MARIA-ELIZA PAPAIOANNOU
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MARIA-ELIZA PAPAIOANNOU MA ARCHITECTURE, RIBA PART II
CONTENTS Year 5 ‘It’s a Wengen Thing..’ parametrics diagrams -program -circulation structural detailing architectural ambitions - front view tectonics architectural ambitions - market view 3D prototyping
Year 4 ‘Housing in Istanbul’ & ‘The Room’ mass modeling & studies plans & testing on site 3D visualisations site model & massing tests concept of ‘The Room’ studies of ‘The Room’
Construction Week ‘The Yurt’ brief structural detailing documentation of ‘The Yurt’
UEL for London Festival of Architecture- Intervantions in Cities Installations lead by Gilles Retsin
MA Architecture Interpretaion & Theories ‘The Question of Phenomenology’ a selection of quotations and passages from my thesis
PROFESSIONAL DIPLOMA RIBA PART II
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5
I t ’s A We n g e n T h i n g view mountain
view church
view Lauterbrunnen valley
Wengen is the picturesque version of a capitalist effect and has formed itself into a capsular resort. The connection between form, material and function will be created through a continuous tectonic system in which structure becomes circulation, becomes space. I aim to explore hot a small element, a single component, can assemble a large-scale construction.The project will recall the landscape that surrounds it; mirroring the contours it will be raised in three columns opening up a space for a market on the lower level and allowing for full transparency between existing and proposed.The upper lever will host a cable car and a restaurant. It is not a thing that can be, or should be imitated.
interior glazing separating cable car from restaurant yet allowing for a visible link between the two programs
columns glazing
space division
restaurant heated area
footprint
cable car
insulated areas
kitchen restaurant
cable car
toilets
ramp & entrance to the restaurant
programmatic division
pitched roof
The term village has always been linked with a sense of culture and old tradition. Proposing any form of transformation to a village would instantly denote a clear sensitivity to all the tangible and non-tactile elements that inhabit the place. A small village, of only a thousand people, has experienced the inevitable effects of a profit driven world; effects that have been ultimately accepted by the local residents. Effectively the village has created its own tradition; a new tradition based on tourism.
ramp & entrance to the cable car
access
lift for disabled people ramp & entrance to the central area between the cable car and the restaurant
from ramp to the slope from the market to the golf court
from ramp to the slope
fire exits
from ramp to the main supply path -> direct access to hte main road
Ruskin has spoken about the Swiss chalet as something that cannot be described as form built of good taste. “It’s occasionally picturesque, often pleasing and under circumstances, beautiful.” -Ruskin The power of the chalet lies on its ability to recall the sublime character of the Swiss landscape. It’s beauty rests in the agreement between form, material and function. Wengen is a celebration of the representation of a chalet. A caricature of the form but without the tectonic principles. I intend to explore the material, spacial and tectonic qualities of a Swiss chalet cottage and translate them into something new.
Structure Detailing
Timber beams 1500mm height 300mm square width Solid wood on the detail it has been hollowed out to create more clear visualisation on the passing bolts
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1 Steel plates internally reinforcing the joints 2 Steel plates externally minimazing pressure on the beam and minimazing the risk of cracks
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3 The bolts run through both beams to create better stability within the structure
wood beams w:300mm l:300mm h: 1500mm
sheep wool
metal plates embedded on and in the beams
double glazing
waterproofing membrane
wood shingles
Architectural Ambitions- Front View
The digital massing models have provided a rough 3d framework in which we can begin to explore tectonics. Continuing discussions that very much began in Switzerland through architects such as Semper and Ruskin on the relationship between structure, envelope and ornament, the unit is exploring ways of dealing with local small scale organisations of material that generate larger building scale affects as tectonics. We aim to incorporate multiple design attributes within our tectonic solutions - with an understanding of fabrication, assembly and environmental and temporal affects.
Architectural Ambitions- Market
3D Prototype
Architecture should be a merging of memories, images, smells; it should be an interweaving of conscious, unconscious and senses. It should be a musiclike composition of a body moving in the lines of phenomenal relations. It should be a respected aspect of our society, history and humanity and should not be treated as a personal like or do not like. It should be treated as the aspect of our life that enhances our everyday relationship and interaction with our environment. The way to meaningful architecture is through a comprehensive dialogue between the architect and the society, the site and the programme, the materials and the signs the project. Phenomenology is not something to be applied or to be talked about like the ultimate quality of an architectural design. Architecture should be an art of humanity. It should be something that will live through time preserving the truth of our history and of our world.
PROFESSIONAL DIPLOMA RIBA PART II
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4
Housing in Istanbul for 1500 people To house, to employ, to re-create the area. Strategy was born out of the issues of the site. A congested area, heavily built and populated with a lot of unused, abandoned warehouses or half derelict houses. •
The aim is to develop openess within a heavily built area.
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A new grid which celebrates the qualities of the site- alleys and corners turned into piazzas turned into roads.
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Connection with the university and develop a housing project with public programms to attractyoung people and offer more job opportunities to the people of the area.
Year 4 technical design project in order to develop and built a 1:1 solution and deliver a bespoke design to a real brief and a real client. Our team had to create a yurt to accommodate the external space of the Children’s Garden Nursery. The yurt would support the activities of the nursery mainly during winter, providing a waterproof shelter in which the children can play, study and rest. Our team had two weeks to design, fabricate and assemble the structure, giving a contemporary context to the traditional yurt. PROFESSIONAL DIPLOMA RIBA PART II
CONSTRUCTION WEEK
Structural detailing
UEL FOR LONDON FESTIVAL OF ARCHITECTURE
INTERVANTIONS IN CITIES INSTALLATION lead by Gilles Retsin
folding your folding yourobject object
rules game rulesofofthethe game
neighbours touch at least 2 neighbours
face a similar direction to to neighbours neighbours face similar direction
place your object next to one of a size place a similar similar size
φαινόμενο (το) 1.οτιδήποτε συλλαμβάνει η συνείδηση του ανθρώπου μέσω των αισθήσεών του 2.οτιδήποτε παρατηρείται στη φύση, την κοινωνία ή τον άνθρωπο και γίνεται αντιληπτό μέσω της ανθρώπινης παρατήρησης και εμπειρίας 3.οτιδήποτε ασυνήθιστο, οτιδήποτε παρεκκλίνει από τα συνηθισμένα προκαλώντας έκπληξη 4.(για πρόσ.) αυτός που παρεκκλίνει παρουσιάζοντας μία διότητα σε εξαιρετικό βαθμό ΣΥΝ. θαύμα 5.ΦΙΛΟΣ. οτιδήποτε γίνεται αντιληπτό από (ή σχετίζεται με) την ανθρώπινη εμπειρία και όχι από την ανθρώπινη νόηση και το οποίο μπορεί να αποτελεί έκφανση της πραγματικότητας και όχι την ίδια την πραγματικότητα
Phenomenon 1. all that is conceived through senses 2.anything observed in nature, society or a person (man, human being) and is perceptible 3.anything unusual, that deviates from the norms and is causing surprise 4.for a person: the one who deviates presenting an attribute, in exceptional degree 5.in philosophy: anything that is perceived by (associated with) human experience and not by noesis, and which may be a reflection of reality and not the reality itself
MA ARCHITECURE INTERPRETATION & THEORIES
under the supervision of Andrew Higgott
Introduction... My aim for this thesis is to explore Phenomenology and question its real impact on architecture. What are the differences between the, labeled, phenomenologist architects and architects who have not been labeled or have not openly spoken about Phenomenology as a philosophy, yet they speak about the phenomenal qualities as the essence of architecture? What is the difference between Peter Zumthor and Daniel Libeskind? The first has debated and written about spatial atmosphere and phenomenal qualities; the second has spoken about the essence of architecture and an experience using our senses. Effectively both are talking about the same qualities; the difference is that Zumthor observes them as extraordinary qualities to be applied on architecture, when Libeskind perceives them as the inevitable essence of architecture. So is Phenomenology something that can be applied on architecture or is it the reality of the true meaning of architecture?
Architecture of the Seven Senses by Juhani Palasmaa... “Melancholy lies beneath moving experiences of art; this is the tragedy of beauty’s immaterial temporality.” Juhani Pallasmaa’s essay questions the way we perceive architecture and suggests for an experience of space using all our senses. In this essay Pallasmaa also studied how human bodies interact with architecture. He talks about architecture’s lost plasticity; buildings have become flat and irrelevant and have lost any connection to matter and craft. Earthly materials, ‘’honest’’ in his words, like stone, wood and brick allow a structure to age naturally, expose its human use and show its history. Modern materials are insignificant, with no essence of matter. A supporter of Heidegger’s theory Being-in-the-world, he argues against the modern way of living in which people act as spectators while perceiving their lives as a collection of images. There is a fear that our entire culture has been affected by this loss of intimacy. The constant focus on the rational and theoretical aspects of architecture only contributes to a «disappearance of the physical, sensual and embodied essence of architecture». How do we perceive human senses? How has this changed through history? In Renaissance the five senses were related to air, water, earth, fire and light and vapour. Human senses express a “sensory thought” and are not only means for receiving information about our surroundings.
Space scale, matter are observed by every part of the human body, even skeleton and muscle interact with a space and contribute to our experience of a structure or object. To better explain his position, Pallasmaa quotes Merleau-Ponty’s words «We see the depth, speed, softness and hardness of objects-Cezanne says we see even their odor. If the painter wishes to express the world, his system of color must generate this indivisible complex of impressions, otherwise his painting only hints at possibilities without producing the unity, presence and unsurpassable diversity that governs the experience and which is the definition of reality for us.» Exploring the acoustic intimacy of architecture, Pallasmaa narrates a story of a train whistling at night while passing through the city. This whistle, the train’s sound, in the sleeping silence of the night, makes one aware of the entire space of the city. Sound describes the state of a space; an empty, unfurnished house echoes a harsh, sharp sound, whereas in the warmth of an inhabited home the sounds are softened and refracted. Sound can either describe a familiar, friendly environment or a hostile one. It can measure space and express scale of a structure. “We stroke the edges of the space with our ears. But the contemporary city has lost its echo” . There is a recognizable serenity which seems to be the fundamental acoustic quality of architecture. He calls architecture the «art of petrified silence». Great architectural work can silence any outer disturbances and sounds as it focuses one’s mind and thought to his or hers own existence; it makes us conscious of our profound solitude.