Eroded by Oliver Hessian

ERODED TRANSITIONS oliver hessian + iain blampied

We approached the project brief with the understanding that ideally this venue should be an expressive piece of architecture that attracts visitors in its own right while also leaving the inhabiting director as much freedom for creativity and as little distraction as possible. With this in mind we defined our realm of influence as the transition of the audience from reality to intrigue.

S YDNEY FE STIVA L Brief

As a studio we were presented with a brief from Sydney Festival to provide a venue in one of three locations: • The Turbine Hall, Cockatoo Island • Adjacent to the Spiegeltent, Hyde Park • The Quadrangle, Sydney University Each venue came with it’s own requirements for performance, we chose the Quadrangle as an historic setting with capacity for an interesting relationship with digital architecture. The brief for the Quad was quite specific, with the venue being intended for a marathon performance of an Arabian theatrical drama. The performance was intended to run from 6pm to midnight with a long interlude. Programmatically this meant there was a requirement for some entertaining space where the audience could get refreshments and access bathrooms. Our response to these requirements were to propose a generous seating bank with space for reclining or cushioned seating that took inspiration from Arabian interiors while offering maximum comfort. A bar area was to be integrated into the venue while bathroom amenities and backstage access was serviced by the existing facilities in the Quad.

C ONC EPT Initial Approach

acoustic stage

performance

ati

transition

This transition is intended to link into the wider journey the audience have taken before they watch the performance and slowly remove them from their setting and reality in order to raise expectations and prepare them for the coming performance.

As a potentially touring venue we wanted the representation of this transition to be self generating rather than unique to the Quadrangle. We imagine the movement and focus of the audience as a force that erodes away the remaining volume surrounding the performance space.

P R OCE SS Geometry Exploration

Through various digital explorations we generated a model that is based on the stages of this transition. This model allows us to control the intensity of the space to exaggerate the transition as well as framing relevant views to the Quad.

P R OCE SS Flow Distortion

The erosion geometry is generated using the metaballs definition to define the path and volumes of the spaces along the journey then the sine-curves applied to our proposed sections allows us to have complete control over the entire geometry and where this pushes outside the original volume to create the openings. Our proposal as a whole is made up of 2 parts, the erosion geometry being the first and the second was our exploration of transparency.

P R OCE SS Elevation Study

stacking

hanging

In order for the volume to not read as a dense block resting in the Quad we wanted to generate a more transient expression in the way the building was read from the outside as well. This led to our explorations with the cylinder. We wanted the elevations to be integrated with the internal movement of the audience and looked into various ways the variables might be manipulated in response to this movement. Our variables possibly being: Radius, Length and Density. We also considered various construction techniques in order to achieve these effects.

C ONC EPT M O DEL Initial Intention

These are our first images of how we wanted to project to move on. They began to express the concepts of transparency and erosion that we were aiming for however we had to find a way of creating this kind of effect with a real construction technique.

P R OCE SS Elevation Study

We decided that using the strength of the tubes in compression and stack the tubes to give us the effect we wanted in elevation. We developed a model that allowed us to control the size and density of the circles across the elevation to compliment the transition stages through the building as well as softening the edges of our openings with smaller circles.

aatInfluence - 13arrInputR - 90InitCircleNumber - 3500cRand - 2

aatInfluence - 11arrInputR - 70InitCircleNumber - 10000cRand - 1.4

aatInfluence - 13arrInputR - 90InitCircleNumber - 3500cRand - 1.5

aatInfluence - 11arrInputR - 80InitCircleNumber - 10000cRand - 1.4

aatInfluence - 10.5arrInputR - 85InitCircleNumber - 10000cRand - 1.4TWO EXTRA ATRACTION POINTS

aatInfluence - 13arrInputR - 90InitCircleNumber - 3500cRand - 1

aatInfluence - 11arrInputR - 90InitCircleNumber - 10000cRand - 1.4

aatInfluence - 9arrInputR - 100InitCircleNumber - 10000cRand - 1.4TWO EXTRA ATRACTION POINTS

aatInfluence - 13arrInputR - 90InitCircleNumber - 3500cRand - 0.5

aatInfluence - 11arrInputR - 100InitCircleNumber - 10000cRand - 1.4

aatInfluence - 16arrInputR - 80InitCircleNumber - 10000cRand - 1.4pts on CrTWO EXTRA ATRACTION POINTS

aatInfluence - 13arrInputR - 90InitCircleNumber - 3500cRand - 0

aatInfluence - 11arrInputR - 110InitCircleNumber - 10000cRand - 1.4

aatInfluence - 9.6arrInputR - 80InitCircleNumber - 15000cRand - 1.4PT on CurveTWO EXTRA ATRACTION POINTS

aatInfluence - 9.5arrInputR - 80InitCircleNumber - 10000cRand - 1.4

C ONTEXT Location Plan

As we mentioned before we imagined our intervention in the Quad to become a part of the wider journey to the site. We propose to control the entry to the South and East Entrances only in order to encourage the first stage of the transition in the Quad.

C ONTEXT Site Plan

The location of the venue in the Quad relates to the use of the Great Hall as the backstage area as well as giving the Arcade and Tree enough distance to be appreciated from inside the building and at the top of the seating bank.

P R OP O SAL Plan + Axo 1. Box Office 2. Entrance 3. Bar 4. Spotlights

Box Office

5. Cave 6. Auditorium Entrance 7. Seating 8. Stage 9. Side Stage 10. Void

Toilets

We propose that the staging and seating bank are rentable structures that are then clad with our proposal of self supporting walls. This should help bring down costs as well as erection time. The entrance is to the right of the stage and allows the audience views through the side stage and into the performance volume before the show.

Seating Exit

This then begins the journey inside the building and passed the bar area and ultimately to the stairs that bring the audience out in the centre of the seating bank. The box office has its own expression in the side of the venue and also allows for quick exit during the performance to use the toilet facilities in the Quad buildings.

10 7

3 6

Disabled Access

This side route also allows for disabled access to the front row of the seating bank. At the end of the performance or in the case of a fire the audience can exit through the back of the stage quickly and theatrically.

Side Stage Access

P R OP O SAL Enfolded Elevation

Side Stage

Box Office

Skylights

Bar

Entrance

We wanted this elevations to read continuously not only from the outside but from inside by influencing the density and size of the cylinders to compliment the mood of the transition stages. These also read as layers from which the space is eroded. There are 2 layers of the skin that we have explored the use of colour in, this creates a dynamic effect when moving passed the elevation as one layerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s density read against the other as the transparency shifts with the perspective.

T R ANSITION Diagrams

Transition Stages

Focus 1: Sculpture in Quad

Focus 2: Quad

Focus 3: Spotlights

Focus 4: Performance

Focus 5: Stage

Enter Quad + arcade

Enter Venue to framed views of Quad from bar

Space tightens with skylight relief

Enter the low cave and lose touch with Quad

Up stairs to emerge in seating bank

Upon entering the Quad the focus immediately becomes the foreign object in the traditional setting, by entering from the South or East the audience then orbit the venue and can pass round the back stage of the theatre.

Once the audience enter the venue the focus switches back to the Quad. We felt this was important, as itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s an amazing space in itself. The walls then help frame the key views of the Quad and the bar area opens up to take in the arcade and tree at the south of the quad.

The next stage begins to shift the audience focus upwards and back to the venue through the use of chandeliers that themselves become a spectacle and drop spotlights on the floor for the audience to follow.

These spotlights then bring them to the entrance of the cave. This is the most removed part of the journey and the geometry begins to calm down in anticipation of the final reveal.

The audience then climb a grand set of stairs and emerge in the centre of the furnished seating bank facing the stage and find their way to the seats for the beginning of the performance.

T R ANSITION Entrance

After entering through an enclosed entrance the wall begin to unfold and open up to frame views towards the hall spire while the openings along the first part of the journey maintain a strong relation to the Quad.

T R ANSITION Bar

Just before the first corner the facades major opening is revealed framing a view of the tree in the corner of the Quad and the area in front of the bar has the strongest relationship to the Quad looking towards the arcade.

T R ANSITION Chandelier

The next corner closes off any oblique views and the roof closes up around three sky lights that control the light coming through the lightweight ethereal chandeliers as they drop spotlights and lead people curiously towards the cave.

TRANSITION Cave

Here the roof level comes right down as the audience burrow beneath the seating and lose contact completely with reality as the walls calm down and they make their last few turns and make their way up the stairs.

T R ANSITION Pre-performance

Eric Owen Moss Architects : Smithsonian Institution, Patent Office Building

Page 4 of 6

end of the tube. This plug offers a surface to provide a strong reflections to both musicians and audience performing within defined zone of the courtyard. The contoured form of the underside of the tube array has been derived to provide the lowest point at the potential stage locations at the end and side to give the best acoustical reflection sequence to the stage and audience.

Eric Owen Moss Architects : Smithsonian Institution, Patent Office Building

Page 1 of 6

concept

concept Smithsonian Institution, Patent Office Building

Seating

Washington, D.C.

Acoustics

"The Patent Office Building, an American cultural treasure and National Historic Landmark..."

Eric Owen Moss Architects : Smithsonian Institution, Patent Office Building

Page 4 of 6

concept

Seating

Acoustics

The tubes also provide an opportunity to integrate both sound absorbing and sound enhancing mechanisms within the elements, integrating them into a single system that both simplifies and liberates the architectural design of the external glass faรงade and structure. The natural variation in length of the tubes offers the potential to use varying resonant frequency of the tubes to provide damping to the reverberation across the whole frequency range. This mechanism is similar to the use of resonators in theatre from Ancient Greek times to the present day to tune the acoustics response. Using a combination of active and passive elements with the tube, the tubes will be able to both absorb sound and to radiate sound in a controlled manner. This effect could be used to great affect for performances with the Courtyard.

LIGHT

Eric Owen Moss Architects : Smithsonian Institution, Patent Office

827 rods, each .80 meters in diameter and varying in length from 3.5m to 9m, support horizontal glass sheets that enclose the court and protect the new interior from the weather. The rods continuously reflect and refract natural light into the event space below. The cylindrical shape and hollow configuration of the glass rods enables myriad lighting opportunities. In an experiential Building sense, from hour toPage hour 1 of 6 throughout the day and night, and from day to day throughout the year, the courtyard space will be perpetually remodeled with reflected light.

Smithsonian Institution, Patent Office Building Washington, D.C. "The Patent Office Building, an American cultural treasure and National Historic Landmark..." The design solution for the enclosure of the Patent Office Building Courtyard offers a

The design solution for the enclosure of the Patent Office Building Courtyard offers a remarkable oppurtunity for the Smithsonian Institution, and its chosen architects, to re-confirm the building's unique institutional and architectural pedigree "America's temple to the industrial arts" - by adding a dramatic contemporary chapter to the building's history. Fortuitously, the building's original purpose - the display of inventor's models submitted with patent applications - embodies a spirit of technical and artistic progress that the existing building will share with the newly enclosed courtyard. "The courtyard addition should support a state-of-the-art museum facility, set a standard for architecture, and signal a commitment to design and innovation," according to the building program. Eric Owen Moss Architects intends to follow in the American tradition of invention established by Alexander Graham Bell, Thomas Edison, and architects Robert Mills, Thomas Walter and others, that will "distinguish the museum for the next millenium."

Fortuitously, the building's original purpose - the display of inventor's models submitted with patent applications - embodies a spirit of technical and artistic progress that the existing building will share with the newly

LIGHT

Eric Owen Moss Architects : Smithsonian Institution, Patent Office

http://www.ericowenmoss.com/index.php?/projects/project/smithsonian_institution_pat... remarkable oppurtunity3/04/2011 for the Smithsonian Institution, and its chosen architects, to re-confirm the building's unique institutional and architectural pedigree "America's temple to the industrial arts" - by adding a dramatic contemporary chapter to the building's history.

Before the performance starts people find their seats and get comfortable in anticipation of the performance. At this stage the Quad facades are still visible through the building skin when looking perpendicular to the stage and views of the Quad from the back of the seating bank can be gained. We have designed the seating bank as oversized treads to allow them to be furnished in a Moroccan day bed style to ensure maximum comfort for the audience during the marathon performance. FIELD OF RODS

The roof design that encloses the Patent Office Building courtyard is poetically and technically unprecedented: a dense vertical amalgamation of glass and steel

"The courtyard addition should support a state-of-the-art museum facility, set a standard for architecture, and signal a commitment to design and innovation," according to the building program. Eric Owen Moss Architects intends to follow in the American tradition of invention established by Alexander Graham Bell, Thomas Edison, and architects Robert Mills, Thomas Walter and others, that will "distinguish the museum for the next millenium."

FIELD OF RODS The roof design that encloses the Patent Office Building courtyard is poetically and technically unprecedented: a dense vertical

T R ANSITION Auditorium Before the performance starts the lights in the quad go out and the stage immediately becomes the focus. The audience are comfortable on their cushioned seating and the show starts.

P R OP O SAL Section

This section helps explain how the venue operates with the cave passing beneath the seating and then rising out through the seating bank, while the bar sits beneath the back rows allowing for a larger volume. We also imagine the space between the circulation spaces to be draped with a dark material to prevent views through to the scaffolding area and out from the last part of the transition.

C ONSTRUCTIO N Construction Diagram

In order for the fabrication to be as straightforward as possible we have limited the cylinder radius to nine sizes. These could then be ordered in bulk at their standard length and cut to size for the panel assembly. These prefabricated panels would then be bolted together on site.

C ONSTRUCTIO N Elevation Assembly

Panelized Elevation

Panel WO-‐A9 Radius Diameter Wall Thickness

Panel WO-‐A8 Radius Diameter Wall Thickness

Total Length Total No. Total tubes Weight (kg/m) Weight/Radius (Kg) Total Weight

R70

R90 140 1.6

R100 180 1.6

R150 200 1.6

R200 300 1.6

R250 400 2

R300

R400

R600

500 2

600 2

800 2

820 850 930

590 630 700 740 460 460 470 470 320 570 720 540 450 360

1000 730 480 270 140 1120 860 530 210 810 500

2600 3

7480 14

6650 11

24.56285 63.86342

29.49515 220.6238

39.35975 261.7424

R100

1200 2

Total Length Total No. Total tubes

28 0 0

Weight (kg/m) Weight/Radius (Kg) 546.2295

Total Weight

R90 140 1.6

R100 180 1.6

R150 200 1.6

R200 300 1.6

R250 400 2

R300 500 2

R400 600 2

R600 800 2 950 1010 610 830 1010 1020 530 650 750 790 430 380 350 490 450 290 590 470

1200 2 350 150 250

11600 18

750 3

39.35975 456.5731

59.08895 44.31672

500.8899

The elevations would be split into panels with each panel having its own assembly information in order for the cylinders to be cut to the correct lengths and fixed together in the warehouse before being shipped to site on the back of a truck. The average weight of a single 4x3m panel we estimate at about 450kg The entire cladding structure is made up of roughly 140 panels making a total weight estimate of 70 tonnes.

P R OP O SAL Construction Detail

A Structural Concept: Arch

ELEVATION

[Academic use only]

Fixing bolt between panels

The cylinder skin is designed to act as a self supporting structure, gaining stability by joining over the main route at several points in order to act as a series of structural arches. The corner junction is also important, as we wanted the external cylinders to face out at all times. In order to avoid a heavy opaque corner the panel thickness fillets out to form a narrow crevice at the joint. The panels themselves would have the cylinders fixed together with double sided tape then the panels would be bolted together on site.

Concealed double sided between all connecting tubes

[Academic use only]

DETAIL Structural Concept: Corner detail

1:10

1:20

P R OP O SAL Day Time Permeability

Evening

Daytime

We would like to imagine the venue to be operational during the daytime. In order for this to become a more flexible and permeable series of spaces we suggest that areas of the faรงade or certain panels are able to slide out relieving the control of movement through the space.

This is how we imagine the building in the evening during the interval or post performance with the bar occupied and casting shadows across the lawn. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s also worth noting that this is the most radical version of this proposal as weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve tried to push what was possible with the digital tools weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve been exploring this semester, however we both feel that there are elements here that are strong enough to create an atmospheric sequence on their own. For example the length of the cylinders could be consistent and the layers within the design would produce the same transient effect. Similarly the cylinders could be of a more consistent size and the eroded geometry could create the desired effect.

P R OCE SS Parametric Auditorium

P R OCE SS Rented Structure Proposal

P R OCE SS Parametric Chandeliers

P R OCE SS Sine Curve Distortion Definition

P R OCE SS Elevation and Erosion Integration

P R OCE SS Exploded Original Elevations

P R OCE SS Model Photos