Concrete, So Sweet

Concrete, So Sweet Foraging for an adaptable, durable and delightful architecture of the past, for the future

Steven Carlson - Professor McIntosh

[We] are interested in contributing to the environment by allowing things to last longer.

This means building in such a way that the physical reality of the construction resists better... not just for decades but hopefully for centuries.

The real challenge is not only to make a construction physically resistant to time (capable of aging well) but to make it able to be valid for other generations.

Christ & Gantenbein 2016

Information Advisor: Nicole McIntosh Committee: SinĂŠad MacNamara Roger Hubeli / Julie Larsen Syracuse University School of Architecture Thesis Prep Fall 2016 12.12.16

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Contents 6 - Thesis Statement 8 - Background: Preservation of Brutalism 10 - Ethics: Sustainability 12 - Case Studies:

14 - Typologies

22 - Ancient

30 - 20th Century

50 - Present Day 68 - Tenet #1: Encourage Future Adaptation 70 - Tenet #2: Build Tough 74 - Tenet #3: Less Austerity, More Playfulness 78 - Epilogue

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Thesis Statement

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Concrete, So Sweet forages in the history of concrete construction; to speculate about how to best leverage concrete construction as an adaptable, durable and therefore sustainable construction material.

Despite the seriousness of this goal, Concrete, So Sweet also advocates for the continued cultivation of playfulness and delight in concrete architecture

Yesterday’s concrete architecture, reinterpreted for today; ideally situated for the demands, uncertainties and vulnerabilities of the future.

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Let’s Go Back to the Start: Brutalism Today

Jessie Brennan - A Fall of Ordinariness and Light - 2014

“So it is worth asking about those Brutalist architects and the public servants who were their primary patrons: What did they know, and aspire to, that we don’t?”

Thomas de Monchaux, 2012

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What incited this trajectory, is my interest in the tenuous situation faced by the architectural style “Brutalism�. In recent years, a cult following has grown up valuing its quirky charm, alien nature and solid, durable appearance. Still, many notable structures have been demolished in recent years; unable to be preserved through litigation because they are not old enough, and unable to gain the support of the community as a whole because of their polarizing aesthetic.

Brutalist architecture (born in the mid 20th century) explicitly references ancient architecture in its massing and materiality. These buildings were built to be immortal! Yet ironically, Brutalist buildings are being torn down in droves, replaced by monotonous glass boxes that value the ethereal and temporary over the substantial and eternal.

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Ethics: Sustainability

As climate change continues to advance rapidly, Architects are now more than ever called to act in a sustainable, ethical way. This project posits that the ideal way to act sustainably is to build for the long term, to minimize obsolescence and therefore eliminate the ecological impact of the total replacement of structures.

This project champions the fact that preservation, renovation, adaptation are ideal ways to act sustainably Re¡fu¡gi¡um: an area in which a population of organisms can survive through a period of unfavorable conditions.

This project also suggests the possibility for architecture to act as a refugium. The forthcoming examples could all act as such, with their massiveness, durability and sheltering natures. These are all qualities of architecture that should not be overlooked, as climate change has and will lead to more intense and frequent natural disasters of all sorts.

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Sustainability, climate change build once well rather than 100 times poorly noah’s ark

“Alison Smithson described Noah’s Ark ‘as a withdrawal to survive, or the idyll in the extreme’ - in this way the Ark can also be seen as a ‘place apart’ where the residents can gather new strength (‘reenergise’) and from which they can once again go forth into the collective.”

Risselada From the House of the Future to a House of Today

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Method: Forage for Poche-Heavy Plans

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Ancient < Brutalist > Modern

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Extracted Plan Typology 1

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“Super Poche”

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Extracted Plan Typology 2

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“Core, Meet Walls”

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Extracted Plan Typology 3

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“Aggregated Cores”

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Extracted Plan Typology 4

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“Core, Meet Columns”

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Ex. Peveril Castle, William Peveril

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First Era: Ancient

Many ancient structures were built to withstand attack, and have incredible durability as demonstrated by the fact that these examples, in some cases have survived thousands and in all cases hundreds of years. Many have survived despite years of almost no maintenance or occupation. Many were even stripped of their finishes and hacked apart to build bridges and new buildings and the like, and have still persevered: enduring till today as a relic and amulet of the many generations who built, adapted and lived in them.

Many buildings built today wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t last even a hundred years before becoming obsolete; so what can we learn from and emulate about these ancient structures?

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312 Basilica of Maxentius Rome

1070 Peveril Castle William Peveril - Derbyshire, Eng.

1080 The White Tower William the Conqueror - London

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1130 Hedingham Castle Aubrey de Verre II - Essex, England

1190 Cliff Palace Ancestral Puebloans - Colorado, USA

1385 Bodiam Castle Sir E. Dalyngrigge - Sussex, England

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1400 Doune Castle Robert Stewart - Scotland

1800 Ground Plan for a Palace Degana - Paper

1905 Unity Temple Frank Lloyd Wright - Oak Park, IL

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Ex. Prentice Womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Hospital, Bertrand Goldberg (At right, Studio Gang demonstrates the potential of Brutalism to be preserved and adapted, not torn-down.)

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Second Era: 20th Century

After World War II, as the world underwent a period of intense reconstruction, the material of choice was by and large concrete. From the early 1950s through 1980, many relevant examples were built that have now come under intense scrutiny. Many have been lovingly maintaned as landmarks, many have been adapted to new uses, and still more have fallen into disrepair or have been demolished alltogether (as mentioned above). Incredible playfullness in formmaking, union of space and structure, monumentality and references to primal ancient architecture are items of note to watch out for.

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1951 Villa Shodan Le Corbusier - Ahmedebad, India

1952 Unite dâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Habitacion Le Corbusier - Marseilles, France

1954 Notre Dame du Haut Le Corbusier - Ronchamp, France

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1956 Price Tower Frank Lloyd Wright - Bartlesville, OK

1957 Hansaviertel Housing Oscar Niemeyer - Berlin

1958 Phoenix Bomb Shelter Phoenix Manufacturing Company

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1958 Torre Velasca BBPR Partnership - Milan

1959 Retirement House Alison and Peter Smithson - Paper

1961 Esherick House Louis Kahn - Philadelphia, PA

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1963 Yale Art and Architecture Building Paul Rudolph - New Haven, CT

1964 Economist Building Alison and Peter Smithson - London

1966 Colgate U Creative Arts Center Paul Rudolph - Hamilton, NY

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1966 Leca Swimming Pools Alvaro Siza - Northern Portugal

1966 The Whitney Museum Marcel Breuer - New York City

1966 Tower House Takamitsu Azuma - Tokyo

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1967 Balfron Tower ErnĹ&#x2018; Goldfinger - East End, London

1968 Atelier Rosa Hermann Rosa - Munchen, Germany

1968 The Everson Museum of Art I.M. Pei - Syracuse, NY

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1968 Kafka Castle Ricardo Bofill - Barcelona

1969 Barbican Estate Chamberlin, Powell and Bon - London

1970 Ernest House Robert Ernest - Atlantic Beach, FL

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1972 Van Wassenhove House Juliaan Lampens - Belgium

1973 Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art I.M. Pei - Ithaca, NY

1973 La Fabrica Ricardo Bofill - Barcelona

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1975 Prentice Womens Hospital Bertrand Goldberg - Chicago

1977 SESC Pompeia Lina Bo Bardi - Sao Paolo, Brazil

1979 Sirius Building Tao Gofers - Sydney

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Ex. Atelier Bardill, Valerio Olgiati

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Third Era: Present Day

Today (especially in Europe and more specifically in Switzerland) concrete architecture has enjoyed an incredible renaissance. Here, concrete has been deployed with incredible finesse, attention to detail, play with scales and delightful leveraging of simple (often vernacularly-derived) forms. Many of these projects demonstrate the potential of non-specific and flexible space planning to result in continually adaptable structures.

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1996 Therme Vals Peter Zumthor - Switzerland

2000 Architecture Office with Two Stairs Pascal Flammer - Paper

2002 Casa en Alenquer Aires Mateus - Alenquer, Portugal

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2003 Apartment Building on Forsterstrasse Christian Kerez - Zurich

2005 K+N Residence Valerio Olgiati - Zurich

2007 Atelier Bardill Valerio Olgiati - Scharans, Switz.

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2014 CaixaForum Madrid Herzog & de Meuron - Madrid

2007 House with One Wall Christian Kerez - Zurich

2008 National Park Centre Valerio Olgiati - Zernez, Switzerland

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2009 House in Liguria Pascal Flammer - Bonassola, Italy

2010 1111 Lincoln Road Herzog & de Meuron - Miami

2010 The Truffle Ensamble - Costa da Morte, Spain

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2010 WohnWerk Basel Christ & Gantenbein - Basel, Switz.

2011 Bruder Klaus Field Chapel Peter Zumthor - Germany

2011 Casa Cien Pezo Von Ellrichshausen - Chile

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2012 Cerro del Obispo Christ & Gantenbein - Mexico

2014 Antivilla Brandlhube + Emde, Schneider - Ger.

2014 Arcus Center Studio Gang - Kalamazoo, MI

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2016 House in Laax Valerio Olgiati - Laax, Switzerland

2016 Kunstmusuem Basel Christ & Gantenbein - Basel, Switz.

2016 An Occupation of Loss - Installation OMA/Shohei Shigematsu - NYC

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And So What We Have Learned...

From these case studies, three tenets can be extracted out of many: #1 - Encourage Future Adaptations #2 - Build Tough #3 - Less Austerity, More Playfulness

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“Humans speak and buildings don’t, buildings last (or some do) but humans don’t.”

6a Architects Never Modern

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Tenet #1: Encourage Future Adaptation

When designing, prescription and nonspecificity should be placed in an ideal balance; to provide generations of occupants the universal services and frameworks for any number of programs and iterations. The architecture should encourage itself to be clad, stripped, re-clad, set on fire, flooded and then scrubbed clean and reoccupied.

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The facade does not matter; what matters is having a durable â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;infrastructureâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; or framework of a building with which generations of users can play with to ensure the optimal relevancy of the structure.

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Tenet #2: Build Tough

Concrete is one of the most durable and resilient building materials in history: as demonstrated by the longevity of Ancient (Roman) Cement structures, the use of concrete in bunkers, extreme infrastructural conditions and the like. In light of climate change and increasingly frequent natural disasters, concrete architecture has the opportunity to shine as a material of refuge and security.

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â&#x20AC;&#x153;What we want to do is to reanimate the old, solid, creative kind of architectural thinking in modern building.... Here material, construction, and way of life become one.â&#x20AC;?

Werner Blaser The Rock is My Home 71

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Tenet #3: Less Austerity, More Playfulness

Concrete architecture, as shown by the case studies, often performs best when there is a certain level of playfulness in its design: an element of fantasy, when liberties are taken, or when scale and light are played with by an expert hand. As demonstrated by the Brutalists, concrete architecture often performs poorly in the public eye when embedded with too much austerity, too much monumentality and when executed without attention to detail. But on the flipside, when executed with nuance and deliberate sequencing of inventive spatial conditions, concrete architecture has been proven time and time again to be stunning and delightful.

How can the properties and parameters of concrete construction (texture, color, form, structural magic...) be leveraged to cultivate a playful, delightful architecture?

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Epilogue: Next Semester

I will develop three iterations of concrete buildings born of the ideas and ideals presented in this book, to test the applicability and relevancy of these concepts over a prolonged period of time; using a domestic* scale as a means of narrowing scope to a manageable level. *domestic scale, which here means a house-scaled structure that should not only be able to be a house: what is â&#x20AC;&#x153;houseâ&#x20AC;? should be able to flicker effordlessly between many uses.

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Thomas Edison - 1908 An ambitious (yet flawed) attempt at reinventing the affordable house in cast concrete... Letâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s try that again, shall we?

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Bibliography Blaser, Werner. Der Fels Ist Mein Haus (The

Rock Is My Home). N.p.: Van Nostrand

Reinhold, 1977.

De Monchaux, Thomas. “The Other Modernism.” n+1, July 12,

2012. Accessed December 13, 2016. https:// nplusonemag.com/online-only/online-only/the-other- modernism/.

Fuck Yeah Brutalism (blog). Accessed December 13, 2016. http://fuckyeahbrutalism.tumblr.com/.

May, Kyle, Julia van den Hout, Jacob Reidel, Archie Lee Coates,

IV, Jeffrey Franklin, and Michael Abrahamson, eds.

CLOG: Brutalism. N.p.: Clog, 2013.

Scalbert, Irénée, Tom Emerson, and Stephanie Macdonald. Never Modern. N.p.: Park Books, 2013.

Smithson, Alison, and Peter Smithson. From the House of the Future

to a House for Today. Edited by Max Risselada and Dirk Van

Den Heuvel. N.p.: Uitgeverij, 2004.

Thank You