Uncovering Place

UNCOVERING PLACE the revitalization of a regional architecture Michaelle Williams Thesis Publication Primary: Timothy Stenson Committee: Jean Francois Bedard & Liz Kamell

TABLE OF CONTENTS 1

4

The Observation

The Contention

16

The Program

22

The Proposal

36

The Investigation

70

The Application

76

The Principles

102 The Site

112 The Design

107

THE

OBSERVATION my house‚ your house‚ just about everyone’s house

THE WILLIAMS FAMILY HOME Syracuse‚ NY

WINDOWS

3 standard aluminum windows are found on the second floor facing West

ROOF

Typical gable roof that has two slopping sides

SIDING

Typical residential siding made of vinyl to withstand the elements of the outdoors

FRONT PORCH

This is a nice feature of transition between indoors and outdoors. The front porch also signifies the main entrance of my house

My house is pretty typical to what you would find anywhere in the states 1

LONG ISLAND‚ NEW YORK

DENVER‚ COLORADO

LOS ANGELES‚ CALIFORNIA

CHICAGO‚ ILLINOIS

STANDARDIZED HOUSING UNIVERSAL RATIONALIZATION

2

BUT YOU WOULD NEVER KNOW BY LOOKING AT MY HOUSE THAT...

THIS PLACE IS CLOUDY AND RAINY

IT CAN GET HOT HERE

Syracuse averages a high temperature of 78-82 degrees

Syracuse ranks fourth among the rainiest cities in the U.S.

MY MOM IS AN EARLY BIRD‚ SHE GOES TO BED AT 8:30 MY BROTHERS ROOM IS EMPTY SINCE HE MOVED OUT THE SNOW CAN GET UP TO HERE IN THE WINTER Syracuse ranks fourth among the snowiest cities with 111.6 inches annually.

There is no sense of region and no sense of the “everyday” 3

THE

CONTENTION why did regionalism go out of style?

4

ONONDAGA LONG HOUSE long houses were large wood-frame buildings covered with sheets of elm bark. These long houses were up to a hundred feet long, and each one housed an entire clan (as many as 60 people.)

THERE WAS A TIME WHEN WE USE TO

RESPOND TO THE ENVIRONMENT

THE TYPICAL HOUSE NOW 5

HUDSON VALLEY FARM HOUSE Early vernacular architecture in New York shows a unique mixture of Dutch and English styles. Aside from two unheated rooms, the original house had a typical New World Dutch plan proportional with a fireplace at one end. The House has two of about six smoke hoods that have survived in the Hudson Valley.

HUDSON VALLEY FARM HOUSE 1837

The home used local materials‚ local building techniques and built accordingly to the existing climate

main floor plan evolution of the hearth

6

THIS TYPE OF THINKING IS NOTHING NEW in the United States and the world

7

WHAT DO THESE ALL HAVE IN COMMON?

A sense of location, a sense of place, a sense of cultural significance The people who built these structures took ADVANTAGE of what was around them Their homes studied there surroundings THESE HOMES EMBRACED THEIR ENVIRONMENT AND USED IT TO THEIR ADVANTAGE 8

WHY DON’T WE DO A LITTLE MORE OF THAT>>>>>>>>

OH YA‚ BECAUSE OF THIS :

....OKAY‚ SO IT’S NOT ALL BAD

9

UNITED STATES

NEW YORK

FROM ONE SCALE IT MIGHT LOOK PRETTY GOOD BUT WHAT’S AT STAKE We may be rationalizing more than just the house

MY HOUSE

MY FAM

10

IT IS AS IF WE HAVE FORGOTTEN WHAT OUR SURROUNDINGS CAN DO

F O R US AND TO U S

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Architecture has its own realm. It has a special physical relationship with life. I do not think of it primarily as either a message or a symbol, but as an envelope and background for life which goes on in and around it, a sensitive container for the rhythm of footsteps on the floor, for the concentration of work, for the silence of sleep.

-Peter Zumthor

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Single pavilion divided by a central court Implied internal corridor supports an oversized gutter which connects at either end to two large single downpipe The open northern face is treated as a glazed sliding screen with individually adjustable and retractable external louvres.

The large angled roof overhang shades the building from summer sun and allows winter sun access Glenn Murcutt Magney House Bingie Point‚ New South Wales

Indoor and outdoor barriers are always blurred Sense are in touch with the environment

“The future lies with our younger architects and with our understanding of the conservation and the ecology of our planet …. I think that the landscape is really the appropriate common thing to all of us …. I am talking about the conservation of materials, the conservation of land, the keeping of old growth forests, the understanding of how we might be able to find a sustainable building.”

-Glen Murcutt 13

THERE ARE ARCHITECTS THAT SUPPORT THIS WAY OF THINKING and not to mention do it well...

Built as a guest house and rural retreat The lines between being inside or outdoors are blurred The main living area appears to open and close, which reproduces a similar experience as when walking through a forest

Alvar Aalto Villa Mairea Noormarkku‚ Finland

The basic L-shape of the floor plan is very characteristic of Scandinavian architects

But it is possible to use standardization and rationalization in the interest of man. The question is what we should standardize or rationalize.

-Alvar Aalto

14

THE

SOLUTION approaching housing with collective form

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COLLECTIVE FORM Mutually independent| Preconcieved | Interrelated | System of Generative Elements “We have so long accoustomed ourselves to concieving of buildings as seperate entities that today we suffer from an inadequacy of spatial languages to make meaningful environments. The nature of collective form is group buildings and quasi-buildings. Not a collection of unrelated seperate buildings but of buildings that have reasons to be together.�

- Fumihiko Maki

17

Four Basic Elements of Collective Form

1. Consistent use of basic materials and construction methods 2. Wise and often dramatic use of geography and topography 3. Human scale preserved 4. Sequential development of basic elements

“Geometric forms are meaningless unless the form derives from environmental needs” -Fumihiko Maki “Investigation on group form inevitably leads us to regionalism at a collective scale” -Fumihiko Maki

18

Japanese Lineal Village

“Group form evolves from people of society rather than powerful leadership�

-Fumihiko Maki 19

addressing the basics

that anticipates expansion and devlopment

to become a collection of dwellings that are collaborative

20

THE

PROPOSAL

situating my ideas among the larger discourse

22

FRAMPTON’S ARGUMENT: We need to engage in the notion of regionalism or better phrased “ a contemporary architecture of resistance that is free from fashionable, stylistic conventions; an architecture of place rather than space that is sensitive to the vicissitudes of time and climate Frampton criticizes post modernism for its “nostalgia or technology of rootlessness” but understands that post modernism is subjected to various societal circumstances that weigh upon it Critical regionalism is based upon a high level of self consciousness Critical regionalism seeks to provide an architecture rooted in the modern tradition, but tied to geographical and cultural context. It is a progressive approach to design that seeks to mediate between the global and the local languages of architecture.

23

CHRISTOPHER ALEXANDER’S FRAME WORK: Pattern language is a term coined by Christopher Alexander in his book A Pattern Language (1977). The book was a collection of 253 patterns or individual paradigms that describe formal, social, tectonic attributes of a built environment.

His architectural practice and theory present a critique of industrially produced built environments and process by which it is designed and produced Believes in synthesizing attributes of pre-industrial societies and their built environments from a wide range of times and places True beauty cannot be achieved without personalizing production of built environment, that alienation of contemporary architecture can only be overcome when buildings designed and produced as much as possible by people who occupy them.

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Situating my ideas in relation to the larger discourse

Understanding Frampton’s criticism through Alexander’s framework and Maki’s Solution Housing has become subjected to the ideals of our consumer market disregarding the vast advantages and strategies found within an understanding of place. Re-engaging with a regional identity, conceptualized in Kenneth Frampton’s Towards a Critical Regionalism, with an inherent consideration of climate, local materials, landscape and lifestyle will revitalize the home as a relevant spatial format that strategically embraces it’s context and not consumer production.

This thesis project proposes to create a housing delivery-model rooted in place and inspired

by Fumihiko Maki’s theories on collective form in the rural and underdeveloped town of Todos Santos, Baja California Sur. The primary goal of this project is to employ architecture to create empowering moments of user intervention to solve local problems with local solutions. The impact will hopefully shed light on an alternative approach to social housing that improves a standard of living and begins to undermine the the cycle of dependency of external donors and building practices.

25

THE

INVESTIGATION how do we define regionalism?

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Modernism Was shaped on ideals of industrial society and the rapid growth of cities after World War I. Characteristics of modernsim include the emphasis of function, minimal ornamentation and factory made parts.

Critical Regionalism Strove to bring back a sense of place and discard international styes lack of identity. Critical regionalism is characterized as architecture rooted in modern tradition, geography and cultural context.

Deconstructivism Began as a criticism to postmodernism return to traditional design practices.

Deconstructivism rejected ideas of ornamentation and embraced ideas of controlled chaos.

Arts and Crafts Was a reaction against the decline of the decorative production of arts at the time. The Arts and Crafts Movement stood for traditional craftsmanship and applied medieval, romantic or folk styles of decoration.

27

Architecture as a MEDIUM to convey ideas

And it does this through

FORM

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BUT THERE IS A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THIS

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and

THAT

DEFINING F O R M VS. S T Y L E

FORM is depth with principles -Glenn Murcutt

STYLE is the ornamentation and decoration on a building

FORM is the shape or configuration of a building in relation to:

STYLE is a tactic to “compensate a buildings contradictions driven by universal capitalism” -Kenneth Frampton

environment and climate material and assembly cultural references occupant acknowledgement

STYLE is “the gratuitous facades hiding the bare reductive product” -Kenneth Frampton

30

FORM TRUMPS STYLE “The heart of vernacular design is about form not style.”

“Style is time’s fool. Form is time’s student.”

-Stewart Brand

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WHAT INFORMS THE FORM? Pattern language is a term coined by Christopher Alexander in his book A Pattern Language (1977). The book was a collection of 253 patterns or individual paradigms that describe formal, social, tectonic attributes of a built environment.

construction

towns

buildings

REGIONALISM AS A

PATTERN LANGUAGE

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REGIONAL IDENTITY

LANDSCAPE

CLIMATE

OCCUPANT

CULTURAL REFERENCES

MATERIAL

“ A pattern Language has the structure of a network. When we use the network of a language, we always use it as a sequence, going through patterns, moving always from the larger patterns to the smaller.

-Christopher Alexander, A Pattern Language

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The language is in truth a network, there is no one sequence which perfectly captures it. It is both a summary of the language and at the same time, an index to the patterns.

-Christopher Alexander, A Pattern Language

34

THE

PATTERNS precedent‚ precedent and more precedent

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Palmyra House Studio Mumbai India

Located outside of Mumbai on the Arabian Sea, Palmyra House was built as a refuge from the bustle of the busy city. The 3000 sq ft. house consists of two wooden louvered structures set inside of a functioning coconut plantation. Anchored to stone platforms, the structures overlook a network of wells and aqueducts that weave the site into an inhabitable whole. Living room, study and master bedroom are contained in the north volume, while the south volume contains the kitchen, dining, and guest bedrooms. Set in the plaza between the buildings, the pool provides a channel for swimming, with expansive views of the sea to the west and views into a dense foliage of palms to the east. Events oscilate between the two volumes. Ain is a local wood used to construct the home which was prepared in the Studio Mumbai workshop. The louvres are made of palmyra trunk which is calibrated and craftes precisely to provide protection from the sun, wind and rain. The gray green colored cement plaster mimics the lichen pattern that grows on the barks of coconut trees. The palm trees on site inspire methods for timber framing.

37

“There is something that exists on a site that has been nurtured over a period of time. We are now the new caretakers of the place, and must continue to nurture what has been set, but also our hope is to take it further and to realize a new potential.�

-Bijoy Jain

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The house is composed of two timber framed volumes positioned carefully to perserve as many trees as possible in a dense coconut plantation

39

40

Quinta Monroy Elemental Architects Iquique, Chile

Elemental architects joined forces with the Chilean government to propose a social housing resolution after the hurricane in 2008. Working within the framework of the current housing policy they would need to build 100 units for $7,500 each.

Through various iterations they came up with a housing solution that increases in value over time. Through various iterations iteration they dismissed freestanding housing: because of its inefficient in of land use per family, row houses: due to problematic issues of light, ventilation and overcrowding, and a high rise model: because there would be no room for expansion.

41

“We think that social housing should be seen as an investment and not as an expense. Social housing, in an unacceptable proportion, that is more like buying a car than a house; every day, its value decreases. We must create a set of design conditions through which a housing unit can increase its value over time.�

-Alejandro Aravena

42

Design conditions Established: 1. Close location to city to strengthen family economy 2. Provision for the extensive family to develop. Introducing a collective space for an intermediate level of association that allows surviving fragile social conditions 3. Supportive and expansive structure that would facilitate future self-built units to expand within its structure 4. Construction of all crucial elements of a middle-income house (kitchen, bathrooms, the difficult parts) so family will be able to build the easier parts in the future

Anticipating expansion and development in design phase

43

Suoi Rue Community House 1 + 1 > 2 Group Luong Son, Vietnam

The community house is a multi-functional project that attempts to create a sense of community for this remote rural rice community. This project is exemplary for incorporating an attentiveness to site, climate, local materials, local techniques and cultural references. It is built within in a hill that faces a valley. A water embankment is strategically placed to avoid storms and flash floods. The design references principles of Feng Shui, traditional stilt houses and five-room traditional houses of the Kinh people. The ground floor is designed to fit into concave slopes that utilize geothermal heating and cooling. The orientation of the house is placed strategically to avoid northern monsoons in the winter but collect east-southern monsoons in the summer. A large ellipsoid aperture between the floors creates a convection wind tunnel allowing natural ventilation.

Ground floor is made of rugged-stone wall, bamboo doors, fine-bamboo ceiling. Upstairs is the use of rammed-soil creates walls with heavy stones beneath, bamboo frames, and a palm leaves roof. The project also includes a solar cell system, filtering rainwater collection tanks, and a five-compartment septic tanks.

44

Hopefully once this work is carried out, It will strengthen the bonds of community, contributing to the consolidation, maintenance and development of regional identity. This is a direction, can take the experience and replicate the model for rural midland area.

- 1 + 1 > 2 Group

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solar cell southern winds

water embankment septic tank

wind shield rainwater collector

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Pile Dwelling Hunnan, China

The idea of “architecture a pilotis” is nothing new for the primitive builders of this region. The dwellings are raised on stilts (aka piles) to prevent frequent flooding and unwelcomed vermin. The application of an elevated platform is also used as a fishing station. The shady space under the house can also be used for work or storage.

PATTERNS LANDSCAPE: IF YOU CAN’T ESCAPE IT‚ EMBRACE IT

- elevating structure through piles - light structure - utilize proximity to water -multi-use space

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Loess Belt Honnan, China

One of the most strategic solutions in the quest for shelter is represented by the underground towns and villages in the Chinese loess belt. Loess is a silt transported and deposited by the wind. Because of its incredible softness and high porosity (45 percent), it can be easily carved. The dwellings are clean and free of vermin, warm in the winter and cool in the summer.

MATERIAL:

IT’S A WHOLE NEW

UNDERGOUND WORLD

PATTERNS - scoop out material - large pits as entry, ventilation and lighting - Courtyard communal space - Thermal mass - L- shaped stair in corner - DOUBLE DUTY: dwelling below, field upstairs for farming

49

Limonaie Terrace Lake Garda, Italy

Historically, the limonaie was used for security purposes by forming terraced labyrinths enclosed by high stone walls. But during the winter months, the lemon trees, some of which have been producing fruit for over 150 years, were protected from the cold and snow by operable roofs made of wooden boards. On the exterior of the structure 40-foot-high glass panels were inserted between columns.

CLIMATE: PREPARATION IS KEY

PATTERNS - Tall columns for height of trees made of stone as main structure - smaller scaffolding made of wood for wood panels - columns are tapered at top to create connection with wood - glass allows sunlight for warmth

50

Tribal Dwelling Southern Iraq

The primary building material for this dwelling is a giant reed that can be found along the shores of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. The reeds can grow to a height of twenty feet. The reeds are bound into fasces, stuck into the ground and bent into parabolic arches. Mats are then woven from split reed, and serves as the roofing. This technique produces a simple long house structure.

MATERIAL: BUILD WITH WHAT YOU HAVE

PATTERNS - the bending of reed (parabolic shape) - use of local material - weaving of reed for roof - arch is structural - spacing of bending reed is contingent on woven mats dimension

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Cappadocia Anatolia, Turkey The rocky geography of this region directly affects the design decisions made in the creation of housing. The desire for seclusion and protection made the conical rock that had survived the wind and rains for thousands of years look like a good choice for habitation. Spatially defining architecture through subtraction or carving 30,000 people lived within these rocks creating chambers, chapels, churches and homes.

LANDSCAPE: IF YOU CAN’T BEAT IT‚ USE IT

PATTERNS - geography distinguishes climate -subtraction of spaces -durability found through material -programmatic sensibility within geography

52

Windscreen Home Shimane Prefacture, Japan

In the Shimane Prefacture surrounding vegetation as a readily available material could be used for climatic purposes. Garden wall hedges are wrapped around the home to create a buffer from winter winds and snowstorms. The farmers coax pine trees into L-shaped hedges that around fifty feet tall. During the warmer parts of the year the garden wall creates a communal outdoor courtyard.

C L I M A T E : VEGETATION CAN BE YOUR BEST FRIEND

PATTERNS - use of local material - vegetation as shield -partially enclosed L-shape - multi-seasonal - protective structure creating outdoor courtyard

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Villa Mariea Noormarkku, Finland Alvar Aalto The orientation of the house is placed within the hillside to shield south and south east winds. Vegetation is also used to help shield winds. External spaces are located on the north western hillside while the major communal spaces such as the living room, dinning room and play room receive mid-day sun throughout most/ all of the year on the south east side. The room that receives the most sunlight is the music room on the southern end of the house.

CLIMATE: ORIENTATION IS KEY

PATTERNS -orientation strategic -using landscape as shield - strategic programmatic placement -layering

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Villa Mariea Noormarkku, Finland Alvar Aalto The topography of the site (aka the ridge) is a major design factor to the programmatic layout between architecture and garden space. The private programs such as the living room, fireplace and service spaces, are anchored into the hillside, (dense topo) while the relatively open gathering spaces, such as the dinning room, garden porch and terrace, spawn off the anchored programs into the leveled out garden courtyard.

LANDSCAPE: STAY WITHIN THE LINES

PATTERNS -topography determines site placement -topography can determine the placement of private and communal spaces -layering programs

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Villa Mariea Noormarkku, Finland Alvar Aalto Spatial subdivisions are constantly blurred on the ground floor. Diagonal and rectilinear points of view and circulation can be found within every space. Almost none of the spaces on the ground floor are singled out or individualized. Each space has a cospatial or complimentary relationship with another. The majority of relationships are based on particular living patterns and trends between program.

OCCUPANT: BLURRED LINES & PROGRAMS

PATTERNS - strategic programmatic placement -open floor plan -courtyard -overlap

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Villa Mariea Noormarkku, Finland Alvar Aalto

LANDSCAPE:

The concept of the private spaces being embedded into the hillside is reinforced by limited external outlooks. While in contrast, the multi-use and communal spaces of the living room and courtyard offer fully glazed walls and doorways to the outdoors. There are also moments of fusion between indoor and outdoors. The outdoor dinning room is outdoors but is under an overhang and the porch is partially screened. The fusion can be seen in the garden room because of its extensively glazed walls suggesting an exterior space.

INDOORS OR OUTDOORS?

PATTERNS -strategic glazing -fusion of spaces with overhangs and operable screens

57

Bagsvard Church Copenhagen, Denmark Jorn Utzon The prelim sketches of this project show the basic intentions for the church. Utzon began by sketching a group of people standing on the ground looking out into the horizon at the sea. In the sky he drew voluminous clouds. In his next sketch he spatial defined the drawing by making the ground the floor of a building and the clouds a series of hovering vaults. The horizon became a luminous cross that the group is directed to.

LANDSCAPE: PICTURE PERFECT MOMENT

PATTERNS - abstraction - understanding human scale - landscape as metaphor - formal moves as interpretation - human experience within landscape

58

Bagsvard Church Copenhagen, Denmark Jorn Utzon Although the church is unrecognizable as a church from the exterior, the interior has direct references of a typological basilica.

This interpretation can be seen by the main axis of the largest concrete vault (or nave) that starts low over the entrance and then rises steeply allowing light to flood in above the altar of the church. Two secondary spaces are defined on the sides of the central nave through repetitive concrete skeletons.

CULTURAL REFERENCES: THE FAMILIARITY OF TYPOLOGY

PATTERNS - using typological references - abstraction - axis - hierarchy of spaces -open floor plan

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Bagsvard Church Copenhagen, Denmark Jorn Utzon Utzon takes into full account how lighting and material will create a sense of place, a sense of holiness. The vaults are made of concrete and are painted white creating curvatures that receive light differently.

A rich play of nuances is created from intense luminosity at the top of the vaults to the deep shadows found over the entrance

MATERIAL: MATERIAL + LIGHT = AMBIANCE

PATTERNS -understanding construction potentials with material - relationship of curves and light - color and light - light and experience

60

Magney House

Bingie Point, New South Wales Glenn Murcutt

The has a basic one story plan. There are two living suites that can be joined or closed off depending on whether the occupants open or close the communal verandah. The living spaces are strategically aligned on the north end to gain full advantage of the sun. The service rooms (bathroom, facilities, and kitchen) are placed on the south wall. The sitting rooms are placed on both sides of the verandah so to create one big room simply by opening the sliding doors.

OCCUPANT: THE COMMUNAL LINK

PATTERNS - creating a central communal space - indoor / outdoor space - strategic circulation - streamline floor plan

61

Magney House

Bingie Point, New South Wales Glenn Murcutt

CLIMATE:

The Magney house considers climatic orientation. The open northern face is extensively glazed with a sliding door (glazing also has operable louvers). The implied internal corridor supports an oversized gutter that connects to two large single down pipes on both ends. The gutter creates a clear distinction to the organization of space of the house and acts as a rainwater collector. The large angled overhangs of the roof shade the interior spaces in the summer and allow winter sun access.

LET IT RAIN AND LET IT SHINE

PATTERNS - rainwater collecting roof - strategic orientation - over hangs for shading - seasonal consideration

62

Tubac House Tubac, Arizona Rick Joy

L A N D S C A P E :GET YOUR CUES FROM

The Tubac house is an incredible example of architecture that is inspired by its surroundings; it chooses to reflect and appeal to the landscape around it. The external rustic sheeting takes on the desert’s aged and weathered persona. Windows are placed in sync with the mountain peaks in the distance. A pond is created in the courtyard to capture reflections of the landscape. The overall floor plan is extremely minimalist to continually draw attention to the outdoors.

YOUR SURROUNDINGS

PATTERNS - object in the environment - open floor plan - private/ service spaces are clustered

63

Chicken Point Cabin Idaho, United States Olson Kundig

The idea behind the chicken point cabin is “a little box with a big window that opens up to the forest and lake.” The cabin’s big window-wall is the focal point of the entire house at approximately 30ft by 20 ft. The materials have a minimal appeal such as concrete blocks, steel, and concrete floors.

All of the materials were left unfinished to naturally age and acquire a patina that fits within the natural setting.

LANDSCAPE: KEEP THE SPOTLIGHT ON THE VIEWS

PATTERNS - basic form - object in the environment - highlight landscape through apertures - open floor plan - communal space hybrid between indoors and outdoors

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Wallhouse Shizuoka, Japan

Peter Stutchbury & Keiji Ashizawa

CULTURAL REFERENCES:

The wall house is fundamental informed by Japanese culture, aesthetic and philosophy.

The basic form is based on a traditional Japanese long low town house that becomes the missing piece within the perimeter of the compound. The house acts as a wall between the street and the garden creating a transition from the nosiness of the road to a space of contemplation in the garden. Japanese principles such as material purity, craftsmanship and social restraint play a role in the configuration of this home.

PHEN - OMEN - OLOGY

PATTERNS - house as portal - craftmanship - distinguishing outdoor spaces: private, semi-private, public - following typology - rhythm and repetition

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Cliff House

Nova Scotia, Canada

Brian MacKay-Lyons Sweetapple Architects

CULTURAL REFERENCES: KEEPING IT SIMPLE

The cliff house is a modest 12ft by 110 ft long space surrounded by the sea on three sides. The house perches off of a bluff overlooking Nova Scotia’s Atlantic coast. The simplicity of the house minimizes distractions and highlights views of the ocean. The basic form of the home can also be referenced to the fishing shacks native to the area. The cladding envelops the house’s steel frame with cedar wood, a material used by traditional cabins found in Nova Scotia.

PATTERNS - rectangular form - object in the environment - cultural references - using landscape as support - enhance viewer experience

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Teacher Housing Gando, Burkina Faso Francis Kere

MATERIAL: LOCAL MATERIAL = LOCAL SOLUTIONS

The materials used for this housing project are specific to the local resources found in Gando. No timber or steel is used within the design. The housing is primarily made of stabilized earth brick, clay, granite and concrete. By using local materials the villagers easily adopted this way of building.

Between 600 to 1,000 earthen blocks were created per day. The housing design is a very basic rectilinear space with a barrel-vault roof that has a thin projection that protects from moisture penetration and erosion.

PATTERNS - simple construction - sensible form - volunteer laborers - durability and flexibility

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Baobab House Asante Architecture and Design Tanzania

Asante Architects and Designers partnered with the Sweden based NGO ECONEF to build the Baobab House. It is exemplary in terms of sustainability. The house adopts a sensitivity to the local climate and economic conditions of the northern Tanzania context. The home integrates rainwater harvesting, solar panels, solar water-heating and ecological compost toilets.

CLIMATE: PREPARE FOR THE FUTURE

PATTERNS - linear spatial organization - indoor / outdoor space - slanted roof that connects to piping - central circulation core - complementary volumes

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THE

APPLICATION where could this work?

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TODOS SANTOS

Baja California Sur‚ Mexico

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BAJA CALIFORNIA

TODOS SANTOS

CITY OF TODOS SANTOS

NUEVO SAN JUAN

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TEDDY CRUZ MODEL Development of zoning policy for San Ysidro

“Monthly workshops with the public organized by Cruz and Casa Familiar were opportunities for the architect and organization to discuss and challenge local conceptions of building density, community, communal space, and financing. In this set of building projects Cruz aimed to redefine housing as a choreography of interaction on political, economical and social levels.�

- MoMA Small Scale Big Change

Financial Institution

Municipality Ejido

Thesis Student Design Project

Micro-developer Non-Profit

Palapa Society Todos Santos

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Community Participation

All Images are Property of Palapa Society Todos Santos

74

1

2

3

4

All Images are Property of Palapa Society Todos Santos

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THE

PRINCIPLES the governing paradigms of consideration

76

OCCUPANT living patterns | experience | user ramifications |demographics

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plastic barrel cistern water tub 1 ROOM

partition added if family can afford it

primary kitchen outside

tin roof

palm frond roof

Information provided by Palapa Society Todos Santos

OCCUPANT DWELLING 79

POPULATION: 6,049 The percentage of people who reported living in homes without access to basic services was 51.3 %, which means that housing conditions are not adequate for 3,698 people.

The average size of households in the municipality was 4 members The percentage of individuals who reported living in homes with poor quality materials and insufficient space was 31.1 % ( 2,243 people) In 2010 , 6,160 individuals ( 85.4 % of total population ) were in poverty , of whom 4,339 ( 60.2 %) had moderate poverty and 1,821 ( 25.3 %) were in extreme poverty.

Data is provided by SEDESOL as of 2010

DEMOGRAPHICS 80

MATERIAL

local resources| artisanship | local delivery-models | craft | material culture

82

In 1699 when expeditions reached the baja California region the construction of adobe structures were created to meet the most urgent and liturgical needs. A series of missions built in Baja California between 1697 and 1832 constitute of earth as the main ingredient because it was an intermediate structure to the final stone building that would be built

HISTORICAL MATERIAL CULTURE 83

San Francisco Javier de Biaundo

San Francisco de Borja (1767) Baja California is a great site when trying to uncover building process and the use of materials and techniques because it is an “outof-the-way territory, far from colonial decision-making centers and subject in many cases to a degree of self-supply that clearly required them to erect their own buildings.�

- Miguel Angel Sorroche Cuerva

Santo Domingo Mission

Santa Rosalia de Mulege

HISTORICAL MATERIAL CULTURE 84

Adoberas

adobe molds

Adoberas de horno kiln moulds

Ladrilleras brick work

Escuadras

carpenter squares

Plomadas plumbs

HISTORICAL MATERIAL CULTURE 85

The superstructure is adobe brick made of a mixture of earth and chipped organic residues) 30x30x7 cm laid out in rows and held together by mortar of the same material

Used mud covered girders in the roofs – no roof tiles have been found near the building

Timber was used for roofs, door frames

Adobe walls 1m thick containing large pieces of rock, plastered inside and out

Solid adobe and stone terreplein 2m high and 3m thick served as a dyke to divert water from the hillside

Foundations were made of cornerstones from nearby hills or stone found in the riverbed. They could be used to form a fairly smooth exterior surface. The rocks were gently stuck together with adobe mortar

HISTORICAL MATERIAL CULTURE 86

Diversity can be found in contemporary practices of earthen architecture in Mexico. Concrete and steel structures are commonly used and the rammed earth is used as filling between the walls

The School of Visual Arts of Oaxaca

By Taller de Arquitectura

CONTEMPORARY MATERIAL CULTURE 87

moist earth mixture of sand, gravel and clay (sometimes with an added stabilizer)

Step 1 framework is built and layer of moist earth is filled in

pneumatic backfill tamper

reinforced plywood frame

Step 3 next layer of moisture earth is added

Step 2 the layer of moist earth is com pressed

Step 4 successive layers of moist earth are added and compressed

visible layers of compacted earth

Step 5 framework is removed leaving - rammed earth the wall

1-2 ft optional brick upstand to protect DPC during compaction

rammed earth wall

DPC floor slab insulation optional drain

conventional solid wall footings

CONTEMPORARY MATERIAL CULTURE 88

CLIMATE

weather | conservation of energy | ventilation | environment

90

The weather in Todos Santos is strongly affected by the Pacific Ocean currents, producing seasonal variations which are somewhat unexpected. April, May and sometimes even June, for example, are often cooler than February and March, because the California current produces chilly morning fogs. The ocean temperature is at its lowest then and at its highest from July through November.

CLIMATE ANALYSIS 91

CLIMATE ANALYSIS 92

CONTROLING THE MICRO-CLIMATE reducing the impact of solar heat

TEMPERATURE HUMIDITY RATE OF AIR MOVEMENT RADIATION FROM SURFACES

ORIENTATION proportionally longer than wide and strategically placed along the track of the sun allows walls to recieve minimal solar radiation low U-value

EARTHEN MATERIALS take a long time to absorb most heat received during the day ensuring a cool interior

WEST

CLIMATE STRATEGIES 93

EAST

NATURAL VENTILATION

works at maximum performance when inlet and outlet are placed diagonal in both plan and section.

Stack effect eliminates green house effect

LANDSCAPE geography | scenery | nature | terrain |earth

94

DESERT CHAPPARAL shrub land habitat

Property of Palapa Society Todos Santos

ELEMENTS OF LANDSCAPE 95

rocky soil infrequent fires receives more rainfall than desert biome also known as california transmontane mountains and plains summer is the driest season most animals in this biome survive on very little water

Property of Palapa Society Todos Santos

ELEMENTS OF LANDSCAPE 96

Todos Santos is fairly favorable in climate compared to the other regions of Baja California Sur due to its proximity to the Pacific Ocean. It is a unique, desert oasis on the Tropic of Cancer. As one ventures further from the coast the landscape is characterized as desert chapparal.

ELEMENTS OF LANDSCAPE 97

CULTURAL R E F E R E N C E S traditions | history | heritage | customs |lifestyle

98

CULTURAL REFERENCES 99

Casa Agundez

The Pericu, Cochime, and Guaycuara Indians living in the mountain areas surrounding what is now Todos Santos. Some of the ranches as we know today, such as Guayabitas, were once Indian settlements. Todos Santos was established as a mission outpost to the Mision de Nuestra Senora del Pilar in La Paz. Todos Santos thrived for nearly two centuries until revolution, drought and WWII brought the downfall of the cane sugar industry. When the sugar mills closed in the early 1950s, many local families were forced to seek opportunity elsewhere, leaving the town isolated and hollow. Todos Santos is still a natural and historical town and is also called Pueblo Magico.

Old Adobe Wall

Trapiches (mills) HISTORICAL REFERENCES 100

old cemetary to Los Flores to La Cachorra

to Las Playitas

red cross

high school church

highway 19 to Cabo San Lucas

LAW OF THE INDIES

stadium

After spanish colonial rule a certain set of laws were made to specify various details for town planning. A rectilinear grid is centered on a Plaza Mayor (main square) which twelve straight streets are built off of.

The directions of the streets are chosen according to the prevailing winds, to protect the Plaza Mayor.

CULTURAL REFERENCES 101

CITY CENTER

THE

SITE context is key

102

NUEVOS SAN JUAN

SAN JUAN

103

aricultural crops juxtaposed to site: most residents on site are temporary farm workers

104

convie

nce st

ores

chapel of san juan

105

main entrance dried up river bed elevation to site in section

106

107

108

109

Site Visit Photos

110

THE

DESIGN putting the idea into practice

112

113

pub

lic s

veg etati

on b e

phe

re

lt

Development Diagrams

114

TERRAIN ALL ABOUT THAT BASE

115

gabion basket retaining wall

adobe floor

rammed earth wall

rubble trench footing vegetation barriers

116

FRAMING EASY AND BREEZY

117

wood roof truss

wood beams wood columns

concrete ring beam

wood floor framing

118

ENCLOSURE CELEBRATING THE MAKESHIFT

119

corregated metal roof

wood infill

wood flooring

pannel system

120

WATER THE ULTIMATE RESOURCE

121

g tter

com

slanted roof itc en appliances mu

nal

wa

ter

sup

ply

storage tan

composting toilet at room tility core

compost

sloped pipe for irrigation

122

EVOLUTION USER PARTICIPATION

123

erranda e tension pri acy enclos re

core nit elements

porc t res old

nit addition

ac yard dec

124

UNIT EVOLUTION

ground floor

first floor

UNIT PLAN 1

125

2

4

8

COMPOSED UNIT ALL THE PIECES OF THE PUZZLE

COMPOSED UNIT ALL THE PIECES OF THE PUZZLE

126

127

1

STRENGTHEN THE UNIT

2

DEVELOP THE LAND

3

INTRODUCE COMMUNITY

128

1.

2.

129

SITE DEVELOPMENT COLLECTIVE ELEMENTS workshop area soccer field

water catchment collective roofing

community watering hole

market verrandah

community rainwater collection

market verrandah

multi-purpose public courts

community assembly agriculture

communal activities

130

SITE SECTION 131

132

134

136

138

140

142

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UNCOVERING PLACE Michaelle Williams Thesis Prep Book ARC 505 Primary: Timothy Stenson Committee: Jean Francois Bedard & Liz Kamell