GT23 - Pan Tan - Demountable Cloud

DEMOUNTABLE CLOUD

This thesis builds on Bernard Tschumi’s concept of architectural disjunction as an ubiquitous condition(1). The design of both tectonic and programmatic hierarchy in architecture is a collective interface among systems. Temporality is one perspective that can be used to understand tectonic decisions. Vitruvius defined firmness, utility and beauty as constituting the virtue of architecture. These qualities are often achieved physically and visually through the stiffness and heaviness of tectonic systems. An architectural logic focused on permanence enables compressive construction to span and resist destabilizing forces, driving a building towards monumentality and infrastructural qualities.

A contrasting frame of understanding is the demountable logic of the tent. Made of skeletons and membranes, a tent reappears through various cycles of reconstruction. While producing spaces that shift in time, the maintenance and rituals inherent to constructing a tent push a building towards collective performance. The performative logic of the tent is clearly visible in its subcategory of pneumatic structures, which also provide a collective space made of a lightweight tectonic system, assembled through a construction process that is more tangible. California's desert has been the annual site of many temporary gathering events. Famous examples include the Coachella Music and Art Festival, where facilities, lawns and temporary structures of a polo club enable annual gathering of thousands of festival-goers, performers, and event employees. Contrastingly, a small and remote gathering is Andrea Zittle's A-Z West project where 8 artists share a living space, kitchen and bathroom in a remote desert land while sleeping in individual pod-like shelters. Llano del Rio commune can

be understood as a precursor of the desert gatherings that are happening today. From 1914-1918 its 100-acre desert site gathered people who hoped to escape the capitalist structure of urban Los Angeles and participate in communally organized endeavors to build a self-sufficient commune. The accruing population was housed in temporary tent-like shelters made of wood framing and canvas enclosure. After laboring in agricultural and industrial production during the day, members gathered at the assembly hall, performed entertainment, and debated community issues such as housing and planning proposals for the commune. In 1918, the community relocated due to legal conflicts and a shortage of water supply. This site has been in a state of ruin despite the publicity of this early utopian experiment.

Through imagining a seasonal art festival event around the ruins of Llano del Rio’s assembly hall, this project searches for strategies to mix heavy and lightweight tectonic systems that reactivate a place of gathering. The Perverse use of tectonic strategies, such as thickening, wrapping, making spatial parasites, and inflating shifts the role of both individual and shared structures. Privatized infrastructure can become shared hubs for distributing resources. A shared monument is demountable and light. A performative assembly process is documented through both descriptive drawings and deliberate marks on architectural surfaces. Performance in assembling the structures becomes part of the spectacles that attract participants to this collective desert experience.

1. Tschumi, Bernard. Architecture and Disjunction 208-21. Massachusetts, The MIT Press, 1996.

• Surfaces-Skin-Facing-Sheathing-TensileElementsFabric-Membrane-Penumatics-MorphingEstrangement-Documentation-Inscription-NotationEngraving-Marks-Seams-AttachmentPoints-RibsReinforcement-Lining-Cables-Articulation

• Framing-Joint-Intersection-InterdependencyHierarchy-Cooperative-labor

• Anchor-Foundation-Cast Elements-BallastsInfrastructure-Power Source

• Mounting-Assembly-Inflation-ProcessInstructionManual-Specification-Aggregate-CollectEvents-Public Amenities-Shading-ShadowsCanopy-Cantilever

• Demount-Disassembly-Deflation-Disperse-PrivacyUnits-Module

• Reassembly-Redeploy-Reconstruct-ReorganizeRecombine

• Developed Surface-DoubleCurvature-StretchingApproximation-SystematicControl-GeneralityConnectivity

• Folding-Bunching-Pleating-Draping-Relaxed-SoftCasual-Informal-Uncertain-Heterogeneous-Generic

Heavy Permanent Private Program

Social

Cyclical Subversion of Hierarchies

Tectonic & Formal Hierarchy

Light, Temporal, Expandable Program

Form Finding

Inflating the surface of a platonic primitive. This technique defines a type of relationship between architectural elements that are rigid/heavy/permanent and those that are soft/light/temporary

Site Documenting and Analysis

150 members Member Gradually Increase

A large portion of Llano Del Rio's members were middle class who moved from Los Angeles socialist ideal and promised steady return of investment. On its 10,000 acre land The colony population increased fastly until outpacing the land’s ability to support. Some members then

Angeles because of intense conflict between union and employers. They were also drawn by colony developed sectors of agricultural and industrial production for food and income. Its then relocated to Louisiana and the site.

Timber Roof on Cobble Masonry

Llano Hotel

Tent Shelter Wood/Stone Foundation with Timber Framing

The different proportion of heavy masonry and Light framing in permanent communal structure and temporary individual shelters

The House’s flat roof is used as expandable living spaces with “eight beds arranged - each two in separate recesses. The beds only occupy part of the roof at any time...“

the house’s living room connects with an shaded patio as a private outdoor space for a single family.

Excerpt from A. R. Clifton’s historical essay written in 1918 based on his visit in Llano Del Rio Clifton (1918). History of the Communistic Colony Llano Del Rio. University of California Press, 84

The house has no kitchen. It is designed to rely on communal food services, reduces domestic labor and increases chances of community members to meet.

Ground Floor Plan of the housing proposed by Alice Constant Austin that will gradually replace the temporary shelters.

The communist colony was organized with community center and assembly space close to the highway. Production shops run along the stream that supplies water. New members are housed in temporary housing that continues to grow southward and surrounded by farming lands and irrigation canals.

View to North

View to South

Precedents

Excessive and non specific articulation of pneumatic membranes allows flexibility in form and program.

Cloud | Event Structure Research Group 1970

Inflatable Stage at Chile architecture biennial | Smiljan Radić and Nicolás Schmidt 2023

A Gabra nomadic tent in construction illustration from Labelle Prussin, Gabra Containers

Painting of a Zhao Peng(Covering Canopy) on a courtyard in Forbidden City| Unknown Architect 1895

Maison Tropicale Reconstructed in London 2008| Jean Prouve, Charloette Perriand, and Pierre Jeanneret 1951

Two Maveric 10-person Inflatable Dome Tent | HeimPlanet 2010

The Tent

Modularity shows up on the surface. Excessive detail articulation that allows flexibility in form and program.

The Cloud

Modularity shows up on the surface. Excessive detail articulation that allows flexibility in form and program.

End