Tempel of the Free Word Masterproject Richness, 2016 Student: Vivianne Heijkoop (0741090) Tutor: ir. R.P.J. (Ruurd) Roorda
The Temple of the Free Word is a place for the freedom of being. It is a place resting on a basis of acceptance and tolerance, a place open for social and ethical discussion. The place opens itself to all religions, personal beliefs, ideas and opinions, not neglecting anyone. It offers an opportunity for discussion, room for spirituality, a place for free interpretation. Free interpretation of religion, spirituality and ideologies is a more and more common theme in nowadays society. This opens up new discussions and demands acceptance of differences. This place is to share these differences; a place of respect, fair hearing and gaining knowledge. Therefore, it is a place of enrichment. Architecture can be a driver of experience, and the architecture of the Temple should be a driver of the experience of the Free Word. The experience one should have when walking to the Temple of the Free Word is enrichment. Already from outside the idea of an open mind and acceptance of multiple perspectives should be visible. The building is inviting you in, nevertheless your background or spirit, to share your life perspectives. Once inside one should feel the same enrichment of perspectives as experienced from outside and feel the space opening up to new ideas and spread personal ideas, yet one should be given the comfort and protection to do so and dare to speak the Free Word. The architectural gesture is enriching, inviting, and giving comfort and security, yet not forwarding a certain direction. To express this concept in the design a form study is performed to design the shape that fits the experience of the Free Word. The performed form study found its base in two predefined rules. One, an equal geometry in floor plan for the reason that the architecture should not forward a direction. An equal form expresses equality and faces every direction with the same attitude. Two, a divergent shape as an architectural gesture. The divergent shape expresses the open minded attitude of the Temple of the Free Word and it expresses the enrichment of shared knowledge and multiple perspectives. Instead of a convergent shape which is seen in many religious building that focus on one God or life-perspective, the Temple of the Free Word is divergent, giving space to multiple Gods and life-perspectives. With the use of drawings and models different forms are studied and tested to a set of rules, to define and shape the Free Word. The study resulted in a squared building, with rectangular extensions at each side. The general shape goes straight up to the first floor and diverts from there under an angle of 52 degrees. This gives the open minded architectural gesture
and expresses the enrichment one experiences when being in the building. Two big doors, measuring 1,5 meters wide and 4 meters high open at the front façade, leading to a short passage straight to the central area where the Free Word is spoken within. This makes an inviting gesture and demands people to go inside. Once inside, one straight walks into the central area that is introduced by a lower part at the edges that gives comfort and security, running to the open area that follows the same divergent shape as the architecture outside. The space diverts to the roof. It therefor creates a breathing space where multiple perspectives can flow. In the space multiple podia are realized. They are there, so that anyone who feels the need to share an idea can rise oneself and speak to the people around one. You do not necessarily listen to one speakers who speaks to all, but there is the possibility to just stand up and express yourself in a market-like setting. Around the central area, smaller area’s for meeting rooms, a lounge and offices are located. The lounge is extendable and possible to be connected to the central area, to facilitate in drinks and bites during grand meetings. Yet for private meetings it can be disconnected and closed. The lounge finds an extension at the first floor, from which one can view the discussion of the Free Word from above. The patio’s, where spiritual speakers and artist can live, are located on the first floor. The corridor is visually connected to the central area, so that the Free Word is always present. The strong shape and the equal geometry in floor plan makes it a very demanding building with a specific attitude. Being situated centrally in the park the building comes most to its right. A short walk through the park already introduces the visitors to a peaceful and gentle experience .The great biodiversity of the park encourages the spiritual atmosphere. This gives a great introduction to the Temple of the Free Word. The Temple is located at the heart of the park, near a small water and is surrounded by a grand square 1 meter below par. This makes that when entering the building, one first receives an overview of the grand square one meter below. The gentle stairs form a space for relaxing and sitting, making the square ideal for social meetings. When deciding to visit the building one walks down the stairs and enters through the grand doors. The façade expresses the structure within through the strong columns at the corners and along the straight sides. In between the strong structure an irregular rhythm is created of similar slimmer
non-structural columns. The columns are cladded with steel of a variegated yellow-brown colour, that derived from the yellow-brown colour of old temples in Italy of Greece. The columns have a depth of 700 mm, creating a strong plasticity. It breaks the strong volume, giving the Temple space to breathe. The windows that are set back to the inner side of the Temple, being almost ‘hidden’, to give the suggestion of an open free flowing air going from inside to outside and the other way around. To strengthen the message of the façade, ornamentation is applied at the steel columns. The concept of the ornament is a very symbolic way in spreading a message, and therefore I think it is very beautiful to apply when a message should be given. Therefor the steel columns contain 6 ornaments per column. For the design I have been searching for an ornament that expressed the acceptance of different perspectives. A regular pattern is designed at the columns, consisting of three vertical rows in the middle. At 6 places these rows are cut for ornaments. Each ornament is different, as it expresses a different story. The ornament that is currently designed symbolises different paths that run from bottom to top. Each ‘path’ follows its own route, creating a different ornament each time. Yet, this ornament should get more thought, or might be worked on by an artist. To realise this the façade is made of steel. This material comes forward through both its (steel) structure and through the making of the ornamentation. Steel is a material that is easy to bend or to cut, especially with nowadays high-tech technology. This makes this material ideal for different ornamentation and it doesn’t need to be a repetition of similar elements to be cost-efficient. The different (computer generated) ornaments are send by the computer to the machine and it is as quickly custom made as repetitive similar elements. Preliminary to this design exercise, a series of smaller exercises is performed. Influences of these small exercises are present in the current design for the Temple of the Free Word. The theme ‘verticality’, that derived from the analysis to 101 Spring Street in New York has played in both design exercises (the park wall and the temple) a big role. Both ‘facades’ are designed, enhancing the vertical direction. The ornamentation is something that inspired me during the analyses of the buildings and the theory, because it showed me the beauty of the message that can be hold within. I therefor took the challenge to apply this in the design too. And last but not least, the theory of Semper has had its influence in the choice of material. The choice of material for
the façade has known a chaotic process, as I could not decide what to use. Semper teaches that materials should be used according to their characteristics. When one does so, it will result in style in architecture. Regarding the difficult shape and the desire to make ornamentation this finally resulted in the use of metal as this contains the full characteristics to make this possible in the most elegant way.
SSituation ituatio on 1 1:2000 :2000
Ground floor 1:200
First floor 1:200
Second floor 1:200
Section AA’ 1:100
East elevation 1:100
Facade ornamentation concept 1:50
South elevation 1:100
West elevation 1:100
Technical section (Horizontal) 1:20
Technical section (vertical) 1:50
Structure
1. Ground floor
2. Columns
5. Columns
6. Beams
3. Beams
4. First floor
7. Second floor
8. Columns and beams
Presentation poster 1
Presentation poster 2
Form study
Form study