Provocations

Week 01

Key Words

Adaptive, Socio-cultural, Interaction, Sustainability, Ecological

What is Adaptive Architecture?

Adaptive as the name suggests means changing. Changing according to the needs of surrounding architecture is the essence of adaptive architecture. Adaptive architecture is a framework which changes its structure, behaviour or resources according to request. It is a multi-disciplinary approach concerned with buildings that are totally driven by internal data and also building those are designed to adapt to their environments, their inhabitants and objects. Because of its multidisciplinary nature, developments across Architecture, Computer Science, the Social Sciences, Urban Planning and the Arts can appear disjointed.

All Architecture is adaptable on some level, as buildings can always be adapted ‘manually’ in some way. The use of the term ‘Adaptive Architecture’ must, therefore, be seen in this overall context and the following demarcates between adaptable and adaptive: Adaptive Architecture is concerned with buildings that are specifically designed to adapt to their inhabitants, to objects within them and to their environment whether this is automatically or through human intervention.

Design Strategies in Adaptive Architecture

Mobility Levels of prescription Reusability and standardisation Automation – Design for intervention by humans Building independence

The Shed

Adaptive Façade

Adaptive House

Week 02

Metabolism

Metabolism is an architectural movement founded in Japan between the late 50s and early 60s. Four young architects formed the group - Kiyonori Kikutake, Kisho Kurokawa, Fumihiko Maki, and critic Noboru Kawazoe, all heavily influenced by their professor, the national superstar-architect, Kenzo Tange. The main idea was to rethink society using architecture as a tool for potential change, speculating how buildings can change, grow, and evolve, literally.

Inspired by the word Metabolism, the group found a meaningful way to address urban problems in Japanese society, a key to base their architectural aspirations. From a biological point of view, the term explains chemical reactions occurring in a living body, how cells adapt and move to sustain life. Metabolism is the law of growing and living things. But also, the original Japanese version of the word, shinchintaisha, overtones a spiritual perspective, closest to the Buddhist concept of impermanence, the meaning of renewal, replacement, and regeneration.

Both meanings of shinchintaisha, biological and spiritual, were a frame of reference to the collective's designs, a step closer to an architecture based in the natural circle of life. Older cities were obsolete. A new metropolis system needed to arise. The future of Tokyo was an organic one, a Bio-Tokyo. A place where the interchange of energy, resources with the ecosystem become fundamental. Buildings that could behave as cells - or grow as vegetation - where indispensable factors for the plan.

What is Metabolist Architecture?

One of the constraints which Metabolists had to face was physics. The group already knew the impossibility of fully mobile cities. Buildings weights and stability is needed to stay them upright, which means a firm structure.

When you look up projects from this collective, you can notice some patterns. Their design style resembles the idea of a tree, at least in the relationship between trunk and leaves: a long-lasting structure of wood holds smaller and perishable units called leaves. This logic is present in most of their buildings.

Week 03

Key Words

Adaptive, Socio-cultural, Interaction, Sustainability, Ecological

What is Adaptive Architecture?

Adaptive as the name suggests means changing. Changing according to the needs of surrounding architecture is the essence of adaptive architecture. Adaptive architecture is a framework which changes its structure, behaviour or resources according to request. It is a multi-disciplinary approach concerned with buildings that are totally driven by internal data and also building those are designed to adapt to their environments, their inhabitants and objects. Because of its multidisciplinary nature, developments across Architecture, Computer Science, the Social Sciences, Urban Planning and the Arts can appear disjointed.

All Architecture is adaptable on some level, as buildings can always be adapted ‘manually’ in some way. The use of the term ‘Adaptive Architecture’ must, therefore, be seen in this overall context and the following demarcates between adaptable and adaptive: Adaptive Architecture is concerned with buildings that are specifically designed to adapt to their inhabitants, to objects within them and to their environment whether this is automatically or through human intervention.

Design Strategies in Adaptive Architecture

Mobility Levels of prescription Reusability and standardisation Automation – Design for intervention by humans Building independence

A miniature world in a toolbox

Week 05

Summer House

The project through investigations into color, process, and geometry, the designer attempt to recover elements of speculative architecture mined largely from the history of various postwar neo-avant gardes.

While one of the most significant formalist narratives in the recent history of experimental designis the exchange between abstract painting and architecture, color as a design problem presents a critical blind spot in professional practice and in the education of architects. The history of compositional theory in architecture (the theory of how architectural form arrives into design space) is largely one of geometric (conceptual) thought being translated into the material stuff of the built world through intricate linework drawings and diagrams. Asserting colorful, two-dimensional graphic matter into geometric genesis narratives upsets received formalist wisdom. As media theorist Carolyn L. Kane points out in her writing, color has been relegated to the periphery of philosophies of perception in the history of western aesthetics. As architectural values, color and surface (as opposed to ontologically superior subjects like form and geometry) are disparagingly cast as ornamental or cosmetic concerns.

Week 06

What is nomadic architecture?

According to Labelle Prussin, author of African Nomadic Architecture – Space, Place and Gender, there are three basic elements that distinguish nomadic architecture from its sedentary relatives – mobility, gender, and ritual. Mobility is a given, as almost all nomads lead a pastoral life style, following their herds for grazing. This is not only a practical matter, informing lightweight structures with parts no bigger than a camel or a horse can carry, but also something that deeply affects the sense of space and environment, as near-constant movement dictates a close relationship to the landscape and forces of nature.

The tents

There are a variety of different kinds of tents and structures used by nomads, all very different, but most of them share very similar traits, especially among the African nomads. A key feature is the dual usage of the building components that serve not only as house but also as the interface of transportation. The mats, screens, structural poles and armature ribs that constitute the tent are reassembled and transformed into the palanquins that the women and children ride in. The manner in which is done differs according to geography and means of transport, but the principle stays the same; a streamlined economical system in which few elements have only one purpose.

The nomadic aesthetic

Le Corbusier once said that “Every product of the spirit or of the hands carries the imprint, the mark, the stamp of a concept of beauty.” I feel that this is also something that defines nomadic architecture, the architect is the inhabitant and the master of the dwelling, and the buildings grow and evolve through a communal creative process. I believe there is much to learn from this process. Even though our way of life differs, being involved in any aspect of your dwelling connects you not only to your home, but your community, something that is becoming more and more scarce in our days of urbanity.

For years there has been a growing desire from individuals who want to leave everything behind and move away from material possessions. The nomadic lifestyle is a rebellious way of leaving a permanent, expensive living and utilize movable structures that can become temporary homes and communities.

With unconventional designs, nomadic architecture incorporates the benefits of urban dwellings with that of a roving lifestyle.

until recently, the trend in neo-nomadism was more typically motivated by what is called Existential Nomadism, a desire for authenticity in life through the experience of a perpetual foreigner, stranger, or traveler, freely sampling the cultures and lifestyles in different places. This was enabled by emerging telecommunications technology as well as Internet-based business services, which facilitated remote work and even entrepreneurship as well as a lean lifestyle, though it has tended to still be limited to creatives and software engineers. Recently, we have seen the emergence of co-work and co-habitation accommodations tailored to this community.

Nomadic living involves a different way of seeing things and a different attitude towards accommodation, family, work and life. For many people, the home is a symbol of permanence and the physical expression of stability and security. For others, there is less of an aspiration to put down roots and rather a desire to explore the natural environment – to travel, adapt and change living conditions with ease. This gives rise to small, flexible and moveable structures for the urban nomad. Adopting a nomadic lifestyle can be voluntary or it can be a radical response to housing shortages and a rejection of typical property ownership models. The growth of cities and suburbs is beginning to make many people question the most ideal way of living and there is a growing interest in unconventional forms of domestic design. Mobile and modular housing looks to satisfy such demands and has given rise to some quirky and resourceful forms of nomadic architecture. On the other end of the scale, nomadic architecture has the opportunity to address a mode of housing for the less fortunate – those who are homeless or driven from their homes due to war or natural disaster. In this regard, nomadic people have always been forced to re-invent themselves, to defend their culture and to struggle to survive.

Water Bed

Rough Sleepers Capsule Tower designed by urban nomad architect Winfried Baumann

Walking House Joel Gregory Hayes created Route Del Sol as a solar powered

The Wheel House by Acrojou

Week 07

What is Kinetic Architecture?

Kinetic architecture allows parts of a building to operate independently, manually, or electronically without altering the structural integrity of the building. The concept is similar to the drawbridge used in the Middle Ages, now extended to include sophisticated exterior schemes that modify the façade according to external stimuli.

The origin of kinetic architecture came from the need to combine reactions to environmental conditions with structural designs. Facades can be changed dynamically, transforming static, monolithic buildings into ever-moving surfaces that fascinate onlookers and residents alike.

What is Kinetic Architecture Beneficial for?

Kinetic architecture projects are often one-off, costly, and aesthetic. But in modern times, they have become increasingly practical, with various engineering principles being used for multiple purposes.

Kinetic pieces of a building have become a viable alternative to traditional building designs in aesthetics and functionality.

An example of this is the 145-meter-tall Aedas Architects' Al Bahar Towers development in Abu Dhabi, which opened in 2012. Its responsive façade has a shading system that creates a screen. This screen is two meters outside the building's exterior and acts as a curtain. The panels are triangular and are coated with fiberglass. They are programmed to respond to the sun's movement during the day and modify themselves accordingly. This movable architecture reduces the amount of heat in the building by shielding the building from solar glare.

What Purpose Does a Movable Part of a Building Have?

Kinetic architecture focuses on building structures that can evolve with their surroundings by responding to the stimulus in its environment. Kinetic facades perform multiple functions.

Sharifi-Ha House

Week 08

Week 10

Archigram

Architecture without Architecture

In the 1960s, the architects of Britain's Archigram group and Archigram magazine turned away from conventional architecture to propose cities that move and houses worn like suits of clothes. In drawings inspired by pop art and psychedelia, architecture floated away, tethered by wires, gantries, tubes, and trucks. In Archigram: Architecture without Architecture, Simon Sadler argues that Archigram's sense of fun takes its place beside the other cultural agitants of the 1960s, originating attitudes and techniques that became standard for architects rethinking social space and building technology. The Archigram style was assembled from the Apollo missions, constructivism, biology, manufacturing, electronics, and popular culture, inspiring an architectural movement—High Tech—and influencing the postmodern and deconstructivist trends of the late twentieth century.

Although most Archigram projects were at the limits of possibility and remained unbuilt, the six architects at the center of the movement, Warren Chalk, Peter Cook, Dennis Crompton, David Greene, Ron Herron, and Michael Webb, became a focal point for the architectural avant-garde, because they redefined the purpose of architecture. Countering the habitual building practice of setting walls and spaces in place, Archigram architects wanted to provide the equipment for amplified living, and they welcomed any cultural rearrangements that would ensue. Archigram: Architecture without Architecture—the first full-length critical and historical account of the Archigram phenomenon—traces Archigram from its rediscovery of early modernist verve through its courting of students, to its ascent to international notoriety for advocating the "disappearance of architecture."

Week 11

The Walking City

In the early 60s, the Cold War climate of nuclear tension and the Space Race stirred the imagination of people in art and design. Such were Archigram , a group of forward thinking British architects aiming to encapsulate a new reality, a hypothetical future where the post-apocalyptic collapse of society is a possibility, and where the sum of human technology is geared towards survival. Archigram’s neo-Futuristic views imagined a damaged world, where cities and buildings are replaced by massive mechanical light-weight frameworks – where standardized habitation, entertainment, resource and production modules are combined, and machines have become fully independent and responsible for the automation and maintenance of this new kind of living.

Perhaps a nomadic kind of living, in the vision of Ron Herron – who was one of Archigram’s founders. Through the prism of its neo-futurist dogma, he envisaged The Walking City, a giant, mechanical, self-sustaining insect-like ark – containing its inhabitants, drifting endlessly across Earth’s now desolate landscapes, and connecting with other Walking Cities to create expanded hubs, exchanging population and resources or sticking together against the challenges of this New Era of humanity.

Although Herron’s and Archigram’s ideas were somewhat frowned upon by the architectural establishment at the time – partly because of their gloomy futuristic vision, partly because of the lack of practical detail in the inner workings of these machine habitats – there’s evidence that their visuals have resonated with architects since then, with various possible interpretations surviving as actual buildings among us. Take for example The Arc in Hammersmith or the Centre Pompidou in Paris : They’re not walking anywhere fast, of course, but with a bit of imagination, we can recognize Ron Herron’s and Archigram’s lasting influence in architectural vision.