NADAAA, Disciplined Negotiations with the Architectural Type

− MIT Architecture Keller Gallery On View 03/01 — 04/03

The New Hampshire Retreat and Ordos 20+10 projects share a common preoccupation with the figural clarity of architectural typology. Whether ‘type’ is understood to be an ideal or generic form, it often becomes a default in architectural practice−if not in acquiescence to pragmatism, then as the result of the strategic alignment of intellectual and material resources. Thus, whether by imposition or election, our work with the architectural type questions how we can instead operate on it self-consciously, critically, and as a basis for transformation. These two projects negotiate the constraints and conventions of type by introducing the bespoke, the aberrant, and the unique in addressing the specificities of each architectural challenge in inventive ways. In Ordos 20+10, the city’s urban design guidelines mandated the use of a specific series of core-and-shell cubic volumes, with some leniency as to their repetition and distribution across the site. The aggregation of these volumes and the resultant configuration became one of the motivating challenges of the project. In the New Hampshire Retreat, the underlying design strategy was to align a series of generic rooms respectively with a row of mountain peaks in the presidential range. This strategy, while creating optimal views for each space, could not achieve a plan of any underlying order. In response, we overlaid an elliptical figure onto the informal chain of rooms as an approximation of the plan’s latent geometry; a central void in the ellipse offers an interior courtyard as a respite from the centrifugal orientation of the various rooms. If the first project could be said to work top-down, the latter works bottom up. The Ordos project appears informal in its configuration, while the New Hampshire project reconciles its irregularities through the introduction of a totalizing figure; both projects seek to construct a critical dialogue between part and whole.

Although the individual volumes of Ordos may appear, at first glance, to be in a state of disarray, they achieve three important feats. First, they link to one another in a systematic pattern, creating various types of connections: parallel connections, corner-to-corner oblique connections, or corner-to-edge oblique connections. Second, the chain of buildings frames an open commons that serves as a public space for the project. Third, with the adoption of a common technique—a boolean truncation—we develop aperture types that create a common vocabulary for the project. This operation cuts the building corners to produce passages between urban spaces, to open entries, and to create skylights. In the New Hampshire Retreat, we reconcile the gaps between the individual rooms by extending their walls in relation to the adjoining volumes. In stark contrast to the collisions and extractions of Ordos, these volumes are mediated through smooth transitions. Surfaces, spaces, and volumes are selectively extended from each cube to bring their respective geometries into alignment. Extending through the entirety of the building, the inner liner wraps a courtyard in a crafted poché space, at once linked to the inside and outside. In both projects, the building material units, their mode of aggregation, and their techniques of construction in large part determine the formal composition of each building. In Ordos, three types of irregular pre-cast panels offer the advantage of larger tolerances to compensate for the imprecisions in local building practices. The irregular, truncated effect of the building’s surface reflects the broader morphological organization of the building; the common operation unites part and whole. Unlike the irregular pre-cast panels of Ordos, single units of cedar wood siding clad Below: New Hampshire Retreat

the New Hampshire Retreat. Employing a series of wood details—tonguein-groove siding, board and batten doors, and columnar louvers—the cladding produces a vertically striated surface that conceals the functional differentiation of parts. The width of the wood siding unit offers the extraordinary advantage of being able to accommodate the building’s most eccentric figure: a structural vault formed by the slope of an ascending roof-stair. The vault is created by the “un-ruling” of the northern façade, using the cedar slats to create a canopy for the building entry. In addressing a combination of material, compositional, and typological predicaments, we aim to confront the question of discipline within architecture; each category offers a history of debates, a territory of possibilities, and a set of critical choices. These two projects aim to illustrate the tension between the freedom elicited by constraints and the critical weight suggested by choices within the design process.

Above: Ordos 20+10

NADAAA IS A BOSTON-BASED ARCHITECTURE AND URBAN DESIGN FIRM LED BY PRINCIPAL DESIGNER NADER TEHRANI, IN COLLABORATION WITH PARTNERS KATHERINE FAULKNER AND DANIEL GALLAGHER. NADAAA IS A PLATFORM FOR DESIGN INVESTIGATION AT A LARGE SCALE AND WITH A GREAT GEOGRAPHIC REACH. NADAAA’S PROJECTS RANGE IN SCALE FROM FURNITURE TO ARCHITECTURE AND URBAN DESIGN, WITH A FOCUS ON CRAFT, CONSTRUCTION, AND DIGITAL FABRICATION.

AS THE FOUNDING PRINCIPAL OF OFFICE DA AND NADAAA, NADER TEHRANI DIRECTED OVER TWENTY-FIVE YEARS OF INTENSIVE DESIGN RESEARCH, AND HAS BEEN WIDELY PUBLISHED AND EXHIBITED, RECEIVING NUMEROUS AWARDS. THE OFFICE HAS COMPLETED THE FIRST LEED GOLD CERTIFIED, MULTI-FAMILY HOUSING BUILDING IN BOSTON, THE MACALLEN BUILDING, AND THE FIRST LEED RATED GAS STATION IN THE UNITED STATES, HELIOS HOUSE. THE FIRM HAS RECEIVED THE COOPER-HEWITT NATIONAL DESIGN AWARD IN ARCHITECTURE, THE AMERICAN ACADEMY OF ARTS AND LETTERS ARCHITECTURE AWARD, THE HARLESTON PARKER AWARD, THE HOBSON AWARD, NUMEROUS AIA AWARDS, AND 16 PROGRESSIVE ARCHITECTURE AWARDS. THE WORK HAS BEEN EXHIBITED AT INSTITUTIONS INCLUDING THE MUSEUM OF MODERN ART, THE BOSTON INSTITUTE OF CONTEMPORARY ART AND LA MOCA, AND IS PART OF THE PERMANENT EXHIBIT AT THE NASHER AND THE CCA. TEHRANI IS PROFESSOR OF ARCHITECTURE AT MIT, WHERE HE SERVED AS THE HEAD OF THE DEPARTMENT FROM 2010-2014. IN 2013 AND 2014, NADAAA HAS BEEN RANKED NO. 1 IN DESIGN FOR ARCHITECT MAGAZINE’S TOP 50 FIRMS IN THE UNITED STATES.

NADAAA’S STAFF OF TWENTY DESIGNERS BRINGS EXPERTISE FROM ACADEMIA, GRAPHIC DESIGN, CONSTRUCTION, AND BUSINESS. NADAAA IS DEVELOPING A PORTFOLIO OF PROJECTS AROUND THE WORLD THAT REQUIRES OPTIMIZED PROJECT DELIVERY, CURRENTLY WITH PROJECTS IN THE US, KOREA, CHINA, AUSTRALIA, CANADA, KUWAIT AND FRANCE. OUR TECHNICAL EXPERTISE WITH PRODUCTION TECHNOLOGIES ENABLES OUR TEAMS TO OPERATE ON MANY FRONTS WITH TIGHT BUDGETS AND DEADLINES. THE FIRM SUCCESSFULLY DEVELOPS PROJECTS BY COLLABORATING CLOSELY WITH LOCAL ARCHITECTS AND ENGINEERS TO ENSURE CLEAR COMMUNICATION AND STRONG PROJECT MANAGEMENT, AND WORKING WITH STATE OF THE ART DIGITAL FABRICATION PROCESSES AND LOCALLY AVAILABLE MANUFACTURING CRAFTS. WITH THE RECENT COMPLETION OF THE MELBOURNE UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE AND HINMAN RESEARCH BUILDING AT GEORGIA TECH, NADAAA HAS ALSO BROKEN GROUND ON THE UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO DANIELS FACULTY, MAKING INNOVATIVE SPACES OF LEARNING PART OF ITS EXPANDED PORTFOLIO.

Above: Ordos 20+10

Above: New Hampshire Retreat

­— MIT Department of Architecture The Keller Gallery / Building 7, Room 408 77 Massachusetts Ave / Cambridge, MA 02139

The Keller Gallery was established in 2011 with a generous donation of materials and labor in kind from Shawn Keller, principal with C.W. Keller & Associates. A vest-pocket space at about 200 square feet, the gallery shows a steady stream of faculty, student and experimental work, including work from alumni and friends. Located in MIT Building 7, Room 408, it is free and open to the public Monday through Saturday from 9 AM to 6 PM. For more information on the current exhibit or for general inquiries, send an email to kellergallery@mit.edu.

NADAAA Project Credits: Ordos 20+10 Architecture: NADAAA, Planning collaboration: Himma Studio; Principals in Charge: NADAAA: Nader Tehrani, Katherine Faulkner; Himma Studio: Hailim Suh; Team: NADAAA: Tom Beresford, Remon Alberts, Arthur Chang, Dan Gallagher, Tim Clark, Sarah Hirschman, Sina Mesdaghi, Li Huang, Andrew Manto, Jonathan Palazzolo, Tim Wong, Joanna Rafael, Caitlin Scott, Ryan Murphy; Himma Studio: Cyrus Dochow; Local Design Institute: China Construction Design International (CCDI), Shanghai and Beijing New Hampshire Retreat Principals: Nader Tehrani, Katherine Faulkner, AIA; Team: Ryan Murphy, Sergio Verrillo, Marta Guerra, Tim Wong, Tom Beresford, Lisa Lostritto, John Houser, Alda Black, Laura Williams, Wes Hiatt

With many thanks to Nader Tehrani, Nicole Sakr, Shervin Jamali, and Parke MacDowell, NADAAA; J. Meejin Yoon; CRON, Barry Beagan, Larisa Ovalles, Anne Simunovic, Michael Smith, and Stephanie Tuerk.