WORKSHOP
Small certainties for constant changes Matter, structure and landscape
CONTENT: Introduction Constant changes Small certainties Landscape Epilogue Teaching experience: EXPERIENCE_1 EXPERIENCE_2 EXPERIENCE_3
Universidad Central de Venezuela Escuela de Arquitectura Carlos Raúl Villanueva Unidad Docente 00 Taller de proyectos: 3er semestre Período: 2018-2019 Profesor: Ramón J. Fermín rjfermin@gmail.com Edición 2020 Caracas, Venezuela.
WORKSHOP
Small certainties for constant changes Matter, structure and landscape
The worshop explores and experiences the scope of matter and structure - SMALL CERTAINTIES - in the construction of a landscape, as the inherent aspects of architecture capable of sustaining the architectural object conceptually and physically, in response to the needs present in society; an approach that challenges the aspects of architecture and the requests that the contemporary condition requires, characterized by its instability of CONSTANT CHANGES.
Introduction The workshop emphasizes learning technical construction projects. A pedagogical approach with a transversal knowledge between the conceptual interpretation of the contemporary condition and the construction exploring and experiencing the tectonics of the material. Understand the scope of materiality in terms of its possibilities as a support structure and the limits as a configurator of a space such as landscape, atmosphere and place. Variables that are considered as the scope of the architecture with which to operate.
FORMAS MATERIALES > PRÁCTICAS SOCIALES ESCENA (CAJA MÁGICA) >CUERPO MATERIAL >INMATERIAL TANGIBLE >INTANGIBLE DIONISIO > APOLO INMARCESIBLE > EVANESCENCIA (P.VIRILIO) INSTRUMENTAL >INEFABLE CONTROL > INDETERMINACIÓN ESPACIO CONSTRUIDO >TIEMPO NARRADO (RICOEUR / HEIDEGGER) HARDWARE > SOFTWARE
The understood architecture, like construction - matter, structure and landscape - and the events that happen in it - living - and in this approach from the contemporary condition -; Architecture as construction and human activities as a manifestation of life. This construction understood as the built space - a framework -, which have their own demands and conditions (matter) that allow the narrative of events and experience to unfold.
SOLIDEZ >LEVEDAD(KUNDERA) SOLIDO>LIQUIDO CONSERVACIÓN >DINAMISMO INFRAESTRUCTURA >EVENTO DETERMINISMO (BORDIE)>FLEXIBILIDAD Armando Reverón. El rancho (El caney). 1930.
The process aims to combine learning in what we have called 3 states: Liquid, solid and gaseous. The contemporary condition (liquid state) is taken - it is assumed -, matter and structure (solid state) is explored - it is experienced - and the landscape (gaseous state) is discovered - it manifests itself. Although divided into these states, this simplification is only a tool to facilitate the understanding of this process; three complementary states that channel this approach to architecture.
FORMALIDAD >INFORMALIDAD
VOLÚMENES, VECTORES Y DENSIDADES >LO INESTABLE FORO>MERCADO ESPACIO> LUGAR REALIDAD FÍSICA> CONDICIÓN CAMBIANTE PABELLÓN>PARQUE ESENCIA > EXISTENCIA
CONTINUIDAD ESPACIAL FLEXIBLE > CAMBIOS CONSTANTES EN EL HABITAR
MATERIAL FORMS - SOCIAL PRACTICES SCENE (MAGIC BOX) - BODY MATERIAL - INMATERIAL TANGIBLE - INTANGIBLE DIONISIO - APOLLO INMARCESIBLE - EVANESCENCIA (P.VIRILIO) INSTRUMENTAL - INEFFABLE CONTROL - INDETERMINATION BUILT SPACE - NARRATED TIME (RICOEUR / HEIDEGGER) HARDWARE - SOFTWARE FORMALITY - INFORMALITY SOLIDITY - LIGHTNESS (KUNDERA)) SOLID - LIQUID CONSERVATION - DYNAMISM INFRASTRUCTURE - EVENT (KIPNIS) DETERMINISM (BORDIE) - FLEXIBILITY VOLUMES, VECTORS AND DENSITIES - THE UNSTABLE FORUM - MARKET SPACE - PLACE PHYSICAL REALITY - CHANGING CONDITION PAVILION - PARK (S. MOLINA) ESSENCE - EXISTENCE FLEXIBLE SPACE CONTINUITY - CONSTANT CHANGES IN THE INHABIT
Constant changes: liquid state Inhabiting: contemporary condition Life happens, events happen and the evolution of space-time flows beyond our capacity to understand it and adapt our actions to it. Ignacio Peydro Duclos Liquids: They do not have a fixed shape but they do have volume. Variability of shape and presenting very specific properties are characteristic of liquids.
The first state is presented and reflected conceptually on the contemporary condition, it is understood from philosophy, sociology and the derivation that physics has had, as regards its repercussion on the ways of living, which is defined as unstable, where ephemeral, transitory and spontaneous, among others, take relevance, in addition to a change in the notion of time and space with respect to the conception of modernity, produced by new technologies and the new relationships that are manifested in human activities . The contemporary condition, which is constructed and defined in this approach, from two statements presented by two authors: Ilya Prigogine and Zygmut Bauman. In the first place, Ilya Prigogine, who is his text "The end of certainty" considers that the "modern metaphysical" basis since Newton and Descarte - determinism -, "the non-linear evolutions", "the reversibility of time" is restricted to the understanding of reality, and that the universe is full of uncertainties and it is intrinsically impossible to determine reality; like quantum theory that tries to show that reality understood as something that is there is just an illusion. "(...) It is a response to cultural change in the face of concepts such as disorder and chaos that were displaced from the field of classical science, because they are considered formless and voids of significance. Today there is a whole revaluation of them. Complex systems are located between the category of order understood as a synonym of determinism and total predictability of nature and chaos, conceived as chance and total disorder, where nothing can be foreseen. Instead, complexity implies irreversibility, temporality, nonlinearity, randomness, fluctuations, bifurcations, self-organization, probability. ” (Prigogine, 1996) Secondly, Zygmunt Bauman, who in his book "Liquid Modernity"
develops his thesis on contemporary society which he defines as unstable, where the ephemeral, transitory and spontaneous take on relevance, in addition to a change in the notion of time and space with respect to the conception of modernity, produced by new technologies and new relationships that are manifested in the activities of the human being. "It would be unwise to deny or belittle the profound change that the advent of" fluid modernity "has imposed on the human condition. The fact that the systemic structure has become remote and unattainable, combined with the fluid and unstructured state of life policy framing, has radically changed the human condition and requires rethinking the old concepts that used to frame its narrative discourse ” (Bauman, 2004) From this notion of contemporaneity, the references in the field of architecture approach the premises in the late 50s and 60s, already explored and manifested by Archizoom, Superestudio, Yona Friedman, among others, but mainly by the architect Cedric Price: “… Permanence as an architectural value must be questioned, not assumed. Architecture should be understood as a reversible process, of limited time, that does not condition the lives of users in the future. Price assumes slowness as the intrinsic condition of architecture as a discipline (buildings take a long time (to build), therefore the architect must be able, not to propose a design based on prediction, which would be a futile attempt to foresee all possible contingencies, but to develop a capacity for anticipation that assumes the inevitability of change, possible variations, uncertainty, trying not to inhibit change but maximizing the possible, the pattern of anticipation. ” For the purposes of this search, the spatial, programmatic, use and activity configuration is conceptualized as follows: Adaptable - Flexible - Incomplete - Interiority - Porous - Deep - Singular Juxtaposition - Multiple - Temporality - constant - Lightness (I. Calvin) - Speed (I. Calvin) - Visibility (I. Calvin) - Multiplicity (I. Calvino) - Versatile - Flexible - No places - Junkspace - Open terrain - Lightness (The unbearable lightness (Kundera) - Free -
Katrin Korfmann. Homo Ludens. 2013
Small Certainties: Solid State Operation: Matter and structure Solids: They have a constant shape and volume. They are characterized by the rigidity and
build. I never start from a vision or a form. Form is the result, architecture the end of a
regularity of their structures.
road. I don't mean to say that I neglect the aesthetic aspect of the drawing (…) but (…) the
In the second stage - technical - it consists of selecting a material, to understand its
execution has always conditioned me more. ” (Lavalou, 2005, Polito; 2015)
properties, its possibility as a structural and assembly system. Technical level consisting
In this process it proposes to integrate the constructive knowledge given by practice -
of specific knowledge of the subject as an element to carry out both constructive and
essays - to make decisions regarding the use of matter, the selection of the appropriate
spatial research.
constructive system for the feasibility of the project. The relationship of design and
The emphasis on construction is taken as a strategy for the creative process, since an idea is not presented as a foreshadowing of a form, but unexpected results are found and discovered by the process of configuring the artifact itself from the spear and limitations of matter, elements and parts, such as the Prouvé formula: “… The approach to the construction of Prouvé is fundamentally practical. It is the antithesis of the idealistic method that Alberti proposes in the Renaissance. For him, first
construction ratifies the process to convert tectonics as an assembly element for the project, since it is about understanding not only the parts of the artifact, but also all the elements that make up its details, in the sense of a complete system that integrates all the parts as a whole; a structure that simultaneously defines the formal, spatial and support structure. Reuse
the form is conceived, and the construction fits into it. Prouvé proceeds exactly, on the
The reusable elements are those selected for this process, which consists of the
contrary:
commissioning of construction elements or objects for the same or a new use.
It had certain types of machinery that allowed it to bend the sheet metal or make electrical
To face this process, serial materials or objects are taken, preferably industrial waste,
welds in one way or another, but not according to any procedure. All this was decisive for
which allows generating a construction system, allowing the viability of repeating a
the conception (...) That is what I call making law architecture. One does not install
proposal as a whole.
himself in front of a drawing board saying to himself: "I am going to make a house like that or a handle." That is an attitude that has never crossed my mind. On the contrary, I have always come to architecture wondering: "How could I do this construction?". The religion professed by architects does not like this constructor reasoning. Their training has not led them and does not lead them in this way. I think they have been fooled. His vision of architecture is formalist, decorative. (…) Everything I have done personally has been detached from a thought that was instantly constructive, to the point that I knew exactly what raw materials, what machines I would use, and how I would make the object.
Reuse faces the problem of material availability, adaptation to the project and dismantling and transportation, but building from reuse requires forcing the way of projecting: it is designed based on what you have, which it intends to put into operation of pre-existing objects from the study of an area or a sector, a fundamental condition for understanding the place; their modes of production and consumption, their economy and their practices and customs.
Katrin Korfmann. Homo Ludens 42. 2013
Landscape: Gaseous state Experiences: Atmospheres Gases: They have no fixed shape or volume. In them, the great variation in volume that they experience when changing the temperature and pressure conditions is very characteristic. "In front of the object, the viewer prefers the" environment "and seeks the" experience "linked to hedonism and excitement, provided by the succession of" events "." (Yves, 2007) The third state consists of the encounter of the unpredictable. A process where it is not foreshadowed, but is discovered, appears and manifests itself, product of the exploration of matter and structure. The landscape, as a place defined as experiences of atmospheres and events, is interpreted as gaseous, as opposed to the generic and indefinite space, which is “solid”. “(…) The idea of place differs from that of space by the presence of experience. Place is related to the phenomenological process of perception and experience of the world by the human body. The idea of a small-scale place is understood as a quality of interior space that materializes in form, texture, color, natural light, objects and symbolic values. ” (Montaner, 2011) Here, the duality between space and place has been interpreted as materialization of air.
Katrin Korfmann. Ensembles assembles. 2013
Epilogue In 1948 Le Corbusier presented "Boîte à miracles" at a congress on architecture and dramatic art in which he defined the "magic box" or "box of miracles" as follows: “The true builder, the architect, can build us the most subtle buildings because he knows everything about volumes. In fact, you can create a magic box that contains everything your heart could wish for. The box is cubic in shape and carries within it what is necessary to perform miracles, levitation, manipulation, distraction, etc. The interior of the cube is empty but your inventive spirit will fill it with everything that constitutes your dreams) ”. (Le Corbusier, 1965) "The magic box" by Le Corbusier, understood as a conception of architecture, reveals, and can provide an answer to, an aspect that is currently present in the discussion on the scope and limits of architecture, in terms of its questioning as a discipline: premise that can be summarized between "autonomy" and "realism"; between the complexity of things –architecture– and the complexity of reality. A conception, which has been used throughout the 20th and 21st centuries, already interpreted by Le Corbusier himself, Mies van der Rohe, Yona Friedman, the
Japanese metabolists, Cedric Price, the Archizoom and Superstudio groups, Bernard Tshumi and Rem Koolhaas, Junya Ishigami, Kasuyo Sejima, among others: the free plant, universal space, inhabiting structures (Lebesque: 1999), non-design (Dempsey : 2002), the event (Tschumi: 1995), the infrastructural architecture (Kipnis: 1997) and the generic space (Koolhass: 1997), in complementarity and responding from the internal aspects of architecture to the external aspects of it: what informal, the ephemeral, the spontaneous and the multiple and temporary events that are characterized by their lack of definition, that is, unstable. This approach enunciates a principle of architecture, that rather than following models, forms and languages, as the object has approached, architecture, is conceived as a strategy from fixed and elastic positions at the same time, promoting dialogues and responding to demands of contemporary society ̶ magic ̶ and the tangible aspects of architecture as an artifact ̶ the box ̶ and the tools with which it can be operated. Artifact that we can explore from the local cultural consciousness, from the exploration of its constructive techniques, from experimentation with materials and responses to the natural and geographical landscape.
EXPERIENCIA DOCENTE
PARTICIPANTS: Andres Martinez Angelica Vegas Annkarina Perez Ariadna Soto Daniel Dao Fausto Figuera Hillary Sanchez Janetza Medina Leonardo Ramos Natasha Mahmud Paola Cordero
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PARTICIPANTS: Eduardo Rivero Gabriela Freites Karla Blanco Katharine Perez Katherine Mocho Maria Cortez Nathalie Paradela Paola Ortiz Samuel Barrios Valentina Prado Wendy Guerra WITH THE COLLABORATION: Arq. Franchesca Rubertone Arq. Rebeca tovar
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PARTICIPANTS: Bengnabel Rojas Isabel Matos Manuel Poleo Mariana Díaz Marian Saez Naymar Lastra Magyanelzi Guillen Víctor da Silva WITH THE COLLABORATION: ARQ. Franchesca Rubertone
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ESTUDIANTES KATERIN PEREZ. UCV FAU. 2019
RAMON FERMIN Architect (UJMV_1993), Magister in Urban Design (UNIMET_2001), Specialization in Cinema (ESCINETV_1999), Professor at UJMV (19942003), Unidad Docente Coordinator 00_UCV_FAU (2015-2018) and professor since 2001. Doctorate Candidate _UCV_FAU (since 2017 ), Arquitecto_e-studio fm. http://issuu.com/rjfermin