A Residential Motel - Master's Project, Florida International University

FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY THE SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE Miami, Florida

The Study of Un-stationary Forms of Architecture as Linking Elements to the Transient Human Condition

A Master’s Project submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS IN ARCHITECTURE

by Yaprak Yegin Markeset 2011

I dedicate this work to Karl and Ozan Markeset.

Š Copyright 2011 by Yaprak Markeset All Rights Reserved.

This project, completed by Yaprak Markeset, and entitled The Study of Un-stationary Forms of Architecture as Linking Elements to the Transient Human Condition has been approved in respect to design quality and intellectual content.

We have reviewed this Master’s Project, and we recommend that it be approved.

Date of Final Review: April 29th, 2011

______________________________________ John Stuart

______________________________________ Adam Drisin

Š Copyright 2011 by Yaprak Markeset All Rights Reserved.

3

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER

4

PAGE

I.

INTRODUCTION

5

II.

RESEARCH REVIEW

6

III.

PRECEDENT STUDIES Mechanical Transformations Light Weight Structures Kinetic Art and Movement Tropical Housing

IV.

PROJECT SITE

14

V. PROJECT PROGRAM

VI. CONCEPTUAL DESIGN STUDIES

17

VII. SCHEMATIC PROJECT DOCUMENTATION

32

VIII. PROJECT DOCUMENTATION

39

9

19

THE STUDY OF UN-STATIONARY FORMS OF ARCHITECTURE AS LINKING ELEMENTS TO THE TRANSIENT HUMAN CONDITION

by Yaprak Markeset

ABSTRACT Can we find stillness from movement in architecture? I propose the study of the un-stationary forms of architecture to devise a new relationship between the work of architecture and the human being. The body and the physical envelope can be kinetically connected by removing the rigid boundaries of inside and outside.

By linking of the building skin, rooms and furnishings, architecture can provide diversity to possibilities of action in the built space, returning us to real-time activities of making and being. Through a new kinetic system, mechanical and perceived, architecture can initiate a new way of living through the reduction of material possessions within a smaller footprint. Un-stationary forms of architecture can have a meditative effect, promoting stillness of the mind by aligning and adapting to constant movement in our daily lives. By acknowledging the transient condition of being, how can architecture extend to improve the human condition?

Florida International University 2011 Professor John Stuart In collaboration with Shahin Vassigh David Rifkind Malik Benjamin Robert Gonzalez Eric Goldemberg

5

RESEARCH REVIEW We live fast paced lives and we immerse ourselves in continual stimuli provided by constant streaming information. Architect Ken Isaacs in 1974 essay states, “… the media super salesman has wrecked our ability to concentrate and severely warped our time-sense. Shuffling credit cards and signing monthly payment agreements have decreased our ability to handle the real-time activities of making and being.”1 As we actively try to negotiate and reorganize our basic needs of life and self against the interruptions, the reciprocation of our built environments to this process has remained minimal. Architecture has remained a static construct providing limited amount of malleability and adaptation to our needs.

Mechanically adaptable systems can adjust to the sensory distractions of a particular environment promoting physical acts to invite or resist stimuli by changing our physical orientation. Inciting physical movement and interaction, architecture’s response to the routine of doing something can make the activity itself more poignant.

Fig. 1 We are immersed in continual sensory distractions.

We have lost in touch with how it feels to be human.

Fig. 2 A Lego House.

Architecture has remained a static construct providing minimal amount of malleability and adaptability to our living environments.

6

Fig. 3 Alex Martinis Roe, Practical Illustrations of Body Configurations in Architecture, 2007.

Adaptable environments that work to incite creative action.

_____________________

1

Ken Isaacs, How to Build Your Own Living Structures (New York: Harmony Books, 1974), 4.

RESEARCH REVIEW

Fig. 4 Movement diagram of basic human spatial acts. These basic two actions involve closing in (seeking a stable point of resting) then moving out in to space.

Fig. 5 Animal Locomotion, Eadweard Muybridge, Collotype, 1887.

Muybridge’s photophraph documents the individualized movements of a woman with a hat jumping over a stool.

Henry Plummer’s essay titled “Liberative Space” elaborates on the notion of freedom through human action in the built environment. Plummer’s essay chronicles this study through examinations of the nature of action, the integrationists underpinning of human freedom, and the role of creativity and play for self identity.

He proposes a model of cooperative and interactive design that works to empower the human by initiating individualistic moves and experiences.2 Plummer notes that a fundamental human need is to be able to instigate actions of one’s own choosing. This choosing of actions to move beyond a passive existence is a fundamental capacity of the human that separates human beings from all other creatures on earth. Plummer simplifies the universe of human action to two essential spatial acts; resting and moving. People have individual ways of appointing settling spaces and selecting distinct routes and paths during movement. Action is identified as the activating force of human aspirations for freedom, creativity and play. Architectural spaces can either stimulate or repress these human actions, by acknowledging or disregarding human need to settle and move and therefore inhabit creatively. Proposing liberated spaces, Plummer elaborates upon a type of reciprocating architecture that can inform participation with the world, linking human action to time, space and self-identity.

Self-identity is not a static construct but a fluid composition that evolves from childhood on and is susceptible to change in a life time.3 By intrinsically being open to discovery, interpretation and innovation, flexible built environments both mobile and stationary allow the participant this experience of freedom. Variety of actions can be performed in multiple ways at different times in multiple sided spaces. By the act of performing, the human is integrated into the reciprocating structure as a creative participant not just a compliant user of a static dwelling.

_____________________

2 Henry S. Plummer, “Liberative Space,” Journal of Architectural Education, Vol. 40, no. 3 (1987): 12.

3 Ibid., 13.

RESEARCH REVIEW How can architecture improve the human condition through adaptable spaces? .

Fig. 7 Graphic translation of Isaacs’ liberated space

Fig. 6 Living Structures, Ken Isaacs, 1974.

Isaacs’ intent was to compartmentalize basic living needs to a small foot print to free space for inventive uses. He suggests that one can de-mount a motorcycle in this liberated space.

8

Fig. 8 Ines Table, Enric Miralles,1993.

The table transforms to multiple configurations. The table becomes a multi-use and animated object that is re-configurable by the user.

The intent of the study is to make a case for freedom of action as a fundamental human need. My research seeks to understand how by reciprocating, architecture could provide enhanced meanings to essential human actions. I propose to study types of space that work to incite actions and participation to liberate the user to exercise creativity in manipulating their environment. These types of spaces improve efficiency and provide meaning through human action.

PRECEDENT STUDY mechanical transformations

Fig. 9 Void Space/Hinged Space Housing, Steven Holl, Fukuoka, Japan, 1991.

The interplay of the human action and architecture has been explored by numerous architects. My thesis study begins with the works of Eileen Gray, Pierre Chareau and Steven Holl. Expanding upon the 1920’s Modern Movement’s spatial methods, Eileen Gray’s work seeks to humanize spaces using kinesthetic and tactile furnishing integrated into her structures.4 Pierre Chareau incorporates multiple mobile elements in La Maison de Verre in1927. By inciting human operation, these mobile systems of Chareau’s structure offer countless variations to the arrangements that can be performed by the tenant. Steven Holl’s 1991 housing project in Fujuoka, Japan uses hinged walls to provide interactive reconfigurations to the totality of the domestic interior. By providing spatial tolerance, a flexible environment, Holl’s walls acknowledge that domestic life is a changing and fluid configuration. About concept of “hinged space,” Steven Holl writes, “In Fujuoka, Japan, we realized twenty-eight apartments with hinged space. Each of the apartments is different and interlocks like a Chinese puzzle around four “void” water courts. The hinged-space dynamic allows an interactive reformation of the entire domestic space. The apartment spaces are organized in several hingedspace types. In some cases, entire room corners pull away with rotating walls.

Domestic life changes with the space in diurnal, perennial, and episodic cycles.”5

Fig. 10 Store Front for Art and Architecture, Steven Holl and Vito Acconci.

Hinged planes mechanically transform the facade. Interior space is extended outwards in multiple configurations through pivot points. Vertical planes take on multiple uses.

Fig. 11 Naked House, Shigeru Ban, Saitama, Japan, 2000.

The four small rooms on casters can be located anywhere in the large open house floor. The tops of the mobile rooms are accessible and become extra play areas for children. The rooms can be repositioned according to needs of their use and climatic requirements.

_____________________ 4 5

Caroline Constant, Eileen Gray (London: Phaidon Press Limited, 2000), 17.

Steven Holl, Parallax (New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2000), 233.

9

PRECEDENT STUDY mechanical transformations Our buildings already include elements with basic kinetic functions. A door is a threshold between outside and inside and a divider or connector of spaces.

Doors, windows and cabinets are hinged forms requiring operation by the user to adjust their environment. A window is the building’s aperture to the exterior environment. A cabinet could contain complex functions. Pierre Chareau’s Maison de Verre contains a metal chest that can perform five movements, pivoting and sliding components conceal and reveal stack of compartments. But beyond mere study of operation, these hinged systems can take on a deeper meaning through investigation into phenomenon of their experience. Explaining this type of experience, Gaston Bachelard in The Poetics of Space writes about doors: “How concrete everything becomes in the world of the spirit when an object, a mere door, can give images of hesitation, temptation, desire, security, welcome and respect.

If one were to give an account of all the doors one has closed and opened, of all the doors one would like to re-open, one would have to tell the story of one’s entire life.”6

Fig. 12 Bathroom Cabinet Detail, Pierre Chareau, Maison De Verre, Paris, 1932.

Multi-movement niches of the custom cabinet become an interactive art box of personal items as irrelevant objects.

Fig. 13 Adjustable Sky Light, Eileen Gray, E1027, Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, 1932.

The amount of light and the shape of aperture is manually controlled by a simple lever handle.

10

By being able to accommodate programmatic requirements in smaller envelopes, kinetic space making systems provide the opportunity to expand the field of programmatic possibilities, leaving room to explore variations. Space is too precious to be allotted ritualistically to singular uses. Ken Isaacs writes, “We all believe in the worth of the experiential life process but the bee who never gets any of the honey is being shorted.”7

_____________________ 6 7

Gaston Bachelard, The Poetics of Space (Boston: Beacon Press, 1964), 224.

Ken Isaacs, How to Build Your Own Living Structures (New York: Harmony Books, 1974), 25.

PRECEDENT STUDY impermanence and light weight structures Buckminster Fuller saw the world as evolving toward a state of “ephemeralization,” both naturally and technologically, which meant moving toward minimal weight, if not weightlessness.”8 Fuller believed materiality of our homes could transform just as new technology had transformed travel and the car. He theorized that in the future our homes would become light weight living machines.

Light weight structures initiate a perception of impermanence. Perceived transience can also denote change as the renewal. Once we acknowledge that the object has no need to survive and meaning is independent of duration, then we are freed and uninhibited to experience the ongoing state of transience to claim a sense of time and memory.9 I found a new understanding that kinetic architecture also encompasses perceived movement intrinsic of light weight structures.

Fig. 15 Staircase for the 8th Istanbul Biennial and At Kanazawa Museum of 21st Century Art, SANAA. The mesh appears as a fleeting memory of a stair case that once existed. Its light weight materiality is the essence of the work that creates a perception of impermanence.

Fig. 14 Shelter for a Farming Cooperative in Russia, Buckminster Fuller, 1932.

Fuller proposes a light weight and kinetic living structure. The shelter is demountable (impermanent) and is used as long as need for shelter exists. Its only value being the accommodation it provides to the tenant.

______________________

8 Edward Ford, “The Theory and Practice of Impermanence,” Harvard Design Magazine, No. 3 (Fall 1997): 4.

9 Linda Sandino, “Here Today, Gone Tomorrow; Transient Materiality in Contemporary Cultural

11

PRECEDENT STUDY kinetic art and movement Kinetic art intersects many mediums of creative works. The idea of synthesis in Kineticism incorporates light, sound and movement through poetry, film, sculpture and dance.10 Themes of synthesis and whirling have been explored in the 1995 exhibition titled “Whirling and Twirling: A Moscow Exhibition of Kinetic Art.” About the 1995 Moscow exhibit of kinetic art, Irina Presnetsova writes, “The artists in their turn discovered that the rhythmic repetitions in poetry had the same meaning as cycles of motion in the kinetic compositions.”10 As a study of ritual movement, Sufi dervishes’ whirling during the ceremony of Sema embodies the metaphoric concept of kinetic body. Sema is a Sufi ritual that is inspired by the work of mystic poet Mevlana from 13th century. Like the orbiting of the atoms, the essential structure of all beings, Sufis believe that a fundamental physical condition of our existence is to revolve. This concept of revolving represents the cycle of coming from earth then returning to it, revolving with the earth itself and participating in inter-connection of all beings on earth.11 By whirling, they aspire to align themselves with the cosmos, creating a meditative still moment through the practice of physical movement. In that moment, they accept impermanence and find stillness.

Fig.16 Engraving of a Sufi Dervish The cone hat of the dervish is his ego’s tomb stone. The white dress is his body’s shroud. By accepting impermanence, he revolves as part of the cosmos. He finds peace through this motion.

Fig.17 The Vagabond, Remedios Varo, 1957

12

Remedios’ vagabond with a mobile cloak is in perpetual travel for self definition. He wants to be completely free and liberated from worldly possessions but few personal items he cannot bear to leave behind.

______________________

10 Irina Presnetsova, “Review: Kineticism by V. F. Koleychuk,” The MIT Press, Vol. 29, No. 2 (1996): 163.

11 Celaleddin Celebi, “Mevlana Celaleddin Rumi,” http://mevlana.net/sema.htm (accessed October 2, 2010)

PRECEDENT STUDY tropical housing The Tropotype or the tropical house type was developed by Miami architect Igor Polevitzky in the 1930s.12 Conceived before wide use of central air conditioning, the Tropotype advocates wide overhangs, 2nd floor living, big screened patio and exposure to Southeast trade winds.13 Polevitzky’s houses illustrate spatial combination of elements of the patio, porch, and loggia. The volumes of these elements are incorporated in the structures of his houses. Polevitzky’s 1949 Birdcage House contains a large screened enclosure that links all of the elements of the house. Inverting the spatial focus on inner house to the outer, screened porch of the Birdcage House becomes the most essential indoor and outdoor living space.

About this spatial gradation, Allan Shulman on his essay about Polevitzky writes, Combined with the open plan in his early work, these elements (patio, porch, loggia) began to take on new forms, often becoming part of the structure itself.14 Polevitzky developed techniques governing the gradation of space from indoor to outdoor, with nuanced levels of partial protection in between.

Fig.18 Birdcage House (Interior), Igor Polevitzky 1949.

The large screened enclosure links all of the elements of the tropical house.

______________________

Fig. 19 Birdcage House, Igor Polevitzky, 1949.

The porch becomes part of the structure of the house, offering gradation of indoor outdoor spaces.

12 Allan T. Shulman, “Igor Polevitzky’s Architectural Vision for Modern Miami,” The Journal of Decorative and Propaganda Arts, Florida Theme Issue, Vol. 23 (1998): 335.

13 Ibid., 351.

14 Ibid.

13

PROJECT SITE This Master’s Project takes on a spirit of resistance to the current and past engine of development and its fabricated materialistic notion of the good life in Miami, Florida. Miami was established as an instant city by the arrival of the railroad in 1896.15 Since then, the greed centered marketing strategies conceived by the developers and the tourism industry have created false illusions of good life and instant wealth in the tropics. Miami has been an unstable and transitional blend of retirees, immigrants, and pleasure-seeking tourists. Miami is an escape for many people, Gregory Bush in his essay writes, “Popular love songs either featured Miami as a wide open city – or associated it with forgetting one’s troubles through romantic passion or identification with the regenerative power of the sun, moon, sea or swaying of palms.16 People move and visit Miami to escape hectic lives with belief in the regenerative power of living in the tropics. Some simply move here to escape winter. Others migrate to Miami to escape hardship and political instability. Both groups, wealthy or poor have similar expectations of transformation to a better life. But Miami remains a city with a low quality of life, John Beverley and David Houston from essay Notes on Miami write, “When the tropical character of Miami is combined with poverty, a genuine third world quality of life evolves.

In many parts of the city, unemployed and underemployed young, adults, and senior citizens idle away endless torrid days with few ameliorating amenities.”17

Fig. 20 The MiMo District is a 30 block area on Biscayne Boulevard between NE 50th and 77th streets. Approximately fourteen motels and residential hotels from the 1950s remain.

This Master’s Project explores the historical pattern of boom and bust development on Biscayne Boulevard and the concept of remaking of a residential motel type. Biscayne Boulevard was built in 1927 in a two year span by private capital to promote and connect the newly built residential Village of Miami Shores development to the city of Miami. The automobile culture between 1945 and 1970s led do the development of Miami’s motel row. After the construction of highway I-95 in 1958, the area fell into disrepair following loss of car traffic. Now Miami’s motel row has been designated as a historical site and named the MiMo District by the City of Miami in 1996. The MiMo District is a 30 block area on Biscayne Boulevard between NE 50th and 77th streets.18 Currently fourteen motels and residential hotels from the 1950s remain in this area.

_____________________

Fig. 21 Image shows the dense cluster of MiMo District motels.

14

15 Gregory Bush, “Playground of the USA: Miami and the Promotion of Spectacle,” Pacific Historical Review, Vol. 68, No. 2 (1999): 153.

16 Ibid., 154.

17 John Beverley and David Houston, “Notes on Miami.” Boundary Duke University Press, Vol. 23, No. 2 (1996): 26 18 Ellen Uguccioni, “MiMo+BiBo+Designation+Report.pdf.” June 6, 2006.http://www.mimoboulevard.org/legislative/MiMo+BiBo+Designation+Report.pdf (accessed November 22, 2010)

Fig.22 Neighborhood map and images of possible pedestrian experiences in walking distance to the site.

15

1920 1950 1960 2011 Fig 23 Recent and vintage photographs of site Richard Kiehnel’s 1920’s house was embedded into Seven Seas Motel in 1950.

Was the reason to preserve the house purely practical or of nostalgia for the house?

Fig. 25 Empty lot volume studies

The site for my Master’s Project is existing Seven Seas Motel and adjacent lot located on the corner of Biscayne Boulevard and NE 59th street. Buried inside the 1950s Seven Seas Motel is a 1923 Mediterranean style house of Richard Kiehnel, architect of El Jardin. The north and south façade of the house remains visible and accessible. A larger home located on northern half of the same property by Kiehnel was demolished. Across the street at 5963 Biscayne Boulevard is a house built by the construction technique referred to as gunite. Highly liquid concrete was sprayed on a web of reinforced steel rods to create unusual forms; acute angled three sided polygons. On 59th street side exists a large grouping of banyan trees that were planted by the children of Lemon City in front of the school in 1895.19 The historical context (multiple states of transience) in close proximity to the site and the embedded 1920’s house provide the opportunity to explore architectural expressions of permanence and impermanence.

Fig. 24 Continuous time sketch

______________________

19 Antolin Garcia Carbonell, “Re:Vintage Photographs by Richard Matlack 1923,” email message to author December 6, 2010.

16

Fig. 26 Diagram showing key historical elements remaining in and around the site.

Fig. 27 Site archaeology diagram exploring over lapping of history. The remaining structures denote permanence in the site.

Fig. 28 Site plan shows existing axial relationships and construction offsets. The embedded house’s dome lies at the true center of the North/South axis of the lot. Project intent is to align with the existing motel’s offsets and the center axis of the embedded house.

17

Fig. 29 Vagabond Motel, 7301 Biscayne Blvd, B. Robert Swartburg, 1953.

Motel travel was the most popular form of vacation for the middle class in the automobile era. Now these motels are mostly abandoned and their use in need of reformulation.

Fig. 30 Knowledge Box, Ken Isaacs 1962.

A multi-media container attempting to box experience and memory.

18

Fig. 31 Steamer trunks were multi use. They became shipping boxes while traveling, then dressing cabinets when stationary. Steamer trunks aided in the mobility of a transient person.

PROGRAM - MOTEL LIVING Program of a residential motel aligns with the concept of a building type for people in transition and in transit. By having a short-stay and a long-stay component, the residential motel can at the same time accommodate the tourist, the vagabond, the retiree and the recent immigrant. By proposing a new residential motel in the existing historical motel district, my project proposes to contribute to the reactivation of one of many utopian urban schemes that have gone from boom to bust in Miami. As noted by Paul Groth in his 1983 doctoral dissertation on downtown residential hotels, hotel residences provide three main advantages: “unfiltered independence and convenience, cosmopolitan mixture and being unfettered by place and possessions.”20 Hotel housing provides personal independence by freeing the time spent on upkeep of a private residence. A downtown residential hotel provides geographical mobility by being walking distance to amenities of the city. Hotel housing can bring together a wide cosmopolitan array of residents and tourist. Speaking about being freed of possession by living in a hotel, Groth writes,

The people living in hotel housing were materially the least tied down people of the vast floating population of 1800s.

The majority of hotel people shared American values of cleanliness and steady employment. However, they did not share or defer to the high American value on material possessions. Their mobility – or more correctly, the mode or style of mobility – precluded the collection of household full of furniture and possessions.21

______________________

20 Paul Groth, Forbidden Housing: The Evolution and Exclusion of Hotels, Boarding Houses, and Lodging Houses in American Cities, 1880-1930 (Berkeley: University of California, 1983), 207.

21 Ibid, 21.

PROGRAM PROPOSAL

4. PROGRAMMATIC ELEMENTS:

1. PROJECT TITLE: A Residential Motel on Biscayne Boulevard

(Existing Seven Seas Motel, (50) rooms, approximately 18,000 sf lot) (40) Prototype 1, re-fitted short-stay motel rooms, approx. 400 sf/each – 16,000 sf (10) Re-fitted artist & yoga studios, approx. 400 sf/each – 4,000 sf (1) Embedded house to become Reception - approx. 1,400 sf Existing structure total: approx. 21,400 sf

2. PROJECT DESCRIPTION: This Master’s Project explores the historical pattern of boom and bust development on Biscayne Boulevard and the fabricated materialistic notion of the good life in Miami. Miami is a city with an unsteady and transitional blend of retirees, immigrants, and pleasure-seeking tourists.

People move to and visit Miami to escape hectic lives with the belief in the regenerative and transformative power of living in the tropics. The program of a residential motel aligns with the concept of a building type for people in transition and in transit. By having a short-stay and long-stay component, the residential motel can at the same time accommodate and bring together the tourist, the retiree and the recent immigrant. Hotel housing can provide personal independence by freeing time spent on upkeep of a private residence. Hotel housing can initiate a new way of living through the reduction of material possessions within a smaller footprint to return us to real-time activities of making and being.

3. SITE DESCRIPTION: The site for my Master’s Project is the existing Seven Seas Motel and the approximately 15,000 sf adjacent lot located on the corner of Biscayne Boulevard and NE 59th street. The site is located within the historical Mimo district which contains around 15 remaining motels from the 1950s in varying conditions of disrepair. Buried inside the 1953 Seven Seas Motel is a 1923 Mediterranean style house of architect Richard Kiehnel.22 The north and south façade of this embedded house remains visible and accessible. Across the street is a house from the 1970s which employs the construction technique referred to as gunite. This site is a contextually rich site where multiple waves of development exist within a small radius.

(Adjacent open lot, approximately 15,000 sf lot) (9) Prototype 2, long-stay residences with in-door/out-door living spaces, 500 sf unit – 5,000 sf Public alley: 600 sf Restaurant & service: 1,500 sf Salon, Library/lounge: 1,200 sf Pool, service & multi-purpose deck: 1,600 sf Circulation, grounds & gardens 40%: 16,400 sf (30) Parking: 100 sf unit, w/30% circulation 6,500 sf New construction total: 22,900 sf 5. PROGRAMMATIC RELATIONSHIP CODES: ▪ As a threshold between existing motel and new nomadic residential grounds, the 1920s embedded club house is to emphasize concept of permanence and impermanence.

▪ Existing motel and new nomadic grounds are to be distinctly separated to explore opposition in materiality.

▪ The relationship between the Prototype 2 residences and the grounds is to provide new understanding of in-door and out-door spatial gradation.

▪ The relationship between the alley, the restaurant and street is to provide new understanding of connectivity.

▪ The relationship between the lobby and library/lounge is to provide new understanding of multi-sided and multi-use spaces.

▪ The relationship between the façade of the new structure and existing is to explore continuity.

▪ The new façade and it’s apertures to explore transformation.

▪ The Prototype 1 and Prototype 2 spaces are to be of equal size and explore modularity.

▪ The Prototype 1 and Prototype 2 rooms to provide spaces and kinetic elements that can be individualized by the user to explore adaptability.

▪ The envelope of pool and the motel grounds is to offer a physical break between the street and parking.

______________________

22 Antolin Garcia Carbonell, “Re:Vintage Photographs by Richard Matlack 1923,” email message to author December 6, 2010.

19

CONCEPTUAL DESIGN STRATEGY ESSAY This project explores “un-stationary(transient) materiality” in two ways: 1.

RECONSTRUCTION OF THE DISCARDED OBJECT (transformation of transient material from impermanence to permanence) Archeology unearths hidden artifacts or evidence. Archeology shifts the symbolic value of a material from de-materialized (broken, discarded, debris) to re-constructed. The process of reconstruction denotes “...rescuing from the limbo of rubbish-state.”23 Using the process of archeology, the transient materiality (discarded object) is stabilized.

Process Precedent: Art that recycles. Art that expresses material anxieties arising from economic excesses of consumer culture through re-use of discarded materials. The paradox of “rubbish” becoming a “durable” material.24

2.

MECHANICAL TRANSFORMATIONS

The light weight and mechanically kinetic elements imply impermanence. Mechanical transformations become the metaphor for the engagement of architecture with temporality. Edward Ford writes, “(Buckminster) Fuller saw the world as evolving toward a state of “ephemeralization,” both naturally and technologically, which meant moving toward minimal weight, if not weightlessness.”25 Process Precedents: Constructivist architecture works to explore a new relationship between the work of architecture and the human being. The bond of Constructivist Architecture and theatre is the union of process and goal as the “… commitment to kinetic, mechanical, and psychological movement, to dynamism and transformation, as the generative principles of design – of the environment, the object and the human being.”26

______________________ Fig. 32 Sketch exploring the possible ways of investigating permanent and impermanent materiality through the glass model.

20

23 Linda Sandino, “Here Today, Gone Tomorrow; Transient Materiality in Contemporary Cultural Artefacts,” Journal of Design History, Vol. 17, No. 3 (2004): 283.

24 Ibid.

25 Edward Ford, “The Theory and Practice of Impermanence,” Harvard Design Magazine, No. 3 (Fall 1997): 4.

26 Roann Barris, “Culture as a Battleground: Subversive Narratives in Constructivist Architecture and Stage Design,” Journal of Architectural Education, Vol. 52, No. 2 (1998): 109.

Fig. 33 Re-cycled 1920s glass model as a catalyst to explore concept of permanence and impermanence

Fig. 34 Chalk drawing of glass model assemblage - exploring spatial conditions intrinsic of the arrangement.

21

CONCEPTUAL DESIGN PER FORMATIVE MODEL With interest in archeology and preservation, I had dug up the fragments of old bottles from the Merry Christmas Park in Coconut Grove (previously a coral lake pit). Very little information exists as to why large amounts of depression era glass is present there.

The first design gesture was modular wood and salvaged glass model to explore permanence and impermanence in the site. I modeled the existing motel with toy blocks in a temporary and de-mountable fashion. The existing motel is colored in grey with the embedded house in red. The motel addition is the excavated glass portion.

With some of the manufacturers’ stamps still on the fragments, the glass can be identified as being from the same era as the embedded house. The scale of the study model is established by the area calculation of the bottle mouths. Each glass fragment in size and adjacency relates to the motel program elements. The bottle necks are the new residential units placed along NE 59th Street and NE 5th Avenue . The larger fragments are the multi-uses spaces (Salon and Restaurant) facing the Biscayne Boulevard.

Fig. 35 Programming model showing existing motel at the North end of the property. The new area of construction at the South end is modeled in excavated glass.

22

CONCEPTUAL DESIGN ADJACENCIES IN THE FRAGMENTED SHAPES

A building generated from fragments can induce anxiety stemming from the perception of impermanence. Dematerialization (being broken, discarded, debris, dirt) “...raises anxiety that is rooted in the tactile experience of the object.”27 But a building generated from fragments also denotes a re-constructive action.

The individual glass pieces are of differing shapes but exhibit deep uniformity through being fragmented. The individual shapes achieve stability from leaning and suggest an inner structural linking. Both visual harmony and conflict is generated by the assemblage.

Fig. 36 Re-constructions with the fragments

______________________

27 Linda Sandino, “Here Today, Gone Tomorrow; Transient Materiality in Contemporary Cultural Artefacts,” Journal of Design History, Vol. 17, No. 3 (2004): 283.

23

Fig. 37 Comparative study of translucence of glass with and without accumulation of dirt (evidence of age).

Notice how both the texture of the dirt and the clarity of glass becomes exaggerated when two elements are juxtaposed.

24

CONCEPTUAL DESIGN GLASS SHAPE 1 - THE SALON Glass Shape 1 is the base and the partial heal of an old bottle that has been warped laterally by heat. The cylindroid shape folds over a large volume, standing forward on one side and tilting back in the rear. The glass form is balanced asymmetrically by an edge parallel to ground plane on one side while being balanced on a point load by a triangular fragment on the other. The shape of the fragment is forward like a ship’s hull, wide and open at the face then drastically narrowing in the back. Concave fragmented shape encircles the flat top surface.

This shape is to house the Salon/Lounge. The armature models explore possible structural configurations of the shape.

Fig. 38 Glass Shape 1- the Salon - showing point load condition at edge

Fig.39 Exoskeleton shape of Glass Shape 1 unrolled over armature model

Fig. 40 Armature model of Glass Shape 1 - the Salon

25

Fig. 41 Glass Shape 2 - the facetted restaurant

CONCEPTUAL DESIGN GLASS SHAPE 2 - THE FACETTED RESTAURANT Glass Shape 2 is the base of a large glass jar or container. Partial circle embossing of the base remains and is used to identify the center of the shape. The faceted planes appear to merge at this center. The volume of the shape undulates or widens and narrows at multiple points. When the facets are converted into merging of planes, the assembly creates a deep and layered perspective view. The center of the shape becomes a pivot point of the facetted planes. The fragment is a long shape with completely flat and intact top and bottom.

The alley Restaurant is to be derived from this shape.

Fig. 42 Graphical reconstruction of the facets of Glass Shape 2 26

Fig. 43 Armature model of Glass Shape 2

CONCEPTUAL DESIGN GLASS SHAPE 3 - THE DEEP - THE POOL Glass Shape 3 contains heat joined bottoms of at least two deep inset bottle bases. The conjoined forms are both concave and convex and the collective shape graduates in a stepping manner outwards from the center. The originating shape is inverted in the study models.

This shape is to form the pool.

Fig. 44 (clockwise from top) Glass Shape 3 - The Pool Fig. 45 Sutured pool model Fig. 46 Topographic pool model Fig. 47 Reconstruction of the oval form from underside of shape 27

CONCEPTUAL DESIGN GLASS SHAPE 4 - THE ORIFICE/THROAT - THE CONNECTOR The fragment is a standard conoid unit derived from the human mouth and is referred to as the orifice or the throat. The ring shape of the throat evokes a narrow fitting of a light weight (air or liquid) volume. The bottle necks are missing their caps. They are open at top and bottom and suggest passage. The shape is hollow like a reed flute, the instrument Sufis associate most with the recreation of the hollow sound of the human throat.

This shape is to generate kinetic linking elements between the structures.

Fig. 48 (from top) Glass Shape 4 Fig. 49 Topographic model of bottle orifice/ throat, lip and collar Fig. 50 Model of orifice/throat rings

28

Fig. 51 (from top) Armature model of Glass Shape 4 Fig. 52 Intersection or joining of two throats

CONCEPTUAL DESIGN THE LIGHT WEIGHT STUDIES PROTOTYPE II The spherical tent-like form is constructed from a single shell and suggests possible mechanical opening and closing. The variegation creates an inner and an outer volume.

In its totality, the spherical perfect shape did not offer variety to form or volume generated. Fragments of this spherical shape was used to formulate the Prototype II residences’ gradation of out-door and in-door spaces and its kinetic elements.

Fig. 53 Glass fragment as hyperboloid of revolution

Fig. 53 Study models of variegated tent-like forms derived from equal divisions of a circle.

29

CONCEPTUAL DESIGN THE LIGHT WEIGHT STUDIES PROTOTYPE II As it is derived from inward and outward folded wings of a circle, the light weight shape generates two levels from one plane.

The form is ephemeral like the wings of an insect.

Fragments of the inward and outward folded form was used to generate upper and lower floors of the Prototype II residences. The form’s light weight materiality was its essential contribution to my new understanding of impermanence.

The etymology of ‘ephemera’ is linked to the lifespan of an insect that lives only for a day. Encompassing the cycle of birth, life and death, it denotes the passing-away of time in the brief and fleeting moment of the transient. However, the transient also connotes a spatial and/or transformational passing through or in-between stage: the passenger as one who has left one place and is waiting to pass on to the next.28 (a state of becoming and change within the instability of the experience)

______________________

Fig. 54 Comparative study of the inverted bottle necks and the light weight structures 30

28 Linda Sandino, “Here Today, Gone Tomorrow; Transient Materiality in Contemporary Cultural Artefacts,” Journal of Design History, Vol. 17, No. 3 (2004): 284.

CONCEPTUAL DESIGN LINKING OF FORMS After the individual studies of the glass fragments, I start re-connecting the forms. This study was employed to formulate an inner web structure that links the fragmented shapes.

Fig. 55 Examination of massing in the glass assemblage Fig. 56 Translation of the glass forms into a structural web 31

SCHEMATIC PROJECT DOCUMENTATION FLOOR PLAN A rough floor plan is generated by direct translation of the fragments into indexes of individual buildings on site. The foot print of the Prototype II residences as a circle is too static and is converted into an oval in the massing model.

Fig. 57 Plan as direct translation of glass massing 32

Fig. 58 Massing model showing connectors between the existing and new structures. The alley becomes the threshold of circulation between existing and new.

Fig. 59 Massing model showing oval bases of the Prototypes. The ovals are directly generated from the pool shape.

33

Fig. 60 Massing model showing the embedded house, the alley, the restaurant, the salon and the pool cluster 34

Fig. 61 Sketch exploring excavation of the site

SCHEMATIC PROJECT DOCUMENTATION ALLEY RESTAURANT STUDY The restaurant snakes alongside the South face of the Seven Seas Motel. The faceted shape steps forwards and recesses at multiple points towards the embedded house creating a dynamic in-between condition. Aligning with existing walk way datum line, the flat roof of the restaurant links circulation to the existing pathways. The extended walk ways on ground and elevated create an inner street scape.

The walk ways provide multiple levels of occupation and access to roof tops.

Fig. 62 (clockwise from top) Alley experience study Fig. 63 Preliminary study of restaurant pivoting partitions Fig. 64 Massing model of facetted restaurant alongside alley

35

SCHEMATIC PROJECT DOCUMENTATION

Fig. 65 Prototype bases study - juxtaposition of glass block and dirt

Fig. 66 Section study through the embedded house showing new ground level and elevated walk-ways

Fig. 67 Elevation study of Biscayne Boulevard facade - exploring the use of gunite and glass block 36

SCHEMATIC PROJECT DOCUMENTATION SALON/LOUNGE AND RESTAURANT

Fig. 68 Sketch showing 2nd story linking of the salon/lounge volume with the restaurant roof top.

Although effective in expressing the lofty volume, this study creates an overly solid shape that does not offer possibilities of kinetic transformations.

37

SCHEMATIC PROJECT DOCUMENTATION PROTOTYPE II STUDIES Even though the study models for the Prototypes contained kinetic elements, the initial configurations became static and lacked variation. My objective had been to identify a dynamic arrangement using one standard arc framing element in rotation (see Fig. 70 and 71). I ended up turning my attention to the rotation of the loop shape (see Fig. 72) which seemed to offer more variation and opportunities for long spanning structural connectors.

Fig. 70 Study model of Prototype II - rotation of the arc Fig. 71 Framing study model of Prototype II - rotation of the arc

38

Fig. 72 Study model for alternate Prototype II - rotation of the loop

PROJECT DOCUMENTATION

Fig. 73 Skeletal model 39

PROJECT DOCUMENTATION

Fig. 74 First Floor Plan 40

Fig. 75 First Floor Plan - area of new construction 41

Fig. 76 Restaurant rendering, restaurant floor plan and massing model showing connectors at the threshold of the alley The street envelope of the restaurant is facetted and projects inwards and outwards and turns in at the alley.

Restaurant inner walls pivot out and become long dining tables for both the residents and the guest to sit along the alley. The long dining tables create a communal dining experience with the view of the embedded house as icon of a residence one has left behind.

42

Fig. 77 Second Floor Plan and massing model

43

Fig. 78 Building elevation at Biscayne Boulevard

44

Fig. 79 Plan detail of the Salon/Lounge roof top framing

Fig. 80 Salon/lounge rendering

Fig. 81 Elevation of the Salon/Lounge

45

Fig. 82 View of the pool through the Salon/Swinging Lounge

46

Fig. 83 Plan studies exploring spatial variations possible by the use of standardized tangent elements while keeping the circle pivot area intact

Fig. 84 Prototype II floor plan Majority of living space is an enclosed porch.

When needed, the sliding glass doors can separate the porch from the house to provide a weather seal. The center pivot furniture element allows user to sleep or work inside or outside.

A small staircase runs to the roof top space.

Fig. 85 Prototype I floor plan - refitted motel rooms Both the new and the existing motel (short and long stay) rooms are of similar size. The center pivoting furniture element exists in all of the Prototype motel rooms. The bed, the desk and the cabinet pivot along a center pole and stack above each other. The tenant can individualize the arrangement in each room/residence.

47

Fig. 86 Prototype II section and details The outer cover of the porch is a semi-translucent rain proof material that pleats like a roman shade when retracting. The rain proof material is tucked in by series of rolling metal pins that move along the tracks recessed in the arc porch members.

Mosquito netting covers the inner edge of the porch. Some of the panels can tilt up for full opening to outside. An inverted version of a porch member becomes the shade canopy at roof deck. Masonry glass block walls weather seal portion of the house and bring in diffused light. Structural framing elements and lighting tracks connect to the metal masonry spacers.

48

Fig. 87 Prototype II entry rendering showing juxtaposition of permanent and impermanent materials.

49

Fig. 88 Full facade collage

50

LIST OF REFERENCES: Bachelard, Gaston . The Poetics of Space (Boston: Beacon Press, 1964), 224.

Barris, Roann. “Culture as a Battleground: Subversive Narratives in Constructivist Architecture and Stage Design,” Journal of Architectural Education, Vol. 52, No. 2 (1998): 109.

Beverley, John and David Houston. “Notes on Miami.” Boundary Duke University Press, Vol. 23, No. 2 (1996): 26 Bush, Gregory. “Playground of the USA: Miami and the Promotion of Spectacle,” Pacific Historical Review, Vol. 68, No. 2 (1999): 153.

Carbonell, Antolin Garcia. “Re:Vintage Photographs by Richard Matlack 1923,” email message to author December 6, 2010.

Celebi, Celaleddin.

2010)

“Mevlana Celaleddin Rumi,” http://mevlana.net/sema.htm (accessed October 2,

Constant, Caroline. Eileen Gray (London: Phaidon Press Limited, 2000), 17.

Ford, Edward. “The Theory and Practice of Impermanence,” Harvard Design Magazine, No. 3 (Fall 1997): 4.

Groth, Paul. Forbidden Housing: The Evolution and Exclusion of Hotels, Boarding Houses, and Lodging Houses in American Cities, 1880-1930 (Berkeley: University of California, 1983), 207.

Holl, Steven. Parallax (New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2000), 233 Isaacs, Ken. How to Build Your Own Living Structures (New York: Harmony Books, 1974).

Plummer, Henry S. “Liberative Space,” Journal of Architectural Education, Vol. 40, no. 3 (1987): 12.

Presnetsova, Irina. “Review: Kineticism by V. F. Koleychuk,” The MIT Press, Vol. 29, No. 2 (1996): 163.

Sandino, Linda. “Here Today, Gone Tomorrow; Transient Materiality in Contemporary Cultural Artefacts,” Journal of Design History, Vol. 17, No. 3 (2004): 289.

Sandino, Linda. “Here Today, Gone Tomorrow; Transient Materiality in Contemporary Cultural Artefacts,” Journal of Design History, Vol. 17, No. 3 (2004): 283.

Shulman, Allan T. “Igor Polevitzky’s Architectural Vision for Modern Miami,” The Journal of Decorative and Propaganda Arts, Florida Theme Issue, Vol. 23 (1998): 335.

Uguccioni, Ellen. “MiMo+BiBo+Designation+Report.pdf.” June 6, 2006.http://www.mimoboulevard.org/ legislative/MiMo+BiBo+Designation+Report.pdf (accessed November 22, 2010)

51