

projection onto the floor

acoustic absorbers (optional) air / thermal barrier

8 projectors around the rim of sphere

d

c

fog rising

projection surface

b airlock sliding door

1

a

2

3

equipment, central computer

1

2 1

3 - heat produced in bioreactor AHU

air (for inflation) AHU

air (for heat exchanger)

electric network, central computer

fog generating system

oil mist separator

chiller air 1 - electricity produced in bioreactor (partially)

water-based fog generator

nitrogen tank

water spray nozzle water in (clean) water out (dirty) rainwater cleans cushions

algae bioreactor

light filtration

gutter

water barrier

shallow pool

1 2

water collection pond

3 light filtration

2 pump

1 water storage tank

filter

3 - biomass energy generation system (see detail page)

161

Top: Theatre in the round, 360°.

Diagrams showing different audience-performer configurations and movement types.

Middle: Stage + auditorium = The Floor. Showing floor extension mechanism and different floor areas achievable.

Bottom left: Access and circulation.

Showing the ramp wrapping around the surface of sphere and the various access points.

Bottom right: Mechanisms of Floor movement - horizontal and vertical (diagram)

Objective: Integrate the systems specified previously into the building’s fabric. Consider how these affect the spaces from the user’s point of view. Consider how the servicing and structural systems are integrated.

TCUDORP LANOITACUDE KSEDOTUA NA YB DECUDORP

TCUDORP LANOITACUDE KSEDOTUA NA YB DECUDORP

PRODUCED PRODUCED PRODUCED

BY AN

BY AUTODESK AN

BY AN AUTODESK AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL EDUCATIONAL EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT PRODUCT PRODUCT

GC 5.2 ⃝ ⃝ ⃝

GC 8.2 ⃝ ⃝ ⃝

GC 8.3 ⃝

GC 9.1 ⃝ ⃝ ⃝

GC 9.2 ⃝ ⃝ ⃝

GC 9.3 ⃝ ⃝ ⃝

understanding of the impact of buildings on the environment and the precepts of sustainable design

the ability to integrate knowledge of structural principles and construction techniques

understanding of the physical properties and characteristics of building materials, components and systems

knowledge of principles associated with designing optimum visual, thermal and acoustic environments

systems of environmental control realised within relevant precepts of sustainable design

strategies of building services and ability to integrate these in design project

TCUDORP LANOITACUDE KSEDOTUA NA YB DECUDORP

:NAPS L:ANTAOPTS L:N AT AO PS T LATOT :RETNEC :RM ET ON REF:C RE MTONREFC MORF m 01 m 01 m 01 tnemgestn sseumrtgd ee stn tsreosm puprgtuedssem strso5uprpt udsetm rop 5pus m 5 m 5.91 m 5.91 m 5.91 revelitnacresvseulirttnm arce5vs7es.lu4 itrnt am c s5s7u.4rt m 57.4 m 33 m 33 m 33 trap elbatdra np ete xe lba m trdan 5pe 7e t.x6lb eam dn5e7tx.6e m 57.6

TCUDORP LANOITACUDE KSEDOTUA NA YB DECUDORP

TCUDORP LANOITACUDE KSEDOTUA NA YB DECUDORP

TCUDORP LANOITACUDE KSEDOTUA NA YB DECUDORP

TCUTDCOUT RDC PO ULR DAPONL ROA PIT NLA O AC IN TUA ODC IT EUAK DCS EUEK DDS EOEK TDU SOE ATDN UOATY U NB AD N YE B ACD YUB EDCD OUE RDC PO UR DPORP

Detail | Material strategy Y5 I S2 I Design I The Total Theatre of the Ephemeral

Main precedents: Grimshaw - Eden Project, Herzog de Meuron - Alianz Arena, PTW Architects Watercube

GC 5.2 ⃝ ⃝

GC 7.1 ⃝ ⃝ ⃝

understanding of the impact of buildings on the environment and the precepts of sustainable design

the need to critically review precedents relevant to the function, organisation and technological strategy of design proposals

163

Structural and systems initial exploration sketches - a selection.

Objective: Integrate the previously shown environmental systems into the building’s fabric. Explore the possibilities of imaginative detailing in this process.

Use precedents to study ways in which the relevant technology has been implemented in the detailing of a building.

GC 8.1 ⃝ ⃝ ⃝

GC 8.2 ⃝ ⃝

GC 8.3 ⃝ ⃝ ⃝

GC 9.1 ⃝ ⃝ ⃝

GC 9.2 ⃝ ⃝

GC 9.3 ⃝ ⃝

the investigation, critical appraisal and selection of alternative structural, constructional and material systems relevant to architectural design

understanding of strategies for building construction and the ability to integrate knowledge of structural principles and construction techniques

understanding of the physical properties and characteristics of building materials, components and systems and the environmental impact of specification choices

knowledge of principles associated with designing optimum visual, thermal and acoustic environments

systems of environmental control realised within relevant precepts of sustainable design

strategies of building services and ability to integrate these in design project

Detail | Technical synthesis Y5 I S2 I Design I The Total Theatre of the Ephemeral

Tell-the-tale-detail.

Originally drawn @ 1:20.

hollow o-section steel column, 600 mm dia

2

screed, 60 mm, polished finish waterproof membrane composite concrete slab, 150 mm steel cellular decking, 38 mm (flexible enough to form a curve), (shear studs welded to beam below) cells filled with fibreglass thermal insulation timber battens (fixed with screws into steel L sections), thermal insulation, 150 mm (supported on insumate trays) damp proof membrane two-way support structure (d = 13.5), secondary carrier structure (d = 2.7 m): I-section cellular steel beam, 560 mm *A ventilation ducts and suspended LED tube lighting in cavity suspended metal grille ceiling, 50 mm (75 mm square holes)

3

HSS rectangular beam (follows perimeter of sphere)

4

screed (integrated underfloor heating), 60 mm, polished finish composite concrete slab, 150 mm steel cellular decking, 38 mm, cells filled with glass fibre acoustic insulation cellular steel beam, 560 mm suspended metal grille ceiling, 50 mm

5

screed (integrated underfloor heating), 60 mm, polished finish damp proof membrane composite concrete slab, 150 mm steel cellular decking, 38 mm, cells filled with fiberglass thermal insulation cellular steel beam, 560 mm timber battens, thermal insulation, 200 mm waterproof membrane fibre cement sheets cladding, 40 mm, (suspended and fastened with galvanized screws),

6

self-supporting geodesic sphere, triangular segments, two-layer spherical structure joined as a three- dimensional vierendeel truss

7

hollow o-section supporting steel frame, 150 mm dia, threaded joint, PVCu pipework integrated in support structure *B pressure spay nozzle, stainless steel

8

silicon rods (15 mm dia) projection surface, fixed in tension through steel eye end screwed into frame *C

9

two-layer ETFE cushion, inflatable aluminium clamping strip steel C-section, insulated cavity air intake tube (50 mm dia polythene), continued inside structural frame *D

10

steel bracing, 50 mm dia

11

metal grille walkway (25 mm dia round holes), clip-on segment system, fixes onto 60 mm dia HSS tubes screwed into geodesic frame, slots for hook-on suspension of light & sound technology

12

metal surface platform, slides open to span the sphere’s section (using hydraulic arms), supported on concentric steel beams, edges click onto cantilevered steel profiles to fix platform to geodesic structure *E

*A

long beams curved following building’s long section, straight beams along short s. (seen in profile), see structural isometric for details

*B

see environmental strategy diagrams for details of the service circuits

*C

see sphere: technical details section for material and fixing details

*D

see enviro. diagrams for circuit details see technical section for details of inflation & black-out mechanisms

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT

1

*E see technical section for plans of opening mechanism

GC 8.2 ⃝ ⃝ ⃝

GC 8.3 ⃝ ⃝

GC 9.1 ⃝ ⃝

GC 9.2 ⃝ ⃝

GC 9.3 ⃝ ⃝ ⃝

understanding of strategies for building construction and the ability to integrate knowledge of structural principles and construction techniques

understanding of the physical properties and characteristics of building materials, components and systems and the environmental impact of specification choices

knowledge of principles associated with designing optimum visual, thermal and acoustic environments

systems of environmental control realised within relevant precepts of sustainable design

strategies of building services and ability to integrate these in design project

165

Objective: Integrate the previously explored systems, technologies, structures and spatial qualities into a 1:20 construction detail

DESIGN

SYNTH

HESIS

Design | Concept Y5 I S2 I Design I The Total Theatre of the Ephemeral

As a producing house, the Theatre hosts as well as creates its own shows and performances, which can be staged in the building’s various spaces - ranging from the open floor

landscape to the Sphere.

Openness and interaction with the public is crucial; In a way, the whole building becomes an interactive art installation.

Building concept - a continuous landscape of events.

171

Interior concept - an unfolding landscape.

Objective: Find a spatial expression appropriate to the radical and experimental nature of the Theatre to be housed here.

Design | Urban context Y5 I S2 I Design I The Total Theatre of the Ephemeral

Top left: The site in Berlin Mitte Top right: The proposal on site

Bottom left: Approach and building exterior Bottom right: Views - Building Interior

2

1

3

a

b

c

e

d

f

6

8

4

4

9

9

9

9

5

A continuous journey

173

Sections in context- vertical (top) and horizontal (bottom).

Objective: Integrate the building with its urban context.

(This is particularly important for this project, as the aim was to make the building as open and inviting as possible, and the programme to spill out onto the neighbouring streets and square.)

A programmatic condensation / collision.

Vertical movement vs. continuous semi-horizontal route formed by the floors incline.

commercial

art & learning

E 9

8 7 10

5 3 4

6

2

D

D

B

A

1

Platz + Theater = Theatre-landscape A. site of Grosses Schauspielhaus B. Bertolt-Brecht Platz ation sse st chstra Friedri (100 m)

Programme

N

1.

2.

3.

4.

Circulation & Light

5. rooftop park, exhibition areas b 6. rehearsal spaces, black-box auditoria, dark exhibit 7. streetfront plaza 8. shopping centre sse ichstra 9. restaurant & cafe terrace Friedr 10. The Sphere

riverfront plaza main approach, ‘experience domes’ back of house facilities art / community centre

A. courtyard B. personal lift C. cargo lift D. escalator E. spiral ramp

st dtpala chsta ) (50 m

Friedri

c a

e rest a

ura cafe nts, s

f Bertolt Brecht’s Ensemble theatre B A

service access ha in Re

d

e ss

a str rd

GC 5.3 ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ Level 0

understanding of the way in which buildings fit in their local context

Design | Urban context Y5 I S2 I Design I The Total Theatre of the Ephemeral

The building in context at different times of the day.

Top: Bird-eye view of the Theatre’s roof deck among the Berlin skyline.

Bottom: Illumination of the building at night. The Sphere acts like a beacon in the city’s fabric.

175

Design development sketches (not the final version).

Top: Long section, showing the proposed building’s relationship to the river.

Below: Cross section, showing the building’s relationship to the existing theatre (left) and office block (right).

Objective: Integrate the building with its urban context.

GC 5.3 ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ understanding of the way in which buildings fit in their local context

Design | Synthesis Y5 I S2 I Design I The Total Theatre of the Ephemeral

Programme: 1. riverfront plaza 2. main approach, ‘experience domes’ 3. back of house facilities 4. art / community centre 5. rooftop park, exhibition areas 6. rehearsal spaces, blackbox auditoria, dark exhibit 7. streetfront plaza 8. shopping centre 9. restaurant & cafe terrace 10. The Sphere

Spatial and programmatic synthesis. Sections, levels -1 to 3.

Circulation & Light A. light courtyard B. personal lift C. cargo lift D. escalator E. spiral ramp

4 4

Level -1

Level 2 Level 2

6

Level -1 6 Level -1 1

6 2

1

Level 0 5 5

2 7

1 Level 0 2 Level 0

7

3

7

Level 1 8

3

3

Level 1

8 Level 1 8

9 9

Level 3 Level 3

177

Structural synthesis, diagram.

Composite concrete slab / two-layer geodesic sphere / Primary steel structure / Retaining basement walls & foundations

Objective: Design a structurally sound building, based on the construction principles explored and spatial concept defined previously, accommodating the programme specified initially.

GC 1.1 ⃝ ⃝ ⃝

GC 1.3 ⃝ ⃝ ⃝

GC 8.2 ⃝ ⃝

prepare and present building design project[s] [...] in response to a brief

develop a conceptual and critical approach to architectural design that integrates and satisfies the aesthetic aspects of a building and the technical requirements of its construction and the needs of the user

understanding of strategies for building construction and the ability to integrate knowledge of structural principles and construction techniques

Design | Spaces Y5 I S2 I Design I The Total Theatre of the Ephemeral

Precedent boards - Building interiors, selection (top) and landscaping (bottom); linked to the individual spaces identified on the previous spreads

2 - experience domes*

6 - underground area

the intimate ephemeral

the dark spaces

steel tubes structure, fabric projection surface

close-up projection space (own image)

translucent domes

private performance / intimate encounter

dark exhibition spaces

walk-through installations and theatre (Punchdrunk)

curtain-partitioned auditoria

projection onto curtains (own image)

* numbers relate to the isometric section

1, 2, 7 - plazas

5 - rooftop park

art & public entertainment

leisure, culture, activities

1&2

performance pavillions (temporary)

open-air cinema

festivals / events

amphitheatre formed by the floor sloping

7

open-air exhibition (under ETFE canopy)

skating & urban sports

leisure & picnic areas

green areas

people gathering

street performers / buskers

179

Top: Pods, various ways of defining internal spaces across the ‘landscape’ (left drawing is my own)

Bottom: Light-integrating facade systems implemented in the proposal - translucent capillary membrane (bottom left), LED media screen (bottom right)

Objective: Use precedents to visualize the additional interior spaces.

(My focus in terms of both quality of space and detail was on the Sphere - see previous section. Due to limited time, I decided to use precedents to give a sense of the other spaces, as well as detailing of the external facade.)

A) activity pods, hard-defined

(A),(B) - two types of space definition

TDS T-line 800x1800 TDS T-line 800x1800

TDS T-line 800x1800 TDS T-line 800x1800

glass ‘activity pods’, courtyards (A)

partition curtains - flexible enclosure (B)

activity pods sitting on a slope

translucent glass surfaces / curtains

open auditoria, defined by the slope

lifts support structure

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT

pod sizes

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT

6 - underground area

4, 8 - art / learning centre, shopping

translucent capillary facade system

the media facade

structural glazing

metal mesh (translucent), in front of structural glazing

threads with LED pixels woven into the mesh

translucent media facade (LED RGB pixels)

LED strips fixing onto the mesh (detail)

disappearing display

different programmes - different uses: for commercial messages vs. artwork display. Mixing of the two?

GC 7.1 ⃝ the need to critically review precedents relevant to the function, organisation and technological strategy of design proposals

Design | Summary Y5 I S2 I Design I The Total Theatre of the Ephemeral

The Total Theatre of The Ephemeral - design objectives

1. Immersivity creating multisensory, unique and resonant physical experiences (everybody’s experience is different, every visit is different) 2. Engagement becoming part of the performance, blurring the boundaries between the performer and spectator (see Bertolt Brecht) 3. Encounters meeting & mixing of different forms of art and entertainment (a creative melting pot - the sphere as a symbol) 4. Continuity between individual acts and performances (no strictly defined shows), possibility to stage a continuous 24/7 experience 5. Openness & Integration unrestricted access of the public to all premises, the building becomes an extension to Berlin’s urban space 6. Community creating a bond between people via the act of participation; providing a communal focus for various creatives in Berlin

181

Crowd immersivity - image from the internet.

GC 2.3 ⃝ ⃝

GC 5.1 ⃝ ⃝

GC 6.1 ⃝

GC 6.3 ⃝

the application of appropriate theoretical concepts to studio design projects, demonstrating a reflective and critical approach

understanding of the needs and aspirations of building users

the duties and responsibilities of architects to the wider society

the potential impact on building projects on existing and proposed communities

NEARING

THE EN

ND...

4

Process & Management

‘The module aims to develop students’ skills, understanding and critical awareness of the issues involved in practicing architecture and in realising architectural designs as finished buildings.’

GC 4.3 ⃝ ⃝

GC 6.1 ⃝ ⃝ ⃝

GC 6.2 ⃝ ⃝ ⃝

knowledge of current planning policy and development control legislation, and the relevance of these to design development

understanding of the nature of professionalism and the duties and responsibilities of architects to clients, building users, constructors, coprofessionals and the wider society

understanding of the role of the architect within the design team and construction industry, recognising the importance of current methods and trends in the construction of the built environment

The assessment for this module consisted of a 3000-word report regarding the implementation and procurement of my thesis proposal. Apart from deepening my knowledge in the areas outlined below, this was also a good opportunity to consider my proposal in more depth from an angle that is usually omitted in most academic projects.

Brief ‘The module aims to develop students skills, understanding and critical awareness of the issues involved in practicing architecture and in realising architectural designs as finished buildings. The lecture course is based closely on the ARB (Architects Registration Board) Practice, Management and Law syllabus and covers the five subject areas: Professionalism; Clients, users and delivery of services; Legal framework and processes; Practice and management; and Building procurement.

The topics covered by the module are drawn from the five subject areas: Professionalism; Clients, users and delivery of services; Legal framework and processes; Practice and management; and Building procurement.

At the end of the module, students will demonstrate an understanding of the context of the architect and the construction industry, including the architect’s role in the processes of procurement and building production, and under legislation. In particular, students will have knowledge of:

• The fundamental legal, professional and statutory responsibilities of the architect.

• The organisations, regulations and procedures involved in the negotiation and approval of architectural designs, including land law, development control, building regulations and health and safety legislation • The professional inter-relationships of individuals and organisations involved in the procuring and delivering architectural projects, and how these are defined through contractual and organisational structures • The basic management theories and business principles related to running both an architects’s practice and architectural projects, recognising current and emerging trends in the construction industry.

The ability to: • Exercise skills in personal communication and management in a practice environment • Apply and synthesise appropriate knowledge about architectural practice within the relevant commercial legislative and regulatory framework (e.g. in demonstrating problemsolving skills, professional judgement and the ability to take the initiative and make appropriate decisions in complex and unpredictable circumstances) Achieve these goals with related timemanagement skills.’

GC 10.1 ⃝ ⃝

GC 10.2 ⃝ ⃝ ⃝

GC 10.3 ⃝ ⃝

GC 11.1 ⃝ ⃝ ⃝

GC 11.2 ⃝ ⃝ ⃝

GC 11.3 ⃝ ⃝ ⃝

skills to critically examine the financial factors implied in varying building types, constructional systems, and specification choices, and the impact of these on architectural design

understand the cost control mechanisms which operate during the development of a project

skills to prepare designs that will meet building users’ requirements and comply with UK legislation, appropriate performance standards and health and safety requirements

knowledge of the fundamental legal, professional and statutory responsibilities of the architect, and the organisations, regulations and procedures involved in the negotiation and approval of architectural designs

knowledge of the professional interrelationships of individuals and organisations involved in procuring and delivering architectural projects, and how these are defined through contractual and organisational structures

knowledge of the basic management theories and business principles related to running both an architect’s practice and architectural projects, recognising current and emerging trends in the construction industry

Process & Management | Report Contents

186

Y6 I S1-2 I Report I Process & Management

Below: Introduction to part B, which is the focal part of the essay.

While Part A outlines the project essentials, explains the chosen procurement route, along with discussion of project management at this stage (see contents opposite); Part B goes into more detail discussing three separate issues related to the two-stage design-andbuild procurement route I have chosen.

Report extract:

Contents: PART A 1. Initial Project Brief (summary) ............... p. 4 13 April 2015

Re: Issues for further consideration

- Project Objectives - Business Case - Site - Budget - Spatial requirements - Project Outcomes 2. Design programme ................................ p. 7

Dear client,

The two-stage design and build procurement route you have chosen has the advantage of potentially transferring most of the project risks onto the contractor, as well as giving you a guaranteed lump sum at the Construction Tender.13 The complexity of the procurement process, however also means that there are several major issues you need to be aware of, most of which are directly related to the inherent nature of this procurement method. It is, therefore, essential that you fully understand the procedures linked to this method, with a special emphasis on the following stage of the project (RIBA Stage 3). This Stage, in my opinion, will be critical in determining the success of this project, especially in terms of achieving a low cost solution, which has been specified as your chief priority and might potentially prove problematic, due to the relatively high complexity of the project.

Upon the conclusion of Stage 3, the Construction Tender will be held,14 where the contractor(s) will submit a lump sum proposal for the delivery of the project to completion.15 As specified in the Initial Project Brief,16 it is essential the benchmarked budget is met, as otherwise, in accordance with the Government Construction Strategy,17 the project will not go ahead. To decrease the likelihood of this scenario, the following factors should be taken into consideration:

- Procurement route - Stage 2 - Stage 3 - Stage 4 & 5 - (a) Risk management - (b) Role of other professionals - (c) Statutory approvals - (d) Practice management 3. Appendix 1: Design programme Gantt Chart .............. p. 10 4. Appendix 2: Letter to client (Re: Commentary on implementation) .... p. 11 - (a) Change in programme - (b) Overall progress PART B Letter to client (Re: Issues for further consideration) ....... p. 13

S. Rawlinson, D. Langdon, ‘Procurement: Two-stage tendering’, Building, issue 19, 2006 See the Gantt chart in part A, Appendix 1 15 To clarify: negotiations with the pre-selected contractor (which has been employed on the basis of a PCSA after Stage 1, see above) will be held first; if this fails (see issue 3, further down), a full tender competition will be held to select a new contractor for delivery of the project to completion 16 See Part A of this report 17 ‘Government Construction Strategy’, Cabinet Office, May 2011 13 14

1. Level of design specification before tendering ................................................. p. 14 2. Design freeze at tender initiation ........ p. 15 3. Tender negotiation .............................. p. 16

Process & Management | Bibliography

187

Y6 I S1-2 I Report I Process & Management

Print: D. Chappell, The Architect in Practice, 10th edn., Wiley, Hoboken, 2013 H. Clamp, RIBA, Which Contract?: Choosing the appropriate building contract, 5th edn., RIBA Publications, London, 2012 JCT ltd., JCT Guide to the Use of Performance Specifications, RIBA Publications, 2001 N. Ostime, RIBA, RIBA Plan of Work 2013, 9th edn., RIBA Publications, London, 2013 N. Ostime, D. Stanford, G. Hickson-Smith, RIBA, Architect’s Handbook of Practice Management, 8th edn., RIBA Publications, 2010 S. Rawlinson, D. Langdon, ‘Procurement: Twostage tendering’, Building, issue 19, 2006 Web: K. Fenton, ‘Two-Stage Tendering: An Open Approach’, International Law Office, 16 Oct 2006, http://www.internationallawoffice. com/newsletters/detail.aspx?g=7a87d0a24059-db11-9a86-001143e35d55 (accessed 27 March 2015) N. Oxbury, ‘Two Stage Tendering’, Oxbury Chartered Surveyors, Mar 2014, http://www. oxbury.co.uk/news/view/two-stage-tendering (accessed 16 March 2015) ‘A Strategic Planning Framework for Community Strategies and Community Based Regeneration’, Greater London Authority, May 2002, available at https://www.london.gov. uk/sites/default/files/archives/uploads-plan_ framework_comm.pdf (accessed 15 Dec 2014)

‘Community Infrastructure Levy, England and Wales’, 23 Mar 2010, available at http://www. legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2010/948/contents/ made (accessed 3 Jan 2015)

‘Paddington Opportunity Area Fact Sheet’, City of Westminster, Feb 2014, available at https:// www.westminster.gov.uk (accessed 5 Dec 2014)

‘Crossrail Construction Programme’, Crossrail, Dec 2014, http://www.crossrail. co.uk/construction/crossrail-constructionprogramme (accessed 3 April 2015)

‘Project Procurement and Delivery Guidance: Using Two Stage Open Book and Supply Chain Collaboration’, King’s College London, 2014, available at https://www.gov.uk/government/ uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/ file/325014/Two_Stage_Open_Book_ Guidance.pdf (accessed 3 Apr 2015) ‘RIBA Plan of Work Toolbox’, RIBA, 2013, available at http://www.ribaplanofwork.com/ Toolbox.aspx (accessed 14 Jan 2015) ‘Public Contracts Regulations 2006’, 9 Jan 2006, available at http://www.legislation.gov. uk/uksi/2006/5/contents/made (accessed 20 Jan 2015)

‘Government Construction Strategy’, Cabinet Office, May 2011, available at https://www. gov.uk/government/collections/governmentconstruction#government-constructionstrategy (accessed 16 Feb 2015) ‘Integrated Project Team: Achieving Excellence in Construction Procurement Guide’, Office of Government Commerce, 2007, available at http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov. uk/20110601212617/http:/www.ogc.gov.uk/ ppm_documents_construction.asp (accessed 20 Jan 2015) ‘New Models of Construction Procurement’, Cabinet Office, 2 Jul 2014, available at https:// www.gov.uk/government/publications/ new-models-of-construction-procurementintroduction (accessed 15 Mar 2015) ‘Novation of consultants’ appointments on design and build’, Construction Industry Council, Oct 2008, available at http://cic.org. uk/admin/resources/novation-of-consultantsapp.pdf (accessed 12 Feb 2015) ‘Opportunity Area Planning Frameworks’, Greater London Authority, Sep 2011 https:// www.london.gov.uk (accessed 12 Dec 2014)

‘Stage 3 Developed Design checklist’, RIBA Enterprises, 2013, available at http://www. ribabookshops.com/riba-job-book-checklistsand-figures (accessed 20 Jan 2015) ‘Westminster Community Infrastructure Levy: Preliminary Draft Charging Schedule’, City of Westminster, Sep 2014, available at https:// www.westminster.gov.uk (accessed 7 Dec 2014) ‘Westminster’s City Plan: Strategic Policies’, City of Westminster, Nov 2013, available at https://www.westminster.gov.uk (accessed 5 Dec 2014)

(BONUS TRACK)

DISSER

RTATION

5

Capsular Culture

‘This essay questions the contemporary role of utopian thinking (or the lack thereof) in and its relevance to - the creation of built environment.’

GA 2.4 ⃝ ⃝ ⃝

GA 2.7 ⃝ ⃝ ⃝

understanding of how knowledge is advanced through research to produce clear, logically argued and original written work relating to architectural culture, theory and design

ability to identify individual learning needs and understand the personal responsibility required to prepare for qualification as an architect

Building on the work previously conducted through both the design (Tempelhof) and essay writing unit (The Trial) in the first semester of Stage 5, the dissertation was a great opportunity to spend a whole year deepening my understanding of the issues that interest me most, conducted through an in-depth research into a selected topic. The topic itself, as well as the device of the capsule that I use as a prism for its exploration is clearly rooted in both of the aforementioned assignments.

Abstract

Method and Context

This essay questions the contemporary role of utopian thinking (or the lack thereof) in - and its relevance to - the creation of built environment.

This is conducted via a study of various ways in which the concept of utopia has informed architecture in the context of post-war Japan, exemplified by three different ‘capsules’.

These capsules are viewed and analysed as reflections of three radically opposed ‘ideologies’, each corresponding to a different ‘mode of spatial production’ and linked to a specific period they are grounded (although not exclusively situated) in and most representative of. As a consequence of this, each of the capsules embodies a different manifestation of the utopian concept.

In order to grasp these differences, a distinction between the concepts of utopia and heterotopia is observed and studied closely, which I maintain is critical in understanding the tensions between the three. This distinction then feeds into the essay’s conclusion, which relates the outcomes of the individual case studies back to the larger issue outlined initially.

The selected capsules are viewed and analysed as reflections of three radically opposed ‘ideologies’, each corresponding to a different ‘mode of spatial production’ and linked to a specific period they are grounded (although not exclusively situated) in and most representative of. As a consequence of this, each of the capsules embodies a different manifestation of the utopian concept.

If my premise holds, the chosen examples will prove well situated to contribute to the discourse on this recently trending and extensively debated topic.

The perceived ‘death of utopia’ and its resurrection in the form of various heterotopian enclaves (as spaces of Otherness), implied by the sequence presented, resonates with certain recurrent contemporary discussions about ‘the end of utopia’, connected to the ‘death of planning’, the dismantling of the welfare state, and rise of the (largely) deregulated global market in its stead. This is exemplified extremely well by the case of Japan but goes way beyond its borders.

What currency might there be in the notion of utopia today?

Utopia is dead, long live heterotopia(s)!

GC 2.1 ⃝ ⃝ ⃝

GC 2.2 ⃝ ⃝ ⃝

GC 4.1 ⃝ ⃝ ⃝

GC 4.2 ⃝ ⃝ ⃝

GC 5.1 ⃝ ⃝

GC 5.3 ⃝ ⃝

knowledge of the cultural, social and intellectual histories, theories and technologies that influence the design of buildings

kowledge of the influence of history and theory on the spatial, social and technological aspects of architecture

knowledge of the theories of urban design and the planning of communities

the influence of the design and development of cities, past and present on the contemporary built environment

understanding of the needs and aspirations of building users

understanding of the way in which buildings fit into their local context

Dissertation | Book One Y5, S2 - Y6, S1 I Dissertation I Capsular Culture

METABOLISM As often happens in times of ‘crisis’ and drastic change, this gives rise to various competing ideologies, attempting to make sense of the changes unfolding in front of their proponent’s very eyes, including the prominent comprehensive utopian visions of the Metabolists, aiming to subject the whole city and, by extension, the whole country and society, to their grand visions, following the spirit of the planned economy, envisioned and implemented by prime minister Ikeda in his highly successful Income Doubling Plan of 1960. Given the speed of the nation’s recovery and radical nature of changes unravelling all around, their optimism towards the future was immense.

The characteristically jubilant visions of Kisho Kurokawa, along with the first capsule studied, emerge out of this context.

The ‘Metabolist capsule’, represented by the architecture of Kisho Kurokawa, is a pre-fabricated component in the large-scale socio-economic machinery directed by the State. It is an integral part of a comprehensive solution unequivocally capable of addressing the nation’s particular problems.

The paradigm is ‘control’ and the corresponding vision of future-oriented ‘technocratic rationalism’ (although borrowing from the vocabulary of the past) envisions an atomized, mobile and prosperous society with plenty of leisure time to enjoy the fruits of the technologically-enabled dawning era.

Making use of the latest technology, the Metabolist capsule is designed to optimally cater to the individual’s material and psychological needs, prominently including the newly-established concept of privacy, which is seen as a necessary prerequisite for an existence in the fast-paced and information-overloaded world these planners are complicit in bringing about.

Reflecting its designer’s vision of the world, the capsule does all of this in the most economical (and thereby efficient) way conceivable.

The utopian vision embodied by this capsule is a critical response to the current state of affairs, which, it is believed, may be guided in a chosen direction.

193

Cover spread image: The final output, in form of four separately-bound A6 books (capsules).

(The form was carefully chosen to best convey the concept discussed) Tutor: Sam Austin.

Current spread: Apollo 11 (Metabolism-inspiring capsule), cover of Book One

The following spreads show the summaries and a selection of pages from the respective finished books, to give a taste of my work - in terms of both the form and contents.

Dissertation | Book One Y5, S2 - Y6, S1 I Dissertation I Capsular Culture

VII

VIII

IV, V

II, III

IV

195

A. MASTERPLANNING A NATION

II

‘In order to build freely and keep the inside under control, it is advised to construct the Megalopolis either under the ground or in the air.’

(Kenzo Tange, The Future Image of the Japanese Archipelago, 1965)38

38

VI

V

As quoted by Koolhaas and Obrist, Project Japan, 2011, op. cit., p. 681

A standard104 manifestation of the ‘hyper-individualized’ capsular prototype?

VI II

104

Mind the pun

II

Dissertation | Book Two Y5, S2 - Y6, S1 I Dissertation I Capsular Culture

BUNKERS As the excitement of the boom fizzles out and especially with the arrival of the global oil crisis in 1973, alternative schools of thought emerge to question and challenge this prevalent ideology. Some of these, in an exemplary reactionary fashion, adopt a radically opposing stance, advocating a retreat into private worlds with the potential of recasting the society ‘from below’.

Kazuo Shinohara and Tadao Ando feature as prominent proponents of this secessionist paradigm – in both theory and through their built work, including Tadao Ando’s Azuma Rowhouse - the second capsule examined.

This capsule, while exhibiting some conceptual traces of the previous model, stands for the antithetical trend of localized custom-made utopias, created from the bottom up.

The paradigm here is ‘retreat’ and the corresponding vision of ‘secessionist individualism’, strongly oriented towards the values of the past envisions allegedly-feasible alternatives to the then-prevalent paradigm of technocratic control, as well as the recently much-transformed consumerist society this paradigm has helped to spawn.

Referring back to traditional aesthetic sensibilities, although, being heavily dependent on (usually the latest) technology, the bunker capsule is designed as an optimal environment for its resident, with a prominent emphasis on catering to their ‘rediscovered’ psychological needs, which, as the proponents of this ideology claim, have been largely forgotten by the masterplanners’ gaze set on the horizon ahead.

The concept of privacy is implicit in the design of this capsule, although this largely stems from the notion of freedom from the environment this abode is set ‘within and against’.

Catering to ones disenchanted with the current state of affairs, this heterotopian capsule enables an alternative ‘way of being’ to coexist with(in) the society’s mainstream.

197

Image: Bunker capsule, cover of Book Two

Dissertation | Book Two Y5, S2 - Y6, S1 I Dissertation I Capsular Culture

A. THE UNDISCOVERED SELF

B. SHELTERS OF THE SPIRIT, ISLANDS OF THE MIND 138

‘Everyone will live in their own cathedral.’

‘Everyone thinks about changing the world but no one thinks of changing himself.’

(Gilles Ivain, Internationale Situationniste)139

(Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy)114

114

II

L.N. Tolstoy, Pamphlets

VII II, III

138 Title originally used by Jodidio to introduce the work of Tadao Ando (Jodidio, 2013, op. cit.)

139 Gilles Ivain, Internationale Situationniste #1, 1953

II

199

VI

IV, V III

IX

XI

III

Dissertation | Book Three Y5, S2 - Y6, S1 I Dissertation I Capsular Culture

LOVE HOTELS Similarly as in the West, these often radical ideologies are in vain against the march of capitalist enterprise, which, in Japan, with the deregulation policies of the 1980s has become the dominant force shaping the city, largely resistant to attempts at any comprehensive planning.

An exemplary representative of this method of spatial production are the country’s numerous love hotels, representing my final case study.

The paradigm is ‘escape’ and the underlying vision of ‘capitalist enterprise’ stems from a self-interested pursuit of livelihood, rather than any overt ideological stance. Following a whatever-sells-best methodology, both past and future are present, usually in a recycled and highly stylized fashion, ironically abolishing any notion of time in favour of the absolute Now.

Making use of the latest technology, coated with a veneer of the theatrical, this receptacle of sexual pleasure is designed to optimally cater to one of its subject’s major psychological and physiological needs, the fulfilment of which enables him to return to his daily routine and Self, without the need for recourse to the measures taken by the recluse in the previous scenario.

The concept of privacy is paramount to a proper functioning of this capsule, manifest in an absolute break with the world outside, which the parallel universe inside this enclave is juxtaposed to. Reflecting this break, the design of these usually large and lavish capsules is conceived as an antithesis to the economy perceived as permeating the daily lives of the capsules’ subjects.

Although not necessarily envisioned as such by either the patrons or the proprietors, by offering stimulating counterpoints to the everyday, this heterotopian capsule represents yet another form of societal criticism.

201

Image: Love hotel capsule, cover of Book Three

Dissertation | Book Three Y5, S2 - Y6, S1 I Dissertation I Capsular Culture

B. SHELTERS OF DESIRE

‘Love hotels are kinky, high-tech spaces where couples live out sexual fantasies in pirate ship rooms, playboy grottos, princesses’ bedchambers, or S&M dungeons.’

(Ed Jacob, Love Hotels: An inside look at Japan’s sexual playgrounds)222

222

IV

This hotel242 evokes the concept of the theme park – where the visitor, by entering the individual rooms (or attractions) is drawn into a different world, each time.

II

Jacob, op. cit., rear cover of book

An alternative to the permanent retreat of hikikomori,248 cosplay, in an analogous fashion to ‘lovemaking’, enables (in this case a temporary) escape from the realities of everyday life.249 In both of these analogous cases, throughout the duration of the ‘play’, everyday rules and inhibitions are disposed of and a different reality takes over, from which the habitually assumed persona is absent.250

V Section C, Book /02 249 For a more extensive argument in support of this claim, see J. Pethokoukis, 2014, op. cit.

250 Sex is often connected to an annihilation of one’s persona (literally meaning ‘mask’) and transcendence of one’s ego - a notion explored by Freud, among others; In case of cosplay the term ‘to impersonate’, generally employed to describe this activity, is self-explanatory, along with fact that actual masks (or costumes) are involved 248

IV

242 And, by extension, another thousands of love hotels, based on the same conceptual model

VI, VII

203

C.

EYES WIDE SHUT

D. FOLKS JUST WANNA HAVE FUN

‘[…] Japanese space exhibits [a] layered structure, which requires inhabitants to be aware constantly of their relative status and modify their behaviour in relation to their surroundings, […] making behaviours in the Japanese city more contextually conditioned than might be the case in the West.’271

271

‘The more infra-reality rises, the more we retreat into hyper-reality.’

(Lieven De Cauter, The Capsular Civilization) 290

II

Chaplin, op. cit., p. 46

290

L. De Cauter, The Capsular Civilization, op. cit.

The internal environment – conceptually and aesthetically different to both the functionalist and the ascetic capsule,304 nevertheless, fulfils the functions analogous to that of the previously described ‘womb’ and ‘charging pod’,305 in its specific context. The continuing presence of these facilities, along with their remarkable resilience and adaptability to change testifies to the enormous success of this child of the market-driven economy.

IV See Book /01 and Book /02, respectively 305 The ‘womb’, in short, meaning it caters to one’s needs and desires; the ‘charging pod’ meaning it makes one ready to re-enter the daily realm and routine; both of these functions were explored in more detail earlier in this Book 304

V VI

Dissertation | Bibliography Y5, S2 - Y6, S1 I Dissertation I Capsular Culture

Books:

M. Foucault, ‘Of Other Spaces: Utopias and Heterotopias’, in Architecture /Mouvement/ Continuité, 1984

S. A. Lukas, The Themed Space: Locating Culture, Nation and Self, Lexington Books, Plymouth, 2007

M. Gili (ed.), Kazuo Shinohara: Casas = houses, Ediotrial Gustavo Gili, Barcelona, 2011

H. Murakami, After Dark, Vintage Digital, New York, 2011 [Kindle e-book]

T. Ando, ‘Houses: The Origin of my Architecture’, in P. Jodidio, Tadao Ando: Houses, Rizzoli, 2013, pp. 12-13 Atelier Bow-Wow, Behaviorology, Rizzoli, New York, 2010

T. Ito, Tarzans in the Media Forest, AA Publications, London, 2011

J. Pallasmaa, The Eyes of the Skin: Architecture and the Senses, Academy Editions, London, 1996

M. Auge, Non-Places, Verso, London, 2008

R. Jacoby, The End Of Utopia: Politics And Culture In An Age Of Apathy, Basic Books, New York, 2000

T. Ando, ‘From Self-Enclosed Modern Architecture towards Universality’, in F. Dal Co, Tadao Ando: Complete Works, Phaidon Press, London, 1995, pp. 446-448

P.V. Aureli, The Possibility of an Absolute Architecture, MIT Press, Cambridge (USA), 2011 J. Baudrillard, Simulacra and Simulation, The University of Michigan Press, Michigan, 1994 B. Bognar, Contemporary Japanese Architecture, Van Nostrand Reinhold Company, New York, 1985 B. Bognar, The New Japanese Architecture, Rizzoli, New York, 1990 S. Chaplin, Japanese Love Hotels: A Cultural History, Routledge, New York, 2007 [Kindle e-book] J. Clammer, Contemporary Urban Japan: A Sociology of Consumption, Blackwell Publishers, Oxford, 1997 F. Dal Co, Tadao Ando: Complete Works, Phaidon Press, London, 1995, pp. 446-448 L. De Cauter, Heterotopia and the City: Public Space in a Postcivil Society, Taylor & Francis, Hoboken, 2008 L. De Cauter, The Capsular Civilization: On the City in the Age of Fear, NAi Publishers, Rotterdam, 2004

E. Jacob, Love Hotels: An inside look at Japan’s sexual playgrounds, Lulu Press, 2008

P. Jodidio, Tadao Ando, Taschen, Cologne, 1997 N. Kawazoe, K. Kikutake, M. Otaka, F. Maki, K. Kurokawa, Metabolism: The Proposals for New Urbanism, Bijutstu Shuppansha, Tokyo, 1960, reprinted in R. Koolhaas, H.U. Olbrist, Project Japan: Metablosim Talks…, Taschen, Cologne, 2011, pp. 207-221 R. Koolhaas, ‘Whatever Happened to Urbanism?’, S, M, L, XL, The Monicelli Press, New York, 1995, pp. 959-971 R. Koolhaas, H.U. Obrist, Project Japan: Metablosim Talks…, Taschen, Cologne, 2011 K. Kurokawa, ‘Capsule Declaration’, 1969, as reprinted in K. Kurokawa, Metabolism in Architecture, Studio Vista, London, 1977 K. Kurokawa, Rediscovering Japanese Space, Weatherhill, New York, 1988 Z. Lin, Kezo Tange and the Metabolist Movement: Urban Utopias of Modern Japan, Routledge, New York, 2010

R. Pernice, Metabolist Movement between Tokyo Bay Planning and Urban Utopias in the Years of Rapid Economic Growth 19581964, PhD Thesis, Waseda University, Tokyo, 2007, Available from: http://www.scribd. com/doc/207654624/Metabolist-MovementBetween-Tokyo-Bay-Planning#scribd (accessed 13 Nov 2014) D. Pinder, Visions of The City, Utopianism, Power and Politics in Twentieth Century Urbanism, Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh, 2005 J. Sand, Tokyo Vernacular, University of California Press, Berkley, 2013 M. Seats, Murakami Haruki: The Simulacrum in Contemporary Japanese Culture, Lexington Books, Lanham, 2009 E. Soja, Postmetropolis: Critical studies of Cities and Regions, Blackwell Publishers, Oxford, 2000 M. Sorkin, Variations on a Theme Park: The New American City and the End of Public Space, Hill and Wang, New York, 2001 A. Suzuki, Do Android Crows Fly Over the Skies of an Electronic Tokyo?, AA Publications, London, 2001 J. Tanizaki, In Praise of Shadows, Vintage Classics, New York, 2001

205

K. Tsuzuki, Satellite of Love: Vanishing Beauty of Japanese Love Hotels, Aspect, 2008 M. Zielenziger, Shutting Out the Sun, Vintage Books, New York, 2007 Articles and essays: J. Baek, The sublime and the Azuma House by Tadao Ando, Architectural Research Quarterly, 8, 2004, pp. 149-157 M. Basil, Japanese Love Hotels: Protecting Privacy for Private Encounters, European Advances in Consumer Research, vol. 8, 2008, pp. 505-511 J. Baudrillard, Disneyworld Company, Liberation, 4 Mar 1996, http://www.egs.edu/ (accessed on 1 Apr 2014) J. Capdevila, Hypermodernity and the Carnevalesque, Quaderns del CAC 35, vol. XIII (2), 2010 W. Hiroshi, Tadao Ando, an Architect who disdains comfort, Japan Quarterly, 40, 4, 1993, pp. 426-436 R. Koolhaas; Generic City; S,M,L,XL; The Monticelli Press, 1995, pp.1239-1264 R. Koolhaas, ‘Whatever Happened to Urbanism?’, S, M, L, XL, The Monicelli Press, New York, 1995, pp. 959-971 F. Lemes, Of Metabolism: future cities for our contemporary world, Revista de pesquisa em arquitetura e urbanismo, 14, 2011, pp. 77-81 Film: 2001: A Space Oddysey, dir. S. Kubrick, MGM, USA, 1968

Otakus In Love (Koi No Mon), dir. S. Matsuo, Japan, 2004 Salaryman 6, dir. J. Knight, London, 2002 Seven Samurai. dir. A. Kurosawa, Toho Studios, Japan, 1954 Tokyo Story, dir. Y. Ozu, Schociku, Japan, 1953 Tokyo!, dir. M. Gondry, L. Carax, B. Joon-ho, Comme des Cinémas, 2008 Web: ArchiTeam, ‘Row House’, 1 Jan 2013, http:// www.architravel.com/architravel/building/ row-house-azuma-house/ (accessed on 6 Jan 2015) M. Grisafe, ‘Can Culture Create Mental Disease? The Rise of “Hikikomori” in the Wake of Economic Downturn in Japan’, 16 Nov 2012, http://www.mindthesciencegap. org/2012/11/16/can-culture-create-mentaldisease-the-rise-of-hikikomori-in-the-wake-ofeconomic-downturn-in-japan/ (accessed on 6 Jan 2015) P. Johnson, ‘Heterotopian Studies: Michel Foucault’s ideas on heterotopia’, http://www. heterotopiastudies.com/ J. Kingston, The Japan Times, 29 Oct 2006, http://www.japantimes.co.jp/ culture/2006/10/29/books/book-reviews/ is-the-sun-setting-on-the-future-of-japan/#.

VJQSkF4hds (accessed on 6 Jan 2015) W. Kremer, C. Hammond, ‘Hikikomori: Why are so many Japanese men refusing to leave their rooms?‘, BBC World Service, 5 Jul 2013, http:// www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-23182523 (accessed on 6 Jan 2015)

F. Magalhaes, A.L. Soares, ‘The Metabolist Routine’, Domus, 29 May 2013, http://www. domusweb.it/en/architecture/2013/05/29/ the_metabolist_routine.html (accessed 5 January 2015) J. McCormick, ‘Zielenziger – Shutting Out the Sun: How Japan Created Its Own Lost Generation‘, 22 Jun 2007, http://chicagoboyz. net/archives/5045.html (accessed on 6 Jan 2015) N. Paris, ‘Who stays in a Japanese love hotel?’, The Telegraph, 17 Sep 2014, http://www. telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/asia/ japan/11101800/Who-stays-in-a-Japaneselove-hotel.html (accessed on 19 Jan 2015) J. Pethokoukis, ‘Why the rise of cosplay is a bad sign for the U.S. economy’, The Week, 9 Oct 2014, http://theweek.com/article/ index/269570/why-the-rise-of-cosplay-is-abad-sign-for-the-us-economy (accessed on 19 Jan 2015) A. Rumpfhuber, ‘The Possibility of An Absolute Architecture’ (review), Domus, 13 May 2011, http://www.domusweb.it/en/ reviews/2011/05/13/the-possibility-of-anabsolute-architecture.html (accessed on 6 Jan 2015) M. Swalwell, A Critique of the Hyper State: Aesthetics, Technology and Experience, Transformations Journal, Issue no. 22, 2012, http://www.transformationsjournal.org (accessed on 2 Apr 2014) K. Tsuzuki, ‘Love hotel luxury in Kawasaki’, 29 Nov 2012, http://www.timeout.jp/en/tokyo/ feature/6424/Love-hotel-luxury-in-Kawasaki (accessed on 19 Jan 2015) ‘Introduction of Costume Play’, Is Japan Cool?, https://www.ana-cooljapan.com/contents/ cosplay/about/ (accessed on 19 Jan 2015) (...)

Thesis project pin-up

...

THAT’S IT !

© Michal Kubis. 2015.

THANK YOU.