Made issue 7 by Janice Coyle

made at the welsh school of architecture

Editorial

Daylighting: Functional versus Poetic, Science versus Art Villian Wing Lam Lo

16 18

Words and Architecture Stephen Chance / Chance de Silva Videre: Drawing and Evolutionary Architectures Paul Cureton

28 30

Learning to read tangled tales Oriel Prizeman A Critique of Survey Methods Heidi Day

40 42

Inspired by Detail Dan Benham Formwork, an Image Dilemma Nina Shen-Poblete

Towards a new Engagement of Architecture Nick Humes

made 7 2013 Editors: Mhairi McVicar, Eleni Ampatzi and Sam Clark Publisher: Welsh School of Architecture, Cardiff University, King Edward VII Avenue, Cardiff. CF10 3NB. Tel: +44 (0) 2920 874439 Web: www.cardiff.ac.uk/archi/made Orders: made, Welsh School of Architecture, Cardiff University, King Edward VII Avenue, Cardiff. CF10 3NB. Mail: made@cardiff.ac.uk

ISSN 1742-416X £20 cover photo: Lace meeting transparency to capture context. © Loyn & Co Architects

52 62 64

The Power Of Remaking: Lessons of Innovative Eco-Design in Design Studios Cristian Suau The Delivery of ‘Sustainable’ Design – Communicating Change in the Design Process Sarah O’Dwyer On the Scalability of Nanotypologies Sergio Pineda

72 74

Communication Methods for Effective Policy Delivery Heba Elsharkawy Connections Between Architectural Design and Mathematical Patterns Carmelo Zappulla

Communication, Collaboration and Community: an architecture of the soul James Mitchell, Julissa Kiyenje and Su Mei Tan

Affect, Scale, and Figure in the work of John Evelyn and Caruso St. John Architects Juliet Odgers

Democracy Stifles Debate Phineas Harper

100

Contributors made

at wsa

made is about materials and connections in architecture: physical making, joining and crafting; also the intellectual materials and connections of architecture: its science, histories, theories, practice and material culture.

made materials architecture design environment

made â&#x20AC;&#x153;bring into existence, cause to be, cause (something to happen), (MSw. maka construct, Da. mage manage, arrange) Gr. masseinâ&#x20AC;Ż(aorist pass. magenai) knead, magieros cook, mageus baker, Osl. mazati anoint, grease, sb. manner, style, form. Maker, manufacturer, creator; (arch.) poetâ&#x20AC;? Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology

Editorial Without communication architects would be incapable of realising their ideas, and of instructing others to make (words, drawings, models, buildings). In this issue of made we introduce a range of writers reflecting on the interdependent means of communication within our discipline.

built form within its social and cultural landscape.” Advocating ‘learning through analysis’, Dan Benham describes a simple timber detail that is often found in traditional Welsh hay barns, arguing for greater communication between the construction detail and the wholeproject parti.

Villian Wing Lam Lo finds lighting levels at Aalto’s Rovaniemi Library to Through Nina Shen-Poblete our attention be two to four times above lighting code is drawn towards architectural trade recommendations, and yet none of its literature, and in particular, illustrations occupants express concern about glare. of concrete production. Shen-Poblete She argues that a thorough understanding uncovers an apparent “disconnect with of daylight perception “requires a balance the craft production process conditioned of both scientific and phenomenological by manual labour”, to the extent that knowledge”, and therefore challenges the human figures are regularly “cropped out primacy of written regulations in framing of the picture frame to express formwork design decisions. Meanwhile Stephen as a technical artefact”. This raises Chance reviews his design process, important questions about how relevant acknowledging the importance of writing, agents of architectural production are from ‘sketch marginalia’ and paragraphs represented in print. scribbled out on paper napkins to formal planning statements and contractual Three contributing authors reflect upon letters. All act as important written forms teaching projects from within WSA. Nick of communication in describing a project. Humes explores alternative surfaces for communication – projections on building The architect’s potential to communicate façades – and illustrates their potential for through drawings is taken up by Paul conveying “subtexts of power, propaganda, Cureton, whose composite drawings of symbolism and identity” in establishing ‘Autopia’, an accreted city of coral, are in new relationships between passersby and themselves a method for understanding the institutional buildings of Cardiff this speculative project. Cureton University. Cristian Suau advocates considers the role of the hand drawing subversive action, exploring playful ways – its apparent decline and its relation to of communicating architectural design, other visualisation techniques – and such as ‘playing with less’ and developing argues the case for the maintenance ‘bricolage’ techniques. Sarah O’Dwyer of this particular ‘visionary species’ seeks to broaden the term ‘sustainability’ of drawing in architectural practice, for her students beyond readily apparent suggesting that ‘dialogic drawings’ can environmental performance of buildings, influence or help to work out and “image to design which acknowledges social, heuristically charged solutions” to our economic, and cultural needs and the changing climate. relationships between these so called ‘softer’ issues. In considering the role of ‘reading’ a multi-layered built environment, Oriel Authors Sergio Pineda and Carmello Prizeman presents notes from the field of Zapulla seek to open-up architectural conservation practice, providing rich and discourse to include other disciplines. entangled narratives on a seventeenth Pineda outlines a future research project century house in Cambridge. Within a working with chemisticians within similar field Heidi Day proposes holistic shared a territory of ‘scale’ or ‘scalability’. survey approaches, focused on Welsh He suggests that design can learn from Longhouses, which seek to “understand matter at a molecular level, and that

Multi-layered communications are taken up by Heba Elsharkawy, through a review of energy advice and its effective dissemination from government to respective stakeholder groups and individual consumers. Juliet Odgers presents a thought provoking juxtaposition of Caruso St John’s Chiswick House Café and the historic garden of John Evelyn at Sayes Court. Odgers constructs an unexpected dialogue between two examples of design, referencing shared issues of affect, scale and figure. She investigates the writing of Caruso St John and their way of producing buildings that move us – speak to us even – “with their beauty and pathos”. We close our issue on Communication with two pieces from former WSA graduates. Members of Orkid Studio reflect on their collaborative design process and on-going engagements with a community in Uganda. Phineas Harper, Assistant Editor for Architectural Review, reviews the business of making opinion ‘public’ or published. Harper poses that the reader has been passed unprecedented power to set the agenda of the publisher, to the extent that we can self-publish. And there are ever more channels for communication. Increasingly we operate within a crowded digital field, including platforms for ‘tagging’, ‘tweeting’, and ‘trending’. But are we travelling down a one-way road towards a wall of sound? Do we need to (re)discover more effective means of architectural communication?

Sam Clark, Eleni Ampatzi and Mhairi McVicar

made

formal strategies found at nanometric scales can be understood as “diagrams with multi-scalar potential”. Meanwhile Zapulla poses that “architectural work stands at the crossroads of various disciplines”. His article explores a design process evolved through examination of mathematical structures and pattern.

at wsa

Daylighting: Functional versus Poetic, Science versus Art Villian Wing Lam Lo Daylight Perception: Science and Phenomenology

eyes see and perceive, it is not surprising that lighting codes have thus far failed to achieve significant reductions in energy consumption.

Our understanding of daylight perception is often complicated by our sensations and By contrast, phenomenology refers to a memories. The phenomenological psychic and existential understanding of understanding of seeing and perceiving is places and beings. This concept influences rather hermeneutical and is less pragmatic the understanding of perception with in comparison to scientific understanding. which it centres on the bodily experience of the sensible world, involving our senses, Current daylight research has resulted in a memories and essence. In relating fair scientific understanding of daylight perception to phenomenology and quantity, and that has a considerable architecture, we seek philosophical influence on the development of lighting u ndersta nd ings e stablished by codes and standards. As a result, various phenomenological pioneers: Edmund indexes and minimum luminous levels are Husserl, Martin Heidegger, Maurice imposed for various visual environments so Merleau-Ponty and Gaston Bachelard. The as to minimise excessive lighting energy philosophy of existence, consciousness, consumption and to reduce energy waste. experience, field of being, spatial relations Despite continual revisions and and imagination form the phenomenological improvements, lighting codes and standards basis for most discussions on human have focused overwhelmingly on the perception, but are often overlooked in functionality of daylighting, rather than on scientific analyses of daylight perception. its poetic quality. Until recently, attempts In light of this, this paper examines a precise have been made by the British Standards way to gain a holistic understanding of Institution to revise the lighting codes: BS daylighting quality by applying both 8206-2:2008 Lighting for Buildings, Part 2: scientific and phenomenological approaches. Code of Practice for Daylighting, whereby occupant satisfactions and the effects of Research Methodology daylighting on human well-being and occupation were considered explicitly. Yet, Through an in-depth case study of a public there is still a lack of guidance on how to building designed by Alvar Aalto, specify lighting quality from the occupants’ Rovaniemi Library, Finland, scientific and perspective. Since scientific understanding phenomenological approaches were tested. of daylighting cannot truly reflect what our Existing psychophysical methodology

formed the basis for a scientific understanding, whilst ‘measuring’ daylighting quality with naked eyes and recording it through sketching formed the basis for an approach towards a phenomenological understanding. Alvar Aalto’s Rovaniemi Library, Finland The Rovaniemi Library sits next to the Arctic Circle where the altitude of the sun is 47º at noon at the summer solstice. With the sun staying below the horizon during winter, it is important to mention that this research was conducted in August 2010 when there were about twenty hours of sunshine throughout a day. The orientation and design of the library were influenced mainly by the low sun angles and cultural perceptions of light in Finland. It is this unique context and this specific lighting quality that led to the choice of this building. A rectangular entrance hall leads into Lapponica Hall and Department of Arts, Offices, Magazine Room, Newspaper Room, and most importantly, into the Aalto Hall. Having a fan-shaped1 floor plan with high clerestory windows facing to the north allows ample natural Finnish light to flood into the Aalto Hall during the library’s opening hours. Five trapezoid-like volumes radiate out from the centre of the

Exterior view of the Rovaniemi Library, Rovaniemi, Finland (12th August 2010) made

at wsa

building, that is the lending desk, and project towards the piazza. It is evident that Aalto sought to achieve improved spatial coherency and circulation through the fanshaped arrangement. All accommodation on the ground floor is naturally lit with the careful integration of artificial lighting. Stairs lead occupants down two flights to the basement, where the Music Library and Room of Fairy Tales are located. Unlike the spaces on the ground floor, spaces here are artificially lit only. Research Objective The objective of this field study was to fuse universal scientific knowledge with personal sensations and experiences as well as to track my phenomenological attempt to understand daylight perception. The following discussion is subdivided into two parts: 1) Scientific Analysis and 2) Phenomenological Analysis.

thermal environment least-likable aspect (i.e. mean rating = 2.92, where 1 = most dislike). The acoustic/quietness, access and luminous environment of the library were rated as the second, third and fourth mostliked aspects of the library respectively. Measuring luminance and illuminance levels in the Rovaniemi Library was an important part in this scientific study of daylight. This is because the collected subjective responses would be correlated with such physical measurements in order to determine whether the results are statistically significant. The luminance distribution was measured in four spaces: The Main Entrance Hall, History Department, the Music Library and the Aalto Hall.

These three spaces can thus be considered as being more than ‘sufficiently lit’. They are so well lit, in fact, that some lighting standards suggest that visual tasking may be moderately difficult owing to excessive glare. In order to gain a complete visual record of what the occupants saw, wideangle and fish-eye photographs were taken every fifteen minutes throughout the entire day to capture the change in luminance appearance of the spaces. Natural light was admitted through the rooflights and was gradually diffused and reflected internally over the day. Moreover, the luminance levels appeared to have been evenly distributed within the Main Entrance Hall and History Department, with values underneath the rooflights ranging from 20cdm-2 to 56cdm-2.

Both natural and artificial lighting were used in the Main Entrance Hall, History An in-depth study of Aalto Hall Department and the Aalto Hall, but only artificial lighting was used in the Music Unlike the Main Entrance Hall and Library. A brief discussion on luminance History Department, where light is Scientific Analysis distribution of these four spaces will be admitted via oval-shaped rooflights, the presented below, followed by a detailed Aalto Hall uses a high clerestory window Fifty-nine library users participated in study of the Aalto Hall. As a result of the design as the key daylighting element. this scientific research. Most of them were sky illuminance changing constantly Although seemingly overly lit, the Aalto students with backgrounds unrelated to throughout the day, a Daylight Factor, Hall had average luminance levels that architecture and engineering. Because of defined as DF%= (Indoor illuminance / did eventually reduce from a high of this unique sample set, I was confident Outdoor Illuminance) x 100%, was 544.44 cdm-2 to a low of 452.21 cdm-2. that the responses would not contain any calculated. The Main Entrance Hall and The clerestory windows admit ample bias towards the subject of architectural History Department were sufficiently Finnish light at a designated angle design or daylight perception. Each bright, with an average daylight factor throughout the day. However, the high participant had to fill in a predesigned above 1%. The daylight factor does not, level curved ceiling allows a wash of light questionnaire. With the participants being however, apply to the Music Library down the wall surfaces that then diffuses almost entirely Finnish, the questionnaire because it is not naturally lit. The Music into the sunken reading area of the Aalto was translated into the Finnish language. Library had an average illuminance level Hall. This sophisticated lighting balance The questionnaire was divided into two of 242.50 lux. This value meets the is what Aalto sought in order to reveal the parts. The first part concerns the recommended lighting standard used to sensitive quality of light. Although the participants’ general use of the library, assess the ability to carry out a visual task.2 Aalto Hall had the highest luminous while the second part focuses on their By contrast, the average illuminance levels contrast, the change in the lighting perception of daylight whereby the of the Main Entrance Hall and History distribution remained subtle throughout participants can rate the perceptual quality Department were above 500 lux. the day. The brightest point of the space of the library with six scales: Pleasant/ Unpleasant, Functional/ Non-functional, Poetic/Monotonous, Bright/ Gloomy, Average Daylight Factor Average Illuminance Glare/ Non-glare, and Dramatic/ Diffuse. (%) Level (lux) Quantitative and Qualitative Analysis

Main Entrance Hall

1.688

673.41

made

Broadly speaking, the research participants History Department 0.92 566.19 had different reasons of visiting the library. Nearly half of them went to read books in Music Library 242.50 the library, with browsing materials and doing research were the second (35.59%) Aalto Hall 4.387 544.44 and the third (22.03%) most common (Upper level) activities carried out at the library. It was surprising to find out that the participants Aalto Hall 2.271 452.21 had different expectations of a library (Lower level) building and they liked the book collections of the library the most (i.e. mean rating = 3.71, where 5 = most like), but found the Summary of average daylight factor and average illuminance level of the key spaces

at wsa

was around the clerestory window, and the ‘gloomiest’ point was around the sunken reading area. Despite only small variations in the light distribution, the illuminance level at the desk ranged from 300 lux to 1250 lux, which was higher t h a n t he r e qu i r e d l i g ht i n g recommendations. According to the lighting codes and standards, all spaces should be brightly lit. However, the Aalto Hall is, in fact, overly lit. The lighting codes predict that visual tasks could become difficult to perform under such conditions. Nevertheless, the statistical outcomes of the subjective responses do not seem to reveal any concerns with regard to visual discomfort. Subjective Responses For the purpose of statistical analysis, the semantic differential scales were presented as, for exa mple, ‘ Pl e a s a nt □□□□□□□Unpleasant’, and were coded on a scale from 1 to 7 for subsequent statistical analysis. For example, ‘1’ denotes mostly ‘Unpleasant’, whilst ‘7’ denotes mostly ‘Pleasant’. The responses were plotted on scatterplots that provide useful insights. They reveal that occupants generally considered the lighting quality at the Rovaniemi Library as ‘pleasant’, ‘functional’, ‘poetic’, ‘bright’, ‘non-glare’ and ‘diffused’. Although the overall rating of the lighting quality was relatively positive, the open-ended comments indicated that there were concerns of the Music Library being ‘gloomy’ or ‘too dark’. Meanwhile, there were concerns for the general space being ‘too bright’, but some occupants still reported that lighting was ‘slightly dull’ and ‘inadequate’, which ‘creates a musty atmosphere’.

Luminance measurements (cdm-2) of the Main Entrance Hall, History Department and the Music Library

made

Although the lighting composition of the Rovaniemi Library is somewhat diverse and dramatic, the occupants described this as ‘confusing and inconsistent’. There is a clear discrepancy between the two measures: the semantic differential scales’ responses and the open-ended comments. This discrepancy demonstrates that personal judgment is still a crucial factor in determining whether a specific lighting composition is appropriate or not. The Pearson Correlation between Pleasant/ Unpleasant and Functional/NonFunctional was 0.675 (sig. =0.01), the highest among all other perceptual scales. Moreover, both Bright/Gloomy and Poetic/Monotonous were also statistically significant in correlations with Functional/

at wsa

Luminance measurements (cdm-2) of the Aalto Hall (Lower level)

made

Luminance measurements (cdm-2) of the Aalto Hall (Upper level)

at wsa

Non-Functional, with values of 0.418 (sig. = 0.01) and 0.272 (sig. =0.05) respectively. These relationships could be expressed by the following mathematical functions: Functional/Non Functional = 2.04+0.67*Pleasant/ Unpleasant

R = 0.46

Poetic/Monotonous = 1.61 +0.51*Pleasant/ Unpleasant

R = 0.12

Bright/Gloomy = 3.47 +0.34*Pleasant/ Unpleasant

R 2= 0.11

Poetic/Monotonous = 2.21 +0.40* Functional/ Non-Functional

R 2= 0.07

Bright/Gloomy = 2.84 +0.44* Functional/ Non-Functional

R 2= 0.17

Bright/Gloomy = 4.60 +0.19* Poetic/ Monotonous

R 2= 0.07

Glare/Non-Glare = 1.37 +0.36* Bright/Gloomy

R 2= 0.06

Dramatic/Diffuse = 1.97 + 0.38* Glare/ Non-Glare

R 2= 0.21

(x,y) = Poetic/ Monotonous, Functional/ Non-functional Mean = 4.58, 5.97 (x,y) = Poetic/ Monotonous, Monotonous, (x,y) = Poetic/ Functional/ Non-functional Pleasant/ Unpleasant Mean = 4.58, 5.97 Mean = 4.58, 5.83 (x,y) = Poetic/ Monotonous, Pleasant/ Unpleasant Monotonous, (x,y) = Poetic/ Mean = Gloomy 4.58, 5.83 Bright/ Mean = 4.58, 5.46 (x,y) = Poetic/ Monotonous, Bright/ Gloomy Mean = 4.58, 5.46

y 7 6

6 5

(x,y) = Bright/ Gloomy, Functional/ Non-functional Mean = 5.46, 5.97 (x,y) = Bright/ Gloomy, Functional/ Non-functional Mean = 5.46, 5.97 (x,y) = Pleasant/ Unpleasant, Functional/ Non-functional Mean = 5.83, 5.97 (x,y) = Pleasant/ Unpleasant, Functional/ Non-functional Mean = 5.83, 5.97

5 4

Semantic Differential Scale 4 1

Semantic Differential Scale (x,y) = Dramatic/ Diffuse, Glare/ Non-glare Mean = 3.25, 3.36 (x,y) = Dramatic/ Diffuse, Glare/ Non-glare Mean = 3.25, 3.36

SemanticSemantic Differential Differential Scale Scale

3 2

(x,y) = Bright/ Gloomy, Glare/ Non-glare Mean = 5.46, 3.36 (x,y) = Bright/ Gloomy, Glare/ Non-glare Mean = 5.46, 3.36

2 1

Mean of brightness perceptual pattern of the Rovaniemi Library

Functional/ Non-functional

SemanticSemantic Differential Differential Scale Scale

Functional/ Non-functional 56 45

Poetic/ Monotonous

The regression values imply that ‘functional’ 12 3 Hours 2 Hours 1 Hour <1 Hour can be explained by 45.5% of pleasantness, 17.4% of brightness and 7.40% of poetic 1 Hours 2 Hours Hour quality. In the next step, the perceptual Relationship between 3time and brightness perception of1 Hour the Rovaniemi<1Library mean of each pair of scales, an indicator of a statistically significant result has been plotted on a scatterplot. This overall perceptual pattern of the Rovaniemi Library implies that the overall lighting quality is highly sophisticated and cannot interior is insufficient in part because an we are genetically able to adapt to similar be explained solely by a single parameter. individual’s perception of daylight is changes in an artificial space. More importantly, it is clear that perceptions influenced by time. Because a precise are all intricately linked. explanation of this phenomenon cannot be Scientific Approach: Limitations derived through scientific formulations, there is a need to step out of the boundary of Although lighting measurements can Time and Lighting Perception science. Stepping beyond science is necessary explain whether a luminous environment This scientific analysis also shows that to gain a better understanding of individual is bright/gloomy, glare/non-glare and there is a promising trend between time experiences, especially since the quality of dramatic/diffuse, descriptive qualities, such and brightness perception. As the daylight changes dramatically throughout as ‘poetic’ and ‘pleasant’, cannot be occupants spent more time at the library, the day, and indeed seasons. Standard explained by physical measurements alone. their sense of functional quality decreased illuminance levels specified in lighting codes Nonetheless, these insights support the and their sense of poetic quality increased. and standards do not currently account for arguments raised in the literature review This could mean that the longer an this change. Referring to the British Library, on lighting codes and standards and on occupant stayed at the library, the easier Long argued that we tend to have a high current daylight research: he/she could liberate his/her thoughts to tolerance for brightly lit spaces—and even glare—because we have an ‘expectation of 1) Lighting codes focus mainly on the the invisible world. light distribution in the natural world’.3 functionality of daylight, not on its poetic On this basis, I would argue that specifying What she meant was that because light quality. Such codes do not represent what a standard service illuminance for a specific changes dramatically in the natural world, our eyes actually see and perceive. made

at wsa

made

The Aalto Hall: 16th August 2010, from 11:45 to 18:30

at wsa

2) The research participants considered the described the lighting quality using specific lighting quality at the Rovaniemi Library Finnish words. as ‘pleasant’, ‘functional’, ‘poetic’, ‘bright’, Finnish English ‘non-glare’ and ‘diffused’. The Aalto Hall Rauhaa Peaceful was overly lit, with illuminance levels Artistic ranging from 300 lux to 1250 lux. Taiteellisuutta Functioning According to lighting codes and standards, Toimivuutta Eikä liian kliininen Not too clinical visual tasks should have been very difficult Sopivau Soft to perform under these lighting levels. Tunkkaisen Musty However, the statistical outcomes of the ilmapiirin atmosphere subjective responses do not seem to reveal Hieman himmeä Slightly dull any concerns with regard to visual Kaamoksen Polar discomfort. This means that the results Hämärä Blurry obtained from the psychophysical analyses Utuinen Hazy are rather narrow. Virkamiesvalaistus Civil Service

results of the psychophysical analysis did not provide a complete picture of what occupants saw and perceived. The next question to be raised is: How can we capture the poetic quality of the changing light and shadow patterns throughout a day at the Aalto Hall? To this end, I stepped out of the boundary of science, which is relatively robust and logical, and attempted to understand the lighting quality of the library in a personal way through sketching. My eyes, mind and hands were the key instruments in measuring and recording light. The results are presented below in chronological order. Unlike the scientific approach, this phenomenological study 3) Although the overall rating of the does not follow a robust procedure. Instead, lighting quality was relatively positive, the Kliininen (clinical), tunkkaisen (musty), it tracks my attempts to record what I saw open-ended comments revealed concerns kaamoksen (polar), hämärä (blurry), and perceived at the library. These attempts that the Music Library was ‘gloomy’ and utuinen (hazy), virkamiesvalaistus (civil were categorised into three sets of ‘too dark’. Meanwhile, there were general service), were the evocative Finnish words recordings: I) Sketching…, II) Time and concerns of the spaces being ‘too bright’. that the participants used to describe the III) I closed my eyes. Some occupants, nevertheless, still reported lighting quality. that the lighting was ‘slightly dull’ and Recording I: Sketching... ‘inadequate’, which created ‘a musty It can be seen that there are cultural atmosphere’. Neither a mathematical connections between the words used to The first recording was relatively systematic. function nor the mean of brightness describe the lighting quality at the Rovaniemi I chose to sketch the most intriguing details perceptual pattern represented a more Library and Finnish geography. The most of the library—light and clerestory complete picture of the occupant’s daylight obvious example is the Finnish word windows. I then zoomed out to see the perception at the Rovaniemi Library. kaamoksen, which is associated with polar lighting composition of the Aalto Hall. light. Words such as tunkkaisen (musty) and Comparing the first and third sketch, I see 4) The lighting levels at the Rovaniemi utuinen (hazy) are also connected to Finnish that when I drew the same detail again at Library were found to be two to four times geography. One participant added, ‘There a different time, I started to focus away above recommendations by the lighting might not be a similar English word to from the building envelope, with the codes. It was therefore surprising to discover describe Finnish lighting.’ ornamentation and building details fading that the occupants did not express any out gradually. My focus began to shift to concerns about glare, and that they could Although useful in gaining non-numerical the intensity and directionality of light. read comfortably. Universal codes and insights into daylighting quality, open-ended These hidden dimensions were perceived physical measurements evidently cannot questions are not sufficient to convey the through my mind and body. It is this bodily account for what the occupants perceive, emotions and sensations that occupants experience that has raised my awareness of and for what they accept or consider as experience as they move about a space. This the invisible world. This theoretical view comfortable. One possible explanation is can only help to justify and account for a was also advocated by Merleau-Ponty’s that the Finns have adapted to their unique non-alignment between occupants’ philosophy on perception.4 He argued that geography, which gifts them bright experience, physical measurements, and ‘I see objects which hide each other and summers with nearly twenty-four hours of codes requirements. However, this discussion which consequently I do not see; each one daylight per day. The Finns’ visual shows that cultural context does indeed stands behind the other. I see it [the third mechanism may thus have become used influence the way an individual perceives dimension] and it is not visible.’5 This is to their natural environment, imparting daylighting quality. This poetic quality because, as Merleau-Ponty said, ‘the fact an increase tolerance to bright light. cannot be conveyed by any of the physical that things overlap or are hidden does not measurements or by statistical results. This enter into their definition, and expresses Finnish: Culture and Perception confirms the importance of studying daylight only my incomprehensible solidarity with perception in a phenomenological way. one of them—my body.’6 One of the occupants said, ‘Siihen ei taidetta kiinnittää paljoakaan huomiota Phenomenological Analysis The adoption of this phenomenological luullakseni’ (I think it is the art which draws concept has proven to be successful in my my attention to the building). Another The lighting measurements, mathematical study. I was able to reveal the hidden occupant added, ‘This is a place where I functions and mysterious time and dimension by shifting my sense of being turn away from reality to look for new brightness perception relationship did not from a physical space to a perceptible, knowledge.’ This section examines whether reflect sensations and/or emotions of the thinkable space. In this way, I was able to there is a direct connection between library users. Although open-ended convey my judgment of the invisible world Finnish culture and the way the Finns comments provided some evidence that without relying on numerical interpretations. perceive lighting quality. In the interviews cultural context influenced the way we What is more, I attempted to include a that I conducted, some of the participants perceive daylighting quality, the numerical detailed description of the lighting quality made

at wsa

in words, with which my recordings enabled me to account for more subjective aspects— my intuition and experience. Recording II: Time Reflections on Recording II Unlike my first attempt at recording, I chose to stay on the lower level of the Aalto Hall. I was therefore able to track the changes of my sensations and my lighting perception in one particular place over a continuous period of time. There were subtle changes in the way I drew, particularly in the strokes I used to draw sun patches. The strokes became bolder and darker as the amount of daylight increased. It was very interesting to see that changes in lighting direction were also explicitly visible in my sketches. Although I had sketched this place repeatedly, my understanding of daylighting quality grew, and my written descriptions became more evocative. Crucially, my sketches and words recorded my liberation during my perception of the space. My intuition and imagination opened a gateway to the invisible world. This verifies Merleau-Ponty’s philosophy, which concerns with connecting objectivity and subjectivity to the field of being, by liberating our visions from reality to the philosophical world.

13th August 2010 @ 13:30

15th August 2010 @ 12:03

Undoubtedly, there are spiritual and instrumental values in these sketches. Sketches and paintings are similar, as Merleau-Ponty pointed out, ‘painting is an art of space… But the immobile canvas could suggest a change of place… a motion not contained in it.’7 The sketches drawn in this experiment were able to capture the change in lighting quality and my lighting perception. Obviously, these values and interpretations cannot be revealed through photographs or scientific study. I was keen to isolate my sight from the rest of my senses and to test whether the rest of my senses would influence the way I perceived daylighting quality. So I decided to close my eyes and perceive the space with my other senses.

16th August 2010 @ 12:15

Recording III: I closed my eyes Experiments were conducted by sketching with my eyes closed. When I first closed my eyes and attempted to sketch what I sensed, I was slightly tense as I was unsure what kind of result I was going to get. However, perhaps because of the promising insights that I gained from my previous phenomenological recordings, I gradually

made

16th August 2010 @ 14:30

at wsa

16th August 2010 @ 17:00

learned to draw more freely and to act more naturally. Importantly, I let my intuition and imagination guide me through all the phenomenological recordings. My sketches clearly became increasingly powerful and meaningful. The stroke pressure was a recording of light intensity, whilst the line direction was a recording of where light was admitted from. As I closed my eyes, the surrounding sounds, such as footsteps, occupants’ chatting and book flipping, became important as a clue for identifying the height and depth of a space. By closing my eyes, I effectively isolated my sight from the rest of my senses. Vesely shares a similar view: he tested the human ability of spatial cognition by inverting the vision of his research participant.8 He demonstrated that spatial cognition is defined by continuous experience rather than by vision. Therefore, it was crucial to close my eyes in these experiments, thereby limiting my senses and perception. Meanwhile, I could revalue the lighting quality through my other senses. Once again, this study shows that physical measurements of daylight do not appear to present what we actually see

and perceive in a holistic way. Th is is perhaps because physical measurements do not represent what our other senses perceive. An Overlap between Scientific and Phenomenological Approaches The technical analysis of the Rovaniemi Library provided precise information about lighting levels and occupant ratings of lighting quality. Th is information offered insights in terms of the physical composition of the luminous environment. Subjective responses and the use of evocative Finnish words highlighted that cultural context did influence the way an individual perceived daylighting quality: occupants did not express any concerns about visual discomfort even though the lighting levels of the library were two to four times above the recommendations. The non-numerical results collected from the open-ended questions highlighted the fact that the subjective descriptions can only help to justify and account for a non-alignment between the users’ experiences, scientific measurements, and

made

codes requirements. However, what exactly was the lighting quality at the library? If we merely rely on the scientific analysis, the answer seems to be somewhat unclear. Therefore, these subjective responses could only be considered as a small step in understanding daylight perception. My experience, and memories, and the changes in my perception, were recorded through sketching and writing. These were my personal attempts to form a phenomenological understanding of daylight perception. My sketches were able to reveal the poetic and sensitive quality of daylight, bringing back my experience at the library. In one of my writings, I mentioned that ‘Th rough the clerestory window, I can see the blue sky only but nothing else… I feel I am isolated from the real world… and I am connected to the Finnish nature through light.’ I sensed the qualities of harmony and tranquillity. However, these poetic qualities could not be recorded through the scientific approach. I was able to sense that the space was diverse, and, at one point, I even lost my bearings when I tried

at wsa

made

at wsa

experiencing the library with my eyes closed. This shows that physical measurements are not always able to capture what our other senses perceive.

analysis. The results however do not necessarily account for human experience, awareness and consciousness.

other hand, lighting codes and standards are unable to address these through numerical representations.

5) The scientific approach concerns the Crucially, this study suggests that we functional aspects of daylight, emphasising should focus on the overlap between the physiology, whereas the phenomenological scientific and phenomenological approaches. If this phenomenological approach is approach concerns with the poetic aspects This is the intersection where the extremes somehow combined with existing scientific of daylight, addressing feelings, emotions, of both approaches become softened and approaches, we may be able to provide a imaginations and experience. enriched. A phenomenological study helps holistic understanding of daylighting to enrich the pragmatic results from a quality. The results of this study identify In conclusion, this study suggests that scientific study and to prevent the overall the extremes and limits of scientific and there is no single, robust methodology for result becoming too objective. A scientific phenomenological approaches in evaluating daylight perception. Designers study, by contrast, helps to impose limits understanding daylighting quality: and researchers should not have an on a phenomenological study, preventing extreme bias towards or against either it from becoming too personal. It is worth 1) Science is pragmatic and grounded in science or phenomenology. A thorough noting that phenomenologists, such as objectivity, whereas phenomenology is understanding of daylight perception Merleau-Ponty and Vesely, do in fact turn concerned with sensuous and personal requires a balance of both scientific and regularly to scientific methods in order to experiences. phenomenological knowledge. In this explore phenomenological questions. This research, both approaches were applied in hybrid approach, however, has yet to 2) The scientific approach can be too order to seek subjective responses. The become established in the field of lighting objective, whereas the phenomenological scientific result was found to be too research. It remains important to be able approach can be too personal and technical, whereas the phenomenological to understand phenomenological intentions self-referential. result was felt to be too personal. Not only through our experiences while rationalising has this study confirmed that scientific our lighting perception using scientific 3) Studying scientific daylight requires data can offer rules to follow and a degree terms. This understanding is consistent strong photographic and numerical of comfort for designers to predict clear with Husserl’s philosophy on logic, which i nt e r pr e t a t ion s , w he r e a s my results, but it has also demonstrated that asserts that our experience is the basis of phenomenological study rely on experience, the phenomenological approach should all knowledge and all truth.9 If we accept free-hand sketches and words. be developed in parallel with lighting that a thorough understanding of daylight codes and standards. This is because the perception requires a balance of both 4) The scientific approach involves depth within the field of phenomenological scientific and phenomenological knowledge, computing subjective ratings on study can highlight key insights on then we may be able to reveal the intricate daylighting quality through regression lighting quality and perception. On the nature of daylight perception holistically. The Future

1 Quantrill, Malcolm, Alvar Aalto: A Critical Study (New York: Whitney Library of Design, 1983), 114-207. 2 British Standards Institution (BSI), Lighting for buildings: Part 2. Code of practice for daylighting; BS 8206: Part 2: 1992 (London: BSI, 1992), 36. 3 Long, M.J., ‘Glare; Bring It On’, Materials Architecture Design Environment (MADE), Vol. 6, January, (2011), 4-5. 4 Merleau-Ponty, Maurice, Phenomenology of Perception,

trans. by Smith, Colin (Evanston: Northwestern University Press, 1964). 5 Merleau-Ponty, Maurice, ‘Eye and Mind’, The Primacy of Perception, Series: Northwestern University Studies in Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy, trans. by Edie, James M (Evanston: Northwestern University Press, 1964), 172-173. 6 Ibid.

made

7 Merleau-Ponty, Maurice, 184-186. 8 Vesely, Dalibor, Architecture in the age of divided representation: The question of creativity in the shadow of production (Cambridge: The MIT Press, 2004), 47-48. 9 Husserl, Edmund, Experience and Judgment: Investigations in a Genealogy of Logic, trans. by Churchill, James S. and Ameriks, Karl (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1973), 40.

at wsa

Words and Architecture Stephen Chance / Chance de Silva When I design a building, I also write. Alongside plans, 3D sketches and rough models in whatever material is near to hand – cardboard, plasticine, SketchUp – there are always words. They might be notes in the margins of a sketch, phrases underlined in a book I am reading, little scraps torn from newspapers, couplets from poetry, paragraphs scribbled on a paper napkin on a train. No matter, they are all part of the design process. A teacher asked a creative writing class: why do writers write? She went round the room, collecting responses from each individual. Some answers were: “To clarify; to express ideas; to capture feelings; to reflect; to create distance from myself; to let others respond; to get rid of these noises in my head!” All these and more – that’s why I write to design. At an early stage, on any project, I will make time to write something which attempts to encapsulate all my thoughts about what I’m doing; and why. The piece of writing creates an ‘emotive brief ’ to myself, to which decisions at all scales of detail can be referred. One such project was Cargo Fleet, a pair of studio-houses in North London, clad in cor-ten (weathering or rusting) steel. The design was influenced by the disappearing landscape of steelworks near Middlesbrough, where generations of my family worked. Writing would come to have several manifestations in this project and, unusually, after the building came the book. Some of the earliest things I wrote down were: “Sheet piles, containers, signal boxes, gantries” (sketch marginalia)

“Rusty steel – those shed gables, Transporter Bridge (notebook) “Death is in the sperm” (Ted Hughes) “To recycle, not material, but the images and forms of the disappearing landscape” (notes)

tendency to damage by scuffing and graffiti. This was a valuable response to the piece of writing and in fact it forced Chance de Silva to double-check every detail, to re-interrogate experts, and to reconsider possible problematic side effects.

We did go ahead in the chosen material “There was a time when I experienced – romantics, still! The building was built, architecture without thinking about it” (Peter and has weathered and worn, at least for Zumthor) its eight years of existence to date (no time in architecture). Perhaps not many architectural briefs contain phrases like ‘death is in the sperm’ In fact words flock around all projects like or, as I had also noted, Samuel Beckett’s mobbing crows – planning statements, press ‘they give birth astride of a grave’. Architects releases, contractual letters - to name just a are ephemeral – what about buildings? To few. More words have appeared about this design for permanence, or for transience? one – those of magazine reviews, of articles in books, of architecture guides, of words On project Cargo Fleet: ‘Why build in on television and words on-line. However, rust? When an architect decides to build I still had my rejected essay, now updated in rust, a material that signifies decay, what as an account of the whole project from my does he intend?’ These questions led to family’s history of steelworking through to intentions for evocation and atmosphere, the building’s completion on site. to an understanding of patina and wear, to decisions of specification and detail. So, collaborating with Shizuka Mori, we Eventually I gave these ruminations the made an artists book. A limited edition form of a considered essay, and submitted hand-weathered cor-ten steel-covered it to an architectural journal. book – Cargo Fleet. It has been exhibited or sold in London, Madrid, Bangkok The response was a shock. and Middlesbrough. It was presented by a visiting delegation to the president of a “I was a romantic…once!” huge Thai steel conglomerate which has, in a pleasing irony, taken over a threatened With these words the journal’s editor, steel plant in the very landscape of the an eminent professor, rejected my essay, project’s original genesis. adding that it would be “irresponsible” to publish something that might encourage From these episodes I mention a couple the use of cor-ten steel. At the time, just of things I’ve gleaned about words and when I thought I had reached a satisfactory architecture. synthesis of design, of drawings and theory, and having exposed this thinking to Its useful to write down what a project scrutiny, I was forced to reconsider one is about. Read it back, even if its never of the project’s primary decisions. The shown to anyone else (some architects go gist of the professor’s comments were to great lengths to conceal their influences that his personal experience had led him and processes). Does it sound convincing? to conclude that cor-ten steel had many failings, including run-off staining, adverse Second, even in the digital age don’t ‘write effect on surrounding materials and a off’ the potential power of the physical book.

(left) Cargo Fleet – by Chance de Silva and Shizuka Mori The project: http://www.chancedesilva.com/Site/Cargo_Fleet.html made

at wsa

Videre: Drawing and Evolutionary Architectures Paul Cureton organises the space-time continuum ecosystematically.”5

Abstract

Keywords

Analysing the works of the seascape architect Wolf Hilbertz (1938 -2007), coral scientist Dr Thomas Goreau, architect Newton Fallis and collective, the paper considers the development of ‘self organizing’ natural building materials developing a mode of working - Cybertecture (Cybernetics & Architecture) (Hilbertz 1970). This investigation focuses particularly on that of Biorock® the mineral accretion technology, and involves a process of creating artificial coral reefs which are stronger and more resilient to degrading factors found on natural reefs. The technology exemplifies an evolutionary environmental system, a coral which is more reliant, tradable, multiplies in growth three to five times faster than normal, protects coastline, and grows fish populations through its constantly evolving habitat (Hilbertz, Goreau 1970, 1992, 2008). Importantly the technology has wide implications for restoring, designing and managing fragile and threatened coral ecosystems thus creating an emerging field of Seascape Architecture (Goreau, Hilbertz 2005).

Seascape Architecture, Autopia Ampere, Drawing, Visualisation, Mineral Accretion, He based the system on three sub sections Hilbertz, Goreau. first, a sensing structure subsystem akin to a living organism, it requires a material Introduction to sense such environments. Secondly, a material and reclamation system which “Cybertecture is a concept to reverse a manipulates the sensing structure to the historical process radically.” Wolf Hilbertz needs of the user. Thirdly, a computer system which would act as a decentralised “The old falls down, times change, and new nervous structure organises the sensing life blossoms out of ruins.” Goethe and reclamation systems to adapt to the total needs of the user. It would have Examination and integration of the reversible capabilities and could balance mechanisms of evolutionary processes itself against any disruption. The system can yield a raft of experience which can would absorb and be capable of higher level then be drawn from, of the processes of tasks of organisation and complexity and things. The desire for heuristic evolutionary symbiotic processes.6 Such work, it was architectures that are “self-organizing hoped, would create an autoplastic system environmental open systems capable of – open systems being regulated by the law forming higher orders of organization”1 is of nature only – “creating, changing and collectively being reshaped towards new terminating, in an in-deterministic manner, technologies that address our environmental diversity and contexture.” 7 Architecture impact. A heuristic approach is to enable was to be seen as a material in transition change, a new life as Goethe places it. The and experiment which would never be heuristic method is one of discovering and completed: “it will incessantly explain and finding, projecting solutions borne out of form the world out of it’s very self-anew the now. To this end the seascape architect and thus, at any given time, will be the Wolf Hilbertz (1938 -2007), coral scientist best of all architectures.”8 Such goals to Dr. Thomas Goreau and Newton Fallis, Hilbertz could only be realised through Forest Higgs & collective, from the late the integration of the hard and soft sciences 1960s researched and articulated categorical and the arts - architecture and engineering imperatives2 for natural building materials essentially - moving beyond a ‘responsive that created a symbiosis of man, animal, environment’ towards an ‘evolutionary plant, technology and nature.3 These environment’ - a socio-cultural and imperatives included renewable building environmental solution. This evolutionary materials with low to moderate states of environment works on the premises of energy that could be naturally grown dynamic stimulating interrelationships whilst also supporting biodiversity.4 It was and rich connections, “between man, his through examination of the phenomena extensions and nature; being simultaneously of natural organization that a cybernetic beginning and end, originator and result, function (utilising computer technology producer and user.”9 Such visions and that determines the frequency of this alternative thinking are similar to those of natural change) could enable these new Soleri, Buckminster Fuller et al, belonging structures and materials -what Hilbertz to both an enriching pedagogic mode for called Cybertecture (CYBERnetics & studio practice, but which also have radical archiTECTURE), analogous to living challenges to accepted systems and ways of systems, control mechanisms that working, as Vesley remarks, “what we know organize materials in a self-determined contributes to what we make, and what is manner. Hilbertz attempted to outline an already made contributes substantially to evolutionary environmental system “which what it is possible to know.”10 Accepting

Through the application of such technology, an accreted city of coral is envisioned - Autopia Ampere. The early stage of the project involved large scale hand drawings of possible outcomes and issues in construction and production (Fallis 2010). The drawings of Autopia can be considered as heuristic and also visionary in the testing of ideas - (Videre, Latin. to see). The author’s composite drawings present this vision as a method to understanding the project as a form of ‘dialogic drawing’ (Dee 2004). From this basis there is a consideration of the role of hand drawing, its decline and its relation to other visualization techniques-arguing the case for the maintenance of this particular ‘visionary’ species (a morphological type) of drawing in architectural practice (Evans 1996, 2000). This is a type of drawing which arguably can ‘influence’ and ‘work out’ to provide or image heuristically charged solutions, spaces and structures to our changing climate.

(left) Autopia Ampere, After Newton Fallis (1970) and Wolf Hilbertz (1978), 2009, Pencil, 23.5cm * 13.8cm. made

at wsa

a dangerous spiralling downturn on the marine resources of natural destruction and human decimation.16 In comparison as Hilbertz and Goreau claim, coral reefs would be the most valuable ecosystem for over a 100 countries worldwide if their economic and environmental services were properly accounted for and properly managed.17 The arks coastline protection limits erosion and is substantially cheaper Coral Arks to implement than concrete seawalls. This has been implemented in the Maldives The piloting of mineral accretion creating a Biorock breakwater- causing the demonstrated a harmonious ocean building beach to grow by fifty feet in a few years material called Biorock® (also called by absorbing the wave energy.18 The use of Seament, Seacrete, or Mineral Accretion). coral as building material has appeared in Applying an electrical charge powered by the ancient city of Cartagena de las Indas photovoltaic or wind generators to a sunken in Colombia.19 This precedent shows the steel mesh armature (usually construction history of such thinking.20 In addition coral grade rebar) would charge and repair or reef restoration has been reported in the create new coral reefs as well as being self- 1800s attaching corals to wooden stakes, repairing.11 The electrical charge would and was known to Darwin.21 crystallise materials and create walls of calcium carbonate. Small coral tissue The arks have significant economic benefits would then become attached to the Biorock to tourism apropos particular areas which reef structure and both accelerate growth have undergone extensive damage due to when the electrical charge is sustained. The storms become snorkelling and dive spots. coral is left with more metabolic energy, This creates networks of stakeholders all reproductive cability and environmental of which work together to monitor and resistance in the process. Thus, it becomes sustain the arks. Other artificial reefs stronger by age, is more resilient and such as old cars, sunken ships or concrete multiplies in growth three to five times modules coral take longer to take root and faster than normal and protects coastline.12 establish due to the pollutants that they The Biorock corals “are more intensely excrete22 - “thus do not produce genuine pigmented, have higher growth rates and coral reef communities”.23 Additional better developed branching and growth benefits include the construction costsmorpohology”,13 than those genetically wire, electricity and labour being the only identical and growing in the same outlay. Testing has taken place in Saya environmental conditions. Pigmentation De Mahla banks,24 NE Indian Ocean, a of corals plays an important role in shallow marine ecosystem (and essential the regulation and absorption of solar stepping stone for shallow water species). radiation and thus their ability to grow Hilbertz and Collective searched for suitable within harsh environments. The reefs research sites examining the geography and can also be grown in areas where water bathymetry when he came upon Seamount quality is an issue. Likewise the reefs can Ampere,25 east of Gibraltar and Skerki Bank be specified to any shape or size including near Sicily, though Saya de Malha Banks depth, all depending on the form of the was deemed the most suitable. Additional rebar in the original specification. builds have taken place in more than a dozen countries such as Pemuteran, Karang The new structures on various damaged Lestari, Bali, Gili Trawangan, Lombok, coral sites have attracted juvenile fish, moray Indonesia, Ihura Island, Maldives and Arno eels, sea urchins, sea cucumbers, crabs, Atoll - The Republic of the Marshall Islands. squid, shrimps, bivalves, and even dolphins were previously the reefs were significantly Living coral, light and PH sensitive, damaged from storms.14 As some coral reef evolving, but also disappearing is an icon for estimates indicate that 25% of the world our current climate – “the most vulnerable coral population is dead15 the imperative for ecosystems to rising temperatures, sea not just palliative but active intervention levels, soil erosion, and to excess nutrients in this environment is clear. The artificial from sewage and fertilizers.”26 A major reefs are termed ‘coral arks’. The arks also issue is coral bleaching possibly caused by provide economically sustainable fishing ‘hot spots’, extended periods of warm sea areas, converting fishermen to fish farmers, temperatures above one Celsius caused by conservators of the sites, thus destroying global warming.27 The rate of acidification made

such patterns, the identification of the possibilities of coral structuring and the pressing need to conserve the unique marine habitat so essential to life that Hilbertz develops, demonstrate such heuristic methods which in turn represent the original (visual) representations at a conceptual level – a cycle evolving pattern of thinking.

at wsa

in the sea due to an uptake in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere effects and is one trigger alongside rising sea temperatures for coral bleaching. The PH drop also affects fish species causing reproductive issues.28 Coral is perhaps the prime example of a living mega structure, of marine landscaping in which to locate our building methods - something that grows from itself anew. This heuristic method provides a vision of a synergistic ‘constant state of becoming’, 29 of architecture always in transition.30 As ‘Seascape architecture’ the mission is one of conservation and

Seaport Interior, After Newton Fallis (1970), 2010, Pencil, 21.5 * 31cm.

restoration of the marine ecosystem and as Goreau and Hilbertz state, Like its counterpart landscape architecture, it also focuses on designed ensembles and ecologies of flora and fauna that are self sustaining with human help... while producing aesthetically and artistically satisfying habitats... the professional mission embodies the same philosophy and ethical code inspiring the counterpart landscaper.31

Such a project, philosophy and emerging discipline is owed in great part to some of the early stage visualisations for the project and projections of the possibility of the material. It was a convergence of experimentation and creativity and collaboration between the architecture and engineering studios which developed the visualizations which then delivered a heuristic based method. Essentially a pedagogic mode delivering basic skill sets, interdisciplinary approaches to problem solving, design processes, environmental awareness all leading as Doehne states, for the architecture students’ to “flee

Visualisation of a Micro-nation “Not form, but forming, not form as final appearance, but form in the process of becoming, as genesis.” Paul Klee It is appropriate that from the illustration by Newton Fallis, who worked with Hilbertz, this particular vision can be spectated from a tower of Autopia Ampere, a drawing that depicts the development of the mineral accretion technological coral made

from the beaten path and explore his[/ her] particular interests.”32

at wsa

Structures ‘Grow Out of the Ocean’ (OTEC Plants), After unknown, from Wolf Hilbertz et al ‘Electrodeposition of Minerals in Sea Water: Experiments and Applications’, IEEE, Journal of Oceanic Engineering, Vol. 4, No. 3, July, (1979), pp94-113. 2011, Pencil, 17cm* 26cm.

made

(Biorock®) possibilities in the form of a into being”34 a desire for the recreation of city and oceanographic research institute. expression and a will to manifest itself. The composite produced was a means for Or to recount Heidegger “let us go to the the author to understand the elements of actual work and ask what and how it is”.35 its design, not for the purpose of slavish representation but for the purpose of Autopia is an economic, material trading, gauging its complex ideological positioning with Cybertecture (CYBERnetics and and ecologically demonstrative activity. architecture), an autonomous city with As Dee maintains, adopting a critical radical socio-cultural-political implications method of dialogic drawing “provides the in our relationship with the ocean that also researcher with a more concrete critical exemplifies an evolutionary environmental position (through lived experience) with system.36 Based on a shallow sea floor, the which to examine visual conventions that construction method would allow the these studies differ from written critiques creation of free form internal space more of images and their use.”33 It is to adopt a akin to biology than architecture, built mode of enquiry of a Klee’esque (Moses) for the comfort of its occupants making genesis, the stages of a work and its “coming furniture nearly obsolete.37 Vaulted open

at wsa

floor plans would be developed avoiding compartmentalisation, designing and growing the space and location to the wishes of the inhabitants using the three sub-systems that Hilbertz theorised. Such form would be similar to air form and free form thin concrete shell structures.38 The space would contain entertainment complexes, hydroponic gardens, parklands and recreational space. It would cultivate seaweeds and hold fish pens. Conduit running circuitry and services would be grown in and function as the arteries of the structure, which could be extended with incisions in the structure, these incisions then being re-grown. These activities would

developed as technological possibilities materialise from the original conception, include tidal turbines and wave generators. Magnesium could also be used as the base metal for mineral accretion. Autopia would be autonomous, being free from political coercion (at least for a while) as the oceans are free from such territorial claims,40 working as both a creator of aquaculture and building components, all of which are exportable resources. Such possibilities were amalgamated into Marshall T.Savage’s The Millennial Project: Colonizing the Galaxy in Eight Easy Steps as the title suggests under the first practical step, colonizing the oceans through ‘Aquarius’ and its sister colonies.

be enacted by robots controlled by a supercomputer neural network monitoring and evolving the city, responding to its inhabitants from humidity control to food production. A part of the Autopia structure involves a proposal from Hilbertz for Ocean Thermal Energy Conservation (OTEC) plants converting thermal energy into electricity.39The plants would involve deep shafts formed of accreted material. Again, any damage occurring could easily be repaired and the plants could be re-anchored to shift with prevailing currents. The plants could also produce refractory magnesium, the raw material for magnesium production. Possibilities other than OTECs, discussed as the project has

‘natural’ to maintain at the expanding parameter. As such the act of drawing was a very freeing, evolutionary exercise.41

Th is is what drawing sometimes allows, a testing of vision for optimal solutions, (Videre, Latin. to see, to look forward) a pilot of pilots: Autopia Ampere whilst an aesthetic of the sci-fi, is resistant to and filters such fiction in its applicability and possibility of lived space. Th is species of drawing, of which there are many types (just as Euclid offered a definition of a species of line42), imply wider social, political recreations than ‘form fit’ architecture or architecturally similar land reclamations with sometimes problematic un-foreseen Having studied architecture in Berlin, oceanographic consequences. Hilbertz began teaching at Southern University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana in Drawing, like coral, has a quality of 1965 where he founded the ‘Responsive ‘becoming’, as Robin Evans (1944 – 1993) Environment Laboratory’. He worked on would state in Translations from Drawing the notion of Cybertecture before moving to Building, drawing has sometimes to the School of Architecture, University a generative role in its dual projective of Texas, Austin and then founded the qualities: an ‘over-determined’ surface ‘Symbiotic Process Lab’ in 1970 working equivalence and the propelling of the on non-traditional building materials. myth of pictorial space to provide a visual language of communication. Ultimately, Fallis worked on a number of drawings as Evans would argue for the reverse a student of Hilbertz, alongside Forrest directionality of drawing “the subject Higgs and the engineering school during matter (the building or space) will exist after the fall semester of 1970. Hilbertz asked the drawing not before it”43 (though not all the students to explore many technologies architecture can be formed in this medium). that were in their infancy such as zero- A contemporary paradox of ‘pilot’ hand gravity based robotic constructions for drawing has opened up between obsessive use in space and oceans, and land-based practitioners and those who have displaced recyclable surface materials. One can only the method in contemporary architecture speculate on the energy and excitement & landscape architecture. Whilst drawing present in what took place there. The has a futurological ability it also functions original Autopia drawing, using the golden as part of the history of ideas, and moreover mean by Fallis, was produced in large can visualize intention and perhaps as format which ‘grew’; a drawing grappling Stuart Cohen has argued, can influence.44 with complex ideas of philosophical This influence is hard to quantify but could purpose, sociological use, natural material be located in an attempt to understand imitation and technological-function. Such and communicate the design choices and thought processes and visualization are possible context. As Tuan remarks part of demonstrated by Fallis when recounting the process, drafting Autopia, To see and to think are closely Farming and waste recycling related process. In English ‘I see’ would be engaged, but how could means ‘I understand’. Seeing, it has they be integrated in pleasing long been recognized, is not the meaningful ways? Hydraulic, simple recording of light stimuli; wind and solar systems would be it is a selective and creative process early components, but would not in which environmental stimuli are be remote from the inhabitants. It organised into flowing structures really seemed inhabitants could that provide signs meaningful to be surrounded by the ecological the purposive organism.45 processes that made their life there possible and enjoyable, if they were Thus applied, drawing’s ability to speculate, handled correctly. Manufacturing to ‘see’ think and see forward, mediating and hydrogen collection seemed the conceptual and practical combined made

at wsa

Autopia Ampere Section with OTEC Plants, 2011, Pencil, 26cm * 26.5cm.

made

with an arguable influence, has proven new form and technological its value as a tool of information design solutions to problems – Ecology in which architectural history is rife with was always at the forefront.46 examples. Fallis demonstrated this role, when interviewed on the Autopia piece, he Contemporary visual focus is more weighted towards the virtual object; Found that as your hand is filling resisting current simplified arguments in some forms your mind is able positioning the hand crafted against the to ponder the vastness of the city’s virtual, as this simplifies a complex interimplications and attempt to generate relationship of visual method. William

at wsa

Gibson articulates in Virtual Light , that within computational design when concentrating upon the object, (in the ‘Republic of Desire’ using the ‘Dream Walls’ software) beyond it “… you get this funny sense that you were leaning out, over the edge of the world, and the space beyond that sort of fell away, forever.”47 This ‘beyond’ space described by Gibson, unfulfilled – has both similarly

its application & standardization of architectural production.48 Hand drawing involves the body, is resistant to spaces of alienation and in this sense defies becoming a pure visuality as Tim Ingold writes; hand drawing embodies its history on a single sheet.49 As the draughtsman Oliver Regan states (pre-empting the contemporary resurgence and interest in haptics) in Pencil Points: Journal of the Draughting Room ( Vol 1, 1920)50 it is desirable to acquire “an acute sense of the feel of his pen or pencil on the paper, a delicacy of touch that is not unlike that of the skilled surgeon who is said to be able to almost ‘see’ with his fingertips.”. As long as the suggested ability maintains a connection with the phenomenology of our environment, this potentially, can constitute the material connector to lived space, and be resistant to detachment, vacuous formal representation and the privileging of the image (though historically drawing has been just as susceptible to literal perspective transcription and Cartesian projection). Wider implications for design can be found in Henri Lefebvre’s The Production of Space where he warns “...we produce only the reproducible, and hence we only produce only by reproducing or imitating past production...because reproducibility is what ensures the renewal (or reproduction) of existing social relations”.51 These social relations can in part reflect back, in a reversibility of design, the ideology of production, the ideology of representation which cannot be reductive, but needs to be consciously reductive in its choices - a form of ‘speculative editing’ over mimetic endeavours. As James Corner suggests in Recovering Landscape, we need to enable forms of representational technique with eidetic operations – specific ideational techniques for construing (imagining) and constructing (projecting) new landscapes.52 Drawing should not be privileged in this respect but revitalized in the role that it plays with other methods of visualization, for projection is at stake and so are its qualities of becoming: visible and invisible axioms to drawing [it] evokes temporality and in its cultural layering and points of boundaries. Defining the space departure. Though the digital, whilst between light and darkness, bringing new fractals and detailing between the beginning and the advances, as Alberto Pérez-Gόmez & beyond, it illuminates the space Louise Pelletier suggest in Architectural of culture, of our individual and Representation and the Perspective Hinge, collective existence.53 the drawing needs to provide a promise in the interrupting of its objectivity and This is moving from Lefébvre’s question information reduction: a disruption of of “What exists, between the shadows

Summary Coral bleaching and rising sea temperatures, as well as acidification and the recent devastating Tsunamis’ combined with radioactive discharges, overfishing and lack of education in certain sea communities amongst many other factors make Hilbertz’s endeavours highly provocative and challenging designs and plans to respond to. As Goreau states research into seascape architecture is needed as, protecting coral reefs for future generations may be the truest test of international commitments to sustainable development, because it places some of the most stringent constraints on doing the right thing for the environment.55 A small coral fragment grows anew, likewise the development drawings contained within Hilbertz and Goreau’s scientific papers, and drawings produced in the ‘Symbiotic Process Lab’ on the accretion process, illuminate and move into the visionary- embodying an optimism borne out of collaboration and opportunity within the architectural studio to provide marine landscaping, countering the increasing degradation of the coral ecosystem promoting and educating on the importance of marine biodiversity. It requires a change of thinking for a whole system approach, involving reactive and proactive capabilities, within which humankind has a stake. Similar sentiment is found in Fuller, Humanity will be re-orientated From its one way entropic Me-first energy wastings To its syntropic circulatory Synergetical you-and-we Cosmic ecology regenerating functions56 made

and the light, between the conceived (abstraction) and the perceived (the readable/visible). Between the real and the unreal [?].”54 Pérez-Gόmez & Pelletier, thus call and mark out, like Lefebvre, the transitive role of projection, geometry and its abstractness, an abstractness which can enrich architectural production. Autopia marks a movement, and invites in its viewing moving beyond the image itself, to where further imagining can take place, construing a mental image of the evolution of the city and its complex inter-relationships and functions – Seascape Architecture.

at wsa

made

Brise soleil, Detail of Autopia Ampere, After Newton Fallis (1970) and Wolf Hilbertz (1978), 2009, Pencil, 18.5cm * 13.8cm.

at wsa

Such re-empowerment of communities through the use of Biorock restoring fragile ecosystems, a llows loca l management of its resources, changing scales and relations towards a one and all activity – mitigating global warming, rising sea levels, diseases (in corals) and costal pollution.57 It is through the vision of Autopia Ampere, which remain possible, and the work conducted thereafter perhaps, that we can touch, ‘to see’, amplify, critically evaluate and

energize just one future vision. Thus provide or influence heuristically charged solutions to our changing climate. As Evans states, “Without the architect’s faith that geometrically defined lines will engender something else more substantial yet discernable through the drawing, without faith in the genetic message inscribed on paper, there is no architecture”.58 Thus, the drawings contain a pressing philosophy to be developed and an end image of coral reefs

Special thanks to Dr Thomas Goreau, Newton Fallis, Forrest Higgs, Kai Hilbertz, Ursula Hilbertz & Derrick Hilbertz for their assistance in the writing of this piece.

1 Wolf Hilbertz, Strategies for Evolutionary Environments, in The Responsive House: selected papers and discussions from the The Shirt-Sleeve Sessions in Responsive House Building Technologies, ed. by Stan Allen (Massachusetts: Department of Architecture, MIT, May 3-5, 1972), p1. 2 Wolf Hilbertz, ‘Solar-generated Artificial and Natural Construction Materials and World Climate, Natural Structures: Principles, Strategies, and Models’, Architecture and Nature, SFB 230, University Stuttgart and University Tuebingen, 2, (1992), pp119-127. 3 Dr Thomas Goreau tirelessly campaigns for the conservation of Coral Reefs, President of the Global Coral Reef Alliance (GCRA) and is the Coordinator of the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development Partnership in New Technologies for Small Island Developing States. 4 Wolf Hilbertz, ‘Manifesto’, in Architecture and Nature, SFB 230, University Stuttgart and University Tuebingen, 2, (1992), pp119-127. 5 Wolf Hilbertz, ‘Cybernetic Architecture, A Teleological Approach’, in Proceedings of the Kentucky Workshop on Computer Applications To Environmental Design, ed. Michael Kennedy (Kentucky: University of Kentucky & The Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in Fine Arts, 1970), pp95-99 (p95). 6 Ibid, pp97-98. 7 Wolf Hilbertz, ‘Manifesto’, in Architecture and Nature, SFB 230, University Stuttgart and University Tuebingen, 2, (1992), pp119-127. 8 Ibid, pp119-127. 9 Wolf Hilbertz, Strategies for Evolutionary Environments, in The Responsive House: selected papers and discussions from the The Shirt-Sleeve Sessions in Responsive House Building Technologies, ed. by Stan Allen (Massachusetts: Department of Architecture, MIT, May 3-5, 1972), pp 247-255 (p251). 10 Dalibor Vesely, Architecture in the age of divided representation: the question of creativity in the Shadow of Production (Cambridge, Mass.; London: MIT, 2006), p6. 11 Wolf Hilbertz, Electro Accretion: Grow Shelters from Sea Materials, Newton, MA (1987). 12 Global Coral Reef Alliance, Biorock®/ Mineral Accretion Technology for Reef Restoration, Mariculture and Shore Protection, online, http://www.globalcoral.org/Biorock%20%20 Mineral%20Accretion%20Technology%20for%20 Reef%20Restoration.html [Accessed 20/12/09]. 13 Wolf Hilbertz, Thomas Goreau, Reef restoration as a Fisheries Management Tool, online, http://www. globalcoral.org/Reef%20Restoration%20as%20a%20 Fisheries%20Management%20Tool.htm [Accessed 6/8/2010], p20. 14 United States Patent, Method of enhancing the growth of aquatic organisms, and structures created thereby, patent no 5543034, (1996), p3. 15 Ari Spenhoff , The biorock process, picturing reef building with electricity, Global Coral Reef Alliance, 2010, online http://www.globalcoral.org/Biorock%20 booklet%20online%20version%201.4.pdf [Accessed

9/1/2011] p3. 16 Ibid, p15. 17 Thomas J. Goreau, Raymond L. Hayes, ‘Reef Restoration as a Fisheries Management Tool’, in Fisheries and Aquaculture, ed. Patrick Safran, in Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems (EOLSS), (Oxford: Eolss Publishers, 2008), p3. 18 Wolf Hilbertz, Thomas Goreau, ‘Bottom up Community-Based Coral Reef and Fisheries Restoration in Indonesia, Panama and Palau’, in Handbook of Regenerative Landscape Design, ed. Robert L. France, (London; New York: Taylor & Francis, 2008), pp143-159 (p147). 19 Alvaro Ortega, ‘Basic Technology: Mineral Accretion for Shelter. Seawater as a Source for Building’, In MIMAR 32: Architecture in Development (London: Concept Media Ltd. 1989) pp60-63. 20 Wolf Hilbertz, Solar-generated Building Material from Seawater as a Sink for Carbon, online http:// globalcoral.org/Solar%20Generated%20Building%20 Material%20from%20Seawater.pdf [Accessed 8/8/2010]. 21 Thomas J. Goreau, Global Coral Reef Alliance, Wolf Hilbertz, Sun and Sea, e.V., ‘Marine Ecosystem Restoration: Costs and benefits for coral reefs’, World Resource Review, Vol. 17 No. 3, (2005), pp375-409 (p390). 22 United States Patent, Method of enhancing the growth of aquatic organisms, and structures created thereby, patent no 5543034, (1996), p2. 23 Ibid, p2. 24 Frank Gutzeit, Thomas Goreau & Wolf Hilbertz, Second Expedition to Saya de Malha, Hamburg, August 2002, online http://www.wolfhilbertz.com/ downloads/2002/saya_2002_rev1.pdf [Accessed 13/2/2011]. 25 26 Thomas J. Goreau, Raymond L. Hayes, ‘Coral bleaching and Ocean ‘Hot Spots”, AMBIO, Journal of the Human Environment, Vol 23, (1994), pp176-180 (p179). 27 Ibed, p179. 28 Marah J. Hardt, Carl Safina, ‘Threatening Ocean Life’, Scientific American, August (2010), p66-73. 29 Wolf Hilbertz, (1972) p247. 30 Wolf Hilbertz, Electro Accretion: Grow Shelters from Sea Materials, Newton, MA (1987). Thomas J. Goreau, Global Coral Reef 31 Alliance, Wolf Hilbertz, Sun and Sea, e.V., ‘Marine Ecosystem Restoration: Costs and benefits for coral reefs’, World Resource Review, Vol. 17 No. 3, (2005), pp375-409 (p403). 32 Gaynell Doehne, ‘Architecture has a new mission’, Alcalde, July, (1972), p1. 33 Catherine Dee, ‘The Imaginary Texture of the Real... Critical Visual Studies in Landscape Architecture: Contexts, Foundations and Approaches’, Landscape Research, Vol 29:1, (2004), pp13-30 (p.22). 34 Paul Klee,1879-1940 Notebooks, ed. Jürg Spiller. Vol.1 : Thinking eye (London : Lund Humphries, 1961), p99. 35 Martin Heidegger, Poetry, Language, Thought (London: Harper Perennial, 1975), p18.

36 Wolf Hilbertz, ‘Towards Cybertecture’, Progressive Architecture, May, (1970), pp98-103. 37 Savage T. Marshall, The Millennial Project: Colonizing the Galaxy in Eight Easy Steps, 2nd edition (London: Little, Brown & Company, 1994), p80. 38 Amy Johnson, Thin Shell Concrete Structures, Concrete Decor, November December 2009, p30-33. Online www.concretedecor.net [Accessed 9/3/2011], p1. 39 Wolf Hilbertz, et al., ‘Electrodeposition of Minerals in Sea Water: Experiments and Applications’, IEEE, Journal of Oceanic Engineering, Vol. 4, No. 3, July, (1979), pp94-113. 40 Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea, Office of Legal Affairs, United Nations, The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, 2011. 41 Paul Cureton, Interview with Dr Thomas Goreau, Newton Fallis, Forrest Higgs, Kai Hilbertz, Ursula Hilbertz & Derrick Hilbertz, January 2010- April 2011. 42 Aristotle, Plato, Herundes, Proculs et al offer many species and definitions towards plane geometry. 43 Robin Evans, Translations from Drawing to Building and Other Essays (London: Architectural Association Publications, 1996), p165. 44 Stuart E. Cohen, ‘History as Drawing’, Journal of Architectural Education, Vol 32:1, Sep, (1978), pp2-3. 45 Yi-Fu Tuan, Space and Place: The Perspective of Experience (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1977), p10. 46 Paul Cureton, January 2010- April 2011. 47 William Gibson, Virtual Light (London: Penguin, 1993), p266. 48 Alberto Perez-Gomez, & Louise Pelletier, Architectural Representation and the Perspective Hinge (London: MIT Press, 2000), pp377-383. 49 Tim Ingold, Lines: A Brief History (London: Routledge, 2007), p167. 50 George Hartman & Jan Cigliano, ed., Pencil Points Reader: Selected Readings from a Journal for the Drafting Room, 1920-194,1st ed (New Jersey: Princeton Architectural Press, 2004), p6-7. 51 Henri Lefebvre, The Production of Space, trans. Donald Nicholson-Smith, (Oxford: Blackwell, 1991), p377. 52 James Corner, ed., ‘Eidetic Operations and New Landscapes’ in Recovering Landscape in Contemporary Landscape Architecture (New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 1999), pp153-169 (p153). 53 Pérez-Gómez & Pelletier, (2000), p.6. 54 Lefèbvre, (1991), p.390. 55 Thomas J. Goreau, Raymond L. Hayes, (1994), p180. 56 Richard Buckminster Fuller, And it Came to Pass – Not to Stay, ed, Jamie Snyder (Baden: Lars Muller Publishers, 2008), p121. 57 Thomas J. Goreau, Global Coral Reef Alliance, Wolf Hilbertz, Sun and Sea, e.V., ‘Marine Ecosystem Restoration: Costs and benefits for coral reefs’, World Resource Review, Vol. 17 No. 3, (2005), pp375-409 (p376). 58 Robin Evans, The Projective Cast: Architecture and its Three Geometrics (Massachusetts: MIT Press, 2000), p.xxvii.

made

restored and enacted, one small example counting towards an anti-homogeny and vision, a correctional synergistic activity for the biosphere – this is the time for drawing and working out... for spaces and structures then to become.

at wsa

A Critique of Survey Methods Heidi Day The foundation of this study focuses on or spaces, to buildings, neighbourhoods Amos Rapoports’ ideas on vernacular and cultural landscapes in order to study design as a model system for contemporary the connection of the longhouse with architecture, building on his approach of the landscape and climate, material ‘learning through analysis’ rather than and making, form, cultural aspects of literally reproducing the past.1 Rapoport building tradition, and inhabitation. emphasises the importance of studying The paper questions how certain the settings of buildings including sources of information influence our the cultural landscape that surrounds view and assumptions of vernacular them, as well as ‘non-fixed elements’ environments and examines how such as people, animals and vehicles, in tradition is conveyed through the order to take lessons for contemporary medium of image, documentation and design. He considers most research into the form itself. This study is not intended the vernacular has taken the form of to inform how research into vernacular a scientific approach, examining and environments should be carried out recording different buildings’ types and for historic purposes, but rather to forms, and categorising them. Studies in explore how an overall understanding the past have overlooked historical and of tradition can be reached, that could cultural context.2 then be used to inform the design of contemporary architecture. This paper argues that a holistic survey approach must be taken to begin to Historic Documentation understand built form within its social and cultural landscape. The analysis involves It is important to note that the buildings a review of a wide range of surveying recorded by historians, archaeologists and techniques from sources involving significantly the Royal Commission on the study of historic documentation, the Ancient and Historic Monuments of measured drawings and photographs, Wales (RCAHMW) are those that have together with cultural evidence and been identified as valuable to national contemporary reinterpretation. Personal heritage and worthy of preservation. Ideas observation is critical to the study as and thinking of various people at the ‘one’s experience needs to be understood time these records were made influenced as being shaped and influenced not only what types of buildings were considered by the physical… but also by the whole worthy of being recorded and the way range of cultural phenomena with which in which they were documented. Welsh the person transacts’.3 The investigation architectural historian Iowerth Peate is focused on Welsh longhouses and their noted in the 1960s that: environments, with some reference to other houses. Sources examined range The Royal Commission on Ancient Monuments in scale from details and small rooms in Wales and Monmouthshire ignored farm-

houses and cottages completely until recently, even now it appears to be concerned mainly, if not wholly, with building techniques and with fine craftsmanship, to the exclusion of all else. Most studies of Welsh houses, indeed, give more prominence to architectural and building problems than the significance of the house in the cultural and social tradition.4 Smaller houses and cottages are not as well documented as grander houses, and similarly houses built more recently and in urban locations are rarely included in records. There appears to be a focus on recording buildings that are typical of a certain typology and on whether they consist of key architectural features. Records are generally straightforward addressing important characteristics, but they seemingly disregard built form in its entirety and setting. There tends to be a greater emphasis on structural and architectural documentation rather than material culture of domestic interiors. Despite people being central to the idea of the home, occupants very rarely appear in records. The registers and records of catalogued buildings may be seen to be purely factual documents but certain information is chosen to be shown and the way it is displayed is far from neutral, as ‘the record is a political object, complex and multilayered’.5 The commission investigators have a notable impact on a record: the records reflect individual interests and aims, and visually each investigator has their own written and drawing style.

(above) Parc Lodge Farm tithe maps from 1881 to present (left) Llannerch y cawr longhouse. Copyright St Fagans National History Museum made

at wsa

Relating historic documentation from various sources can be used to suggest the reasoning behind a building coming into existence, and to bring to light the purposes for which a building was used. It can be beneficial to look at a much wider historic background of particular periods of history, to give us an insight into the economic and the social climate of the times. This aids in understanding the rationale behind the construction of a building and adaptations that occurred along the way. Tithe maps are particularly useful in comprehending how a building has been modified and has expanded over the years. Dendrochronology has allowed for more accurate dating of buildings and documentations regarding information about the owners and tenants can be informative. Measured Drawings In the ‘Illustrated Handbook of Vernacular Architecture’ by R. W. Brunskill, there is an extensive procedure of how to go about recording, surveying and drawing up vernacular buildings. The method is systematic and critical for historical documentation. Measured drawings are intended to communicate information and be transferable so that parallel buildings can be put side by side at the same scale and convey corresponding information to reveal the structural and social pattern of space making. Drawings and sketches can tell us a great deal, as Peter Smith maintained: ‘one drawing is worth a thousand words’6 was his own interpretation of a renowned Chinese proverb. Measured drawings can be useful to identify what are considered to be the essential features of the longhouse. While they can tell us a great deal about construction, form, material, layout and plain space, they are most commonly drawn stripped back to their essential elements devoid of furniture. Measured drawings tend to pay more attention to the permanent architectural characteristics of a building, and often ignore the inhabitation of spaces through the furniture and objects within a room, decoration, surface texture and the indications of use and wear. Floor plans usually display the sequence of spaces and their alterations and additions to the building fabric at various times. The fleeting state of these buildings in a moment in time should still be recorded as this demonstrates inhabitation. It

made

Cilewent longhouse

at wsa

Llannerch y cawr. Copyright St Fagans National History Museum

shows how people dwell within their built environment and how they bring a sense of identity to their home. ‘Sense of place’ is necessarily a function of people’s relationships with specific locations’.7 This can be just as significant as the form itself as it shows how people shape the space in which they live. Drawings representing inhabitation are interpreted as lived in buildings rather than objects connected to the past.

prevails. Considering the importance of colour in the home in the ways in which people have chosen to adorn them, it could be argued that an essential aspect of domestic interiors has been lost through not recording in colour.9

of satire’.11 The description should therefore be taken lightly though it is probable that it is based on evidence that was experienced.

A translated passage from Yr Hen Amser Gynt written around 1890 by J. Islan Cultural Evidence Jones regarding Pantyqwiail, a house in the parish of Llanfihangel Ystrad, Cultural accounts from literature, poems, Cardiganshire demonstrates a sense of paintings and drawings give us a more social differentiation concerning the personal view of what life was like at addition of a second main entrance into various times. Elements may be distorted the house: Photography and fabricated, but unlike factual Photography provides not only images, as documentation, they create a picture of It was an old-fashioned house, mostly mudpaintings do, but an interpretation of the people’s views and their everyday life. walled, and with a thatched roof. Externally, the house and cowhouse looked to be one real, a tracing of the physical.8 Photographs can however, often greatly exaggerate the A passage in Rhonabwy’s Dream from building, with the door to the house opening quality and space particularly through the Mabinogion is believed to be the first to the cattle’s feeding-passage, the bing the use of wide-angled lens. It captures first documentary evidence of the in the local dialect, and it was from the bing a passing condition of light. Settings are existence of the longhouse. Thought that another door led through the wall of staged, with the camera directed at the to have been written in the thirteenth the house into the kitchen. True, there was subject wanting to be portrayed. Interior century, it describes Rhonabwy and his a ‘ front door’, leading from outside to the photographs tend to focus on only part of fellow travellers’ arrival at the hall of parlour or best kitchen, but only persons of a room or on something particular such Heilyn Goch. much higher class were ever invited through as fireplaces, doorways, window frames this door – the landlord and his family, the and ceiling beams. A shot captures a fixed And when they approached the house, they steward, the vicar or minister, and suchlike moment in time and preserves it. However could see a very black old building with persons…12 few of the records of photographs show a straight gable end, and plenty of smoke the home in use by its occupants and are coming from it. When they came inside they The later insertion of a central doorway cleared of clutter and furniture adoring could see an uneven floor, full of holes… And into the main living space was common architectural features. People appear there were branches of holly in abundance in longhouses. It signified an improved to have been purposely omitted from on the floor, with there tips eaten by the social status and was regarded socially this kind of image. The depth of field cattle. When they came to the upper end higher than having to enter the living captured is tiny as everything is flattened of the hall they could see bare, dusty, dais room by passing through the cowhouse. into one plane. The snap shot of life old boards, and a hag feeding a fire on one dais. This extract alongside the measured photographs present, however, provides And when she became cold, she would throw drawings of the house tells a deeperan important glimpse into how people a lapful of chaff on the fire so that it was not rooted narrative of the house. It can lived in their dwellings and what they easy for anyone in the world to put up with also be compared together with the were like some time ago. Despite the that smoke entering his nostrils.10 examination of other farmhouses. This establishment of colour photography, would not be understood without the colour has not always been utilised, and It has been suggested that Rhonbwy’s knowledge from this account and the use of black and white images still Dream ‘contains many elements others like it. made

at wsa

Paintings of the interior of farmhouses and cottages are rare but give insightful views as to how spaces were inhabited through the furniture depicted. They demonstrate how furniture such as dressers and settles were used as room dividers. The fire is often central to the painting, with life revolving around the hearth (aelwyd). They show the positioning of the hearth in the room and give an indication of how people gathered around it. The artist illustrates the family’s numerous fashionable possessions, clustered on and around the Welsh dresser and the surrounds and overmantle decorated around the fireplace. In one painting the family bible can be seen on the dresser showing the importance of religion in the home. Many of these paintings greatly over exaggerate the true size of the spaces in the cottages in an attempt to cram all the family possessions into one picture. Watercolour of cottage interior, Betws y coed, Carnarfonahire. Anon., 1883. Copyright Richard Bebb: Welsh Furniture

In contrast to photographs taken for record by the commission these paintings show the way in which dwellings were inhabited through the lifestyles of the people, who are often featured in the paintings. They are far from static representations, but are quite informal and evoke the transient and changing state of the home. Contemporary Reinterpretation Contemporary artists’ and photographers’ interpretation of buildings in the landscape can provide an alternative view and expression of traditional forms. Landscape photographer David Wilson acknowledges building in his photography as ‘they lend a sense of ‘being’ to an image – that feeling of homeliness and belonging which appeals to the human spirit’.13 Some of his works highlight the composition of vernacular dwellings within the landscape, drawing on the shapes elevations compose in the surroundings by creating strong contracts, reducing the buildings to abstract forms. It is ‘all about geometric shapes and patterns in the landscape… light and shade, shape and form’.14 A sense of isolation of the rural buildings Wilson depicts in his photography and the bleakness of their settings can be experienced. Without people being photographed the buildings become isolated objects or sculpture.

made

Watercolour of cottage interior, Llanbedr, Merioneth. Bradford Rudge c. 1860. Copyright St Fagans National History Museum

at wsa

John Knapp-Fisher similarly represents traditional buildings as objects in the landscape in his paintings, and encapsulates their rootedness within

their setting. In his paintings, form is climate, geography and local building intensified through strong contrasts of resources were exceptionally influential light and dark which gives the dwellings factors in shaping longhouses. To a sense of remoteness within the darkness. understand the reasons behind the Devoid of people, animals and objects, pragmatic decisions vernacular builders the paintings appear fixed in time, but made in ascertaining the siting and form capture the atmosphere of place. It may of these dwellings, it is critical for us to be relevant for designers to observe and attempt to read the site in the level of try to draw on the manner and reasoning detail they would have understood it. in which many contemporary artists are attracted to the simple, abstract forms The topography of the immediate of traditional buildings and the way in surroundings affects the local climate which they fit in the landscape. significantly. Sited where the sun still remains on a winter evening, the primary Personal Observations aspect of these dwellings face the sun and turn their backs to the prevailing winds. Alongside the practical technique of Trees, vegetation and inclines in the measuring, the importance of personal ground provide wind protection. Even observations as a means for examination on a still day the surrounding trees can is reasoned by Berger as ‘human visual give a good indication of the direction of perception is a far more complex and prevailing winds, nestled in the sheltered selective process than that by which a inlets and valleys or through trees’ profiles film records.’15 Atmosphere, character and warped by the wind. impression of a place as well as material and form can be considered through Protected from the elements, the thick personal experience to contribute to a walls use thermal mass to retain heat broader understanding of place. Martin from the sun, and are often thicker on the Heidegger maintained that it is inherent north elevation and built into the hillside for people to measure places through their to gain insulation through thermal mass personal daily experiences. This measure of the earth. Small window openings through one’s surroundings can help to prevent heat loss with more windows on make sense of one’s existence. He expresses the restrictions of technological and numerical measure, for more experiential or intellectual human experience.16 Technical measuring fails to address the complex variables of human emotion. Through observation and experience of place, the integration of built form in the local environment and the co-existence of humans and nature can be felt.

the south elevation to increase light levels. Diverse qualities and quantities of light enter the dwellings at various times and windows are often splayed to soften glare. A pitched roof designed to direct rainfall off the building quickly and carry heavy snow loads, has clipped eaves to protect against strong winds. Architect Glenn Murcutt explains that the principles he has tried to work with in his designs in Australia are about questions, which are transferable throughout the world. They are simply: Where does the sun come from? Where does the wind come from? Where does the bad weather come from? Where does the good weather come from? When does it come? When doesn’t it come? What is a snowfall, icy weather, what is the topography, what is the hydrology, what is the geothermology? What is the geography, what are the plants, what is the flora, what’s the fauna? What’s the history? What’s the ancient history of the land… right through history, right through to the current time.17 Once these subtle intricacies of site are understood in terms of climate, habitat, vegetation, geology and topography, the

Connection with landscape and climate The deep-rooted connection of longhouses with the landscape, positioned down slopes of eastern hillsides, close to streams and fuel filled coppices, highlights that Abereiddi by David Wilson. Copyright David Wilson, from Pembrokeshire by David Wilson published by Graffeg (Cardiff: Graffeg, 2009)

Old Pembrokeshire Farmhouse 2010, oil painting by John Knapp-Fisher. Copyright John Knapp-Fisher. made

at wsa

issues of the site can be related to the built form and its details. The simple and direct elements of longhouses respond to sunlight, wind, rain, and local resources of the site. Michael Pollen discusses the importance of site selection and positioning, and having to consider many issues. He however reflects from his own experience that you can think too much about the ‘uncannily simple’ process of site selection and that your senses and intuition can often be the most reliable guide.18 Murcutt similarly maintains, ‘observation is as important as intuition and discovery.’19 Intuition establishes measures of significance of elements through the amount of interest paid to certain experiences felt. Measured drawing and photographs can give an idea about the topography and the position of the dwelling in the landscape, but not until visited can a place really be understood. Through seeing, drawing and being in a place, you can begin to appreciate that these buildings are not simply objects in the landscape as often portrayed in contemporary artists paintings, but are a means of shelter, warmth and comfort, and are a ‘modifier of our elements’.20 There is much more knowledge behind the siting, form and seemingly random placing of window openings in constructing these homes than appears apparent in providing protection from the elements. Material and making Richard Suggett expressed that, ‘today stone is regarded as the quintessentially

made

Llannerch y cawr longhouse

at wsa

Welsh building material, and in certain contemporary architectural contexts can symbolise the enduring qualities of Welshness.’21 The majority of professionally built houses 500 years ago, however, were constructed of timber. There was often a degree of choice of materials, construction and plan form, which is not always appreciated and there were also trends as to which materials were commonly used at various times, partly to do with skills of craftsmen. Many dwellings were built of a hybrid of stone and timber. The timber frames of buildings were often hidden by walls rebuilt of stone and masonry chimneys were built later.

through their textural qualities. ‘The tactile sense’, writes Pallasmaa, ‘connects us with time and tradition: through impressions of touch we share the hands of countless generations.’22 The quality, texture and variety of colour of natural and untreated materials used to build these dwellings add to the overall aesthetic quality and appeal of the longhouse type. The imperfections and weathered patina acknowledges the buildings transience and uniqueness, while reflecting the handmade craftsmanship.

import or elaborate forms and specific styles emerged. Building longhouses was a middleclass trend and alterations were often a public declaration of wealth of its owner. A square, stone chimney declared to everyone in the area a house was of status, as did a stone roof. Gilfach longhouse, situated in the Cambrian Mountains in Mid Wales, appears to be a modest longhouse from three of its elevations, excluding the façade which once faced a busy drover’s road. This elevation has two large, quite elaborate timber gable roofs built as a later addition. Form It was obviously a deliberate decision to attract attention from the roadside and Principally longhouses were built of a to show off wealth. The roots of the simple form, absent of concepts but built tradition however lie in the construction, The dwellings were built from resources for pragmatic reasons. The positioning of not the form or style that evolved from obtained nearby and were typically window openings for example appear to it;23 but alterations and identities that built with oak and stone. The stonework be haphazard from the exterior, but the people make on their homes should not can tell us whether material was either outward appearance follows the internal be ignored. In cases where longhouses are extracted from local quarries or collected functions of where light is required within restored as with Cilewent, the buildings from fields and rivers. The quality of the dwelling. Materials were put together are often stripped back to their simplest construction and materials used informs with simplicity and economy, built with forms, and restored to an earlier time, with us of the wealth of past owners. Materials large stones, undressed and not squared. later alterations and adornments removed. can express class, differences in localities The basic elements changed little over the Cilewent is displayed as it would have been and even national differences. centuries; the walls, roof and openings, after it was modified in 1734. This leads together with the materials they were to assumptions that these buildings were It is believed craftsmen would have built made from. This simplicity is depicted in lived in by less wealthy peasants, when the majority of longhouses that are still the contemporary painting and written in actually they would have been updated standing. The structures tell us of the commentary about Welsh longhouses. and ornamented over the years, which later knowledge and skill of their builders. photographs and other sources can show. Carpenter’s marks on the timber frames Added to the need to build for survival and and cut marks incised in materials by to take shelter from the elements, in reality Cultural aspects of building tradition craftsmen’s tools add to the story of and despite what is assumed and often how the building was made and give portrayed about the longhouse, people Myths and traditions surrounding the it uniqueness. felt a need to acknowledge their identities longhouse have seen to revolve around in their surroundings, to signify their elements of the home that had both The use of natural resources maintains belonging in the world as they do today. practical and/or symbolic functions. a direct connection with the landscape Conscious efforts were made to develop, These customs have predominantly made

at wsa

Gilfach longhouse

Burn marks, Llannerch y cawr

made

surrounded the hearth and thresholds, but also include marks made on surfaces and traditions relating to the landscape of the longhouse. Everyday routines and habits revolved around these key foci together with spiritual rituals. The myths highlight the importance of certain elements of the house and the landscape which surrounds it. People developed associations and myths around these elements, as they were so critical

at wsa

to their daily lives. There is a relevance to look to these myths and traditions as they hold deep cultural meanings and understandings from the past.

from the early Celtic belief that fire protects animals from evil spirits and other harms, there was a conviction that â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;warmth increases the yield of milkâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; and that cattle would yield more milk if they could see the flames of the fire, as some cows would have been able to at Cilewent longhouse.24 Keeping livestock at one end of a house and having the fire at the other end in addition to having being done for spiritual reasons provided a primitive form of central heating through the heat given off by the cattle. As well as keeping the people warm, the fire also had a spiritual significance and in some cases was never allowed to go out. Knowledge of these ingrained myths are often not fully understood as the customs are simply passed down the generations, and the meaning of their existence is lost or adapted along the way.

Angled tear drop-shaped burn marks are found on the timber lintel above the fireplace at Llannerch y cawr longhouse in the Elan Valley. The multiple charred The design and use of houses reveal marks are clearly deliberate and not certain cultural and social beliefs, ideas, accidental tallow burns; they appear meanings and values. The position of randomly spaced along the structural the fire in Welsh longhouses, where timber and are of a sizable depth and people and animals were housed under length. It is believed they would have one roof was significant. Stemming been placed intentionally in an attempt 38

to induce protection of the building from fire, literally ‘fight fire with fire’.

movements, and is answerable for the in a certain way. When findings are ecological and social consequences personal and subjective there is difficulty that are to come. The wearing down of presenting it as valuable information, as Myths and customs that shaped buildings emphasizes the reality that it is only one person’s experience of that traditional dwellings in Wales have architecture ‘exists through and for its place. These experiential feelings are informed and help create a sense of place users’.25 ‘The built environment is a huge however just as important as knowledge in which they belong. The sense of place reservoir of situations that tell us about from documented and historic evidence has been shaped through the people’s various usages and their interactions in understanding tradition. connections with their environmental with architecture. Attentive observation landscapes and qualities involving of existing structures stimulates the Various sources and survey methods shape physical understanding of the world, observer and nourishes the designer. our understanding of the Welsh longhouse memories and associations. Grounded In other words, wear offers a way of differently. Earlier studies by the in its origins sense of place is ingrained reading buildings.’26 The home contains RCAHMW, where measured drawings of beyond expression. pieces and recollections of a multitude homes are stripped back to their essential of lives that have all made their mark on architectural features and photographs Inhabitation it over time. were devoid of clutter and signs of inhabitation, convey a different image The way in which people inhabit space Findings of the longhouse to that of a traveller’s can be observed through the layout and description or painting of an interior. functions of objects within a dwelling. In order to develop a full understanding Looking to various sources gives a more The hearth was particularly significant in of vernacular environments, as Rapoport rounded way of measuring vernacular defining space in longhouses. The main argues is so critical to be able to draw built form within its surroundings. living space (hall) was used as a kitchen, lessons for contemporary design, a work-room and resting place, where many holistic approach to survey must be Understanding that comes from of the domestic activities of the household taken. Built environments should be interacting with the environment is took place. Most evenings were spent understood from the beginning of their critical as humans have shaped the place here as this was where the hearth was. existence through to the present day. To in which they live and respond in different The dwellings were flexible and were understand them fully, knowledge needs ways to outside influences on their lives. adapted and modified for new ways of life. to be gathered from multiple fields, from Personal observations can be used to Fireplaces and chimneys were added later historic and cultural evidence through describe form and character in relation to and the addition of an upper floor creating to observations by measured drawings the environment and sensations connected a bedroom was exceptionally innovative, and personal observation. To have a to it but they can not communicate the giving greater privacy to occupants. Any wide understanding of how a built form cultural significance of these things, surviving furniture suggests how space operated in its lifetime, evidence must be or their cause for being. A deeper was used within a house. The sgiw or draw together from a range of periods to understanding of buildings’ history or setl, characteristic of Welsh longhouses, the present authenticity of the building. cultural context is required, to support provided a bench by the fire which also There is an importance in looking at observations and avoid them seeming screened out any draughts and sometimes these buildings as a whole, but also the superficial and naïve. A broad and deep contained a place for storage. interdependence of its parts. survey approach allows for a greater insight into the sense of place that has Buildings’ surfaces also tell us how Facts and data only tend to be given been shaped through people’s connections they have been used by the wearing merit if they are reliable and accurate and with their environmental landscapes over of materials. Architecture allows when knowledge can be ‘proved’. Records time. This deep knowledge of traditions us to analyse the modification of that we assume are concrete are still an can be built on and re-interpreted for the environment and human body interpretation and the subject is registered contemporary design. 1 Amos Rapoport, ‘Vernacular Design as a Model System’, in Vernacular Architecture in the Twenty First Century: Theory, Education and Practice, ed. by Lindsay Asquith and Marcel Vellinga (Abingdon, Oxon: Taylor & Francis, 2006), p. 182. 2 Bernard Rudofsky, Architecture without Architects (New York: Doubleday & Co., 1964). 3 Jon Lang, Culture, Meaning, Architecture: Critical Reflections on the Work of Amos Rapoport (Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing Ltd., 2000), p. 13. 4 Iowerth Peate, ‘The Welsh Long-house: A Brief Reappraisal’ in Culture and Environment: Essays in honour of Sir Cyril Fox (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1963), p. 439. 5 Rachael Barnwell, ‘Welsh Domestic Interiors: Interpreting the Record Interpretation, Representation and Heritage’ (unpublished master’s thesis, University of Leicester, 2011), p. 17. 6 Richard Suggett & Greg Stevenson, Introducing Houses of the Welsh Countryside (Talybont: Y Lolfa, 2010), p. 18. 7 Richard Weston, Materials, Form and Architecture

(London: Laurence King, 2003), p. 112. 8 John Berger, About Looking (London: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 1980), p. 54. 9 Barnwell, p. 17. 10 The Mabinogion, trans. by Sioned Davies (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008), pp. 214-215. 11 Eurwyn William, Welsh Long-houses: Four Centuries of Farming at Cilewent (Cardiff: University of Wales Press & National Museum of Wales, 1992), p. 6. 12 Ibid., pp. 22-23. 13 David Wilson, Pembrokeshire (Cardiff: Graffeg, 2009), p. 63. 14 Ibid., p. 16. 15 Berger, p. 54. 16 Martin Heidegger, Poetry, Language, Thought (London: Harper and Row, 1971), pp. 221-223. 17 Glenn Murcutt, Glenn Murcutt: University of Washington master studios and lectures (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2009) pp. 17-19. 18 Michael Pollen, A place of my own: The Education of an Amateur Builder (London: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 1997), p. 30.

made

19 Glenn Murcutt, ‘Glenn Murcutt’, in Technology, Place & Architecture: the Jerusalem Seminar in Architecture, ed. by Kenneth Frampton (New York: Rizzoli, 1998), pp. 56-75 (p. 74.) 20 Glenn Murcutt, Glenn Murcutt: University of Washington master studios and lectures (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2009), p. 39. 21 Richard Suggett, ‘Timber versus Stone: Preferences and Prejudices in Late Medieval and Early Modern Wales’ in Stone in Wales: Materials, Heritage and Conservation (Cardiff: Cadw, 2005), p. 70. 22 Juhani Pallasmaa, The Eyes of the Skin: Architecture and the Senses (Chichester: John Wiley & Sons Ltd., 2005), p. 56. 23 David Lea, ‘Fake or Real?’ The Welsh Internationalist, 138 (1999/2000), p. 79. 24 William, p .38. 25 People meet in Architecture Biennale Architettura 2010 Short Catalog p.69. 26 Usus/ Usures: Belguim pavilion of the 12th Venice Architecture Biennale Booklet

at wsa

Inspired by Detail Dan Benham “The details are not the details. They make the design” Charles Eames Where does the idea for a building originate from? When the first lines are committed to paper? Today’s architectural press have led us to believe that inspiration for buildings fall out of the sky, manifested on table napkin sketches by architects at dinner on the 100th storey of a Manhattan building. These disconnected sketches far too often have no, or little resemblance to the finished articles we are told they represent. The slenderness, elegance and proportion alluded to in these early concept sketches are characteristics that often get watered-down through the passage of design and construction processes, where construction realities force compromises on the ‘master blueprint’. Students of architecture are easily caught within this web of thought. They perceive architectural design to be a linear process: concept enlightenment, followed by development of plans, then sections, closely tailed by elevations and finally a construction detail. The details, stitched together from various precedents found within different architectural journals, are often rushed and naive. Yet it is worth remembering this is exactly what the building users will experience – the details – and not the original concept drawing that nestles deep within the architect’s sketch book. These final details are vital to the purity and overall experience of a building. What if the first drawing was a detail? Taking this notion further, what if a building was actually inspired by a detail? What if a building’s form, spatial layout,

rhythm and environmental strategy grow fractured and air to be tempered. A larger out from a single detail? This approach 150mm wide board is set at the back of the can help develop a series of ordered and arrangement with two 100mm wide strips tectonically rich spaces within a building. sitting in-front with a 25mm overlap. This creates a 100mm rhythmic pattern along all At Ty Gawla, a project designed by Loyn facades, a simple gesture to the welsh barn & Co Architects, the design originated vernacular. All spaces, full-height openings from a simple timber detail that is often and divisions in the building are multiples expressed on traditional welsh hay of this 100mm sequence. The 25mm gap barns. Set in 20 acres of luscious welsh created by the overlapping of the boards, is countryside, the architectural brief was not only utilised to vent the cladding, but to transform a 1970s non-descript two subtly allows air to enter into the zinc roof storey dwelling into a traditional barn, and provide the necessary ventilation of the whilst also capturing the magnificent roofing material. As a result the junction views that engulf the site on three sides. between the wall and roof is very neat and This is a complete role reversal on the elegant, eliminating the need for unsightly recent trend in barn conversions, which proprietary under-fascia vents. miss-understand the scale, presence and rhythm of the existing and attempt to Allowing the design to be driven by a force the reductive functions of dwelling simple detail requires a far greater rigour into the structure; often creating a than being able to hide and mask all product that is a pale reflection of the errors with the magical tool of sandbarn’s former beauty. cement render, which allows designers to be sloppy in the tectonic language of Loyn & Co embraced the simple, their building. At Ty Gawla, each cut repetitive timber detailing of a welsh barn, line in the timber, every nail point in the which gracefully wraps itself around its cladding, was provided to the contractor, contents, protected by a floating metal to ensure the integrity of the detail was roof. No paraphernalia at the base or at maintained in all aspects. The timber the connection with the roof disturbs now weathers to varying degrees on each this dialogue between wall and shelter. facade of the building, telling a story of Understanding and translating this its engagement with the sun. The metal simplicity was paramount to the success roof, Gwrhyd pennant stone and the silver of the design. timber skin merge seamlessly into each other, creating a dwelling that merges Loyn & Co designed a double layer of and integrates with the landscape and vertical board on board timber cladding surrounding context. Understanding the that has become the skin of the building, tiniest components of architecture and connecting neatly to the new zinc roof. embracing them from day one, allows the As you move around the dwelling, the architect to elevate a building from purely different layers of the skin are pealed away, a series of functions, to a wonderful allowing views to be captured, light to be tactile environment.

(left) Timber cladding skin wrapping around the space. made

at wsa

Formwork, an Image Dilemma Nina Shen-Poblete Formwork is a temporary mould for wet concrete, and provides support while the concrete sets. After it is removed – ‘struck’, the formwork leaves an impression on the concrete surface. The architectural historian Adrian Forty writes that concrete, projected as a ‘modern’ material, has suffered persistently from an ‘image problem’.1 The unpopularity of its aesthetics gives rise to its tendency to hide behind the guise of other materials such as stone and timber, or to mimic their languages. This phenomenon is perhaps rooted in the public’s anxiety towards modernity, which concrete has come to represent. As Forty suggests, ‘like modernity, it brings people together but cuts them off from one another; it overcomes nature but destroys nature; it emancipates us but ends up destroying old ways of life and old craft skills’.2 As such, craft can be celebrated in the language of concrete, or be considered backward. Concrete’s struggle for acceptance in Britain can be traced through its media portrayals in journals such as Concrete and Constructional Engineering (C&CE).3 Despite being heralded as the material of the 20th century,4 such optimism was undermined by a prevailing attitude of scepticism in Britain towards concrete’s legitimacy as a material with structural and aesthetic credibility.5 Recognising the obstacles concrete had to face, the media sought to move beyond the provision of practical information to influence building and planning policy, and to place Britain at the heart of developments in concrete construction alongside other industrially advanced countries such as France, Germany and the USA.6 In the process of gaining this reputation, concrete was repositioned by the industry to align with ideologies of modernity expressing technical progress and industrialised production methods. In this context,

concrete’s reliance upon formwork, a craft the wooden base plank and pegs securing process contingent upon manual labour, the supporting structure are made visible was viewed as a drawback.7 each time a set of formwork is removed, and are neatly and systematically arranged. Formwork is never explicitly discussed, but The semi-finished edifice appears to be built is implicit in concrete’s dialectical history, with large blocks distinctively defining and in the tension between craft and technology, expressing the individual formwork panels tradition and modernity. In the semantics that were once its mould. So far reading of of images, formwork is often used to the picture makes sense. Upon closer represent concrete. Placed in the foreground, examination however, one notices that the formwork is given priority and allows us tightly spaced vertical marks left on the to see something quite different from those pisè walls and the regularity of their representational values that have been patterning do not match the timber projected onto concrete as a material. textures on the surface of the formwork panels displayed on the right. This disparity *** suggests that perhaps the pisè surface was not left as struck, but had undergone An early illustration of formwork was additional process of ‘dressing’; alternatively found in Rondelet’s, Traitè Theorique et it was simply a graphical ‘slip of the tongue’, Practique de l’Art de Bâtir, first published as the rendering of the formwork panel was in 1802 for the technique of pisè corrected in the later editions of the book construction. 8 Pisè is a construction so that it corroborates the perfect regularity technique using compacted earth cased of the vertical hatching on the wall.10 The and rammed within a timber shuttering, regularity of the pattern is suggestive of a and the historian Peter Collins described mechanical production process that was it as a predecessor to in situ concrete.9 to take place at the later half of the century, but was not yet available during the The illustration presents the viewer with production of this image. The graphical the construction of a domestic house. inconsistency in the early edition of the Formwork is represented as a diverse illustration is thus more revealing of an assembly of objects individually laid out aspirational projection of formwork into – a shovel, a wicker sieve, a spade, some its future development, though at present ropes and so on – tools and objects which it contradicts how this was actually appear to have been appropriated from produced. The image depicts a surreal scene farming utensils. Human beings are the where all the tools are held in suspension, main tool bearers and the operation of this as if by invisible hands. Human labour is system relies entirely upon manual labour. implied by the staged hand tools but made The origin of concrete construction is deliberately invisible. This absence bridges presented here as a craft process. the gap between the reality of craft techniques and the idealised world of Despite its telluric origin, the pisè wall in industrialised production. the illustration is shown as a structure exposed above ground, which inevitably The tension between the desire for concrete brings about the issue of material language, to appear technically modern and the and in this case it is given by the mould. actuality of its craft production process Formwork’s language is integrated into the persisted more than a century later in a design – the proportion of the formwork series of unpublished photographs taken panels set up a grid on the façade to which by the photographer Herbert Felton, who openings on the wall bear tectonic and meticulously documented the Gorilla compositional relations; the holes left by House (1933) in London Zoo.11

(left) The Origins of Modern Concrete - The Technique of Pisé Construction, Rondelet: Traite de l’Art de Batir (1812), Vol I, article 12, Plates V & VI made

at wsa

GH4 shows general arrangement and detailed construction sections of the Gorilla House proposed by Tecton & Lubetkin. Copyright and courtesy of RIBA library

made

Photograph of the Gorilla House under construction, London Zoo. Photographer: Herbert Felton. Architect: Tecton, 1932-33, Copyright and courtesy of the Lubetkin Archive, RIBA library

at wsa

The Gorilla House was Lubetkin and Tecton’s first commission by the Zoological Society. The design embodied the ideologies of Tecton’s modernist functionalism, as well as a self-conscious desire on the part of the Zoo to express scientific knowledge and technological capabilities in architectural terms.12 In this respect, the representation of concrete was heavily framed by these ideologies and shown in Tecton’s drawings as a new material with scientific credentials. The photographs convey a very different message from that projected onto concrete in Tecton’s drawings. Contra to the illustration of pisè construction, human figures are restored and often occupy the foreground of the picture frame, where formwork is represented as a stage for their performance. Similar to a craft ensemble, the positioning of the workers on site gives the impression of a well co-ordinated team in operation, and no one is seen as idle or superfluous. Each worker plays a specific role, and their spatial occupation on site is closely related to the structure of the formwork, as well as the activities of other team members. In the photograph, at ground level, one man is selecting pieces of loose timber for re-use, whilst another stands to attention with a wheel barrel, in close proximity to a worker fixing the steel reinforcement, ready to supply the content of the barrel. Two more men can be spotted perching on the supporting structure of the formwork, setting-up the sheathing ready for the next pour. Like acrobatic performers in a circus, they appear to be at complete ease despite their precarious positions. The building site provides the primary location where formwork may have been produced: a couple of trestles in the foreground suggest a temporary workspace for the carpenters; materials such as steel bars and pieces of clean un-cut timber planks are found lying loosely on the ground, ready to be used. The carefully controlled language of the concrete surface is a ref lection of this temporary performance, a process designed to register the imprints of formwork. The uneven surface reliefs are created by the different thicknesses of timber boards of the shuttering; the nail marks on the boards have been prodigiously aligned, and each lift of the formwork is expressed in a horizontal recess that corresponds with the transoms of the steel cage. As Forty proposes, the construction of concrete as a modern material was partly through a scientific understanding of the

Photograph of the concrete silos of the Shredded Wheat Factory in construction, 1935 Copyright & courtesy of Peter Lind & Co.

chemistry of cement,13 and such a view was expressed in Tecton’s technical illustrations. Concrete construction was still a relatively new technique, as described in The Arup Journal: ‘to the consternation of the foreman the whole firm of Tecton came to help stirring the wet concrete to get a feel of the material’.14 However, the photographs of formwork on the construction site revealed concrete as a process underpinned by building methods that relied upon traditional skills such as carpentry. This apparent incongruity highlights an ambivalence towards modernity in Britain. By using concrete as an exposed material, Tecton presented the British public with a new architectural language radically departed from a customary sense of beauty found in bucolic country cottages, or in classical or gothic traditions.15 But by placing formwork in the foreground, both in the image

Concrete is understood to be a product of ideological construction in light of cultural theories, by which formwork as a craft bearing human presence may be valued, or alternatively be considered to be technically backward during the process of concrete’s appropriation as a modern material. Technical guides and early journals presented an alternative view of concrete as a material first discovered through a series of business enterprises, with the development of formwork thus contingent upon economic forces. According to C&CE, concrete has economic advantages over other materials in raw material supplies and labour,16 under the assumption that Portland cement is a product local to made

representations and the architectural language, concrete can be acknowledged as a craft similar to other techniques such as bricklaying and timber construction.

at wsa

a description of the function and variations of each, and the techniques for operating the ensemble. The design of the continuously sliding formwork aimed to minimise labour and according to Wynn, attempts were made to replace manual power altogether in the lifting of the jack with electric motors. Nevertheless, such techniques proved unreliable at the time and human operators were indispensible to formwork’s operation. 21 The whole casting process had to be continuous and performed night and day, under a high level of organisation and supervision. At first glance the photograph appears to be staged. The workers have momentarily ceased working and gathered to the rear forming a backdrop to the steel jacks and the forest of vertical steel bars in the foreground. […] the men line up at one side of the job, a whistle is blown, and they work across to the other side, giving each jack half a turn, thus raising the deck ¼ inch...to maintain a rate of 5 in. per hour, 20 half turns are required or one every 3 minutes.22

Photograph of the concrete silos of the Shredded Wheat Factory in construction, 1935 Copyright & courtesy of Peter Lind & Co.

Britain, and construction can be carried out by unskilled workers.17 Nevertheless, formwork constitutes the most timeconsuming and expensive part of the process, and labour required in a conventional cast involves the constructing, erecting, stripping, cleaning of formwork, and post-striking treatment of the concrete surfaces. The innovation of a continuously sliding formwork was developed as a solution to these economical drawbacks: it only needs to be constructed and assembled once in a continuous process. Its upward sliding movement automatically erases its imprints on the concrete, thus post casting surface treatment is reduced to the minimum.18

made

Climbing shuttering was commonly used in the U.S.A, but was first adopted in Britain for the construction of silos by the

at wsa

contractor Peter Lind and Company Limited19 and the earliest example is the Shredded Wheat factory in Welwyn Garden City (1926). The construction of the silos was photographed by the contractor and subsequently published in promotional literature. To an outsider these images may appear impenetrable at first, however their reading can be illuminated when placed next to the descriptions of a similar type of formwork, operated with ‘with hollow screw-jacks’ in an early edition of Albert Edward Wynn’s technical guide – the first literature that dealt exclusively with concrete formwork.20

The intervals allowed this photograph to be taken without severe interruption to workflow. Each man was a jack operator and on average each operator could look after between 10 and 15 jacks.23 In the image, the turning instructions for the jacks are communicated by a system of arrows, painted directly onto the deck, resembling traffic signs. What the black and white image cannot reveal, however, is that the jacks or yokes were also painted in different colours so that each man could immediately identify himself with his jacks.24 Without seeing the poured concrete, or the formwork below the decks, the operators relied on the instructions of the foreman to perform the lifting of the shuttering, by turning the jacks in unison. Collectively, they sailed skywards, against the forces of gravity until the datum of the maximum height was reached.

The workers presented here were very different from those of the Gorilla House where each performed a specific role. In the case of the sliding formwork, the separate procedures of assembling, placing and striping of the forms previously done Similar to the illustration of pisé, Wynn by workers have now been integrated into began the chapter by laying out the a single action performed by a technical various components of the system: the entity. Thus each human being is released formwork itself, lifting jack, yokes, and separated from his/her role as the tool decking and so forth, proceeding through bearer, and becomes either the jack operator, 46

Workers above the platform of the continuously sliding formwork. Copyright & courtesy of Peter Lind & Co.

or technician. In the photograph, the workers form a homogenous and anonymous mob whose presence becomes secondary to the technical assembly of formwork. The continuously sliding formwork can thus be seen as a vertical conveyor belt, where each man is confined to a static position in the production line. The image presents formwork as a system combining technical artefact and labour, but it is the technical knowledge of the procedures that the contractor was actually selling. A simple structure such as a cylinder requires an elaborately crafted mould that ‘must be more accurately made than fixed formwork’, 25 and its construction commands a highly synchronised sequence of operations, usually achieved by a team of workers. The system is therefore a combination of formwork – – the individuated technical being, and techniques – – a set of ritualised procedures. Through a process of trial and error, both ensembles are fine-tuned until they work in perfect harmony. The perfection of the technique leads to its standardisation, which becomes a fixed set of procedures codified by technical texts, only to become a source of abstract knowledge. The

commercial success of this construction system makes the contractor a hoarder of formwork and the techniques of its operation. Since technique is a product, the contractor commodifies it, and commercial monopoly leads to a predetermination of form. Wynn’s technical guide reveals to us that the form and height of the silos are not dictated solely by their function (that of providing maximum grain storage space), but also the economy of construction and formwork operation. The cylindrical silo structures are distinctively identifiable figures in the industrial landscape, found in other parts of Britain, as well as Europe and America. The Shredded Wheat factory and the silos have acquired an iconic status in Welwyn Garden City – now Grade II listed structures, they have become part of our cultural heritage. The form of silos has obtained a quality of being universal, a symbol of rational design much admired by Le Corbusier in his manifesto Vers Une Architecture Moderne.26 Stripped of its context, the form of concrete silos becomes an abstracted image to be inserted into the discourse of architectural language, as described by Forty:

In the search for the most appropriate language for concrete, images of silos have been made durable through media reproduction and circulation, and its monolithic silhouette became emblematic of concrete’s qualities – ‘compared to all previous methods of construction, where the procedure was the assembly of parts, reinforced concrete produced buildings in which there were no parts.’28 The use of a continuously sliding formwork in the construction of High Point One apartments (1935), designed by Lubetkin in collaboration with Ove Arup and constructed by J. L. Kier,29 represented a radical position asserted by Lubetkin and Arup in the debate of concrete and its appropriate expression, in which they argued that it should be expressed as a made

‘Reproduced in art books and magazines, these photographs furnished a new argument, not that reinforced concrete is better than other structural techniques, but that naked engineering structures, in their direct expression of need and purpose, provided an alternative to the sterile and dead form of concrete’.27

at wsa

Photograph of construction of High Point One, 1934. Copyright & courtesy of Arup Library & Avery Illustrations.

monolith. Adapted from its initial industrial use, it allowed the walls and floors to be cast as one entity, and the resultant slimness of the structural components was then an expression of this new construction process. The design of High Point One, however, was far more complex than any silo. The walls had windows and doors of various sizes and whilst repeated on each level, the base of each flat was composed of cylindrical columns of different design, requiring different sets of formwork. Thus, the decision to use continuous sliding formwork was not economically rational, but ideologically informed – charged with the idea of wanting to express technological progress.

made

The system is a complex ensemble: the main ‘basket’ of the shutter is hung from a continuous piece of steel I-beam, which in turn rests on two parallel timber beams attached to a jack that lifted the formwork and the cradle beneath it. Some features

at wsa

have been adjusted from the original technical innovation. The image depicts a model to adapt to this particular construction in progress, but it is a site construction. For example, in order for devoid of human beings, as if the the floors to be cast connected to the walls, construction is achieved by the highly the enclosing sheathings have different mechanised system of formwork alone. In lengths: the layer on the inside of the a technical operation, men as tool bearers cavity is shortened to accommodate the are substituted by machines,30 and the depth of the concrete floor. Formwork’s replacement of human labour by the supporting structures have also been technical object of formwork is made tapered towards the top, where it connects explicit by the image. However, details to other parts of the formwork. The overall betray the illusion of concrete construction impression is elegant, appearing to express being an automated process, and remind an efficiency and economy of material us that craft labour cannot be fully negated: achieved by the mechanical tooling of in conjunction with the sliding formwork, timber in a workshop, rather than other types of formwork were also used, improvisational carpentry in situ. and their less coherent structural aesthetic suggests their construction be to a result Photographs have the capacity to create the of on-site improvisation; a hut in the middle illusion of truthfulness, by flawlessly of the courtyard which may have been a capturing, reproducing and representing site for a workshop; and a metal wheel reality with techniques such as cropping, barrel in the foreground also implies staging and selective representation. In this manual labour. The image is heavily framed image, the angle has been carefully chosen by architectural ideologies, often expressed to emphasise the streamlined profile of the by emphasizing one property at the expense sliding formwork, articulating it as a of others.31 Human figures are cropped out 48

to accentuate formwork as technology. craft production process conditioned by Building surfaces could well in this respect manual labour, as well as an aspiration be seen as images, sharing similar towards an industrialised technique. The manipulation strategies. The surfaces gap between the ideological representations underwent editing whereby any of concrete as a modern material with irregularities and traces of the human hand scientifically proven properties, and the were rubbed down, further removing its actual craft techniques in its production ‘residual primitivism’.32 The surface was relying on formwork persisted in the images then painted over with masonry paint33 to of the Gorilla House. But in this case, achieve the appearance of a monolith, an formwork representing traditional skills emblem of modernity associated with was deployed in a diplomatic role by the technical production. modernist avant-guard to insert a radical architectural language into Britain, a *** culture with a strong history of advocacy of craft and an enduring ambivalence In the semantics of images, formwork was towards modernity. mobilised from being simply a secondary structure, a means to an end, to a pivoting Photographs depicting the construction instrument in concrete’s alignment with of industrial structures such as the grain modernity. Under such discursive regimes, silos were used by enterprising contractors formwork was expected to corroborate with to bring formwork into line with their the values projected onto concrete as a values of the machine age. The building modern material, but it did not always fit site became the primary production line, neatly into the ideological setup of the and the continuously sliding formwork modernist propaganda. was presented as the vehicle stripped of the inconveniences of traditional craft In the illustration of pisè construction, the labour and streamlined for gaining language of formwork was not supported maximum efficiency. Men were placed in by the language of the pisè wall. This the background as operators of this incongruity implied a discontent with the machine, and such ideology was

The placement of formwork in the foreground serves to further compound concrete’s dilemmas, and makes the comprehension of its history in relation to modernity more problematic. Part of this difficulty lies in an uneasy disposition of modernity towards labour, which the image polemics gradually bring to light. Human labour, both skilled and unskilled, is structural to formwork, and according to Forty, a crucial ingredient of concrete as a process.34

1 Adrian Forty, ‘The Material Without a history’, in Liquid Stone, New Architecture in Concrete, J-L Cohen and G.M. Moeller, (ed.s), (New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2006), p. 34-45. (p. 38) 2 Ibid. p.38 3 C&CE was the first significant journal in Britain devoted to the subject of concrete published between 1906 & 1966 by the Concrete Association. 4 The first article in Concrete and Constructional Engineering was entitled, ‘The Advent of the Concrete Age’, written by Lt Colonel J. Winn R.E. – C&CE, Vol 1, No.1, March 1906 5 Articles such as ‘Architecture in the Abstract and in Concrete’, The Architects’ & Builders’ Journal, Vol 33, June 14th 1911 reveals the public and architectural profession’s uncertainty towards concrete, where it is regarded as a structural material to be covered up, or to imitate traditional motifs. 6 Editor’s Notes, C&CE, Vol 1, No.1, March 1906 7 Forty, Adrian. Chapter One, ‘Mud & Modernity’, Concrete and Culture, A Material History. (Reaktion Books 2012), p.13-52 (p.15) 8 Collins, Peter. ‘Chapter One: Béton’, in Concrete, Visions of a New Architecture, (2nd ed) McGill Queens University Press 2004, p. 19-35. (p. 20) 9 Ibid. 10 Rondelet, Jean. ‘Plate No.4 & 5’, Book One, Section One, Chapter II. Traite Theorique et Pratique de L’art de Batir. Planches. (Chez M.A.Rondelet Fils, Architecte, Sixieme Edition, 1830-32) 11 The archivist at the RIBA photographic library Justine Sambrook informed me that these photographs were originally intended for publication. However, they have not yet been published (except two images have been used in John Allan’s book Bertold Lubetkin: Architecture

many successive literatures on the same subject to follow. – C&CE, April 1965, p.159 21 Wynn, p. 227 22 Wynn & Manning, Chapter XVII – ‘Continuouslysliding Forms’, Design and Construction of Formwork for Concrete structures, p.239 23 Ibid. 24 Ibid. 25 Gray & Manning, ‘Roofs & Bottoms of Cylindrical Tanks’, Concrete & Water Towers, 5th Edition, p.254 26 Le Corbusier, ‘Three Reminders to Architects’, Towards A New Architecture, trans from the 13th French edns, John Rodker Pulisher, London, 1927, p.21-45 (p.27) 27 Forty. Chapter Nine, Concrete and Photography. Concrete and Culture, a Material History, p.253-278 (p.267) 28 Ibid. Chapter One, p.34 29 The contractor J. L. Kier ‘developed a specialism in continuous reinforced concrete grain silos, using innovative, state of the art civil engineering techniques at the forefront of modern technology’. – – J. L. Kier <http:// en.wikipedia.org/wiki/kier_Group>, accessed 16/08/11 30 Simondon, Gilbert. Du Mode d’Existence des Objets Techniques, (On the Mode of Existence of Technical Objects), translated from French by Ninian Mellamphy with a Preface by John Hart, Paris: Aubier, eds Montaigne, 1958, University of West Ontario, June, 1980, Downloaded online from: <http://english.duke.edu/ uploads/assets/Simondon_MEOT_part_1.pdf>, Accessed August 2011, p. 62 31 Forty, p. 38 32 Forty, p.15 33 Allen, John. Berthold Lubetkin: Architecture and the Tradition of Progress, RIBA Publications 1992, p.202-208 34 Forty, Liquid Stone, p. 35

and the Tradition of Progress). 12 Guillery, Peter. ‘Technology, Historic Development’, The Buildings of London Zoo, (Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England, 1993), p.17 13 Forty. Concrete and Culture, A Material History, p.16 14 Ove Arup, Some Recollections from the ‘30s, p2, The Arup Journal, Vol 15, No.2, July 1980 15 The new language of architecture introduced by Lubetkin stirred the public’s debates on beauty. ‘The Direct Appeal’ commented on the Gorilla House in ‘New Building Colum’, The Times, Oct 1937, where the journalist distinguishes the differences between Natural Beauty, qualified through geometry and rationality as exemplified by the architecture of Wren and Lubetkin, and Customary beauty, in cottages, flavours of renaissance or gothic. 16 J.Wynn, ‘The Advent of the Concrete Age’, Concrete & Constructional Engineering, Vol 1, No.1, March 1906 17 Ibid. 18 Ibid. p.431 19 Manning, George Philip. ‘Reinforced concrete Grain Silos at Welwyn Garden City, Rapid winter construction – special shuttering’, C&CE, Vol 34, 1939, p.427 20 Wynn, Albert Edward. ‘Continuously Sliding Formwork’ in Design and Construction of Formwork for Concrete Structures, Concrete Publications Ltd, 1926. The publisher claimed it to be the first technical guide published in English language that dealt solely and exhaustively on the subject of formwork. A. E. Wynn was a British engineer, who enjoyed a ‘flourishing’ career building concrete buildings in American in his early years. The book claimed to be a success, and numerous later editions, the 6th in 1974 were published with little updates in its contents, so the information is still very relevant. It was a milestone in technical guide on formwork, and setting a standard for

made

heightened in the photograph of High Point One, in which a further step was taken to crop human figures completely out of the picture frame to express formwork as a technical artefact. However, the careful construction of the photograph could not conceal the reality of building construction, a process in which craft techniques and industrialised methods co-existed. Reading between the images and Wynn’s technical guide, we understand formwork not only as a technical artefact, but a system delicately calibrated to maintain an equilibrium in the economy of labour, time, practical procedures, traditional skills such as carpentry and scientific understandings of concrete’s chemical properties.

at wsa

Towards a new Engagement of Architecture Nick Humes lens, access to electricity and even how to important to the group were combined position a projector in the middle of a road. with animations were the facades appeared to morph and shift, appearing to dance The studio group selected three sites: the across the surface, each time provoking Bute Building, a 1916 neo-classical building and challenging a different element of the home to the Welsh School of Architecture; architectural composition. Interactive the Cardiff County City Hall, a 1906 software developed through ongoing baroque style building of significant iconic research at the WSA relating to housing importance in this civic quarter; and the design 2 was merged with the facade, third, a disused neo-classical toilet block, a facilitating public participation and adding building which has an understated effect on a further element of communication into its surroundings and forms an ideal canvas the already absorbing program. for which to suggest functions of re use. Each element of the installation related The VS group then synthesised their ideas to the canvass of the building, and themes with the new canvasses they encouraging onlookers to explore the had discovered. Detailed surveys were boundaries of the building by conducted, card and computer models highlighting and exposing different constructed, which due to the technical elements, all to challenge and enhance Facades operate at a level past that of aspects involved each piece had to be made the existing architectural composition. protection and comfort, beyond the to a high level of precision. There was a communication and expression of ideas significant element of risk associated with This project was not just an exploration of form and function. They are powerful this project as the animations and into projecting onto walls, it was designed devices which can be used to convey projections could only be tested the night to highlight the effect of light on social subtexts of power, propaganda, symbolism before the final presentation. The group aspects, to encourage debate on texture, to and identity. The many permanent and worked without the advantage of seeing explore surface modelling and to examine temporary layers of a facade can be used their work grow, without having done it compositional patterns, but most of all, it to reconstruct the past, promote economies before and without knowing if all the was designed to encourage viewers to notice and even communicate global messages.1 elements of ambient light, detailed facades the building, to look up past their normal and projectors would work together. day-to-day eye level view and reconsider The VS project started with an exploration However, this uncertainty was replaced their location and surroundings and the of Cardiff identifying not just poorly lit with excitement when the images where architecture within it. buildings but areas of architectural interest. shone on the building for the first time. Architecture is not just about buildings, it This was accompanied by a realisation that Facades establish a relationship with the is about social and historical contexts, an iconic building and a new medium viewer. Through this exercise not only did literary and scientific recollections, statues were being used to communicate themes the VS group learn a new communication and monuments. It is the structurally of function and of visual appeal, not just technique but they conveyed to a wider complex and the wonderfully natural, it is to themselves but to a growing crowd of audience a message of the power and possibilities afforded by architecture. the combination of such elements that friends and onlookers. harness our attention and cause us to reflect. This project had other specific issues to The themes and ideas ranged from still Special thanks to: Sam Clark and Sergio contend with: technical issues relating to images of optical illusions to those Pineda at WSA, Teresa Vallis at Philips, horizontal and vertical lines of sight and projecting new functionality and use onto Glenn Davidson at BRASS, Helen at Drake distances needed according to the projector the buildings. Abstract videos of themes Av, Jeff Cook at Cardiff City Hall. Many of us are familiar with the practice of permanently marking a lightly coloured page with dark ink, but what happens when your canvas becomes a dully lit building with its own unique context, your pen an LCD projector and your ink fleeting beams of coloured light? The Vertical Studio (VS) projects are run with first and second year WSA students with the aim of integrating ‘studio work’ with that of researchers and practitioners. A VS brief was created earlier this year to investigate this idea: to encourage discussion on the implications of lighting as a form of communication, as a medium of expressing opinions. It created an opportunity to present information, explore and critique the building itself.

1 Irina Gendelman and Giorgia Aiello, Faces of places: Façades as global communication in Post-Eastern Bloc urban renewal, In: Jaworski A; Thurlow C (eds.) Semiotic Landscapes: Language, Image, Space. Continuum. 256273: 2010. 2 Enrico Crobu and Simon Lannon, http://www. lowcarboncymru.org.uk/interactive_tools.html: 2011.

made

at wsa

Power Of Remaking: Lessons of The Innovative Eco-Design in Design Studios Cristian Suau Through comparative teaching and design methods, this study critically explores the Eco-design aims at reducing the principles of low-tech and high-design environmental impact of buildings or carried out in several international products, including the energy consumption workshops led by the author in Spain, throughout their entire life cycle. Eco- Slovenia, Chile and the UK, since 2004. design is consequently the process of This study focuses in the teaching and incorporating environmental considerations learning systems of Eco-design 2 during all (as early as possible) phases of implemented in several design studios and the design of buildings or objects. compact workshops. Since 2008 I have offered intense 3-week design workshops The aim is to identify possible design as part of the BSc activity called ‘Vertical strategies and alternatives in order to reduce Studio’ that is carried out at the Welsh the urban environmental impacts School of Architecture (WSA) in Cardiff. throughout the life cycle. The adoption of the Eco-design approach has to focus on The selected cases show how engaged environmental balances, which are related students and tutors can rapidly develop to shifting of environmental problems from key environmental and constructional one stage to another and from one skills such as spatial versatility, environmental slot to another. environmental awareness, lifecycle thinking and collaborative research by Eco-design is for that reason closely related doing applied in innovative mock-ups and to life cycle thinking. All the case studies prototypes. Each studio brief consisted of deal with the principles of Reusability, intensive workshops focusing on Recyclability and Recoverability of urban conceptualisation and fabrication of and industrial waste such as packaging and elementary frameworks by using disused thus explore structural capacities to become cost-free materials. inhabited devices such as playgrounds, dwellings or furniture. Low-tech fabrication Towards a Democratic Design is the optimal medium to test and materialise our Eco-design outcomes, Following the lesson of the ‘Tower of Babel’ throughout the method of ‘bricolage’. The painted by Pieter Bruegel the Elder,3 planet term is borrowed f rom t he Earth seems a vulnerable ‘3D game board’. French word bricolage, from the Its tools and components are not limitless. verb bricoler, the core meaning in French The current financial crisis is a good being, “fiddle, tinker” and, by extension, example of unscrupulous ruling. It “to make creative and resourceful use of demands a profound analysis on the whatever materials are at hand (regardless collapse of speculative manoeuvres, with of their original purpose)” 1 or Do-It-Yourself dramatic short-term consequences in our (DIY), an elementary fabrication process environment. What is evident, mainly in that is 100% personal involvement and industrialised zones, is that we are enhancement of manual skills, which are undergoing the excess of a speculative dormant due to an education based on ‘Culture of Consumption and the pseudoabstraction and merely cognitive aspects environmental notion of ‘Greenism’. rather than material competences. Preface

After reading the clairvoyant book called ‘Six Memos for the Next Millennium’ 4 by Italo Calvino–full of wit and erudition- I would like to highlight some key points which govern not just a visionary planet but ethically my lifecycle thinking by underpinning progressive research by doing, mainly through the bridging between design studio and personal research outputs. It reveals itself as a manifesto for democratic design. Generally a succinct synopsis of five cornerstones can be deployed as follows: 1. Empowered Diversity Conflict, diversity and difference are constitutive elements of democratic coexistence. A democratic architecture has to identify obstacles and provide flexibilities, explore visionary scenarios, look at potential smart technologies and define new socio-spatial models. 2. Adaptable Living Systems: What Should We Play Instead? Life is frantic and changing. Adaptability is a necessary antidote against reductive and dysfunctional schemes of living in motion. We must operate with progressive design approaches on potential architecture by exploring the spatial deterioration of the built environment in existing urban or suburban contexts and thus generating new spatial games. 3. Construction of Innovative Environments and Plural Design Density and diversity are sustainable terms. All citizens have the right to have a sustainable social, climatic and built environment. For instance, any democratic architecture should support the use of decarbonised technologies and encourage

(left) Figure 1. PHS (Pallet Housing System) is a Eco-design made by Dr. Suau. It provides new opportunities for modular and lightweight housing frames by reusing pallets shipping boards. It can be assembled or disassembled anywhere easily. It consists of expandable and contractible spaces within simple frameworks, and it is well-weatherproofed with passive techniques according to specific climatic contexts. Source: Suau archive.6 made

at wsa

made

Figure 2. Mock-up design of Pallet House unit (UK, 2009). The dwelling is a compact cube facing Equator. The roof is slightly tilted. The Direct Gain Systems occur by incorporating a large opening ( glazed faรงade) facing south and a clerestory, which performs as an efficient solar collector (thermal buffer). Source: Suau, archive.6

at wsa

made

at wsa

Figure 3. TyrespaceÂŠ project is another new structural games. In 2008, I led a Master workshop at the School of Architecture PUC in Santiago de Chile. In two weeks, 6 small groups produced a 12m span footpath bridge only with car tyres. They carried out several empirical tests using all the components and properties of each car tyre. The preliminary structural tests with strapping connectors failed. Those frames required extra-stiffness. Nevertheless the use of strapping methods showed capability to build up random tissue. Source: Suau archive.6

passive energy systems in order to achieve adequate thermal performance, climatic protection, and functional flexibility. 4. Playability One of the most significant aspects of design lies in its ludic action. What level of playability do we take into consideration in the design process? 5. Social Accessibility

made

We must reject any architectural trend that excludes the ethic role and consequently the social promotion. Architects are certainly organic intellectuals because they are organizers of the existing and future built environment.

at wsa

Playing with Less

Those factors are not just mere definitions but contain the new principles which rule By studying historically the spatial the world of design. For instance, if we evolution of architecture, we observe a focus on the notion of compactness, it gradual dematerialization of the space, appears as a manifesto of Elementarism from mass towards film. Contemporary against oversized architecture. Smallness space in formal cities is lacking of playability. opens up unexpected trails of spatial Citizens do not engage enough in decision- production and provides new functional making and, for instance, our streetscape flexibility with spatial interoperability; do becomes a territory of boredom and social more with less. The sculptor Richard Serra agony. Nevertheless, space is a precious stated that â&#x20AC;&#x153;the biggest break in the history resource especially in informal cities and of sculpture in the twentieth century occurred certainly communities in slums do engage when the pedestal was removed.5â&#x20AC;? more in the remapping and reshaping of their built environment. Users take an If we relate this statement in architectural active role and the inventiveness of survival practice, what happens when foundations logic allows for the development of dynamic become smaller, lighter or simply removed? spatial frames ruled by three main factors: In this case, minimum would not mean Compactness, Lightness and Speed. minuscule but would imply removing from 56

Figure 4. The Nomadic Allotment project© was built at Borough Market, London (2010). It consisted in the application of PHS© assemblage system applied in modular and mobile agro-devices. Source: Suau archive.6

design its superfluous, redundant or useless properties. Consequently the search for elementary living is not a trend applicable in impoverished cities or cultures but is rather an appropriate strategy for dealing with playable design factors. What level of playability do we take into consideration within the design process? Compactness inevitable implies lightness and speed of fabrication. Hence ludic research and workshops on compact-lightfast design should experiment in praxis and, above all, play with potential and existing obstacles. Apart from this, the design process should foster the sensorial exploration towards new space-frames by looking at potential appropriate technologies applied in our built

environment. Thus, compact design follows the logic of minimum assemblage, a sort of ‘base kit’ that is able of numerous combinations with few connectors.

Junk as Matter for Ludic Frameworks

dwellings in urban or remote environments. The results are two prototypes: Tyrespace© and PHS© (Pallet Housing System). They are mainly affordable solutions, which give response to mankind in natural disasters and urban emergency (i.e.: solutions for migration or low-incomes dwellers) in slums or the like.

The logics of reusing and recycling of The designs are based on the application of manufacturing waste appear as a visionary manufactured waste, such as disused timber game of research, which acquire a strategic boards and rubber. Depending on the role in the design of the built environment, specific properties of each material or the reconversion of productive and component, quality of constructional economical models and the reshaping of systems and the weatherproofing applied new living forms. in each chosen prototype, different parameters of transitoriness and lifespan Since 2004 I have investigated fast can be achieved. Some materials are more fabrication systems applied for emergency ephemeral than others, nonetheless made

at wsa

made

Figure 5. The Nomadic AllotmentÂŠ, A-frame module. The fabrication of a mock-up allowed testing the structural capacities of a triangular framework made with only 3 shipping pallet boards. Source: Suau archive.6

at wsa

structural. Each fabrication process reuses waste as structural frames with low-tech building methods: 1. Tyrespace© is a prototype based on the reuse of tyres. Geometrically it consists of a compact polygonal layout where walls and roofing are structured mainly by combining and strapping car and motorbike tyres. Several climatic simulations, has thoroughly been analysed and detailed based on constraints of the modular structure. The outcomes are elastic frames -‘webs’ or semi-domes that lightly touch the ground- with potential applications in sheds, bridges and games. 2. The PHS© is an innovative housing frame. It constitutes an ecological response by reusing timber-shipping boards applied to compact dwellings. It can easily be assembled or disassembled. Neither cranes nor scaffolds are used to connect walls with floors or roofs because the bare pallet board operates like an adjustable ladder itself. There are two types: Cubic and Triangular (A-frame) solutions. The modules are assembled and embraced mainly by boards, tensile components or metal connectors. These components are available in the shipping and packaging manufacturing. The PHS© has been climatically tested by employing passive techniques such as orientation, building shape, and colours, available local materials, and shading devices. They have similar base modulation: 80cms x 120cm. In terms of spatial distribution, the PHS© provides a central kitchen/bath core with sleeping room. All these case tests are handmade fabrication systems. These geometries and modules are the result of the specific structuring potential. Summarizing, junk-frames formulate a rapid implementation of variable and interchangeable structures with interior adjustable buffers and panels capable to contain different types of occupancy and climatic variation. Each structure fosters the notion of a do-ityourself ‘ kit’ and demonstrates a strong spatial playability and adaptability, in line with the need for decarbonisation of the built environment.

Collaborative Research by Doing The outcomes of the above mentioned research have been directly applied into subject-based design studio. Through innovative teaching and design methods, this study critically synthesises the

principles of low-tech and high-design carried out in several international workshops and applied research led by myself. It shows how students can rapidly cultivate essential environmental and constructional abilities such as spatial versatility, environmental awareness and collaborative research by doing. Each studio brief consisted of intensive workshops focusing on conceptualisation and fabrication of elementary frameworks by using disused cost-free materials. What is a compact architecture today? What should our design objectives be for a sustainable future? What type of elementary framework should we achieve? For instance, the design workshop called ‘Nomadic Allotments’ built mobile allotments at Borough Market as part of the International Student Architecture Festival in London 2010 (refer to http://www. nomadicallotments.co.uk). Students learnt on agile fabrication, reuse of junk materials and urban gardening techniques. We obtained an international prize as the best ‘Recycling Project’. The lesson of these series of workshops lies on the notion of ecofabrication applied in undergraduate architectural education. The culture of each workshop is a learning tool and catalyst for ‘smart’ design decisions, by using less and giving more. Each workshop shows how to edifice ‘bridges’ between praxis and research, based on flows of retrospective criticism and prospective visions for encouraging eco-friendly urban environments. Regarding the increasing levels of industrial waste released by our carbon-intensive culture, there is still a certain lack of inventiveness in how we might deal with these materials by ‘upcycling’ and reusing them in the building sector, as innovative frameworks, thermal insulators or cladding.

D. Communicational, spatial and constructional skills by testing and building affordable designs such as shelters, allotments, playgrounds, furniture, etc.

Process and Methodologies Eco-frames are the result of the consolidation of 5-year T&L development project and implementation in design studio at the Welsh School of Architecture (WSA). It is part of our spring term socalled ‘Vertical Studio’ for BSc1 and BSc2, which was established in 2008. Since its foundation, I have been involved in its co-ordination for two years (2008 & 2009) and also led five different units: A. Folding Architecture: http://www.cardiff. ac.uk/archi/studioproposal-spring-2008.php B. Junk-Frame: http://www.cardiff.ac.uk/ archi/studioproposal-call-for.php C. Nomadic Allotments: http://www.cardiff. ac.uk/archi/v-studio-2010-studio_4.php , http://www.nomadicallotments.co.uk D. The Art Box 1: http://www.cardiff.ac.uk/ archi/v-studio-2011-studio_4.php E. The Art Box 2: http://www.cardiff.ac.uk/ archi/vs2012/pdf-html/12-the-art-box. html The design process of this studio offers innovative analogical and digital techniques on sustainable design through the investigation of eco-design ideas and applications. This also enables me to share my professional and research expertise by exploring ‘Design by Doing’.

B. Collaborative work between students and staff

The learning method encourages 100% cluster work through the surveying, debating, playing and modelling of experimental spatial systems. The student design process is mostly edited digitally, thus allows easy exchange and accessibility. Physical models are constructed and tested manually and then constructed and exhibited in 1:1 prototypes. This is done so that students can train and develop a sensorial ‘eye-tohand co-ordination’ and sense of fabrication and craftsmanship, not just a mere visual experience. During group tutorials, instead of providing 30-minutes-tutorial-perstudent, tutors increase the student monitoring by brainstorming and trafficking design ideas through group dynamics.

C. Environmental design by employing analogical and digital tools

Thus cohorts can also learn from each other. Within the interim review process, tutors

What can we play instead by reusing industrial waste? Eco-frames aim to survey on the cultural notion of reuse and recycle applied in construction, by using industrial disused materials such as metal, timber, rubber or any packaging components with constructional potential. Each of these design labs has achieved the following scopes: A. Eco-fabrication by employing disused industrial materials

made

at wsa

made

at wsa

and crits establish an appropriate medium to judge and assess work process. Therefore peer-reviews are an instant way to build up operative critique by having different viewpoints. They create a favourable atmosphere for debate and collective celebration. What is essential in each review is to evaluate the continuous process according to the given learning outcomes and brief ’s targets. Verbal, diagrammatic and written crit feedbacks are provided to all students. A specific feedback pro-forma has been designed to record each presentation; highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of each artwork and providing alternative precedents and recommendations. The recording part of each feedback review is filled in by a student who performs as scribe. Instant feedback is understood as a consistent, constructive and explicit mechanism for personal development, rather than a measurement for marking or a ‘ticking box’ mechanism. The final marking is calculated as part of the annual portfolio. After processing and comparing these results, the next step was to reflect on the given assessment methods among colleagues, taking into account the student questionnaire. Towards a New Ludology in Design Games are generally necessary systems that govern our daily life. Whereas games are often characterised by their tools, they are often defined by their rules. While rules are subject to variations and changes, enough change in the rules usually results in a new game. For instance, how can be possible to continue the car-based model of suburbia in emergent economies? What kind of decarbonised design might we conceive instead?

Following the wise reflections made by the French sociologist Roger;7 he defines the notion of game as a human activity that must have the following characteristics: A. Enjoyment: the activity is chosen for its cheerful character B. Instant: It means circumscribed in momentary sense of time and place C. Uncertainty: The outcome of the activity is unforeseeable D. Non-productive: The aim is not prolific but adventurous E. Governed by rules: The activity has rules that are different from everyday life F. Abstract: It implies the awareness of a fictitious reality These points have personal applications in the teaching of architectural design. Certainly, a game is a form of play with goals and structure. I will illustrate this point with an experimental case. In 2008 a group of young architects and academics were invited to lead, reflect and produce new games with students from UIC, Barcelona. The experience is now available in a book called ‘A Game in a Place: Vertical Studio’ by Carles Ferrater and Carme Pinos.8 The conventional studio was replaced by the notion of game-lab, a field for nonstopping brainstorming. Students and tutors became play-makers. The central theme was ‘Game and Place’ . The outcomes were assessed by externals and where showed in a comprehensive catalogue of gaming implements and games. This experience was an interactive, goal-oriented activity, with active agents to play against, in which players (including staff) could interfere/interplay with each other: Process setting the stage for the outcome.

Spatial experimentations in Architecture require ludic strategies. Games provide new situations to subvert rules and turn Finale conventions upside down, and the unpredictable convergences between What games should we play instead? What concrete and intangible, even virtual spaces. can we extract from these lessons?

1 Merriam-Webster dictionary: http://www.merriamwebster.com/dictionary/bricolage, accessed on 28/04/2013. 2 ‘Eco-design aims at reducing the environmental impact of products, including the energy consumption throughout their entire life cycle’. Eco-design (Directive 2009/125/EC on Eco-design) Source: http://ec.europa.eu/energy/efficiency/ ecodesign/eco_design_en.htm, accessed on 28/04/2013. 3 Pieter Brueghel the Elder: ‘Tower of Babel’ (1563). Oil

on panel. Dimensions: 1140 mm (height) and 1550 mm (width); Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna. 4 Calvino, I. (1988), ‘Six Memos for the Next Millennium’, Penguin group, London, pp. 101-124. 5 Serra, R. (1994), ‘Writings/Interviews’, the University of Chicago Press, Chicago, p. 141. 6 ECOFABRICA: www.ecofab.org (2012). All illustrations are property of and courtesy of Dr Suau. ECOFABRICA,

Students also learn from the simplicity of non-object based design models, which deal with the dilemma of High Design and Low -Tech, t hroug h appropriate architectural strategies and affordable socio-technological solutions. After the completion of all studios, the brief has periodically been consolidated by surveying on new notions of reuse and recycling, applied in several environments, by using industrial disused materials such as metal, timber, rubber or any packaging components with constructional potential. The power of playing with less in the studio opens new notions of spatial compactness; structural lightness and speed of fabrication. These experiments have been demonstrated through international design workshop (summer workshops; vertical studios or the like) led by myself and carried out in Slovenia, Spain, Chile and the UK. These cases showed a diverse range of space-frames based on the principles of Enjoyment, Instantness and Abstraction. As result ‘Life Cycle Thinking’ (LCT) applied in Eco-design can help us to identify new opportunities and lead to decisions that help improve urban environmental performance and image. This approach demonstrates that responsibility for reducing environmental impacts is being taken by young designers. Life Cycle Thinking provides a comprehensive perspective. As well as considering the environmental impacts of the design and fabrication processes within our direct control (DIY ), attention is also given to the materials used, supply chains, product use, the effects of disposal and the possibilities for re-use and recycling.

Eco-design platform founded and led by Dr Suau. 7 Caillois, R. Les Jeux et Les Hommes’, (1992) Gallimard Education, (French edition), Paris, pp. 323, 354-364. 8 Ferrater, C. & Pinos, C. ‘A Game in a Place: Vertical Studio’, 2011; Sections: ‘Pool Table Laser’, ‘Drawing in the Air’ and ‘Puzzlab’ by Suau, C. and Blanco, M. ActarBirkhauserD, Barcelona, pp. 59-65.

made

This study explored the potential and latent playability of any elementary design capable to conceive and fabricate new frameworks by constraints. To do so we need to transform the classical sense of design workshop into a ludic lab, self-ruled by spatial explorations, drifts and inventiveness in the design process.

at wsa

The Delivery of ‘Sustainable’ Design – Communicating Change in the Design Process Sarah O’Dwyer

Though the term ‘sustainability’ has soaked into public discourse, there is confusion on what the word actually means and of how to define ‘sustainability’ in relation to the building industry. So far, both the discussion on sustainable buildings and the mainstream practice in this field has been limited to an anthropocentric maintenance of existing views or practices; a ‘business as usual’ attitude.1 This in turn has meant that the focus is on the ‘harder’ issues such as energy and carbon dioxide emission reduction; essentially on the environmental performance of buildings.

indicators, environmental assessment tools and compliance testing methods. While the benefits of these tools in driving the environmental agenda and in improving the energy performance in buildings is acknowledged, there are many criticisms to be levelled at them.

design processes, whereas students who are already familiar with some of these concepts find they are expanding their knowledge and deepening their processes, instead of uprooting them. Of all the teaching methods available to achieve this ‘sustainable’ architectural instinct, the design studio is surely the most appropriate. This is where the design process is really implemented; where students get a ‘first go’ at putting their theory into practice, and communicating their ideas and intent. Sustainability issues can be incorporated into that structure as ideas to explore, test and discuss. A study in University of Ankara on teaching sustainable design to architectural students, found the studio an ideal avenue to show students that sustainability is a multidimensional concept requiring critical thought.5 The potential there is to weave sustainable thoughts into the design process early on as instincts and reactions, not additional concepts; to truly communicate the change needed in the design process, students must be exposed to these concepts early on in the design studio, so these become instinct not reason.

As a tick box exercise which focus’ is the design on scoring points,3 these approaches don’t always lead to the most sustainable solution (e.g. putting in cycle racks when a cycle network doesn’t exist for the area, or including a rainwater harvesting system though water usage is minimal). These issues are important, however in any Their rigidity often discourages objective holistic examination of sustainable issues thinking – if an issue is not on the list it or buildings, this definition has to broaden is not considered – with the motivation out to meet social, economic and cultural of the designer focused solely on the end needs , and the relationships between these product and not the process. They remain a so called ‘softer’ issues.1 Many of these [largely voluntary, beyond public agency ‘softer’ issues are required to be part of an requirements] standalone exercise, that is architect’s design process, though she may not well integrated into the design process. not have previously formally defined or They are incapable of being adaptable, acknowledged them in this way. As such, flexible or responding to a broad range of Architects are in the unique position of issues – all the things the design process being able to directly influence, not only the strives to be. The methods are tied to building energy outcome, but social issues, the building scale, with an inability to from health to well being, and economic include social or economic issues and more ones like job creation and skills. Even for importantly the relationships between these This adapted design process can be a tool to those not on board with the sustainability three into account. It could be said that communicate this in an infinite feedback agenda, who can argue that such issues are such an uninspired and un-integrated loop, to reach what Steve Jobs calls “the not things all Architects should be striving checklist leads to an uninspired Architect. fundamental soul of a man-made creation to influence and improve? that ends up expressing itself in successive If the aim is to “infuse sustainability outer layers of the product or service”;6 The difficulty in practice - and with the considerations into day-to-day conduct i.e. good- and I would add sustainable - design. ‘business as usual’ approach - is that the and practice”4 then the key is to educate Architect’s design process has not changed Architects from the beginning to establish or adapted to reflect new [sustainability] these issues not as possible additional ideas, issues. Any change is typically a “superficial but core to great Architecture. From my 1 R.J. Cole, ‘Building Environmental Assessment Methods: change layered on top of an unchanged experience in teaching at a postgraduate Redefining Intentions and roles’, Building Research and core organisation”.2 level it is crucial that students are taught Information, 33 (2005), 455-467 (p. 461) from an early stage to think about these 2 R.J. Cole, ‘Emerging Trends in Building Environmental Assessment Methods’, Building Research and Information, So, how can the design process be used to sustainability concerns in a primary way. 26 (1998), 3-16 (p.3) communicate a deeper, [necessary] change, The more a student learns “how” to be an 3 Ibid, p. 7 and how can this [necessary change to the architect, the more entrenched their design 4 Cole (2005), p. 464 5 Meltham O Gurel, ‘Explorations in Teaching Sustainable design process] be communicated? approaches become…leaving little room Design’, International Journal of Art and Design Education’, to think about sustainability as anything 29 (2010), 184-199 (pp. 192-193) Current attempts in practice to but a bolt-on. Students who come to the 6 Steve Jobs, ‘Apple’s one Dollar a Year Man’, Fortune -CNN Money (Jan 24th 2000), <http://money.cnn.com/ communicate this change, consist mainly of concepts fresh find it more difficult to magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2000/01/24/272277/ “checklist” procedures, such as sustainability weave sustainability into their thought and index.htm> [accessed 9th July 2012]

made

at wsa

On the Scalability of Nanotypologies Sergio Pineda Matter and Form The ties between matter and form have long interested architects, philosophers and scientists. Aristotle’s position has proven to be one of the most influential throughout the centuries: Matter is the basis of all that exists; it comprises the potentiality of everything, but of itself is not actually anything. A determinate thing only comes into being when the potentiality in matter is converted into actuality. This is effected by form ... [which is] the completion of the potentiality latent in the matter.1 This wording, by HT Peck, is an attempt to convey views expressed by Aristotle at the Athenian Lyceum circa 330 BC. Testament to the influence exerted by these views, architect Louis Kahn expressed opinions along similar lines (although without necessarily intending to align himself with Aristotle) in front of an audience of architects and students at Penn University circa 1971: If you think of brick, for instance, and you say to brick, “What do you want brick?” And brick says to you “I like an arch.” And if you say to brick “Look, arches are expensive, and I can use a concrete lentil over you. What do you think of that brick?” Brick says: “I like an arch”. And it’s important, you see, that you honour the material which you use. You don’t bandy it around as though you said “well, we have a lot of material around – we can do it one way, we can do it another”. It’s not true! You can only do it if you honour the brick, and glorify the

brick, instead of just shortchanging it or giving it an inferior job to do, where it loses its character.2 Aristotle’s notion of potentiality in matter becomes, in Kahn’s words, an invitation for architects to honour the brick and not “bandy it around”. Kahn is not thinking about any kind of matter. He is talking about a construction material which is best suited for specific structural forms. By establishing such a connection, he defines design in terms of the completion – through form – of the potentiality latent in matter. In effect, for Kahn matter is formless (in spite of the rectangular nature of bricks). And it is the architect’s mission to discover the right form for it. New Scalar Frontier It may be argued that, to a 21st century audience, the notion of scale seems conspicuously absent from these statements. Perhaps our judgement is affected by the immediacy of multiscalar views of the world today. Contemporary givens such as domestic microscopy and CAD datasets of cities – along with vast amounts of scientific imagery online – have enabled a new awareness of scale. Furthermore, developments over the last few decades have seen material scientists changing the properties of matter by altering it’s nanometric form. This raises the question: can matter ever be formless? Our contemporary awareness of multiscalar reality was foreseen and crystallised by contemporaries of Kahn. The most direct example of this is Powers of Ten, a film by architects/designers Charles and Ray Eames from 1968. In eight minutes, the movie takes the viewer on a continuous camerazoom through all scales of perception available to mankind. Starting with the familiarity of a picnic scene in Chicago, the sequence zooms out to a view of the entire known universe, and then back in

towards a human hand, finishing with a close-up of nanometric atomic particles (which, in reality, are beyond vision, as their dimensions are smaller than any wavelength of light3). Powers of Ten was prepared as a “sketch film” for the Commission on College Physics in the US. But the Eameses made a conscious decision that their sketch should appeal to ten-year-olds as well as astrophysicists. The result is scientific in its appearance, but emotional in its effect. The familiar and tactile 1:1 scale of human perception is suspended within an entirely new spatial set-up. In 1968 this new scalar awareness was slowly becoming part of the public imagination, after decades of cryptic military and scientific research – from atomic fusion to the Sputnik and Apollo missions in outer space. The clarity of conception is key to the success of Powers of Ten. In one sweeping gesture the film synthesises all existing viewing technologies. As Beatriz Colomina has pointed out, “the Eameses’ innovative technique ... gave form to a new mode of perception that was already in everybody’s mind4”. Watching the film today, it may not seem revealing enough. The new spatial consciousness that it crystallised has been incorporated into tools and interfaces now used daily by millions. Yet, we do not seem to have advanced considerably in our awareness and use of scale. As a film by a design and architecture office, it seems to be asking whether there are lessons for design at these new frontiers of observation. Unknown to Aristotle and perhaps unfamiliar to Kahn, these scales of vision reveal matter under a new light. Depictions of matter at molecular level expose an increased formal vibrancy, as structures that have been streamlined through astrophysical and biological

(left) 15 Powers of Ten images are production art from 1977 film version: Powers of Ten: A Film Dealing with the Relative Size of Things in the Universe, and the Effect of Adding Another Zero Images are Courtesy and © 2012 Eames Office, LLC. made

at wsa

Soap bubbles by Jean-Baptiste Siméon Chardin, mid-18th century.

evolution become manifest. Within this scaled gaze, and in a reversal of the Aristotelian view, form is no longer to be applied on matter; form is to be found within matter. Scalability These new scalar representations raise multiple questions. For example, within architecture and design, are molecular geometries suitable for scalability into macroscopic and building scales?

made

A noteworthy example of scalability of this kind would be the fullerene and the geodesic dome. The fullerene is a molecule composed entirely of carbon atoms in the

at wsa

form of a hollow sphere and is named after Buckminster Fuller, the architect whose geodesic domes it resembles. In both cases, a geometric principle defines the location of nodes. At molecular level in the fullerene, these nodes define the location of carbon atoms. In geodesic domes, these nodes define the location of structural joints, which are connected by beams. Both structures share the same diagram, i.e. they are constructed with the same geometric principles. But each one is materialised differently and with support systems appropriate for their scale. In this sense it is necessary to distinguish between two entirely different forms of operating with scale: direct scaling and 66

diagrammatic scaling. While diagrammatic scaling is vindicated as a methodology by the shared properties between the fullerene and the geodesic dome, direct scaling is a very questionable practice. To explain direct scaling, it is useful to look back at work such as On Being the Right Size5 (1926) by JBS Haldane. Haldane studied proportions in the animal world and the essential link between the size of an animal and the support systems that enable its life. Haldane argued that if an ant were scaled up to the size of an elephant, the ant’s legs would break under its own weight. This is why – he explained – the legs of an elephant are proportionally thicker than those of an ant.

In effect, if any insect or animal were significantly scaled up with the same tissue structures, its relative muscular strength would be reduced, since the cross section of its muscles would increase by the square of the scaling factor while its mass would increase by the cube of the scaling factor. This is widely known in biomechanics as the square-cube law. In the example of the giant ant, the shape of the ant has been – conceptually – rebuilt in the same materials at a larger scale. This is commonly referred to as direct scaling (or rather, the unfeasibility of direct scaling in the material world). On the other hand, diagrammatic scaling starts with a given set of geometric principles and materialises these spatial relations at a different scale with suitable support systems and materials for that new scale. The fullerene and the geodesic dome are firstly related through a diagram that explains their geometry, but more interestingly, they share properties such as a remarkable strength to weight ratio. This property varies in relation to the chosen material systems in which they are materialised, but is nonetheless intrinsic to the geometric relations at all scales. Mining of Datasets The last few decades have seen in molecular chemistry a momentous effort to catalogue (through x-ray diffraction) more than 500,000 different molecular structures (crystals, proteins, etc) in a number of different databases such as the Cambridge Crystallography Data Centre, the Inorganic Crystal Structure Database, and the Protein Data Bank. Molecular-modelling software enables crystallographers to illustrate each Munich Olympic Centre; design by Frei Otto; photography by Detlef Schobert; some rights reserved. of these nanostructures, how they aggregate to form matter, and their performance under a number of conditions. forces. Just like natural systems, parametric Diagrammatic Reasoning designs are often highly integrated and It should be noted that Buckminster Fuller unviable if decomposed – a major point of In architectural discourse, typology is the created the geodesic dome well before the difference in comparison with traditional classification of characteristics commonly fullerene had been discovered and architectures of functional subsystems. found in buildings and urban places such documented in these datasets. But could as form, density and other spatial the process be reversed? Just as the This would indicate that a parametric attributes. The repetition of these fullerene contains a scalable nanodiagram setup could allow the simulation of individual characteristics forms patterns with unique properties for architectural molecular geometries and their methods and larger systems with intrinsic properties design, could there be other hidden gems of aggregation for design, by using the at various scales.6 (suitable molecular diagrams) within the data available in crystallographic datasets. However, today the study of molecular Similarly, in crystallography molecular mountains of available data? geometries is unworkable for architects and structures are studied through the Parametric technology has transformed the designers. Systems used in crystallography formulation of rules by which molecules practice of architecture in that it has are not interoperable with systems used in aggregate. Crystallographers can thus brought design closer to nature’s form- architectura l design. In short, explain the formation of matter with producing methods. Digital form-finding crystallographic datasets are out-of-bounds intrinsic properties at nano, micro and can now be a process of lawfully interacting for architects and designers. macro scales. made

at wsa

Crystal structure of the type Mg32(Al, Zn)49.

made

Nanotypologies can be defined as a form in architectural discourse. As a key tool Sanders Peirce (1839â&#x20AC;&#x201C;1914) in the context of classification that brings together these in a number of formats such as the treatise of explaining creativity in mathematics. two parallel procedures in architecture and or the catalogue, key concepts in Peirce was concerned with the question crystallography. Nanotypologies are architecture are communicated with of how fertile theories had been proposed molecular geometries and aggregation diagrams â&#x20AC;&#x201C; a structural sketch to explain (in mathematics, science, etc) where principles as observed in crystallography, load transfer, a template underlying an recognised methods of reasoning such as induction and deduction couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t explain applied at macroscopic scale for aesthetic principle, etc. the whole development process. To his architectural design. Typological thinking (through its use of understanding, this had always been a Diagrams are the primordial means diagrams) makes part of a wider reasoning problematic element in the philosophy of through which typology is communicated. method known as diagrammatic reasoning. science. In an effort to define a type of Since De Architectura (Vitruvius, 25 BC) The concept of diagrammatic reasoning reasoning involved in discovery and the diagram has been an essential device was first proposed by logician Charles generation of new ideas, he developed the

at wsa

Crystal structure of the type Fe3W3.

notion of diagrammatic reasoning, which is based on a three-step activity7: 1. Observation: Observing something abstract; selecting a body of data where there is no apparent intelligibility. 2. Synthesis: Generating a new object of thought, introducing a fiction, or synthesizing an object that will signify characteristics that didn’t exist beforehand.

3. Test: Testing the intelligibility of the generated object. Can we say that the synthesis is intelligible? Is the introduced fiction meaningful? Is it truthful to the observed data? Collaboration Between Design and Science Many key innovations in architecture are well documented as form-finding efforts that have followed the three steps of diagrammatic reasoning as proposed by

Frei Otto – soap bubble test – Munich Olympic Centre made

Peirce (observation, synthesis and test): a designer observes a phenomenon (in nature, as explained in science, etc), synthesizes it as a design (diagrams, drawings, etc), and tests it’s intelligibility by manufacturing it at the building scale. This makes diagrammatic reasoning an ideal methodology for collaboration between design and science. An example of this would be:

at wsa

Crystal structure of the type SiO2

made

1. Observation: in the 1950s Frei Otto was interested in the structural potential of the shapes produced by soap bubbles. Otto observed that given a set of fixed points, soap film would spread evenly between them to offer the smallest achievable surface area. Ottoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s breakthrough observation was to visualize these surfaces as building structures. His research was based on the work by Belgian physicist A.F. Plateau (1801-1883) who had made soap bubbles the subject of

at wsa

scientific study and described their building scale with tensile elements geometric principles.8 Soap bubbles (highly resistant membranes, ropes, had been a matter of study for cables, etc). scientists and artists throughout the 18th and 19th century. It was Otto 3. Test: Otto tested this principle in the the first to look at them as a designer. Munich Olympic Centre in 1972 and multiple other projects, achieving rope2. Synthesis (diagram): Otto proposed network constructions that were that a soap film test could be used as exceptionally efficient. a form-finding model for tensile membranes. He proposed that the A study of crystallographic nanotypologies forms created in soap bubble tests for use in design could be developed could be scaled up and replicated at a following the same methodology: 70

1. Observation: The last few decades have seen in molecular chemistry a momentous effort to catalogue (through x-ray diffraction) more than 500,000 different molecular structures (crystals, proteins, etc) in a number of different databases. Molecularmodelling sof t wa re enables crystallographers to illustrate each of these nanodiagrams and simulate their performance.

to adapt the built environment to a new kind of ecologic consciousness. Although humanity began as a small population in a vast world, it is now evident that we are approaching the limit of what the planet can offer for a hugely increased number of inhabitants. This leads to the question of whether we can we live on this planet without destroying it.

1 Peck(1898). 2 Video, Kahn (1971). 3 Since 1968, science imagery has revealed deeper scales from the subatomic scale as for example quarks and

Higgs-boson particles. 4 Colomina (2001). 5 Haldane (1926). 6 For a full explanation of typology and it’s applicability

results of material processes started billions of years ago. Bibliography Colomina, B (2001), Enclosed by Images: The Eameses’ Multimedia Architecture, Grey Room 02, Winter 2001, pp. 6–29.

Haldane, JBS (1926) On Being the Right In addressing such an issue, it is increasingly Size. In Harper’s Magazine, March 1926. clear that there is much to be learned from 2. Synthesis (diagram): A software tool can astrophysical, geological and biological Hoffman, MHG (2005) Signs as means be developed for architects and systems. Slowly we are seeing evidence that for discoveries: Peirce and his concepts of designers to synthesise, explore, design can emulate natural systems and “ diagrammatic reasoning,” “theorematic manipulate and aggregate these their emergent strategies. deduction,” “ hypostatic abstraction,” and molecular geometries. This new piece “theoric transformation”. In Hoffmann, of software could be based on existing Going beyond initiatives previously MHG, Lenhard, J, & Seeger, F (Eds.), molecular-modelling software (with described as biomimetic (or within the field Activity and sign – grounding mathematics inbuilt parametric aggregation of of biomimicry), the ideas discussed in this education, Springer, 2005. molecular structures) and new article suggest that design can learn from commands to scale and simulate the matter at molecular level, and that formal Kahn, L.(1971) Louis I. Kahn talks to a behaviour of these geometries at strategies found at nanometric scales can brick, available at http://www.youtube.com/ macroscopic scales. Most importantly, be understood as diagrams with multi- watch?v=2CYRSg-cjs4 the new software should be interoperable scalar potential. This approach is based on with architectural design systems and the reasoning that nature has been vetting Peck, HT (1898) Harpers Dictionary of existing digital fabrication equipment. material structures and formal strategies Classical Antiquities, New York Harper and for billions of years – the forms we see in Brothers 3. Test : The discovered/sca led/ astrophysical, geological and biological manipulated geometries need to be systems demonstrate the successful Rossi, A (1984) The Architecture of the City, given a suitable material/support strategies of the “survivors”. MIT Press, 1984 system, and can be prototyped through digital fabrication. As a new operational pathway for design, Weinstock, M (2006) Self-organisation and an initiative of this kind would open up material constructions, in Architectural New Operational Pathways significant crystallographic datasets to Design Special Issue: Techniques and architects and designers. Such a project Technologies in Morphogenetic Design, Architects find themselves at a turning would provide a platform to observe and Volume 76, Issue 2, pages 34–41, March/ point – retooling the discipline and trying make the most of the astounding formal April 2006.

made

in architecture and urban design see: Rossi (1984). 7 This explanation of Peirce’s diagrammatic reasoning is based on: Hoffmann (2005). 8 For more on this process see: Weinstock (2006).

at wsa

Communication Methods for Effective Policy Delivery Heba Elsharkawy Policy planning for building or retrofitting homes can only assist in reducing carbon emissions to a certain extent, whereas addressing behavioural patterns of consumption appears to have a more critical role. Personal choices people make in their everyday life, such as turning off lights or using heating controls more efficiently, have the potential to significantly contribute to the UK’s carbon reduction targets.1 Jackson suggests that individuals often become ‘locked-in to unsustainable patterns of consumption’.2 Thus, behavioural change is a viable key to attaining significant carbon savings in the UK.

such as leaflets and booklets, 25% preferred one-to-one support or visits for more comprehensive information, while only 10% preferred to receive information electronically. Tailoring the information required, to reduce energy consumption according to the specific requirements and characteristics of target groups, has been proven worthwhile in other studies.4-5

drawing comparisons between their energy performances and praising those who achieve the lowest levels of energy consumption, could, in effect, boost the delivery of such a scheme.8

As the majority of the participants preferred leaflets and booklets as the means to receive advice, designing communication methods that are simple, creative and comprehensive seems to be imperative. Visual prompts prove effective in reminding people to change repetitive behaviours; several studies6-7 have confirmed that prompts targeting specific behaviours have a significant impact on promoting sustainable behaviour.

As such, it is possible that government aspirations to reduce energy consumption will go unheeded if they are inconsistent with the social and physical context of real life. Financial costs, past behaviour, social values and physical infrastructure are considered some of the most intractable barriers to changing energy behaviours. Energy consumption is habitual and forms an integral part of people’s everyday lives.9 Thus, evaluating the success of policy interventions requires a clear understanding of consumer behaviour and motivations, across all income groups, so that the most appropriate strategies are developed.3,10

The survey analysis indicates that, although 72% of the participants stated that they have never received any energy advice (from their energy supplier or any other body), only 47% reported they would like to acquire it. However, 65% of those interested in receiving advice preferred to receive it in written format,

Nevertheless, providing information and prompts that seek to motivate environmental actions may not be sufficient to change energy-use behaviour. Developing and activating social norms is an important motivator that decision makers need to consider.8 If norms are internalised by the people of a community, they are more likely to have a more positive impact, than providing prompts and information only. In a scheme such as the CESP, residents are approached within the same neighbourhood. Activating social norms amongst households by providing knowledge, and feedback, as well as

In order to meet demanding carbon reduction targets, the UK Government is required to take actions that ‘encapsulate interest’ in emissions reductions,11 particularly in areas of multiple deprivations. Thus, a challenge is persistently faced with the financial, social and cultural constraints in the area, if energy advice is to be effectively delivered. In essence, the impact of policy interventions on people’s energy consumption behaviour will inevitably mean the difference between promising policy, and policy which in fact delivers its aims for energy efficiency and sustainability.

1 N. Eyre, B. Flanagan and K. Double, ‘Engaging People in Saving Energy on a Large Scale: Lessons from Programmes of the Energy Saving Trust in the UK ‘, in Engaging the Public with Climate Change: Behaviour Change and Communication (London: Earthscan, 2011), pp. 141-60. 2 T Jackson, ‘Motivating Sustainable Consumption:a review of evidence on consumer behaviour and behavioural change’, Sustainable Development Research Network (Guildford, 2005). 3 H. Elsharkawy, P. Rutherford and R. Wilson, ‘Tageting people’s behaviour for effective policy delivery: Community Energy Saving Programme (CESP) in Aspley, Nottingham’, in IAPS 22 Human Experience in the Natural and Built Environment: Implications for Research, Policy, and Practice, ed. by O. Romice, E. Edgerton and K.

Thwaites (Glasgow: Patron Karen Anderson, Architecture Design Scotland, 2012), p. 174. 4 W. Abrahamse, L. Steg, Ch. Vlek, Rothengatter, ‘A review of intervention studies aimed at household energy conservation’, Journal of Enironmental Psychology, 25 (2005), 273-91. 5 DECC, ‘Warm Homes, Greener Homes: Astrategy for Household Energy Management’ , Department of Energy and Climate Change (London, 2010). 6 T. Kurtz, N. Donaghue and I. Walker, ‘Utilizing a social-ecological framework to promote water and energy conservation: A field experiment’, Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 35 (2005), 1281-300. 7 D. McKenzie-Mohr, Fostering Sustainable Behavior: An Introduction to Community-Based Social Marketing,

3rd edn (Gabriola Island: New Society Publishers, 2011).. 8 R.B. Cialdini, ‘Influencing Change: Applying behavioral science research insights to reframe environmental policy and program’, in Behavior, Energy and Climate Change 2010 (Sacramento: [n.pub.], 2010). 9 L. Whitmarsh, ‘Behavioural responses to climate change: Asymmetry of intentions and impacts’, Journal of Environmental Psychology, 2009, 13-23. 10 SDC, ‘Stock Take: Delivering improvements in existing houses’, Sustainable Development Commission (London, 2006). 11 Y. Parag and S. Darby, ‘Consumer-suppliergovernment triangular relations: Rethinking the UK policy path for carbon emissions reduction from the UK residential sector’, Energy Policy, 37 (2009), 3984-92.

This article presents some findings of a survey in the Aspley Super Warm Zone (ASWZ) scheme, one of the Community Energy Saving Programme (CESP) schemes undertaken in Nottingham. The focus of the survey is on energy consumption behaviour data and means of communication to reduce energy use.3 The scope of the study of the likely impacts of policy planning on energy consumption behaviour, together with the investigation of how tailored means of communication could lead to successful policy delivery.

made

at wsa

f e

c b a/b, b/c, ...= φ

Connections Between Architectural Design and Mathematical Patterns Carmelo Zappulla Context The history of architecture presents many examples of architects autonomously discovering and using mathematical structures and patterns. Historically this kind of quasi architectural-mathematical discovery was the product of the architect’s intuition and inspiration, and was not subject to rigorous mathematical treatment. However, in some sense the application of mathematical patterns is perfectly deliberate. Although this kind of geometry was probably not even known to mathematicians when these works were conceived, its presence could nonetheless be easily observed in nature. How and in what sense does nature instantiate these geometries? One could say, albeit naively, that mathematics provides us with abstract and general models, whereas nature utilises them with a certain degree of freedom, insofar as it is constrained by external factors such as the quality of the soil, the amount of sunlight available, the presence of plants, etc.1 The metaphor of nature’s interpreting geometry also helps us discard as a misunderstanding any reductive interpretation of the architect’s work as being exclusively based on an out of hand and uncritical use of geometrical patterns. The process of using patterns has to be conceived of as an intellectual exchange between the ideal elements of geometry and architecture’s pragmatism. One of the major goals of this paper is to demonstrate, by using historical and contemporary evidence, patterns’ aptness to suit the high demands of contemporary architectural work. I argue that this is not specifically related to today’s architectural scenario. On the contrary, a substantial part of the article is devoted to the examination of how architects have taken advantage of the opportunities offered by mathematics and their respective contributions to the advancement of

mathematics. In particular, I will be looking at three case study examples of this connection between architecture and mathematics, which will help bring to light the following: 1. how mathematics can be reduced to visual patterns, which offer a wide range of formal and diagrammatic interpretation within architectural work; 2. how the use of mathematical patterns does not restrain the designer’s creativity (on the contrary, its abstract characteristics can produce novelties); 3. whether – consciously or unconsciously – mathematical patterns are formal tools which allow coherence; 4. how mathematical patterns can help the systemic development of a project;

use of the golden ratio in the history of Western architecture: the Parthenon, built in Athens in the 5th century BC, and Le Corbusier’s Modulor, developed in the 20th century. But first, we have to examine some formal details concerning the golden ratio. φ in the History of Architecture The first mention of the golden ratio can be found in Euclid’s Elements about 300 years BC. However, humans may already have known it at an earlier time. The golden ratio is related to various geometrical shapes, such the rectangle, the pentagram (a five-angled star inside a pentagon), and the spiral. Indeed, it can be proved that the ratio of the long to the short side of the golden rectangle is equal to φ. The Parthenon and Le Corbusier

The Parthenon, which was built between 447 and 432 BC in the highest part of 5. how geometry can induce formal Acropolis, is dedicated to Athena, the control, but cannot ensure the project’s protecting goddess of Athens. As is known, success alone. Callicrates and Ictinus were entrusted to designing the architecture, and Phidias to The paper is essentially an expository survey, the sculptures. It is still controversial and includes detailed analysis within the whether the golden ratio has been used in later sections. I will begin by defining the project of the facade of the temple. mathematical patterns. Some scholars have argued that whether the golden ratio really features in the Mathematical Patterns Parthenon is hopelessly unclear. Patterns are repeating configurations of geometrical shapes that are flexible enough to grant the architect freedom to introduce variations required by external conditions. Within a system of architectural relationships, they are particularly useful for establishing coherence and unity alongside constant change. As previously stated, I will be looking at three examples of architects’ use of mathematical structures, which, at the time when they were employed, were not known to mathematicians, and only centuries after would be ‘re-discovered’ and consciously used within architectural works. I will begin by looking at two instances of the

While most of the mathematical theorems concerning the Golden Ratio (or “extreme and mean ratio”) appears to have been formulated after the Parthenon had been constructed, considerable knowledge existed among the Pythagoreans prior to that. Thus, the Parthenon’s architects might have decided to base its design on a prevalent notion of a canon for aesthetics. However, this is far less certain than many books would like us to believe and is not particularly well supported by the actual dimensions of the Parthenon.2 Whatever the matter may be, it seems to me undeniably true that something like

(left) The Pentagram. made

at wsa

Accordingly, what counts for different elements to be in proportion is not their size, but their balancing with each other. Hence, architects’ attention to appropriate scaling and proportioning of the constituents of a project. Quasi-Crystals and Tessellations Scholars have long since acknowledged the presence of quasi-crystals within medieval, Muslim tiling.

The Parthenon, Callicrates and Ictinus

made

the golden proportion may have helped its proportions’ in different areas has been designers to reach a sophisticated bi- somewhat misleading. I therefore want dimensional balance in the façade. to distance myself from such an attitude. As has been already mentioned, On the contrary, Le Corbusier’s conscious throughout the history of architecture, and sophisticated use of the golden ratio, the presence of φ too often has been especially in his Modulor, can hardly be claimed on unconvincing grounds, or has questioned. Roger Herz-Fischler’s studies not been conclusively proved to date (as suggest that Le Corbusier was first for the Parthenon), and in some cases reluctant to apply the golden ratio in explicitly refuted (as for Giza’s Pyramids). artworks, as he did not intend to I should also add that the value of the “substitute the golden ratio with the golden ratio for architecture has mystique of sensuousness”. However, it sometimes been overestimated. should be noted that Le Corbusier’s grid is not abstract or purely mathematical. The psychologist Michael Godkewitsch, On the contrary, by re-casting Ghika’s University of Toronto, has strongly intuitions, the Swiss architect aimed to argued against the claim that the golden devise grids based on the proportions of rectangle is the most aesthetically the human body, and the golden ratio may attractive rectangle: have helped balance the dimensional relationships within the grids. The To the fundamental question, Modulor, therefore, is a system of whether or not in the Western world proportions based on the human figure; a preference for a particular ratio its unique features in accordance with the of the length to the height of the Zeitgeist of an epoch that witnessed the rectangles has always been rise of industrial design. In particular, consciously stated, one cannot but industrial design had required of the forthrightly answer ‘no’. There are architect to be able to fix the sizes of no sufficient rational grounds to interior spaces, furniture and the most support the claim that the golden diverse tools. ratio is an essential feature of beauty in the visual arts.3 φ and the Aesthetics of Proportions In my opinion, the only indisputable value The remarkable spread and success of φ of the golden ratio is the ability to in different areas of human knowledge, proportion the spatial/architectural such as art, music, architecture and its features, through the application of golden “presence” in nature suggest that φ plays rectangles, the pentagon and the Fibonacci a key role in different systems, especially sequence. Architects use the term when these systems seek to keep the ‘proportion’ to refer either to the ratios balance among their constituent parts between any two different parts of a obeying the rule of ‘minimal energy building (and between the parts and the consumption’. However, the zeal for whole), or to refer to objects which are all detecting the presence of ‘golden harmonically combined within the whole.

at wsa

The respective tiles enabled the creation of increasingly complex periodic girih patterns, and by the 15th century, the tessellation approach was combined with self-similar transformations to construct nearly perfect quasi-crystalline Penrose patterns, five centuries before their discovery in the West.4 What exactly triggered the study and the use of tessellations in the Arab world? As is known, aniconism in Arab and Jewish culture led artists to search for an abstract and geometrical form of art, such as that appearing in inlay decoration. Probably the most celebrated product of this research was the complex of Alhambra’s tilings in Granada. Tessellations Geometric a lly, t wo-dimensiona l tessellations are generations of plane surfaces out of one or more geometrical figures with no gaps or overlaps. Although there is no limit to the number of possible ways to cover the plane, only some types of covering are possible, according to which of the following geometrical transformations occurs: translation through a line, reflection across a line and rotation around a point. The rules governing tessellations are the same as those of ‘classical’ crystallography, that is, rules that encode the properties of crystals and their formal structure. Aperiodic Tilings In 1974, Oxford physicist Roger Penrose was able to cover the plane in an orderly fashion using two different 5-foldsymmetry aperiodic patterns. Therefore, mathematicians assert that aperiodic 5-fold-symmetry based tilings have a pentagonal quasi-symmetry. Many centuries before the discovery of symmetry groups, Arab artists had already devised heuristic systems in order to generate periodic tessellations of the plane. We find instances of periodic decorations

Wallpaper groups

5-fold-symmetry aperiodic pattern, Roger Penrose

in the whole Mediterranean. One of the most interesting architectural examples of Arab tessellations can be found in Grenada’s Alhambra. The examination of Alhambra’s tessellations will allow us to make some general remarks on the features of Muslim decorative patterns. The main procedure to generate decorative tessellations is through systems based on the endless reiteration of geometrical elements, through making shapes endlessly stretch over the plane.

professor Paul Steinhardt) reached the conclusion that in the 11th century Muslim a rt, t he use a nd t he conceptualisation of patterns changed. After the 15th century, this evolution would have been further modified by the introduction of quasi-crystals, whose first use in the West only dates to thirty years ago. Furthermore, starting in the 13th century, a new way to produce tessellations came to the fore. The old compass-and-ruler approach is phased out in favour of a simplified approach The artistic quality of the decoration is based on the use of five types of base tiles: not automatically given by the geometric girih tiles, which repeat themselves across complexity of the patterns used, but the plane surface and generate different rather by the way the geometry is patterns which closely resemble Penrose exploited. Alhambra’s tessellations are quasi-crystals.5 Clear examples of this not two-dimensional. They have indeed new way to tessellate can be found in the a curvy three-dimensional structure, Darb-i Imam sanctuary, where the big which absorbs, filters and lets the sunlight black-strip pattern, constructed out of a in. The staggering patterns that can be few repeating decagons and bow ties, found in Muslim architecture and in the splits into smaller patterns, each Alhambra are periodic and display an consisting of 231 girih tiles. The method amazing level of geometrical and used was defined by Penrose “self-similar aesthetic complexity. Periodic patterns subdivision”. However, Lu and Steinhardt are based on all the 17 symmetry groups, stress the fact that, although the and some of them can already be found architects of that time may have had the in Egyptian architecture. necessary know-how to produce perfect tessellations based on quasi-crystals, their Signs of Advanced Mathematics in mathematical knowledge must necessarily Medieval Muslim Architecture have been incomplete. Harvard scholar Peter J. Lu’s research (done in collaboration with Stanford

From a scientific point of view, Darbi Iman is an exceptional example of how Penrose’s

Darbi Iman is a purely mathematical exercise in decoration and nothing else. As we shall see, Olafur Eliasson’s geometrical elaborations follow a different logic. In his projects, he introduces and sews together varied architectural elements within the same formal system. Eliasson’s Quasi-Crystal Interpretation If we now turn our attention to the contemporary scenario, we will see that periodic tessellations are used in an extremely sophisticated way by Olafur Eliasson. Eliasson has worked much like a scientist in his constant research on the geometry of tessellations. He has devised new architectural structures, geometrical forms and tessellations, which he has then transformed into installations, pavilions and new surfaces.6 In his architectural work, the compliance with functional constraints successfully merges with his groundbreaking results in made

discoveries were anticipated centuries earlier. However, from an architectural point of view, Darbi Iman is quite uninteresting. The Alhambra, for instance, uses less complex geometries but incorporates more architectural elements (endogenous and exogenous), such as space and light with a higher degree of complexity.

at wsa

segments to continue as straight lines over the edges of the tiles. The straight lines thus generated intersect each other at angles of 108° and 72° (exactly in the same way as happens in Penrose’s original tiling) and create a new intriguing pattern. To the same strain of research belong Eliasson’s works on quasi-bricks, which have also been carried out in collaboration with Einar Thorsteinn. In 1988, Thorsteinn generated a three-dimensional tessellation, called I5SSDO, which establishes a connection between the 4-fold and the 5-fold symmetry spaces. Eliasson’s work fully exploits the potentialities of three-dimensional geometry of the 5-fold symmetry space at different scales. The first outcome of his research on quasi-bricks is Quasi-brick wall, which dates to 2002 and has been followed by Soil Quasi-Brick and Negative QuasiBrick wall, both dating to 2003 and in 2005-2006, by the first spatial structure consisting of quasi-bricks, i.e. the facade of Iceland Concert Hall and Conference Centre (Harpa). Fractal Architecture and SelfSimilarity Fractal Processes Around the end of the 19 th century mathematicians began to create ‘pathological curves’. Mandelbrot is generally acknowledged to have been the first to give them prominence and study them systematically. If we wanted to give an accurate geometric description of clouds, trees, coastlines or our nervous system, we would be forced to recognise that classical geometry is unsuitable for the purpose, in that it can at most provide us with gross and inaccurate representations. Let us now have a look at the most salient features of fractals. •

Definition by recursion. Fractals are generated by a cyclic process of formation, through successive iterations.

with mathematician Einar Thorsteinn, he • has designed a series of pavilions, based on five-fold symmetry. In that project, the two use an aperiodic Penrose tiling consisting of acute and obtuse rhombi. However, using Penrose’s construction and certain matching rules, they are able to create a grid of straight lines which extends over the • entire composition (Ammann bars). Line segments decorate the rhombus-like tiles and the matching rules require of the line

The reiteration of the generating process also includes two more features of fractals, the fact that they visually represent the process of tending to infinity and the building of a fractal dimension. Equally fundamental is:

Darb-i Imam sanctuary, Isfahan, Iran. Image courtesy of Peter Lu

made

re-shaping the relationship between architecture and nature, space and users. He uses all sorts of techniques to enhance and multiply sensory and visual effects, mainly through reflections, transparencies, design, light and colour. 5-fold symmetry has served his purposes magnificently, by providing texture and density to such works as Sphere (2003), The Vanishing Walls (2003), 5-dimensional pavilion (1998) and the Five-fold tunnel (2000). In collaboration

at wsa

Self-similarity. The different constituents of which a fractal, such as Koch snowflake, for instance, is

Ammann bars

made, when observed at different scales, are similar to each other. This is also the feature of fractals which most evidently bears on architectural work, inasmuch as it bears on: • • •

Scale shifting Compositional coherence Suitability for human scale

Obviously, architecture cannot possibly be fractal in rigorous terms. The characteristics of fractals make them partly unsuitable for the needs of architectural work, which can just contain only a finite number of scales. Instead, we could say that there can be a fractal-like architecture, in the same way as nature is not really fractal, but simply fractal-like. In particular, in physical and architectural processes the reiteration of the fractal construction must necessarily terminate after n steps. Salingaros’s Conception of Fractal Urbanity In Nikos Salingaros’s opinion, the modernist approach to the urban environment needs revising, so as to incorporate fractal scaling. For example, high-speed ways (motorways, railways) should seamlessly fit with low-speed ways (pedestrian paths, bike lanes) following a fractal gradient of scale, as happened in the historical centres of old cities. In

5- dimensional pavillon_Olafour Eliasson. Image courtesy of Studio Olafur Eliasson

particular, the human scale should be given strong emphasis in this re-generated urban environment. If one observes the structure of the historical centres of some cities, one realises immediately that they are structured hierarchically. In particular, scaling outgrows the need for functionality to the

All this seems to be in contrast with the agenda of the modern movement in made

point that it permeates all elements of the structure, including the topography and small-scale objects, and becomes itself the main law of organisation. Many fractal correspondences between facades of buildings and streets can also be detected.

at wsa

architecture, whereby the urban texture clearly displays non-fractal properties. Indeed, within contemporary architecture, smaller scales are frequently absent. Both the modern city and its suburbs lack connections at reduced scales. Urban planners have focused their efforts on developing motorways and, in general, fast connections, thus leaving hardly any room for connections at the human scale. In Salingaros’s words: ‘By eliminating the pedestrian path network of older cities, one loses the interactivity present in historical neighbourhoods.’7 The research on the connectivity of urban contexts has brought to light that wellfunctioning cities are those with the highest number of connections at all scales, from small ones, like pedestrian paths and bike lanes, to big ones, such as low-traffic networks and motorways, following a tree-like fractal pattern. In old cities, one finds different scales, from small to big ones and their number is inversely proportional to their size. Salingaros argues, ‘there must be smaller urban elements, in increasing numbers, down to the human scale.8’

Mandelbrot set.

The mutual relationships between different scales should be extended to architecture, through the use of porches, openings and even different materials: ‘The modernist vision of megatowers set in enormous parks represents a fundamental violation of natural scaling laws9’, concludes Salingaros. Salingaros has argued in favour of the return to a fractal-like structure in urban contexts as an escape from the congestion of modern city and from its dearth of connections at the human scale. Thus interpreted, geometry would play a strategic organisational role, in that it would allow to handle better with urban fluxes. Architecture without Architects Turning to the use of fractals in other cultures, I wish to introduce the work of the ethno-mathematician Ron Eglash, which has documented an extensive and truly remarkable use of fractals in African villages. Once more, their use in Africa predates their conscious systematic examination within Western mathematics. During a fieldwork survey in Africa, Eglash has discovered that fractal geometry is not only an integral part of the architecture, but also of rituals and decorations. His

made

Fractal wind barriers_Sahel.

at wsa

research has also reported mindful, mathematically aware instances of the use of fractals. The Cameroonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Miarre Palace in LogoneBirni, whose defence system follows fractal logic. Ba-Ila (founded before 1944), in South Zambia, is an example of village where the fractal logic ties up with the social structure of the settlement. The village itself is a circle, consisting of circles that, in turn, consist of circles, a structure which overall gives rise to self-similar shapes, circles recursively iterated at different scales. In the front, we find the entrance and the fencing wall; further away, the lower strata of the settlement, stores, animal stables; finally, the biggest living spaces, in increasing order of architectural size. Thus, the combination of circles and dimensions perfectly mirrors the intricate social hierarchy of the village. Ba-Ila integrates endogenous and exogenous aspects of the social structure, and all its other functions, within the same fractal formal system. Cecil Balmond: Light, Structure and Ornament It is now time to turn back to the contemporary Western scene. Nowadays, it seems that contemporary architecture is Miarre Palace. again very keen on the utilisation of different scales and of fractal geometry in a fully conscious and deliberate way. In 2000 Cecil Balmond established AGU (Advanced Geometry Unit), which features architects, engineers, mathematicians and scientists working together to find new ways to apply mathematics to architecture.10 In particular, I would like to describe two architectural projects which clearly exhibit two of the most prominent characteristics of fractals, that is self-similarity and recursion. H_edge is a maze-like installation based on Menger sponge, a fractal with dimension 2.7, with infinite surface and zero volume.11 Similarly, Arup uses Menger sponge in an intriguing way in his architectural works. The geometry employed is like a new architectural material itself, a new way to cover the space. Matter vanishes the very moment it takes possession of space. How can one reproduce architecturally Menger sponge? AGU have devised a certain number of pre-stressed chains on which 5200 X-shaped aluminium modules are fixed. The truly remarkable thing is that the chains do not hang from the ceiling, Fractal model for Miarre palace. made

at wsa

but rather they are conjoined to the X-shaped modules, hence the whole installation comfortably lies on the ground. In this work, geometry is both structure and ornament and, as happened with Gothic architecture, the harmony between two essential constituents of architectural design seemingly in contrast is restored. The example which follows is the 2002 Serpentine pavilion designed in collaboration with Toyo Ito. This project is geometry that becomes structure and structure that, in turn, becomes architecture. As shown by Balmond, ramified fractals can be obtained through iteratively dividing polygons. The initial polygon in this pavilion is a square and the division algorithm generates squares whose sides are connected to each other according to certain rules. By repeating the division up to 7 times, one gets a spiral made of truncated squares. Afterwards, all the lines thus obtained are prolonged so as to make them proceed from the ceiling to the ground. The extruded metal strips measure 55 cm. The resulting voids are covered with aluminium or glass panels. To sum up, we could say that C. Balmondâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s work is able to integrate light, decoration, technology and structure at different scales within the same system.

Ba-Ila settlement. Image courtesy of Ron Eglash

Architectural Project and Mathematics in the Contemporary Scene

First iterations of fractal model, Ba-Ila village. Image courtesy of Ron Eglash

made

Menger sponge Model

at wsa

I will conclude with some more general remarks, in order to address the role of mathematical structures in contemporary architecture. To begin with, the architectâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s approach to mathematics is very distant from that which is usually fostered in the departments of Architecture, in which mathematics is taught in a way which

H-edge, Cecil Balmond

hardly interests anybody and is remote from the creative design process. Two prejudices represent the historical rationale for architecture and mathematics being viewed as irreconcilable: 1. It has been often argued that the architectural project is merely an artistic product, which, only afterwards, can be subject to scientific scrutiny; 2. Mathematical abstraction and rigour do not suit the arbitrariness of architecture.

natural and artistic objects.12 Obviously, trying to solve all issues related to architecture through scientific procedures is out of the question. Ethical issues are hardly solved by mathematical formalisation. However, architects may use some features of mathematical formalisation in order to solve specific project-related issues. Certain geometrical structures work as flexible systems, to which all aspects of the project are related somehow. Thus, pattern structures are not only mathematical These prejudices ought to be overcome. and ideal references for the project, but Within the project, architecture integrates also integral parts of it, and may enhance and autonomously re-construes different the structural, climate-related or concepts and notions coming from many organisational issues of architecture. All disciplines, addressing spatio-temporal these potentialities of patterns have largely relationships and social, technological, gained architects’ interest in recent times. environmental, ethical and artistic aspects. On the one hand, one tier of the research involves standard academic or studioAre Mathematical Patterns related research. Flexible Systems? One thing to bear in mind is also the fact In his marvellous book on patterns, Clifford that the architect’s tools have dramatically Pickover has argued that art and science changed in recent times. The increasing are not very much apart, and that they can resorting to digital tools has helped handle sometimes share the same objectives. With with complex geometries which would the spread of computational graphics, the otherwise be extremely difficult to distance between the two areas has further manipulate. Let us then briefly describe decreased: both artists and scientists use what this evolution in architectural practice scientific tools and algorithms to represent has mainly consisted of.

Applied computer science has tremendously developed over the last years and we can’t predict where all this will take us to. It is, however, beyond question that such development has also had consequences on architecture: quite unsurprisingly, I would add. In recent years, architects’ approach to digital tools has changed, insofar as they are now able to build their own tools, manipulate the scripts and the mathematical algorithms which create the geometry of the project. By now, computer graphics and computational geometry play a key role in architecture, and have contributed to the spread of fractals and complex tessellations. Finally, today digital tools enter all stages of design. Over the last decades, the use of ‘scripting’ has allowed architects to move beyond the mere use of software and take their own initiatives in programming. In Terzidis’ words, architects have shifted from ‘architecture programming’ to ‘programming architecture’: Rather than investing in arrested conflicts, computational terms might be better exploited by this made

The Role of Computers for the Development of Mathematical Patterns

at wsa

First iterations of fractal branching, 2002 Serpentine pavilion, ARUP and Toyo Ito.

2002 Serpentine Gallery, Arup and Toyo Ito. Image courtesy of Arup

This fact does make perfect sense, since themselves according to certain external their features entirely rest upon constraints. In a word, they are open computational processes. It is particularly geometries. Indeed, we would not be able comfortable to handle with these to make the most of them, without the geometrical forms through computers and aid of computers. they have indeed contributed the The elaboration or manipulation of establishment of a new area of mathematics, As already said, patterns have attracted algorithms that serve the purpose of that is computational geometry, whose aim architectsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; attention a lot and they have no generating architectural objects has led is to implement algorithms necessary to doubt established a new trend in architecture, architects to systematise their methodologies, solve geometrical problems on a computer. a trend which is constantly bolstered by from the early conceptualisation and to its architectural journals and publications. technical effectuation. Therefore, some What all these geometrical entities have advanced forms of geometry, such as Voronoi in common is the ability to generate How do Architects Deal with diagram, gradients, Delaunay triangulation, patterns, i.e., mathematical structures Mathematical Patterns? fractals, sponges, although created well before based on iterative processes. They are the advent of computers, have strongly indeed systems of open, dynamic In conclusion, what motivates all this benefited from the advancements of the relationships which can vary. They are interest for patterns? Do architects computer era. like fabrics, able to adapt and change approach patterns in the proper way? Or made

alternative choice. For the first time perhaps, architectural design might be aligned with neither formalism nor rationalism but with intelligent form and traceable creativity.13

at wsa

have they just fallen prey to a sort of a purely aesthetic and misleading fascination? Why had architects better have to deal with such complex geometry as that mentioned?

merely viewed as fashionable and trendy toys which are not ultimately able to produce interesting projects.

If, on the one hand, this fact is hardly disputable and there has recently been a lot What follows is my take on this crucial issue. of superficial, media-style advertising of patterns, on the other hand, it is no less true In my opinion, architects should that architects have always had and do still personalise, so to speak, the features of have a genuine interest for mathematics. mathematical patterns rather than uncritically or imitatively applying them. The most useful legacy and teaching we Even when confronting scientif ic have received from the avant-gardes and procedures and methodologies, the from all those artistic movements in architect ought not to abdicate her own contrast with tradition has been the urge intellectual freedom. to push the boundaries of our research always further. The push for innovation The geometric constructs we have ought to be upheld as a primary feature of mentioned are fairly intuitive and natural, the architect’s job. and can be very easily employed within a particular project. Insofar as architectural work stands at the crossroads of various disciplines, it is naturally However, their intrinsic value for aware of the advancements in other areas architectural design and their enormous and naturally strives for innovation. It should potentialities have been significantly therefore be no wonder that architecture harmed and devaluated by their being avails to itself the latest developments in

1 In this article I do not want to address intricate questions concerning the ontology and the epistemology of mathematics. The reader should bear in mind that by asserting that nature ‘contains’ mathematical forms and uses them with a certain degree of freedom, I do not mean to be supporting the view that ‘platonic’, non-spatiotemporal and physically inert mathematical forms exist and may also be present in nature. 2 Mario Livio, The Golden Ratio: The Story of Phi, The World’s Most Astonishing Number (New York: Broadway Books, 2003), p. 75. 3 Mario Livio, The Golden Ratio: The Story of Phi, The World’s Most Astonishing Number (New York: Broadway Books, 2003), p. 203.

4 P. J. Lu – P. J. Steinhardt ‘Decagonal and QuasiCrystalline Tilings in Medieval Islamic Architecture’, Science, 315 (2007), 1106-1110 (p.1106). 5 One of the most interesting innovations carried forward by girih tiles consists in the utilisation of selfsimilar transformations (division of the tiles into smaller tiles) to generate overlapping patterns at different scales. 6 A comprehensive overview is in O. Eliasson – P. Ursprung Studio Olafur Eliasson: An Encyclopaedia, (Köln: Taschen, 2008). 7 N. A. Salingaros - B. J. West ‘A Universal Rule for the Distribution of Sizes’, Environment and Planning, B 26 (2006), 909-92 (p. 924). 8 Ibid., p. 925.

Incidentally, it should be noted that much of the interest in natural morphogenesis and related processes has been driven by environmental issues. As said many times, patterns are able to deal with the interrelationships among parts and whole and, hence, with the internal coherence of a project. Formal coherence brings order and cohesion among objects which are seemingly in contrast. To sum up, mathematics does not teach us how to design, but it can certainly help us improve the way we design.

9 Ibid., p. 926. 10 See Cecil Balmond, Cecil Balmond, (Tokyo: A+U Publishing Co., 2006). 11 1Take a cube and divide it into 27 equal cubes, then take out the central cube from each of the six faces of your initial cube. Reiterate the process ad infinitum. The result is Menger sponge, a beautiful, airy and lightweight threedimensional geometrical object. 12 Clifford Pickover, The Pattern Book: Recipes for Beauty (Singapore: World Scientific Publishing, 1995). 13 K. Terzidis, Algorithmic Architecture (Oxford: Architectural Press, 2006), p. xii.

made

geometry or computational geometry. The mathematical awareness which is required of the architects must necessarily be oriented towards the improving of the design process and of the architecture produced, and it should aim to help architects solve their practical problems, such as structural, formal or ecological problems.

at wsa

Communication, Collaboration and Community: an architecture of the soul James Mitchell, Julissa Kiyenje and Su Mei Tan handle little more than the overwhelming community. However, the realities of demands of designing, planning, each project can never be expressed in engineering and ultimately managing this format. and building a full scale structure with barely two years architectural education The irregularities and quirks of each under our belts. Yet we soon realised that community, person and building cannot the building itself was only a very small be documented in this way. As an As founders of Orkidstudio, a young non- part of the overall journey. A journey organisation we plan and we organise, profit humanitarian design organisation, which begins not with a plan or section and then we plan some more, but it is the we have found ourselves consumed by but most often with a phone call, meeting impulsive and infectious instances that occur between those involved that truly a rather challenging issue. With three or introductory email. define how our buildings communicate projects complete in Uganda, Bolivia and Zambia, we have become increasingly Communication is as much about and what they really represent. preoccupied with the impact our listening as it is talking. We enter each buildings and our presence has on the project always with a sense of excitement, In 2008 in Uganda we built a kitchen. communities we work with, and what apprehension and an abundance of We provided three energy-efficient kind of dialogue and story is generated creative ideas. However, we must be woodburning stoves. The roof harvested careful to exercise this enthusiasm in a rainwater for filtration and then safe from that experience. way which empowers the local people; drinking. In 2010 and 2012 we returned By holding onto core principles of acting as facilitators to their ideas and to find the kitchen had improved the communication, collaboration and dreams, rather than imposing our own facilities and the lives of the children who live there, but we found that our community, we are able to focus on the agendas, as can be all too easy to do. most lasting effects were the individual needs of the people for whom we are building. In each project we assemble an At first the communication is between memories and fleeting moments of eclectic group of students and graduates of ourselves and the people we hope to interaction from two years before. We architecture and many other disciplines, help. As the projects progress, these two were humbled to find that the functions of alongside professionals, skilled tradesmen sides dissolve and we begin to engage this kitchen came second to the memories and the local communities themselves. in a dialogue which evolves from the and experiences for which it stood. This vibrant and eclectic clutch of people building, relationships and events on represents so many backgrounds, motives site. We are often asked to give talks We believe that architecture can make and abilities, drawn together with the or presentations about our work and in a statement and that individually we single aim of designing and constructing each and every case we turn up with a can interact with architecture, but it is a new building. Back in 2008 we launched series of images showing design drawings, when architecture becomes the language ‘The Mukono Project’ in Uganda, which the construction process and the final with which we communicate that we saw the construction of a new kitchen and product through which we narrate our can truly make a difference within each communal space for the ‘New Hope for work to date and give an outline of what community. We call this an architecture Africa Orphanage and School’, we could we managed to provide to that particular of the soul.

“A shoemaker may take pains to fit his customer, by measuring his foot and shaping the shoe so that it is just right for him – or he may, like an army bootmaker, produce a standard size of shoe and let the customer’s foot adapt itself as best it can.”1

www.orkidstudio.co.uk Orkidstudio is a registered Scottish charity. Charity number SC041184. 1 Hassan Fathy, Architecture for the Poor: An Experiment in Rural Egypt (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1973), p. 51.

(left) Four years later: The Mukono Project 2008, Uganda, revisited in April 2012. made

at wsa

Affect, Scale, and Figure in the work of John Evelyn and Caruso St. John Architects Juliet Odgers Caruso St. John seek in their architecture to provoke direct visceral experience in those who encounter their ‘constructions’ - they require their architecture to be affective, to excite emotion. Important considerations in achieving this end are their treatment of scale and material, concerns which they address in their writings and around which I structure my argument. The aesthetics of affectivity, the understanding that affective response is a primary and essential mode of aesthetic enjoyment, is something that rose to prominence in the clear articulations of the idea in the early modern or Baroque period. Here, I juxtapose Caruso St John’s work with an example from the early modern period - the work of John Evelyn, a seventeenth century virtuoso, writer and garden designer. My rational for this is that, by looking explicitly at contemporary work in a wider historical frame, we may uncover unexpected horizons; tacit intentions or possibilities that survive in the continuities with past culture. In our continued acceptance of the importance of affectivity as a mode of aesthetic experience we can claim a considerable commonality with the Baroque. However, as we will see the ultimate frame of reference against which the Baroque aesthetics of affect was developed differs considerably from our own. Through an examination of the writings and designs of Evelyn and of Caruso St John I present some thoughts on scale, material and geometric figure as essential components in constructing our felt world in relation to the furthest reaches of our thought and aspiration. Here, through juxtaposition of Caruso St John’s Chiswick House Cafe with the historic example of John Evelyn’s garden at Sayes Court, in Deptford, I aim to throw into relief our own scale of reference. Affectivity and Scale John Evelyn was a member of the Royal Society and thus colleague of Christopher Wren and Robert Hooke. He wrote extensively on Gardens, Sylviculture and

Architecture, setting his enquiries into the arts in the wider context of natural philosophy.1 His endeavours in garden design have an explicit dual orientation, towards the ‘improvement’ of life - the better husbandry of the world; and towards a contemplation of the given glories of what he saw as divinely created nature. If we consider how Evelyn treats the idea of scale there are two concerns - his intention to produce an affective environment through relational size - through scale that is; and secondly how the very idea of scale informs his understanding of the garden as microcosm - a little world - that takes its order from the order of the ‘universe’ as a whole. Scale here becomes a relational structure that terminates only at the border line between created nature and divinity itself. We start with the pragmatics of scaled order in the garden. When Evelyn describes his ideal Royal Garden in his manuscript for Elysium Britannicum, he uses terms that combine issues of scale with issues of hierarchy and affective impact. Thus: … most agreeable and magnificent […]are those walkes which are made exactly fronting with the middle poynt or projecture of the Palace. …Walkes which are exceedingly spacious and long […] have regularly their Servile Walkes or Alles to attend them on both sides.2 The ordered hierarchy of the garden is presented here in terms of the ordered hierarchy of the court, his descriptions carrying with them all the emotive power of hierarchical relationship. Quite simply the most important is the most central, the most orthogonally aligned, the tallest – relationships are encoded in the spatial order. Similar spatial and hierarchical relationships are typically depicted in royal portraiture of the time –as for example in Hendrick Danckerts of King Charles II, receiving gift of a pineapple from the Royal Gardener – the King stands looking towards the viewer, the gardener kneels, behind them the central walk of the garden

Equally the affectivity of scale forms an important part of his understanding of how a garden can be crafted to incorporate or ‘represent’ the contrasts found in unadorned natural settings. We find Evelyn describing this nature-inspired artifice in the following terms, as he describes the ideal garden in a quasi-theatrical way as a sequence of scenes encountered by the ‘spectator’ as they progress from well tended plots to wilder and more peripheral parts of the garden: There {Nor} is {there} certainly {any} nothing more agreeable then after the eye has bin entertained with the pleasures & refreshments of Verdures, {the fragrant} Flowers, {the christall Fountaines} and other delicious and sense-ravishing objects, to be unexpectedly surprised with the con horror and confusion of naturall or artificiall Rocks, Grotts, Caverns, Mounts Precipices well reppresented.4 Elsewhere in his manuscript he even gives a formula for a minimum size of mount, saying that he prefers where ever possible a natural formation, since artificial mounts are never big enough and are always expensive.5 If your intention is to provoke ‘horror’ a certain scale is required. Evelyn’s concern with scale informs the minutiae of gardening where we find him endlessly detailing the size of garden elements in his text; a thread of box hedging – two inches; the width of an Elm avenue - twelve to fifteen feet.6 A part of this is undoubtedly oriented towards horticultural concerns (clip a box hedge too tightly and it will perish), but such concerns are made to serve an overarching intention of producing an affective sequence of spaces in the garden, just as a theatre director produces an affective made

recedes in perspective towards the central ‘projecture’ of the frontally aligned palace.3 The codes of relationship and power are understood in scaled spatial relationship. Scale relationships are encoded socially and are intended to be affective.

at wsa

Fig 1. Detail of the Plan of Sayes Court House and Garden, John Evelyn, c. 1653. Courtesy of the British Library. Note the oval parterre and the grove incorporating a decussive cross.

made

sequence of scenes. Evelyn treats his garden like a theatre and the settings of the garden as places where specific perspectival effects are sought. The treatment of the size of the avenue for example sits within a description of the effect of entering into an avenue walk and observing how it seems to close around you as you proceed down the walk.7 The size of the avenue is calculated in relation to the scale of its human ‘spectators’, and their experience of the scene. The scaled design of the garden then sits within a continuum of social relations and intersocial hierarchies, a consideration of scale underpins appreciation of the affective natural potentials of the site and informs the perspective artistry of setting out and

at wsa

detailing the garden. None of these - firstly as a collection of parts, the ordered concerns are foreign to our understanding particulars of a carefully constructed of scale. What I wish to consider next domestic economy detailed in the one brings out our differences rather than our hundred and twenty six entries of the key, similarities with Baroque culture. starting with ‘1. Porch, sustein’d with two Doricke Columnes, paved underneath, Microcosm Macrocosm over it my wives [sic.] Closset of Collections […]’10 and secondly in the formal devices Evelyn wrote that a garden should have used in the planting – the concentric ‘a perfect resemblance to the Universe it patterning of the elaborate parterre; the selfe […] of which contemplative men are biaxial symmetry and criss-cross pathways never sated’.8 It should be a ‘microcosm’, in the formal grove; the quincunxial layout or a world in miniature. Sayes Court that organises the orchard.11 These garden was presented and understood as geometric devices were intended as such, both by its creator and by visitors.9 representations of cosmic order, an order The chief surviving record of the garden that encompassed both the minutiae of is the plan of 1653, [Fig. 1]. In this we can domestic life and the economy of the read the microcosmic intent in two ways cosmos. To understand how this geometric 90

representation cosmos relates to scale we must place both in the context of Evelyn’s natural philosophy. Evelyn and his peers saw the universe, or macrocosm, as a divinely created comprehensible unity. And Evelyn, following a tradition established in antiquity and continuing through the middle ages and renaissance, understood a microcosm to exist in close correspondence with the macrocosm.12 The primary meaning of microcosm was the human being, though the term could be used for any discrete whole, a plant, a state, or a garden. As Evelyn put it, paraphrasing a central passage of Hermetic doctrine – ‘Nihil est inferius, quod non fit superius, and è contra’.13 In the seventeenth century, the most pervasive manifestation of this tradition was found in astrology. Astrological practices included the casting of horoscopes - the idea that if the stars and the world below were in mutual correspondence and the course of the stars was regular and predictable, why then should not their movements be used as an indication of the course of future events below? The casting of predictive charts and the interpretation of heavenly phenomena such as comets was commonplace across popular, aristocratic and intellectual circles. Astrology was used in affairs of state, in founding buildings in medicine, in gardening.14 Evelyn actually disapproved of judicial astronomy, the casting of personal horoscopes, but, as we will see below, still practiced an ‘astrological’ gardening. He placed great emphasis on the influence of the ‘celestial bodies’ on life ‘below’. We are so used to thinking of astrology in terms of horoscopes that it may be worth emphasising here that astrology incorporated a range of practices, not all of which insisted on exact prediction. A ‘soft’ astrology such as Evelyn’s gardening retained the intellectual structures - the idea that the planets and stars have great effects on the terrestrial sphere - whilst disapproving of the use of ‘horoscopie’, in predicting personal life events. He had no argument with the idea that the heavens should be consulted in establishing a gardening routine. Evelyn’s Elyisum manuscript is full of advice to the prudent gardener to watch the sky, for: […] the Influences of the Celestiall bodys, they are certainly of grand importance, […] For, as from them proceeds those healthfull and

Fig 2. Image of Astrological man from Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa von Nettesheim Three books of occult philosophy. Courtesy of Cardiff University Library.

benigne Aspects, whilst they reguard us in pure and amicable irradiations; So likewise their destructive and maligne […]in blasts, mell dews, corruscations, and other insalubrious Syderations; [….] for the Meteors themselves which contribute to all this are no other than the maladies and indispositions of the Macrocosme, as well as of the lesser World.15 The gardener should observe the phases of the moon, when deciding when to ‘take up, cutt, Graffe, Transplant or Sow; for Seedes committed to the Earth at the end or beginning of the Moone, produce lusty and goodly plants, those in the full Low & Shrubby’.16 Similar observations follow on the influence of the fixed stars. The vehicle by which Evelyn thought these correspondences operated was what he termed the ‘Universal Spirit’, or ‘energie’, or ‘Nature herselfe’, an Anima that rotated perpetually between the stars and the earth. This spirit descending impregnated the various matrices of the earth bringing forth life and growth, be it animal, vegetable or mineral.17

Sayes Court as Cosmic Figure The 1652 plan of Sayes Court is dominated by two formal pieces, the parterre and the grove, [fig.1]. Looking at these with Evelyn’s astrological gardening in mind we can interpret the parterre as a calendar of the solar and lunar year. This is perhaps most apparent in two surviving developmental sketches for the parterre, both of which include a prominent and repetitive crescent moon motif that seems to support the calendrical reading.18 In the geometric ordering of the 1652 plan we can read a similar representation of cosmic stability in what I see as emblematic geometries of the calendar - the four quarters as seasons, made

Evelyn, thought about his garden in terms of the operational influence of the great world on the lesser, and consequently evolved a routine of husbandry which aspired to act in harmony with the heavens. We shall now consider how this order is inscribed in the geometric figures of the garden and how these figures stand as a device representing the relationship of the little world of the garden to the universe as a whole.

at wsa

Fig. 3. Chiswick House cafe. Photo copyright Juliet Odgers

made

the twelve radial beds as months. The discourse appears in other fields less orientation of the garden exactly to the familiar to architects - astrology, alchemy, cardinal directions linking temporal and and the various practices of natural magic. spatial stability. In addition to this In Cornelius Agrippa’s Three Books of calendrical patterning we can see that the Occult Philosophy, a book familiar to whole garden is underpinned by a set of Evelyn, Vitruvian man is presented spread primary geometries - square, circle, and a eagled against a network of diagonal figure known as the quincunx, and their crosses – Andrean style (Agrippa 1651).19 perspectival elongations. The quincunx is This background quincunxial pattern five circles arranged as on dice from which would to a seventeenth century audience we can easily generate an Andrean diagonal be easily recognisable as the pattern used cross by joining the dots. Most prominent in the charts used by contemporary in the orchards, the quincunx also organises astrologers to represent the pattern of the the grove as a criss-cross of paths and heavens in drawing up a horoscope or central figure of five circles; the latter is ‘nativity’ and thus has immediate repeated in the parterre. associations with the charting of the heavens. Human scale, astral scale and Evelyn’s use of the quincunx falls within garden scale are all ordered and represented the tradition of cosmic figuration most in the cosmic figure. Geometric figure in familiar to us through Vitruvian Man. itself has no scale and is thus available for This famous character of art historical use across all scales, providing a

at wsa

representation of that primary relationship between the ineffable vastness of cosmos an individual human being and his or her immediate spatial environment - here the microcosmic garden. The Scale of Creation If a microcosm is a whole in itself, an analogous cosmos, it is also an individual stage in the continuum of the greater whole. Thus, the specimen plant is a discrete example but thrives in an eco system; the subject is a discrete individual, but is part of the order of the realm, and so on. This is best understood with reference to the tradition of the Great Chain of Being. Evelyn writes about this as a chain of cosmic scale hanging down from the foot of God’s throne, linking all of creation together.20 In this metaphor, a ladder sometimes replaces

Fig. 4. Chiswick House cafe. Photo copyright Juliet Odgers

Fig. 5. Chiswick House basement with vermiculated rustication. Photo copyright Juliet Odgers

the chain - a Jacob’s ladder linking earth peers this ladder or scale had a very clear those of Palladio. Palladio wrote in 1567: and heaven which provides a pathway for destination. It ascended through the realms ‘the proportions of the voices are harmonies the ascent and descent of angels. We might of the material elements, through the realms for the ears; those of the measurements take a quotation from Sir Thomas Browne, of spirits and angels, finally arriving at what are harmonies for the eyes. Such harmonies one of Evelyn’s correspondents as an example Evelyn referred to as ‘That sublimest Throne’ usually please very much without anyone of this usage: – the deity. knowing why, excepting the student of the causality of things’.23 It is a riddle to me,[…]; how so many The most common understanding of the learned heads should so far forget tradition of the Chain of Being amongst Evelyn would certainly have regarded the Metaphysicks, and destroy the architects is probably still that presented himself as such a ‘ student of the causality Ladder and Scale of creatures, as to by Wittkower in his Architectural Principles of things’. He situates his own question the existence of Spirits.21 in the Age of Humanism. 22 This book understanding of the affectivity of art - be details an Italian Renaissance variation, it music, architecture, gardening, poetry ‘Ladder’ and ‘Scale’ are here synonymous, a in which the primary consonances of the or any other manifestation - within this fact that appears to me to be in no way musical scale - 1:2, 2:3, 3:4, 7:8 - are tradition of cosmic harmony basing much accidental. We may imagine the etymological understood as reflections of cosmic order, of his thought on the work of the Jesuit steps that associate a ladder, to a graphic metaphors for the spatial ordering of the polymath Athanasius Kircher. Following scale at the side of a drawing, to scale as an heavens. These musical harmonic ratios Kircher he gives us a startling illustration attribute – the way we use it in current expressed in simple numbers were used of applied universal harmonics in the architectural discourse. These considerations for the proportioning of buildings, most example of the cure of Tarantula spider aside, the point is that for Evelyn and his particularly churches, most famously bites through the use of therapeutic music. made

at wsa

notes taken whilst reading Robert Hooke’s Micrographia - a work which details the minutiae of material creation newly revealed through the lenses of the ever more powerful microscopes.26 Evelyn writes: Nature dos not use to make any abrupt [...] skips from one [...]{kind} to another, but rather to proceed {successively} by degrees, and caternation as it were, I think one may say that the most glorious Angels to the meanest Clod of Earth the transition is rather gradual, than by Starts & Casms.27 The details of the harmonious ascent of the chain of being are to be established ‘experimentally’ through observation. This new emphasis on experience as a touchstone of truth, which becomes so important in the epistemology of the Royal Society, the milieu where Evelyn, after 1660, situates his philosophical endeavors, is one of the reasons why we can confidently characterise this group as ‘modern’. Their modernity lies in part in their insistence on proof established on the foundation of observation and experience. In this light we can see the importance of affect. If bodily experience is so important in establishing truth then bodily experience must be taken seriously - and affective response is situated within the body. This is a thought that we can take forward into our consideration of the work of Caruso St John. The Feeling of Things We are interested in the emotional effect that buildings can have. We are interested in how buildings have been built in the past and how new constructions can achieve an equivalent formal and material presence.

Fig. 6. Chiswick House cafe portico detail. Photo copyright Juliet Odgers

made

If you can find the right tune to play to a victim, he will be moved to dance the poison out of his system, how you identify the right tune is through testing the music first on the spiders in question - if they dance, you have it.24 For Evelyn the reason that we are moved by music, or by colours, or by a ‘well’ proportioned building, is that these artefacts are embodiments of an overarching cosmic harmony. The harmony of the artistic production resonates with the ‘Spirits’ of man and produces immediate bodily responses, including emotional responses. The particular affect produced depends on the particular affective harmony employed, disharmony is consequently

at wsa

jarring. Badly proportioned buildings can in Evelyn’s estimation even be damaging to the health of their occupants, for, he writes: ‘It is from the asymmetrie of our Buildings, want of decorum and proportion in our Houses, that the irregularity of our humors and affections may be shrewdly discern’d’.25

Adam Caruso.28

Caruso St John think about their architecture in terms of the immediate emotional impact that can be produced by the ‘material and formal’ presence of a building. As Adam Caruso says: ‘we are interested in the emotional effect that The understanding of world harmony and buildings can have…in art and architecture affectivity is a subject that for Evelyn bridges that affect you physically, where you don’t the disciplinary boundaries of medicine, need to theorise them or read a book about aesthetics and religion. It both inspires his them’.29 Supremely skilful and careful in artistic practices and his natural matters of construction, they do not intend philosophical investigations. We find him, construction to be expressed in their for example treating the question of the buildings. They are not interested in structured ascent of harmonious Nature in construction per se, but in how constructions 94

can make you feel and in this economy the affective use of material and of scale are an important part of their artistry.30 They admire, for example, the early work of Claes Oldenburg, who, in Peter St John’s words ‘… made sculpture from familiar objects whilst distorting their scale and using a visceral materiality to give these objects a strong emotional character’. They admire the potency of the non-abstracted representational aspects of this work, work that finds its meaning in the objects of everyday life.31 We might take as an example a work from 1962, Oldenburg’s ‘Floor Cake’, now held at the Museum of Modern Art in New York: A slice of cake three meters long, one and half high, sculpted out of synthetic polymer paint and latex on canvas, filled with foam rubber and cardboard boxes.32 (2000). Our reading of the work rests on a bedrock of broad popular cultural practice. We commonly still use the affectivity of scale play in depicting relationship - take for example the escalations and diminutions of Alice in Wonderland, or Mini-me in Austin Powers - the references be they funny or disturbing are effortless and nuanced. Of course, our understanding of scale and social hierarchy are widely divergent from those of a Baroque Absolute Monarchy, such as that supported by Evelyn, but the potency of the comic references of Lewis Carol and Austin Powers may move us to question whether they are absolutely different. Seen in a political light, Caruso St John understand their orientation towards felt response as levelling and communicative, providing a shared domain which can transcend specific cultural difference. As Adam Caruso says: I used to think that the great advantage of working within a more heterogeneous culture is that we no longer have a unitary iconography.[ …] but we don’t want to go from a situation of singular meaning to no meaning.33

Fig. 7. Chiswick House cafe interior. Photo copyright Juliet Odgers

ability to work with scale and material accurately and sensitively enough to produce a new whole by adding a new part. One locus of meaning in this work can be The café stands to one side of Burlington’s found in the ‘feeling of things’, a phrase eighteenth century Neo-Palladian that Caruso uses as the title of his collection structure, within what was once the garden of essays.34 What that meaning, or those and now forms a part of public park owned meanings, might be is left inexplicit by its by the local borough. The form of the café architects. The work itself should carry the can be read as a detached extension to the meaning - a charge in the atmosphere of wing of the main house, an arm reaching their constructions. out to embrace a lawn that lies between the two structures. The café is surrounded Chiswick on all sides by porticoes, narrow on side and back, and deep enough to The success of Caruso St John’s Chiswick accommodate seating where they are House Café depends upon the architects’ overlooking the lawn. Burlington’s

There is a resonance of scale between Caruso St John’s pavilion and the eighteenth century house that is felt at several levels. We feel it in the relationship between the two porticoes. We feel it at the level of the material constructed elements of the café that echo the delicacy of Burlington’s original. Chiswick House has a peculiar miniaturised quality remarked on by Burlington’s contemporaries and still evident, particularly if one comes to the house with any idea of a resemblance to Palladio’s Villa Rotunda. The slimness of made

structure is clearly seen from the café portico, framed in oblique view.35

at wsa

the Café piers echoes this lightness. Constructed out of blocks of Portland stone, the piers are run through with the fossilised skeletons of prehistoric crustacea - a minimalist tribute to the villa’s vermiculated rustication, sized to suit. Slightly chilly on an October morning, the café interior echoes the material presence of the main house - stone floors, stone and plaster walls. The scale might be called ‘grand domestic’.If the spaces are scaled with reference to Burlington’s neighbouring ‘construction’, they are also scaled to suit the activity that they frame – tea drinking. The attitude is humane, inclusive, cultured. From the cup to the table, the table to the room, the window and the horizon beyond, the architectural setting articulates a moment of everyday existence and places that moment within a scale of being, taken in both the senses that I have outlined in this essay - the scale of material relationships and the grander order that binds each element of existence to the whole pattern. Material quality is felt through the way that it engages human physicality. Talking about their scheme for the refurbishment of the Stortorget square in Kalmar, Sweden, Caruso observes: ‘The really big cut stones there are two hundred years old, and they feel like they have been cut by Cyclops’.36 We note the antiquity of the stones, but what we chiefly take from this description is the feeling of their size and weight – their scale. In Caruso St John’s architecture, material, scale and human physicality are inseparable. The material specificity of the Chiswick café is crucial in establishing its particular presence, its relationship to the London park, the dog walkers, the neighbouring structures of the site – the history itself. Imagine the portico constructed from say granite - the feeling, surface texture, weight would be quite different. Material presence is important, but there remains another term of equal weight in their architecture – ‘formal presence’.

made

The form of Chiswick House Café is saturated with primary geometries - square openings in the portico; circular and square ceiling figures; multiple squares in the plan. Primary geometric figures are easy to find in Caruso St John’s architecture here and elsewhere. Walsall Art Gallery, for example, has a similarly insistent square plan. At Chiswick a reference to Burlington’s neo-

at wsa

Palladian room geometries is probably geometric figure. In Evelyn geometries intended – Caruso St John have a place in are used as emblematic devices, easily read their architecture for such expert by the culture that produced them. He references.37 What is curious, and highly intends his garden to be an image of the consistent with Caruso St John’s general universe, a complete whole in itself. In approach, is that any discussion of geometry Caruso St John whilst there is no such in their explanatory discourse is subsumed representational intention - we would not into the category of ‘presence’ and look for it, it would surely be strangely individual emotional response. Simple anachronistic, misplaced, forced, forms are simply described as, for example unsupported by cultural practices - there - ‘intense’.38 If there is clear continuity is, nonetheless, a ghost of such geometric between the affect sought by Evelyn in his representation, even in the deliberate art and the emotional and visceral responses fragmentation of their design and self sought by Caruso St John, the way in which subordination to the geometry of they understand geometric figure differs Burlington’s villa. In the ‘intensity’ of the widely. I have not in so short an essay had ‘perfect’ geometries that underlie the plan time to describe anything like a full range form, the windows and skylights, is there of possibilities in this regard, but have not some informing reference, even if focussed merely on the Baroque use of unintended to the traditions of cosmic figural geometry in representing cosmic figuration which are explicit in Evelyn’s order and the dependence of this practice cultural milieu? I leave this as a question on an understanding of the cosmos as a for my readers to settle. harmonious whole. With this in mind I wish to offer some concluding remarks. Caruso St John’s writing returns time and again to the experiential human dimension. The particular circumstances of the project, End terms site, quotidian existence and historical In Evelyn’s gardens the material – the setting are brought together with an plants, the soil - is ordered into a intensity that implies a larger scale of representation of cosmos through the relationship, an interrelatedness of the mediating device of geometric figure. A whole that can only be grasped from the broad cultural understanding of this kind specificity of individual experience. I of figuration was embedded in a number would also say that the progression of of practices – astrology, medicine, relationship to the ultimate horizon of architecture, gardening, dance and so on existence is in some way suggested by the - that relied on an understanding of the dignity with which their architecture reciprocal relation of microcosm and frames the pathos of the human moment macrocosm. The figure becomes a - a conversation, a solitary cup of tea. In mediating device since, having no intrinsic contrast to our seventeenth century scale it can represent entities of any size. forebears - whilst we still feel ourselves to It is only when the figure is materialised be a part of a greater whole, we can no that it acquires a perceptible scale that can longer grasp the boundaries of the world. be weighed against human embodiment. The boundaries of our universe - the Material and scale arrive together, bringing boundaries of our cities even - are beyond with them the potential to produce ready comprehension, do they even have affective environment, to embody bounda ries? Our dif f icu lt y in relationship and hierarchy, to bring the understanding the whole is reflected in human situation into relationship with the peculiarly ambivalent place of perfect the world as a whole. geometries in our architecture. The nearest we typically come to a whole is perhaps In both Evelyn, and in Caruso St John the individual human being with all his scale is used to evoke affect or emotion. In or her emotional experience and attendant both material embodiment and scale are neuroses. It is a tribute to Caruso St John’s inescapable elements in creating affective artistry that by grounding their environment, and in both the central term architecture in emotional and physical in the progression of scale is the human response, they have found a way of figure. Here we find a great deal of producing buildings which do as they continuity. What appears to be wholly intend, move us with their beauty and different between Evelyn and our twenty- pathos, and which have the potential to first century example is the use of bind us once again to a broader horizon.

1 This is the topic of current Doctoral research by the author. Houghton, Walter E. Jr. ‘The History of Trades: Its Relation to Seventeenth-Century Thought: As Seen in Bacon, Petty, Evelyn, and Boyle’, Journal of the History of Ideas,, 2 (1941), 33-60; and Juliet Odgers, ‘Water in Use and Philosophy at Wotton House: John Evelyn and the History of the Trades’ in Architectural Research Quarterly, 15: 3, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001), 237 - 247. 2 Evelyn, John, and Ingram, John E. Elysium Britannicum, or the Royal Gardens, Penn Studies in Landscape Architecture (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2001), p.126, 128. 3 see reproduction at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ File:Royal_Gardener_John_Rose_and_King_Charles_II_-_ Hendrick_Danckerts_1675.jpeg [accessed 12:00 5 Jan 2011]. 4 Evelyn and Ingram 2001, p. 187. 5 Evelyn and Ingram, 2001, Chapter 17 on the ‘Philosophico-Medicall Garden’. 6 Evelyn and Ingram 2001, p. 25, 127. 7 Evelyn and Ingram 2001, p. 127. 8 Evelyn and Ingram 2001, p. 99). 9 Darley, Gillian, John Evelyn : Living for Ingenuity (New Haven, Conn.; London: Yale University Press, 2006), p. 207. 10 Leith-Ross, Prudence ‘The Garden of John Evelyn at Deptford’, Garden History, 25 (1997), 138-52. 11 A quincunx is the pattern of a five on dice. 12 On the medieval period Nigel Hiscock, The Symbol at Your Door : Number and Geometry in Religious Architecture of the Greek and Latin Middle Ages (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2007); and Lilley, Keith D. City and Cosmos : The Medieval World in Urban Form (London: Reaktion, 2009); for a survey of the renaissance tradition S. K. Heninger, The Cosmographical Glass : Renaissance Diagrams of the Universe (San Marino, Calif.:Huntington Library Press, 1977): and S. K. Heninger, The Subtext of Form in the English Renaissance : Proportion Poetical (University Park, Pa.: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1994). 13 Evelyn and Ingram, 2001, p. 42. There are various versions of this text, ‘That which is below is as that which is above, and that which is above is as that which is below’. For full discussions see Copenhaver, Brian P. Hermetica : The Greek Corpus Hermeticum and the Latin Asclepius in a New English Translation, with Notes and Introduction (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992). 14 For a discussion of seventeenth century English Astrology see Geneva, Ann, Astrology and the Seventeenth Century Mind : William Lilly and the Language of the Stars (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1995); for the more general context see, S. J. Tester, A History of Western

Astrology (Boydell and Brewer, 1987). For the seventeenth century English gardening context see Margaret Willes, The Making of the English Gardener (New Haven, Conn. ; London: Yale University Press, 2012).Chapter 8, pp. 196 – 218. 15 Evelyn and Ingram, 2001, p. 55. 16 Evelyn and Ingram, 2001, p. 57. 17 Evelyn and Ingram, 2001, p. 36-43. 18 One drawing is in the British Library Add 5950, f.73, the other in the RIBA Drawings Collection is reproduced in (Laird 1998). 19 Agrippa, Henricus Cornelius, Three Books of Occult Philosophy Translated By J. F. [I.E. John French.],( London, 1651), p. 267. 20 Evelyn and Ingram, 2001, p. 37. 21 Browne, Thomas, Sir, Religio Medici (London : Printed for Andrew Crooke, 1642). 22 Wittkower, Rudolf Architectural Principles in the Age of Humanism. 3rd ed.(London: Alec Tiranti, 1967). 23 Magrini 1845, Memorie Intorno A. Palladio, Appendix, 12, in Wittkower, p.113; See also Dalibor Vesely, Architecture in the age of divided representation: the question of creativity in the shadow of production, (Cambridge, Mass. : MIT Press, 2004), pp. 28 – 43. 24 Evelyn and Ingram , 2001, pp. 303- 306 ; Kircher, Athanasius Kircher, A. Kircheri ... Musurgia Universalis, Sive Ars Magna Consoni Et Dissoni in X. Libros Digesta. Qua\0300 Universa Sonorum Doctrina, & Philosophia, Musicaeque Tam Theoricae, Quam Practicae Scientia, Summa Varietate Traditur (Romæ: ex typographia haeredum Francisci Corbelletti, 1650); see also facsimilie Athanasius Kircher, and Ulf Scharlau, Musurgia Universalis. Zwei Teile in Einem Band. Mit Einem Vorwort, Personen, Orts- Und Sachregister Von Ulf Scharlau. (Reprografischer Nachdruck Der Ausgabe Rom 1650.) Hildesheim, New York: Georg Olms Verlag, 1970). 25 Evelyn, John, ‘Letter to Sir John Denham’ in, Fréart de Chambray, A Parallel of the Antient Architecture with the Modern; …(London, 1664). 26 Hooke, Robert, Micrographia, or Some Physiological Descriptions of Minute Bodies Made by Magnifying Glasses, with Observations and Inquiries Thereupon. (London: Printed by Jo. Martyn, 1665). 27 Evelyn, Evelyn Archive, British Library, Add 78343, fol. 18. 28 Caruso, Adam, ‘Traditions’ in OASE 65, (Amsterdam, Netherlands: January 2004), pp. 76-89. 29 Caruso, Adam; Dutoit, Allison and Sharr, Adam, ‘Landscapes of experience’, in Allison Dutoit, Juliet Odgers, and Adam Sharr, Quality out of Control : Standards for Measuring Architecture (London: Routledge, 2010), p. 9.

made

30 McVicar, Mhairi ‘Contested Fields: Perfection and Compromise in Caruso St John’s Museum of Childhood’, in Suzanne Ewing, Architecture and Field/Work (London: Routledge, 2011), 138-150. 31 St John, Peter ‘the Feeling of Things: Towards an Architecture of Emotions’, Shaping Earth (Wolverhampton, UK: MS Associates and the University of Wolverhampton, 2000), pp. 78-81. 32 see photograph at http://www.moma.org/explore/ inside_out/2009/11/23/claes-oldenburg-conservationof-floor-cake-week-4/#more-1256. [Accessed 15:26, 12 October 2010]. Gift of Philip Johnson. © 2010 Claes Oldenburg 414.1975. 33 Caruso, Sharr and Dutoit, 2010, p. 7. 34 Caruso, Adam The Feeling of Things, (Barcelona: Ediciones Poligrafa, 2008). 35 For plans of the Café see Woodman, Ellis ‘Up the Garden Path’, in Building Design, June 18, 2010, pp. 10-13. 36 Caruso, Dutoit, Sharr, 2010, p. 12. 37 Caruso, Dutiot, Sharr, 2010, p. 17. 38 A reference to the form of their addition to the Museum of Childhood. (St John 2009). St John, Peter and McVicar, Mhairi, unpublished interview with Peter St John (11 May 2009). My thanks to Mhairi McVicar for allowing me access to the transcript. Author: Juliet Odgers is a lecturer at WSA teaching studio and history and theory. Her doctoral research at the University of Bath concerns John Evelyn, particularly his garden designs in relation to his natural philosophy. Other projects include an edited book on Architecture and Economy. She is an editor of Architectural Research Quarterly. Image credits. Fig 1. Plan of Sayes Court House and Garden, John Evelyn, c. 1653. Courtesy of the British Library. Fig. 2. Image of Astrological man from Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa von Nettesheim Three books of occult philosophy. Courtesy of Cardiff University Library. Fig. 3. Chiswick House cafe. Photo copyright Juliet Odgers. Fig. 4. Chiswick House cafe. Photo copyright Juliet Odgers. Fig. 5. Chiswick House basement with vermiculated rustication. Photo copyright Juliet Odgers. fig. 6. Chiswick House cafe portico detail. Photo copyright Juliet Odgers. fig. 7. Chiswick House cafe interior. Photo copyright Juliet Odgers. fig. 7 (alternative). Chiswick House cafe interior. Photo copyright Juliet Odgers.

at wsa

Democracy Stifles Debate Phineas Harper In May 1995, just one year after Jerry’s be no doubt we are living in a time of rapid Guide to the World Wide Web catalogued media revolution. the 10,000 or so registered websites then online,1 Douglas Adams wrote an article But there is a sinister catch to the for the newly launched Wired Magazine. democratisation of media. One that In it Adams joked that trying to explain Douglas Adams and Wired laughed off to publishers how the coming of the in the 1990s but that may yet erode the Internet would affect their business models value of the architectural publisher even was rather like trying to explain to the if the industry endures. Democratic Mississippi, the Congo and the Nile how media is driving an incongruous change the coming of the Atlantic Ocean would in the discipline of publishing; from producing fascinating content for people affect their currents. to producing content people are already Now it is 2013. The number of registered fascinated in. We can see this shift in websites has passed a towering 650 million;2 priorities played out on the websites of our Jerry’s Guide to the World Wide Web has newspapers and magazines; the right hand changed its name to Yahoo and the full news column of Pulitzer Prize winning weight of Adams’ predictions are being felt by website, The Huffingdon Post,3 is driven publishers everywhere. As an international by choosing content the average consumer narrative of austerity is entrenched into the is likely to click on. The lowest common collective subconscious, printed media seems denominators are not hard to guess; illicit increasingly like a nonessential luxury and celebrity liaisons, peculiar YouTube clips the subscription volumes of everyone from and bikinis help deliver 5.5 million users The Times to Vogue to The Architectural a month to the Post’s advertisers, dwarfing AR’s 20,000 strong global readership. Review feel the heat. Closer to home, despite the popularity of Adams, however, was optimistic. He saw their news pages, The Architect’s Journal ’s a more efficient, more open world where all-time most read article remains a publishing did not rely on the deception lighthearted discussion of the world’s 6 that trees must be felled and pulped before best cricket pavilions from 2009! ideas could be disseminated. Suddenly a society was possible where the media Meanwhile a boom in self-publishing, seen landscape was controlled not by the in print at the AA’s Archizines exhibition intelligentsia of opinionated journalists or online in blogs, has contributed to a but by a democratic marketplace. Popular paradoxical impasse in the way ideas spread. media outlets would thrive online while Never has it been easier to disseminate our the less popular would dwindle. The reader thoughts and yet perversely this very aspect would be full in control, leaping between of globalised communications means we stories that interested them, able to neglect have become over-saturated, unable to whatever they found dull. And to a great collectively consider big issues outside of extent this vision is now with us. While a few stage-managed political narratives. publishing houses are still intact there can Chronological newness has lost potency as

a traditional part of the zeitgeist. We now encounter ideas in isolation of our peers producing disjointed debate. We shy away from issues we find challenging lest they tell us we are wrong and often turn to the media as a grand tool for informed reassurance. Back at The Architectural Review, The Big Rethink is surely one of the most robust and invigorating series of articles to be published on architecture and urbanism in the 21st century. The campaign is building a holistic philosophical and practical approach to design that could finally free architecture from the dogmatic rationalism of modernity. To those who read AR it is a bold highlight of every issue but to those that do not it is just another new set of new ideas they won’t get time to digest. In 1715 Colen Campbell published the first volume of Vitruvius Britannicus and in doing so started a conversation that swiftly evolved into the Georgian era producing some of the most loved British architecture of all time. Today, without the capacity of a publishing house to back radical ideas and without the capacity of the public to consider those ideas collectively such a seismic shift in thinking now seems impossible. Douglas Adam’s vision of a democratic media is upon on us. The reader has been passed unprecedented power to set the agenda of the publisher but with great power comes great responsibility.4 1 Andrew Clark, ‘How Jerry’s Guide to the World Wide Web became Yahoo’, The Guardian, (1 February 2008). 2 Netcraft, World Web Survey, (3 July 2012). 3 Jeff Bercovici, ‘The Huffington Post Wins Its First Pulitzer Prize’, Forbes, (16 March 2012). 4 Stan Lee, ‘Spider-man’, Amazing Fantasy #15, (August 1962).

(left) Cover from The Architectural Review’s 1969 Manplan series. The campaign was groundbreaking but unpopular, triggering widespread debate as it challenged architects with a uncompromising set of ideas for 1970s urbanism that proved beyond their comfort zones. Without the capacity of a publisher to back radical ideas public discourse is dramatically diluted. made

at wsa

Contributors Dan Benham is a project architect in the Loyn & Co team. Graduating from the Welsh School of Architecture, Dan has a passion for making and materials. Dan is also President elect of the Royal Society of Architects in Wales (RSAW) and immediate past Chairman of Design Circle. Stephen Chance is an architect, writer and musician. Chance de Silva’s fluted concrete house ‘Vex’Â - a collaboration with the composer Scanner â€“ is under construction. Chance’s novel ‘The Alum Maker’s Secret’ is published this year. Paul Cureton is a PhD candidate in Landscape Architecture at Manchester Metropolitan University. Recent research includes the exploration of the discursive space of drawing through the co-curation of the international exhibition ‘The 43 Uses of Drawing’, September 2011. His design concept work also appears in the forthcoming ‘Representing Landscapes’, Routledge 2012. Heidi Day graduated from wsa with a MArch in 2009. She is currently undertaking research towards a PhD by design at the school on tradition and innovation. The research involves an exploration into how vernacular buildings of Wales may be used as a model system for the design of the contemporary Welsh house. Heba Elsharkawy is currently a lecturer at the Welsh School of Architecture. She teaches in the Architectural Science Masters programme, both in Theory and Practice of Sustainable Design, and the Environmental

100

Design in Buildings courses. She is currently involved in a research project in Aspley Super Warm Zone scheme in Nottingham, in partnership with Nottingham City Homes and Nottingham Energy Partnership. Phineas Harper is an architectural journalist who graduated from the wsa in 2011 and joined the editorial team of The Architectural Review later that year. Nicholas Humes is a Research Associate investigating the social and technical effects of low carbon heating technologies and has lectured and tutored in various design studios. He was awarded a PhD by creating the PeopleProject: a CAD tool which integrated inclusive design principles into the architectural design process. Juliet Odgers was in architectural practice until the late 1990s when she took up a teaching post at Cardiff University. She is currently completing a Doctoral research project at the University of Bath on the topic of Evelyn’s gardens interpreted through his natural philosophical ideas. She is an editor of Architectural Research Quarterly. Villian Lo is pursuing a PhD in lighting perception at Cambridge University. She began her education in Australia before moving to England to study architecture at Nottingham University. She holds an MPhil from Cambridge University and an MArch from Welsh School of Architecture. Currently, she serves as an organiser for Martin Centre Research Seminars and an editor for Scroope, the Cambridge Journal of Architecture.

James Mitchell graduated in 2011 from the WSA with a Master of Architecture and went on to study a MA Fine Art at Camberwell College of Arts, London. In 2008, during his second year at the WSA he co-founded Orkidstudio, a registered Scottish charity which to date has worked in Uganda, Bolivia, Zambia and Kenya to provide architecture for orphanages and schools, and to inspire communities through all forms of creativity. Sarah O’Dwyer (née Mc Cormack) graduated from UCD, Ireland in 2005. She worked in practice in Ireland before joining the WSA as a tutor on the MSc suite of courses which teach sustainable and environmental design. She has a wide range of research interests, including the use and incorporation of sustainable design practices and systems into all aspects of the built environment, from design through to construction. Sergio Pineda is an Architect and Lecturer at WSA (since 2009) with interests in practice and research at the convergence of computation, fabrication, material science and emergent tectonics. After obtaining his Diploma from the Architectural Association in 2004, he worked for five years with practices in London (Foster + Partners and Adjaye Associates) on a variety of award winning commissions including the Contemporary Art Museum in Denver, the new Camp Nou Stadium in Barcelona, and other projects in New York, Milan and Dubai.

Nina Shen-Poblete is an independent designer, writer and researcher in architecture. She studied at the Glasgow School of Art, as well as Westminster University where she received her M.Arch degree. Part of her on-going research focuses on the cultural history of concrete formwork. She also edits her fanzine and is a designer at Studio Weave architects. Cristian Suau holds both a Ph.D. in Architecture and a Masters in Urban Design. He has an international teaching and postdoctoral research experience on EcoDesign, Low-Tech Fabrication and Ecological Urbanism: www.ecofab.org. He was senior architect at OMA, Holland. Since 2007 he has led BSc design studios at WSA. Carmelo Zappulla is founder member and director of External Reference Architects. The studio has been awarded by New Italian Blood the Best Young Italian Architect Prize in 2011, and is active in design and research in the fields of interior design, architecture, and landscape design. His work has been exhibited at the Biennale in Venice, during the 12th International Architecture Exhibition and at Eme3, 2011. One of his latest realisations is the Spanish Pavilion’s Exhibition Space for the Korea Expo 2012. He is currently working on his PhD thesis, entitled ‘Design as a Pattern Science’ at Polytechnic University of Catalonia, Barcelona, Spain.

External Editorial Board: Hilde Heynen (Katholieke Universitaet Leuven) Marc Treib (University of California, Berkeley) Simon Unwin (Emeritus Professor, Dundee School of Architecture) Pierre Von Meiss (EPFL Lausanne) Adam Sharr (Newcastle University) Internal Editorial Board: Wayne Forster Richard Weston Art Director: Janice Coyle Editors: Mhairi McVicar Eleni Ampatzi Sam Clark made is published annually Printed on FSC approved paper made from sustainable forests in Europe.

Views expressed in made are those of the author alone, and not necessarily of the editors, editorial board, Welsh School of Architecture or Cardiff University. All illustrations by author unless noted otherwise. Every possible effort has been made to trace copyright holders of images and photographs used. made welcomes any information concerning copyright holders that viewers may provide.

made

Oriel Prizeman joined WSA as a Senior Lecturer in May 2012 having run her own practice in Cambridge for 16 years. She

has taught at the RCA, Cambridge and UEL. Her book: “Philanthropy and Light: Carnegie Libraries and the Advent of Transatlantic Standards for Public Space” was published in 2012.

at wsa

Call for Papers

We invite papers for made 9, 2014. We are happy to consider papers relating to architecture and its making, within or beyond the orthodox ‘fields’ of design, history, theory, science or professional practice. We invite submissions in one of two possible categories: first, papers of 800 words with one A4 image, for which expressions of interest should be sent to the editor; second, full papers of 3000-5000 words, for which abstracts of 300500 words are invited, to include a full title and the author’s name, contact details and affiliation. These should be submitted by January 31st 2014.

101