Culture + Crisis: Space

CULTURE + CRISIS VOLUME #2/3 | SPACE

architectural do2 unit 2 - culture + crisis

cover tel aviv museum of art by preston scott cohen

SPACE In our increasingly secular age, many now venerate art as a surrogate ‘religion’ and cities (along with some wealthy collectors) compete to have the biggest, brashest, boldest new ‘cathedrals’. However, the elevation of art as a quasi-religion is problematic, and some argue it merely highlights the poverty of contemporary public culture. Are architects complicit in the erosion of a higher faith and the rise in consumerism and commodification?

Certainly a handful of practices already challenge our predictable assumptions about what constitutes a gallery and have completed a number of successful commissions.

drewgillespie + georgesinclair 21st century museum of contemporary artsanaa

florencedonaldson + mariettagalazka art gallery of ontariofrank gehry

koukoitamura + suemacaulay firstsiterafael vi単oly

millietennant

+ heidiwakefield

hepworth wakefielddavid chipperfield architects

chrisnicholson + willweber the institute of contemporary artds

+r

murdomcdermid + zoerigg kolumba museumpeter zumthor

grahamblack + paulkenny kunsthaus grazspacelab cook-fournier

siobhano’boyle + wynnemcleish tel aviv museum of artpreston scott cohen

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andrew gillespie

| george sinclair

21ST MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART SANAA

“We propose an art museum which can loosely but confidently gather and tie together multiple aspects of the city to form a regional focus.”

T

he city of Kanazawa, on the north coast of Japan has one of the most important historical centres of the country. Kanazawa has flourished as an information and cultural interchange for many years. The Museum of Contemporary Art, designed by SANAA Architects and completed in 2004 sits in the grounds of a public park in the centre of the city, close to the urban hub. The Gallery provides a point of interchange between the surrounding zones, which include; a historic zone, a cultural zone, and a business and retail zone. Within this mix, pedestrian paths are not fixed, and the building seeks to further activate the movement of visitors through the site.

Through ideas of boundary, transparency and circulation the architects have created a building which extends it’s reach beyond the usual limits of a museum to connect parts of the city and the people within it.

andrew gillespie

| george sinclair

Location Plan

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Topographical diagram

“The stable geometry of the circle is a firm and independent form. We believe that functionally and in terms of geometry, this ring of Architecture possesses the openness and strength to become central to the region.”

The circular form of the building means that the approach is equal from any direction, being without front or back also allows the perimeter of the building to open evenly into the surroundings. The continuous façade allows for increased awareness of the building within the city, whilst at the same time promoting the surrounding features.

The transparency of the periphery also allows views through the entire depth of the building as well as 360-degree panorama.

“The stable geometry of the circle is a firm and independent form. We believe that functionally and in terms of geometry, this ring of Architecture possesses the openness and strength to become central to the region”

Ground Floor Plan

“SANAA’s work is characterised by the persistent preoccupation with the rethinking of boundaries, their removal, blurring, and clarification” The perimeter of the circle measures 112.5 meter diameter and rests lightly on the park, protected by a thin roof raised approximately 5m from the ground level. From within this form projects a series of square and rectangular volumes, with varying heights between four and twelve meters. These

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andrew gillespie

| george sinclair

volumes accommodate community gathering spaces such as library, lecture hall, and children’s workshop as well as museum spaces.

The spaces in between become the circulation spaces and also double as additional exhibition space. To emphasise the open quality of the museum there are four entrances, three public and one staff.

The structuring of the programme involves placing the public facilities like library and café on the outer ring, with the controlled museum zone located in the centre.

“SANAA’S work is characterised by the persistent preoccupation with the rethinking of boundaries, their removal, blurring, and clarification”

“The museum in Kanazawa succeeds in radically rethinking the relationship between interior and exterior volumes and spaces,between the room, the building and the city.”

Translucency is a key aspect of SANAA’s work. In the museum it is applied as a strategy in which to blur the boundaries between the city and the interior spaces, fusing the public and private and encouraging interaction between different user groups.

“The museum in Kanazawa succeeds in radically rethinking the relationship between interior and exterior volumes and spaces, between the room, the building and the city.”

andrew gillespie

| george sinclair

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Swimmimg Pool Installation

Chiharu Shiota - Room of Memory, 2009

BIBLIOGRAPHY

“We propose an art museum like a park, overflowing with greenery and possibility”

AD janf/eb 2011 Archis n.6 2004 Detail jan/feb 2005 Detail april 2005 Domus dec 2004 El Croquis N.99 El Croquis N.121 El Croquis N.139

There are also four fully glazed internal courtyards each unique in character.

They provide a fluent transition between the public and private zones whilst allowing light in to the central areas.

The galleries themselves are of various different proportions and light conditions, from day lit rooms with glass ceiling and the option of blackout, to spaces with no natural light source at all. The varied mix of spaces allows for a range of artistic response. Eight works of art have been specially commissioned for the museum and relate directly to the construction and articulationWx of the spaces. In this piece (right) by James Turrell entitled Blue Planet Sky, the artists simply cuts a hole in the ceiling of one of the volumes, revealing the sky and exploring light as a medium.This piece reflects the ambition of the building in connecting the architecture with the world outside.

“We propose an art museum like a park, overflowing with greenery and possibility” James Turell - Blue Planet Sky, 2004

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andrew gillespie

| george sinclair

The Art Gallery of Ontario

THE ART GALLERY OF ONTARIO FRANK GEHRY

“The Art Gallery of Ontario strives to create opportunities for the public to engage with art in meaningful ways”

T

he Art Gallery of Ontario situated in Toronto Canada, was founded in 1900 by a group of private citizens. Housing over 10 000 works, the gallery is 10th largest art museum in North America.The gallery exhibits local photography, prints, paintings, drawings, sculptures and plays.Initially designed by Darling & Pearson Architects, the main doors of the gallery opened in 1918. The architect Barton Myers worked on an extension, finishing it in 1993 changing the building plan dramatically.

Due to a large donation in 2002, Frank Gehry was commissioned to redesign and expand the gallery, in keeping with the existing building.

Frank Gehry is a Canadian architect, born in Toronto in 1929.He established his first practice in 1962 in Los Angeles and Gehry Partners was formed in 2001. Gehry is known all over the world for his spacial and unique architecture, and has won many prizes for his designs.

The concept forArt Gallery of Ontario is rooted within the ball game hockey, which is Frank Gehry’s favourite game. Many building designs reflect on the architect’s life and interests, however we can question whether a concept originating from a ball game is suitable for an art gallery containing valuable art work. Hockey is a famous game in Canada, so the concept has slight links with the country. However all in all the outcome of this design is very satisfy- ing in accommodating the art work. Gehry tried to incorporate hockey sticks and boards within his design by bending wood throughout the building. Even though each wooden piece has a functional role its connections to hockey are still present. The sculptural aesthetic

florence donaldson

| marietta galazka

are very elegant and connect well with the art world, even though the idea which is represented in this spatial structure may not relate to the art work presented in the gallery.

corkscrew staircase between third and fifth floors. The purpose of which is to amaze the visitors who move through the hall to get into the gallery spaces.The circulation system

The Art Gallery of Ontario faces Grange Park. The original plan for the gallery was to keep the building’s entry within the park’s axis. However the architect Barton Myers moved the main entry to the East side of the block in 1993, when the extension was added. This change caused huge confusion in the building circulation.

Gehry successfully planned to move the main entrance back to its original place, sorting out an easier inner circulation and avoiding confusion for tourists.

Gehry’s ground floor front addition houses a five foot high corkscrew ramp, and a

The location of The Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Canada

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Entrance ramp

designed by Gehry was a solution to the problem of how to connect the old building with the new space volume. The sculptural stairs and ramp are cladded with Douglas fir which plays with light and form, however their location could be considered unsuitable within the building. Once the gallery visitors see this beautiful sculpture, they are amazed and astonished and may not want to continue their journey through the gallery. They could think they have already seen an unusual work of art, which gets stuck in their minds, preventing them from penetrat- ing further into the gallery. Alternatively the grand ramp and staircase could be placed at the end of the gallery journey so that visitors do not get distracted by the sculptural objects during their visit. On the other hand, the insertion of the sculptural ramp and staircase where they are could encourage people to discover the top of the gallery, observing parts of other gallery spaces they peak into as they ascend and descend the circulation.

The staircase extends though the glass roof, suspended by the back tower. To connect the top two floors of the tower Gehry

Corkscrew staircase

continues this corkscrew baroque staircase on the south side of the building. Gehry reveals a glimpse of the sculptural staircase on the outer skin of the building, creating a point of interest and mystery for passers by and for vis- itors who are intrigued by the circulation and convinced to discover the gallery. The outer staircase is not only a point of interest for the public, it also functions as an observatory over the city and Grange Park.

The sculptural staircases, along with the use of lighting, guides visitors through the building from one spatial experience to another.

Dundas Street facade may have inviting aesthetics, but the lack of seating units and narrow concrete steps, suggest an opposite effect for the main entrance of the Gallery. As glorious and beautiful as the front facade is, one cannot view it for a long time.The busy rush of people on the street move you along from the point at which you could ob- serve and analyse the building.This could be Gehry’s intension, to force people in their decision of whether or not to enter the building rather than lingering around at the entrance.The narrow steps only permit small amounts of people coming into

the gallery at the same time, which could be a method to control the amount of people entering the build- ing. Alternatively the slow entry to the building may be deliberate to introduce people to the slow movements advised inside the gallery for safety purposes.

The Gallery is not only accessible through the main entrance from Dundas Street, but also from the restaurant, shop, theatre and some contemporary art spaces, which also include McCaul Street. The interior connects with the outside world through its transparency when approaching, within the building and the openness when entering the building. Outside passers by become interested by spaces which can be observed from the outside and they go in to look at them, which eventually leads them further into the gallery and they explore more art work.  The Dundas Street canopy frames surrounding views of the building. This is achieved through the frame-like layout of the exterior structure, housing glass panels which reflect street level, the sky and surrounding buildings. This sets lim- its to the scenery and allows people

Dundas Street facade 9

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florence donaldson

| marietta galazka

Italia gallery

to view real life framed glimpses along their walk below the canopy. This concept could be seen as a good introduction to the gallery, where real paintings are exhibited.

At each end of the facade along Dundas Street the continual curved exterior elevation design is teared off. This func- tions as a space for hanging banners which relate to the exhibitions.

The slight lean towards the street interacts with people surrounding the museum.This aids in emphasizing the side of entry to the building, which was changed by Gehry to suit the original design intention. Hanging the banners on the external strips of the building skin is an intel- ligent method of advertising, however the banners don’t always look aesthetically pleasing against the wooden, steel and glass mesh, which interrupts the glorious facades and its transparent play with reflections.

Top lights guiding people between spaces

It also takes advantage of the great flow of light from the facade which naturally lights the exhibition. The wooden exposed structure creates a feeling of warmth, which could be used to entice people to sit down on the strategically placed benches throughout the sculpture gallery and take in the exhibitions surrounding them. A quiet, spacious surrounding providing time to think about the art work found in the gallery, a contrast to the environment portrayed directly below them where they are rushed into or out of the building.

As visitors move into the building they are hit with a wave of art work from the beginning.

Walker Court, the area where the staircase begins, is flooded with light, creating a space for thoughts and acts as a break between viewing the art works. The original space

inside the building is dark-toned, however the area built by Gehry is flooded with light.

The plan successfully flows between spaces, from one gallery space to another which are partly lit from above and lead the visitor through the building to avoid them being lost.

Gehry’s extension to the Gallery of Ontario was extreme- ly beneficial with regards to space, the new plan increased the exhibition area by nearly half of the original size.

The back tower, an 88 squared foot area, creates a shocking juxtaposition of materials and scale. The bright blue tita- nium cladding of the Grange Park elevation, clashes with the set red coloured brick of the original structure surround- ing the Art Gallery. Titanium glows in light, making it noticeable from far and sets

Gehry’s initial design for the Art Gallery of Ontario was a series of towers on Dundas Street, however this was not practical with the allocated budget. Gehry solved this problem effectively by creating a tower at the back of the build- ing, or the front of the existing gallery, which is stacked above the existing building by steel columns. The management of connecting the existing and new building parts was successful, and the steel work used did not interrupt much the existing space.

Gehry sits the 50 feet high sculpture gallery on second floor overlooking Dundas Street. This allows the beautiful views of the city and the sky to be observed while acting as a connection between the inside and the outside world. florence donaldson

| marietta galazka

South elevation

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Concrete ramp

an orientation for people lost in the park.The interior of the tower is dominated by extensive glazing.The solid metal look applied to a large area of the Grange Park elevation creates a sense of the heavy metal, where Gehry’s extension is being held up by the smaller portion of existing bricks, creating a visual fear of collapse. Gehry uses materials to exaggerate the sense of heaviness throughout his whole building, in the heavy windows, chunky louvres, sculptural circulation paths and the South tower elevation. The South tower expresses use of heavy materials from the exterior and also exaggerates this through the louvres, which protect the paintings from direct sunlight and allow visitors a glimpse at the city.The Douglas Fir used for the clad of the interior ramps and staircase is oversized, which continues

Wide staircase allows easy fire exit 11

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Italia gallery detail

the idea of heaviness in the circulation paths.

Gehry has kept the original firewalls of the existing building. The large structural units of 50 feet high sculpture gallery are glulaminated timber with metal connections.

This combination is rather unsafe, as during a fire, metal expands and timber shrinks, loosening the connections. The corkscrew ramp and staircases are constructed from concrete and are clad with wood laminate, which results in good fire resistance.

The size of the steps on the Dundas facade would not be very efficient in the event of a fire or a large evacuation of the building. However in contrast the sculptural staircase and the ramp are wide, which allows a large flow of people to pass through resulting in a quick, effective route of escape during an emergency.  The Gallery of Ontario in Toronto, Canada, can be compared with the Jewish Museum by Daniel Libeskind in Berlin, Germany. Both architects were commissioned to design an extension to the existing building and there are numerous similarities and differences between the two.

Both architects, Gehry and Libeskind, engaged with the projects in an effective manner because the projects were closely related to their lives.

Gehry was born and brought up in Toronto, therefore the area has had a great impact on his life. Libeskind also has close connections with his project, he is a Jew designing a Jewish museum and had first hand knowledge from elder relatives of what people went through, which ultimately informed his design.

The entrance to the Jewish Museum differs from the Gallery of Ontario. Where the

external layout of the Gallery of Ontario is inviting and encourages visitors to enter, the Jewish Museum achieves the opposite effect.

The Jewish Mu seum can only be entered through an underground passage coming from the original Jewish Museum building, where the entrance to the entire Museum is located.

Similarly both buildings have large open spaces.

They have towering voids incorporated within the building, the Jewish Museum is 66 feet high and Gallery of Ontario is 50 feet high.

However the function of these voids are very different. The intention for the Gallery of Ontario is to provide a well lit space, to entice people to move through the building, the use of glass is abundant, especially on the Dundas facade and the Walter Court.

However in the Jewish Museum the voids are used to express symbolism, for example loneliness and death, and are not intended to permit copious amounts of light. The Museum lacks extensive natural lighting, only allowing the sunlight to be seen through small insertions through the metal skin.

The materiality of both extensions are intended to contrast with the original structures. They are both made from met- als which give them a heavy, more modern look.Where the Gallery of Ontario has the extension incorporated within the existing building, the Jewish Museum does the opposite.At no point do the external elements of the extension and the original build connect, apart from the underground passage.

To conclude the Gallery of Ontario is a very successful building, however some parts of the building could arguably be considered florence donaldson

| marietta galazka

The Art Gallery of Ontario

unsuccessful.One of the greatest achievements Gehry made was the effective integration of the original circulation system, to guide visitors through the building with the use of an efficient light system, enjoying all gallery and resting spaces while silently incorporating a successful fire escape procedure. He also managed to re-introduce the original axis connection with Grange Park on his Dundas Street facade, where he uses materials and spatiality to introduce the Gallery to the street. The corkscrew staircase effectively connects all the levels of the existing building and new extensions, previously a problem for the Gallery. On the other hand, the concept of the extension could be argued as weak.The

Gehry’s void filled with light and brightness.

florence donaldson

| marietta galazka

foundations of the concept do not lie within the spirit of the Gallery. The insertion of the sculptural circulation elements may hinder the visitors’ journey through the building, their location potentially has a negative effect on the building. When compare with the Jewish Museum we can conclude that both are designed to portray completely different atmospheric and spatial experiences in a successful manner, however they both incorporate similar materiality and efficient use of large spaces.

Overall Gehry should be accredited for his use of spatiality and integration of interior, exterior and existing element to create a space which can be successfully explored by all. 

Libeskind’s tower of exile filled with darkness and loneliness.

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Bibliography Journals: Canadian Architect, 2009, April, v.54, n.4 p[14]-19 GA Document 2008, December, v.106, p.28-41 Architectural Record 2009, Sepember v.197, n.9, p.54-56, 58, 60 Architectural Record 2009, August v.197, n.98 p.60-71

florence donaldson

| marietta galazka

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Firstsite Gallery, Colchester 2011

FIRSTSITE

RAFAEL VIÑOLY ARCHITECTS

“Firstsite will be an important intersection between the community and artists.”

R

afael Vinoly who designed the First site Gallery in Colchester was born in Uruguay, raised in Argentina and later moved to New York to start his practice in the year 1983.

His practice runs for over 45 years, with many of his buildings publicly and critically acclaimed, having won awards such as the Design Honor award for the Salvador Center (2007), and International Fellow awarded by the Royal Institute of British Architects and the American Institute of Architects.

His practice extends throughout the continent from United States to Europe, Latin America and Asia. Vinoly’s notable works include the Tokyo International Forum (1996), the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts in Philadelphia (2001), and the Curve (2008) the performing arts center in Leicester

Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, Philadelphia 2001

SITE CONTEXT The First Site Gallery is located in Colchester, Essex, which is recorded as Britain’s oldest town, home to the BritishArmy’sAirAssault Brigade and served as a garrison town since the Roman period. kouko itamura

| sue macaulay

Colchester is also a culturally rich town with award-winning museums and cultural institutions such as the renowned Mercury Theatre and Colchester Arts Centre, and the Colchester Zoo. The site is located near the center of the town and sits on a Scheduled Ancient Monument land with an ancient Roman wall governing the southern boundary. With various archaeological remains such as the Roman Wall, Norman Castle and St. Botolph’s priory surrounding the site, Botolph’s priory surrounding the site, there were some restrictionsastothemaximumloadthatwasallowed on the ground of the site regarding the no-dig policy.

Site constraints : The initial proposed building site was moved eastwards, away from the town center to propose a more sensitive relationship between the building and the historical remains surrounding the site. For instance, the character of the north-south Queen Street/St. Botolph’s Street corridor linking the Colchester Castle Museum (on the north) and the Colchester Town train station (to the south) was preserved, additionally with a curved street of historical buildings running along the priory street.

The building sits in a park, creating an inviting open gathering space.

Katherine Wood, director of first site comments, “I am proud to be opening our spectacular new building – designed by one of the world’s great architects, Rafael Viñoly, for the people of Colchester.” So much more than a beautiful gallery attracting art lovers from all over the country, I believe

firstsite will be at an important intersection between the community and artists, providing inspiration and encouragement to everyone to explore, create, relax and have fun.’

The first site gallery opened on September 25, 2011, hosting a vast range of contemporary art pieces by Barbara Hepworth, Henry

‘I believe firstsite will be an important intersection between the community and artists’ Moore, Grayson Perry, Andy Warhol, Ai Weiwei , alongside local historic artefacts such as the newly restored Berryfield Roman Mosaic dating from around 200 AD

Architect, Rafael Vinoly

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Aerial View of the Site

The concrete raft foundation allows the building to rest on the ground, and leaves the buried archeological remains undisturbed, with no deep excavation required. One of the artifacts, The Berryfield Mosaic is set into the floor beneath protective glass.The mosaic piece was unearthed in 1923 on the site where first site now sits, and the Mosaic that formed part of the floor of a Roman townhouse is now placed beneath a glass floor in the central gallery space of firstsite as a permanent exhibition.

been successfully accomplished may be up for debate.

Construction: The building structure is a steel frame modern in both form and cladding and the building adopts the sites axial geometry and approximate height of the neighboring buildings. The building also attempts to engage with the pre-existing period architecture. Whether or not this has

Materiality: The exterior of the building is made out of TECU Gold, a distinctive gold hued skin copper and aluminium alloy panels.

Conceptual Sketch Design 17

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Internal levels work with contours of the site –There are 12 different floor slab levels creating subtle slopes. These also draw people through the building.

Moreover, the roof slopes slightly upwards in line with the site topography and culminates in a monumental portico that frames the lobby with full height glazing.

in height. With a slope outwards of fifteen degrees, the reflection at ground level is reduced, and makes the interior lobby more visible to the outdoors.

The auditorium is cladded internally with diamond patterned sued like acoustic fabric and an overlapping European cherry timber shell. Situated behind the entrance space it leads visitors onto the main gallery areas, which are defined by a varied material palette of an ammonium –fumed oak floor and angled curving plasterboard walls.

The flexible special configuration promotes interaction between visitors and artists as spaces can be opened up to the galleries to encompass learning.

On the other hand, the main entrance is a fully glazed feature façade eleven metres

Exterior fabric: TECU Gold

kouko itamura

| sue macaulay

Building and Pathway wraps 18th Century Garden adjacent to the Museum

Program : The building program as well as providing spaces for gallery and spaces for educational purposes such as classroom and work spaces also considers the revenue flow to the gallery and includes an auditorium for film screenings and presentations as well as a shop and café.

Critics have mixed and various views on the form and the use of an excessively gold and shimmering material of the gallery. “Critics have wondered about the suitability of a banana shaped building for displaying art, but in Firstsite’s old home the windows regularly had to be taken out to install larger pieces.”

Conceptual Sketch Design

kouko itamura

| sue macaulay

Auditorium Space

Circulation: The general form of the building takes on a crescent shape, wrapping around a D-shaped 18th century garden.

The building slopes upwards in line with the site topography, and as people enter the vast entrance lobby space, through the full height glazing entrance portico, it carries through to the auditorium space, which is used for film screenings, performances, lectures and presentations. Past the auditorium space, this leads onto the University and Mosaic space, learning areas and near the center there are main gallery spaces, reaching a café restaurant, MUSA at the eastern end.

Experience: The curved form of

Corridor

the building allows the visitors to view the artwork as if they were on a journey, encountering each piece along the way in though the building and the gallery spaces.

Moreover, the flexible spatial arrangement of the gallery spaces, which can be opened up to accommodate learning artist residencies and exhibitions, encourages interaction and engagement between the visitors and the artists.

The café restraunt at the end of the building provides an interior social space as well as an outdoor terrace that overlooks the garden. Administrative space and the

Gallery Space

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gallery of the natural to the

spaces are aligned along the inside arc with wide glazing that provides light as well as an extensive view adjacent eighteenth-century garden.

Lighting: The space is illuminated by overhead clerestory windows and low glazing at floor level, which introduces minimal natural light for artworks that are light-sensitive. Moreover, where art is displayed and sunlight must be controlled, the floor level window strips provide diffused natural light while revealing the movements of people inside to visitors in the outdoor gardens.

Sensitive landscaping animates the open spaces, including lightings specially designed by an artist Simon Periton.

The sculpture garden: The D-shaped

eighteenth centry garden, which the gallery wraps its curvillinear form around, encompasses a sculpture garden, which was Vinoly’s initial design scheme and concept for the firstsite gallery. The sculpture garden can be viewed from the administrative space and the gallery space, which are placed along the inner side of the arc, and the wide glazing provides both natural light and an extensive view of the garden.

another across the site’s twelve different floor slab levels, subtle slopes aiding users on their course throughout the exhibition spaces.”

Apart from the suitability of the building in the traditional historical landscape, critics have repetitively asked the question of the suitability of the firstsite, in terms of meeting its sole purpose of a gallery. “External aesthetics and site history aside, is the new building fit for purpose? The answer is yes and no. Internal orientation is simple and effective, one space gliding seamlessly into

In conclusion, considering the program, the building is a success for intelligently placing and calculating the flow of the bulding, having the program run seamlessly throughout the building in a curvillinear form. However, regarding the site context, the building lacks an understanding, appreciation nor respect for the historical site, and the various historical remains that surround the site.

‘External aesthetics and site history aside, is the new building fit for purpose? The answer is yes and no.’

The curved form of the building serves as a great solution for overcoming the subtle slope of the site, with twelve different floor slab levels, by seamlessly connecting the spaces throughout the gallery, encompassing a sense of ‘journey’.

Isometric Projection 19

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kouko itamura

| sue macaulay

kouko itamura

| sue macaulay

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Bibliography Books: Jodido, Philips. 2010 Rafael Vinoly Architects. Prestel London.

Journal Sources: The Guardian Newspaper: http://www.guardian. co.uk/artanddesign/2011/ sep/17/rafael-vinolyfirstsite-colchester-review Dezeen Magazine; http://www.dezeen. com/2011/09/22/firstsiteby-rafael-vinoly-architects/ Websites: Firstsite Official: http;//www.firstsite.net Archdaily: http://www.archdaily. com/188638/firstsiterafael-vinoly-architects/

kouko itamura

| sue macaulay

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HEPWORTH WAKEFIELD DAVID CHIPPERFIELD ARCHITECTS

“The question is does Wakefield want a museum: will the body accept its transplant?”

T

he Hepworth Wakefield is the largest purpose-built art gallery to open in the United Kingdom since the Hayward in 1968. As the result of an RIBA competition in 2003, David Chipperfield Architects were appointed for the project, having impressed the jury panel with their response to historical context and understanding of both the existing collections and the Hepworth Plasters. The £35million project is part of the broader regeneration of Wakefield, which focuses on three main areas:Waterfront Wakefield,Trinity Walk, and Wakefield Merchant Gate. The gallery has so far confidently succeeded its expectations, attracting over 370,000 visitors since its opening in May 2011, and bringing over £3million to the district’s economy.

In addition to its permanent collections, the Hepworth has forged partnerships with leading

arts organisations such asTate,theArts Council Collection, and the British Council, to secure a number of key loans that will form an ambitious programme of temporary exhibitions. The gallery is funded by Wakefield Council, Arts Council England, and the Hepworth Estate, with additional contributions from a number of charitable trusts and private individuals.

‘It’s not got any back - it’s all fronts in a way. It’s a very exposed and visible site.’

The Hepworth replaces the Wakefield Art Gallery, a refurbished town house located in the city centre, which had proved too small to house the gallery’s collections and directors’ ambitions, with very limited space for storage, a shop or café. The gallery’s permanent collection includes the

Hepworth Family Gift, which consists of 44 working models by Barbara Hepworth.

Barbara Hepworth, who grew up in the city of Wakefield, often spoke about “the contrast between the heart of the industrial area and what was around it.” Henry Moore once remarked that “sculptures in landscape possess their environment,” and it could be said that the Hepworth Wakefield does just that. The building has a strong sense of presence; it conveys a kind of heaviness, yet the large windows allow the surroundings to seep inside.The site allows views to the River Calder and its industrial heritage, the city and its overshadowing infrastructure, and, in the distance,the rural countryside of the Pennines.

In an interview, David Chipperfield pronounces that “there is a quality of dilapidation but not hopelessness” to the

View from the River Calder

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Waterfront Wakefield Regeneration Proposal

Hepworth’s Wakefield context. The site is on the one hand dominated by a harsh, modern motorway filter, and on the other, by the angry churn of water as the bending River Calder sweeps into a weir. Chipperfield describes the gallery as “dipping its toes in the water,” much like its industrial neighbours, to which it responds critically in both form and scale.

‘the internal composition of space had to inform the external volumetric composition.’

The Hepworth engages resolutely with its site, with one façade sitting directly in the riverbed.

The site is also overlooked on all sides. For

Site Plan David Chipperfield Architects

this reason the gallery is configured into ten trapezoidal blocks, resulting in a building that has no dominant façade. David Chipperfield speaks of the challenges involved in creating a multi-faceted gallery, and says “the museum is a typology that tends to set up a front and back situation if you’re not careful.” However, the completed design means that the gallery is visible from all directions, creating a strong connection between the building and the city centre.A new footbridge was designed by David Chipperfield Architects to lead the public from the main road to the southwest corner of the gallery, where the landscaping encourages visitors to assemble and appreciate the waterside context on entry and exit, to and from the gallery.

Plans for theWaterfrontWakefield regeneration include the restoration of a number of former

mill and warehouse buildings, including the 18th century Navigation Warehouse, which has been recently restored by BDP. A dilapidated watermill, which sits just across from the main entrance to the Hepworth, is in the process of being repaired, and will eventually house a series of artists’ commissions.There is a real sense of transition in the area,and the Hepworth provides an ideal vantage point to witness the waterfront’s regeneration.Artists Heather and Ivan Morison have created a timber sculpture, The Black Cloud, which is located in the external space between the Hepworth and a nearby Victorian brick warehouse. The burnt timber structure takes its inspiration from Amazonian dwellings, and provides shelter for a range of activities, including performance, discussion, and play.

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Trapezoidal arrangement David Chipperfield Architects

Though the building responds specifically to its site, Chipperfield refers to the gallery as a dialogue between the internal and external spaces. He says that there is, “A dynamic between the space which pushes out and forms the walls…and the walls which are pushing back and forming the space.” The ten galleries are clearly articulated on the exterior by the fluctuating roof pitches.

The Hepworth is purpose-built to house the work of its namesake, Barbara Hepworth, along with the work of other British artists and sculptors, such as Henry Moore, John Piper and Paul Nash. Six of the ten gallery spaces are home to the permanent collection.

These spaces are not designed around specific pieces, although they are purposefully varied in

Windows flush with exterior

‘We used windows for the view, and we brought light onto the pitched sceilings of the galleries, to give a changing sense of atmosphere.’ order to accommodate the different scales and materials of the range of work. Chipperfield achieves this with two main considerations; light and form. Each gallery is unique, with its own subtle skew away from the modern art gallery cube. The mono-pitched roofs create dynamic spaces within each volume, allowing for combinations of scale within a single gallery.

Seven of the ten galleries have windows, all of which meet the floor level and are flush

with the building’s exterior to make explicit the thickness of the walls.Though traditionally most galleries avoid openings,here Chipperfield welcomes the changing natural light level and the shadows that it casts. In some rooms, the single, large windows allowing unadulterated natural light to enter make the gallery feel more like an artist’s studio. In Gallery 5 particularly, this resonates with the unfinished nature of Hepworth’s working models that are on display.

The narrow strip openings in each roof also admit light, though these are screened by a secondary ceiling, and can also be completely shaded using louvers if necessary.

Chipperfield describes this light as ‘celestial’.

It is clear to see why in the case of the ‘Winged Figure’ working model in Gallery 5.

‘Winged Figure’ Barbara Hepworth, 1961-1962

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Limestone model David Chipperfield Architects

The galleries are all situated on the first floor, which is accessed from the ground floor via a central stair. The ground floor is dedicated to public services, while the building services are located at basement level. The building is supposed to be explored in a circuit, with visitors being led from gallery to gallery by framed views of the work, and rooms, beyond.

There is a resemblance here to Hepworth’s own sculptures, many of which incorporate holes as connections both to and through the material.

As well as internal connections, Chipperfield also provides continuous connections to the external context. Each gallery has a unique attitude to the outside world; some have no openings while some deliberately frame specific views of the city. For example, the window seat in Gallery 6 gives visitors time to look out over the cars and slip roads to the Chantry Chapel of St. Mary the Virgin.

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Arts Campaign Sumo Design

Chipperfield likens his working process for this project to that of a sculptor. The design process for the Hepworth Wakefield was one of repeated refinement, in order to achieve the variety in the roofscape without overshadowing.

Esme Fieldhouse, of Blueprint Magazine, states that “Chipperfield has designed a minimal, legible building that refers to a rigorous and complex process.” Though this may not be evident to all those who view the building, it strikes a chord with the collection of Hepworth’s working models that the gallery houses.

The Hepworth Wakefield aims to engage with other art galleries, both locally and further afield.

Alongside the Henry Moore Institute and the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, it taps into a network of local sculptural talent and traditions. Links with the Tate Gallery and the Arts Council ensure that the gallery also has a significant

presence in the network of British arts institutions. For art and architecture fans alike, it is something of a tourist destination.

‘To play this sort of large scale sculpture is both fascinating and difficult’.

H oweve r, as Chippe rfie ld r ig ht ly points out, “If the re is a r isk, it ’s the ris k of d is conne ct bet ween community and the ins tit ut io n.”

Many local inhabitants have rea ct ed critically toward s the g a ller y’s uncompromis ing concre te st r uct ure and pie rcing roofs cape . Va ssim , a local taxi d rive r, d e s cribe s it a s a “big, grey, ce me nt- look in g box,” but als o obs e r ve s that o pinio ns are d ivid e d . T hough Chipper field is

View of internal staircase

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reluct an t t o p ron o u n c e th e b u i l d i n g as cat egorically sc u l p tu r a l , i ts fo r m and sp at ial con n e c ti o n s c e r ta i n ly reso n at e wit h it s s c u l p tu r a l c o n te n t.

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Poche Drawing

Bibliography Hepworth Wakefield Official Press Release Websites: Architectural Review www.architectural-review. com David Chipperfield Architects www.davidchipperfield. co.uk Financial Times www.ft.com The Guardian www.guardian.co.uk Hepworth Wakefield www.hepworthwakefield. org RIBA Journal www.ribajournal.com Sumo Design www.sumodesign.co.uk The Telegraph www.telegraph.co.uk Waterfront Wakefield www.waterfrontwakefield. com

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Photographed by William Weber 2011

ICA BOSTON DS+R

“the most important building to rise here in a generation”

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he City of Boston awarded the Institute of Contemporary Art a feature site in the Fan Pier redevelopment master plan. Both the city and the development team called for a new cultural venue in the area to attract a constant crowd.The opportunity allowed the ICA to expand and properly display its increasingly popular programming and exhibitions. This new contemporary art venue was the first purpose built museum constructed in Boston in the last century.

The museum team envisioned expanded exhibition space, new programming and a permanent collection in its new home. The projects called for a design team to create a progressive architectural statement mirroring the museum's foresight and risk-taking.

Diller Scofidio + Renfro were selected as the architects of the new museum because of their passion and interdisciplinary practice incorporating ‘We were able to build with no context, now we are the context.’ architecture, performance, and media.

They designed a visionary building to capture the stimulation of contemporary culture along the Harbor’s revitalized 43-mile boardwalk. The building was envisioned not only as a contemplative space for experiencing contemporary art but a dynamic waterfront venue

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Diller Scofidio + Renfro RIBA Journal 2010

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Axo “DSRNY”

photographed by William Weber 2011

for public enjoyment. Its taut glass-andsteel forms are an exciting contrast to the ubiquitous brick buildings in its surroundings. The folding exterior expression weaves together interior and exterior spaces, producing shifting perspectives of the waterfront throughout the museum's galleries and public spaces.

The ICA’s ability to interweave art and civic life makes it Boston’s most important building in a generation.

The design for the new ICA waterfront museum has tripled the ICA's exhibition space and provided both a world class exhibition space and a vibrant center for public performances, educational activities and waterfront access.

‘For the ICA to make a place for itself, it needed a big idea and a new space to bring it to life.’

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The 65,000-square-foot museum features a dramatic folding ribbon form and a cantilever that extends to the water's edge. The façade consists of identically sized vertical planks that alternate between transparent glass, translucent glass, and opaque metal. The system provides a taught seamless skin that blurs the distinction between walls, windows and doors while responding to the requirements of the interior program.

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Eastern Facade from ‘Los Angeles Times’ 2010

The Harbour boardwalk connects the building to the water. This wood surface punctures through the ground floor of the building creating a loose and fluid circulation inside and outside.

Empty parking lots, as a result of the recessioin border the building on two sides.

The building is comprised of various public areas, with the galleries box stacked above a theater, lobby and various administrative spaces. The grand outdoor staircase overlooks the water under the cantilever.

These zones are connected by a continuous ribbon of wood that rises from the waterfront, up the bleachers and into the building to form the theater stage.

Then it rises again diagonally to support the theater seating and up the rear wall

before folding back over to become a platform for the fourth-floor galleries.

For now the museum reads more as a sculptural object in stunning isolation against the sky than as part of a dense urban composition. Rather than engaging with the street the center invites visitors to leave the city behind with a unique building similar to the Bilboa effect.

Beyond the water stretches the city skyline. Eventually hotels, office buildings and residential towers will complete the waterfront redevelopment planned for the lots surrounding the museum. When they are completed, the museum will be physically and visually linked to downtown by the pedestrian boardwalk that will run along the entire waterfront. At that

point one will discover the ICA among a cluster of other buildings and it will appear to feel more intimate and sheltered.

The building distributes the view to the harbour in small doses: compressed at the lobby entry, scanned vertically by the glass elevator, choreographed into theatre performances, denied in the galleries, revealed as a panorama at the north gallery crossover, and edited to only the texture of water at the cantilevered media centre.

The ground-floor entry is not laid out in a traditional museum fashion. Everything about the new ICA goes against the traditional museum experience. Instead of ascending a grand staircase, you enter through an unassuming glass door tucked into a corner of the ground floor. The

photographed by WilliamWeber 2011

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Exhibition Wall December 2011

edge of the wooden platform-extending overhead from a boardwalk along the harbour might make you think you’ve come in through the back. The entrance area functions neither as a lobby nor a specifically defined assembly space. The main entrance is set at the corner and cuts diagonally into the lobby, creating a leftover space just inside the street facade.

The distinct tapering of the lobby directs visitors toward the Visitor Center, with the bookstore directly behind facing the

water. Along the eastern interior wall of the lobby is an exhibition wall,dedicated to original work commissioned from a new artist each year. A 140-square-foot glass elevator gives views of the harbor on one side and all the floors passing by on the other.

A huge wooden staircase connects the underside of the cantilever to the waters edge. This forms the building’s public face along the harbor.You can get to the grand staircase either by the boardwalk. One can skip entering the building completely

and pass along the side of the building and enter through an opening cut beneath the seating. From the inside of the museum you can exit from the cafe that opens onto a deck overlooking the waterfront and beside the staircase. This grand outdoor softspace effectively takes a cue from the famous museum steps of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in Manhattan, another assembly area that engages the public with the structure.

The views of the city from these steps

Elevator ’BlogICA’ 2012 35

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photographed by William Weber 2011

are surreal as the heavy cantilevered form of the museum projects out over the tops of the distant skyscrapers. The overhead form guides your eyes toward the. From the top of the steps you feel the heavy weight of the cantilever.

The gallery box on top of the museum is divided into two parallel warehouse like spaces.This level holds 17,000 square feet of space for art, three times the amount of the museum’s previous location. The flexible column-free galleries feature

moveable walls, 15-foot ceilings, an expansive adjustable skylight system and polished concrete floors. Daylight filters through a thin fabric screen and is then cast ‘This was a huge risk, though the right risk.’ down into the space and on the artworks.

The cantilevered galleries are supported by four massive trusses,which are silhouetted behind the translucent exterior walls.

At night the gallery box is illuminated successfully positioning itself as a landmark along the harbors waterfront.

The 4th floor consists of a glass corridor facing the harbor.This acts as an entrance to the special feature Galleries, which spans the entire top floors. The views from the hallway are incredible and unnerving as you realize you are on the end of the cantilever stretching out over 40 feet from the main structure.

The media center is a small room lodged

Cafe ‘BlogICA’ 2012

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Perspectives from ‘Boston Indicators Project’

between the two wings that vertically steps down suspending from the underside of the cantilever. This unique space serves as a digital media center with descending seating steps. Equipped with computer stations for accessing digital resources about artists, exhibitions, and contemporary art, the space provides a stunning perspective of the water, framed through a viewfinder, with neither sky nor horizon in sight. This angle reduced the

distant harbor landscape into an abstraction of the changing pattern of the waves.

This space was slightly disorientating because of its diagonal orientation down towards the water there is no proper indication of up and down.

The floor and ceiling of the 325-seat theater on the second and third floors is created through the extension of the wood Harbor Walk material from the public grandstand into the interior of

the building. The remaining walls are glazed in clear glass allowing the harbor view to become the backdrop behind the 51-foot stage. The glass walls can be controlled to meet performance needs-from full transparency, to filtered light and no view, to total blackout.

Visually at least, that sequence from the boardwalk extends to the museum building itself: from the top of the bleachers, passers-by can peer directly

Theater ‘World Architecture News’ 2006 37

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photographed by William Weber 2011

into the theater through a towering glass wall.Actually to enter the theater, visitors board an enormous glass elevator in the lobby. Upon exiting the elevator, the crowd spills downward to the seats.At the bottom lies the stage, which is framed by glass on two sides and overlooks the water.

In essence the theater is a more formal version of the steps.Although an enormous black curtain can be drawn around the space when performers want to block the

view, the water would certainly be as good of a backdrop for performances.Watching films framed by the black surface of the water could be a singular experience.

The north wall of the café features sliding glass doors that face the Harbor. These 6x12 foot glass panels extend from floor to ceiling and slide over and stack to create an open air dining space.The Plaza is a 3,500-square-foot area adjacent to the museum café and the bold grandstand

of public seating. The wood of the plaza merges with Boston's 47-mile Harbor Walk, which then continues inside the building as the floor and ceiling material of the theater. This sheltered open space at ground level is a public area where people can enjoy views of Boston Harbor.

Gallery ‘World Architecture News’ 2006

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Bibliography Books: Baan, Iwan, and Jill Medvedow. Diller Scofidio + Renfro: Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA), Boston. Barcelona: PolĂ­grafa Ediciones, 2011.

Print.

Baume, Nicholas. Super Vision: Institute of Contemporary Art/ Boston. Cambridge, MA: MIT, 2006. Print.

Websites: Diller Scofidio + Renfro: www.dsrny.com/ ICA Boston: www.icaboston.org/ CURRENTS: ICA Blog www.blog.icaboston.org/ Los Angeles Times: www.latimes.com/ ARTES Magazine: http://www.artesmagazine. com/2010/09/institute-ofcontemporary-art-bostonexhibits-installation-ofcharles-ledray/ World Architecture News: http://www. worldarchitecturenews. com/index. php?fuseaction=wanappln. projectview&upload_ id=279 Boston Indicators Project: www.bostonindicators.org Water Cafe by Wolfgang Puck: www.wolfgangpuck. com/.../boston/institute-ofcontemporary-art Damien Ortega’s Do It Yourself: http://www.frank151. com/blog/2009/10/13/ now_showing_in_boston_ damien_ortegas_do_it_ yourself

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Kolumba Museum

KOLUMBA MUSEUM PETER ZUMTHOR

“They believe in the inner values of art, its ability to make us think and feel, its spiritual values.This project emerged from the inside out, and from the place.”

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ocated in the heart of Cologne’s city centre, within the Archdiocese of Cologne, Germany’s largest diocese,lies Peter Zumthor’s Kolumba Museum.Winning the commission in 1997, the building as it stands is the culmination of almost 11-years of collaboration with the Cologne Archdiocese, beginning construction in 2003 and finally reaching completion in 2007.

It is better not to talk of style but ...”

There is often a fascination that surrounds Zumthor and his work; a reclusive Swiss architect, his projects are few in number and have a limit range of building typology but because of his approach to design Zumthor’s works are often critically acclaimed. His views on architecture have resulted in him not striving to have a particular architectural style with him saying, “It is better not to talk of style but of a particular approach, a specific conscientiousness, in finding the solution to a task.”

His design philosophy has been strongly influenced by his Swiss upbringing, where he was born in Basel in 1943. He epitomizes the Swiss mentality being meticulous with the tasks he is presented with finding the best solution,

“I want to pursue and reduce things to such a degree ...” although Zumthor takes this way of thinking to more extremes. He adheres religiously to the characteristics that are the building blocks of Swiss design quality; with hands-on experience murdo mcdermid

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coupled with pragmatic knowledge being the foundations to deriving the physical shape and engineering process of the building.

sense considering elements not only for their structural or aesthetic values but also to create a poetic quality to the building. There are

Zumthor believes that architecture should be hands on experience and viewed first hand.

His projects have prolonged periods of gestation; carefully crafting and considering every detail. The Kolumba Museum indeed extending over nearly 11 years total; spending years in discussion with the clients before anything was constructed.

Justifying this lengthy progress, Zumthor says; “I want to persue and reduce things to such a degree that later, no-one can come and say, ‘That could have been left out as well’.”

He considers every detail of the building engaging all the

Peter Zumthor

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Stripes From the House of the Shaman

by JosephBeuys

“Construction is the art of making meaningful...” correlations between Zumthor’s architecture and Heidegger’s writing emphasising that architecture should be sensory experience and this is considered from the spaces he creates; to the materials he uses to even the detailing.

His material selection is painstaking as with all aspects of his work and has been inspired by Joseph Beuys and some of the artists of the Arte Povera artist movement being impressed by the ‘precise and sensuous’ way they use material. He wants to extract meaning of them and focus on what specific meaning can be brought out by the material to enhance the feel of the building. He focuses on how the material can extend beyond the composition and extend to the acoustic qualities and even the smell, they bring. He has interplay with music in his buildings commenting in ‘Thinking Architecture’ that Bach’s music is architecture with its construction clear and easy to grasp and transfers this to buildings. He takes cues from music commenting that “Construction is the art of making meaningful whole out of many parts” and ‘buildings are witnesses to the human ability to construct concrete things’ and the core of all architecture relies on the construction. All aspects of a building should consider the sensory experience that they bring to the building down to the minute detail.

“ a vehicle for communicating other forms of meaning...”

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Achrome

by PieroManzoni

Zumthor’s completed constructions are always places of marvel and wonderment, promoting sensory evocation through carefully orchestrated sounds, ethereal lighting, enticing scents and sublimely austere aesthetics.

As Guardian columnist Steve Rose notes, Zumthor is a self-labeled phenomenologist in which he believes architecture is not “a vehicle for communicating other forms of meaning, but rather as a language unto itself.” With this is mind, it becomes instantly evident as to why Zumthor is the perfect candidate for such an undertaking as the Kolumba Museum, where awe and reverence in the architecture unquestionably hold just

Natural light entering Museum through open brickwork

as much importance as the collection within, this in-part due to the Museum’s location.

“an exemplary model for all subsequent churches...”

Indeed, the greatest factor in dictating the specific architectural brief of the Kolumba Museum is the site itself. The center of Cologne, as with the site, is one of significant and pertinent history. During the Second WorldWar the medieval portion of the city was extensively ravaged, including the once grand St. Kolumba church. The church was almost completely razed, with the exception of a few segments of ground floor wall, the stump of the tower and a wooden effigy of the Madonna and child.The survival of this effigy, considered to be somewhat ‘miraculous’, went on to be know as “Madonna in the Ruins” and is now housed in a small octagonal chapel designed specifically for this purpose by Gottfried Böhm and built in the 1950’s. From 1974 to ‘76 the site also saw a period of excavation, unearthing Roman and Medieval construction, from which the Museum selects one building as standing out with particular importance. “A Roman house with an apse that was most likely added in the 7th or 8th century.” The Museum also go on to point out that this excavation was also made alongside “Six destroyed Frankish graves and two gravestones adorned with pole crosses[, which] attest to the function of this house having been used as a church with an adjacent cemetery.” Further still, there is evidence to show the construction of a single-nave church during the 8th or 9th murdo mcdermid

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Existing ruins and chapel

century which became “an exemplary model for all subsequent churches, its dimensions even determining yet the width of the middle aisle of the late Gothic parish church.”

The site of the Kolumba Art Museum lends itself towards the design philosophy of Zumthor. The site has become a palimpsest due to the history of the site with buildings layered on top of one another. Zumthor concerns himself with notion of a memory and how the feel and from of an architectural experience of the past as Zumthor says‘contain the deepest architectural experience I know’.

There are features in the structure that exploit the palimpsest quality of the building with tall thin columns enclosed in concrete elevating the main part of the museum to over 12meters

‘Madonna in the Ruins’

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high in so to preserve the ruins below and took inspiration from Bohm’s existing chapel.

Due to the nature of the existing building and the function, the selection of materials was dealt with at length and was used to play an important role to harmonise with the existing structure. He is as meticulous with material as he is with all aspects of design. He choose a varied combination of materials all to complement the existing structure including long, thin bricks that create the pale beige effect that have a ceramic effect. His strive for perfection to create these bricks that are the same colour, format and bond to be in keeping with the existing building resulted in Zumthor commissioning these bricks in Denmark were all were hand crafted over a two year period.

He, views materials are part of an ancient

knowledge that should be exposed to reveal their essence and hark back to man’s primal elemental knowledge of material, this idea ties in with the Art Museum. He generates an architectural language to extract meaning of the materials with his painstaking choice and craftsmanship of the pale bricks that constitute to over all feel of the building and our deployment of all our senses rather than just sight alone. The form and the blocky volumes that Zumthor has created rely on this interplay of the materials that he uses. The contrasting textures of these facades with the new bricks and their open with contrasting with the stone and brick Gothic chapel remains coupled with the glass and steel of the entrance and the windows.These material choices influence the lighting qualities of the Museum as well with

Perforations in the brickwork with spotlight

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Kolumba Museum exterior

spaces in the brick facade. The light quality changes but is always subdued and calm.

The entrance has a meditative and cathedral like quality that dictates the mood for the surrounding exhibitions. Daylight penetrates through the open brickwork on the facade giving pin lights which allows for interplay of light and shadow. In this space artificial spots are used to supplement to highlight the ruins of the existing church. Light for Zumthor’s approach to design being described as the ‘fifth dimension in architecture’ playing an equally important part as material and form.

The architecture he creates in the Art Museum is one that operated with the simplest means possible with a poetic effect. He is meticulous when it comes to his design decisions and approach with the new bricks used being a prime example. He creates spaces that are calming

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with a cathedral like ambience so it embodies the original essence of the previous buildings on the site, heightening the idea of the palimpsest.

“The museum encompasses 2,000 years of architecture for 2,000 years of art.”

With this immense level of site history in mind, one can then see that a very sympathetic response would be required in order to produce a building that would satisfy such a rich history. Alongside the history of the site, and unquestionably most important to the design of any art space, is a consideration for the pieces that will inhabit the space. It is particularly apt then,that the collection housed at the Museum, is entirely of a religious nature.

Owned by Kolumba, an institute founded in

1853 and saved from financial hardship by the Cologne Archdiocese in 1989, the collection features work from earliest antiquity to the present day. Work which spans over an extensive range of mediums and styles. The Museum’s treatment in display of these works is also notable, as rather than the typical chronologically composed exhibitions found in many other galleries, the pieces here are displayed according to their subject matter or in a way that creates a captivating dialectic.

To this end, one sees art hundreds of years apart in age sitting side by side in Zumthor’s new surroundings. What we begin to seen then, is a building which reflects its collection through architectural elements, ancient and modern structure playing off one another much like the art. The museums curator, in an interview with Architectural Record sums this up, noting “The museum encompasses 2,000 years of architecture for 2,000 years of art.”

It is, of course, from initially viewing the building’s exterior that one begins to gain a sense of Zumthor’s philosophy and treatments in regards to materiality, history, sensitivity and the austere and understated manor in which presents these to the viewer. From the outset the viewer is presented with large volumetric forms constructed the specially hand-crafted, grey brick, fired with charcoal to diffuse a warm hue throughout. The bricks also measure as such that they produce remarkable striations across the exterior surface as a whole and at parts, they can be seen to leave groups of small gaps, creating perforations through the buildings exterior to murdo mcdermid

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‘Madonna in the Ruins’ in Böhm’s chapel

the museum inside. Together, the bricks and free flowing air provide the important function of maintaining appropriate levels of heat and humidity required to preserve the art inside.

The few remaining pre-World War II sections of walling can be seen to fuse seamlessly together with the new brickwork, the subtle colours and shades very much complimentary of one another whilst maintaining an explicit distinction between old and new.

Passing through the restrained foyer, the

“The objective of the new building was not that of the light flooded ...”

visitor continues into the ground level space through heavy, leather curtains, unveiling a red sandalwood walkway. This walkways snakes above the layers of history, heating channels and walling from Roman and Medieval construction unearthed during the earlier excavations. In the background the visitor hears the distant ‘cooing’, rustling and flapping of pigeons, a sound installation by Bill Fontana, eerily emanating the sounds of the birds which once inhabited the ruins of the late St. Kolumba church.Also housed in this section is Böhm’s chapel, still fully functional and independent from the new structure. Slender steel columns, encased in concrete, touch down gently between the ruins and stretch

One of the gallery spaces

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up to support the gallery spaces above. The natural lighting present in this space, by means of the perforated walling first viewed from the building’s exterior, provide perhaps the most salient element in creating the overall aura of the space. “The objective of the new building was not that of the light-flooded museum but - on the contrary, Kolumba is a museum full of light and shadow; the change unfolds during the day and with the seasons and also at twilight.”

The combined effect then is a meditative space, a space for contemplation with ethereal and spiritualistic undertones, one which provides “ a spiritual home to the collection.”

As the visitor progresses to the upper two

Staircase leading to gallery spaces

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Bibliography Journals: Carrington, B. (2008) Peter Zumthor fuses a historical palimpsest with Modernism at Kolumba, Art Museum of the Archdiocese of Cologne, lending the space a new kind of spiritual overtone.

Architectural Record, 196 (1), p.78-85.

The Drowned and the Saved RichardSerra

Davey, P. (2007) Diocesan Dialogue. Architectural Review, 222 p.36-43.

Dawson, L . (2008) Profile: refusing the spotlight, Peter Zumthor designs quiet buildings that still attract devotees..

Architectural Record, 196 (1), p.86-87.

Architecture Review.

(2008) Brick by Brick..

Architectural Review, 223 p.33.

Books:

“a spiritual home to the collection” floors via a white staircase they encounter 16 gallery spaces, the are exhibited sparsely in white rooms devoid of even name-plates, however each visitor is provided with a leaflet should they with to read more about the art within. In these spaces the visitor is also treated views of Cologne Cathedral, strengthening the religious aspects of the Museum. What the Museum say is created then, is a museum which “offers the chance to come to grips with life transformed into art.” and spiritualistic undertones, one which provides “ a spiritual home to the collection.”

As the visitor progresses to the upper two floors via a white staircase they encounter 16 gallery spaces, the are exhibited sparsely in white rooms devoid of even name-plates, however each visitor is provided with a leaflet should they with to read more about the art within. In these spaces the visitor is also treated views of Cologne Cathedral, strengthening the religious aspects of the Museum. What the Museum say is created then, is a museum which “offers the chance to come to grips with life transformed into art.”

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Zumthor, P. (2010) Thinking Architecture.

3rd ed.

Boston: Birkhäuser.

Zumthor, P. and Plinio, B. (2012) Swiss Sound Box: a handbook for the pavilion of the Swiss Confederation at Expo 2000 in Hanover. Basel: Birkhäuser.

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KOLUMBA MUSEUM PETERZUMTHOR 2007

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Key| Entrance Foyer | 1 Medieval and Roman Ruins | 2 Böhm’s Chapel ‘Madonna in the Ruins’ | 3 Inner Courtyard | 4 Garden Courtyard | 5 Gallery Space | 6

first floor

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second floor

KunsthausGraz

KUNSTHAUS GRAZ SPACELAB COOK-FOURNIER

“The Friendly Alien”

T

he Kunsthaus in Graz is often referred to as the ‘friendly alien’ and is the collaborative work of Peter Cook and Colin Fournier from Spacelab Cook/Fournier. Completed late in 2003, when Graz was Europe’s sole Cultural Capital. The building is the result of a global competition and covers a total area of just over 11,000m2 with a budget of €40m. In a climate where the public often criticise architecture for not dealing with the context, the competition brief explicitly stated that the surrounding context must be addressed. Included in this was the Eisernes Haus to the South of the site. The city centre of Graz’s old town is one of the best preserved in central Europe and the relationship between new buildings in the city and the context of the built environment of the city was always of great importance.

‘the surrounding context must be addressed’ The relationship between the old and the new is an obvious topic of discussion when it comes to the Kunsthaus. The amoebic form, like its nickname, friendly alien’ would suggest, could quite easily have come from another world let alone another city. Graz is the second city of Austria and is considered as one of the most beautiful cities in Europe thanks to its historical city centre and cultural and political significance. Surprisingly, the city centre offers a large number of modern buildings. Part of the charm surrounding the city could be said to be the fact it embodies a variety of cultures both in its architecture as well as in its inhabitants. There are elements of Gothic, graham black

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Aerial shot of Kunsthaus and city of Graz

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View Towards City Centre of Graz - Winter

Renaissance, Baroque and Art Nouveau styles found in buildings scattered around the city.

This might explain why the Kunsthaus has been widely accepted and praised within the city, the population is used to being regularly exposed to architecture of such differing styles.

Graz offers visitors the chance to experience

‘Fusion of new and old architectural language’ these styles more or less side-by-side; coexisting with the modern shops and cafébars together with examples of architectural accomplishments contemporary to the Kunsthaus, that combine to form an incredible ‘fusion of new-old architectural language’.

Clearly Graz is not the sole city in this position as there are a number of cities around Europe sharing a similar architectural language.

However, Graz becomes a bit of an ‘oddity’ as the entire city centre is UNESCO protected which makes it even more impressive that the city and its residents are willing to accept such innovative and modern designs as the Kunsthaus.

exhibitions. The elevated status of art can be attributed to the increased accessibility of the subject with more and more galleries opening to the public. The term ‘modern cathedral’ illustrates how cathedrals and churches of old were often the primary method for the public viewing or receiving art, be this painting, stained glass windows, sculpture, poetry of the readings or even performance art of the clergymen. Contemporary to their construction, churches and cathedrals must have seemed ‘alien’ or unusual at the very least, standing out as grand ornaments that were only for a select few to enter. Over time they became accepted as an accessible style and

‘observation deck and nozzles frame views of the historical city centre

‘Galleries appear to have reached the level of a quasireligion’ The relationship between old and new can be extended to look at the evolution of art and to the ways in which we view art.

Galleries of today are often referred to as modern cathedrals and appear to have reached the level of quasi-religion, with almost congregational attendance to galleries and 51

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became more accessible to the general public.

Using the Kunsthaus as our example of the modern day equivalent of churches and cathedrals we are able to understand that while our galleries might juxtapose with the architectural style and materiality of the city, this does not necessarily mean that they don’t address the issue of context. Basically, just because it might like out of place, it doesn’t mean that it doesn’t respond to its surroundings and cultural context. By deliberately contrasting with its surroundings the Kunsthaus initially draws the attention of the viewer whilst the subconscious attempts to locate it within its context. So by being this idiosyncratic the Kunsthaus surprisingly deflects attention towards the surroundings rather holding it on itself. Thus going some way to addressing the issue of context.

Further progress towards addressing the context is achieved by containing the Kunsthaus within the site.

Some other entries to the competition opted

Rouen Cathedral Monet 1892-4

for cantilevered elements breaking out of the site. In contrast, the Kunsthaus maintains enough of a distance from its neighbours to force acknowledge of the surroundings and therefore its context. In conjunction with this, the needle observation deck and ‘nozzles’ that frame views of the historical city centre provide a constant reminder to those inside of the context they are in.

To some extent the Kunsthaus even replicates graham black

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The Kunsthaus with Context in the background

parts of the environment in its design. The bluish materiality and sensuous curves appear to directly mimic the River Mur to the East, drawing connotations to an organic, living entity as opposed to a lifeless structure. We therefore ask the question, how can something so natural and organic to our planet not fit in with its surroundings? Linking the Kunsthaus to water, a fundamental element and giver of life, it gestures towards the idea of a growing community around the Kunsthaus that develops and expands alongside the city. This idea of an organism is perfectly illustrated in its attachment to the Eisernes Haus – a listed commercial building from the mid C19th with an iron façade. The trabeated nature of the Eisernes Haus strongly contrasts against the fluid amoeboid form of the Kunsthaus to

Internal ‘Travelator’

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further accentuate the stylistic differences surrounding the immediate site.

This eclectic combination is effectively so different it just works.

As the brief states cities now compete against

‘Cities compete to have the biggest, brashest, boldest “new cathedrals”’ each other to have the biggest, brashest and boldest new ‘cathedrals’. So was this a consideration of the judging panel? The fact that the design may have been outrageous, even unacceptable, in another city could instil a feeling of ostentatiousness in the panel. However, as we were not party to that discussion this is just speculation

and we should move back to facts.

So looking in more detail at the actual Kunsthaus, with an area of just over 11,000m2, it takes a creative and proactive approach to its cultural and urban context. Specific consideration was paid to the gallery design, display techniques and operation of the gallery. The organisation, flexibility and the phenomenology of the space were also greatly important to the design. The design has won many awards and been recognised in many publications.

The Kunsthaus provides a flexible interior space, which is important as the gallery has no permanent exhibitions and so has to house whatever travelling exhibition it is displaying at any particular time. Whilst the space is flexible it is not just a white cube and so has

Kunsthaus in Context

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Kunsthaus Facade at night

enough character to attract high profile artists.

The Kunsthaus has 4 main gallery spaces.

Internally: the upper exhibition deck, which expresses the structural shell and is 8m at its heights, the first exhibition area, and the area designed with children in mind. The interior space is not the only display space.

The biomorphic skin is in essence a large scale display screen. This screen interacts with the general public in a less subtle way than for example a sculpture by Richard Serra.

The screen can display information, messages, or digital works of art. The ground floor is versatile and used for entertainment and communication, there is also a reading and media lounge as well as the book/gift shop and a cafe, making the ground floor a vast public space. Circulation is facilitated by travelators The Gallery’s energy consumption was important, with major consideration given to heating and ventilation. The design aims to reduce the need for air conditioning

Bluish Materiality & Reflection of Context 53

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and mechanical ventilation by using large amounts of thermal insulation in the biomorphic skin. The gallery spaces are lit with low energy fluorescent lighting to

‘it is easy to assume people will understand what we are communicating’ reduce heat generated and energy consumed.

Possibly the most innovative solution was finding a way to incorporate the Gravivent technique of inducing air movement by gravity. Water from the adjacent river Mur are used for cooling again reducing the Kunsthaus’ energy requirements.

The Kunsthaus manages to participate in the global exhibition business due to the flexibility of its usable space and its ability to provide everything needed. Examples of these that are listed on the Gallery’s own website are: cost effective air conditioning,

generous delivery area, workshops. As well as, modern lighting and security systems and an underground visitors car park.

As we are part of the artistic community it is often easy to assume that people will understand what we are intending to communicate through a building, however this is often not the case. With the Kunsthaus, it appears the city of Graz has welcomed this friendly alien with open arms, the people love it and for the most part it functions well as a gallery. There have been a small number of retrospective design adaptations, for instance, the nozzles were designed to provide enough daylighting, however this wasn’t achieved without a reflective coating on the interior.

Due to budget constraints the cheaper option of fluorescent tube lighting has been introduced. This resultant drop in daylight leads to a different viewing experience than was originally designed. The strong links the Kunsthaus has created with the site are fundamental to its success, although not the sole reason. There is something aesthetically pleasing about the Kunsthaus that seems to make it blur the boundary of ‘art’ and ‘architecture’. I think this can be attributed to the global trends in art – the evolution of our containers for art develop as art itself develops, art began in 2 dimensions but can now be 3 or even 4 dimensions.

Or can we in fact say that the opposite is true and the architecture is developing ahead of art? By providing a new space are we encouraging artists to produce work for these new spaces?

In recent decades architects have graham black

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Kunsthaus and its Neighbouring Context

View from one of the Nozzles to the Old City

‘Architects are not eroding a higher or removing the need for church’ made containers for art more accessible, what has influenced this?

Is it anything more than capitalism?

Looking back at the questions raised in and by the brief: Are architects complicit in the erosion of a higher faith and the rise in consumerism and commodification?

And, the implied question of: Is this movement now slowly removing the need for the traditional church?

We feel that whilst architects are not eroding the need or will of having a higher faith, or removing the need for the traditional church, they are providing people with a choice, or at least a discussion… architects are providing people with the tools they need to make their own choice, whilst reminding us that even though something may be alien it doesn’t have to be frightening.

Interior of the nozzles Retrospectively installed lighting

‘providing people with a choice’

Kunsthaus and Eisernes Haus

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Bibliography Alien encounter: clad in a pulsating skin, Grazâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s new Kunsthaus is a spunky modern interloper that adds both to the life of the city and to its historic fabric. Free Online Library Accessible online at: <http://www.thefreelibrary. com/ Alien+encounter %3A+clad+in+a+ pulsating+skin,+Grazâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s+new +Kunsthaus+is+a...

-a0115769709> Accessed 2/2/12 Alien Encounter, The Architectural Review, March 2004 Accessible online at: <http:// www.architecturalreview.com/home/innovators/ ar-2004-march-alienencounter/8622873.article> Accessed 2/2/12 Architectural Record Building, Types Study, Kunsthaus Graz Accessible online at: online at: <http://archrecord. construction.com/projects/ bts/archives/museums/ 0401_kunsthaus/overview.asp Accessed 16/1/12 Historical heritage and contemporary architecture fusion at the example of the city centre of Graz Biljana Arandjelovic November 2008 Museum Design in the 21st Century Reviewed Conrad Skinner AdobeAirstream Accessible online at: <http:// adobeairstream.com/design/ museum-design -in-the-21st-century -reviewed/> Accessed 2/2/12 Peter Cook RA and the friendly alien Royal Academy of Arts Interviews Accessible online at: <http:// www.royalacademy.org.uk/ architecture/architectureresources/interviews/petercook-ra-and-the-friendlyalien,211,AR.html> Accessed 16/1/12

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HusseinChalayan photographed by Chris Moore

TEL AVIV MUSEUM OF ART PRESTON SCOTT COHEN

“The predicament facing architecture, with respect to the museum, is the conflict between two opposing paradigms...the museum as a spectacle and the museum as a container of white boxes.”

P

reston Scott Cohen’s Herta and Paul Amir Building is a remarkable prismatic structure, using an innovative structural design and carefully selected palette of materials.

Completed in November 2011, this diverse and incredible piece of architectural design has been characterised as rising out of the cities plaza ‘like the front of a ship’. It is due to house a century full of Isreali Art, with dedicated spaces for Architecture, Design, Drawing and Prints.

When designing the building Cohen sought to find an innovative solution that answered the two key problems when designing a gallery. First, should the spaces be white neutral boxes, designed to foreground the art within them, leading the visitor along a linear pathway, through a processional sequence of rooms, or should the gallery become the focal point of the architecture, a reason in itself to visit. In this case, the architecture surpasses the art within the gallery, and places the architect at the same level as the artist.

‘The Tel Aviv museum is an overt attempt to marry these two incompatible types of space within a single, new building type.’

The solution that Cohen sought for the Herta and PaulAmir building was a hybrid between the two schematics.The rectangular galleries were not lost behind the attention to the façade, an internal craft of horizontal planes, whilst the structure of Tel Aviv pushed the boundaries beyond creating rectangular galleries that were not simply white neutral boxes. wynne mcleish

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The local context for the Herta and Paul Amir Building was an important consideration for Preston Scott Cohen. His intentions stipulated that the Herta and Paul Amir Building would not disturb the urban context of Tel Aviv; it would have a distinct shared reference to the local architecture traditions, marked by the influence of Erich Mendelssohn and the Bauhaus movement, which shaped the ‘White City’. The multiple vocabularies of Mendelsohn and Bauhaus Modernism in Tel Aviv are merged together into an architectural language that is internationalist and progressive in its cultural orientation.

and the existing Tel Aviv Museum of Art. The façade treatment of the Herta and Paul Amir Building is fabricated from 465 panels, carefully constructed from precast concrete,

It was important that the new gallery was not completely separate from the existing museum while still relating to a larger tradition of the new that exists within Israeli architectural culture.

Thus there is a strong relationship between the Amir Building culture space nexus

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Tel Aviv - Urban Surroundings

into a curtain walling system. Due to the complexity of the panels, the sharp corners and knifelike edges, it was chosen for the panels to be cast in a closed constructed gallery on the site. This also reduced the possibility of damaging the panels during transportation. The complexity of the panels has been achieved due to the advancements in digital technology, although Cohen insists that he is a ‘traditional architect’ at heart. It is possible to describe the structure as the first Israeli ambassador of digital architecture.

“The architecture had to find a solution to ‘squaring the triangle’’ Despite not being specified in the competition entry in 2003,the chosen material for the Herta and Paul Amir Building has a strong connection to the modern architecture that can be found in Tel Aviv. The façade is unique, individual and innovative, yet sympathetic to the modernist traditions found inTelAviv.Preston Scott Cohen insisted that the façade of the building should not represent the architecture of Jerusalem, with a strong connection to honey coloured stone. Instead, he wanted to complement the white stucco and exposed concrete that can be found in the urban landscape of Tel Aviv.

The programme for the Gallery posed an important architectural challenge for Cohen in regards to the site of the new build. The area selected was a large, triangular site, situated behind the public library and arts complex. Therefore, the architecture had to 59

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find a solution to ‘squaring the triangle’, for the Gallery required a series of large, neutral rectangular galleries. The solution founded

by Cohen, was to create a series of 5 levels built on a different axis, two above the ground and three below, structurally independent but super imposed. The floors are all linked by an 87ft tall spiralling atrium, known as the ‘light hall’ bathed in natural light from above.

The building takes the visitors through a series of spatial experiences, that is complex at the centre, and simpler at the perimeter. The shifting geometry of the light fall creates an architectural dance between neutral and orthogonal galleries.

Two entrances are allocated to the Amir Building. The first connects the Amir Building from the existingTel Aviv Museum, and consists of a glassed circulation procession.The second entry is from the external plaza; and takes the visitor through to a different type of museum – one dedicated to changing exhibitions as well as photography, architecture and design.

Winding around it are ramps and stairs which gives access to the galleries, art library and ancillary spaces above and below. The lightfall creates a powerful, centripetal force inside of the building, and exerts a pull towards the centre of the building. By guiding people into the gallery spaces, the lightfall becomes the source of authority in the architecture.

The lightfall is constructed of 28 in-situ concrete hyperbolic paraboloids. They are finished in white plaster on the Lightfall’s interior but left exposed on the gallery-facing side, revealing the imprint of the formwork.

The concrete is structurally independent from the framing of the gallery, with a thickness of

‘The Lighthall is the autonomous element within the building and the piece that joins everything else.’

approximately 6 inches. However, when some locations join,the concrete is as thick as 15 inches.

The brief for the project requested simple galleries with no daylight. It is evident that Cohen achieved this – the galleries achieved their purpose by providing flexible exhibitions space. However, Cohen manages to find a balance between the simplistic requirements of a museum, with that of a bold statement worthy of architectural merit.The individuality of the gallery is maintained, even within the concentration of urban high rises and Bauhaus architecture in urban fabric of Tel Aviv.

The lightfall is a prominent and important feature of the Amir Building. It reaches toward a skylight that sends natural light into the deepest recesses of the building’s interior. The dramatic sculptural void, bathed in light, does not consume the entire building, but allowed Cohen to create flexible rectangular galleries that the client required.

‘It is as dedicated to creating diverse social experiences within spectacular spaces as it is to supporting the exhibition of art in adjacent spaces that in no way compete for the spectator’s attention

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Temporary Exhibiton Gallery Space

In its simplistic terms, the galleries are stacked on tope of one another, each one rotated round at 22.5 degrees from the next, spiralling the spaces around the void. The galleries are plain and orthogonal; yet spiral onto the light fall, creating an assertion of presence in certain places in the exhibition. Views into the Gallery when circulating are achieved by long rectangular cuts in the lightfall.The subtle geometric forms assist in unifying the galleries.

The structural strategy for the galleries is very complex, consisting of stacked steel structural systems. It allowed the designers

‘The capacity to integrate structural and mechanical systems by means of three dimensional computer modeling is having an enormous impact. it allowed the development of a complex and super tight project in a site that required the most efficient use of all service cavities’ to take advantage of the structural depth of the ductwork, without disturbing or eroding the height of the galleries. The result of this is large, column free exhibition space.

However, it is possible that the galleries can appear distant and lost, when so vast and white with little natural daylight. It has become preferable to use natural daylight to animate gallery spaces, whilst filtering it to protect pieces of art.

To conclude, the Amir Building represents an wynne mcleish

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Cut from Lightfall into Gallery

unusual synthesis of two opposing concepts for the contemporary museum: the museum of neutral white boxes and the museum of architectural spectacle. It is a response to these contradicting types of space, within a simple new building type. The Amir Building shows a dedication to creating social experiences within spectacular spaces, as well as supporting the exhibition of art in adjacent spaces that do not compete for the visitor’s attention.

The Amir Building’s synthesis of radical and conventional geometries produces a new type of museum experience that will draw visitors. to the museum for the architecture alone

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BIBLIOGRAPHY Books: Spiller. N ‘Digital Architecture Now”; (Thames and Hudsen 2008) Journals Pearson.A ‘Tel Aviv Museum of Art’ Architectural Record 2011 (November 2011 v.199 N.11)P.72-83 ISSN 003 - 858X Scott Cohen.P ‘Elegance, Attenvation, Geometry’ Architectural Design 2007(January - February V.77 N. 1) P. 54 - 61; ISSN 0003 - 8504 Scott Cohen.P ‘A striking vessel, but who is to steer it? The Art Newspaper (December 2007) Websites Architectural Record Interview with Preston Scott Cohen: www.architecturalrecord. com Wallpaper Design Magazine www.wallpaper.com Tel Aviv Museum of Modern Art www.tamuseum.com Peter Scott Cohen: www.pscohen.com/ tel_aviv_museum_of_art. html

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