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Margin as a Space of Action Margine come spazio di azione

Andrya Kohlmann

Architetto, dottoranda presso l’Università Federale del Rio Grande do Sul (Brasile). andryakohlmann@gmail.com

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Rafael Lorentz

Dottorando presso l’Università Iuav di Venezia e l’Università della Svizzera Italiana. rdclorentz@gmail.com

Margine come spazio di azione: l’ibridazione e il progetto per il Centro

Danese di Architettura L’articolo investiga il ruolo del “margine” nella composizione del Centro Danese di Architettura, progetto dello studio OMA completato a Copenhagen nel 2018 e fortemente caratterizzato dalla coesistenza di funzioni diverse all’interno del volume generale. Esempio di quello che viene definito come “edificio ibrido contemporaneo”, il progetto per il DAC si basa sulla concezione del margine tra i differenti componenti come uno spazio di azione in grado di generare la dinamica interattiva necessaria per renderlo un promotore di trasformazione urbana.*

ybridization is a term used to basically define the ambition to create an object able to condense the simultaneous existence of different or even opposite elements. The hybrid is a new context seeking the conditions for the emergence of a potential that such elements don’t hold when isolated and, as any synthesis, finds in mediation its fundamental gesture. In architecture, what differentiates the so-called hybrid building from the mere overlapping of functions, is the role that it tends to assume in the city through scale (Fenton, 1985), overcoming the limits of action of a single artefact to become a wider ensemble in what could be described as an “urban fragment”. The urban event defined as the contemporary hybrid building, rises in the city defined by free market interests as a typology able to gather an answer, mainly through formal articulation, to the ways of living of globalized society and to the integrative challenges of the post-industrial city, in what Steven Holl calls “localized social condensers”1. Hybrid´s transformative potential is based on the efficient conception of an interactive dynamic, rendering permeable the boundaries between different elements and transforming margins from dividing limits into spaces of action.

A paradigmatic example of this typology can be found in the project by OMA for the Danish Architecture Centre (DAC), completed in Copenhagen in 2018 (img. 01). Built in the city’s central area, on a lot facing the harbour in the south edge of Slotsholmen island - where many important cultural and governmental organs are located - the building is defined as a structure at urban scale, containing the BloxHub – agent dedicated to the support of innovative companies - commercial spaces such as cafés, restaurant and gym, and also residential apartments (img. 02).

01. General view of the building from Christians Brygge. Andrya Kohlmann

Margin as a Space of Action

Hybridization and the Project for the Danish Architecture Centre

02. Contesto urbano. Urban context. Andrya Kohlmann The DAC, a centre aimed at the promotion of cultural activities related to architecture, becomes a trigger of the urban dynamic, housing not only exhibition spaces but also offices, meeting rooms and auditorium, occasionally used also by third-part partners. The presence of such a large number of functions in a single building, each of them requiring specific types of space and levels of accessibility, would normally tend to the reproduction of division. The strategy applied by OMA however manages to fill the space fragmentation by generating multiple connections in spatial and visual levels. Both in plan and in section, it is possible to observe how the design concept is based on the incorporation of Christians Brygge into the general volume, which wraps the street completely, becoming a connective element between the two portions of the site and so allowing an effective relation between city and harbour (img. 03). The overcoming of the traffic barrier is possible in three ways of which the most direct links transversally the DAC’s underground foyer - located precisely beneath the road - to ground floor level through a sequence of public stairs. A second path is possible in the setting of semi-public spaces, using the inner connections created between workspaces that find in the restaurant, café and exhibition spaces a point of contact. A third level of integration belongs exclusively to the pri-

the integrative potential of hybridization is based more on connection than on proximity, more from peripheral space than from the nucleus

vate sphere of apartments located in the two highest levels, only accessed through the circulation towers.

Central in the composition is the space of the DAC, which constitutes the inner core around which other elements are additionally distributed. In that sense, beyond physical connection, the centre’s exhibition spaces also play a role of inner court, both on a symbolic level, by creating a convergence point of contrasting elements, and on a functional one, by providing the visual integration and illumination required in the innermost portions of the volume (img. 04). In that sense, the margin’s dissolution is translated also in the building’s materiality, assuming an absolutely neutral value in the glass

ACCESSO CITTÀ/PORTO

03. DAC, diagram of upper levels and transversal section. Andrya Kohlmann, Rafael Lorentz

façade that provides flexibility to receive different functions as well as the transparency of a spatiality with no “interior”. This condition can be clearly understood as essential for the success of the system’s composition, while at the same time indicates a strong restriction in the nature of the activities performed, which must be willing to accept a certain no-privacy condition. However, the positive dynamic of complementarity between elements verified in the DAC building is activated through the construction of “bridge spaces”, such as the public stairs, the restaurant or the auditorium, elements defining the boundaries of each inner component and simultaneously offering opportunities for the positive overlapping of complementary activities (img. 05). This strategy is often applied in the design of hybrid buildings2 as it enlarges circulation spaces, strengthening the idea of “urban fragment”, therefore encouraging interaction between different users and providing the necessary condition for the creation of a sense of community. The integrative potential of hybridization in that sense is more based on connection than on closeness, more on peripheral spaces than on core, both at building and urban levels. These characteristics find parallel in some important concepts developed by Koolhaas such as “cross-programming” and “congestion”3. The first is presented as the intentional introduction of

the hybrid is a context that seeks the condition for the emergence of an interactive potential between different elements and, like any synthesis, has its fundamental gesture in mediation

04. Inner view of DAC’s central exhibition space. Andrya Kohlmann

unexpected programs within different types of buildings, while congestion is understood as the amplification of density in order to reach more activities and users in different buildings and/or situations. Both concepts are connected, since density and congestion would be the way to optimize the few available spaces in the metropolis, while cross-programming would be the way to make this reality possible. Margins, as seen on the DAC building, assume a fundamental role in the project, in fact they can be taken as the main instrument to translate these concepts in palpable values such as vitality, sense of community and social interaction, all of them increasingly necessary for the project of a contemporary city.*

05. External view of main entrance. Andrya Kohlmann

NOTE 1 - Steven Holl, preface in: Fernández, A. (2011) “This is Hybrid: an analysis of mixed-use buildings”, a+t architecture Publishers, Vitoria-Gasteiz. 2 – Another example of a hybrid building that is formed starting from “bridge spaces” is the Linked Hybrid, a project by Steven Holl in Beijing. 3 – These concepts are developed throughout Koolhaas career in publications such as “Delirious New York” and “S, M, L, XL”.

BIBLIOGRAFIA - Brandão, M. (2017), “The Big Building - Housing and Complex Design Strategies”, THÈSE N.7454, EPFL, Lausanne. - Castells, M. (2010), “The Rise of the Network Society”, Blackwell, London. - Fenton, J. (1985), “Hybrid Buildings”, Pamphlet Architecture, n.11, San Francisco. - Fernández, A. (2011), “This is Hybrid: an analysis of mixed-use buildings”, a+t architecture Publishers, VitoriaGasteiz. - Holl, S. (2014), “Hybrid Buildings”, Oz, v. 36, Manhattan. - Koolhaas, R. (1978), “Delirious New York”, Oxford University Press, New York. - Koolhaas, R. (2006), “Junkspace: per un ripensamento radicale dello spazio urbano”, Quodlibet, Macerata. - Koolhaas, R.; Mau, B. (1995), “S, M, L, XL”, The Monacelli Press, New York. - Schmid, S. (2019), “A history of Collective Living”, Birkhauser, Basel. - Zellner, P. (1999), “Hybrid Space: new forms in digital architecture”, Thames & Hudson, London.

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