Michal Kubis_BA portfolio

* “Architecture in general is frozen music� - Friedrich von Schelling

MICHAL KUBIS Portfolio 2009-2013.

Bachelor of Arts (Hons.) in Architecture.

PROGRAMME

THE EFFICIENT*

THE SUBLIME*

1 Metropolitan modelling ............................................................................... p.5

5 Dwelling with nature .................................................................................. p.27

Architecture of sustainability and human interaction.

An urban proposal. Potters Fields, London, UK. Semester 6.

Designing mixed-use facilities for living, working and learning in the city.

Creating quality urban spaces integrated into the urban fabric of London.

2 Sports centre .................................................................................................. p.13 A multifunctional facility. Bermondsey, London, UK. Semester 5.

Creating adaptable spaces for sports and culture. Promoting a sense of local community. Focus on construction and sustainability.

3 Fish market ........................................................................................................ p.21 A place for interaction. Camber, Portsmouth, UK. Semester 4.

Establishing connections - between the sea and the city and between people. Extending the function of the market to create a vibrant environment, promoting activity and interaction.

Architecture of conceptual beauty.

A youth hostel. Petersfield, UK. Semester 3. “Architecture belongs to poetry, and its purpose is to help man to dwell.

- Martin Heidegger

6 Connecting edges ........................................................................................... p.31 Study of a bridge. Camber, Portsmouth, UK. Semester 3.

A space in-between - bridge as a symbol of transition.

How to design an experience?

7 Urban refuge temple .................................................................................... p.33 Conceptual study. Portsmouth, UK. Semester 2.

A secular space with a religious dimension.

4 City in motion .................................................................................................. p.24 Mapping the city. Group study. Portsmouth, UK. Semester 1.

In the ever-transforming city, how do the changes happen?

If it is just a game, are there any rules that can be discovered?

THE SYNTHESIS Work in practice. Royal HaskoningDHV. Architectural trainee.

8 Design object ................................................................................................... p.36 Conceptual design of a lamp for the Dutch Design Awards exhibition.

Information about more projects from practice can be found in the CV.

1

Bachelor’s work Semester 1 - 2 Semester 3 - 4 Semester 5 - 6

2009 / 10 2010 / 11 2011 / 12

Work in practice:

2012 / 13

*

There is no dichotomy in the work of architecture. The poetic and the sublime must be reconciled with the sustainable and the efficient. The result should be a synthetic blend of these two coarsely defined aspects of the work - not negating but dialectically reinforcing each other. Here, I categorized my projects, based on the major driving force behind each. I believe, nevertheless that these two spheres have to keep informing each other, for a good work of architecture to happen. This can be considered my manifesto, for the moment.

“The architect represents neither a Dionysian nor an Apollonian condition�- Friedrich Nietzsche

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First movement

THE EFFICIENT

“Space and light and order. Those are the things that men need just as much as they need bread or a place to sleep.� - Le Corbusier

1 METROPOLITAN MODELLING Potters fields, london, UK. Semester 6.

Thames

RIVER

River More London

PARK

Park

oa

d

LEARNING

ridg

eR

HOUSING

Tow er B

Shad Thames

CITY

Transition spaces Anchoring feature

Ro

ad

Bridging

Zoning

Edges

TOURISTS BUSINESS

Greenery

Main public

Shadow

Semi public

Water

Semi private RESIDENTS

Paths

5

Views

Accessible terrace

Spaces

Environment

Development sketches

Bus & pedestrian only zone 1.

The open spaces. Plan level 1.

Transition space 2.

Mixed-use courtyard 3.

Residential courtyard 4.

Shopping promenade 5.

Relaxation zone 6.

Service yard, underground garages access 7.

Green contemplation courtyard 8.

Amphitheatre square 9.

Access bridge 10.

River link square 11.

Green belt - park 12.

Riverside promenade 13.

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11

12

4

9

Block A

10

8 4

Block B

5

6

The concept

I decided to divide the scheme into separate zones for housing and a learning centre, with a central public square in between. Active frontages and landscape features are integrated to animate this space. There is a rational hierarchy of the open spaces, providing various degrees of privacy and creating a variety of environments suitable for different activities.

The housing is built in blocks, providing double-sided apartments with different levels of affordability.

All of these benefit from quiet of the inner courtyards, while keeping contact with the lively spaces on the outer side. The roofs of these blocks house shared terraces, creating environments for relaxation and play, with views to the river.

7 3

Block C

The brief for this project was to design a mixed-use development on a site adjacent to the river Thames and the ‘More London’ development, designed by Lord Foster.

2

1

6

1

1 A

1

1

2

B

Public:

2

2

A - shops B - cafĂŠ C - reception D - public terrace

F

E

Residential: E - townhouse, lower level

A 2

F - townhouse, upper level

3

F

E

1 - bed apartment

3

2 - bed apartment

3

3

3 - bed apartment

3

E F

A

C 1

Floor 1 Residential unit plans (block B)

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1

3

Floor 2

Floor 3

2

2

Floor 4

D

CREATING VARIETY

West - East section (A-A)

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Apartments interiors Render showing the view from inside one of the townhouses, sitting on the courtyard level. The townhouses have each their own entrance from the semi-public courtyard and stretch over two levels - living and dining at the bottom and bedrooms and study above.

The render is showing a bottom floor with the living part and a terrace stretching all along it, providing opportunities for outside living and dining and views to the main public space, one level below.

TOWER BRIDGE ROAD SLOPE

BLOCK A

BLOCK B

BLOCK C

Mixed uses & Circulation

Garage Retail

The commercial units on Tower Bridge Road follow the rising level of the road from south to north, completing the street’s enclosure with shops and restaurants on both sides. This creates storage spaces of different heights under most of the units (or none for the first three).

Office Residential Reception

The provision of underground parking frees up the ground for various public and semi-public spaces (see plan). The lift and staircase shafts cutting through the blocks are able to transport people directly from the underground parking to their apartments or offices.

The vertical circulation in the tower (block A) is provided by a single core. The offices are located on the first 6 levels, apartments with views above and penthouses on the top floor. The offices are accessed through a reception on level 0 (from the pedestrianized area of the former road). The residential units have a reception with a spacious atrium, accessed from the courtyard one level above.

Housing blocks. South - North section (B-B)

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Different structural language and materials are used for each block. Each of the blocks sits on a transparent plinth, providing active frontages. A vibrant environment is envisioned.

Housing blocks. Elevation west

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Elevation east

TOWNHOUSE UPPER FLOOR

TIMBER CLADDING RECESSED BALCONY

TRANSLUCENT GLASS PANEL EXTERNAL BLINDS TOWNHOUSE BOTTOM FLOOR

WINDOW, ALUMINIUM FRAME

FRENCH BALCONY

FACADE ELEVATION DETAIL (BLOCK B) CAFÉ UNDERGROUND PARKING

The facade is treated as a solid timber box with various openings. The apartments are designed to have balconies on the commercial side - creating connection with the activity. These balconies are usually accessed from several rooms within a single flat (see plans). Most of the rooms that don’t have access to the balconies are provided with french balconies instead.

MAIN PUBLIC SPACE DETAIL SECTION

DESIGNING IN DETAIL SHADED SEATING

STEPS

OPEN PIAZZA

PLANTERS

CAFÉ SEATING

1

1 Water feature Across the middle of the main public space runs a stream of water. It has several functions: It guides the visitors from the riverside into the space and the other way around. It divides the space into two parts - the busy shopping and cafés area and the more calm space to the west - with trees offering shadows and benches a place to sit and linger, while watching the activity on the other side. A couple of steps leads down from here into the shallow water, creating an interesting edge to interact with and additional, more informal opportunities to sit.

The two sides of the stream are connected at several points with small bridges (see plan).

CAFÉ / SHOPS

2

PLAN DETAIL 2 Edge condition The ground floor of the housing complex provides active frontages all along the main public space.

The transparent shop windows and outdoor cafe and restaurant seating are to provide interest and diversity - attracting the people to interact and creating a ‘cafe culture’ environment.

RHYTHM & PATTERN The openings in the facade are irregular - resulting from different apartment layouts. They all, however, fit into a strict pattern (based on a 1 m grid) to provide variation, while imposing order - analogous to a music melody.

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2 Approach from the river Used mainly by the tourists and people walking on the river promenade.

Behind the green belt a transition space is provided, before opening up to the main public space in the middle of the scheme.

1 Residential courtyard - view from a private terrace Creating a comfortable living environment and promoting a sense of community. All apartments are accessed form the communal courtyards. The west part of the block houses the more luxurious apartments, including family units with large terraces (pictured); while the east part is reserved for more affordable housing. The courtyard serves as a link between these two.

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PUBLIC & PRIVATE SPACE

3 Approach from the park Connection to More London - used mainly by the people working here. The path points straight towards the main public space, passing through the heart of the learning centre, creating a connection between the different uses.

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2 SPORTS CENTRE

SERVANT

SERVED

Bermondsey, london, UK. semester 5.

GATHER Movement

Separation

Zoning

SPORTS

GATHER

SPORTS

Opaque Layers

Transparent Reflective

The spaces The concept

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On the site of an existing park, in the middle of a residential and office urban zone, a sports centre is proposed to serve as a focal point for the local community. The building is designed to respond to the structure of the site, linking to the existing paths and creating a series of interesting indoor and outdoor spaces for various activities. Sustainability is highly integrated into the design from the initial concept, making extensive use of natural ventilation and natural light.

The main hall is sunk one level beneath the ground, making the overall mass of the structure diminish and creating an interesting relationship between the observer and the observed, placing the entering visitor one level above the activity space. The open single-storey lobby flows dynamically down into this main hall space through a set of seating steps - able to accommodate a relatively large audience. The changing rooms are located underneath the smaller ancillary hall, which is basically a cantilevered box, sitting between the lobby and the main hall area. On the top level, a viewing gallery can be accessed from the rooftop terrace. Together, the relationships between these levels produce an almost theatrical effect and allow this building to be used for multiple purposes, including various performance shows and cultural events.

1.

6. café

A. entrance square

1a. outdoor play area

crèche

6a. bar

B. reading oasis

2. reception & shop

7. main hall

C. exhibition park

2a. store

8. staff lounge & office

D. tennis court

3. lobby

8a. staff bathrooms / changing

E. waste collection

4. ancillary hall

9. meeting rooms

F. parking

Plan ground level

5. toilets

2a

1

1a

2

5

6a

8a

8

9

A 3 6 4 B C

D

7

E

F

The division

External spaces

The building is divided into three blocks. The two smaller ones house a crèche and the staff offices, together with meeting spaces. The largest block in the middle contains the main hall and all the facilities, relating to it. A clearly defined circulation path is cutting straight through the middle of this block, dividing it into the service spaces and the main hall, extending vertically through three levels. This division produces a low-rise opaque block, which extends through the north part of the site and is clad in brick. The north elevation thus responds in its materiality and rhythm to the housing across the road. The shell of the main hall, in contrast to this, consists of a curtain wall, which makes it appear light and fragile, creating a tension between these two building parts.

The main block, by protruding into the park, creates distinct external areas to the west and to the east: the first one being a more calm and humble space, where one can read a book; while the other one is a courtyard, assuming the role of the external hub of the building. The cafe located inside also spills out into this area, enabling one can watch people playing tennis in the outdoor court. Moreover, the blocks were positioned to allow for most of the existing trees on the site to be retained.

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Central courtyard, approach from north This space is the main external hub of the building, animated by the various activities surrounding it. The cafe spills out into this space and it can also be used as an extension to the indoor spaces to accommodate the various events taking place there.

Oasis at the west entrance

The main hall space

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The ancillary hall is sitting in the middle, breaking the space up and separating it form the circulation area. A curtain of thin steel tubes wraps around its circumference, allowing the box to be transparent, while still providing a degree of privacy. The moving figures behind the bars will appear almost as ephemeral shadows, to an observer on the outside. The sunken hall space is clad in wood, giving it a warm touch. The space is also full of diffused natural light, coming in through the north-oriented roof windows. Additional openings in the skin allow glimpses into the outside world. The deep trusses supporting the roof structure are internally exposed, along with all the service installations.

The square at the building’s west entrance is broken up by a green island sitting in the middle. This can serve as an additional space for outdoor exercise activities or a calm reading space with benches, shaded by the trees.

Dynamicity

Repetition

Tension

Containing

Crystalline form

Descending

Final design

Process & Experimentation

5

Structural frame

Study model

3

1 Shear wall 2 Main steel frame 3 Ancillary frame 4 Roof structure 5 Cross bracing 6 Curtain wall 7 Retaining walls

4

A-C floor levels

1

C 2 B

A

7

6

Heating & Ventilation 1 - Earth mass 2 - Plant room 3 - Underfloor heating 4 - Stack effect 5 - Air intake 6 - Heat extraction

4

2 5 6

3

1

Development sketches

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The integrated systems

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Technical section, showing the mechanical heating and ventilation circuits. The ventilation ducts for the main hall run along the trusses supporting the roof, creating a complex internal roof fabric.

The shape of the roof, apart from allowing plenitude of natural light also enables the collection of rainwater, which is consequently stored in an underground tank.

Detail section

Bay elevation

“God is in the details.� - Ludwig Mies van der Rohe The skin of the building is made of a highly reflective glazing, acting as a large mirror for the surrounding park and the activities taking place there. This makes the presence of the building passive, diminishing its mass and blending it with the environment. The curtain wall is set in an aluminium frame forming a regular pattern, interrupted occasionally by window openings, allowing glimpses into the inside. The facade treatment is part of an integrated design approach, aiming at Integrating the building with the site and making it sit sensitively in its context.

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3 FISH MARKET

City Market

Camber, old portsmouth, UK. Semester 4.

Leisure

Sea

Edges

Curtain

Circulation

Zoning

4

Spaces

5

1. preparation area 2. cold storage 3. offices

6 C

4. delicatessen 7

7

5. chip shop 6. kitchen 7. restaurant

B A. outer storage B delivery area 1

D

C. open market D. central courtyard E. private fishermen’s dock

A 2

3

An oasis at the sea

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E

A unique opportunity to reinvent the idea of a marketplace as a beating heart of the city, in a beautiful harbour location in Old Portsmouth. Given a site with rich history and strong sense of place, I aimed to highlight these in my design - virtually transforming the site into a ‘container’ accommodating these qualities, instead of placing an object there. Most of the site would be occupied by an open courtyard, which becomes the heart of the scheme. A concrete wall is then erected to give the space a clear edge and divide it from the ‘noise’ of the city.

Building logistics An important educational pedestrian route - The Millennium walkway - is currently just passing by the site, linking many of Portsmouth’s historic attractions. I have decided to redirect this route to run along the inner side of the wall, passing in a sequence through the open market and the courtyard. The open market is defined between the two main building blocks - the preparation area and the wall, which becomes a building housing the public facilities - including two small shops and a restaurant. The preparation block is positioned to be adjacent to the two supply routes - by road and by sea.

A bridge (see project 5) is integrated into the proposal to bring people inside the courtyard from the opposite bank.

TALKING ARCHITECTURE

Seafront elevation

Long section

The market symbol

Materiality and place

The position of the outdoor market is made prominent by the elevated canopy structure, gradually rising above the surrounding blocks. Shading the market area from the sun, a play of light is aimed at, analogous to a traditional market (souk) present in Arabic culture. An example would be the Moroccan city of Marrakech, where the market plays a key role in the daily lives of the locals, being firmly intertwined with the fabric of the medina - the old walled city. The souk can also be conceived as a symbol of peace and prosperity, and its functions go far beyond the sole purpose of retail.

The materiality of the buildings is also important. The preparation area is a rather industrial-looking building, clad in cor-ten steel - a material rich in texture and evoking the passage of time; While the wall-like service block has a rather bleak and timeless quality. A harmony of contrasts is aimed at, with each block reinforcing and bringing attention to the qualities of the other. This can be seen as an attempt to heighten one’s sensory awareness of the place and thus highlight the inherent beauty and overall presence of the site.

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The building as a background for experience

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The courtyard space is designed to provide potential for various activities and encourage social interaction. The actual courtyard is slightly sunk below the level of its surroundings, with a couple of steps creating a division between the dynamic circulation and the area to linger in. These steps also provide interesting seating and gathering opportunities, forming an amphitheatre where various cultural events (or random encounters) can take place. Along the top of the steps, a line of timber posts is arranged, acting as an intermediate layer between the void and the solid building, softening its mass and creating a backdrop to sit / stand against. The material and the form bears a reference to the vertically towering masts of the numerous ships anchored in the old harbour.

4

CITY IN MOTION Mapping the city. Portsmouth. Group study. Semester 1.

A conceptual model, based on an analysis of the city. As a group, we came up with the concept of a sliding puzzle board game.

Sliding puzzle board game. Rules: 1. A rectangular board is split into a number of fields.

One field is always empty.

2. Pieces next to the empty field can move there.

3. Always one movement at a time.

4. A part of an image is drawn on each piece, the player tries to arrange them in the correct order to form the large image.

Analogy to the city: The city is moving and vibrant. Change is constant and continuous.

The changes are not random - every step has to follow certain rules.

Change happens due to the needs and wants of the people inhabiting it.

They are the players.

Big changes can happen but it takes lot of steps (units of time) and effort.

Thorough thinking is required in order not to displace the other elements, because small changes can trigger bigger ones (butterfly effect).

There is not one but a number of empty fields More changes can and do happen at the same time.

New pieces can come into the game and existing ones can exit There are gaps on the sides of the board.

In contrast to the original board game, the bigger image changes constantly - There is no single correct solution to the game.

Everybody can have their own ‘solution’.

Or can the fragmented mosaic itself be the correct solution?

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Second movement

THE SUBLIME

“Architecture is the reaching out for the truth.” - Louis Kahn

5

INSIDE: 1. warden’s flat 2. reception 3. kitchen + dining 4. lounge 5. rooms OUTSIDE: A. access patio B. communal terrace C. shared-to-private transition space D. rooms deck

4 B

C 5

DWELLING WITH NATURE Youth hostel. Petersfield, UK. Semester 3.

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Set in a country park near Petersfield, the building merges into the steep slope, creating a series of inner and outer spaces and providing direct access from the outside into all levels of the building. The sharp linear contour of the mass, viewed from the road contrasts with the dense forest backdrop and embraces a front public courtyard in a welcoming gesture.

A

2

3

1 D

FILTRATION & BLENDING

The site virgin condition

Precedent: Kengo Kuma - The Great (Bamboo Wall)

LIGHT STUDY

CUTTING AWAY / PLACING A scar in the ground

A topographic continuity

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The cycle

Sculpting spaces

Facing nature

The route through the building, gradating from public through shared spaces into the private rooms, is set out as a series of oases with varying moods, providing different views to the forest outside. The visitor is forced to pass through the outside when making the transition between these spaces, making the elements not strictly cut off by the shell of the building but rather a welcome phenomena.

The facade is treated as a flat glass surface, reflecting the forest or perhaps offering some views into the inside, depending on the light and weather conditions. The glass is set behind a layer of vertical timber members, providing shading and privacy and visually relating to the vertical pattern of the trees.

In the middle of the building, a block containing the dining and the common room is placed, cantilevering over the front courtyard and providing panoramic views of the surrounding forest. This space is the inner heart of the scheme. An existing forest path is redirected to step down and terminate at the top of this box, creating a calm space for meditation at the path’s dead end, above the ground.

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Edge

Transparent vs. Solid

Division

A tree can be seen as the manifestation of a cycle. Its fruits give rise to new life in form of an offspring tree or the living organisms that feed on it. In Maya mythology, Creation happens with the sacrifice of the First man - the Tree of Life sprouting from his stomach, giving rise to life. The end of one form of life gives rise to a new one.

Timber from the trees that had to be chopped down to allow the construction of the building is ‘resurrected’ in the construction of its facade. The cycle thus continues, the site giving life to the hostel, which in turn may encourage new forms of life and dwelling in / on / around it.

Substraction

Circulation

Mirror W ooden box

Reflecting / Absorbing

Light box Emanating

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Study of a bridge.

CONNECTING EDGES Week-long design competition. Semester 3.

How to design an in-between space?

Stepping stones

Direction & the summit

Bridge is a place both spatially and temporally in-between. Spanning between the two banks, the bridge is a space belonging to neither.

Stepping stones are probably the most elementary and ancient form of bridge.

The inclined curve takes the walker up smoothly, forcing him to slow down slightly. A strong sense of direction is experienced - towards the goal which is made explicit - the opposite bank, the end of the tunnel.

The brief was to design a bridge across the Camber, in the old part of Portsmouth - a beautiful location with a strong sense of place.

Creating an intervention here will require a careful approach. My premise was not to design an object as such, but instead to lay focus on the experience of crossing in itself. To begin, I will examine the idea of a bridge. What connotations does this notion evoke?

The bridge archetype In psychoanalytical interpretation, the bridge is considered to symbolize transition. A passage from one place to another, at the same time it is also a temporal passage; from one state of affairs into another; from being into non-being and vice versa. It is a rebirth. In an analogous way, while my bridge has to serve the practical purpose of connecting the two banks; I will also aim to explore the temporal dimension in greater depth.

Used in traditional Japanese tea gardens, the stepping stones guide the journey to the tea house, with the purpose of increasing one’s mindfulness to the current place and time. In that way, one gets in the right state of mind to participate in the tea ceremony.

In my bridge, a simple construction detail is repeated throughout the floor of the structure Fully transparent glass tiles, set in a metal frame unfold underneath the walker’s feet.

The tiles act as a metaphor for the stepping stones. The stepping stones extenuate each step, forming a continuity together.

Approach Entering onto the bridge should give rise to the sensation of entering a tunnel, where one is embraced and compressed by two high walls.

The walls are tilting slightly outwards, opening up towards the sky, thus lifting the centre of gravity and sending the sight upwards; The walker forgets the flow of water underneath.

A rite of passage A passage can be conceived as a ritual - as manifest in various rites of passage present across the cultures. Different milestones in one’s life are connected with particular rituals (baptism, circumcision or marriage are all examples of this). The rite marks the transition of self; one becomes physically or metaphorically transformed. Likewise, I would like to make crossing of the bridge a transformative process.

How can this transformation take place? The answer is inspired by traditional Japanese Zen gardens. It happens through self-awareness and reflection.

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Walking on water After intuitively stepping onto the bridge, the walker eventually sets his gaze down and discovers that instead of what would normally be a solid ground, spanning the banks and merging them together, he is walking on a void.

Each step is made into the abyss, while the moving water can be seen directly beneath the feet. A sense of fear, perhaps excitement arises.

In this way, the flow and the quality of water can be fully experienced.

Towards the middle, the walls continuously drop in height and the outward tilt diminishes, providing an opportunity for views towards the open sea; indicating a time to stop and reflect.

After the summit has been achieved, it is time to descend back to the terrestrial realm of the other bank, in a relentlessly symmetrical fashion.

The noumenal & the phenomenal In the end, the phenomenal experiences induced by the crossing should give rise to something complete, to a new whole. The idea of the bridge emerges from these fragments. A certain ‘truth’ is thus discovered and the process of crossing the bridge becomes the ritual of initiation.

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De-objectifying architecture “When one speaks of a beautiful work of architecture, one generally means the work in question is a beautiful object.”

- Kengo Kuma

(...)

According to Kuma, objectification relates to formalism, which is in principle isolating the work of art from its environment It can be understood as the tendency (especially common in western society) to create objects as clearly defined entities, limited by boundaries. This enables us to describe these objects, compare them to other similarly defined entities and thereby understand them, giving man the notion of having knowledge, satisfying his thirst to power.

What Kuma means, by erasing architecture, is melting down the static presence a building creates, and transforming it into a mere abstraction of an object - a series of experiences. A precedential example of this, he states in his writing, is an English landscape garden. It is conceived as a series of qualitatively different experiences rather than as a single entity ruled by some overarching geometry.

This, as Kuma states, is the primary notion of Le Corbusier’s buildings, which are designed to be ‘photogenic’. Such building had to be “sufficiently new and individualistic to be recognised as such in a single, decisive blackand-white photograph”. This leads to creation of pure and easily recognizable geometrical shapes. Such architecture is usually self-centred and deliberately distinct from its surroundings.

Such images, however only make the viewer feel “impatience and discomfort because he cannot confirm his own position in that space.”

In Kuma’s works, in contrast to this, the position of the subject determines the appearance of the world to a large extent. This makes it impossible to understand the building as a whole from just one (or any) single perspective. The subject’s position is alternating, as in a cinema, drawing them inside the building.

Bridge - impression

“My ultimate aim is to ‘erase’ architecture.”

- Kengo Kuma

As a result of this emphasis on experiences, the notion of permanence is rejected, creating events instead. This idea is also based on the situation of Japanese architecture in the 20th century, where a shift of values takes place and many creative minds are trying to redefine its meaning.

As Bognar states in his book on Kuma – such architecture can be defined as an environment that “is continuous, yet always in the state of transition caused by both natural events and human interventions. In such designs, spaces, working as an architectural ‘software’, are engendered as almost pure sensations…” In exploring such a building, all human senses are involved, including kinetic.

- excrept from my History & Theorie essay, titled ‘Exploring the relationship between the work of Kengo Kuma and the philosophy of Jean-Paul Sartre’.

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7

URBAN REFUGE TEMPLE Conceptual study. semester 3.

A secular place with a religious dimension.

The container archetype.

An oasis of refuge In our increasingly hectic lives, many long for an escape from the confines of the urban jungle.

People travel miles to reach destinations they believe will grant them a temporary relief. I have decided to reverse this idea and create an oasis for contemplation within the confines of the city.

The place took a form of being quite literally an island. Access is provided by a bridge over a pond, separating it from the external world and also acting as a metaphor for purification. As one walks across the bridge, the troubles of daily life are left behind.

An open temple Conceptually, the place is a temple, providing basically the same function as these buildings have for many centuries.

The building seems to be floating on the water and its ever-changing reflection can be conceived as a virtual image of the ideal that can not be reached in the physical universe.

From the inside, four slits frame the views towards the four corners of the Earth and the temple opens up towards the sky - another realm out of our reach.

The coper-clad solid shell holds the outer world at bay.

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Clash of two worlds.

Confrontation of two forms: The geometrical, rigid and artificial versus The flowing, dynamic and natural

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Finale

THE SYNTHESIS

As the practice was nominated for the Dutch Design Awards, the task was to create an exhibit for the public, including a model of the building.

The nominated design was the refurbishment of a 1970s structuralist building - one of the first open office buildings in Netherlands.

The idea was to abandon a literal representation of the building and slide more into the conceptual realm - making the model an abstraction of the original, capturing its essence.

As this was the Design Awards, it was decided to transform the model into a design object - and the concept of lamp was established.

3x

1

light fixture - translucent

2

transparent acrylic panel

3

transparent acrylic column

The original building is based on a hexagonal grid, openness and transparency are important points the renovation addressed. In our model, the mass of the building has been transformed into a transparent body, leaving the columns exposed and the circulation cores to contain the light fixtures.

The design was, in the end, unfortunately not built, as it was not possible to comply with the time and budget constraints. I took part in designing the concept, through to the technical details, including consultations with a craftsman and lighting specialist. The graphics are also done by me.

5x

96x

7 DESIGN OBJECT Conceptual design. work at RHDHV.

Lamp assembly manual

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THANK YOU.

Š Copyright 2013. Michal Kubis.

michal.kubish@gmail.com