Material & Culture

MATERIAL & CULTURE

FROM SURFACE TO VOLUME

PETER BLUNDY

| SAMUEL CRITCHLOW | MICHAEL RAMWELL

STUDIO MARS 2013 - 2014

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CONTENTS FOREWORD Studio MARS 2013-2014 Scale

2 MAKING WORKSHOPS FABRIC FORMWORK PAPER MODELLING YORK MINSTER DRAWING WORKSHOP

1 MÜLLER VILLA

PRINTMAKING WORKSHOP

Introduction ADOLF LOOS Adolf Loos - A Life CULTURAL CONTEXT

3 PROTOTYPING ARCHITECTURE PROTOTYPING ARCHITECTURE EXHIBITION BUILDING THE PROTOCELL MESH

Vienna Vienna Seccession KEY WORKS Café Museum (1899)

4 ACADIA 2013 CONFERENCE ACADIA 2013 PECHA KUCHA

Kärntner Bar (1908) Goldman & Salatsch (1910) Steiner House (1910)

5 FIELD RESEARCH

Rufer House (1922)

CANADA

Moller Villa (1926) Müller Villa (1928-30)

AMSTERDAM FOUR POSTER

MÜLLER VILLA Context Müller Family Drawings/Details Models Raumplan Circulation

6 OPEN HOUSE. A DOLLS HOUSE FROM ARCHITECTURE TO DOLLS HOUSE AN IDEA FOR A DOLLS HOUSE MAKING PLAY DAY

Structure Geometry and Proportion Materials and Linings Façade and Context REFLECTION Material & Linings Facade & Context Spatial Arrangement

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FOREWORD

STUDIO MARS 2013-2014 The work in this book represents for its contributors, the first of two chapters in the story of Making Architecture Research Studio 2013-2014. We begin with a shared experience and approach to architecture, to help inform a foundation that may be carried forward into individual works, culminating in the collective MARS exhibition, summer 2014. Making lies at the heart of the studio as a way of thinking about and exploring architecture, this book, as an opening chapter to the year, represents the establishment of this ethos within Peter, Samuel and Michael. There is a shared understanding within the studio, that the act of production, be it a drawing, model or prototype, is an enriching and thoroughly useful mode of thinking. Making is therefore more than the conclusion of a process, but a feedback loop where ideas can be tested and decisions challenged, to ultimately inform built architecture.

and experience. Sometimes the threads neatly join from one to the next, others seem independent, their connection to the broader work less transparent. This is the way of the studio, multiple lines of inquiry that can lead to inspiration from surprising places. Per Olaf Fjeld describes the working method of the Norwegian architect Sverre Fehn as ‘a creative process where a word could spark an entire project’.1 It is in this spirit that readers are invited to read this book, ‘chapter one’ of studio MARS.

Studio MARS promotes a diversity and variety of ideas, students are encouraged to test a plurality of threads during the design process that enrich the architecture, whether or not these threads meet up. There is a celebration of dichotomies, pitching the methodical against the spontaneous, the empirical against the imagined. This ethos is succinctly summarised by the MARS tutors as, ‘critical imagination and tactile experimentation’.

The document begins by exploring the life and work of Aldolf Loos through a critical analysis of Müller Villa, before moving on to experiments in representation, making and design by way of workshops exploring modelling, printing, drawing and prototyping. The contributors’ experiences in Canada at the ACADIA conference and prototyping architecture exhibition are also recorded, preceding the documentation of the final work in this chapter, Open House, an architectural dolls house competition entry. The Open House project represents a culmination of the architectural theory and methodology absorbed throughout the works that precede it. The profound effect these explorations had were made evident during the design and prototyping of Open House, particularly in the influence Loos’ design approach.

Presented in this document is a series of architectural threads.

The contributors use word, diagram, model, photo, drawing, prints and prototype to study precedent, component, product

For the collaborators, this book represents a formative chapter in their education, it is hoped that you might find it insightful and enjoyable.

CONTRIBUTORS Peter Blundy, Samuel Critchlow, Michael Ramwell

FOREWORD

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SCALE The oldest known code of dimensional relationships of man was found in a burial chamber of the pyramids near Memphis and are estimated to date back to roughly 3000 BC. Since then, scientists, artists, and architects have been trying hard to refine human proportional relationships.

There is knowledge of proportional systems from the Empire of the Pharaohs, of the time of Ptolemy, the Greeks and the Romans, and even the system of Polycletes, which for a long time was applied as the standard, the details given by alberti, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo and the people of the Middle Ages.

In particular the work of Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528) is known throughout the world. Dürer was a German Painter, engraver, printmaker, mathematician, and theorist from Nuremberg. His fascination with human proportion, geometry and composition lead him to write a four-volume book series titled ‘Four Books on Human Proportion (Vier Bücher von Menschlicher Proportion) between the years 1512-1528. These ranged from the study of male and female figures with body parts broken down into fractions related to the whole, in both a fractional method based on Vitruvius’ work and an Albertian system. His last volume was dedicated to the theory of movement.

In all of these works, the calculations for a man’s body were based on the lengths of heads, faces or feet. These were then subdivided and brought into relationship with each other, so that they were applicable throughout general life.

The details worked out by Dürer became a common standard and were used extensively. He started with the height of man and expressed the subdivisions as fractions: 1/2 h = the whole of the top half of the body, from the crotch upwards.

1/4 h = leg length from the ankle to the knee and from the chin to the navel 1/6 h = length of foot 1/8 h = head length from the hair parting to the bottom of the chin, distance between the nipples 1/10 h = face height and width (including the ears), hand length to the wrist 1/12 h = face width at the level of the bottom of the nose, leg width (above the ankle) and so on.

The sub-divisions go up to 1/40 h.

During the last century, A. Zeising, brought greater clarity with his investigations of the dimensional relationship of man’s proportions. He made exact measurements and comparisons on the basis of the golden section.

Unfortunately, this work did not receive the attention it deserved until recently, when a significant researcher in this field, E. Moessel, endorsed Zeising’s work by making thorough tests, that were carried out following Zeising’s methods.

From 1945 onwards, Le Corbusier used the sectional relationships in accordance with the golden section in all his work, which he published in ‘Le Modulor’ in 1948. Le Corbusier described this system in Le Modulor as a “range

LEFT Figure1. Leonardo da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man, circa 1490

SCALE

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of harmonious measurements to suit the human scale, universally applicable to architecture and to mechanical things.”

Le Modulor, an anthropometric scale study of a proportioning system, was developed by Charles-Edouard Jeanneret (Le Corbusier) in the long tradition of Vitruvius, Leonardo da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man, and the work of Leone Battista Alberti, and other attempts to discover mathematical proportions in the human body. The aim for this book was to use that knowledge to improve both the appearance and function of architecutre. The system is based on human measurements, the double unit, the Fibonacci numbers, and the golden ratio. The book, which ended up being developed as two volumes, was a visual bridge between two scale systems, the Imperial and the Metric. The proportioning system is based on the height of a man with his arm raised.

The male silhouette graphic used throughout the book is well known in modern times as a signature of Le Corbusiers work, alongside his built work.

LEONARDO DA VINCI’S VITRUVIAN MAN

The rendering of the Vitruvian Man, circa 1490, by Leonardo da Vinci (shown under leaf) depicts a man in two positions: the first body standing inscribed within a square, and the second body with limbs outspread inscribed within a circle. By depiciting this overlayed information of the square and circle, Leonardo da Vinci had shown the proportioning of the body in a new way.

with feet and arms outspread inscribed in a circle provides an excellent early example of the way in which his studies of proportion fuse artistic and scientific objectives. It is Leonardo, not Vitruvius, who points out that ‘If you open the legs so as to reduce the stature by one-fourteenth and open and raise your arms so that your middle fingers touch the line through the top of the head, know that the centre of the extremities of the outspread limbs will be the umbilicus, and the space between the legs will make and equilateral triangle’ (Accademia, Venice). Here he provides one of his simplest illustrations of a shifting ‘centre of magnitude’ without a corresponding change of ‘centre of normal gravity’. This remains passing through the central line from the pit of the throat through the umbilicus and pubis between the legs.

Leonardo repeatedly distinguishes these two different ‘centres’ of a body, i.e., the centers of ‘magnitude’ and ‘gravity.” 2 SCALE WORKSHOP

Biometric Data was taken during this workshop and translated into a drawn piece, representing the data in a proportional manner, taking inspiration from da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man and Dürer’s proportioning system as a means of representation. This is a drawn representation of my physical data, and the proportioning of my body.

“Leonardo’s famous drawings of the Vitruvian proportions of a man’s body first standing inscribed in a square and then

LEFT Figure2. Fibonacci Spiral

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RIGHT Elevation, Portrait and Profile of Michael Ramwell

BELOW Biometric Data Sheet for Michael Ramwell

LEFT Figure3. Dürer’s proportioning of the body. Divisions up to 1/40h

Martian Name Nationality Height Chest Waist Hips Bottom Shoe Size Inside Leg - Left Inside Leg - Right Arm Span Inside Arm - Left Inside Arm - Right Weight BMI Colour of Eyes Hand Span Ring Sizes - Left Ring Sizes - Right Hat Size

Michael Ramwell British 1774 980 873 965 990 9 860 860 1807 725 740 78 24.8 Blue 222 61.4, 65.3, 60.2, 50 61.4, 65.3, 60.2, 50 580

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LEFT Elevation, Portrait & Profile of Samuel Critchlow

BELOW Biometric Data Sheet for Samuel Critchlow

Martian Name Nationality Height Chest Waist Hips Bottom Shoe Size Inside Leg - Left Inside Leg - Right Arm Span Inside Arm - Left Inside Arm - Right Weight BMI Colour of Eyes Hand Span Ring Sizes - Left Ring Sizes - Right Hat Size

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Samuel Critchlow British 1715 864 815 810 960 6 794 794 1748 720 720 60 20.4 Hazel 212 48.7, 56.3, 58.9, 56.3, 60.2 48.7, 56.3, 58.9, 56.3, 60.2 546

RIGHT Elevation, Portrait & Profile of Peter Blundy

BELOW Biometric Data Sheet for Peter Blundy

Martian Name Nationality Height Chest Waist Hips Bottom Shoe Size Inside Leg - Left Inside Leg - Right Arm Span Inside Arm - Left Inside Arm - Right Weight BMI Colour of Eyes Hand Span Ring Sizes - Left Ring Sizes - Right Hat Size

Peter Blundy British 1744 885 795 885 940 10

1819 730 720 67 Brown 236

565

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FIGURE REFERENCES 1. Leonardo da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man, circa 1490.

Image Source: http://leonardodavinci.stanford. edu/submissions/clabaugh/history/leonardo.html Accessed: 24/12/13 2. Fibonacci Spiral. Image Source: http://upload. wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/93/ Fibonacci_spiral_34.svg/915px-Fibonacci_spiral_34. svg.png Accessed: 24/12/13 3. Image Source: http://www.greektravel.com/ greekislands/skyros Accessed: 07/10/13

TEXT REFERENCES 1. An interview with Per Olaf Fjeld on the words of Sverre Fehn. Source: http://www. architecturenorway.no/stories/people-stories/fjeldon-fehn-09/ Accessed: 05/01/14 2. Keele, Kenneth D. Leonardo Da Vinci’s Elements of the Science of Man. Academic Press. 1983. p252.

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MÜLLER VILLA

ADOLF LOOS

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“Loos swept right beneath our feet, and it was a Homeric cleansing - precise, philosophical and logical. In this Loos has had a decisive influence on the destiny of architecture.� 1 Le Corbusier

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The Müller Villa (1928 - 1930) Investors: František Müller & Milada Müllerová Architects: Adolf Loos & Karel Lhota Landscape architects: Camillo Schneider, Karl Forster & Hermann Mattern Built-on area: 255.3 m² Total area: 866.4 m² Structural volume: 2.987 m³ Owner: City of Prague Expert oversight and tenancy: City of Prague Museum Renovation and restoration (1997-2000): GIRSA AT, s.r.o.

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LEFT Figure1. Mrs. Malidá Müller playing with the dog on the roof terrace of Müller Villa.

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INTRODUCTION

INTERESTING TIMES Adolf Franz Karl Viktor Maria Loos (1870-1933), known as Adolf Loos, was born in Brno, Czech Republic, and lived during a time of rapid political, social, and technological change. This created a rich environment that Loos experienced during his lifetime. He was passionate about influencing the progression of culture and architecture. His passions lay in how architecture, fashion and social culture coalesque, of which he wrote and lectured on so polemically for the majority of his career. He is known as one of the greatest European Modern Architects, who has had great influence on the progression of architectural theory and practice of today.

Prague was part of The Austro-Hungarian empire (Austria and Hungary monarchies 1867-1918) and fell in 1918 at the end of WWI, with Prague becoming the capital of the independent Czechoslovakia.

Later in the 20th Century, Czechoslovakia split into two independent countries on January 1st, 1993, forming Czech Republic and Slovakia, with Prague becoming the capital of the Czech Republic.

very unique, and had an impact on the architecture of spatial making, materiality (internally and externally), and forced a positive critique on the overwhelming use of ornament in architecture. He did not so much despise ornament, but more for the act of ornamentation - the untrue use of materials and labour for an aesthetic effect aluding to a form of art, of which he did not believe in.

Adolf Loos’ work, through the medium of writing, lectures, and realised buildings conflicted with the trends of his contemporaries, and finds itself more at home in today’s culture than that of its time, par the materially sumptuous interiors. This visionary progression of architectural style is something that created a ripple in our architectural timeline.

This political change left a creative void that Loos used as a springboard for his critical arguments, in which he wanted to guide the new Austrian architectural culture, and attacking all other ideologies that sought to regress the development of mankind in the making of architecture. His critical backslash was aimed at ornamentation, with a particular antipathy towards the Viennese Secessionists or “Graphic artists’ group”, formed in 1897. This group of artists and architects attempted to transform two-dimensional painted cubism of Picasso and Braque into three-dimensional architectural form.

In the years 1928-1930 two significant, luxury villas were built in Bohemia and Moravia that would forever be written into the history of world architecture for there impact and struggle to be accepted into the culture of their time. Firstly the Tugendhat House in Brno by Mies Van der Rohe, was described as a “foreign body” and ignored by professional literature. Secondly the villa for Dr. Müller in PragueStřešovice by Adolf Loos had many difficulties in gaining planning permission even with Adolf Loos’ status as a great figure for Czech Modernism and international architecture. This was primarily due to its white, unadorned exterior and unsoftened mass. It is these local and social difficulties that architecture has to endure which makes one appreciate the persiverance of architects in their endeavours to change the way we live, and how this can change the course of architecture.

When Loos died in 1933, three years after his most revered residential work, Müller Villa, was completed, he left behind a legacy of polemical critiques on the progression of Austrian culture through its architecture. He used fashion and culture of the Anglo-Saxon worlds and America as a benchmark of which life and culture in Austria should aspire to. This is not to say he was trying to mimic these cultures, as what he proposed through his work and writing was

Müller Villa, Prague, has now been restored (1997-2000) after its period as a derelict building. It had survived the Nationalisation of Czechoslovakia, of which Prague was the capital, through Nazi occupation during WWII, and then Soviet domination of the Cold War. It remained a Communist Part Club following WWII during the time of The Prague Spring reforms. Czechoslovakia remained under Soviet control until 1989.

INTRODUCTION

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“When I want to eat a piece of gingerbread, I choose a piece that is plain, not a piece shaped like a heart, or a baby, or a cavalryman, covered over and over with decoration. A fifteenth-century man would not have understood me, but all modern people will. The supporters of ornament think my hunger for simplicity is some kind of mortification of the flesh. No, my dear Professor of Applied Arts, I am not mortifying the flesh at all. I find the gingerbread tastes better like that.� 2 Adolf Loos

LEFT Figure2. Portrait of Adolf Loos

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ADOLF LOOS - A LIFE

1870-1933

Adolf Loos grew to be an acclaimed architect, theorist, and critic, and has influenced the world of architecture through his intellectually challenging agenda’s towards society and the by product of that which we call architecture.

To associate Loos as simply an avante-garde of the twentieth century would miss the richness of his personality, and would deny him the qualities that seperated him from his supposed successors.

“Adolf Loos was one of that generation of innovators in architecture, born in or about 1870. Mackintosh, Frank Llyod Wright and Perret were the other principles. Otto Wagner came a generation before.

Loos is central to the main issue of ‘Modernism’ with an attitude of mind as different from, say, Mackintosh, as Mackintosh from Perret.”3 Adolf Franz Karl Viktor Maria Loos was born on December 10th, 1870 in Brünn (known today as Brno, Czech Republic), the commercial and industrial center of the Austro-Hungarian empire, 100 kiolometers north of Vienna. Adolf ’s father was a sculptor and stone cutter, who died in 1879, when Adolf was nine. Many authors have attributed Loos’ preference for beautiful, well-worked materials to his father’s trade, although it is far more probable that Loos’ taste for precious materials was more of an inherent characteristic of Loos, and possibly a way of mourning his bereavement.

EDUCATION

Loos studied across various schools across Vienna and Germany between 1884-1892, during which time he completed national service before ending his full-time education. He began his studies in Brünn, entering the Obergymnasium of the Benedectines of Melk in 1884, but left almost immediately, after failing the February exams. He then enrolled at the National School of Arts and Crafts

in Reichenberg, to become a mechanic. He left once again to enter a program in building technology, and ended with yet another in mechanical construction in 1889 at the National School of Arts and Crafts in Brünn. He then decided to turn to architecture; he studied at the Superior Technical School in Dresden for two semesters and, after doing his military service, settled in Vienna to take courses at the Academy of Beaux Arts. He then returned to Dresden in 1892, and tried - unsuccessfully - to finish the program he had started three years earlier. 4 His education was far from traditional. However, his apprenticeships in the technical and constructional sections of Arts and Crafts schools gave him experience uncommon among beaux-arts architects. Loos was particularly good at communicating with craftsmen and the mason, and understood the value and quality of their traditional work. His sketches have been described as rudimentary, but his manner on a building site was that of someone at ease.

Although Loos’ education was extremely disjointed, it was this rich link of multi-education related to arts, crafts, and construction, as well as his hard working temperament that eventually profited his career.

THE NEW WORLD

In 1893, one year after ending his studies, Loos visited the Worlds Columbian Exposition also known as Chicago World’s Fair, that exhibited an array of artistic and architectural talent. There was a range of buildings on show, with Dankmar Adler and Louis Sullivan’s Transportation building being one of the key exhibits. “With the exception of the latter, which boasted Sullivan’s long-remembered Golden Door, all these buildings were decidedly neoclassical, lathered with plaster of Paris, and painted a chalky white, thus bestowing the moniker of “White City” on the main exposition buildings.

ADOLF LOOS

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1897

1899

1900

1902

1903

1904

1905

Designs his first independent work - furniture for the Ebenstein tailors’ salon in Vienna

Distances himself from Viennese Secessionism, completes first important work - Café Museum in Vienna

Publishes: Spoken Into the Void

Marries actress Lina Obertimpfler in the manor chapel of Lednice

Publishes the journal Das Andere [The Other]

Visits the Greek Island of ‘Skyros’

Divorces Lina, starts relationship with dancer Bessie Bruce

1896

1893

Stay in the USA (Chicago, St. Louis, Philadelphia, New York), returns to Vienna via London and Paris

1891-’92 Stays in Vienna

1889-’90 Studies architecture at the Technical University in Dresden

1892-’93

1876-’89 Primary and secondary school in Brno, Jihlava, Melk, Liberec

1870 b. Brno, Czech Republic - the only son of a leading Brno sculptor and stoneworker 24

The White City’s neoclassicism provoked a long-lived debate among architects. Sullivan, for one, would decry the pernicious effects of the fair on American architecture, while others praised the “civilizing” and uplifting effect that Burnham’s Beaux-Arts plan would have on the public architecture of squalid American cities.” 5 This fair, much like the 1889 Paris Universal Exposition, with its famed Eiffel Tower, was aimed at generating commercial profits as well as increasing real-estate values.

Adolf Loos resided in New York for three years between 1893-1896, taking on several temporary jobs, before departing back to settle in Vienna. It was during his time in America that helped define his criticism towards European culture, politics, and architecture.

Few European architects undertook a journey to the new world, instead favouring Italy and Greece – the established Grand Tour. Loos’ journey was made on the premise that this land would allow Loos to discover realism and freedom, a land where everything was possible.

The confined and conservative atmosphere of the Austro-Hungarian empire probably drove him to seek a new world.

“In his youth, Loos was impressed by the first skyscrapers, by domestic architecture, and in general, by a society full of vitality that was supported by egalitarian and utilitarian aspirations. He discovered the classical spirit of the engineer - the Greek of modern times - who professed the fusion of beauty and utility in everyday objects.” 6

For Loos, human progress was based on simple ethics - practicality and hard work - a personality that lead him to think America would hold a promising future, even in an era of eclecticism.

When Loos returned to Europe, he began writing articles and critiques so polemic and insistent, no one could ignore him in Vienna, with his writings of a “turn-of-the-century” Vienna, one he saw as full of despair and debilitation. This was the same year that the Vienna Secession was formed, in 1897.

Loos began his career in Vienna by designing interiors and writing articles for the liberal Neue Freie Presse, on a wide variety of topics ranging from clothes to architecture and from manners to music.

Loos released his essay, Spoken into the Void, two years later in 1900, which was an attack on the Viennese Secession. In this essay Loos wrote a story, The Poor Little Rich Man, and was an imagined story of a wealthy businessman who had commissioned a Secessionist architect

1930

1931

1932

1932

1933

60th Birthday at Müller Villa

Travelling exhibition of work

Divorces Claire Beck

Divorces Claire Beck

d. Vienna, Austria - in the sanatorium in Karlsburg near Vienna

1928-’30

1929 Marries the Plzeň-born photographer Claire Beck in Vienna

Müller Villa, Prague, Czech Republic

1929 Khuner Villa, Kreuzberg, Austria

1924-’28 Lives primarily in Paris

1922 1922: Rufer House, Vienna

1919 Publishes “Richtlinien für die Kunstamt” (Guidelines for the Office of Support for the Arts)

1920-’22

1919 Marries dancer Elsie Altmann

Manages his own private architecture school in Vienna

1918 Attains Czechoslovak citizenship

1910 Steiner House, Vienna

1912-’14

1910 Goldman & Salatsch Building, ‘Looshaus’ Michaelerplatz, Vienna (completion)

Manages his own private architecture school in Vienna

1908 Publishes Ornament and Crime

VIENNA

to design a ‘total’ house for him, including not only the furnishing but also the clothes of the occupants. This man’s life was made miserable and his house rendered unlivable by the excess of applied art created for him by his architect. Robert Musil, an Austrian writer of modernist novels, thought that Loos had awakened the young in Vienna.

“It was a time of great ethical and aesthetic activity. We believed in the future, a social future and a new art. We gave the impression of morbidity and decadence: but these two negative determinants were only the occasional expression of a desire to be different and to act differently from the man of the past. We believed in the future, we wanted to master it.” 7 There was a creative explosion in Vienna, within the void created by the critique of modes of accepted expression. Art and thought were turned upside-down to be reinterpreted. It became a place rich in ADOLF LOOS

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contradictions, ambiguities, and possibilities, during the first decades of the 20th century. “Loos’ field of critical thought encompassed the

clothing, particularly from England and America, fed into his thoughts and critique on architecture. He drew parallels between clothing and

whole of Viennese daily life.” 26

cladding. Essentially, a building was a practical frame or carcass which required this ‘clothing’. He believed the cladding of the buildings require the same level of thought and craftsmanship. A suit needs a certain quality and fitness, and has no need for additional filigree or nailed on additions that are not essential to the clothing, a building can be perceived in the same manner, according to Loos. This idea can be linked to Gottfried Semper (1803-1879), but with a new relevance.

This questioning of moral and social values, and individuality created an atmosphere that gave birth to psychoanalysis through Sigmund Freud (1856-1939), an Austrian neurologist.

NEW ART

The turn of the 20th century saw the growth of a decorative obsession of the Art Nouveau (new art) from 1895-1905. These dates are ambiguous but this movement was a continuation of the older arts and crafts movement of William Morris (1834-1896), a British designer.

This growth of ‘new art’ gave a platform for groups like the Seccessionists to form. Loos, during the decade following his return to Europe, was introduced to Vienna’s intellectual milieu - Arnold Schönberg, Karl Kraus, Peter Altenberg, and Oskar Kokoschka.

Together they intervened through their diverse range of activities and strongly opiniated ideas toward the new Vienna. They maintained links through friendship, and through the tone of their aspirations, but differed greatly within there activites. The group, alongside Loos, attacked the pseudo-sophistication of bourgeois aestheticism and against the overwhelming use of what they referred to as ‘false’. It was a question of distilling the necessary from the arbitrary.

ORNAMENT & FASHION

There is more to Loos’ theories than merely a trojan, who verbally mutilates ornamentation and who strips it from his drawing board.

The over-dressed environment of pre-1914 Vienna was a driving force for his attack on ornamentation, with a well ordered, practical and social reasoning. Loos believed that the true meaning of style came from a way of material thinking, and would come from practical design and honest craftsmanship. This can be found in such modern craft work from leather work, glass, and clothing. His interest in

Loos’ philosophies are a clash of influences, some from Neo-classicism, some from Ruskin and Morris, and of life in the United States and England. His obsession of English culture - the country-loving, longwalking, mountain-climbing, engineering Englishman was a figure of fun to Loos. He may have wished Austria to be more English.

There was a clear valuing of Anglo culture from England and America within Loos’ writings, and namely within his short lived periodical Das Andere (The Other), of 1903, significantly subtitled ‘A journal for the introduction of Western Civilisation into Austria’.

Objects of Anglo-Saxon affinity appeared as advertisements: the normative objects that he favoured, that can be spontaneously produced by the craft-based industries of the society. It was this true, understated, elemental approach to our life culture that Loos was trying to influence upon Austria.

“Loos himself wrote, ‘Are there still people today who work in the manner of the Greeks? Certainly. It is the English who do so as a nation, the engineers as a profession. The English and the engineers are our Greeks. We receive our culture from them; the entire globe is covered by their culture’.” 25 Herman Muthesius wrote a three-volume appreciation of the subject of the English House (Das Englische Haus, 1904-5). It is unknown if Loos took interest in such a publication, however what is clear is that Loos was presented a problem of how to define the ‘vernacular’ of the English Arts and Crafts movement. “Since for Loos the last Western

LEFT Figure3. Austro-Hungarian Monarchy in 1914

ADOLF LOOS

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architect of stature had been Schinkel, his self-imposed predicament seems to have been how to combine the informal comfort of the Anglo-Saxon interior with the asperities of Classical form.”28 In 1898, Loos stated that “materials should be worked in such a way that it is impossible to confuse the clad material with its cladding.” 11 This statement rings true with the preoccupations of many modern architects today.

“They set out in search for “authenticity” and their criticism was characterised by a fusion of the ethical and the aesthetic. Loos believed that a society which, by various deceptions, intended to mask its emptiness and spiritual poverty, was a miserable society. Loos also considered loyalty to out-moded construction and anachronistic ornamentation to be immoral. According to him, functional objects needed no ornamentation. Opposed to all “styles” - and even the notion of style - he conceived his houses based on functional interiors, leaving the facades rigorously simple.” 8 In the voice of Ruskin, Loos’s assault on ornament was more an asault on the elimination of waste. To add ornamentation is to waste human labour and human skill. To quote Loos - a mason who had learnt Latin encapsulates his views of what makes a true architect. He viewed the classical language of architecture as of high educational value for the architect, with its precision and economy. His early competition entries show parallels with that of Berlin architect Schinkel. He discovered his roots in the tradition of Neo-classicism.

Adolf Loos, in an essay released in 1910, just after his famous essay ‘Ornament and Crime’, describes the difference between architecture and art. He believed art was a very small degree of architecture: “A work of art is the private affair of the artist but a house is not; a house is a response to a need, while a work of art is not; a work of art is not responsible to anybody but a house is; the intention of the work of art is to disturb, the intention of a house is to comfort; the work of art is revolutionary, the house is conservative;

the work of art explores new directions, the house belongs to the present. He would allow only two types of building to be wholly a matter of art: the tomb and the monument.” 9 Loos mistrusted questions of style in architecture, and his views are close to that of W.R. Lethaby’s philosophical writings, which were advocated at the time. W.R. Lethaby (1857-1931) addressed architectural symbolism in his book ‘Architecture, Mysticism and Myth of 1891 - a first of its kind. As a theorist, he asserted that using historical styles to build modern structures was incorrect because style was inseparable from the society that had produced it.

“Only a very small part of architecture belongs to art: the tomb and the monument.

Everything else that fulfils a function is to be excluded from the domains of art.’

Adolf Loos, Architektur, 1910.

He was hostile to not only the Beaux-Arts eclecticism of Vienna but to the fashionable Secessionist and Jugendstil movements. He had a particularly strong antipathy to the work of Josef Hoffman.

“Only when we have erased “applied art” from our vocabulary shall we have an architecture of our time” 10 “Until 1910, Loos’ practice was largely restricted to the conversion of existing interiors.”27 In 1910, Adolf Loos completed one of his most well known projects on Michaelerplatz, Vienna - the Goldman and Salatsch Department Store - with its marble clad public promenade, and muted exterior from first floor.

“Rich material and good workmanship should not only be considered as making up for the lack of decoration, but as far surpassing it in sumptuousness.” 12 In 1911, he gave his first lecture in Prague based on his publication “Ornament and Crime” and following this he had attention from media and architects alike. This level of critical thought towards the

OPPOSITE Figure49. Cover of Loos’ Das Andere publication.

ADOLF LOOS

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development of culture and being, through the way society deals with architecture and ornamentation, was to guide his future career and

linings relate to the exterior through key attention to datums and horizon lines, however this may not be read from the exterior of the

built works.

house.

RAUMPLAN & HOUSES

In 1914, Loos stated “Let one house look like the other!” 29 This statement identifies a wish for an external environment that doesn’t try and compete for attention. This may have been something he took from his visit to the Greek Island of Skyros in 1904, where he admired the white, unadorned surfaces of the buildings.

The Steiner House, built in Vienna in 1910, initiated a series of houses in which Loos gradually evolved his conception of the Raumplan or ‘plan of volumes’, a complex system of internal organisation that culminated in the split-level houses realised towards the end of his life: the Moller House in Vienna, and the Müller House close to Prague. By this point in Loos’ career, he had arrived at a highly refined argument for the abstraction of the external ‘face’ of the building. His white unadorned surfaces of these houses was an aesthetic quality that was to find itself embedded into the so-called International Style.

Loos’ 1912 Scheu House, Vienna, elaborated the beginnings of his Raumplan concept, where the muted facade has quite a free placement of openings, unlike his well ordered later work. This type of elevation making in his early work can be seen in the later De Stijle movement.

Loos’ Raumplan, or ‘space-volume’ ideal was based on displacing respective levels of the principal floors, visions that served to create intriguing spatial movement, but to differentiate one living area from the next. The Loosian system of composition is based on four points: the visible surface, the material structure, the space-volume, and finality. These points have a two-sided nature to them and can be described as “[...]conception with consideration of perception. This breakdown of the design process is conditioned by a fundamental paradox between public and private, monument and house, exteriors and interiors of buildings.” 13 The basis of Loos’ design methodolody is the play between public and private realms, designing according to the habits and lifestyle of the occupants. The internal realm of these spaces are surfaced rigorously with rich materials to the taste of the inhabitant. These surfaces and

Adolf Loos made a distinction between the House, the Monument, and Civic buildings. A house requires no attention or need to give away the character or status of the occupants, however “[...] monuments and civic buildings ought to belong to everyone, to be viewed by all, to be signs with explicit finality. The workings of the interior were not discernible from the exterior; there was no transparency. The exterior form - the visible surface - alone expressed and symbolised the unseen function. The passerby could understand the function merely by viewing the exterior, which conveyed the true power of the State and its ideological apparatus.” 30 What Adolf Loos achieved was to seperate his work for pre-conceived ideas of the monument and the house. There are two cultural phenomena which surrounds these realms, and therefore needs to be an architectural distinction between the housing of culture. Culture is the life of our cities, which does not happen in ones home. The well-mannered and tasteful use of materials surrounding our cultural activities is expressed by Loos to be the way to progress in our cities and homes. The home requires attention internally, from its spatial and material qualities required by the occupant, with functionally and economically beautiful exteriors. The Monument and Civic building maintains the cultures of our existence and must express space, structure, and materials in order to accommodate for the realm public life.

LEFT 1:200 Site Model of Müller Villa in Context by P.Blundy, S.Critchlow and M.Ramwell (2013).

ADOLF LOOS

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CULTURAL CONTEXT

VIENNA

Vienna, in the years leading up to the First World War, was a city with an identity crisis. It was at the crossroads of Europe and the centre of the Austro-Hungarian empire, which had been disintegrating internally for many years.

influential psychoanalytic theories of Sigmund Freud. New thinkink and architecture proceeded the First World War (1914-1918) and disintegration of the Austro-Hungarian empire (1918).

Between 1880 and 1910 the population of Vienna trebled to more than two million. Social deprivation and a desperate housing shortage were the result, with working-class unrest soon presenting a serious threat to the prosperous bourgeoisie. Jews, the largest minority, accounted for 10 per cent of the population, and played a leading part in the artistic and intellectual life of the capital. Many were migrants from the empire’s distant provinces and antisemitism was rife – it was here that the young Adolf Hitler spent his formative years.

The architecture of Otto Wagner and Adolf Loos epitomised the new spirit which rejected decorative excess. The functionalism and simplicity of their buildings contrasted strikingly with the highly ornamented façades of nineteenth century Vienna. Loos’s Michaelerplatz Haus was erected opposite Emperor Franz Josef ’s ornate residence. So unimpressed was the Emperor by the stark rigour of Loos’s shop building, that he is said to have closed the curtains in the Hofburg to keep it out of sight.

The decorative extravagance of nineteenth-century Viennese art and architecture seemed increasingly at odds with social reality. Vienna was a café society, one of social meetings. The avant-garde culture that developed in Vienna over the first two decades of the twentieth century sought to strip away pretence and to probe beneath society’s ‘acceptable’ surface.

Ideas of honesty and naturalness informed the architecture and theories of Adolf Loos, the journalism of Karl Kraus, the music of Arnold Schoenberg, and the paintings and graphic work of Oskar Kokoschka, Egon Schiele and Richard Gerstl. The development of a particularly dissonant form of Expressionism, with its emphasis on uncompromising subject matter, unsuppressed sexuality and psychological introspection, can be traced in the visual arts as well as in music, literature and the theatre, echoing the

Adolf Loos was very much a bourgeious architect, a man of good taste, with a preference for rich, sumptuous materials.

It is one of the paradoxes of Loos’ career that he designed sensitive larger projects in the service of the underprivileged as Chief architect of the Vienna Housing Cooperative Office. His resignation in 1922 and subsequent move to Paris, to join Dadaists poet Tristan Tzara - for whom he was to design a house in 1925 - restored him to the cosmopolitan circles of the high bourgeoisie. There he became part of the fashionable world that surrounded the dancer Josephine Baker, for whom he designed a rather ostentatious villa in 1928. During his time as an expatriat, non of his Parisian patrons had the means available to realise his ambitious designs. He returned to Vienna in 1928, five years before his death.

LEFT Figure4. Vienna Court Opera, 1902

CULTURAL CONTEXT

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ABOVE Figure5. Joseph Maria Olbrich.

Front of the Secession. 1898

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CULTURAL CONTEXT

VIENNESE SECESSION The Vienna Secession (German: Wiener Secession) was formed in 1897 by a group of Austrian artists who had resigned from the Association of Austrian Artists, housed in the Vienna Künstlerhaus. This movement included painters, sculptors, and architects. The first president of the Secession was Gustav Klimt, and Rudolf von Alt was made honorary president. Its official magazine was called Ver Sacrum.

Referred to as the “Graphic Artists’ Group” they attempted to transform two-dimensional painted cubism of Picasso and Braque into a three-dimensional architectural form.

This movement related as much to art as it did to architecture.

Some of the prominent architects associated with the Vienna Secession were Josef Hoffmann, Joseph Maria Olbrich (drawing, opposite page), and Otto Wagner. These architects focussed on bringing purer geometric forms into the designs of their buildings, and often decorated the surface of their buildings with linear ornamentation. This was commonly called whiplash or eel style.

in 1900, as part of his published essay ‘Spoken into the Void’.

This storey was an imagined story of a wealthy businessman who had commissioned a Sececcionist architect to design a ‘total’ house for him, including not only the furnishing but also the clothes of the occupants. This man’s life was made miserable and his house rendered unlivable by the excess of applied art created for him by his architect.

The term ‘Gesamtkunstwerk’ meaning a ‘Total Work of Art’ was coined by the German opera composer Richard Wagner.

His 1849 essays ‘Art and Revolution’ and ‘The Artwork of The Future’ talks of unifying all works of art via theatre. In architecture, this signified that the architect is responsible for the design of a buildings totality. This thought identified that there was not a unification of crafts within the building design and construction process, and influenced the culture of architecture and how we teach in a total design manner understanding architecture as a total craft of many influences.

The Secessionists followed the concept of a total work of art and to do so they tried to bring together Symbolists, Naturalists, Modernists, and Stylists. This total art concept is what Loos attacked in his essay ‘The Poor Little Rich Man’

CULTURAL CONTEXT

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KEY WORKS

BUILT WORK

ABOVE FLTR Figure6. Cafe Museum, Vienna. 1899 Figure7. K채rntner Bar, Vienna. 1908 Figure8. Steiner House, Vienna. 1910

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ABOVE FLTR Figure9. Goldman & Salatsch Building, Vienna. 1910 Figure10. Moller Villa, Vienna. 1927 Figure11. M端ller Villa, Prague. 1930

KEY WORKS

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MÜLLER VILLA

CONTEXT The Müller Villa sits west to the centre of Prague 1, the Old Town Square, the central district of the Capital City of Prague, Czech Republic.

city. At this time Prague was a truly European City and by 1930, the time when Müller Villa was completed, the population has risen to 850,000.

Prague has been a political, cultural, and economic centre of central Europe with waxing and waning fortunes during its 1,100 year existence. It was founded during the Romanesque era and flourished during the era of Gothic and Reneissance.

Turbulent times were to follow with Nazi-Germany occupying Prague from 1939 during WWII. Prague was under military and political control from the Soviet Union during the Cold War (1948-1989). It was during the latter decades that the Müller Villa was subject to neglect, and left to ruin. The Villa was saved from demolition by the are of the Müller family.

It was an important city to the Habsburg Monarchy and its Austro-Hungarian Empire. After World War I Prague became the capital of Czechoslovakia. The City played major roles in the Protestant Reformation, the Thirty Years’ War, and in 20th-Century history, during both World Wars and the post-war Communist era.

The Austro-Hungarian Empire split in 1918, the same year that WWI ended, and resulted in the creation of Czechoslovakia, of which Prague was chosen as the capital

Prague became an important cultural centre of Europe in the late 1990’s following the Velvet Revolution of 1989, and as a result of the split of Czechoslovakia in 1993 into Czech Republic and Slovakia. Prague became the capital city of Czech Republic.

LEFT Figure12. Viewing from Prague Castle toward the Old Town Square, just beyond the river.

OVERLEAF Figure13. Aerial view of Prague

CONTEXT

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Prague 6

M端ller Villa Prague Castle Prague 1: Old Town (City Centre)

LOCATION PLAN NOT TO SCALE

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SITE PLAN 1:1250

CONTEXT

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ABOVE FTLTBR Figure14. Dr. František Müller Figure15. Wedding Photograpf of Mr. and Mrs. Müller Figure16. František and Milada Müller Figure17. Eva Müllerová (daughter)

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MÜLLER VILLA

MÜLLER FAMILY In 1923 Dr. František Müller married Milada Krátká. In 1928 the Müllers decided to move from Plzeň to Prague, where they decided to buy a plot of land in Prague-Střešovice. Adolf Loos, the famous Viennese architect, was invited to undertake the commission to design their house, alongside Plzeň architect Karel Lhota. During October 1928, Dr. Müller signed an agreement with both architects, and in November that year applied for planning permission.

birthday at the Müller residence, alongside many guests such as the writers Karl Kraus, Josef Svatopluk Machar and Bohumil Markalaus as well as the art historian Antonin Matějček.

There were complications during the planning process, which were aimed at the Müller Villa’s affects to surrounding buildings and its course, muted facade aesthetic, resulting in the planning application being declined in April 1929. Shell construction had begun on site during this period by Müller-Kapsa, the contstruction company owned by Dr. Müller. He repeatadly appealed for two months, even when the local newspaper released an article “Prague against Loos”, based on the beurocratic difficulties surrounding the Loos design.

Planning approval was reached in June 1929.

The Müller Villa was home to many a visitor, including important guests such as ambassadors of Great Britain and France. The media reported the Adolf Loos design as being significant, and it has been described today as the chef-d’ouvre of the international architectural avant-garde.

“The builder of the Müller Villa, Prague, was Dr. František Müller (b.1890–d.1951), one of the second generation of owners of the Müller-Kapsa construction company founded in Plzeň (Pilsen) in 1890 by the structural engineers Antonin Müller and Vojěch Kapsa.

In 1904 the company opened a branch office in Prague. The firm continued to prosper under the second generation, gaining orders for some of the largest engineering works in the First Republic.” 15 The villa was complete in March 1930, and the Müller family moved into their new home on April 10th, 1930. The outifitting of the interior furnishing was completed during the course of 1930, and work to the garden had started, designed by landscape architects Camillo Schneider, Karl Förster and Herman Mattern.

“My most beautiful house! for, as my friend Dr. Schwarzwaldová puts it, the most intelligent builder I have ever had, Dr. Müller! This is the whole secret of architecture. - Adolf Loos on his 60th Birthday” 16

The family went through tragic bereavements with the death of Mrs Müllers mother (1941), and the death of Dr. Müller (1951) through carbon monoxide inhilation, during the repair of the villa’s boiler.

Their daughter, Eva Müller, emigrated shortly after.

The villa was subject to Nationalisation during the 1950’s, and in 1955 Mrs. Müller was restricted use of the villa to make way for the housing of the depository of the Department of Applied Arts of the National Gallery in Prague. Other expropriating changes were made by the state, during which time Mrs Müllerová was able to rescue furniture to her sectioned-off area of the house.

The majority of Dr. Müller’s collections were purchased by museums and galleries, as well as the estate, following the death of Malida Müllerová (September 8th, 1968). The collection of pictures, sculptures, furniture and other items were returned to their positions within the house as part of the villa’s reconstruction between 19992000.

Social life pulsed through the villa from 1930. Loos spent his 60th

MÜLLER FAMILY

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DRAWINGS AND DETAILS

A drawing package was developed through extensive research and the studying of available material on Adolf Loos’ Müller Villa. There are few available published drawings, however a set of outline drawings showing floor survey heights were obtained through publications and research. These were used to develop a set of Plans, Sections, and Elevations. The process of drawing, and physically modelling the Müller Villa was the key method in understanding Adolf Loos’ work and the intense internal volumetric relationships, which is known as Loos’ Raumplan, his wellknown room planning method.

Using available photographs of the house, during construction and in it’s completed and recently renovated state, helped to make informed speculations about some of the details. Known dimensions, images, and limited drawings were used collectively to make informed speculations for missing information.

Figure18. Dimensioned planning drawings

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SITE PLAN 1:1000

DRAWINGS

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A

A

BASEMENT LV. 2 PLAN 1:200

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1. Storage

A

A

BASEMENT LV. 1 PLAN 1:200

1. Storage 2. Servant’s Room 3. Chauffeur 4. Laundry 5. Laundry 6. Boiler

7. Coal Storage 8. Potato Storage 9. Wine Cellar 10. Garage

Structural Masonry

DRAWINGS

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A

A

GROUND FLOOR PLAN 1:200

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1. Main Living Area 2. Entrance Hall 3. Covered Entrance 4. Anteroom 5. Cloakroom 6. Conversation Room

A

A

FIRST FLOOR PLAN 1:200

1. Dining Room 2. Preperation Area 3. Kitchen 4. Landing 5. Boudoir 6. Library

Structural Masonry

Parquet Floor Finish

Non Structural Blockwork

Tile Floor Finish

Concrete

Carpet Floor Finish

Wooden Floor Finish

DRAWINGS

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A

A

SECOND FLOOR PLAN 1:200

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1. Woman’s Wardrobe 2. Child’s Bedroom 3. Child’s Playroom 4. Master Bedroom

5. Man’s Wardrobe 6. Main Bathroom 7. Guest Room 8. Servant’s Room

A

A

THIRD FLOOR PLAN 1:200

1. Attic Room 2. Summer Breakfast Room

Structural Masonry

Parquet Floor Finish

Non Structural Blockwork

Tile Floor Finish

Concrete

Carpet Floor Finish

Wooden Floor Finish

DRAWINGS

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SECTION AA 1:100

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Structural Masonry Non Structural Blockwork Concrete

DRAWINGS

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NORTH ELEVATION 1:200

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EAST ELEVATION 1:200

Faรงade: White Stucco Render Window Frames: Timber Frame, painted yellow.

DRAWINGS

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SOUTH ELEVATION 1:200

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WEST ELEVATION 1:200

Faรงade: White Stucco Render Window Frames: Timber Frame, painted yellow.

Entrance: Marble-clad Masonry

DRAWINGS

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MODEL MAKING

MODELLING THE ΜÜLLER VILLA The Müller Villa was studied through a series of models in order to understand the intellectual and architectonic concepts embedded within this house. The Müller Villa has a minimal, surface-based facade, with an intensely configured set of internal rooms. This is an eminent work of 20th century architecture of the modern movement that encapsulated an intellectual and architectural ideal that Adolf Loos strived for throughout his career.

LIST OF MODELS:

1:200 Site Model - Massing & Surface 1:100 ‘Raum’ Study - Volumes & Social Hierarchy 1:100 Cast Volume - Massing & Facade 1:10 Internal Model - Materials, Linings, and Topology

‘Raumplan, Surface, Linings’ is a way of describing the intense umbrella of spatial, social, tectonic, and material ideas happening within the house. An attempt to cover these themes has been addressed within this document.

The Müller Villa has been explored through a range of mediums in order to express an understanding of what was happening within the Villa as a piece of architecture and the progression of architecture in Prague, further afield, to its influences on today’s architecture.

Figure18. Perspective drawing of the villa signed by Loos & Lhota

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1:100 ‘Space-Volume’ Model

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1:10 Topology and Cladding Study

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1:100 Casting of M端ller Villa

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1:50 Partial Model of the ‘Living’ realm

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CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT 1:10 Topology and Cladding Study. 1:100 Cast Model. 1:50 Grey Card Model.

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MODEL MAKING - A PROCESS

A series of model at diverse scales were used to explore this house in as much depth as possible. Using models as a hands-on approach towards an understanding of the architecture, helping in the development of drawings, mediating between the physical and the digital.

In doing so, a series of models were made, ranging in scale from 1:200 to 1:10. This range of physcial information was believed to be the only way to understand Adolf Loos’ Müller Villa, from his dealings with a topographically challenging site, the muted facades, to his spatial arrangements and

choice of internal materials, linings, and furnishings.

The models have been documented as a process of making and a tool for learning Adolf Loos’ thoeries as well as the architectural compositions at play within the house.

MODEL MAKING

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STUDIO MARS, CASE STUDY HOUSE REVIEW A18 South, ABE. 12/11/13

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MODEL MAKING

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ABOVE ‘RAUMPLAN MAN’ within the 1:10 Model

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ABOVE ‘RAUMPLAN MAN’ within the 1:10 Model

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1:100 ‘SPACE-VOLUME’ STUDY

In order to understand the arrangement of the rooms, and Adolf Loos’ Raumplan ideal within the Müller Villa, a series of internal volume massing blocks were constructed, coloured relative to their social hierarchy within the house, and then assembled into a clear perspex ‘façademodel’ box.

This was a relatively quick study, and was a key tool for understanding served and servant spaces, how spaces interconnected, and their social hierarchy and role within the home.

This was presented as a series of coloured volumes, laid out on a display table, the level datum, and assembled into the perspex facade box. When displayed on that datum, it was simple to understand the varying room heights, depending on their role within the dwelling.

This method of assembly was interactive and allowed others to view this idea of assembling a series of spaces, with the circulation working around the rooms to create an animated set of spaces that all relate to one and the whole.

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1:100 ‘Space-Volume’ Study (Assembly)

“My architecture is not conceived in plans, but in spaces (cubes). I do not design floor plans, facades, sections. I design spaces.

For me, there is no ground floor, first floor etc... For me, there are only contiguous, continual spaces, rooms, anterooms, terraces etc. Stories merge and spaces relate to each other. Every space requires a different height: the dining room is surely higher than the pantry – thus the ceilings are set at different levels. To join these spaces in such a way that the rise and fall are not only unobservable but also practical, in this I see what is for others the great secret, although it is for me a great matter of course...It is just this spatial interaction and spatial austerity that thus far I have best been able to realize in Dr Müller's house.”

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Adolf Loos, stenograph of a conversation between K. Lhota and A. L., Plzeň, 1930

Roof 3F/Roof Terrace 2F 1F Ground

LEFT Assembled ‘Space-Volume’ model

ABOVE Assembly diagram showing volume colour definitions representing social hierarchy within the Müller Villa.

Primary Public and Living Spaces Private Living Spaces Servant Spaces

SPACE-VOLUME

The ‘Raumplan’, a spatial planning method by which volumes (rooms) are arranged with several social and architectural factors in mind, such as the room type, its function and social role within the building, and relationship to its neighbouring rooms and surroundings. This sensitivity to all the factors

at play when designing architecture, as named

by Loos as ‘Raumplan’, produces an intricate set of spatial relationships and movement patterns that are completely unique to Müller Villa. It is certainly an architecture of its situation, time, and perception as well as a response to the family it was designed for.

Loos made this type of space making structurally feasible by introducing four structural concrete columns positioned toward the centre of the building, and a structural outer wall (see ‘Structure’).

LEFT Digital Scan of Room volumes laid out in plan, perspex case and unfolded elevation.

MODEL MAKING

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1

2

3

7

8

9

13

14

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ASSEMBLING THE ‘SPACE-VOLUME’ MODEL

The ‘Space-Volume’ model is an interactive assembly study, from a series of laid out volumes on a plane, which are assembled into the perspex facade box to create an overall model of all the internal room volumes. This displayed the hierarchical approach to the internal spaces and their respective volumes.

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Primary Public and Living Spaces Private Living Spaces Servant Spaces

4

5

6

10

11

12

16

17

18

MODEL MAKING

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1:100 ‘Space-Volume’ Study (Room Volumes)

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1:100 CAST MODEL

The Müller Villa was modelled as one cast object to emphasise the plasticity, the mutedness and minimal outwardness of the external surfaces. An exception for this is the external windows, painted a noticeable sunshine yellow, and main entrance porch, surfaced in a warm travertine marble.

The external windows were cast to appear as extruded elements, in order to pronounce their being. These extrusions became ruins during the mould removal and have been left as broken fragments, and still emphasise their being by revealing the exposed rough plaster against the smooth surfaces.

An intended abstraction was used to emphasise the architectural object.

IMAGES, TOP TO BOTTOM Figure20. Střešovicka Street level (South Facade) Figure21. Travertine-clad Entrance Porch with doorway, bench, and coal chute Figure22. Elevated view of Müller Villa from Střešovicka (South side)

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1:100 ‘Space-Volume’ Study (Room Volumes)

MÜLLER VILLA

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1:100 CAST MODEL

COMPONENTS

The cast model was created by a perspex mould, which was laser cut within the Nottingham University 3D Lab. This was then filled with an internal timber block to reduced the volume of the mould.

1. Perspex Mould @ 1:100 2. Timber Base 3. Plaster - ‘Crystacal R’ 25kg bag 4. Mixing Bucket & Mixing Tool 5. Water

CLOCKWISE FROM ABOVE Perspex mould @ 1:100 with timber base The complete cast model Plan view of cast model Peter is ready to cast the model

OPPOSITE Mixing the plaster

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1

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3

7

8

9

13

14

15

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4

5

6

10

11

12

16

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CASTING THE MĂœLLER VILLA @ 1:100

A series of clips were taken from the filming of the pouring process. The plaster took around 20 minutes to set, and then another day to cure. This plaster is used for dental work casting and so has a much stronger bond, resulting in a much harder cast object.

When removing the perspex, the windows broke away with it resulting in an interesting semi-ruin window condition.

MODEL MAKING

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Completed 1:100 Casting

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Completed 1:100 Casting

The Yellow Windows - testing colour tone on cast block

MODEL MAKING

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1:50 ‘LIVING’ REALM MODEL

The modelling of the ‘living’ realm in card, between Ground & First floor, was used to understand the room relationships created by Loos’ Raumplan ideal creating what Loos described as a series of contiguous spaces - resulting in a series of animated connections between rooms.

This was used as a tool for developing elevations, mediating between the physical and the digital. Through this method it was possible to understand how window openings related to their external and internal positioning.

Figure23. First Floor Isometric @ 1:400

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1:50 ‘LIVING’ REALM

The 1:50 model aided in the understanding of how the spaces of the Müller connected and how level changes were dealt with.

This was seen primarily as a modelling of the relationship of internal spaces to their respective external window openings.

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Wall openings, with their sill and head heights, were figured out while producing elevation drawings of the facade. This was essential in the understanding of Loos’ proportioning logic of the exterior and interior. This is where the internal building reaches out externally

to gather light and views beyond, while maintaining a visual purity from the exterior.

1:50 ‘LIVING’ REALM

It became clear through this process that Loos’ had a rule of one window opening per room, except for the main living room where he made 3 openings, which were completely different in proportion, size, and detail to the rest of the house.

This breaking of a rule is based on the hierarchy of this primary room, the living room, where the Müller family would entertain and relax. It is understood as as the social heart of the house.

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1:50 card model

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South elevation of 1:50 model showing entrance and first floor

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Boudoir Living Room

West elevation of 1:50 model, with external wall removed.

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Dining Room

Library Anteroom

Cloak Room

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1:10 TOPOLOGY AND CLADDING MODEL

Moving up in scale, this model was used to explore the topological result of Loos’ volumatic design approach, by showing the different levels across a core set of rooms and circulation spaces at a large scale. The model is centralised around the ‘boudoir’ and includes the rooms that directly link to it. This chunk shows the most intense set of level changes, material conditions, and room typologies. It also explores his social interest in creating a particular sense of promenade and spatial sequencing as well as looking at Loos’ use of material cladding, linings, and datums.

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1:10 TOPOLOGY AND CLADDING MODEL

The model was built as a series of interlocking floors and walls, constructed from 2 and 3mm grey card, white mount board and 2mm balsa wood sheets. The model is slightly larger than an A1 sheet (897x594mm) and is around 600mm tall.

The 1:10 model scale allowed us to walk around and be ‘inside’ the model. This provided a new level of understanding of structure, material linings and their datum lines, as well as proportions related to their connecting spaces or circulation.

A 1.8m figure is shown to give the model a sense of scale for a taller-than-average man.

Assembling the 1:10

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Assembling the 1:10

First Floor @ 1:400 Outline of area covered by the 1:10 model

Ground Floor @ 1:400 Outline of area covered by the 1:10 model

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Anteroom

Grand Hall

100

Dining Room

Boudoir

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RAUMPLAN

Hendrick Kulka in 1931 first used the word Raumplan to describe, ‘solving the floor-plan in space.’ 17 The origin of Loos’s Raumplan can perhaps be best understood in his observations of the experience of being in the gallery box space of a theatre: “One can only bear to stay in the narrow and low-ceilinged loges and galleries, because they are in an open spatial connection to the high, continuous main hall.” 18 This simple description reveals a lot about the nature of Loos’ Raumplan space-making methods. The focus of the text is spatial experience, spaces are designed as volumes whose dimensions relate not only to the activity of the house but also to how the volumes relate to each other. The analogy of a theatre box underlines this ‘open spatial connection’ and seeks to make the distinction between Raumplan and other prevalent modernist schools of thought.

This section will consider Loos’ Raumplan through a series of analytical models as well as placing Raumplan alongside other modernist space planning theories in order to understand the Raumplan within the context of other prevalent thinkers during the modern movement of the early 20th century.

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ABOVE Figure24. Design of the Great Theatre in St Petersburg.

Giacomo Quarenghi, 1818.

RIGHT Figure25. A Box, Louis-Léopold Boilly

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LOOS’ FOUR POINTS

From the starting point of Raumplan, as theatre played out in the spatial connection between rooms, we move on to the four main points fundamental to understanding Loosian composition, hierarchies and spatial ordering. These four points can be seen as the four qualities that Loos constructs his architecture with, and are as follows: The Visible Surface; This is the skin, the layer visible to the eye.

Its concerned with the image of a building, the cladding or façade. The surface that spans interior and exterior, floor wall and ceiling.

The Material Structure; The system of bricks, concrete, columns and beams that hold the house together, these are the elements Loos usually hides.

The Space Volume; The result of the material structure creation of volume.

Interior and exterior quality.

Finality; The experiential qualities, social and psychological purpose.

P Tournikiotis (1996), uses these four points in two opposing series to define a Loosian system. The first series orders the four points; visible surface, material structure, space volume and finality.

In this ordering one sees surface and façade and from this interprets structure leading to a perception of volume that results in the notion of the experiential

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quality. Its an approach that considered the complete building and implies spatial experience, this series can be reversed to construct the completed building from; finality, space volume, material structure and visible surface. This Loosian system is summarised by Tournikiotis (1996) as ‘composition with consideration of perception’. The dual-faced nature of these two series captures the underlying paradox evident in Loos’ architecture, between interior and exterior, public and private, the house as monument and the house as home.19

FROM LEFT, CLOCKWISE Figure26. M端ller Villa main entrance on South Elevation Figure27. M端ller Villa as seen from upper level of public steps Figure28. Living Room in M端ller Villa showing furnishings

RAUMPLAN

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ABOVE Figure29. Müller Villa East elevation, condition today.

LEFT Figure30. Müller Villa from Prague Střešovice, the road on Southern edge.

RAUMPLAN

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FREE PLAN AND FREE FAÇADE

Both Loos and Le Corbusier fervently preached their own doctrines of modernist thinking. Le Corbusier summarises his position in his Five Points of Architecture, wherein the language of slab and column frees both plan and façade from the constraints of load bearing walls; horizontal windows can then be cut along the length of façades to evenly light room.

The Farnsworth House shows Mies van der Rohe working in a similar tradition.

He described his work as ‘skin and bones’ architecture.20 The structural frame for Mies is more than just free space planning, it becomes the embodiment of his epoch. The modern technological era manifests through his fastidious approach to reducing structure to its simplest and clearest expression.21 Philip Jonson’s Glass House is often cited as a study on Mies’ Farnsworth house, it was completed while Jonson was working in the international style. The house succinctly shows the key relationship between freedom of space planning and the emphasis on minimal structural perimeters. In the Glass House both structure and internal division is reduced, furniture and a single barrel containing a bath room is the only relief from the singular space.

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ABOVE, TOP TO BOTTOM Figure31. Farnsworth House Figure32. Glass House

RAUMPLAN

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FREE PLAN AND FREE FAÇADE

Although the Barcelona Pavilion utilizes a structural perimeter to allow free planning, there is less emphasis on the ‘bones’ of the building as the key architectural language. Here structural columns and non load bearing partitions play an equally important role in creating free, linked rooms. There is however little room for ambiguity between structure and non load bearing partitions with the language of chrome columns and granite slab planes.

Seeing Loos’ work in the context of other highly influential modernists really sets his Raumplan in sharp contrast to prevalent intellectual positions of the time. Spatial structuring in Raumplan concentrates on the hierarchy and subsequent dialogue between spaces. In contrast, Mies places expression of the epoch of modernity and technology at the forefront of his architecture, while Loos embraces the ambiguity that results from his main focus of spatial quality, hierarchy and connection.

RIGHT Figure33. Barcelona Pavilion internal view

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RAUMPLAN

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PERSPEX AND CARD VOLUME MODEL

Making the 1:100 ‘Space-Volume’ model an introduction to modelling the Müller Villa, and revealed a lot about the volumatic approach of Loos’ Raumplan methods, which can otherwise be difficult to understand through only plan and section drawings.

Each room is modelled as a simple cube, the colour corresponds to the room function. The external walls modelled in perspex reveals the internal complexly of both room volume and arrangement; something Loos deliberately concealed in his closed, ‘blank’ façades.

Laying out the volumes on a flat surface demonstrates the subtlety and variety of volume in the Müller Villa. For Loos, there is a strong link between ceiling height and the hierarchy of rooms. To use a theatre analogy, it turns some spaces into ‘viewing boxes’ and places others at centre-stage.

The main hall is the centre piece of the house, with its 4 meter ceiling height.

Floor-to-ceiling heights vary from this, to as low as 1.8 in the upper boudoir level, with its discrete viewing window into the main hall.

HIERARCHY ANALYSIS Primary Public and Living Spaces Private Living Spaces Servant Spaces

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Service/ Living

Private

VOLUME HIERARCHIES

“My architecture is not conceived in plans, but in spaces (cubes). I do not design floor plans, façades, sections. I design spaces.

For me, there is no ground floor, first floor etc.” 22 Adolf Loos Making a 1:50 model brought into greater focus Loos’s subtle articulation of floor levels. We see in the 1:100 model the general volumetric hierarchies that go on to be refined in the way Loos sequences rooms. At the 1:50 scale we see this sequencing.

The model of the ‘living realm’ includes the entrance route, from the front door to the anteroom, up the staircase and through to the main hall and the subsequent first floor rooms, including the boudoir.

Height distinction plays a role in this sequencing but the key spatial device is the visual connections between rooms. These connections take the form of stairs and circulation as well as half walls and in the case of the boudoir, a lined opening. Loos’s description of the theatre came to the fore through the building of this model.

The model created an experience of the connections and volumetric variation between rooms in a built model, and further developed an understanding of the subtleties and layering evident in Müller Villa and Adolf Loos’ Raumplan.

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Living realm room hierarchy diagram

1:50 ‘living-realm’ model

RAUMPLAN

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CIRCULATION

In the Southern part of the building, a stair core runs from the ground floor to the Roof Terence, this can be seen as the servant stair case both literally and figuratively. This provision of functional access allows Loos to reinforce his spatial sequencing through the choreographed access that weaves through the house centrally and to the North. As Loos varies the volume of rooms in line with his constructed hierarchy, circulation through the public route seeks to reinforce these relationships. This is perhaps best seen in the dining room and boudoir’s relationship to the main hall - the dining room has an open connection to other rooms through half-walled columns and a level change.

This connection reinforces the importance of the broad stair linking main hall, dining room and first floor landing. The broad staircase opens to both dining room and main hall, providing a second visual link between dining room and main hall via the circulation. In contrast, the boudoir has a muted relationship to the main hall, its single opening is subtly masked with a timber carpentry screen, and access between rooms takes the form of a narrower winding stair, tucked away within marble recesses.

FTLTBR Figure34: Entrance hallway Figure35: Main Hall looking to dining room and connecting stairs Figure36: Main Hall looking to stairs leading to the Boudoir Figure37: Second Floor (bedroom level) looking at stairwell skylight

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Living/ Entertaining

Service/ Living

Private

Room hierarchy

Circulation hierarchy

HIERARCHY ANALYSIS Primary Public and Living Spaces Private Living Spaces Servant Spaces

RAUMPLAN

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GEOMETRY AND PROPORTION

“The building should be dumb outside and only reveal wealth inside.” 23 Adolf Loos Upon first reading of the above, Loos appears to have little concern for the public face of the building, however it is important to understand what Loos meant by a ‘dumb outside’. Dumb, in this sense of the word, referrs to a lack of adornment; a simple pallet of materials that maintains composure and emphasises the material richness expressed internally.

Far from a lack of concern for the public face of his architecture, Loos takes this approach to respect context, suggesting that the muted façade ensures that, within it’s city-context, the architecture does not look like ‘the savages in the room’, shouting to express itself. Loos instead pours his concern into the detail and proportioning of the façade, subtly expressing the internal hierarchies to great theatrical effect.

WEST FAÇADE (RIGHT)

With the geometry analysis overlaid, it is clear to see the rigour behing Loos’ architectural proportioning and approach.

This system also extends to the way that the he makes recesses and protrusions; the garage door for example recesses back by the same distance as the main entrance on the South façade.

SKYROS, GREEK ISLANDS

Loos’ thoughts about the role of the public façade and its purity of form and presence was influenced by his visit to Skyros where he points to the area as reminiscent of ‘the Holy city of Zion’. The nature of the white, unadorned surfaces of the buildings is something he admired and felt was a key for aspiring to an architecture for modern man.

ABOVE Figure38. Aerial of Skyros, Greece

RIGHT Elevation and overlaid proportioning diagram

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b/3

b

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THE SOUTH FAÇADE

Classical proportioning can be seen clearly in Loos’ composition of the South façade where he creates a balanced, symmetrical face, but as we can see, he chooses to break this strict ordering where his own architectural principles take precedent.

The example here is the omission of the small window in the upper right of the façade. This window would have rested in the child’s play room and the omission of it is consistent with Loos’ treatment of windows on the other façades, where the rule is ‘one window per façade, per room’. Only in the Great Hall does a room have more than one window on a single side and thus a second, South-façade window in the child’s play room, would have elevated its status. The omission is significant in maintaining the room’s hierarchical position and to reinforce the importance of the Great Hall, with its three large window to the North. Also interesting to note regarding the Great Hall is that though it does have three windows on a single façade, the West and East façades have no windows maintaining the fact that a room sharing three external walls should have three windows.

Figure39. South facade from Střešovicka road, front entrance sits below street level.

GEOMETRY AND PROPORTION

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WINDOW HIERARCHY

Hierarchy’s are reinforced though the way that Loos correlates his window sizing and proportioning to the importance of the room’s function. The principle rooms such as the Great Hall, Dinning Room and Master Bedroom, all have the largest openings, and in the case of the Great Hall, even break his general setting-out rules in order to emphasise hierarchical importance. Retiring rooms such

as the Boudoir, Library and Guest rooms are given medium sized openings and service/ circulation spaces are given the smallest.

It could be said that little can be gleaned from the façade about the rooms that lie beyond; there is only a slight correlation between window size and room volume and windows almost always lie off-of the central axis of the

room. However, Loos’ composition of recesses and protrusions in the form of balconies, terraces and deep reveals does speak subtle of an external expression of his internal hierarchies, showing that his focus was not internal-only and reveals the mastery of his internal-external architectural dialogue.

PRINCIPLE OPENINGS

SECONDARY OPENINGS

SERVICE OPENINGS

GEOMETRY AND PROPORTION

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WEST FAÇADE, SECTION AND ELEVATION BLOCK DIAGRAM

This diagram pairing illustrates the apparent ‘non-relationship’ between the external openings and the room volumes beyond in terms of centring, cill, head and edge relationships etc. In the secondary and service

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rooms, a deliberate off-axis approach to window positioning was adopted to contrast against the symmetry and purity of the positions employed within the important, primary spaces.

2 1 3

3

EXTERNAL-INTERNAL RELATIONSHIPS

1

Here, the internal cill heights are not maintained internally, in order to preserve the external proportioning, showing that Loos’ priorities span across this threshold and are not purely internal.

2

The stepping in cill heights from the East façade to South façade illustrated here shows that each ‘face’ of the building is not necessarily dependent upon another.

3

Even though the function, size and hierarchy of the internal spaces differs, the same size opening is used in the boudoir and anteroom.

GEOMETRY AND PROPORTION

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STRUCTURE

Müller Villa is incredibly simple in its construction, which is undoubtedly due mostly to the fact that every structural surface would eventually be lined in the chosen cladding as per Loos’ theoretical persuasions. As can be seen by the construction-phase photo to the right, in its unfinished, purely structural state, everything is ‘rough-and-ready’, and one could speculate that the builders on site were able to work very quickly during this phase, knowing that no works need be to an internal finish standard.

There are two chief structural materials; concrete is used for the floors and the main internal structural column, and brick is used for all load-bearing walls. In between these elements, hollow blockwork walls were used to create the non load-bearing room partitions.

ABOVE Figure40. The Müller Villa during construction

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Composite drawing of column positions across each floor

STRUCTURAL PLAN

Highlighted in red are the main structural elements; concrete columns in the centre of the plan and load-bearing brick around the perimeter. As can be seen by the addition of the axes drawn through the structural columns, the column in the lower right is off-axis.

This is an interesting artefact that shows itself throughout the levels of the building; the columns are not actually consistently placed one-overthe-other all the way through each floor.

Practically this works because each floor is cast as a continuous slab with

the subsequent columns cast onto the slab. Theoretically this perhaps shows that the proportioning and composition of the spaces as experienced within the building, trumped an unyielding, hardline approach to setting out.

STRUCTURE

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MATERIALS AND LININGS

Loos’ use of materials and linings within his building interiors was distinctly unique for the period and bound to his theoretical works on ornamentation and cladding.

On first reading of his famous essay, ‘Ornament and Crime’, one could see a disunity between this theoretical position and Loos’ use of rich materials to decorate and cover the purely structural elements beneath. However, using materials to clad and cover, stands outside of his theoretical opposition to ornament; in his objection to ornamentation, Loos places emphasis on the over-working of materials (in carvings, intricate painting, moulding etc.) and critically connects these acts to cultural comments on how modern man has outgrown the need for wasting valuable craftsman’s time on such things.

In his essay, ‘The Principles of Cladding’, Loos suggests that the architect’s general task is to provide warm and liveable space and points to early man’s wish to protect himself from the weather with clothing.

Loos uses this as an indication that cladding is the oldest architectural detail, suggesting that “In the beginning was cladding.”

RIGHT Figure41. Material Images

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“The first time I entered the imagination of Adolf Loos was while looking at a photograph… The veins within the marble revealed the workings of a tumultuous imagination.” 24 John Hejduk, Architect

Marble Linings

Paint and Colour

Paper and Tile Linings

Wooden Linings

MATERIALS AND LININGS

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1:10 MODEL STUDY

The process of exploring Müller Villa through this model afforded insight into three key aspects of its design. Firstly, it allowed an in-depth exploration of the topological result of Loos’ ability to beautifully compose rooms hierarchically as volumes, by revealing the subtle variations in level across a core set of rooms and circulation spaces. Secondly, it explores his social interest in creating a particular sense of promenade/spatial sequencing, and finally —as the section title suggests— the model helped to develop an understanding of Loos’ seemingly obsessive use of and interest in material claddings.

As can be seen in the images on the opposite spread, Loos uses cladding as an integral part of his design hierarchy, this time taking a series of ‘horizons’ across the internal elevations to set out relationships and importances in conjunction with his fundamental volume hierarchies.

cladding horizon sets up a 1 This

relationship between the dining room and the boudoir private stair, simultaneously allowing the upper boudoir to stand out and read as a ‘theatre box’.

2 Line

following through boudoir

furniture, gallery cill height and bulkhead over private boudoir stair.

3 The

veneering of the model included

an exploration of the marble itself detailed overleaf. The piece produced was not used in the end, however is shown here as a digital overlay.

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CLOCKWISE FROM ABOVE Figure42. Boudoir stair from main hall Figure43. Anteroom Figure44. Dining Room Figure45. Boudoir

1 2

1 2

3

MATERIALS AND LININGS

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MONO-PRINTING MARBLE

As part of the process of veneering the model, we wanted to use the appropriate material at the model scale to represent the essence of the real material itself. In the case of the marble, we decided to look at the layered nature of the material through a mono-printing process.

An initial layer of ink was rolled out onto 132

a perspex plate then, using card tools and brushes the ink was spread, textured and patinated. Cartridge paper was then laid down and rolled to make the base-layer print. Next a layer of white ink and acetone was rolled out and a second print made over the first.

This process was repeated a number of times

to build up a series of layers, the idea being that the resulting piece could be used to clad the marble sections of the 1:10 model. The decision was made not to use the cladding in the end due to the brightness of the prints distracting from the simplicity of the model.

FINISHED MONO-PRINTS AT VARIOUS STAGES

MATERIALS AND LININGS

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CONSTRUCTION Figure46. The pictured construction drawings show the Müller Villa in it’s ‘naked’ un-clad state. Here we can see exposed the structural concrete columns and floors, load-bearing brick walls and the non-load-bearing blockwork walls

OPPOSITE Figure47. View looking back from the main hall

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MATERIALS AND LININGS

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LEFT 1:10 physical model in progress.

ABOVE Corner detail drawing, originally drawn at 1:10 on A2, pencil on cartridge.

MATERIALS AND LININGS

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REFLECTING ON MÜLLER VILLA

BIG MOMENTS IN ARCHITECTURE Müller Villa has revealed a wealth of architectural theory and a distinct approach to design that has been completely captivating during this study. Loos’ ability to beautifully compose rooms as hierarchical volumes and bring forth a topological multiplicity of subtle levels is a joy to behold.

Aside from this fundamental characteristic of his works (that is, a volumatic approach) we can see that in true Modernist style, Loos’ architectural rigour extends across all aspects of his design decisions; from the interior/exterior dialogues, to proportioning, to his seminal ideas about the notion of cladding. All the while, an intellectual hierarchy is maintained such that one rule may appropriately and successfully be broken in favour of another of greater importance. In studying Müller Villa, it is plain to see why we might call this house one of the big moments in architecture.

MATERIALS AND LININGS

Loos would have us believe that, “In the beginning was cladding” and this sentiment highlights the gravity that the notion of clothing oneself holds over his idea of the architectural lining. In moves unique amongst his modernist contemporaries and bound to his theoretical works, Loos elevates the use of rich materials as internal claddings in a way that humanises and warms the architecture (in a similar manner to clothing ones self). To reflect upon what was learned through observing Loos’ control of claddings, brings about a critical eye towards the aversion to cladding one can find in contemporary architecture today. In a sometimes misguided attempt to remain true to materials and express structure, it sometimes seems that the intellectual is favoured over the humanistic in our contemporary architectural approach. There are of course, many excellent contemporary counterpoints to this argument, but one can observe the phenomenon in architecture that seeks to convey an intellectual abstract as a priority.

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There has been such a wealth and richness of theory unlocked within this study of Müller Villa. The influence that Loos’ works has already begun to have upon the group’s thesis work is exciting and the relevance of this study to future works will no doubt be further and further revealed as time goes on.

SPATIAL ARRANGEMENT

It seemed that through making, the group came to read the spatial arrangements of Müller Villa from two opposing perspectives; outside-in and inside-out. Constructing an understanding of spatial quality at first by pealing back the surface of the façade (in this case physically through cast model and perspex case) to understand the structural and volumetric qualities that lie beneath.

By this reading of surface, structure and volume, Loos leaves us very deliberately with the vague notion of spatial experience. The group’s subsequent models can be seen as a result of this eagerness to understand the quality of the rooms. With the 1:10 model, an understanding of topology, promenade and hierarchy was explored alongside a reading of surface treatments and the relationships they imply. The 1:50 model explored the broader spatial composition and connections, from which the group was able to go through the process of mentally constructing the finished volume through an understanding of surface and relationships.

What is so exceptional, is Loos’ ability to balance theories of surface, structure, volumes, spatial arrangement in such a way that no one quality takes priority overall. One’s experience and perception of the building is finely composed and Loos seems to be able to hold these qualities in consideration during design and choose at a given moment what takes priority. Above all else, Loos’ ‘composition with consideration of perception,’ will remain influential in future works moving into thesis and beyond.

FACADE & CONTEXT

In 1898, Loos stated that “materials should be worked in such a way that it is impossible to confuse the clad material with its cladding.” 11 He called for authenticity, an architecture worthy of our time, and for architects to adopt the total craft of architecture - to be in charge of architecture as an ensemble, from the way the building touches the street and its facade to its internal materials, furnishings and colour palette. Adolf Loos described a true architect as a “builder who knows Latin”. This paints a picture of an architect that can build with a strong sense of material working and the ability to draw and instruct in the manner of design and construction. Loos admired the Greeks and their architecture, which he likened to the English and Engineers, through their showing of culture to the world.

He opened a dialogue that questioned the path of architecture as it was currently accepted; questioning pre-conceived ideas towards the architecture being produced, alongside all aspects of daily life in Vienna during his lifetime. There was a trajectory of architecture in the pre-war Vienna that saw the adoption of Art Nouveau and the growth of the Vienna Secession with its translation of art to architecture, a total art. Drawing inspiration from England and America, this was a polemic evaluation and grounding for architecture, materials and culture, allowing one to question authenticity in our built environment and daily life. This was certainly a big moment, or time in architecture, and left the architectural world with key built works like Michaelerplatz, Vienna and Müller Villa, Prague that identify the polar opposites of Loos’ distinction between the house and the monument or civic typologies.

He addresses the external face in two ways; a rigorously simple set of openings and unadorned surfacing of Müller Villa, and a rich marble-clad promenade of the Michaelerplatz ‘Goldman & Salatsch’ Department Store.

and perceive architecture and its role in our materialistic culture.

The Müller Villa maintains important views towards Prague, while maintaining a sense of privacy for the occupants – it does not reach outwardly in any manner, except to show the yellow paint finish of the timber frame windows and marble-clad entrance porch. The internal volumes are not visible, allowing the rich experience to be enjoined solely by the inhabitants, or their friends. This is a way of using architecture for its power to reveal and conceal life, and through doing so creates a monumental statement. There is a strong sense today of revealing life to the outside world, an immaterial architecture most synonymous with office buildings. Mies van der Rohe, the german architect, explored a sense of structurallydominant form, which was born out of a time of expression of industrial power in New York with his Seagram Building.

Loos’ style of making architecture has been perceived and translated in different ways following Loos’ era, and has now been given an ‘ism’ - something Adolf Loos may disagree with. From the Modernism of Le Corbusier (Purism, Cubism), Walter Gropius, Frank Lloyd Wright, Louis Kahn to the today’s contextually conscious modernists such as Eric Parry, David Chipperfield and Peter Zumthor among others who have a strong sense of material use. This variation of translation of architectural style was born from an era dominated by the machine and industrial produced materials, from structurally revealing architecture or enclosing space in a Loosian way has started a new, and perhaps more demanding debate than that of ornament. The intellectual premise of dealing with context, structure, material, fabrication, economy while producing architecture of worth dominates our architectural production today, and possibly there is the forgotten element of culture and progression of society, as well as addressing what buildings mean (from ones home to civic typologies), which is masked by a multitude of ‘value-driven-only’ issues forced on architects by developers.

His wish to return to a ‘reduced ornament’ state of architecture and culture in order to re-assess the manner in which we build REFLECTING ON MÜLLER VILLA

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FIGURE NOTES 1. Source: The Müller Villa Guide. City of Prague Museum. 2002. p118.

2. Source: http://ilreazionariodotcom.files.wordpress. com/2013/05/item6-rendition-slideshowvertical-arsl07_ hagan.jpg Accessed: 07/10/13 3. Illustration is our own 4. Source: http://www.theoccidentalobserver.net/ authors/ViennaCourtOpera1902.jpg Accessed: 29/11/13 5. Source: http://www.secession.at/building/images/ olbrich.gif, http://www.secession.at/building/images/ olbrich.gif Accessed: 28/11/13 6. Cafe Museum, Vienna. 1899. Source: http://www. cafemuseum.at/uploads/pics/museum-1931. Accessed: 27/11/2013.

7. Kärntner Bar, Vienna. 1908. Source: http://farm4. static.flickr.com/3169/2937554999_9e6615f14.

Accessed: 27/11/2013 8. Steiner House, Vienna. Source:<http://3.bp.blogspot. com/_7CQfUkHhTYY/TUCStGw0g2I/AAAAAAAAAiA/ YgoTjM-MW6Y/s1600/1910> Accessed: 27/11/2013 9. Goldman & Salatsch Building, Vienna. 1910.Source: http://wienwiki.wienerzeitung.at/WIENWIKI/images/b/ b7/Looshaus_August_1910.jpg. Accessed: 27/11/2013 10. Moller Villa, Vienna. 1927. Source: http://studioff. webs.com/photos/inspirations//loos-villa%20muller2. jpg. Accessed: 27/11/2013 11. Müller Villa, Prague. 1930. Source: http://img.radio. cz/pictures/architektura/mullerova_vila.jpg. Accessed: 27/11/2013 12. Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/48884967@ N04/4604428751 Accessed: 24/11/13 13. Aerial of Prague. Source: http://img239. imageshack.us/img239/159/photorg5.jpg Accessed: 24/11/13 14. The Müller Villa Guide. City of Prague Museum.

2002. p12 15. ibid. p10 16. Source: http://en.muzeumprahy.cz/villa-mullerhistorical-photographs/ Accessed: 26/11/13 17. ibid.

18. The Müller Villa Guide. City of Prague Museum.

2002. pp15-16 19. ibid. p22 20. Front entrance off Střešovicka Road. Source: <http://farm9.staticflickr. com/8437/7822692172_96a34a7a49.jpg> Accessed: 03/10/13 21. Travertine-clad Entrance. Source: <http://farm9. staticflickr.com/8289/7825807186_98f625f25d.jpg> Accessed: 03/10/13 22. Müller Villa from Střešovicka Road. Source: <http:// img.radio.cz/pictures/architektura/mullerova_vila.jpg> Accessed: 03/10/13 23. van Duzer, Leslie and Kleinman, Kent, Villa Muller, A Work of Adolf Loos. Princeton Architectural Press. New York. 1994. p80 24. Source: http://www.arthermitage.org/GiacomoQuarenghi/Design-of-the-Great-Theatre-in-StPetersburg-Vertical-Section.html Accessed: 04/01/14 25. Image Source: http://polarbearstale.blogspot. co.uk/2010/01/louis-leopold-boilly-1761-1845.html Accessed: 04/01/14 26. Image Source: http://www.mimoa.eu/projects/

Czech%20Republic/Prague/The%20Villa%20Mueller Accessed: 05/10/13

4. Tournikiotis, Panayotis. Adolf Loos. Princeton Architectural Press. New York. 1996. p9

27. Image Source: http://www.mimoa.eu/projects/ Czech%20Republic/Prague/The%20Villa%20Mueller Accessed: 05/10/13

5. Information Source: http://www.encyclopedia. chicagohistory.org/pages/1386.html Accessed: 03/01/14

28. Image Source: http://waullye.blogspot. co.uk/2009/12/villa-mullerhousing.html Accessed: 03/10/13

6. Tournikiotis, Panayotis. Adolf Loos. Princeton Architectural Press. New York. 1996. p10

29. Image Source: http://www.mimoa.eu/ images/28573_l.jpg Accessed: 04/01/14 30. Image Source: http://farm4.staticflickr. com/3552/3452216451_dee56c7bc7.jpg Accessed: 03/10/13 31. Image Source: http://thearchandthedome. wordpress.com/2013/03/13/farnsworth-house/ Accessed: 27/11/13 32. Image Source: http://www.schulmanphotography. com/index.php#mi=2&pt=1&pi=10000&s=12&p=5&a=0 &at=0 Accessed: 04/01/14 33. Image Source: http://www.flickr.com/ photos/99422163@N05/9379001060 Accessed: 04/10/13 34. Image Source: http://waullye.blogspot. co.uk/2009/12/villa-mullerhousing.html Accessed: 03/10/13 35. ibid.

36. ibid.

37. ibid.

38. Image Source: http://www.greektravel.com/ greekislands/skyros Accessed: 07/10/13 39.Image Source: http://farm9.staticflickr. com/8437/7822692172_96a34a7a49.jpg Accessed: 03/10/13 40. The Müller Villa Guide. City of Prague Museum.

2002. p19 41. van Duzer, Leslie and Kleinman, Kent, Villa Muller, A Work of Adolf Loos. Princeton Architectural Press. New York. 1994. pp54-55 42. Boudoir stair from main hall. Source: Ibid.p50.

43. Anteroom. Source: <http://en.muzeumprahy. cz/1351-raumplan/> Accessed: 03/10/13 44. Dining Room. Source: Ibid.

45. Boudoir. Source: Ibid 46. The Müller Villa Guide. City of Prague Museum.

2002. p19 47. Image Source: http://farm9.staticflickr. com/8459/7909079456_2ef98ec07e_h.jpg Accessed: 07/10/13 48. Dürer’s proportioning of the body. Ernst Neufert, Peter Neufert. Architects’ Data. 3rd ed. John Wiley & Sons, 2011. p15.

49. Cover of Loos’ Das Andere publication. Source: <http://www.mak.at/jart/prj3/mak/images/imgdb/1350932543428.jpg> Accessed: 06/01/14

TEXT NOTES 1. The Müller Villa Guide. City of Prague Museum.

2002. p9 2. Loos, Adolf. Ornament and Crime: Selected Essays.

Translated by Michael Mitchell. Ariadne Press. California, USA. 1998. p169 3. Sir John Summerson cited in “Safran, Yehuda and Wang, Wilfried. The Architecture of Adolf Loos. Arts Council of Great Britain. Precision Press. 1985.” p6

7. Musil, Robert. cited in “Tournikiotis, Panayotis.

Adolf Loos. Princeton Architectural Press. New York.

1996.”p.10 8.Tournikiotis, Panayotis. Adolf Loos. Princeton Architectural Press. New York. 1996. p.10 9. Adolf Loos, cited in “Safran, Yehuda and Wang, Wilfried. The Architecture of Adolf Loos. Arts Council of Great Britain. Precision Press. 1985.” p6 10. ibid. p13 11. Safran, Yehuda and Wang, Wilfried. The Architecture of Adolf Loos. Arts Council of Great Britain. Precision Press. 1985. p6 12. Loos, Adolf. Ornament and Crime: Selected Essays.

Translated by Michael Mitchell. Ariadne Press. California, USA. 1998. p20 13. Tournikiotis, Panayotis. Adolf Loos. Princeton Architectural Press. New York. 1996. p170 14. n/a 15. The Müller Villa Guide. City of Prague Museum.

2002. p13 16. ibid. p14 17. Veillich, Josef. Adolf Loos. Trotzdem. Innsbruck.

1931. p188 18. ibid.

19. Tournikiotis, Panayotis. Adolf Loos. Princeton Architectural Press. New York. 1996. p170 20. Schulze, Franz. Mies Van Der Rohe, A Critical Biography. University of Chicago Press. 1989. p107 21. ibid.

22. Loos, Adolf. A shorthand record of a conversation in Plzen (Pilsen). 1930 23. Veillich, Josef. Adolf Loos. Trotzdem. Innsbruck.

1931. p188 24. van Duzer, Leslie and Kleinman, Kent, Villa Muller, A Work of Adolf Loos. Princeton Architectural Press. New York. 1994. p14 25. Kenneth Frampton cited in “Safran, Yehuda and Wang, Wilfried. The Architecture of Adolf Loos. Arts Council of Great Britain. Precision Press. 1985.” p15.

26. Tournikiotis, Panayotis. Adolf Loos. Princeton Architectural Press. New York. 1996. p9.

27. Kenneth Frampton cited in “Safran, Yehuda and Wang, Wilfried. The Architecture of Adolf Loos. Arts Council of Great Britain. Precision Press. 1985.” p11.

28. ibid.

29. Adolf Loos cited in “Tournikiotis, Panayotis. Adolf Loos. Princeton Architectural Press. New York. 1996.” p170 30. ibid.

MAKING WORKSHOPS FABRIC FORMWORK

| PAPER MODELLING | DRAWING

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FABRIC FORMWORK

BUILDING A BEAM As part of the Prototyping Architecture Exhibition covered earlier in this book, Studio MARS produced a collection of concrete pieces during a fabric formwork workshop. There were a number of different construction elements available to make and five groups were formed, each producing one of the following: Column

Beam

Vault

Furniture

Piece Wall

The workshop was partly an exercise in, ‘non-digital parametricism’, wherein the intention was to work rapidly and iteratively during the design phase to get the best out of such a short and intense design period and be ready to delve into the making. This was worked through the manipulation of a very simple but effective set of physical models, with the evolutionary process being documented for reference.

What follows in this chapter is a presentation of this process, showing all of the work involved throughout, from design to construction of the final beam!

This group consisted of Martians Peter Blundy, Samuel Critchlow, Laura Gaskell, Minesh Patel and Michael Ramwell with an honorary North American Martian, Trevor! The preferred architectural element was the Beam; the group were excited about making a structural spanning element to see if fabric could be used in an interesting yet structurally efficient way. Further to this, a number of group members had previous experience with other concrete work but never a spanning element. After two groups pitched for the beam, a ‘just-a-minute’ session just about clinched it for this group (though perhaps shouldn’t have been won based the quality of our performance!) and they set to work.

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FABRIC PATTERN-MAKING, RAPID ITERATIONS USING A NAPKIN

Using a napkin, many hands and some pens to simulate the weight of the concrete, one can quickly speculate on what form the beam might take and how such a form could be manipulated through pinch-points, stitchpoints and suspension points. This dynamic process worked through a number of different

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design iterations very quickly, and using physical models in this way kept the group in-tune with how various design ideas might be achieved at full scale. Given the usefulness of this process, the exercise was repeated at 1:1 (shown right) before cutting the fabric, to test the decisions made earlier.

PATTERN NET SKETCHES

Alongside the three dimensional manipulation of the napkin, sketches were made noting the seams and connections made in certain configurations. The image above left illustrates a possible configuration for the reinforcing bar; shown is a central bar with four adjoining

bars tied into this central piece at points that correlate with the locations of proposed fabric diversion points (i.e. at the mid point of the fabric’s transitions from one pinched form to another). The image above right shows the resulting ‘pattern’ or net from one of the

physical configurations we tried out. The dots show points that connect with each other (either adjacent or opposing mirrored) whilst the inner lines show the ‘stitched seams’ that would lie in suspension from the tension wires.

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1:1 TESTING USING STRING

Given the width of the fabric roll provided, a quick 1:1 mock-up of how this width might augment from the rigid formwork ends of the beam to its freeform centre was made. This process was key in understanding scale and deciding factors such as the height and width of the formwork for the end-cap, as well as informing speculation on the overall depth of the finished beam.

The hatched section of the diagram shows the plywood end-cap around which the fabric would be secured, with the dashed line illustrating the form it may take at the mid-point of the beam.

Solid formwork end-cap Mid-beam suspended fabric outline Suspension/Fixed points Diagrammatic â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;perspectiveâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; lines to illustrate that the wires are separated at the mid-point but converge at either end

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WORKING DRAWINGS

This photo perhaps illustrates just how rapid the design and formwork construction phase was! The working drawings were all simple, dimensioned sketches, no more complex than this; an efficiency necessary to get the formwork done. The team ethos of â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;just crackingonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; and allowing on-site actions to inform design decision-making, enabled the team to respond to the opportunities and limitations that presented themselves as the materials were in-hand.

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STRENGTHENING THE FORMWORK

In building the fixed, non-fabric part of the formwork, it was observed that it may be susceptible to bowing outwards in the centre under the load of the concrete.

Therefore, additional reinforcing was added to the edges using the same plywood material but this time standing on-edge as shown. To further ensure that the beam ran true, an additional metal cable tie was added at the centre point (shown in the bottom image on the opposing page).

No reinforcing causes bowing

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Reinforced edges with centre-tie held true

TOP-LEFT TO BOTTOM-RIGHT Adding plastic sheathing to the suspension wires that run the length of the beam.

Ties holding the reinforcing bars together where they overlapped.

Securing the suspension wires at the end of the box and adding wedges to get additional tension.

The central cable tie to ensure that the formwork did not bow.

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RAPID CARD MODEL, FIXED FORMWORK

Speed of communication was key to ensure sufficient time for the construction and pouring of the physical prototype. A very quick and crude cardboard/string model communicated the vision for the fixed formwork element and as can be seen here, is in essence what was produced.

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END OF DAY 1, COMPLETED WORKS Selection of Team and Element Type Analogue Iterative Design Process Working Drawings Formwork Making, 90% Complete

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FINAL FORMWORK PREPARATIONS

The next morning, all of the final preparation of the formwork took place. The main task was securing the fabric itself into place.

The team first secured the fixed partsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;the top edge and end-capsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;moving on to stitching the fabric at the suspension points

to create the form explored during the physical modelling stage. Any additional strengthening/propping was also performed at this stage. Finally the fabric was sprayed with more water (in addition to its earlier soaking) to prepare it for the concrete pouring!

IMAGES, LEFT The fabric part of the formwork has now been secured around the end-cap and top edge, and draped over the suspension points.

The fabric is then stitched along the length of the suspension points to maintain control over the way that the form changes along the length of the beam.

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MIXING THE FIRST BATCH!

As the team were first to mix and pour their concrete, descisions had to be made as to how they would best tackle the hurdles come across during the process, and use this experience to help inform the other groups.

Since there was no purpose-built concrete plasticiser available, team member Samuel Critchlow suggested the use of washing up liquid in its place given previous on-site experience using it. A small amount was added from an espresso cup during the mixing and the results became immediately apparent, as the mix smoothed out, bound together and appeared ‘shinier’.

The concrete for use in the project came as a pre-mixed bag of ‘Quickcrete’.

Unfortunately this afforded no flexibility in terms of the composition and strength of the mix and was a product that no-one in the group had worked with before It was mixed in rough divisions of three Quickcrete bags per batch and when consensus was reached over the desired ‘porridge-like’ consistency, it was poured from the mixer into a bucket and then into the formwork.

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IT DOESN’T RAIN, IT POURS! — POURING THE CONCRETE

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MANUALLY VIBRATING THE CONCRETE TO RELEASE ANY AIR POCKETS AND LEVEL OUT THE POUR

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SURFACE QUALITY

Perfectionists Mike and Sam seek a â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;smoother-than-butterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; finish for the top of their concrete and spend way too long smoothing it over with their hand made trowels.

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END OF DAY 2, COMPLETED WORKS Final Preparation of Formwork Mixing and Pouring of Concrete Clean-up and Helping Others

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STRIKING

The last stage in the process was the removal of the formwork to unveil the concrete beam.

All screws were accessible from outside and so removing the wooden parts of the formwork was easy. The wire used to suspend the fabric was also easily removed thanks to the use of the plastic sheathing. However, the fabric itself adhered quite strongly to the concrete and was difficult to remove. The creased and

indented areas in particular caused problems with removal and in some cases the fabric was irretrievable from those areas. This may have been due to the porous nature of the fabric and the fact that it was not treated with a release agent such as oil, which may have also acted as a barrier against seeping moisture aiding removal and curing (see thoughts regarding curing later on).

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STRIKING PROCESS

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MANOEUVRING THE BEAM INTO PLACE

After removing as much fabric formwork as possible, the beam was carefully lifted using a pallet mover in order to remove the formwork end-caps that had previously been suspending the beam above the floor. This opportunity was also utilised to remove any additional fabric that had been previously inaccessible.

Using many hands to steady and lift it, the beam was then manoeuvred onto a blockwork plinth previously prepared.

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REFLECTING ON THE FINISHED PROTOTYPE

Looking back on the exercise, the team were very happy with the beam produced and the fact that it successfully spanned the 3 meter gap whilst being delivered on-time. However, there were two key problems that the team would have liked to improve on…

1. FABRIC STRETCHING/BULGING

One of the first issues that became apparent during the pouring of the concrete, was the amount of stretch in the material that had not been accounted for. During the design process, a formation of three ‘peaks’ or ‘ribs’ was the predicted outcome, however the fabric actually bulged in a more rounded form than expected. The possibility of this was discussed early on in the design process and it was suggested that stitching across the width of the beam could be used to limit the effect. However, the logistics of actually doing this coupled with the time constraints on the project, meant that the idea unfortunately got side-lined. However, additional fabric ‘slings’ were created during the pouring process to add extra support and limit the negative effects as much as possible, but still the desired effect was unfortunately not reached.

2. CONCRETE QUALITY

The surface of the concrete was sadly revealed as quite crumbly when the fabric was removed. This is something that was felt as a real shame and came as a disappointment to the team. Upon reflection, a number of possible causes were considered as listed below:

Quickcrete. The product FAQs found online mention that more water than usual may be needed for the Quickcrete however, the group were working to a familiar consistency based on previous experience so the pre-mixed concrete was unfamiliar territory.

Curing

incorrectly. Since the fabric was very breathable and a release agent such as oil was not used that could’ve helped to ‘seal’ the fabric somewhat, the concrete may have not cured properly, being exposed as it was.

The

final potential reason considered for the poor surface texture, was the use of a little too much plasticiser (for which washing up liquid was use). The strength of concrete is inversely proportional to the amount of water added, and the team did not want to weaken the concrete by adding too much water.

Therefore, to ensure that the concrete was workable without adding too much water, a plasticiser was used.

However, a plasticiser gives the effect of making the mix look ‘wetter’ than it perhaps is, and therefore the mix may have appeared correct but actually have been starved of water.

If the team were to produce the beam again, more work would certainly have been put into the control of the fabric’s form through the use of stitching to stop adverse stretching under the weight of the concrete, thereby solving our first issue. In addition to this, own concrete mix would be used with much care taken over mixing the appropriate ratios.

The

Quickcrete mix. It was speculated that the pre-mixed concrete may have been to blame for the problem however, other groups’ results were not all crumbly. One of the possible reasons for this difference may be that the mix was not wet enough for the

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COMPLETED FABRIC FORMWORK CONCRETE PROTOTYPES

VAULT

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COLUMN

FURNITURE

WALL

BEAM

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PAPER MODELLING

RAPID REPRESENTATION As a response to the muted nature of the Müller Villa facade, a site model was built to represent an idea of surface and massing of the Villa and its surrounding context.

This aided the understanding of the site topography, as well as the reasons behind Loos’ decision to have the main living areas and terrace facing North. These rooms extend a view to the garden, down the valley, and beyond into the centre of Prague. The land rises to the South, with a Church being the prominent structure within view from the front door of the house.

This model was built over a period of two days from 400gsm watercolour paper and a foam board base structure. The material was used for its inherent quality as a lining material. The Müller Villa was modelling to include openings, while the surrounding context was constructed as surface-only volumes.

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BUILDING THE MODEL

Constructing a large 1:200 site model primarily from paper was a new experience for all. It proved to be a relatively fast process with very precise results. It provides a great model for photographic work, and then digital manipulation. The nature of the material allows one to edit and change the model as a design changes, or it can be used effectively to create volume studies.

One of the fascinating qualities of paper models are there visual similarity to cast models. Although materially paper is completely different from a plaster cast model, paper and plaster share the same ability to elegantly and plainly communicate form and composition.

Paper is incredibly useful in its ability to quickly and effectively model curves. The contoured base of this model was made in a matter of hours using vertical foam board strips that were bent and glued to a contour map, over which two sheets of water colour paper where draped and glued using a water-based PVA glue, and masking tape to temporarily hold edges when drying.

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1:200 Site model during construction

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BUILDING THE MODEL

The Muller Villa was modelled in detail, showing window openings and external steps. This window revels were given greater depth by layering the watercolour paper. The Final volume being made up of three layers, with a hollow interior, creating a darker openings for greater visual appearance. The surrounding context was modelled as surface-only volumes.

The church volume is modelled in greater detail, showing the roof pitch and spire, to highlight the relationship between the Villa Müller and the Church. The volumes where then cut into the site model surface using a site map to locate them on the site. The cutting of openings into the topography was more difficult than expected, but it still resulted in a precise finish, once the volumes were placed in their locations.

Modelling the Villa Müller in its topography and local built context proved to be a valuable exercise. It revealed a notion speculated by the group that Loos’ Müller Villa is a monument in its context, through its muted, rigorously simple façade.

Modelling in thick paper proved to be extremely effective in this case, through its speed and relative ease of cutting and folding in the making of simple volumetric forms.

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ABOVE 1:200 Müller Villa model embedded into Site Context Model

OPPOSITE, TLTBR Cutting the openings in the 1:200 Site Model Constructing the church Marking the spire of the church volume Embedding the volumes in their site locations

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1:200 Site Model

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DRAWING WORKSHOP

YORK MINSTER The York Minster was our home for the drawing workshop held by Frances Stacey as part of the MARS Studio workshop series 2013/â&#x20AC;&#x2122;14.

During this day, we completed a series of drawing exercisese from 60 second sketches, 120 second, 10 minutes, 20 minutes and two 1-hour drawings in the afternoon.

The Baroque Minster provided us with a rich backdrop of vaulted structures, and fine detailing. We drew on this enviornment and ranged our drawing subjects from the finely detailed, to the structural and spatial. This picked up a range of scale from that of the room to the material junctions around us.

It was an exercise that allowed us to free our hands of our keyboards and mice, and to place graphite, ink, and watercolour down on paper.

Juhani Palasmaa talks of the thinking hand, and that is exactly what we touched upon, through sketching with both hands simultaneously and also without looking down at the page, as well as the conventional look-up-look-down method.

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DRAWING TIME: 1 MINUTE

Samuel Critchlow Ink on watercolour paper Shown at 1:1

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Peter Blundy Pencil on cartridge paper Shown at 1:1

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DRAWING TIME: 1 MINUTE

Michael Ramwell Ink on cartridge paper Shown at 1:2

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DRAWING TIME: 2 MINUTES

Samuel Critchlow Ink on watercolour paper Shown at 1:1

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DRAWING TIME: 2 MINUTES

Peter Blundy Pencil on cartridge paper Shown at 1:1

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Michael Ramwell Pencil on cartridge paper Shown at 1:1

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DRAWING FROM TOUCH ONLY, DRAWING TIME: 10 MINUTES

Samuel Critchlow Ink on watercolour paper Shown at 1:1

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Michael Ramwell Pencil on cartridge paper Shown at 1:1

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DRAWING FROM TOUCH ONLY, DRAWING TIME: 10 MINUTES

Michael Ramwell Pencil on cartridge paper Shown at 1:2

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Peter Blundy Pencil on cartridge paper Shown at 1:1

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DRAWING WITHOUT LOOKING AT THE PAPER, DRAWING TIME: 10 MINUTES

Peter Blundy Pencil on cartridge paper Shown at 1:1

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Michael Ramwell Pencil on cartridge paper Shown at 1:1

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DRAWING WITHOUT LOOKING AT THE PAPER, DRAWING TIME: 10 MINUTES

Samuel Critchlow Pencil on watercolour paper Shown at 1:1

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TWO HANDED DRAWING, DRAWING TIME: 10 MINUTES

Samuel Critchlow Graphite stick and pencil on watercolour paper Shown at 75%

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Samuel Critchlow Permenant ink on watercolour paper Shown at 75%

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TWO HANDED DRAWING, DRAWING TIME: 10 MINUTES

Michael Ramwell Pencil on watercolour paper Shown at 1:2

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TWO HANDED DRAWING, DRAWING TIME: 10 MINUTES

Peter Blundy Pencil on cartridge paper Shown at 1:1

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CHAPTER TITLE

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DRAWING TIME: 20 MINUTES

Samuel Critchlow Ink on watercolour paper Shown at 1:1

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Peter Blundy Pencil on cartridge paper Shown at 1:1

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Michael Ramwell Pencil on cartridge paper Shown at 1:1

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DRAWING TIME: 60 MINUTES

Michael Ramwell Pencil on watercolour paper Shown at 1:1

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Samuel Critchlow Ink on watercolour paper Shown at 75%

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Peter Blundy Pencil on watercolour paper Shown at 75%

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PRINT MAKING

THE MECHANISED IMAGE Breaking out of Photoshop was one of the primary reasons behind our two afternoons spent in the print workshop.

Through this introduction to print making, we were given a taste of image making beyond pencil, pen and Photoshop.

Mono-printing from glass prints was the first exercise. A thin layer of black ink is added to a glass screen, though a process of covering and selectively removing ink from the screen a range tones can be achieved. You only have one proper shot at printing from the glass screen although some Mars members printed twice from the same screen in order to get a lighter print.

Mike chose to expand on the York Minster drawing workshop, using collage and layering as well as manipulating the surface of the glass with scrapers, brushes and cloth.

He also chose to print his own Caneletto painting of Westminster Bridge - relating to his thesis research on an Architecture for the Thames Peter looked at the key spaces in MĂźller Villa by abstracting a floor plan. Card was used to scrap ink of the glass, a variety of textures were used to mask or remove ink from sections of the screen. He also created an image of a St. Ives coastline.

Sam examined spatial hierarchies in Raumplan in his prints, using stencilling, and ink thinning/removal to create his composition concerned with Loosâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; room-to-room dialogues.

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Michael Ramwell Monoprint Shown at 50%

Over Page Peter Blundy Monoprint Shown at 50%

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Samuel Critchlow Monoprint - edge detail Shown at 75%

Over Page Michael Ramwell Monoprint Shown at 50%

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Samuel Critchlow Monoprint Shown at 100% 220

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COLLAGRAPHY

For our second afternoon printing we used the collagraphy process. This involved making a screen that could be reprinted using intaglio ink.

1-2 The base of the screen is a sheet of card witch is then ether layer up or cut into creating a shallow relief. The screen is then varnished to seal the surface and allowed to dry.

3-4 Paint is rolled and then worked into the surface of the screen using cloth. This stage is critical as how much and where to remove ink from the screen dramatically changes the tonal quality of the resulting print. We used a heavy cartridge paper witch was wetted and dabbed.

5 -6 Pressing the print though the rollers transfers the print but also embossed the paper creating a extra layer of depth to the prints.

Mike chose a study of Canaletto 1746 painting of the lord mayorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s procession by west minster bridge on the River Thames.

Peter chose a landscape where the town of St Ives in Cornwall meets the sea.

We both where able to experiment with painting multiple colours and tones into our prints. The screen provides a reusable base to build colour and tone though multiple prints 222

Over Leaf Michael Ramwell and Peter Blundy Collagraph Screen and Corresponding Print Shown at 50%

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Peter Blundy Collagraph Shown at 120%

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Over Leaf Michael Ramwell Collagraph Shown at 80%

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PROTOTYPING ARCHITECTURE

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Prototype n 1. An original thing or person of which or whom copies or improved forms, etc. are made.

2. A trial model or preliminary version of a vehicle, machine etc.1

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PROTOTYPING ARCHITECTURE EXHIBITION

PROTOTYPING ARCHITECTURE The Prototyping Architecture Exhibition was first exhibited in The Wolfson Prototyping Hall, the University of Nottingham, and opened on 16th October 2012, curated by Michael Stacey and MARS 2012-13. It then opened at The Building Centre, London in January 2013, where the Prototyping Architecture Conference was held in March 2013. The final and most ambitious stage of the exhibition was in Cambridge Galleries at Waterloo Architecture, Canada. The exhibition in Cambridge Galleries was a refined version of the earlier Nottingham and London phases, with new prototypes by Michael Hansmeyer and sixteen*(Makers).

This documents the exhibits and ideas behind the prototype as a progressive design culture.

The exhibition provided a great opportunity to engage with the idea of a prototype and look at the varying ways they are used in professional design and research to support architecture and the built environment. Prototypes are developed by Architects and Engineers for six main reasons2 Test

new ideas as part of an experimental practice Extend

the boundaries of the known, [including working beyond current regulations and standards]; Test

new holistic assemblies of many parts and components – researching and generating robust constructional technology; Test

scale and to manifest ideas Focus

cross disciplinary collaboration Deliver

quality.

The metal folding prototypes in the Prototyping Exhibition 2013 were the Zoid Stools by Yves Ebnöther and the Stressed Out table by Sixteen*(makers). The Zoid stools by Yves Ebnöther are made from one sheet of aluminium, which is laser cut, scored and folded by hand to create a sturdy three-legged stool. The initial prototype for the aluminium prototype was also exhibited - made from leather and

stiffened with hand cut ply parts, which provide the surface when folded. Working with leather and ply, rather than metal, provides flexibility and reversibility – the fabric form can be folded and unfolded to quickly test the form and the ply parts can be altered in line. This haptic method of testing form and structure varies to the digital methods used to perform the structural stress analysis and loading paths, which generated the form of the Stressed Out table. The table is designed to reduce a generic form to its minimal essential structure – the perforations on the table surface are digitally generated from the results of the structural stress analysis.3 Bob Sheil, sixteen*(Makers), in his essay ‘De-Fabricating Protoarchitecture’ discusses the idea that protoarchitectures are “constructs that seek to test, validate, or exhibit speculative design propositions that have emerged through digital investigation of the visual and theoretical; as well as the technical for example structural performance or practical for example workmanship.”4 This idea can also be seen in the work of NEX, who exhibited their to-andfro table at the Nottingham exhibition alongside prototypes of the Times Eureka Pavilion - an example of an architect designing a piece of furniture to test an idea, which is then translated into a piece of architecture.

Professor Michael Stacey in the Prototyping Architecture 2013 Reception pod, Riverside Gallery, University of Waterloo, Cambridge, Ontario, Canada.

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STRESSED OUT TABLE BY SIXTEEN*(MAKERS)

The Stressed Out Table is a model for fabrication and material efficiency combined with a vision for a bespoke, well designed product. “The table was designed to reduce a generic form to its minimal essential structure that can be readily manufactured to order” 5 The table and its legs are constructed in sheet stainless-steel, in its basic manufactured form, through CNC manufacture and basic folding techniques to create a rigid table prototype. The tabletop was designed to be manufactured from a standardised stainless-steel sheet. The perforations in it’s top relate to a structural stress analysis, which was then translated into a cutting pattern using a dynamic digital software script and CNC laser cut to remove the structurally unnecessary material.

This prototype embodies a sense of technologically and manufacturabilityconscious design in an age of mechanisation and digitisation. The digitally advanced techniques are employed in a design and waste-conscious manner, to produce a semi digital, semi pre-fabricated, semi hand-made bespoke product.

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LEFT Figure1. Stressed Out Table by Sixteen*(makers)

THE ZOID STOOLS by Yves Ebnöther

The Zoid Stools represent the prototypical testing and design for metal folding techniques, which has culminated in a product - a stool. Developed iteratively, leather and plywood prototypes were tested prior to manufacturing from sheet aluminium. These three Zoid aluminium stools were finished in silver, champagne, and gold anodising.

The complexity behind the design is the creation of a complete and stable form from one sheet of material, in this case sheet aluminium. The leather and plywood prototypes were made to test how the folded and flat planes would come together as an object, with the leather providing the foldable membrane, and the ply providing the rigid flat surfaces. The complex geometrical issues were resolved using parametric software, which produced a net for laser cutting. The folding of the sheet into the stool-like form was completed by hand.

“The project nicely explores the structural and aesthetic potential of folded sheet aluminium.” 6 TOP Figure2. The Zoid stools by Yves Ebnöther

BOTTOM, LEFT-TO-RIGHT Figure3. Zoid Stool, completed stool with unfolded net Figure4. Zoid Stool, folding sequence diagram.

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TIMBER WAVE BY AL_A & ARUP

The Timber Wave by AL_A and Arup Engineers was displayed as an installation at the entrance of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London for the London Design Festival 2011. The Timber Wave sections formed a 12 metre-high assymetric form, creating a grand entrance arch that responded to the grand and ornamental nature of the V&A’s Cromwell Road entrance. This showcased the interest in design and making of the V&A’s collections and London’s creative industries.7 Cowley Timberworks, the fabricators, used similar lamination techniques used in furniture-making to manufacture

ABOVE, FLTR Figure5. Timber Wave by AL_A (Amanda Levete Architects) Figure6. End grain of Timber Wave exhibit

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these chords from thin lengths of timber (lamellae), which were then curved and bent to create the wave form and geometry expressing the structural forces inherent within the form. The design of the form was aided by parametric design software Grasshopper, where engineer and architect were able to test varying forms and material thickness to accurately decide the structural behaviour and appearance. There were eight American Red Oak Prototype Sections in total on display at the Prototyping Architecture Exhibition 2013.

PROTOCELL MESH BY PHILIP BEESLEY

The Protocell Mesh installation by Philip Beesley, assembled by Studio MARS, accommodated a large portion of the exhibition room. What is displayed is a series of tapering and swelling forms made up of mesh pettles, suspended weightlessly in the air, allowing one to walk around and underneath.

“Philip Beesley‘s ‘work is a very humane response to the contemporary condition of ecology. He seeks to progress beyond an abstract Modernism to something richer and more productive.’” 8 The exhibit, now being displayed in it’s third setting, is comprised of an aluminium meshwork scaffold that holds within it a protocell carbon-

capture filter array.

The exhibits most intricate prototype component is the self-bracing meshwork waffle, which creates the pettle-like form, that pivots around a central aluminium rod core, creating a flexible hyperbolic grid-shell structure. The component-based design is assembled using a system of aluminium chevron-shaped links, that are designed using CAD software, cut from sheet aluminium, and then assembled by hand.

The prototype explores flexible form and ecology through componentbased design and fabrication.

ABOVE, FLTR Figure7. Assembling the Protocell Mesh Figure8. Completed Protocell Mesh assembly

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DIGITAL GROTESQUE 3D PRINT by Michael Hansmayer

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The Digital Grotesque 3D print is a scale model of a room, experimenting with the making of unprecedented form using new materials and 3d printing manufacturing technology.

exhilarating space, full of details at the threshold of perception, waiting to be discovered and spurring one’s imagination of what is yet to be created.” 9

The 3d print represents an intensely intricate 16m2 room, 3.2m in height. The solid form has a level of geometric intensity, with hundreds of millions of individual facets. The 3d printing technology achieves a printed resolution of a tenth of a millimetre. This takes digital and manufacturing technology to an architectural scale.

Additive manufacture places new form-making possibilities into the hands of the architect and designer. Up until now, this experimentation has been limited to small scale models, however Digital Grotesque has been prototyped at full scale, made up of block sections, which assemble like bricks to form the overall room (see above image).

“In the Digital Grotesque project, we aim to create an architecture that defies classification and resists reductionism. We explore unseen levels of resolution and topological complexity in architecture by developing compositional strategies based on purely geometric processes. We use algorithms to create a form that appears at once synthetic and organic.

The design process thus strikes a delicate balance between the expected and the unexpected, between control and relinquishment. The algorithms are deterministic as they do not incorporate randomness, but the results are not necessarily entirely foreseeable. Instead, they have the power to surprise. Instead, they have the power to surprise. As a fictive narrative space, the Digital Grotesque project is less concerned with functionality than with the expressive formal potentials of digital technologies. It examines new spatial experiences and sensations that these technologies enable. As such, Digital Grotesque is a lavish,

This resistance to reductionism, as mentioned by Hansmayer, is something born from economy and manufacturing/fabrication in architecture. In this case, the cost to print complex form and simple cubes are the same. “Ornament and formal expression are no longer a luxury - they are now legitimised.” Adolf Loos, as covered in this book, talked polemically about the reduction of ornament and a ‘true’ use of materials, between 1900-1933, now it seems there is a possibility for ornamentation to be economic, formally intricate, and materially inspiring. This digital manufacturing age holds promising futures for its role in architecture to be interpreted.

ABOVE, FLTR Figure9. Digital Grotesque 3D print by Michael Hansmeyer Figure10. Digital Grotesque full scale 3D print grotto by Michael Hansmayer

ADDITIVE MANUFACTURED VIOLIN by Joel Segal and EOS GmbH

Its reckoned by the maker, Joel Segal, that this is the worlds first 3d-printed violin, produced in 2009. This prototype was produced as an exercise in 3d manufacturing and complex form-making with semi-acoustic properties. It is 0.9 scale of a traditional violin due to the size of the 3d-printing bed. Another model was also produced in carbon fibre, but not displayed at this exhibition. This prototype was the first in a series in the research of viable 3d manufacturing techniques for an acoustic instrument. This violin was produced using additive manufacturing technology called Process Laser-sintering. It was researched and designed by the Manufacuring Research Division, Faculty of Engineering, The University of Nottingham, during 2012.

“EOS produced a body made from Alumide® (aluminium filled polyamide) using one of their advanced laser-sintering systems, the EOSINT P390. The University provided the ancillary components including; tuning pegs, strings, and bridge. Professor John Dominy assembled the violin at specialist manufacturer Carbon Concepts.” 10 3D CAD geometry data was designed, which the laser-sintering system EOSINT P390 used to digitally slice into layers, topographically, and then builds the required geometry layer by layer from a solidified powder-based material. Several parts can be made in one single build.

ABOVE, FRTL Figure11. Peter Blundy playing Bach’s Air on G , on the Additive Manufactured Violin, opening event of Prototyping Architecture Exhibition, 2013. 25/10/2013.

Figure12. Additive Manufactured Violin, by Joel Segal and EOS GmbH

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LOBLOLLY HOUSE by Kieren Timberlake

During the Prototyping Architecture Exhibition 2013, we participated in the construction process of a small segment of the Loblolly House. Designed by Stephen Kieran and James Timberlake, the house is an extension of the practices research into challenging prefabricated architecture. An agenda of prefabrication is challenged in their book Refabricating Architecture, with strong analysis of the automotive and aviation industries. They go beyond the current typologies of flat pack and modular methods of prefabrication – proposing instead to use prefabricated building components with bespoke connections. The merit of this system lies in it enlightening the connection between prefabrication and design, preventing it from being a commercial product.

The connections for components are fascinating. The Loblolly House prototype uses Bosch extruded aluminum members in 6 different profiles, which slide together and are bolted into place using custom fabricated connecters. The roof and floor sections house the services and insulation, which are bolted to the aluminium frame using sliding bolt connection. The roof and floor sections are pre-fabricated from ply, OSB (original strand board) and timber joists. The internal floors and wall faces are veneered for durability during use.

The externally glazed walls also fix to the aluminium frame, and when complete create an air tight house. There are possibilites for adaptability over time through the exposed aluminium frame, where partitions can be fixed or removed accordingly.

“The thousands of parts, which make up a building are collapsed into a few dozen off-site fabricated assemblies that are simply attached to an extruded aluminium frame on-site, to make this house.”

IMAGES Figures13-17. Loblolly House Prototype section at Prototyping Architecture 2013, Cambridge, Ontario

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COMPLETED FABRIC FORMWORK CONCRETE PROTOTYPES

FABRIC FORMWORK ELEMENTS VAULT

As part of the Prototyping Architecture Exhibition2013 , Michael Staceysâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Studio MARS 2013/14 alumni embarked on a two-day fabric formwork workshop, which were then displayed on the ground floor foyer and exhibition rooms within the Waterloo School of Architecture, Cambridge, Ontario.

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COLUMN

Displayed were the results of 5 teams, each lead by one Studio MARS 2012/13 graduates. Each team designed, made and cast an architectural element using fabric as a casting membrane for concrete.

FURNITURE

WALL

BEAM

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THE COMPLETED EXHIBITION SETUP

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BUILDING THE PROTOCELL MESH First assembled in Nottingham, 2012, the installation made its way to Cambridge Ontario (via London) for its final display, where Philip Beesley teaches, at the University of Waterloo Architecture, Cambridge, Ontario.

The Protocell Mesh project integrates first-generation prototypes that include aluminium meshwork canopy scaffolding and a suspended protocell carboncapture filter array. The scaffold that supports the installation is a resilient, self-bracing meshwork waffle composed of flexible, lightweight chevron-shaped linking components. Curving and expanding, the mesh creates a flexible hyperbolic grid-shell.

As hinted at by the official press release from Philip Beesley Architects above, the idea behind the installation is that it would very subtly move or expand in response to human occupancy through a chemical process of capturing the carbon dioxide exhaled and converting it into calcium carbonate.

This is a fascinating idea, however in practice the mesh does not move at all and instead can be appreciated aesthetically and intellectually as a beautifully evocative conceptual piece. These works may be in their early stages, the research undertaken

by Philip Beesley and his studio into the design and use of digitally fabricated components, however it is an interesting venture relevant to our current times of technological innovation. The key for this research is scale and component production. Currently the application of the research remains at the scale of a non-structural installation within an existing building, however, the component work does show theoretical promise for applications within architecture (though such a leap would perhaps require a large investment into material research to enable the structural characteristics of the materials to be maintained at the larger scale).

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THE PROBLEMS OF COMPONENTS

Breaking a constructed element down into a series of standardised components has many advantages. One advantage is that often, the way that the components are designed to fit together means that they may also be easily disassembled and reassembled (this is of particular benefit to temporary structures and installations).

However, one of the counter-problems to this advantage is that, under the strain of such a tectonic act as construction, there may be permanent distortion applied to the component itself, making it difficult or impossible to disassemble and reuse.

This was evidenced during our assembly of the Protocell Mesh by Philip Beesley as the installation had been constructed previously, on two separate occasions.

The arrows on the image to the right, point out areas where the distortion has caused issues for the construction and/or overall form of the piece.

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BOX OF COMPONENTS It proved difficult to locate the right components (left) from the box of components.

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CONSTRUCTING THE PROTOCELL MESH

The images on this spread show the process of constructing the Protocell Mesh. Studio MARS learned a lot about working with components and coordinating the assembly as a team using the legends and outline diagrams of the overall construction. The ability to assemble various portions of the installation in tandem really, in a production line manner, helped with the time constraints.

During the construction process, it was found that additional components were needed to complete the installation. One of the big advantages of pairing component design with digital fabrication came to the fore; we were able to prepare a number of material panels ready for laser-cutting the required components.

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CONSTRUCTING THE PROTOCELL MESH

Thanks to the repetitive nature of constructing components into assemblies, and assemblies into the whole, once the nature of the task was learned, subsequent work happened quickly and intuitively and in the final stages the installation came together quite quickly!

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PHILIPâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S OFFICE

A morning was at Philip Beesleyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s office, in Toronto, to gain an insight into the way that they work and to take a look at some of the works past and present around the office. Pictured right is a view of the ceiling, across which there are a number of hanging points fixed. These fixing points are used for suspending installations in various configurations. Pictured below is a top view of one of his newer structures that is formed by heating and stretching a piece of acrylic with slot-like perforations using a manually manipulated rig.

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FIGURE NOTES 1. Image Source: http://www.s4aa.co.uk/gallery/ prototyping-architecture-exhibition-canada/ Accessed: 27/11/13 2. ibid.

3. Image Source: http://ebnoether.com/new/ index.cfm?actionValue=03_research/06_zoid%20 stool&detailValue=19 Accessed: 21/12/13 4. ibid.

5. Image Source: http://www.s4aa.co.uk/gallery/ prototyping-architecture-exhibition-canada/ Accessed: 27/11/13 6. Image is our own 7. Image is our own 8. Image Source: http://www.s4aa.co.uk/gallery/ prototyping-architecture-exhibition-canada/ Accessed: 27/11/13 9. ibid.

10. Image Source: http://www.michael-hansmeyer. com/projects/digital_grotesque.html Accessed: 05/01/14 11. Image is our own 12. Image Source: http://www.s4aa.co.uk/gallery/ prototyping-architecture-exhibition-canada/ Accessed: 27/11/13 13-17. Image Source: http://www.s4aa.co.uk/gallery/ prototyping-architecture-exhibition-canada/ Accessed: 27/11/13

TEXT NOTES 1. Stacey, Michael. Prototyping Architecture. Riverside Architectural Press. Canada. 2013. p4 2. ibid. p5 3. ibid. p173 4. Bob Shiel in, ibid. p181 5. ibid. p173 6. ibid. p169 7. ibid. p109 8. ibid. p59 9. ibid. pp153-155 10. ibid. p207

ACADIA 2013

UNIVERSITY OF WATERLOO, CAMBRIDGE, ONTARIO, CANADA

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CONFERENCE & EXHIBITION The ACADIA 2013 conference and subsequent exhibition, held at Waterloo Architecture, Cambridge, Ontario, displayed the work of selected conference research papers.

Researchers in the field of design, architecture, and software, from around the world presented their work on various themes. The conference was split into four major themes, Resourceful and Inventive; Matter and Tectonics; Tectonics and Technology Transfer; Performative, alongside key note lectures and a peer review committee meeting.

The subsequent exhibition “[...]explores the importance of prototypes in the delivery of high quality contemporary architecture - performative architecture that is inventive, purposeful and beautiful. Maximising the effective use of materials and resources whilst delivering environments that facilitate human well-being.” 1

and 1:1 prototypes to the point of destruction through the removal of the structural ‘briquettes’ one-by-one to test the how these ‘weak’ points would affect the structure. His Funicular Shell structure models were made from a range of materials, from 3-d printed ‘briquettes’ to clay tiles of the 1:1 mock up.

Michael Ramwell and Matthew Fielding represented Studio MARS’ Fabric Formwork workshop at the PechaKucha event as part of ACADIA 2013 (read on for more information).

Studio MARS 2013/14 alumni attended all of the conference presentations and exhibition. It was a rich combination of the digitally theoretical and materially plausible ideas that can inform an architecture yet to be.

A key speaker worth mentioning was Matthias Rippmann from ETH, Zurich. The exploration of ‘Funicular Shell Design’ went through a journey of making and then desctruction of their architecture, pushing their models

OPPOSITE Folded sheet metal prototype .

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STUDIO MARS 2013-2014 @ ACADIA 2013 Cambridge, Ontario, Canada.

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ACADIA 2013

PECHA KUCHA 20X20 As part of ACADIA 2013, a Pecha Kucha presentation night was held. Michael Ramwell and Matthew Fielding presented Studio MARS’ 2013-2014 Fabric Formwork Workshop, of which these exhibits were displayed as part of the Prototyping Architecture Exhibition 2013.

‘PechaKucha’ is a well-known presentation event that was created by Japanese architects Klein Dytham architecture, and is an attempt to remove the amount of over-speaking during traditional digital presentations by applying a time and slide count rule. Each presentation is limited to 20 slides and each slide is restricted to 20 seconds, hence the 20x20 logo - 20 images, 20 seconds. Each slide is valuable in communicating a single point in a clear and concise manner for the audience.

The presentation format was devised by Astrid Klein and Mark Dytham of Klein Dytham architecture. The first PechaKucha Night was held in Tokyo in their gallery/lounge/bar/club/ creative kitchen, SuperDeluxe, in February, 2003.

The aim of our presentation was to effectively show our process during the two-day Fabric Formwork workshop, which took place between 19th-20th October 2013. The speed and process of designing and making a relatively complex casting mould, which was then cast on the second day was an achievement we wanted to share, as a haptic design process and the physically making of form. This bridges the iterative gap currently dominated by the digital world of 3d CAD software, which happened to dominate the ACADIA 2013 conference papers. Our desire was to provide a refreshing look at a more hands-on approach to designing 3-dimensional fluid forms using structure and fabric in a 2-day making and casting process.

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PECHA KUCHA PRESENTATION

MAKING THE PROTOTYPE

PROTOTYPING ARCHITECTURE A FABRIC FORMWORK WORKSHOP

TRIPARTITE COLUMN

EXHIBITED IN NOTTINGHAM 2012-’13

Michael Stacey & Studio MARS, The University of Nottingham @ Waterloo School of Architecture, ACADIA 2013 Made October 19-20th

Designed by Anne-Mette Manelius

Presented by Matthew Fielding & Michael Ramwell 25.10.2013

1 - INTRODUCTION

2 - MAKING THE PROTOTYPE

3 -TRIPARTITE COLUMN

Michael: This presentation is based on a two-day fabric formwork workshop, which was undertaken by StudioMARS from the University of Nottingham, UK. This was led by Michael Stacey, our unit professor, curator of the prototyping architecture exhibition as part of ACADIA 2013.

Michael: In line with the theme of prototyping architecture, as displayed in the exhibition, the purpose of this workshop was to design, build and cast concrete architectural elements; aspiring to combine craft and technology, which is often missing in many contemporary construction processes.

Therefore, creating a dialogue between process and form.

Michael: Before we begin our explanation of what fabric formwork is we would like to show an example from the previous year’s workshop. This is the tripartite fabric formwork column, which was assembled and cast by the students of MARS under Anne- Mette’s guidance. It is an example of in-situ concrete cast in a geo-textile formwork.

FORM FOLLOWS MAKING

PROCESS

7 - PROCESS: BETWEEN MAKING & DRAWING

8 - ... CONTINUED

9 - MAKING FORMWORK

Matthew: The emphasis of this process was to draw to make, and to make to draw simultaneously. The limited time scale forced us to design instinctively. We designed using the resources available thus informing the limits of our design.

Through sketching, diagramming and making we developed the designs through iteration.

Matthew: Here are a selection of images that depict that process. The top middle image represents a proposal for either a roof or wall geometry. The lower left image shows a small maquette of the beam design that uses tissue paper to represent the fabric, and string as tension wire.

Matthew: So, using the materials that we had available; the designs were perfected through scale drawing. Once the design team had agreed upon a prototype they began to construct the formwork. Making the formwork forced the designs into a constructable object. This is an example of the fabric formwork beam.

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COMPONENTS

COMPONENTS

UNDERSTANDING FORMWORK

WALL

FORMWORK

tripartite column

CASTING

making the formwork

pouring the concrete

VAULT

COLUMN

WALL

FURNITURE

BEAM

VAULT

COLUMN

Tripartite column BEAM

FURNITURE

4 - UNDERSTANDING FORMWORK

5 - COMPONENTS

6 - COMPONENTS CONTINUED

Michael: Fabric Formwork is a new construction method for concrete structures that utilises sheets of fabric as flexible, light weight moulds. The allowed deflection of the surface under pressure makes the membrane an efficient formwork material. The technique encourages an architectural understanding of concrete as material and as process.

Matthew: The fabric can only resist the forces generated by the concrete through tension and thus the forms produced rely on controlling the reaction of the fabric. Gravity then becomes a tool to be exploited in the generation of form rather than something that is restricted, as in conventional formwork systems.

Matthew: The Two-day workshop focused on generic architectural forms such as a wall, vault, column beam and furniture. These terminologies gave direction to the studies.

However, a different classification developed more concerned with the process rather than the object produced.

FORM FOLLOWS FABRIC STRUCTURAL FORMWORK

10 - MATERIALS

11 - STRUCTURE OF FORMWORK

12 - FORM FOLLOWS FABRIC

Matthew: The primary materials used were: lengths of softwood, timber, sheet plywood, multi-directional fabric (as the formwork), tension wires, rebar and reinforcing mesh.

This was all assembled using screws & brackets, which was made possible by the workshop at the University of Waterloo.

Michael: Using the wall and vault team as an example, one can see the expressive nature of the formwork structure.

Even though we used conventional linear formwork elements we were able to make non-linear concrete geometry when combined with fabric. The top left image shows the wall structure in its most basic form.

Michael: The nature of liquid concrete results in a negotiation between the concrete and the flexible membrane. It structurally organises itself to a form that achieves equilibrium in relation to the load. As you can see, a membrane was tested using water in this design, in order to better understand how the fabric might respond.

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COMPLETED FORMWORK

WALL

VAULT

BEAM

CASTING

COLUMN

FURNITURE

13 - COMPLETED FORMWORK

14 - CASTING

15 - ... CONTINUED

Michael: Here you can see the completed formwork for the five architectural elements. Each formwork needed to be self supporting as well as being able to support the load of the poured concrete. This was completed by the morning of the second day in preparation for casting in the afternoon.

Michael: Here you can see the teams mixing the concrete in a cement mixer. We used a ready mix cement containing sand, cement and aggregate. We added water to the mix until it reached a porridge-like consistency. As you can see on the right the pouring channel on the beam design was restrictive and we needed to account for that.

Michael: Generally, when pouring the concrete into the mould it required vibrating to force out any excess air and this was achieved through patting the filled fabric (lower right). We also used battens to vibrate the concrete mixture ensuring the form was appropriately filled. The pouring process was limited to an hour

COMPONENTS STRIKING

END....

WALL

BEAM

VAULT

COLUMN

FURNITURE

19 - STRIKING

20 - CONCLUSION

Matthew: It is worth noting again one of the key considerations of the design was to make the formwork deconstructable. This meant that the design teams had to consider simple things like the placement of screws, fixings and structural cables. As you can see the process required various methods of deconstructing.

Michael: This design process wasn’t perfect in its entirety but it shows a consequence of the dialogue between process and form. To Quote Michael Stacey, our professor: ‘Prototyping architecture demonstrates that inventiveness has not been lost within architecture. Both architecture and technology are malleable in the hands of a well-informed architect.’

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COMPLETED CAST

POROUS STRUCTURE

STRIKING

16 - COMPLETED CAST

17 - POROUS STRUCTURE

18- STRIKING/REMOVING FORMWORK

Michael: On the left it shows the completed cast of the wall. The upper right shows the furniture, and the lower right image shows the case beam. It is worth noting that all concrete elements were cast in situ and left to cure for three days.

Matthew: These images illustrate the porous nature of the fabric. This allows any excess water or air to seep out, which means the surface of the concrete, is much stronger. As a result, the mix has a lower ration of water to cement in the mix.

Matthew: Once the concrete had cured, we began a process of removing the formwork, known as ‘striking’. On the left you can see the furniture group unveiling their cast chair; the beam being unveiled on the top right; and the wall on the lower right image.

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NOTES 1. Stacey, Michael. Prototyping Architecture: The Conference Papers. Cambridge, Ont: Riverside Architectural Press, 2013. p7.

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FIELD RESEARCH

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CANADA FIELD TRIP The destination of our field study was Cambridge, Ontario, Canada. We helped curate, contribute, and then attend the ACADIA 2013 conference held by Waterloo School of Architecture.

During these ten days, we constructed a fabric formwork concrete prototype, assembled Philip Beesley’s Protocell Mesh Exhibit, and helped curate the rest of the Prototyping Architecture Exhibition. We also managed to visit Toronto, and Niagara Falls. All transport was made on a trusty yellow school bus.

Waterloo’s school of architecture pictured below was the base for most of the groups’ time in Canada. Housed in a disused silk mill, the school was completed in 2004 by Levitt

Goodman Architects. The trip to Toronto highlighted to the group some of the urban design differences between European and North American cities. Density didn’t seem to be well controlled, and as the bus drove into Toronto it was striking to see high-rise residential blocks isolated in the cities periphery. Highlights included Toronto-Dominion Centre

by Mies van der Rohe as well as the row houses of Dundas Street West. Niagara fall was both a terrific and terrifying experience - as a natural spectacle it didn’t fail to impress.

The shock for many members of the party lay in the quantity and exceptionally low quality of the development around the falls. The large casinos and hotels, mixed with no consideration for urban public space mean it was no surprise to learn that the American National Park Policy was drawn up in response to the mistakes of Niagara.

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Imperial Lane Cambridge Ontario Canada

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Central Presbyterian Church Cambridge Ontario Canada

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Toronto Railway Museum Bremner Boulevard, Toronto, Canada

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‘Forever Bicycles’ by Ai Weiwei Nathan Phillips Square Toronto, Canada

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FAR LEFT Dundas Street West Toronto, Canada

LEFT Toronto City Hall Queen Street West Toronto, Canada

FAR LEFT QCAD University McCaul Street Toronto, Canada

LEFT CN Tower (1976) Front Street West Toronto, Canada

RIGHT Toronto-Dominion Centre (1969) Ludwig Mies van der Rohe King and Wellington Street Toronto, Canada

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LEFT CN Tower (1976) Front Street West Toronto, Canada

FAR LEFT Far Left - Allen Lambert Galleria (1992) Santiago Calatrava Bay Street Toronto, Canada

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Falls Avenue, Niagara Falls, ON, Canada

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AMSTERDAM The members of the group, Michael and Peter, travelled to Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Delft as part of their role as first year tutors. The trip took place three days after the Canada field trip and proved to be a sharp contrast between the consumer lead city of Toronto. Michael had spent his first semester of 5th year studying at TU Delft as an Erasmus Exchange student from the University of Nottingham, but for Peter it was a first time.

The daily lives of Amsterdams citizens spill out into the lanes and along the canal edges. The urban grain is characterised by the canals, where houses and windows meet water adges. Houses lean in and out of streets, each with their own character.

Boats sit moored along canals and bycicles line railings. Coming and going, the cyclists go by with bells ringing. Trams stream their way into view then into the distance again.

The city is intricately compact and has a truely sustainable transport system, powered by the legs of the citizens.

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Gerrit Rietveld, 1924 Schrรถder House Utrecht

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2004. Wiel Arets Utrecht Library Utrecht

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1998. Dok Architects TU Delft Library Delft

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Pierre Cuypers, 1885 Rennovated in 2012 by Antonio Cruz and Antonio Ortiz Rijksmuseum Amsterdam

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FOUR POSTER

MAKING A BED Since this project happened during term-time and had a focus on making, I thought it would be relevant to share within the context of this book.

It was made by my father and I, using only hand tools. I learned a lot through making this bed, not least of all the patience required for craftsmanship. The material chosen was a â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;primeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; European aged oak to guarantee the quality of the wood; no shakes, large knots or bad uniformity are to be found in prime grade oak. This short section is a documentation of the process and the final piece of furniture.

The construction of the bed was all traditional carpentry; no glue or mechanical fixings, simply well-fitted joints. This was part of the project ethos from the beginning as not only was the bed intended to be an ongoing project that may evolve over time, but also a family heirloom in years to come.

- Samuel Critchlow

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FIRST MOVES

Sadly, the most important stage of the project has not been documented here; the marking out! We spent a good number of hours marking every detail that was to be cut on all of the timbers. The joining method chosen was to use mortice and tenons that interlinked through each other. As you can see (immediate right) the smaller mortice hole enables the smaller tenon to mortice through the bigger tenon on the adjacent side! Shown we have the drilling, chiselling and sawing of the mortice holes and wedged tenons.

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LEFT

Further checking of the marking out RIGHT

A ‘dry run’ assembly of the unfinished bed

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NEARLY THERE

During this project, I also tried my hand at upholstering (shown left)

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OPEN HOUSE

A DOLLS HOUSE

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FROM ARCHITECTURE TO DOLLS HOUSE The design of a dolls house draws many parallels with architecture. There is a client, in this case an almost 3-yearold Thea Stacey, and there is an understanding about space, context, economy, materials, fabrication, usability, durability, and longevity.

A dolls house is primarily about promoting play, an action associated with children but an action we can relate to as adults. It is an action that can be fuelled by innocent interpretation and interaction with our environments, and is a refreshing way of stripping back architecture to an almost innocent level.

The Open House designers wanted to create an understated volume that had embedded within it a set of rich spatial relationships between rooms, and an ability to reveal its internal spaces through opening or removable volumes.

Once elements are removed or opened, the internal spaces are revealed and given character by their internal linings.

These become the stages, set for the imagination of the child during play.

play verb 1 [ no obj. ] engage in activity for enjoyment and recreation rather than a serious or practical purpose A traditional dolls house usually has one playing realm, a sectional cut through the house accessed via a hinged front.

The primary driving force behind the Open House, is provision of a playing realm which is not limited to a flattened, frontal perspective, but one which opens up from all sides of the house, offering a variety of perspectival opportunities and making use of the context within which the dolls house sits.

Open House is a Dolls House inspired by the work and theories of Adolf Loos, architect of the M端ller Villa in Prague, Czech Republic, which was covered earlier in this document.

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DESIGNING OPEN HOUSE

Given a strong foundation and clear trajectory by the influence of Adolf Loosâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; works, the design of Open House worked its way through conversational sketches into rapid modelling very quickly. This intuitive, collaborative process yielded a coherent design that could be tested through the drawing and making.

A key focus of the sketch design conversation, was an exploration of which volumes would move and the method by which they would reveal the internal spaces. A dialogue back-and-forth between sketch and model allowed us to arrive at the decision to incorporate four operable elements, anchored into a stable and fixed structure. With only these four moveable parts, the Open House felt highly configurable. Cross-spatial dialogues were successfully set up to encourage play from multiple perspectives.

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LEFT Results of an intesnse 3-hour session of debate and modelling.

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FREE VARIATION STUDY OF POSSIBLE VOLUME CONFIGURATIONS

A sketch model, with 3:2 proportioning, was used to test configurations and the way that the operable volumes could work in relation to the whole. This was a valuable hands-on exercise, where material pieces were cut and re-configured to rigorously test the design proposal over a 2-hour period of modelling sketching and debate.

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130mm TYPICAL, 1:12 SCALE DOLL SIZE An understanding of typical doll sizes informed scale

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PHYSICAL TESTING Real-world, measured testing to effectively consider the scale of the project in further detail. This exercise paid particular attention to the actions involved during play with a doll of the correct size.

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REMOVABLE / OPERABLE VOLUMES

The images of the sketch model (right) show clearly the operable volumes.

Elements that incorporate colour are the ‘active’ parts of the design and each were thought of with a particular mode of operation in mind.

1. This volume was intended to be fully removable to encourage unique placements and offer the possibility of extending the range of play into a wider context.

2. Designed as a wheeled seat module to be pulled out and used for more comfortable, extended play and afford another point of access to the ground floor level.

3. A ‘draw’ mechanism allowing the bedroom volume to be pulled out of the main shell makes access to the whole area more effective and again, changes the perspectives through the house.

4. This hinged, double-height volume opens up to create a key play-space for the Open House. From the position marked on the image (a) there is a sense of enclosure created as the ‘world’ of the dolls house surrounds this area.

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(a)

CONSTRUCTION CONSIDERATIONS

One of the operable volumes (labeled 1, left) was intended to be completely removable, necessitating a study of a strong and lightweight construction method to make this idea play-safe. A composite prototype (pictured right) was constructed showing how a veneered, framed system with lightweight core could be used. The original prototype consisted of a balsa frame with foam core. For the final piece, a basewood frame would be used with 1mm plywood veneer and internal paper waffle of our own manufacture (pictured below the manufacturing drawings).

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DETAILED DESIGN

After the basic design had been settled upon, a more detailed proportioning process ensued. The drawings below illustrate how the golden section was used to set out not only the proportions of the volumes and overall house, but also the variations in floor heights across spaces. This was a rationalised translation of our initial design, a level of refinement, taking inspiration from Adolf Loos’ Raumplan spatial arrangement and rigorous facade making.

TOP RIGHT Original 3:2 ‘Cubular’ Proportioning

BELOW Developed Goldon Section Proportioning

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DESIGN ISOMETRIC DRAWING

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LININGS

Picking up on the Loosian approach to cladding, we developed a suite of linings for the dolls house that took the form of several nets. The idea behind this approach was that a book of blank nets would be supplied with the house to allow Thea to design and make her own spaces through drawing, colouring or painting, extending the possibilities of Open House to include creative play.

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KITCHEN, LIVING, DINING

BEDROOM

LIBRARY

ABOVE An example net showing how furniture such as a kitchen can be built into the linings.

LEFT

‘MARS ROOM’

The flat net outlines for the supplied rooms

TEAROOM

MASTER BEDROOM

COUNTRYSIDE SCENE

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WORKING DRAWINGS

The following two spreads are a selection of the cutting drawings prepared by the group (originals 1:10 @A3) of all panels required for the dolls house. After the initial cutting drawings were drawn, efforts were made to fit all of the components onto two, standard sized sheets of 12.5mm plywood. Care was also taken to ensure that the layout made it possible to cut down the sheets on a table saw. The two 8’x4’ (1220x2440mm) plywood sheets required a reduction in size for all the individual panels to be cut. The table saw is unable to cut partial lines or corners, and therefore necessitating a ‘first pass’ of edge to edge cuts on the table saw, followed by further work using a hand skill saw and jigsaw. Over leaf is the cutting plan for the two plywood sheets, red dashed lines shows the table saw cuts along its length in both x and y directions.

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MAKING THE DOLLS HOUSE

The making process revealed to the group aspects of the design that worked and others that didn’t. It is easy to miss opportunities when designing with a particular manufacturing process in mind, detached from the scale and timing of real construction. In this project, time was at a premium.

Originally, all of the connections were designed to be finger jointed together; manufactured using a router first then finished by hand with a chisel. Making a finger joint out of plywood is considerably more difficult and time-consuming than making one out of planed softwood timber. Plywood is a sandwich of grains running in perpendicular directions, and chiselling the inner corners of finger joints after cutting the bulk with a router wouldn’t work well - plywood simply isn’t workable in this way. Initial on-site testing of this process revealed that it was not practical to do so in the given time, and to the level of precision and finish required. During the process of working to find a suitable alternative, it was remarked that the problem with finger jointing had a lot to do with the scale of manufacture. For this to be a viable and economic jointing method for a mass-produced product made from sheet plywood it would need to be manufactured using precision flatbed milling. In the case of this one off prototype, made solely using hand held tools, it was not viable.

Butt joints and mitred joints were then tested as an alternative. The structure, aesthetic and manufacture time of each was quickly assessed and the results were pleasing.

Although mitre jointing required more precision and time, it was decided that the extra rigidity given to the dolls house, alongside its visual appearance, was worth the extra time, rather than a simple and exposed butt joint. Mitred joints had been discarded at the design stage because it was felt that they didn’t offer enough strength. However, the group found, during the joint testing phase, a suitably strong adhesive - a polyurethane ‘Fast Grab’ adhesive. This provided incredible strength to the mitre joints. The polyurethane glue dries in around five minutes, expanding as it does so, filling gaps and 340

increasing contact surface area. Testing at the beginning of the making stage played a key part in how the group continued. Adaptations to the marking and cutting list were made on-site to accommodate the change in jointing method.

A key decision made as a result of the change in joining method was how the top of the house would meet the side panels – the horizontal planes meeting the vertical. The original design had finger jointed sides and top, and it was felt by the group that this material expression of the exposed plywood end grains was being lost, therefore, the change to an inset top was made to bring back an element of this expression. A groove was routed out following the inner edges of the walls of the dolls house to accommodate the top which was then sunk in. This detail revels 9mm of the 12mm ply end grain when viewing the dolls house from above.

The basic carcass of the dolls house was constructed first, with internal grooves routed to accept internal dividing walls and floors. The seat and hinged boxed were then constructed in a similar fashion. Throughout this process, clamping was essential to hold to joints firm while they dried.

The polyethylene glue expanded slightly beyond the joints as it dried, requiring the surface to be belt sanded (which also smoothed joints to a fine finish) and sanding by hand wherever this wasn’t possible.

Upon finishing the structure of the dolls house, the group were able to reflect upon the result of the changes in joining method. It was felt that, although not our first choice, the mitred joint had brought a simplicity and clarity to the design that might have been obscured in the more direct tectonic of finger jointing. It seemed some how more appropriate to an Adolf Loos inspired dolls house to choose clarity of form over a direct reading of the tectonic.

A great deal of time was spent in the finer points of finishing the house. The initial design plan was to colour the moving

for it to be hinged rather than remaining fully removable.

Overall this change made the dolls house more materially

elements, leaving the static base an uncoloured birch ply.

Choosing a colour pallet for these elements was important to the group, and so we decided that upon our choice of fabric for the seat upholstery, this would then inform our colour palette â&#x20AC;&#x201C; an attempt to inform a rigorous colour palette.

Four complimentary colours were picked out from the fabric pattern colouring and were matched with emulsion paint available on the market; tester pots provided adequate volume of paint. During this finishing stage, the group experimented with colour washes in order to retain visible wood grain.

The paint was a regular emulsion, watered down to around 50% concentration, and applied to the plywood with a cloth.

This watered down paint still retained a bright tone without covering the wood completely and obscuring the grain.

Through a process of working the paint into the wood, the group were able to achieve the desired colour wash. During this stage of construction, the pull-out drawer room was made with its â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;buttonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; catch that locks it in place, preventing it from travelling too far for safety. Hinged volumes were hung and the internal rooms completed to a finished standard.

consistent and more durable, with the only fully removable component now being the seat.

Originally, the smaller removable corner box was to be made of a lightweight composite material designed by the group to make the volume play safe. Concerns were raised over how it might be used and whether the box would stand the test of time. It was noted that this composite volume might be interpreted as a seat through its removable nature, which it may not be able to structurally withstand, making it unsafe.

The composite volume was constructed however, it was felt that strength was sacrificed in an attempt to reduce its weight.

In comparison to the rest of the dolls house, which was very solid and hard wearing, the composite box was an obvious weak point. It was then decided that this element should be constructed again, but this time out of 12mm birch ply and

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The design and construction of Open House was a rapid and rewarding process. The time constraints upon the project meant that decisions had to be made thoughtfully but very quickly. It showed the group just how much can be achieved when time pressures necessitate speed. Group dynamic played a pivotal role during the design and modelling process, lively debate was the driving force that pushed the design forward in such a short amount of time. Central to the debate was the physical model, it was the vehicle by which our individual ideas where combined and thoroughly tested. Making the working prototype became a lesson in adapting to the realities of time, material and manufacturing limitations, where quick tests played a key role in how to proceed, adding to the overall success of Open House.

PLAY DAY Thea Stacy comes to explore and judge the dolls houses

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RESOURCES: BOOKS Gravagnuolo, Benedetto. Adolf Loos: Theory and Works. New York: Rizzoli International Publications, Inc. 1982.

Leatherbarrow, David & Mostafavi, Mohsen. Surface Architecture. London: MIT Press, 2005.

Loos, Adolf. Ornament and Crime: Selected Essays. Translated by Michael Mitchell. California, USA: Ariadne Press. 1998.

Loos, Adolf. Spoken into the Void: Collected Essays 1897-1900. New York & London: MIT Press.

Loos, Adolf. A shorthand record of a conversation in Plzen (Pilsen). 1930 Safran, Yehuda and Wang, Wilfried. The Architecture of Adolf Loos. Arts Council of Great Britain: Precision Press. 1985.

Schezen, Roberto. Adolf Loos: Architecture 1903-1932. New York: The Monacelli Press, Inc. 1996.

The M端ller Villa Guide. City of Prague Museum. 2002.

Tournikiotis, Panayotis. Adolf Loos. New York: Princeton Architectural Press. 1996. van Duzer, Leslie and Kleinman, Kent. Villa M端ller, A Work of Adolf Loos.

New York: Princeton Architectural Press,1994.

Veillich, Josef. Adolf Loos. Trotzdem. Innsbruck. 1931.

Stacey, Michael. Prototyping Architecture. Cambridge, Ont: Riverside Architectural Press. 2013.

Stacey, Michael. Prototyping Architecture: The Conference Papers.

Cambridge, Ont: Riverside Architectural Press. 2013.

FABRIC FORMWORK CONCRETE Chandler, Alan and Pedreschi, Remo ed. Fabric Formwork. London: RIBA Publishing. 2007.

Manelius, Anne-Mette. Fabric Formwork: Investigations into Formwork Tectonics and Stereogenity in Architectural Constructions. Denmark: Print Center of the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts. 2012.

PRINT MAKING Gilmour, Pat. The Mechanised Image, An Historical Perspective. Arts Council of Great Britain. England, CTD Limited. 1978.

Loche, Renee. Lithography, Craft and Art. Geneva, Switzerland: COSMOPRESS. 1971.

WEBSITES http://www.mullerovavila.cz/ http://en.muzeumprahy.cz/

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