building : BODY

Page 1

RACHEL BURCH

body

building:

negotiating dis/embodied space


2

DESIGN THINKING FALL 2018 ANTONIO SANMARTIN BEN ARENBERG

Marcel Duchamp. Nude Descending a Staircase #2. 1912. Artstor, library.artstor.org/asset/ARTSTOR_103_41822001518586


3

DISCOURSE The hypothesis explores how the body’s corporeality could negotiate itself between embodiment and disembodiment, from an individual perception of space, towards a collective experience in the world.

CONTEXT The site is located in the city of Kinloch. Located near St. Louis Lambert International Airport, the site is experiencing an extreme shift from a historical residential community to a collection of large distribution warehouses.

PROGRAM The program investigates how the ideas of resiliency, production, and enrichment can perform in negotiating the body’s experience in space. A rehabilitation clinic / prosthetics lab / dance theater exemplifies corporeal-centered programs that explore the body’s various experiences in the enviroment.

SPECULATION Utilizing the warehouse typology, I speculate how the body can begin to integrate itself into this complex context. How does the corporeal program help test the body’s experience in a disembodied space? How does the warehouse embody the scale of the body?


4


5

DISCOURSE

06

CONTEXT

22

PROGRAM

60

SPECULATION

74

appendix

86

contents


6


7

architecture of corporeality

01

architecture of ephemerality

02

architecture of embodiment architecture of disembodiment

03

corporeality : ephemerality : embodiment

discourse


01

8

Yves Klein. Untitled Anthropometry (ANT 74). 1960. http://www.yvesklein.com/en/ oeuvres/view/85/anthropometries/871/untitled-anthropometry/?of=11


material somatic, bodily, corporal

corporeal

cor·po·re·al \kor-’por-ē-el\

incorporeal

9

adjective_ 1. material, tangible, physical 2. (archaic) pertaining to the body, bodily, corporal

wikitionary

adjective_ 1. having, consisting or, or relating to a physical material body: such as a. not spiritual b. not immaterial or intangible

Merriam-Webster


hypothesis 01

10

The human body utilizes tools and machines to make tasks more efficient while providing less stress on the body. Tools and their construction have evolved over time, given advances in technology and society’s need for their task. While tools and machines are constructed by humans, for humans, some have little impression of the human body in their function and scale. Items like pens and chairs have direct contact with the body, while machines like cars and highway interchanges, also for human use, are complex for the body to operate and unsafe for someone to occupy. Le Corbusier argues that “engineers produce architecture”, creating a “harmonious” aesthetic out of the laws of mathematics. If we have engineered large-scaled infrastructures out of our body’s desireto simplify complex systems, is there any trace of the body in these forms? Corbusier establishes this relationship between engineers and architects, yet Pallasmaa clarifies architecture not as a visual art form but a haptic art form that our bodies are integrated into. Corporeal architecture is haptic, we relate to it through touch. It is tangible and familiar to use. Space and tools are integrated into the body, the body can integrate into the architecture. Where is tangible effect of the body lost in the translation of the production of the body’s machines and architecture?

Le Corbusier. Towards a New Architecture. Dover Publications Inc., 1931. Pallasmaa, Juhani. The Embodied Image: Imagination and Imagery in Architecture. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2011.


11

e

iv ct lle co

l ua vid

di

in


02

12

Richard Long. Line Made by Walking. England, 1967. Artstor, library.artstor.org/asset/ARTSTOR_103_41822001593464


ephemeron transitory, fugacious, passing, short-lived, transient

ephemeral

ephem¡er¡al \ i-’fem-rel\

ephemera

13

noun_ 1. something which lasts for a short period of time

wikitionary

adjective_ 1. lasting for a short period of time 2. (biology) existing for only one day, as with some flowers, insects, and diseases 3. (geology) usually dry, but filling with water for brief periods during and after precipitation adjective_ 1. lasting a very short time 2. lasting one day only

Merriam-Webster

plant_ Encyclopaedia Britannica In botany, any short-lived plant, usually one that has one or more generations per year, growing only during favourable periods (as when adequate moisture is available) and passing the unfavourable periods in the form of seeds.


hypothesis 02

14

Most architecture and space that we occupy is static and permanent. Our movement and behaviors are controlled through static space. Circulation within static space is temporal and repetitive, transitional and predictable. When analyzing Pina Bausch’s choreography in a dance performance, Ciane Fernandes notes that repetition of movement “articulates its inherent ephemeral quality,” while impressing “the image in the viewer’s memory” (40). If static architecture has so much influence on our movements, can our movement influence our architecture? The architecture of ephemeral is dynamic, temporal, impermanent. The architecture has no definable form, its form unfolds space through movement over time and becomes something other than what it was. The unfolding of space through movement leaves a trace and a marker of what came before. In Amanda Boetzkes’ article about people in a Montreal train station, she notes how their fluctuating movements are dependent on the arrival and departures of the train. Events emerge in their movement patterns when station performers begin to use this circulation as a frame for their stage. The performance of the space is constantly changing, adapting to its past events. How can the ephemerality of movement be traced and expressed in architectural space?

Boetzkes, Amanda. “The Ephemeral Stage at Lionel Groulx Station.” Circulation and the City: Essays on Urban Culture. Alexandra Boutros and Will Straw. Montreal, MQUP. 2010. Fernandes, Ciane. Pina Bausch and the Wuppertal Dance Theater: The Aesthetics of Repetition and Transformation. Peter Lang Publishing, Inc., 2001. Karandinou, Anastasia. No Matter: Theories and Practices of the Ephemeral in Architecture. Routledge, 2013.


ephemeral movement : static space

ephemeral movement : ephemeral space

15


03

16

James Clar. Pixelated Serenity. Cathedral Shrine of the Virgin of Guadalupe, Dallas, TX, Aurora: Light Video Sound Biennial, 2015.


be, personify body forth, incarnate, substantiate

embody

em·body \im-’bä-dē\

represent

17

verb_ 1. to represent in a physical form; to incarnate or personify 2. to include or represent, especially as part of a cohesive whole 3. to unite in a body or mass

wikitionary

verb_ 1. to give a body to (a spirit) 2. to deprive of spirituality; to make concrete and perceptible 3. to cause to become a body or part of a body 4. to represent in human or animal form

Merriam-Webster

disembarrass, free, rid

disembody

dis·em·body \dis-im-’bä-dē\

verb_ 1. to cause someone’s soul, spirit, consciousness, voice, etc, to become separated from the physical body 2. to separate (a part of the body) from the body 3. to discharge from military service or array

wikitionary

verb_ 1. to divest of a body, of corporeal existence, or of reality

Merriam-Webster


hypothesis 03

18

Le Corbusier states in The Modulor that there is no standard measured tool used to build in architecture as there is in music. He proposes a standard and ideal measurement of the human body; the body as a unit for measuring architecture. A body measuring tool suggests a certain scale and proportion of space that the body is comfortable operating in. If we project our own bodies into space as a measuring tool, does the space become reflective of our bodies? Is embodying a space simply standing in space, or is it a physical replication of our form, our hands, our feet into the architecture? According to Juhani Pallasmaa, the body is the relational and mediating experience in architecture. We sense our place in architecture through the medium of our bodies. The architecture of embodiment is where one can relate and project one’s body in architecture. The scale of space is a middle ground that is large enough for the body to stand and walk in, while small enough that we can see the edges of our surroundings. Since our world is a collective of multiple bodies in space, we have constructed systems such as high-rise towers and large-scaled networks of highways that aim to meet the needs of multiple bodies. These forms project large and imposing power over the human body. When does the architecture of the collective body not express the architecture of the single human body? The architecture of disembodiment is when the body cannot relate or project itself into its surroundings. The relationship between the body’s self and its surroundings is lost. Space becomes too large, too expansive, or even too small, too restricting. When does architecture transition from embodied to disembodied?

Jeanneret, Charles Edouard. The Modulor. Harvard University Press, 1954. Pallasmaa, Juhani. The Embodied Image: Imagination and Imagery in Architecture. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2011.


l

na

io lat

re

embodied space

19

i

g

sin

o mp

disembodied space


corporeality : ephemerality : embodiment

20

Through advances in technology, our world is becoming increasingly interconnected. Our built environment is becoming increasingly complex in response to these advances. The dynamic interplay between transportation, infrastructure, and communication promotes a homogeneous collective identity. The resulting frameworks privilege the masses while sacrificing the uniqueness of the individuals and the human body. Our environment embodies how we move, interact, and communicate in space. The human experience becomes disembodied through an overexertion of the homogeneous environment onto ourselves.

rity

io ter

disembodiment

ex


21

embodiment

George Teyssot describes the dynamic relationship between the body and its environment through the binary of “exteriority” and “interiority” (32). Our bodies operate in this duality of relating to other bodies in the world while also as internalized, autonomous beings. An ephemeral architecture operates across this spectrum of interiority and exteriority. We can project the body’s corporeality into an ephemeral space to test, measure, and observe the negotiation between embodiment and disembodiment.

ity

ior

er int

Teyssot, Georges. “The Mutant Body of Architecture”. Flesh. Elizabeth Diller and Ricardo Scofidio. Princeton Architectural Press, Inc., 1994.


22


23

history corporeal neighborhood

cite

airport ephemeral disruption

industry disembodied volumes

existing conditions corporeal ephemeral disembodiment

potential site negotiating the embodiment

site sight

context


Kinloch, MO 24


25

Google Earth, 2018


cite

history: corporeal neighborhood

26

Kinloch Park was settled as a commuter residential suburb in the 1890s. Located along the Wabash railroad and an electric car line, the neighborhood once housed many churches and schools for suburban population outside of St. Louis. Kinloch Field airport was established in 1909 to the northwest of the neighborhood nearby. The field is famous for hosting President Theodore Roosevelt’s 1910 flight, being the first U.S. president to fly in a plane. The current location of St. Louis Lambert Airport lies slightly southwest of the field. Kinloch became incorporated as a city in 1948, becoming Missouri’s first all-black city. At its height, the city once housed a population of 10,000 residents.

City of Kinloch Missouri. “History”. https://kinlochmo.org/history/. Gonzales, Daniel. “At Kinloch Field, Theodore Roosevelt Became the First U.S. President to Travel by Plane.” St. Louis Magazine, January 2, 2018. https://www. stlmag.com/api/content/f30820a6-efc8-11e7-a45a-121bebc5777e/. Heyda, Patty. “Erasure Urbanism.” Architecture is All Over. Columbia University, 2017.


1905

Wright, John Aaron. Kinloch: Missouri’s First Black City. Arcadia Publishing, 2000.

27


cite

history: corporeal neighborhood

28

Aerial photograph of Lambert Field and Kinloch Park.

1943

http://mohistory.org/collections/item/resource:148785


1948

The incorporated city boundaries.

Wright, John Aaron. Kinloch: Missouri’s First Black City. Arcadia Publishing, 2000.

29


cite

airport: ephemeral disruption

30

As Lambert Airport expanded and grew over the last couple decades, the Federal Aviation Administration documented the airport’s noise exposure and mandated home improvements to the surrounding areas, including Kinloch. Around 1985, and a population of 4,000, the City of St. Louis began to buy property in Kinloch with the expectation of expanding the airport. The expansion never happened, yet the buyout of the land caused the demolition of nearly 75% of the homes. With a dramatic loss of people and revenue for the city, many municipal services like the police and fire departments were left poor and neglected. The city was left with high rates of crime and poverty. The demolished homes contributed to large amounts of vacant land and a neglected, overgrown appearance.

key map

Schuester, Ryan. “One by one, Missouri’s Black Towns Disappear.” AlJazeera America, April 5, 2014. http://america.aljazeera.com/features/2014/4/missouri-black-towns.html. City of Kinloch Missouri. “History”. https://kinlochmo.org/history/. Heyda, Patty. “Erasure Urbanism.” Architecture is All Over. Columbia University, 2017.


I-270

I-70

31

65 70 DNL 75 DNL DN L

70

I-1 LAMBERT AIRPORT NOISE EXPOSURE

St. Louis Airport Authority, “14 CFR Part 150 Exposure Map Update and Noise Compatibility Program Update”, 2015

3,000

Feet 6,000


cite

airport: ephemeral disruption

32

1996


33

Google Earth historical imagery, 1996


cite

industry: disembodied volumes

34

Currently, there is an effort to revitalize the city of now 200-300 people. NorthPark Partners acquired land that extends south of Kinloch through a TIF with the intention of providing office, retail, and industrial space. Once homes were boughtout and demolished, multiple parcels became aggregated into large plots of land. These large parcels facilitated the levelling of the existing topography. The development hopes to create 12,000 jobs, with a tax revenue that would also revitalize Kinloch city center. The first phase of the development broke ground in 2006 and houses office headquarters like Express Scripts, plus distribution and manufacturing companies. Phase 2, located entirely in the western half of Kinloch, currently houses a Schnucks distribution center and an unoccupied, “speculative” distribution warehouse. These warehouses combine to 1.5 million square feet of space with extensive paving to accommodate truck transportation to the 100 regional grocery stores.

City of Kinloch Missouri. “History”. https://kinlochmo.org/history/. Heyda, Patty. “Erasure Urbanism.” Architecture is All Over. Columbia University, 2017.


NorthPark STL. “Vision”. 2017. http://www.northparkstl.com/

35


cite

industry: disembodied volumes

36

today


37

Google Earth, 2018


site

existing conditions

38


39


site

existing conditions

40


41


existing conditions

42

METROLINK RAIL

I-70

I-170

site


43

L

MA

EK

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C INE

1:10,000 scale

.125

.25

Miles .5


site

existing conditions: corporeal

44

The site has lost its corporeality. The tangible nature of the residential community has dissolved over time. The site remains relatively empty, it is not safe to walk along the streets. The city’s adjacency to the airport emphasizes its loss in corporeality. The new, larger industrial business parks are beginning to occupy the neighborhood with hundreds of trucks and trailers travelling to and from the airport. The city has been lost to industrialization and the residential community that was once familiar to its occupants has been demolished. Increasing vacant lots and vacant buildings lose its relationship in the community. Few parks and churches remain, providing a trace of the deep relationship the community still has with its place.

298

1,500,000 10

population (2010) square feet of warehouse space churches

City of Kinloch Missouri. “History”. https://kinlochmo.org/history/. NorthPark STL. “Vision”. 2017. http://www.northparkstl.com/


45


65 46

70

75

DN

L

DN

L

DN

L


site

existing conditions: corporeal

47 PARCEL LAND USE

St. Louis County, 2012

industrial vacant park BUILDINGS

St. Louis County, 2006-now

existing demolished vacant new church city building

1:10,000 scale

.125

.25

Miles .5


site

existing conditions: ephemeral

48

Due to the adjacency to the airport and its noise exposure, the city has seen dynamic changes to its neighborhood. The increasing vacant lots and vacant buildings express an ephemerality of the community. There are traces of residential streets and cul-de-sacs, yet hardly any homes remain. Nature has taken over most of the lots, creating overgrown weeds and shrubs where houses once stood. The airport nearby emphasizes the temporal nature of the site, airplanes are seen and heard flying above every few minutes. The new larger industrial buildings reject any context of what was before, yet taking advantage of its adjacency to the airport. The state of the community is still unfolding, yet there are still traces of its past.

532

194,432 -95%

avg. daily flights (2017) total flight operations in year (2017) population change (from 1980s to 2010)

National Airspace System. “Airport Noise Management 2017 Annual Report.” St. Louis Lambert International Airport Noise Management Office, 2018. Heyda, Patty. “Erasure Urbanism.” Architecture is All Over. Columbia University, 2017.


49


65 50

70

75

DN

L

DN

L

DN

L


site

existing conditions: ephemeral

AVG. DAILY FLIGHT PATHS

51 St. Louis International Airport

2017 FEMA FLOOD ZONES

EWGCOG 2015

100-year floodway 100-year 500-year PARCELS

St. Louis County

2012 BUILDINGS

St. Louis County, 2006-now

existing demolished vacant new

1:10,000 scale

.125

.25

Miles .5


site

existing conditions: disembody

52

The site has seen a dramatic drop in population from the 1980s. Due to the airports’ noise exposure on the city, people were displaced from this residential neighborhood. Some homes and churches still remain, the last traces of the community left.The city is still undergoing a transition: a few large entities own most of the land with an industrial business park injecting itself on the west side of the site, buying multiple smaller parcels to accumulate onto one or two large buildings. The low population, as well as the dramatic changes in scale of the neighborhood express the disembodiment of the community, the residents have lost familiarity to their community.

3

2/3

423.7

majority parcel owners (2012) land buyout area (1980s-1990s) population density / people per square mi. (2016)

ACS. Heyda, Patty. “Erasure Urbanism.� Architecture is All Over. Columbia University, 2017. St. Louis County.


53


BERKELEY

65

70

54

75

DN

L

DN

L

DN

L


site

existing conditions: disembody

55 POPULATION DENSITYACS, 2016

3,396/sqmi FERGUSON

Ferguson Berkeley

1,823.4/sqmi

423.7/sqmi

Kinloch

St. Louis PARCEL OWNERSHIP County, 2012

NorthPark City of St. Louis City of Kinloch BUILDINGS

St. Louis County, 2006-now

existing demolished vacant new

1:10,000 scale

.125

.25

Miles .5


sight

potential site: negotiating the embodiment

56

There is a harsh and contrasting boundary between the two halves of the city. This site lies along this fusion from the historical residential form and the enormous large-scaled warehouses. Martin Luther King Blvd. serves as a informal dividing line between the disparate urban forms. The streets are permeable to the east, and bermed or fenced from the west. Very few occupied buildings populate the site, more buildings lay derelict and vacant. The Second Missionary Baptist Church remains active and lively in the community. The site has potential to negotiate the disparity within the community while also negotiating the body’s experience within embodied and disembodied space.


57

site


sight

potential site: negotiating the embodiment

58 PARCELS

St. Louis County, 2012

residential land use vacant BUILDINGS

St. Louis County, 2006-now

existing vacant new church STREETS existing new

unoccupied warehouse 500,000 sqft

1:1,000 scale

150

Feet 300


Second M issionary Baptist C hurch

St

King St

arl Miller

Rev Dr E

g Blvd

uther Kin

Martin L

59

Hugo Ave


60


61

goals site qualities embodied program square footage programmatic relationships contextual embodiment

concept

analysis site

program


concept goals

haptic 62

small-scale corporeal integrated local

temporary experiential ephemeral episodic inscribed

body-focused disembody /embody

uniting disparate elements protective personifying surroundings

programmatic ideals


63

resiliency to recover

production to produce

enrichment to enhance

program goals


concept

site qualities

64

health care therapy performance design / fabrication

program types


corporeal

displaced community vacancy

65

industrial form church community

ephemeral

airplane noise airplane flight path new industrial form

Kinloch

traces of residential form

disembody / embody

low / declining population displaced community vacancy industrial form

site qualities

site


concept

embodied program

66

rehabilitation clinic +

resiliency

prosthetics lab +

production

dance theater

enrichment


67


analysis

square footage

68

rehabilitation clinic

prosthetics lab

dance theater


69

exam rooms x-ray / testing rehab gym physician offices procedure rooms inpatient rooms outpatient rooms surgeon’s prep massage rooms children’s playroom outdoor activities kitchen / cafe

10 rooms 3 rooms 10 rooms 2 rooms 5 rooms 5 rooms 5 rooms

100 sqft each 300 sqft each 2,000 sqft 100 sqft each 1,000 sqft each 500 sqft each 300 sqft each 500 sqft 150 sqft each 1,000 sqft 2,000 sqft 1,000 sqft approx. 16,000 sqft

consultation rooms consultation gym motion research lab manufacturing studio machine / fabrication shop

10 rooms

200 sqft each 1,000 sqft 1,000 sqft 5,000 sqft 10,000 sqft approx. 19,000 sqft

200 seat auditorium practice dance studios back-of-house storage set design shop locker rooms

2 rooms

2,000 sqft 1,000 sqft each 2,000 sqft 2,000 sqft 2,000 sqft 500 sqft approx. 11,000 sqft

total 50,000 sqft


analysis

programmatic relationships

70

rehabilitation clinic

prosthetics lab

dance theater body resiliency : building resiliency patient rooms consultation rooms body production : building production rehab gym consultation gym dance studios

procedure rooms machine shop back-of-house

body enrichment : building enrichment x-ray / testing research lab auditorium


71

progam

Kinloch community

building resiliency : community resiliency patient rooms

community therapy rooms

building production : community production gyms

community gym

shop

community makerspace building enrichment : community enrichment

auditorium

church assembly space


site

contextual embodiment

72

Given the site’s newer industrial warehouse context, the program helps embody the site. Utilizing the warehouse typology, rehabilitation gyms, manufacturing spaces, and performance studios can take advantage of the flexible, open space for these dynamic programs.

1:1,000 scale

150

Feet 300


73

site: 70,000 sqft


74


75

industrial warehouse typology

f(x)

corporeal warehouse

=W1

ephemeral warehouse

=W2

embodied warehouse

=W3

speculation


f(x)

industrial warehouse typology

76

The typical warehouse ranges anywhere from 25,000 square feet to 1,000,000,000 square feet. An average typical warehouse size is about 50,000 square feet, but larger companies like Schnucks and Amazon demand warehouses with millions or billions of square footage to carry out their operations. Since the city of Kinloch has experienced disembodiment of its community through the new industrial and distribution warehouses, I propose to test the typology of the warehouse through the properties of corporeality, ephemerality, and embodiment. How can this typology function to become more relatable to our bodies?

typical Kinloch building

avg. warehouse

2,800 sqft

60,000 sqft

Hullinger, Jessica. “13 Secrets of Amazon Warehouse Employees”. Mental Floss, November 4, 2015. http://mentalfloss.com/article/61249/13-secrets-amazon-warehouse-employees. “What is the Average Warehouse?”. Cisco-Eagle. http://www.cisco-eagle.com/industries-served/order-fulfillment/the-typical-warehouse.


77

if f(x)

= Wx

W = warehouse

then

f(corporeal) =

warehousecorporeal

f(ephemeral) =

warehouseephemeral

f(embodied) =

warehouseembodied


=W1

corporeal warehouse

78

How can the warehouse become haptic and tangible in response to the body’s movements? In a form that relies heavily on technology and machines, how can the body integrate itself into the warehouse?


79


=W2

ephemeral warehouse

80

How can the efficiency and dynamism of the warehouse’s operations positively effect the body? How can space and program change in order to meet the body’s or community’s needs?


81


=W3

embodied warehouse

82

How can a warehouse become relatable the human scale? How can a warehouse embody its users?


83


84


85


86


87

visual references

88

discourse iterations

96

program case studies

110

bibliography

128

appendix


88


89

ideas collage visual bibliography

house of cards

visual references


house of cards ideas collage

90


91


92

A LINE MADE BY WALKING Richard Long

voyeurism / solitude

abstracted emotion expressed through color

v

ephemerality of space

urbanism of alienation

MEASUREMENT ROOM, Mel Bochner

sound of space

(DIS)ORDER broken windows of Pruitt-Igoe

light + mater

intergenerational living

suburban design p federal gove

minimalist space

house of cards visual bibliography

contextual atmosphere

repetitious monotony of suburban streets


THE ORIGIN OF PAINTING Karl Schinkel

varied experience of color moving through space

riality = atmosphere

g

heightened presence in space

NUDE DESCENDING A STAIRCASE Marcel Duchamp

tracing ephemerality

minimalist composition

UNTITLED ANTHROPOMETRY Yves Klein

space = behavior

perpetuated by ernment

WHO REGULATES ORDER? men overseeing demolition of neighborhood to make way for Pruitt-Igoe

‘DISORDER’ ‘unsanitary’ housing in St. Louis Housing Committee report

intergenerational play

93


Instructions for Wall Drawings, Sol Lewitt

94

oyster bar + men’s locker room = hybrid programming

shared streets for kids, Copenhagen

diverse/spontaneous street life, Johannesburg

urban + rural utop

group form in Alexandria township Johannesburg

social hybrid systems

1964

auto-centric urbanism in Downtown Dallas

17th Floor

contemporary senior living floor plan

10th Floor

1974

modular architecture = adaptable urbanism Yamanashi Press and Broadcasting Center, Kenzo Tange

9th Floor

re-densifying suburbs in Los Angeles

house of cards visual bibliography

Plans of Downtown Athletic Club


suburban design perpetuated by traffic engineers

pian living

‘ORDER’ model of Pruitt-Igoe

suburban form near St. Louis

COLLECTIVE FORM Fumihiko Maki

Axonometric Section through WaldorfAstoria Hotel

geometric infrastructure of highway intersections

geometric farm use in rural Texas

blurring of urban/suburban Dallas

(un)natural water management systems

regulated extraction of oil in rural Texas

PANOPTICON plan for a penitentiary

St. Louis Zoning Map

95


96


97

hypothesis 01

corporeality

hypothesis 02

ephemerality

hypothesis 03

disembodiment

discourse iterations


corporeality hypothesis 01.3

98

The human body utilizes tools and machines to make tasks more efficient while providing less stress on the body. Tools and their construction have evolved over time, given advances in technology and social significance of their desired task. Tools are constructed by the human body, but some tools and machines have little impression of the human body in their form and scale. Items like pens and chairs are formed for direct human contact and use, while machines like cars and highway interchanges, also for human use, are complex for the body to operate and unsafe for the body to occupy. Le Corbusier argues that “engineers produce architecture”, creating a “harmonious” aesthetic out of the laws of mathematics. If humans have engineered large-scaled, highway interchanges out of the body’s desire to travel, is there any trace of the body in these forms? Where is tangible effect of the body lost in the translation of the production of the body’s tools and machines?

Le Corbusier. Towards a New Architecture. Dover Publications Inc., 1931.


99


corporeality

hypotheses 01.1 + 01.2

100

Corporeality is defined as being “of the nature of the physical body� (dictionary.com). Our physical body operates within an environmental system that we have constructed to meet our needs as a collective body. Spaces like doorways and sidewalks leave traces of body-scaled movements. While large-scale infrastructures like highways and farmland are a result of human activities, the translation from the human needs to the needs of the collective loses the trace of the body. How is this corporeality lost from the human to the infrastructure scale, and how do we translate the corporeal sense of the human body to the collective body?


101


ephemerality hypothesis 02.3

102

Most of the architecture and space that we occupy has been constructed to be static and permanent. Our circulation and occupation of the space then becomes reliant and beholden to this space. Our movement and behaviors are controlled through static space. Movement and circulation within static space becomes temporal and repetitive, transitional and predictable. When analyzing Pina Bausch’s choreography in a dance performance, Ciane Fernandes notes that repetition of movement “articulates its inherent ephemeral quality,” while impressing “the image in the viewer’s memory” (40). If static architectural space has so much influence on our movements, can our movement influence our space? How can the ephemerality of movement and the body be traced and influence architectural space?

Fernandes, Ciane. Pina Bausch and the Wuppertal Dance Theater: The Aesthetics of Repetition and Transformation. Peter Lang Publishing, Inc., 2001.


103 static space : ephemeral movement

ephemeral space : static movement


ephemerality

hypotheses 02.1 + 02.2

104

Ephemeral is defined as “lasting a very short time, transitory� (dictionary.com). Ephemerality can describe natural processes such as waterflow and forests, yet it can describe human activities when it comes to performance and humans in the city (Circulation and the City: Essays on Urban Culture). Many artists and dance performances aim to express this sense of temporality of the human body in space through mediums such as paint, photography, and dirt. Most architecture seems to be a static intervention in space, influencing one’s movements and behaviors. Is there a way the ephemerality of the body can be traced in space through architecture?


105


disembodiment hypothesis 03.3

106

Le Corbusier states in The Modulor that there is no standard measured tool used to build in architecture as there is in music. He proposes a standard and ideal measurement of the human body; the body as a unit in space. The body as a unit of measurement suggests a certain scale and proportion of space that the body is comfortable operating in. If we project our own bodies into space as a measuring tool, does the space become embodied, or representative of our bodies? What defines embodied space? Is it simply occupying a space or does it require a physical replication of our form, our hands, our feet onto the space? Since our world is a collective of bodies in space, we have constructed systems of space, such as high-rise towers and large-scaled networks of highways that aim to meet the needs of multiple bodies. As a whole, these spaces project large and imposing power over the human body. When does the space of the collective body not become expressive of the space of the single human body? How does the translation of space from the single body to the collective of bodies transition from embodied to disembodied?

Jeanneret, Charles Edouard. The Modulor. Harvard University Press, 1954.


embodied space

disembodied space

107


disembodiment hypotheses 03.1 + 03.2

108

To disembody is defined as “to divest of a body� (dictionary. com). If our body operates within a system of space that we have constructed to meet our needs of a collective body, does this space embody, or concretely express, our bodies in space? Then how does space disembody either the human body or collective body? How does space not accommodate the practicalities and scale of the human body in lieu of the collective body?


109


110


111

program case studies


112

health care therapy performance design / fabrication

program types


113

Paimio Sanatorium Butaro Hospital Ambiente Gallerie Maggie’s Centre Barts Granoff Center for the Creative Arts Northwestern University ProstheticsOrthotics Center

case studies


Paimio Sanatorium _Alvar Aalto _Paimio, Finland

Designed as three distinct forms, each program is concentrated into each wing. The single-loaded corridors of each wing allows for the building to integrate itself into the landscape, easily exposing the interior spaces to sunlight and adjacent forest.

114

size: 436,000 sqft site: 2,500,000 sqft

patient rooms sun deck 300,000 sqft

54,000 sqft

kitchen / service

meeting / common rooms 60,000 sqft

22,000 sqft

doctor’s/ surgeon’s/ staff housing

Heikinheimo, Mariana. Architecture and Technology : Alvar Aalto’s Paimio Sanatorium. Aalto University, 2016.


kitc

hen

/ se

rvic

e

115

/ ting mee on m com s room

sun deck

s

om t ro

en

ti pa

https://en.wikiarquitectura.com/building/paimio-sanatorium/


Paimio Sanatorium _Alvar Aalto _Paimio, Finland

The patient rooms comprise the majority of the program. Originally designed to heal tuberculosis patients, the patient wing is facing directly south to expose the patients to the sunlight. The interior of the room utilizes the reflectivity of the wardrobe and surface on the ceiling to facilitate a natural healing process for the patients.

116

heating surface

room size: 882 cubicft, serves 2 beds

reflective wardrobe cabinet

10’-0”

total patients: 296

11

’-0

0”

8’-

patient room detail http://danishdesignreview.com/blog/2018/2/7/paimio-sanatorium-1929-33


117

patient rooms + sun deck detail


Butaro Hospital _Burera, Rwanda _MASS Design Group

Located in a rural state of Rwanda, the hospital is the first healthcare facility built to serve the regional population of 340,000. MASS Design Group worked with the community to hire nearly 3,900 of the local population to aid in the construction work.

118

size: 64,583 sqft

delivery / pediatrics 14,300 sqft 5,700 sqft

staff / laundry

ICU / operative / ambulatory

11,900 sqft

5,200 sqft

men + women’s wards

2,700 sqft

pharmacy / lab

https://massdesigngroup.org/work/design/butaro-district-hospital


119

https://www.archdaily.com/165892/butaro-hospital-mass-design-group


Ambiente Gallerie _Minneapolis, MN _LEAD Inc.

The space acts as a chiropractor clinic during the day and has the ability to transition into an art gallery in the evening. Five temporary structures made from a white translucent fabric are suspended from the ceiling and express the transitive nature of the program.

120

size: 4,800 sqft

chiropractor clinic

art gallery 2000 sqft


121

x-ray

exam

exam

exam reception

temporary treatment rooms

art gallery

https://www.architectmagazine.com/project-gallery/ambiente-gallerie-chiropractic-office-event-space-and-art-gallery


Maggie’s Centre Barts _London, UK _Steven Holl

Providing counseling for families of cancer patients, the Centre is a joyful and engaging building. Private counseling rooms and public gathering spaces rotate along a circular stair. The facade is translucent panels that let light into the interior during the day, and emit light to the street at night.

122

size: 6,534 sqft

roof garden

kitchen 600 sqft

600 sqft

435 sqft

230 sqft

counseling rooms

group activity

https://www.architectmagazine.com/project-gallery/maggies-centre-barts-2459_o


123

roof garden kitchen counseling

http://www.stevenholl.com/projects/maggies-centre-barts?

group activity


Granoff Center for the Creative Arts _Providence, RI _Diller, Scofidio, + Renfro

This educational arts facility aims to expose varied and disparate programs to each other. Public gathering spaces are able to look up or down into dance studios or an auditorium, and vice versa. The building is split in half and shifted half a level, allowing for these views between the two building halves.

124

size: 36,000 sqft

auditorium production spaces amphitheater 13,600 sqft

9,000 sqft

6,600 sqft

5,000 sqft

project studios classrooms

http://arts.brown.edu/granoff-center

multimedia labs recording studios

gallery breakout space


125

4.5 4 3.5 3 2.5 2 1.5 1

https://dsrny.com/project/granoff-center?index=false&section=projects&tags=cultural%2Ctheater


Northwestern University ProstheticsOrthotics Center _Chicago, Il 126

size: 107,000 sqft

program components: motion research lab prosthetic and orthotic technology lab electronic lab machine shop resource library conference room manufacturing lab clinical rooms classrooms student lounge faculty offices


127

https://www.nupoc.northwestern.edu/facilities/index.html


128


129

bibliography


130 Aymonino, Aldo and Valerio Paolo Mosco. Contemporary Public Space : Un- volumetric Architecture. Skira, 2006. Bohme, Gernot. Atmospheric Architectures : The Aesthetics of Felt Spaces. Bloomsbury Publishing Plc., 2017. Boys, Jos, editor. Disability, Space, Architecture : A Reader. Routledge, 2017. Butler, Ruth and Hester Parr, eds. Mind and Body Spaces : Geographies of Illness, Impairment, and Disability. Routledge, 1999. Buzzi, Federica. “‘Human, All Too Human’ : a Critique on the Modular.” Failed Architecture, May 25, 2017, https://failedarchitecture.com/human-all-too- human-a-critique-on-the-modulor/. Diller, Elizabeth, and Ricardo Scofidio. Flesh. Princeton Architectural Press, Inc., 1994. Dodds, George, and Robert Tavernor, eds. Body and Building : Essays on the Changing Relation of Body and Architecture. The MIT Press, 2002. “Essay 4 Spatial Prosthesis / MANADA Architectural Boundaries.” ArchDaily, January 22, 2017. http://www.archdaily.com/803325/essay-4-spatial- prosthesis-manada-architectural-boundaries. Evans, Robin. “Translations from Drawing to Building”. Translations from Drawing to Building. The MIT Press, 1997. Giedion, Siegfried. Mechanization Takes Command. Oxford University Press, Inc., 1948. Heyda, Patty. “Erasure Urbanism”. Architecture Is All Over. Columbia University Press, 2017. Hill, Jonathan, editor. Occupying Architecture : Between the Architect and the User. Routledge, 1998. Jones, Peter Blundell and Mark Meagher. Architecture and Movment : The Dynamic Experience of Buildings and Landscapes. Routledge, 2015. Koolhaas, Rem. Delirious New York. The Monacelli Press, 1994. .


131 Koolhaas, Rem, and Hans Ulrich Obrist. Project Japan : Metabolism Talks... TASCHEN, 2011. Lambert, Leopold. “Le Corbusier and Fascism : Looking at Architecture Itself.” The Funambulist, May 1, 2015, https://thefunambulist.net/architectural- projects/topie-impitoyable-le-corbusier-and-fascism-looking-at- architecture-itself. Pallasmaa, Juhani. The Eyes of the Skin. John Wiley & Sons Ltd, 2009. Pallasmaa, Juhani. The Thinking Hand. John Wiley & Sons Ltd, 2005. Pine, Adam, and Olaf Kuhlke, eds. Geographies of Dance : Body, Movement, and Corporeal Negotiations. Lexington Books, 2014. “Prosthetics / Limb Loss.” Office of Research & Development, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, https://www.research.va.gov/topics/prosthetics.cfm. Silva, Daniela. “Ephemeral Architecture : The Concept of Ephemeral in the Digital Age.” Wall Street International, September 23, 2017, https:// wsimag.com/architecture-and-design/30516-ephemeral-architecture. Wigley, Mark. “Prosthetic Theory : The Discipling of Architecure.” Assemblage, No. 15 (Aug, 1991), pp. 6-29. The MIT Press, https://www.jstor.org/ stable/3171122.



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