RESEARCH AND INNOVATION DISSERTATION (4th year)
AGENDA for 31st JANUARY 2014 Research & Innovation Dissertations (4th year)
Friday, January 31st, 2014
9.30-11.00.................................................. 6 students: 15 min/student
11.00-11.30.......................... Coffee break
11.30-13.30................................................ 8 students: 15 min/student
13.30-14.00................................................ Discussion and comments (UCD staff, external ex. & Silvia Blanco)
14.00 ............................................... Lunch
UCD staff:
Merlo Kelly Tiago Faria
External ex.: Carlos Castanheira
AGENDA for 31st JANUARY 2014 Research & Innovation Dissertations (4th year)
Friday, January 31st, 2014 9.30-11.00......................................................................................................................... Adrán Nieva, Luis Habitat´67. A changing typology Arias de la Torre, Andrea John MacLane Johansen. Greenhouse house: Living as secondary Casares Lago, Sergio The Faillure of a System: The streets in the sky Hernández Torres, Juan Charles Correa: The trouble of the high densities Martos Vilanova, Alba A gap to eternity: the "Rascainfiernos" by Fernando Higueras Ordiales Cueto, Laura Charles Jencks: Festina Lente 11.00-11.30 Coffee break
11.30-13.30............................................................................................................ Orosa Pico, Daniel Catalan vaults in modern architecture. Antonio Bonet Castellana Parga Amado, Tamara Kengo Kuma: to see and to be seen Pena Sueiro, Raquel The tunnel portal in the work of Paul Rudolph
Pereiras Corzón, David Candilis, Josic and Woods. The Power of the Masses Rancaño García, Néstor Thom Mayne. Living in technology Rodríguez Parada, Carlos Thinking architecture: materiality and identity in Sverre Fehn´s work Romero Seco, Marta Antti Lovag: the radical architect Solís Rodríguez, Elia Arvesú House
13.30-14.00 Discussion (UDC staff, external ex., and R&I lecturer Silvia Blanco)
14.00 Lunch
ABSTRACTS
Luis Adrán Nieva Habitat´67. A changing typology Due to the Montreal World Exposition of 1967, Moshe Safdie materialized his university thesis ideas on Habitat´67, a residential block with city characteristics and district scale. This Project pretended to be a modern example of a typology born on the middle of the XIX century, in which there is a willing of joining the different parts of a city in the same building, creating a human environment in which every neighbor collaborates with its interior life. Taking the Falansterios and Familisterios as the origin of this precise typology, I want to study how this typology has adapted itself over time, and under what political and social reasons.
Andrea Arias de la Torre John MacLane Johansen Greenhouse house: Living as secondary In this research paper I implement an analysis of the “Greenhouse house”, built in the seventies in Salisbury, Connecticut. I consider this one as the most representative of the symbolic dwellings designed by John MacLane Johansen and also one of the most important in general, because in this house converge really different theories of this peculiar architect. As the author said, this is not a house designed for people, it was designed for plants. In fact, is distinguished for being the meeting point of very different theories about living, it manages to combine different points of view from Johansen’s philosophy that in a first moment may seem contradictory.
Sergio Casares Lago The Faillure of a System: The streets in the sky The article focuses on the Neighborhood Unit of Elviña, in A Coruña. We analyse the problem of this work built in 1970s, studying the context in which it took place. Building Blocks such as those designed by José Antonio Corrales have ended up failing in their objectives, becoming ghettos overtime, residual architectural spaces, full of delinquency and in a terrible state of maintenance. Throughout the study, there is a revision of the most significant residential experiments developed in the United States, England and Italy in the second half of the twentieth century. The basis considered for this analysis is the construction of reinforced concrete megastructures. Wich are compared with the Spanish projet in order to find out that reasons. That led to the failure of this architectural style.
Juan Hernández Torres Charles Correa: The trouble of the high densities After a period of time lacking its own architectural identity, an architect in India emerges that conceptually translates the character and the culture of his country to his work. This is possible thanks to the combination of modern architectural principles and the ideas gathered from popular Hindu architecture, with its long, narrow housings made from materials from the area, and neutral in colour. But the problem of density and the living conditions in India, especially in the suburbs, cause Correa to seek more healthy solutions for collective housing for the population. This research paper will show how the social conscience, the use of new architecture, whose direct influence is Chandigarh, and the appreciation for the country´s own characteristics will characterize the way in which an architect, who gains international fame, plans his project.
Alba Martos Vilanova A gap to eternity: the "Rascainfiernos" by Fernando Higueras The following research is a study of Fernando Higueras work (Madrid, 1930-2008). Higueras was a Spanish architect with a trajectory which can be defined as little conventional, who liked to experiment and move away from conventions. Also he loved wordplays, which he always used to enhance the main characteristics of his works. One of those particular creations was the so called “rascainfiernos�, an invented term to refer to his house, buried seven meters below ground. This peculiar project will be taken as the guideline for this research, in fact it will be analysed in detail and compared with other works the same author, related to living. All these analysis and comparisons will be based on three essential elements which are space, light and nature.
Laura Ordiales Cueto Charles Jencks: Festina Lente My investigation's work seeks to analyze the creative process which Charles Jencks performs big earthworks of art in nature, and at the same time compare these earthworks with the artistic current of Land Art which is very close and share ideas and intentions as both visual results. Changing the typical definition of the concept of 'living' tied to a dwelling or edification, I'll consider that the concept of living is cross a land, recognize it, and feel it. Because of that I'll try to determine the tools that Jencks uses to make this possible, I mean the movement and the opening of the senses. Across a series of metaphors that relate those places with life, death, the passage of time, the universe and human, the American architect creates a relationship with the place much more intense, empirical, and sensory than it is produced in a house.
Daniel Orosa Pico Catalan vaults in modern architecture. Antonio Bonet Castellana The objective of this research is the study of a distinctive feature that appears along the Spanish architect Antoni Bonet i Castellana career: the vault, a simple and repetitive element. The interest shown towards this building element system is also present in the work of other great architects like Le Corbusier and Eladio Dieste, with whom he collaborated in different stages of their lives. For this reason, my interest focuses on establishing cross relationships between these three characters, whose thread is the use of a construction system that moved away from the principles of the Modern Movement.
Tamara Parga Amado Kengo Kuma: to see and to be seen In this work it is carried out a study about Kengo Kuma works as well as his proposal of living architecture. After analyzing his architectural history, the main objective of this research is the Water/Glass House (Atami, 1995) for being the first masterpiece that encodes his architectural language, expresses his idea of housing and allows him to become an innovator of the traditional Japanese room. In order to understand this project, it is also necessary to make reference to the Hyuga Villa (1936), a project designed by Bruno Taut which was apparently the inspiration for Kuma, and the retreat Katsura Imperial Palace, designed in the seventeenth century and considered a masterpiece of Japanese architecture. With these three references, this study compares spaces, atmospheres and materials that allow us to see the evolution of the traditional Japanese architecture up to present times, reinterpreted through Kengo’s Kuma eyes.
Raquel Pena Sueiro The tunnel portal in the work of Paul Rudolph The employment of the tunnel porch is the key to understand the work of the American architect Paul Rudolph. In his trajectory stands out the individual residences, then in the middle fifties his projects suffer a transformation that you can see in his suggestive sketch of Callahan Residence. This transformation affects the volume, the structure and the designs of his works, specially the public and the large scale architecture. Starting with this premises, this research propose to check if the tunnel porch had some responsibility in the strategy change and which possible repercussions have change in the employments of other architects.
David Pereiras Corz贸n Candilis, Josic and Woods. The Power of the Masses Residential housing has always been a subject of study for the team composed by Georges Candilis, Alexis Josic and Shadrach Woods who worked together from 1955 to 1969. Through certain patterns, these architects wanted to achieve freer, more spontaneous and open buildings. The object was to build for the masses. This article analyzes residential projects through three aspects: the order, the patio and the spatial articulation. The first point is related to the volumetric designs; the second will clarify the relationship between public and private spaces. Finally, specific elements which are essential to the articulation and definition of housing will be considered.
Néstor Rancaño García Thom Mayne. Living in technology This research paper focuses on the figure of the American architect Thom Mayne (Connecticut, 1944). It deals with his vision of architecture and his particular way to understand the concept of "living". Therefore, his biography and the context in which his early works were developed have been analyzed. The title chosen for the paper is related to the interest of this American architect in combining technology and design. To sum up, some of his best known residential projects have been described in order to make some final conclusions.
Carlos Rodríguez Parada Thinking architecture: materiality and identity in Sverre Fehn´s work This research paper examines Sverre Fehn (1924-2009) architecture, paying special attention to location, essence of materials and constructive thought, basic aspects in all of his works, regardless of their type. These three points are determinant to choose the homes and museums/pavilions that are considered here to carry out a comparative analysis. The election of the museum/pavilions is conditioned for being the most representative and well-known projects of the architect. Tour, geometry, light treatment, materials, integration on the site and access are key elements to understand the concept of "inhabiting the space" from the Norwegian architect’s point of view.
Marta Romero Seco Antti Lovag: the radical architect Through the second half of the twentieth century, many important changes took place in the field of art that had continuity in architecture, with radical and utopian proposals. This gave rise to a need for innovation and the generation of new alternative typologies for houses which affected the way of living. The objective of this research is to analyse the professional background of a nonconforming architect who is an obvious example of this radical stances when designing dwellings. Antti Lovag, born in Hungary in 1920 and who defines himself as an habitólogo, designs volumes of sculptural appearance and organic shapes from the 1960s. This research will focus on the study of an unconventional architecture apparently inspired by the human morphology.
Elia Solís Rodríguez Arvesú House “Living quietly…without considering the world… looking for the sun, source of life” The objective of my research is the detailed analysis of the Arvesú house located in Doctor Arce Avenue, 20, Madrid (1953-1964). It is a Spanish house prototype that belongs to the Modern Movement and that has been presented as a turning point in the history of the Galician architect Alejandro de la Sota (Pontevedra, 1913-Madrid, 1996). Through the detailed study of this project, I will try to demonstrate if this house really represented a change in the designing process of its author, analyzing at the same time the most outstanding aspects of a house which was demolished in the 1980s.
A CORUÑA January 31, 2014