Cork Bark and Granite Bite_ M.Arch (Part 2) Thesis_ Neil Cunning

CORK BARK AND GRANITE BITE Vague Territories and Loose-Fit Infrastructures in the Gallura

Design Report Neil Cunning S0784977

1

CO RK BA RK A ND GRA NITE BITE 2

Thesis Title:

-Cork Bark and Granite

Agency:

-CORK

Authors:

-Neil Cunning

PARAsituation (SET):

-Vague Cork Forests and Unstable Harbours; Calangianus and Isola Bianca

Corporeal Species (Program):

-Isola Bianca, Cork Growers Association, Port Authority, Cork Bank, Cork Harvester’s Centre

Incorporeal Species (Situation):

-Proportion, Windfall, Time, Tempo, and Duration

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4

This report is divided into two parts. The first part contains research and cartographies concerning the Metropolitan Landscape of Olbia and an analysis of its infrastructural devices. Part 1 ends with a description of the scaling, proportioning and harvesting operations conducted on the harbour.

Part 2 contains the proposals and architectural output of the thesis at the scales of body, building and Enzymatic Territory, as well as an illumination of the spatial and tectonic studies undergone in the search for an appropriate architectural language.

The final small section is a collection of Plan of Action drawings that serve as the basis of the counter-project to Olbia’s current paradigm of urban planning.

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C ONT ENTS + PA R T 1 :

1.1.

1.2.

1.3.

1.4.

Cork Bark Granite Bite Isola Bianca Scaling and Proportioning

+ PA R T 2 : 2.1.

2.2.

2.3.

2.4.

2.5.

The Metropolitan Landscape and PARAsituations

Passive Bodies, Accreted Edges and Harbour[ing] Walls

Passive Bodies, Accreted Edges and Harbour[ing] Walls The SET [Set of Enzymatic Territories] and the Series Legal [AMPL] Exhibition Plan of Action

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S ITU ATION: OL BIA

Olbia is a city with a richly textured yet delicately poised metropolitan landscape characterised by specificity, overlapping patterns, tempos, and shifting scales of operation and production.

It is also a city that has, for the past thirty years, become dominated by the homogenising structures of the market economy.

The Gallura region’s embrace of the tourist industry has resulted in urban development on an unprecedented scale. However, this development has been entirely at the whim of the networked market economy, operating at an expeditious tempo with no regard towards its duration or long term effects. The paradigm shift from the productive, situated landscape to the abstract network has resulted in a bifurcated condition between city and landscape, putting at risk the existing patterns and tempos - their slowness unable to alone resist.

In short, the [loving] metropolitan landscape is in crisis.

Although the power structures of the region have realised something must be done, the adopted planning strategies are simply more ‘contemporary’ formal iterations of the existing condition. What is required is an investigation into appropriate methodologies to deal with this condition in an attempt to refresh the reciprocal relationship between city and landscape.

Olbia, Sardinia

This is not a case of a return to a previous condition, or even an attempt at harmony, but rather depends on the carefully considered implementation of appropriate agencies [as ecosophic objects] to allow the patterns and tempos of the landscape to presence themselves in relation and in rapport within the very structures that threaten them.

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P R OTA G ONIS TS

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QUERCUS SUBER: CORK OAK Quercus Suber is a species of tree that

grows only in the

Mediterranean region. Sardinia hosts the largest accumulation of Cork Oaks outside of Portugal [20% of the surfae of the Island]. Most of this is concentrated in the north and contributes â‚Ź150,000,000 a year through the production of bottle stoppers alone.

Beyond it’s economic gain, the Cork Oak is a richly textured and highly specific pattern in the metropolitan landscape, both in terms of its slow socio-economic tempo [1 year - 10 years - 250 years] and its territorial vaguery based on a pattern of windfall.

Although important in social, economic, and cultural terms the Cork Oak in Sardinia is in desperate need of supportive agencies

capable

in

face

the

currently

lack

of

of the

understanding

prevailing capability

and

ensuring

fast-economic to

operate

its

slowness

structures at

this

that tempo.

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ISOL A BIANCA The the

natural

principle

bay

of

Olbia

protagonist

has,

and

since

raison

Phoenecian

d’etre

of

times

the

city.

been Its

strategic position in the Mediterranean has provided an immensely fruitful situation throughout history. Its usefulness is not lost in the contemporary age as it now hosts the gigantic harbour of Isola Bianca - the touristic gateway to the Gallura region.

However, the growth of Isola Bianca has been driven unchecked by the homogenising forces of the market economy. It has become over-proportioned to the extent that in 2013 it superceded the size of the original roman city. Despite the large portion of the bay it occupies, it is an entirely mono-functional apparatus characterised by homogeneity and smoothness (to ensure efficiency in

its

processes).

Despite

its

amazing

situation

in

the

heart of the bay, it remains, due to its scale, an apparatus that

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works

for

the

city

but

resists

becoming

part

of

it.

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S Y NOP S I S This thesis proposes a counter project to the current paradigm of urban development in Olbia’s metropolitan landscape and aims to refresh the relationship between city and landscape, urban and rural, fast and slow.

It attempts to do this through an understanding of the tempos and patterns of the landscape through three threads of investigation; 1. Isola Bianca, as the manifestation of the absurdity of the current marketdriven development [the cruise liner that stays for only a few hours].

2. CORK BARK: The Cork Oak, as the temporal register of slowness specific to the Gallura [the tree that lives for hundreds of years and produces by the decade].

3. GRANITE BITE: The passive, granite geology of the region that holds both in relation.

The thesis attempts to find resonance in the patterns of these characters through the key issues of time, tempo, proportion, duration, and windfall, ultimately proposing a series of interventions charged with Agency Cork, both on Isola Bianca and in the mountains of Calangianus.

Through a scaling operation, Isola Bianca [revealed to be a series of accretions around a granite archipelago] is civically re-proportioned and its redundant zones ‘harvested’. The result is the creation of a Cork Growers Association, Cork Inspector’s Station, Port Authority and Cork Workshops, and a Cork Bank/ publiz piazza on the harbour as well a Cork Harvesters Centre in Calangianus.

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The Re-Proportioned and Civically Scaled Harbour in the bay of Olbia

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Cork Growers Association +

+ Cork Inspectors Station

Cork Parks

Wi

nd

+ Port Authority Building Cork Workshops - Boat Insulation Fitting Fishing Pier and Shop

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fa

ll

The Reproportioned and Civically Activated Isola Bianca An operation of scaling, reproportioning and harvesting of redundancies is employed in order to prime Isola Bianca to host a series of agencies centred around the cultivation, management, and extrapolation of the cork industry. A series of passive bodies remain (as sticky pieces) from the scaling operation that themselves host architectural accretions that activate them programmatically at the scale of body , building, and landscape. The cuts between these reproportioned civic pieces become public Cork Parks.

Cork Bank, Chamber of Commerce, Public Piazza +

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The Passive Bodies Inserted in Isola Bianca post Scaling Operation are held In Relation

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Glossary of Terms

Pattern ‘The pattern that connects things is abstract. It is not a thing itself. Pattern concerns the relationship between things. It must have seemed very vague and amorphous a pursuit to those in thrall to the materiality of things.

You can see a bunch of things, and grab them; but you can’t grab the relationship between them. Nor can you count the different relationships between them as you can count the things themselves. A slippery subject, this pattern stuff.’1 Tempo A useful description of pattern across time, as with music, it is a description of chronology, speed, and atmosphere Accretion The accumulation of a material layer over time, the accretion is not simply a thing in itself but holds a specific, unique relationship to the body around which it grows, often activating the body, connecting it to wider experiences, relationships and networks.

Modes of Being; Passive A body at rest, or seemingly at rest, that does not actively respond or react to its environment.

It is slow, if it is even moving at all, operating on a different tempo beyond our understanding. It is other.

In Relation Elements placed together, though not necessarily in proximity, that occupy a specific point. To move it would be to change the state of all objects considered In Relation In Rapport Objects In Rapport have a reciprical relationship with each other, one or more is in a state of fluctuation and change however this change is accepted and nurtured by the other.

1

Bateson, Gregory,Mind and Nature: A Necessary Unity, Bantam Books, New York 1980.

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PART 1

+ + + +

COR K BAR K GR ANI T E B IT E I SO L A BI A NC A SCAL I NG A ND P RO P O R T IO NING

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C ORK B A R K

Accretions build slowly over time

The Cork Oak: Landscape. Territory. Society. Economy.

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The Cork Oak with Bark Removed.

Harvesting and Collection

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Typical Sardinian Cork Forest Windfall and Vaguery.

Typical Portugese Cork Forest Economy mastering landscape.

The trees, despite their 250+ year lifespan have been farmed in grids, creating a reliable,efficient, and well defined cork territory.

This strategy, while economically sound, fails to value the potential of the cork landscape as a tool for the arrangement of the Metropolitan Landscape by virtue of its socio-economic tempo. It is a seperate territory, removed from the social, subjective, and urban issues of the metropolitan landscape, held in standing reserve for economic gain.

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The trees are harvested where they naturally occur by virtue of windfall, creating an undefined, blurry-edged territory that transcends traditional urban/ rural planning and brings into question the very nature of definitive territory. It is a counter-pattern to the beauroucratic arrangement (legal, social, economic, and programmatic) of the Metropolitan Landscape, resisting such issues by virtue of its slow tempo (1 year - 10 years - 250 years) and the problematic of the uncontrollable, unpredictable pattern of windfall.

The Global Extents of the Cork Resource

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Mapping the Cork Forests of the Gallura Proportion and Territory

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The Vague Territories of the Galluran Cork Forests

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VA G UER Y

In this project the cork tree is given similar rights to the landscape as in Portugal, making it unlawful to cut down or remove the precious resource without permission. Unlike Portugal however, this relatively simple act has a significant impact on urban and rural planning strategies. The pattern of windfall that dictates where the cork trees grow becomes even more problematic for the beaurocratic designation of definitive territories. What would it mean to these structures if it was stated that all cork trees were in some way public artefacts?

By this virtue a hierarchy is established whereby cork trees are allowed to form vague windfall territories dealing with shifting scales of performance; a slow tempo of accretion of a resource, a local scale fluctuating tempo (to sit under with a laptop or to graze cattle), and a global scale where the bark is part of a macro network of economic exchange.

The Cork Oak

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The Cork Oak - Technologies of Bringing Cork to Isola Bianca

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Cork and Granite Mountainous landscapes of Calangianus + Territory

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The Bay of Olbia - Isola Bianca

Calangianus to Isola Bianca - Cork Trail

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Cork Oak Forest, Calangianus The Pattern of the Cork Tree The Cork is harvested every 10 years from a tree that lives up to 250 years - The landscape is tethered to this rhythm and the cork tree becomes the base measurement of a socio-economic pattern specific to the Gallura, its slow pace and high value yield, with the right supporting agencies on Isola Banca becomes the first move in resisting the homogenising forces of the fast economies and Integrated World Capitalism.

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Cork Forest Territories and ten-year harvesting pattern, Calangianus.

The territories trancend the existing beaurocratic, legal and economic designation of space.

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Mapping the Cork Forests From Isola Bianca to Calangianus 38

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Windfall Patterns 40

41

S C AL E

Cork, as a material, is inherently charged with notions of scalar transformation. In 1662 Robert Hooke discovered the biological ‘cell’ from observations of cork under a microscope.

The structure of the cork at a this scale was, for Hooke, analogous to the simple dwelling of a monk - hence the term ‘cell’.

This reveals the action of rescaling to one not only of scalar transcendence, also reproportioning and superimposition the building scale is referenced within microscopic.

be but as the

The interventions on Isola Bianca are conceived in the same manner, superimposing multiple scales relative to the rest of the city; an attempt to measure and reproportion Olbia’s outof-scale harbour and, at the same time, unlock its potential to provide more to the city than large scale global economic processes.

42

Robert Hooke’s Original Drawing of Cork ‘Cells’

Reproportioning Apparatus

Micro-Granite

Micro-Cork

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PART 1

+ + + +

COR K BAR K GR ANI T E B IT E I SO L A BI A NC A SCAL I NG A ND P RO P O R T IO NING

45

Granite Fragmentation - Outcrops

46

Mapping the Cork Bark and Granite Bite of the Gallura 1600x 2000mm.

A crucial cartographic excercise revealing the relative scales and territories of the cork, granite and tourist infrastructure

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+500m

The outcrops form conceptual archipelagos, connected in section and forming a part-towhole relationship where each individual granite outcrop is symptomatic of the whole.

48

+350m

+200m

+100m

+50m

0m

-10m

-50m

Section through Gallura and Isola Bianca 49

50

al

ri

st

du

In r

ou

rb

Ha

Isola Bianca

t

or

p ir

a

A

d el

er

a

Sm

st

Co

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GRANITE BITE Olbia’s Metropolitan Landscape + Granite Basin (Bite) + Touristic Infrastructures

1: 150000

Isola Bianca is ultimately a collection of accretions around a granite archipelago in the bay of Olbia. Can these accretions be carefuly harvested and reappropriated without disrupting (entirely) its operation?

52

53

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PART 1

+ + + +

COR K BAR K GR ANI T E B IT E I SO L A BI A NC A SCAL I NG A ND P RO P O R T IO NING

55

The Introduction of a Faster Tempo to the Gallura

56

57

58

100m Isola Bianca as Existing 1:2500 59

Bite

Proportion Proportion

Machine

60

Emptiness

Machine

Absurdity

Arrival 61

Under the smooth operational surface (asphalt) of Isola Bianca is a tectonic of accreted edges and fills organised around an archipelago of granite outcrops.

Like the accretions of the cork tree, they have grown over time but have been utilised to activate the potential of the territory to connect to wider economic networks.

Unlike the cork tree there is no specific tempo that has been set, it operates at the pace of demand.

The growth of Isola Bianca’s accretions is fueled not by the transubjectivity of the city or by issues of landscape but the seductive fruits of the fast economy of tourism.

Given that this device now dominates the urban landscape (as of 2013 it covers more area than the Roman city) the harbour has developed a loose-fit with its program. The need to reach deep water to attract larger ships has created unusual (redundant) geometries to be exploited. It is a mono-functional device, its spaciousness simply a way of ensuring smoothness in operation.

CORK BARK AND GRANITE BITE considers Isola Bianca as the protagonist in the refreshing of urban-rural relations in the Gallura by utilising (harvesting) redundant accretions and finding resonance between the patterns of cork and the operation and tectonics of the harbour. It is a search for ways of operating against the smoothness and introducing the slow tempo of the cork tree. Can Isola Bianca be a public, civic device that both invokes and utilises the patterns of the metropolitan landscape? And can this, in turn, resist the homogeonising forces at play?

62

Revealimg the tectonic of Isola Bianca as a collection of anchors, edges, and fills

63

64

65

EXT RA P OR T I O NS

Comparative Urban Scales The Proportion of the Machine

66

Barcelona Block

Edinburgh New Town Block

Manhattan Block

St Peter’s Basilica

The sheer horizontal scale of the construction resists being understood as tectonically comparable to an architectural scale. To counter this, and reveal the sectional potential, a scaling operation is employed.

As of 2010 Isola Bianca covers more ground (or water) than Olbia’s historic Roman city.

Agencies are needed in order to treat Isola Bianca not as merely an apparatus for the city but a part of it.

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100m

68

Isola Bianca AS EXISTING

The characters of Olbia’s edge, particularly at Isola Bianca exist as inarticulate concrete blocks that provide no positive architectural contribution to the city - they merely serve it, providing only square metrage for the accommodation of processes.

Their conceptual autonomy from the city has allowed them to become completely managerial in nature, entities that work for the city but are not a part of it.

69

C H RONOLOGY

Drawing of Isola Bianca with its accretions coded from oldest to newest Darkest areas denote the oldest constructions

70

450 BC

1898 AD

71

1931 AD

72

1951 AD

2006 AD

2013 AD

73

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01. Isola Friorita Section Office, Port Authority, Cruise Ships 1:2000

02. Isola Friorita Section Office, Port Authority, Cruise Ships 1:2000

75

04. Isola Friorita Section Office, Port Authority, Cruise Ships 1:2000

76

01. Isola Friorita Section Office, Port Authority, Cruise Ships 1:2000

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The Tectonic of Isola Bianca Tested and Taken Apart

Granite and Fill 78

Edges

Granite and Edge +Redundant Edges

Stripped

Instability 79

Isola Bianca Operates not at the scale of the urban, but at the scale of the cruise liner.

80

81

82

PART 1

+ + + +

COR K BAR K GR ANI T E B IT E I SO L A BI A NC A SCAL I NG A ND P RO P O R T IO NING

83

S C AL I NG OP ER ATI O N Isola Bianca’s Scale resists all attempts at urbanisation.

In this environment architecture disappears, is swallowed by the weight of emptiness around it.

The only way to make Enymatic Territories on such an out-of-scale object is to measure it appropriately.

Proportioning the existing city to the scale of the harbour gives a measure of the civic Isola Bianca.

84

85

S T I C K Y P I E C ES A result of the scaling operation is the ‘discovery’ of ‘sticky’ pieces, civic artefacts that remain after. (Almost) void of their previous programs, these form an archipelago of passive bodies.

86

To the Studio

To the Body (desk)

87

1.

88

Granite Outcrops Archipelago of the Bay - Gallura in Miniature [430BC]

1:6500

89

2.

Accreted Edges [Connective Infrastructure, Frame and Threshold] Connecting Granite Fragments and Activating the Economic Potential of the Bay

[1931 AD - 2013 AD]

90

1:6500

91

3.

The Editable Fill of Isola Bianca [Compacted Sand] Darker Areas Denote the oldest Accretions on to the Granite

[1931 AD - 2013 AD]

92

1:6500

93

4.

94

The Editable Fill of Isola Bianca [Compacted Sand] Reproportioned civic pieces become ‘sticky’ and are superimposed on to the site.

Their Territories are extended accross the fill, carving and editing lines charged with a specific civic and programmatic agency [Cork].

1:6500

95

5.

96

The Resultant Cuts [Harvest of Isola Bianca’s Accretions]

1:6500

97

6.

98

The Harvested and Civically Proportioned Fill of Isola Bianca

1:6500

99

7.

100

Redundant areas and windfall patterns

1:6500

101

102

Although the entirety of Isola Bianca is notionally cut, not all of this will register.

What this introduces is the beginnings of a reciprocal territorial dispute and a planning guide for the future devlopment of the civic Isola 103

Model of Scaled harbour is a scale-shift in itself.

1:1000 in plan yet 1:100 in Section it illuminates the sectional potential of the Isola

104

105

106

Model of Scaled harbour is a scale-shift in itself.

1:1000 in plan yet 1:100 in Section it illuminates the sectional potential of the Isola

107

The Bombing of Olbia

108

Isola Bianca has its own history of windfall.

The 1939 bombing of the bay by allied forces becomes a windfall pattern

109

EDGE

110

3

“Cork” [fill] Elasticated thick edge. Malleable Veneer, but where the veneer is ‘explorable’ (?)

3 “Cork” [ Elastica Veneer, ‘explora

EDGE

3

3

111

EDGE

E

PASSI V E B O D IES , A C C RET ED ED G ES & H A RBO UR I NG WALLS T HE SET a n d T H E S ER IE S LEGAL EX HI BI T IO N + + + +

rk” [fill] sticated thick edge. Malleable Granite eer, but Deposit. where the veneer is arving. plorable’ (?)

PART 2

GROUNDWORKS

CUTTING AND HARVESTING The Scaling operation opens up the potential for Isola Bianca to be understood in section, not as a plate but a thickness, an editable mass manipulated by the insertion of foreign bodies or the configuration of retaining walls. These objects become catalysts in the transformation of the port, the ground becomes rough not frictionless, it is capable of hosting agencies and now has relevance at an architectural and body scale.

Pieces carried over from the city have each themselves a specific way of accommodating or using the landscape

Dealing with edge and fill - The editability of the ‘cork’ of Isola Bianca 112

113

114

ED G ES - T YP ES Different Types of Edges Different TypesDifferent of Edges Types of Edges

Edge as Boundary / Threshold

EDGE

1

EDGE

1

EDGE

Edge as Mass / Ground

1

EDGE

2

EDGE

2

EDGE

2

EDGE

Edge as Accretion / Frame

3

EDGE

3

EDGE

3

Wall / Retaining Wall Wall. / Retaining Wall.

Granite Wall / Retaining Wall.

Granite Granite “Cork” [fill] “Cork” [fill] “Cork” [fill] Thresholds.

Thresholds.

Anchors.

Thresholds.

Anchors.

Anchors.

Elasticated thick edge.

Elasticated Malleablethick Elasticated edge. Malleable thick edge. Malleable Moving over (the Moving edge)over or breaking (the edge) breaking All part of Gallura Granite Deposit.

Moving over (the edge) or breaking All or part of Gallura Granite Veneer, but where theVeneer, veneer but is where Veneer, the veneer but where is the veneer is All partDeposit. of Gallura Granite Deposit. through. through.

Fissures, Cutting, Carving. (?) through.

Fissures, Cutting, Carving. ‘explorable’ ‘explorable’ (?) ‘explorable’ (?)

Fissures, Cutting, Carving.

115

The Grains of Isola Bianca

Stickyness

Patterns

116

Island Extention Fast and Slow

Scale

Archipelago Appropriation

Old Edges, New Edges and Islands

117

“Geomorphological” Grains from Scaling Process and reading of geology of the bay

01.

118

02.

03.

04.

05.

06.

119

120

121

Evolution of a plan

122

123

es of Edges

DGE

Edge as Mass / Geology. Passive Bodies

1

EDGE

all / Retaining Wall. hresholds. oving over (the edge) or breaking hrough.

2

Granite Anchors.

All part of Gallura Granite Deposit.

Fissures, Cutting, Carving.

124

EDGE

3

“Cork” [fill] Elasticated thick edge. Malleable Veneer, but where the veneer is ‘explorable’ (?)

125

es of Edges

DGE

Edge as Mass / Geology. Passive Bodies

1

EDGE

all / Retaining Wall. hresholds. oving over (the edge) or breaking hrough.

2

Granite Anchors.

All part of Gallura Granite Deposit.

Fissures, Cutting, Carving.

126

EDGE

3

“Cork” [fill] Elasticated thick edge. Malleable Veneer, but where the veneer is ‘explorable’ (?)

127

Edge as Accretion. Cork Edge

EDGE

2

Granite Anchors.

All part of Gallura Granite Deposit.

Fissures, Cutting, Carving.

EDGE

3

“Cork” [fill] Elasticated thick edge. Malleable Veneer, but where the veneer is ‘explorable’ (?)

128

129

Axonometric of Frame pieces/ Piles Edge as Accretion. Cork Edge

EDGE

2

Granite Anchors.

All part of Gallura Granite Deposit.

Fissures, Cutting, Carving.

EDGE

3

“Cork” [fill] Elasticated thick edge. Malleable Veneer, but where the veneer is ‘explorable’ (?)

Accretion Model Brass and Wax The Precise and the Vague

130

The Tectonics and Poetics of a Pile Cap

131

Different Types of Edges

Edge as Threshold / Boundary

EDGE

1

Wall / Retaining Wall.

Thresholds.

Moving over (the edge) or breaking through.

132

EDGE

2

Granite Anchors.

All part of Gallura Granite Deposit.

Fissures, Cutting, Carving.

EDGE

3

“Cork” [fill] Elasticated thick edge. Malleable Veneer, but where the veneer is ‘explorable’ (?)

133

134

PART 2

+ + + +

PASSI V E B O D IES , A C C RET ED ED G ES & H A RBO UR I NG WALLS T HE SET a n d T H E S ER IE S LEGAL EX HI BI T IO N

135

T H E S ET

ACRO S S T H E M ET R O P O L ITA N L A ND SC AP E

+

136

+

+

+

1.2.3. Isola Bianca Territories 4. Calangianus: Cork Harvester’s Centre Cork Forests, Granite Cradles and Networked Machines: Cork and Touristic Enzymatic Territories Across Galluran Landscape

137

Cuts in the Fill Connect the Territories - Physically, Programmatically and Tectonically 1:1000 Reproportioning / Scaling mechanism Model

138

n

iatio

k + Cor

oc s Ass rower

G

+ Port Authority.

Workshops

+ Cork Bank. Publ ic Piazza

139

Charging Isola Bianca with Agency Cork

140

+ Port Authority.

Workshops

n

iatio

k + Cor

rs Growe

Assoc

+ Cork Bank. Publ ic Piazza

141

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PR

CED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT

01.

Wedge. Boulevard to Cruise Ship.

Cork Growers Association, Cork Inspectors Station, Cork Park Scaled Piece: Chieso San Paolo

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT

Location Plan - Isola Bianca

Territory Post-Reproportioning

142

On Edge Reproportioning and Cutting -Chieso San Paolo to Cork Growers Association

143

Passive Body in Territory.

Host For Accretions

144

145

146

147

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT

02.

Spine.

Cork Bank, Chamber of Commerce, Restauraunt, Cork Park, Piazza Scaled Piece: Olbia Town Hall

148

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT

Location Plan - Isola Bianca

Tectonics of Reproportioning and Cutting -Olbia Town Hall to Cork Bank + Public Piazza

149

Passive Body in Territory.

Host For Accretions

150

151

152

153

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT

03.

Port Authority Student Housing, Cork Board Insulation Workshops + Fitting Station, Fishing Pier and Shop.

Scaled Piece: Terranova Grid Fragment

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT

Location Plan - Isola Bianca

Territory Post-Reproportioning

154

Tectonics of Reproportioning and Cutting -Terranova Grid Fragment to Port Authority Building, Workshops, Labs and Fishing spot.

155

Passive Body in Territory.

Host For Accretions

156

157

158

159

160

161

C ORK G R OWER S ASSO C I ATI O N

162

Exploded Isometric - Kit of Parts - To be blown across the isola by windfall accreting on ‘sticky’ pieces as passive bodies.

163

W I NFA L L T EC TO NI C S

The Accretion of the Ecosophic Object in Territory Cork Growers Association

164

A CCR ETION S TA G ES

01. Existing

02. Cuts from Scaling + Harvest

03. Windfall

04. Passive Body Invoking Geology: Granite Bite

05. Accreted Frames Activation: Cork Edge

06. Frames, edges and Geological Pieces In Rapport 165

166

167

Axonometric - Cork Growers Association Passive Body invoking the scale of geology and the result of the reproportioned Chieso San Paolo becomes host to a series of accretions that activate the body programmatically and in its relationship with landscape and the environment.

168

Quantities and Measure of Framed Elements Make-up of the accretion

Slowest Tempo Passive Body exists as a reappropriation of the Scaled up CHieso San Paolo that becomes a piece of geology

169

Seminar Rooms

Auditorium

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Port Authority Reassembly of Kit

Lighting / Shielding Strategy - fast and slow

Brass

Edges

Disassembly of Accretions

Cork Inspector’s Station

Port Authority walkway

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Cork Growers Association 1:400 Ground Plan

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B A

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Cork Growers Association 1:400 Ground Plan

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B A

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Section A

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ED G ES

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OF F I C ES + SEM I NAR R O O MS T Y P I C AL AC C R ETI O N SEC TI O N

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1. Visual Mediation

2. Environmental Mediation Night Cooling

3. Physical Mediation Entrance 183

C OND I T I ONS

01

01 Exploded 184

02

02 Detail 185

Internally, the passive body and the accretions are In Rapport

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Mediating the Fixed and the Flexible Mediating Tempos

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Section B Wine Bar, Wine Resolution Room, station

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Store, Territorial Conflict Auditorium, Cork Inspectors

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South Elevation Environmental Shading - Fast tempo, editable and changeable throughout the day activating the passive

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EU OFFI C ES

Visual connection to Chieso San Paolo Dome

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A R C H I V E + FO R ESTR Y D EPAR TM ENT PA S S I V E B O D Y

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W I NE B AR

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Harbour[ing] Wall

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External Terrace

Wine Bar

Wine Bar Model Geometric Breach of the Edge

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H ARB OU R WALL R EAPPR O PR I ATI O N

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Harbour Wall Accretions - Reading Rooms off Archive Accretion activates the passive at the body scale

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A U D I T OR I UM

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Seminar Rooms. Offices

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Auditorium

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Cork Growers Association Model

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C ORK I NS P EC TO RS STATI O N Q UA LIT Y CO NTRO L O F EX P O RT S

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Cork Inspectors Station. Roof Plan

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Cork Inspectors Station. Basement Plan - Labs

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P OR T AU T H O RI T Y W OR KS H OP S F I S H I NG P I ER + SH O P

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Axonometric. Passive piece

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Section Retrofitting Boats with Cork Insulation 224

Port Authority Building.

Plan

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South ELevation

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Axonometric of Port Authority Frame + Passive Body (Terranva Grid Fragment) 227

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The Pattern of Windfall manifests as a territory across Isola Bianca, taking the form of the bombing pattern of 1939.

When this Pattern falls in a harvested territory (reconfigured as a Cork Park) it becomes the planting of a cork tree.

When it does not, but does align with one of the cuts from the harvest Isola Bianca is gifted an illumination + windfall device by the cork industry.

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C AL ANG I A NU S

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EC ONOM I C S & C O STI NG

UNIVERSAL ACCES S

Due to the complicated nature of the site, varied and specialist materials, high water table and elements of the unknown in both the structural integrity of the harbour wall and the true depth of the granite bedrock, it seems unlikely that a Design and Build contract would be appropriate for such a job. This is due to the fact that the complex nature of the Works, alongside foreseeable improvisations and adjustments would need the project architect as part of the core design team throughout.

Egress

The nature of the series of buildings too would require the presence of the architect throughout the project to deal with the inevitable adjustments and alterations and to ensure a consistency across all of the works.

A further potential problem would be that the Sardinian construction industry may be somewhat ill-suited for some of the more complex and crafted pieces (such as the auditorium roof) so great care would need to be made in selecting the appropriate contractor for the job.

One major virtue of building on Isola Bianca would be the ease in which materials could be transported on to site. The overscaled nature of the context would mean that very large pieces could be made prefabricated and simply unloaded off of a boat or lorry onto the building. The preabrication of larger pieces could potentially create significant cost savings, particularly if this could be configured not just for the Cork Growers Association, but across the series of projects. It is entirely possible that large pieces of the frames or concrete slabs could be made offsite and delivered and installed in one, thus also reducing labour costs.

The total area of the Cork Growers Association is roughly 3666m2 including some major external groundworks - costed at a highly liberal £2500 per sqm would make the total cost £9.1m. The Liberal £2500 per sqm is to cover the forseeable and expected issues on site as well as the complex nature of the groundworks.

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Isola Bianca’s current accessibility (in terms of spatiality) is universal in that it is simply a giant flat snooker table. Although this project attempts to run counter to this paradigm it does not seek to disrupt the conceptual or programmatic egress of the site but rather to expand on its possibilities. As a result almost the entire building is accessible by the manipulation of ground to form ramps. Three clearly defined access points at different levels (on the three accessible sides of the building) make entry and exit egress extremely simple and clear.

Internally a large ramp connects the east and west level change (the reappearance of Chieso San Paolo’s aisle) as well as access to the wine bar, auditorium and terrace. The situation where there is only stairs is countered by an easily accessible large liftin the south west corner of the building (complying with BS EN 81-70:2003).

All internal access routes, by virtue of the proportional reference to the landscape-scale are larger than needed - from 2.7m to 5m, never being less than the 1.8m needed for two wheelchairs to pass each other.

Visual The project incorporates several other attitudes towards universal access. Lighting is clear and well defined, as are the various building elements (Edges) aiding those with visual impairment., The thick mass of the passive body (archive spaces etc) is completely distinct from the framed areas, as well as the wine bar and auditorium, in both colour, texture and lighting.

Ramp Access Elevator

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P L ANNI NG C O NSI D ER SATI O NS Perhaps the most obvious problematic issue raised by this project would be in terms of the planning and associated legal issues with the site. Isola Bianca is owned by the state and governed by the Port Authority of Sardinia. It is clearly assumed that they would need to be entirely on board with the project for it to go ahead. What is not clear is who would legally own and be responsible for the site both during construction and afterwards.

Conceptually, for the thesis to be successful, the ‘harvested’ areas of Isola Bianca would need to be sold on to the Cork Growers Association or at least officially reclassified as not owned by the same group as the rest of the operational harbour thus would not need to operate under the same rules in terms of public access, security, proposed expansions etc.

The organisation of this change-over (particularly in the Italian political system) would no doubt be a long and arduous affair and certainly would be a greater challenge than the technical issues with the Works. As a result it is assumed that it would need to form part of a wider urban planning proposal to be adopted by the state [see Plan of Action Drawings].

The socio-cultural aspect of planning (that of protected sites and historic centres) would not be an issue despite its proximity to the centre of the city. Given the nature of Isola Bianca’s development in complete disregard for its historical and cultural context the argument for proposed changes to its physical and operational structure would be strong. This is reflected in the public attitude of Olbians, who, after years of overdevelopment, are eager to make public some of this land, particularly due to its unique position in the very centre of the geological basin of the souther Gallura.

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F I R E SAFET Y There are three main exits on three separate levels in the building (wine bar terrace, main entrance, and the west entrance) making safe egress for fire escape.

On the upper floor, easy access can be made to downstairs or to the lift. In the case where the north east corner of the building may be blocked, there is a small escape hatch built in to the reappropriated harbour wall. The space between the passive body (archive + Library) and the seminar rooms and forestry offices is the main egress route through the building and is wide enough (3.5m) to comfortably accommodate large flows of people. Likewise in the auditorium and wine bar the exit routes are all large in scale (5m and 2.7m respectively), both making it easy to negotiate and clear where the exit route is.

The most problematic point for fire escape would be the overhanging wine bar. There are two exits to this however and as such does not pose a significant threat.

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S T R UC T URAL C O NC E RNS The Building (Scotland) Regulations 2004 (Section 1, Regulation 9 1.1) require that; ‘Every building must be designed and constructed in such a way that the loadings that are liable to act on it will not lead to: a) The collapse of the whole or part of the building; or b) Deformations which would make the building unfit for its intended use, unsafe, or cause damage to other parts of the building or to fittings or to installed equipment’ Reclaimed Land - Piling Building on the reclaimed land of Isola Bianca requires a specific and attentive attitude to ground conditions. The harbour is essentially a series of large trays; harbour walls made of prefabricated concrete blocks that hold large areas of densely compacted sand. As it is obviously built in the bay, this ground type has a high water table.

Building on such a surface requires technological solutions to mediate between this condition and the granite bedrock beneath the bay.

The Cork Growers Association building touches the ground in different ways depending on ‘edge’ type . The ‘geological’ passive bodies are heavy, thick concrete foundations emerge from the bedrock to hold an equally heavy slab - wall structure. This condition is fixed, static.

The second condition, that of the accretions, is a more problematic frame structure. This employs a strategy of secant piling in order to both provide structural support for the frame - mediating between granite bedrock and pile cap - and allow the cheapest and easiest method for the creation of retaining walls to allow level changes across the site.

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Fixed Structure

Flexible Connection

Between the Fixed and the Flexible The shift from the static condition of pile/ pile cap to frame is mediated by a large steel pin joint. This is a also a thetic device and significant tectonic detail as it is ultimately the mediation between tempos / edge conditions at the scale of the body.

In terms of their loadbearing capacities, the glulam timber beams (as with the concrete structure) have been designed with a slightly larger section than would be strictly necessary.

Thus, the technial challenge lies in the correct detailing of the steel connectors, particularly at the pile cap and the horizontal fixings to the concrete structure and in the connection with the extended harbour wall. These connections must allow for sufficient movement in order to retain the structural integrity of the frame.

Pile Cap to Frame Detail Mediating Slow Granite with Fast Accretion Landscape to Body

Secant Piling System

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S T R UC T URAL C O NC E RNS 2 Steel Connectors - Glulam timber beams

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ENV I R ONM ENTAL C O NC ER NS T H ER M AL S TR ATEG I ES Successful passive environmental control depends crucially in understanding the tempos of the natural environment and the application of technologies to utilise this fluctuation. The Cork Growers Association, as a manifestation of the tempos of the metropolitan landscape is perfectly poised for such strategies and attempts to operate in a passive manner as much as possible with regards to its environmental performance.

This occurs in a number of ways, primarily in terms of lighting, cooling, and ventilation.

The cooling strategy is two-fold. The slow tempo of the granite bedrock is unchanging with the daily cycle of the sun. This below ground coolness is utilised through a system of sea water pumped through -50m piles which then circulates within the thick concrete structures of the passive body, cooling the building throughout the day. To counter the thermal gain of the sun during the day, the brass cladding on the south side of the building rises high enough in order to shield the concrete from unwanted thermal gain. At night, sections of the brass cladding (which operates on the human-scale tempo)open to further cool the building throughout the night. Due to the principle of thermal lag, the pumping system will not always be needed. Crucially, the possibility of accretions of salt build up from the seawater was countered through a double pipe system (see detail).

The flexibility and fluctuation of the brass cladding is again utilised in terms of lighting, allowing daylight control on the south facing facade by the user.

Cooled water pipes embedded in concrete floor. Section and axonometric.

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ENV IR ONMENTA L CONCER NS

Slow Tempo Passive Water Cooling System.

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Main piece of exhibition comprises of a structure that is both a 1:100 model (scaled to studio) of Isola Bianca and a series of 1:1 Details

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A2 Books

Cork Table Territorial Dispute Resolution

Cork Bark and Granite Bite Mapping the Cork and Granite of the Gallura

Film

1:1 / 1:100 / 1:1000 Isola Bianca Model

1:50 sectional Model Scale Shifts Model Reproportioning Isola Bianca

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1:100 Sectional Fragment Model

1800 x 700

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P L AN OF AC TI O N D RAWI NG S

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Olbia Plan of Action

Sub Agencies: 4+ Porto Romano edge reconfiguration - Archaeological site, Sports Area, Urban forest, Italian ‘naval league’ clubhouse

cork

4+

5+ Cork park - Cork Harvester Acommodation, Hotel, Cork Trees 6+ Cork Laboratories and Harvester acommodation 7+ Airport Hotel -Confrence Centre, Train Station, Cork Trees

6+

8+ Forest-fire Station 9+ Cork Harvesting school -Cork Archive, Cork Laboratories 10+ Cork Tree Planting -Windfall pattern of Cork trees becomes a vague territory accross the urban and the rural

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EP ILOG U E

CORK BARK AND GRANITE BITE is a project centred around the search for techniques, operations and methodologies to deal with the ubiquitous homogenising forces of the market economy. It opens up enquiries into the transformative potential of scalar shifts and the significance of (pro)portion. What it questions most however, is the notion of territory.

The cork tree shows us the potential vagueness of this term and reminds us that territories exist on the ground first, they are only represented by the line of a pen in a beaurocratic (but necessary) abstract action. This project offers a reminder to urban planners and beaurocrats that architecture too can exist in a state of vague territoriality, given the correct methodologies are employed. The projects on Isola Bianca are neither in conflict with nor in harmony with the structures of Isola Bianca but sit in a state of reciprocal relation. They sometimes resist, sometimes accept and sometimes ignore. Although we could draw a line where the territory of Isola Bianca notionally ends and the Cork Association’s begins theres is always a tendency that in the next drawing this line may change, extend, cut deeper, or that the ‘wind’ may blow one territory into another. CORK BARK AND GRANITE BITE is a project that accepts this as part of the reality of territory. It is a reminder that the map is not the territory.

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IMAGE REFERENCES

All images are the Authors own work.

Satelite and historical photos from the Faculty of Architecture, Alghero Architecture School. 2011. pages 17 & back cover - Still from Fitzcarraldo. Werner Herzog. 1982

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BIBL IOG RA P H Y Agamben, Giorgio, The Coming Community, trans.

(Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2007).

Michael

Hardt

Agamben, Giorgio, What is an Apparatus? and Other Essays, Trans.

David Kishik and Stefan Pedatella, (Stanford California: Stanford University Press, 2009).

Blanchot, Maurice, The Unavowable Community, trans. Pierre Joris ( New York: Barrytown, Station Hill Press) 1988.

De Certeau, Michel, The Practice Of Everyday Life, trans. Steven Rendall (Berkeley, California: California University Press, 1984).

Deleuze, Gilles and Felix Guattari, A Thousand Plateaus, Capitalism and Schizophrenia, trans. Brian Massumi (London: Continuum, 2002).

Guattarri, Felix, The Three Ecologies, trans Ian Pindar and Paul Sutton (New York: Athlone Press, 2000)

Allen, Stan, Points + Lines: Diagrams and Projects for The City (New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 1999).

Archizoom and Andrea Branzi, Casabella, 399, 1975 (Milan: Studio Editoriale Milanese, 1975) Aureli, Pier Vittorio, More and More about Less and Less: Notes Towards a History of Nonfigurative Architecture, Log 16, ed. Cynthia Davidson (New York: Anycorp, 2009) Corner, James, The Agency of Mapping: Speculation, Critique and Invention, in Mappings, ed. Denis Cosgrove, (London: Reaktion, 2002) pp. 213-52.

Eisenman, Peter, Tracing Eisenman, ed. Cynthia Davidson (London: Thames and Hudson, 2006).

Evans, Robin, The Projective Cast, Architecture And Its Three Geometries (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1995).

Rancière, Jacques, The Politics of Aesthetics, The Distribution of The Sensible, trans. Gabriel Rockhill (London: Continuum, 2005)

Gregotti, Vittorio, Territory and Architecture, in Theorising a New Agenda for Architecture, An Anthology of Architectural Theory, 1965-1995, ed. Kate Nesbitt (New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 1996) pp.340-344.

Serres, Michel, The Natural Contract, trans Elizabeth MacAtrhur and

Hejduk, John, Mask of Medussa

William Paulson (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2008).

Wiszniewski, D., City as Museum: Museum as City, Mediating The Everyday and Special Narratives of Life, in Narrative Space/Museum Making, eds. Jonathan Hale, Laura Hanks and Suzanne McLeod (Routledge, due for publication 2011).

Serres, Michel, The Parasite, trans Lawrence R. Schehr (Minnesota: University Of Minnesota Press, 2007).

Agrest, Diana, ‘Representation as Articulation between Theory and Practice,’ in Allen, Stan, Essays, Practice, Architecture, Technique and Representation (Amsterdam: G+B Arts International, 2000) pp.163177.

Allen, Stan, Representation 2000).

Wiszniewski, D., Florence: Curating The City, ed Dorian Wiszniewski (Architecture, University of Edinburgh: Edinburgh, 2010) [ISBN 978-0-95597067-2]

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