bonitas casas [architecture ebook] the architectural review - sellection (2002-2005)
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ART MUSEUM, BERNE,
S WITZERLAND
ARCHITECT
RENZO PIANO
MONUMENT
FOR A MINIATURISTA new museum dedicated to Paul Klee swells seductively into the Swiss landscape.
1Thetheforthe
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ART MUSEUM, BERNE, S WITZERLAND
ARCHITECT
RENZO PIANO
The arcaded streets of the old town of Berne, a UNESCO World
Heritage Site, have acquired a counterpart in the pedestrian concourse
that links the three volumes of the Zentrum Paul Klee, Renzo Piano’s
latest showcase for art. An undulating steel structure emerges from
three hills to the east of the city, facing over the ringroad and surrounded
by fields. It’s a monument that celebrates the work of a brilliant
miniaturist; a fusion of architecture and landscape, warmth and precision,
structural daring and welcoming interiors. It captures the unique spirit of
a native son who made his reputation in Germany, fled Nazi persecution
to return home for a final burst of creativity, and is buried close by.
Klee was astonishingly prolific, meticulously recording the 10 000
works he created in his thirty-year career. ‘Not a day without a sketch,’
he noted in his journal, even as he neared his death in 1940. Members
of the artist’s family and the Klee Foundation promised to donate their
astounding hoard of 4000 paintings and drawings if Berne would provide
a dedicated space to show them. The chief sponsors were ProfessorMaurice Müller, a surgeon who invented the artificial hip, and his wife,
Martha, who selected the location and the architect, and insisted that the
building be a centre for all the arts and for people of all ages. Piano has
created a museum that reaches out to embrace the visitors who stream
in from footpaths, city bus, and motorway.
Like so many of his buildings, the Zentrum has a strong, simple diagram
that belies the complexity of its design and construction. Piano shifted
the site from the one that had first been chosen to address the sunken
motorway, mirroring its gentle curve in the glass facade and even in the
lines of vents cut into the floors of the galleries. That gives the building
a symbolic link to the contemporary world, and to the city that lies
beyond, concealed within its river valley. The undulating topography of the
adjoining hills inspired the profile of the steel beams, which swoop and
soar like a rollercoaster, rising from the earth at the rear to form a trio
of imposing arches in front. Each rounded vault encloses a discrete set
of spaces that are linked at the front by a 150m long glazed concourse
containing the café, ticketing, shop, and reference area. Extended opening
hours encourage visitors to come early or linger in this protected piazza.
A changing selection from the permanent collection is displayed in the
central pavilion, with a temporary exhibition gallery below. To the north,
meeting and restoration areas lead out of the concourse, with a creative
workshop for children below, and a subterranean auditorium behind. The
south pavilion contains the administrative offices, archives, and seminar
rooms, all on the main level.
The 4.2km of steel girders were cut and shaped by computer-
controlled machines but then, because each section has a different
configuration, the 40km of seams were hand-welded. The arches are
slightly inclined at different angles, braced by compression struts, and
tied to the roof plate and floor slabs. In contrast to this assembly of
unique parts, the concrete floors were constructed as a single structure,
without settlement joints. The glass facade is divided into upper andlower sections, which are joined at the 4m roof level of the concourse,
and are suspended from girders to avert stress from thermal expansion
in the steel roof. The glass is shaded by exterior mesh blinds that extend
automatically in response to the intensity of the light, and the high level
of insulation minimizes energy consumption.
All of these measures pay off in the galleries and archives, where
temperature and humidity must be maintained at constant levels, even
though they are seamlessly linked to the busy public concourse. The
permanent collection is displayed beneath the curved vault in a 1700sqm
room that is divided by suspended flats into a benign labyrinth of
interconnecting spaces. Each white screen hovers a couple of centimetres
above the oak floor as do the peripheral walls. To achieve the low lighting
level required by these sensitive works, illumination is indirect and
filtered. Spots cast their beams on the white-boarded ceiling vault, and
this glow is diffused by suspended square scrims.
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4To the rear,the vaults mergeinto the ground.Planting will gradu ally be establ ishedbetween the ridges to make thetransition more seamless.
2The trio oftopographic bumpsmimics the gentleundulations ofthe surroundinglandscape.
3A serpentine pathleads up to the mainentrance.
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6l on g s ec ti on t hr ou gh n or th p av il io n ( co nc ou rs e, c in em a, a ud it or iu m) l on g s ec ti on t hr ou gh m id dl e p av il io n ( co nc ou rs e, g al le ri es )
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cross section
site plan
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5The tapering profile of the vaults.6Detail of main facade and inclinedsteel arches.
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1 north pavilion 2 central pavilion 3 south pavilion 4 main entrance
5 concourse 6 information 7 café 8 servery 9 cinema 10 AV rooms 11 restoration workshops 12 permanent collection 13 shop 14 reference section 15 offices and administration 16 temporary galleries 17 auditorium 18 children’s workshop
7Café and information area in thesoaring public concourse thatunites that trio of vaults andruns along the main facade.
ART MUSEUM, BERNE, S WITZERLAND
ARCHITECT
RENZO PIANO
ground floor plan (scale approx 1:750)
lower ground floor
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It’s easy to see in the open geometry of the plan a reference to some
of Klee’s compositions, and the skein of slender cables supporting walls,
lights, and scrims evokes his spidery penmanship. Piano’s greatest feat is
to give these tiny, intense works the space they need to breathe. Such a
concentration of invention could easily overwhelm the viewer; here, each
work seems to float in its own white void, bathed in a cloud of soft light,
achieving an emotional as well as a formal resonance. Works are grouped,
not chronologically, but by affinity, so that you can explore the infinite
variety of ways in which this master employed line, colour, figurative and
abstract imagery; always enigmatic and never repetitive. Toplit stairs and
a piston-operated lift that is a work of art in itself carry you down to
a room of similar size that presently houses the 366 sketches Klee did
in his last fertile year. Here, the works are arranged on a peripheral and
inner wall that trace the rectangle defined by slender structural columns.
Scattered around both galleries on oak plinths are 40 hand puppets
that Klee made around 1920 to amuse his family. Fabricated from thecommonplace materials and crudely painted, they have a compelling
talismanic quality, revealing the inner child in the artist and in all who
connect with his work.
That spirit carries over into the children’s museum, aptly named
Creaviva for its emphasis on creative play in a succession of workshops
that are open to all ages. The steeply-raked 300-seat auditorium that
burrows into the ground behind is a black box lined with curved
sound baffles in the same orange hue as the Venetian plaster walls of
the outer lobby. Regular performances of chamber music (Klee was an
accomplished violinist), dance, and theatre will be interspersed with
lectures and readings. All will reflect the versatility of the artist and his
friends over four turbulent decades and their enduring legacy.
MICHAEL WEBB
8The curve of the arch runs throughthe glazed link between volumes.9Main gallery for the permanentKlee collection.10Main gallery is an airy labyrinthof suspended flat panels thatsubdivide the space.In places,lightis diffused by horizontal scrims.11Part of the children’s workshop at
ART MUSEUM, BERNE, S WITZERLAND
ARCHITECT
RENZO PIANO
Architect
Renzo Piano Building Workshop,Genoa
Associate architect
ARB Architects,Berne
Structural engineers
Ove Arup & Partners,B + S Ingenieure
Services engineers
Ove Arup & Partners,Luco,Enerconom,Bering
Photographs
Paul Raftery/VIEW
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9
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1138 | 8
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springs It hasattractedtravellersandinspiredartists poetsand
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Royal Academy Forum
Robert HewisonRuskin famously said that, ‘the teaching of art is the teaching of allthings’, setting his pupils at the London Working Men’s College the taskof representing, by drawing, a white sphere by shading only. It had tobe done in a particularly Ruskinian way, not as an outline, but byshading, so that the shape of the sphere emerges as the paper darkens.
The illustrations with this paper are selected from drawings members of the audience made during the talk.
Ruskin’s commentary on this exercise was, ‘It has been objected thata circle, or the outline of a sphere, is one of the most difficult of all linesto draw. It is so; but I do not want it to be drawn. All that this study of the ball is to teach the pupil, is the way in which shade gives theappearance of projection. This he learns most satisfactorily from asphere; because any solid form, terminated by straight lines or flatsurfaces, owes some of its appearance of projection to its perspective;but in a sphere, what, without shade, was a flat circle becomes merely
by the added shade, the image of a solid ball; and this fact is just asstriking to the learner, whether his circular outlines be true or false. Heis, therefore, never allowed to trouble himself about it; if he makes theball look as oval as an egg, the degree of error is simply pointed out tohim, and he does better next time, and better still the next. But his mindis always fixed on the gradation of shade, and the outline left to take, indue time, care of itself’.
way both to instil that discipline and test the accuracy of a person’perception was through the practice of drawing. He believed, howeverthat accurate perception, refined by the practice of drawing, was morethan an exercise for the eye, it was also a facility for the mind. Speakingat the opening of St Martin’s School of Art in London in 1857, he toldthe students that, ‘Drawing enabled them to say what they could no
otherwise say; and ... drawing enabled them to see what they could nootherwise see. By drawing they actually obtained a power of the eye ana power of the mind wholly different from that known to any othediscipline’. This remark is significant when we consider recent investigations o
visual cognition, which show that the eye and the brain wordynamically together, and that vision is active engagement, not passivreception. Semir Zeki, Professor of Neurobiology at LondoUniversity, argues in his book Inner Vision: An Exploration of Art and thBrain that one ‘sees’ with the brain, not the eye, and that what he cal
‘the visual brain’ is involved in a process of comparing and sorting thaamounts to understanding. Ruskin seems to have anticipated this idewhen he wrote that sight was a great deal more than the passivreception of visual stimuli, it was ‘an absolutely spiritual phenomenonaccurately, and only to be so defined: and the “Let there be light” is amuch, when you understand it, the ordering of intelligence as thordering of vision’. For Ruskin, to achieve a clarity and nicety of vision
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Royal Academy Forum
88|2
create allusion and resonance. On this imaginary field, memoriesgather and grow by association and proximity. In Western painting,the field comes to develop separate spaces: foreground, middledistance, background. Each has its own defining archetypes of colour, character, story and form.
We sense the existence of this implicit format most strongly inPoussin, C laude and the subsequent development of the Picturesque.
Thisimaginary, and seemingly tacit agreement within pictorial culturehashad such lasting potency that I think of it, certainly in relation to myown work asan artist, asvirtually a death-defying given of apparentlytranscendental significance. In modern timesit breaksto thesurfaceinCézanne, and then in Cubism. I n rising to explicitness, however, itseffect ischanged fundamentally.
Since the late nineteenth century, these complex features of compositional memory which dominatethe pictorial, relational art of the West, have been tested. During the twentieth century, aestheticcharacteristics such asformal reduction and singularity, rather thanil lusion and metaphor, become pre-eminent. T ruth resides in the
concrete and the objective. Simplicity is synonymouOnly theeveryday (alwaysthestreet and never thepala
In thecaseof the first generation of American abstraasRothko and Clifford Still , a grand and brave simpachieved. But I would arguethat their work isstill (intouch and dependent on art historical memory and rformer model. At such closerange(50 years) their aesth
adventuresretain meaning. Yet thepossibility for creating thisweb of meaning, aand association did not of course entirely disappear century. The pair of exhibiti ons at Tate ModernBrancusi and Donald Judd early in 2004 showstheconthepoetic in apparently irreconcilableworlds. Subjectobjective, carved to assembled, refined to raw. I t is aruns through twentieth-century art between the assputative re-presentation of reality. A powerful epersistenceof thisimaginary field in latetwentieth-centuthe work of the painter Phil ip Guston. He, l ike m
images so as to establish a constant version of the things that passpartially and fleetingly before us. What we have seen influenceswhatwenow see. What wehavebeen taught to seeshapesour vision. And asweseewealso feel and think. Ruskin believed that theunconscious, orsemi-consciousideasthat comeaswelook at thingscould interferewiththe truth of our perception. In cultural terms, people’s eyes can becorrupted by conventionsof onekind or another, most especially by the
ways in which they are taught to see. That is why Ruskin stood outagainst not only theconventional tastesthat rejected thefresh visionsfirst of Turner and then of the Pre-Raphaelites, but all three of theprincipal meansby which visual perception wasformally shaped in thenineteenth century.
First, he learned to reject the gentlemanly amateur tradition of thePicturesque, the late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-centurywatercolour landscapetradition in which hehad himself been trained.Second, hebecametheimplacable enemy of theofficial, government-promoted method for training artistsand designers, theso-called SouthKensington system managed by the Department of Science and Art.
Third, he wascritical of the training of fine artists, asexemplified bywhat hecalled the‘basesystem’ for teaching studentsin theschoolsof theRoyal Academy, which, hesaid, ‘destroysthe greater number of itspupilsaltogether; it hindersand paralysesthe greatest’. H is reasoningwas important because it went beyond critici zing the fr aming of conventional Neo-Classical perception by studying from the antique.
Teaching of art began with training theeyeand thehand – but it hadalso to develop themind. No art teaching, said Ruskin, ‘could beof useto you, but would rather beharmful, unlessit wasgrafted on something
deeper than all art’.Sight was intended to lead to insight. R uskin did not confuse
imitation with representation. He regarded thepleasurederived fromimitation as the most contemptible that can be derived from art,becausemereimitation is meredeception. What Ruskin wanted to getat was the truth. T ruth in painting, he said, ‘signifies the faithfulstatement, either to themind or thesenses, of any fact of nature’. T hese‘factsof nature’ could bediscovered by diligent visual observation. But,‘Imitation can only beof something material, but truth hasreferencetostatements both of the qualities of material things, and of emotions,impressionsand thoughts. Thereisa moral aswell asmaterial truth; atruth of impression aswell asof form, of thought aswell asof matter,and thetruth of impression and thought is a thousand timesthemoreimportant of thetwo’.
Further, ‘Truth may bestated by any signsor symbolswhich haveadefinitesignification in themindsof thoseto whomthey areaddressed,although such signsbe themselvesno image nor likenessof anything.Whatever can excite in the mind the conception of certain facts, cangive ideas of truth, though it be in no degree the imitation or
resemblanceof thosefacts’. True sight leads to insight, true insight leads to revelation. Thistriadic structurecorrespondsto his theory of theimagination: first whathecalled thepenetrativeimagination saw clearly and deeply, then theassociative imagination brought theseperceptionstowardsunity, whilethe contemplative imagination meditated on and expressed thespiritual, symbolic truthsso revealed. The whole of Ruskin’s art theory, in a sense, comes back to
representing the sphere, an exercise in the first order of truth. Wecannot begin to talk about representation, until there issomething torepresent, and if we do not know what it is that we wish to represent,
know it physically, through the co-ordination of hand and eye, andknow it morally, through theopennessand clarity of our vision, wewillnever be able to begin our journey. As Ruskin famously said, ‘T hegreatest thing a human soul ever doesin thisworld is to seesomething,and tell what it saw in a plain way. Hundredscan talk for onewho canthink, but thousandscan think for one who can see. To see clearly ispoetry, prophecy, and religion – all in one’.
Christopher Le BrunWhen Caspar David Friedrich claimed that, ‘T he artist should paintnot only what heseesbeforehim, but also what heseeswithin himself. I f he seesnothing within himself he should also forgo painting what heseesbeforehim…’, henot only captured theessenceof Romanticism;he also posed a fundamental question wi th which art has beenconcerned ever since. If, asFriedrich states, perception and imaginationthrow up ‘truthsat least asimportant asobjective reality’, the issue ishow to find ideas and techniques for representation which avoidcontingency and randomness, and allow the work of art to establi shsignificanceand meaning.
Representation in art achievessignificance(or depth) when it relatesto a shared background of memory and association. I would arguethatculture is established by critical accumulation and diminished bysubstitution. Just asin theforest, great treesdepend for their sizeandmajesty on dense and diverse brushwood, so new layers anddevelopmentsin art havea symbiotic relationship with individual workswhich nourishestheir potential to convey meaning.
George Steiner described the way literature achieves this level of
resonance asthe ‘field of prepared echo’. With this image, he vividlyconveys the working of the canon of Western art. It is the agreedgiven of what isseen, through the test of permanence, to have value,and allows density of meaning to buil d up. Wi thout this density,high culture is impossible. In such a field new ideas and how theyspeak within history can be rapidly and intuitively understood. Ananalogy in the visual artsmight be to picture a loose grid, existing inthree spatial dimensions and evolving over time. Within it,compositi onal formulae and repeated patterns in favoureddispositions come to acquire meaning. We see them superimposedcomparatively in our imaginations. T he differencesand symmetries
Opposite, Christopher LeBrun RA,Aram Nemus Vult,
1988-89. Oil on canvas,271x 444cm, AstrupFearnley, Museum of Modern Art, Oslo.
Right, Philip Guston, 1913-1980,Dial , 1956.Oil on canvas, 72x 76in(182.88x 193.04cm),Whitney Museum of American Art, NewYork.Purchase 56.44.
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theground to createcar parking below a green belt, how ground form,roof shape and structure ease the flow of air and invite movement of people. Having a degreeof familiarity with Dublin probably helped thethinking for theMillenniumSpireto happen quickly. It wasan intuitiveidea which becamearchitectural, sculptural, and structural. I wantedthe stand at Crystal Palace to capture the essential form of the bowl
Joseph Paxton created. It sweepsup to thestage, reflecting sound andair, likea leaf in thepark. Theurban sceneis full of imagesthat carrymeaning, which may lie, for instance, in a technical effect or perhapsinmemory. A small intervention may alter the balance between imagesand profoundly affect their meaning, and it isin sifting and synthesizingtheseideasand influences, helping to understand their repercussions,that languageisso powerful. Aswordsdevelop into imagesthey pick upand evolveknowledge.
Roger PenroseI writeasa mathematician who finds drawing and other formsof visualrepresentation immensely helpful. I can think of several different waysin which such visual imagery can beimportant in mathematical work.In thefirst place, thereisthefollowing major division:•Internal, ie, aidsto one’sown mathematical understanding•External, ie, aidsto theconveying of such understanding to others. Therearemany different waysto think about mathematics, and there
areconsiderabledifferencesamong mathematiciansasto which modesof thinking come most easily. I think that the main division betweensuch modesof thinking comeswith thevisual/ geometric, on onehand
and theverbal/ algebraic/calculational, on theother. On thewhole, thebest mathematicians are good at both modes of thinking, but myexperience has been that with mathematics students, there is muchmore difficulty on the geometric side than on the
algebraic/ calculational side. As for myself, I find tthinking is what comes most naturally, and I oftemathematical problemsinto a geometrical formfirst babout trying to solvethem. However, I frequently findtrying to convey my understandings to other matstudents, if I use too geometrical a formulation, as
happier with algebraic/ calculational typesof argumenHowever, there isa curiousparadox here. I am oflectures to non-mathematical (or mixed) audiencerequest usually takestheform ‘uselotsof pictures, so tfind it easier’. T hisisgenerally good advice, and it iscthat pictures rather than equations are normally mconveying information – even fairly technical infoaudiences. The puzzle is: why isi t that professional and those aspir ing to be professional mathematimpression of being moreunhappy with visual typesof membersof the interested general public? Here I ventto thispuzzle, that thereisa selection effect, arising frois much harder to examine visual mathematiccalculational or algebraic skills. When I was in mmathematics undergraduate, I chose geometrical specialist topics, but I believe that I fared a good dalgebra papers than on the geometrical ones. The although I did not havedifficulty in solving thegeomefound it to bedifficult, and particularly timeconsuminunderstanding in words, aswasnecessary. Moreover,
arguments, an appropriate degree of rigour is alwaargumentsto beacceptable. Thisisoften difficult to exwith geometrical reasoning, even when such reasoningbeperfectly correct. Accordingly, thosewho rely on g
compelling pull of this invisible model which suffuses Western art.Guston’s paintings with their tidal shifts towards and away fromrepresentation, show a grid-like sensual abstract paintinginterpenetrating figurative, illustrative pictures. Depictions andthought-touches seem to emerge from the wealth of the painter’smemory, giving them an interior ity akin to the reflexiveness of literature. Hispaintingsexist within a maturemetaphysical realm fortheprojection of emotion and form.
What I amarguing for isa moreorganized formof subjectivity alongthe linesof Caspar David Friedrich’s injunction. It is a Classical andinformed subjectivity, depending on thoughtfulnessand reflection, andits effect is to allow picturesto maintain their elusivenessand privacyeven when their meaning ismanifestly present in thepublic realm.
Ian Ritchie: language to architectural calligraphyMy design processalwaysstartswith an idea, and ideascan comefrommany sources. Some might be environmental; others are functional,social or structural, or sculptural in thecaseof the JubileeL inevents,but they exist asideaswithout a clear representation. Themeaning andvalueof an idea liesin language, so I find languagea fundamental toolfor exploring ideas. Asa student in Liverpool and spending a lot of timeat theEveryman T heatrewherethepoet Roger M cGough opened upmy appreciation of language, I saw how wordscan investigate ratherthan determinean idea. T his isa pre-drawing form of representation
which I develop through l anguage. Through draughting andredraughting, wordshelp to concentratean idea and bring it into focus.How thi s happens varies. The outcome might be descripti ve orabstract; sometimesit may depend on metaphor and at other timesit ismoreliteral.
Once words have given a theme or idea some existence, the nextchallengeisto captureit visually. In thepast I used models, moulding apieceof plasticeneto find the form, but moreoften now I useJapaneseor Chinese brushes– the calligraphy of the title. T he idea must existbefore I can paint around it, but using different techniques of representation helps to develop it. Alba di Milano , for example,originated asa beamof light. M ilan’sreputation for making fineclothsuggested theidea of weaving, so it started to evolveinto a cloth of light
woven from fibre optics, which emit l ight when broken. My firstpainting wasa black line on a white piece of paper. Using ground oncopper plate, theetching reversed that, turning it into a flash of whiteagainst a black ground.
For White City Shopping Centre I wanted to capture ideasaboutshopping that I had described in writing. I had written about how airmight flow through the spacesand the roof modulate sunlight, abouthow there could be viewsand routesto parkland on either side, andhow the effect might reconfigure the relationship between shoppingand thecity. An early ink drawing conveysthoseideas, initially formedin words, with a few simplebrushstrokes, showing themanipulation of 90|2
Royal Academy Forum
Four imagesby Ian Ritchie RA, clockwise from left, The Spire of Dublin (monument for Ireland);White City Shopping Cent re; A lba di Mil ano; Crystal Palace Concert P lat form.
Left,Fig1; centre, Fig2; right, Fig3,The Creator Having Trouble Locat ing the Right Universe by Roger Penrose, mixed media29x25cm.
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of my work isthemethodology of visually mapping information and thepsychological and emotional dimension that comesout of i t.The Frozen Sea installation began in theword check-mate. Following
its semantic and etymological connectionstook methrough thevariousstrands of the meanings of words such as check, exchequer, chess,
jeopardy, hazard, and draughts. Having mapped ‘check’ to a level thatsatisfied me(about forty terms), I set about theproblemof materializingthis map. No map can convey every detail to a reader, as theinformation would be overwhelming. I chose to focus only on therelations between words. To know if and how words relate, theirrelative agesand etymologieshaveto beknown. Asmy map containedsemantic links, thistoo would haveto berecognized. I chosethreerules
to describe the word map in three dimensions: semantic = beside,etymological =on top of, word age=volume.
ForThe Frozen Sea I decided to createa study, with desks, chairs, filingcabinets, a full set of theOED , blackboardsand so on. Having gatheredmy objects, I ranked them by volume and assigned a word from the‘check’ word map to each, based on thesimplecorrespondencethat thelargest volumeshould represent thetermlongest in use, thesmallest, theword that had been in use for the most fleeting moment. H avingassigned objectsto wordsI arranged themaccording to my threerules:objectsrepresenting wordsthat related semantically wereplaced besideone another; those with an etymological connection were stacked
horizontally. Theroombecamea working study and grid with X and Y coordinates.
Richard Long maps his journeys through the lanand sticks, objects to hand. I have mapped my jourforest of words in anglepoise lamps and chairs, alsohand. The Mexican artist Damien Ortega’s recentSpirit placestext and materiality in disjunctive conjuCraig-M artin’s 1970s workAn Oak Tree looks atchemistry of naming and duality of matter and sign. I Sea in relation to theseworks. To return to the experience of the viewer – th
activated when theviewer beginsto piecetogether the
study. Thework operatesasan invitation to theviewethe process of decision and doubt that has createddetectivework. Thisisa strategy that I employ to activdecisiveprocessof seeing isa re-perceiving. Asin a cothingsare not what they seem. Every element of themeaning. T hedesk isindeed a placewherea lexicograwork, with the fetishization usual in the preserved slike Darwin. It is also a tool that hasbeen used in theout, and also directly representsa word in the group
Thetitlewaschosen to suggest a momentary fixing of a Thearrangement will giveway to another asanother w92|2
of understanding are at a disadvantage in examinations, andconsequently they become under represented in the mathematicalcommunity at large. My own experiencewith visual imagery – and thisapplieswithin both theabovecategories(internal and external), thoughwith a somewhat different balancewithin each – isthat it can takemanyforms. There are, indeed, variouswaysin which I have found visual
representationsto beimmensely valuable. I n my own work, either asanessential aid to mathematical understanding and research, or forexpositional purposes, I can distinguish at least four categories:(a) Schematic diagramsrepresenting mathematical concepts.(b) Accuraterepresentation of geometrical configurations.(c) A precisediagrammatic notation for algebraic calculations.(d) Cartoons, often whimsical, to illuminatekey points.
My notebooks are full of sketches depicting (a), the picturesfrequently represent mathematical structuresof higher dimension thanis apparent. The configuration in Fig 1 isa drawing of mine from anarticle ‘M athematics of the Impossible’,* and it i llustrates a non-periodic tiling of theplanefromjust two different birdlikeshapes. Thetypeof precisegeometrical notation that I frequently use, in accordancewith (c), is illustrated in Fig 2, from another notebook of mine. The(whimsical) cartoon of Fig 3 isonethat I haveused a number of timesinlectures, and it illustratesthe extraordinary precision with which theuniverse must have started up (at the Big Bang), in order to beconsistent with observation and with the Second Law of
Thermodynamics. I feel honoured that it hasbeen exhibited aspart of the Royal Academy’sSummer Exhibition 2004 under the title ‘The
creator having troublelocating theright universe’.
*The Artful Eye , edited by Richard Gregory, John Harris, PriscillaHeard, and David Rose, Oxford University Press, O xford, 1995, p326.
Abigail ReynoldsRuskin established a clear linebetween drawing and comprehension,arguing that drawing triggers looking, and looking leads tounderstanding. But Robert Hewison’sdiscussion of Ruskin suggeststhat he saw the entire benefit came in producing a drawing, leavingopen the question of whether seeing a drawing hasthe same order of significance. In art, Richter points out, seeing isthedecisiveact, so howthe artist can enable the viewer to share this central act completelybecomes the vital issue. I am especially interested in how art canbecomea tool for thinking, and potentially elevatetheviewer’sthoughtprocessover theartist’s. Art should open an avenuefor activethought.
Having madeMount F ear , which represents crime statistics as amountain range, I am looking at developing further strategies forrepresenting theabstract by sculptural and physical modelling. Among
thesewasmy work asartist in residencefor theOxford English Dictionary . TheOED is already a representation in at least two senses: itscontentrepresentsculturethrough time, and its aesthetic representsauthority.It isconstantly changed and updated, and although it outwardly aspiresonly to be descriptive, mapping change in language, its aesthetic of authority confusesthisby being set up asan arbiter of what isand isnotcorrect. But in shaping thechaosof experienceand imposing order, theOED haspointsin common with art.
I approached the OED by looking at systems and structures of meaning in lexicography and art, connecting theexperiencesof my firstdegree in English and my second in Fine Art. T heOED itself is
interested in opening up discussion of the place of lexicography anddictionary-making in our culture to a wider audience, but I amespecially drawn to it because, asa project, it teeterson the brink of folly. T he hubrisof documenting all of language, a moving target, isalmost monumentally absurd, and also heroic. It can never bedone.
My year as Arti st in R esidence at theOED had many joys. T hesimplest of these was, when asked where my studio is, to be able torespond ‘in theDictionary’.
Of course, when I say Dictionary, I mean a department of 70lexicographers, whereasmy questioner imaginesa set of 20 volumes. Imean an ongoing daily process; they think of a printed authority.Suddenly, in this gap, emergesa mental imageof me, shrunk likeAlice
moving through a world of words. It is a really enjoyabledisjunction,and onewhich liesat thecentreof my approach to creating a visual artwork that respondsto theOED .
I started to produceword mappingsquite soon after arriving in thedepartment. Paul K lee, when drawing, would takea linefor a walk. Ispend timetaking wordsfor walks. Choosing a word, I sniff around it,following cross-referencesand other hintsin theOED . Theword groupgrows and is shaped over time as I add and subtract semantic andetymological links, arranging and re-arranging until a satisfying formevolves. Words have a shape which can amount to a secret history of their mutated meaningsover time. What I find important in thisphase
Royal Academy Forum
Abigail Reynolds, Exchequer 1, photo-collage 2004. Abigail Reynolds, workingdrawingforThe Frozen Sea, 2004.
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yearsold. T herearethreeof thesecomplexesin I ndia and while I haveseen only the one in J aipur, I chose to model the Delhi structurefamiliar to meonly fromincompleteaccounts, plansand photographicrecords. I waskeen to makean idealized version which I think revealsmoreof thehubrisbut also thebeauty of thesethreestructures.
After we had made a CAD model of the site, I attempted todeconstruct thebuildingsby projecting animated viewsonto a movingstainless-steel mesh armatureand re-filming theresult. Most elementsin the buildings are visible, and their essence survives being pulledacrossa complex seriesof curves. I wasinterested to seehow thebasicgeometry would withstand this sort of distortion of representation. Itis an example of what I call ‘vertical memory’, where the essence of
compressed experiencesurvivesthissort of mangling. Thisalso relatesto our own inability to recall accurately which gives rise to a poeticsensibility forced to rebuild objectsand experiencesin our own minds.If there is a common grammar, each small part might contain thephraseology for thewhole.
When I introduce sound into a work I use Dolby Surround whichdefinesa pronounced spatial configuration. I do not want a sense of front or a formal planar way of seeing a building. I want the sameflexibility in experiencing representation that we take for granted intheexperienceof therepresented.
Oneof thetwo filmsto which this project gaverisehasa sequence
in which I overlay blurred and distorted images. Tblurring curiously introduces a level of sight which fmore permanently embedded than conventiorepresentation. I t also shows up a particular problarchitectural photographs and renderings. T hinexhaustible detail drawing you closer and closer to thephotographic grain interposesitself between yourepresented.
Using a different approach to representation raisethe ‘habitability’ of the representation itself; that is, invite you past its own surface. I fi nd similarepresentation with text and while I usetext extensiv
is often in a form which acknowledges this diffi culttimelabouring over thewordsand havea programmdisplay them asa fine grid floating apparently withinfog. While the meaning is still present, i t becomes lalmost irretrievable, an obscuring tint acrossthesurfa Their numerous staircases aiming at the s
calibrations and dishes, the Janta Manta are budetermined by light, moonlight, starlight or sunligchoseto render thestructuresin glass. How thebuildion light and arose purely from light sets up all sorpossibil itiesfor itsrepresentation.94|2
Graham Modlen, Officeof Zaha HadidDrawingsby Zaha H adid’sofficearepowerful representationsof ideasand possibilities and when I started there I had to fathom out whatthey might represent. ThedrawingsI had seen previously for theHongKong Peak project stimulated me to think forward, to wonder that if you could do that to Hong K ong, what werethepossibilitiesfor othercities? I soon realized that thistypeof drawing isa processwhereevery-thing isto be re-imagined, shattered and then put back together again.It i sas if weareasked to suspend belief and to turn theproject roundgraphically and re-present it. Drawing allowsdifferent peopleto inventand interpret, and contribute to theprocess. It isa real studio system.
One of Zaha’s earliest commissions was a rooftop conversion inHalkin Placein Belgravia. The drawingsshow theflat interior with thewallsblown away and theplan drawn within a floating isometric pro-
jection. Fittingsand furniture are sometimeson the floor and some-times floating. T he wall is drawn as if i t were a new plane throughwhich light shines. I t has a sort of surreal air to it. But the drawingsalso re-imaginethe homeground; certain elementsbecomerecogniz-able; you can makeout thestreetswith thefamiliar duality of a regularedgeto thestreet and a serrated back edge. Thetechniqueof drawingsheinaugurated hasbecomea hallmark of theoffice. It allowsanyonein theoffice, whether they know London or not, to reinvent it and showushow it could be.
By the time of the competition for the Grand Buildingssite in themid-1980s, the techniquesfor drawing had evolved into a collectiveeffort. The project wasan opportunity to reinvent or imaginean ide-
alized version of Trafalgar Square. In the drawingsthe square itself might berecognizablebut what liesbehind it haschanged. The rivergetslost and thereareseveral strangeundulations. Various people inthe team contributed perspectival drawings, representing their ideasor knowledge of the city but, I think, they were put together withZaha’ssteadying hand.
In theofficearesketch booksof drawingsby Zaha, which aresome-thing li ke diaries. They may not refer to any particular project, butthey are forward thoughts and reflectionson past ideas. She can pre-sent them to thestudio in a way which launcheseverybody off, or shemay say, ‘there’sa sketch I did which may ... but you will haveto studyit’. Weteaseout what might relateto theproject in discussion. It may
be the silhouette that hassome significance, or perhaps one image islaid over another to fathom out the kernel of the plan. T he result ismulti-layered and theoriginal thought may becomeindistinct.
With computersand copierswecan deal with all sortsof distortions.We can twist plans, build up layersand distort distances. The intro-ductory imagesof theRomeContemporary ArtsCentrewere‘reliefs’built up fromtwo or threelayersof cut card to givedepth to thegroundin plan. That then feedsideasabout the roof structure and for wallswhich descend and createoutdoor spaces.
At theMind Zonein theMillennium Dome, our task wasto repre-sent the workingsof the mind through an interaction of architecture,art and an understanding of neurology. Itsform of three overlappingsnake-like shapes resembling curving lasagne layers and forms, wasdescribed as piece of sculpture and exhibitry itself with smaller ele-mentsof sculpture and exhibits inside, something like a Russian doll.
Theposition of thesteel trussesrelated to circulation patternsand thedome’sshape; wetickled and pushed it with cantileversand distortions.
The idea was that people walking along ramps would come acrossexhibitsthat aimed, for example, to play with visual perception, com-munication and identity. One of the exhibitswasa built spatial per-spectival trick comprising a 4m high sculpture by Gavin Turk whichdistorted distances. Another wasa computer programwhich reworkeda photograph of yourself to changegender, raceand age.
Our drawing techniquesarewaysnot just of representing, but find-ing and developing ideas. For examplethe‘mid-construction’ viewsof Cardiff Bay Opera H ouse were drawn on black paper, but from the
use of white paint, for example, it seemed to me an idea came abouttheuseof light. I n another, earlier project from1993, based on an ex-dockland sitein Düsseldorf, which combined a radio station, hotel andmedia offices, theteammadea number of exploratory worksincludinga mixed, hybrid perspectivewhich wasasif wringing a cloth. Out of itcame different views represented in one painterly composition.Representation ispart of theprocessof thinking.
Paul SchützeWhen I make pieces based on architecture, I aim to document theexperience of a building rather than the bui lding i tself. PeterZumthor’sThermal Baths in Valscaptivated me partly because thebuilding seemsto have its own internal weather systems. Each roomachievesitsown micro climatewith distinctivetemperature, humidityand tepidity. Some spaces also link with the exterior bringing anunexpected haptic transparency. Roomsregister asmuch on theskinas the eye or the ear. There are extraordinary acoustic phenomenaarticulated by varieties in scale, materials and ceiling heights. I wasstruck by how rich an experiencethebuilding would offer to someone
who could not see. While its visual impact is considerable, thearchitect has addressed each of the senses extravagantly. Anotherfeature is the way its water surfaces appear as part of thecompositional massof the building and yet are occupiable asspaces.
This produces an almost eerie intimacy with the materials and thestructureitself. The Janta Manta series takes the remarkable structures built as
astronomical observatoriesunder the Mughal Emperor Jai Singh II . Their form determined by need, they have a minimal amount of ornament, but they make an engaging collection of sculptural formswhich seem strangely contemporary despite being several hundred
Royal Academy Forum
Zollhof, Düsseldorf, by ZahaHadid Architects.
Paul Schütze:From the Garden of Instrumen ts III , 2004. Lightbox, 92x 128.4cm. Edition of three. Copyright holder: Paul Schütze. Imagescourtesy of Al an Christea
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Continuity is important too, because all our projects are really onwork. An extraordinary concept you might have at the age of 21 is avalid when you are 56; you just have more wisdom to explore thaconcept in other ways, but hopefully with no less vibrancy. I t iimportant to keep up a process of discovery and invention. Often spend time in the summer on Minorca with Bruce Maclean, no
working on any particular project but doing something else. Thessessions might throw up some interesting shapes, forms or ideawhich could find their way into design projects. We would have to dfurther studies to interpret how to build them, but in reality drawingmaking and realization are all aspects of the same process.
Discovery is an important part of our activities. We did not imposthe Ontario College of Art and Design on the community; rather came out of the community. We extended the park to the street sopeople who live on it can walk straight out into the park, which is nowanimated by the lively people who occupy the art school.
Our project ‘Not the Tate’ for Barking Reach in the ThameGateway shows how we use various techniques of representation texplore the implications of particular starting points. At the momenthe area is not on the mental map of Londoners and most proposafor it are overly academic. Our proposal is to give a series of largwooden huts over to the London art schools – one of the city’s greasecrets – and curate a landscape of activity with work in, on o
Royal Academy Forum
Sketch for the School of the Future.
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P U S H I N G T H
E E N V E L
O P E
T h i s n e w a r t m u s e u
m i n S t L o u i s i s c o n c e i v
e d a s a f l e x i b l e
s h e l l f o r e x p e r i m e n t t h a t r e a c h e s o u t t o i t
s s u r r o u n d i n g s
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30|1
Meet me in St Louis, Louis, meet me at the Fair’, sangJudy Garland,
and the city is celebratingthe centenary of that high point in its
fortunes, even as it struggles – like so many others in the Midwest –
to regenerate its battered core. Progress has been made since Eero
Saarinen’s Gateway Arch was built on the banks of the Mississippi in
1968, and the Grand Center Ar ts Distr ict at the edge of downtown
has recently acquired two small but potent gems: Tadao Ando’s
Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts and the Contemporary Art Museum
by Allied W orks Architecture. They occupy neighbouringsites and
conduct a lively dialogue across a shared courtyard dominated by a
Richard Serra torqued steel sculpture.
What’s remarkable is how well these two radically different
buildings complement each other visually as well as in purpose. The
Pulitzer, which opened two years ago, is a signature work by Ando in
the finest in-situ concrete. It has the air of a spiritual retreat: refined,
serene, and inward-looking; a place for solitary contemplation of
twentieth-century masterworks fr omthe Pulitzer collection, which is
open by appointment two days a week. In contrast, Allied Works
principal Brad Cloepfil designed the new museumas a flexible shell
for experimentation in the visual arts, and programmes that reach out
to the depressed neighbourhood and the general public. Concrete
walls are clad in tightly woven stainless-steel mesh, and expansive
windows open up views fromstreet to courtyard. Galleries for
changingexhibitions occupy a quarter of its 2500 sq m; the rest are
given over to a large performance space, an education centre and
café, plus upstairs offices and classrooms. The buildingcost only $6.5
million, substantially less than its neighbour.
Thanks to the generosity of Emily Pulitzer and other patrons, the
CAM has moved far beyond its modest beginnings in a downtown
storefront, and it selected Allied Works from a shortli st that included
Herzog& de Meuron, RemKoolhaas, and Peter Zumthor. It was a
prescient choice, for Cloepfil has since won acclaimfor prestigious
CONTEMPORARYART MUSEUM,
ST LOUIS, MISSOURI, USA
A RCHITECT
ALLIED WORKS
location plan
2The museum complex in St Louis’depressed cityscape. Allied Works’new building(left) joins Ando’smuseum on the right.3Concrete wallswrapped in stainless-steel mesh are beautifully smooth,impassive surfaces.4Expansive windowsopen up views.2
3
4
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32|1
1 entrancelobby
2 galleryspaces
3 educationstudio
4 perform ancespace
5 courtyard
6 café
7 loading
8 lineofA ndo building
9 administrativeoffices
10 resourcecentre
11 classroom
crosssection
ground floor plan (scale approx 1:1250)
crosssection
first floor plan
5The internal courtyard.6Detail of mesh-wrapped walls.
CONTEMPORA
ST LOUIS, MIS
A RCHITECT
ALLIED WORK
5
8
9
11
10
56
1 4
2
23
7
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34|1
arts projects in New York, Dallas, and Seattle, all of which are
characterized by acool minimalismand sensitivity to aesthetic needs.
As he explains: ‘In makingspace for contemporary art, the architecture
must first serve the arti st; not by attemptingto render abackground
for the art, but by providingthe artist with aspecific spatial presence,
an intentional vacancy that achieves meaningthrough the art itself.’ Healso spoke of creating‘a fusion of the city and the arts.’
Cloepfil has pushed the buildingout to a curved corner that
gives it a distinctive prow, and has restored the original street l ine –
in contrast to the Pulitzer, which is pulled back. The contents of the
buildingare revealed though window walls, so that its role as an art
centre is immediately apparent. Concrete walls are sandblasted to
dematerialize the surface and distinguish it fromA ndo’s small
modules. The mesh is set 100-150mmfrom the walls, unifyingthe
facade and shadingthe office and classroom windows. It ’s a concept
that the architect has developed and taken further in the
translucent membrane he proposes to wrap around the former
Huntington Hartford Gallery in New York, a marble-clad Venetian
pastiche by Edward Durrell Stone, to provide a new home for the
Museumof Contemporary Arts and Design.
Double glass doors open onto the lobby froma setback in the
north facade, and steps lead down fromthis introductory space to
the galleries. Cloepfil has played with space and light as though they
were liquids, containingand releasingthem, allowingvisitors to feel
they are swimmingthrough galleries that open up to each other and
to outdoor areas that are tightly enclosed by the two buildings. There
are two levels of wall: 4mhigh sections at ground level, and a 6mhighband that wraps around the upper level in serpentine fashion, tying
the spaces together. The steel mesh is carried inside in places to add
another layer and a contrastingtexture to the white painted
sheetrock on the display walls. Ceilingplanes float at different levels,
admittinglight from clerestories and blockingdirect sun. The effect is
one of interlockingboxes cut away to leave only a few definingedges.
Paul Ha, the new director of St Louis CA M, made his reputation at
White Columns, New York’s most adventurous alternative art
space. ‘It changes one’s perception of art to see it in a different
setting,’ he observes, ‘and artists welcome the challenge of
respondingto the energy of place.’ For Cloepfil, the task was ‘to
make spaces that serve the arts and artists, while allowingfor a
subtle emotional response fromthe individual. It was imperative to
create a physical environment that visitors would feel comfortable
returningto again and again.’ MICHAEL WEBB
axonometric of buildingelements
7Lookingthrough the courtyard.8After the compression of theoutdoor areas, galleriesare tall, airy,luminousspaces.9, 10The buildingisconceived asaflexible shell for experimentation.
Architect
Allied Works, Portland, USAPhotographs
HélèneBinet
CONTEMPORARYART MUSEUM,
ST LOUIS, MISSOURI, USA
A RCHITECT
ALLIED WORKS
7
8
9 10
[ ] ( )
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The young French partnership of Florence Lipsky and Pascal Rollet has
a reputation for formally sparse but technically and materially inventive
buildings that make the most of limited programmes and budgets. Though
the pair favour the aesthetic edginess and functional economy of raw or
industrial materials, they generally play it straight with modular Miesian
structures and disciplined spatial arrangements. Their latest building is a
science library for the University of Orleans. Founded in 1961 and now
with some 5000 students, the university occupies a peripheral campus
sward at some remove from the city centre, linked by a tram line that
runs on a north-south axis across town. The site for the library is next to
the tram line, in front of one of the four stations that serves the campus.
Emerging from a boskily pastoral setting, the building is a strong, almost
graphic presence in the landscape. The taut orthogonality of its form, a
long, three-storey box terminated by a full-height colonnade, suggests
a scientific triumph of the rational over the romantic, but it has a more
quixotic side in its appropriation of materials, handling of light and
approach to energy use and environmental control.
The tall concrete colonnade, like a scaled down version of Foster’s
Carré d’Art museum, Nîmes (AR July 1993), is a welcoming gesture that
celebrates and civilises arrival, while emphasising a route to the lake. A
small glass box, which also acts as an informal exhibition space, forms
a decompression zone between the blare of the outside world and the
SCIENCE LESSONVeiled in a polycarbonate skin, this
science library exploits site, light
and materials in the quiet pursuit of
passive environmental control.
UNIVERSITY LIBRARY,ORLEANS, FRANCE
ARCHITECT
LIPSKY + ROLLET
1The translucent volume of the newlibrary emerges from its woodedcampus setting.2A tall colonnade creates a space forsocial interaction.
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cross section
site plan
3
3The colonnade marks the entrance.4The site lies next to a tram line linkingthe campus with Orleans city centre.5
Windows puncture th e tran slucen tpolycarbonate skin; glare control is
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silent inner sanctum of the reading room. Areas of clear glazing are
punched apparently at random into the translucent polycarbonate skin
frame and define views of the landscape from inside at study table height
so students can drift off in contemplative reveries.
In operational terms, the modern university library is less concerned
with the inducement of reverie and more with the efficient storage and
retrieval of information, in both paper and digital formats. Yet the process
of information withdrawal, consultation and return continues to underpin
and structure the library as a building type. Lipksy + Rollet articulate this
process through a central ‘book box’, a dense core of books surrounded
by more fluid study zones arranged round the periphery. The main
reading room is a dramatic triple-height space, overlooked and surveyed
by perimeter study zones on the floor above, so users can inhabit a mor
intimate enclave, yet be aware of wider goings on.
The monumental book box is clad in Fincof panels (more commonly
employed for concrete formwork), a type of Finnish birch plywood
stained with dark phenolic resin. The panels evoke the warm leather of
traditional bookbinding and study armchairs but this is faux luxury. The
budget necessitated an imaginatively frugal approach to materials, as
manifest by the double skin of polycarbonate used to clad the building
which combines good insulation levels with light diffusing qualities, so
the reading room seems wrapped in a rice paper screen, with readers
silhouetted against its translucent walls. South and east facades have
vertical, manually operable white polycarbonate louvres to provide
additional glare control. Depending on the sun angle and building users,
the vertical brise soleil create a changing pattern on the facades.Though France is not as advanced as Germany in legislating for
efficient energy use, the need to keep capital and running costs down
proved an important incentive, giving rise to an integrated system of low
key, passive environmental control techniques that minimise mechanical
systems. The building is naturally ventilated, with fresh air warming and
rising up through the main reading room through the stack effect and
UNIVERSITY LIBRARY,
ORLEANS, FRANCE
ARCHITECT
LIPSKY + ROLLET
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[A hit t Eb k] Th A hit t l R i S ll ti (2002 2
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e
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89|988|9
Sydney’s Bondi Beach is, rightly,one of the world’s more famous
crescents of sand, but its natural
beauty is not matched by the
architecture frontingit and
sprawlingover its cliff-top
flanks. No single carbuncle but
aplague of minor boils; arash
of postwar brick and clay-tile
houses that owe everythingto
the worst of English suburbiaand
nothingto the might of the South
Pacific Ocean.
Contemporary architects are
gradually makinginroads with
more climatically responsive
houses that are replacingthe
tacky brick boxes. London-based
Walters & Cohen has replaced
one such bungalow on the very
edge of the sandstone cliffs to the
north with ahouse made up of a
pair of pavilions in white render
and glass that clingvertiginously
80mabove the surf. Por ous
Sydney sandstone does not
readily last as an exposedbuildingmaterial in such a
weather-beaten location but
geo-technical surveys indicate
that it provides asolid footingt o
the concrete structure – along
this section of the cliffs at least.
A walled entrance court
deliberately conceals the
spectacular views, which are
only revealed to the casual
visitor after reachingthe
L-shaped first-floor livingarea
wrapped on two sides with
glazing. Views outwards allow
whale watching, views
downwards can reveal shoals of
fish 80mbelow, and those
upwards give advance warning
of any approachingelectrical
storms that can buffet the house.
In an exercise in deferred
gratification, you enter through
asolid timber door set in ablade
of masonry some 7.5mhigh and
flanked by equally tall etched
glass panels 250mmwide. Thedouble-height hall beyond is an
atriumbetween seaward and
landward pavilions of the
building. Its wedge shape
culminates in a deep internal
lightwell fronted by a4.5mx
2.5mframeless glass panel.
Uplights are set into the
polished concrete floors to
avoid the need for lights within
the soffit high above; none of
the first floor’s ceilings are
interrupted by light fixings.
A flight of timber treads is
cantilevered off the wall,
supported by an internal edge
beamof welded steel angles,
some of which return vertically
to formthe framework for the
glass balustrade. Upstairs, the
panoramaawaits.
Concealed at entrance level
on the seaward side is a suite of
rooms with ocean views, two
bedrooms and awoodwor king
Living on the edgeWalter & Cohen’s house: a threshold between suburbia and the South Pacific.
180m above the South Pacific …2… surrounded by Sydney’ssuburban brick boxes…3… Walters & Cohen’snew houseisenter ed through a walledcourtyard.4Once inside, breathtakingviewsare revealed from within theclerestoried livingroom …5… and acrossthe rooftop pool.
a r
h o u s e
HOUSE, S YDNEY ,
AUSTRALIA
A RCHITECT
WALTERS & COHEN
1
4
52 3
[email protected] 26 -
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studio for the client. Steel-
framed sliding doors and
windows allow uninterrupted
views, even from the bathrooms
that have bluestone-clad (from
neighbouring Victoria) baths
pushed against the glass. Handlesare everywhere minimized or
absent. Full-height doors at this
level pivot shut to 10mm-wide
aluminium returns set in the wall.
This minimal detailing prescribed
by Walters & Cohen and a
neatnik client has been clarified
and executed throughout by
local practice Collins and Turner
(both former Foster and Partners
employees).
All the timber used, including
the matchstick screens of the
garage and the double-height
oriel above, is recycled jarrah –
a tough Australian hardwood
– some of it sourced from an
old wharf from the port of
Fremantle in Western Australia.
The oriel serves another
double-height space on the
landward side reached from a
half-landing and incorporating
a mezzanine bedspace – itself accessed by a beautifully built
formed-concrete staircase.
A small square window gives
glimpses back west across
the peninsula and Sydney
Harbour to the distant Central
Business District.
This room, like the whole of
the upper floor in both pavilions,
is surmounted by a clerestory set
above two steel channels back-
to-back to conceal perimeter
lighting. The steels act as a ring-
beam for each pavilion and steel
uprights carry the steel roof with
its deep-shading eaves.An air-
conditioning zone has been
created between the floors but
the combination of under-floor
heating for the winter months
and the cooling breezes pushing
over the lip of the cliff suggests
that mechanical climate control
will not be necessary.Although some blinds may
need to be installed against
strong morning light, the rest of
the cantilevered upper floor,
kitchen, living, dining, study and
TV areas, make the most of the
uninterrupted gull’s back views.
Most of the glass doors open,
with only a glass cliff-edge
balustrade (on a curve with a
setting-out point some 200m out
to sea) between you and the
drop, but opposite the dining
area incorporation of structure
into a masonry panel creates a
framed view. This living area is
backed by a waist-high insertion
of jarrah shelves and cupboards
that runs 7m from the return of
the staircase balustrade, then
folds around the study zone and
makes a backdrop to a sunken
TV area. Here the glazing forms
a frameless box reflecting thesea and the cliffs by day and the
moon by night. The nose of this
box, seen from the entrance
courtyard, is a subtle indicator
of the axis of splendour to come
ROBERT BEVAN
Architect
Walters & Cohen
Executive architectCollins and Turner
Landscape architect
Barbara Schaffer
Engineer
Murtagh Bond
Photographs
Richard Glover
HOUSE, S YDNEY , AUSTRALIA
A RCHITECT
WALTERS& COHEN
6Master bedroom suite.
6
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60|1 G L O
R I O U S
M U D
B u i l d i n g w i t h m u d i s o n
e o f t h e o l d e s t a r c h i t e c t u r a l t r a d i t i o n s a n d i s s t i l l p r a c t i s e d w i t h r e m a r k a b l e r e s u l t s i n p a r t s o f W
e s t A f r i c a , t h o u g h t h e r e a r e f e a r s t h a t
s u c h s k i l l s w i l l e v e n t u a l l y b e l o s t f o r e v e r . H e r e , J a m e s M o r r i s p r e s e n t s a
p h o t o g r a p h i c s u r v e y o f s o m e a s t o n i s h i n g e x a m p l e s o f r e l i g i o u s a n d d o m e s t i c b u i l d i n g s .
Above: Friday Mosque, Djenné, Mali – biggest mud buildingin the world and definingimage of WestAfrican architecture. Foundationsare more than 500 yearsold, though buildinghasoften been r ebuilt.Right: mosque, Yebe, Mali. Stick-studded mosquesof Niger delta region define the unique aesthetic of Western Sudan. Though wooden postshave practical functions– asscaffold for re-rendering, structuralsupport, and assistingin expellingmoisture from heart of the wall – the most strikingimpact is visual.
place
[email protected] 28 -
Too often,whenpeoplein theWestthinkof
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62|1
Top: N ando Mosque, Mali. Supposedly built by a giantin one night, thishighly sculptural mosque is a uniquestructure that borders the magical and fantastical.Middle: women’squarters, Tangasoko, Burkina Faso.Among the Kassena people, each married woman hasher own quarters in the family compound. Built bymen and decorated by women, they contain livingroom and adjoiningkitchen. On her death they areallowed to disintegrate, the land and crumbled earthto be reused by a future generation.Bottom: house of the chief of Djenné, Mali. Moroccaninfluenced wooden windowsare a recent development.Right: Hogon House, Sanga, Mali. The most distinc tarchitectural form of the Dogon people, the HogonHouse isthe home of the traditional spiritual leader.
Too often, when people in the West think of
traditional A frican architecture, they perceive
nothing morethan a mud hut; a primitivever-
nacular half remembered froma Tarzan film.
But why this ignorance of half a continent’s
heritage? Possibly because the great dynastic
civilizations of the region were already in
decline when European colonizers first
exposed these cultures to a wider audience.
Being made of perishable mud, many older
buildingshave been lost, unlike the stone or
brick structuresof other ancient cultures. Or
possibly thislack of awarenessisbecause the
buildings are just too strange, too foreign to
have been easily appreciated by outsiders.
Often they are more like huge monolithic
sculpturesor ceramic potsthan architectureaswemight conventionally think of it. But the
surviving buildingsareneither historic monu-
mentsin theclassic sense, nor arethey ascul-
turally remote as they may initially appear.
They sharemany of thequalitiesnow valued
in Western architectural thinking such assus-
tainability, sculptural form and community
participation in their conception and making.
Though part of long held traditions and
ancient cultures, they are also contemporary
structures, serving a current purpose. If they
lost their relevance and were neglected, they
would collapse. In the West, mud is effec-
tively regarded asdirt, yet in rural Africa (as
in so much of the world) it is the most com-
mon of building materialswith which every-
body has direct contact. Maintaining and
resurfacing of buildingsispart of the rhythm
of life, and there is an ongoing and active
participation in their continuing existence. Thisisnot a museum culture.
Superbly formed and highly expressive,
these extraordinary buildings emerge from
the most basic of materials, earth and water,
and in the harshest of conditions. They are
vibrant works of art with their own distinct
and striking aesthetic, skilfully responding to
the qualities of African light and the inher-
ent propertiesof mud to emphasize shadow,
texture, silhouette, profile and form. During
the course of a year the mud render dries,
the surface is covered in a web of cracksand
then it slowly starts to peel off before being
re-rendered. With each re-rendering, the
shape of a building is subtly altered, so
[email protected] 29 -
change and movement are ever present. The
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64|1
g p
material is tactile, warm and vulnerable,
demanding and receiving an engaged rela-
tionship with i tsusers. Often people attempt
to cement render the buildings, but not only
doesthisdestroy them physically, asthey rot
from within, but i t also destroys their char-
acter. Their uniquenessis their muddiness.
The future of these buildings is hard to
predict. M ud is such a vulnerable material
and there is an enthusiasm for building in
concrete. Given the means, many would tear
down their mud houses and build cement
block and tin roofed replacements, common
practice in those countriesthat can afford to
do so. So what will happen when rural
Africans are lifted out of their desperatepoverty? Will there be an understandable
rush to rid themselves of the physical mani-
festations of that harrowing past? It can
already be seen in wealthier countries such
as Ghana and Nigeria where there is virtu-
ally nothing left for future generations to
repair and preserve. Not only the buildings
have gone but also the skillsto build them.
It is a gradual process of extinction.
Already the extraordinary upturned jelly
mould houses of the Mousgoum people of
Cameroon are gone, soon those of the
K assena and Gurensi in Ghana will disap-
pear. The Sakho housesof the Boso in Mali
are all abandoned and in ruins. I t is quite
possible that when west Africa emergesfrom
below the poverty line there will be little of
its built heritage remaining to be appreci-
ated. The saving grace is probably Islam,
ever expanding and building more mosques,but even then only in rural parts. I n cities,
the mosquesfunded by Wahabi Saudi funds
are atrocious concrete imitations of a bas-
tardized Middle Eastern style.
In the sparsely populated Sahal plains of
the Western Sudan, traditional buil t forms
in mud are the most striking representations
of human creativity and a unique part of our
world culture – they should not be forgotten.
JAMES MORRIS
Thesephotographsaretaken fromButabu – adobe architecture of West
Africa , JamesMorrisand SuzannePreston Blier, New York,
Princeton Architectural Press, 2003.
Top: house, Djenné, Mali. Mud rendered wallshave tobe resurfaced regularly. As the mud driesit cracks,
forminga delicate textured surface. The gentlymoulded structure behind the wall isa coveredstaircase opening onto the flat roof. The shape willsubtly alter each time it is re-rendered.Bottom: house, Djenné, Mali. The blank facade withtiny openingsfor windowsis a traditional style for theDjenné house. Domestic activity isconcentrated inthe open courtyard to the rear.Right: Sanam Mosque, Niger , designed in 1998 byAbou Moussa who travelled hundredsof miles from
Yaamaa to thisinaccessible region in the north of thecountry. It wasbuilt in 45 daysby the whole villageand appearsto be the largest and most strikingrecentmud buildingin Niger. [email protected]
- 30 -
reviews
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94 | 9
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SET PIECES
JEAN PROUVÉ COMPL ETE WORKSVOLUME 3: 1944-1954By Peter Sulze r. Basel: Birkhäuser. 2005.€118
JEAN PROUVÉ HIGH LIGHTS 1917-44By Peter Sulze r. Basel: Birkhäuser. 2002.€48
Peter Sulzer designed prefabricated concrete
systems before becoming professor for
construction at Stuttgart then starting a third
career in participation (ARs June 1985, March
1987). His decades’ long study of Jean Prouvé,based on profound admiration for the French
pioneer, reflects his process-led attitude. I
reported earlier on the first two Prouvé volumes
(ARs May 1997, Nov 2000): now we have the
third, and a shorter compilation Highlights .
Not until you attempt to study an architect’s
work in detail do you realise how little is
published, how few drawings reproduced even in
large monographs, how few people have actually
seen the archives. In popular sources the same
drawings tend to appear, and general histories
necessarily depend on secondary sources, taking
for granted earlier interpretations. Two areas
of study suffer particularly: design development
where there may be several versions, and
technical detail where understanding involves
many complex drawings. For Prouvé both are
important, for this blacksmith-entrepreneur
turned engineer-architect was a great innovator
who explored newly developing techniques. Hischeap prefabricated houses look unremarkable
in exterior photos, but the story develops as you
trace how they were made through a gradual
progression of prototypes.
Volume 3, covering 1944-54, with some
of the most interesting and elegant buildings,
runs to 385 pages and is packed with visuals.
Presentation is rather archive like: numbered
drawings and photos, detailed histories of
projects, letters and interviews, even patent
documents. Sulzer compiles and describes
with great thoroughness, but does not attempt
a new master narrative, though many implicit
sub-plots emerge. We see what it means when
the designer is the maker who also handles
the materials. We see the specialist technician
contributing to works of others, such as Le
Corbusier’s Unité d’Habitation. We see the
mistake of the generous patron who initiated
paid holidays and awarded himself a meagre
salary, when he let the business grow too far, so
that the profit-minded took over only to reduce
quality to eject him.
This is a timely book, for prefabrication is
again on the agenda and being reinvented,
sometimes in a state of amnesia. It will also
inform the continuing debate on the effects
of the machine and the transformation or loss
of craft. The multi-volume set is less a quick
read than for dipping and the shelf, as advice to
be pondered over, especially by architects and
furniture designers considering details. The
Highlights in contrast is a lively taster.
PETER BLUNDELL JONES
VOICES OF EXPERIENCE
THE AFTERLIFE OF GARDENSBy John Dixon Hunt. London: Reaktion Books.
2005. £25
Are designed gardens and landscapes
experienced by the visitor as the designer
intended? What is the difference between
his/her intent and the ‘received’ experience
and does it matter? Why does the designer’s
view t end to prevail in narratives of gardens?
What culturally determines the design and how
different would the perception of a visitor from
a different culture or time be (each visitor’s
experience constitutes an ‘afterlife’ of the
garden)? In this dense academic book, garden
historian John Dixon Hunt develops his theory
of ‘recept ion’ through literary analogy, although
literary theory is obviously more limiting than
the ‘reading’ of a landscape – which involves
existential experiences involving all the senses
– demands. He hypothesises on the above
questions through lengthy, intricate analyses
of ancient historic treatises and assorted
writings on gardens.
Mutability reigns throughout. From the
visitor’s viewpoint, after all, there is no one fixed
experience. To each ‘afterlife’ each individual
brings his/her own time, culture, and personal
history, and each period brings its own design
fashion and viewpoint. For instance, Versailles
is used and ‘received’ differently today than it
would be in its own period.
These illustrated essays, in some ways
reminiscent of those of J. B. Jackson, presenta probing wide-ranging discourse about the
experiential components of gardens. Embracing
the present and the past, extant historical
gardens and those of more contemporary
pivotal designers (such as Lawrence Halprin,
Ian Hamilton Finlay, Paolo Burgi and Bernard
Lassus) become part of the conversation.
Themes debated include cultural triggers,
distinctiveness of place, symbolism, drama,
imagination and construction of meaning,
the word and the visual in the landscape,
and movement – both from the viewpoint of
the walker and the moving freeway vehicle.
Imaginative and innovative contemporary
designers’ new approaches, including issues of
time, ecology and historical conservation are
particularly noteworthy. ELSA LEVISEUR
COMPREHENSIVE COVERAGE
SKINS FOR BUILDINGS. THEARCHITECT’S MATERIALSSAMPLE BOOKEdited by Piet Vollaard, Els Zijlstra. Amsterdam:
BIS Publishers. 2004. €145
Responding to the growth of interest in materials
as a prime site of invention in architecture,
this book offers the most comprehensive
introduction I have yet seen to the vast range of
natural and man-made materials now availablefor use as building skins. No such account could
ever be exhaustive – the varieties of woo d and
its derivatives could fill a volume approaching
this size – but the book’s more than 500 pages
are impressive in scope, approach and, thanks
to commercial sponsorship, value.
The materials are organised by type. These
are introduced by a short text about their
history, uses, environmental qualities, and so on,
and then each example is allocated a double-
page spread, featuring a full-page close-up
illustration on the right, and a discussion of the
material and its applications on the left. A
short table documents key properties – colour,
glossiness, translucence, texture, hardness,
temperature, odour and acoustic opacity
– and the treat ment is notable for addressing
sensory as well as technical aspects. Each
spread is illustrated with one to three built
examples of the material in use, and themajority of the chosen buildings are both
conspicuously contemporary and, unlike most
current trade brochures, of consistently high
architectural quality.
Around eight hundred buildings must be
illustrated, the overwhelming majority from
northern Europe. In part, no doubt, this reflects
the knowledge of the Dutch authors, but it is
salutary to reflect on the fact that although the
book is published only in English, a mere dozen
or so of the examples are British, and even
fewer from the US. The range and commitment
to innovation evident in the Netherlands alone
could certainly not be matched here.
This book can be wholeheartedly
recommended as a reference for practitioners
and school of architecture libraries. But I
cannot help worrying that, despite the welcome
discussion of tactile and other sensual qualities,
its dominant message is of materials as visual
‘surface treatment’, and that as such it risks
becoming yet another contribution to the
reduction of architecture to a form of exterior
design, to the contrivance of visual effects, not
the shaping of habitable space.
RICHARD WESTON
TEACHING BY EXAMPLE
MODERN: THE MODERN MOVEMENTIN BRITAINBy Alan Powers. London: Merrell. 2005. £35
A picture in A lan Powers’ Modern : the Modern
Movement in Britain captivates the ambiguitiesof the 1930s. Flank ing the great Corbu are
haughty Serge Chermayeff, raffish Wells
Coates, jeune premier Jim Richards, the Hon
God(frey Samuel), and Max Fry who had not
yet quite mastered the Corbusian hand-jive.
Photographed at the opening of the legendary
MARS Group exhibition of 1938, it makes a
Modernist iconostasis. We could unpick the
implied theology of the Modern Movement
in Britain, as Powers struggles manfully to do,
or we could just see a bunch of stiff-shirted
poseurs, not quite sure whether they gain more
glamour from their proximity to Le Corbusier
or association with social action suggested by
the diagram behind. On reflection we should
not be surprised that the decade’s most famous
structure is a pool for parading penguins.
That ambiguity between glamour and
social action is one of Modernism’s central
dilemmas, in some ways as strong now as
it was in the 1930s. Powers’ raising of it is,
I fear, inadvertent as the thrust of his text is
descriptive. His knowledge of the field is wide
and it has the virtue of recognising what were
once considered backwaters, such as Oliver
Hill and Goodhart-Rendel alongside the
acknowledged masters, but it is the selection
of examples that creates th
opportunities for personal ex
are presented from a descrip
analytical viewpoint. This fo
led introduction followed by
illustrated examples, follows
one of the 1930s’ finest books
F. R. S. Yorke’s The Modern Hby Elisabeth Benjamin, Dora C
Justin Blanc o White take their
Highpoint and Isokon and a
cinema specialist Harry We
resurrects examples by almost f
like Rudolf Frankel and Fritz R
factories for continental compa
by the Swiss master Rudolf
Bata by the Czech Vladimir K
Like Yorke, Powers presen
attractively though far from c
and just as the Modern Hou
Modernism went further tha
and Gropius, he adds real e
realisation that the Pevsnerite
screens concealed a richer, dee
Modernist culture in Britain du
But beyond presenting that evid
though far from comprehens
only offers a starting point for
further analysis. JEREMY MEL
Mexican Embassy,Berlin, by Teodoro González de León,completed in 2000, from his eponymous Complete Works
edited by Miquel Adrià,Mexico City:Arquine + RM, 2004,£55. Known for an architecture that draws inspiration
in equal parts from the tenets of Modernism and the monuments and mystique of Mexico’s pre-Columbian
history,González de León’s oeuvre spans over half a century.In t his hefty,well produced tome with dual English /
Spanish text and an introduction by William Curtis, his career is diligently tracked from modest early houses in
the ’40s and ’50s,to more recent projects such as the British Museum’s Mexican Galleries (AR January 1995).
Book reviews from The Archite
can now be seen on our websit
www.arplus.com and the book
ordered online, many at specia
[email protected] 31 -
CEMETERY , BELZEC, POLAND
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The Belzec Cemetery continues a
powerful tradition of monuments
that literally build upon the horror
of past events. Instead of shying
away fromthe scale of the atrocity
– be it akillingfield, abattlefield,
the site of amassacre or in this
case the site of aformer N azi death
camp – such monuments reuse
often vast areas of land in anattempt to freeze history, cast in
stone the scale of lost life, and to
make somethingstrangely beautiful
and movingfromsomethingthat
derives fromabsolute evil.
Hauntingand mysterious, such
places use abstract expressionism
to capture negative energy and
transformit into somethingwith
new life. Avoidingconventional,
religious or morbid symbolism,
sculptors, fine artists, poets and
architects trace lines of meaning
within the landscape to plot their
story through space.
Here in 1942, at Belzec, south
west of Tomaszów Lubelski, a
former Nazi work camp was
turned into asix-hectare deathcamp. Almost unfathomably, during
the 9-month period that year from
March to December, over 600 000
people were murdered; Jews from
the south Polish ghettos, Bohemia
and Germany together with Poles
accused of aidingthe Jews were
amongthe victims. Only two
people ever escaped.
Followinga design
1997, sculptors An
Zdzislaw Pidek and
Roszczyk set abou
the six-hectare site
with architects fro
developed compe
scheme comprised
the monument, am
and an exhibition. The dominant fo
monument occupi
large rectangular s
an oblique crevice
dissects the monum
ground. The path c
gently risingsurfac
cemetery, ablack a
within which mass
A RCHITECT
DDJM
1The cemetery museum buildingsitsdiscretely behind the boundary wall.2Entering through the boundary wallthe axial viewisframed through theburial field toward the memorial wall.3The inlaid cast-iron relief, the Square,markst he entrance of the burial field.
ASHES TO ASHESArtists and architects collaborate to create a powerful, sobering memor
1 3
2
[email protected] 32 -
4Crevice leadingto memorial wall.5
7
8 8
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marked as ghost-like territories
with subtly differentiated grades of
material (blast furnace slagmixed
with cinders and barren soil).
Defined at one end by the Square, a
cast-iron relief set flush in the
ground which marks the entrance
to the burial ground, the path
terminates in amonumental light-
hued granite wall; aspatial
sequence that engulfs visitors as
they approach the wall, cutting
through the burial field that rises to
adwarfing9mheight. Walking
between concrete walls, cast
against rough earth as shuttering
and topped with bucklingsteel
reinforcement bars, visitors
disappear into the unknown in a
symbolic journey that recalls the
death of the thousands who were
lost without trace. Passing
thresholds that draw lines between
life and death, most are reduced to
silence before beingconfronted by
the imposinggranite screen wall. A
structure that in its relief recalls
the blood spilt and the familiar
patinaof bullet-peppered walls.
Standingopposite this wall,
polished concrete niches are
covered with the names of victims.
Names also frame the burial field as
alow wall forms ahorizontal stone
frieze that chronologically lists
Jewish communes recallingthe
sequence of transports.
With these powerful layers of
meaningset within amuted yet
dramatic reconstructed landscape,
you could very easily miss the
cemetery’s museumbuilding. Set in
alow-lying2mhigh structure that
forms part of the southernmost
boundary wall, the unadorned
bunker-l ike structure cuts into the
ground to contain, amongaseries
of more conventional exhibition
spaces, an empty and haunting
reinforced-concrete Void-Hall; a
space which resonates with the
isolation, pain and ultimate death of
millions of lost souls; and more
specifically the hundreds of
thousands of people who died on
this very site. ROB GREGORY
Artists
Andrzej Solyga, Zdzislaw Pidek,
MarcinRoszczyk
Architect
DDJM Biuro Architektoniczne:Marek
Dunikowski, Piotr Czerwinski, Piotr Uherek
Photographs
WojciechK rynski56|1
site plan (scale approx 1:2000)
north/south section through burial field
plan of museum
section through museum building
CEMETERY , BELZEC,
POLAND
A RCHITECT
DDJM
1 entrance
2 ramp
3 museum building
4 the Square
5 burialground
6 crevice7 stonewall
8 niche
5Niche opposite memorial wallengraved with namesof individualskilled.
4
5
5
6
5
4
1
2 32 3
[email protected] 33 -
1
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70 | 10| 1
Ever since John Winter
audaciously clad his seminal
Highgate house in a skin of
weathering steel back in 1969,
Cor-ten’s quasi industrial aestheticof shipyard and factory floor
has become globally ubiquitous.
According to Neil Jackson, in his
entertaining study of the genre in
The Modern Steel House, it took
seven years for Winter’s little
building to slowly acquire the
coveted purplish-brown patina
of worn-out boiler plating. Now
pre-weathered Cor-ten clads
the world, from police stations
and parking lots to OMA’s Las
Vegas Guggenheim (June 2002).
Yet it never quite loses its quality
of otherness, as demonstrated
by its use in this recent Brusselsapartment block. Here the
‘instant’ patina of age and distress
still provides a bracing shock
of the new and unusual amid
wedding cake historicism.
The building lies in Schaerbeek,
to the north-east of Brussels city
centre, a district populated by
many Turkish immigrant families.
It occupies a compact, chunky
wedge that turns a corner
between Avenue de la Reine and
Place Liedts. Cars and trams surge
past the prow-like site which
is anchored between a couple
of existing muscular apartmentblocks. To the spirit, if not the
letter, architect Mario Garzaniti
follows the familiar template of
the continental walk-up tenement,
though the proportions and
internal arrangements are more
generous and imaginative than
might normally be expected. Two
duplex apartments are stacked
above a shop at ground level,
the floors linked by a narrow
HOUSING, BRUSSELS, BELGIUM
ARCHITECT
MARIO GARZANITI
THE JOY
OF RUSTClad in a coarse carapace of
rusted steel, this housing block
is a startling urban presence.
2
3 [email protected] 34 -
communal staircase inserted into
an intermediate slot between
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72 | 10| 1
the new and old buildings.
Despite being logements sociaux ,
the duplexes are quite inventive
spatially, making the most of the
awkward, wedge-shaped plot. The
top floor flat even has a modish
sleeping loft overlooking the living
space below.
But the most striking aspect
of the project is the rusting
metal carapace that envelops the
building in a coarse caress, as if
the hull of an ageing supertanker
had somehow careered into
the block. Yet the monolithic
appearance is slightly deceptive;
the Cor-ten panels are only a thin
outer skin (a mere 4mm thick)
riveted to stainless-steel omega
profiles attached to the concrete
walls. Flexible bands prevent the
risk of galvanic coupling (where
one type of metal encourages
the rapid corrosion of another)
that can occur when Cor-ten and
stainless steel come into contact.
Slight disparities in the
ochre tones of the panels add
a sense of patchwork variety
and animation to the overall
composition. Cor-ten shutters
are incorporated into the facade,
filtering light through vertical
slits in the manner of a modern
mashrabiya. When closed, theshutters lie flush with the panels,
giving the block an unsettlingly
seamless, hermetic quality.
Clearly this is a building that
thrives on contrast (modern Cor-
ten and traditional wedding cake)
enhanced by the jolting surprise
of seeing so visually and culturally
challenging a material employed
on such an ambitious scale. Yet it
is more than just a skin, attested
by the generous proportions of
the apartments and the way in
which light animates the interiors.
The gritty boiler plating conceals
a sensitive soul. C. S.
Architect
Mario Garzaniti,Liege
Photographs
Alain Janssens
HOUSING, BRUSSELS, BELGIUM
ARCHITECT
MARIO GARZANITI
5Facade detail.6Light filters through theperforated shutters.7Duplex apartments are quitegenerously proportioned.8Sleeping loft.
5
87
6
1
cross section looking north-eastcross section looking north-west
fourth floor second floor ground floor plan (scale approx 1:200)
third floor first floor site plan
1 street entrance 2 communal staircase 3 shop 4 flat entrance 5 living 6 dining 7 kitchen 8 internal staircase 9 bedroom 10 sleeping loft
5
2
4
7
6
8
3
9
9
5
4
7
6
8
10
[email protected] 35 -
MUSEUMOF NATURAL
HISTORY , MATSUNOYAMA,
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The Niigata Prefecture is to the east of Japan’s bigisla
runs fromthe sea to the high central backbone of the mountains, up to five and a half metres of winter snow
literally submergingbuildings and the even youngtree
magnificent, scented evergreen forests. To allow the p
interpret and investigate the natural world, the Matsu
Natural History Museumhas been set up on the edge
overlookingmountains and meadow.
Takaharu & Yui Tezukahave made abuildingthat wri
east-west through the landscape in abrown, almost sm
steel skin. Entered fromthe south, the snake encloses a
gallery showingnatural and artificial worlds, areceptio
administration, alecture theatre and, as the snake’s hea
fromeast to west, aposh cafeteriacalled ‘the culinary a
A rusted steel observation tower terminates the tail to
climbed by energetic visitors to obtain magnificent view
to the mountains. At key moments in the plan, notably w
changes direction, great transparent panels are inserted
offeringmarvellous views into the forests surroundingt
mullionless transparent expanses are so big that they ca
be called windows; they are almost invisible thresholds
interior and the outside. They reinforce a feelingof heig
enhanced by the strange perspective tricks of the rout
SNOW BOUNDIn the high backbone of Japan, rusted steel super-strong skin resists winter loads and thermal stresses.
site plan
1, 2Like a deserted industrial site or astrange animal, the museum snakesthrough itsclearingbetween forestand rice field.
NIIGATA, JAPAN
A RCHITECT
TEZUKA ARCHITECTS
1
2
[email protected] 36 -
3Tadashi Kawamata’spathsand deck relate interior and nature …4
c
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42|8
MUSEUMOF NATURAL
HISTORY , MATSUNOYAMA,
NIIGATA, JAPAN
A RCHITECT
TEZUKA ARCHITECTS
1 entranceporch
2 h al l
3 reception
4 exhibition
5 special(butterfly) gallery
6 office
7 lavatories
8 laboratory
9 store
10 Kyororo hall
11 culinaryarts
12 stair to officesandstaffrest
foot detail
eavesdetail
section showingprinciplesof heatingand ventilation
ground floor (scale approx 1:450)
... asdo the huge thick acrylic panels.
20
80
30
ÇPÇeÇkÅÅÇfÇkÅ{ÇVÇTÇO
206
320
4 0
75
125
a 75mm acrylicsheet
b plasterboard
c siteweldedC or-tensteelbacked
by70mm urethanefoam
d precast concretewithdust-proofpaint
e galvanizedgrating
3
4
a
a
c
d e d
b
b
4
5
1
2
3
6
712 89
10
11
[email protected] 37 -
MUSEUMOF NATURAL
HISTORY , MATSUNOYAMA,
NIIGATA JAPAN
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44|8
Architect
TezukaArchitects:
Takaharu Tezuka+Yui Tezuka
Associate architect
Masahiro Ikeda/MIAS
Project team
Takaharu Tezuka, Yui Tezuka, Miyoko Fujita,
Masafumi Harada, Masahiro Ikeda,
RyuyaMaio, Mayumi Miura, Taro Suwa,
Takahiro Nakano, Toshio Nishi,
Hirofumi Ono, Tomohiro Sato,
Makoto Takei, Hiroshi Tomikawa
Mechanical engineer
Eiji Sato, KisakatsuHemmi/ESA ssociates
Landscape
ShunsukeHir ose/Fudo Keisei Ji musho
Photographs
KatsuhisaKi da
5Special collection.6Museum isintended to interpretlocal ecology.7Snow buildingup.8, 9Cranked plan causesperspectivalillusionsof explodingand shrinkingspace.
In winter, the temperature difference between inside and exterior is
often very great. And pressure fromdeep snow can be extraordinary
(dependingon the nature of the snow, how it fell, and how longit has
settled and so on). So the ‘thermally stable’ plates of rusted steel that
form the outer skin are 6mmthick, and are supported on a skeleton
of steel I beams. Skin and skeleton are designed to withstand
pressures of 1500kg/m2; the equally pressure resistant acrylic panels
are 75mmthick. All steel elements are thoroughly insulated. Inside,
there is a skin of plasterboard supported by a lightweight inner steel
skeleton. This white skin is separated from the main structure by a
generous cavity that acts as part of the ventilation and heatingsystem.
Warmair is injected alonggrilles in the polished concrete floors and
stale air is extracted through slots in the plasterboard at eaves level.
Heat is radiated to the interior through floor, walls and ceiling. In
summer, the systemcan be used to circulate coolingfresh air.
In winter, the museumprojects through the snow with its tapering
tower actingas a landmark and sign of civilization; it groans with
snow stresses. People look out into the surrounding banks of snow in
which a surprisingamount of life flour ishes below the surface. In
summer, the long brown snake slips alongthe contours of its semi-
wild habitat, which is enhanced and intensified by timber paths and a
deck by Tadashi Kawamata. Fromsome points of view, the museum
seems like a picturesque long-abandoned industrial building, a mine
perhaps, in the middle of the countryside. Other aspects in different
seasons reveal a cave, a shelter amid the snow, a lighthouse, a
welcominghut in the forest. And of course always an animal: snake or
even fox. The museum’s complexity of possible readings and spatialevents enhance those of the natural world it sets out to interpret.
VERONICA PEASE
NIIGATA, JAPAN
A RCHITECT
TEZUKA ARCHITECTS
5
6
7
8
9
[email protected] 38 -
In a quiet backwater of fields and
woods on the island of Hirvensalo
in the south-west of Finland St
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66 | 10| 1
in the south west of Finland, St
Henry’s Ecumenical Art Chapel
grows from its site – a hillock
surrounded by pines and spruces
– embracing context and the
natural environment.
The chapel is not immediately
apparent on approach: following
the bend of the road you are
suddenly confronted by the
elegant copper-clad church,
its volume contrasting with
its surroundings. It has the
appearance of an upturned
ship’s hull. The design vocabulary
juxtaposes copper and wood, lightand shade. The chapel was finished
earlier this year so the copper is
new; eventually its green patina
will help the church blend with the
surrounding pine trees.
St Henry’s is approached head
on, up a gentle dogleg pedestrian
ramp to the small foyer lit by
natural light at the western
entrance. You proceed from here
through a passageway to the
church proper, from darkness to
light; at the far eastern end two
side windows the height of the
chapel throw light down onto the
altar, breathtaking on a sunny day.
The architect describes the main
hall as the stomach of the fish,
the fish being a symbol of earlyChristians (fitting as the church is
ecumenical).
Gallery and chapel are one
volume, with the gallery at the
back, and the chapel proper in the
front, with the altar terminating
the axis. The benches are removed
for art exhibitions and you can
view the art while religious
ceremonies are being conducted.
The whole interior, bar the
glazing around the altar, is of
wood, the warm smell of which
permeates the space. Seating is
simple angular backless benches
made of solid, edge-laminated
common alder; but this elegant,
pared down minimalism could
prove inhospitable during long
church services. The chapel’sloadbearing structure consists of
tapering ribs of laminated pine
ST HENRY’S ECUMENICAL ART
CHAPEL, TURKU, FINLAND
ARCHITECT
SANAKSENAHO ARCHITECTS
1The wide windows at thefront of the chapel light upthe altar.The copper cladding will take on a green pati nain time.
This chapel in Turku draws on a long tradition
of remarkable Finnish churches in which religion,
nature and light come together.
DIVINE LIGHT
[email protected] 39 -
two metres apart. Between these
ribs is a curved interior lining
of 100mm wide, untreated pine
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68 | 10| 1
, p
boarding. At the moment this is
very light, but with time the tone
will deepen to a reddish hue. The
pine ribs are lit by spotlights.
The floorboards are 200mm
wide, 50mm thick pine planks
and run parallel to the axis of
the space. These have been
waxed to create a clicking sound
when walked on, reminiscent of
the floors of old churches. The
patinated altar is the last public
work by academician and sculptor
Kain Tapper. In the altar window
an artwork by Hannu Konolafilters light onto the altar wall.
Matti Senaksenaho continues
the distinguished legacy of the
Finnish church architecture of
Engel, Aalto, Sonck, Bryggman and
more recently of Juha Leiviskä in
his luminous churches in Myrrmäki
and in Männistö (ARs June 1987
and June 1994). JULIA DAWSON
Architect
Sanaksenaho Architects,Helsinki
Project architect
Matti Sanaksenaho
Photographs
Jussi Tiainen
2The chapel,ri sing from its hillock,is reminiscent of an upturnedhull,or,more prosaically,anupright iron.3Looking towards the simple altar,illuminated by natural light fromside windows.
cross section long section
plan
2
3
ST HENRY’S ECUMENICAL ART
CHAPEL, TURKU, FINLAND
ARCHITECT
SANAKSENAHO ARCHITECTS
[email protected] 40 -
The Machine Age was the golden age of metals. Constituting both
the means and end to production, machine tools and the goods they
produced during the past 150 years fundamentally changed the way we
Perhaps most provocative in the rich ambivalence be
materiality and thin abstraction – perhaps even surface
OMA’s recent work with metals. On the one hand is their
e n t
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44 | 10| 1
live. Consumer society, for better or worse, was nourished on a diet of
metal products ranging from fridges to Fords. In architecture, the steel
frame and the enormous tensile capability of steel spawned both high-
rise and long-span structures that radically transformed the scale and
character of the built environment. The concept of doing more with
less emphatically combined aesthetic ideas and industrial efficiency –
themes made manifest, perhaps symbolically, in the structures produced
in Britain that celebrated the new millennium.
However, the concept of lightness is changing. As Italo Calvino
observes, ‘The second industrial revolution, unlike the first, does not
present us with such crushing images as rolling mills and molten steel,
but with “bits” in a flow of information travelling along circuits in the
form of electronic impulses. The iron machines still exist, but they
obey the orders of weightless bits.’1 As in all areas of our lives, the
processes of design, fabrication and assembly of metal structures andcladding are being dramatically altered by these weightless bits. Gehry’s
Bilbao Guggenheim (AR December 1997) fired the public imagination
of an architecture for the future. However, even though its design
and fabrication were made possible by software, the rationale of its
construction belonged to the old world of standard rolled steel sections
and modular cladding systems. The Experience Music Project (EMP)
(AR October 2000), completed just three years later, albeit superficially
like Bilbao, was built using very different processes. It belongs to the
new order of complex bespoke systems in which every structural and
cladding component is unique.
Further evidence of the paradigm shift is provided by Foster’s Swiss
Re (AR November 2003), Toyo Ito’s Sendai Mediathèque (AR October
2001) and OMA’s Seattle Library (AR August 2004) which, like Bilbao,
straddle the boundary between the machine and digital ages, using
standard rolled steel sections in variable structures. While in Swiss Re,
the system that changes incrementally from floor to floor can be readily
perceived and understood, Sendai and Seattle are preoccupied with
creating the appearance of instability and replacing overarching rational
systems with what Cecil Balmond calls ‘improvised connectivity’.2
Liberating cladding
Considering cladding, in addition to the effect of ‘light’ digital design
and fabrication processes, the move from sealed systems to the rainscreen
is having a profoundly liberating influence. Instead of the literal opacity
of sealed systems with their cumbersome folded seams, top hat sections
and gaskets, the open jointed rainscreen with its separate waterproofing
membrane behind provides enormous freedoms for designers, which
they are exploiting to different conceptual and practical ends.
In the hands of Herzog & de Meuron – whose work has transformed
the perception of many materials – metal rainscreens become delicate
perforate veils. The copper bands of their early Signal Box 4 Auf dem
Wolf – which both become three-dimensional and transform from
sealed to perforate through rotation from vertical to horizontal – were
ostensibly designed to function as a Faraday cage as well as a visual
screen. More recently, the expanded aluminium mesh cladding of the
extension to the Walker Art Center (AR January 1989) and the copper
cladding of the De Young Museum (p46) have less to do with technical
performance and more to do with appearance and perception. Both are
carefully judged explorations of the balance between standard panelsizes that conform to the old economy of mass production and complex
surface treatments made feasible by digital production. Although the
bas relief surface patterns of both buildings initially appear random,
each has an underlying system. The Walker’s distinctive wrinkled skin
is created by random rotation of a single pattern created by a good
old-fashioned metal stamping dye, while the De Young’s patterning
– perforated and stamped – oscillates between abstraction and image,
having been derived from a dot screened photograph.
for San Francisco Prada, which – in contrast to both
separation of structure and skin and the current fasci
multilayered rainscreen – developed a perforate and s
steel skin that also worked as a structural diaphragm. In
parts, it was monolithic; instead of repetition, it was a
to have been fabricated by CNC (computer numerical c
jets; in place of the desire for thinness as an index of e
emphatically thick. On the other hand, in the new conc
(AR August 2005), super-thin super-scaled pixellated
dresses as wood grain on the plywood lining of the aud
In the recent work of Morphosis – notably the Caltran
in LA and the Federal Office Building in San Francisco
2005) – the metal wrapper literally takes on a life of
the thin scrim is manipulated three-dimensionally with g
than the watertight volumes it veils. Conceived as a ‘mperforms as a key component of the buildings’ environ
which are designed to reduce energy consumption
sustainability. Thom Mayne notes, ‘In lieu of a conventio
plant, the building actually “wears” the air conditionin
With another agenda, the cast bronze facade of t
American Folk Art (AR February 2002), by Tod Willia
& Associates, uses the same rainscreen principle to c
pitted with craters and fissures – unpredictable imp
the fabrication process that contrast markedly with the
Gehry, the controlled patterning of Herzog & de Meur
to the past, the machined precision of the Seagram Bui
clad icon just a few blocks away. MAFA’s metal clad
perforate, differs in significant ways. With panels ran
16mm in thickness, this bronze skin is neither actually
light. It was not digitally fabricated but instead was cas
foundry, aiming to reinstate the imprint of human craft –
Pye called the ‘workmanship of risk’ – in contemporary
These preoccupations are driven by digital design an
stamping and welding, with weightless bits enabling ma
the appearance of craft, almost without human inter
shop floor. In contrast with the formerly arduous pro
up’, the A. Zahner Company, which has fabricated me
both Gehry and Herzog & de Meuron, is fleet-footed,
through generations of software as they seek to han
more efficiently. As an example, they note that each of t
cladding panels of the EMP required an average of 25
data and a design time of 2.5 hours. On more recent
this has been reduced to 30 megabytes and 15 minutes
always in construction, time has cost implications. With c
aimed at streamlining process, Henry Ford’s principle
labour is being energetically applied, not only on the sho
to the human content of CAD-CAM technologies them
This streamlining has been well suited to an econom
in developed countries that, during the past thirty y
relatively modest increases in metals prices but rapidly
for labour. Suddenly the equation is changing with th
copper and other metals skyrocketing in response to
appetite of China’s developing economy combined
of both war and weather on the price of oil. Will meprovide fertile territory for the exploration of form, pe
perception, or will global economic pressures render th
in architecture a luxury? ANNETTE LECUYER
1 Italo Calvino. Six Memos for the Next Millennium , New York: Vintage Internation2 Cecil Balmond. ‘New Structure and the Informal’, Architectural Design, Sept-Oc3 A Model of Excellence – The New Federal Building , Washington DC: US General S
Administration, p26.4 David Pye. The Nature and Art of Workmanship,Cambridge University Press, 1965 Interview with William Zahner, A. Zahner Company, 2002.
c o m m e
PRECIOUS METALA new era of bespoke systems of structure and cladding is
testing metals and architectural imagination to their limits.
Perforated copper panelsenclose the new De YoungMuseum by Herzog & deMeuron in a delicate veil.Photograph:Dennis Gilbert/VIEW. [email protected]
- 41 -
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The architect’s design statement reads thus: Conceived as an interior
space for self-reflection, Dream House proposes a relationship between an urban tree and an interactive sensitive piece, which transforms the
natural element into an introspective human refuge. The refuge emerges
from the tree as an illuminated chrysalis, establishing a reflection on the
relationship between man and his built and natural environment. The piece
proposes new ways of occupying and imagining space. It suggests makinguse of nature as the main element in creating a dialogue between nature,
human beings and man-made space.
Such words are unlikely to have helped or hindered the Jury’s
decision. There were no details of how or why it was made, or
indeed how you were supposed to get into the space. Any discussion
on how you might naturally be inclined to use the space, if fully
pursued, may have revealed more about the Jury than would have
been appropriate (swinging meaning different things to different
people). Needless to say, however, there is an emerg ing fascination in
such projects. This year a number of tree houses were submitted. Theonly conclusion was that this image drew the Jury’s attention; some
finding it horrific – a torture chamber from where screams would
never be heard – others seeing it as peaceful and tranquil. Like the
structure itself, therefore, the ultimate decision was left hanging in
the balance … R. G.
Architect
ex.studio, Barcelona
Project team
Iván Juárez, Patricia Meneses
Photograph
Iván Juárez
HANGING
ABOUT
Portable refuge, orportable prison? The
decision is yours …
The second of two projects by
Barcelona-based ex.studio was
possibly the most eye-catching
d l f ll th i t d
HONOURABLE MENTION
TAMBABOX, TAMBACOUNDA,
SENEGAL
ARCHITECT
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90 | 3|
and unusual of all the premiated
submissions. This witty, humorous
response to the visual richness of
Senegalese culture elicited a warm
glow from the judges; indeed,
what’s not to like about a glorious
technicolour Tambabox?
The savannah region of eastern
Senegal may be one of Africa’s
poorest, yet it is culturally
prosperous, mainly due to the
preservation of indigenous
crafts and customs, but also
because of its geography, which
encourages encounters andexchanges with five neighbouring
countries, including Gambia
and Mali. Tambacounda, the
region’s capital, is the setting for
ex.studio’s experiment in colour,
light, textiles and human curiosity.
Inspired by the dazzling diversity
of the brightly coloured textiles
employed by the Senegalese to
make their distinctive boubous
(kaftan-like dresses and robes),
the wonderfully onomatopoeic
Tambabox is a timber-framed cube
clad in a patchwork of assorted
clashing fabric panels. Some have
tailored sleeves attached to them
for that essential touch of cross-
cultural surrealism.
The vividly coloured textiles
filter and regulate the sun’s
glare, so that from inside, the
taut panels shimmer and pulsate
with coloured light like stained-
glass windows. At night, lit from
inside, the fabric clad structure
is transformed into a glowing
polychromatic box that contrasts
with the inky darkness of its
surroundings. Shadows of visitors
are projected and revealed on the
kaleidoscopic backdrop. Tambabox
combines architecture, sculpture,
textiles and tailoring in a simple
yet highly lyrical way, transforming
the ordinary and the everyday
into something gorgeous and
extraordinary.
To build and assemble the
Tambabox, ex.studio worked with
local carpenters and tailors, and
the compact structure has an
engaging robustne
well suited to its co
architects’ compet
slightly spoils this e
including some por
doubtless lost-in-t
observations on th
adventure (eg, ‘the
delimit this archite
murals in which th
transformed becom
the linen cloth’), bu
seductive visuals, t
happily hooked. C. BOX FRESH
ARCHITECT
EX.STUDIO
Inspired by the richness
of Senegalese textiles,
this little fabric clad box
seduced the Jury.
1Out of the box – Tambabox incontext,with visitors.2Brilliantly coloured fabricpanels are suffused with light.3Tambabox in after dark mode.
Architect
ex-studio,Barcelona
Project team
Patricia Meneses,Iván Juárez
Photographs
Iván Juárez
31 [email protected] 43 -
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Entitled Balloon Caught, thisingenious urban installationby Tokyo-based architectsSatoshi Matsuoka and YukiTamura was the outcomeof an initiative to re-thinkand re-animate public spacein Vancouver. Participants
were asked to explore thespatial and urban potentialof an alleyway in Gastown,the city’s oldest district,through an intervention thatwould allow different formsof occupation through theday. Proposals were alsointended as a generator ofactivity, attracting the public
and offering new readings ofthe city.
From such a solemnprogramme comes adelightfully whimsical riposteTranslucent, glowing orbs5 9 i di
HONOURABLE MENTION
URBAN INSTALLATION,
VANCOUVER, CANADA
ARCHITECT
SATOSHI MATSUOKA &
YUKI TAMURA
The challenges of large-scale
public housing still tend to
confound most architects, so
it was encouraging to see this
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88 | 12| 1
HONOURABLE MENTION
HOUSING, ZURICH,
S WITZERLAND
ARCHITECTS
POOL ARCHITEKTEN
1Generous balconiesanimate the sternslate-clad facades.2Edge of town context
SWISS ASSURANCEThis large-scale housing complex reinvigorates a dull building type.
it was encouraging to see this
assured example from young
Swiss practice Pool Architekten.
Compared with most of the
projects shown here it represents
a sizeable commission (for
over 100 apartments), and
demonstrates the skills of
designing and building on a large
scale. Jurors were impressed by
the scheme’s confident execution,
if perhaps not so entranced by its
quintessentially Swiss rigour.
Commissioned for a local
housing cooperative, thedevelopment lies on the
edge of Zurich, where the
suburbs thin and give way to
rolling countryside. The site
slopes eastwards down from
Leimbachstrasse to the river Sihl
and forest beyond. To exploit
light and views, the two blocks
are placed along the west and
north edges of the site defining a
large communal garden. Clad in a
reptilian skin of greenish grey slate
and partly dug into the slope, the
blocks have a topographic quality
that abstracts the roll and heave
of the surrounding hills. Each
block consists of three sub-units
which are kinked slightly in plan
like a derailed train. Angular roof
profiles also break up any potential
monotony, as do the generous
balconies set at regular intervals
into slate-clad facades.
Deft internal planning juggles
and organises a range of
apartment types. Each sub-block
contains three to four flats per
floor, arranged around a centralcommunal stairwell. Apartments
vary in size from one to four
bedrooms, with living rooms
strategically placed to take
advantage of views. A quarter of
the apartments are maisonettes,
which interlink and overlap the
standard flats, introducing an
element of spatial diversity to
what could, on paper, be quite
a monotonous and repetitive
building type. All flats have access
to external space in the form of
balconies (enclosed by elegantly
detailed wire mesh balustrades)
or roof terraces. As might be
expected in this part of the world,
the quality of construction and
workmanship was painstaking,
adding to the project’s overall
sense of dignity and decency. C.S.
Architects
Pool Architekten,Zurich
Project team
Raphael Frei,Mischa Spoerri,Ana Prikic,
Markus Bachmann,Sybille Besson,Hannah Dean
Photographs
Arazebra,Andrea Helbling
cross section location/site plan
typical sub blocktypical sub block plan (lower level scale approx 1:500)
1 interaction of
[email protected] 45 -
Generally dictated by function
and with an invariable physical
prominence, air traffic control
towers tend not to be the most
architectural character, so the
overall outcome is a bit like
the Surrealist game of Exquisite
Corpses (where individual
of superscale images filtered
through three high definition
digital projectors. Backlighting
is provided by lamps attached
COMMENDED
AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL TOWER,
VIENNA, AUSTRIA
ARCHITECT
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lyrical of structures. This new
tower at Vienna’s main Schwechat
airport is an admirable exception,
and its efforts at recasting a
fundamentally dreary building
type impressed the jurors.
Around five years ago, as the
airport authorities put forward
plans for expansion, it became
clear that a new control tower
would be required to cope
with increased air traffic. Local
partnership Zechner & Zechner
won an EU-wide competitionfor the new building. At 109m
high, the new 23-storey tower
soars over the airport complex,
and its prominent location near
the main entrance provided
an opportunity to nudge the
building into more dynamic,
urban landmark territory rather
than just being a baldly functional
stump.
The tower is divided into
three parts, each with a different
p (
artists envisage a different part
of a composite body, oblivious
of other efforts). The lower
six storeys house staff offices
in a sleek glass cube, together
with facilities for controllers
supervising airspace movements
who do not require direct visual
contact with planes. Those who
do, occupy a faceted turret which
has commanding views over the
runways and sharply angular
facades to reduce glare. The
intermediate shaft is unoccupied(security restrictions prevent
the space from being used
commercially), but the concrete
structure is wrapped in a taut
membrane supported by a steel
frame. The membrane shifts and
twists as it rises between base
and turret, giving the entire
composition a sculptural quality.
The membrane adds more than
just visual variety, however. It also
acts as a backdrop for the display
p y p
to the tower shaft and images
(mainly soothing visions of skies
and the natural world) can be
varied through a computer-
controlled system.
The tower thus becomes a
canvas for flights of imagination,
and this unconventional take
on how a large vertical surface
can be creatively appropriated
eventually convinced the judges,
despite some reservations
about the elegance of the
overall form. C. S.
Architect
Zechner & Zechner,Vienna
Project team
Martin Zechner,Bernhard Schunack
Photographs
Thilo Härdtlein
FLIGHT OF
IMAGINATION
ZECHNER & ZECHNER
An air traffic control tower is elevated into a city
landmark through the use of light and images.
cross section ground floor plan (scale approx 1:1500)
1 foyer 2 patio garden 3 offices 4 conference room 5 kitchen 6 computer suite 7 rest room 8 changing room 9 observation room 10 control booth11 catwalk
1The tower’s tripartite formreflects its various functions.2Membrane support structure.3,4The membrane becomes abackdrop for light projection.
2
3
478 | 12 1
3
3
5
4
1 3
2
second floor
16th floor
19th floor
23rd floor
33
3
3
3
4533
3 3
3
6
6
3
5
7 8 8 8
1110
7
[email protected] 46 -
Providing services for blood collection, storage and research, Prathama
Blood Centre in Ahmedabad, regional capital of Gujarat, attracted the
jurors’ attention as an example of a large and quite complex building in
the developing world. Designed by local practice Matharoo Associates
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82 | 12| 1
1The slightlyhermetic concreteexterior.2A soaring atriumunites the variousvolumes andfunctions.3Blood donationsuite.
1 entrance 2 waiting area 3 atrium 4 reception 5 cross matching lab 6 blood group lab 7 virology lab 8 doctor’s surgery 9 refreshment room 10 donation suite 11 examination room12 pool 13 WCs 14 auditorium 15 platelets room 16 cold rooms 17 conference room18 canteen 19 offices 20 records
(whose Kahnian crematoriu m featured in the 2003 awards cycle, AR
December 2003), the blood centre is conceived as a pioneering new
type of health building (prathama means ‘first’ in Sanskrit) that combines
sophisticated laboratory and testing facilities with an enlightened,
humanistic approach.
The centre is the outcome of a competition staged by a charitable
trust with the aim of recasting and restaging the act of blood donation
in a more inviting public domain, so mitigating the fear and repulsion
subconsciously associated with such public spiritedness. The new building
can store and process 200 000 units of blood, making it the largest blood
bank in India. Donations are entirely voluntary, and the centre’s on-site
facilities are backed up by a fleet of mobile collection units.
Despite the programme’s ambitions, the budget was parsimonious
($200 per sqm, including fit out and site development). Costs were keptin check by custom designing and locally fabricating internal elements
such as doors, windows, modular furniture, partitions and work stations.
Even so, Matharoo Associates have succeeded in making a building that
has an evident decency and dignity.
A four-storey glass-clad stack of laboratories intersects roughly at
right angles with a hermetic concrete volume housing administration and
support services. Between these clearly articulated functional elements
is a more free-form atrium space, created by stretching and curving the
concrete wall. Contained within this concrete skin at ground level are
user-friendly enclaves for blood collection (separated from the more
clinical blocks), so that people can just wander in and make a donation.
To encourage a regular throughput of donors, there are none of the
formalities and inhibitions of a formal hospital setting. Helping to soothe
nerves, the donation suite overlooks a tranquil reflecting pool, while
within the atrium there are views and glimpses through to the more
specialised laboratory spaces, communicating a sense of the building’s
gravitas and wider social purpose. C.S.
Architect
Matharoo Associates,AhmedabadPhotographs
Courtesy of the architects
ground floor plan (s
1
2
HONOURABLE MENTION
BLOOD CENTRE,
AHMEDABAD , INDIA
ARCHITECT
MATHAROO ASSOCIATES
cross section long section
FIRST BLOODThis blood collection centre, the
largest in India, aims to demystify
and humanise the process of
blood donation.
98 7 5
46
3
1210
12
11
15 16 16
14
18
17
19
[email protected] 47 -
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1
DIVIDED VIEWS When is a room not a room?
The Jury is still out ...
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Fit-out is a curious architectural
medium. Often temporary,
materially thin, and stylistically
over-egged, it is the more muted
and restrained interiors that
usually attract recognition.
It came as somewhat of asurprise, therefore, that this
year’s Jury decided to give this
small project, Tides Restaurant,
an honourable mention.
Little was known about the
restaurant’s genre; even less
was revealed about the spatial
layout. Quite simply, it was the
sheer ambition of the ceiling
that intrigued the Jury.
In commercial fit-outs, ceilings
often suffer great disservice
as the forgotten elevation.
Services coordination is easily
overlooked, and materials rarely
deviate from dry lining. Smoke
detectors, light-fittings andsprinklers compete in misaligned
unresolved grids, despite the
fact that when seen through
brightly-lit shop windows, free
of merchandise, people and
clutter, the ceiling is often the
most prominent surface. Here
then, the designers invested
a great deal of time in the
consideration of the ceiling,
providing an inverted acoustic
topography that helps mediate
what they considered to be an
inappropriately proportioned
space for a small intimate
restaurant. With over 120 000
bamboo skewers (cut into threestandard lengths), perhaps the
only reservation was that this
idea could have been taken even
further. R.G.
Architect
LTL Architects, N ew York
Project team
Paul Lewis, Marc Tsurumaki, David Lewis
Photographs
Michael Moran
SHIFTING
TIDES
HONOURABLE MENTION
RESTAURANT, NEW YORK ,
USA
ARCHITECT
LTL ARCHITECTS
The designers of this
New York restaurant
sought acoustic softness
and spatial intimacy.
BALINESE BAMBOO
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1
1
BALINESE BAMBOO
This hotel restaurant in a Bali tourist resort
explores vernacular forms and materials.
Jakar ta-based Budi Pradono is structure forms a buffer zone
COMMENDED
HOUSE, COLIUMO
PENINSULA, CHILE
ARCHITECT
PEZO VON
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72 | 3|
CLIFFTOP MONOLITH
ELLRICHSHAUSEN
ARCHITECTS
1Cast by hand using themost basic techniques,the concrete house has aprimitive allure.2The raw concrete cube clingsprecipitously to the hillside.3,4The triple-height living room – spaces are at once qu itegrand,yet domestic.
ground floor (living) plan(scale approx 1:250)
Poised on a cliff, this simple concrete house boldly confronts nature and the elements.
first floor (kitchen/dining) second floor (bedrooms) roof plan
exploded isometric projection
cross section looking east cross section loo
1 living room 2 kitchen 3 dining room 4 bedroom 5 terrace
2
3
1
3
2
4
4
Encompassing deserts and
glaciers in an intoxicating,
longitudinal sweep, Chile’s
mad geography has been a
crucible for a particular kind
of Modernism informed by
abstraction, climate and nature.
Many of the younger generation
of South American architects
are reconnecting with these
currents (Mathias Klotz is an
obvious example) to produce
strong, distinctive work that
resonates with place. Such
exploration is also apparent
in the work of the young
Chilean/Argentinian partnership
of Mauricio Pezo and Sofía
von Ellrichshausen who are
based in the coastal city of
Concepción. Commissioned by
a local cultural organisation,
this dramatic cliffside house
on the Coliumo Peninsula, was
commended for its response to
site and the strong, monolithic
quality of its architecture.
Some 550km south of
Santiago, the Coliumo Peninsula
is a breathtaking but remote
rural setting populated by
farmers, fishermen and the
occasional summer tourist.
The difficulties of transporting
materials and a largely unskilled
local labour force limited
the scope of the project,
but the architects exploit
these limitations to create an
architecture of great simplicity
and power. Poised vertiginously
on the edge of the cliff, the
house is an elemental concrete
cube perforated by large
square openings. Used both as
a summer house and informal
cultural centre, the building
had to be at once domestic
and monumental, apparently
contradictory propositions
which are skilfully resolved.
Service elements such as
kitchen, bathroom, storage and
staircases are relegated to the
perimeter, contained within
a 1m wide zone that acts as
thermal buffer. This frees up
the rest of the house, so the
living area, for instance, is a
grandly scaled triple-height
volume. The house steps down
the site, from bedrooms at the
top, through kitchen and dining
at intermediate level, to the
podium of the living area that
directly overlooks the cliff and
sea below. The roof also acts as
a terrace.
Construction was extremely
simple, with in-situ concrete
cast by hand in untreated timber
frames. Labour was provided
by local farmers and fishermen
who only had a small concrete
mixer and four wheelbarrows
at their disposal. In a spirit of
inventive economy, the timber
shuttering was recycled to make
robust sliding panels that screen
the service areas and windows
when the house is not in use. Yet
the engaging roughness of the
construction only adds to the
building’s primitive allure. C. S.
Architect
PvE Architects, Concepción
Photographs
Cristóbal Palma [email protected] 51 -
Even by Scandinavian standards,
the Svalbard archipelago is
challengingly remote. Over 600km
north of the Norwegian mainland,
the islands’ glacier-scored
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78 | 12| 1
landscape is frozen solid to a
depth of 500m and temperatures
plummet to – 50 deg C in winter.
The upside of this inhospitability
are rich deposits of coal that
attracted Russian and Swedish
mining operations in the first
half of the twentieth century.
But with the decline of the coal
industry, Svalbard is now looking
to encourage a more diverse
economy of adventure tourism
and scientific research.
This centre for atmospheric
and environmental research is
in Spitzbergen, the largest island
in the archipelago (and also the
only inhabited one). Designed by
Jarmund Vigsnæs, the centre was
the outcome of a competition.
Having previously built an HQ for
the governor of Svalbard, Jarmund
Vigsnæs were familiar with the
archipelago’s formidable terrain
and climate.
Clad in a highly insulated
copper skin, the centre is a
humped, topographic presence
in the bleak landscape. Though
fashionably angular, the geometry
was modelled on flows of wind
and snow raking across the site
and helps to mitigate snow build-up over doors and windows. To
prevent heat from the building
melting the permafrost and
causing subsidence, the centre
sits on an elevated raft with a
ventilated airspace underneath it.
As the centre’s users will be
spending a great deal of time
indoors, they need to feel at
ease with their surroundings. The
copper skin conceals and protects
a pine-lined, humanly-scaled maze
of internal streets, offices and
laboratories that offers spatial
incident and variety. Jurors were
impressed by the response to such
challenging conditions and how
the architecture was literally yet
creatively shaped by context. C. S.
COMMENDED
RESEARCH CENTRE,
SVALBARD, NORWAY
ARCHITECT
JARMUND VIGSNÆS
NORTHERN EXPOSUREIn Norway’s remote north, this research centre
responds to challenging conditions.
Architect
Jarmund Vigsnæs,Oslo
Photographs
Nils Petter Dale
1The new research centre isa topographic presence inSpitzbergen’s bleak landscape.2,3Angular geometry prevents thebuild-up of snow.4 ,5 ,6Pine-lined internal spaces haveincident and variety. ground floor plan (sclong section cross section
1
2 3
4
5 6
[email protected] 52 -
The work of the Shuhei Endo
Architecture Institute is very
familiar to the AR, and as such
with some members of the Jury.
While there were reservations O W
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74 | 12| 1
that the angular use of profiled
metal sheeting in this their latest
work was less refined than the
previous pioneering continuous
curves of their earlier work (ARs
April 1997, December 2000), it
was still felt that this project was
distinctive, well executed and
worthy of a commendation.
Earlier Endo work exploited
the strength achieved when
lengths of corrugated sheeting
were lapped and bent into
dynamic and structurally
integral ribbons; this work is
slightly disappointing in that
it relies on less sophisticated
preformed corner components.
Nevertheless, a similar spatial
ambiguity drew the Jury’s
attention.
Space here is not defined
by function. Instead, it is
formed as the surface folds
to simultaneously define floor,
wall, ceiling and roof. The
continuity and reversal of the
double-faced surface allows the
distinction between outside
and inside to blur, avoiding
abrupt differentiation. Within
a homogeneous townscape,
openness and enclosurecombine. Compared to earlier
work, the result here is slightly
more bulky; a symptom perhaps
of the brief that required
increased structural stiffness,
providing internal and external
decks capable of supporting the
load of vehicles for sale. The
solution, however, still exhibits
an economy of means that is
impressive, and detailed scrutiny
of the construction sequence
reveals just how successfully the
structure has been composed
to allow an otherwise flimsy,
thin, lightweight material to
form a composite structure with
adequate structural integrity. The
question still remains, however,
as to just how much further
the Shuhei Endo Architecture
Institute can continue to exploit
their interest in this particular
material? R. G.
Architect
Shuhei Endo,Osaka
COMMENDED
CAR SHOWROOM , NAGOYA,
AICHI PREFECTURE, JAPAN
ARCHITECT
SHUHEI ENDO
S T R A I G H T A
N D N A R R
E v e n w i t h o u t t h e c u r v e s , S
h u h e i E n d o c o n t i n u e s
t o e x p e r i m e n t w i t h c o r r u g a t e d m
e t a l .
1,2 Within the ramshacklecontext of Nagoya City,thecar showroom is a distinctivecomposition.3,4,5The folded planes createa variety of internal andexternal spaces.
ground floor plan (scale approx 1:333)
sequence of cross sections
1
2 3
4
5upper level plan
1 entrance 2 office 3 store 4 wc 5 rest space 6 workshop 7 car lift 8 showroom space
7
2
16
6
354
8
8
[email protected] 53 -
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76 | 12| 1
The evangelising premise of
the Rural Studio is now well
known, yet Sam Mockbee’s
brilliant brainchild of extending
the study and practice of
architecture into a socially
responsible context continues
to flourish, even after his death
(AR February 2002). Now under
the direction of Englishman
Andrew Freear, Mockbee’s
mission goes on. Every quarter,
groups of students from
Auburn University elect to and
live and work off campus inthe impoverished counties of
western Alabama. Working with
the local Department of Human
Resources, the students tackle
small-scale projects that engage
with the unpalatable, neglected
margins of American society. As
with all Rural Studio endeavours,
architectural involvement
goes well beyond the abstract
niceties of design into the
more challenging and uncharted
realms of hands-on building, and
sourcing materials, as well as
finance, and administration.
Here, a quartet of students
designed and built a new
pavilion for communal activities
in a neglected park in Perry
County, the most impoverished
county in Alabama. The parkwas first created in the 1930s,
but was closed in 1970 and left
untouched for over 30 years,
slowly growing into a luscious,
mysterious, forgotten landscape.
Utterly simple in conception and
execution, the pavilion is tucked
in among a lush, hardwood
forest of water tupelos and
cypress trees near a former
picnic area. Shaped like a giant
megaphone, it sits boldly in its
arboreal setting. A large deck
made of local cedar forms a
datum for viewing, assembly
and performance. The deck
is raised some 18in (450mm)
off the ground (to resist the
regular local floods) and cranks
up to create benches and a
formal entrance. Set against thismain datum is a smaller, more
intimate enclave with a love seat.
The deck is sheltered by a thin,
aluminium-clad roof that soars
up to 24ft (7.3m) at its highest
point. From a distance, the
COMMENDED
PAVILION, PERRY COUNTY,
ALABAMA, USA
ARCHITECT
RURAL STUDIO
trunk-like columns blend with
the trees, so the roof appears to
hover lightly above the deck.
The Cedar Pavilion has proved
immensely popular, hosting
communal gatherings, catfish
fries and family reunions, as well
as functioning as an open-air
classroom for local schools
and colleges. Jurors admired
the clarity and economy of
the architecture and how, in
formidable social circumstances,
it helped to renew and foster a
sense of community. C. S.
Architect
Rural Studio,Auburn, USA
Project team
Jennifer Bonner,Mar y Beth Maness,
Nathan Orrison,Anthony Tindill
Photographs
Courtesy of the architect
1Supported by arborealcolumns,the pavilionblends into the forest.2A megaphone-shapedroof encloses a platform.3The elevated platformresists periodic floodingfrom the nearby river. ground floor plan (scale approx 1:200) long section
site plan
1
3ARBOREAL ARBOURDeep in a forest, this pavilion helps
to reinvigorate community life.
[email protected] 54 -
1Clad in Norwegian pine,housing blocks have a formaland material rigour.2External staircase doubles asa terrace in summer.3Trondheim context
This housing in Trondheim,
Norway’s third largest city, is
an imaginative response to
the vibrancy and enterprise of
the local alternative lifestyle
movement Svartlamoen began
outcome of a competition for
low-rent, ecologically conscious
housing. Responding to the area’s
history of gentle subversiveness,
it suggests new possibilities for
urban living while displaying an
144mm thick exterior walls are
loadbearing to provide column-
free space and internal partitions
are also quite robust (96mm thick),
so that furnishings or equipment
can be fixed directly to the walls
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70 | 3|
Trondheim context.4Interior of studio flat in two-storey block.5Monastic rigour of top floorbedroom in main block.6Communal living space inmain block.
This imaginative new housing in Trondheim
attempts to build on a radical civic spirit.
RADICAL CHIC
1 entrance 2 communal living spa 3 bedroom 4 studio flat
fourth floor planground floor plan (scale approx 1:750)
2
3 4 6
5
movement. Svartlamoen began
life in the eighteenth century as a
working-class neighbourhood near
the sea front. After the Second
World War, it was re-zoned for
industrial use, sparking fierce
public protest which consigned
the area to developmental
limbo. By the 1980s, squatters,
artists and entrepreneurs
were colonising the redundant
building stock and by 2001, the
community had such an air of
permanence and legitimacy, that
the industrialisation plans were
scrapped. Instead, Svartlamoen was
re-zoned for residential use under
the wonderfully nebulous rubric
of a ‘semi-autonomous urban
ecological experimental area’,
which aims to crystallise and build
on its original informal spirit.
This project by local partnership
Brendeland & Kristoffersen is the
urban living while displaying an
almost Swiss fetish for materiality
and formal rigour. The scheme
has two separate crisply prismatic
apartment blocks of two and
five storeys. The smaller block
houses six studio flats, while the
larger block has four storeys of
communal flats (each for five to
six people occupying an entire
floor) set above ground level shop
units. Bedrooms are monastically
compact and face north, while
communal living and dining spaces
overlook a south-facing courtyard.
Circulation is external on a broad
steel staircase that doubles as an
informal terrace in summer.
Timber use was part of the
brief, as it is renewable, recyclable
and (potentially) a local resource.
Assembled on site in just 10 days,
the prefabricated structure is
spruce, imported from Austria. The
can be fixed directly to the walls.
Reduced energy consumption was
another programme requirement,
so external walls have an
additional layer of 200mm mineral
wool gypsum boards and an outer
skin of untreated Norwegian pine.
Compact plans (which
encourage communal living)
and simple detailing make for
an economical solution both
in terms of capital and running
costs, yet there is no loss of
architectural or urban dignity.
Unsentimental and functional
in a way that recalls Norwegian
vernacular farm buildings,
the scheme resonates with
Svartlamoen’s radical history.C. S.
Architect
Brendeland & Kristoffersen,Trondheim
Photographs
1,2, Jeroen Musch;4,5, 6,Johan Fowelin;
3,Geir Brendeland
COMMENDED
HOUSING, TRONDHEIM,
NORWAY
ARCHITECT
BRENDELAND &
K RISTOFFERSEN
44
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[email protected] 55 -
2
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1The restored building – compac t and cru mbbut given new life.2Inserting the new str3New and old elementclearly legible.
PRIZEWINNER
SHOWROOM, PFALZ,
GERMANY
ARCHITECT
FNP ARCHITEKTEN
rt l ti :t l ti
ground floor plan (scale approx 1:100) exploded is1
3
The wit and economy of thinking
that informed this design pleased
the judges; it is exemplified in
the punning description of what
has been achieved, turning a
pigsty (Saustall ) into a showroom
(Schaustall ). The tumble-down
1780 structure had seen bettertimes, and was partly destroyed
in the Second World War. It
was reassembled and added to
in the intervening period. The
original intention behind the
commission was to refurbish
the structure and upgrade it as a
showroom. However, its physical
condition made it difficult to
finance a thorough upgrade, and a
replacement building of the same
size was not possible on the site,
due to its proximity to a street.
The generic solution, which
has a long history in architectural
approaches to sensitive ruins, was
to place a ‘house within a house’,
even if the original had been a
home for pigs. But how? Whatshould touch what? Could parts
of the new structure protect
the old, in the way the old walls
give extra protection to the new
building?
The architect, for reasons of
economy and logistics, placed a
timber ‘house’, which copied the
facade of the original building,
inside the stone but without ever
touching it, while the showroom
roof protects the existing
structure. The arbitrariness of the
windows now looks fashionable,
based as it is on the functional
requirements of the pigs and/or
the farmer rather than a jokey
translation of ordinariness.
Light, colour and warmthtransform the building at night;
visitors can pry into the gaps
between the structures and
wonder how it was all done.
The new internal life extends
the eighteenth century into the
twenty-first. P. F.
Architect
Fischer Naumann Partnerschaft,Stuttgart
Project team
Stefanie Naumann,Martin Naumann
THE ARTIST WITHINFrom pigsty to showroom, this little
historic structure is cleverly reborn.
[email protected] 56 -
INFORMAL ORDER With just three formal variables, this sinuous new settlement works with site
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60 | 12| 1
1On a gently sloping hoverlooking Hokkaido11 cuboid forms creaan apparently informarrangement of build
This project was a popular
choice, with many intricate
spatial qualities and bearing
more than a passing
resemblance to Sea Ranch
– Charles Moore’s celebrate d
1960s Californian cliff-top
settlement, that has since
become a model of ordered
informality. Beyond this
association, however, this
contemporary interpretation
stood out as an extremely
accomplished work. Through
an ingenious manipulation of
modular plans and elevated
forms, the architect has created
a settlement with its own
striking identity, embodying the
landscape and place-making
qualities of Sea Ranch, without
merely copying it.
Adopting the contemporary
interest in applying a single
cladding material to both
walls and roof, the buildings
are simply articulated in black
profiled cladding, producing
an overtly contemporary
composition that sits
comfortably on a south-westerly
slope overlooking the sea in
Hokkaido in the northernmost
mainland of Japan. Providing
accommodation for up to
twenty mental health patients,
the campus consi
cluster of building
units linked by 10
triangular spaces.
types – flat, mono
ridge – and three
further articulate
form, adding com
the building’s silh
descends the subt
the site. The 5.4 x
contain cellular a
– bedrooms, livi ng
and offices – sepa
triangular alcoves
and circulation zo
remained less con
the building’s app
HIGHLY COMMENDED
RESIDENTIAL CARE UNIT,
HOKKAIDO, JAPAN
ARCHITECT
SOU FUJIMOTO ARCHITECTS
[email protected] 57 -
2The buildings’ contorted planform gives westerly viewsacross the city,and into moreintimate external enclaves.3Places for casual meeting orsemi-public refuge.4I th t t
as a dormitory for the
mentally disabled; however, in
response to this the architect’s
description of the scheme
as being ‘suitably ambiguous’
helped them settle on an equally
every corner, instead of building
spaces, corridors and communal
areas that recall the anonymous
and potentially intimidating
effect of wide roads and large
public squares.
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HIGHLY COMMENDED
RESIDENTIAL CARE UNIT,
HOKKAIDO, JAPAN
ARCHITECT
SOU FUJIMOTO ARCHITECTS
In the westernmostaccommodation block,three bedrooms providean alternative to standardrectilinear spaces.
62 | 12
the three formal variables
long section
2
3 4
1 entrance 2 bedroom 3 alcove 4 living room 5 washing room 6 wc 7 bathroom 8 dining room 9 kitchen 10 office 11 roof terrace
lower ground floor (scale approx 1:500)upper ground
222
3 2 2
2
4
3
2
2
22
2
23
3
5 5
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66
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22
2
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8
93
11
2
ambiguous decision.
When seeking to create a
comfortable home for twenty
residents, the designers wanted
to create a context that,
in a controlled, secure and
sensitively handled way, would
mimic the diversity and sense of
unpredictability of city life. The
form generates a wide variety
of spaces, of shapes and sizes,
gaps, dead-ends, nooks and
crannies, creating a series of
in-between places where people
may be naturally inclined to find
refuge. If likened to a city, this
arrangement seeks to create
alleyways and tiny squares on
Domestic dimensions and
city-like diversity are therefore
combined into a new series of
internal spaces, from where
views across the coastal
conurbation of Hokkaido give
the residents a controlled link
to their wider context. R.G.
Architect
Sou Fujimoto Architects,Tokyo
Project team
Sou Fujimoto,Yumiko Nogiri,Koji Aoki
Photographs
1,4, Dalci Ano
2,3 Sou Fujimoto
[email protected] 58 -
The judges were immediately
attracted to the apparently
free-form structural mesh that
produces this small gymnasium
building in a town in Kumamoto
Prefecture whose chief industry
i f h b ildi h d
grid of 120mm x 120mm cedar
members on their inside. A 2m
grid of light gauge steel supports
the roof, while below, a grid of
cedar members is ‘sifted’ at a 45
degree angle, connected to form
i h 22
While the structure works in
a simple and effective way, its
design is sophisticated. Despite
the apparent free-form nature
of the structural timber grid, in
fact each element is part of an
h l id i b h l d
1Thmamo
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42 | 11
Sophisticated structural
design informed a
gymnasium building in
Tomochi, Japan, symbolising
its region.
SPACE FRAMED
is forestry – the building had to
make use of timber as a symbol
of its area. On closer inspection
there was more to this building
than immediately met the eye.
The structure is in fact a hybrid
of glulam and steel; light gauge
steel columns are placed at 1m
intervals along the exterior
wall, with load transferred to a
trusses with a 22m span.
Angling the lower parts of
the trusses allowed the
designers to produce height
where required by transferring
load to trusses where a high
ceiling was not needed, ie, the
two rooms that accompany the
gymnasium itself, which house
mini-volleyball courts.
orthogonal grid in both plan and
elevation. However, only one out
of every four members in the
timber grid line act as trusses;
the remaining 75 per cent
simply span between the eight
main truss lines. By contrast,
the shift of the timber and
steel grids results in the steel
members working as a plane,
PRIZEWINNER
FORESTRY HALL,
TOMOCHI , JAPAN
ARCHITECT
TAIRA NISHIZAWA
ARCHITECTS [email protected] 59 -
each stressed uniformly, and thus
minimising use of material.
The lower parts of the wall
are in cedar, but the project
is essentially a glazed box (no
concrete has been used), located
on a man made hill planned to
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site plan44 | 12
on a man-made hill planned to
accommodate a baseball field,
parking and a grass park. Of
course, the site is surrounded
by entirely natural mountains;
the architects responded to this
hybrid context with a bush-like
hybrid of their own.
PAUL FINCH
Architect
Taira Nishizawa Architects,Tokyo
Structural engineer
Arup Japan
ground floor plan (scale approx 1:500)
cross section
upper level plan
long section
1 entrance 2 gymnasium 3 council room 4 meeting room
2
3
2,3Intersecting grids producedifferential heights for differentspaces.
detailed wall section:grids of steel and glulam support a glazed box
2
1 3 4 4
PRIZEWINNER
FORESTRY HALL,
TOMOCHI , JAPAN
ARCHITECT
TAIRA NISHIZAWA
ARCHITECTS
[email protected] 60 -
Sustrans is the UK’s leading sustainable transport charity, promoting
a vision to see the world adopt methods of transport that benefit
the health of individuals and the state of the environment. To date
they have been extremely successful with award-winning initiatives,
including the National Cycle Network, Safe Routes to School, and
Bike It. In short, they are far more than a charity for weird cyclists.
Commissioning artwork has also been part of their programme
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68 | 3|
Commissioning artwork has also been part of their programme,
bringing delight and spectacle to their expanding cycle network
that in itself has restored, rejuvenated and reopened previously
inaccessible parts of our landscape.
The William Cookworthy Bridge, while not pure art, is one such
component, providing a valuable link in Clay Trails: part of the
Network that includes 15km of paths over the former China Clay
works in Cornwall, linking communities and visitors, and providing
car-free access to the Eden Project (AR August 2001).
Designed by local architect David Sheppard, the bridge is
much more than the metal object that we see. It is part of larger,
integrated, sculpted landform, that makes a place within this very
specific landscape. An elevated viewing platform acts as a fulcrumbetween land and bridge, turning the route through almost 90
degrees. The artificial embankment – formed from 10 000 tons
of ‘stent’ quarry waste – ascends to the pivot point, recalling
the monumental scale of earth movement and sculpting that is
characteristic of this area; a place where industry has brought a very
specific identity.
The bridge itself appealed to the Jury due to its physical and
notional straightforwardness; a quality that is evident in the
architect’s description: a simply supported box girder, 25m in span,
2.5m wide and 450mm deep, with a 1.4m high parapet for horses and
cyclists. It is beautifully simple, and the distinctive vertical fins, set
at 100mm centres, discourage climbing toddlers, and play with the
moiré effect, causing the bridge’s visual mass to change when seen
in motion. It is a wonderful addition within a unique landscape, and
a fitting memorial to the 300th anniversary of the man who founded
Cornwall’s China Clay industry, William Cookworthy. R. G.
1The Corten fins produce asubtle moiré effect whenseen by passing cyclists, walkers and ri ders.2The bridge provides animportant link in theSustrans 15km Clay Trails. section through earthwork
Architect
David Sheppard Architects, Devon
with Sustrans
Project team
David Sheppard,Colin Sanderson,
Simon Ballantine
Photographs
Joakim Borén
SHEPPARD’SDELIGHT
In the beautiful Cornish setting,
Sustrans’ mission to make the
landscape accessible is perfectly
served by a new bridge.
HIGHLY COMMENDED
BRIDGE, ST AUSTELL, CORNWALL, UK
ARCHITECT
DAVID SHEPPARD ARCHITECTS [email protected] 61 -
HIGHLY COMMEN
BRIDGE, MAOSI,
ARCHITECT
DEPARTMENT OF
ARCHITECTURE,
UNIVERSITY OF H
In the Gansu province of
north-west China, the Po River
separates the humble village
of Maosi into two parts. This
has a significant effect on its
inhabitants, especially during
floods. Crossing the river is
gather materials to rebuild the
structure, taking on average 15
days to complete it. Despite
this seasonal effort, the summer
rain would always return to
wash it away. At best, crossing
the bridge was precarious, with
this summer, project volunteers
travelled to the remote village
and built this new bridge by
hand in just five days. Sited 1.5m
above the river-bed it will be
accessible 95 per cent of the
year, and is easy to maintain.
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BRIDGING THE GAPHand built by volunteers, this new structure in
China bridges more than a physical gap.
1,2Bridge provides safe route toschool,meeting point and aplace for contemplation.3
Made largely from localmaterials,the bridge sitscomfortably in the landscape,bearing on the river bed.
plan
section
1 2
2
g
an essential ritual of daily life,
forming the route for many,
including that for children
between home and school.
When the water rises above
ankle depth, the only means
of crossing it has been to
build a primitive bridge from
mud, straw and tree branches
– exploiti ng the lim ited means
available within the Loess
Plateau region.Historically, each year, after
the autumn harvest, the villagers
g p ,
the children adopting excellent
acrobatic skills, balancing as they
tiptoed across its narrow and
uneven deck; at worst, it was
lethal.
A solution came when a
number of academics from
Hong Kong considered the
problem; the end result
representing a collaboration
between the Chinese University
in Hong Kong, the Hong KongPolytechnic University and the
Xi’an Jiaotong University. Earlier
y , y
The 80m long bamboo deck
has already survived a freak 4m
flood, and an 80 year old villager
recently reported that, after
20 years, he could now visit his
friends on the other side. R. G.
Architect
Department of Architecture,
Chinese University of Hong Kong
Project team
Edward Ng (project leader),
Rollin Collins,Paul Tsang,Lucia Cheung,Kevin Li,Chan Pui Ming,Karen Kiang
Photographs
Chinese University of Hong Kong
[email protected] 62 -
HIGHLY COMMENDED
ROLLING BRIDGE, PADDINGTON , LONDON
DESIGNER
THOMAS HEATHERWICK STUDIO
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56 | 12| 1
ROLL
WITH IT
1,2,3States of play:the bridgeis stable in any position,as hydraulic rams pushand pull.cross section – rolled out cross section – rolled in
1 2
3
Good design is not just about
good ideas, rolling with i t,
going with the creative flow; it
is also about good execution.
Great design comes when both
factors combine. Individuals
who repeatedly come up with
new tactics, those who try to
reinvent the wheel and more
often than not succeed, are
at best inspirational, and at
worst downright irritating.
In architecture, the prize
arguably goes to Herzog and
de Meuron, whose recent
exhibition (AR July 2005) drew
an observer to publicly deride
their ‘incessant inventiveness’.
In the slightly left-field world of
architectural device design, the
creative output of the Thomas
Heatherwick Studio is equally
challenging. You can al most hear
the secret thoughts of their
observers saying, ‘now, why didn’t
I think of that?’
When asked to design a
retractable bridge, Heatherwick
was not content to redress
existing types: swing bridge,
lifting bridge, or rigid retractable.
Instead he came up with
something completely new. Well
almost; no single idea is ever
generated in isolation. The closest
precedent for this probiscus-
like coil is perhaps the military
bridge; the type that is rolled
out when existing passes have
been destroyed or that is used
by emergency services in times
of natural disaster, to give access
for aid or evacuation. Sited in
London’s Paddington Basin, this
bridge rolls open, by slowly and
smoothly unfurling. It mutates
from conventional pedestrian
platform into a circular sculpture,
that sits comfortably on the canal
bank when not required. The
structure is pushed and pulled
by a series of hydraulic rams
set within triangular segments;
challenging logic by pulling it
open and pushing it closed. As it
recoils, each of its eight segments
simultaneously lifts, causing it to
curl until the ends touch to form
a perfect circle.
The studio’s aim was to make
function from movement. As
such it can be stopped at any
point along its journey, whether
at the very start, when it looks
as though it is hovering, or
halfway through its opening path.
Delightfully conceived, delightfully
resolved, delightfully detailed, and
delightfully made; don’t you just
hate it? R. G.
Designer
Thomas Heatherwick Studio,London
A new footbridge
animates Paddington’s
still waters.
[email protected] 63 -
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48 | 12
1Site context.2The oratory lies at the heartof the campus.3The oratory cube,seenthrough the glazed cloister.4Refined geometry and rawmaterials give the structurean elemental power. A castglass door heralds entry.
3
2
1
4
Fusing the secular and metaphysical, this oratory on
a campus is a modern response to the numinous.
LIGHT SPIRIT
The combining of sacred
and secular in a complex
of buildings is a familiar
architectural programme, and
one that encourages a creative
combination of the functional
and the spiritual. In this instance,
the judges were impressed by
the calmness and serenity of the
oratory space, with its shades
of Tadao Ando, not to mention
Le Corbusier, in its exploitation
of concrete and varying types
of light.
The oratory element creates
what the architect describes as
the equivalent of a crescendo
in music, but one which breaks
from the remaining fabric
of a campus which also has
educational and administrative
functions. Its location and height
mark it out from the everyday
buildings around, while the
rotation in plan is intended
to signify the break between
secular and sacred, and to create
a void between building types
which can be used for communal
gatherings of varying size, or for
private meditation.
The threshold between the
outside world and the oratory
is marked by a sculptural cast-
glass door, designed to gather
and refract light, which glows
brightly at the perimeter and
luminously at the centre as
a result of the lens-shaped
plan. The architects intended
to achieve a fusion of secular
and metaphysical experiences
through light, shadow, colour
and movement, before visitors
and congregation take their
place inside.
PRIZEWINNER
CHURCH COMPLEX,
LOUISIANA, USA
ARCHITECT
TRAHAN ARCHITECTS
[email protected] 64 -
5Communing with thenuminous.6Interior has an almost Japanese ascetic ism.7Light and materials conveya sense of peace andspirituality.
Internally, the oratory is
intended to evoke a sense of
mystery while providing a pure
space which could be described
as womb-like. Each of the six
sides is the same size, and has
the same colour and texture,
th if it ti
concrete, plate glass and cast
glass are the key elements,
creating an atmosphere the
architect intended to be neither
opulent nor overly austere. The
judges, on balance, felt that this
had successfully been achieved,
d th t f li f it
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site plan50 | 12
PRIZEWINNER
CHURCH COMPLEX,
LOUISIANA, USA
ARCHITECT
TRAHAN ARCHITECTS
cross section
general plan of complex
ground floor plan of oratory (scale approx 1:250)
1 administration 2 classroom 3 religious education 4 oratory
5 altar 6 pulpit
7 presider’s chair 8 crucifix 9 pews
5
6 7
4
3
2
2
1
9
9
78
9
6 9
5
the uniformity creating a
certain lack of orientation and
sense of mystery. Variation and
stimulation is provided by light
drawn into the oratory through
irregular activities cast into the
walls, whose thickness varies. As
the images show, the effect is to
introduce brilliant light near the
ceiling and softer light near the
floor. Each aperture is inspired
by a single episode of thepaschal mystery of Christ.
No costly materials have
been used in the creation of
this complex – board-formed
and that a feeling of serenity
pervaded the design, doubtless
helped by the simplicity of the
plan and the cloister reference
in what is in part, at least, a
community resource. P. F.
Architect
Trahan Architects, Louisiana
Project team
Victor F.Trahan,Brad Davis,Kirk Edwards
Photographs
Timothy Hursley
[email protected] 65 -
With the unrivalled rate of
development in China there is
HIGHLY COMMENDED
SCHOOL AND COMMUNITY
CENTRE, LIJIANG, CHINA
ARCHITECT
LI XIAODONG DESIGN STUDIO
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development in China, there is
a genuine concern (admittedly
from foreign observers) that
Chinese architects are yet to
find a coherent contemporary
architectural identity.
Traditionally, China has had a
rich architectural heritage within
which even the most elementary
architectural eye could
identify common architectural
motifs: Dougong brackets thatarticulate the junction between
column and beam; sweeping
concave roofs that create
distinctive silhouettes in both
urban and wild rural contexts;
brightly painted timber; and
perhaps most fundamentally,
the systematic grouping of
buildings around courtyards,
where the now overused
Western architectural cliché
of making inside/outside space
had merit, authenticity and
appropriateness.
As last year’s Beijing Biennale
demonstrated, the most
interesting home-grown talents
were those who had chosen
to work with, rather than
against, their heritage. With this
project, Li Xiaodong is very
much part of this generation;
a generation that while not
necessarily being completely
satisfied with the resolution of
their own architectural language,
nevertheless works rigorously
to extract essence and nuance
when considering how to build.
The Yuhu Elementary School
and Community Centre,
completed last year, nestles in
the foothills of the Jade Dragon
Snow Mountain, in Lijiang, home
to the 280 000 or so members
of the Naxi minority nationality.
Providing educational space for
160 students and community
activity space for up to 1300villagers, the complex comprises
three small buildings arranged
in a Z-configuration. This
creates two courtyards, each set
aside for separate school and
community activities. Deriving
significance from the Naxi52 | 12
Li Xiaodong revisits established architectural typologies
when placi ng this con temporary group of buildin gs within
a sensitive UNESCO World Heritage site.
ELEMENTARY EDUCATION
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tenet that sees the mountains
as the backbone and water as
the soul of their culture, both
stone and water feature heavily;
as do reinterpretations of the
traditional Naxi home.
One such reinvention is
the articulation of the stair,
which forms a focus to
the community courtyard.
Traditionally occupying one
corner of a Naxi house, the
stair frees up space to providemore flexible orthogonal rooms
while celebrating the ritual of
teachers making their way to
the classrooms below. Effort
was also made to simplify the
architectural language while
respecting traditional details
and techniques. The use of
traditional timber-frame
detailing with mortise and tenon
joints, for example , is a proven
safeguard against earthquake
collapse, with all masonry being
independently reinforced and
non load-bearing. Traditional
ornamentation is also reduced
to basics, with curved ridgelines
straightened and gable end
ornament simplified to a simple
lattice framework inspired bytraditional grain racks. Sliding
and casement windows are
also abundant, bringing fresh
air, light and access when
required. The uniqueness of the
design within a very particular
context impressed the judges,
as a demonstration of how
local materials, technology
and spatial arrangements can
be transformed into a fresh
language. The challenge for
this generation, however,
with Li Xiaodong and many
contemporaries based in cities
like Beijing, will ultimately
come when they are given the
opportunity to raise their game,
and to tackle the problems
associated with large-scaleurban developments. R. G.
Architect
Li Xiaodong Design Studio,Beijing
Project team
Li Xiaodong,Yeo Kang Shua,
Chong Keng Hua,Stanley Lee Tse Chen
Photographs
Melvin H.J.Tan
2From within the classroom,nature and landscape remain
dominant and distracting.3,4,5 Within th e communitycourtyard,the twistedstaircase forms a focus ...a contemporary twist,inan otherwise traditionalcontext.6The community courtyard,reflecting pool and SnowMountain beyond.
HIGHLY COMMENDED
SCHOOL AND COMMUNITY
CENTRE, LIJIANG, CHINA
ARCHITECT
LI XIAODONG DESIGN STUDIO
first floor
ground floor (scale approx 1:500)
54 | 12
3
4
5 6
1 museum 2 classroom 3 exhibition area 4 community courtyard 5 reflecting pool 6 school courtyard 7 staffroom
site plan
2
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1The neover th2The gr
Originally completed in 1938, the
famous Helsinki Olympic Stadium
was built to attract the summer
Games, which eventually came
to Finland in 1952. Designed by
Yrjö Lindegen and Toivo Jäntti, the
building’s svelte Modernist lines
evoked an era of social optimism
and architectural progressiveness.
Finns are keen athletes and
the Olympic Stadium had the
distinction of appearing on the
Finnish 10 mark banknote, prior to
the country adopting the euro.
Since the late ’30s, the stadium
has undergone various stages
of modernisation which have
improved facilities and reduced
spectator numbers from 70 000
to a more manageable 40 000.
The latest phase was catalysed
by Helsinki’s hosting of the 2005
World Athletics Championship, the
most prestigious athletics meeting
outside the Olympics. Though the
city saw off rival bids from Berlin,
Rome and Moscow, among others,
the IAAF (the sport’s governing
body) insisted that the stadium
should be upgraded with an
extra roof to provide additional
covered seating. Helsinki-based
K2S Architects won a competition
with a bold proposal that
reinterprets yet also respects the
original Modernist ethos. The new
roof extends to cover part of
the grandstand on the stadium’s
east side, where the bank of
spectator seating is at its widest.
Though a strong presence inside
the stadium, the new structure is
virtually imperceptible from the
outside, much like the existing
1930s canopy. Supported by a row
of steel columns and tied back to
the original concrete structure,
the new canopy cantilevers with
supple grace over the grandstand.
The steel roof structure is
optimised by a double sinusoidal
curved section. This generates a
gently undulating geometry, so
that the canopy swells and tapers
along its length. The curve of its
underside is emphasised by a skin
of thin pine strips which tempers
the huge surface both visually and
acoustically. Structural analysis of
the aerofoil roof form was backed
up by extensive wind tunnel
testing using a 1:180 scale model
made of aluminium and plexiglass.
The judges admired the elegance
and simplicity of the concept and
thought it a thoroughly fitting
addition to a heroic landmark of
Finnish Modernism.C.S.
cross sectio
cross section th
stadium plan (scale approx 1:2500)
Archit
K2S Arc
Projec
Kimmo
Mikko S
Photog
1,Johan
2,Mikko
1
1 new 2 existi
grand 3 towe 4 runn 5 pitch
2
5
1
3
4
4
FLYING FINNSHelsinki’s Olympic
Stadium is dignified and
enhanced by a bold new
grandstand roof.
HIGHLY COMMENDED
STADIUM CANOPY ,
HELSINKI, FINLAND
ARCHITECT
K2S ARCHITECTS
[email protected] 68 -
HIGHLY COMMENDED
RESTAURANT , BRUFE, PORTUGAL
ARCHITECTS
ANTÓNIO PORTUGAL & MANUEL
MARIA REIS
5
6
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2 | 3| 4
3 2
Graduates of Porto’s architectural
school and in practice in the city
since 1990, António Portugal
& Manuel Maria Reis are in
the vanguard of an emerging
generation of Portuguese
architects. Their modest, tactful
work epitomises what critics
and curators describe as
‘critical scarcity’, making use oflimited budgets, materials and
construction techniques in a
way that responds imaginatively
to the Portuguese condition.
Their sensitive remodelling of
the historic Casa da Cerca into a
library and archive (AR July 2004)
helped an antiquated structure
make the challenging transition
from decaying relic to working
public building.
There is a strongly enigmatic
and understated quality to their
approach, epitomised by this
project for a restaurant near
the village of Brufe, in Portugal’s
rugged far north. Utterly simple
in conception and execution,the building is an almost
imperceptible horizontal blip in
the landscape, its long, low slung
volume echoing the forms of the
granite terraces on which it is
poised. Much of its bulk is, in fact,
excavated into the hillside, so
that the roof becomes part of the
terrain, a grass-covered plateau
edged with a minimal upstand
to prevent mishaps. From this
vantage point, diners descend
a set of external stairs cut into
the hill to another terrace that
thrusts out from the box of the
restaurant.
Dining takes place in a large,
airy room illuminated by a longslash of picture window glazing,
while the cooking and serving end
of things is kept well out of sight
in the buried rear of the building.
Rough horizontal planks of timber
are employed to clad both lower
terrace and box, giving it a rustic,
barn-like character that echoes
the vernacular arc
surrounding farm b
The judges were
the project, whose
embodied the spar
quality of its archit
were especially im
the building relate
deferring to the la
celebrating it, and simple materials w
with a restrained f
to achieve powerf
CATH
Architects
António Portugal & Manu
with Paulo Freitas
Photographs
Luís Ferreira Alves
1
Embedded in hillside,roofbecomes viewing plateau.2Rough timber claddingalludes to farm buildings.3,4,5The main terrace hasbreathtaking vistas.6The new restaurant is poisedon granite terraces. long section
DINING TERRACEThis restaurant in Portugal’s rugged north
responds to and celebrates its wild setting.
restaurant level plan (s
1 2 3 4 5 6
61
3
5
1
2
3
4
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70|6
HOUSING, INNSBRUCK , AUSTRIA
A RCHITECT
BAUMSCHLAGER& EBERLE
SHUTTERED ROOMSDistinguished by formal rigour and a concern for energy use, this complex of compactly planned, mixed tenure
housing blocks on the edge of Innsbruck is animated by an external skin of folding shutters.
1Mid-rise blocksare arranged aroundcommunal spaces. Car parkingisrelegated underground, freeingup theexterior for semi-formal gardens.2
Framed by alpine peaks, the blockshave a geometric rigour and precision.Copper-clad foldingshuttersanimatethe exterior (although in realityperhapsto a more random patternthan shown here).
Housing(of both the state
subsided and private sector
funded kind) accounts for over a
third of construction work in
Austria. Regulated by planning
laws and cost constraints,
opportunities for innovation are
limited, with the result that towns
and cities tend to be dominated
by dull residential developments.
In this apparently reductivist area
of architectural activity,
Baumschlager & Eberle have
applied themselves to researching
and evolvingasuccessful housing
type based on acompact,
doughnut-shaped plan with an
inner ringof servant spaces and
an outer ringof served rooms.
The buildingenvelope is usually
formed frombalconies and
loggias, creatingasemi-public
layer enclosed by an external skin
of foldingor slidingshutters. By
adaptingand modifyingthis basic
type to various conditions,
Baumschlager & Eberle have
gradually developed it in terms of
architectural form, constructional
composition and ecological
performance. The particular
character of this approach is not
to seek the outlandishly special,
but rather to aspire to the highest
standards for what is normal.
The latest in this series of
housingprojects is for asite on
the western edge of Innsbruck.
Dramatically framed by alpine
peaks, it extends an existing
residential area. The complex
contains 298 flats of varyingsizes
(fromone to three bedrooms)
divided more or less evenly
between rental and ownership.
Apartments are organized in six
identical blocks between five and
seven storeys high. Cars are
relegated to asubterranean park,
so freeingup the areas between
the blocks for gardens and
communal social spaces.
1
[email protected] 70 -
3Lushnessof the landscape temperstheformal abstraction.4Balconiesrun around the edge of eachblock, enclosed by the shuttersandtranslucent glassbalustr ades.
HOUSING,INNSBRUCK ,AUSTRIA
A RCHITECT
BAUMSCHLAGER& EBERLE
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ground floor plan (scale approx 1:300)site plan
typical upper level plancrosssection outliningprinciplesof environmental control
longitudinal sectioncrosssection
a solar collection
panels
b water tanksfor
heat storage
c car park
d ventilationoutlets
e heat pump& boiler
f l ivingroom/
bedroom
g wc/bathroom/
kitchen
a mainentrance
b lightwellcourtyard
c l if t
d stairs
e f la ts
f accessgalleries
g balconies
72|6
Pollarded lime trees mark the
edges of paths and will mature to
provide enclaves of shade.
Each of the blocks follows the
same compact arrangement of
flats tightly planned around a
central lightwell and service
core. Each has a single communalentrance that penetrates
through the block to the central
space; fromhere you either take
the lift or stairs to communal
galleries on each level that lead
to individual apartments. Flats
are simply and economically
planned with a narrow strip of
kitchens and bathrooms on the
lightwell side servinglarger living
spaces facingout to views and
light. Each flat has access to a
balcony that runs continuously
around each floor. Inner faces of
the blocks are clad in vertical
strips of cherry. Foldingshutters
made of copper and balustrades
of translucent toughened glass
give protection from the
elements and provide privacy. The changingconcertina
rhythms generated by the
shutters (which will surely have a
much greater degree of lyrical
randomness than the regimented
patterns shown here) animate
the geometrically stern facades.
As with Baumschlager &
Eberle’s previous projects (AR
January 2000), the Innsbruck
housingis characterized by a
thoughtful degree of energy
conscious environmental
control. The highly compact plan
reduces the surface area to
volume ratio. Walls are highly
insulated and windows are triple
glazed, in order to minimize heat
loss. Each apartment is equippedwith a compact ventilation unit
with heat recovery, as well as a
small heat pump for air heating
and a boiler for hot water. The
controlled air ventilation system
provides a constant, comfortable
supply of fresh air as well as
translucent glassbalustr ades.
3
[email protected] 71 -
HOUSING,INNSBRUCK ,AUSTRIA
A RCHITECT
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optimizing space heating and
minimizing ventilation losses. It
also maintains a balance of
relative humidity, reducing
problems of building
deterioration due to pollution,
humidity or mould.
Around 70 per cent of the
annual hot water demand is
covered by a solar powered
system. Solar collectors with a
surface area of 140-190sqm per
block heat water in storage
tanks located around the
perimeter of the underground
car park. During the summer,domestic hot water is warmed in
the solar tanks and supplied to
individual flats. Any extra
heating is carried out by the heat
pumps. In winter, solar energy is
5At the heart of each block is a lightwell.6Galleries give access to individual flats
BAUMSCHLAGER & EBERLE
5
The London Contemporary
Dance School is to be found at
The Place in aquiet backwater
off busy Euston Road. Established
in 1969 by philanthropist Robin
Howard, The Place has become
one of the world’s famous dance
centres. Its theatre was created
out of the old Drill Hall of the
the adjoiningWoburn W alk in
the 1820s by Thomas Cubitt as
part of the Bedford Estate).
Behind, and to the east of, the
theatre, dressingrooms and
ancillary spaces, is the dance
centre, housed for most of its life
in atr iangular warren of buildings
converted at various times into
much-needed improvements by
Allies and Morrison. Pressure on
space and facilities had become
acute. The centre, open seven
days a week fromearly morning
until late in the evening, is used
by great numbers of students
and professional performers,
and has to house around 80 staff.
tower, facingeast and visible
froma distance – particularly at
night when illuminated. Glass
balconies between landings act
as stretchingzones so from the
street you see silhouetted
dancers in motion, figures
superimposed one above the
other. This tower is the centre’s
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82|6
ou o eo d a o e
Artists’ Rifles, constructed in
1889 and listed by English
Heritage. A landmark in the
King’s Cross Partnership area, it
opens onto the tiny Georgian
oasis of Duke’s Road (built with
co e eda a ous es o
studios, classrooms and offices.
Equipped with money fromthe
National Lottery (through the
Arts Council) and a grant from
King’s Cross Partnership, The
Place has been undergoing
a d as o ousea ou d80 s a
Work is beingcarried out in
two phases. The first, now
completed, has provided a new
building to the north and east of
the triangle. Entrance is through
a three-storey glass fronted stair
o e s o e s ece e s
shop window, advertisingits
presence to the neighbourhood.
Landings lead to new studios
contained in abuildingto the
north hard up against the back
wall of ahotel block running
DANCE SCHOOL,
K ING’SCROSS, LONDON
A RCHITECT
ALLIESAND MORRISON
ARCHITECTS
1Glazed stair tower with stretchingareas, givesaccessto studios, right.2Lower ground floor studioscombined by foldingcentral dividingscreen away.3Interior skylit stair tower: landingsand glassbalconiesare used bystudentsfor meetingsand exercise.4Stair tower onto street. Dividingscreen of metal mesh from gkd.
Leading the danceA new extension to a famous dance centre in the King’s Cross district of London rationalizes a rather
difficult site, adds spacious new studios, and provides a shop window that establishes its presence locally.
1
2
3 [email protected] 73 -
alongEuston Road. There are
two large airy studios on each of
the two levels, and another pair
excavated out of the ground.
Every part of this workmanlike
scheme is permeated by the
quiet architectural intelligence
characteristic of this practice.
Fromthe beginning, the
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ground floor plan (scale approx 1:950)
84|6
architects worked closely with
their professional clients to work
out proportions and details (like
the specially designed studio
barres, in section shaped like an
inverted eggto make themeasier
to grasp correctly).
Studio walls on the north,
facingstraight onto the hotel, are
made of glass blocks which
diffuse light while maintaining
privacy; and these translucent
walls are supplemented
elsewhere by strategically placed
windows admittingthe exterior .
For the dancers these studios
are introverted places for
south-north crosssection
west-east longsection
lower ground floor plan
second floor plan
first floor planisometric
1 entranceandstair tower
2 new studio
3 modernizedstudio
4 theatre
5 bar
6 theatreentrance
7 box office
8 backstage
9 dressingroom
10 changingroom
11 office
DANCE SCHOOL, K ING’SCROSS, LONDON
A RCHITECT
ALLIESAND MORRISON ARCHITECTS
5Upper studio with glafrom Luxcrete to nor
Junckers sprungfloo
intense concentra
sense of claustro
dissipated by the
impression of lighreflection off spru
mirrored walls.
Services – venti
acoustic separatio
by the concrete st
lower ground floo
possible to elimina
central wall and re
foldingscreen to c
enormous space. T
included refurbish
generally tidyingu
building. Phase tw
work to the theat
completion by this
Architects
Allies and Morrison Arc
Project architects
BobAll ies, GrahamMo
Paul Appleton, Jo Baco
King, AdrianMorrow, Ja
Ralphs, PaulineStockm
Structural engineer
Price and Myers
Servicesengineer
Max Fordham& Partne
Photographs
DennisGilbert/VIEW
5
[email protected] 74 -
1Entrance front: blank and ratherforbiddingwith windowshiddenbehind thin natural oak strips. Carport for southern house penetratesfrom road to private gardens.2Entrance to upper (northern)house: axial route to privatenatural world.3Keepingasmany treesaspossiblewasone of the key aims of design.Northern house in foreground.4
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42|6
Oslo is one of the largest cities in the world
in terms of area. It stretches fromthe neo-
Classical core far up into the surrounding
hills, where suburbs and forest increasingly
blend. In the worst areas, this leads to
slummification of the wild, but in the best
parts, the two interact, bringinghumanity
and nature into creative conjunction. Lund
Hagem’s two attached houses at Furulund
are a prime example of such a dialogue.
The site is squarish, slopingfromnorth to
south, on a corner of two roads in an area
where nineteenth- and twentieth-century
villas are scattered lightly through the
woods. The basic plan of the new houses was
generated by the twin desire to preserve the
25 best trees on the plot, and to avoid
overlookingand overshadowingby existing
buildings. So the L-shaped houses are
arranged to open onto a double garden court
which is divided by a thick (partly storage)
wall which gives thema degree of pr ivacy
from each other. The garden courts face
south-west, into a wooded gap between
existingbuildings.
The houses are completely different in
plan. The upper (more northerly) one is
based on a corridor that runs at garden level,
double and single sided, south-west from the
entrance to a covered belvedere at the far
end of the garden. En route, it passes the
master bedroomon the left, and the main
family area which includes kitchen, diningand
sitting and is dominated by a large fireplace.
Next to this is a small flight of stairs which
leads down to a little private study. Above is
the children’s area, fromwhere a secret stair
in the chimney breast goes up to a roof
terrace above the livingarea.
The other house is fundamentally
organized round the half levels of its stair. It
has a car port tucked into its volume, and it
is entered fromthe same side as the
northern house. To the left is a double-
height study, and the stairs go down to the
TWO HOUSES, FURULUND,
OSLO, NORWAY
A RCHITECT
LUND HAGEM
IN NORWEGIAN WOODS
It may seem odd to start an issue on group housing with a pair of housesin an Oslo suburb, but these are so responsive to landscape, that theysuggest many possibilities for larger groupings of houses which could pay
similar attention to nature and human response to it.
Southern house: studio seen fromentrance.5Southern house: studio fromgarden.6Garden side of southern house.
1
2
3
4 5 [email protected] 75 -
TWO HOUSES, FURULUND,
OSLO, NORWAY
A RCHITECT
LUND HAGEM
north-south section through north house garage and south house
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44|6 lowest level (scale approx 1:370)
1 entrance
2 living/kitchen
3 mainbedroom
4 study
5 garage
6 studio
7 gallerymezzanine
8 children
9 childen’scommonroom
10 cellar
11 car port
entrance levels north-south crosssection through houses
upper [email protected] 76 -
7Fireplace in livingroom of northern house.8Stair in southern house isorganizingdevice for spatial flow.9Kitchen in southern house.10Garden side, southern house.11, 12Sittingarea, southern house, withlight washingover south wall, andwindow which bringstreesintoconversation.
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46|6
TWO HOUSES, FURULUND,
OSLO, NORWAY
A RCHITECT
LUND HAGEM
children’s level, where three sleeping
cabins with slidingdoors open off the
communal area. They look out onto the
garden court, to which each has access
through the glass wall. If, instead of going
down to the children’s floor, you go up, you
arrive in the livingarea, which is the spatial
tour de force of the whole affair. Tall and
long, it looks north towards the garden, but
gains much of its atmosphere from a
continuous rooflight which pours
luminance down the largely blank south
wall. A wide and generous bench follows
the light and turns at the south end to form
the base of the fireplace which again
dominates the sittingarea. Just at the turn,
a large window is suddenly cut low into the
wall to look out point blank into the
branches of a fine mature birch tree, which
gives the space privacy fromthe road. A
further flight up fromthis level is the main
bedroom, slungover the car port where
there is access to the mezzanine of the
study. Another short stair leads to the
private roof terrace over the livingarea.
Construction is lightweight concrete
block, rendered outside and in, with internal
surfaces lightly dragged to give themtexture.
Upper floors on the entrance (east) side are
clad in thin natural oak strips of varying
length and thickness; behind are small
windows which get some light and glimpses
of view through the slits. The effect fromthe
road is dark and a little austere, but once the
wooden entrance doors are open, the spaces
are welcoming, with floors of solid oiled ash,
slate and oiled concrete, ash joinery and light
birch slatted ceilings.
Of course, such finishes would be
impossible in less expensive houses, as would
all the many subtle manoevres in plan and
section. But the thoughtfulness with which
site and family needs have been related do
repay study, and could informhousingon a
considerably larger scale. P.D.
Architect
LundHagemArkitekter AS, Oslo
Project team
SveinLund, KarineDenizou,
Arvid Pedersen, AndreasPoulsson
Photographs
EspenGrønli, Jir i Havran,
Morten Brun, SveinLund
7 8
9
10
11 [email protected] 77 -
In southern Arizona, close to the
Mexican border, landscape and
sky collide in an exhilarating
rush of space and light. This
elevated desert area is known
for its awesome summer
lightningstorms and very clear
night skies (accountingfor the
presence of several astronomical
observatories) Within this
His clients were acouple from
Ohio who had spent their
holidays in the Southwest and
become seduced by its vast,
primeval landscapes to the point
of commissioninga retirement
home. Covered with scrub,
native mesquite trees and low
wild grasses, the desert site
slopesgentlydownto thesouth
telescope platform(the husband
is aformer radio astronomer and
the site was selected as much for
its night-time view of crystal clear
skies as daytime panoramas). All
this had to be contained on a
single floor.
Joy’s response was to carve a
level shelf into the hill, defined by
two U-shapedretainingwalls
nudge into each other, with a
linear courtyard occupyingthe
intermediate space. Fromthe
approach road, only the glazed
ends of the sheds are visible
above the ground; at night these
become glowingabstract forms,
apparently hoveringin space. A
gravel-covered garden spiked
withplumpcactiflanksthe
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TOUCHING NATUREEncased in a carapace of weathered steel, a retirement house in the spectacular
splendour of the Arizona desert appears part of its raw, elemental, landscape.
1The gently angulroof mimic the todistant mountain2Embedded in thepresentsa modeapproach road.3The shed-like vohouse and itssmaenclose an interm4Courtyard is lanprecise fashion, wand calm poolso5A weathered carsteel claddingen
observatories). Within this
extraordinary natural arena, Rick
Joy has built ahouse, atautly
graphic composition of glass and
planes of hoary, rusted steel that
sits lightly and low on the ground,
like alizard baskingon arock.
slopes gently down to the south.
In the distance, snow-capped
mountains delicately frame the
horizon. Apart fromthe usual
livingand guest spaces, the clients
requested two studies, areas for
entertainment and an optical
two U shaped retainingwalls
skewed towards one another.
This establishes adatumfor the
house. The retainingwalls form
the ends of two shed-like
volumes (the main dwellingand a
smaller guest house) that gently
with plump cacti flanks the
entrance. To get in, you descend
through astair wedged in the
cleft between the two retaining
walls, to emerge in the
tranquillity of the courtyard
below. Pools of water and
HOUSE, ARIZONA, USA
A RCHITECT
RICK JOY
1
2
3
4 [email protected] 78 -
mesquite trees provide cooling
shade and the fragrant vegetation
attracts hummingbirds and
butterflies. The very precise
detailingof the courtyard –
concrete paving, crisply
rectilinear planters and cubic
volumes of water – expresses
the controlled, man-made
character of the house against
courtyard, the main livingspace is
alongbar with acovered porch
at its far end overlookingthe
swimmingpool. To the rear is the
master bedroom and bathroom
and twin studies, which face the
courtyard but also overlook a
smaller private patio and pool,
enclosed by the retainingwall.
Each window exactly focuses and
refinement of the interior. Used
extensively in farmbuildings and
structures, rusted steel is a
common sight in the Arizona
countryside. Because of the
intensely dry climate, steel
weathers quickly but does not
rust through, so it was not
necessary to use costly
proprietary types of oxydized
palette. Slidinggla
heighten the conn
exterior and assis
ventilation, althou
is also air conditio
house extends the
tradition of dome
yet powerfully roo
landscape, it is als
nuances of arema
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1 courtyard
2 entrance
3 living
4 kitchen
5 pantry
6 bedroom
7 study
8 workshop
9 garage
10 porch
11 pool12 guest house
crosssection
ground floor plan (scale approx 1:400)
g
the rawness and unpredictability
of nature. At the west end of the
courtyard, aswimmingpool
extends the vistatowards the far
distant horizon.
The house’s organization
emphasizes the connection with
the exterior, as internal and
external spaces meld fluidly wi th
one other. Flanked by the
y
frames aparticular view; some
windows are set flush with the
steel surface, some are box-like
protrusions, some unglazed cut-
outs. The smaller guest wingalso
houses agarage and aplatform
for an optical telescope.
Joy likens the house to ageode,
the coarseness of the rough steel
exterior contrastingwith the
p p y yp y
steel cladding. From adistance,
the rough, red carapace of the
house is astrongyet familiar
presence, resonatingwith the
hues of the desert. Inside, white
plaster walls and black polished
concrete floors impart a simple,
understated elegance. Pale maple,
sandblasted glass and stainless
steel complete the interior
Architect
Rick Joy, Tucson, USA
Project team
Rick Joy, Andy Tinucci, F
ChelseaG rassinger
Structural engineer
Southwest Structural En
Mechanical engineer
OtterbeinEngineering
Photography
Jeff Goldberg/Esto
HOUSE, ARIZONA, USA
A RCHITECT
RICK JOY
6Carefully placed openingsframe,focusand edit viewsof the vastlandscape beyond.7Main livingand diningspaces.8An enclosed terrace and sensuouspool terminate the west end of themain house.
7
8
6
[email protected] 79 -
Today more than ever the small
house serves as atestingground
for architectural ideas. In few
places is the ground so testing, so
expensive, crowded, and prone to
tremors, as central Tokyo.
And in few societies are ideas
and, it might be added, trends so
tenaciously pursued as in
contemporary Japan. Kazuyo
URBAN HOUSE, TOKYO, JAPAN
A R CHITECT
K AZUYO SEJIMA & ASSOCIATES
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34|7
Sejima’s Small House is easily
found at the end of ashort cul-de-
sac in Tokyo’s affluent Aoyama
district. It ’s aminiature tower
containing77 square metres of
floor areaon an allowable imprint
of 36 (the site measures 60
square metres in its entirety).
The house is wrapped in
opalescent glass and galvanizedsteel with avein-like standing
seam. Fromthe lane, there are
only glimpses of life through the
house’s western translucent zone
and occasional small transparent
panels. Furthermore, the clients
claimthey did not want expansive
views out, as the house overlooks
the Sony establishment where the
husband works as aproduct
designer. A vertical pavilion
almost touchingits easterly
neighbour, the house bulges in
the middle, then tapers in
towards the roof (aspace-age
mansard?) and down towards the
entrance. There the slope inward
accommodates – to the
centimetre – the family’s silver-grey Hondavan.
To south and east, the skin is
mostly opaque and hides several
service hatches. It is made almost
entirely of glass; however, to the
back and to the west, a
landlocked lot belongingto an
adjacent temple provides Sejima’s
clients with views of greenery
and, metaphorically at least, some
breathingspace. The buildingis
structured about an open steel
shaft with inner spiral stairs; both
are painted white. Each floor
spreads fromthis trunk to rest on
thin steel tubes slanted at varying
JAPANESE MINIATUREWith extraordinary invention and ingenuity, Kazuyo Sejima fits this tiny house
into the densely woven, indifferent texture of downtown Tokyo. Curiously, forall its apparent wilfulness, it draws its origins from its very tight site.
1A space-age mansard?2
Form of house is generated byrightsof light regulations.3House becomestransparent at theback, overlookingtemple grounds.4Constant interplay betweentranslucency and transparency.5Open steel shaft core.1
2 3 4
[email protected] 80 -
angles about the perimeter. The
outer skin is simply laid against
this cage. Ground level entry
steps are formed fromafolded
plane of concrete; external metal
rungs provide service access to
the roof above.
The architect has divided the
programme into four distinct
elements. In asemi-basement is
th t ’ ith t
terrace that looks across the
empty lot to the towers of
Shinjuku in the middle distance.
The chamfered formof the
Small House results partially
from neighbourhood zoningand
sunlight demands: it’s a
miniature cousin to Hugh
Ferriss’s 1920s images of
metropolitan massing. The
t d id h
In aclimate prone to chilly
winters and warm, rainy
summers, the Small House has
only afew operable windows,
mostly to the east. It is expected
to act as an inhabited flue, warm
air risingto be expelled upstairs.
Floor- to-ceilingexpanses of glass
are screened by thin slips of white
curtain. Sejima’s independent
k dth ti i ti ith
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36|7
the parents’ roomwith storage
recessed beneath the clerestorey
fenestration and atiny lavatory.
Raised slightly above street level
is the hall and guest bedroom. On
the piano nobile – the broadest
and tallest space – are kitchen,
diningand livingquarters (one
shelf has an eye-catchingdisplay
of recent Sony products). Thehouse terminates in abipartite
zone with acomparatively grand
bathroomand an enclosed roof
canted sides are however
determined more by Sejima’s
strategy of stacking, astrategy
shared by such current vanguard
projects as MVRDV’s Dutch
Pavilion at the Hanover EXPO
(AR September 2000). In Sejima’s
work, the envelope becomes
fabric stretchingbetween
differently-sized slabs. The floorsthemselves are concrete, held
between an ingeniously
engineered steel cage.
basement (scale approx 1:120)
ground floor plan
north section south section
1 parking
2 entrance
3 guest
4 ki tchen
5 living/dining
6 mainbath7 enclosedterrace
8 mainbed
9 light court
6House terminatesin bipartite zonewith grand bathroom and enclosedroof terrace.7Fundamentally, house is aninhabited flue.
URBAN HOUSE, TOKYO, JAPAN
A RCHITECT
K AZUYO SEJIMA & ASSOCIATES
work, and that in association with
Ryue Nishizawa, is marked by
ostensibly contradictory
characteristics: it appears both
functionalist and natural,
machine-like yet so delicate as to
be almost ephemeral. With the
large glass panels tiltingin both
horizontal and vertical directions,
the Small House seems less like atree house and more like atree
itself, aweepingwillow perhaps.
RAYMUND RYAN
first floor plan
second floor plan
Architect
Kazuyo Sejima& Associates, Tokyo
Project team
Kazuyo Sejima, YoshitakaT anase, Shoko Fukuya
Structural engineer
Sasaki Structur al Consultants
Photographs
Courtesy of Shinkenchiku-Sha
6
[email protected] 81 -
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42|8
Honeycomb, fl ies’ eyes, fr ogspawn, cuckoo-
spit – choose your organic simile. Built to
contain biological specimens, the biomes of
the Eden Project look like giant biological
specimens themselves, some kind of fungus
fromouter space, perhaps, fruitingweirdly
in this worked out Cornish china clay-pit.
The design seems to have been inspired by
natural and/or science fiction images but,though some Grimshaw buildings are indeed
image-inspired, in this case the impression is
misleading. The inspiration was not what
nature looks like but how it works, its
processes and structures. The fact that the
Eden Project is a ready-made set for
Quatermass and the Pit has been useful in the
marketingof the whole enterprise, but it
was a by-product rather than the starting
point of the design.
The greenhouses had to be s
unshaded strip at the foot of t
north side of the pit. The first
linear, lean-to structure rathe
Grimshaw’s International Ter
Waterloo station (AR Septem
formposed a number of prob
For one thingthe three-dime
of the site, far more complicalevel curve of W aterloo, mea
difficult to use cheap, standar
components. To make matte
ground profile was constantly
duringthe development of the
because the site had not yet b
by the client and was still bein
long-span, arched structure w
heavy, bulky and difficult to c
the pit. It would also have cas
EDENPROJECT, CORNWALL, ENGLAND
A RCHITECT
NICHOLASGRIMSHAW & PARTNERS
1The bug-eyed geodesic domesof the HumidTropics Biome appear to engulf the grassroof of the café housed in the link building.2Like huge soap bubblesin the C ornishlandscape, the interlinked domeshave abeguiling(but deceptive) fragility.
EDEN REGAINEDSpectacularly colonizing a Cornish china clay-pit, the Eden Project is a monumental palm house for the
twenty-first century, its ingeniously engineered biomes inspired by natural processes and structures. comparative drawingshowingsection through the Humid T ropicsBiome and Kew Palm House
1
2
[email protected] 82 -
3Open ventilation panelsform a jaggedline alongthe biomes’ curved profile.4Café terrace and link building, withWarm T emperate Biome beyond.5Detail of biome roof structure, withquarry cliffsbehind. The buildingoccupiesa worked-out china clay-pit.6, 7The smaller Warm Temperate Biome.
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44|8
shadows on the plants inside. A more
promising alternative was a much lighter and
more economical geodesic dome, but it had
the wrongplan-formand would have been
impossible to divide up into different zones.
The idea of a line of smaller, intersecting
geodesic domes was arrived at late in the
day, but it solved all the problems at once
and made the project possible.
It works like this: take a row of spheres of
different sizes, made like footballs out of
two-dimensional hexagons and pentagons,
and squash theminto one another, forming
perfect circles where they intersect. Then
squash the whole row into the site, in the
angle between the cliff and the quarry
bottom. Circles become arches, and the
hexagons and pentagons are removed as
necessary around the perimeter to
accommodate the irregular ground profile.
Structural components, mainly of tubular
steel joined by spherical nodes, are identical
in each dome and small enough to be easilyhandled. These are not conventional domes
in that they exhibit tensile as well as
compressive structural behaviour. The
outer compressive grid is linked by
tetrahedrons to an inner tensile grid. The
double grid is necessary because the lattice
steel arches break the continuity of the
structure. For the same reason, the domes
were not self-supportingduringerection but
had to be assembled froma temporary
scaffold so bigthat it has enteredThe
Guinness Book of Records . This is a slight
disappointment for techno-organicists
raised on Buckminster Fuller (nature does
not use scaffolding), but there is nothing
heavy or awkward about the finished
structure. The geodesic grid i s scaled
accordingto the size of each dome and
except in the smallest dome, where it
becomes rather dense, the effect is
amazingly light for such enormous spans. At
the junctions with the arches, the grid is
adapted ad hoc, creatingirr egular
geometrical shapes. Architecturally, this
may seema wor ryinginconsistency, but it is
exactly what happens in nature when, for
example, the hexagonal grid of veins in a
dragonfly’s wingmeets a leadingedge or a
structural spar. The largest hexagons are 11macross and
therefore impossible to span with a single
sheet of glass, especially since it would have
to be double glazed and toughened. The
lightness of the structural grid is made
possible by a new high tech material –
ethyltetrafluorethylene foil (E
light, transparent, flexible film
membrane cushions which ar
by a constant low pressure ai
Because they were formed an
the ETFE cushions could adap
geometrical variations withou
complicated schedulingor pro
planning. The biomes are bea
structures because they are e
structures – a kind of beauty
nature but rare in architectur
Like their humbler horticul
however, they also have a rug
practicality. The branchingne
flexible air-supply pipes, for e
clipped to the structural stee
no attempt at concealment. T
ventilatingsystemsimply con
standingair handlers in ordin
boxes placed at intervals arou
perimeter, pokingtheir twin
straight through the walls of tSuch artless functionalismis e
though the heavy duty adjusta
louvres associated with the d
perhaps a litt le too clumsy, th
linearity stubbornly at odds w
of the geodesic grid.
EDEN PROJECT, CORNWALL, ENGLAND
A R CHITECT
NICHOLASGRIMSHAW & PARTNERS
3 5
4
76
[email protected] 83 -
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46|8
site plan
EDEN PROJECT, CORNWALL, ENGLAND
A RCHITECT
NICHOLASGRIMSHAW & PARTNERS
8Hexagonal roof structure underconstruct ion, givingsome sense of the
enormity of the scale.
longitudinal section
roof plan (scale approx 1:1500)
A siteaccessro
B park ing
C coachparking
D disabledpark
E HumidTropi
F link building/c
G Warm Temp
H visitors’ centr
1 HumidTropicsBiome
2 air handlingunits
3 link building/café
4 rooflightsaboveplant
holdingarea
5 Warm TemperateBiome
typical roof node detail [email protected] 84 -
But once inside the enormous bubbles of
the Humid Tropics Biome, such details are
insignificant. A windinggravel path climbs up
through what will be a dense forest (the
plantingis still immature) to a big, noisy
waterfall. Though we can never quite
imagine that this is a r eal rainforest, it is
nevertheless a unique spatial experience,
certainly more like nature than architecture.
The sheer size of the enclosure, the word
‘biome’ and the very name ‘Eden Project’ all
architecture, though the technology is
exactly the same.
In early versions of the design, the
entrance to the biomes was housed in a
chain of very small domes. This proved to be
too fussy and expensive, but it was hard to
imagine any kind of conventional building
that would look comfortable between the
bigdomes. The answer was to bury the
buildingin the ground, reducingit to a few
simple planes – a curved, grass-covered
bridge through a richly cultivated open air
theatre – the ‘roofless biome’. Compared
with the biomes, which express a compelling
engineeringlogic, the ancillary structures
seemrather sketchy and artificial. The
arrival building(AR August 2000), for
example, which houses shops, cafés and
offices, is elegant and well planned but its
use of materials like shingles, rammed earth
(taken fromthe clay-pit) and gabions, seems
more like a symbol of green construction
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48|8
lead you to expect a complete ecosystem,
or at least an approximation of one, but it
soon becomes clear that this i s really just a
botanical garden, the PalmH ouse at Kew
writ large. There are no animals, apart from
the crowds of people. The neighbouring
WarmTemperate Biome is smaller and
more comfortable, not just because it is
relatively cool and dry, but because thestructure of the domes is close enough to
give it scale. It feels more human, more like
roof, a glass curtain wall and an entrance
bridge leadingto a first floor concourse
overlookingrestaurants below. Another
curved, linear, earthbound buildingforms an
artificial crest high on the opposite ledge of
the pit. Visitors arrive at the back of this
buildingfrom the cascade of car parks
beyond, pay their entrance fees and emerge
onto a terrace, cameras at the ready fortheir first view of the whole site. Fromhere
they make their way down to the entrance
than the real thing.
But then the Eden Project is not an
architectural expo: it is a theatre in which
humankind’s relationship with the plant
world is dramatized. The specimen plants
are magnificent, the garden arrangements
are imaginative and the scale is breathtaking.
The crowds in the biomes soon forget about
the delicate net archinghigh over theirheads. They have come to look at the plants,
not the greenhouses. COLIN DAVIES
Architect
NicholasGr imshaw &Partners, London
Project team
NicholasGr imshaw, Andrew Whalley, Jolyon Brewis,
Vincent Chang, David Kirkland, Michael Pawlyn, Jason
Ahmed, VanessaBartulovic, DeanBoston, Chri sBri eger,
Antje Bulthaup, AmandaD avis, FlorianEckardt, Alex Haw,
Perry Hooper, Bill Horgan, Oliver Konrath, Angelika
Kovacic, QuintinLake, Richard Morrell, Tim Narey, Monica
Niggemeyer, KillianO ’Sullivan, DebraPenn, MartinPir nie,
JuanPorral-Hermida, MustafaSalman, TanSuLing
Structural engineer
AnthonyHunt Associates
Servicesengineer
OveArup &Partners
Landscaping
Land UseC onsultants
Glasslouvres
M&V
Photographs
All photographswere byPeter Cook/VIEW except no 7by
Chris Gascoigne/VIEW
EDEN PROJECT, CORNWALL, ENGLAND
A RCHITECT
NICHOLASGRIMSHAW & PARTNERS
9Filled with luxuriant vegetation, theinterior of the Humid TropicsBiomeisa lush expanse of greenery.10The delicate net of the roof gracefullyencloses the planting.11Like a heroically-engineered set out of
a science fiction film, the Eden Projectisboth surreal and breathtaking.
9
10
[email protected] 85 -
w s
e n l a r g e d ,
n g e n u i t y
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M o d e r n i s t m
e w
A d i m i n u t i v e m e w s h o u s e i n L o n d o n b u i l t i n t h e 1 9 7 0 s
h a s b e e n e
t r a n s f o r m e d w i t h e l e g a n c e a n d a g r e a
t d e a l o f i n
An ingenious scheme, by Ziggurat,
for extendingatiny mews house
in South Kensington, enlarges the
vertical dimension and uses light
to draw out the horizontal.
The original house was built as
one of apair in the 1970s, on
derelict land. Stuccoed externally
to accord with its Victorian
neighbours, the house was one
storey high with four rooms and
verylittlenaturallight Thefront
the floor level several feet, and
created adouble-height volume
with aroof that curves away from
the street, so that externally the
buildingseems unchanged. A glass
wall marks division between the
house and atiny courtyard,
painted white to become an
exterior roomdiffusingluminance
back into the house. Ziggurat has
cleverly established ashifting
diagonalaxisthroughtheplan
At the front of the new volume,
the architects installed agallery
containingsleepingquarters. The
bedroomis partly enclosed by a
cut-out wall, painted mint green,
and looks onto a double-height
diningroomset under the
reflective curve of the new roof.
Beneath the gallery is aliving
roomand small kitchen; and fitted
under the stairs to the bedroomis
acurveddeskformingatinystudy
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84|7
MEWSHOUSEEXTENSION,
SOUTH K ENSINGTON, LONDON
A R CHITECT
ZIGGURAT
1 entrance
2 bedroom
3 bathroom
4 kitchen
5 living
6 dining
7 study
8 courtyard
gallery plan
south-north longsection
ground floor plan and internal elevation (scale approx 1:100)
very little natural light. The front
of the building, with bedroom,
bathroom, entrance lobby and
hall, was retained with some
remodelling; the remainder of the
buildingwas virtually demolished.
Behind the existing remnant,
Ziggurat excavated and lowered
2Diningroom, stairsto gallerybedroom and television recessedinto wall under stairs.3, 5Diningtable and slidingdoor tocourtyard is one assembly.4Diningroom under curved ceiling.Bedroom gallery above.
diagonal axis through the plan,
fromthe entrance and hall on the
south-west side of the buildingto
the radiant white courtyard. The
progression through the house is
one fromdimness to bright light,
fromenclosed space to its sudden
dramatic expansion and colour.
acurved desk formingatiny study.
To have inserted so much drama
and delight into such asmall space
is an achievement, and the scheme
has been executed with agreat
deal of elegance. Materials are
simple – painted walls and abeech
floor flowinginto concrete as it
approaches the co
the composition, w
clarity of an early M
is sharpened by us
and there. Details
intriguing: the dini
part of aslidingdo
courtyard, the sinu
bench, like a piece
liningand seeming
courtyard wall, an
door to the kitche
simultaneously tur
cupboard.
Architect
Ziggurat, London
Project architects
Andrei Bowbelski, Jame
LaurenceGuerrini, Aret
Structural engineers
Whitby Bird and Partne
Photographs
JamesMorris
2
3 5
4
5
[email protected] 87 -
Immediately behind the BrandenburgGate l ies
Pariser Platz (AR January 1999), the great
urban piazzathat terminates the triumphal
axis of Unter den Linden. Before the War, it
was the grandest square in Berlin, site of the
American and French embassies, the Adlon
Hotel, the Akademie der Künste and blocks of
luxurious flats and offices. After the War and
the Wall, it was laid waste and became part of
Berlin’s deadly no-man’s land. Since German
reunification it has been rebuilt in an attempt
toemulatethespirit ofits grandurbanpast
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50|8
to emulate the spirit of its grand urban past,
with new embassies, hotels, and office blocks
slotted back into the original street pattern.
The rules of reconstruction, which stipulate
constraints such as eaves heights, proportions
and materials (obligatory stone cladding), do
not allow much scope for formal experiment.
The result is that Pariser Platz’s new
occupants resemble acollection of ratherbland, expensively dressed guests mingling
politely at an upmarket cocktail party. The
introduction of Frank Gehry into the mix
might in theory be calculated to induce an
element of raciness and unpredictability, but
he too has been obliged to conformto the
dress code. BeingGehry however, he has still
managed to springafew surprises.
The genesis of the project dates back to
1995, when Gehry’s competition entry for
Berlin’s histor ic MuseumIsland was under
consideration. At that time, the DG Bank
invited himand six others to produce a
proposal for the bank’s new Berlin
headquarters. The brief included financial
offices, apartments and semi-autonomous
conference spaces that could be hired out to
corporate clients. Gehry did not prevail in the
museumcompetition, but his design for the
DG Bank won unanimous approval.
The site lies on the south side of the square,
in the middle of Pariser Platz’s evolvingurban
jigsaw. The rectangular block is hemmed in on
its longsides by Behnisch’s new Akademie der
Künste and Moore Ruble Yudell’s American
Embassy, with the short ends overlooking
Pariser Platz and Behrenstrasse. The
organization of the new buildingis alogical
response to the constraints of site and brief.
A necklace of office spaces extends around
three sides of the perimeter, enclosinga huge
atriumspace (of which more later). The
residential annexe, which has its own separate
entrance, is placed on the fourth side
overlookingBehrenstrasse and asite that will
eventually house the Memorial to the
Murdered Jews of Europe. Flats range in size
1New DG B ank headquartersin theshadow of the BrandenburgGate.2Massive bank facade exudesanaustere monumentality thatconveyslittle sense of life within.3Breathtakingmain atrium.
GEHRY’S GEODEThe new DG Bank headquarters in Berlin forms part of the wider and
ongoing reconstruction of Pariser Platz – but its urban sobriety hides a
rich inner life, animated by the interplay of light, form and materials.
BANK OFFICES&FLATS, BERLIN, GERMANY
A RCHITECT
FRANK O. GEHRY
3location plan
1
2
[email protected] 88 -
fromstudios to larger maisonettes and are
separated fromthe offices by an elliptical void
enclosed by aswir ling, shimmeringglass wall
suspended fromthe roof that cascades down
toapoolbelow Two glazedliftsglideupand
bank facade is almost as shockingin its solid,
rationalist monumentality as Gehry’s
signature sinuousness and its extreme weight
and abstraction only serve to show up the
flimsinessofthesurroundingpastiche
enclosed by adelicate steel and glass lattice,
improbably morphed and warped to forma
barrel-vaulted roof canopy that curves in two
directions. W ithin the atriumis a free-
standingstructurelikeagianthorse’shead
BANK OFFICES&FLATS, BERLIN, GERMANY
A RCHITECT
FRANK O. GEHRY
4Ripplingconcertina facade of the apartmentblock stepsback asit rises.5Windowsare punched deep into the bank wall.Blade-like glassbalustradesenclose terraces.6Atrium is framed by a gridded arcade.
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52|8
to apool below. Two glazed lifts glide up and
down through the void like air bubbles.
Gehry has clearly taken the Pariser Platz
dress code to heart; both bank and apartment
facades are models of sobriety and severity.
The apartment block is marginally less
austere, steppingback as it r ises over 10
storeys with faceted bay windows like
concertinas animatingthe wall plane. But themain bank facade overlookingPariser Platz is
an utterly plain, utterly stripped down
composition of creamy buff limestone (to
match the BrandenburgGate) and glass.
Openings are punched into the stone to
create deeply recessed windows that slide
back at the touch of a button to reveal
terraces enclosed by blade-like glass
balustrades. Clad in 4 inch thick stone, the
flimsiness of the surroundingpastiche.
Ironically, in Berlin’s traumatized cityscape,
such solidity also embodies areassuringsense
of permanence and institutional stability,
doubtless important concerns for Gehry’s
banker clients. (‘The bank guys loved it’, he
observed, ‘although it cost themalot of
money to do it’.)
Sadly, most Berliners will never see beyondthis massive stone wall to the real dramaand
spatial pyrotechnics within. Radically
upturninghis expressive gestural vocabulary
and relocatingit to the interior, Gehry has
had to pour his design into the cavity of the
perimeter block. Here, Californian ad-hocism
meets the European masterplan. The inside is
scooped out to forman immense atrium–
allegedly one of the largest in the world –
standingstructure like agiant horses head
rearingand writhingthrough the space.
Encased in athin skin of stainless steel, this
extraordinary object contains aconference
chamber. The inner surface is lined with strips
of red oak (finely perforated for acoustic
reasons), so beinginside the chamber is like
beingcocooned inside acontorted ship’s hull.
The regimented orthogonality of the exteriorextends to the perimeter offices, which are
edged by aseries of arcades lined with red-
oak veneer. Fromthese vantage points, the
squirmingbiological specimen of the
conference chamber can be fully appreciated.
Beneath the shell of the chamber is a
basement level containingalecture theatre,
alongwith the bank’s cafeteria and alarge
foyer; these can be combined to create a
BANKOFFICESANDFLATS, BERLIN,
GERMANY
A RCHITECT
FRANK O. GEHRY
7Offices are arranged around perimeter,overlookingawrithinghorse’sheadconference chamber and glassroof enclosing
staff cafeteriaat lower ground level.8Staff cafeteria, which can also be used asabanquetingand meetingspace.9Clad in a thin skin of burnished steel, theconference chamber appearsto float inthe vast space.10Seductive play of form and materials.
4 5 6
7 9
8 10
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longitudinal section
BANK OFFICES&FLATS, BERLIN, GERMANY
A RCHITECT
FRANK O. GEHRY
11Inside warped hull of conference chamber.
crosssection54|8 lower ground floor plan ground floor plan (scale approx 1:1000) first floor plan
fourth floor plan fifth floor plan ninth floor plan
1 staffcafeteria
2 executivedining
3 kitchen
4 foyer
5 lecturetheatre
6 rampto parkingbelow
7 bank entrance
8 bank offices
9 conferencechamber
10 apartmentsentrance
11 lift lobby
12 apartments
11
[email protected] 90 -
BANK OFFICES&FLATS, BERLIN, GERMANY
A RCHITECT
FRANK O. GEHRY
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generous space suitable for banquets and
meetings. Another warped glass canopy,smaller cousin to the main roof, encloses
these spaces allowing light to percolate down
to the lower levels. (During the course of site
excavations Albert Speer’s bunker was
discovered, but no trace of it now remains.)
As with Gehry’s other projects, the
translation of initial ideas to built form is
achieved through a design and construction
process that combines sophisticated
computer software programs with a craftapproach to building. Initial generative
sketches, which defy conventional logic and
geometry, must be painstakingly interpreted
as a precise system of co-ordinates and
known structural and material properties.
Gehry develops his ideas slowly, from rough
drawings through an exhaustive series of
handmade models. Using the Catia program
to represent complex three-dimensional
objects, these crude wood and cardboardmock-ups are scanned into the computer and
digitally translated back into working models
and drawings. Employed as an instrument of
translationratherthangenerativedevice,the
manipulation of that which cannot otherwise
be drawn. In this case, unusually, the exteriorpresented no such challenges, but the glass
roofs and conference chamber proved tests of
design and manufacturing ingenuity. The
triangulated space frame of the roof is made
up of solid stainless steel rods that form six
pointed stars screwed into nodal connectors.
The complex geometry of the roof meant that
the rods meet at different angles, so to match
them precisely, the nodal connectors were
cut from 70mm-thick stainless steel plate bycomputer-controlled milling machines. The
frame is infilled by 1500 triangular glazing
panels bedded on neoprene gaskets. The
conference chamber is clad in a 2mm skin of
brushed stainless steel plates (basic
dimensions 2m x 4m) stretched and fashioned
by skilled boatbuilders to accommodate the
conflation of complex, bulbous forms.
Superficially, this might well appear a
conservative building, but clearly it is anythingbut. In the extreme and startling contrast
between its outer and inner life, it resembles
some kind of weird rock or geode that, split
open,revealsaspectacular mineralformation.
metaphor for Berlin – beneath the haughty
Prussian exterior lies decadence anddebauchery – but after all it is only a bank and
the morphological conspicuousness of the
conference spaces is perhaps as much to do
with commercial viability as being vehicles of
architectural imagination. Yet in the decorou
context of Pariser Platz, it is definitely one of
the more unorthodox and welcome guests.
CATHERINE SLESSO
Architect
Gehry Partners, Santa Monica, USA
Project team
Frank O. Gehry, Randy Jefferson, Craig Webb, Marc Salette,
Tensho Takemori, Laurence Tighe, Eva Sobesky,
George Metzger, Jim Dayton, John Goldsmith, Jorg Ruegeme
Scott Uriu, Jeff Guga, Michael Jobes, Kirk Blaschke,
Nida Chesonis, Tom Cody, Leigh Jerrard, Tadao Shimizu,
Rick Smith, Bruce Shepard
Associate architect
Planungs AG – Neufert Mittmann Graf
Structural engineers
Ingenieur Büro Müller Marl
Schlaich Bergermann & PartnerServices engineer
Brandi Ingenieure
Facade consultant
Planungsbüro für Ingenieurleistungen
Photographs
All photographs by Christian Richters apart from 1 and 5
materiMUSEUM, SHIKOKU, JAPAN
A RCHITECT
NAITO ARCHITECT & ASSOCIATES
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Makino Museumof Plants and
People is spread over the gentle
slopes of Mt Godai above Kochi
City on the island of Shikoku.
Designed by Naito Ar chitect &
Associates, the place is dedicated
to the memory of Tomitaro
Makino, eminent scholar andfather of Japanese botany. This
inspiration, the museum’s
botanical purpose, and the fact
that Kochi Prefecture is an
important timber-producing
region, suggested wood as the
main material for construction,
and Naito’s manipulation of it has
produced structures of
extraordinary poetic power.
Because of complex land
ownership the museumwas split
into two parts: amuseumwith
research facilities
exhibition hall; w
linked by a170m
To disturb the
little as possible,
are low and sinuo
organic forms hug
mountain contouseemalmost apa
topography. Such
little resistance to
winds to which th
exposed and con
account of the re
occasionally seve
Neither buildingi
surroundingtree
The site, an ang
stretches across t
fromthe museum
the laboratory on
Double curvatureA museum on the island of Shikoku, Japan, hugs the contours of its mountain
site and celebrates the organic through form, materials and contents.
1Upper deck of main buildingwith centralocal silvery cypresssilver roof of zinc andsteel.2Exterior of exhibitio3Exhibition room of ebuilding.
site plan: museum to left, exhibition hall to right
1
2 3
[email protected] 92 -
buildings, each on plan lookinglike afossil, wrap round acentral
courtyard and are covered with
continuously curvingroofs. Spun
round the courtyards are
galleries, cafés, meetingrooms,
offices and so on. The museumis
equipped with a laboratory,
library and studies.
Enclosingthe buildings with
sinuous walls of reinforced
concrete, hollow steel sections
formridges eavesandcolumns
exhibition hall section
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76|8
formridges, eaves and columns,
spanningbetween ridges and
eaves with laminated wooden
beams of Douglas fir. The roofs’
complex geometry meant that
each beamis different,
connected at the ridge by cast
metal joints which allow forvariations in angle. During
design, wind-tunnel tests,
simulatingthe effects of asevere
typhoon, were carried out,
exertingapressure of over aton
per square metre on parts of the
roofs and building frames
adjusted accordingly. Roofs are
typhoon-proof with laminated
panels of zinc and stainless steel,
their unique dimensions and
forms achieved by computer-
aided design. As afurther
precaution against Kochi’s winds
and rain, the architects devised a
special gutteringsystembetween
each panel.
Sensually the interiors and
exteriors of the buildings are
distinct. Externally, the smoothsilvery forms of the roofs emerge
fromvegetation in serpentine
manner. Internally, the
wonderful scale and articulations
of the sweepingroof dominate.
Unlike its cool external carapace,
its underside is warmand red,
sheathed in the inner surfaces of
Kochi-grown Japanese cedar
(sugi ). The upper level of the
main museumbuildingextends
out onto a deck where the wood
changes in response to the roof
covering, to local silvery
Japanese cypress (hinoki ). P. M.
Architect
Naito Ar chitect & Associates, Tokyo
Project architects
Hiroshi N aito, NobuharuK awamura, TetsuyaKambayashi, DaijirouTakakusa,
TakuYoshikawa
Structural engineer
Kunio W atanabe, Structural D esignGroup
Photographs
Kazunori Hiruta/Naito Architect &
Associates
museum section
upper level plan of museum
exhibition hall plan
museum ground floor plan (scale approx 1:750)
1 mainentrance
2 deck
3 shop-restaurant
4 audio-visualhall
5 meetingroom
6 gallery
7 studio
8 study
9 machineroom
10 Japanesero om
11 office
12 laboratory
13 library
14 book stacks
15 storage
16 courtyard
17 lecturehall
MUSEUM, SHIKOKU
A RCHITECT
NAITO ARCHITECT
4Interiorsare dominatedsweepingwooden roof.
[email protected] 93 -
1Vertiginously poised on the crest of arocky escarpment, the house forcefullyinhabitsthe landscape.2The long legof the L-shaped plan,containing the main living, diningandkitchen spaces, pointswestwardsover thecliff edge.3
HOUSE, SOUTHERNHIGHLANDS,
NSW, AUSTRALIA
ARCHITECT
HARRY SEIDLER& ASSOCIATES
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One of the few Modernists of
the postwar generation to
continue workingin the Heroic
tradition, Harry Seidler is best
known for his innovative and
sometimes controversial urban
high-rise structures (see for
instance AR A ugust 1991 and
June 2001).
At the other end of the scale,
Seidler also has an outstanding
record of house designs, of
which this recently completed
holiday house in the Southern
Highlands of New South Wales
is the latest. He was acquainted
as a student in the US with such
luminaries as Gropius, Breuer,
Albers and Niemeyer. His
early career in Sydney was
distinguished by carefully sited
timber-framed houses, strongly
influenced by Breuer’s New
England work; they fitted
surprisingly well with Australian
buildingtraditions.
This house owes more to
Niemeyer, with whomSeidler
worked in Brazil, and to Seidler’s
own later inclination as a mature
architect towards sculpted and
bold forms. It stands in direct
opposition to the more modest
and restrained tradition of
contemporary Australian
residential architecture
established by Glenn Murcutt,
Philip Cox and Rex Addison,
whose sophistication and foreign
influences are mostly concealed
by more obvious regional
elements. Situated in the midst
of wilderness and dramatically
poised on the crest of a red
sandstone escarpment
overlookinga river, Seidler’s
design asserts itself as a self-
consciously Modern work,
shaped as much by a global
culture and technology as by
the rugged landscape it inhabits
so forcefully.
Seidler achieves this splendidly
confident result through a
number of classic
devices. A simple
plan accommoda
bathrooms and o
rooms in the sho
north-south axis
parallel with the
diningand kitche
in one large spac
longer legpointin
over the cliff edg
Functional and
into cellular and o
spaces is further
drop in floor leve
west which follow
rocky plateau. Th
axis is also picked
Curved roof planesgracefully envelop thehouse, like a gentle wave.
AUSTRALIAN CLIFFHANGERTeetering on the edge of a cliff, Harry Seidler’s latest remarkable house is an assertive work in the tradition of
Heroic Modernism, shaped equally by global culture and technology and local influences from site and place.
38|7
1
2
3
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HOUSE, SOUTHERNHIGHLANDS,NSW, AUSTRALIA
ARCHITECT
HARRY SEIDLER& ASSOCIATES
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40|7
swimmingpool cut out of the
rock to the north and by a
separate garage to the south, the
two beinglinked by a continuous
sandstone retainingwall running
under the house, where it forms
part of the basement. A
differentiation of the structure
fromheavy below (reinforced
concrete floors, randomrubble
walls and fireplaces) to
lightweight above (steel
superstructure) helps to root
the house securely into its site.
This classic design is combined
with more recent concerns with
energy efficiency, the isolated
house beingby necessity
relatively self-sufficient in
power, heat and water supply, as
well as waste management and
bush fire sprinklers (which
are fed fromthe swimming
pool/reservoir).
What turns this essentially
straightforward and mostly
familiar configuration into
stunningspectacle, is Seidler’s
handlingof the curved,
overhanginglines of the white
painted steel roof, which seems
to float above the rest of the
house and the yawningspace
beyond the cliff, defyinggravity.
Made fromcurved steel beams
with differingradii usingnew
industrial technologies and
covered with corrugated steel
roofingbent to suit – a local
touch there – the sculptured
roof shapes loudly proclaim an
artistic intent as well as modern
technique. A susp
balcony thrusting
below the dippin
the livingspace in
(those who don’t
vertigo that is) to
the void and rein
generally assertiv
design. Heroic Mo
dead?Not in Seid
Architect
Harry Seidler &Associ
NSW, Australia
ground floor plan (scale approx 1:300)
longitudinal section
4Pool and terrace encrandom rubble wall.5Livingspace isa glazbreathtaking views. balcony enhancesth
4
5
[email protected] 95 -
ar houseHOUSE, STUTTGART, GERMANY A RCHITECT
WERNERSOBEK
PH O T O G R A PH S
ROLAND HALBE
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As an architect, Werner Sobek is
informed by his conviction that,
in formulatingan architecture
that is truly modern, which has a
radical and positive relationship
with the natural environment and
inhabitants, architects must make
demands on the wealth of
technologies, materials and
techniques available, rather than
havingrecourse to tradition. (Hehas never forgotten Frei Otto’s
heartfelt plea, made in aspeech
for the Schinkel celebrations in
1977: ‘Will you please stop
buildingthe way you have been
doing’).
This house in Römerstrasse,
designed by Sobek for himself and
his family, is set on asteep hillside
overlookingStuttgart. Risingfour
storeys high out of light
woodland, it is apure crystalline
box which at night becomes an
illuminated beaco
appearances, it is a
made of recyclable
it is free fromnoxi
and energy efficie
The slopingsite
problems, for as w
the edge of the hi
the end of, and so
from, a steep nar
contained a dilapidangerous struct
the early ’20s whi
demolished with l
and a great deal o
labour. But it prov
footprint for new
a concrete raft w
apron over a chan
and pipelines. Mo
foundation work h
by hand. There is
so the buildingdid
deep excavations
1Lowest floor opensonaccess…
2… is by bridge to top3Modern glassand a senvironmental contrmake interior equab
Crystal boxHouses chart the continuing, century-old romance of architecture and
glass. This is an elegant, ecologically aware addition to the canon.1
2
3
[email protected] 96 -
Beingmodular, the buildingcouldbe erected quickly, (and, equally,
dismantled and recycled). A steel
frame stiffened by diagonal
members stands on the concrete
floor slab. The entire four-storey
frame was assembled in four days.
Floors of prefabricated wooden
panels were then simply placed
between beams, again without
screws or bolts. Beingmodular,
loadbearingand non-loadbearing
elements are held together by
il d t h bl ti
bridge to the fourth floor andkitchen and diningroom. Below,
are livingquarters, and below
again, main bedroom, with
children’s and service rooms on
the lowest level. All floors are
linked by the vertical stairwell.
To create such ahouse, the
architect had to devise anew way
of managingenergy without
compromisingaesthetic ideals
and components, each by
themselves innovatory, are
k di t h t t
controlled by sensors linked to acentral computer.
Sobek says that the house was
never intended to be auniversal
model – after all not everyone
would choose to live in what
would appear to be an elegant
fish bowl. But it is an experiment
that works very well on many
levels and which has provided the
practice with the opportunity of
developingideas for the future.
As an exquisite architectural
it i lthird floor: cookingand
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HOUSE, STUTTGART, GERMANY
A RCHITECT
WERNERSOBEK
longsectionsite plan
easily detachable connections.
There is no plaster or screed so
no wet-trade waste. And no
concealed installations – cabling
and pipelines are contained in
sheet metal ductingalongwalls.
Instead of light switches, fittings,
door or window handles, thehouse is activated by touchless
radar sensors and voice control.
The buildingis entirely
transparent for, in addition to the
suspended triple-glazed skin,
there are no internal walls and
space is defined by afew,
strategically placed pieces of
furniture. Entrance is froma
crosssection
structural junction
worked into a coherent system.
Triple glazing, with coated panels,
has ak-value of 0.4. Solar
radiation passingthrough the
facade is absorbed by water-
cooled ceilingpanels and the
energy transported through a
heat exchanger to a heataccumulator which helps warm
the house in winter. Ceiling
panels act as thermal radiators
and, says Sobek, there is no need
for additional heating. Bathrooms
are contained in acubic unit, two
storeys high; and all operations
like flushing, openingdoors,
water flow and temperature, are
essay, it is avery personal
manifestation of architectural,
artistic and social convictions.
V. G.
Architect
Wer ner Sobek, Stuttgart
Project architectsZhengFei, Robert Brixner
Structure and facade
Ingo Weiss
Photographs
Roland Halbe
Böhelmstrasse45
70199Stuttgart
Germany
Tel: 0711-6074073
Fax: 0711-60741 78
Mobile: 0172-711580
Email: [email protected]
g
second floor: living
first floor: sleeping
ground floor: workshop
4Top floor – entrance from bridge isto right of void.5Livingfloor: note bathroom, left.6,7House isa series of horizontal planesin space: planesradiate heat inwinter and absorb it in summer.Some glasswall panescan be opened
for direct ventilation.
4
5
6 7
[email protected] 97 -
materiality1
In Ginza, T okyo’sprestigiousshoppingarea, Hermès’ calmauthority contrastswith morestrident traditional shopping.2Discreet entrance. Glassblocksin the huge wall are intended toshow imperfectionsof craftwork.3At night, the buildingradiatesterritory around itself, a newpublic space determined byevent, not geometry.
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With well-dressed bodies
sleepingrough on the street
outside, two days before its
doors opened to the public,
Hermès’ new Tokyo flagship
store can clearly disregard
Japan’s current economic
recession, the most serious
since the war.
This building’s inspiration was
as much cultural as commercial,
an expression of the principles
that have underlain Hermès
products for generations –
handmade craftsmanship andquality materials – and the way
that these characteristics are
consistent with the historic
architecture of Japan.
It is within this context that
Renzo Piano established his
design. With a museum, gallery
and cinema, this is effectively a
themed public buildingrather
than purely a commercial space.
By day, the curved planes of
the glass-block veil flicker and
glisten and tr ansform the chaotic
streets outside into subtle
shades when viewed from
within. By night, the building
becomes what Piano describes
as ‘a magic lantern’ – a vast
glowingcrystal that establishes,
by the light it radiates, aterritory around itself – a new
public space in a city that
conceives of such things as
places of event, rather than
urban geometry. Suspended
Japanese lanternTokyo’s new Hermès building is as much a cultural centre as a big shop,
and it is becoming a significant moment in the city’s play. Piano’s combinationofhigh technology and handcraft humanises large urban intervention.
SHOP, GINZA, TOKYO, JAPAN
A R CHITECT
RENZO PIANO BUILDING
WORKSHOP
PH O T O G R A P H S
MICHEL DENANCÉ/ARCHIPRESS
1
2 [email protected] 98 -
fromthe top, the glass veilexpresses mass but at the same
time defies gravity – its support
systembeingimperceptible.
And, on this long, narrow site –
only 12mwide – the translucent
wall creates interior spaces that
are both intimate and infinite.
This was not easily done. The
glass blocks are the largest ever
made – 450mmsquare – cast in
Italy, then hungin Tokyo in a
steel frame transported from
Switzerland It is amarriage of
that is crucial to Piano’s visionthat this project be clearly the
work of artisans.
The large size of the blocks
was determined by Piano’s wish
that this be perceived as a
translucent wall, not as a net of
opaque horizontal and vertical
joints. For the same reason, he
rejected assemblingthe blocks
within a steel-frame super grid
that prevents lower blocks being
crushed by those above. Instead,
each block is supported
seismic disturbances.Integral to this concept is the
revolutionary flexible design of
the building’s long, thin
structural steel frame. At 50m
tall and with a main structural
span of only 3.8m, the unusual
slenderness of the structure
results in high overturning
moments during an earthquake
and high levels of tension in the
columns. The engineer, Ove
Arup & Partners, found
inspirationinthetall thin
floor. In the Hermès building,the same principle was adopted,
with the columns on one side of
the frame beingheld in base
joints that allow uplift and
rotation simultaneously and
seismic energy to be absorbed
by viscoelastic dampers. This is
the first buildingof modern
times to have columns that lift
off the ground in an earthquake.
One particularly fascinating
aspect of the interior spaces is
thewaythat despite the
between all parts, which Pianodescribes as the consistent
‘vibration of work done by hand’.
Dumas’ spaces are elegant,
discretely lit arrangements of
fine wooden furniture and
precious tactile materials,
generously spaced to reveal the
glass-block perimeter wall at all
times. Piano’s upper levels are
handcrafted in an entirely
different tradition, with precisely
detailed partition systems,
minimalistic steel frame doors
united, appropriatproducts they dis
of the painstaking
craftsmen. TOM H
Architect, landscape Renzo Piano BuildingW
DumasA rchitectureInt
Design team (architeP Vincent, L Couton, G
SIshida, F LaRivière, C
Y Kyrkos
Structur eandservice
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SHOP, GINZA, TOKYO, JAPAN
A R CHITECT
RENZO PIANO BUILDING
WORKSHOP
PH O T O G R A P H S
MICHEL DENANCÉ/ARCHIPRESS
shop level plan (scale approx 1:250)
sketch detail of glass-block wall (scale approx 1:15)
Switzerland. It is a marriage of
handcraft and high-precision
engineering, each block being
unique – the glass poured by
hand into single-sided moulds,
leavingdifferent flow-lines and
imperfections – a differentiation
each block is supported
individually between slender
steel bars that are silvered on
each side face, renderingthem
all but invisible, and which allow
4mmmovement at every joint, in
both directions, to cope with
inspiration in the tall, thin
wooden Buddhist pagodas of
Japan. Records show that, in the
past 1,400 years, only two have
collapsed – believed to be
because the columns are
discontinuous fromfloor to
the way that, despite the
different palette of Piano and
Rena Dumas – the interior
designer of Hermès’ shops
worldwide, includingthe lower
five floors of the Ginza building–
there is convincingconsistency
minimalistic steel-frame doors,
exposed light fittings and electric
raceways – all rigorously
controlled, and meticulously
fabricated and assembled. These
different, but complementary,
approaches to spacemakingare
crosssection
4,5The glassveil givesAlice inWonderland quality to spaces, in
which all elementsare detailed withgreat precision.6Glassblocksare the largest evermade, and are cast individually byhand (standard blocks, left). Wholeglassveil is suspended, and can flexin earthquakes.
4 6
5
1 shop
2 atelier
3 office
4 exhibition
5 plant
6 storage
Structur e and serviceOveArup &Partners
PhotographsMichel Denancé, Archip
16ruede laPierreLevé
75011Paris
France
Tel: (1) 43385181
Fax: (1) 4355 0144
[email protected] 99 -
1
Lookingfrom patio to livingareawith screen drawn back.2Pool in livingarea actsasseparation between formal andmore private partso f house, aswell asthrowing light upwards.3Livingarea: combination of Oriental and Western formality.
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50|7
SINGAPORE SITEA tall thin house in the Singapore suburbs suggests new patterns of
development which will increase density, much needed in a tightly-packed
island. But it draws on Chinese tradition and abstracts from it.
HOUSE, SINGAPORE
A R CHITECT
SCDA ARCHITECTS
Land is at a premiumin theisland state of Singapore, sopermitted densities have beenallowed to ri se in the suburbs.As a r esult, new individualhouses can be more tightlypacked together and made tallerthan what was allowed before.So the T engresidence, designedfor a single professional man andhis mother, has a parti whichalmost totally covers the plot,leavingonly enough roomfor apatio at the front of the houseand longthin gardens at side andback. Such little str ips of open
land would seemvery mean inother latitudes, but at theequator, where there is vert icalsun and luxuriant vegetation,they can work and be pleasantto look into, if not be in.
SCDA Architects wisely choseto elaborate on an ancientmodel for the basic design. Thetraditional Chinese shop househas a very deep plan withnarrow frontages. To make itbearable, atria (in the propersense) were often carved intothe middle of the footprint tobringlight and air to most of theinner rooms. At the Tenghouse,the stratagemis abstracted andused with finesse. Basically, ithas a three-storey stack of rooms at front and back with avertical circulation and light void
in the middle. This shaft of lightis irregularly linked to a longmetre-wide slot between thehouse proper and a blank wallthat rises between the houseand its neighbour to the left.
1 2
[email protected] 100 -
Only at ground floor level is thewall pierced, to allow views fromthe livingroom to the thingarden between the two houses.So the livingroom, the firstspace you come to after theconstrained entrance fromthecar port, is full of light both from
a barrier between formal andinformal worlds. Inner areas of the house are suggested throughtranslucent glass panels.
A stair is cantilevered over thegranite clad pool, drawingyouup through the central well. Atfirst floor level, the straight flight
studio that looks into a calmlittle patio where TyphaAngustifolia grows against thewhite concrete shear wall, andlooks out through a louvredscreen over the moreconventional houses around.
Externally, the louvred first
over a concrete ground floor. The upper floors have, in effect,a double wall with the louvresshadinga glass box that hasmovable panes so spaces can becooled naturally as well as by airconditioning. HELMUT GRÖTZ
4
Studio on top floor looksintosmall patio with tall elegantstrandsof T ypha Angustifolia.5Upper stair is spiral object almostfloatingin space.
HOUSE, SINGAPOREA RCHITECT
SCDA ARCHITECTS
6
Bedroom can have floor to ceilingwindowsbecause louvresprovideprivacy screen.
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52|7
p , gabove (the central well) and theside (the sliver of gardenbetween neighbour and shearwall). Luminance is increased bywhite walls and floor. And thealmost surreal device of a long
L shaped pool which reflectslight upwards, and acts almost as
, g gconverts to a sculptural spiral,almost hoveringin space, andconnectingfirst and secondfloors. Honed steel and woodbridges connect front and backstacks of rooms across the void.
Up at the top is one of the mostmovingspaces of the house: the
y,and second floors make anelegant, veiled box hoveringover the virtually transparentground level, which can open atthe front to throw livingroomand patio into one large space,
interior and exterior at the sametime. Structure is largely steel,
Architects
SCDA Architects, SingaporeDesign team
ChanSoo Khian, ReneTanStructural engineer
T.H. NgManagement &ConsultancyServicesServicesengineer
GKL AssociatesPhotographs
Peter Mealin
ground floor (scale approx 1:250) first floor roof second floor
crosssection longsection
1 carport
2 entrance
3 landscape
4 p at io
5 l iv ing
6 kitchen
7 po ol
8 m ai d
9 bridge
10 b ed
11 altar room
12 void
13 studio
14 rooflight
4
5 [email protected] 101 -
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65|9
MUSEUM, ØRSTA, NORWAY
A RCHITECT
SVERREFEHN
PHO TO GR A PHS
JARO HOLLAN
NORWEGIAN ROOTSThe museum to Ivar Aasen, the man who distilled a new national language for the
emerging Norwegian nation, is carved out of his native hillside in the west country.
1Fundamentally, the buildingi sastraight cut alongthe contours. Thebigwall of the auditorium actsas alandmark with Aasen’ssignatureimposed acrossit.2East (entrance) front. The mainpublic entrance isunder the canopyin the middle; cafeteria to right.
1
2
[email protected] 102 -
Linguistically, Norway is acuriouscountry, with only about four andahalf million inhabitants scatteredthinly alongits huge length.
Traditionally, to the south-eastand Oslo, they speak Bokmål orRiksmål, the old official languageinherited fromthe longand much-disliked Danish rule of thecountry. It is atongue similar toDanish, except that most lettersare pronounced (instead of thesmall proportion of themthatfeature in spoken language southf h Sk k) h d
magnificent views south-east overthe green fields of the valleytowards the much darker green of the forests on burly ice-roundedmountains. He cut along, straightslot into the slope parallel to thecontours. In section, the museumhas two levels, with the upper onein two heights, the taller oneagainst the slope, fromwhichgrass rolls over its curved roof.
You enter at the top level, andrapidly see the point of thedifferent heights, for the back of h b ildi d h hill i
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of the Skagerrak). In the west andelsewhere in rural areas, Nynorsk(New Norwegian) tends topredominate. It was constructedby one man, Ivar Aasen, duringthemid nineteenth century, the age
when all small European countriesunder imperial rule werestrugglingto rediscover (orinvent) roots of their particularcultures. Denmark was made togive up Norway to Sweden in1814, but full independence wasachieved (peacefully) only in 1905.
Between those dates, patrioticscholars fromBosniato Finland,Ireland to Bohemia, were studyingtheir own folk tales. Architects,fine artists and writers wereevolvingthe buildings, murals andpoems of National Romanticism.Aasen travelled indefatigably inNorway’s west country, collatingdialects of the widely separatedfjord communities, and relatingthemto the structure of OldNorse. His Nynorsk can be quiteeasily understood by people whowere brought up to speakRiksmål, but it is considerablydifferent – for instance, it hasthree noun genders instead of only two. Whereas Ibsen wrote invirtual Danish, adistinguishedliterature emerged in the newlanguage at the turn of thenineteenth century.
Now, the state has decided tocelebrate Aasen’s achievementswith amuseumbuilt next to hisfamily homestead at Ør sta, aremote rural commune in MøreogRomsdal on the west coast,about half-way between Bergenand Trondheim. Sverre Fehn, one
of the grand old men of Norwegian architecture, who hasbuilt distinguished museumsthroughout his career, decidedthat the place should grow out of its hillside, and open to the
MUSEUM, ØRSTA, NORWAY
A RCHITECT
SVERREFEHN
PHO TO GRAPHS
JARO HOLLAN
locator plan: Aasen’sfamily farm is east of the new building.
3West exit…4
…like east entrance hasanarticulated concrete canopy.5Cafeteria and reception.
6,7Walls of domestic-siare inflected to give i
avoid kitsch.8Double-height N yno
the building, under the hill, isflooded with light fromagenerousclerestory. The front of this level istaken up with domestic-sizedspaces, devoted to showingthegreat lexicographer’s li fe: his
furniture, personal possessions, anaccount of his travels, and of course, his books, the Nynorskgrammar and dictionary. All thiscould have been conventional andtwee: little facsimile roomsarranged in arow. But in fact, thespaces are defined by wallsinflected in both plan and section,so though the spaces seemrightfor Aasen’s books, desk and chairs,they emphasize their nature, as aconventional orthogonal layoutcould not. Anglingthe walls in planalso creates generous broad baysbetween displays fromwhich youcan calmly contemplate thelandscape in which Aasen grew up:the views that inspired his lifelongsearch for authenticity and identity.
At the west end of the longroute, avoid opens down to thelower floor. This is the library,quite asmall space, but one of themost dramatic, in which books byNynorsk writers stretch uptowards the curve at the back of the buildingthat is flooded by lightfromthe clerestory. Theremainder of the lower level ismore conventional, with arow of offices lookingout over the valley,and storage against the hill.
The biggest space is theauditorium, which is entered fromthe upper level and falls down thehill, roughly followingits naturalslope. Its calmtimber-linedinterior is made dramatic by alight
chute over the stage which takesnorth luminance and pours itdown, partly reflected fromtheslopingend wall. Externally, thisbecomes amassive inclined planeon which Aasen’s signature is
3 4 5 7
6 8
[email protected] 103 -
upper (entrance) level
scribbled in steel as if on anadvertisement hoarding. This isthe only gratuitously ostentatiousgesture in the building, and is anunusually literal move for Fehn,whose buildings have so farcommented mutely and powerfullyon their essence and context.
The slopingwall is made of béton brut, like the rest of thebuilding. The material is apt: itreflects on the logstructures of Aasen’s family farmnext door; it isalmost geological in feeling,allowingthe buildingto marry its
MUSEUM, ØRSTA, NORWAY
A RCHITECT
SVERREFEHN
PHO TO GR A PHS
JARO HOLLAN
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lower level (scale approx 1:450)
crosssection
1 entrance
2 foyer
3 auditorium
4 cafeteria
5 reception
6 exhibition
7 library
8 temporaryexhibitions
9 plant
10 archive
11 offices
12 staffdining
9At Ø rsta, unlike some of hisothermuseums, Fehn wasallowed to designthe interior, and make display casesappropriate for their contents.
10Auditorium, where daylight poursoverstage from north-facingchute.11Wood panellingsoftensthe concrete’svisual and acoustic austerity.
allowingthe buildingto marry itshill; it is amodern material (well,at least twentieth century). And itallows precision as well as mass.Fehn’s handlingof the delicatenuances of threshold, for instance,
stand comparison with Scarpa’s.Large surfaces are quietlyenlivened by the patterns of shutteringboards and by drifts of small castingflaws. Fehn has nevertried to achieve the perfection of concrete to which Lasdun orZumthor have aspired; concretefor himhas anature of its ownwhich should be allowed toexpress itself.
A similar robust but delicatesensitivity controls all aspects of the interiors. Fromdesk, to book,to spectacle case, each object isshown in circumstances thatunobtrusively emphasize itsnature. Glass, wood and metaldisplay cases are specially createdfor the smaller exhibits. Thesecabinets work as part of thearchitecture, rather than againstit. Here, unlike the glaciermuseumat Fjaerdal (AR April1993), Fehn was allowed to designthe exhibitions as well as thebuilding. The result is agenerous,austere, modest, intricate, kindlyand deeply rooted monument toAasen, who hoped to enhance allthose characteristics in his nation.
HENRY MILES
Architect
SverreFehn, OsloProject team
SverreFehn, Henrik Hi lle, Ervin StrandskogenInteriors
SverreFehnLandscape
Bjørbekk andLindheimPhotographs
Jaro HollanØvre Prinsdalsv. 55BN-1263OsloNorway Tel/fax:22611086Mobile:90978612Email: [email protected]
9
10
11
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Elegantly linking the upper reaches of Manhattan with New Jersey,
the George Washington Bridge was an icon of its time, combining
technological progress with formal refinement. Completed in 1931
to designs of Cass Gilbert and Swiss civil engineer Othar H.
Ammann, its 3500ft span doubled the then record for suspension
bridges and its dramatic open steel towers and curving cables
inspired Le Corbusier to hail it as ‘the only seat of grace in thedisordered city’. However, the lattice-like form was actually the
serendipitous outcome of cost cutting. Ammann had originally
intended that the two 604ft tall support towers be clad in granite,
but the onset of the Great Depression necessitated severe cuts in
traffic were increased to eight and in 1962 a lower level was added.
Last year 108 million vehicles crossed ‘the George’.
Despite the addition in the 1960s of pole-mounted floodlights to
illuminate the roadway, plans to light the entire structure never
materialized. This state of affairs has recently been addressed by a
new lighting scheme by Domingo Gonzalez Associates. The practice
has collaborated with New York’s Port Authority on varioustransportation lighting projects and won an invited competition to
illuminate the entire bridge. The project focuses on the twin towers
which glow radiantly from within like crystals, adding to Manhattan’
twinkling cityscape. A series of carefully positioned 1000-watt meta
A MUCH LOVED PART OF THE NEW Y ORK SKYLINE,THE GEORGE WASHINGTON BRIDGE HAS BEEN REINVIGORATE
BY AN INNOVATIVE LIGHTING SCHEME THAT DRAMATICALLY ILLUMINATES ITS EXPOSED STEEL STRUCTU RE
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66|10
BUDDHIST TEMPLE, SAIJO, JAPAN
A RCHITECT
TADAO ANDO
Despite his increasingly prolific
output, Tadao Ando is still able to
create buildings that are powerful,
subtle, and moving. Komyo-ji, a
new temple for the Pure Land sect
of Buddhism, is one of his most
impressive recent works. Located
in Saijo, aseaside town on theisland of Shikoku, it replaces a
250-year-old structure that was
gloomy and becomingdecrepit.
The chief priest – aforce for
change – wanted alight-filled
MAN-MADE FORESTTadao Ando’s poetic synthesis of materials and light finds renewed expression in this
Buddhist temple complex, which reworks traditional forms with an austere intensity.
1Existingelementshave beenretained, generatinga powerfultension between old and new.2The luminousslatted timbercage of thehondo or main hall.
perspective section
1
2
[email protected] 106 -
1 gatehouse
2 belltower
3 car park
4 moat
5 bridge
6 mainhall(hondo )
7 meetingspaces/guest hall
8 offices
9 columbarium
crosssection lookingeast
gatheringspace for the community,
welcomingto the young, and
suitable for jazz concerts and
lectures as well as worship.
Site plan symmetry has been
sacrificed in order to retain
existingtrees, stone walls,
gatehouse and belltower as a
memory of the old – adecision
that produced amore
compressed and engaging
complex. The fir posts of the
main hall (hondo) rise froma
moat fed by natural spr ings, and
t i b id th t l d
3Light-dappled corridor runsaround the edge of the hall.4Shrine at the heart of the hondo .5Precisely crafted geometry of the arboreal roof vaultsresembles a man-made forest.
BUDDHIST TEMPLE,
SAIJO, JAPAN
A RCHITECT
TADAO ANDO
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68|10
10 priests’ quarters
ground floor plan (scale approx 1:500)
entry is across abr idge that leads
fromone of three flanking
blocks. These impassive
structures house offices, priests’
quarters, meetingspaces and a
columbarium. In signature Ando
fashion, light gleams off bare
polished concrete walls.
Thehondo is a contemporary
reinterpretation of the Great
Buddhastyle, which was brought
fromChinaand first employed in
the massive south gate of the
thirteenth-century T odai-ji
temple in Nara. Multi-tiered
brackets atop tall wood columns
support agently shelved
projectingroof. The main
structural support for the layers
of beams is provided by four
clusters of four massive posts
within the hall. ‘I wanted to
create aspace that would return
to the or igins of wooden
now an assembly of pre-cut
laminated fir beams, aprocess as
pared down and precisely
controlled as an automobile
production line manned by
robots. And yet, the austere
simplicity of the spaces, the
sensual appeal of the structure,
and the complex geometry of the
vault match the finest hand-
craftsmanship in warmth and
serenity. As Ando declares: ‘I
want to create intense yet quiet
buildings and to make spaces that
promote conversations with
natural materials, where you can
feel light, air and rain’.M. W.
Architect
Tadao Ando Architect &Associates, Osaka
Photographs
All photographsby Shigeo Ogawa
except no. 1 whichis byMitsuo Matsuoka
architecture; asingle structure
made up of multiple parts, each
full of tension’, says Ando. ‘It
would express the image of
people gathering and joining
hands, supportingeach other in a
single community.’
At the first viewingof the
model, shocked parishioners
thought the sheer facades of the
hondo resembled acage, but were
won over and now applaud the
boldness of the design. At night, it
serves as abeacon, revealinga
glimpse of the ornate inner
shrine, and the glowing columns
and eaves are mirrored in the stillwater. By day, its mysteries are
disclosed only after takingone of
Ando’s processional routes, past
the bell tower, around the moat,
through the guest hall and across
the enclosed bridge to anarrow
peripheral corridor. Light floods
in fromstrips of glass between
the outer posts and passes
through massiveshoji screens of
frosted glass that can be swung
open to make the pine-floored
corridor an extension of the
hundred-mat interior.
Walking around and through
the central space with its
clustered columns, branching
beams, dappled light and softness
underfoot is to enter aman-made
forest. It shows how temple
architecture evolved from
nature, and how the Japaneselearned to assemble amultitude
of wooden parts in lieu of organic
growth. What was formerly ajob
for master carpenters (who
shaped each element on site) is3
4
5
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Sendai is aprovincial capital, about 300kmnorth of Tokyo, which was
levelled in the Second World War and rebuilt on aspacious grid plan.
In 1995, anew mayor decided that this prosperous modern city needed
amore appropriate civic symbol than the ruins of its seventeenth-
century castle, and invited ArataIsozaki to chair an expert jury to
choose adynamic design for anew arts centre.
Toyo Ito won that competition with aconcept that was as audacious
as the Pompidou Centre, though smaller and less assertive. Where
Rogers and Piano flexed their muscles on the exterior, creatinga
heroic monument to the Machine Age, Ito proposed atransparent
block whose supports would be wrapped in glass and dematerialized.
Seven steel floor decks were stacked on 13 hollow columns composed
of welded steel tubes. Schematically, it was an updated version of
traditional Japanese post and beamconstruction with movable divisions
and permeable boundaries.
MEDIATHEQUE, S
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46|10
LAYERED MEDIAFrom modest origins as a cultural centre and library
in a provincial town, Toyo Ito’s Sendai Mediathèque
celebrates and displays its different activities and
inventive structure in a dramatic urban shop window.
Metaphors inspired the structure. Ito thought of the enclosed space
as liquid, likened the columns to strands of seaweed driftingthrough an
aquarium, and created sketches of ethereal delicacy. Like the temporary
structures that launched his practice, and his computer-synthesized
electrographic display in the 1991Visions of Japan exhibition at the
Victoriaand Albert Museum(AR November 1991), the Mediathèquewas intended to express the fluid dynamics of the modern city in which
light and movement are layered atop i ts physical structure and vibrate
around vortexes of energy. For Ito, this was to be abridge between real
and conceptual, aphysical embodiment of the electronic labyrinth which
many now inhabit – especially the youngin Japan.
Two contradictions emerged at the outset. The programme
developed to fit into Ito’s container fell far short of his vision. Sendai is
aconservative city, and librarians anxious to accommodate agrowing
book collection and local artists seekingdisplay space for academic
paintings had no enthusiasmfor open plans or virtual reality.
Disagreement began the day after the competition winner was
announced. The columns had to be beefed up to meet Japan’s tough
seismic code, and the challenge for structural engineer Mutsuro Sasaki
was to retain the poetry while satisfyingpractical necessities.
Against all odds, much of Ito’s concept has survived six years of
impassioned debate, and the need for a structure (partly fabricated and
1
At night, Sendai’snew Mediathèquepulsateswith light and colour like agiant, ethereal aquarium.2South facade iswrapped in a clearglassskin. Literal transparency isone meansof demystifyingt hebuilding and encouraging use.
3
West facade clad in a slatted screenof perforated steel floor decking.4The glassskin disappearsin a myriadof reflections, revealingthe layersof activity within. Like great frondsof seaweed, tubular column cagesdr iftlanguidly through the interior.
1
2
3
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first floor (children’slibrary) third floor (library mezzanine) sixth floor (media library)
MEDIATHEQUE,
SENDAI, JAPAN
A RCHITECT
TOYO ITO
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48|10
1 entrance
2 rampto parkingbelow
3 informationdesk
4 ca fé
5 foyer
6 loadingbay
7 store
8 children’slibrary9 meetingspaces
10 mainlibrary
11 readingareas
12 staffroom
13 mezzaninereadingroom
14 void
15 exhibitionspaces
16 cinema
17 medialibrary
18 video room
welded by shipbuilders) that is more like an ocean liner than an
aquarium. Fromthe broad boulevard to the south, it appears as a
shimmeringrectangle of glass, etched with dots and dashes that animate
the double-glazed skin and reduce glare, extendingbeyond the floor
planes. Inside, aforest of canted white tubes (recallingthe branches of
the zelkovatrees that run down the middle of the street), extends
through the roof to support a gridded canopy.
At night, the south facade disappears. Only the skeletal structure is
visible, animated by ablaze of ceilinglights and tiny accents of colour
from furnishings set close to the glass. Though little of the building’s
activity is apparent above the ground floor, varied ceilingheights and the
alternation of transparent, translucent and opaque surfaces on the
other three sides of the block hint at its diversity of content. The
Mediathèque combats the blandness and visual pollution of aJapanese
city (apachinko parlour formerly occupied the site) by stayingcool and
enigmatic. Even the graphics, stencilled onto the glass, are r eticent.
The spacious foyer, shop, and café that wrap around an enclosed gallery
and service areas in the north-west quadrant reveal the essence of the
plan. Four symmetrically-placed corner columns of 240m
tubingcarry much of the load and provide the necessary
Nine columns of 160mmdiameter tubes are scattered in
are straight and contain lifts, the rest are crooked and car
hollow columns pull down light fromabove, and most are
addingafurther layer of gauzy reflections to those in the
marble floor and dematerializingthe exposed structure. A
plastic reception desk sinuously wraps around one colum
seductive swirl of lipstick, and similar extruded forms in y
white anchor the bar and bookshop.
To understand the building’s section, take alift to the t
the glass cab you can see how floor planes have been slice
revealingthe structural sandwich of steel plates topped w
On a non-stop ascent, the ride gives afleetingglimpse of
floor succeedingthe next, as though snorkellingup the si
reef. Here, Ito’s metaphor of the interior as afluid mediu
vividly to life. As in the ocean, the colours, the patterns of
intensity of l ight change with the level.
5
Entrance lobby on the groundfloor, itsluminousvolumepenetrated by the column cagesthat run through the building.
ground floor plan (scale approx 1:1000)
second floor (main library)site plan fourth floor (exhibition sp
crosssection crosssection
fifth floor (exhibition spac
5
[email protected] 109 -
Ito selected three designers to put their stamp on different floors.
Kazuyo Sejima’s first floor information department and children’s library
is amonochromatic composition of white lino tiles, suspended metal
channels and asilver-studded black side wall. Sejima, who formerly
worked for Ito, designed whimsical grey foambenches that resemble
clover leaves, and screened the children’s areaand staff offices in
undulatinggauze drapes. Circular readingtables and magazine racks flow
around these permeable enclosures. The lofty second-floor library by
K. T. Architecture has amore conventional layout: regimented rows of
bookstacks to the rear, linear tables in front, and study carrels in a
mezzanine gallery. Suspended uplights provide even, diffused illumination
off the suspended white ceiling.
Changingexhibitions are presented on the next two levels with their
wood-strip floors, demountable white screens, and sculptural seatingin
vivid colours by KarimRashid, who also designed the plastic seatingin
theground floor café Itisherethatyoubegintosensethewasted
6
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50|10
MEDIATHEQUE, SENDAI, JAPAN
A RCHITECT
TOYO ITO
the ground-floor café. It is here that you begin to sense the wasted
potential of space that would challenge acreative curator to exploit the
play of structure and void. Occasional exhibitions may introduce locals
to novel ideas, but, as anew arrival that is still gradually winning
acceptance, the Mediathèque has to move cautiously. It is too big, and
took too large abite out of the municipal budget (around £75 million) toignore its major constituency.
The top floor offers the best marriage of container and content. Ross
Lovegrove has designed what he calls ‘agarden of knowledge’ to house
the medialibrary. Biomorphic lime-green plastic chairs, tables and tape
racks are deployed like exotic plants on alime carpet, and video
monitors are screened by tensile pods. These occupy the perimeter; at
the centre, an undulatingglass wall encloses asmall theatre, meeting
room and offices. Fluorescent tubes are set at angles on awhite
suspended ceiling, and the sense of detachment fromthe workaday
world is enhanced by glimpses into neighbouringoffices where salarymen
toil away late into the night, like aJapanese version of Alphaville , where
everyone seems to be sealed off in brightly lit capsules.
For Japan, the Mediathèque is extraordinarily informal, with young
friendly staff, and it has become apopular local resource; yet the
atmosphere is as decorous as ascholars’ library. Director Emieko
Okuyumaobserves: ‘When we first announced this project, opponents
thought it would be adangerous monster. In fact, people have responded
to the welcomingatmosphere and bright colours. Attendance is larger
and younger than we anticipated’. Given time, Ito’s or iginal vision may
yet be fully realized.MICHAEL WEBB
Architect
Toyo Ito &Associates, Tokyo
Structural engineer
Sasaki Structural Consultants
Mechanical engineers
Sogo Consultants, ESAssociates,
Ohtaki E& M ConsultingOffice
Lightingconsultants
LightingPlanners Associates
Photographs
All photographsbyDennisGilbert/VIEW
except no. 4 whichisby Nacása&Partners
6Main library on second floor.7Arboreal columnsanimate space.Column cageshouse liftsand ductsand bringlight into the interior.
8First floor children’slibrary,designed by Kazuyo Sejima.9Top floor media library, designedby RossLovegrove, one of themore successful marriagesof content and container.
7
8
[email protected] 110 -
Shigeru Ban’s work is permeated
by astrongsense of Japanese
architectural history
reinterpreted in an explicitly
contemporary manner. It
embodies the classic Japanese
tenet of elegant economy, of
makingthe most out of very little,
transformingbanal materials such
as paper and cardboard into
structural elements. Yet to see
Ban’s work as adevelopment of an
unorthodox style, or an unusually
poetic sensibility to materials,
would be to overlook the wider
socialcontextinwhichhiswork
compression by aseries of
members runninglengthways
alongthe structure. Light
percolates gently through square
openings between the laminated
timber bands, dapplingthe
interior so that the effect is like
beingin a giant wicker basket.
Odate is subject to heavy
snowfalls and roofs have to
contend with considerable snow
loads (450kg/sqm). The tube is
enclosed and protected by a45
degree pitched roof connected to
the laminated timber inner layer
byaspindlyspaceframe which
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social context in which his work
exists. His involvement with the
earthquake-shattered community
in Kobe (AR September 1996) is
particularly significant in that it
embraces the ideaof participation.One of his most recent projects
is achildren’s day-care centre
attached to ahospital in the far
northern town of Odate. Glazed
at both ends, the single-storey
buildingis aseamless tubular
volume, with free-standing
partitions delineatingwashingand
kitchen spaces. The tube is made
up of tautly curved bands of
laminated timber held in
CHILDREN’SDAY -CARECENTRE,
ODATE, JAPAN
A RCHITECT
SHIGERU BAN
1 play space
2 kitchen
3 staff
4 wc
ground floor plan (scale approx 1:250)
axonometric
longitudinal section crosssection
LATTICEVAULT
Continuing Shigeru Ban’s experiments
with materials and structure, this timber
lattice forms a delicate, luminous vault.
1Angular roof, designed to repelsnowfalls, enclosesa tubular volumefabricated from laminated timber.2An intermediate space frame stiffensthe entire structural ensemble.3Luminous‘wickerwork’ vault. Lightdapplesthrough openingsin roof.
by aspindly space frame, which
helps to stiffen and stabilize the
structure. The ribbed roof is
made up of alternate strips of
steel and translucent
polycarbonate sheetingso thatthe light can diffuse through.
Inventive in its exploitation of
basic materials, this sensuous
timber tunnel exemplifies Ban’s
lyrical yet rigorous sensibility. C. S
Architect
Shigeru BanArchitects, Tokyo
Structural engineer
TIS& Partners
Photographs
Hiroyuki Hirai
1
2
3
[email protected] 111 -
POULTRYFARMINGSCHOOL,
K OLIAGBE, K INDIA, GUINEA
A RCHITECT
HEIKKINEN-K OMONEN
ARCHITECTS
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The Kahere Poultry Farming
School at Koliagbe in Guinea is
the result of a most
extraordinary chain of
circumstances. In the early
1980s, Alpha Diallo and his
uncle, the vet Bachir Diallo,
decided to study poultry
production abroad so that they
could help to improve the diet of
their native country, which is
notoriously low in protein.
Alpha went to Hungary and,
beinga superb linguist, he
became enchanted with the
connection between Hungarian
and Finnish (which have little in
common except underlying
structures). He ended up by
translatingthe Finnish national
epicKalevala into his native
language. His activities attracted
the attention of Eila Kivekäs,
who after Alpha’s death in
Finland in 1984 asked Bachir to
return to Guinea to start a
chicken farmwhich she funded
through a foundation called
Indigo. This proved so successful
that its operations became
inhibited by the many people
who went there to learn. So
Kivekäs proposed makinga
separate institution: a school o f
poultry farmingwhich could
serve the whole country.
She asked Heikkinen-
Komonen, who had already
worked for her on several
projects in Guinea, to design the
school. Based on previous
experience of the culture and
climate, Heikkinen-Komonen
evolved a language of formand
construction that, accordingto
the technical assessor, has made
the staff ‘happy and proud’. The
techniques evolved by the
architects have already been
adopted by people who worked
on the job for other new
buildings in the area.
In Guinea, most new small
buildings are made of badly fired
bricks, and have corrugated
metal roofs. They are incapable
of resistingthe heavy rains, and
tend to intensify intense
equatorial heat. Heikkinen-
Komonen evolved aconstruction
method based on unfired earth
blocks stabilized with asmall
proportion of cement, roof tiles
made of cement reinforced by
1Design isintended to maximizewind coolingwith through breezes.2Stabilized earth blocksprovidethermal mass. Timber membersare made with scarfed joints; woodblocksallow stiff structuresto beevolved with small sections.3Student accommodation: tolerableclimate achieved by passive means.4Portico of classroom ismajorsocial space.5Breathingceilingshelp cool spaces.
1 classroom
2 porch
3 dormitory
4 teachers
5 water tower
(later addition)
plan (scale approx 1:350)section through staff block and classroom
local sisal fibres, and local
hardwood structural timber
scarfed together to achieve
wider spans than would have
been possible with the usual
short struts. Widest spans are
achieved by formingtrusses with
timber and imported steel wire,
but as many materials as possible
are fromGuinean sources, and
locally made.
Double layers of blocks
provide thermal mass. They can
be left exposed, unlike the usual
fired bricks that have to be faced
with imported cement render if
they are to survive for a few
seasons. Porous woven ceilings
under the tile roofs are made of
local wood laths woven in the
traditional way as they often are
in fences and partitions. They
are able to breathe, helpingto
cool spaces with convection
currents that are drawn from
openings at the top of external
walls. The technical assessor
commented that the strategy
might be liable to insect
infestation in the rainy months.
The compound is square. Its
central circular space is
dominated by the portico of the
main classroom, a communal
place in which staff and students
can gather in all seasons. The
portico’s tall columns are
scarfed struts coupled in almost
Aaltoesque fashion with blocks
to increase their stiffness. As
usual with Heikkinen-Komonen,
a rigorous geometric discipline
has been applied, with a 1.2m
grid based on possible spans and
functional considerations. Small
windows in the residential areas
are designed to avoid lintels.
The jury welcomed the project
because it ‘uses a
simple language …
by clarity of form
appropriateness o
solution is a fine e
elegantly humble
architecture that
crosses the boun
Guinean and Nor
Architect
Heikkinen-KomonenAr
Project team
Ville Venermo, Boubak
AbdulhayeDji bySow, S
Photographs
SianKennedy2, 3, 5
OnervaUtr iainen1, 4
POULTRY ACADEMY A poultry farming school, intended to help the people of a desperately
poor tropical country evolve a better diet from chickens, has been built
with wisdom and care for the environment drawn from the North.
1 2 3 4
[email protected] 112 -
interior design
The London School of
Economics and Political Science
is an august institution founded
in 1895 by Beatrice and Sidney
Webb. Committed to Fabianism
and social reform, they
envisaged a school devoted to
the teachingof and research
into the social sciences. Today,
LSE has more than 7000
undergraduate and graduate
The campus is a collection of
disparate edifices acquired over
the years by the school and
clustered around the main
nineteenth-century buildingon
Houghton Street, a pedestrian
alleyway runningnorth fromthe
Aldwych. Almost since its
inception, LSE has suffered from
congestion – though less so now
than formerly, for gradual
in 1916, is on the north side of
the campus. Taken over in 1973,
it was converted for use by the
library then uncomfortably
housed in the main building.
Now, almost thirty years later,
Foster and Partners has
renovated and enlarged the
four-storey building, and
transformed its interior .
Fosters’ scheme retains the
repair have been replaced. But
the interior has been
transformed into an airy library
full of muted light and
movement, and pale colour.
At a stroke, the scheme has
increased space and, with
imagination, taken care of
circulation and servicing.
Such transformation has been
achieved by convertingthe old
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76|11
students fromall over the
world, 18 departments and
more than 30 research centres.
Its library is considered the
largest and most importantsocial sciences library in the
world.
acquisition has relieved it and
plans for improvingthe various
parts are under way.
One of the earlier acquisitions
was the Lionel Robbins building(previously the headquarters of
W. H. Smith & Sons) which, built
integrity of the brick and stone
facades, and the basic fabric of
the awkwardly shaped building
(on plan made up of two
dissimilar triangles joinedtogether); only perimeter
windows in a poor state of
lightwell around which the
library once revolved into an
atrium, a great cylinder driven
down to the basement and
bringing daylight into the heartof the building. Fillingout the
bottomfour layers of the
UNIVERSITY BUILDING,
ALDWYCH, LONDON
A RCHITECT
FOSTERAND PARTNERS
1,2New stepped spiral ramp and itsassociated voidsbring light andsense of place to whole building.But will it distribute sound equallyefficiently?
Light readOne of the world’s greatest academic libraries has been radically transformed from a
dull badly-converted commercial building by giving it a new focus full of light and air.
1 [email protected] 113 -
library does provide quiet
studious workplaces, though thebasement study, overlooked by
the open gallery at the entrance,
must suffer fromnoise. But
evidently the lesson of the
Cambridge University Law
Faculty (AR March 1996), where
openness and hard surfaces
combined with disastrously
resoundingeffect, has been
learned. Perimeter study areas
are protected by noise-
absorbent shelves full of books
and by the floor coveringof soft
grey carpet; levels become
i h
cylinder, is a stepped, helical
ramp spirall ingaround a pair of glass lifts. The whole confection
in this central part of the library
– the rhythms of thin
balustradingaround ramp and
surroundinggalleries, the
vertical embrace around the
ramp of slender columns, the
constant movement of people
ascendingand descendingand
humof voices – has a cinematic
dream-like quality.
Cappingthe atriumis a dome,
with a glazed section cut at an
angle to admit north light and
li i l d l i
a mainentrance
b entranceconcourse
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78|11
3Book stackssurrouncirculation atrium, ahelp to attenuate so4Lookingup at northlgreat ramp.5
Lookingdown at basopened asreadingarvoid in ground floor.
quieter as you move up the
building away fromthe entrance
and there are silent retreats
enclosed by glass walls. P. M.
Architect
Foster and Partners, London
Project architects
NormanFoster, Ken Shuttleworth,
RobinPartington, AndyPurvis, LulieFisher,
Geoff Bee, AnneFehrenbach, Sophie Coe,
Gordon Seiles, GlenisFan, Peter McLaughlin
Structural engineers
AdamsKaraT aylor
Quantity surveyors
DavisLangdom&Everest
M&E engineers
Oscar Faber
Acoustic engineering
Oscar Faber
Curt ain walling/aluminium windows
Henshaws
Atrium dome roof
CowleyT imberworks
Ironmongery
RuddyJoinery
Internal glazed screens
Planet
Photographs
Chris Gascoigne/VIEW 1,2; Paul Ratigan/
VIEW 3; JamesWinspear/VIEW 4,5
UNIVERSITY BUI
ALDWYCH, LON
ARCHITECT
FOSTERAND PA
eliminate glare and solar gain.
Design assists natural
ventilation, for air drawn in
through perimeter windows
rises as it warms and escapesthrough vents in the dome’s
glazing.
On each floor, bookshelves
leadingaway from the atrium
define passageways to quiet
study areas around the
perimeter. These are separated
by blocks of bookstacks. In the
basement, a light-filled, double-
height study was created by
removingpart of the ground
floor slab. A new fifth and
existingfourth floors
accommodate a secluded
research centre, which has its
own identity: a separate
entrance and lift, and distinct
signage.
Enveloped in north light, and
uniformly painted white, the
section through ground floor void and atrium
ground floor plan (scale approx 1:775)
typical floor plan
c verticalcirculation
d void(studyareabelow)
e stacks
f studyarea
g enclosedstudyarea
4
3
5
[email protected] 114 -
CHAPEL, ROTTERDAM,
THE NETHERLANDS
A RCHITECT
MECANOO
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The Catholic cemetery of St
Lawrence in Rotterdam dates
from the mid nineteenth
century. Designed by H. J. van
der Brink as acampo santo , an
Italian field of the dead, the
cemetery is focused around a
central chapel, surrounded by
radiating paths. The original
neo-Gothic chapel fell victim to
subsidence and was replaced in
Conceived as a delicate jewel
case, Houben’s chapel stands on
plateau of gravel within the
contours of van der Brink’s
original building. Before she
embarked on the design, Hoube
was due to make a visit to Venic
and took the opportunity to
explore its many churches and
chapels, notably the Baroque
Jesuit extravaganza of Santa MarPRECIOUS
1
2
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42|11
With its expressive roof, golden
ceilingand undulatingwalls, the
chapel has elements of Baroque
sensuality, yet the int imate
interior exudes an air of
contemplative calmness and
sobriety. Contained within the
footprint of the original neo-
Gothic chapel, the flowing,
guitar-shaped plan emphasizes
the continuity of life. As Houben
describes it ‘The visitor stands
still and reflects and then goes
on his way, as a symbol of life
that goes on’. Clad in horizontal
strips of tin-plated copper, the
sleek curved wall appears to
float in space, held clear of the
ground and separated fromthe
tautly folded plane of the roof by
a narrow band of clerestory
glazing. Inside, the wall is an
intense blue, the traditional
colour of the Virgin’s robe, with
Requiemtexts in many
languages, reflecting the great
cultural and social diversity of
Rotterdam’s population.
The golden ceilingis artificially
lit from below, so it glows with a
gentle lustre. Holes punched
into the roof admit shafts of
daylight, an effect which is
accentuated when incense is
burned. Two heated timber
decks indicate the places of the
priest and congregation and a
clock salvaged from the 1963
chapel hangs in the skeletal
campanile. Fittings are elegantly
austere. Oak is used for the
simple benches and bier and
polished concrete for the altar
and pulpit. Candlesticks are
made of non-treated steel.
Deep in the heart of a rather
gloomy nineteenth-century
cemetery, the miraculous
apparition of the n
shines like a prec
Beautifully judged
it i s a gorgeous pa
tenderly connect
with the unfathom
of the numinous.
Architect
Mecanoo Ar chitecten,
Project team
Francine Houben, Fran
AnaRocha, Huibde Jon
NataschaAr alaChaves
Henk Bouwer
Structural engineer
ABT
Photographs
ChristianRichters
1 entrance
2 priest3 congregation
4 footprint oforiginalchapel
site plan ground floor plan (scale approx 1:250)
crosssection
CHAPEL, ROTTERDAM,
THE NETHERLANDS
A RCHITECT
MECANOO
5Intimate, sensuousinterior.The flowingplan isintended toemphasize the continuity of life.6Marian blue wall enfoldsthe space.
5
[email protected] 116 -
interior design The Queen’s House in
Greenwich was designed by
Inigo Jones for Anne of
Denmark, wife of James I. Built
between 1616 and 1635 in the
huntinggrounds of the Tudor
palace of Placentia, it was an
essay in Jones’s assured handling
of Palladian style and
proportion. In contrast to the
ramblingbr ick palace which,
spread around three courtyards,
was the haphazard enlargement
In reality, architectural exoticism
must have been tempered by
familiar amusements, for the
house had afantastical surprise
garden with fountains; its plan
too was diverting. The building
straddled the public road,
between London and Dover,
which divided park frompalace.
In doing so, it became a
metaphorical bridge between
the safety of the palace’s walled
enclosure and the dangerous
I for Henrietta Maria, for whom
the house became a garden
retreat (there was never a
kitchen). Her garden, with
formal parterres and patterns,
was designed to be viewed from
above. In consequence, the
basement (below the level of the
road) with its handsome brick
vaults and windows on to the
garden, was blocked off.
Findingthe house too small,
Henrietta Maria engaged John
with Ionic columns overlooked
the garden; on the north, a
horseshoe staircase leads in
Palladian manner to a terrace
and a two-storey cubic hall.
Inside the building, ornamented
rooms are disposed in
symmetrical fashion; to the east
of the great hall, the interior is
pierced by a circular void
containingthe famous Tulip Stair
(the name derivingfrom the
repeatingwrought ir on pattern
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74|1
p g
of a fifteenth-century mansion,
the Queen’s House was cool and
Classically ordered at the edge
of wilderness. Pevsner observes
that the building’s chastity and
bareness must have seemed as
foreign to contemporary
beholders, used to the
entertainingelaborations of
Elizabethan and Jacobean
architecture, as Modernismwas
to the Edwardians.
g
world outside (or, if you prefer,
the rational link between two
kinds of chaos: mathematical
and physical). H-shaped on plan,
the house had two parallel
wings, runningeast-west and
connected by a cross-bar at
first floor level, above a vaulted
basement.
Anne died in 1619 before her
house could be completed and
buildingwas resumed by Charles
g g J
Webb, Jones’s successor and
son-in-law, to add two more
bridges to the first floor, one to
the west and one to the east.
The house we see today is a
square block. Facades on all
sides, except the south, are
tripartite with a central
projectingsection and plain walls
risingfroma rusticated base and
surmounted by a balustrade. On
the south side, a first floor loggia
p g g p
of the balustrade). At the
beginningof the nineteenth
century, the buildingwas
extended by addition of east and
west wings linked to the centre
by colonnades tracingthe path
of the old road.
The present owner of the
Queen’s House, the National
Maritime Museum, has wanted
to use the building as a gallery.
But its curious plan and difficult
QUEEN’SHOUSERESTORATION ,
GREENWICH, LONDON
ARCHITECT
ALLIES& MORRISON
Fit for a queenRemodelling of part of the Queen’s House, Greenwich permits its use as a gallery
and improves circulation without disturbing its seventeenth-century architecture.
1North face with horseshoestaircase to terrace.2
North face and colonnade to eastwing. New public entrance withstone ramp embraced bystaircase.3From great cubic hall, with black and white marble floor, to newstaircase on west.
1 2
[email protected] 117 -
circulation, with no disabled
access, made it unsuitable.Wishingto stage its millennium
exhibition,The Story of Time , the
museuminvited A llies and
Morrison to explore ways of
improvingaccess in, and
circulation through, this most
sensitive of monuments without
upsettingEnglish Heri tage.
The practice’s solution, with
English Heritage agreement, was
to restore the basement and
transformit into anew public
entrance, and in the process to
reinstate Jones’s original
basement door on the north. To
echoes the geometric distortions
of the black and white marblefloor of the great hall. A
continuous bronze handrail
expresses the curve of the
staircase.
Within the basement, the
vaulted brickwork has been
covered, as it would have
originally been, with rough lime
render and the spaces made
lighter and clearer. Down here
are the reception, cloakroom,
shop and lavator ies reached by
the new public entrance on the
north. Facingthe river and
embraced by the horseshoe
QUEEN’SHOUSE
GREENWICH, LOARCHITECT
ALLIES& MORRI
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76|1
the west of the great hall, in a
space previously occupied by a
contorted staircase and where
the basement vault had been
breached, they inserted an
elegant new three-storey
staircase and lift .
Design of the staircase was
based on the structural principle
of the Tulip Stair, directly
opposite on the other side of the
great hall. Treads are made of
precast concrete units, the load
beingtransferred vertically from
tread to tread. A steel string
bolted to the face of brick shaft
takes the torsion load and
restrains the risers. The
balustradingsuggests the
sumptuousness of handmade
seventeenth-century fil igree and
the purity of Jones’s decorative
ornamentation. I t is made of steel
strips plaited into agrid which,when wound around circular
riser sections, distorts and
staircase, Jones’s door leads to a
tunnel under the terrace. The
door was previously hidden at
the bottomof ashort flight of
steps that have been replaced by
asimple stone forecourt forming
ashallow ramp. (Excavation
revealed the original brick base of
the horseshoe which turned 180
degrees so that the bottomsteps
faced each other.) P. M.
Architect
Allies &Morr isonAr chitects, London
Project team
BobAl lies, Di Haigh
Structural engineer
Harris &Sutherland
Servicesengineer
Nordale BuildingServices
Photographs
Peter Cook/VIEW
first floor plan (scale approx 1:500)
plan: staircase and lift shaft
staircase elevation
4Basement enfilade.5
New staircase: precast concretetreads, balustradingof plaitedsteel strips, continuousbronzehandrail.
4 [email protected] 118 -
Jokes in architecture are not usually good.
Unless you’re Lutyens, they quickly seemtobe solidified embarrassments, as many of the
tattered hulks of ’80s PoMo demonstrate
only too clearly. Little do you expect to find
one of the wittiest new buildings in London at
the end of aback-street next to abusy
railway line. In time, it will be seen as one of
the most gallant experiments in eco-
architecture of our age. And yet, in aperiod
when so many green architects seemso
solemn, so really po-faced, it is light-hearted,
full of double-entendres, tenderness for its
dreadful sight and for its users.
Stock Orchard Street was ali ttle bit of
railway land disposed of when British
Railways were so scandalously sold by John
Time is of the essence in Stock Orchard Street:
the house is intended to change as it gets older;it wil l never be finished, as its architect owners
say most heroically. You first understand its
odd qualities when you come to the gate, made
of wil low hurdles in a galvanized steel frame.
Two manufacturingcultures are united:
traditional craftwork and common or garden
steel jobbery. The result, though apparently
difficult to achieve, because the tolerances
needed by willow workers are very different
fromthose of welders, is aprecise statement
about what is to follow. The whole house,
constructed throughout with similar care, took
350 drawings and nearly two and ahalf years to
make. It is an imaginative combination of what
the architects call ‘the slick and the hairy’.
would deformin intense heat)
more than able to support thethemselves. The architects po
environmentally cheaper to ha
broken concrete delivered to
take away aload of site waste
demolished buildings is abund
On top of the gabions are sp
boxes. They moderate the vib
endless trains, and their amel
amplified by a sandbagwall, wh
acoustic mass. The wall was in
dusky wartime picture of Lond
against the blitz in the Second
is extremely funny and bizarre
openings framed in Australian
railway sleepers found on the
HOUSE, ISLINGTON, LONDON
A RCHITECT
SARAH W IGGLESWORTH
ARCHITECTS
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64|1064|1
Major to apack of accountants and civil
engineers who were more interested in profit
than service. But afew good things were
dragged fromdisaster. This is one. The
building, at the bottomof a rather run-down
Victorian terrace, looks as if it will be along-
standingseries of jokes and lessons that wil l
become more important over t ime.
Once past the gate, you are faced by a
rather formidable front door. You are in a
strange arcade of piers made of bits of
recycled concrete made rectangular sense
with gabions. These main supports of the
buildinghave had to have reinforced concrete
sacrificial columns in their middles to comply
with the fire regulations (the metal cages
bags full of sand, cement and l
intended to decay gradually in
surface of concrete left with th
imprint of cloth, and the beau
plants like herb-Robert and W
which will surely seed there.
Over the entrance is asilver
another sound-reducingdevic
THE SLICK AND THE HA‘Slick and hairy’, the house made by a pair of architects on a negle
London site, has many environmental lessons to teach – not lea
nature of wit in building and the importance of imagination.
1The sun side, openingitself to heatand light, with balessexily exposedthrough polycarbonate.2Tower (which will contain library) isa landmark in a run-down inner citysuburb. 21 [email protected]
- 119 -
1 gate
2 garden
3 ffi
6 domesticentrance
7 conference-diningroo m
8 lib
long(west-east) section crosssection through tower
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66|1
9STOCKORCHARD STREET
FIRST FLOOR PLAN
0 5
9STOCK ORCHARD STREETGROUND FLOOR PLAN
0
3 office
4 bed
5 officialentrance
8 tower library
9 larder-kitchen
10 court
ground floor (scale approx 1:450) first floor
HOUSE, ISLINGTON, LONDON
A RCHITECT
SARAH W IGGLESWORTH
ARCHITECTS
3Court carved in back of masshaspool fed by roof water. Intended tobe a damp mossy grotto, similar toSoane’scourtsat his museum, thespace isan outdoor room,surrounded by domestic spaces.4
The sound wall: against the noise of the trains, the architectshavebuttoned on a quilt, and made amassive wall of sand bagsdesignedto decay with dignity.
3 [email protected] 120 -
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fibreglass made by a sail-maker is buttoned to
the inner building with an insulating layer and
inner damp-proof lining. Sarah Wigglesworth
says that one day, the cloth may be
unbuttoned, and a whole new and completely
different kind of cladding will be applied. But
that time will be long ahead, when building
materials have properties that we can only
dimly imagine.
Sand bag and quilt enclose the office part of
the plan. L-shaped, the parti is organized
precision of his baling and 550 bales were
delivered to London at the almost
unbelievably cheap price of £825.
Wigglesworth says that ‘bales are quick and
easy to build with’ and that the whole wall
was put up in three and a half days by
unskilled friends. I worry about vermin, but
Wigglesworth claims that perforated metal
closures at top and bottom of the cavity that
separates the bales from the outer rainscreen
will keep out rodents and insects. She will live
is kept stable and cool by vents at top and
bottom. Coolth as opposed to warmth of the
hearth becomes the centre of existence. The
architects have reversed normal perceptions
as they have in so many other senses.
Less obvious is the way in which they have
made two 3000 litre rainwater tanks
underneath the house. One gives water to
the lavatories; the other irrigates the
meadow on the roof, which has wild
strawberries as well as local weeds.
5 6 7
design review
One of the challenges of using
standardized geometry is how to
create avariety of forms. Dutch
designer Marijke de Goey shows
what can be achieved in her
radical design for asmall
pedestrian bridge over two
artificial lakes at the Alan Gibbs
Trust Park in Auckland, New
Zealand. De Goey originally
learnt how to make sculptural
objects through her trainingas a
jewellery designer. Her work
includes the bridal tiarafor the
to fit across the bride’s forehead.
For the New Zealand project,
the miniature is powerfully
transformed into the
monumental. Using22 welded
tubular steel cubes each
measuring3 x 3 x 3mto support
an aluminiumwalkway, de Goey
elaborates on the basic concept
of linked cuboid forms. The
walkway winds in adecidedly
perilous fashion between the
cubic steel skeleton, which
makesthesimplematterof
blue usingenvironmentally-
friendly pigment.
Engineered by Peter
Boardman, the structure weighs
11 tons and was transported to
site in two prefabricated sections
by aRussian helicopter. (Due to
adverse weather conditions the
pilot was forced to land in a
private field, much to the
surprise of a local farmer and his
cows, who proceeded to lick the
structure, showingasurprising
measure of bovine aesthetic
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28|3
includes the bridal tiarafor the
recent royal weddingof Dutch
crown prince Alexander to
MaximaZorreguieta. Made of
white gold and diamonds, thetiara is shaped like two bridges
makes the simple matter of
traversingthe bridge an
adventure not for the faint-
hearted. Completingthe slightly
surreal tableau, the water of thelake has been coloured an intense
measure of bovine aesthetic
appreciation.)
From a background of
jewellery design and fine art, de
Goey has successfullyorchestrated a dramatic change
1Part of the bridge beingdelivered byhelicopter. It wasprefabricated intwo sectionsand assembled on site.2Linked cubesform a striking,angular geometry.3De Goey’sexperience of jewellery
design wasthe basisfor thetransition to a larger scale.4Angular walkway issupport ed by thecuboid skeleton.
BRIDGE, AUCKLAND,
NEW ZEALAND
ARCHITECT
MARIJKEDE GOEY
Bridging disciplinesComprising a skeletal cuboid steel structure
supporting a walkway, this bridge resembles
a piece of jewellery in the landscape.
of scale. Personal
the weldingof the
means of assemb
paintingprocess w
care she would ex
own workshop, h
bridge resembles
adorningthe land
same way that jew
and enhances the
A
different typesof welded junctions1
2
3 4
[email protected] 122 -
SOLAR BUILDING
HARTBERG, AUSA RCHITECT
K ONRAD FREY
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46|1
The Ecopark on the edge of the
small town of Hartbergin Styria
was set up as ademonstration of
ecological design and
construction. Built on the site of a
former clay pit, it was intended to
be self-sufficient, and to heal the
bruisingof the land without
depositingdebris elsewhere. The
buildings – exhibition and
production sites as in anormal
industrial estate – were to be as
unpollutingand sparingof energy
as possible, in terms of both
consumed and embodied energy.
At the north-east end, there is a
natural pond to absorb run-off
water while attractingand
nurturingwildlife. On an adjacent
site Konrad Frey, apioneer in
solar architecture in Austria since
the 1970s, was commissioned by
the park’s organizers for a
prototype production building. Its
task was to act first as an
exhibition pavilion and then as a
factory/warehouse for solar
equipment. Sited at the north end,
it lies to the west of the ecological
pond with ahigh protective bank
dividingit fromthe highway
behind. It is approached viaadrive
from the south which terminates
in its car park.
Frey accepted fromthe start
that the main task was to provide
economical general purpose
spaces, and he made two 700m2
linear buildingtracts 16mwide
and 7mhigh which can be used
separately or together. They have
contrastingcharacters according
to position: the northern one with
afully glazed end enjoyinga
dramatic view of the pond while
the southern has continuous low
glazingtowards the approach. A
second brief requirement asked
for offices, changingand
recreation rooms which have
been built within the east end of
the southern tract as atwo-storey
block. Above themon the roof is
the curved conference roomwith
its external terrace and longer
views, the one touch of real
extravagance in an otherwise low-
EXHIBITION ECO
An unpretentious prototype production building in a demonstration ecology park
involves ingenious technological and sustainable devices for conserving energy.
1
Buildingisin two linear tractswhich can be used separately ortogether.2South elevation: conference roomon roof ishungfrom exposedtrusses. Fabric shadesprotectfrom overheating.3Glazed east wall isshaded bybeingr ecessed one bay. Buildingcelebratesitseconomical andindustrial origins.
1
2 [email protected] 123 -
ecological terms, but used in
relatively small quantity.Interestingly, this is the one
element that the client has asked
Frey to change because it sends
the wrongsignals about the
park’s ecological aims. It is being
replaced by amore cosy-looking
and predictable fur coat of
coconut netting.
In the age of image and spin,
the look is often more important
than the reality, and in ecological
matters people want to placate
their consciences while
continuingwith their recklessly
consumptive lifestyles. So it is
difficult to see, in the often
cost project, and full of interesting
details. Various sun-shadingdevices are applied to the
different faces of the buildings in
response to the calculated
exposure. The south facade, for
example, has Frey-designed
stretched fabric screens over the
windows, but it also serves as a
testingground for a
demonstration of solar collectors
and solar control devices. Since
these products change, it retains a
deliberately experimental and
provisional look.
At first sight this project might
seembanal with its boxy forms
and standardized elements, for it
buildings is completely lacking.
Instead the simple foundationssupport minimal concrete columns
at 5mintervals, and these do not
reach the roof. Instead they
support timber-framed facade
panels skinned in particle board,
which formacontinuous edge to
bear the roof. Frey reveals this
structural systemon the north
side where it breaks for windows,
for he shows T-shaped glazingwith
visible trusses in place of the
missingpanels. The all-timber roof
deck spanningthe 16mbuilding
width follows the stressed-skin
principle. Plywood box sections
600mmdeep containingtheir own
thin soil layer to encourage plants,
meet at acentral gutter. Liningtheceilingis a layer of wood-wool
which acts as acoustic absorbent.
Unbroken by the usual beams, its
surface allows heatingand artificial
lightingelements to be freely
placed. To show the free-
spanningnature of the roof
structure at its open end, the
glazed east wall – set back abay
for solar protection – has only
the minimal steel supports
required for wind load. The
insulated double glazingis divided
in three horizontal layers, and
since the vertical glazingjoints
were not structural and only
Another structural curiosity is
the support for the conferenceroomon the roof. This
penthouse element would have
caused too much deflection in the
stressed skin structure, so it is
suspended from exposed trusses
above, which transmit its loads
back to the columns. The
structural network so provided
also turned into aconvenient
bearer for astretched canvas
awningfor the terrace.
Conventionally skinned in metal,
the penthouse roof drains to a
gutter on the north side.
The longside walls are clad in
timber slats, which give
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chaotic display of ecological
projects, just what will really
count and what is mere window
dressing. The solar collectors onthe front of Frey’s building, for
example, have become an
obvious symbol of ecological
concern, almost acliché. But the
various sun-shadingdevices and
the setback of the large east
window are both more cheaply
achieved and passively effective.
These are the kinds of measures
architects should surely now be
adoptingas amatter of course.
Potentially Frey’s most important
innovation, though, is the timber-
based wide-span roof structure.
If this were applied to every such
shed in every industrial and
commercial estate in Europe, an
enormous energy savingwould
be effected.
PETER BLUNDELL JO NES
Architect
KonradFrey, Graz
Photographs
Angelo Kaunat
48|1
accepts the realities of industrial
estates and of serial production,
but the closer you look the more
unusual it seems. The energy-richsteel frame expected in such
thick insulation layer were
prefabricated then hoisted into
place, restingon the side panels.
The slightly slopingroof surfaces,topped with amembrane and a
limited by delivery sizes, Frey
could play with the rhythm, taking
his cue fromthe thematically
appropriate ’50s hit song‘Osole mio’.
mechanical protection to the
insulation layer beneath while
allowingit to breathe. For the
end walls, Frey used PVC sheet, acontroversial material in
SOLAR BUILDING, ECOPARK ,
HARTBERG, AUSTRIA
ARCHITECT
K ONRAD FREY
crosssection through conference room, officesand north tract ground floor plan (scale 1:750) first floor plan
4,5Simple mass-producedcomponentsare used to reduceembodied energy.6,7
Conference room on roof supported by exposed trussesover terrace that also carryshadingfabrics.
4 5 7
6
[email protected] 124 -
The addition, by Simon Conder
Associates, of a crystalline boxto one side of a large nineteenth-
century house in Canonbury,
north London, transforms the
ground floor confines of the old
buildingand creates a new
garden room.
The client owns the two lower
floors of the house which faces
south onto a tree-lined street.
To the west of it there is a free-
standingdouble garage. Between
house and garage there was a
gate and narrow path which led
into a rough yard, renderedsunless by a tall hedge and large
sycamore t ree. Beyond the yard
was a large mature garden,
effectively screened fromthe
street. There was little
connection between the interior
of the house and the grounds,
for the main livingroom is one
level up and at the front, street-
side, of the building.
Since the client spends much
of his time in the garden,
particularly in summer, he asked
SCA to design an extensiongivingdirectly onto the garden.
In addition, he wanted a new
utility roomand entrance hall
linkingthe new roomto the
existingbuilding. The yard,
which was next to the kitchen,
was the obvious site. Its
position, next to the kitchen,
suggested easy links between a
garden room, house and street,
and buildingon it would leave
the garden unscathed.
1Passage from street mediated by
EXTENSION, CANONB
SIMON CONDE
ar ho
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82|3
seriesof iroko screens.2Garden pavilion at night; mainhouse to left and garage to right.
Garden partiA garden pavilion uses High-Tech vocabulary to create a transparent garden
room, mediating between leafy exterior and nineteenth-century house. 2
1
[email protected] 125 -
SCA’s roomis a sheer glass box,
3.6mwide x 7.2mlong, and 3.0m
high, built on a concrete slab
underneath the sycamore.
Initially, the architects wanted to
glaze the roof, then they realized
that in summer the tree would
deposit an unsightly sticky glue
on the surface. Instead, the roof
is a composite steel and timber
deck with a steel edge beam,
supported on six 100 x 100mm
steel columns. Flat and solid, and
finished with concrete paving
slabs, the roof adds a new
terrace to the upper level of the
house. Full-height, double-
glazed sheets brace the
structure andbarelydivide
Passage fromthe street,
mediated by a series of three
iroko screens, has been
elegantly contrived to reveal the
new buildingand garden by
degrees. Fromthe street, all you
see of the new buildingas you
approach is the first screen. It
pivots to let you into a raised
(iroko) deck that runs, striped
with light, below a pergola to the
front door.
This is a replica of the first
screen and leads to a low hallway
with the new utility room on the
left. Beyond, is the third screen
which swings open to reveal the
secret garden, seen through the
transparentwallsofthenew
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84|3
structure and barely divide
interior fromexterior.
transparent walls of the new
garden room.
ground floor plan (scale approx 1:180)
axonometric
EXTENSION, CANONBURY , LONDON
A RCHITECT
SIMON CONDER ASSOCIATES
3Through full-height pivotingdoorto garden; full-height double-glazed wallsbrace the structure.4From pavilion north-east togarden; furniture, austere andrefined, by the practice.5From garden to pavilion; garageon right.
Transparency and luminance
were keynotes of the room’s
design. Glass walls are frameless
(as are the iroko doors and
ventilation panels), with the
usual stops and seals being
incorporated into the end of
double-glazingunits to reduce
sightlines to a minimum. Cool
north light is r eflected off
limestone flags pavingthe floor
and off-white plastered walls and
ceiling. PENNYMCGUIRE
Architect
SimonConder Associates, London
Structural engineerDewhurst Macfarlane
Contractor
Deefor QualityRefurbishments
Photographs
Chris Gascoigne/VIEW
3
4
5
1 entrance
2 hall
3 utility
4 gardenroom
5 garden
6 ki tchen
7 garage
[email protected] 126 -
TheRegionalHospital ofGraz marksan theold Heavoidedattachingtheextension ownentrancebehind Thiscourtisthenew
EAR,NOSEAND THROATUNIT,
GRAZ REGIONAL HOSPITAL, AUSTRIA
A RCHITECT
ERNST GISELBRECHT
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44|3
The Regional Hospital of Graz marks animportant moment in Austrian social andarchitectural history. Built on a low plateau to
the north of Graz between 1903 and 1912, ithad an unprecedented 1940 beds and wasorganized by anew body, the Regional BuildingAuthority. Ar chitecturally it consisted of aseries of four storey pavilions, Classical inspirit and designed by pupils of Otto W agner.One of these pavilions had become occupiedby Graz’s internationally renowned Ear, Noseand Throat Unit, which struggled to maintainits high standards in the antiquated buildings,so acompetition was held to renovate andextend the Wagnerschule pavilion. It was wonby Ernst Giselbrecht.
The old building’s Classical front stands onthe crest of asteep slope, visible fromacrossthe valley and complete in its elegantsymmetry. Obviously the extension wouldhave to be put behind. There was also theproblemthat the old buildingwas listed, yet itrequired repairs in its original craft technology
and avoidance of major alterations. Giselbrechttherefore sought to place highly servicedtreatment rooms and operatingtheatres in thenew block, while leavingwards, offices andlecture theatres – it is ateachinghospital – in
the old. He avoided attachingthe extensiondirectly, and consequent violence to the oldbuilding’s back: instead he left agap between
the two, with glazed passages as connectinglinks. He did however need to add fire-stairs atthe corners of the old buildingand he had toextend parts of the third floor facade. Theseadditions were made in amodern vocabularyfollowingthe Wagnerian geometry.
The cliff in front of the old main facadealways made a lateral approach necessary, andthe centre of the whole hospital complex liesto the west, so it made sense to create newentrances facingthat direction, while makingseparate provision for emergency arrivals byambulance to the east. Wisely, Giselbrechtmade no attempt to continue the symmetry of the Wagnerian conception, though he didrespect the central axis of the old buildingbyretainingit as main public link leadingto theoriginal main stair. A second link further east atground and first floor levels has become themain route for doctors and nurses enteringthe
new wing. The main entrance for the wholedepartment is now in the gap between the twobuildings, and while the public turn left into thenew or right into the old, doctors continuestraight on across asmall open court to their
own entrance behind. This court is the newheart and an important visual reference pointwhile movingabout the building, decorated
with ageometric artwork in polished stone bythe Czech sculptor Vaclav Fiala.
In section, the new block consists of threelayers: aday-patient clinic and emergencyservice on the ground floor, three operatingtheatres and associated facilities on the first,and aservice floor above. To the back andnorth-east, the twin bed-sized lifts make aservice tower, bringingthe new buildingto acomplete stop while, at the entrance end, itremains open and ambiguous, with a projectingwing-like shade to the second floor roof terrace that signifies openness and welcome.
The south-west side also has afully glazedground floor set back behind pilotis, indicatingthe location of the most public interface: theday-patient clinic. The glass walls allow viewsout fromthe waitingarea, and there is even acovered terrace for sittingout. Linked visuallyat high level by clerestoreys, consultingrooms
are contained by ashiny red partition includingred doors, a strikinggesture in an otherwisewhite and neutral building. Although red mightmean fire or danger, and these are roomswhere grimdiscoveries might be made, it does
CLINICAL PRECISIONAn extension of a distinguished ear, nose and throat
hospital department is both efficient and lyrical.
long section ( east-west) thr ough new wo rk cr oss sectio n ( nor th-south) thr ough new and old buildings
1Wing-like shade pterrace. Here, firsopen. Day-patient behind glasswall.
[email protected] 127 -
EAR,NOSEAND THROA
GRAZ REGIONAL HOSP
A RCHITECT
ERNST GISELBRECHT
first floor detail of movinglouvres
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46|3
1 mainentrance
2 day-patientswaiting
3 co urt
4 ambulanceentrance
5 audiology
6 speechtherapy
7 teaching
8 research
9 operatingtheatres
10 sterilization
11 standardwards
12 privatewards
13 staff
2Day-patient waitingarea is linkedto generousground floor terrace.Behind isold buildingwith newglassvertical circulation tower.3Automated perforated louvresprevent overheatingby sun.4Main entrance mediatingbetweenold and new.
ground floor of both old and new buildings(scale approx 1:750)
site plan 3 4
2
A new partB existingpavilion
C children’ssurgery
D helicopter landing
[email protected] 128 -
EAR,NOSEAND THROATUNIT,
GRAZ REGIONAL HOSPITAL, AUSTRIA
A RCHITECT
ERNST GISELBRECHT
5 6
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48|3
seemappropriate to cheer themup in this way:all white, the whole thingwould have seemed
too antiseptic. Trained as amechanical engineer,Giselbrecht is astickler for detail and received agenerous enough budget to use expensivematerials – polished stone in the washrooms,for example. Every cor ner seems nicely made,every fittingwell-integrated. Frameless glassand stove-enamelled panels make for slickelevations, and solar control is provided by anew variation on one of Giselbrecht’s favouritethemes: horizontal metal louvres, this timeperforated for reduced light when closed.*
The high level of specialist servicingis notmade too obvious, and there is seamlesscontinuitybetween the technologyof thearchitecture and that of the medical equipment –all speaks of scientific efficiency. One of thetechnical advances most prized bythe doctorsand not immediatelyobvious in the architectureis the provision of electronic networks to allow
operations and investigations to be filmed andrecorded, for work up the nose and down thethroat is only just visible to the surgeon, let aloneto surroundingcolleagues or students. Miniature
TV cameras now allow all to be seen in detail,
and operations are routinelyrecorded on videotape for teachingpurposes and in case of future
complications. Equally, awhole lecture theatre of students can see on large screen and hear anoperation take place without crossingthethreshold of sterilityor riskinggettingin the way.
One slightly amusingdetail is an obsessiveprovision of clocks, for in public life generally,they have disappeared in favour of personalwatches, whose private time is now generallyconsidered universal enough. But havinghospital time displayed on every floor leavesroomfor no ambiguity: it spells teamwork andcontrol in no uncertain terms. The architecttold me that a leadingconsultant even objectedto havingadigital clock in the lecture room,askingfor it to be replaced by one with aface:no less accurate of course, just aspatialrepresentation, and one developed inaccordance with anow outmoded technology.
These things are symbols of the prevailingethos. Shown around by one of the younger
consultants, I gained a strong impression of their pride in their new buildingand theexpression it gives to the efficiency of theirorganization. For the manager of hospitalstoo, this was the best of the bunch. An
updated version of machine-made modern,the architectural language shows the
machine aesthetic fulfilled as it never couldbe in the 1920s. In a vulnerable and life-threateningsituation, one could feel gratefulfor such calmsurroundings, for the realityand rigour of technical control and the latestand best equipment. Surely this is better thanbeingpalmed off with a stage-set offering afourth-hand myth of domesticity.
PETER BLUNDELL JONES
Architect
Ernst Giselbrecht, GrazProject team (competition)
Peter MüllerProject architects
Kuno Kelih JohannesEisenbergerProject team
ReneT raby, AndreasGanzera, Peter Potoschnig,SandraG ruber, Andreas Moser, WolfgangÖhlinger,Peter Fürnschuss,Ernst Rainer,O tmar Brosch,AntonO itzingerGeneral planning
Ingenieurbüro ZT K EG, EmmerichFri edl, Hubert Rinderer
Project leaderHeinzRo flmannPhotographs
Paul Ott
* For earlier work seeA R January1994, O ctober 1995,
April 1996, April1997.
5Court with sculpture by VaclavFiala isnew heart of complex.6New lecture theatre in oldbuilding.7Consultingrooms are in red,bringinga cheery touch …8… to abuilding that might otherwisehave seemed overly clinical.9Lookingout through perforatedlouvreswhen they are closed.
7
8 [email protected] 129 -
A penitentiary is defined as a
place for punishment, for
reform, but most of all, a place
to inspire discipline. When Eric
Yolles (son of renowned
Canadian structural engineer
Morden Yolles) asked designer
Johnson Chou to ‘think
downtown Toronto, the 185 sq
mvolume was a conventional
strip with industrial windows at
one end. Exploring the notion of
surveillance implied by the
demands of a prison aesthetic,
Chou removed non-structural
walls and divided the resulting
turned the bathroominto a
stage set for self-conscious
performance.
Makingfurniture and fittings
an integral part of interior design
is an essential part of Chou’s
philosophy; it constitutes what
he calls the ‘narrative of
concrete lends aparticular glow
to the interior, one specific to
the materials themselves. Subtle
nuances and reflections in slate
and metal are revealed by
illumination, which playingoff
surfaces lends asculptural,
ephemeral quality to the bed and
Raw disciplineDesign of an apartment in a Toronto warehouse expresses the owner’s desire for a
disciplined existence, and the architect’s love of sensual austerity.
practical living. By designing
every aspect of this apartment,
fromthe arrangement of space
down to details, like a bedside
command module in sandblasted
glass (slidingopen to access light
switches, thermostat,
telephone), Chou has injected
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80|3
penitentiary’, he was concerned
primarily with materials – that
his apartment would contain noembellishments or gratuitous
flourishes. Yolles may not have
realized it at the time, but by
specifyingpenitentiary he
opened more possibilities than
simply workingwith raw
materials (often a given in
contemporary loft design); he
invited Chou to discipline his
space – to create an
environment that would inspire
and order, define and clarify the
way he lives. Housed in a
converted warehouse in
volume with one large
sandblasted glass screen. Space
was layered by means of slidingpartitions at times inset with
sections of clear glass so that
one part of the apartment is
transformed while another is
glimpsed. The largest of these
partitions – a dramatic section
of stainless steel – separates
bedroomfromlivingroom; the
adjoining translucent glass panel
incorporates a strip of clear
glass which allows you to see
the sunken slate bath fromthe
livingareas. Experimentingwith
the act of viewing, Chou has
habitation’. In this flat, the
aluminium-clad bed is
cantilevered fromthe wall sothat it appears to hover in mid-
air. Aluminiumfloor-to-ceiling
storage cupboards span the
entire length of the bedroom,
holdingand hidingall of Yol les’
belongings.
Chou’s seamless design
demands order and an ascetic
way of living. He creates
simplicity, but also a serenity
that derives from harmonious
proportions and materials.
Though bare and elemental,
liberal use of aluminiumand
free-standingwashstand, their
austerity and refinement
recallingDonald Judd’s sculpture.Usingluminance as atheatrical
element, Chou has employed
halogen and fluorescent
luminaires in avariety of ways to
re-define space and create mood.
In two sculptural gestures,
recessed fluorescents cross the
ceiling, and luminaires
underneath low slate stairs
create asubtle glow, in softer
contrast to material severity.
In relinquishingcontrol of his
environment to Chou, Yolles has
received more than ordered,
APARTMENT , TO
CANADA
ARCHITECT
JOHNSON CHOU
plan (scale approx 1:150)
1Stainless-steel sheet bedroom and livingro2... slidesback so the tcan be made one. Refluorescentscrossth3Full-height cupboardaluminium panels; fudesigned by the prac4Panel inset with 250mclear glassto r eveal sbath from livingroom
hedonismto create a
penitentiary that is ultimately
close to theatre. CARLY BUTLER
Architect
JohnsonChou, Toronto
Project team
JohnsonChou, SteveChoe, Michael Lam
Metal fabricators
SeriousStainless
Tredegar Kennedy
Millwork
Highgate FineCabinetry,
LeeCustomMillwork
Glass
Proto-Glass
Interior construction
Chiltern Contracting
Photographs
Volker Seding
3 4
1
2
[email protected] 130 -
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42|1
Duisburg was once the biggest
inland port in Europe. Its inner
harbour was carefully carved outof the banks of the Rhine and
lined with warehouses and mills.
Like all nineteenth-century
ports, Duisburghas collapsed
economically and its trade was
taken over by lorries and road
transport. Küppersmühle – the
last bigindustrial building–
closed in the ’90s, it was revived
by Herzog and de Meuron as an
art museum(AR June 1999). The
city has robustly decided to
transformits industrial heart to
become a complex interweave of
domestic, commercial and
leisure functions. A competition
was held for Emscher Park, a
derelict industrial area, which
was organized by InternationalesBauausstellung. Foster and
Partners won with a masterplan
that has been interpreted by that
practice and others.
In their housingscheme,
Ingenhoven Overdiek & Partner
decided to reinterpret the
morphology of the area between
the city centre and the harbour
basin. They have created roughly
parallel blocks flanked by
shallow canals that are actually
slightly above harbour level.
These take all rainwater from
the development, and are
planted with reeds that help
purify the water as it gently
flows down towards the great
river.Despite their very regular
elevations, the blocks contain a
wide variety of accommodation,
rangingfrom studio units to
three-bedroomfamily flats. All
face east-west with deep loggias
on their west sides and small
balconies on the east.
Construction is of finely finished
precast concrete panels, with
the recessed top storeys having
steel structure and cedar
cladding. Internal partitions have
been varied, allowing, for
instance, kitchens to open off
livingareas, or to be separate
1
Large court separatesterraces,which face shallow canalson eachside of project.2Carefully and reticently made in thenorthern European watersidetradition.
HOME AND DRY A mix of uses is replacing the industrial area round
the river port of Duisburg. This housing development is
inspired by the waterside cities of northern Europe.
HOUSING, DUISBURG, GERMANY
ARCHITECT
INGENHOVEN, OVERDIEK
& PARTNER
1
[email protected] 131 -
spaces. The architects wanted to
make the rooms ‘neutral’ so that
they can be used for many
different purposes.
This sounds like a recipe for
anomie. In fact, it is not. The
parti locks into the existingcity
with a small square to the south
and a generous well-planted
inner court. The canals are a real
gain for the whole city, with
their tree-lined pedestrian paths
leadingdown to the river. So on
both sides, the flats look out
over trees and each dwelling has
a view of the canals. Cars are
carefully controlled: under each
block is an underground garage,
which in section raises the
entrancelevelametreabove
Vertical circulation stacks divide
the terraces. They serve two
flats on each floor with glass lifts
and really excellently made stairs
that have cast stone treads
cantilevered from central
stringers.
Each heavy, well insulated
front door has a welcoming
wooden seat in the internal
porch. Joinery is immaculate and
the concrete is either acid-
etched or polished.
It is this fineness, the quality
of obvious decency that makes
the scheme a quiet,
undemonstrative example of
how a city can re-embrace its
waterside nature, and evoke the
elegantaquaticnorthern
location plan
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entrance level a metre above
path level, so the lowest floor
has privacy, and the garages areventilated.
elegant aquatic northern
European urban tradition that
inspires us all from Amsterdamto Stockholm.
3Large loggiasface west.4Stairsserve only two flatson eachfloor, which …5… have well insulated and very wellmade front doors.6Loggia side, waiting for planting.
44|1 medium mid-terrace flat (scale approx 1:200)
large mid-terrace flat
small top floor flatmaisonette (end of terrace)
large top floor flat
3
4 5 6
Architect
IngenhovenOverdiek & Partner,
Düsseldorf
Project team
ChristophI ngenhoven, Rudolf Jones,
Barbara Bruder, Frank Reineke,
Richard Galinski, Axel Möller
Photographs
H. G. Esch, Hennef
[email protected] 132 -
The Benslow Music Trust,
established in the late 1920s in
the grounds of a late nineteenth-century house in Hitchin,
Hertfordshire, runs residential
courses for musicians. Until the
addition of Patel Taylor’s
beautifully resolved and crafted
courtyard scheme (won in
competition and built with
Lottery money), accommodation
was contained in an old stable
block, and performances took
place in a recital hall built in the
1970s. Victorian gardens
spreadingover the top of a hill
are romantic, and musicians
were – and are – encouraged
to use them.
Patel Taylor’s site is to the north
of the main house and stable block.
To the east is an orchard, and tothe west, the main entrance to the
grounds. A car park runs around
the north side of the site and its
southern perimeter is formed by
the back wall of the stables.
Patel Taylor’s architecture,
quiet, controlled, and infused with
material poetry, deploys quite a
complex vocabulary of layering,
interlockingplanes, and changing
textures. By such means are
relationships between interior and
exterior, between exterior and
the wider context subtly indicated
and routes defined. One of the
most beguilingaspects of this
practice’s work is the way order is
quietly subverted by random
expression and pattern. The plan of the Hitchin scheme
gives an indication of how
intricately it has been put
together. The two-storeyed
courtyard complex, that provides
arehearsal hall, four practice
rooms, six bedrooms and kitchen,
fits into the loose arrangement of
outdoor rooms – formal stable
yard, informal garden enclosures
and orchard – that already existed.
Lined by aglazed cloister, the new
courtyard becomes, on summer
days, adelightful place in which to
rehearse. On the east, an old
brick tower (divested of alean-to
MUSIC BUILDING,
HITCHIN, ENGLAND
A RCHITECT
PATEL TAYLOR ARCHITECTS
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70|5
HARMONIC SCALEIn Hertfordshire, an extension of a music school is sensitive to its Victorian
context while providing a tranquil and spiritually inspiring setting.
1Exterior of recital hall andentrance to courtyard.2Glazed north-east corner.3Door to foyer.4Cloistered courtyard with practiceroomsand bedrooms above; black brick and white render exterior of hall carried inside. Stelae in poolby Christine Fox.
1 2
3 [email protected] 133 -
acoustic panelling
south courtyard elevation
MUSIC BUILD
HITCHIN, EN
A RCHITECT
PATEL TAYL
5From cloister torecital hall.6Recital hall withscreening and stGallery top left.
5
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landscapingand lavender tower
brick outer crust
render lining
72|5 site plan ground floor plan (scale approx 1:350)
first floor plan
1 existingbuilding
2 courtyard
3 glazedcloister
4 entrance
5 recitalhall
6 foyer
7 plant
8 wc
9 practiceroom
10 void
11 gallery
12 kitchen
13 bedroom
14 canopy
15 glazedcanopy
[email protected] 134 -
and once used for drying
lavender), marks passage to the
orchard, and a glazed canopy
lightly covering a link to the stable
yard flies into the courtyard at
cloister level.
Like a hard shell with a smooth
luminous centre, the complex has
coherence derives from uniformly
designed oak framing around
windows and ventilators. Glazing
dissolves the eastern corner, so
that the interiors of a ground floor
practice room and the bedroom
above flow into the garden.
The curving mass of the recital
and bedrooms and is, with the
courtyard, one of two incidental
spaces for practice.
As in previous schemes by Pate
Taylor, detailing is constantly
intriguing (AR August 1999).
Materials – York stone, black
brick, white render, wooden
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a protective outer skin of textured
red brickwork and precast banding
which, giving way to softer white
render inside the courtyard,
alludes to the brick and stone
dressings of the main house and to
the rough warmth of a garden wall,
now demolished.
Since accommodation is diverse
– extending from small rooms
(some enlarged for disabledpeople) to the big volume of the
recital hall – the architects felt it
necessary to impose order in the
form of a building grid. Externally,
it is realized in the standardized
brick panels that form the crust,
but any hint of dullness is avoided
by recessing some to create a
textured surface, and by the
apparently random pattern of openings that indicate different
volumes inside. Another layer of
hall, bursting away from the
orthogonal on the west, denotes
its status as a public hall and signals
entrance to the courtyard.
Surmounted by a copper cone, the
interior is illuminated by a
rooflight around the cone’s edge,
so that daylight spills down the
walls of the asymmetrical volume,
the bulge neatly embracing a grand
piano or chamber orchestra. Foracoustic reasons, the chamber is
lined by free-form wooden
screening, and the ceiling rises in
random steps. Both devices diffuse
sound, but the visual effect is to
lend a sculptural dimension to the
space. Overlooking it is a first
floor gallery with wooden coping
slanted to take sheets of music.
An intervening knuckle – acurving foyer inside a circular
staircase – links the hall to studios
screening – spilling from one area
to another establish continuity;
and oak floors have pleasing
textures and patterns, consisting
as they do of random strips
between regular ones concealing
services. Outside in the courtyard
a handsome slab of wood
supported by a waterspout forms
a bench over one of the two
rectangular pools; and you areprevented from having accidents
by quotes about music inscribed in
white across glass doors. P.M
Architect
Patel Taylor Architects, London
Project team
Pankaj Patel, Andrew Taylor, Adam Penton,
Tim Riley, Paul Allen
Structural engineer
Alan Conisbee & Associates
Services engineerArup Cardiff
Photographs
Martin Charles
MUSIC BUILDING,
HITCHIN, ENGLAND
A RCHITECT
PATEL TAYLORARCHITECTS
Quite the most dramatic part of
the University of New South
Wales at Kensington, Sydney is theScientia, which houses the
institution’s main ceremonial and
social spaces and forms aformal
focus for arather ragged campus
largely inhabited by utilitarian
buildings. But the place has amall
that has largely been respected by
successive generations of
architects.
Scientiais on the mall in the
middle of the university, at apoint
where there is achange in level in
the site, which falls here fromeast
to west. It focuses on adramatic
timber and glass portico which acts
as foyer to the public spaces on
each side. At first, the whole design
The performance spaces are
inside the blank plinths, which are
faced in sandstone as areminiscence of the bank into
which the Scientiais built. Stone
courses are carefully differentiated
into strataby thin strings of precast
concrete that become closer
together as the plinth rises until
they formthe balustrades of the
terraces that surround the two big
aluminiumclad boxes that contain
the ceremonial rooms.
Over the north side of the plinth
is the Leighton Hall, adramatic
double-height galleried space in
which afolded roof (àlaFestival of
Britain) is supported on slender
laminated Oregon pine columns
that have profound entasis
EXHIBITION AND
PERFORMANCEBUILDING ,
UNIVERSITY OF NEW SOUTH
WALES, AUSTRALIA
A RCHITECT
MGT ARCHITECTS
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44|5
seems very simple: bigplinth with
metal boxes on top penetrated byportico, abold, monumental,
almost classical composition
needed to bringorder to the
campus. In fact, the buildingis
extremely carefully tailored to its
location and the handlingof spaces
and levels is remarkably thoughtful.
One of the main problems of the
site was the proximity of the Civil
Engineeringdepartment to the
east, aremarkably uncivil ’60s
complex that comes almost to the
top of the bank, and is made the
more unwelcomingby abrick
tower almost aggressive in its
dullness. To the west of the slope
is Electrical Engineering, so the
fallingsite was uncomfortably
narrow. On it had to be placed the
main ceremonial hall of theuniversity, the main performance
spaces and amajor function room.
followingthe bendingstresses
between stainless-steel pin joints attop and bottom. Bright reds and
yellows are offset by calmbeech
and silky oak panels; the bigvolume
is bathed in light fromclerestories.
Across the mall, on top of the
other plinth, is the Tyree function
room, similar in many ways, but
only one storey high, over the (as
yet unused – and unnamed) steeply
raked main music space. Across
the mall, under Leighton Hall is the
much less steep Ritchie theatre.
It is not too difficult to arrange
such bigspaces above each other in
adignified way. The really clever
parts of the parti are concerned
with relatingthemingeniously. The
slopes of the volumes inside the
plinth run at r ight angles to the
natural fall of the site. This allowsthe spaces to be reached from
bridges over the mall between the
WINGED PRESENCEOne of the most important things in an
educational institution is to engender a sense of
place: an area of the mind we can relate to for
the rest of our lives. Here is a powerful focus.
1Movingto the Acropolisfrom themall ...2
... and arrivingat the new academicsquare.3A combination of nautical andbotanical metaphors. Main civil spacehoversover stepsup from mall.
1
2
[email protected] 136 -
two parts of the plinth. The main
bridge is about the height of the
new academic square that has beenmade at the upper level of the site.
Approachingdown the mall
fromthe west, you see the
splendidly dramatic glass roof of
the Scientia, supported on mast-
or-tree like columns beautifully
made of turned and laminated
jarrah. Sunlight is modified by metal
louvres, and the whole floats
delicately over the central gulch.
Climbingthe formal stairs under
the bridge, you come to the new
square, and the alley of poplars that
will, when grown, partly mask the
un-Civils building, and emphasize
the mall and its relationship to the
new square.
Atthi l l i f th
EXHIBITION AND
PERFORMANCEBUILDING ,
UNIVERSITY OF NEW SOUTH
WALES, AUSTRALIA
A RCHITECT
MGT ARCHITECTS
4
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west-east section through stairsin mall
4Leighton Hall, main academic spaceof the whole university.5Laminated and turned jarrah is, withstainlesssteel, main structuralelement of the great glassportico.
46|5
At this level, comingfromthe
west, you have to turn round to
enter the Leighton, which can
throw itself open on suitable days
through an array of doors. Getting
to the southern part of the
complex at this level is more
complicated, because the Civils
buildingprevented direct access,
so there is aspecial entrance in a
return of the plinth that leads
through aglass wall to the
approach to the main bridge. The
bridge platformthen becomes a
major element in the interaction of
the plan. Another bank of doors to
the south side of the Leighton
opens onto the platformwhich
suddenly becomes aproper
volume, enclosed by glass roof and
walls and faces the bar and the (as
yet unused) entrances to theconcert hall. Above, in the glass
box, is the riggingof the university
flagship (or the branches of the
Grove of Academe). On one side is
the calmsquare and poplar grove,
on the other is the busy mall over
which you hover. It is atruly
memorable, democratic and
generous academic space and
deserves its rôle as the centre of
the university.
GEMMA HENRIKSON
Architect
MGT Architects,Sydney
Project team
RichardFrancis-Jones,J effMor ehan,Romaldo
Giurgola,A ngelo Korsanos,C onradJ ohnston,
RhiannonMorgan,Richard Thorp,JasonTrisley,
DouglasBrooks, NinotschkaT itchkosky
Structural andcivil consultant
Taylor Thomson&Whitting
Landscapearchitect
Context LandscapingDesign
Photographs
JohnGollings
upper, Tyree, level
level of Leighton Hall (scale approx 1:800)
principlesof natural ventilation
1 LeightonHall
2 TyreeRoom
3 m al l
4 bridgeover mall
5 musicauditorium
6 new square
7 poplar grove
north-south section [email protected] 137 -
LIBRARY , ARISTOT
OFTHESSAL
ANASTASSIOSK
MORPHO P
IRENA
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The main campus of the Aristotle
University of Thessalonicawas
started in the 1950s and, like
many of its contemporaries, it is
an ordered structure of cleanly
designed concrete buildingspermeated by large amounts of
greenery. On the whole, it has
stood up well, and (with some
exceptions) additions have
conformed to the intentions of
the master plan. But the
university continues to grow,
and it is runningout of sites.
So when the library needed to
expand, it was decided to put
the extension underground. The
approach is part of an overall
university strategy, by which
new work will largely be
underground in a series of
fragments intended to restore
the essentially urban characterof the campus. The new part of
the library i s apparently entirely
separate from the original 1960
building by Papaioannou & Fines
which stands alone like a
pavilion in a park. The landscape
sweeps round to the north-east
of the old building, over the roof
of the new bit. New and old are
separated by a sort of gulch in
which the severe facade of the
Papaioannou & Fines buildingis
faced with an almost Aaltoesque
brick wall, rough faced and
sensuous as a metaphor of the
earth from which it is excavated.
The gulch is in fact areinforcement of the pedestrian
axis across the campus, a route
that connects university to city.
A path breaks through the brick
wall, almost at right angles to
the axis. A triangular glass sail
hovers over it , drawingyou on
into a béton brut drum, open to
the sky. Down into the drum
curves a stair that delivers you
to the entrance level of the
Underground thoughtsThe University of Thessalonica has dug in to create an underground library that gives
the comfort of the cave, while being a powerful academic machine.
1The sinuousgulch, of which thecurvingbrick wall …2… emergesinside. Bridge at highlevel (behind the louvredwindows) delivers people toentrance drum.
1
[email protected] 138 -
LIBRARY , ARISTOTLE UNIVERSITY
OFTHESSALONICA, GREECE
ARCHITECT
ANASTASSIOSK OTSIOPOULOS,
MORPHO PAPANIKOLAOU,
IRENA SAKELLARIDOU
south-west/north-east section north-west/south-east section through drum
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library extension. In a sort of
Alice in Wonderland
progression, you go through a
constricted tunnel-like entry
lobby to come out facingthe
reception desk. Gradually, it
becomes clear that on each side
of the compressed entrance
sequence is a majestic space, lit
from the top and panelled in
wood.
This is the double-height
readingroom, the focus and
raison d’être of the place. It is at
once intimate and grand, with
the concrete of the drumand its
battered buttresses contrasting
with the warmpanelling, almostas if a huge and delicate study
has been built round the very
well preserved remains of a
mysterious Hadrianic ruin.
Luminance pours in fromvaried
sources. The biggest is the
nether part of the triangular
glass sail that greeted you at the
entrance. Daylight is always
supplemented by artificial
sources.
The wood walls of the great
study are cut back to make small
individual study spaces lined
with open access shelving.
Detailingis simple, and the
finished result would have been
elegant and fine, were it not for
the clumsiness created by the
contracts used in Greek public
works, which give contractorsfar too much power over
finished buildings. It will be used
largely by graduate students, so
its separation fro
library, though co
perhaps justified.
are linked by a lo
containingclosed
But the force o
remains. The grea
inspiringinventio
appropriate for st
multi-layered idea
through into eve
building(as far as
has allowed).P.D
Architects
AnastassiosKotsiopoulo
Papanikolaou, Irena Sak
Collaborator
AlexandraEconomidou
Landscape Designers
I. Tsalikidis, O. Kosmid
Photographs
C. Louizidis
3
Main readingroom is doubleheight, crossed by access bridge.4A Hadrianic ruin (the drum,right) issurrounded by agenerousand welcomingstudy.
site plan upper level
lower (reading) level (scale approx 1:820)3
4
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Royal Academy Forum
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Is the city a work of art, as distinguished urban historian DonaldOlsen suggested? Jacob Burckhardt, who more or less invented thediscipline of cultural history in the nineteenth century, wouldcertainly have had no doubt. In his Civil isati on of the Renaissance in Italy he described how even a state might become a work of art,though by art he meant something slightly different to theinterpretation which has become common at the beginning of the
twenty-first century. T o Burckhardt, art described the product of artifice, and one of the great developments of the Renaissance wasthat every part of the state was subject to conscious thought anddecision. Cities clearly follow a Burckhardtian definition of worksof art, but are they or can they be considered as works of art in thecontemporary sense? If so, when London has never been morevital as a centre of contemporary art and when artistic activity ismaking a significant contribution even to regeneration of areas likeHoxton, why is there so little contemporary sculpture in the publicrealm? Art has retreated into museums – ‘not very different from
hospitals’, as Antony Gormley put it, ‘where things are lookedafter’ – leaving unchallenged the plethora of Victorian bronzes ontheir plinths as the dominant image of public statuary.
With this paradox the art critic Richard Cork opened the first of
consciously engages with the public realm. In the second evenchaired by artist David Ward, architects Eric Parry, Ian Ritchiand Kathryn Findlay outlined their perceptions of and thsensibilities they bring to the urban realm, followed by a responsfrom the Royal Academy’s professor of sculpture, David Mach.
What emerged from the presentations and contributions fromthe floor, notably from sculptor Bill Woodrow and th
Academy’s Exhibitions Secretary Norman Rosenthal, was not smuch a clear distinction between architecture and sculpture as plurality of opinions with some analogies to readings of thmodernist city. O ne of the hallmarks of the modern city is itfragmentation, and if architects’ initial response to modernitwas to try to assert their control by seeking to unify the entirurban environment, more recently they have begun to realizthat much remains immune to their influence. No single solutioor approach will work; rather there is a need for a pattern ostrategic alliances which evolves according to contingen
circumstances. Civilization’s internal disequilibrium, Ian Ritchicited, with reference to Stanley Diamond, is what ‘propels thsystem forward and gives us progress’. So if architecture as discipline has its limitations, it follows that other disciplines, b
The objectAntony Gormley’s ascribing of great power to sculptural objectscontrasted with K athryn Findlay’s preference for describingUshida F indlay’s buildi ngs, often described by critics assculptural, as processes. For Gormley ‘sculpture has always triedto link an imaginative object with a physical place and do it in anabsolute way’. J apanese citi es, Findlay suggested, where the‘distinction between landmark and ephemera is blurred’,dissipate the power of objects into a myriad of tiny elements andexperiences. Somewhere between these poles sat Eric Parry.Havi ng suggested from the floor at the fir st event that
bowelsof the city, penetrating the skin which so precariously holdsthe innards within’. For Barlow it demonstrates ‘the power of sculptural objects, incomplete, unresolved physical experience, butwhere all sensesare aroused’.
In commenting that ‘architects don’t think li ke sculptors, wedon’t see form and don’t touch materials in the same way’, I anRitchie may have made an obvious point, but the precise nature of these differences is important. Sculptors would probably not findsignificance in his monument in Dublin having ‘no detail, so therainwater can run straight down’, as his architectural sensibili ties,honed on the practicalitiesof waterproofing make it to him But
hopes’. The Angel of the North is ‘not simply a guardian angel’,but ‘crucified by the wings it bears, [it] speaksof transition’, whilethe pieces within the walls of Derry in N orthern Ir eland ‘drawenergiesto itself, possibly becoming the focusof reconciliation’.
SpaceSculpture could not have the power Gormley assigns to it withoutits position within the community, precisely within public space. The superficial distinction, that architects necessarily have todeal with the urban context while sculptors can choose to avoidit conceals much more complicated variations David M ach has
Gormley both suggested, in different ways, that urbalatent characteristics with which sculpture and architengage. For Parry these might lie in mnemonic tracesin the annually re-enacted Easter Parade in the SicEnna, and can be crystallized in spaces such as the which stud Bombay’s urban fabric. Parry finds ppavement and when ‘urban artefacts become pperformance … the idea of art in a city being mopermanent is defied by the amazing and imaginativcity’. H is monument and visitors’ centre near LoStation captures this sense At once specific and ev
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Havi ng suggested from the floor at the fir st event that
architecture and sculpture come together in the ‘theatre of thecity, the way the city i s used’, hi s talk ‘Beyond the Object’explored the relationship between history, contemporary patternsof use, and objects as links or mnemonic stimuli. For Parry,objects may not have the absolute completeness which they havefor Gormley, but they are still necessary components in anexperience which Findlay, at least in the Japanese city, sees asentirely dissolved within the nebulous fabric.
Phyllida Barlow also proposed a fluctuating relationship betweenobject and city, but one depending on the position of the viewer.Seeing the ‘city as an object’ from vantage points like PrimroseHi ll and Walthamstow Marshes, ‘conceals its most object-li kequalities’. From within, the city acquires sounds and smells andassumes the character of a stage set, until this ‘choreography’collapses, ‘the skin erupts … innardsand the city itself seep out’ toreveal the anthropomorphized ‘object-like qualities’ of a humanbody. But sculpture has one more arrow in its quiver. A work likeWalter de Maria’s Vertical Earth Kilometre , ‘embedded in the earth’ssurface’, leaves its length to the imagination, piercing ‘into the
honed on the practicalitiesof waterproofing, make it to him. But
they might respond to his evocative descripti on of the monumentas ‘celestial acupuncture’, motivated by wanting to ‘get to those[wonderful Ir ish] skies and bring the light back to the ground’. This illustrates a connection for the imagination that Gormleywould recognize, although if the physical connection disappearedin the effect, it would be close to Findlay’s perception of thedissipation of object within process.
Gormley identified a distinction between sculptural andarchitectural objects. ‘Architecture’, he claimed, ‘does notnecessarily achieve art, but it can combine an understanding of human scale, the body, light and how it can penetrate form. Reallygreat architecture is about creating wellbeing, the best decorationa building can have’. Sculpture ‘actsasa witness, holding humanfeeling and thought and inscribes it within geological time’. Thegreat challenge ‘in a time of loss and deconstruction of grandnarrative’ when ‘notions of freedom and democracy can no longerbe embodied in one man’ – even if that man is Nelson Mandela, isto meet ‘the need for the totemic’. With its ‘primitive and atavisticqualities’, sculpture can ‘talk about the deepest fearsand profound
Social tensionsare visceral at the wallsof Derryin N orthern Ireland where AntonyGorml eymade thispiece, ‘talkingabout the deepest fearsand profoundest hopes’.
KasaharaAmenity Hall, bythe Kathryn FindlayLaboratorywith Tomoko Taguchi andTakakuni Yukawa, hasrational origin in the sun’smovements. Photo: KatsuhisaKida.
it, conceals much more complicated variations. David M ach has
even exhibited in the unlikely location of ‘the ashtray of aHi llman Imp’. H e finds galleries ‘clinical, remote and boring’ andtries to ‘work in very public spaces’, such as the interior of a trainin Amsterdam or inside a brothel – ‘cries of “Yes Yes Yes Yes”really concentrate the mind’. Gormley might also deridemuseums as art hospitals, but when Richard Cork asked PhyllidaBarlow directly whether she thought art needs ‘protection fromthe hurly-burly of the city’, she replied emphatically, ‘Y es’, citi ngas an example Hans Haake’sStandort Merry Go Round at the 1997Munster Sculpture Exhibition. And even architects do not agreeamong themselves as to the nature of desirable engagement. I anRitchie admitted to having great difficulty in designing projectssuch as speculative office blocks which do not have an explicitend-user. But Eric Parry argued that as ‘80 per cent of the city istaken up with workplaces’, architects should address them ontheir own terms, just as George Dance designed Gower Streetwhere ‘everyone lives differently behind similar facades’.
Again these initi al positions resolve into a complex and shiftinginteraction of views about the nature of urban space. Parry and
Station captures this sense. At once specific and ev
function as an information centre which might heenvisage an almost vanished past, the inclinedmonument lacksan obvious programmatic function bupart of skateboarding lore.
For Bi ll Woodrow, commenting on hispiece on thein T rafalgar Square, it wasthe form of the space itsethe patterns of use, which bore on the possible objecbronze evoked another layer of context. The mnumerous nearby Vi ctorian heroes, it carriesan indeburden irrespective of any form it might take.
Parry singled out Gormley’s Fathers and Sons as a‘challenges the everyday in underground space’,Gormley’ssuggestion that one role of art is ‘to confron… perhaps … to infiltrate rather than to confirm pIron: man in Birmingham and the piece within thedemonstrate the strategy of infiltrating physical spaceobjects, in ways that change the perceptions and sowhich created and are reinforced by those spaces. Ir onto his kneesin the ground, but hasa dialogue with Q
Left: without prop of aplinth, AntonyGormley’spiece Iron: man sinksup to hiskneesin front of Birmingham’sNeo-Classical cityhall. Middle: Eric Parry’sFinsburySquaachievesapoetic qualitywithin the specificsof modern urban speculative development. Right: mall shrinesset into Bombay’surban fabric are one wayof [email protected]
- 141 -
Phyllida Barlow
In and out of the city The clichés about the city do have a kind of trutparticularly becauseof their useof thebody asa metaand thebody, with its bowels, heart, pulseand soul, doeffectivemetaphor. I t imbuesthecity with anthropomasi f it were a living, sentient thing. This is an accurahow thecity affects us: asa personality to reckon wievokeconvincingly theexterior of thecity in relationshand thispaper hasa narrativedeveloped around thisre
Th i t dth i
Royal Academy Forum
The great struggle of artists in the twentieth century was toestablish that art is self-determining, undermining any attempt atcollaboration or indeed working in public space. It is this conditionwhich he is trying to reverse.
David Ward introduced the second session with a pair of ‘defining and influential artworks’. In Josef Beuys’ 7000 Oaks , eachwas planted alongside a basalt block which they eventuallyoutgrew, and Gordon Matta Clark’s Conical Intersect was a conicalaperture cut through houses before they were demolished to makeway for the Pompidou Centre. T he second, he suggested, was a‘reversal of the sculptor’s sculpture, creating spaces to allow thesecontributions to reveal themselves’. H ere, perhaps the mosti t l l t l ti i ht d i f ll i l l
who surmounts a plinth. Devised as an ‘expression about theIndustrial Revolution and the material wealth of Birmingham’, itattempts to create a ‘collective image of the city’ whose physicalform challengesobservers to re-examine the urban fabric, what itstandsfor and the processeswhich generated it.
Speaking of choreography where Parry spoke of theatre, andechoing Gormley’s view that the physical sculptural object mightlead to perceptionsbeyond its physical limitswasPhyllida Barlow.And i f from the distance she saw the city as an object, close to itsobject-like appearance dissolved into a myriad of fragmentaryimages. Kathryn Findlay, in her reading of Tokyo, found a socialand functional justification to this dissolution. ‘The city i s a
lti l f i fi it i ll ll h bit bl b hi d
on this corporate model, says Ri tchie, ‘is not dissimilar to theskyline; money dictateswhere and how we produce spaces’.
CollaborationsColl aboration between architects and artists might sound atempting way to overcome this bleak scenario, but it is not an easypanacea. Barlow wondered whether there is a confli ct of interestprecisely around the issue of space. Sculptors, she explained, ‘seespace as a physical substance to be manipulated’ but wondered,‘do architects see it as just a void?’ Ri tchie found a differentdifficulty in ‘the collaboration myth … it’s like man meets woman,get married, have babies … arti sts need more courage’. T he realdiff b t hit t d bli l t h
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The vista and the view
Thenarrativebeginswith thevista: how to view theciit in its entirety. Almost impossiblefromthe ground, athecity, but possiblefromabove, like, in London, fromHill, PrimroseHill, Greenwich Park, or Crystal Palafrom Walthamstow Marshes for example. wherewetlandscreate a distancefromwhich thecity can bsamelevel, low down. This is my preferred view, becaview of the city, where the overtly industrial pylonsfactories, water worksand reservoirsmeetsthe residenby thisfiveor six milewidestrip of theLeeValley.
Being able to stand back from the city restdimensionality: the greying of its edgesround it, emand its density, unifying it into a solidity which beliereality, asexperienced when in amongit.
A view of thecity, gettingfar enough back fromit, enit into an idyll, a sublime idyll, which hides its intesubdues noise, smell, chaos, and offers instead a stimelessly compelling, somethingwhich isdifficult to takin thesameway that it isdifficult not to stareat an expa
In contrast, thecity frominsideisa seriesof facadesof a stageset or a pack of cards. It is impossibleto expasthree-dimensional. And thespaceswithin thecity opdoorsconstantly openingand shutting: fromthenarrowinto theopen but surrounded.
Getting far enough back, to beat a distance, beingasee thehorizon asfar away, is to beableto watch wobject meets its surrounding space, and where the emblemsolidifiesinto a weighted down and placed thing
ChoreographyIf standingback fromthecity makes it still and subduethecity revealsit asmovingand noisy. You areeither a bystander, an audience: themovement of thecity ischoto be on the edge of that choreography is to be exthrough choice, but also for some reason, thChoreography relieson rules: rulesof placeand containcomplyingwith therulesishazardousand anarchic. Thdependsupon thecollectivemovementsin onedirect
The roar of the city is this movement, and is the mevidencewhen at a distancefrom thecity: the all-pervmuffled screech of the ceaselesstraffic can be heardroadsand their traffic cannot beseen. Thecity can beh
intensely sculptural practice might come round in full circle close
to Kathryn Findlay’s position. D enying a sculptural intention inher fluid forms, her work nonetheless has formal andcontemplative similarities to the Conical I ntersect .
Architecture and sculpture appear necessarily to have aproblematic relationship, partly because both can lay claim to theproduction of physical objects. Left to themselves, they wouldprobably overlap at the edges, but when both try to engage with themodern city this relationship acquires a flux and dynamism,offering potential for interaction which may conflict or reconcile. I nthis maelstrom of the modern world, human nature inevitably leadssome people to search for easy solutionsand to offset responsibilityto others. Bill Woodrow asked if this urge lay behind somearchitects’ desire to ‘collaborate’ with artists. ‘Are collaborationstoo easy?’ he wondered, adding, ‘I ’m beginning to sense that therole of the arti st is to move away from collaboration and explorenew areas. The world of architecture hasrealized it has problemsand is looking to other people to solve them. But ultimatelyarchitects will have to solve them themselves’. In accepting andaddressing these challenges, architectscould prove their credentials
asartists.
Phyllida Barlow’ssculpture at Mile End Park lasted no more than a few hours, yet set upthe possibilit iesof tension between near and distant experience of urban artefacts.
multiple of infinitesimally small, habitable spaces behind an
illuminated and animated fabric’, but ‘the light you see is not likeLas Vegas or Piccadilly Circus, but the dissolution of livingfunctions acrossthe city’. Urban l ife offersnumerous relationshipsthat are not especially sculptural but which can be noticed withinbuildings, such as the way the architect of a cosmetic companyheadquarters reflected the green railway embankment into thefoyer, creating a ‘peaceful, calm space but with a dynamicrelationship to the city’. In these circumstances, the ‘distincti onbetween building, city and art become irrelevant’.
Findlay pointed out that ‘Japanese cities, made by a far morehierarchical society [than the West] actually have a multiplicity of hand’ in their design. Thisis the complete antithesis to the vogue inWestern urban developments for ‘masterplanning’. Architect,masterplan, axis, stop thinking, is often the sequence, claimed IanRi tchie, ‘put thingsleft, put thingsright’ and then fill up the spacewith water. Elizabeth Frink’sHorse and Rider at the corner of DoverStreet and Piccadilly showsthe lack of thought, for just in front of the piece is a brassplaque reading ‘smoke outlet’; or the corporatesquare at C anary Wharf, where ‘sculpture is on a stone plinth
exactly like the buildings’. What is left over at the pavement level,
difference between architecture and public sculpture, he
speculated, is that the former has working lavatories. David M achwondered why architects ‘invite me in to be some kind of act’,making ‘me want to put on a balaclava and swing in on a rope …’
Richard Cork prompted a lessbleak but still problematic view of the relationship when he asked Eric Parry about the intendedRichard Deacon ceramic piece entwined, li ke the snakesencirclingLaocoon, around the stone facade of Parry’s building in FinsburySquare. ‘I’ve learnt an incredible amount about materiality thoughtcollaboration’, responded Parry, ‘a lot of thinking about interiorsstems from it’. Separating the stone and glazing into two layers inthe Finsbury Square building means the outer layer of stone canachieve a precision which conveys the essence of its material, andParry thought Deacon ‘the person for the intensity of cut stone’.Even so, with or without Deacon’s piece, the facade achieves apoetic quality specifically tuned to the modern city: the subtlevariations of the stone contrast with the regular division of theglazing behind. Parry found the experience of designing a pair of studios for Antony Gormley and Tom Phillips a ‘fantastic part of my education’, though Gormley discerned another issue of
contention.
Pola cosmetic company HQ, Tokyo by Shoji Hayashi demonstratesKathryn Findlay’sthesisthat in T okyo, the ‘distinction between building, city and art becomesirrelevant’.
Behind all the pinpricksof light of vital night-time T okyo are all the dispersed functionsof modern living: ‘a multiple of infinitesimally small spacesbehind an animated fabric’[email protected]
- 142 -
Royal Academy Forum
Ian Ritchie
The city as sculpture – from skyline to plinthSILENT AND ST ILL. I lovecitiesfor their wildnessborn of changeand of the unknown. This is man’s constructed wilderness wheremotherstraditionally feared their daughterswould tread. That othercity – the green city that man hasconstructed but pretends to benatural – surroundsthe brown city, and thetwo areconnected by thegrey land of mechanical communication.
In Phyllida Barlow’s distant reading of the city, there are nopeople there is no disturbance – or if there is it is the noise or
Rooms and spaces for sculpture within the dyNOI SY AN D MOVING. Art i s for most people indulged after we have completed the necessities distinction between necessity and luxury is reflected spend our time. I n broad terms, there is communcommitted time. The latter offersus thechance tBut in modern consumer society, it is difficult to convhighway engineersand others of thesocial value of plthat are not recognized asan intrinsic necessity to tDesign isfor themost part a useful tool to enhance‘sa
Our firm is designing an urban environment of
Seepage Thesoundsof thecity leak. Thedetritusof thecity scatters, oozesandseeps. The choreography begins to collapse. T he innards revealthemselves. The skin erupts. The edgesfray with litter, and thespillageof thefumesand filth mutatethe calculating control inherent to themovement of thecity into unwanted growth. The movement spreadsoutwardsinto thevast hinterland of suburbia. Not only do the innardsof thecity seep, but thecity itself seeps. Seen fromthe train, beingcarried outwardsthrough thehinterland, thecity becomesa systemof back views, usually deserted, with little signsof life: industrial estates,backgardens rowsand rowsof housesand buildings But that’sa
impossible to grasp, and thedefianceand repudiation of an imageandits inevitableoptimumview. HansHaake’swooden stockadewithholdstheobject incarcerated within it, and what is revealed about thisobject isits sound: within the stockadeis, in fact, a fairground carousel constantlyturning, accompanied by a steam organ rendition of the Germannational anthem, played at twice the speed. Bereft of people, who arerelegated to peering in through thecracksbetween thewooden planksof the carousel, it becomes trapped within its own laboriousness,pathetically parodying the grandiose memorial next to which it issituated. It seemsto refer to thestark realitiesof what becomesof acosmetically constructed world reciprocated by thecity and itssystemof
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6
people, there is no disturbance or if there is, it is the noise or
traced line of an aeroplane and the still red lights, or the flashingwhite light of aviation warning atop the taller buildings. However,the skyline israrely still. The commercial skyline hascontinuously shifting patternsof light.
This view has invariably seduced architects when imaging andplanning utopian cities. For they too, in their minds, are distantfrom a future reality of the occupied city, the visceral interior thatBarlow described.
From the skyline, we may be able to read the economic geographyof the city if not its geology, its demographic migration if not itshistory. T his is perhapswhy we take to the water, or the hill , or theskiesto ori entate ourselves– to get out before getting involved, or toremind ourselveswho and where we are. This is why the skyline matters. However, sculptors have been
excluded from participating in the creation of this external view,which still remains the domain of planners, engineers andarchitects. But the sculptor’smind is used to scale, both the physicalscale and the scale of intent. And it is in the silhouette of the citythat both become really evident. Should architects invite thesculptor to the skyline?
Our firm is designing an urban environment of
White City in west London. I ts rai son d’être is shoppmany is now a leisureactivity. As such, it hasenteruncommitted timewhere most art seemsto reside. Thalso includes affordable housing, offices, a library, a two tubestations, a railway station and a busstation. Acovered spacethe sizeof a football pitch.
Our approach drew on a design programmeI ran aUniversity in Vienna which wasbased upon the notbefore, a space between and a space after’. The programme dealt initially with thedesigner’s own mconstitutesspaceby asking themto design a spaceto with theinvestigation of the latetwentieth-century arcinvader – advertising – and finally with an attempt to two investigationsto createa futurearchitectural space
At WhiteCity, the ‘spacebefore’ hastwo charactephysical and social memory and the preconcepcharacterizesa ‘shopping centre’, most clearly commutheviewsof our client, Chelsfield. The‘spacebetweenthe design process through which we are currentlydesign and planning process. The media world, p
Ian Ritchie’s‘essentially optimistic’ DublinSpire reachesto Ireland’scelestial skies– andhitsthe ground with no ceremony or rainwater catch (right).
Alba da Milano appearsto be ashaft of light reachingto the sky: ‘whencommemorative monuments, we also construct space around them’
back gardens, rowsand rowsof housesand buildings. But thatsa
different seepage to the seepage of stuff. The stuff from within iscompelling and awesome, whether it is the flood of the burst watermain, or theexplosionsonto pavementsof the thick tressesof colouredwiresof telephone cables, or the cavernous excavationsfor deeplyburied pipework. All areaccompanied by the persistent soundsandsmellsof the workingsof the city. And when thecity disclosesits innerworkings, it reveals its frailty, because of its dependency on thesevisceral goings-on beneath thesurface. Thecity asan object harboursitsmost object-likequalitieswithin itshidden world. Thosepartsof anobject which cannot beseen, but which inform what can beseen, dohavean uncanny hold, and when theseunseen thingsbecomevisibleand maketheir presenceknown, thereisa kind of anarchy.
Incision and entrapment Thenarrativeendswith a destination in thecity, an arrival at two workssited within cities. They are Walter deMaria’s Vertical Earth Kilometre installed for the 1977 Kassel Documenta and Hans Haake’sStandort Merry Go Round , commissioned for the 1997 Munster SculptureExhibi tion. I mportantly for me, they reveal a sculptural languagerooted in theundisclosed, thehidden, thecontained, theunfinished, the
cosmetically constructed world, reciprocated by thecity and itssystemof
facades, and what happenswhen such facadescollapse.So too with Walter deM aria’sVertical Earth Kilometre . With only its
brassend revealed, like a coin embedded on thestreet’s surface, thekilometre’s length has to beimagined, incising into theearth’s surfacewith surgical precision. It piercesthe bowelsof thecity and beyond, intothedark viscera, penetrating that all too fragile skin of the city, whichholdsthe chaosand danger of eruptionsso tightly under control. Thereis thethought of what happenswhen thekilometre length is extracted,what will oozefromthehole? What doesthebrassplughold in? These two works definitely offer thepower of thesculptural object
through undisclosureand concealment. It preysupon our sense, givingusan incomplete, unresolved physical experience, but through which allour sensesarearoused, provoking our imaginations into action, whichthen achievethecompletion which the objects’ physical realitiesresist. They gazump thebody metaphor for thecity and itslitany of bowels,heartsand souls. Instead they provide the perfect allegories for theirrational collection of experienceswhich conjurethedystopic chaos, theinherent viscera and the cosmetically apparent pretensionsof the city,but which separation of distancemagically transformsinto theultimatesculptural phenomenon.
Left: Walter de Maria’sVert ical Ear th K ilomet re at the 1977Kassel Documentaimpliesapinprick into the bowelsof the city, while HansHaake’sStandor t Merry-go-Round at the 1997Munster Sculpture Park (right), withholdingthe object incarcerated within it, parodiesthe pompousmonument in the background. [email protected]
- 143 -
Royal Academy Forum
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advertising, and its inevitable invasion of the ‘space after’ is not yet atthe forefront of our minds, probably because we feel nobler thanothers when it comes to creating ‘space’. We know that theadvertising teams and interior designers will arrive later, and wehope that our ‘architectural space’ is strong enough to keep itsidentity and character, and remain exciting no matter what thechanging world of fashion and commerce puts into it.
Memorable spaces are usually exciting, unique and of recognizablequality. They are not static. People and events move through themlike light and sound. They continually change with time and thevarying density of human activity within them, but they do notsurrender their intrinsic and enduring qualities. Such spaces haveimmense potential to attract visitors. I n a highly competitivemarketplace, the creation of such spaces must be of value not only tothe development itself, but also the locality and, in this case, Londonas well.
So we have come full circle. Architectural space is not in conflict
with the commercial world, for ultimately, a measure of its qualityis that it will attract the consumer. Architecture is, at a verydifferent scale, to be consumed and hopefully retained in thememory It is genuinely capable of transformation which gives it
earth where its diameter roughly equates to the area of CountDublin. TheSpire ‘extends’ to infinity above celestial acupuncture playing with light through capturing the life of the sky over Dubliand allowing it to flow to the street below and to disappear into thearth along with any rainwater from its surface. The base of theSpitself is partially polished in order to reflect the light of street life This abstract polished surface is defined by a pattern created by th
interference of a core of the rock, taken from the site below, that wa‘rolled’ across the double helix of DNA, a reference to the Irisdiaspora, as is the expanding spiral of the cone itself.
Out in the ‘Green city’, our designs for new pylons for Electricitde France, like grasses, also have no plinth. They too appear tcome from the earth within which they are placed. Alba di M ilano haa plinth in the form of its feet that counteract the cantilever forces othe arms stretching upwards at an angle. These feet are importanelements in providing seats within the piazza.
When we construct commemorative monuments or sculptures w
also construct space around them, and this space is often the moscontentious element in any proposal that manifests thought anfeeling, angst and joy, fear and hope. T hese are emotional anatavistic qualities but making them evident is far more difficul
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Richard Lundquist trained at the
AA and acquired his mastery of
steel workingfor Morphosis in
the mid-1980s and then for
Michele Saee, where he was
project designer on two cutting-
edge clothingstores. His most
ambitious project since setting
up his own office in 1990 is the
Chosun Galbi restaurant in
Koreatown, aburgeoning
immigrant community west of
downtown Los Angeles. For the
client it represented abigstep up
both in size (790 sq m) and
sophistication fromher other
restaurant ablock away, and a
daringdeparture fromthe
traditional red and gilt of the
neighbourhood eateries.
The corner site faces onto a
busy commercial thoroughfare
and was occupied by abrick
buildingthat Lundquist was
commissioned to remodel and
extend. When it proved to be
unsafe and was torn down, the
architect designed alayered steel
and concrete structure within
the original footprint, so avoiding
the need for a new permit. An
almost unbroken wall of split-
face concrete block wraps
around the two street facades,
shuttingout traffic noise. Nearly
everyone enters fromthe rear
car park, and Lundquist has
choreographed asuccession of
eatingand circulation spaces that
subtly blur the boundary
between indoors and outdoors.
You enter between 3m-high
block walls past an eye-level
water garden, under amuscular
steel pergolaand
of semi-enclosed
to reach the bar a
area. The main d
opens off to the le
intimate eatingare
ahigh-backed bam
the front, looking
high narrow wind
roomthat can be s
pull-down mesh b
three spaces for p
In its fragmentatio
restaurant respon
Asian fondness fo
family or friends,
transparency and
floor that extends
car park to street
intimate areas tog
Materiality and bo
forms are the des
RESTAURANT,
LOSANGELES, USA
A RCHITECT
RICHARD LUNDQUIST
1, 2A shallow arched stewhich hasbecome thsignature, enclosesadiningspace, blurringbetween outside and
STEEL ARBOURA tautly detailed steel pergola forms the formal and spatial
focus of a new Korean restaurant in downtown Los Angeles.
2
[email protected] 145 -
The pergolahas become the
restaurant’s signature. Rolled
I-beams support four shallow
interwoven arches, each
comprisingapair of rolled
I-beams spanned by atrellis of
vertical steel slats that will be
covered with bougainvillaea. The
structure was fabricated off-site
and delivered in 13msections
that were hoisted into place by
crane. Two banquet rooms,
separated by acirculation area,
have arched vaults of bamboo
boards interwoven like the
strands of abasket within a
stainless-wrapped steel frame.
Walls of the same boards are cut
away at top and bottomto admit
air and natural light. Built-in seats
are stained and upholstered
plywood on astainless-steel
frame. Aluminium-plate patio
chairs have waterproof foam
lining. The spacious entry area
has abamboo reception desk
facing a bar and both have tops
of curved aluminiumplate. Table-
top barbecues are the
restaurant’s speciality and
stainless exhaust vents reach
down over every grill, givingthe
main diningareaasomewhat
menacingair. MICHAEL WEBB
RESTAURANT, LOS ANGELES, USA
A RCHITECT
RICHARD LUNDQUIST
3
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1 entrance
2 reception
3 bar
4 wcs
5 diningarea
6 privatedining
7 patio
8 kitchen
site plan
location plan longsection
crosssection
ground floor plan (scale approx 1:400)
4
5 6
3Slate, steel and bamexude aura of exquis4Light dapplesthrougpergola’ssteel slats.5Stainless-steel vents
menacingly over barbhave a strong sculptu6Private diningroom ebamboo slat walls.
Architect
Richard Lundquist Arch
Glendale, USA
Project team
Richard Lundquist, Sook
DavidTakacs
Structural engineer
Franceschi Engineering
Lightingconsultant
LAMF
Photographs
Mark Luthringer, 1, 2, 5
BennyC han, 3, 4
85
6
7
6
1
4 2
3
4
[email protected] 146 -
The Rural Studio at Auburn
University’s College of
Architecture, Design and
Construction was founded in
1992 by the late SamMockbee
(AR February 2002), with the
aimof extendingthe study of
architecture into a socially
responsible context. Every
quarter, groups of students elect
to and live and work off campus
in impoverished parts of
western Alabama. The students
produce architecture that
challenges convention in terms
of methods, materials, and forms
(AR March 2001). They
inventively scavenge and
incorporate discarded objects
such as tyres, scrap timber,
bottles and even car windows
and number plates. The result is
The recently completed
renovation of Newbern Baseball
Club is more than asimple
physical improvement. Baseball
occupies ahallowed place in
American culture and in
Newbern, a tiny country hamlet,
the baseball field acts as strong
civic focus for the community.
Lyingto the north-east of the
hamlet (N ewbern consists of just
six buildings), asmall piece of
farmland has been the site of
regional baseball games for the
last 100 years. Under the auspices
of the Rural Studio, three fifth-
year architecture students
planned, designed and built anew
fence, seatingand other general
site improvements. Part funding
was provided by the Alabama
Civil Justice Foundation.
enclosure without horizontal
bracing, which might impede
views of the game. The outcome
is astructure made up of aseries
of chain-link sheets moored by
horizontal tensile cables. The
formof the backstop (the place
where the batsman stands)
encourages close interaction
between fans and players.
Materials used are common to
the area. Black tube steel was
sourced fromlocal foundries,
together with telegraph poles and
guy wires which were donated by
apower supplier. Methods of
construction are derived from
several trades, such as telegraph
workers, machine shop welders
and farmers. The site had no
electricity or water, so everything
was built usinghand or gas
Typical of the Rural Studio
capacity to elevate and transform
everyday materials, the chain link
billows and wafts lightly around
the ground, like mesh sails. The
unusual geometry was dictated in
part by the trajectories of
baseballs flyingthrough the air.
Detailingis simple and
economical, yet the entire
construction has acuriously
lyrical quality.
The renovated field has proved
extremely popular with the local
community, who avidly flock to it
every Sunday afternoon to watch
games and enjoy picnics. Mockbee
was no sentimentalist; this
project is rooted in reality, yet
like all Rural Studio work, it
somehow br illiantly transcends
its unassumingsurroundings. C. S.
design re
BA
N
R
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34|6
an architecture that combinesvernacular archetypes with
more adventurous form making,
grounded by a strongsense
of place.
The main element of therefurbishment is atall steel chain
link fence that surrounds the
playingarea. The aimwas to
create aprotective, permeable
powered tools by the threestudents, who learned how to
weld, operate heavy machinery
and survey, together with basic
turf maintenance and carpentry.
Project team
JaySanders, Marnie Bettridge,
James Kirkpatrick
Photographs
Timothy Hursley
1Vertical members are stayed byhorizontal cables.2Chain link billowslike mesh sails.3All materialsare common to area,many donated by local firms.
Home runThree students designed this scheme, taught
themselves to work in metal, and made it.
1 2
[email protected] 147 -
Madrid-based Luis Mansilla and his partner Emilio Tuño
careers in the office of Rafael Moneo and their work is
inflected by similar formal concerns. Neutral, toplit co
alcazar-like walls and the subtle play of light are intellig
choreographed to create a sense of depth and solidity
Cohn notes that ‘They profess a formal restraint whic
late Spanish master Alejandro de la Sota. As they them
it: “Ar chitecture isn’t exactly silent. It is more like a co
lowered voices. Ideas are present, but the true effort li
theminvisible”.’
One of their largest and most recent projects is the
of Fine Arts in Castellón. Surrounded by undistinguish
apartment blocks datingfromthe 1980s, the museum
in a residential area on the edge of town. Its collection
rangingfromRoman archaeological specimens to pain
local artists such as Francisco Ribalta and José Ribera.
into the new complex are the survivingchapel and cyp
cloister froma Catholic school (the Serra Espada) tha
occupied the site.
These existinghistoric fragments have been joined b
contemporary new additions. To the east of the cloist
cubic volume, sphinx-like and inscrutable, houses the
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spaces and forms the public focus of the museum. To tlow bar contains restoration studios, workspaces and
markingout a more private, specialist domain. In betw
restor ed courtyard building mediates between the two
library, auditorium, offices, technical spaces and a long
temporary exhibitions arranged around the cloister. T
volumes are linked by a plinth, creatinga gradient of int
between the public areas to the east and the workshop
western boundary.
TREASURE CHESTCastellón’s museum is conceived as a hermetic, almostimpervious aluminium chest that guards the city’s fine collections.Inside, it allows its treasures to be eloquent.
1Imperviouspanelscontrast withveil-like window grilles, both inrecycled aluminium, showingt hematerial at its most noble.2Entrance in north-east corner isthrough court in plinth.
ART MUSEUM, CASTELLON, SPAIN
A RCHITECT
MANSILLA +TUÑON
dissected axocloister in mid1
2
[email protected] 148 -
ART MUSEUM, CASTELLON, SPAIN
A RCHITECT
MANSILLA +TUÑON
second floor
1 ethnology
2 archaeology
3 technicalspace
4 storeroom
5 entrancecourtyard
3
3
18
1217
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48|6
3South-west corner, withrestoration studiosin foreground,and cypressesof cloister behind.4Dramatic diagonal prospectsunitewhole interior.
basement
ground floor (scale approx 1:1500)
first floor
east-west section through galleriesshowing double-height spaces
6 entrancehall7 café
8 existingcloister
9 cypressgarden
10 offices
11 auditorium
12 ceramics
13 temporaryexhibitions
14 library
15 patio
16 shippingandreceiving
17 restorationworkshops
18 finearts
12
4
43
2
1
11
6
7 10
8
14
17
17
13
8
16
159
5
17
[email protected] 149 -
Conceived as ahermetic chest guardingthe city’s treasures, the new
exhibition block is asealed, impassive cube topped by rows of tall
rooflights. The geometry of the rooflights gives the buildinga
crenellated profile so it looms over its surroundings like abrooding
castle battlement. The same serrated silhouette rounds off the long
workshop volume on the opposite side of the cloister. This slightly
dauntingmood is lifted by playful superscale letters spellingout
MUSEU i h d fi d f h
5
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50|6
MUSEU support inga canopy that defines one edge of the entranceparvis. (A giant photograph of the individual letters beingtransported
on lorr ies barrellingalongthe motorway fromMadrid forms one of
the museum’s more surreal exhibits.)
The ideaof the buildingas achest or case is further elaborated by its
envelopingmetal carapace made from panels of recycled aluminium.
Two kinds of panels are used, one opaque with vertical ridges, and the
other resemblingaveil, with horizontal louvres that allow light to
filter into the gallery spaces. The narrow borders of each panel are
stamped Museu de Bellas Artes, amark that identifies the buildingfor
which they were made, in the manner of the Roman bricks in the
museum’s collection. The horizontal and vertical striations of the
aluminiumpanels create astronggeometrical rhythmand texture,
softeningand breakingup the immense mass of the exterior. Seamed
zinc sheetingis used to clad the opaque parts of the roof.
Spread over five floors, the museum’s collection is divided into four
themed sections (fine arts, craftwork, ceramics and archaeology).
Rooms are linked by a series of double-height voids that cascade
down diagonally through the interior. Drawn upwards fromfloor to
floor, visitors are simultaneously confronted with three different
scales and aspects of the building: individual rooms, the double-height
voids and a dramatic diagonal prospect of the entire volume. A 7.3mx
6.6mgrid, common to both plans and sections, ensures formal
coherence. The spatial sequence is crowned by the parallel skylight
bars which diffuse a soft luminance into the gallery spaces. In places,
milky glass external walls give diffused views of the louvred metal skin
beyond. A spirit of elegant materiality prevails (another characteristic
of Moneo), with benches and display cases fashioned frommodular
assemblies of iroko strips and thin sheets of glass. Calmand ascetic,
the interior acts as a discreet backdrop for treasures on show. Like
Portia’s lead casket inThe Merchant of Venice , Mansilla +Tuñon’s
sober metal container conceals a radiant richness at its heart.
CARLA BERTOLUCCI
ART MUSEUM, CASTELLON, SPAIN
A RCHITECT
MANSILLA +TUÑON
ArchitectMansilla +Tuñon Arquitectos, Madrid
Associate architectsSantiago Hernán, J. CarlosC orona
Structural engineer
Alfonso G. deGaiteMechanical engineer J. G. Associates
PhotographsLuisAsin
5Ground floor reception area.6,7Contrastsbetween the majesticvolumeso f the promenadearchitecturale and the moreintimate volumesof the galleriesallow opportunities for display of objectsof all kinds.
6
[email protected] 150 -
Srebrenice’s new cemetery forms
the first phase of alarger project
for a forest graveyard which began
as an open competition in 1989.
The ensuingBalkans war and
Slovenia’s seccession from
Yugoslaviaput the scheme on hold,
but it has at last been completed to
adesign by Ales Vodopivec. The
brief for this first phase involved a
funerary hall with four smaller
attendant chapels, and aseparate
ancillary building. Space for some
3000 graves has been carefully
created in the surroundingforest.
Comparisons with Asplund and
Lewerentz’s Woodland Cemetery
in Stockholm(1920) are
irresistible, but the project is also
part of awider tradition of
restrained Modernism(Vodopivec
describes it as an ‘architecture of
silence’) that engages in adialogue
with nature in the manner of Kahn
and Aalto and reflects concerns
with ritual and memory.
The two parts of the complex
are aligned on aprocessional
north-south axis. This runs from
the main road to the north through
the forest to link with aseries of
serpentine paths that meander
around the grave fields on the
eastern flank of the site. At its
south end, the axis terminates in a
mound of trees reserved for the
ashes of unidentified or unclaimed
bodies, givingspecial and poignant
prominence to the unknown dead.
The first public indication of the
cemetery’s presence is aflower
shop set into the single-storey
ancillary buildingon the edge of
the main road. Fromits progress
through the forest, the
processional approach route
eventually opens out into a
clearingto reveal the main
funerary hall attached to arow of
family chapels. Arrival is denoted
by asimple colonnaded portico
LAST RITES
NEW CEMETERY ,
SREBRENICE, SLOVENIA
A RCHITECT
ALESVODOPIVEC
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60|7
Deep in a Slovenian woodland, the material and the
spiritual are sensitively conjoined in a tranquil haven
for human leavetaking and remembrance.
1A processional axisleadsup tothe main funerary chapel.2A simple colonnade, itsform an
abstraction of the surroundingtrees, marksthe entrance.3The chapel complex sits lightly inthe landscape.
1
3
2
[email protected] 151 -
(traditionally used to mark a
consecrated space), its arboreal
forman abstraction of the
surroundingtrees. Straddlingtheroad, the portico leads into the
main chapel, an austere box glazed
on three sides and enclosed by an
external layer of slatted timber
screens. Filtered through the
screens, the wooded landscape of
pine, beech, hornbeamand spruce
forms aserene backdrop to the
funerary rites.
In the smaller yet equally
ascetic family chapels, light filters
through precisely cut clerestory
strips so that the ceilings appear
to float above the walls.
Heighteningthe sense of
seclusion and contemplation,
each chapel overlooks asmall
internal courtyard. Chapels are
linkedandservicedontheeast
by light gently percolatingthrough
vertical incisions alongone
wall. Throughout the chapel
complex, materials such asuntreated oak, fairfaced concrete,
glass and local stone are as
consistently simple and reticent
as the spatial organization.
Vodopivec’s modest complex of
buildings exhibits little that is
especially surprisingor exciting,
yet in orchestratingabalance
between the material and the
spiritual, the architecture is
infused with apowerful tension
derived fromthe almost clinical
geometry of the manmade set
against the organic and enduring
presence of nature. Bare and
mute, freed of all image and
illusion, architecture and landscape
combine to formasober, tranquil
andutterlyfittingplaceforthefinal
4
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62|7
linked and serviced on the eastside by alongcorr idor, animated and utterly fittingplace for the finalleavetaking.CLAUDIA KUGEL
4Small family chapelsby a longcorridor. L ithrough vertical slotexternal wall.5Detail of family chape6Materialsare used wisimplicity and reticen
1 funeraryhall
2 portico
3 chapels
4 p at ios
5 w cs
6 serviceentrance
7 timber screen
8 garden
ground floor plan of chapel complex (scale 1:350)
longsection
crosssection
NEW CEMETERY ,SREBRENICE, SLOVENIA
A RCHITECT
ALESVODOPIVEC
site plan
Architect
AlesVodopivec, Ljubljana
Project team
AlesVodopivec, NenaGa
Structural engineer
AntonBerce
Landscapearchitects
DusanO grin,DavorinGa
PhotographsMiranK ambic
56
A mainentrance
B servicebuilding
C axisroute
D funeraryhallandchapels
E urnfields
F gravefields
G anonymousburial
H p arking
GD
C
B
A
E
F
F
EH
6
1
2
4 4 43 3 3 3
8
7
5
[email protected] 152 -
NuancedmaterialityKerry HillhasestablishedanapproachtoSouth-east
ar ho
K UALALUM
K ERRY HI
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82|7
The Mirzan House is located in a
secluded valley, surrounded by
steeply risingground and lofty
trees close to the centre of the
Malaysian capital. Visitors’ cars
arrive viaanarrow road and pass a
security checkpoint before
swingingsharply into apaved
motor court.
Like other projects by Kerry Hill
Architects, the house exhibits a
clear plan. Explaininghis desire for
clarity, Kerry Hill has said: ‘The
plan is seen as amode of distillingelements into aclear diagram, a
key to the scheme.’ So the plan of
the house is an asymmetrical
composition of solids, voids and
planes, related to aprimary axis,
with walls extendingoutwards to
frame views of the valley and to
embrace soft landscapes and paved
courtyards.
A projectingflat-roofed portico
gives access to awide covered
gallery, apromenade architecturale
some 60 metres in length, which
runs the full length of the house
fromeast to west and which is
open alongits southern flank. This
linear route is the principal
organizingdevice and one that
Hil l has employed successfully inearlier projects.
To the south of this longgallery
are three attached pavilions of
varyingproportions and height.
The first is adouble-storey
reception hall with an adjoining
guest suite; the second is used for
formal dining. Both are linked by
flat stone bridges across alinear
reflectingpool which runs parallel
to the gallery.
A third pavilion, housingthe
family, is set at aslight distance
fromthe other accommodation
and terminates the east-west axis.
The children’s bedrooms, at
second-storey level in this pavilion,
span the master bedroomand the
family room, framinga view of thepool deck beyond. The three
pavilions are all one roomdeep,
permittingcross ventilation,
but also have the option of using
air conditioning.
Kerry Hill has established an approach to South-eastAsian building that combines Modern Movement
disciplines with an engagement with tropical climates.
1Fundamentally (with variations,see 3) the buildinghas a lightweightfirst floor over a masonry base.2Motor court with entrance right.3The precise and climaticallyappropriate detailingwe have cometo expect from the Hill practice.(Guest suite terminatesreceptionpavilion: shuttersare openable.)
1
2 [email protected] 153 -
To the north of the gallery,
concealed by atimber-clad screen
wall, are the servant spaces (to
use Louis Kahn’s terminology),commencingwith afour-car
garage and an administrative
office, leadingto driver and
domestic staff accommodation,
wet and dry kitchens and food
preparation spaces. These spaces
can be separately accessed viaa
service walkway runningalongthe
north facade of the house.
A singular feature of the house
is the spatial separation of
functions, although each activity
relates to, and returns to, the
dominant linear east-west
axis.The house incorporates a
hierarchy of privacy, with a
choreographed route fromthe
arrival courtyard, to the
air-conditioned public receptionhall, to the diningpavilion and
finally to the private and most
secure family areas.
The intention is to extend the
house to the south with the
addition of a guest pavilion and a
tennis court. At the extreme
western end of the rectangular
site is arecreation court with a
25-metre swimmingpool. Beyond
the low boundary wall that marks
the limit of the site, the forested
terrain ascends abruptly making
access almost impossible from
the head of the valley.
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84|7
4Promenade archi tecturale lookingeast.5Terrace and pool.6Promenade lookingwest.
The principal rooms look into a
soft-landscaped courtyard
bounded by a low hedge.
Eight torches, which can be
dramatically lit in the evening,
are arranged in an orthogonal
pattern on the lawn outside the
diningroom.
The Mirzan House continues
Kerry Hill’s development of a
regional modern architecture
which I have discussed
elsewhere in relation to the
Cluny Hill House (1998) in
Singapore. The language is one of
abstract modernismoverlaying,
or overlaid by, local typologies.
The first storey is predominantly
masonry while the second storey
is lighter, mainly clad in timber,
with projectingfenestration that
simulates traditional monsoon
windows, above which
overhanging, low-pitched hipped
roofs are covered with
hardwood shingles. Together
with the use of louvred timber
screens and reflectingpools,
they create a calmand richly
nuanced materiality that is
enhanced by a muted palette of
colours. Simplicity is the keynote
of the reductionist architectural
language but it also engages
directly with the tropical
climate.
As Geoffrey Lond
perceptively note
illustrious group o
fromthe West –
LeC orbusier, Ka
modernist work h
enriched by accom
traditions of the E
The result in th
Mirzan House is a
composition that
magnificently to a
considerable natu
R
Architect
KerryHill Architects
Photographs
Albert Lim
ground floor (scale approx 1:1000)
first floor
1 entranceto
promenade architecturale
2 receptionhall
3 guest suite
4 formaldining5 kitchen
6 master bed
7 familyroom
8 children
9 p oo l
10 terrace
HOUSE, K UALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA
A RCHITECT
K ERRY HILL ARCHITECTS
4
5
6
8
8
3
7
6
5
4
2
3
1109
[email protected] 154 -
Rufisque is aport just to the east
of Dakar, the capital of Senegal.
Like most other cities in Africa, it
is undergoingtraumatictransformation with the impact of
modern technology, and asurge
of immigration fromthe
countryside. In Rufisque,
problems are made more extreme
because the seais eatinginto the
place fromthe south, so
expansion has to take place in the
arid land north of the city, and a
grey concrete shanty town is
growingup there.
Shabby suburban streets are
suddenly relieved by an almost
strident red building, crisply
detailed and well tended. This is
the women’s centre, a focus for
local groups, areception
organization for rural immigrants
and apowerhouse for
empoweringwomenin a
WOMEN’SCENTRE, RUFISQUE, SENEGAL
A RCHITECT
HOLLMÉN REUTERSANDMAN
WOMEN’S RIGHTSIntimate knowledge of the culture and technology of Senegal has
enabled young Finnish architects to create a centre intended toempower women in a society where they are normally suppressed.
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44|7
empoweringwomen in a
traditionally male orientated
culture.
SaijaHollmén, Jenni Reuter and
HelenaSandman submitted a
proposal for the centre to the
Otaniemi School of Architecture,
and the project was developed
with the help of the Finnish
Foreign Ministry, and Finnish
foundations as well as local
organizations – the land was given
by the city.* Sociologist Anne
Rosenlew co-ordinated cultural
interaction. The site is next to
the usually dry wadi which runs
through the bidonville and hence
it was available for (careful)
development.
‘A house under abaobab tree’,the centre is modelled on
traditional compounds in this part
of West Africa, with astrong
perimeter surroundingbuildings
turned inwards to acommunal
court. The baobab is one of the
few trees left in an areathat is
starved of wood. I t shades one of
the two principal entrances to the
complex, agateway that leads to
the communal hall.
The other public entrance is on
the north-west corner of the
compound. Here is an attempt to
make asmall public square, on to
1
The hall entrance under thebaobab tree, from outside ...2... and in. (Stairs go up overguard’sroom to viewingterrace.)1 [email protected]
- 155 -
WOMEN’SCENTRE, RUFISQUE, SENEGAL
A RCHITECT
HOLLMÉN REUTERSANDMAN
west-east section through hall and dyingroom
a co urt
b publichall
c dying
d restaurant
e water
f k itchen
g outdoor kitchen
h shop
i o ff ice
j store
k water point
l craft room
m dyingyard
n lavatories
o guard
4
5
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52|7 plan (scale approx 1:275)
roof detail
A corrugatedgalvanizedsteel
B RSJstructure
C reedmatting
D brick grille
E concreteblock rendered
3Calm court, with hall to left.4The craft space, open to allowdyingfumes to be dissipated.5An attempt at urbanity: thesuggestion of an urban square inthe north-west corner.6Dryingyard outside dyingroom.
3
6
d
e
f g
j
h
i
b
k
a
o
l
c m
n
D
E
AB
C
[email protected] 156 -
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7 8
1Levels of raised ground fromFoss Channel.2Bridge approach.3Buster Simpson’s planes of glasshover over pool.
1
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36 | 8
Arthur Erickson is a master of raised urban ground. His splendid
piazza in Vancouver, which gently makes green public terraces in the
middle of the city to greet the court building (AR July 1980) is surely
one of the great triumphs of twentieth-century urban design. His
Museum of Glass at Tacoma, further down the Pacific coast in
Washington State, USA, is another essay in the same vein (though
smaller). And it is a new Erickson venture into museum building,
recalling his legendary Vancouver museum of the culture of
indigenous peoples.
Unlike that building, the glass museum is downtown, locked into
urban structure of railway and highway, seaside and centre. It ascends
from the waterfront of the Foss Channel, one of Tacoma’s harbours,
as a series of planes, some of water, which are linked by ramps and a
grand stair that winds round the dramatic signpost of the place, the
skewed shining cone of its big space covered by stainless-steel lizard-skin tiles. The cone is tilted as an abstracted memory of the
structures of the sawmill burners of the Pacific Northwest, but it also
evokes the silhouette of Mt Rainier, the magic peak of this part of the
coast. Erickson says that the structure would have been clad in glass,
and so would much else of the mainly concrete building if ‘devalue
engineering’ had not been brought to bear on the project. In the end,
he decided that stainless steel could shimmer nearly as piercingly as
glass.
Most people approach the museum across a bridge which spans
railway and motorway. This rather kitsch route is by Andersson Wise
working with a local artist who has created ingenious but obvious
interpretations of Pacific marine life-forms in glass. The steel and
concrete bridge connects the museum’s serene upper level to the
core of downtown Tacoma, and the history museum, University of
CONICAL
REFLECTIONSErickson’s Tacoma Museum of Glass
celebrates manufacture and material qualities
of one of humankind’s greatest inventions.
1
2
3
GLASS MUSEUM, TACOMA, USA
ARCHITECT
ARTHUR ERICKSONWITH
THOMAS COOK REED REINVALD
ARCHITECTS [email protected] 158 -
4
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38 | 8
GLASSMUSEUM, TACOMA, USA
ARCHITECT
ARTHUR ERICKSONWITH
THOMAS COOK REED REINVALD
ARCHITECTS
1 p iazza2 great cone3 galleries4 lecture theatre5 entrance
4Cone is not only dramatic but ameans of dissipating heat fromfurnaces.5Approaching the cone up ramps.6Howard Ben Tré’s spurtingfountains.
east elevation showing ramps and terraces. Bridge is right of cone
plan of principal level (scale 1:1300)
section through cone
5
6
2
4
3
5
1
[email protected] 159 -
Architect
Arthur Erickson with Thomas Cook
Reed Reinvald Architects
Project team
Arthur Erickson, Wyn Bielaska
Lighting controls
Lutron
Photographs
All photographs by Nic Lehoux
except no 1 by Russell Johnson
7
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40 | 8
Washington, and the future art museum. Other collaborations with
artists have been more fruitful, notably the opposed repeating
reflective glass planes posed over a long pool by Buster Simpson, and
Howard Ben Tré’s deliciously spurting fountains.
Inside, the cone’s tall and dramatic space is a hot theatrical inferno.
Two furnaces melt glass, and there are five crucibles in which it is
kept molten, and an equal number of annealers, in which the finished
work is cooled down gently to prevent cracking. Height is needed to
get rid of the heat; the furnaces blare and growl. Extremely able and
witty glass artists perform in front of an audience of up to 140 people.
It is all very different from the calm terraces and stairs which
surround the cone, and from the galleries that are under them.
These are rather low, neutral spaces but functional: appropriate in
scale for the necessarily small objects that they are designed to
exhibit, which are often excellently demonstrated by careful use of electric light. It is sad that Erickson, the master of voids and shafts of
light, was not able to thoughtfully introduce more natural luminance:
glass and transparency are just as important in moderating daylight as
the electric produced variety. Surely in a museum devoted to glass
production, we should have some notion of the material’s
intermediary role between outside and in.
The cone is the dramatic focus. It crashes down into the galleries,
the cafeteria and foyer, still wearing its stainless-steel lizard armour,
making you always aware of the theatre it contains. It is often
assumed that Erickson is a sketcher – not too involved with the
making of his ideas. But at Tacoma, detailing is thoroughly thought
out: clean, simple and well made, it is a very fine example of what can
be achieved within the usually crushingly efficient but dull US building
industry. E. M.
GLASS MUSEUM, TACOMA, USA
ARCHITECT
ARTHUR ERICKSONWITH
THOMAS COOK REED REINVALD
ARCHITECTS
7Inverted pyramidal roof marksbridge entrance.8Galleries are neutral and scaled for small objects.9The theatrical glass kitchen.
8
[email protected] 160 -
York’s Broadway in 2000; three years on,
fashionistas and architecture pilgrims have a
new reference point on their global
compasses with the completion of thebiggest Prada flagship store to date in Tokyo,
designed by Herzog & de Meuron. At a cost
of £52 million, budget, it seems, is no object,
despite falls in company profits (down from
£36 million in 2001 to £19 million last year,
though the Asian market is still apparently
buoyant). The Swiss partnership has also
been charged with converting a piano factory
for the house’s New York head office and
designing a new production centre in
Tuscany. Such creative interaction
represents an intriguing shift in the cultural
landscape of architecture. Whereas a
generation ago architects’ imaginations were
exercised by helicopters and yachting wire,
now it is high fashion and modern art.
Prada Tokyo is in Harajuku, an area famous
for both its couture and street fashion,
manifest by the parades of exotically attired
young Japanese who cruise up and down the
broad main drag of Otomosando which
1The Prada tower draws back fromthe edge of its site to create a smallpublic piazza.2
Detail of the rhomboidal grid with itsglass infill panels that envelops thebuilding like a huge net or piece of bubble wrap.
1The Prada tower draws back fromthe edge of its site to create a smallpublic piazza.2
Detail of the rhomboidal grid with itsglass infill panels that envelops thebuilding like a huge net or piece of bubble wrap.
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46 | 8
Like a modern Medici with matching
accessories, Miuccia Prada and her
eponymous fashion house have become
synonymous with a shrewdly intrepidapproach to architectural patronage. Since
1999, Prada has embarked on a programme
of new store designs and brand expansion
through a select stellar cabal of the avant-
garde (Rem Koolhaas, Kazuyo Sejima, and
Herzog & de Meuron). Though the worlds of
architecture and fashion have a fertile and
often colourful reciprocity, this goes beyond
the periodic tasteful fit-out into a more
serious (and big budget) exploration of the
radical that aims to reinvent the simple act of clothes shopping into a singular experience –
consumerism as culture or religion and
shops as carefully choreographed
environments or temples. (Perhaps not so
different from the Medicis after all.)
The first so-called ‘Epicentre’ store
designed by Koolhaas was unveiled on New
broad main drag of Otomosando, which,
with its trees and cafés, is Tokyo’s closest
approximation to a Parisian boulevard. At its
east end it tapers and morphs into the city’s
Bond Street, an elegant ghetto of deluxe
flagships clinging staidly together, like first
class passengers in the Titanic’s lifeboats, for
succour against the blare and dislocation of
modern Tokyo. In a city with virtually no
public space in the European sense (land is
far too precious a commodity to remain
empty), Herzog & de Meuron’s first move is a
bold and urbanistically generous one,
stacking up the shop and office
accommodation into a stumpy five-sided
block to create a small piazza at its base. The
piazza is enclosed by an angular wall covered
in soft green moss that will gradually flourish,
a reminder of the slow beauty of organic lifein the midst of artifice. Hemmed in on all
sides by low-rise buildings, the forecourt
provides a breathing space for meeting,
socializing and window shopping. It also
makes the tower more of a distinguishable
object in its own right, like a chunky bubble-
wrapped bauble on a tray.
FASHIONSTORE, TOKYO, JAPAN
ARCHITECT
HERZOG & DE MEURON
UNDER THE NET Wrapped in a crystalline grid, this new store in Tokyo marks
the latest step in Prada’s plans for world fashion domination.
A O Y A M A S T . 2 4 6 R O U T E
SA N DO S T.
MIUMIU
5-2-6 Minami-Aoyama, Minato-ku, Tokyo MIYUKI ST.OMOTESANDO
SUBWAYSTATIONEXIT
OMOTESANDOSUBWAYSTATIONEXIT
location plan
1
[email protected] 161 -
shop office
first floor fourth floor
FASHIONSTORE,
TOKYO, JAPAN
ARCHITECT
HERZOG & DE MEURON
3-5Views of Tokyo are diffused throughthe tubular grid. Inside, a seamless white lan dscape is a rticul ated by theparaphernalia of display.
3-5Views of Tokyo are diffused throughthe tubular grid. Inside, a seamless white lan dscape is a rticul ated by th eparaphernalia of display.
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48 | 8
counter
m1
shop
B
storage
ground floor plan (scale approx 1:250)
m1
shop
shop
shop
basement plan
third floor
second floor
3
4 5
[email protected] 162 -
Though it might appear capricious, the
irregular geometry of the tower is in fact
dictated by Tokyo’s complex zoning and
planning laws that have shaped and erodedthe basic six-storey block. Herzog & de
Meuron’s early exploratory models
resembled roughly carved pieces of ice, now
evolved into a more streamlined and tautly
chamfered form. This is wrapped in a
rhomboidal grid, like a giant fishing net (or
string vest), infilled with a mixture of flat,
concave and convex panels of glass. Most are
clear, some, where they enclose changing
rooms, are translucent. The convex panels
billow out gently through the grid like
bubbles or puckered flesh (enhancing the
string vest analogy). Cunningly, there is no
single focal shop window; rather the entire
building is a huge display case, generating
faceted reflections and an array of changing,
almost cinematic, views from both outside
and inside. At night, light pulsates through
the crystalline lattice, tantalizingly exposing
floors of merchandise.
Tied back to the vertical cores of the
height spaces are penetrated by the diagrid
structure, bleached white like dinosaur ribs.
Changing rooms are enclosed by panels of
electropic glass that can turn opaque at theflick of a switch. Lights and monitors wiggle
provocatively on serpentine stalks adding a
whiff of Barbarella campness, compounded by
the puzzling and slightly perverse presence of
an array of white fur rugs. And everywhere
there are glimpses of the Tokyo streetscape
filtered and framed by the giant net. Though
Prada is undoubtedly technically
sophisticated, you wonder, slightly
heretically, if a mere boutique merits such a
concentrated application of resources and
architectural imagination. But this is the
rarefied world of fashion, where normal
rules have never applied. PHOEBE CHOW
Architect
Herzog & de Meuron, Basel
Project team
Jacques Herzog, P ierre de Meur on, Stefan Marbach,
Reto Pedrocchi, Wolfgang Hardt, Hiroshi Kikuchi,
Yuko Himeno, Shinya Okuda, Daniel Pokora, Mathis Tinner,
Luca Andrisani, Andreas Fries, Georg Schmid
A i t hit t
FASHIONSTORE, TOKYO, JAPAN
ARCHITECT
HERZOG & DE MEURON
6
6Inside the seamless white labyrinth.7At night the crystalline latticepulsates with light.8Snorkel-like fittings add a camp,futuristic air. The untreated timber floor is a reprise of Tate Modern.
6Inside the seamless white labyrinth.7At night the crystalline latticepulsates with light.8Snorkel-like fittings add a camp,futuristic air. The untreated timber floor is a reprise of Tate Modern.
FASHIONSTORE, TOKYO, JAPAN
ARCHITECT
HERZOG & DE MEURON
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50 | 8
building, the tubular steel grid forms part of
the structure, so that facade and structure
are in effect a seamless entity. The grid acts
as stiffening element, bracing the structure
against seismic forces. Inside all is equally
seamless. A meandering labyrinth of cool
white space forms a suitably neutral canvas
for the carefully orchestrated display of
designer objects. At intervals, the double-
Associate architect
Takenaka Corporation
Structural engineers
Takenaka Corporation, WGG Schnetzer Puskas
Mechanical engineers
Takenaka Corporation, Waldhauser Engineering
Facade consultant
Emmer Pfenninger
Lighting consultant
Arup Lighting
Photographs
Nacasa & Partners
m
cross section cross section 8
7
[email protected] 163 -
o n o m y h a s b e e n m i r e d i n
l e a s t a
d e c a d e . B a n k s a r e
e w e i g h t o f b a d d e b t s , t h e
o f g u a r a n t e e d l i f e t i m e
b e g i n n i n
g t o f r a y , a n d y e t
b o o m i n
g . J e a n N o u v e l ,
a n d K e
v i n R o c h e h a v e b u i l t
e r s i n t h e e x p a n s i v e n e w
p a r k , l o c a t e d o n f o r m e r r a i l
T o k y o , a n d t h e h u g e M o r i
o p m e n
t i s n e a r i n g
s s t o w n i n R o p p o n g i .
r e s s w a y s a r e s t i l l h e a d i n g o f f
, t h o u g
h f e w c a n a f f o r d t h e
e c u s t o
m a r i l y d e s e r t e d .
er n o r s c o n t i n u e t o b u i l d
m s , s p o
r t s s t a d i u m s , a n d
r k s i n r
e m o t e l o c a t i o n s ,
t o c o n
s i d e r h o w t h e y w i l l
n t a i n e d
. T h e j u g g e r n a u t
b l e .
ma
I n t e r n a t i o n a l P o r t
a t e s t o
f t h e s e g r a n d i o s e
k e t h e T o k y o I n t e r n a t i o n a l
e m b e r
1 9 9 6 ) , i t w a s
p r o b a b l y i n s p i r e d m o r e b y a c r a v i n g f o r
p r e s t i g e t h a n a r e c o g n i t i o n o f n e e
d .
Y o k o h a m a , a p o o r f i s h i n g v i l l a g e w
h e n
C o m m o d o r e P e r r y l a n d e d t h e r e i n 1 8 5 3 , h a s
b e c o m e t h e s e c o n d l a r g e s t c i t y i n
J a p a n ,
r i v a l l i n g T o k y o a s a p o r t , a n d i t w
o u l d l i k e
t o b e s e e n a s s o m e t h i n g m o r e t h a
n a n
i n d u s t r i a l a p p e n d a g e o f t h e c a p i t a l . I t s e e m s
a n u n l i k e l y d e s t i n a t i o n f o r c r u i s e s h i p s ,
t h o u g h , a n d t h e p r e s e n t t o t a l i s o n l y 5 0 t o
6 0 a y e a r , s t a y i n g f o r a n a v e r a g e o
f t w o d a y s
e a c h . H o w e v e r , t h e a u t h o r i t i e s d e
c i d e d t o
r e p l a c e t h e s m a l l 1 9 6 0 s t e r m i n a l w i t h o n e
t h a t c a n a c c o m m o d a t e u p t o f o u r
s h i p s a t a
t i m e , a n d F o r e i g n O f f i c e A r c h i t e c t s w o n t h e
1 9 9 5 c o m p e t i t i o n w i t h t h e i r b r i l l i a n t
c o n c e p t o f a s e l f - s u p p o r t i n g s t e e l
s t r u c t u r e ,
b u i l t l i k e a s h i p , t h a t w o u l d i n t e g r
a t e t h e
f l o w o f p a s s e n g e r s w i t h p u b l i c g a t
h e r i n g
p l a c e s i n t o a s e a m l e s s w h o l e .
A s v i s i t o r s t o t h e s a m e a r c h i t e c
t s ’ B r i t i s h
P a v i l i o n a t t h e V e n i c e A r c h i t e c t u r
a l B i e n n a l e
d i s c o v e r e d ( A R O c t o b e r 2 0 0 2 ) , t h e d e s i g n i s
e x t r a o r d i n a r i l y c o m p l e x , b u t t h e p r o d u c t o f
t h e s e s t a c k s o f w o r k i n g d r a w i n g s
( m a n y
1
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I n J a p a n , t h e e c o
r e c e s s i o n f o r a t
s a g g i n g u n d e r t h e
s o c i a l c o n t r a c t o
e m p l o y m e n t i s b
c o n s t r u c t i o n i s b
R i c h a r d R o g e r s ,
p r e s t i g i o u s t o w e
S h i o d o m e o f f i c e
y a r d s i n c e n t r a l T
m i x e d - u s e d e v e l o
c o m p l e t i o n a c r o
B r i d g e s a n d e x p r
t o r e m o t e a r e a s ,
t o l l s a n d t h e y a r e
P r e f e c t u r a l g o v e
i m p o s i n g m u s e u m
o t h e r p u b l i c w o r
w i t h o u t p a u s i n g
b e u s e d a n d m a i n
s e e m s u n s t o p p a b
T h e Y o k o h a m a
T e r m i n a l i s t h e l
g e s t u r e s , a n d , l i k
F o r u m ( A R N o v e
I N T E R N
A T I O N A L P O R T T E R M I N A L ,
Y O K O H
A M A , J A P A N
A R C H I T E C T
F O R E I G
N O F F I C E A R C H I T E C T S
C R
U I S E C O N T R O L
1 B u i l t l i k e a s h i p , Y o k o h a m a ’ s n e w p o r t t e r m i n a l i s a n
a u d a c i o u s f u s i o n o f a r c h i t e c t u r e a n d e n g i n e e r i n g t h a t
c r e a t e s a t o p o g r a p h i c l a n d s c a p e f o r p u b l i c a c t i v i t i e s .
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c r o s s s e c t i o n B B
c r o s s s e c t i o n A A
c r o s s s e c t i o n C C
g e o m e t r
y o f f o l d s
n o f c r o s s
s e c t i o n s
5 T h e c h a n g i n g l a n d s c a p e o f t h e r o o f
p r o m e n a d e . J u s t u n d e r a t h
i r d o f t h e
a r e a o f t h e r o o f i s p l a n t e d w
i t h g r a s s a n d
a n g u l a r r o o f p r o j e c t i o n s p r
o v i d e s h a d e .
6 P r o m e n a d e o v e r l o o k i n g t h e m a i n
e n t r a n c e a n d e n d o f t h e t r a
f f i c p l a z a .
7 C u s t o m - d e s i g n e d s t a i n l e s s - s t e e l
b a l u s t r a d e s w i t h r h o m b o i d
m e s h , l i k e
f i s h i n g n e t s , d e f i n e t h e u s a b l e d o m a i n .
8 T i e r e d c o n t o u r s c r e a t e o p e
n - a i r t h e a t r e .
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I N T E R N
A T I O N A L P O R T T E R M I N A L ,
Y O K O H
A M A , J A P A N
A R C H I T
E C T
F O R E I G
N O F F I C E A R C H I T E C T S
l o c a t i o n
p l a n
f l o w d i a g r a m
l o c a t i o n
5
6
7
8
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c r u i s e t e r m i n a l p l a
n a t c i v i c l e v e l
r o o f p l a n
l o n g i t u d i n a l s e c t i o n 9
4 0
4 1 4 1
4 1
4 2
3 8 4 2
4 2
3 8
4 2
6
1 0 1 0
1 2
1 2
1 2
1 3 1 3
6 1 9
2 1 2 2
2 5
2 5
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2 4
2 6
2 7 2 7
2 8 1 1 2
8
1 3
2 9
3 0
3 2 3
1
3 3
1 3
2 6
2 2 2 1
9 2 0
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I N T E R N
A T I O N A L P O R T T E R M I N A L ,
Y O K O H
A M A , J A P A N
A R C H I T
E C T
F O R E I G
N O F F I C E A R C H I T E C T S
1
s e c u r i t y p o i n t s
2
c a r p a r k e n t r a n c e
3
c a r p a r k e x i t
4
m a c h i n e r o o m s a n d d i s a s t e r
p r e v e
n t i o n c e n t r e
5
b u s s t a t i o n
6
l i f t a c c e s s t o t e r m i n a l
7
d o m e
s t i c a p r o n b o a r d i n g
8
d o m e
s t i c b a g g a g e c o n v e y o r s
9
p e d e s t r i a n a c c e s s t o t e r m i n a l
1 0
i n t e r n
a t i o n a l b a g g a g e c o n v e y o r s
1 1
s t o r a g e
1 2
p a r k i n g
1 3
i n t e r n
a t i o n a l a p r o n b o a r d i n g
1 4
t r a f f i c
p l a z a
1 5
W C s
1 6
d o m e
s t i c t e r m i n a l c o n c o u r s e
1 7
d o m e
s t i c c h e c k - i n
1 8
s h o p s
1 9
w a i t i n
g a r e a
2 0
c h a m p a g n e r o o m
2 1
c r u i s e
d e c k
2 2
d o m e
s t i c g a t e
2 3
o f f i c e
s
2 4
c u s t o
m s
2 5
m o v a
b l e s c r e e n s
2 6
p l a n t
a n d a n i m a l q u a r a n t i n e
2 7
i n t e r n
a t i o n a l g a t e
2 8
m e c h
a n i c a l r o o m s
2 9
l o b b y
3 0
m u l t i - p u r p o s e h a l l
3 1
r e s t a u r a n t
3 2
b a n q u e t a n d r e c e p t i o n r o o m s
3 3
b e l v e d e r e
3 4
v e h i c l e a p p r o a c h
3 5
v e h i c l e e x i t
3 6
v e h i c l e d r o p - o f f a n d p i c k - u p
3 7
b u s s t o p
3 8
c a n o p y
3 9
v i s i t o r s d e c k
4 0
o p e n - a i r t h e a t r e
4 1
a c c e s s t o t e r m i n a l a n d c i v i c
f a c i l i t i e s
4 2
g r e e n
s p a c e s
9 O n e o f t h e e n t r a n c e s t o t h e t e r m i n a l
f r o m t h e
r o o f .
3
4
3 9
3 8
3 6
9 9
3
5
3 7
4 2 4 2
3 8
3 9
3 7
1 1
2
3
4
5
7 7
8 8
6 1 5 1 5
8
1 7
8
1 7
1 4
1 6
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ar house
HOUSE, CABO SAN LUCAS, MEXICO
A RCHITECT
STEVEN HARRISARCHITECTS
Acutabove
2
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The Weiss House, by Steven
Harris Architects, has been built
into the rocky contours of a
headland, 75mabove the Pacific
Ocean in Cabo San Lucas; it is
the southernmost private house
at the foot of the Baja Peninsula,
one of the few places in the
world where the desert meets
the sea. The landscape is an arid
one of rock and sandy
windswept soils; and natural
vegetation, of desert grasses and
cacti, is sparse.
Wishingto preserve the
particular beauty of the
landscape and disturb it as little
as possible, the architects
divided the house into two
separate wings, dispersingthem
to the perimeter of the site. The
result is a marvellous sense of
space, light and air; and an
impression of experiencingthe
land as it is, for as well as being
spread out horizontally, the
structures take advantage of
vertical drops.
The approach to the house,
lookingdown on roofs and with
a view of the Pacific, gives some
intimation of drama. Froma car
port you pass bet
boulders, down a
out of the rock, to
between two wall
of the sea is denie
through an entran
(embellished by a
sculpture) opens
stony garden, a fra
desert outcrop sp
cacti and frangipa
On the east of t
courtyard is the (p
bedroom; on the
and diningrooms
with guest accom
A cut aboveOn a rocky site over the Pacific Ocean, a Me
exploits the prospect and arid beauty of the
1West to swimmingpool andPacific. To right isglasslivingroomfacingsouth and east.2East acrossinternal garden tolivingrooms.3From r oof of private suite south-west acrosssite to pavilion andlivingrooms.4Swimmingpool cantilevered oversea, east to open pavilion on themain upper level with study andguest accommodation beneath.
1
3
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into the cliff below. Alongthe
south cliff edge are an open
pavilion with study and guest
bedrooms beneath, and apool,
cantilevered towards the Pacific.
Formally, the building’s austere
geometry, suppressed section and
subdued palette defer to the
muscular forms and subtle hues of
the terrain. Open to the limitless
expanse of seaon the one hand, to
fragments of desert on the other,
its interior becomes aseries of
sensual experiences. Some rooms
are cave-like; others at the cliff
edge are barely enclosed by glass
and seemsuspended in mid-air.
Light and water are elemental
themes runningthrough the
design. Glass rods embedded in
the east wall of the master
bedroompick up the first rays of
sunlight and project large circles
on the plane opposite.Underground mediaand exercise
rooms, excavated out of the rock
to the north, are themselves
sources of light. By day
illuminated by slivers cut through
the ground, they cast luminance
at night over the rocky surface
and over the entrance path. A
glass bottomed runnel, which
collects water duringthe short
and torrential rains, doubles as a
skylight over aglass shower and
over the guest roombelow. Steps
of underlit stone seemto float.
Structure is of reinforced
concrete and high-strength
laminated glass. The areais
subject to hurr icanes and the
glass is braced by asophisticated
systemof custom-made stainless
steel anchor points – a measure
that allows much larger expanses
of glass than would otherwise be
possible. Otherwise, the concrete
construction is conventional andfamiliar to local craftsmen.
level -1 plan
15
13
14
13
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70|1
5Glassenclosed livingquarters onwest.6Internal garden: an enclosedfragment of natural desert.7Livingroom with transparent wallssouth and east over sea.8, 9Shaftsof light illuminate passageto lowest elegantly appointedguest bedroom.
1 car port
2 entranceramp
3 courtyard
4 kitchen
5 diningroom
6 l ivingroom
7 openlivingroom
8 mediaroom
9 exerciseroom
10 master bedroom
11 p oo l
12 entrancepavilion
13 guest bedroom
14 study
15 service
main level 0 plan (scale approx 1:1500) east-west section
level +1 plan level -2 plan
Architect
Steven Harris Architects, New York
Photographs
Scott Frances/Esto
5
6
8 9
7
3
4
5
6
11
7
12
2
9 8
10
2
1
13
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The VillaAldobrandini and its
spectacular water gardens at
Frascati were constructed in
1601-11, duringthe Counter
Reformation, by Carlo Maderno,
architect of St Peter’s facade, and
Giovanni Fontana. The villa, built as
asummer residence for Cardinal
Pietro Aldobrandini, ‘nephew’ of
Pope Clement VIII , dominates the
town, and faces across the
countryside to St Peter’s dome.
Theatrically set against steep
forest on the edge of the town, the
villais the centrepiece of an
Arcadian vision of nature. Thegardens, with asemi-circular
water-theatre and nymphaeumare
fedbyanaxialsequenceof
and most famous examples of early
Italian Baroque landscape.
The villais still privately owned,
but the suite of seventeenth-
century stable buildings next to
the town square now belongs to
the city. It has been transformed
with great sensitivity, by
Massimiliano Fuksas, into the
Museo Tuscolano. The museum
houses archaeological fragments
of the Roman city of Tuscolo,
remains of which are scattered
over the Alban hills; but it also
accommodates an exhibition hall
and auditorium. In convertingthebuildings, Fuksas has impinged
very lightly on the old structures,
leavingthe architectureto speak
to it , and to the superb setting, is
very evident, as is his talent for
enhancinginherent architectural
drama.
The site had two magnificent
rectangular halls set end to end, in
need of repair and restoration.
Once this was done, and the
buildings cleared of unnecessary
accretions, the architect was left
with an enormous double-height
volume, requiringanew first
floor, and asmaller vaulted one
with achamber above. As an
organizingdevice, anew service
core and lift shaft were insertedinto the inner end of the main
hall, formingacentral cross-axis
andestablishingthe museum’s
ROMAN REVIVALIn Frascati, to the south of Rome, the seventeenth-century stables of a famous villa
have been converted with great sensitivity into an archaeological museum.
ARCHAEOLOGICAL MUSEUM,
FRASCATI, ITALY
A RCHITECT
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62|2
fed by an axial sequence of
waterfalls, and are one of the best
leavingthe architecture to speak
for itself; but his poetic response
and establishingthe museums
two separate sections.
A RCHITECT
MASSIMILIANO FUKSAS
1Main west face. Or iginal entrance(right) isnow a window onto townhall square; new entrance (left) inadjacent building.2
East vaulted gallery on ground floor.3Main gallery with new first floor andstaircases.
1 2
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New insertions have been made
distinct fromthe old structure and
the marks of previous occupation
and wear and tear have been left as
archaeological traces. Except for
the occasional plane of coloured
plaster and new glazing, the
buildings have not been smoothed
down; rather, in keepingwith the
nature of the exhibits, the textures
of materials – rough stone, brick,
flakingplaster and concrete – have
been treasured.
In the main gallery alarge
window, framingaview of the
town hall square, replaced the
original main entrance; and anew
entrance was created in an
adjoininglodge. W ithin the gallery,
RSJ columns and beams support a
new first floor of concrete and
steel. Floatingshort of the old
perimeter walls, it accommodates
an aerial fl ight of steel and wood
stairs fromground level. Another
parallel flight beneath takes you to
offices on an intermediate level
over the entrance. The
immateriality of the inserted
structures is induced by height and
4Exhibition hall on upper level; newfloor, with glassbalustrading, floatsfree of old structure.5Main gallery; north wall and newstaircases. A rchaeological exhibitsinglasscase on slender bronze stands.6Upper chamber over entrance andglassbridge to exhibition hall. Newwindowsover town hall square.
6
6
4
7
7
5
6 6
2
1
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64|2
first floor plan
ground floor plan (scale approx 1:500)
north-south crosssectionnorth-south crosssection
west-east longsection
1 entrance
2 maingallery
3 exhibitioncase
4 servicecore
5 vaultedgallery
6 exhibitionhall
7 auditorium
ARCHAEOLOGICAL MUSEUM, FRASCATI, ITALY
A RCHITECT
MASSIMILIANO FUKSAS
length, and by beingcounterpoised
against the massive masonry wall,
its thickness displayed in the deep
reveals of small square windows
set high above the ground.
Displayed on slender bronze
stands designed by Massimo
Mazzone, and illuminated by tiny
spots of suspended light, the
exhibits have been rendered
equally ethereal. Arranged in a
longprocession, they are enclosed
by transparent sheets of
toughened laminated glass, 2.60m
high and set straight into the
polished concrete floor. This
crystalline case forms acentral
spine down the length of theground floor and is visible fromthe
square outside. As an example of
exhibition design, i
Upstairs, is the c
with the well-equi
contained in the ch
vaulted gallery. The
under high roof tim
exhibitions and oth
events. Through w
are wide views ove
countryside and of
Aldobrandini.
Architect
Massimiliano FuksasA rc
with DorianaO . Mandr
Project team
Massimiliano Fuksas, Do
Lorenzo Accapezzato
Artist
Massimo Mazzone
Photographs
GiovannaPiemonti4 6
5
1
2
3
4
3
5
6
2
4
5
74
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WATER AND LIGHTA new musem dedicated to the relics and techniques
ofancient Japanese water engineering is a series of soaring spaces that lyrically synthesize water and light.
HISTORICAL MUSEUM,
OSAKA, JAPAN
A RCHITECT
TADAO ANDO
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38|2
The Japanese are mad for museums, erectingelaborate structures to
celebrate sand, sunsets, bridges (this last a playful recreation of
Palladio’s unrealized design for the Rialto in Venice) and just about
everythingelse that can be put within four walls. Tadao Ando has
made a specialty of this buildingtype, designingmuseums for children,
literature, wood, daylight, and two for prehistoric tombs, as well as a
succession of art museums – most recently in Fort Worth, Texas. In
each, he strives to find an appropriate expression of the theme,
developingarchitectural metaphors froman austere vocabulary of
concrete planes and rotundas, ramps and stairs. In the best of these,
there is a harmonious match of container and contents; in others, the
processional routes and soaringvolumes upstage the exhibits and
exhaust less athletic visitors.
The Sayamaike Historical Museumin Ando’s home city of Osaka is
an impressive monument that conveys the power of water and the
challenge it presents to engineers who want to tame it. It is locatedbeside an artificial lake that dates back to the seventh century. Over
the centuries, monks and feudal retainers applied their skills to
enlargingthe earthen damand installing wood or stone conduits to
carry water to neighbouringfields. Relics of this early engineering
were excavated when the shore of the lake was recently heightened
and landscaped to serve as a flood control basin. A 15.4mhigh slice
through the old damwas painstakingly cut away, dried out, and
reassembled to show how layers were added and sluices threaded
through by a succession of builders.
1The museum is poised on the edgeof an artificial lake that datesback tothe seventh century.2Crisp cuboid volumesare reflected inthe building’sinternal pools.3Simple geometriescombine withAndo’scharacteristically austerepalette of materials.
1
2
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longsection
second floor plan
HISTORICAL MUSEUM,
OSAKA, JAPAN
A RCHITECT
TADAO ANDO
11
11
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40|2
crosssection
first floor plan
ground floor plan (scale approx 1:1250)site plan
4A rotunda actsas a hinge betweenthe two partsof the building.5
The longcentral pool is framed bydiaphanous, cascadingwallsof water,with the rotunda beyond.
1 entrancehall
2 exhibitionspace
3 staffoffices
4 court
5 auditorium6 foyer
7 rotunda
8 centralpool
9 storage
10 excavateddam
11 cascadingpools
4
52
1
3
3
5
6
4
4
2
2
9 9
9
7
8
10
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To house this earthwork, Ando has erected a multi-level bastion that
rises like a castle beside the pond, shuttingout its banal suburban
neighbours. A switchback ramp scales a battered wall of rough granite
blocks and you wonder if defenders will appear on the rampartsabove and drive you off with rocks and boilingoil. You emerge into a
bare concrete piazza and look for an entry to a windowless slab that
could be the castle keep. The monoli th is enigmatic and seemingly
i t bl it b i d i b d f hit
HISTORICAL MUSEUM,
OSAKA, JAPAN
A RCHITECT
TADAO ANDO
6
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42|2
impenetrable, its cross-bracingexpressed in bands of white on grey
stone. Steps in a corner of the piazza lead down to a court in which
you are suddenly overwhelmed by water cascadingdown the walls,
splashingover a recessed walkway, and throwing off a fine mist – as
though you had scaled a damand found yourself in its sluiceway,
wondering if the force of the torrent might carry you away. It’s one of
Ando’s most compellingtheatrical coups, but he diminishes its impact
by extendingthe underwater passage into a rotunda, fromwhere
another ramp leads to the mid-level entrance in the side of the slab.
Within the museum, the brute power of the masonry and tumbling
water is dissipated. Though the earth dammay be historically
important, it’s not much to look at and it is dwarfed by the hall that
rises far above, even when you are descendingthe ramp that leads
past it to the display area below. Archaeologists may appreciate the
fragments of primitive plumbingthat are stretched out through
another hall and wrapped around the rotunda, but students of
architecture are more likely to ignore the displays and gazeadmiringly at this monumental sculpture by a master of light, space,
and meticulously poured concrete. As such, it’s magnificent, but it
drew only a couple of visitors on a recent Sunday afternoon. Nor
does the lake lure you to its sterile banks, for the abundant wildlife it
may once have contained now survives only as a video (maddeningly
repeated in the lobby) in which two insufferably cute infants fly in on a
leaf and chatter excitedly about the birds and flowers as music tinkles
over this fantasy of nature preserved. MICHAEL WEBB
6Visitorspassalong the edge of thecentral pool, with its light diffusingcurtain of water.7The soaringinternal spacesweredetermined by the scale of thebuilding’scontents.8The excavated wall of a dam housedin a tr iple-height exhibition hall ismuseum’smain archaeological relic.
Architect
Tadao Ando Architect &Associates, Osaka
Project team
Tadao Ando, Takaaki Mizutani, KanyaSogo
Structural engineer
Wada
Mechanical engineer
Setsubi-GikenPhotographs
Shigeo Ogawa/JapanAr chitect
7
[email protected] 175 -
Traditionally, there are not many
Roman Catholics in Scandinavia.
The small town of Kongsvinger,
in Norway, east of Oslo and near
the Swedish border, has a
Catholic community of only
some 200 people, made up of
immigrants fromVietnam, the
Philippines and Poland as well as
native Norwegians. To help
bringthe disparate group
together, a new church was
necessary.
Because of the size of the
congregation, the buildinghad to
be simple and quite cheap: a
basic ‘framework round the
liturgy’ was required. The
architects replied with a building
of great simplicity, in an
arrangement that has become
quite common in Scandinavian
churches of all denominations:
the church faces a roughly
similar sized parish hall over an
open court that separates sacred
and profane areas, with
everythingbeing brought
together within an overall
rectangle – a compact
arrangement comparable to, for
instance, the church at
Mortensrud built for a much
bigger (and Lutheran)
congregation (AR December
2002, p52).
At Kongsvinger, the parts are
simple and elemental – all small
abstractions of ancient types.
The church itself with its wide,
clerestory-lit nave flanked by
narrow aisles is a miniature
basilica, with the altar
emphasized by a skylight, as was
the focus of basilican spaces
since Roman times; the
confessional and the font are in
tiny side niches openingoff the
aisles. The open courtyard, with
its surroundingarcades, is
clearly descended fromthe
cloister, itself another Roman
type that goes back to the atria
of the houses of the rich. The
parish hall is, in a sense, a
negative of the cloister, with
arcades surroundinga roofed
CHURCH, K ONGSVINGER, NORWAY
A RCHITECT
HILLE STRANDSKOGEN
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60|3
NORDIC FAITHBy reinterpreting traditional types, this little
church achieves an intensity which is enhanced by
great sensitivity in use of materials and light.
1Approach from south with church,left, and parish hall, right.2Entrance to court: sawn sandstoneashlar isouter skin of blockwork walls.
3Church main door openingoff cloister.
1
2
[email protected] 176 -
space instead of one open to the
sky; to me at least, the rather
dark volume recalls tales of the
ancient timber halls of
Scandinavian legend – youalmost expect a lantern as a
reminder of the central smoke-
hole.
For Scandinavia, this is a
relatively poor parish, and
construction is economical and
very simple, but there has been
enough money to cover the
outside of the blockwork walls
in a sawn sandstone skin with
flush-pointed joints and solid
stone lintels over the portals to
the cloister. Inside, walls are
finished in tinted plaster, with no
skirtings against the floors,
which themselves are of polished
pale concrete. All columns and
main beams are 200mmsquare
laminated pine members, while
secondary roof elements, roof
linings and most other
woodwork are made of
untreated pine, the aroma of
complex. Special pieces, like the
pews, where you are literally
most in touch with the building,
are in oak.
Everythinghas been thoughtout economically, yet with deep
understandingof the sensuous
properties of light and material.
Sankt Clara’s church is a small,
yet powerful distillation of
community and the numinous.
HENRY MILES
Architect
Hille Strandskogen, Oslo
Project team
Ervin Strandskogen, Henrik Hille,
AnjaH ole Strandskogen
Interior design and landscape
Hille Strandskogen
crosssection through church
crosssection through hall
4Church is a small abstraction of traditional basilica.5Parish hall.6Fi i h t l i l d
CHURCH, K ONGSVINGER, NORWAY
A RCHITECT
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p ,
which permeates the whole
ground floor (scale approx 1:260)
longsection 1 church
2 sacristy
3 cloister court4 parishhall
5 meeting
6 ki tchen
7 upto flat
Finishesare extremely simple andeconomical.HILLE STRANDSKOGEN
21 43
5
76
62|3
4
5 6
[email protected] 177 -
delight
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design rev
Jaakko Pernu is asculptor and relatively easy to work, due to its constructed from2
TIMBERC ONSTRUCTIONS, FINLAND
D ESIGNER
JAAKKO PERNU
2
4
3
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38|3
land artist who makes remarkably
intricate yet monumental
constructions usingwood. In
Finland, blessed with a
superabundance of trees, wood
has assumed the status of
national material, its expressive
and regenerative qualities forging
apowerful connection with the
Finnish psyche. Pernu’s father
was aboatbuilder, so since
childhood he was exposed to the
tactile and sensory nature of
timber and gained an appreciation
of its technical potential – how it
could be cut, shaped and jointed.Since the late ’80s, when he
completed his studies at the Lahti
Institute of Fine Arts, Pernu has
lived and worked in remote
northern Finland, drawing
inspiration fromits huge boreal
forests and subtle Nordic light.
His favourite wood is willow,
both cheap and plentiful and also
inherent strength and suppleness.
Symbolically, willow is associated
with the moon, water and rebirth
– it regenerates very quickly and
its floweringmarks the beginning
of spring. Its bark also contains
valuable pain relievingproperties,
exploited for centuries in
traditional herbal medicine. In
Pernu’s extraordinary
constructions slender willow
members are joined usingthe
simplest of techniques – usually
just nails and screws although
Pernu is beginningto experiment
with glues – to create lattice-likearrangements that have acurious
delicacy, despite their huge scale.
One of Pernu’s largest works,
The Ground Beneath , was created
duringasix month placement at
Oulu Artists’ Workshop. Set in a
forest clearing, its arboreal form
was inspired by the surrounding
trees. A cubic frame was
willow poles that ta
upwards like tree t
organ pipes. Dried
willow members w
painstakingly mesh
form alacey timbe
suspended 3mabov
The effect is of aco
manmade forest (a
permanently denud
areal forest. At nig
structure is dramat
illuminated, casting
shadows through t
Though rooted in a
craft sensibility, Peand intuitive explo
wood draw deeply
folkloric associatio
dreamingand ench
distil the material’s
essence. C. S.
Photographs
2, 4, 5 Jaakko Pernu; 1, M
3, JukkePailos
Wood spiritFinnish artist Jaakko Pernu makes works that explore both
the physical properties and symbolic dimensions of wood.
1Pernu’sarboreally-inspiredThe
Ground Beneath , a manmade forestset in a real one.2Sky is the Limit , consistingof a trio of 8m high willow columns.3Hor n resemblessurreal topiary.4, 5Work in progressfor The Ground
Beneath – slender willow membersare nailed and screwed together toform intricate constructions.
1 5
[email protected] 179 -
location plan
Nestlingat the foot of the Cantabrian Cordillera, León in northern
Spain was an important stoppingoff point on the historic pilgrimage
route to Santiago de Compostela. Countless pilgrims have passed
through it and the old town still contains the built traces of their
progress, notably the sixteenth-century monastery of San Marcos, nowtransformed into aluxurious parador hotel aimed at arather different
kind of traveller. Located on the edge of León’s historic core, the
monastery overlooks aplazalandscaped in starkly contemporary
fashion that forms aplace for sitting, strollingand the evening
passeggiata . The weathered yellow stone of San Marcos has been joined
by amore recent and unabashedly contemporary interloper, the
gridded white concrete facade of the town’s new concert hall on the
south side of the plaza. Won in competition in 1994, the buildingwas
designed by the Madrid-based partnership of Luis Mansillaand Emilio
Tuñón. Despite beingconspicuously of its time, it responds with
calmness and sensitivity to its site and context and in the tradition of
such popular, public buildingtypes is also astrongcivic gesture that adds
to the life of town.
Mansilla+Tuñón began their careers in the office of Rafael Moneo
and their work displays similar formal preoccupations that have their
roots in traditional Iberian architecture tempered by aModernist
restraint. Neutral, toplit containers, solid, alcázar-like walls and the
subtle play of light are intelligently choreographed to create asense of
depth and solidity. All this is underscored by material refinement and
concern for how things are made and put together. The bulk of the new
concert hall is essentially ablind box clad in crisp white travertine, but
on the edge of the square, the box cranks round abruptly to terminate
in amassive wall that addresses its neighbours, the plazaand theFROZEN MUSIC
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42|5
monastery beyond like some kind of lion’s head or three-dimensional
billboard, addingavital new piece to the existingurban composition.
Alludingplayfully to amusical score, the billboard wall is divided into
five horizontal strips, increasingin size as they rise. The bands form a
matrix for amathematically calculated grid of deeply recessed and
splayed bays each containingwindows of different sizes. These capture
CONCERTHALL ,LEÓN, SPAIN
A RCHITECT
MANSILLA +TUÑÓN
León’s new concert hall is an imaginative
distillation of Iberian vernacular thatforms not only a dignified space for music,but also enriches the urban realm.
1The white sculptural facade of León’sconcert hall completesan urbancomposition. On the left is thesixteenth-century monastery of SanMarcos, now turned into a luxury hotel.2
The billboard wall grid of recessed andsplayed openingsrecallstr aditionalIberian architecture.
1
[email protected] 180 -
CONCERTHALL , LEÓN, SPAIN
facade geometry
3
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44|5
A RCHITECT
MANSILLA +TUÑÓN
3Facade animated by play of shadows.4Blind box of the concert hall, with itsgreat crenellated fly tower, istuckedbehind the main billboard wall.5The discrete strip of offices, includingthe box office, islinked to the mainbuildingat lower level.
longsection
crosssection
exploded axonometric of buildingelements
4
[email protected] 181 -
CONCERTHALL LEÓN SPAIN
6Main entrance in thebillboard wall and b7Pocketsof light illumto exhibition space a
6
12 12
11
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46|5
CONCERTHALL , LEÓN, SPAIN
A RCHITECT
MANSILLA +TUÑÓN
lower ground floor plan ground floor plan (scale approx 1:500)
upper level plan
1 mainentrance
2 f oye r
3 officesandbox office
4 breakout space
5 auditorium
6 stage
7 ca fé
8 wcs
9 dressingrooms
10 officesandrehearsalrooms
11 exhibitionspace
12 boxes
7
4
2
1
3
5
6
7
99 9
9
10
8
8
[email protected] 182 -
small chasms of light which cast changingreflections and pockets of
intense luminosity through the spaces inside, echoingthe way in which
light percolates brilliantly through the thick walls of Spanish churches. In
fact, in its solidity, whiteness, and geometric play of shadows, the wall is
adramatic abstraction of Iberian vernacular architecture. Superscale
graphics run alongthe base of the facade, in areprise of the eye-catching
device employed by the architects in an earlier project at the Museumof
Fine Arts in Castellón (AR June 2002).
Behind the wall is an exhibition hall and foyer contained in an angledwingset at the east end of the auditorium. The public entrance
penetrates the knuckle between the angled wingand the auditor ium
leadingto a vestibule that gives access to the concert hall foyer and
promenadingspaceatgroundlevel Fromhere alongrampwindsupto
8Triple-height exhibition space.9The soft, sepulchral gloom of theconcert hall, lined with dark timber.10Breakout space on the ground floor
behind the auditorium, overlookingan internal courtyard.
8
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48|5
promenadingspace at ground level. Fromhere, alongramp winds up to
atriple-height exhibition hall on the first floor. Theatrically side-lit by
the billboard wall, the exhibition space extends the life of the building
beyond the eveningperformances. Below ground is a labyrinth of
technical facilities, rehearsal spaces and dressingrooms overlookinga
light court, and apublic café, also facingthe courtyard. A discrete strip
of offices runs alongthe south edge of the concert hall.
The auditoriumis divided into two parts, with 734 seats (excluding
boxes) placed in front of the concert platform, and 394 seats behind it
risingon asteeper rake. This arrangement provides increased flexibility
– as well as for large symphony concerts, the hall can be configured for
chamber music, operaand even conferences, with moveable panels
modifyingacoustics as required. The stage is surmounted by afly tower
expressed as amonumental crenellation on the hermetic box of the
concert hall. Lined with wide strips of dark Wenge timber, the
auditoriumhas asepulchral, sensual quality after the lightness andasceticismof the exterior and foyer spaces. Rows of boxes resemble
intimate cocoons, where patrons can see (but not necessarily be seen),
addingto the ritual and intrigue of an eveningout. Under the light from
lines of cylindrical fittings suspended fromthe ceilingshell, the deep blue
tones of the seats mutate into an opulent purple.
If architecture is indeed frozen music, then Mansilla +Tuñón have
produced atautly executed but beautifully resonant composition,
qualities not lost on awider criti cal fraternity as the concert hall was
shortlisted for the 2003 Mies van der Rohe Award for European
Architecture (at the time of writing, the winner was yet to be
announced). The Madrid duo will also orchestrate the next phase in
León’s re-energized cultural l ife, havingbeen selected to design the
town’s new arts centre on an adjacent site. CARLA BERTOLUCCI
CONCERTHALL , LEÓN, SPAIN
A RCHITECT
MANSILLA +TUÑÓN
ArchitectMansilla+ Tuñón, Madrid
Project teamLuis Moreno Mansilla, Emilio Tuñón,
Andrés Regueiro, Fernando García Pino,
MaríaLinares
Structural engineerOveArup
Mechanical engineer JG Asociados
Cost consultantsHernán, C oronay Asociados
Acoustic consultantHigini Araw
PhotographsRolandHalbe
9
[email protected] 183 -
As aleadingadvertisingagency in
America, Chiat Day’s business is
creatingimages that subliminally
stir the imagination and amuse. In
registeringits presence in thepublic mind – in Los Angeles, New
York and, most recently, San
Francisco – it has employed
original architectural minds to
design offices for its inventive and
technologically sophisticated staff.
The firm’s Boat, Binoculars and
Trees headquarters on Main
Street in Venice, California(AR
May 1992), was designed by Frank
Gehry (with Claes Oldenburgand
Coosje von Bruge) as aroadside
landmark. But the building’s
impact, in acity used to such
events, derived fromGehry’s skill
in manipulating filmic imagery,
subvertingthe normality of Main
Street (the entrance is Oldenburg
and von Bruge’s giant binoculars),
and drawingon associations withHollywood and Disneyland.
Behind the playful facade were
fairly conventional offices, the
prevailinginformality conveying
Public imageExpansion of a leading advertising agency is another stage
in its imaginative flight from stifling corporate design.
ADVERTISING OFFICES,
SAN FRANCISCO, USAA RCHITECT
MARMOL RADZINER+
ASSOCIATES
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70|4
p g y y g
the non-hierarchical character of
the advertisingindustry.
Gehry was succeeded in New
York by Gaetano Pesce, who was
asked to do away with lingering
notions of Bürolandschaft. His
exuberant design of (virtual)
offices was confined to the interior
of an undistinguished block in
Manhattan and had aVenetian cast.
Restricted by atight budget, it was
described at the time as ‘the
furthest flight fromthe rectangle
ever achieved in office design’ (AR
January 1995). Pesce transformed
the amorphous space into a
riotous carnival of brilliant colours
(used to delineate zones), surreal
forms and strange conjunctions of
inexpensive materials (polyesters,
resin and rubber). There were no
individual spaces or work-stations.
Marmol Radziner’s brief in San
Francisco, when designingnew
offices for TBWA\Chiat\Day, was
that they should be different in
character fromthe firm’s other
premises. After Pesce, the firmhas
become more conventional –
1Curvingwall like a remnant of ship’shull leadsto reception.2Floor plate cut away to createdouble-height void. Project roo mabove reception contained inwooden hull with translucent wall.1 [email protected]
- 184 -
Marmol Radziner has provided
corr idors, right-angles and
enclosures, even if they are at first
obscured by impressions of ship-
wrecked hulls. As in New York,the budget was limited but, in San
Francisco, the buildingwas
romantic; the offices occupy three
floors of ahistoric brick
warehouse at 55 Union Street on
the city’s old Barbary Coast. The
site, once ashipyard, is reclaimed
land incorporatinghulks of ships
abandoned by the Forty-niners
rushinginland for gold. Once
famous for brothels, bars and
opiumdens, the areahas been
taken over since the 1960s by
design and technology companies,
and public relations industries.
The handsome warehouse wasstripped back to its bones – brick
walls, wooden beams, columns and
ceilings – and cleaned up. Within
this envelope, Marmol Radziner’s
design, lit by large windows, draws
on the site’s piratical history (for
Chiat\Day, ‘pirate’ is asymbol for
rule-breakers and innovators), and
ideas of flood, recedingwaters and
stranded timbers. As an
architectural stage set, focused
around the entrance, it is less
literal in execution than Gehry’s
scheme in Los Angeles, but stil l
there are resonances.
The entrance to the oldwarehouse in aback alley was
inconspicuous, designed for cargo
rather than people. This has been
transformed. Steppingin fromthe
street, you find yourself among
enormous curvingforms, like
wooden hulls, beached amongand
impaled by the building’s massive
timbers. An undulatingwall guides
you to the reception desk where
the floor has been cut away so that
wooden forms, plainly hollow at
the upper level, are two storeys
high. At the upper level, subliminal
impressions of asub-aqueous
world are reinforced bytranslucent, watery walls (of
polycarbonate), that line structural
ribs and enclose conference and
project rooms. The overwhelming
sensation is of l ight on wood: on
the roughened texture of the
horizontal timbers, made to pop as
they are pulled into an arc round
meetingrooms on the ground
floor; on the smoother plywood
surface of vertical forms; and on
the grainy one of cork that covers
reception. The light is softened,
smoothed out, and made
harmonious by colour and texture.
Such theatrics entertain and are
pleasurable, but more importantly
their arrangement expresses the
agency’s collaborative ethos.
Cuttingthrough the first floorestablishes avertical connection
in asturdy buildingwith an
otherwise impermeable section;
and the lightness of the inserted
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72|4
structures dispels the weightiness
of the old structure.
Beyond reception are open-plan
offices on two floors. Connected
by lifts and staircase, the various
departments are arranged in
orthogonal fashion. Low
enclosures, specially made in
different sizes, allude to the
wooden crates that once occupied
the building. Beneath longlines of
rice-paper lanterns, they allow
views and communication across
the building, and give privacy. Their
sturdy functional character is
echoed in the architects’ design of
furniture – wooden storage units,
conference tables and low sofas.
PENNY MCGUIRE
Architects
Marmol Radziner+Associates
Project team
Leo Marmol, RonRadziner, AnnaH ill, John
Kim, SuKim, BrendanO ’Grady
Paul Benigno, Juli Brode, Patrick McHugh,
Chris McCullough, Daniel Monti, BobbyRees,
ReneeW ilson, AnnetteW u
Photographs
BennyChan/Fotoworks
1 entrance
2 reception
3 meetingroom
4 lift
5 rear entrance
3,4Sturdy functional meetingr oomfurniture and workstationenclosures(recallingcargo crates)designed by practice.5Communal area at upper level forinformal meetingsoutside projectroom. ground floor plan (scale approx 1:450) first floor plan
53
4
ADVERTISING OFFICES, SAN FRANCISCO, USA
A RCHITECT
MARMOL RADZINER+ASSOCIATES
8 8 8
3 3 3 8 6
2
4
1
75
8 98
8 3 8
7
4
8 3
6
3
8
[email protected] 185 -
In many ways, Vancouver is the
finest city in North America. It has
aproper mixed-use urban centre
that focuses on apark and
stretches alongamagnificent site
But outside their centres, both
cities have much in common. Low
density suburbs intermingle with
forests alongthe coast, and of
course theyneedtransport so
ensure that the sys
as attractive as pos
local architects to d
stations, rather tha
civilengineers Busb
METROSTATION,
VANCOUVER, CANADA
A RCHITECT
BUSBY +ASSOCIATES
2
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stretches alongamagnificent site
between forested hills and the
complex fretted geometry of the
coast of the Pacific Ocean. There
could be no greater urban contrast
than between Vancouver and
Seattle, not much more than a
hundred miles away over the
border to the south. The
American city has scarcely any
decent urban spaces and has
allowed civil engineers to ruin its
waterfront by runningan urban
motorway all alongthe best
stretches of the shore.
course, they need transport, so
highways snake into the superb
landscapes, spreadingpollution and
carryingever more vehicles. In
association with these is the usual
Nor th American tat: malls, strips
and wasteful parkinglots.
Vancouver is tryingto counter this
process by focusingdevelopment
at new centres. Connecting13 of
these is the MillenniumLine, ahigh-
level metro systemthat follows the
busy Lougheed Highway.
The Vancouver Rapid Transit
Project Office was concerned to
civil engineers. Busb
were asked to mak
the halts. Brentwoo
dramatic of the two
intended to formth
and design catalyst
Town Centre, at pr
undistinguished sub
The highway divi
in half, and one of th
purposes of the new
to link the two side
time, it has to get pa
the trains, which tra
middle of the moto
SKY STATION
In an attempt to tame
its suburbs, Vancouver
has set up an overhead
rapid-transit system.
Its stations are
designed as memorable
and welcoming places.
sectional perspective
1Overhead rail trackslargelyfollow line of highway below,necessitating…2… bridge over road and under
tracksthat spansbetween twohalvesof suburban centre. [email protected]
- 186 -
architects decided to make a
bridge over the road but under the
railtracks Fromthebridge lifts
above the middle of the tracks, a
lattice of thin steel elements links
thetwosidesandprovidesseismic
and requiringcomputer analysis of
the cladding.
Thearchitects’aimhasbeento
1 platform
2 tracks
3 verticalcirculation
4 bridge
5 rampto car park
6 mallcar park
platform level plan
METROSTATION,
VANCOUVER, CANADA
A RCHITECT
BUSBY +ASSOCIATES
4
56
2
3
4
1
1
3
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58|4
rail tracks. Fromthe bridge, lifts
and stairs r ise to platformlevel.
Each platformis sheltered by a
curvingcanopy. Roofs are made of
2in by 4in (50 x100mm) softwood
members nailed together to form
continuous curved timber decks
that stiffen laminated ribs. These
are connected to the basic
concrete structure through pin-
joints by giant white-painted steel
shoes. Between the canopies,
the two sides and provides seismic
stiffness. The central slot is left
open, but platformsides are
protected fromthe elements by
glass walls formed of overlapping
identical elements clipped
together. To provide enough
width for l ifts and stairs to arrive
at platformlevel in the middle of
the plan, the structure expands
organically and generously, making
the canopies curve in two planes,
The architects aimhas been to
make the buildingas transparent as
possible to avoid visitor confusion
and to act as aformof
advertisement for the new travel
systemwhich, so far, has proved
popular and efficient; its fast
driver-less trains arrive regularly
and punctually. For car drivers
crawlingon the polluted freeway
below, the new station is abeacon
of civilized living. ED ABRAHAMS
3Ramp gradually leadsstop loop in mall car p4Envelope round platfofor width of lifts, escalstairs.5White prefabricated costructure.6Steel struttingandV-sh
between canopiesgive sresistance.
4
3 5 6
Architect
Busby+ Associates, Van
Project team
B. Billingsley, M. Bonaven
P. Busby, S. Edwards, T.
M. Nielsen, R. Peck, A. S
Structural engineer
Fast & EppPartners
Photographs
Nic Lehoux
[email protected] 187 -
THE SNOW SHOW
During lunch at a M anhattan restaurant, inde-
pendent curator LanceFung and Tuula Yr jölä
fromtheFinnish Tourist Board cameup with the
idea of hostinga show celebratingiceand snow
structuresin Finland’sL apland. FromFebruary
to April next year, theSnow Show will seestruc-
turesof a minimum80 per cent iceor snow, built
by 30 teamsfromsome27 countries.1 Theteams
will consist of an architect and artist2who, receiv-
ingno fee, will design experimental worksusing
video, sound, light and traditional art media,
combined with architectural construction mate-
rialsand thearctic elementsof snow and ice. By
replacing usual, permanent materials with
unusual ephemeral elements, thecuratorshope
to ‘neutralizeinitial fixity of ideas’.
Fifteen of theseprojectswill bein Rovaniemi,
a sleigh-rideaway fromSanta ClausVillageand
theArctic Circle. Thecity wasalmost completely
destroyed by retreating Germansin theSecond
World War, and in 1946 rebuilding began with
Alvar Aalto laying out thetown in theshapeof
reindeer antlers. He went on to design thetown
hall, library and theatre.
Theother 15 designswill bein theseaport city
of Kemi, at thenorth end of theGulf of Bothnia.Kemi isalready hometo theSnowCastle, a large
snow structurebuilt annually for the eighth time
last winter, housing wedding chapel, ice sculp-
tures, gallery, restaurant and hotel rooms(where
yousleeponabedoficedeckedinreindeerskin).
vıewPALACESOF SNOW AND ICE IN LAPLAND; AR’S MIPIM PRIZES AT CANNES; HELPING TO SAVE ST CATHERINE’S
MONASTERY IN SINAI; JOHN PAWSON TO LECTURE FOR AR AT SPECTRUM; WINGÅRDH BUILDS FOR SWEDEN IN
WASHINGTON ; CATHERINE COOKE’S VIEW FROM MOSCOW; L YAL L ON WE B; OLD PARADIGM JENCKS?
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together making a circle. The videosare pro-
jected on a glassrevolvingdoor in themiddleof
theroom, onein both endsof thewholesculp-
ture. Therevolvingdoorsare, say thearchitects,
a metaphor for urban life, ‘a turbine run by the
flow of wandering people. It isa door between
formal structuresand theunpredictablediversity
of life. It isa door that makesour inner spacean
outer spaceagain and again’. T heheat fromthe
video equipment will gradually melt theinterior
whilethesun workson theexterior.
The venture ispartly financed by the Euro-
pean Union and partly by participating cities,
theproject partnersincludetheart museumsof
Rovaniemi and Kemi, and UNESCO. In con-
junction with theSnow Show, theDepartmentof Architecture at Oulu University and the
Academy of Fine Arts in Helsinki are organiz-
ing a competition, the winners of which, two
architect/ art student pairs, wil l create their
own structures, one in Kemi and one in
Rovaniemi.3 JULI A DAWSONPhotographs: Manne Stenros, copyright Snow Show
1 Architects buildi ng are Anamorphosis, T adao Ando, Asymptote, Shigeru Ban,
Jung-H o Chang, Dil ler + Scofidi o, Fo Architects, Future Systems, Zaha
Hadid, Heikki nen & Komonen, Coop Hi mmelb(l)au, Steven Holl, H ollmén
Reuter Sandman, Arata Isozaki, Lot- Ek, Greg Lynn, Morphosis, MVRDV,
Ocean North, Juhani Pall asmaa, Snøhetta, Studio Granda, UN Studi o, Ten
Arquitectos, Anders Wilhelmson, Wil liams & Tsien, Lebbeus Woods.
Artists are Pawel Althamer, Robert Barry, Grönlund/Ni sunen, L othar
Hempel, Jene Hi ghstein, Ilya Kabakov, Ani sh Kapoor, Kaij a Kiuru, Sol
Lewitt , Ernesto Neto, Yoko Ono, Nam June Paik, Osmo Rauhula, J ohn
Roloff, Eva Rothschild, Kiki Smith, Do-Ho Suh, Ri cky Swallow, Rachel
Whiteread, Maaria Wi rkkala.
2 Most of the archit ects and artists have never worked wit h each other, which
should prove int eresting considering some of the egos involved.3 Detail s at www. thesnowshow.net or www.ar plus.com. Deadline 28.4.03.22|4
you sleep on a bed of icedecked in reindeer skin).
In winter, theG ulf of Bothnia isthelargest field
of icein Europe. FromKemi, you can travel on
the world’s only passenger icebreaker which
crashesthrough deep solid ice, and then swimin
theicy watersof theGulf in thermal wet suits.
In February therewasa preview of two Snow
Show designs, onein iceand the other of snow.
Steven Holl and the sculptor J ene Highstein
(who, unlikemost of theother teams, had already
worked together, at the K iasma Museum,
Helsinki) collaborated on a stunning 9mtall ice
cube, Oblong Voidspace. By the riverside in
Rovaniemi, an icestairway leadsyou up and into
thecube, which is open to thesky (framing the
aurora borealis in the right conditions). I t ismadeof 500 cubic metresof ice. Theappearance
changesinsideand out accordingto theweather:
in sunshine, it seemstranslucent and you can see
figuresmovinginside, in thedark or in dull con-
ditionsit appearsopaque. At night thecubeislit
from the exterior, there are no fittingsinside.
Steven Holl hopesthesouth-facing icewall will
melt to create a hole giving a view acrossthe
river to the city. The design will either be fine
tuned or changed for next year.
Asymptote and Finnish painter and video
artist Osmo Rauhala built the snow structure
AbsoluteZero in Kemi. The 30 metre inverted
S-shaped structureisreminiscent of two igloos
joined together, with theentranceson opposite
sidesat the tails of the S. Inside the igloosare
videosof people ice skating on an artificial ice
rink in New York’sCentral Park. Therearetwo
video scenes: one of peoplemoving away fromyou and theother of themcomingtowardsyou,OblongVoidspace, above and far right: 9m tall ice cube designed bySteven Holl and Jene H ighstein in Rovaniemi.
Absolute Zero: A Light House of Temporality– a30m longsnowstructure in Kemi byAsymptote (Hani Rashid and Lise Ann Couture) with artist Osmo Rauhala.
[email protected] 188 -
Townsville is one of Australia’s largest military ports, strategically
located to command the Coral Sea. In the tropics, well north of
Brisbane, the town has a relatively rainless but nonetheless humid
climate, largely shielded by mountains fromtropical downpours
further north and west. Just south of the town, Lavarack Barracks are
the home of the Third Brigade, the army’s rapid deployment force.
New approaches to soldier ing, brought about partly by increased
recruitment of women, and by the need to retain soldiers in a
competitive labour market, have caused a need for redevelopment of
the barracks, which were originally built by American military
engineers duringthe Vietnamwar in the ’60s.
The main aimof the new work has been to give each inhabitant a
sense of personal place, while maintainingphysical notions of the
group, and beyond that of the br igade as a whole. In generating the
new buildings, much was learned by the architects (Bligh Voller N ield
workingwith Troppo) from the existingstructures, for instance use
of steel-framed prefabricated construction, deep roof overhangs,
light-coloured steel cladding, narrow plans to encourage through
ventilation and generally north-south orientation to conserve energy.
Main differences between new and old include givingeach
inhabitant at least a private roomwith a bathroomand an often
generous balcony. Such units are formed into two- and three-storey
blocks clustered round courts in which existing trees are preserved.
Views to Mount Stewart to the south and to Castle Hill to the north
are preserved and framed.
MILITARY BARRACKS, TOWNSVILLE,
QUEENSLAND, AUSTRALIA
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48|6
1Blocksare clustered to increase senseof social group, and to minimizeimpact on bush. Laverack Barracks
must be some of the few anywhere thattry to engage with wild nature.
QUEENSLAND, AUSTRALIA
ARCHITECT
BLIGH VOLLER NIELDWITH
TROPPO ARCHITECTS (QLD)
1
OUTBACK BARRACKSAn experiment in prefabrication optimizes orientation
and shade to reduce artificial cooling needs.
[email protected] 189 -
crosssection through typical court cluster
site plan of eastern precinct (scale approx 1:1125)
MILITARY BARRACKS, TOWNSVILLE,
QUEENSLAND, AUSTRALIA
ARCHITECT
BLIGH VOLLER NIELDWITH
TROPPO ARCHITECTS (QLD)
2
exploded axonometricshowingelements
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2Eastern precinct: hillside isleft freeof buildingasfar as possible.3Extensive provision of car portstendsto suburbanize some spaces…4… but elsewhere, nature comesrightup to buildings.5Court side of blockshasstairwaysandelaborate sunscreens.
floor plansof other rank units
upper floor typical cluster
ground floor typical cluster (scale approx 1:150)
3 4
[email protected] 190 -
MILITARY BARRACKS, TOWNSVILLE,QUEENSLAND, AUSTRALIA
ARCHITECT
BLIGH VOLLER NIELDWITH
TROPPO ARCHITECTS (QLD)
Prefabrication was an overridingpreoccupation to contain costs,
increase buildingspeed by reducingwet-season delays and to provide
good finishes. Most buildings on site were erected by crane with no
scaffolding. Acoustic and fire separation, and adegree of thermal
stability, are provided by precast concrete party floor and wall units
bolted together (wall elements were formed usingthe tilt-up process).
External walls are framed in lightweight steel with cor rugated metal or
plywood panels, some of which are brightly coloured to add asense of
individuality and location – for the same reason, panels are sometimes
formed of natural timber. Further particularity is given by addinga
variety of prefabricated galvanized steel and hardwood stairs,
balustrades and sun-shadingdevices, all of which to some degree recall
the tin and timber domestic rural architecture of tropical Queensland.
More than 1000 individual units have been provided in stage two of the
redevelopment. The courts formed by the livingunits are grouped into
what the architects call three ‘precincts’, sited to maximize the cooling
effects of prevailingsite breezes and make the most of natural site features.
Each precinct has amess located on Robert Towns Boulevard, the main
east-west axis of the whole camp. Messes are used by all ranks, but
traditional differences between officers, senior NCOs and other ranks are
retained, with separate entrances, eatingand drinkingspaces and finishes,
so the apparently democratic atmosphere generated by the livingand
sleepingaccommodation is not as all-pervasive as it seems initially.
Nonetheless, the messes are much more open and approachable
than many buildings of their type, just as the barrack blocks themselvesare radically different fromtraditional eighteenth-century institutional
dormitories. Within the constraints of army life, the barracks are as
inventive as they are in economically and constructively dealingwith
the hot and humid climate. E. M.
6
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52|6
6Other ranks’ bar in mess.7Messwith shaded exterior spacesopensasfar as possible tosurroundinglandscape.8, 10Each pair of roomshasa balconyreached from a separate staircase.9On short endsof blocks, concretewall slab isprotected from elementsby metal screens.11Outward-facingfacadesoffer views
of landscape through sun-screensystem.
Architect
BlighVoller Nield with
Troppo Architects(Qld)
Project director
PhillipTait
Design directors
ShaneT hompson, Phil H arrisProject architects
JonFlorence, Andrew Bock
Project team
Chris Bligh, Geoff Clark, SoniaGr aham,
Paul Baker, Greg James, Michael O’Brien,
JamesRussell, RobVider, SachaCochran,
Prue Langer, JamesPeet, CarolynBiasi
7
8
9
11
10
[email protected] 191 -
In the house Rick Joy designed in
asmall valley in the Sonoran
Desert near Tucson, he used his
well-tried arid-climate
repertoire of materials (other
essays in the genre can be seen infor instance AR November 1998
and AR July 2001). Massive
rammed earth walls often 2ft
(600mm) thick provide insulation
and thermal capacity to combat a
climate that can be both very hot
duringthe day and pretty cold at
night. In contrast, large sheets of
glass allow wonderful vistas of
the desert, which is allowed to
come right up to the outer walls
with its strangely prolific and
often zoomorphically shaped
flora. Car parkingis carefully
hidden in the bush and the house
is approached through the cacti
alonga simple path aligned
axially with the main thrust of
the plan.A butterfly roof finished in
rusted steel unites all elements
of the house. The roof valley
divides the plan into two strips,
with the elements of the house
proper to the south, and the
main entrance, guest bedroom
porch and terrace in the
northern strip. A massive
rammed earth fireplace offers
hearths to porch and livingarea,and becomes the physical and
psychological link between the
two strips. Both porch and living
roomopen to the desert slightly
north of east. The massive earth
walls are pierced to frame other
views treasured by the owners.
In the bright desert sunlight,
the whole place acts as a giant
internalized sundial, with light
slowly movingover the polished
concrete floors and the
wonderfully r ichly textured
earth walls. In these, daywork
joints are revealed by changes in
texture and colour but there is
an overall order made by the
regular horizontal striations of
the boarded shutteringwhichturned stiff mud into regular
strata. The architect’s own
construction company (now
highly experienced in rammed
earth) was the main contractor.
HOUSE,
ar h
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84|6
1The V within the valley: Joy’scarefully controlled geometry
complementsthe austere shapesof the natural world. 1
High and dryRick Joy is perhaps set to become the Murcutt of the
northern hemisphere with houses that are sharply honed
to respond to hot and dry desert climates.
[email protected] 192 -
In contrast to the delicate
textures of the heavy walls, the
glass planes are a little crude.
Though sheets are large, the
standard aluminiumframes are
clumsy compared to the semi-hand-crafted earth.
But the overall feelingof the
spaces is calmand gentle. The
apparently simple device of the
butterfly roof affords much subtle
gradation of space: for instance
the areas round the fireplaces are
the lowest and most intimate,
while the tall south north and
south windows draw the
landscape into the house. As
Juhani Pallasmaahas pointed out,
Joy’s houses in the northern
hemisphere ‘bring to mind some
of the clearheaded and poetic
house designs of Glenn Murcutt
in Australia’.* In this house, the
poetry lies in sensitivity tonature, and in the essence of
materials, makinga place that
evokes simultaneously the
archetypes of both tent and cave.
* R ick Joy,Desert Works , Princeton
ArchitecturalPress, N ew York, 2002, p16.
Architect
Rick Joy Architects
Project team
Rick Joy, AndyTinucci
Photographs
Bill Timmerman
2
3
6
7
8
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HOUSE, TUCSON, USA
A RCHITECT
RICK JOY
86|6
2Main entrance divesinto the harshdesert landscape.3Kitchen to entrance.4, 5Livingarea with polished concrete
floorsand delicate, almost lacy,rammed earth walls.
1 entrance2 kitchen
3 p antry
4 bed
5 l iv ing
6 guest
7 b at h
8 porchedterrace
crosssection
plan (scale approx 1:250)
4
5
4
2
37
51
[email protected] 193 -
Befittingthe epithet of Eternal City, Rome has waited alongtime for its
new Parco dellaMusica. Renzo Piano’s arrestingly zoomorphic trio of
scarab-shaped concert halls marks the culmination of a typically
protracted Italian sagathat began in 1936 with the demolition of the city’s
original Art Nouveau auditor iumhoused inside the mausoleumof
Augustus. (The Roman remains were subsequently restored as part of
Mussolini’s hubristic urban remodellings.) There followed aseries of
aborted plans, stalled competitions and false starts as the design process
became bogged down by polit ics, bureaucracy, finance and the challenge
of insertingsuch amonumental structure into Rome’s dense, historic
texture. By 1994, an apparently suitable site was selected on the north
side of the city, where the nineteenth-century grid of Flaminio meets a
disparate collection of sports and object buildings constructed for the
1960 Olympics. O riginally acar park for the Palazzetto dello Sport and
Flaminio Stadium(both designed by Nervi), even such aseemingly
mundane Roman locale yielded up hidden treasures in the formof the
foundations of avillaand oil press datingfrom6BC, revealed duringthe
course of routine groundwork. This discovery set the project back by a
year as Piano reconfigured the site plan to incorporate the archaeological
remains within the fan-shaped layout of the three concert halls, as well as
providingasmall museumto display excavated items.
Other more politically motivated delays also contrived to impede
progress, but it is to the credit of both Piano and his patron, Rome’s leftist
mayor, Francesco Rutelli , that they succeeded in realizingsuch a
challengingcivic project. When the complex finally opened at the end of last year, it was greeted with acclaimby performers and public alike –
after nearly 60 years, Rome at last had acentre for classical music that
could compete with the best venues in Europe.
The key to the project was Piano’s decision to dissect and reinterpret
the original programme, which called for asingle buildinghousingthree
auditoria. Insteadheproposedthreeseparateentitiesgroupedinafan-
1The trio of armadillonew gateway to Romsuburbs.2The approach to thepiazza is lined with aand restaurants.
3The concert hallsovringed by an open-ai4Lead-clad roofsnuzzherd of grazingpach5Plantingwill animatausterity of the piaz
1
2
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64|5
auditoria. Instead he proposed three separate entities grouped in afan
like formation around the fulcrumof acentral piazzawith ground floor
access to acommon concourse and promenadingstaircases servicing
each hall. To this trio of small, mediumand large sound boxes (with
capacities of 700, 1273 and 2756 respectively), Piano also added an open-
air amphitheatre in the piazza, capable of seating3000, which unifies and
animates the external realm.
Fromadistance, the Parco is signposted by swelling, weighty hulks of
the lead roofs evokingmetaphors of tortoise shells, insect carapaces and
the curiously graceful jointed armour of samurai warriors. Continuing
Piano’s preoccupation with toroidal geometries (perhaps most famously
realized at Kansai Airport, AR November 1994), each roof is afragment
of atorus split at its peak for improved drainage. Held in place by steel
flanges and lined internally with horizontal planks of pine, the segmented
lead roof casings curve out and extend down the flanks of the halls,creatinginterstitial space for escape stairs. Coated with apearly
protective lacquer, the massive metallic roofs appear to hover over a
URBAN ORCHESTRATIONFormally imaginative and technically assured,
Renzo Piano’s concert hall complex in Rome is
also a civic place in the city’s best tradition.
CONCERT HALLS, ROME, ITALY
A RCHITECT
RENZO PIANO BUILDING WORKSHOP
3 4
[email protected] 194 -
CONCERT HALLS, ROME, ITALY
A RCHITECT
RENZO PIANO BUILDING WORKSHOP
site plan
toroidal roof geometry
north elevation of whole complex longsection through medium-sized hall
longsection through small hall
1 arcades
2 piazza
3 amphitheatre
4 concourse
5 2756seat hall
6 1273seat hall
7 700seat hall
8 Romanremains
6
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66|5 concert hall level plan (scale approx 1:2000)
crosssection through medium-sized hall
longsection through large hall
7
6The remainsof a Rodiscovered duringsiare incorporated int7
Escape stairsshelteoversailingroofs.
6
7
4
8
5 4
3
1
1
2
[email protected] 195 -
swathe of newly planted greenery – parasol pines, olive trees and cork
oaks – that when fully matured will formluxuriant hanginggardens, as
well as anew urban park linkingthe Flaminio neighbourhood with the
VillaGlori to the east.
The Parco complex is approached by asteel and glass pergolalined with
shops and restaurants that generate and accommodate daily activity. Atthis lower level, walls and pillars of thin red Roman brick with travertine
flashings suggest ancient ruins denuded of their precious marble. From
the central piazza, with its Greek amphitheatre and gardens, glass doors
in slender brass frames open onto the crescent-shaped internal
concourse, the necklace of circulation that yokes together the concert
halls. Sandwiched between the auditoria, the fragments of the Roman villa
can be surveyed fromthe concourse through alarge vitrine.
Piano’s experience of music theatres and acoustics dates back to the
late 1970s when he designed the IRCAM centre for experimental music
for Pierre Boulez next to the Pompidou Centre. Since then his repertoire
has encompassed concert halls in Venice, Berlin, Turin (Lingotto AR
November 1996) and most recently Parma(AR O ctober 2002), all in
different ways and on different scales built to serve music both technically
and experientially. Here, each of the three auditoriaresponds to aprecise
musical configuration. Symphony concerts and major choral works take
place in the large hall to the east; ballet and contemporary music in the
intermediate central theatre; and chamber music and experimental works
in the small 700 seat auditor iumon the west side. With its polygonal
shape and vineyard terraces of seatingarrayed around acentral concertplatform, the large hall has conscious echoes of Scharoun’s Berlin
Philharmonie. A sculpted ceilingof glossy cherrywood caissons,
suspended fromthe timber roof structure like some kind of geological
formation, is calculated to enhance acoustic performance.
The configuration of the halls evolved initially usingmodels with
reflectingsurfaces and laser beams to establish graphic representations of
9
10
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68|5
8, 9The three hallsare connected by acrescent-shaped concourse at lowerlevel. From here, stairslead up intothe auditoria.10Inside medium-sized hall, intendedfor ballet and contemporary music.11The smallest of the three auditoriahostschamber music andexperimental performances.12, 13With itsvineyard terracesof seatingand caissoned ceiling, thelarge 2756 seat hall, designed forsymphony concerts and majorchoral works, hasclear echoesof Scharoun’sPhilharmonie.
acoustic responses. This was followed by computer simulations and
physical tests. Cherrywood was selected for the internal linings, based on
research into the emission, reflection and reception of sound takinginto
account different music sources and environmental demands. The richly
polished wood has aseductive warmth, resonance and tactility, so that
the auditoriaresemble the insides of musical instruments. But beyond the
technical accomplishment of the halls is awider social and urbanistic
intention to make culture alivingpart of the city and create new civic
gatheringplaces in the manner of other great Roman outdoor rooms such
as the Piazzadel Popolo and PiazzaNavona. Visible fromthe top of St
Peter’s, Piano’s cluster of musical armadillos marks abold new
improvization on afamiliar urban score. CATHERINE SLESSOR
CONCERT HALLS, ROME, ITALY
A RCHITECT
RENZO PIANO BUILDING WORKSHOP
Architect
Renzo Piano BuildingWorkshop, Genoa
Structural engineer
Ove Arup &Partners, Studio Vitone
&Associati
Services engineerManensIntertecnica
Acoustic consultants
Müller Bbm
Landscape consultants
F. Zagari, E. Trabella
Photographs
Paul Raftery/VIEW
8
11
12
[email protected] 196 -
delight
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1Pavilions termY-shaped columroofs’ shading curve of café ro
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Tadao Ando’s new museum at Fort Worth both learns from Kahn’s great
Kimbell and copes with the scale and nature of contemporary art.
BOXING WITH LIGHT
FORT WORTH MODERN ART
MUSEUM, TEXAS, USA
ARCHITECT
TADAO ANDO
32 | 8 [email protected] 198 -
Building next to an internationally recognized masterpiece is
inevitably a daunting task, but to create a building of similar type to
the great work is a challenge that few can rise to. Tadao Ando won
the competition for the Fort Worth Modern Art Museum in 1997
(AR February 1998). It is part of the city’s cultural complex, set in a
park in a low-density suburb of the city, just across the road fromLouis Kahn’s Kimbell Art Museum, one of the greatest gallery
buildings of the last century.
The big site is flat and featureless, so Ando has transformed it by
dextrous tree planting (partly to mask the car park), walls against the
busiest roads, lawns and a shallow pool, or rather young lake, over
which the city’s downtown makes a dramatic skyline. But as Ando
remarked when he got the commission, even if the site was dull ‘the
Kimbell is a mountain’. Ando’s strategy for organizing the new
building is partly based on the Kimbell, with calm parallel gallery
spaces, lit as far as possible by daylight and opening on to nature (in
the Kahn building exquisitely planted courts, but in the Ando the
much larger new park). To some extent, Ando turns his back (or at
least west side) on Kahn, with a dull elevation, car park and (at
ground level) service spaces. Perhaps it was impossible to address the
earlier building directly, and when the planting round the car park
grows the juxtaposition of the two will seem more gentle.
For all the similarities, there are very significant differences
between the two buildings. Kahn’s galleries are reminiscent of
Cistercian vaults in their awesome simplicity. Ando’s exhibition
spaces are concrete boxes within glass ones. The heavy inner boxes
are the main containers for the artworks, while the glass ones
provide intermediate spaces between galleries and the lake and lawns.
The other major difference between Ando and Kahn is that
Ando (for all the size of his site) found it necessary to put his galleries
on two levels. One of the reasons for this must surely be the
difference in scale between much contemporary work and the
paintings in the Kimbell, which contains a fundamentally privatecollection of works of easel and domestic scale. Fort Worth’s
Modern needed larger spaces, some of double height, to
accommodate really big pieces. Ando has exploited the
possibilities of his two levels of galleries with sudden surprising
juxtaposition s of volume and scale, but the arrangem ent means that
lower, single-height galleries must inevitably seem slightly second
class because they cannot receive daylight. Upstairs galleries are top
lit as in the Kimbell, either through diffusing fabric ceilings (such as
the one over the stair hall) or from clerestories, which project light
onto inclined cornices and then down into the spaces. In both cases,
daylight is supplemented by artificial sources, but arrangements seem
rather clumsy compared to the apparently effortless combination of
concrete vaults and botanically curved metal reflectors of Kahn’s
building.
Routes through the galleries are arranged to encourage wandering,
with some openings arranged enfilade, but with occasional departures
from axiality. The major public space is the double-height entrance
hall which, as you go in, offers fine views over the lake, the semi-
private garden beyond and the glass boxes of the gallery spaces
poking out into the water to receive the Hockney-like constantly
changing dappled reflections of the water surface. To the right of the
FORT WORTH MODERN ART
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FORT WORTH MODERN ART
MUSEUM, TEXAS, USA
ARCHITECT
TADAO ANDO
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2Looking out from the intermediatespace between glass and concreteboxes over lake to skyline of Fort Worth.3From north, towards entrance hall.site plan
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A Fort Worth Modern Art MuseumB Kimbell Art MuseumC Modern Art Museum car park
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[email protected] 199 -
FORT WORTH MODERN ART
MUSEUM, TEXAS, USA
ARCHITECT
TADAO ANDO
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36 | 8
1 entrance ha l l2 information desk 3 museum shop4 café restaurant5 t e rr ace6 aud itor ium7 g al l er y 8 ar t workshop9 loading dock
10 s t or ag e11 o f fi ces12 ar t classrooms13 sculpture terrace14 mechanica l p lant15 p ar ki n g
4Richard Serra’s rusty landmark from south-west.5The semi Neo-Classical entrance.6, 7Entrance hall.8Intermediate space betweenconcrete gallery box (left) and glass.9Special oval gallery with AnselmKiefer’s Book with Wings.10Ando exploits changes in scale of two-storey building.
ground floor (scale approx 1:1250)
first floor
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entrance is the auditorium and a cafeteria that has a terrace poking
out into the lake. To the left is the information desk, from which you
are directed to either the entrance of the ground floor galleries, or
the stairs, where you are cleverly deflected upwards by the curve of a
special ground floor gallery.
All this is very thoughtful, and the building is pleasant and
sometimes exciting to be in, while providing unassertive spaces in the
concrete boxes that never overwhelm the works on display in the
first hang. But it must inevitably be compared to the Kimbell, both
because of its sighting and its parti. Differences are quite profound.
While the Kimbell, for all its monumental qualities, is welcoming with
a generous embrace, the double height of the Ando building is partly
responsible for a much more formal, almost scraped Neo-Classical
entrance. The entrance hall itself, for all its fine volume and views
(and its dramatic bridge, which leads staff over the volume at first
floor level) is both austere and rather daunting. The insistent rhythm
of glazing bars dominates perception.
To me, from both inside and out, the bars seem heavy, and the
proportions they describe elongated and overstretched. While not
advocating planar glazing, I wonder if there couldn’t have been a less
11Double-height gallery to house scaleof contemporary artworks.12First-floor gallery with clerestoreylight reflected off inclined cornice.13The great stair, under diffusing fabric
ceiling.
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38 | 8
g p g g
strident approach to making the glass walls, which themselves are
causing some problems of insolation and glare. The relative
coarseness of the glazing contrasts with the really excellent quality of
the fairfaced concrete, which rivals Zumthor’s at Bregenz (AR
December 1997), most unusual in the US. As in the Austrian building,
the soft grey walls are an excellent backdrop to all visual art – surely
the most important attribute of any gallery. Undoubtedly, Ando has
made a fine museum – but on that site, it is inevitably subject to tough
appraisal. ROGER MORANT
FORT WORTH MODERN ART
MUSEUM, TEXAS, USA
ARCHITECT
TADAO ANDO
Architect
Tadao Ando Architect & Associates, Tokyo
Project team
Tadao Ando, Masataka Yano, Kulapat
Yantrasast, Peter Arendt, Larry Burns, Rollie
Childers, Nobuhiko Shoga, Jory Alexander
Lighting consultant
George Sexton Associates
Photographs
All photographs by John E. Linden apart from
1 by Mitsuo Matsuoka and 2 by Tadao Ando
south-north section through galleries
dull west elevation (facing Kimbell) in which aluminium panels are sometimes substituted for glass to reduce insolation
12
[email protected] 201 -
For hundreds of years, Finland was the poor relation of Sweden.Fromthe twelfth to the nineteenth centuries, the Swedish empirecrossed the Gulf of Bothnia, with Finland as an impoverished colony.In 1809, the country changed colonial masters and Russia ruled untilthe Revolution, when Finland finally managed to achieve
independence. By the 1920s, Sweden again became Finland’s mostimportant tradingpartner, and remaininglinks of language and culturewere reinforced. But, though Stockholmwas (and in many waysremains) the most important posting in the Finnish diplomaticservice, the embassy had to work out of cramped and sometimestemporary quarters. (The Swedes meanwhile have the poshestembassy in Helsinki, a dashed great neo-Renaissance palazzo next tothe town hall overlookingthe harbour.)
By the ’90s, Finland’s diplomatic profile in Stockholmwas plainlyabsurd, particularly as spectacular investment in infrastructure,education and technology had enabled the former colony to matchthe prosperity of Sweden (which was neutral in the Second Wor ldWar when Finland was ravaged by both Ger mans and Russians). So in1992, the Finnish government decided to build a new bespokeembassy. The process of acquiringa suitable site and obtainingplanningpermission (the latter extremely time-consuming)1 meantthat the buildingtook a decade to complete.
Kr istian Gullichsen, in many ways the doyen of the cool Helsinkischool, was chosen as architect. He believes that ‘an embassy buildinghas a symbolic function; it must represent its country in a diplomatic
way while interpretingthe codes of its location. The Finnish Embassyin Stockholmdoes not portray Finland as a wonderland of high-techculture. On the contrary, it attempts to communicate on the level of the collective memories of the two countries’.
Finland was unable to obtain as grand a site in Stockholmas Swedendid in Helsinki. But, though quite small, the plot (previously used as acar park by the Swedish broadcasting organization, the lumpenh d f hi h i bl d li ) i b
FINNISH
STOCKH
A RCHITEC
GULLICH
ARCHITE
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headquarters of which is a blot on a delicate area) is by no means abad one. On the edge of the diplomatic quarter in Ö stermalm, theeastern part of the central city, it overlooks the Gärdet, a fragment of the national nature reserve Djurgården, which retains the peacefulquality of tree-studded parkland similar to, for instance, Hyde Park inLondon. In the ’30s, the city managed to persuade the state to sellpart of the reserve for development to accommodate Stockholm’srapidly expandingpopulation. Here were made some of the city’s fir stcrisp white functionalist housingblocks, built as pavilions in the parkat the start o f Sweden’s socialist mid-century romance withModernism. (The revolutionary Stockholmexhibition of 1930 washeld in D jurgården.)
Gullichsen, as he said he would, has responded to context. Indeed,seen froma distance, the new embassy could be mistaken for a largefragment of the 1930 exhibition miraculously preserved and slightlymoved. But close up, the buildingis clearly much more substantial andtectonically satisfyingthan any temporary exhibition pavilion. A longwhite wall faces the park. It is at once a defensive plane with few
1The great white wall facingpark with itsthreemajor openings. In centre, great portal toembassy court. Left of that, door to co nsular
section. Left again isentrance to domestic court.
WHITE CASTLEThe Finnish Embassy in Stockholm represents both a
modern democracy and a long interlaced history. 1
[email protected] 202 -
second floor
2North elevation:3Embassy court fr
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FINNISH EMBASSY ,
STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN
A R CHITECT
GULLICHSEN VORMALA
ARCHITECTS
ground floor (scale approx 1:750)
first floorsite plan
south-north section through portal and banquetinghall
1 p orta l
2 embassycourt
3 entrance
4 reception
5 l ob by
6 cloaks
7 banquetinghall
8 k itchen
9 storage
10 consular section
11 houses
12 domesticcourt
13 offices
14 l ibrary
15 plant
16 conference
17 saunasuite
18 ambassadorialsuite
west-east section through court and banquetinghall 3
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openings, and one that offers the promise of welcome through agiant full-height gated portico, beyond which can be glimpsed an inner court.Security is amajor determinant of embassy design, and the wall is thebuilding’s shield. The buildingpresses to site edges because of the quantityof accommodation to be incorporated in avery restricted perimeter, andbecause Gullichsen, like most of his Finnish contemporaries, is concernedtobringdaylightintothecentreofhisplans
galleries in which the circulation of the first and second floors isexposed. A three-storey glass block wall chastely floods the tallvolume with light, and a longtransparent panel gives views.
The approach to the banquetinghall is completely different: beforeyou come to the building’s bigspace, you pass a large curved cave
lined with cherrywood that acts as cloakroom. A single-storey foyerleads to the hall, which is at first constrained in height, thengenerously expands upwards under a curvingcherrywood ceilingthatseems like the one in Aalto ’s Viipuri library lecture theatre waltzing.A large carefully gridded window looks out over the park and furtherdaylight is brought in through slits in wall and roof. The bigroomserves both as space for formal banquets and for conferences. So itsatmosphere is ambiguous, an impression heightened by the ratherinstitutional furniture, which has been chosen for ease of rearrangement rather than formality. Budgetry constraints haverequired that furniture and fittings throughout the embassy are fromstandard Scandinavian ranges (in the informal areas often by Aalto).Surely the banquetinghall called for special furniture.
The only other large space in the embassy is the library, which fewmembers of the public wil l visit. It i s a warm, calmdouble-heightgalleried space that overlooks the court and through the great portalto the park. Other elements of the complex are necessarily disjunctbecause of the complexity of the programme, and the need fordifferent layers of security. South of the entrance court is a domesticone, in which a couple of almost suburban dwellings look over a green
that provides light to many of the offices. At second floor level arethe semi-domestic sauna suite (every Finnish embassy must have one)and the ambassadorial offices, both with terraces overlookingthepark. These, and the offices which make up the bulk of accommodation, are knitted together by a circulation systemdesigned to be as unbureaucratic as possible, full of surprisingvoids,views and shafts of light.
TheStockholmbuildingaddsto other recentFinnishembassiesin
4Office circulationvoidsand views.5Foyer of office areheight glassblock6Banquetinghall a
conference. For band chairsare arranglesto thisor ieup into tablesfor
4
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to bringdaylight into the centre of his plans. The great white wall, which both protects the interior and
demonstrates the variety of inner life with incisions and inflections, isa recurrent theme in Gulli chsen’s work. Notable uses include theKauniainen Parish Centre of 1985 and the Pieksämäki C ivic Centre(AR March 1990). Like the Stockholmbuilding, both include a greatportico, a main public entrance that leads to the interior. Theembassy court is particularly compressed, addingto the feelingthatthe whole complex is a highly abstracted version of a medieval castle.Small events and spatial excavations enliven the white walls of whatcould easily have been a dull little space. They reflect what happens inthe surroundinginterior volumes, and are a result of a contemporaryinterpretation2 of what Ruskin, praisingthe flexibility of medievalarchitecture, called ‘changefulness’: a buildingshould alter i tsoutward formaccordingto what it contains.3 Changefulness inmedieval buildings was of course the result of alterations over time.In modern buildings and in the wronghands, its pursuit can lead topicturesque kitsch, but Gullichsen’s buildings always avoid that, eventhough they are generously sprinkled with abstracted quotationsfromAalto,4 Le Cor busier and less well known masters of theModern Movement.
Once through the great portal, the public route is informal.5 Adoor in a glazed panel beckons visitors across the court. T hen a littleentrance, constrained and carefully supervised. Then you aredeflected either right towards the banquetinghall or left to a foyer inwhich space whooshes upwards and you can see, though not reach,
The Stockholmbuildingadds to other recent Finnish embassies inWashington (AR October 1994) and Berlin (A R March 2000), neitherof which had to r espond to such a historically sensitive culturalcontext, so they did not t ry to provide the span of references frommedieval times to Modernism. But, like them, the latest embassy issymbolic of a decent, thoughtful and generous democracy.
PETER DAVEY
1 In theend, to obtain permission, acar park for other usershad to bemade alongthewest side
of thesite, whichmeansthat thebuildingopenslittle on thisside.
2 Which I am sureis unconscious.
3In theNatureof Gothic, chVI, volII of The Stones of Venice , Ruskinarguesthat Gothic
architectureist heonlyr ationalone becausei t changed itsform accordingto function without
suffering‘outsidesymmetriesand consistencies’ to interferewith realuse.
4 KristianG ullichsen’smother Marie wasAalto’sgreat patron. Shefounded Artec to makeand
sellhis furnitureand hedesigned the Villa Mairea for theG ullichsenfamily.
5 A separatedoor in thewhite wallleadsto theconsular section.
Architect
GullichsenVormalaArchitects, HelsinkiProject team
Kri stian Gullichsen, Jyri Haukkavaara,Olli Hakanen, ReijaToivio, Jani WuorimaaInterior design
Aulikki JylhäLandscape architect
Jyrki SinkkiläPhotographs
Jussi Tiainen, 1, 2, 3, 6Mikael Lindén, 4CamillaWirseen, 5
6
FINNISH EMBASSY ,
STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN
A R CHITECT
GULLICHSEN VORMALA ARCHITECTS 5 [email protected] 204 -
DANCING BRIDGEAn ingenious intervention into London’s ballet complex
adds unexpected richness to a humdrum street.
1
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BRIDGE, ROYAL OPERA
HOUSE, LONDON
A RCHITECT
WILKINSON E YRE
Floral Street is a tall narrow
thoroughfare in London’s
Covent Garden in which the
massive white neo-renaissance
bulk of the Royal Opera House
suddenly obtrudes into a small-
scale streetscape of pubs and
little shops. Most people do not
look up as they hurry down the
street or loaf alongwindow
shopping. But the few who do,
glimpse a magical phenomenon: acrystal that twists and shimmers
across the street against the sky.
This is the new bridge
between the Royal Ballet School
and the Opera House, created
so that dancers can go fromthe
practice rooms in the school to
the Opera House without having
to rush across the road in the
rain. The twisted geometry is
necessary because the school
level fromwhich the structure
sets out is higher than the
openingin the huge blind wall of
the Opera House, and it is a
small distance to the east. The
Opera House is a Grade I-l isted
historic buildingwhich the
architects were bound to change
as little as possible, so one of
E.M.Barry’s blank attic windows
became the point of entry. The
ballet school to the north is a
much less distinguished building,
recently constructed under one
of the new forms of governmentprocurement that more or less
guarantees mediocrity, but
internal planningnecessitated
only one location for the spring
point of the bridge on that side.
The springpoints meant the
bridge had to be gently ramped
and skewed away fromthe
orthogonal. A simple longglass
box would not do, so JimEyre
evolved a proposal that involved
creatinga tube out of square
portal frames that are rotated,
ensuringthat at each end the
bridge is level and square to the
façade it addresses. Each frame is
rotated by three degrees in
relation to its neighbour and is
slightly different in height.
Glazingis held between each
pair of frames. As a result of
pursuingthese simple rules, a
wonderfully complex object has
been created. Both frominside
and out, the object alters with
every movement you make.Structurally, the essential
proposition is simple: a welded
and bolted aluminiumbox beam
spans simply fromone building
to the other; its section changes
accordingto stresses and the
geometry of the frames. At the
Opera House end, the beamhas
a slidingbearingto allow for
thermal movement and, as a
result, loads at that end always
bear vertically down on Barry’s
wall. The aluminiumportals are
supported on the primary beam
1The bridge constantly changesinappearance asyou move past it.2Hoveringover itsnarrow street,the surprisingbridge will not benoticed by many passers-by.3The bridge twiststowardstheOpera House.
2
[email protected] 205 -
BRIDGE, ROYAL OPERA
HOUSE, LONDON
A RCHITECT
WILKINSON EYRE
perspective: school on left and O pera House, right
longsection
4
a OperaHouse
b b ridge
c ballet school
a
c
b
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WILKINSON E YRE
64|7
and have oak slats on each side
of their webs so that the glazing
can be fixed with the necessary
degree of stiffness. As much
prefabrication as possible was
used to minimise disruption to
the street, and to reduce
workingat high level. The beamwith the portals erected and
the central part glazed was
rapidly set in place by crane,
after which the final glazing
panels were fitted and the
abutments finished.
Glazingis both transparent
and translucent. Translucency is
used to prevent overlookingthe
terrace of the neighbouring
house to the west, and to give
people on the bridge a degree of
privacy as they go over the road.
Contrast between transparent
and translucent adds to the
visual complexity of the object,
Internally fromsome angles, the
walls appear almost opaque, as
the frames crowd together in
perspective and seemmostly to
be made of oak. Move a few feet
further and the wall suddenly
becomes full of light, or
transparent (with the aluminium
frames exposed full on), offering
dramatic views up and down
Floral Street. Externally, the
bridge alters in a similar wayfromsemi-opaque to
transparent as your angle of view
changes. In the last century,
most of the incidental additions
to London’s streets have been
coarse and clumsy: here at last is
an addition that shows how
contemporary technology and
architectural invention can rival
the elegance and dignity of
anythingthe Victor ians did – and
be much lighter too. P.D.
Architect
WilkinsonEyre
Design team
JimEyre, AnnettevonHagen, MartinKnight
Structural engineer
Flint &Neill Partnership
Photographs
All byNick Wood except 4, whichis by
EdmundSumner. Copyright Wi lkinsonEyre
longsection
plan (scale approx 1:250)
principlesof rotatingsection
4Oak slatssecretly bolted to websof aluminium portal framemembershold the glassin place.5The bridge dancesfrom opacitythrough translucency totransparency.
5
ca
b
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The Hudson River enjoys mythical status as the boundary between New
York City and the rest of the republic, as the first of the mighty
American streams that the European settlers had to ford, and, most of
all, for the eponymous school of nineteenth-century landscape painters.
When Frank Gehry first proposed his steel-wrapped performingarts
centre for asite near those sacred banks where legendary artists once
sketched, it provoked an outcry and charges of desecration. Luckily,
Bard College has a540-acre campus, and was able to offer amore
spacious site, equally pastoral but free fromentanglingassociations.
Named after college trustee and benefactor Richard B. Fisher, it is
Gehry’s first institutional buildingto occupy arural setting, and initially
it’s ashock to see forms and materials more usually associated with the
gritty streets of Cleveland and Los Angeles climbingagrassy slope and
screened by trees. And yet the steel seems entirely at home in this
landscape, changingcolour through the day, mirroringshifts of light, and
servingas afoil to bare branches or lush greenery.
Located 90 miles north of N ew York C ity, Bard College has evolved
fromanineteenth-century Episcopalian foundation into aprestigiousliberal arts university. Leo Botstein, Bard’s president, who also conducts
the American Symphony Orchestra, wanted asymbol of the college’s
commitment to the arts that would also provide an ideal performance
space for the summer music festival and for leadingsoloists and
ensembles year-round. The original plan was to augment the existing
performingarts department. When the project was relocated and the
Frank Gehry’s first building on a rural site is a model
performance complex clad in swishing, sensuous steel
drapery that animates its Arcadian campus setting.
FOIL TO NATURE
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30|7
PERFORMING ARTSC ENTRE,
ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON,
NEW Y ORK , USA
A R CHITECT
GEHRY PARTNERS
1From a distance, the steel carapaceripplesand flowslike fabric.2The oversailingentrance canopyactsas a generouscovered porchfor enjoyingthe surroundings.
1
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adjacencies were lost, the programme expanded from6000 square
metres to 10 760, incorporatinglarge rehearsal rooms for dramaand
dance, and afully equipped black-box theatre seatingup to 250, in
addition to the 930-seat Sosnoff Theater.
Like Walt D isney Concert Hall, the complex was designed fromthe
inside out, with the main performance space as the overridingpriority.
The challenge – here, as in California– was to tie together acluster of
boxy volumes and give theman appropriately theatrical expression.
Disney doubles as acivic monument, that should – l ike the Guggenheim,
or the Sydney OperaHouse – become asymbol of the city, and its sleek
curved planes of stainless steel are folded and composed with the
mastery of avintage Balenciagagown. Fisher aspires to greatness as a
performance space, but it forms part of a college campus and its bias-cut
steel is draped as loosely, and cut away as daringly as aYohji Y amamoto
dress. As you ascend the path to the main entrance, the angled plates of
brushed stainless steel swirl and flow like flyingskirts on arunway,
concealingand revealingthe concrete and plaster volumes below, flaring
up to forman entry canopy and subsidingto wrap the front of house.
Gehry describes this canopy as acovered porch where people can
gather outdoors on afine eveningin mountinganticipation of what is to
come. To the rear, the boxy volumes are exposed, in aliteral
expression of backstage.
Diehard Modernists may object to this disconnection between skin
and body, front and back, seeingit as asubversive attempt to
reintroduce surface ornament on rational structures, but in the Fisher
there is no deception. The carapace is as airborne and dynamic as adancer on stage, and the supportingtrusses and braces are fully
revealed beneath the canopy and within the three-level lobby with its
steel-framed stairs and stacked concourses. Natural light flows in from
tall side windows and openings between the steel wrappers. Bard
stands for fr eedomof expression – the openinggalawas briefly
interrupted by aragtagbunch of student protestors and one nude
woman bearingasign ‘Drop Tuition Not Foil’ – and the Center
t th t hi i it
3
4
5 6
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32|7
PERFORMING ARTSC ENTRE,
ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON,
NEW Y ORK , USA
A R CHITECT
GEHRY PARTNERS
3The buildinghastwo distinct faces–the shiny, seductive front of house ...4... and the plain, boxy backstage,where no attempt ismade toembellish the rational structure.5, 6The corset-like constructionsthatsupport the flyingsteel carapace arehonestly exposed and expressed.7The campuslandscape; it isGehry’sfirst buildingin a rural setting.
captures that anarchic spirit .
The Sosnoff auditoriumis designed for performances of orchestral
music, opera, dance, and drama. ‘Multipurpose rooms are difficult to
make,’ says Gehry, and many architects and acousticians have failed to
achieve agood balance between the competingdemands of orchestral
geometry of buildingelementsin relation to landscape: south elevation geometry of buildingelementsin relation to landscape: north elevation [email protected] 208 -
composite roof level plan
crosssection through Sosnoff auditorium
longsection through Sosnoff auditorium
PERFORMING ARTSC ENTRE,
ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON,
NEW Y ORK , USA
A RCHITECT
GEHRY PARTNERS
8At dusk, the glazed volumesof thetheatre foyersbeckon enticingly.9Poised like a dancer, the entrancecanopy seemsto defy gravity.10Tall side windowsare slashed intothe muscular steel flanks.
8
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1 entrance
2 foyer
3 concessions
4 box office
5 wcs
6 SosnoffTheater
7 stage
8 greenroom
9 dressingrooms
10 practiceroom
11 stagemanager
12 costumeshop
13 instrument store
14 store
15 sceneryworkshop
16 loadingdock
17 black box theatre
18 offices
19 dramastudio
20 dancestudio
composite stage level plan (scale approx 1:1000)
longsection through black box theatre
crosssection through black box theatre34|7
4
[email protected] 209 -
music and the spoken word. Disney Hall has only to satisfy the first of
those roles, and YasuhisaToyota, the acoustician who collaborated
with Gehry on both projects, made his reputation on single-purpose
concert halls in his native Japan. He emerged beamingat the clarity of
sound after the opening-night performance of Mahler’s grandiose Third
Symphony, but the real test is yet to come. As project designer C raig
Webb points out, you need alarge volume and ahigh ceilingfor
symphonies, and alower ceilingand shorter reverberation times to
preserve the clarity of speech. In Sosnoff, the side walls of the hexagonal
auditoriumare slightly bowed, and the acid-washed concrete is overlaid
with spaghetti loops of fir battens to diffuse sound. The billowingceiling
of Douglas fir rises to apeak at the centre but is pulled down at front
and back. Angled side balconies at both upper levels, and alow divide
within the main tier of seating, provide additional sound reflectors. A
wooden acoustic shell, comprisingeight side towers that are as dense
and reverberant as concrete, and suspended ceilingpanels that are
stored in the flies, can be assembled on stage to enhance orchestral
sound for audience and musicians. Lifts allow the stage to be
reconfigured for different uses, and acoustic banners can be extended
to dampen reverberations.
The black box also has ascenery tower, alofty volume and
sophisticated lighting, and it can be reconfigured more radically, with
movable seats or bleachers grouped around different types of stage. The
two principal rehearsal rooms are naturally lit fromwindows that frame
the landscape or can be blacked out when stage lightingis required.
‘We had to decide how much architecture to put into the interiors,’says Webb. ‘I t’s asize and type of theatre we haven’t done before, and
we decided to make the bigstatements in the canopy and lobby, and
keep the rooms somewhat quiet. In both theatres, the focus is on the
performers and the stage.’ That concern extended to the structure
itself. As Y asuhisaToyota notes, the steel was elevated on supports
above the subroofing layer and insulated with neoprene to muffle the
sound of raindrops fallingon the roof. Despite the frugality of the
finishes,thepursuit offunctional excellenceandprofessionalequipment
12
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finishes, the pursuit of functional excellence and professional equipment
pushed the cost of the project up to $62 million.MICHAEL WEBB
Architect
GehryPartners, Los Angeles
Structural engineer
DeSimoneC onsultingEngineer
Servicesengineer
Cosentini Associates
Acoustic design
NagataAcousticswith Robert F. Mahoney
&Associates
Theatre design
TheatreProjectsConsultants
Photographs
Peter Aaron/Esto
PERFORMING ARTSC ENTRE,
ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON,
NEW Y ORK , USA
A R CHITECT
GEHRY PARTNERS
11Lobbiesand foyer spaceswraparound the two concert halls.12The m ain Sosnoff auditorium seats930. There isalso a smaller black box theatre with a capacity of 250.13Spaghetti loops of fir battenshelpto diffuse the sound.14Promenadingin the main foyer.
11 [email protected] 210 -
Marine curves
a r h
o u s e
1 2
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Using the traditional materials of the surrounding neo-vernacular seaside resort,
this holiday house explores memories of the German Organic and geological time.
1Entrance side, lookingthroughthe great room to pool and sea.2, 3The generouswall-lessroomresemblesa cave overlookingthe sea.
Ixtapa is in the state of
Guerrero, some 250kmup the
coast fr omAcapulco, on the
Pacific coast of Mexico. Its
traditional name means ‘the
white sand place’, and its climateranges fromhumid, with heavy
tropical rains on summer nights,
when temperatures can reach
32C, to relatively dry in winter,
when the average temperature is
26C. Almost every day of the
year enjoys cloudless sunshine
during daylight hours.
The resort, which has grown
up over the past 30 years, has
been planned with some care to
take advantage of the idyll ic
climate. It has strong urban
design (or at least appearance)
rules, which include insistence
on usingnatural materials and
palapa (tropical thatch),* or atleast tejado (tiled) roofs. The
clients for Fernando Romero’s
house wanted a place for family
reunions, where everyone could
enjoy the amazingsite and sun.
Romero’s basic strategy was
to make the ground floor into
the general or public area, while
the upper one is devoted to
bedrooms for visiting family
members. The tour de force is
the very large livingroomthat
looks out over the evergreen
garden, beach pool and sea
through a huge, unglazed
opening, made possible by the
climate. The curvingplan createsa diagramthat seems to have the
pattern of a rather complicated
cell seen under a microscope.
The great roomopens to the
south under a covered terrace.
To the north are the more
utilitarian service rooms and the
master bedroom, the latter
positioned so that the place can
become a flat when no visitors
are staying. In three dimensions,
HOUSE, GUERRERO, MEXICO
A R CHITECT
LCM/FERNANDO ROMERO
[email protected] 211 -
4The staircase followsthecontinuouscurve of the wall.5The television room isa cavewithin a cave.
HOUSE, GUERRERO, MEXICO
A R CHITECT
LCM/FERNANDO ROMERO
the space resembles a cave,
gradually carved out froma
massive boulder by the action
of the sea.
As the resort’s rules demand,
walls are sculpted out of white
rendered masonry, and there
is a shallow thatched roof. The
bigspan of the public area and
the longcantilevers are, of
course, generated by usingan
inner concrete structure
that is masked by the flowing
white masonry. The place is
an evocative echo of the
Einstein-Türmschool of organic
architecture strangely translated
to the tropics. CRISPIN HEWS
* T raditionally, a palapa isan open-sided
dwellingwitha thatched roof madeof dried
palm leaves: or anystructure that iso pen-
sided and thatched with palm leaves.
Architect
LCM/Fernando Romero
Jobarchitect: Alfonso Salem
Design team: Fernando Romero, JuanPablo
Maza, Mark Seligson, Tatiana Bilbao, Ernesto
Gadea, Jacinta Garatachia, Maurici o
Rodriguez, Victor Jaime, Aaron Hernandez
Structural engineer
Fernando Carri llo
4
j
j
j
j
j
e
e
e
e
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74|7
ground floor (scale approx 1:200)
first floor
a entrance
b kitchen
c televisiond master bedroom
e b at h
f publicspace
g terrace
h p oo l
j bedroom
5
h
g
e
c
e
d
f
a
b
j
j
j
j
e
e
e
e
[email protected] 212 -
CENTRALFOCUS
1Model frodominatbeyond, backgrou2Tower islandmarand can bsurround
1
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58|9
One of the strangest contemporary conjunctions of urban uses today
is to be found in the City of Surrey, where BingThom has designed an
office tower on top of a university, which itself is set over an existing
shoppingmall. Surrey is the second largest city in Brit ish Columbia,
some 40 minutes’ drive from Vancouver and, though it received its
city charter in 1993, it remains part of the Greater Vancouver
Regional District. Its population of over a third of a million is growing
faster than almost any other city in Canada and houses a quarter of
the thrivingregion’s workforce – yet it provides only four per cent of
its jobs.
Unless you are very well-informed, you wouldn’t know any of this
as you drive south from Vancouver towards the nearby US border.
Surrey is seamlessly knitted to the bigger city’s suburbs, and you have
to keep your eyes open to realize you are in another municipality. It is
truly one of those north American destinations where, on arrival you
find, as Gertrude Stein remarked (of her home-town, O akland), that
‘there’s no there there’. The mixed-use Central City development is
intended, as Thomasserts, to ‘kick-start the city centre’.
He decided to build on what was already in place: a 650 000sq ft
(60 400m2) regional shoppingmall (though failing), a recreation
centre, excellent car access and a convenient location between the
last two stations on the Skytrain line, greater Vancouver’s rapid
transit system(AR Apr il 2003). A million square feet (93 000m2) of
new uses, includingthe university and the tower, have been added to
existingfunctions. Thomhopes the different uses will reinforce each
other, for instance, that the university will use the existingrecreation
centre and the mall’s cafés, restaurants and bars, so avoiding the need
for separate facilities for such functions. He expects shoppers will use
student parkingat Christmas-time, when the mall is at its busiest, and,
OFFICETOW ER, SURREY ,
VANCOUVER, CANADA
A RCHITECT
BING THOM
FOCUS
Now near completion, this mixed-use
building boldly combines three very
disparate elements, shopping mall,
university and office tower, to try to
create an urban and social centre in
the middle of sprawling suburbs.
[email protected] 213 -
perhaps, that the businesses in the tower will draw on university
resources for research, tr ainingand recruitment.
The new development is hoped to be the first phase of the new city
centre. It has four major formal elements: the tower, a podium, an
atrium, and what Thomcalls a ‘galleria’. The complex curves around a
new pedestrian piazza which forms the focus of the whole. In future,
the piazza (the only proper outdoor pedestrian space in Surrey) is to
grow as further phases of the complex are completed, but it is already
possible to extend it at festival and ceremonial times by temporarily
closingthe road.
A longglass and timber wall inclined, like those of airport control
towers, to reduce reflections, separates piazza fromatr ium, so
dependingon your angle of observation and that of the sun, external
and internal spaces flow together visually. The atrium’s entrance hall
is accessed through porches that penetrate the transparent wall; each
is lit in a different colour at night to emphasize the variety of uses
within, but anyone can use any porch. One of the key aims of the
design is to ensure that all users should use the atriumto tr y to
achieve social interaction and notions of community.
The atriumitself is a grand, multi-level space covered by a space-
frame roof that is stiffened by a dramatic kingpost truss made of
turned fir logs held together with steel tension rods and connectors.
In the space frame, struts are made of peeler cores – the thin
cylinders of heartwood remainingon the lathes after their longblades
peel off plywood veneers fromlogs. Peeler cores usually have little
value, but here they are connected by specially made ductile ironnodes to make a dramatic element of the volume. Round the edges of
the atrium, tree-like columns with timber branches spreadingfrom
concrete trunks provide edge support for the space frame. Wood
also forms the structure of the inclined glass wall, in which the panes
are hungfromthe roof by steel cables, with horizontal wind loads
beingcarried by short struts back to the round composite timber
OFFICETOW ER, SURREY ,
VANCOUVER, CANADA
3
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60|9
A RCHITECT
BING THOM
3Piazza, Surrey’sonly truly urbanspace.4As sun moves, tower claddingchangesin transparency and colour.5Similarly, podium claddingchangesthrough the spectrum in transientsunlight.6,7Glasswall of entrance hall isintended to enhance connectionbetween piazza and atrium. Usersof all kindscan take thisapproach tocomplex, but there is a separatestudent entrance aswell.
4
5
[email protected] 214 -
columns, which are tapered at each end to express bendingstresses
and reduce their visual impact (a very large lathe had to be specially
built to make them). Extensive use of timber has two purposes: both
to make the bigspace more touchable and approachable, and to
celebrate the ethos of a technological university that should have a
formative effect on British Columbia’s main industry.
The other bigpublic space opens to the left of the atrium. Toplit,the galleria is fundamentally part of the mall with its roof taken off
and built up with layers of university to form a much more noble
space than the drearily functional and rather dark volume there
before. One of the problems of creatingthis part of the complex was
that the shoppingcentre had to remain open throughout the building
operations. To allow for that, and to provide enough support for the
new upper floors, the new work is almost entirely carried on seven
massive cruciform columns. Light pours down into the central street-
like space froma roof made of glass, laminated timber compression
members, and steel cable ties with ductile iron connections. From
below, the whole thinglooks a bit like a fish skeleton, a formnot
unknown in contemporary western Canadian architecture. Ideally,
the whole tall volume will act together, with the lives of the students
on their open galleries and those of the shoppers below reinforcing
and animatingeach other.
The university takes up three floors, connectingtower, podiumand
galleria. They are given identity with a metal claddingsysteminto
which windows are punched through a mixture of panels of titanium
zinc, chemically treated stainless steel and raw titanium– a mixturethat is used on some of the public parts of the interior , there
combined with wood, white panels and glass. As the sun moves round
the building, the mixture changes: in direct sunlight, ti taniumpanels
seemto be darker than zinc ones; the reverse is true when a face is in
shadow. In counterpoint, stainless-steel panels incorporate
8Timber is useinterior to mapproachableCanadian ess9Risingfrom ththe atrium, wupper floors.10
Galleria at un11… and at the l
level 27
7
3
11
10
2
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62|9
OFFICETOW ER, SURREY ,
VANCOUVER, CANADA
A RCHITECT
BING THOM
1 piazza
2 entrancehall
3 atrium
4 galleria
5 existingmall
6 callcentre
7 university
8 car park
9 officefloor
10 void
11 student entrance
8
9
10 11
level one (scale approx 1:2000)
level three
6
1
2
4
5
58
[email protected] 215 -
OFFICETOW ER, SURREY ,VANCOUVER, CANADA
A RCHITECT
BING THOM
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12Bossof great atrium truss(see 14).13Fish skeleton trussed roof of galleria.14Atrium: space-frame roof ismade from usually disregardedpeeler cores.
crosssection (west-east) through galleria
longsection (south-north) through galleria
13
14
[email protected] 216 -
permanent changes in colour from red to green to blue and black,
depending on the length of time each piece of metal spent in the
pickling bath.
On top of everything else is the office tower, with an elongated
curved plan, conventional apart from the fact that the services and
vertical circulation core is offset to allow daylight into the lift lobbies
and lavatories. Cladding is apparently pretty straightforward curtain
walling over a gridded window pattern. In fact, the wall is a little more
subtle, with fritted spandrel panels in front of aluminium-foil-covered
insulation. When the sun shines, the spandrels become radiant, and in
the shade, they are more or less opaque white so the tower, like the
podium, changes with time and weather.
The wrapped effect is emphasized by twisting the glass wall at the
north end of the plan to form what the architects call ‘a warped prow’
that reaches out over the street. Thom’s intention in making the
towerconvex is, inasense, tomake itacounterpartof theconcave
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tower convex is, in a sense, to make it a counterpart of the concave
curve of the piazza below. But the tower’s shape is, of course, also
intended to make it a landmark in the relentless low-level, low-
density cityscape.
For me, the prow’s twist is a gesture too far, though from certain
angles, it does indeed draw attention to the place. Yet, though it is
easy to have reservations about individual details, Central Citydeserves respect. It is undoubtedly a daring attempt to generate a
real sense of urbanity and human focus in the spiritual desert of the
amorphous North American suburb. And, unlike many attempts to
create civic sense, it has been achieved largely by working within the
constraints of commercial development. All architects must hope
that it succeeds, for if it does, it will show that our profession has far
more to offer than the role of exterior decorator to which it is so
often reduced by the North American development industry.P. D.
15
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Valencia– the much-underratedthird city of Spain – is full of
remarkable buildings, fromthe
medieval silk exchange with its tall
twisted columns to the
flamboyant food market with its
green parrot weathervane, and
Calatrava’s gargantuan City of
Arts and Sciences. None offers
greatersurpriseanddelightthan
between art and engineering,decoration and functionalismis
even more pronounced.
To the west is agrand arch with
athree-domed roominserted
above the entrance, encrusted
with ceramic ornament and
crowned with painted tiles and
the city’s coat of arms
surmountedbyablackbat Green
arched window in the upper half.Ceramic flower kiosks with flared
glass canopies extend inside and
out fromthe base. Bridgingthese
gallimaufries of modern, medieval
and Moorish is aplain, graceful
iron vault, with tapered, minimally
ornamented columns supporting
trusses over alofty, skylit nave,
and shallowpitched roofs
deteriorate. It was saved by the
popular mayor, RitaBarbera
Nolla, who has done much to
enhance Valencia’s architectural
heritage and remembered
childhood shoppingexpeditions
to the Colon. WorkingthroughAumsa, the city’s development
agency, she initiated aprogramme
of restoration and new
construction. Three levels of
subterranean parkingfor
residents and visitors, and one for
commercial activities, would
provide revenue and unclog
surroundingstreets. The market
had been built on afoundation of
rubble over alluvial soil and was
still settling. Pile caps were made
to transfer the vertical loads to a
new steel and concrete raft, and
the newly excavated basement
was protected fromseepage by a
substantial diaphragmwall.
Rusted iron members were
carefully removed and replaced a
section at atime, while the tileand brickwork was being
meticulously restored.
In summer 2001, as the civic
works progressed, five
architectural firms – including
three fromSpain and Kazuyo
2U d i 1985 th t d
2
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68|9
greater surprise and delight than
this newly restored Colon Market
hall, which was designed in 1913
by Francisco Mora, atalented
practitioner ofModernismo . As in
St Pancras Station, ornate brick
facades bracket asoaringiron and
glass vault, but here the contrast
surmounted by ablack bat. Green
octopuses flop over the finials of
the domes, which are lined with
floral tilework, and this upper
room, formerly an office, is now
the El Alto restaurant. At the east
end is aGaudíesque arch of
patterned brick with asinuously
and shallow-pitched roofs
shelteringopen-sided aisles.
Despite its Grade 1 listingand
its location on afashionable
shoppingstreet, surrounded by
elegant apartment buildings of the
same era, the market shut down
in 1985 and continued to
Unused since 1985, the restoredmarket hall bringsnew light toValencia’seveningcityscape.3Lookingeast through the market hall,a range of retail installationsoccupy anew ground floor and subterraneanpublic realm.4, 5Six glassprismswith tr anslucentBarrisol ceilingscontain shops, stairsand cafés.
MARKET, VALENCIA, SPAINA RCHITECT
BORGOSDANCE
longsection
3
4 [email protected] 219 -
Sejimafrom Japan – were invited
to submit ideas for revitalizingthebuilding. The London-based
partnership of Borgos Dance
were chosen for their minimalist
approach, which treated the
market floor as apublic plazaand
put most of the new construction
on the level below. Etienne
Borgos was familiar with Valencia,
havingspentseveralyearsthere
Foster’s Congress Centre (AR
August 1998); Simon Dance hadpreviously worked for John
Pawson on residential projects
and the Cathay Pacific Lounge in
the HongKongairport terminal
(AR January 1999).
To create an impressive plaza,
they paved the floor with
limestone and extended it beyond
thesideroofs tothe ironand
of bamboo in limestone planters
that double as glass-backed
benches are deployed around the
perimeter to provide protection
from wind and conceal
emergency ventilation points to
the lower levels. The ironworkwas repainted in its original tone
of pistachio. To either side of the
nave are three cubic pavilions, 7.4
x 6.4mon plan and 4mhigh,
containingshops, escape stairs,
and apair of cafés with tables
spillingout onto the plaza. They
are clad in opti-white glass panels
that are anchored to the slab and
tied together at the top by an
insulated stainless structural
plate, and are lit fromtranslucent
cast glass cores and fromlights
concealed behind atranslucent
Barrisol ceilingmembrane.
By day, these pavilions seemas
insubstantial as soap bubbles,
dematerialized by the brilliant
natural light; at night they glow
like lanterns beneath the springy,softly il luminated vault. Lighting
consultant Claude Engel installed
tiny uplights on the capitals of the
columns and external projectors
to play on the facades.
Escalators lead down fromthe
plaza, through acentral opening
with aclear glass balustrade,
towardsan8m-highwaterwall
while coolingthe air and
providingasoothingmurmur.
This lower concourse has
handsomely detailed glass-fronted
shops down the longsides, a
restaurant at the west end, and
two semicircles of stone-facedmarket stalls wrapped around the
pile caps of the east portal. In its
present, gentrified state, the
Colon complements the culinary
cornucopia of the municipal
market – which rivals LaBoqueria
in Barcelonafor the quality and
variety of its offerings – and is a
comfortable fit with its
neighbours. Borgos Dance have
applied the skills they honed with
Foster and Pawson to create
additions that are reticent and
refined, givingnew life to a
glorious landmark.
MICHAEL WEBB
Architect
BorgosDance&Partners, London
Associate architect
NovaIngenieriaStructural and mechanical engineer
OveArup& Partners
Photographs
Richard Davies
6The original 1913 structure,designed by Francisco Mora, hasbeen painstakingly restored to itsoriginal pistachio hue.7The 8m-high water wall screensthe
h i d
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havingspent several years there
as project architect on Norman
the side roofs to the iron and
stone fence. Eight ‘green screens’
towards an 8m high water wall
that flows into areflectingpoolrestaurant, tempersthe air andcreatesa calm sunken oasis.
ground floor plan (scale approx 1:750)
1 historicperimeter fence
2 car parkingaccess
3 historicstair access
4 new lift core
5 new atrium
6 new terraces
7 retailpavilion
8 escapestairs
9 delicatessen10 café
11 car park exit
12 flower stalls
7
11
3
1
4
7
6
10 7
6
8
2
9
6
67
3
8 7
88
12
12
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This scheme should need little
introduction. But apparently it
does. While the aspirations of
BedZED (Beddington Zero
Energy Development) have been
well documented1 (AR June
2001), 18 months after the first
residents moved in it is time to
think beyond the statistics that
qualify its conception. This is, let
us not forget, a piece of radical
architectural design, and
deserves to be seen within a
wider context as a model for
future volume housing.
Beyond reducingenergy
consumption to 10 per cent of
similar suburban homes built to
1995 regulations, it is a model of
place making, and of high-density
suburban urbanization. A model
of architectural imagination and
mixed-use integration. And
above all of optimismand
progress. But before this, it is
perhaps equally pertinent to
state what BedZED is not. It isnot a high budget, highly refined
show piece. It is certainly not
architectural wallpaper. It is
instead an exemplary working
experiment: the kind of mega-
prototype essential to test
issues concerning future housing
generations. So those who
criticize the eccentricity of some
of its details clearly miss the
point. After all, with over ten
years as a key associate of
Michael Hopkins and Partners,
Bill D unster graduated from one
of the best schools of
architectural refinement. Since
leavingMHP however, he now
chooses to pr ioritize o ther
broader facets of architecture,
of which there are many.
Meetinghimon the BedZED
site recently, where he runs his
own design studio (ZED Factory),
Dunster constantly draws
parallels between BedZED and
the adjacent development, the
likes of which he sees as
obsolete. Here he plays
developers at their own game,
adoptingtheir language and theircurrency – that of economy.
Through an integrated approach,
BedZED provides the same
dwelling density as the adjacent
speculative development, but
with a 35 per cent increase in
space allowance. This in turn
provides valuable revenue
earningbenefits in the formof
additional live-work units, and
community facili ties such as
surgery, a community hall and a
bar. It also results in a vastly
improved public realm, with a
reduction in naked tarmac and
virtually no unused (and
therefore unloved) residual
space. This is a principle that
Dunster describes as using
planninggain to facilitate carbon
trading. In other words, not only
does mixed use bringthe social
and environmental benefits of a
1With south-facingsun spaces,BedZED’sterr acesestablish analternative suburban prototype ...2... a stark contrast to the low-density, car-dominated streetscapeof the conventional existing housing.3Each one-bedroom loft apartment
hasitso wn entrance and sky garden,set within the site’sdistinctiveroofscape.
1
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44|11
WAKE UP CALLAs governments around the world struggle to provide
sufficient affordable homes in cities, BedZED has much
to teach architects, developers, and residents alike.
HOUSING, SUTTON, ENGLAND
A R CHITECT
BILL DUNSTER ARCHITECTS
site plan
2
- 221 -
24 hour operation that sustains
diverse communities and
balances energy loads around
the clock but, most significantly,
the increased commercial
revenue relative to the cost of
the land can be offset against thenecessarily front loaded costs of
producing a carbon neutral
development.
Improved density is achieved
through the resolution of
Dunster’s integrated cross
section. Defined by solar access
criteria, a few simple ground
rules dictate that all dwellings
face south while workspaces
face north. This in turn
generates four variant terraces,
the cross sections of which
combine spaces fromup to four
self-contained units, each with
their own entrance and external
garden. By interlockinglive-
work spaces with maisonettes,
loft apartments and two sky
gardens, the central terracesachieve a density in excess of
100 homes per ha, providing400
rooms and 200 jobs per ha, and
26 sq mof private garden
compared with 8 sq mof public
space per home. A target that if
replicated would reduce urban
sprawl to about 25 per cent of
the projected footprint over the
typical north mewselevation showingground level live-work units, accessstair sto loft apartments, sky gardensand bridges
4
c
b
b
d
d
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4While perimeter 3 bed maisonetteshave more conventional front gardensand balconies...5... mewsmaisonettesaccesstheir skygardensvia bridgesthat lead fromfirst-floor livingrooms.
p j p
next 100 years, resultingin all
our housingneeds being
achievable on brown field sites.
FollowingTomDyckhoff’s
stirring review in the national
press, Dunster’s ZED Factory
has been inundated with people
wantingto do a ZED (a zero
energy development). With a list
of over 700 people it is clear thatBedZED is respondingto a real
need, and when sufficient
clusters of people emerge other
developments will be built.
It is for these reasons and
many more1 that it is especially
disappointingthat BedZED did
not win the recent RIBA Stirling
Prize for A rchitecture; Britain’s
premier award, that being
broadcast on national television,
has the potential to send a
typical crosssection through loft apartment accessstair and ventilation shafts(scale approx 1:200)
typical crosssection
5
a live-work unit
b 3bedmaisonette
c onebedloft apartment
d skygardens
a
a
c
b
b
- 222 -
7
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message far beyond the
limitations of the architectural
world. While the winner,
Herzog & De Meuron’s Laban
Centre is truly exquisite, it is
with respect just another
beautiful building, highly refined
in both its conception and detail,
in response to a gift of a brief.
But, as we are faced with an
international housing crisis, we
must see that BedZED is so much
more than a collection of wellintended green houses, and if we
Without you, little will be
achieved, as you alone have the
means to radically improve the
landscape of our built
environment. So, go to BedZED.
Then wake up and help us all live
the dream. ROB GREGORY
1 For further detailed analysis
www.zedfactory.com
BedZED ( 2002). BRECSU Best Practice
Programme, Crown C opyright.
Sustainable Urban Design – An Environmental
Approach ( 2002) . Randall T homas, Spon Press.
Architect
HOUSING, SUTTON, ENGLAND
A RCHITECTBILL DUNSTER ARCHITECTS
6
Though Harburgis technically part
of Hamburg, it is separated from
the city centre by the Elbe River,
two bridges and afifteen-minute
drive. Until recently, its inland
harbour and canals were known
only to directors of police thrillers,
but now, with risingprices on
the north bank and moves to
increase city densities by
recyclingwarehouses and grain
silos, Harburgis rapidly and
fashionably acceleratinginto the
cabled loft age.
Established in 1786 (and
reputedly the oldest in the world),
Hamburg’s water police must now
cope with atransformed Harburg
harbour. Telekomheadquarters,
shippingcontrollers, on-line
service industries, media
professionals and aChinaTower
for one of Germany’s biggest
export partners are replacingfish
handlers, scrap metal yards and
palmoil refineries. The air is
cleaner and the crime more
white collar. Water policeresponsibil ities have also
expanded to encompass the land
between the canals as well as 150
kilometres up river.
To keep pace with those more
likely to steal computer notebooks
than lead piping, the river and
harbour police divisions have a
new headquarters equipped with
stateofthearttechnologyto
replace nineteenth-century
industry and pollution.
Local firmArchitekten-Contor
in collaboration with Schäfer-
Agather-Scheel won anational
two-stage competition for the
new headquarters with a
dramatically cantilevered, copper-
clad structure reminiscent of El
LissitzkyandMartStam’s1924
fromroad, rail and water
approaches. Similarly, the police
have three hundred and sixty
degree visibility over their patch,
like eagles in an eyrie.
To improve operational
efficiency, three police divisions
have been brought together under
one roof. In-house training
officers and aspecialist marine
only five metres be
the station has no c
or parking. Interna
based around acen
corridor, with cellu
both sides and full w
conference or spor
each end. A boardw
overlooks aroof te
eventuallylandscap
1Wrapped in a green copper skin, thesleek new water police headquartersreflectsthe changesin thesurrounding docklands.2The cantilevered structure loomsoveritspatch.
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72|10
state of the art technology to
tackle borderless European Union
crime. Located between river and
harbour, behind aprotective dyke
and lock gates, the eye-catching
new structure also signals achange
in status for Harburg, as quayside
walks and al fresco eatinggradually
Lissitzky and Mart Stams 1924
unbuiltWolkenbügel project.
Traditionally associated with
durability and constancy, here the
vivid green pre-patinated copper
is intended to make abolder
statement. Although only five
floors high, the buildingis visible
officers and aspecialist marine
technical teamjoin conventional
policemen on adaily quartet of six
hour shifts. Patrol boats are
moored on the river or harbour
side of the buildingand video
cameras monitor their comings
and goings. As the water level is
eventually landscap
could double as ope
barbeque party are
services are genera
scale, with openab
heating(but no air c
external sun louvre
roller blinds.
RIVERAND HARBOURPOLICE
STATION, HAMBURG, GERMANY
A R CHITECTS
ARCHITEKTEN-CONTOR,SCHÄFER-AGATHER-SCHEEL
ON THE WATERFRONTA new headquarters for the water police inHamburg reflects both the changing nature
of the city’s docklands and local crime.
1 [email protected] 224 -
RIVERAND HARBOURPOLICE
STATION, HAMBURG, GERMANY
A R CHITECTS
ARCHITEKTEN -CONTOR,SCHÄFER-AGATHER-SCHEEL
south-west elevation
Rejectinginstitutional grey,
buildingusers instead opted for
Yves Klein blue, an obvious choice
for amarine location, and an
effective contrast to the warm
timber fittings. The fair-faced
concrete lift shaft is also painted
the same penetratingblue, bringing
adash of the Mediterranean to
northern latitudes.
Given the upmarket hotel
character of finishes and furniture,
it is sometimes easy to forget that
the buildingentertains more
troublesome visitors. These arrive
by car through alockable garage at
the west end of the ground floor
to be booked in at ano-frills
reception areawith lockers for
personal belongings. There are
four different sizes of cell, eachwith built-in wooden benches. In
the past, the water police had little
to do with land-based crime, but
now when large numbers of
suspects are detained, the new
station is designated one of several
holdingpoints around the city.
Though this project cannot be
compared to more modest
communitybuildings itshowshow1
3
4
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74|10
3Patrol boatsare moored nearby.4Detail of copper and glassfacade.5Stairs wrap round a bold blue lift shaft.6Office accommodation sitsabove apodium of cells.7, 8Of necessity, the buildinghas goodviewsover itssurroundings.9Typical meetingroom.
community buildings, it shows how
an enlightened government client
can use the competition systemto
encourage and deliver innovative
architecture. Here in Hamburg, it
is refreshingto see the state
settingachallengingbenchmark
for the private sector.
LAYLA DAWSON
ArchitectArchitekten-Contor, Schäfer-Agather-Scheel,
Hamburg
Structural engineerIngenieurbüro Schulz
Pre-patinatedcopper claddingKME
PhotographsKlausFr ahm/artur
second floor plan
first floor plan
ground floor plan (scale approx 1:500)
1 garage
2 cells
3 prisoner reception
4 publicreception
5 offices
6 locker rooms
5
7 8 9
6
6
6
6
5
5
1 2
4
3
5
[email protected] 225 -
a r
h o u s eHOUSE, W YE RIVER,
AUSTRALIA
A RCHITECT
BELLEMO & CAT
HOUSE, W YE RIVER,
AUSTRALIA
A RCHITECT
BELLEMO & CAT
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Seenfromafar thisextraordinary
A ti d
1
galvanised steel support its bulk,
so it appears to hover weightlessly
above the steeply slopingground.
A gangplank at one end connects
it with asmall barbecue areaand a
windingapproach track.
Within the bulbous metalcarapace, aplywood-lined box
houses the main livingand dining
spaces which face south towards a
ridge of hills and the ocean
beyond. Here, the longside of the
cocoon has been squared off and
glazed to create ahuge vitrine and
cantilevered terrace, maximising
light and views.
Inside, the spaces dovetail
together with the economic
precision of asmall boat or
caravan. The main bedroomis
tucked into the cocoon’s snout
formingasnugsleepingburrow,
perforated by narrow skylights.
Bunk beds for children and a
bathroomlined with translucent
green resin, are slotted in next
door. The kitchen runs alongthelongnorth side of the main living
and diningspace. The pine
plywood lininghas been coated
with limewash, to prevent it
turningorange. Though its
orientation means that sun from
the north is largely cut off by the
trees, the house is warmed by an
open fireplace and is highly
insulated.
The lightweight monocoque
structure is ahybrid of techniques
appropriated fromboat buildingand aircraft engineering. The
internal rigid rectangular box was
built first and plywood ribs added
to generate the basic cocoon
shape. Green hardwood battens
were then attached to the ribs,
formingfixingpoints for the
narrow steel shingles. Like a
woven basket, the meshing
together of the various elements
– ribs, battens and shingles –
creates astrong, stable,
composite structure. Details were
often resolved on-site, so the
whole construction has arustic,
makeshift air. Though
undoubtedly achallenge to design
and build, the outcome is adelight
– an antipodean primitive hut for
the twenty-first century. C. S.
Architect
Bellemo &Cat, Melbourne, Australia
Structural engineer
Peter Felicetti
Photographs
Mark Munro
3
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84|9
3Main bedroom in the coco on snout.4The curved monocoque form isclad insteel shingles.5Spindly legssupport the house in thesteep terrain.6Main livingand diningroom, aplywood-lined box-with-a-view.ground floor plan (scale approx 1:200)
longsection
HOUSE, W YE RIVER,
AUSTRALIA
A RCHITECT
BELLEMO & CAT1entrance gangplank
2living
3dining
4kitchen
5bathroom
6laundry/wc
7bunk beds
8main bedroom9deck
4
5 5
9
1
2 3
4 6
5
78
[email protected] 227 -
processOFFICES, LONDON
A RCHIT ECT
FOSTER AND PARTNERS
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While Charles Jencks may statethat big is boring in his theory
that measures design tedium
against floor areas (AR August
2002), it cannot be denied that
Foster and Partners’ 30 St Mary
Axe is an impressive sight.
Regardless of whether or not
you agree with Jencks’
proposition (which states that
for every additional ten floorsadded toaskyscraper thedesign
Wind sockThe integration of structure, form and fabric creates
London’s first environmentally progressive skyscraper.
1
Axe is designed to be lettable on
the open market. But it is unlike
the norm, where architectural
design effort focuses
predominantly on the outermost
six inches of the facade. With St
Mary Axe, structure, formand
fabric have been integrated, and
Foster and Partners have
produced one of the City’s first
large-scale office buildings which
genuinely has the capacity to be
passively ventilated.
The building’s distinctive
pattern is adirect reflection of
its internal organization and its
environmental strategy, where
six orthogonal fingers of flexible
office space are punctuated by
radial atria: aseries of two and
six storey voids that spiral
around the building, increasing
perimeter desk space, and
bringinglight and air deep within
the heart of the building’s
circular envelope.
In claddingthe tower, Fosterswere able to continue their
innovative relationship with
German claddingcontractor
Schmidlin, with whomthey
collaborated on London’s City
Hall (AR August 2002). Through
parametric modellingtechniques,
derivingthe critical co-ordinates
of each panel mathematically
rather than relyingon traditional
d i h i F d
3Less bulky than a rectaExternally, diminishinattempt to reduce the40-storey tower (scale 4... while internally twopack spirallingatria br500 000 sq ft of lettabl
Against the grain; by occupying lesst han half of the site at ground level, the schemeseekst o optimize the amount of public space (scale approx 1:1500)
OFFICES, LONDO
ARCHITECT
FOSTERANDPAR
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70|11
drawingtechniques, Foster and
Schmidlin demonstrate that
material and component
efficiency no longer rely on
monotonous repetition. With
emergingproduction line
methods, where units are
fabricated frompalettes
containingbar-coded precision
cut components, it is no longerthe case that incremental
variations send costs through the
roof. In this case, with the
claddinggeometry changingat
every level as the floor plates
increase fromthe 50mwide first
floor to 57mon level 17, before
diminishingto the 25mwide
private diningroomat the
summit, an economic solution
was reached. Within the
principal diagrid established by
the 36 steel columns that spiral
around building(which forman
independent self-bracing
structure), each floor level is
broken down into 72 five-degree
modules. Within this subdivision,3 [email protected]
- 229 -
5Wind modelsby BDSPpressure gradientsarodistinctive curved form6, 7With just two variant claddingpanelsslot to
the curved form, it is argued, will minimizewind loads, maintain pedestrian comfort, and
assist the internal ventilation strategy
6 7
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72|11
OFFICES, LONDON
ARCHITECT
FOSTERAND PARTNERS
the envelope on each level is
then formed by just two variant
diamond-shaped units; a flat unit
that spans between floor plates,
and a folded unit formed by two
triangular panels, which neatlyincorporate a floor plenumair
intake slot.
Unlike County Hall, however,
St Mary Axe does not have an
axis, and therefore has no
north/south condition to
respond to. So, environmentally
the buildinghad the inherent
problemof acircular plan, in that
the facade could not be
orientation specific if asingle
claddingsystemis wrapped
around all 360 degrees. The
challenge was therefore to
develop asolution which while
workingin all orientations would
maintain auniformexternal
appearance.
The architect’s response was to
break the facade into its
component parts, allowingeach
environmental control
component to operate at its
optimumperformance when andwhere required. Instead of a high
performance glass system
throughout, the workspaces are
glazed usingstandard clear low-E
units, with a responsive
retractable layer of blinds and
secondary glazingthat could be
deployed internally. Conversely,
the atria breathe through a
clutter-free single skin
incorporatingopeninglights,
which has a high performance
solar control glass that does all
of the work all of the time.
While clearly there is a degree
of redundancy, as the solar
control glass has little benefit on
the northern section of the
facade, visual continuity had to
be prioritized. Clear glass within
the workspaces exploits views
and increases daylight levels,
while the double skin forms a
thermal cavity, within which,when deployed, blinds reduce
glare, stop sunlight reachingthe
inner skin, and also assist air
recirculation.
While for commercial reasons
the buildinghad to offer a base
condition of mechanical
ventilation, with provision made
for ductingroutes etc, it is
hoped that tenants will choose
to naturally ventilate their
spaces. The natural ventilation
mode was a significant driver in
refiningthe building’s formand
skin, and followingextensive
CFD and wind-tunnel modelling
it has been proved that, as the
atria cut across the high and low
pressure zones cre
curved form, a pres
is created that will
cross ventilation b
pack atria, and boo
buoyancy of the stathrough the six pac
result it is anticipat
buildingcould be n
ventilated for at lea
cent of the year, se
standard for other
developments to su
R
Architect
Foster andPartners, Lond
Structural engineers
Arup
Environmental engine
BDSP Partnership
Mechanical and electri
Hilson MoranPartnership
Photographs
Nigel Young
Skyline view (no 1)
Smoothe
gpmillimetre perfect acc
typical office floor plan
section through folded diamond cladding unit (scale approx 1:30)
- 230 -
Whether conscious or not,
timber’s associations with folksy
domesticity tends to inhibit its
use in commercial contexts.
Baumschlager & Eberle were
asked to design a small
commercial building in the
Vorarlbergvillage of Wolfurt
and responded by employing
timber as a precisely detailed
external screen that does the
usual jobs of filter inglight and
providingpr ivacy, but also
imparts a subtle, organic warmth
and texture to a basic box.
Vorarlberg, on the western
edge of Austria, is the country’s
smallest region, and after Vienna,
the most densely populated.
Histor ically, the areahas a
distinct rural identity, evident in
its landscape, its vernacular
architecture and astrong(and
continuing) tradition of building
in wood. Characteristic of an
emerginggeneration of German-
speakingSwiss and Austrian
architects, Baumschlager &
Eberle’s work is distinguished by
asober tectonic spiri t that also to
reinterpret regional traditions
and archetypes.
The client wanted a building
that could accommodate the
local bank at ground level, with
three upper floors that could be
used either as flats or as offices.
The architects responded to this
unedifyinginexactitude by
designingan utterly simple
glazed rectangular box, with a
stair tower pulled clear of the
main volume on the north side.
So far, so conventional, but the
inspired move was to enclose
the buildingin a timber screen,
elevatinga plain box into a
tactile, mutable, sensual object.
Fabricated fromsquare
sections of indigenous Austrian
larch, the external skin is made
up of a series of horizontally
slatted slidingscreens mounted
on a timber sub-frame. The larch
lattice filters and diffuses the
light, castingshimmering
shadows through the interior. It
also combats glare and heat
build-up, provides
required and gives
degree of pleasin
dreary homogene
timber screen en
entire building, ap
bank frontage at s
Within the appar
facade, however,
movements of the
generate changing
geometries that d
enliven the public
Architect
Baumschlager &Eber le,
Photographs
Edward Huebner
LARCH VEILS
BANK , WOLFURT, AUSTRIA
A RCHITECT
BAUMSCHLAGER& EBERLE
An ordinary commercial building is given great urban
presence by an external skin of slatted larch screens.
1The glazed box isencouter skin of slatted 2The slidingscreensgchanginggeometries3, 4Detail of screens.
site plan
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presence by an external skin of slatted larch screens.
ground floor plan (scale 1:500) first floor
1 bank offices
2 stair
3 f la ts
1
2 3
2 22
1
1
3
3
1
2
- 231 -
Andrew Holmes is Britain’s leading SuperRealist artist. He is also an
architect (and one of the original Richard Rogers four-person
practice), a long time unit master at the Architectural Association an
latterly at the University of Westminster. For three decades he has
been working on, among other things (including 50 Penguin book jackets), a 100-picture series called Gas Tank City. It records the
storage tanks, trucks and trailers of the highways of the West Coast
desert and that artificial urban oasis, Los Angeles, which Holmes has
visited annually since he was a student at the AA. These, says Holmes
have replaced such traditionalbuildings as the barn and have, in some
d e l i g h
t ANDREW HOLMES’ DRAWINGS, A L L E X EC U T ED
WITH COLOURED PENCILS, ARE MORE REAL THAN
PHOTOGRAPHS. RECENTLY , HE HAS CELEBRATED
T H E RO MA NC E O F O IL A ND PET RO L VEH IC LES
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have replaced such traditional buildings as the barn and have, in some
ways, become architecture. If that sounds like an echo of Reyner
Banham and Archigram and Cedric Price and their interest in
architectural transience and mobility, that is because it is. But it is als
to put too architectural a gloss on his work which is sheerly beautifu
Holmes says anyway that the early Rogers connection is more
relevant, ‘The truck epitomises more what those early ideas were
originally about’: simple steel construction, ready-mades, ad hoc-nes
design-as-accruing.
There is an obsessive quality about deciding to do exactly 100
paintings. Holmes says not really: you should look at it like ten music
albums each with ten tracks. And there is something clearly obsessiv
and certainly astonishing about the way he executes the paintings,
most of them containing reflections and shiny chrome, in Derwent
coloured pencils with only the skies air-brushed in at the beginning.Holmessaysdisarminglyhe ismorecomfortableworkingwithpencil
S M U
D
i s s t i l l p r a c t i s e d w i t h r e m a r k
a b l e r e s u l t s i n p a r t s o f W e s t A f r i c a , t h o u g h t h e r e a r e f e a r s t h a t
e n t s a p h o t o g r a p h i c s u r v e y o f s o m e a s t o n i s h i n g e x a m p l e s o f r e l i g i o u s a n d d o m
e s t i c b u i l d i n g s .
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60|1 G L O R I O
U
B u i l d i n g w i t h m u d i s o n e o f t h e o l d e s t a r c h i t e c t u r a l t r a d i t i o n s a n d i
s u c h s k i l l s w i l l e v e n t u a l l y b e l o s t f o r e v e r . H e r e
, J a m e s M o r r i s p r e s e
Above: Friday Mosque, Djenné, Mali – biggest mud buildingin the world and definingimage of WestAfrican architecture. Foundationsare more than 500 yearsold, though buildinghasoften been r ebuilt.Right: mosque, Yebe, Mali. Stick-studded mosquesof Niger delta region define the unique aesthetic of Western Sudan. Though wooden postshave practical functions– asscaffold for re-rendering, structuralsupport, and assistingin expellingmoisture from heart of the wall – the most strikingimpact is visual. [email protected]
- 233 -
Too often, when people in the West think of
traditional A frican architecture, they perceive
nothing morethan a mud hut; a primitivever-
nacular half remembered froma Tarzan film.
But why this ignorance of half a continent’s
heritage? Possibly because the great dynastic
civilizations of the region were already in
decline when European colonizers firstexposed these cultures to a wider audience.
Being made of perishable mud, many older
buildingshave been lost, unlike the stone or
brick structuresof other ancient cultures. Or
possibly thislack of awarenessisbecause the
buildings are just too strange, too foreign to
have been easily appreciated by outsiders.
Often they are more like huge monolithic
sculpturesor ceramic potsthan architecture
aswemight conventionally think of it. But the
surviving buildingsareneither historic monu-
mentsin theclassic sense, nor arethey ascul-
turally remote as they may initially appear.
They sharemany of thequalitiesnow valued
in Western architectural thinking such assus-
tainability, sculptural form and community
participation in their conception and making.
Though part of long held traditions and
ancient cultures, they are also contemporarystructures, serving a current purpose. If they
lost their relevance and were neglected, they
would collapse. In the West, mud is effec-
tively regarded asdirt, yet in rural Africa (as
in so much of the world) it is the most com-
mon of building materialswith which every-
body has direct contact. Maintaining and
resurfacing of buildingsispart of the rhythm
of life, and there is an ongoing and active
participation in their continuing existence.
Thisisnot a museum culture.
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Top: N ando Mosque, Mali. Supposedly built by a giantin one night, thishighly sculptural mosque is a uniquestructure that borders the magical and fantastical.Middle: women’squarters, Tangasoko, Burkina Faso.Among the Kassena people, each married woman hasher own quarters in the family compound. Built bymen and decorated by women, they contain livingroom and adjoiningkitchen. On her death they areallowed to disintegrate, the land and crumbled earthto be reused by a future generation.Bottom: house of the chief of Djenné, Mali. Moroccaninfluenced wooden windowsare a recent development.Right: Hogon House, Sanga, Mali. The most distinc tarchitectural form of the Dogon people, the HogonHouse isthe home of the traditional spiritual leader.
Superbly formed and highly expressive,
these extraordinary buildings emerge from
the most basic of materials, earth and water,
and in the harshest of conditions. They are
vibrant works of art with their own distinct
and striking aesthetic, skilfully responding to
the qualities of African light and the inher-
ent propertiesof mud to emphasize shadow,
texture, silhouette, profile and form. Duringthe course of a year the mud render dries,
the surface is covered in a web of cracksand
then it slowly starts to peel off before being
re-rendered. With each re-rendering, the
shape of a building is subtly altered, so
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change and movement are ever present. The
material is tactile, warm and vulnerable,
demanding and receiving an engaged rela-
tionship with i tsusers. Often people attempt
to cement render the buildings, but not only
doesthisdestroy them physically, asthey rot
from within, but i t also destroys their char-
acter. Their uniquenessis their muddiness. The future of these buildings is hard to
predict. M ud is such a vulnerable material
and there is an enthusiasm for building in
concrete. Given the means, many would tear
down their mud houses and build cement
block and tin roofed replacements, common
practice in those countriesthat can afford to
do so. So what will happen when rural
Africans are lifted out of their desperate
poverty? Will there be an understandable
rush to rid themselves of the physical mani-
festations of that harrowing past? It can
already be seen in wealthier countries such
as Ghana and Nigeria where there is virtu-
ally nothing left for future generations to
repair and preserve. Not only the buildings
have gone but also the skillsto build them.
It is a gradual process of extinction.
Already the extraordinary upturned jellymould houses of the Mousgoum people of
Cameroon are gone, soon those of the
K assena and Gurensi in Ghana will disap-
pear. The Sakho housesof the Boso in Mali
are all abandoned and in ruins. I t is quite
possible that when west Africa emergesfrom
below the poverty line there will be little of
its built heritage remaining to be appreci-
ated. The saving grace is probably Islam,
ever expanding and building more mosques,
but even then only in rural parts. I n cities,
th f d db W h biS di f d
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the mosquesfunded by Wahabi Saudi funds
are atrocious concrete imitations of a bas-
tardized Middle Eastern style.
In the sparsely populated Sahal plains of
the Western Sudan, traditional buil t forms
in mud are the most striking representations
of human creativity and a unique part of our
world culture – they should not be forgotten.
JAMES MORRIS
Thesephotographsaretaken fromButabu – adobe architecture of West
Africa , JamesMorrisand SuzannePreston Blier, New York,
Princeton Architectural Press, 2003.
Top: house, Djenné, Mali. Mud rendered wallshave tobe resurfaced regularly. As the mud driesit cracks,forminga delicate textured surface. The gentlymoulded structure behind the wall isa coveredstaircase opening onto the flat roof. The shape willsubtly alter each time it is re-rendered.Bottom: house, Djenné, Mali. The blank facade withtiny openingsfor windowsis a traditional style for theDjenné house. Domestic activity isconcentrated inthe open courtyard to the rear.Right: Sanam Mosque, Niger , designed in 1998 byAbou Moussa who travelled hundredsof miles from
Yaamaa to thisinaccessible region in the north of thecountry. It wasbuilt in 45 daysby the whole villageand appearsto be the largest and most strikingrecentmud buildingin Niger. [email protected]
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T H E E N V E L O P E
u s e u m i n S t L o
u i s i s c o n c e i v e d a s a f l e x
i b l e
e r i m e n t t h a t r e a c h e s o u t t o i t s s u r r o u n d i n g s
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P U S H I N G T
T h i s n
e w a r t m u
s h e l l f o r e x p e
Meet me in St Louis, Louis, meet me at the Fair’, sangJudy Garland,
and the city is celebratingthe centenary of that high point in its
fortunes, even as it struggles – like so many others in the Midwest –
to regenerate its battered core. Progress has been made since Eero
Saarinen’s Gateway Arch was built on the banks of the Mississippi in
1968, and the Grand Center Ar ts Distr ict at the edge of downtown
has recently acquired two small but potent gems: Tadao Ando’s
Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts and the Contemporary Art Museumby Allied W orks Architecture. They occupy neighbouringsites and
conduct a lively dialogue across a shared courtyard dominated by a
Richard Serra torqued steel sculpture.
What’s remarkable is how well these two radically different
buildings complement each other visually as well as in purpose. The
Pulitzer, which opened two years ago, is a signature work by Ando in
the finest in-situ concrete. It has the air of a spiritual retreat: refined,
serene, and inward-looking; a place for solitary contemplation of
twentieth-century masterworks fr omthe Pulitzer collection, which is
open by appointment two days a week. In contrast, Allied Works
principal Brad Cloepfil designed the new museumas a flexible shell
for experimentation in the visual arts, and programmes that reach out
to the depressed neighbourhood and the general public. Concrete
walls are clad in tightly woven stainless-steel mesh, and expansive
windows open up views fromstreet to courtyard. Galleries for
changingexhibitions occupy a quarter of its 2500 sq m; the rest are
given over to a large performance space, an education centre and
café, plus upstairs offices and classrooms. The buildingcost only $6.5
million, substantially less than its neighbour.
Thanks to the generosity of Emily Pulitzer and other patrons, the
CAM has moved far beyond its modest beginnings in a downtown
storefront, and it selected Allied Works from a shortli st that included
Herzog& de Meuron, RemKoolhaas, and Peter Zumthor. It was a
prescient choice, for Cloepfil has since won acclaimfor prestigious
CONTEMPORARYART MUSEUM,
ST LOUIS, MISSOURI, USA
A RCHITECT
ALLIED WORKS
location plan
3
4
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2The museum complex in St Louis’depressed cityscape. Allied Works’new building(left) joins Ando’smuseum on the right.3Concrete wallswrapped in stainless-steel mesh are beautifully smooth,impassive surfaces.4Expansive windowsopen up views.2 [email protected]
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1 entrancelobby
2 galleryspaces
3 educationstudio
4 perform ancespace
5 courtyard
6 café
7 loading
8 lineofA ndo building
9 administrativeoffices
10 resourcecentre
11 classroom
CONTEMPORA
ST LOUIS, MIS
A RCHITECT
ALLIED WORK
5
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32|1
crosssection
ground floor plan (scale approx 1:1250)
crosssection
first floor plan
5The internal courtyard.6Detail of mesh-wrapped walls.
8
9
11
10
56
1 4
2
23
7
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arts projects in New York, Dallas, and Seattle, all of which are
characterized by acool minimalismand sensitivity to aesthetic needs.
As he explains: ‘In makingspace for contemporary art, the architecture
must first serve the arti st; not by attemptingto render abackground
for the art, but by providingthe artist with aspecific spatial presence,
an intentional vacancy that achieves meaningthrough the art itself.’ He
also spoke of creating‘a fusion of the city and the arts.’
Cloepfil has pushed the buildingout to a curved corner that
gives it a distinctive prow, and has restored the original street l ine –
in contrast to the Pulitzer, which is pulled back. The contents of the
buildingare revealed though window walls, so that its role as an art
centre is immediately apparent. Concrete walls are sandblasted to
dematerialize the surface and distinguish it fromA ndo’s small
modules. The mesh is set 100-150mmfrom the walls, unifyingthe
facade and shadingthe office and classroom windows. It ’s a concept
that the architect has developed and taken further in the
translucent membrane he proposes to wrap around the former
Huntington Hartford Gallery in New York, a marble-clad Venetian
pastiche by Edward Durrell Stone, to provide a new home for the
Museumof Contemporary Arts and Design.
Double glass doors open onto the lobby froma setback in the
north facade, and steps lead down fromthis introductory space to
the galleries. Cloepfil has played with space and light as though they
were liquids, containingand releasingthem, allowingvisitors to feel
they are swimmingthrough galleries that open up to each other and
to outdoor areas that are tightly enclosed by the two buildings. There
are two levels of wall: 4mhigh sections at ground level, and a 6mhigh
band that wraps around the upper level in serpentine fashion, tying
the spaces together. The steel mesh is carried inside in places to add
another layer and a contrastingtexture to the white painted
sheetrock on the display walls. Ceilingplanes float at different levels,
admittinglight from clerestories and blockingdirect sun. The effect is
one of interlockingboxes cut away to leave only a few definingedges.
Paul Ha, the new director of St Louis CA M, made his reputation at
White Columns, New York’s most adventurous alternative art
space. ‘It changes one’s perception of art to see it in a different
setting,’ he observes, ‘and artists welcome the challenge of
respondingto the energy of place.’ For Cloepfil, the task was ‘to
make spaces that serve the arts and artists, while allowingfor a
subtle emotional response fromthe individual. It was imperative to
create a physical environment that visitors would feel comfortable
returningto again and again.’ MICHAEL WEBB
axonometric of buildingelements
CONTEMPORARYART MUSEUM,
ST LOUIS, MISSOURI, USA
A RCHITECT
ALLIED WORKS
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34|1
7Lookingthrough the courtyard.8After the compression of theoutdoor areas, galleriesare tall, airy,luminousspaces.9, 10The buildingisconceived asaflexible shell for experimentation.
Architect
Allied Works, Portland, USA
Photographs
HélèneBinet
7
8
9 10
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Royal Academy ForumSponsored by
Landscape has long been a source of inspiration. RA Forum invited art historian Malcolm Andrews, author of
MEANING, MAPPING ANDMAK ING OF LANDSCAPE
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MALCOLM ANDREWSOrigins of the term ‘landscape’ seem to lie in northern Europe: theDutch, Belgian, German terms, Lantschap, Lantskip, Landschaftrespectively. Sometimes it was used to designate land in the immediateenvirons of a town or city, not just natural scenery. When eventuallyused in terms of art, it designates the area of a religious painting thatforms the setting for the central drama and its protagonists. ThomasBlount’sGlossographia (1670) gives a definition that might have appliedto the term through much of the early modern period:
‘Landtskip (Belg) Parergon, Paisage, or By-work, which is an
the Romantic version of landscape. However, modern understandinof landscape often emphasizes its conceptual, cultural significancrather than the topographical or material meaning. Landscape explored as a mental construct. ‘Landscape is Nature mediated bCulture’ is an attractively succinct definition, until one begins to aswhat exactly is ‘Nature’? and question the extent to which ‘Natureitself is a cultural construct? Can we oppose Nature and Culture seasily as this definition suggests? Where do we draw the line betweeNature and Culture to preserve the integrity of ‘Nature’? Thequestions suggest that ‘tastes’ in landscape act as a cultural baromete
M easuring America Andro Linklater, artists Simon Callery and Hamish Fulton, film-maker Patrick Keiller and
architect Farshid Moussavi to discuss the Meaning, Mapping and Making of Landscape. Edited by Jeremy Melvin.
SIMON CALLERY with ideasabout how and why werespond to landscath b l d ) l l l d t i d
Meyerowitz’shard, sharp edgesand austeregeometry. The metropolisis the new wilderness, but constituted by almost the oppositecomponentsto thoseof the old natural wilderness: instead of a placealmost wholly empty of humansand devoid of any artefacts, thecity isa placeoverused by humansand consistingwholly of artefacts.
As webecomemore urbanized and mechanized, the greater ourappetite for landscapeswithout human presence, or signs of humanpresence – unless, that is, the human presence is organicallysympathetic to landscape, such as shepherds, cottages, or cornfields.
Therelish for theSublime – for mountain scenery, horror, mysteryand theirrational – arosejust at thetimewhen theEnlightenment wascelebrating triumphant discoveriesof Nature’sLaws. I n Romanticismtheperception of our fragile mutability heightened a senseof Nature’sstable, unchanging constituti on. T hat mindset is less and lesssustainable now: Natureweknow to bea dynamic, changingprocess,its renewability limited. So theexperience of landscapeis attuned toour desiresand expectations, and to our cultural conditioning.
Since the early modern period, landscape has become an
increasingly preciousaesthetic amenity. We like to consumeit. Weput a value on it. O n 4 October 1769, while at K eswick, ThomasGray encapsulated thispoint, ‘[I ] saw in my glassa picture, that if Icould transmitt to you, & fix it in all the softnessof its living colours,would fairly sell for a thousand pounds’. Modern day touristsfollowGray’s li ne of thought. T hey see a grand stretch of lakes andmountains, use the camera to framea section of thespectacle, andtakethe picture, supposedly ‘fixing it in all thesoftness of its livingcolours’. T hen they get it developed and printed and offer it for sale,and theseterms, ‘take’, ‘capture’ and ‘fix’ all belong to thelanguageof appropriation. Landscapeis a commodity. It is commodified as anaesthetic amenity as well asa pieceof real estate. In View from Mount H l k T h C l h ti ll d ti l d l i
whom the appropriation of territory – metaphorical or otherwise –is morally and politically incorrect. Richard Long, for instance, hassaid, ‘I like the idea of using the land without possessing it’, and hemakes this explicit when referring to his works, they ‘are made of the place, they are re-arrangements of it and in time will be re-absorbed by it’.
The artist in the landscape Thehistory of theartist’srelationship to landscapehasbeen oneof increasing intimacy with and intervention in themotif. This is partlybecause wehave had too much landscapeart. ‘T oday our sight is alittle weary, burdened by thememory of a thousand images... Wenolonger seeNature; weseepictures over and over again’, said Cézannein 1902. But T urner expressed the trend towards this intimateconnection when heasked, ‘What would they have? I wonder whatthey think thesea’slike? I wish they’d been in it’. If thegoal isnot justto beout in thelandscapebut to beswept up into the forcesof nature,the corollary is, ascaught in GiuseppePenone’s, First Breath (1977),
that the presence of the artist becomes fugitive and ephemeral. I n1999 hesaid, ‘Thiswork isa reminder that every breath weexhaleisan introduction of onebody of air into another, and that, in a sense,our innermost being is identical to and cannot beseparated from theworld around us’. Weeat, drink, and breathelandscape. The old dichotomies begin to collapse as artistsemphasize their
sense of symbiosis with, rather than detachment from, Nature.Sensing an interdependencewith Nature, they sharpen ecological andpolitical sensitivities. This profoundly affectstheart of landscapeinour day. Michael Snow said of his landscapefilm La Région Centrale ,(1969): ‘I recorded the visit of some of our minds and bodiesandmachinery to a wild place, but I didn’t colonize it. I hardly evenb d it’
Royal Academy Forum
Trench 10(2000) fromThe Segsbury Project : Callery’splasterwork, which capturesthe whole length of aBronze Age ditch at Alfred’sCastle.
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Working alongsidearchaeologistsgaveSimon Callery an opportunity‘to seehow a painter of theurban landscapefromL ondon’sEast Endwould respond to a paradigmof the English landscape’. I n July 1996in association with the photographer Andrew Watson, Callerydocumented a 20mx 40mtrench at thechalk excavation at the IronAgeSegsbury Camp in Oxfordshirewith 378 black and white images
taken from a height of 2.5m. I nvited back for the excavation of Alfred’sCastlein 2000, hewas‘eager to makea work that utilized theactual surface material of the excavation’. T his resulted in aplasterwork, poured in 1m x 2msections, acrossa 20mx 2mBronzeAge trench, that ‘captured theentirechalk surface’ rather than justtaking itsnegativeform. He discusseshiswork with Jeremy Melvin.
JMOne aspect of your engagement with landscapeseemsto bea reverseof the traditional reasonsfor painting nature. T raditionally landscapepainting was a way of suggesting depth and distance beyond theindividual, of externalizing feelings, and of setting up hierarchiesaccording to distancefrom theviewer/painter. Your work seems todraw everything to thesurfaceas if it weremirroring thesesensationsback to theindividual, of focusing inwardsrather than outwards.
SCI think the point where I begin a painting is the point wheretraditional landscapepainting leavesoff. I aminterested in working
theurban landscape) on a sensual level and not in deappearance. With the trappings of representation opaintings offer a lean and stripped down physicaspecific proportion, luminosity and surfacequality. Thto provide a slowed down, drawn out and extendexperience. This experience is dependent solely on amaterial natureof thework. This way of looking, or be
sensing, leadsto an experiencein which the viewer passive recipient of the visual information containeproduction. The dynamic is altered and the viewerequation that isa reversal of thetraditional flow betwaudience. T he expressive end of this encounter is trather than the artwork or artist, becomes the sperceptual process.
JMAnother differenceliesin thetreatment of architecturClaude, architecturehasquitespecific and defined rolhighly complex and allegorical), it is about objectpicture. In your work, architecturehelpsto define a an example would bethe way you useentasison thepaintingsto help structuretheway of looking.
SCI do not want to depict architectureor expect it to punfolding narrative. I want the paintings to be a82|1
Holyoke , T homasCole schematically dramatizeslandscapevaluesin adiagonally divided composition. In the sunlit river valley the newfarms, wrested from the wilderness, and the grid of their fields,flourish in a benign, fertile, mappablelandscape. Old savageAmericasurvivesin theunmappablehigh-country wilderness on theleft, as aRomantically preciouslandscapeof theSublime.
Both the camera’sand the real-estate surveyor’sappropriation of
landscape is in contrast to some modern artistic sensibilities, for
borrowed it’.
Acknowledgements
Joel Meyerowitz,Broadway and West 46th Street, New York (197 6) . ©J oel Meyerowitz,
2003/Courtesyof Ar iel Meyerowitz Gallery, NewYork.
ThomasCole,View from Mount H olyoke . The Metropolitan Museumof Art, Gift of Mrs Russell
Sage, 1908(08228). Photograph ©1995The Metropolitan Museumof Art.
GiuseppePenone, ‘Primo Soffio’, 1977. Photograph 60x45cm.
Claude Monet, French 1840-1926,Meadow with Haystacks near Giverny , 1885. Oil on canvas,
74x 93.5cm, Museumof Fine Arts, Boston. Bequest of Arthur Tracy Cabot, 42.541.
ThomasCole,View f rom Mount Holyoke , 1836. Giuseppe Penone,Primo Soffio,1977. [email protected]
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PATRICK KEILLER
Towards theend of 1996 I had written an essay (published as‘PortStatistics’ in The Unknown City , Kerr and Borden eds, MI T, 2001),which began:
‘Robinson in Space , a film (35mm colour 82mins UK 1997), wasphotographed between March and November 1995. It documentstheexplorationsof an unseen fictional character called Robinson, whowastheprotagonist of theearlier London , which wasa re-imaginationof itssubject suggested by theSurrealist l iteratureof Paris.Robinson in Space is a similar studyof the look ofpresentdayEngland in1995 and
“Middle England” whi ch he sees as a landscapcharacterized by sexual repression, homophobia aadvocacy of child beating.
‘At thesame time, heis dimly awarethat the UK largest trading economy in the world and that Briti speople, particularly women and the young, are probsexually unemancipated, assadistic or asmiserablelook of theUK suggests. The film’s narrativeis base
journeysin which hisprejudicesareexamined, and sodisposed of.’
character. For example, in recent large-scale tall paintingsI haveusedthe classical Greek architectural principle of entasis – most clearlyseen in the tapering in thecolumnsof the Parthenon in Athens. Thedimensionsof thesepaintingsareslightly narrower at thetop
than at thebottom. This is achieved by theintroduction of a subtlecurvethat begins at 5/8thsup on the vertical height of thestretcher.
Theneed to distort fromtheaccuraterectanglesatisfiesa perceptivesenseof rightnessthat a tall rectangular formappearssmaller at thetop. This encouragesus to relate to thepainting asa physical formand creates the possibility that an experience of the work is notexclusiveto the eyebut also involvesthebody. The intention behind applying architectural principle to
contemporary painting isto tap into thehighly developed way weuseour senses aswenavigateand negotiate thebuilt environment on adaily basis. I identify oneof thedefining qualitiesabout theway weunderstand architecture through a processof measuring ourselvesinrelation to it. T his could almost be considered common sense andshould beasactivein theart gallery asit ison thestreet.
JMIn that sense, perhaps, it bearssomecomparison with archaeology, asa technique for drawing out perceptions, or for helping to define asurface.
SCI want to usearchitectural referencesto elicit a responsethat involvesall our sensesand doesn’t prioritize theeye. My approach to makingwork fromdirect experienceof excavation hasbeen to concentrateonthesurfacematerial of thesite. For examplethe 20mx 2msculpturecalled ‘Trench 10’ wasmadeby pouring plaster onto thechalk surfaceof an excavated Bronze Age ditch The surface of the work is not
SCOne of themost striking aspectsof working on an excavation wasaheightened awareness of time quite unlike the urban experience.
Timeasan element and a constituent of placewastangibleon site. Thissensation wasnot immediatebut wasgenerated by a developingunderstanding of theparticular characteristicsof thelandscape. Thereisalso theprincipleof stratigraphy in excavation that defines
the relationship of objects to oneanother in time. Objects that arefound on thesamehorizontal plane can beconsidered contemporaryto oneanother, whileobjectsthat arefound at a greater vertical depthcan beconsidered older. I began to feel that this axisof two lineswasan expressive way of understanding time and could be fed into theway I uselinein painting.
It followsthat wecould gradethe landscapeand thecity in termsof their horizontality and verticality and draw conclusionson theextentto which an emphasis on theaxis influenceshow werespond.
JM
Doesthis senseof timeseemto demand such an intimateand preciserecord (thinking of photography) of what you found there, in a waythat themorefamiliar urban environment would not?
SC Thedesirethat a senseof timedefinestheexperienceof thefinishedwork is only really possible if a perceptual route to this end isestablished. In thecaseof a work called The Segsbury Project (378 large-scaleblack and white prints that record thesurfaceof a 20mx 40msiteat 2:1 housed in seven plan chests), thedetail of thephotographicprints sets up a visual encounter with an archaeological surface. I nthis work, detail and intimacy of the prints wasnecessary to bringaboutaquestioningofthesurface
Royal Academy Forum
M3at Twyford Down, near Winchester. Photograph: ©British Film Institute. Charborough Park, Dorset. Photograph: ©British Film Institute.
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Space is a similar study of the look of present-day England in 1995, andwassuggested to someextent by Defoe’sTour through the Whole Island of Great Bri tain . Among itssubjectsare many new spaces, particularly thesites where manufactured products are produced, imported anddistributed. Robinson has been commissioned by ‘a well-knowninternational advertising agency’ to undertakea study of the‘problem’of England. It isnot stated in thefilm what thisproblemis, but there
are imagesof E ton, Oxford and Cambridge, a Rover car plant, theinward investment sites of Toyota and Samsung, a lot of ports,supermarkets, a shopping mall and other subjectswhich evokethe bynow familiar critiqueof ‘gentlemanly capitalism’, which seesthe UK ’seconomic weakness as a result of the City of London’s long term[English] neglect of the [UK’s] industrial economy, particularly itsmanufacturing base.
‘Early in thefilm, itsnarrator quotesfromOscar Wilde’sThe Picture of Dorian Gray : “I t is only shallow people who do not judge byappearances. T he true mystery of the world is the visible, not theinvisible ... ” T heappearancesby which theviewer isinvited to judgeare initially the dilapidation of public space, the extent of visiblepoverty, theabsenceof UK branded productsin theshopsand on theroads, and England’scultural conservatism. Robinson’s imageof theUK ’s industry is based on his memoriesof thecollapse of theearly
Thatcher years. Hehasassumed that poverty and dilapidation aretheresult of economic failure, and that economic failure is a result of theinability of U K industry to producedesirableconsumer products. Hebelieves, moreover, that this hassomething to do with the feel of 84|1
of an excavated Bronze Age ditch. The surface of the work is notsimply thenegativeform of this ditch asthe plaster acted to capturethe chalk loose. Above all this is a work that is animated by ourinteraction with surface– in thiscasea historical surface.
JMDid working with archaeologists in the landscape offer a different
senseof timeto working in thecontemporary city?
about a questioning of thesurface.Intimacy depends on sensory knowledge and the work must
communicatethis, whether it is thefamiliar urban environment or anexcavation in the rural landscape.
JMGiven that there are differencesbetween citiesand landscapes, does
architecture in cities havea compatiblerole with archaeology in thelandscape?
SCIt is not unreasonable to suggest that thereasons why archaeologistsaredrawn to certain sitestells usas much about our current interestsasit doesabout our distant past. Weseemto visit and revisit placesforthe reasons the original inhabitants settled there. This reflectstheextent to which the quality of placedefineswhat kind of architectureis built and the role architecture plays in defining the quality of aplace. The first excavation I was involved in wasan Iron Age hill fort
settlement and thesecond an I ron Agehill fort with the remainsof aRomano-British villa at itscentre. The work I madewasa record of the traces of early formsof architecture and a testing ground forexamining thevalidity of landscapeasa subject for contemporary art.
Photographsof theinstallationat theOffi cers’ Mess, Dover Castle: JohnRi ddy.The Segsbury Project isa
collaborationbetweentheH enryM ooreFoundation ContemporaryProjects, English Heritageand
theLaboratoryattheRuskinSchool of DrawingandFineArt.Trench 10surface detail: plaster acquiresloose chalk – interaction with historical surface. Manchester Ship Canal at Latchford, Warrington. Photograph: ©[email protected]
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HAMISH FULTON: BIODIVERSITY, WALKING IN
RELATION TO EVERYTHING …
It would seemthereare two possibilitiesfor so-called ‘Landscape’ art:painting, from the past, and outdoor sculpture in the present.However, thestarting placeof my own art istheexperienceof walking… and walking isnot an art material. In terms of self-imposed rulesthis meansevery pieceof art I make is the result of a specific walk.(From1970 to the present I havemade238 identifiablewalks, walkingfromonefull day to 64 consecutivedays. The longest distanceI havewalked is 2838km and the highest altitude I have climbed to is8175m.) To outline my ideas I would like to present the followingstatements. Each small concentration of wordsimplieslarger issues.
EVERY THING IS (M ADE OF) SOMET HING – AND ALL ‘
ART’ IS URBAN.ABSENT. THE LOCATION OF TH E WALK IS NOT IN
AND THE WALK ITSELF IS A PAST EVENT.
AN OBJECT CANNOT COMPETE W IT H AN EXPERIENCE.
WALKING IS PRACTICAL NOT THEORETICAL.
A WALK HAS A LIFE OF IT S OWN – A BEGINNING AND AN E
WALKING INTO T HE DISTANCE – BEYOND IMAGINA
ONCE A WALK HAS BEEN COMPLETED, IT CANNOT BE DE
A WALK, IS AN INVISIBLE MONU MENT T O ‘TIME’ (‘LASHOULD ENCOMPASS MORE THAN JUST THE HISTO
WHEN W ALKING AND CAMPING ALONE, I ATT EMPT T O
‘WI LDERNESS’ ETHI C OF LEAVE-NO-TRACE.
IN THE COURSE OF PRODUCING MY ARTWORK
Royal Academy Forum
FOREIGN OFFICE ARCHITECTS: FARSHID MOUSSAVI
At the Y okohama Ferry Terminal, Foreign Offi ce Architectsproposed a new synthesis between landscape and architecturalform. Instead of the old distinction between figure and ground,which often translated into artifice – architecture – and nature, orthe landscape, Farshid M oussavi explained, they see therelationship asa seriesof networkscombining social, political andgeological influences. Consequently, ‘the vocabulary of landscape isreplaced by a network of systems, connections and interferences’,and architecture becomesa strategy for ‘trying to negotiate a wayacrossthem’.
What has driven this interaction between landscape andarchitecture, between nature and artifi ce, is Information
Technology. With this new computing power, geometry, once theunyielding arbiter, can now assume far more complex andsophisticated forms which increasingly mimic nature. ‘Geometry’,explained Moussavi, ‘ is now more comparable to real nature, and
the distinctions between the organic and the rational are blurred.’ Yokohama introduced a ‘geometry that almost looksorganic’ andbrought several other consequences. Creating ‘different conditionsof space, coherence and diversity within the same conception’, thefree-flowing forms replace prescribed circulation routes with anurban ground, increasing density of circulation and appearing toreconfigure themselves continually along the terminal’s length.
These complex geometries are ‘close to nature’, but naturemanipulated to provide for human need.
A waterfront park in Barcelona conveys ‘a total concept of urbanlandscape’. With a fall of 11m across the shorter dimension of thesite, from the esplanade to the bathing area at the sea’s edge, it istoo steep to negotiate in a straight line so diagonal rampsbecame
generatorsof a new topography, based on the formsof sand dunes.‘We worked with the dune sizes’, explained Moussavi ‘to define therampsand to enclose two auditoria’: (outdoor arenaswith flat areasand banked seating for activitieslike rock concerts). Other partsarelessprescriptive, where the formsopen up to create possibil itiesforvaried typesof habitation and activity. On the lee side, shelteredfrom the sea breezes, plants take root, just as in a natural dunelandscape.
Sand dunes, though, are extremely fragile, and this park isdesigned for intensive use, so the surface has to be hard. The basicelement, a concrete tile, i srather larger than a grain of sand, but theshape itself hasgeometric propertieswhich, when multiplied, help togenerate the overall forms. AsM oussavi said, ‘ it meetsmost bound-aries, but where it does not, it is not cut’, emphasizing the integrityof its geometry. A dyed concrete resin fil lsresidual spaces. T he result-ing colour stripes help to orientate visitors and to define routes andzoneswithin the park, using communication as link between topog-raphy and function.
An unbuil t proposal for a ‘hortus medicus’ [medical garden] forthe Swisspharmaceutical giant Novartis in Basel also consciouslyblurs boundariesbetween natural and artificial. On an undulatingsurface, areasare seeded in different patternswith different parts,but the undulations are actually openings to a subterranean carpark, or ‘lungs for the body of car parking’, as Moussavi puts it.Here ‘the figure of the human body’ becomesa way of combiningthe ancient motif of physic gardens, perhapsthe earliest placesforthe work that Novartis now does in laboratoriesand factories, withthe eminently modern function of car parking. Neither traditionallandscape nor conventional urban form, the landscape usescomplex geometry to form a new synthesis which is bothhistorically aware and sensitive to contemporary needs
JUNIPERA GUIDED AND SHERPA ASSISTED CLIMB TOTHE SUMMIT PLATEAU O F CHO OYU AT 8175MVIA THE CLASSIC ROUTE WITHOUTSUPPLEMENTARY OX YGEN T IBET AUTUMN2000
A GUIDED GROUP WALK TO THE SUMMIT OF ACONC AGUA AT VIA THE RELINCHOS VALLEY AND THFALSE POLISH ROUTE, ARGENTINA 15FEBRUARY 2003
JUNIPERA GUIDED AND SHERPA ASSISTED CLIMB TOTHE SUMMIT PLATEAU OF CHO OYU AT 8175MVIA THE CLASSIC ROUTE WITHOUTSUPPLEMENTARY OX YGEN T IBET AUTUMN2000
A GUIDED GROUP WALK TO THE SUMMIT OF ACONCAGUA AT VIA THE RELINCHOS VALLEY AND THFALSE POLISH ROUTE, ARGENTINA 15FEBRUARY 2003
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86|1
IRRESPECTIVE OF ITS APPEARANCE – ‘ CONTEMPORARY ART’ IS A
NECESSARY ‘POLITICAL’ FORCE IN SOCIETY.
WALKING CAN CHANGE T HE W ORLD. (CONVERT ROADS FOR CARS – INT O
PATH S FOR WAL KERS AND CYCLISTS?)
TO BE COMM ITT ED TO WALK ING M EANS – TO SLOW DOWN TO THE PACE OF WALKING …
A WALK CAN EXIST LIKE AN INVISIBLE OBJECT IN A COMPLEX WORLD.
(WALKING – CUTS A LINE TH OUGH TW ENTY-FIRST CENTURY LIFE.)
Q. WHAT KIND OF ART COULD RESULT FROM A WALK?A. ART INSTALLED ONTO THE FLATNESS OF EXISTING
ARCHITECTURE. (A FILM … A WALK TEXT AS AN URBAN
BILLBOARD. WALK TEX TS ETCHED INTO GLASS FOR WINDOWS.WALK TEXT S CAST IN IRON AND SUNK INTO PAVEMENTS.
WALKING IS AN ‘EXPERIENCE’. CONSEQUENTLY, THE RESULTING ART
COULD BE PRODUCED IN ANY MEDI UM OR SITUATION.
REPEATABLE ART REQUIRING NO TRANSPORT (MUSICALNOTATION ON THE NET) OR, NON-REPEATABLE ART REQUIRING
TR ANSPO RT AT IO N (CA RGO JE T P OL LU TI ON) O R, R EPEAT ED
UNTRANSPORTABLE ART? (AUSTRALIAN FIRST NATI ON CAVEPAINTINGS.)WALKABOUT…
TH E STRENGTH AND WEAKNESS OF ART IS THAT IT’ S ALL ABOUT
OPINIONS.
TH E PR IC E I PAY FOR NOT MI MI CK IN G ‘NA TU RE’ IS T HAT I
RECORD ALL MY WALKS IN WORDS.
TH ERE ARE NO WORDS IN ‘NATURE’.
AN ARTWORK CANNOT RE-PRESENT THE EXPERIENCE OF AWALK.
COMMERCIALLY AVAILABLE MATERIALS.
IN 2003: CREATE EMPLOYMENT, BUT DESTROY A ‘WILHUM AN ENERGY SOURCE FOR SOLVING TH IS DILE
SPIRITUAL RELATIONSHIP WIT H ‘NATURE’.
THE R IGHT S OF NATUR E? ON MY WAL KS I DO NO THE ‘LANDSCAPE’ OR OR GANIZE THE REMOVAL , S
RETURN OF ‘FOUND-NATURAL-OBJECTS’ THEREBY
THEIR NEIGHBOURH OOD LI FE INFLUENC ED BY SUAND RAIN.
MY ART I S A SYMBOLIC GESTURE OF RESPECT FOR NATU
IT’S HARDER TO LEAVE THINGS ALONE THAN TO C
CHANGE PERCEPTIONS – NOT T HE ‘LAND SCAPE’. T HE
LOCATION – NOT RAW M ATERIALS.
LIVING AND NON LIVING BEINGS. WHY SELL SEA TRUC KS MEANS BIG BUCKS.
BATTLE OF LITTLE BIGHORN 25 JUNE 1876. (TWO PEOP
TWO POINTS OF VIEW?)
NAVAJOLAND EUROLAND CLUBLAND HOMELAND
TI MBER LAN D VO LV OL AND OBER LAN D SWITZERLAND WONDERLAND – LANDSCAP
CLOUDSCAPE DREAMSCAPE E-SCAPE CITYSCAPE C
MEDIASCAPE FINANCESCAPE WALKSCAPE
MAKE A WALK – WRIT E A TEXT – READ IT TO AN AUDIVOICE.
THE CHANGI NG SHAPES OF C LOU DS. THO UGHT S
BIRDSONG.
EACH W ALK MARKS THE FLOW OF TI ME BETWEEN BIRTH
too steep to negotiate in a straight line, so diagonal rampsbecame historically aware and sensitive to contemporary needs.
Foreign Office A rchitects: Y okohamaTerminal. Unbuilt project for Novartis in Basel – physic gardensrelated to ‘lungsfor the body of car parking’. [email protected]
- 243 -
ANDRO LINKLATERMeasuring America argues that America came to be what it is through
the way it defined its landscape. Anyone who has flown across the USsees the world’s largest human-made construct, though its significanceis almost invisible unless you know what to look for – straight lines. InCalifornia’s Great Central Valley they show up in the chequerboardarrangement of orchards; flying over the Sierras they appear in therectangular farms deep in valley bottoms; crossing any big city,Phoenix, Arizona or Salt Lake City, or Chicago itself, they’re revealed
squares. It can be halved, quartered, eighthed, and sixteenthed, andstill leave a whole number. And each is easily measured by a chain – a
mile is 80 chains, a half-mile is 40, a quarter is 20, and to a surveyornothing could be easier to measure – a 40-acre square was merely 20chains by 20. Its numerical neatness ensured that 40 acres became thebasic unit on which Jefferson’s great landed democracy was built.Owning a 40 was the bottom rung on the property ladder. The 10 acre square is integral to the planning of US cities – 10
chains by 10 – such as the central square of Salt Lake City, or of
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in the graph-paper grid of streets; all across the Midwest they can befound in the great squared-off pattern of corn and soya fields. Aroundthis framework, a particular kind of democracy and a particular kind
of capitalism and a particular kind of spirit developed. These lines all derive from the US Public Land Survey which began
on 30 September 1785 when Thomas Hutchins, first Geographer of the United States, unrolled a 22 yard Gunter’s chain on the west bankof the Ohio river. The US needed to raise money, and the only assetthat it possessed was land beyond the Appalachians. A few explorershad penetrated beyond the mountains and brought back wonderfulreports of this mouth-watering land. Hutchins’ job was to measure itout and map it on a surveyor’s plat. I t was a kind of magic –unmeasured it was wilderness, measured it became real estate.
But he did it in a very particular way. Congress required him to lay
y q yPhi ladelphia, Chicago, and others. I t was an extraordinarytransformation. Within a century, the land that had no shape hadbecome property. Anyone could own it. The government sold it for
$2 an acre, offering credit for those with no cash, and even after the1862 Homesteading Act you could get 160 acres by squatting.
Winners and losersIt was the survey that underpinned the legends of the frontier. I tguaranteed the pioneers legal possession of their land. But it was not
just an administrative exercise. In the process a society was beingcreated around the mass distribution of property. T o European visi-tors, accustomed to thinking of land-ownership as the key indicatorof social class, this was revolutionary, and the outlook of these prop-
erty-ownersseemed to themastonishing.Asearlyas1813, the trav-
Walkingaround the Universi
Gloucestershire’s new campu
Clegg, it is immediately appar
architects Feilden CleggBrad
believe in, and profoundly un
significant contribution that e
to our lives – not only in term
architecture and regeneratioarchitects who love to build,
holistically. Education is undo
FCBA’s blood, and while thei
year portfolio includes excell
housing, and community proj
fulfilment of the practice’s pr
perhaps most explicit in thei
education. FCBA design as us
designingplaces where peopl
education, they repeatedly d
collective personal experienc
parents, and teachers. So, a p
internationally known for its
innovations in environmenta
and energy efficiency, gives m
reflectingon an equally signif
commitment to the broader
economic and social sustaina
For more than 12 years, th
education sector has offeredand opportunity to innovate,
staple and producingsignifica
Sunderland and Aston Univer
University and London’s Imp
However, despite such individ
richer results seemto have co
practice has been engaged in
client relationships, such as t
Alfr ed’s College in Winchest
Gloucestershire; both of whic
nurtured since the early 1990
a culture of learningand inno
UNIVERSITY CAMPUS,
GLOUCESTER, ENGLAND
A RCHITECT
FEILDEN CLEGG BRADLEY
ARCHITECTS
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68|2
universities and colleges hav
acted as laboratories for arch
experimentation, and while c
realities exist, academic insti
prioriti ze long-terminvestme
fix, fast-buck incentives – as h
experience in GloucestershirUnder the ambitious stewa
University’s Vice Chancellor D
Trotter, the University of Gl
has become one of the West
committed architectural patr
commissioning FCBA’s award
intervention within the gothic
Francis Close Hall Campus in
Cullinan’s Art Media and Des
Pitville campus (AR April 1994
WORK REST AND PLAY 1With its lofty atrium and generousglazed link, Feilden CleggBradley’snew facilitiesbuildinggivesGloucester’snew campusstatureand presence.
After years of absence, a new university campus brings
access to higher education back to the city of Gloucester.
1
- 245 -
recently with its new Sport and Exercise
Sciences campus in the heart of Gloucester.
On college land formerly occupied by a
1950s training college, the new campus was
built to redress the uneven distribution of the
county’s higher education facilities, which
since 1992 had been solely within Cheltenham.
In 1996, FCBA were appointed to review thepotential of the site, and to co-ordinate along-
termcampus strategy.
As the first stage, buildingstock was
evaluated to see if any of structures fromthe
previous five decades of development could
be re-used. But, after consideringflexibility
of use, options for upgrading(particularly in
terms of energy conservation),
organizational efficiency, site distribution,
and architectural quality, FCBA somewhat
reluctantly concluded that demolition was
the most feasible option. A decision that may
have been regrettable in terms of embodied
energy, but which increased opportunities to
develop a high density, centralized strategy.
This, while offeringscope for expansion,
would create sufficient critical mass within a
modest first phase to give the fledgling
campus its own identity and sense of place.
So phase one, which was completed for the
student intake of October 2002, included a
new learning resources and teachingcentre,
sports science facility, and refectory, which
collectively forma north-south armature
that acts as the campus’ heart and spine.
Parallel to this sits another north-southterrace of 180 study rooms, all with private
bathrooms, which terminates in a student
common roomand bar. It forms a communal
cluster that, when linked to the facilities
buildingby an east-west landscaped body
of water, creates an entrance threshold
for the site.
Organizingbuildings on this axis was
central to the campus’ environmental
strategy, avoidingbleak north-facingstudy
bedrooms, enablingboth the learning
resource centre and the sport sciences
buildingto exploit diffuse north l ight
(reducing dependency on artificial lighting),
and optimizingthe performance of the EU
and DTI funded photovoltaic array recently
installed onto the sport sciences building’s
distinctive tick-section roof. (An installation
1 reception
2 learningresourcescentre
3 lecturetheatre
4 refectory
5 sportshall
6 staffoffices
7 teachingrooms
masterplan concept
UNIVERSITY CAMPUS,
GLOUCESTER, ENGLAND
A RCHITECT
FEILDEN CLEGG BRADLEY
ARCHITECTS
2 3
5
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70|2
A learningcentre
B sport sciencesbuilding
C commonroom andbar
D student housing
E landscapedpool
site plan (scale approx 1:2000) ground floor plan (scale approx 1:1000)
2From the south-west approach, thismodestcollection of buildingscreatesan impressiveflagship campusfor the University of Gloucestershire.3Louvreson the southerly facade eliminate directsunlight from the principal teachingrooms.4With the first of five student accommodationblocksbehind, the student bar and common roomhelp create a defined campusgateway.
36
1
2
4
6
B
D
E E E C
A
[email protected] 246 -
estimated to meet 50 per cent of the sport
sciences building’s demand, equivalent to 30
per cent of the precinct’s combined load.)
With this in place, attention focused on the
most complex environmental problem: the
internal conditioningof the learning
resources centre.
With the dramatic increase in IT provision
in education, there are now many
environmental variables to consider when
seekingto create stable comfort levels.Learningfrom experience gained on the
Martial Rose Library in Winchester, FCBA
again adopted a hollow core displacement
ventilation strategy: a systemthat responds
well to the most onerous conditions during
winter months, when maximumoccupancy
levels demand high air change targets
without throwingaway the free heat benefit
that computers and people provide.
Usingstandardized buildingcomponents,
the TermoDeck systemconverts ahumble
hollow-core precast concrete floor slab into
afully integratedcircuit of thermal batteries:
operates in anumber of modes to provide
seasonal environmental stability. In summer,
night purgingcharges the ventilation circuit
with coolth to temper incomingair, while
exposed soffits are chilled to absorb surplus
heat gains. In winter, trickle charge heatingof
the thermal mass warms asteady supply of
fresh air, which gently heats the soffits and
provides displacement ventilation through
the floor . Heat recovery systems are also
employed with athermal wheel preheating
incomingair, and exhaust air is discharged
into the foyer to reduce uncomfortable
down-draughts in the otherwise un-tempered
glazed l ink.
While budget limitations denied lavish
materials, a degree of finesse has been
achieved through the careful placingof finer
quality materials, such as timber acoustic
panellingin the atrium, and a Siza-esque
limestone plinth in the foyer. The main
disappointment, however, has been how
security measures have denied users the
permeability between the learning and
teachingspaces as originally designed,
resultingin the central atriumand core being
isolated rather than a dynamic place of
interaction. Still, this operational decision isclearly reversible.
On the whole, the University is delightful
to visit, and as more students move in, and
when vegetation matures to soften the
impact of the somewhat disappointinghard
landscaping, it will undoubtedly host a
thrivingstudent community. FCBA’s most
significant achievement has been an ability to
create a place with just three basic moves,
producing a solution credited by the RIBA
for being‘gimmick free’ and offering‘a
serious welcominghandshake for a new age
HQ’ Onchoosingto investinthehigher
implemented over the last 15 years. So, if
Richard Feilden’s prediction of an equivalent
shift in secondary education over the next 15
years is correct, we look forward to seeing
how FCBA re-apply their expertise to the
UK’s new generation of City Academy
schools. ‘We love designingschools,’ says
Feilden, with a smile that exhibits a slightly
mischievous pleasure. A pleasure and
optimismthat seems to imply that regardless
of what decisions central government may
take, FCBA will be there to get under the
skin of legislation, fundingand targets to help
produce the best schools that money can
buy. After all, designingthe buildingis only
part of the battle, and FCBA fully understand
this. Regardless of the practice’s technical
and theoretical competence, they have never
adopted a highbrow architectural position.
Instead, with sustained integrity, their
investment in clients and long-term
aspirations has brought themincreasing
popularity: a deserved reward for choosing
not to engage in the architectural pageantry
that tempts so many other practices away
from the essence of longevity that all
architects should pursue. ROB GREGORY
Architects
FeildenCleggBradley Architects, Bath
Project team
Peter Clegg, Bill Gething, David Stansfield, Matt Somerville,
TobyLewis, ElenaMarco Brugete
Project manager
BurnleyW ilsonFish, JohnBurnley
Structural engineer
WhitbyBird &Partners
M&E engineer
WSP
Photovoltaic consultant
ESD
Facade consultant
Montresor Partnership
Landscape consultant
5
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72|2
afully integrated circuit of thermal batteries:
amodular structural systemthat contributes
to the visual order of the spaces and which
HQ . On choosingto invest in the higher
education sector, FCBA have responded well
to the strategic changes that have been
Landscape consultant
Mitchell HarrisPartnership
Photographs
MandyReynolds
5The campus’sdistinctive razorback northlightssupport the college’s490m2 photovoltaic array.6Even duringthe winter months, thecafé’ssheltered terrace providesawelcome place of rest ...7... from the physical exertion of seriousplay ...8... and the mental stimulation of sportscienceswork.
UNIVERSITY CAMPUS,
GLOUCESTER, ENGLAND
A RCHITECT
FEILDEN CLEGG BRADLEY
ARCHITECTS
section through lecture theatre, seminar rooms, atrium and learningresources(scale approx 1:250), see key p70
3
6
7 8
7
7
3
2
2
2
[email protected] 247 -
Founded in the mid-nineteenth
century as the Catholic University
of Ireland, University College
Dublin (UCD) was first
established in the heart of Dublin
overlookingSt Stephen’s Green.
Famous alumni include Gerard
Manley Hopkins and James
Joyce. Duringthe 1960s, the
university decamped to a
suburban greenfield site at
Belfield, to the south of the city
centre. Over time the campus has
evolved and expanded, adding
new faculty buildings, student
residences and recreational
facilities. With 10 faculties, 80
departments and astudent body
of 22 000, UCD is now the largest
university in Ireland.
One of the most recent campus
additions is McCullough Mulvin’s
extension to the Virus Reference
Laboratory (VRL). Affiliated with
the university’s Department of
Medical Microbiology, the VRL
provides anational diagnostic
virology service for Ireland, as well
as undertakingresearch and issuing
regular publications. The new
buildingslots into atight site
between the main VRL laboratory
and Ardmore House on the upper
part of the campus. Though small in
scale, the project plays asignificant
role in consolidatingthe
relationship between the central
buildings and the surrounding
landscape, and, in particular, the
lake directly below it.
Conceived both as aplace of work
and social interaction, the project
is one of aseries of new pavilions
designed to support and challenge
the notion of architecture in the
landscape that informed UCD’s
orginal development in the 1960s.
More specifically, it is clearly an
object buildingin the greenfield
campus tradition, but is also
concerned with connectingwith
its surroundings and creatinga
sense of place. The main public
frontage is defined by atr iangular,
rock-studded parvis while the
inner edge encloses asmall garden
landscaped in an artfully minimal
Japanese style, creatingapeaceful
haven for contemplation.
With its lightweight skin and
simple geometry, the new building
forms an expressive contrast with
its more leaden brick and stone-
clad campus counterparts.
Facades are wrapped in ataut skin
of interlockingand overlapping
panels of glass and Western red
cedar which project and recedefromthe main surface plane.
The cedar will weather to a
delicate silvery grey, but the light
has aslightly different effect on
the vertical and horizontal boards,
so that the skin will eventually
resemble apiece of worn
fabric with subtly contrasting
textures. Extended parapets
give the buildingmuscular, cube-
like, proportions.
1, 2The new extension isan objectbuildingin the landscape, starklydifferent from its neighbours,but it also strivesto connect withitssurroundingsand create asense of place.3Detail of W estern red cedar skin.
1
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ACADEMIC DEBATEThis extension to UCD’s microbiology department is a
rational cube that reworks the campus object building.
52|2
LABORATORY , DUBLIN, IRELAND
A RCHITECT
MCCULLOUGH MULVIN
ARCHITECTS 32 [email protected] 248 -
first floor plan
The plan is elegantly economical,
with offices on the upper floor
and alaboratory, canteen and
meetingroomat ground level,
with access to the courtyard
garden. In abstract, the plan
resembles a simple unicellular
organism, with acoloured
circulation core as its nucleus.
The free-standing, sky-blue core
can be glimpsed as you move
through the buildingand acanted
link corridor connects the new
extension with the main
laboratory. The linkingarmalso
functions as an entrance hall.
UCD’Sevolvingcampus can,
perhaps, be compared to a40
year conversation, with new
members joiningin and addingto
the growingdialogue. McCullough
Mulvin’s modest yet intelligently
judged contribution adds to the
richness of this academic debate.
CATHERINE SLESSOR
Architect
McCulloughMulvin Architects, Dublin
Structural engineer
ThomasGarland& Partners
Servicesengineer
UCD BuildingsServicesDepartment
Photographs
ChristianRichters
longsection
site plan
1 maindepartment
2 link
3 entrance
4 circulationcore
5 laboratory
6 canteen
7 offices
5 6
4
7 7
7
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54|2 ground floor plan (scale approx 1:250)
crosssection
crosssection
4The crisp cube. Horizontal andvertical cedar stripswill weather inslightly different ways.5Internal Japanese-style garden andlink to the main department (left).6The coloured circulation core.
4
5 6
1
32
4
5
[email protected] 249 -
View from Bam
One of the finest and most ancientmud cities in the world, Bam, in
Iran’s Kerman Province, was largely
demolished by an earthquake in
December. Archie Walls reports on
past glories and possible futures.
I waited 30 yearsto visit Bam. When I did, it was
a dreamcometrue– and that wasin December.
As the reports came through, I was over-
whelmed by a feelingof loss, not only for a mag-
nificent city but for theengagingchildren I had
met, and friendswehad madewhosehospitality
abounded – plump Bam dates, full of flavour,
of local specialitiesspread on a floor strewn with
rugs, a blazingfi rein thehearth and spectacular
viewsout to the Shah Nematollah Vali mau-soleum. Life flowed so naturally that it isdifficult
to conceive of the horrors, the lossand bitter
cold thesurvivorshaveendured since.
What wasso special about Bam? It is in the
first rank of my Great Magical Citiesof theOri-
ent: cities such as the walled Old City of
Jerusalem with theholy sitesof threereligions;
Aleppo, with its central citadel and milesof cov-
ered markets; Damascus with its Grand
Mosque; Cairo with i tsmany I slamic monu-
mentsand themillionsof peoplelivingin itsnar-
row byways; and Sana’a with gravity-defying
earthen structuresand beautiful gardens. Bam
uninhabited ruinsoffered an abandoned. mysti-
cal quality in the midst of a desert with sharp
mountainson the horizon – a perfect settingforThe Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám .
Bamislocated on top of a largearchaeologi-
cal mound. This, together with thearchitecture
of itsbuildings, illustrateshow it hasdeveloped
and changed over its2000 year old history. Far
below theexistingfortified circuit of walls, there
isanother lineof mud brick wallsand watchtow-
ersthat separate the city from the wide flood
plain of thePoshtrud River. Thesewallsindicate
an even greater area that wasonce inhabited
and defended. Bam provided a veritable ency-
clopaedia of such historic structural elements:
varietiesof sun-dried mud brick squinchesand
shaped domesdecorated by intricately laid
bricks formed fascinating geometric patterns.
Then there were the courtyards– some small,some large, some square, some rectangular,
some with arcading, some with iwan recesses.
Khans, or caravanserais, provided safehaven to
travelling merchantsand pilgrims; their court-
yardswith roomsat each end had fireplacesto
ward off winter cold.
Bamhad a historic mix of religions. I visited a
nineteenth-century courtyard house built by a
wealthy Jewish merchant which was being
restored by theIranian Cultural Organisation as
part of a general restoration project coveringthe
whole fortified area. Numeroushistoric events
have been recorded in Bam connected to the
Christianity and to Judaism and, with the
advent of Islam, to itscommunities– theShia,
Sunni, Ismaili, and no doubt Sufi. From thebeginningof thesixteenth century until theeigh-
teenth, the city flourished, being on the trade
routejoiningthePersian Gulf to India and Pak-
istan. The citadel wasevacuated to avoid poli ti-
cal reprisalsin the1780s, but civiliansremained
in thefortified town until itsdeclinein themid-
nineteenth century. Thereafter soldiers occu-
pied it until 1931 since when the old city and
citadel havelain empty.
I wasin I ran in December to attend theninth
International Conference on the Study and
Conservation of E arthen Architecture, T erra
2003 in Yazd, which liesbetween Tehran and
techniqueused in itshistoric w
– a different method of construc
in themodern areasof thetownthegreatest lossof life.
Thebackground to my pape
cation, some25 yearsago, of a
of wall construction used in the
townsin Oman, which I called
nique’. A continuousrender ist
and over thetop of thecore m
the core material being some
mud bricksabout forty centim
theyears, during architectural
cal projects I have traced
throughout an area stretching
Iraq, through the Jordanian d
Bam’sold city before the earthquake: a veritable encyclopaedia of ancient Middle Eastern buildingmethods: domes, vaults, squinches, fortificationsmade with sun-dried brick in techniquesthat date back to Biblical times. The old c ity waslargely deserted since the 1930sand so had already partly fallen into decay. Restoration work had starte
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28|2
sticky syrupy cakes, sweet black tea – and in the
nearby town of Mahan a mouth-watering lunch
had many of the characteristics common to
thesecitiesand, although smaller than most, its
vaults, many with theinclined arched technique
recently used by Hassan Fathy. Variously
Zoroastrian faith that first took root in Persia in
about 600BC. Thereisevidenceof other linksto
Bam. When I arrived in Bam, I discovered my
paper exactly described the specific structural
Arabian peninsula to Yemen
south to Zanzibar. Now I hav
Bam’scitadel isbuilt on top of an immensely ancient mound in which the unexplored remainsof successive civilizationsare imposed on each other. Before earthquake. Domes, vaultsand arcadesbefore earthquake. From citadel before earthquake, with oldtown in foregroundand, beyond, new(where there [email protected] 250 -
vıew
Re-plastering a layered wall in one contin
ous coat, or cutting it back and inserting a
outer face of fired bricks, can never benefit
historic structure. So I worry for Bam when
read of ‘super-adobe’ buildings constructed
sandbags filled with a mixture of cement an
mud, connected by barbed wire for reinforc
ment. To say that such constructions would
indistinguishable from Bam’s original buildinmakes my hair stand on end. On the oth
hand, ‘super-adobe’ buildings could house th
inhabitants of the modern city quickly an
cheaply with readily available materials. I al
worry that, in the old city, speed and need ma
tempt the cement brigade to push their pro
ucts andthatearthquakestrengtheningme
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toric structures in Iran, from Tehran to Bam.
In the buildings I have seen, various combina-
tions of materials have been used, from earth
renders with hand formed and box-made mud
bricks to harder lime-gypsum renders with
by the elements or enemy attack – attrition is
restricted to specific layers and does not spread
to the layers above or below.
Looking at photographs of Bam since the
earthquake I amconvinced that the old city
ucts, and that earthquake strengthening me
sures may be introduced to the detriment of t
historic fabric.
So much for the above ground structures, bwhat about theqanat (aqueduct) systems that f
millennia have criss-crossed the desert to brin
water from the mountains to Bam, and oth
oases of the region? What happened to the
wonders when the earthquake struck?
Bam is the leading example of an indigeno
architecture that expresses the common histo
cal and cultural roots of ancient peoples sprea
over a vast region of the world well before mo
ern geo-political boundarieswere drawn I
Layered mud-brick construction which, claims Walls, is more resistant to earthquakes than modern cement mixtures.
HEADQUARTERS BUILDING, CAMBRIDGE,
MASSACHUSETTS, USA
A RCHITECT
BEHNISCH, BEHNISCH & PARTNER
LUMINOUS PARADIGM
1
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LUMINOUS PARADIGMThe Genzyme Center brings transforming imagination to US
office design, adding environmental and human dimensions.
2
Seen in passing, the Genzyme Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts
does not seemparticularly revolutionary. It looks very much like
another glass-clad corporate headquarters, even if its profile and
massingare slightly unusual, and its claddingis strangely varied.
On the edge of the city near Longfellow Bridge and Broad Canal, it
forms part of a new development on an abandoned industrial site.
Genzyme is one of the first of seven new buildings beingbuilt to a
masterplan by Urban Strategies of Toronto that determined overall
envelope and massing.Behnisch, Behnisch & Partner of Stuttgart, and of Venice, California
are the architects of the Genzyme Center. Their proposal was
selected in competition, yet the development of the USA’s first large
environmentally aware office block was created in intimate
collaboration with the developer client, Lyme Properties LLC and
tenants, the Genzyme Corporation. Dan Winny of Lyme explains
that, at competition stage, they did not select the Behnisch practice
because the developers wanted to make a green building, but because
they were attracted to ‘the quality and freshness of the European
design work’. Duringthe competition, in which the by then probable
tenants Genzyme were involved on the jury, it became clear that the
Behnisch proposal was what Winny calls ‘a concept for a radically
different type of innovative buildingbased on principles of
responsible energy use … maximizingthe environmental quality of
the workplace’. In other words, the Center was to be built to
principles now commonly accepted in the German-speakinglands and
Scandinavia.
But the Behnisch buildingis far more than a conventional transfer
of European values across the Atlantic. Its central atriumis literallybreathtaking, a joyous paean of luminous space, with which the office
floors engage in terraces, balconies and platforms. The complex
social life of the office is revealed as you look up, with open-plan
offices (American style but involvinglow cubicles) mingled with
private (though usually transparently walled) individual rooms, open
stairs linkingparticular floors to encourage formation of vertical as
well as horizontal forms of local office communities. The architects’
aimis to create vertical urbanity, with public and private spaces,
conference rooms, a cafeteria, and library and internal gardens to
clean and oxygenate the air. It is too early yet to see whether all
these measures will work, and particularly whether they will work
together. But early evidence is promising. In its optimism, the space is
highly reminiscent of Hertzberger’s Centraal Beheer when it first
opened as a bril liant and radical experiment in organizingoffices thatrespect individuals and small groups as well as the organization.
As far as possible, all workplaces receive daylight, either fromthe
perimeter or fromthe atrium. On clear days, the void is filled with
daylight that is transmitted down through the ceilingprismelements.
A systemdesigned by the Austrian firmBartenbach Lichtlabor involves
seven solar-trackingmirrors on the roof at the north side of the
atriumthat reflect light to fixed mirrors on the south side, fromwhere
the sun’s rays are deflected downwards to the pools at entrance level,
whence they shimmer upwards. (The systemis not dissimilar to the
one used by Foster in the HongKongBank, AR April 1986). On the
way down, sunlight is intercepted and deflected by the multiple
movingprismplates of roof-hungchandeliers. Accordingto the angle
at which sunlight hits them, the plates reflect or transmit, distributing
sunshine into surroundingoffice spaces. The devices, with their ever-
changingpatterns of sunlight, are one of the reasons why the space is
so breathtakingwhen you first see it. Its luminosity is further
enhanced by reflective balustrades and alamellar wall on the south
side of the atrium: the vertical lamellae are moved to change the wall’s
reflectivity accordingto the angle of the sun and the nature of the sky.Artificial and natural lightingare related by sensor systems that
slowly dimoverhead lights when the atrium’s total luminosity is
appropriate. All workplaces have low-energy task-lights, which both
allow people to control their immediate environments and add to the
feelingthat the buildingis a congregation of individual places.
HEADQUARTERSBUILDING, CAMBRIDGE,
MASSACHUSETTS, USA
A RCHITECT
BEHNISCH, BEHNISCH & PARTNER
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60|4
3Foyer with Behnisch trademark grand stair.Light entersfrom top and sidesand isreflected by chandeliersand pools.
site plan section through entrance [email protected] 253 -
HEADQUARTERSBUILDING, CAMBRIDGE,
MASSACHUSETTS, USA
A RCHITECT
BEHNISCH, BEHNISCH & PARTNER
4Every effort istaken to increasedaylight penetration of office areaswith prismatic squaresof chandeliers,
ceilingreflectors and reflectivebalustrades.
first floor 11th floor
principlesof day- and sunlight penetration to atrium and offices
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62|4 ground floor (scale approx 1:900) 4th floor [email protected] 254 -
Architect
Behnisch, Behnisch& Partner
Project team
StefanBehnisch, C hristof Jantzen,
Günther Schaller, MartinW erminghausen,
As well as beinga great light-chute, the atriumis the central element
in the building’s climate control system. It forms a huge waste-air
chimney. Fresh air reaches occupied areas fromceilinggrilles, or
through the openable parts of the perimeter walls. Pressure
differentiation drives used air to the atrium, where it ascends to be
expelled at roof level. Energy for the heatingand coolingsystemis
provided by steamfroma small local power station two blocks away
from the site. In summer, the steamdr ives absorption chillers; in
winter, its heat is exchanged into heatingfor the building. Buro
Happold, who designed the climate control system, claimthat there
are no distribution losses in this energy system, and that its emissions
are reduced by filters at the power plant. Energy-saving
considerations go even as far as rainwater handling: some of it is used
to supplement supplies to the cooling towers (savingcity supplies)
and some feeds the landscaped roof.
Curtain walls wrap the perimeter (designed in conjunction with
Happold’s and Bartenbach Lichtlabor). Over all 12 floors, they have
openable windows that are linked to the buildingmanagement system
that automatically opens themon cool summer nights to reduce the
temperature of the building. Over 30 per cent of the external
envelope is a ventilated double facade with a 4ft (1.22m) interstitial
space that acts as climate buffer. In winter, the voids capture solar
gains and re-radiate themto the interior. In summer, various shading
devices includingadjustable sun protectingblinds and coloured
curtains reduce insolation. As the openingof windows and the
adjustment of the blinds are controlled by individuals, the building’s
appearance constantly changes in detail. This external indication that users are valued and have some
control over their individual workingconditions is echoed in sensitive
detailed handlingof interior finishes and choice of furniture. The bits
you can touch are welcoming– cloth or wood, rather than plastic.
Cubicle walls are capable of much flexibility, not just for management
re-arrangements, but so that individuals can make their own work
spaces particular.
The Genzyme Center is a truly brave building. Its realization of the
inspiringbelief that North American offices can be made more decent
to work in than the usual dreary deep indoor prairies needed great
and unusual trust and vision between developer, tenant, architect and
all consultants. So did the notion that an environmentally friendly
buildingthat costs more initially than its conventional equivalent will
eventually provide handsome paybacks for its developers, tenants and
occupants alike. It is an inspiring shift in the evolution of the office
building type, more inventive and integrated than almost anythingyet
built, even in Europe. Every aspect of its performance should be
measured, and luckily there are lots of local academics just up the
road who are capable of doing the job.
The Genzyme Center is almost the complete opposite of normal
US office block produced by core-and-shell development, where
architectural efforts are so often perforce confined to decorating
exteriors. Here, an immense amount of creative energy has been
poured into the interior . Externally, the buildingis constrained by a
rather dumb masterplan. What could the Behnisch teamhave done
with it had they been given a freer hand? P. D.
HEADQUARTERSBUILDING, CAMBRIDGE,
MASSACHUSETTS, USA
A RCHITECT
BEHNISCH, BEHNISCH & PARTNER
5
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Maik Neumann
Executive architects
House& Robertson, LosAngeles: Douglas
Robertson, Nick Gillock, Patricia Schneider
Next PhaseStud ios, Boston: Richard Ames,
Scott Payette
Masterplanning
Ken Greenberg
Environmental consultancy, structural
and M/E /P/engineers
Buro Happold
Green buildingconsultant
Natural Logic: Bill Reid
Plantinginterior gardens
LogID
Natural and artificial lighting
BartenbachLichtlabor
Workspace design
DEGW: Frank Duffy
Photographs
Roland Halbe
64|4
5, 6Trays and terracesof officeaccommodation linked by open stairsare intended to foster feelingsof acommunity of small groups.principlesof interior climate control [email protected]
- 255 -
GE HRY ’ S GRE AT C ON
C E RT O
T h eDi sn e y C on c
er t H al l h a sr a d i c al l yt r an sf or m e d a b l o ck of d ownt own
L o sAn g el e sm ak
i n gi t a pl a c et ovi si t r at h er t h an d r i v et h r o u gh .
CONC
LOS A
A RCHIT
GEHR
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1Downtown Los Angeleshasneverlooked so good. C urved surfacesreflect light and sky, and lead tonew vistas. [email protected]
- 256 -
From the first solo notes of The Star-Spangled Banner, sungby jazz
vocalist Dianne Reeves in spotlight at centre stage, to the final
crescendo of the entire LA Philharmonic expressing the energy and
shock of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring, the inaugural performance at the
Walt Disney Concert Hall was a calibrated workout fo r both music
and architecture. This is a hall where music in its various iterations
seems remarkably at home with an audience sometimes gathered
vertiginously in the round.
For a building instantaneously acclaimed as a vanguard masterpiece,the Walt Disney Concert Hall is surprisingly traditional. Tr ue, its
giant external petals of stainless-steel claddingare wonderful amid
the isolated towers of Downtown. From afar, they glisten and reflect
the sky, then taunt – like the cape of some ingenious
sculptor/matador – and swoop away when viewed up-close. Thrilling
to dr ive past, the Hall’s claddingplays a sophisticated game of
concave and convex surfaces that, unlike the mostly opaque walls of
the Baroque, contain reflections of light and sky and lead the eye out
to newly framed aspects of adjacent buildings. Downtown Los
Angeles has never looked so good.
BeingLA, concertgoers inevitably arrive by car, leavingthe garage
by a red escalator lobby topped by one of many fractured skylights.
As with Hans Hollein’s concoction, and that of Stirlingand Wil ford in
the original competition back in 1988, Gehry’s building takes
advantage of its slightly raised site to play with metaphors of Greek
Acropolis and German stadtkrone . (Fourth invitee Gottfried Böhm’s
proposal, also stadtkrone -like, was more akin to a W agnerian
gasworks.) Surrounded by heavily trafficked streets, the orthogonal
site dips froman easterly corner – the formal and photogenic entry
court – to the west, where a steel ribbon canopy signals entry to
REDCAT, the Roy and Edna Disney CalArts Theater, a
supplementary arts space accommodated within the parking
structure as it rises above street level.
In the 1980s, the acropolis of eclectic elements was characteristic
of such playful urban works as Stirl ing’s Neue Staatsgalerie in
Stuttgart (A R D ecember 1984), Hollein’s AbteibergMuseumin
Mönchengladbach (AR December 1982), and Gehry’s own LoyolaUniversity Law School on a flat site just west of Downtown LA.
Nevertheless, Gehry’s virtuosity and experimentation allowed for his
inclusion, alongside a younger generation, in the New York
Deconstructivist Architecture exhibition (also 1988), with its ambitions
to forge a hyper-Modernist avant-garde. Seldomprone to theorizing,
Gehry’s office further developed in the 1990s away fromshards and
violent fragmentation to a volumetric architecture of dynamic
surfaces engendered (as with the Bilbao Guggenheim, AR December
1997) by evolvingcomputer technology.
Perhaps because of this longgestation period, the Walt D isney
Concert Hall – in particular the auditoriumand the office blocks
exposed on the plinth – retains Gehry’s earlier concern with a
Cubistic assemblage of objects together with an emergingability to
drape space with complexly shaped membranes. Although a large
public greenhouse has been lost, auditorium massingsti ll shifts from
the axial coordinates of the urban block, settingup a tension that is
partially held in check by orthogonal, stone-clad office
accommodation to south and west.
CONCERTHALL, LOS
ANGELES, USA
A RCHITECT
GEHRY PARTNERS
2
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56|3 crosssection
longsection
2Organic formspoiseorthogonal masonryrespondsto urban g3, 4The gardensand patstreet level offer a wrealm of complexity
3
4
[email protected] 257 -
1 futurecafé
2 d ro p of f
3 platform pits
4 REDCAT theatre
5 p la nt
6 futurerestaurant
7 Philharmonicstore
8 concert hall
9 l ob by
10 choralhall
11 pre-concert
12 founders’ room
13 dressingrooms
14 offices
15 gardens
16 open-air stage
17 east atrium
18 west atrium
orchestra level +16ft (4.93m)
CONCERTH
LOS ANGEL
A RCHITECT
GEHRY PAR
5The great formstreet level isrbecause most oby car and park
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58|3lobby level 0 (scale approx 1:725) [email protected]
- 258 -
1
future café
2 d ro p o ff
3 platform pits
4 REDCAT theatre
5 p la nt
6 futurerestaurant
7 Philharmonicstore
8 concert hall
9 l ob by
10 choralhall
11 pre-concert
12 founders’ room
13 dressingrooms
14 offices
15 gardens
16 open-air stage
17 east atrium
18 west atrium
CONCERTHALL,
LOS ANGELES, USA
A R CHITECT
GEHRY PARTNERS
gallery level +50ft (15.45m)
6Each landingor corridor isintended to be a viewingterrace,like the onesin Scharoun’sPhilharmonie.
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60|3 garden level +34ft (10.51m) [email protected] 259 -
In essence, Gehry sheathes atimber box in stainless steel. Dancingabout
this protected auditorium, the steel peels away to create entrances and
windows. It also bubbles upward to shelter two extraordinary satellite
rooms: abar with curvingtimber sides (ahip descendant of Aalto’s 1939
New York Pavilion?) and the dramatic Founders’ Room, where gigantic
petals of plaster are sucked upwards into avortex of glass and steel far
above. In 1988, Gehry had envisaged the auditoriumas astacked stone
ziggurat. Interveningyears and budgets entailed the switch to metal, but
the Founders’ Room– part stupa, part air sock – retains aformalindependence through its unique shape and through the selection of a
shinier external steel panel.
The new buildingspills out and mutates into various intriguingshapes
onto Grand Avenue, within easy strollingdistance of ArataIsozaki’s
Museumof Contemporary Art. To the west, the city streets dip down to
expose largely impenetrable walls, save for the REDCAT corner entrance,
to the parkingstructure (these immediate streets function primarily as
feeder arteries to the LA freeway system). Above, however, Gehry has
created awhimsical public garden, terraces with eccentric plantingand
pavingand asmall, hooded amphitheatre that take advantage (like Rafael
Moneo’s parvis to his cathedral afew blocks to the north, AR March 2003)
of LA’s surprisingtopological richness.
At intermission or just before aperformance, the audience can happily
colonize both these raised gardens and the concatenation of lift shafts,
open staircases, and stacked decks threaded through the residual spaces
located between auditoriumand outermost shell. In principle, each landing
or access corridor becomes aviewingterrace, augmentingthe excitement
of aspecial eveningout. These entrails reveal Gehry’s empirical ability, or
perhaps his seemingly casual Californian stance, in the resolution of
complex practical and spatial issues. Nevertheless, duringinauguration
festivities, some first-time visitors to the Concert Hall had difficulty
orientatingthemselves through these interstitial zones.
As at Hans Scharoun’s Berlin Philharmonie, this flow of circulation
towards the primary performance space is deliberately aperformance in
itself: exposed, mobile, and interactive. Gehry’s original intention for many
balconies fanningout fromthe stage, again kin to Scharoun’s metaphor of
vineyard terraces at the Philharmonie, has been curtailed as acoustic and
other realities have been integrated into his design. The auditorium, as
built, is closer to the rectilinear box of Vienna’s historic Musikverein or
Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw. Its flanks are essentially twin flat surfaces,
but surfaces with projections and perforated to allow access in many
different locations.
The interior is lined or draped in timber, mostly Douglas fir, evoking
furtherallusions orsimiles: ambitions for the auditoriumto feel like a
distributed symmetrically, mostly across araked orchestraareain front of
the stage or on apincer-shaped balcony above. Yet asignificant number
occupy bow-fronted stalls to either side of the stage; skinny concave
balconies projectingfromthree levels above; or tiered terraces behind the
stage that part to either side of a6125-pipe organ. With pipes stylized by
Gehry to appear like rods on the verge of fission, this organ may well be a
contemporary counterpart to some Baroque monstrance or mural of
ascendingangels.
This Baroque sensibility is not merely emotional or ‘artistic’. Thebuildinglies directly across First Street fromthe Dorothy Chandler
Pavilion (completed by Welton Becket and Associates in 1964) whose
convex if imperious sides set up acurvilinear momentumin the immediate
context. In Gehry’s foyer areas, visitors seemnaturally to navigate about
the timbered hull of the auditor ium, and towards natural light as it filters
past sections of ceilingand the swoosh of balustrades – both plastered
white to read as comparatively subsidiary elements. Columns are also
theatrical, timber-clad like the auditorium, but burstingapart into gigantic
stems or branches that house uplights.
The organic theme continues inside where all seats are upholstered in a
vividly patterned and coloured fabric, afloral abstraction that Gehry
designed in tribute to the late Lillian Disney, widow of Walt Disney and
donor of the initial $50 million gift to athen-hypothetical project in 1987.
Surprisingly decorative or Pop, these seats must performto the same
acoustic standards whether occupied or not. Workingwith acoustician
YasuhisaToyota, the Gehry teamconstructed tenth-scale models of the
hall to test sound performance. Above audience and performers alike, an
inner ceilingdroops downwards in sail-like sleeves that both help disperse
sound and secrete necessary technical apparatus. The timber sheathingof
the interior – stage floor, balustrades, perimeter walls, billowingsoffit –
contributes greatly to the remarkable intimacy of the Walt Disney
auditorium. The LA Philharmonic knows it must attract anew and younger
following; and Gehry’s architecture, or the buildingachieved by Gehry’s
team, deliberately eschews the formal, hierarchical ethos of most previous
buildings of the type.
Behind the musicians, when they assume their orthodox semi-circular
formation, light seeps in to either side of the organ and the ceilingclearly
floats free of rear internal walls. Duringthe splendid inaugural concert, as a
lone trumpeter performed Charles Ives’sThe Unanswered Question from
the centre of the uppermost terrace farthest away fromconductor and
orchestra, ascreen or blind ascended behind to allow views out (through
another crystalline window) to the blue night sky, connectingmusic lovers
in the belly of the auditoriumwith the cosmos outside. This is Los Angeles,
afterall,thecityinwhichdreamandrealityaremostconspicuouslymixed.
CONCERTHALL,
LOS ANGELES, USA
A RCHITECT
GEHRY PARTNERS
7, 8The great timber box, with itsdramatic viewsof the sky.
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62|3
further allusions or similes: ambitions for the auditoriumto feel like a
nautical vessel and be like amusical instrument itself. The 2265 seats are
after all, the city in which dreamand reality are most conspicuously mixed.
RAYMUND RYAN
ArchitectGehryPartners, Los Angeles
Principal project team
Frank Gehry, JamesGlymph, CraigWebb, Terry Bell,
David Pakshong, Willi amChilders, David H ardie,
KristinWoehl
Structural engineer
JohnA. Martin& Associates
Electrical engineer
Frederick Russell Brown
Mechanical engineer
Levine/Seegel Associates
Acoustic consultant
NagataAcoustics
Lightingdesign
L’observatoire International
Landscape design
Lawrence Reed Moline; MelindaT aylor LandscapeD esign
Theatre consultants
TheatreProjects
Photographs
JohnE. Linden/Arcaid except
7and 8by Hufton+Crow/VIEW 7 [email protected] 260 -
With 6000 employees worldwide,
Trumpf AG is one of the great
German postwar manufacturing
success stories, prosperingin the
heavily industrialized heartland of
Swabiaaround Stuttgart. As such,
Trumpf’s management has pursued
abold architectural mission that
matches the company’s leadingedge reputation in laser technology
and machine tools. In particular, it
has cultivated afruitful relationship
with architects Barkow Leibinger,
who have been involved in
spearheadingTrumpf’s rapid
international expansion in
Germany, Switzerland, the US, and
latterly in Italy, Slovakiaand the
Czech Republic.
The Berlin-based partnership
has been responsible for the
masterplanningand design of an
evolvingTrumpf research and
production campus. In 1999, it
designed amanufacturingplant for
laser technology at the company’s
headquarters in Stuttgart-
Ditzingen and ayear later, a
Systems Technology plant was
added. The new 9000m2
Distribution and Service Centre is
the third phase of the expansion
plan. The results have given
Trumpf an increasingly
recognizable architectural image,
followingthe model of other
German corporations – for
instance Vitra, Rimowa
(Grimshaw) or the Ernstingfamily
(Chipperfield), which have
animated their industrial sites with
notable buildings.
The latest addition to the
auspicious location for abuilding
intended to serve as aplace for
welcomingclients and guests. The
conundrumwas resolved by astute
massingand subdivision of
volumes. As you walk up the gentle
slope, past the administrative and
research buildings fromthe ’70s,
the new building’s layeredstructure comes into view. The
landscape is marked by generously
spaced steps, with each threshold
highlighted by longstrips of laser-
cut metal plates that
chronologically document the
company’s meteoric r ise and
expansion. So even before they
cross this entrance platform,
visitors have subconsciously
absorbed some corporate history.
The lines of the steps extend
into the ground floor, demarcating
the three main functions of the
entrance area(lobby, 200 seat
auditoriumand exhibition space).
The resultingpolygonal shapes are
arranged in astrong, almost
sculptural, relationship to each
other. Barkow Leibinger refer
metaphorically to those three
ground floor volumes as ‘stones’.
Interrupted only by floor to ceiling
window openings, their solid grey
basalt facades exude amonumental
yet precisely aligned verticality.
Inside, agenerous longitudinal
corridor connects the stones. A
metal relief, cut usingthe most
advanced Trumpf machinery, runs
alongthe entire length of the
ground floor corr idor, concealing
the large exhaust air ducts which
service the ground floor. With its
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62|3
DISTRIBUTION AND SERVICECENTRE,
STUTTGART-DITZINGEN, GERMANY
A RCHITECT
BARKOW LEIBINGER
STEPPINGSTONESAn attempt to make urban architecture
on a very difficult and disjointed site.
1Glazed office block smore massive, stone2Entrance courtyard.3New buildingaddresmotorway, formingbindustrial campusbe
Bespr echu n g G ar der o be WC
W C W C Te ek üc he
FoyerSaal
Foyer
Trumpf Campus presented the
architects with their greatest
challenge to date. The site is at an
odd corner and borders directly
on to abusy motorway, not an
decorative yet functional spirit, this
part of the buildingis reminiscent
of acultural institution or
university. Gaps between stones
are filled by apair of r einforced-
longsection
12 3
[email protected] 261 -
concrete cores which stabilize the
two parallel office wings above.
Though takingup the same basic
footprint (55 x 9m), the wings are
offset against each other by 11m
and vary both in height and in the
number of storeys. There is a
strikingcontrast between the light,
transparent horizontal structure of the office floors and the solid
verticality of the stones below.
Glazed, double-skinned facades on
the north and south sides screen
the buildingas much as enhance its
pervadingimpression of lightness.
Each of the 500m2office floors
(four on the north and five on the
south side), are open-plan, column-
free spaces with only acouple of
meetingrooms on each floor . Split-
level offices are connected by
gracefully risingstaircases. Space
flows fluidly, with daylight flooding
in, and natural cross ventilation
utilizes the open cores as thermal
stacks, with passive coolingduring
the summer months and heatrecovery duringthe winter.
Offices appear as calm,
uncluttered spaces, but are also
thoughtfully detailed and highly
practical. Their economical
organization arose fromBarkow
Leibinger’s collaboration with
engineeringscientists at the
Fraunhofer Institute and furniture
manufacturer Vitra. Empirical and
analytical studies were used to
devise aspecial type of office
furniture that greatly reduced
individual filingspace but added
other features; for instance, a
writingdesk that can be pulled out.
The understated colour scheme of
grey furniture, green fabric screensand brown felt wall coverings adds
to the elegant, workmanlike
internal atmosphere.
This latest buildingconsolidates
Barkow Leibinger’s relationship
with Trumpf; the next phase of
corporate campus development is
eagerly awaited.
CHRISTIAN BRENSING
DISTRIBUTIONA ND SERVICE
CENTRE, STUTTGART-
first floorcrosssection with energy use strategy
1 mainentrance
2 entrancehall
3 auditorium
4Parallel office blockslinked by stairs.5, 7A metal relief, cut usingTrumpf machinery, animatesthe entrancehall on ground floor.6Interiors are calm, light andworkmanlike.8Officesare a triumph of functionaleconomy.
Architect
BarkowLeibinger Architekten, Berlin
Structural engineers
Conzett, Bronzoni, Gartmann;
Boll &Partner
Mechanical engineers
Transsolar;Henne& Walter,Reutlingen
Landscapeconsultant
Gabi Kiefer
Photographs
MargheritaSpiluttini
4 5
6 7
4
4
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64|3
DITZINGEN, GERMANY
A RCHITECT
BARKOW LEIBINGER
ground floor plan (scale approx 1:1000)
4 offices
site plan
8
1
2
3
[email protected] 262 -
1The new Dutch Embassy, the latestaddition to Berlin’s rapidly evolvingskyline, occupies a site on the edge of the river Spree.2After dark, the snakingtrajectoryaround the buildingis revealed.
THE CABINET OFDR KOOLHAAS
1
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44|544|
DUTCH EMBASSY ,
BERLIN, GERMANY
A RCHITECT
OMA
DR KOOLHAASGently subverting Berlin’s urban matrix, the new Dutch Embassy is
an Expressionist labyrinth with a surprisingly informal interior realm.
site plan [email protected] 263 -
The new Dutch Embassy in Berlin is aclassic Koolhaas building. It
reveals traces of some of his best known works and concepts, such as
the external metaphoric materialismof the RotterdamKunsthal and theinternal structural and functional mazes of the Jussieu library in Paris.
Yet compared with other current OMA mega-projects such as Seattle
Library or the headquarters for Central Chinese Television, the Dutch
Embassy is actually arelatively modest building.
Perhaps it was the choice of site in former East Berlin, now officially
known as Mitte (literally ‘middle’), that incited such ahighly controlled
and introspective urban and architectural solution. Contrary to
expectations, the central location does not exude the hustle and bustle
of nearby Potsdamer Platz. Instead, Klosterstrasse (Monastery Street)
runs quietly off the busy Stralauerstrasse and ends on the quayside of
the river Spree where the water flows slowly and darkly into a lock. Few
tourists find their way here unless on ariver cruise. Development of the
prominent corner site, which had been vacant since the war, had to
conformto Berlin buildingregulations. These were precisely defined by
the city’s former chief planner Hans Stimmann and any new buildinghad
to occupy all four corners of the site.
Beingwell versed in overcomingthe inhibitions of planninglaws,
Koolhaas managed to avoid apreconceived standard solution. Instead of
proposingthe customary atriumor inner courtyard, he created afree-
standingmonolithic 27 x 27mcube enclosed by slimL-shaped wings, soachievinga narrow but totally open courtyard while still fulfillingthe
requirement to build on all four corners. Call it Dutch irony, but the
urban solution is both perplexingand intriguing.
In functional terms, the two spatially interlocked volumes are divided
between offices located in the cube and apartments in the one-room
deep L-shaped wings, alongwith plant rooms (the buildingis fully
mechanically ventilated). Linked by five vertically stacked bridges, both
volumes stand on a raised platformwhich serves as the underground car
park for only 28 vehicles, despite staff numbers of 70. Underneath, a
tarmac ramp leads up fromthe street level into the courtyard where the
main entrance is located. Fromthere acontinuous 200mstrip, or what
DUTCH EMBASSY ,
BERLIN, GERMANY
A RCHITECT
OMA
3
4
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46|5
3Slim wingsare linked to the main cubeby stacked bridges.4Entrance to the embassy compound.5Inside the cantilevered volume of theconference room.6The adjacent wingsmeet the localplanningrequirement to build on allfour cornersof the site …7… but the main focusof attention is thecube, an impressively object building,but modest in scale when comparedwith other current Koolhaasprojects.
5
6 [email protected] 264 -
1 car park2 off ices
3 reception
4 multipurposehall
5 maintenance
6 pressandculture
7 foreignoffice
8 transportation
9 apartment
10 agriculture
11 post
12 archive
13 ambassador
14 politics
15 economics
16 fitnesssuite
17 cafe
ground floor plan (scale approx 1:500)
first level
third level
fourth level
sixth level
seventh level
3 4
6
8
10
9
13
9
14
9
1
5
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48|5 second level fifth levellower ground floor
1
2
7
11
12
9
9
[email protected] 265 -
DUTCH EMBASSY ,
BERLIN, GERMANY
A RCHITECT
OMA
8The fashionably glum interior isdominated by the presence ofthe trajectory.9Ramps, stairsand corridors windaround the building, connectingtheprincipal spaces.
Koolhaas calls a‘trajectory’ (in effect, asuccession of staircases, ramps and
corridors), snakes its way up through the building. At some points it
emerges on or even through the facade (in the case of the cantileveringglasscorridor above Klosterstrasse), changingdirection of ascent and gradient
until it reaches the restaurant and roof terrace. Floor s, ceilings and walls of
this architect-styled ‘stairway to heaven’ are clad in aluminiumand
sometimes even in plain or coloured glass.
Typical of Koolhaas, there is an honest, almost brutally direct,
confrontation with materials. Surfaces jump out at you, not only because of
their vivid hues, but also because of their harsh and relentless objectivity.
Over time, the trajectory’s cantilevered green glass ramp in will bear visible
marks of wear and tear, just like the sheet aluminiumon the floors and
staircases. You slightly fear that the building, otherwise not so immaculately
detailed and designed, might gradually begin to resemble atatty old Dutch
space station.
Due to the restricted floorplate size (700 sq m), the interior is dominated
by the trajectory. This often generates curious configurations as the
architect and his technical consultants had to squeeze, fold and contort the
available space. As Koolhaas does not deal in conventional floors and
storeys, it is difficult to arrive at an accurate number of floors. (Discussing
the notion of amini high-rise, he once mentioned 20 storeys.) In reality,
there are only 10 levels of varyingheight in this 26m-high building.
Structurally, the embassy is atour de force. Each floorplate rotates andcantilevers over the one below and no single internal column runs through
the entire structure (only four walls project through fromtop to bottom).
With its oblique corr idors, passages, ramps, steps, views through coloured
glass, monstrously thick rotatingdoors and dead ends, Koolhaas’ ingenious
maze is reminiscent of the set for the iconic German expressionist film
The Cabinet of Dr Caligari . At times, columns and heavy transfer beams
appear in the most bafflingpositions. O ne particular example is the very
8
9
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50|5 plan of ‘unravelled’ trajectory (scale approx 1:250)
RECEPTION
MULTIPURPOSE
HALL
INTERNET
PRESS POLITICS
FITNESS
CAFE
R O O F
TERRACE
ADM I N
TRAFFIC
CON FERENCE
CON FERENCE
AMBASSADOR’S
QUA RTERS
PO ST PO ST
[email protected] 266 -
low ceilingin the trajectory on level five, which compels tall visitors,
such as Koolhaas,to instinctively lower their heads.
Because of the deliberate spatial complexity, there is l ittlecoordination between interior and exterior. Here, Koolhaas pays the
price for his structural manoeuvring, as he is obliged to rely on a
loadbearingdouble facade. Where the internal zigzaggingof the
trajectory feigns freedomor even anarchy, the straight steel columns
that run down the full height of the buildingindicate anecessary and
more simplistic rigour. Despite the spectacular feat of one conference
roomcantilevering5mout fromthe facade and the trajectory’s handful
of timidly projectingfeatures, the external envelope is actually a
dreaded Cartesian cage. Evidently the spectacular cost (35 million
euros) and extraordinary planningand construction time (five years)
could not assuage this fundamental stylistic defect. Did the regimented
marchingorder of Berlin’s facades finally catch up with the master
of the informal?
Still, Koolhaas’ embassy is undoubtedly acunningretort to dogmatic
planninglaws as well as beinganother free gift to the city of Berlin. It
even frames the outlandish Alexanderplatz television tower, a symbolic
relic fromthe eraof perceived Communist superior ity over the West.
Fromthe core of the embassy cube there is an unobstructed view
(through agigantic openingin the apartment wing) of the tower’s
Sputnik-like top. It is apowerful (yet also possibly partly ironic) gestureof reverence fromKoolhaas to acity that once upon atime publicly
denounced himand his views on modern architecture.
CHRISTIAN BRENSING
DUTCH EMBASSY ,
BERLIN, GERMANY
A RCHITECT
OMA
10
11
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52|5
10The staircase isarticulated on thefacade asa diagonal slash of glazing.11Green glasspanelsunexpectedlydematerialise the floor plane.12A typical office on the upper floors.13A meetingro om adorned withcontemporary art.14The multipurpose hall on the first floor.
ArchitectOMA, Rotterdam
Structural engineers
Royal Haskoning, Arup Berlin
Servicesengineers
Huygen Elwako, Arup Berlin
Photographs
ChristianRichters
12
13 [email protected] 267 -
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The capital of Georgia, Tbilisi, means ‘warm’ due to its sulphur
i h d ll d i i d i d
With the construction of new local authority
buildings all over the country, Ireland is
undergoingsomethingof amunicipal
renaissance. Encouragingly, rather than opt for
lowest common denominator methods of
commissioningand design, the Irish authorities
have put the majority out to competition, thus
raisingarchitectural standards and presentinga
younger generation of designers with achance
to tackle sizeable projects. Briefs emphasize
openness, transparency and environmental
responsibility, with reduced energy use in
construction and operation. The outcome is a
lively new coterie of civic buildings that
confound and transcend the more familiar
notions of municipal drabness.
Completed at the end of last year, Bucholz
McEvoy’s county hall and offices in Dooradoyle,
County Limerick personifies this new Celtic
wave. An earlier municipal buildingin Fingal (AR
February 2001) represented an audacious
comingof age for the Dublin-based partnership
of Merrit Bucholz and Karen McEvoy,
manifestingskill and style beyond their years
(both not yet 40). And though this latest project
is, as some critics have noted, the equivalent of
that difficult second album, happily there seems
to be no loss of energy or ingenuity in its
conception and execution. The site was unpromising: atypical
nondescript, suburban edge condition where
sprawlingretail development marks the
boundary between town and countryside. The
new building’s nearest neighbour is ahuge,
introverted shoppingcentre, but the presence
of anew county library suggests an attempt to
establish adecentralized node of civic functions
that might extend beyond shopping. Rather than
present an object marooned in aseaof parking,
Bucholz McEvoy set their building70mback
fromthe road, takingadvantage of a2mdrop in
level across the site. Longearth berms conceal
cars and animate the pancake flatness of the
suburban topography. Over time, the banks of
vegetationwill matureto formagreenedge
Despite beingthe political centre of the county,Limerick’s local authority is an eclectic and
evolvingorganization, with nine different
departments. These were originally housed in
the city centre, but had no clear sense of
community or civic identity. Bucholz McEvoy’s
new buildingis adecisive riposte to bureaucratic
anonymity. Glimpsed fromthe road, the squat
terracottatiled drumof the council chamber set
against adelicate carapace of timber trusses, like
the bleached skeleton of aprehistoric beast,
powerfully proclaimthe presence of something
modern, different and self-assured.
The cylinder of the council chamber forms
part of asecondary three-storey block that
protrudes at right angles into the bermed car
park fromthemainfivestoreybodyofthe
impersonal civic context. An eaup to the main entrance, with vis
under the long, rectangular box
secondary block which is propp
pilotis. The feelingof compressi
this approach is spectacularly di
generous proportions of the bu
space, asoaring, quadruple-heig
runs along
the entire length of the main blo
this civic forumare stacked floor
and cellular offices. Light percola
timber exoskeleton that shades
membrane on the west side of th
castingashimmeringpattern of
shadows around the tall nave-lik
Designedincollaborationwit
CIVIC OFFICES,
DOORADOYLE, IRELAND
A RCHITECT
BUCHOLZ MCEVOY
ARCHITECTS
2
3
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58|10
vegetation will mature to formagreen edge
alongthe road and connect with the open
spaces to the east of the site.
park fromthe main five-storey body of the
building. Isolatingthe chamber in this way
restores asense of human scale within the more
Designed in collaboration wit
the eye-catchingbrise-soleil ing
integrates structure and solar co
58|4
CIVIC DIGNPart of a programme of imaginati
building in Ireland, these new offices invent
concerns of form, site and e1
1A huge timber brise-soleil isthe dramaticformal and functional signature of Limerick’snew civic offices.2The council chamber isco ntained in aterracotta tiled drum.3The buildingis set back from the road withparkingconcealed amonga topography of earth berms, which will eventually mature intogreen mounds.
[email protected] 269 -
1 councilchamber
2 meetingroom
3 offices
4 publicgallery
5 mainentrance
6 reception
7 atrium
8 kitchen
9 servery
10 staffrestaurant
ground floor plan (scale approx 1:1250)
first floor
second floor
crosssection showingdaytime heat gain
crosssection showingnight-time cooling
crosssection
4
5
6
7
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60|5 lower ground floor
4The timber lattice istrusses suspended betransfer beam and st5Office spacesoverloo6Projectinglight shelvhermetic east elevatinto the interior.7Angled trussmembeshadingwithout movlocation [email protected]
- 270 -
Structurally, it acts like agiant ribcage consisting
of 25 vertically spanningtimber trusses. Each15mlongtruss is made up of glulamScots pine
members anchored to avertical steel tube.
Support is provided at the bottomby a
horizontal transfer beamrestingon sculpted
concrete columns and at the top by steel
members tied back to the main concrete frame.
Together, the 25 trusses act as acomposite
structure 75mlong, transferringhorizontal
loads fromthe glass facade. Vertical loads are
carried by the steel roof structure. The angled
members of the individual trusses help to
optimize shadingfor both south and west sun
angles without the maintenance bother of
movingparts.
This sophisticated pleasure in the way things
are made and put together is also reflected in
beyond the buildingline to formlight shelves
that reflect illumination back into the heart of
the building. The thermal mass of the exposed
concrete soffits also plays akey part in astrategy
of passive environmental control.
The buildingis entirely naturally ventilated, with
fabric, structure and skin tuned to control the
internal environment. The atriumis the engine
of ventilation actingas athermal chimney, taking
air fromthe offices and exhaustingit at the top.
Narrow floor plates (17mwide) are easily cross
ventilated fromeast to west or fromoffices to
the atrium. Vertical louvres incorporated into
the east facade allow for ventilation in the damp
local climate.
Takingextensive soundings fromthe
prospective occupants through questionnaires
and discussion, Bucholz McEvoy evolved aset of
guidelines for the formal and experiential
character of the office interiors. Physical
openness, which was considered essential for
good staff communication and the building’s
environmental strategy, was balanced against
the need for visual and acoustic privacy, and the
need for individuals to have asense of control
over their immediate surroundings. The
outcome is far removed fromthe monotony of
generic open-plan prairies, with soft lighting,
large sycamore desks and linen-clad partitionsequipped with individual glare control screens
made fromfabric panels on moveable arms.
Against the background of an evolving
workplace that must also act as totemof civic
dignity and efficiency, Bucholz McEvoy’s new
buildingsucceeds in intelligently resolving
concerns of form, site, construction and
environmental control. The partnership’s
difficult second albumproved not such a
stumblingblock after all. CATHERINE SLESSOR
Architect
BucholzMcEvoyArchitects, Dublin
Project team
Merrit Bucholz,K arenMcEvoy, GrahamPetrie,
SabineKlingner, RebeccaEgan, MaryLouise Kelly,
JimLuke,Peter Crowley,JanaScheibel
8
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p g
the gently contoured underbelly of the office
floors, created usingspecial fibreglass moulds
froma boat builder. (Prototypes for these
featured in the Irish entry to the last VeniceBiennale, AR October 2002.) On the more
hermetic east facade, the concrete slabs project
Structural engineer
Michael Punch& Partners
Servicesengineer
Buro Happold
FacadeengineerRFR
Photographs
Michael Moran
62|5
8Light, airy interiorsare simply buthandsomely detailed.9Typical office space.10Council chamber isco ntained in thesemi-detached drum.11The soaringnave-like atrium formsthebuilding’sset-piece space.
CIVIC OFFICES, DOORADOYLE,
IRELAND
A RCHITECT
BUCHOLZ MCEVOY ARCHITECTS
9
- 271 -
Richard Meier’s Rome church is one event
originally planned to mark the celebrations
of the Jubilee of AD 2000. This was initiated
by the Pope in 1994 when he called for aSpecial Consistory to prepare for the Great
Jubilee at the startingpoint of the third
millenniuminvolvingthe Catholic wor ld as a
whole. Meier’s project is the 50th church to
be inaugurated in the Vatican’s Millennium
Project. Each church has a community centre
and they are built in various parish districts
throughout Rome.
The Jubilee Church commission was the
result of an international competition, and
the Vatican’s shortlist included Meier, Gehry,
Behnisch, Calatrava, Eisenman and Ando.
The award of the project to Meier was
controversial fromthe outset, in that Meier
as a Jew would be workingwith the foremost
Catholic client – the Vatican itself. However,
entirely successful in architecture of
outstandingoptimism.
The church, named Dio Padre
Misericordioso (God our Merciful Father) byPope John Paul II, was consecrated and
inaugurated on 26 October 2003 by Cardinal
Camillo Ruini in a four-hour service of
celebration, music and ritual. This was
attended by a huge congregation both within
the church itself and externally on the
church piazza.
The church is in an ordinary 1970s
10-storey housingquarter at Tor Tre Teste,
a suburb at some distance fromthe centre of
the city. Taken together, church and
community centre for ma spectacular new
focus in an otherwise low-key suburban
environment, and define both a religious
precinct and a hearteningsense of place.
Meier has said that ‘… expression of
the ideas behind the design of this church’. It
is a wonderful gift to the whole community
of more than 25 000 people.
The fan-shaped site is approached directly
from the east across a travertine paved
entrance piazza (sagrato ), which extends as a
base to the church on the south and west of
the precinct. The entrance is marked by
several external features including a silver
cross, and a campanile with exposed bells –
the tower markingout both the church to
the south and the community centre to the
north. The generous entrance hall, defined
by a travertine screen wall, is partly enclosed
within by a raised organ loft. Once in the
nave, the main altar is immediately visible at
the west end. Although unconventional, this
position is a logical result of the frontal
eastern entrance.
Plan-formand section are extremely clear.
Three circles of equal radius create three
concrete shells to the south and together
with a thick spine wall to the north, the main
space of the church nave is contained. In a
contrasting, plain L plan around a sunken
courtyard, is the community centre, on four
levels. The centre is separated fromthe main
church by a linear top-lit atrium.
The plan of the church is essentiallytraditional with nave, altar, side chapel and
confessional booths. Introduction of the
three shells transforms the project and
implies the Holy Tr inity. Natural light is the
major theme, with skylights between each
shell and over the main space, creatingever
changingpatterns within. Meier has referred
to this as ‘… a luminous spatial experience
… the rays of sunlight serve as a mystic
metaphor of the presence of God’.
Curvingin both plan and in section, the
three shell wall planes are the real tour de
force in the whole project. They are
sweepingvertical cantilevers formed with
panels of beautiful white concrete with a
finish so fine that it resembles marble.
1In a nondescript suburb of Rome, thechurch isa glowingbeacon composedof overlapping, shell-like forms.2Main east entrance. The concreteshells are anchored by a spine wall.
1
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the relationship and the resultant complex
are a triumph of this collaboration, and
aspiration, hope and belief, as well as
openness and transparency are all aspects of
Meier’s description of the engineering
effort involved in erectingthe shells as
48|4
CHURCH, ROME, ITALY
A RCHITECT
RICHARD MEIER
INSTRUMENT OF LIGHTRichard Meier’s long awaited church in Rome is
a beautifully honed giver and receiver of light.
site plan [email protected] 272 -
crosssection
1 meetingroom
2 courtyard
3 communitycentre
4 main(east) entrance
5 campanile
6 nave
7 altar
8 sidechapel
9 confessionals
10 organloft
11 priest’soffices
12 pastoralr esidence
13 ki tchen
14 bedrooms
ground floor plan (scale approx 1:500)
longitudinal section
second floor
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50|4 basement first floor
3The calm, luminousinterior. Thelimited palette of materials(whiteconcrete, travertine and timber) andstudied absence of ornamentationenhancesthe air of [email protected]
- 273 -
‘Herculean’, underlines the task involved
in the achievement of the cantilevers.
(They are prefabricated post-tensioned
concrete panels.)
The three shells, or arcs, forma massive
instrument of light – the most monumental
gesture of Meier’s whole repertoire – and
embody the sacred space at the heart of the
church. In contemplatingthe design, Meier
has referred to both Le Corbusier atRonchamp and especially to Aalto and the
Church of the Three Crosses in Finland.
Aalto’s church at Riola, near Bologna, came
to mind in visitingthe Jubilee Church.
The interior space and materiality of the
main nave and side-chapel are serene and
beautifully crafted. The limited range of
materials – travertine, white concrete and
light wood – predominates and there is
currently an absence of any decoration. The
white concrete shells contrast with the
travertine and slatted wood of the spine wall;
otherwise the nave is occupied only by the
simple ranges of wooden pews. The white
stucco organ loft with its silver clusters of
pipes, and the sculpted white altar, form
counterpoints at the two ends.
The altar plinths and furniture are all
formed in the same travertine as the nave
floor. Each element of the furniture is
exemplary, and some items such as the
casket for communion wafers (a gold box in
the side chapel) are quite exquisite. The only
concession to tradition is a nineteenth-
century cross above the main altar.
At night, the whole church is a giver of
light to the outer world and again the three
shells, and the transparent ends of the
church, give a spectacular signal of a sacred
entity within the community.
The community centre has its main
approach fromthe eastern church sagrato
through the central linear atrium. Secondary
entrances are provided fromtwo courtyards.
The basement holds the major meetinghall
(Sale di Riunione) adjacent to the sunken
courtyard. Both courts are intended for
stagingcommunity events associated with
the church.
Upper levels include the parish priest’s
offices and catechismrooms. The second
floor houses the pastor’s residence and thekitchen. The residence incorporates a
splendid livingroomwith a raised ceilingand
top light, and includes a brick hearth and
fireplace. It has fine views of the parish:
housingand the community at large.
The western half of the site includes
discreetly placed parkingand a landscaped
area, within risingwalled ground, planted
with olive trees. The whole of the secular
precinct and the community centre is in
white stucco, with the north elevation
enlivened by balconies. The minimal nature
of the centre is an appropriate contrast to
the exuberance of the main church.
Although this is Meier’s first church, the
parti of the plan and section are unique
within his work, and the beautiful white
precast concrete walls of the shells a
resoundingsuccess in the use of materials
and structure. This church is truly part of the
twenty-first century – a new landmark and
place of pilgrimage for the faithful.
IVOR RICHARDS
Architect
Richard Meier & Partners, New York
Structural engineers
Ove Arup and Partners, Italcementi
Mechanical engineers
Ove Arup and Partners, Luigi Dell’Aquila
Lightingconsultants
FMRS, Erco
Photographs
Edmund Sumner/VIEW
CHURCH ROME ITALY
4Detail of organ loft.5Both literally and metaphorically,the church isa giver and receiverof light.
4
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52|4
CHURCH, ROME, ITALY
A RCHITECT
RICHARD MEIER
origin of plan geometry axonometric [email protected] 274 -
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It didn’t take Gormley and
Chipperfield longto establish that a
modified industrial shed would be a
woefully inadequate solution for
the1994TurnerPrize-winning
and safety and quality control.
Gormley needed afunctional,
maintenance-free, robust building,
with more space to work, and
significantly,morespacetothink.
Gormley has longadmired
Chipperfield’s work, discoveringit
for himself while dil igently
searchingthrough RIBA files for a
suitablearchitect toconverthis
STUDIO, LONDON, UK
A RCHITECT
DAVID CHIPPERFIELD
3
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66|5
the 1994 Turner Prize winning
sculptor’s new studio. Having
outgrown his gritty Peckham
studio – aformer laundryconverted by Eric Parry in 1988 –
Gormley’s need to move was more
than anotch up in scale and
location (buildingthree and ahalf
times more space within easier
reach of his north London home).
The need to find asite, commission
an architect and collaborate on the
design of apurpose-built studio
reflected the fact that, like it or
not, for artists like Gormley, art
has increasingly become a
professional practice. Servicing,
deliveries, storage, stocktakingand
databases are now all part of the
process, as are dare I say, health
significantly, more space to think.
UnderstandingGormley’s
workingmethods, Chipperfield’s
teamknew that this buildingwouldbe tested to destruction. With
forklift trucks, weldinggear and
beamcranes, Gormley would work
this structure hard, and unlike
many clients, he impressed the
architects with his intuitive
understandingof forces, mass, and
material. ‘What are the engineer’s
safety factors?’ he would ask while
scrutinizingworkingdrawings,
settingstringent performance
specifications for suspension
capacity, impact resistance and
point loads across the entire site
(includingthe external yard and
cantilevered stair landing).
suitable architect to convert his
own home in 1989. Notinga
strength that surpasses the ‘up-
yours brutalism’ of the ’60s and’70s, and an ability to make
established forms of Modernism
more logical, Chipperfield’s
manipulation of materials, light and
formhad clearly impressed him.
For Gormley, therefore, whose
work is fundamentally based on the
human figure, aside fromsetting
finite performance targets, the
spatial demands of scale and
proportion were of equal
significance. As aplace in which to
contemplate the formof his work,
the volumes had to be right.
While Gormley stresses that this
is afactory, not atrophy building,
2Gormley’sprincipal lofty and spaciouswgenerousrooflights3... providingspace inwith accessto worksareasbeyond.2 [email protected]
- 276 -
the design has to transcend
utilitarianism, and the teamwere
keen to engage in aphilosophical
exploration of abuildingthat
would be part gallery and part
shed. Reconsideringindustrial
typologies, they investigated how
to blur conceptual boundaries, and
after six or seven prototype
designs (includingaMarfa-esquebarrel-vaulted option), the
repeated-bay pitched-roof scheme
emerged. Mimickingthe
proportion of his former studio,
but increasingits dimensions and
replicating it seven times, Gormley
was comfortable with the scale
that he associates with aGeorgian
house. Reworkingthe Victorian
roof typology minimizes distracting
views, while providingexcellent
daylightingand flexible hanging
space throughout. The seven bays
are broken down into double- and
single-height volumes centred on
the principal three-bay studio.
Functions are then carefully
disposed, with private studios
intentionally remote, separated
fromshared spaces by two
external staircases; graceful,
sculptural objects that slow you
down, enforcingpace, ritual, and
contemplation. While the ground
floor is given over to production –
with photography studio, storage
and delivery spaces, the principal
studio, workshop, studio
manager’s office and changing
rooms – the first floor provides
places for private and shared
reflection, with two private studios(one each for Gormley and his
wife, the painter Vicken Parsons), a
resources/meetingroom, an office
and agenerous common room.
The purpose-built studio has
afforded Gormley several ‘very
practical luxur ies’, such as staff
changingrooms, and adesignated
plaster roomwhere he can create
his own body templates without
contaminatingthe studio spaces
beyond. The yard is also of critical
importance, fully serviced to allow
outside work, and havingcapacity
for two articulated lorries.
Pure in form, Chipperfield’s
tectonic control is seen
throughout, with seamless walls
and soffits set against the exposed
roof structure, while in detail,
modest joinery, metal doors and
bespoke ironmongery add mass to
the building, fabricated fromthick
plywood and reassuringly weighty
3mmgauge galvanized steel.
Gormley concluded with a
reflective question: would his work
be affected by his new studio?
Work that he has based on
architectural illusions: body-as-
space and space-as-mass. Perhaps,
he speculates, Chipperfield’sarticulation of volume has
influenced his emergingwork with
variable block sculptures. But,
certainly on apractical level,
improved daylightinghas facilitated
more intricate work, and the
luxury of space has allowed himto
experiment with mock-ups, such as
that produced for his latest work
‘Clearing’ – awild metallic
tumbleweed formed by a10km
length of square section aluminium,
currently tracingasinuous
trajectory in London’s White Cube
Gallery. ROB GREGORY
Architects
DavidChipperfieldArchitects:KevinC armody,
DavidChipperfield,Paul Crosby,Andy
Groarke, Victoria Jessen-Pike,Kaori Ohsugi
Photographs
All photographsby Richard Bryant/Arcaid
apart from4 and 5 whichare byPeteMoss
4Transfuser suspended beneathrooflight.5Gormley’sworkshop, with viewsthrough to principal studio beyond.6View from office, through principalstudio, to Gor mley’sstudy beyond.7Resources/meetingroom.
8Vicken Parson’sstudio.9View from studio office withcommon room beyond.
STUDIO, LONDON, UK
A RCHITECT
DAVID CHIPPERFIELD
longsection
4
5
6
7
8
9
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68|6
1 mainstudio
2 workshop
3 studio manager’soffice
4 plaster room
5 changingrooms
6 photographystudio
7 deliveries/storage
8 privatestudio 1
9 privatestudio II
10 commonroom
11 office
12 resources/meeting
13 dark room
14 storage
15 lavatories
16 courtyard
ground floor plan (scale approx. 1:660) first floor plan
6 7 1
2
435
8 9
12
11 10
13
1514
16
[email protected] 277 -
Sydney’s Bondi Beach is, rightly,
one of the world’s more famous
crescents of sand, but its natural
beauty is not matched by the
architecture frontingit and
sprawlingover its cliff-top
flanks. No single carbuncle but
aplague of minor boils; arash
of postwar brick and clay-tile
houses that owe everythingto
the worst of English suburbiaand
nothingtothemightoftheSouth
readily last as an exposed
buildingmaterial in such a
weather-beaten location but
geo-technical surveys indicate
that it provides asolid footingt o
the concrete structure – along
this section of the cliffs at least.
A walled entrance court
deliberately conceals the
spectacular views, which are
only revealed to the casual
visitor after reachingthe
glass panels 250mmwide. The
double-height hall beyond is an
atriumbetween seaward and
landward pavilions of the
building. Its wedge shape
culminates in a deep internal
lightwell fronted by a4.5mx
2.5mframeless glass panel.
Uplights are set into the
polished concrete floors to
avoid the need for lights within
thesoffit highabove;noneof
Living on the edgeWalter & Cohen’s house: a threshold between suburbia and the South Pacific.
a r
h o u s e
1
4
52 3
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89|988|9
nothingto the might of the South
Pacific Ocean.
Contemporary architects are
gradually makinginroads withmore climatically responsive
houses that are replacingthe
tacky brick boxes. London-based
Walters & Cohen has replaced
one such bungalow on the very
edge of the sandstone cliffs to the
north with ahouse made up of a
pair of pavilions in white render
and glass that clingvertiginously
80mabove the surf. Por ous
Sydney sandstone does not
visitor after reachingthe
L-shaped first-floor livingarea
wrapped on two sides with
glazing. Views outwards allowwhale watching, views
downwards can reveal shoals of
fish 80mbelow, and those
upwards give advance warning
of any approachingelectrical
storms that can buffet the house.
In an exercise in deferred
gratification, you enter through
asolid timber door set in ablade
of masonry some 7.5mhigh and
flanked by equally tall etched
the soffit high above; none of
the first floor’s ceilings are
interrupted by light fixings.
A flight of timber treads iscantilevered off the wall,
supported by an internal edge
beamof welded steel angles,
some of which return vertically
to formthe framework for the
glass balustrade. Upstairs, the
panoramaawaits.
Concealed at entrance level
on the seaward side is a suite of
rooms with ocean views, two
bedrooms and awoodwor king
180m above the South Pacific …2… surrounded by Sydney’ssuburban brick boxes…3… Walters & Cohen’snew houseisenter ed through a walledcourtyard.4Once inside, breathtakingviewsare revealed from within theclerestoried livingroom …5… and acrossthe rooftop pool.
HOUSE, S YDNEY ,
AUSTRALIA
A RCHITECT
WALTERS & COHEN [email protected] 278 -
studio for the client. Steel-
framed sliding doors and
windows allow uninterruptedviews, even from the bathrooms
that have bluestone-clad (from
neighbouring Victoria) baths
pushed against the glass. Handles
are everywhere minimized or
absent. Full-height doors at this
level pivot shut to 10mm-wide
aluminium returns set in the wall.
This minimal detailing prescribed
by Walters & Cohen and aneatnik client has been clarified
and executed throughout by
local practice Collins and Turner
(both former Foster and Partners
employees).
All the timber used, including
the matchstick screens of the
garage and the double-height
old wharf from the port of
Fremantle in Western Australia.
The oriel serves anotherdouble-height space on the
landward side reached from a
half-landing and incorporating
a mezzanine bedspace – itself
accessed by a beautifully built
formed-concrete staircase.
A small square window gives
glimpses back west across
the peninsula and Sydney
Harbour to the distant CentralBusiness District.
This room, like the whole of
the upper floor in both pavilions,
is surmounted by a clerestory set
above two steel channels back-
to-back to conceal perimeter
lighting. The steels act as a ring-
beam for each pavilion and steel
created between the floors but
the combination of under-floor
heating for the winter monthsand the cooling breezes pushing
over the lip of the cliff suggests
that mechanical climate control
will not be necessary.
Although some blinds may
need to be installed against
strong morning light, the rest of
the cantilevered upper floor,
kitchen, living, dining, study and
TV areas, make the most of theuninterrupted gull’s back views.
Most of the glass doors open,
with only a glass cliff-edge
balustrade (on a curve with a
setting-out point some 200m out
to sea) between you and the
drop, but opposite the dining
area incorporation of structure
of jarrah shelves and cupboards
that runs 7m from the return of
the staircase balustrade, thenfolds around the study zone and
makes a backdrop to a sunken
TV area. Here the glazing forms
a frameless box reflecting the
sea and the cliffs by day and the
moon by night. The nose of this
box, seen from the entrance
courtyard, is a subtle indicator
of the axis of splendour to come
ROBERT BEVAN
Architect
Walters & Cohen
Executive architect
Collins and Turner
Landscape architect
Barbara Schaffer
Engineer
Murtagh Bond
Photographs
Ri h d Gl
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oriel above, is recycled jarrah –
a tough Australian hardwood– some of it sourced from an
uprights carry the steel roof with
its deep-shading eaves.An air-conditioning zone has been
into a masonry panel creates a
framed view. This living area isbacked by a waist-high insertion
Richard Glover
HOUSE, S YDNEY , AUSTRALIA
A RCHITECT
WALTERS& COHEN
6Master bedroom suite.
6
In the last few years, Shuhei
Endo’s experiments with
galvanized corrugated steel havebecome world-renowned. He
realized that the very cheap
material, commonly used only in
industrial and agricultural
buildings, could have many more
applications when its stiffness is
increased by bending and curving
it at right angles to the
corrugations. Buildings like the
bicycle sheds at Sakai railwaystation (AR April 1997) and the
little building in the park in Hyogo
Prefecture (AR October 1998)
resulted, showing how corrugated
metal could suddenly become an
impressive substance, adopting
new and dramatic forms that canenclose flowing silvery spaces.
The new house and studio in a
suburb of Biwa-cho in the Shiga
Prefecture takes the development
rather further than earlier
experiments. It is fundamentally a
single continuous strip of
corrugated metal bent to enclose
all the internal spaces of the
building, and some of the externalones too. The wide metal ribbon
slides and writhes sideways, east
to west, in flattened coils starting
with the garage, then defining a
partly covered outside platform,
thereafter soaring up to make a
double-height gallery, descending
to kiss a pool and finally returning
are pinned and connected by a
long axial route that runs
westward from the main entranceand garage through the double-
height space, past a comparatively
conventional terrace (which is
defined to the west by the glazed
wall of the poolside kitchen/dining
room) and ending with the
bedroom in the south-west
corner of the site.
The metal ribbon is not pierced,
so all daylight comes from glazingon the east and west flanks. By
setting the entrance back from the
access road on the east side of the
site behind the garage and the
metal terrace, the house is
ensured a good deal of privacy,
which is enhanced by the
imperforate metal walls that
ATELIERAND HOUSE, BIWA-
CHO , SHIGA PREFECTURE,
JAPAN
a r
h o u
s e
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to the ground to define the
bedroom. The spaces it defines
prevent overlooking from close
neighbours on the tight suburban
A RCHITECT
SHUHEI ENDO
Curvaceous corrugatedEndo continues his exploration of bent corrugated metal in a domestic application.
site pla
section A-A
1 entrance
2 garage
3 metalterrace
4 gallery
5 north terrace
6 rest room
7 bedroom
8 bath
9 kitchen/dining
10 pool
11 lawn
ATELIERAND HOUSE, BIWA-CHO,
SHIGA PREFECTURE, JAPAN
A RCHITECT
SHUHEI ENDO
2North terrace.3Compressed kitchen/diningroom .4Garage and entrance with metalterrace left. Colour and texture of galvanized steel relate to traditionalgrey tileso n neighbouringhouses.5
Junctionsof flowingsteel and moreorthodox elementsare not alwayseasy.
sites to north and south.
Ingenuity of composition and
construction is undoubted, but
the adaptation of what Endo calls
‘Springtecture’ to domestic
architecture involves several
problems: thermal and acoustic
ones are obvious. And there are
also difficulties in relatingthe
basically orthogonal geometry of
rooms to the writhings of the
steel. Partitions are made in
orthodox br ick, and in glass
framed in steel and timber.
Particularly acute problems occur
where walls meet the roof curves
and special pieces have to be made
to achieve the junctions
2
4
5
1011
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ground floor (scale 1:200)78|8
to achieve the junctions.
Yet such difficulties have proved
soluble, if at aprice. Springtectureis clearly coilingitself for further
leaps. VERONICA PEASE
Architect
Shuhei Endo
Photographs
YoshiharuMatsumura
3
9
5
2
3
4
1
6
7
8
[email protected] 281 -
The Rhineland Regional Museumstarted as longago as the 1820s, and
has accumulated adistinguished collection rangingfromthe 40 000
year old skeleton of Neanderthal man to contemporary artworks. The
original purpose-made museumbuildingwas set up in the 1890s on a
site stretchingnorth-south between two streets just south of the main
railway station. An extension was added in 1909.
Duringthe Second World War, the main buildingwas bombed, leaving
the 1909 extension at the north end intact, and aboxy new museum
buildingin sub-Mies vocabulary was made to replace it in 1967. By the
late 1990s, this had become technically unsatisfactory, submittingitsvaluable contents to unacceptable variations in temperature and
humidity, quite apart fromthe sheer unattractiveness of the uninspired
and ageingfabric. At first, the museumauthorities intended to rework
and update the thir ty year old structure, but this promised to be an
expensive task, hardly less than renewingthe whole. Havingjust lost the
status of capital, Bonn was beinghanded generous cultural money, so a
new buildingto the highest technical standards was possible. A
competition was held and won by Ar chitektengruppe Stuttgart, who
decided to make anew block to the south, its main entrance frontinga
shallow square, while preservingand internally convertingthe 1909
CRYSTAL CASEThe Rhineland Regional Museum in Bonn is a model
of its kind in both urban and cultural terms.
RHINELAND REGIONAL MUSEUM,
BONN, GERMANY
A RCHITECT
ARCHITEKTENGRUPPESTUTTGART
site plan
1The layered facade ...2... which, on the south side, containsacafé and some exhibitsin the tr ansitionspace.
1
A museum
B museum square
C workshops
D administration
E sculpturecourt
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54|6 [email protected] 282 -
1 entrance
2 lobby
3 r estaurant
4 shop
5 atrium
3, 4‘Like a display case or open drawers.’5The atrium, which isthe heart of thebuilding, relating the disparate floorheightsof old and new elements.
RHINELAND REGIONAL MUSEUM,
BONN, GERMANY
A RCHITECT
ARCHITEKTENGRUPPESTUTTGART
extension to the north. Rather than workingdirectly with the exhibits,
the architects were asked to produce arange of exhibition rooms
flexible in character, allowingfor changes of interpretation. The
exhibition design was placed in other hands as aseparate operation.
Most remarkable in the new museumis the layered treatment of the
south facade, which flips between transparent and reflective as your
viewpoint changes. A single-glazed outer screen-wall servingas
rainscreen and climatic buffer stands some 4mforward of the timber
inner facade surmounted by acompletely glazed roof. This glass case is
not just an empty symbol for a museum, but also atransition space. Itprovides aprotected outdoor areafor the café enjoyingthe afternoon
sun, and it also houses acouple of exhibits which belongoutside but
require protection fromfrost and acid rain: aRoman arcade and a
Gothic cross. The naked wooden inner facade behind is presented in
contrast like aseries of display cases or open drawers shallowly angled
to project fromthe facade plane. The twist in its components makes
the facade more three-dimensional, brings down the scale, and
exaggerates the degree of openness. In fact it is largely solid, though
there are narrow windows between the boxes framingviews to south-
east. The timber treatment continues inside, its texture enhanced by
the sidelight, so the visitor easily makes the connection.
The organization of the new museumis commendably clear and
makes avirtue of the marriage of the buildings, for nowhere does it
seemastrain. The ground floor central entrance introduces the main
axis alongwhich the complex is deployed. It leads on through aglass
wall to avisually open but fully controlled layer housingticket hall and
café, and near-central stairs in alarge well lead down to cloakrooms.
Entrance to the museuminvolves passage through another glass wall
which brings one to awell with stairs to one side and numerous other
flights and ramps passingoverhead. This atriumis the heart of thebuilding, mediatingbetween the shallower floor heights of the new part
and the more generous old ones in the 1909 part. It i s aclear reference
point for reorientation and is spatially the most interestingvolume, but
so little daylight is admitted by the clerestories of the rooflight that it
third floor
second floor
3 4
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56|6
5 atrium
6 schoollunch
7 classrooms
8 readingroom9 library
10 administration
11 void
12 temporaryexhibition
13 plant
first floor
ground floor (scale approx 1:1225) longsection [email protected] 283 -
feels completely internal, dominated by electric illumination. Fromthe
well you can move into exhibition rooms in either direction. The new
buildingoffers a wide central hall, a narrower roomon each side, then
ayet narrower one, alinear gallery with daylight only at the ends. But if
you continue instead on axis into the old building, you discover asuite
of taller rooms: asingle central hall with six columns and gallery, and
traditional side-lit rooms at each level on each flank. Set under an
updated version of the original glass lantern with an inner translucent
ceilingin barrel-vaulted form, the central hall is bathed in daylight,
bringingthe whole museumto an appropr iate climax. Somewhatchurch-like, this space has appropriately been used to accommodate
religious and monumental objects of stone, such as Roman funerary
inscriptions and Romanesque capitals fromlost churches.
In presentingthe collection, the curators decided against a
traditional chronological progression, reorganizingthe material around
nine themes includingPeriods, Power, Fromwilderness to city, From
gods to God, Secrets of discovery, and Rhineland and the Wor ld. It is
like the themed arrangement of Tate Modern in London, and has
similarly brought both praise and criticism. It seemed to me to work
well, and has at least the advantage of demonstratingthat classification
is neither fixed nor neutral, and it also gives the curators amore visibly
active role. That it may all be reorganized by fresh curators with anew
world-view seems no bad thing, and is agood argument for the kind of
general-purpose loose-fit attitude taken by the architects. The
exhibition designers have added acertain amount of deliberate scene-
setting, but the buildingtakes it quite well. Fortunately, the whole
treatment is more sober than most recent museums, and the signage
relatively restrained. It evokes some atmosphere of reverence and one
can enjoy the objects without the intervention of the shouting
gimmicks and interact ive gameshows that spoil many recent museumsin the UK. Reconstruction models are generally helpful, and a
computer simulation of the changinglocal landscape over millennia is
really engaging. The decision to commission life-size wooden
sculptures of local heroes from Agrippina– after whomthe Romans
named their first settlement Cologne, (Colonia Agrippina) – to Max
Ernst shapingone of his sculptures, has also paid off.
Since the initial reason for changingthe buildingwas technical, the
new one is environmentally well controlled, with ahigh thermal mass
due to its concrete construction, temperature control through heat
exchange usingpipes embedded in floor s and walls, and humidity
control through air-conditioningkept at amoderate level. It was one of
the architects’ stated aims to avoid showingoff the technical apparatus,
and the construction too is rendered rather basic and pure, with
deceptively simple detailingthat could even be called overprecise. My
greatest disappointment was the general gloominside the buildingand
the suppression of relations with the outside world.
The curators felt that history does not stop but goes on around us,
h i l d i i b f h i b d h
encouraged the architects to provide regular views out, but the phobia
against daylight has for the most part won the day, for even key viewing
windows are toned down by screens, and side-lightingin old rooms is
filtered by solid if translucent blinds. Stronglight can of course damage
many kinds of materials, and museumobjects are meant to last for
ever, so the caution of curators is understandable. At the same time,
exhibition designers most easily achieve control by applyingartificial
lamps of their own, and have made this their automatic habit. But many
of us prefer to see objects by daylight if at all possible, and its variability
– the very thingthat puts curators and exhibition designers off – is also
its virtue. It changes at different times of day and year, and helps locate
us in time. It is possible to calculate an object’s speed of destruction in
variable light and put it in darkness when it is not beingseen. It is also
possible to filter and control daylight and sunlight so that they are not
excessive. But this requires close collaboration between architects,
designers and curators rather than the assumption that exhibition
i ll bl kb
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58|6
so they actively wanted visitors to be aware of the city beyond. They areas are essentially black boxes. PETER BLUNDELL JO NES
RHINELAND REGIONAL MUSEUM,
BONN, GERMANY
A RCHITECT
ARCHITEKTENGRUPPESTUTTGART
6, 7Clim ax of museum: central hall bathedin daylight from translucent ceiling.
Architect
ArchitektengruppeStuttgart
Knut Lohrer, Uli Pfeil, Dieter Herrmann,
Gerhard Bosch, Dieter K. Keck
Job architects
Cathrin Dietz, VerenaWor telkamp
Assistants
Ulrich Hanselmann, Achim Buhse, Karin
Koschmieder, Monika Krönke, Bernd Remili,
Nicola Sibiller, Walter Ulrich, JörgW enzel,
AndreaWi edmaier
Photographs
All by Roland Halbeexcept no 6by author [email protected] 284 -
TUNED INSTRUMENTPiano’s arts museum in Dallas rivals Kahn’s in neighbouring
Fort W orth in lucidity and the subtle use of limpid light.
Combininga gallery and walled garden, both displayingworks in its
collection, the N asher Sculpture Center in Dallas joins Tadao Ando’s
recent Modern Art Museumof Fort Worth (AR August 2003) in
further consolidatingthe neighbouringcities as a major art
destination within the US. The Nasher is also the latest of a family of
museums the Renzo Piano BuildingWorkshop has built so that the
public might enjoy exceptional private collections of modern art. Like
the Menil Col lection (AR March 1987) and Beyeler Museum(AR
December 1997), its galleries are lit through an all-glass roof,
although here all sun-control devices are above the glass that is alsothe gallery ceilings. Also, while the Menil’s external walls are the same
grey clapboard as the surrounding bungalows, and the Beyeler’s are
clad in a stone resemblingthe streaky red sandstone of Basle, the
Nasher does not adopt a material found in its immediate locality.
Instead it is clad inside and out in travertine, as is Louis Kahn’s
Kimbell Museumof Art in Fort W orth (AR November 1978). This,
and the top-lit vaulted galleries, suggest a deliberate dialogue with
what many deemthe last unarguably great American work of
architecture, a dialogue set up by a new buildingthat, despite evoking
a mythic past, is as light and contemporary in feel as the Kimbell is
heavy and archaic.
Since the 1960s, real-estate developer Raymond Nash
wife, Patsy, amassed an outstandingcollection of mod
concentrated mainly on sculpture. Now totallingsom
these were displayed in their house and garden – and
public might encounter and enjoy them, in Nasher’s N
shoppingcentre. The sculpture centre now allows the
these works displayed on a rotatingbasis, which, alon
exhibitions and other events, should encourage regula
contemplative verdant oasis on the edge of the city ce
havingmet Renzo Piano at the Beyeler opening, entruthe museumto him and the garden to Peter W alker.
The 2.4-acre city-block site is in Dallas’ Arts Distric
street from the Dallas Museumof Art and a block aw
I. M. Pei’s Meyerson Symphony Center, between the s
strivingtowers of downtown and a sunken motorway.
challenge was to create a modestly scaled buildingtha
to such a site, bereft of history and consistent contex
overlooked by behemoths and edged by massive met
infrastructure. Piano’s initial instinctual response, poe
rational, was to neither compete with nor conformto
Instead the new gallery is quiet and low, and subtly em
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SCULPTURE MUSEUM,
DALLAS, TEXAS, USA
A RCHITECT
RENZO PIANO
BUILDING WORKSHOP
1The whole is orderestone-faced walls, frare [email protected]
- 285 -
relative newness of the surroundingstructures, which thus need not be
deferred to, by suggestinghis buildingsprings fromarchaeological
remnants that predate them. These remnants of earlier construction,
between and around which the sculptures have seemingly beenrediscovered, are the parallel tall stone walls dominatingthe gallery’s
plan, exterior and interior. (There is an irony here: Kahn advocated
architecture that would make great ruins; but the stones of these ‘ruins’
are flimsy claddings that would soon fall away to reveal acomplex mass
of steel structure, ductwork and pipes.) Though few would recognize
(and none be fooled by) the fantasy that sparked the design, the result is
abuildingthat nestles into place. The walls assert a footpr int of the scale
of the surroundingbuildings, yet despite these prominent walls the
buildinghas arecessive and delicate grace that contrasts refreshingly
with the muscularly chunky buildings that characterize Dallas.
Beyeler’s design also grew fromthe generatinggesture of parallel
stone walls, although these are capped by an oversailingglass roof and
faced internally in white plasterboard. Ranged parallel to the street,
the main volume of galleries they define is entered fromthe lobby,
side-on (as at the Kimbell) bringingsome cross-axial stability to these
elongated spaces. But the N asher’s stone-faced walls reach high above
the vaulted roofs, providinganchorage for the tension ties supporting
the midpoint of the roofs’ curved steel beams. The walls are also
perpendicular to the street, offeringviews fromit, through the fully
glazed ends of the bays they define, into the garden; and entrance isdirectly and end-on into one of these bays. Two of the other bays are
galleries; the last bay at one end contains ashop, directors’ offices and
boardroom; the last bay at the other end acafé and security centre.
The entrance bay also gives access to the garden and, viaastaircase,
to the basement. Like the Beyeler, the buildingis much bigger than it
first appears. In the basement are afurther gallery (for works
vulnerable to the bright light above), offices, kitchen and an
auditoriumthat can extend through aslidingglass wall to stepped
seatingoutdoors. Ringingthis basement, and extendingbeyond the
edge of the buildingabove, is an extensive service areafor mechanical
plant and storage.
2, 3Peter Walker did the magnificentgarden, which resonatesgentl y andquietly with Piano’s building.4Bay endsare all glazed, easier in agallery devoted to sculpture than onethat showsmainly paintings.5, 6Beautifully cut Tr avertine limestone,the material from which C lassicalRome wasbuilt, addssolidity to themyth of the mass.
SCULPTURE MUSEUM, DALLAS,
TEXAS, USA
A RCHITECT
RENZO PIANO BUILDING WORKSHOP
2
3
4
5 6
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48|6 site plan crosssection of typical bay showingconstruction and [email protected] 286 -
SCULPTURE MUSEUM, DALLAS,
TEXAS, USA
A RCHITECT
RENZO PIANO BUILDING WORKSHOP
7Beingthe lowest part of itssurroundings, the N asher …8… drinksin light from the sky througha most carefully gradated andorientated system of filters.9Lightnessand transparency arePiano’sdrivingintentions.
Outside and inside, the pale neutrally coloured natural materials of
the travertine walls and white oak floors predominate, enlivened by
the contrast with the white steel roof structure and sun-shading
panels, which are clearly visible through the super-white glass roof,and the charcoal grey frames of the fully glazed walls. The travertine
is used unconventionally: instead of showingthe usual vertically sliced
faces of horizontal beds of stone separated by holes, it has been sliced
horizontally, alongrather than across the beds, and pressure hosed
to expose a rough and varied pitted surface. The stone slabs (30mm
outside and 20mminside, where the pittinghas been filled) have then
been so skilfully matched and mitred as to give the impression of
thick solid blocks.
The main street facade is low key; the eye is caught mainly by the
contrast between the tall, substantial stone piers and the graceful
slightness of the slender steel beams that springand are suspended
between them. (The tension ties justify the height of the walls and
reveal these to be curved beams rather than arches. Yet they are the
one element of the building that will probably look passé with time:
they are too High-Tech and nothingdates as fast as the futuristic.)
The relationship between the street and the galleries inside is not as
intrusively immediate as is suggested by the open-ended,
perpendicular orientation. Plantingand porches distance the sidewalk
fromthe glass walls – and the piers steppingforward further r elieve
any abruptness, not least by introducinga slot of space parallel to thepavement. This interruption enhances the separation and makes
more intricate the flow of space. It is easy to imagine Kahn describing
these piers as breakingaway fromthe walls to begin their evolution
into properly articulate columns that create distance and dignifying
decorum; some sense of this is in fact subliminally suggested.
Even the main entrance lacks emphasis, revealed only by the
omission of plantingin front of it . Once in and past the ticket desk, a
cross-axial enfilade of openings slicingr ight through the building, and
7
8
1 mainentrance
2 entrancevestibule
3 entrancehall
4 art gallery
5 café
6 multi purposespace
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50|6 ground floor plan (scale approx 1:1000) lowe
north-west/south-east section
crosssections
6 multi purposespace
7 secondaryentrance
8 security9 servery
10 goodslift
11 gift shop
12 boardroom
13 passenger lift
14 cloakroom
15 offices
16 classroom
17 auditorium
18 open-planoffices
19 generalstore
20 art store
21 conservation store
22 workshop
23 stagearea
24 kitchen
25 staffbreak
26 mechanical
27 loading
28 truck lift
29 terracedgarden
2524
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265 9 8
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1
[email protected] 287 -
the generous stairs downward, suddenly reveal the extent of the
whole building, as if offering itself in a gesture of welcome. The
immediate impression in the entrance hall and galleries is of the twin
touchstones Piano is apt to repeat mantra-like, ‘lightness and
transparency’, here revealed in the weightless roof and the bright
light that floods through it as well as in the pervasive presence of sky
and garden visible through the roof and end walls. All this, together
with the stone walls, recalls a Victorian conservatory or orangery
rather than a conventional museum, and is only possible because
most sculpture, unlike paintings, is not vulnerable to light.
Piano’s preferred solution of lightingthe whole gallery evenly,
rather than reflectinglight primarily onto the walls where paintings
would stand out when seen fromthe more softly lit centre of the
room, is particularly apt for showingsculpture that may be placed at
any point between the walls. Direct sun fromabove is excluded and
diffused by cast aluminiumpanels that rather resemble egg-crates,
with openings shaped and angled to admit only north skylight directly.
Because Dallas’s street grid is angled 45 degrees fromnorth, so too
are the openings in the sunshades which reveal differingamounts of
sky and create differingpatterns as you move around. The sunshade
panels span between flanges propped up above the glass from the
slender curved beams, which have spotlight tracks alongtheir lower
edges. The ends of these beams sit in brackets that swoop down
slightly to connect (beneath concealed gutters) with the steel
columns within the walls, and so also seemingly sit on the head of the
stonework.
The character of the spaces is given not only by the lightness and
transparency, as enlivened by the pared and repetitive structural
elements and detail, but also by the sure judgement of proportion and
dimension. The cross-section of the bays is based on a double square,32ft (9.75m) between the walls and 16ft (4.87m) to the springingof
the curved beams, which rise only another foot at mid-span. This
breadth gives a feelingof great generosity and the relatively low
ceiling, with only the shallowest curve, gives a contrastingfeelingof
intimacy. The galleries suit sculpture (and the occasional painting)
very well but viewingpaintings would be distracted by the views out
and movement of space through the galleries.
Outside, the garden is set down a few broad steps from a plinth
that extends out fromthe building. Integratingmuseumand garden
are lines of tr ees that extend outward fromthe parallel walls,
between which stand various sculptures. Terminating the garden, a
planted bermacts as an acoustic barrier to the noise of the sunken
motorway, which is further screened by the splashingof a row of
fountains that stand out enticingly against the planted backdrop.
The Nasher is a buildingof great understatement and restraint, and
also of the richness that comes from precision: precision in
judgement of dimensions and proportions; and precision of
engineering, craftsmanship and detail. Designed to show off another
10From inside, it isdifficult tocomprehend ...11... the elaborate egg-crateconstruction of the north-seekingaluminium castingson the roof.12
10
11
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art form, it is an architectural instrument so finely tuned as to singits
own songsoftly in the background, a songso serene that some find itspiritual. (An equally apt metaphor, mechanical rather than musical,
that keeps comingto mind is of a purring, highly-tuned machine.)
Although it may also seema slight building, almost as much like a
garden centre as a museum, it is so well done, its artfulness raised to
the extreme of seemingartlessness, that it enhances and even
elevates the contemplation of sculpture. PETER BUCHANAN
52|6
SCULPTURE MUSEUM, DALLAS,
TEXAS, USA
A RCHITECT
RENZO PIANO BUILDING WORKSHOP
‘A buildingthat offersitself in agesture of welcome.’
Architect
Renzo Piano BuildingWorkshop, Genoa
Project team
R. Piano, E. Baglietto, B.Terpeluk, S. Ishida,
B. Bauer, L. Pelleriti, S. Scarabicchi,
A. Symietz, E. Trezzani, G. Langasco,
Y. Kashiwagi, F. Cappellini, S. Rossi
Associate architects
Beck Architecture, Dallas;
Interloop A/D, Houston
Structural engineer
OveArup &Partners
Landscape consultant
Peter Walker and Partners
Photographs
JohnE. Linden [email protected] 288 -
SHAW FESTIVA
PRODUCTIONC
NIAGARA-ON-T
CANADA
A RCHITECT
LETT/SMITH A
Niagara-on-the-Lake is a picturesque town at
the point where the Niagara River flows into
Lake Ontario. Set in the spectacular scenery
of the Great Lakes near Niagara Falls, the
town is the focus of the region’s burgeoning
wine industry and the home of the
internationally distinguished Shaw Festival.
The combination of historic architecture
(datingfrom the 1790s when the settlement
was briefly the capital of the colony of Upper
Canada) with nature and culture makes thetown both a popular bolt-hole fromnearby
Toronto and a destination for visitors from
around the world.
The Shaw Festival, started in the late 1950s
as a summer event to stage the works of
George Bernard Shaw, now embraces a
catholic range of theatrical tastes duringits
eight-month season fromApri l through
November. Productions are presented at the
small historic Court House and Royal
George Theatres in the centre of town, and
at the 860-seat Festival Theatre, designed by
Ron Thomand built in the 1970s at the east
edge of town lookingover the Commons and
federal parklands beyond. As the Festival
grew over the years, so backstage facilities
became increasingly inadequate, a problem
that has been addressed by the new
extension doubles the area of the Festival
Theatre.
A major concern was how to expand the
building’s facilities, yet minimize the apparent
scale of any addition in this sensitive setting.
It was also important to maintain the
intimate feelingof the Festival Theatre and
the views fromits foyers and terraces.
Operationally, the obvious place to build the
extension would have been at the north end
of the site, where the existingstage andbackstage areas are located. However, the
only available land was the space used for
coach parking to the south and adjacent to
the theatre’s entrance and foyers. In section,
because the stage and dressingrooms of the
theatre are one level below ground, the
logical connection to the new production
facilities was at this level.
Above ground, the new production centre
reads as a separate pavilion that makes a new
courtyard with the existing theatre. Both
buildings are entered from a new forecourt
and parkingarea on the west side of the site.
The theatre entrance has been rebuilt to
house an expanded box office and shop
together with a small library, a space for pre-
performance talks, and a new meetingroom
planned in a glassy corner bay. This area has
SHAW PRODUCTIONA sensitive addition, carefully knitted to a distinguished theatre, provides
new facilities and civilized spaces for staff and public alike.
2
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1
production centre which serves all three
theatres. Designed by Lett/Smith Architects
and recently completed, the 4000m2
also been excavated to incorporate the
critical basement level link to the new
building. A more modest entrance to the
1Upper foyer looksover pool andcourt towardsold building.2New entrance, left, with box of bigrehearsal hall behind.3Lookingfrom court towardsupperfoyer with rehearsal hall behind.
[email protected] 289 -
1 existingFestival
Theatre
2 upper rehearsalhall
3 lower rehearsalhalls
4 green-room
5 lower lobby
6 recordingsuite
7 box officecallcentre
8 off ice
9 dressingroom
10 sunkencourtyard
11 southterrace
12 patrons’ lounge/
upper lobby
13 receiving
14 library/multimedia
room
15 new theatreentrance
16 Shaw shop
17 wardrobecutting
andfitting
18 set/lightingdesign
19 lobbyextension
SHAW FESTIVALTHEATRE
PRODUCTIONC ENTRE,
NIAGARA-ON-THE-LAKE,
CANADA
A RCHITECT
LETT/SMITH ARCHITECTS
4Large rehearsal hall can be madelight-tight with adjustable fabricbafflesbetween columns.5New staff restaurant and green-room is much lessdauntingin use.6Upper level of foyer, from which …7… light poursdown to lower level.
section
ground floor plan
production centre alongside opens into a
separate foyer, which serves the large new
rehearsal/multi-purpose roomat ground
level. Within this foyer, a skylit well with a
glass stair provides daylight, access and a
visual connection to the lower level at the
point where the theatre’s existingbackstage
corridor meets the new building. At this
junction, a large new green-roomand staff
restaurant opens out to a south-facing
sunken garden terrace and, adjacent to this
social hub, staff offices also look into the
sunken court. On the east side of the new
building, a sound studio and two smaller
rehearsal rooms – one daylit fromthe
sunken garden and the other dark – extend
out under a newly created lawn.
The glassy large rehearsal hall provides a
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lower level plan (scale approx 1:1000)
workingarea equal to the stage of the
Festival Theatre. Columns are pulled inboard
to create a circulation zone around the
perimeter, and adjustable fabric baffles at the
column line enable the roomto be blacked
out, acoustically dampened, and planned to
simulate different stage layouts. The space
has a lightinggrid and control roomat high
level as well as access for scenery and props
from a new loadingbay.
Much of the warmth and intimacy of the
Festival Theatre was created by its red brick
walls, brick pavers, cedar shingled roofs and
wood pergolas. This principle of using
untreated natural materials without applied
finishes both inside and out – which makes the
Theatre resonate strongly with the work of 764|10 [email protected] 290 -
Aalto and other Scandinavian Modernists –
has been continued in the new production
centre. Externally, the rehearsal room is clad
with copper to distinguish it from the theatre,
while the entrance lobby provides a
transitional piece between new and old. A
new expressed concrete structure is
integrated with brick walls and pavers that are
detailed to match the original theatre. The
double-height stairwell wall is clad with rift-
cut oak veneered panels with the grain
running horizontally. Partially wrapped by a
reflecting pool and pergola, the lobby is fully
glazed on the north and east, with views out
to the theatre and the Commons respectively.
Used by company and staff, this space also
serves as a members’ bar for theatre patrons
and as a venue for special events.
The courtyard between the existing and
new buildings provides the theatre with an
elegant outdoor room and new gardens to
complement the mature wisteria on the
pergolas of the theatre. The threshold to the
seemingly carved into deep, chamfered
copper-clad reveals, both to emphasize the
solidity of the brick volumes and to frame
the courtyard threshold.
The thoughtful relationship between the
two buildings is a seemingly effortless
resolution of complex operational
requirements. This is a scheme in which
voids – courtyard, lightwell and sunken
garden terrace – are as important as the
programme spaces. They not only bring
daylight generously into areas below ground
level, but also ingeniously connect back-of-
house with front-of-house, and old with new.
The simple strategy of designing circulation
so that one is always walking toward views of
landscape – both natural and designed –
humanizes the typically dark, maze-like
backstage spaces of the theatre. Combining
the green-room and restaurant provides
company and staff with a much-needed place
to meet, talk and socialize informally. Unlike
themanyrecentbuildingsthatcall for
SHAW FESTIVAL THEATRE
PRODUCTION CENTRE,
NIAGARA-ON-THE-LAKE,
CANADA
A RCHITECT
LETT/SMITH ARCHITECTS
Architect
Lett/Smith Architects, Toronto
Project team
Peter Smith, Bill Lett Jr, Chris Lyons
Structural engineer
Chris Turner Associates
Mechanical engineer TMP Niagara
Landscape
Janet Rosenberg +Associates
Acoustics
Aercoustics Engineering
Theatre
Theater Consulting Group
Photographs
Ben Rahn
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pergolas of the theatre. The threshold to the
space on the west facade of the buildings is
marked by a covered outdoor walkway and
the pavement lights that illuminate the lower
level corridor. Small windows to the box
office and the new building’s lobby are
the many recent buildings that call for
attention, the new production centre is quiet
and understated, allowing the Festival
Theatre to continue to play the starring role,
while at the same time providing fine new
facilities for staff and public alike.
8Looking back at new building fromold at dusk. Walkway is illuminatedby light from corridor below shiningup through glass blocks.
The Niigata Prefecture is to the east of Japan’s bigisla
runs fromthe sea to the high central backbone of the
mountains, up to five and a half metres of winter snow
literally submergingbuildings and the even youngtree
magnificent, scented evergreen forests. To allow the p
interpret and investigate the natural world, the Matsu
Natural History Museumhas been set up on the edge
overlookingmountains and meadow.
Takaharu & Yui Tezukahave made abuildingthat wri
east-west through the landscape in abrown, almost sm
steel skin. Entered fromthe south, the snake encloses a
gallery showingnatural and artificial worlds, areceptio
administration, alecture theatre and, as the snake’s hea
fromeast towest aposhcafeteriacalled‘theculinarya
MUSEUMOF NATURAL
HISTORY , MATSUNOYAMA,
NIIGATA, JAPAN
A RCHITECT
TEZUKA ARCHITECTS
2
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fromeast to west, aposh cafeteriacalled the culinary a
A rusted steel observation tower terminates the tail to climbed by energetic visitors to obtain magnificent view
to the mountains. At key moments in the plan, notably w
changes direction, great transparent panels are inserted
offeringmarvellous views into the forests surroundingt
mullionless transparent expanses are so big that they ca
be called windows; they are almost invisible thresholds
interior and the outside. They reinforce a feelingof heig
enhanced by the strange perspective tricks of the rout
SNOW BOUNDIn the high backbone of Japan, rusted steel super-
strong skin resists winter loads and thermal stresses.
site plan
1, 2Like a deserted industrial site or astrange animal, the museum snakesthrough itsclearingbetween forestand rice field.1 [email protected]
- 292 -
MUSEUMOF NATURAL
HISTORY , MATSUNOYAMA,
NIIGATA, JAPAN
A RCHITECT
TEZUKA ARCHITECTS
1 entranceporch
2 h al l
3 reception
4 exhibition
5 special(butterfly) gallery
6 office
7 lavatories
8 laboratory
9 store
10 Kyororo hall
11 li
foot detail
eavesdetail
section showingprinciplesof heatingand ventilation
3Tadashi Kawamata’spathsand deck relate interior and nature …4... asdo the huge thick acrylic panels.
20
80
30
ÇPÇeÇkÅÅÇfÇkÅ{ÇVÇTÇO
206
320
4 0
75
125
a 75mm acrylicsheet
b plasterboard
c siteweldedC or-tensteelbacked
by70mm urethanefoam
d precast concretewithdust-proofpaint
e galvanizedgrating
3
4
a
a
c
d e d
b
c
b
3
6
712 8
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42|8
11 culinaryarts
12 stair to officesandstaffrest
ground floor (scale approx 1:450)
4
5
1
2
3
9
10
11
[email protected] 293 -
Architect
TezukaArchitects:
Takaharu Tezuka+Yui Tezuka
Associate architect
Masahiro Ikeda/MIAS
Project team
Takaharu Tezuka, Yui Tezuka, Miyoko Fujita,
Masafumi Harada, Masahiro Ikeda,
RyuyaMaio, Mayumi Miura, Taro Suwa,
Takahiro Nakano, Toshio Nishi,
Hirofumi Ono, Tomohiro Sato,
In winter, the temperature difference between inside and exterior isoften very great. And pressure fromdeep snow can be extraordinary
(dependingon the nature of the snow, how it fell, and how longit has
settled and so on). So the ‘thermally stable’ plates of rusted steel that
form the outer skin are 6mmthick, and are supported on a skeleton
of steel I beams. Skin and skeleton are designed to withstand
pressures of 1500kg/m2; the equally pressure resistant acrylic panels
are 75mmthick. All steel elements are thoroughly insulated. Inside,
there is a skin of plasterboard supported by a lightweight inner steel
skeleton. This white skin is separated from the main structure by a
generous cavity that acts as part of the ventilation and heatingsystem.
Warmair is injected alonggrilles in the polished concrete floors and
stale air is extracted through slots in the plasterboard at eaves level.
Heat is radiated to the interior through floor, walls and ceiling. In
summer, the systemcan be used to circulate coolingfresh air.
In winter, the museumprojects through the snow with its tapering
tower actingas a landmark and sign of civilization; it groans with
snow stresses. People look out into the surrounding banks of snow in
which a surprisingamount of life flour ishes below the surface. In
summer, the long brown snake slips alongthe contours of its semi-wild habitat, which is enhanced and intensified by timber paths and a
deck by Tadashi Kawamata. Fromsome points of view, the museum
seems like a picturesque long-abandoned industrial building, a mine
perhaps, in the middle of the countryside. Other aspects in different
seasons reveal a cave, a shelter amid the snow, a lighthouse, a
welcominghut in the forest. And of course always an animal: snake or
even fox. The museum’s complexity of possible readings and spatial
events enhance those of the natural world it sets out to interpret.
VERONICA PEASE
MUSEUMOF NATURAL
HISTORY , MATSUNOYAMA,
NIIGATA, JAPAN
A RCHITECT
TEZUKA ARCHITECTS
5
6
8
9
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44|8
Makoto Takei, Hiroshi TomikawaMechanical engineer
Eiji Sato, KisakatsuHemmi/ESA ssociates
Landscape
ShunsukeHir ose/Fudo Keisei Ji musho
Photographs
KatsuhisaKi da
5Special collection.6Museum isintended to interpretlocal ecology.7Snow buildingup.8, 9Cranked plan causesperspectivalillusionsof explodingand shrinkingspace.7 [email protected]
- 294 -
The modern vogue for weddings
in unusual settings is also highly
popular in Japan. Since most
Japanese are not dogmatically
religious, tendingto cherry-pick
aspects of Buddhism, Shintoism
and Christianity, wedding
ceremonies are not so firmly tied
to particular places of worship.
Klein Dytham’s recently
completed Leaf Chapel in the
Yamanashi prefecture makes theforested landscape in the foothill s
of Japan’s southern alps the
appropriately inspiringsettingfor
the solemn rituals of matrimony.
Set in the grounds of abig
swish hotel (whose trade has
perked up markedly since the
chapel’s opening), the new
structure resembles an elongated
eyeball partly bunkered into the
ground overlookinga small
reflectingpool to the forest and
hills beyond. The intimate, cave-
like interior of the chapel is
screened by an ‘eyelid’, an
openable veil studded with 4700
acrylic lenses, punched into the
surface in aswirling leaf pattern.
When the eyelid is closed,
scintillatingpin-pricks of light
percolate through the lenses,
creatingmagical luminous
patterns and effects.
The movingeyelid/veil forms
an important part of the wedding
ritual. At the end of the weddingceremony, when the groomli fts
the bride’s veil, the veil of the
chapel also opens, revealingthe
ravishingpanoramaof nature
beyond. After the ceremony,
as the congregation walks out
across the pond to adrinks
area, the veil slowly closes so
that the chapel can be reset for
the next wedding. This also
cannily ensures aregular
throughput o f customers (not
surprisingly, the chapel has
proved immensely popular).
Though touched with Klein
Dytham’s signature playfulness –
the transparent backrests of the
chapel pews are printed with
green lollipop trees familiar from
an earlier scheme for Tokyo
department store Laforet (A R
October 2001) – this imaginative
little structure also evokes and
connects with wider Japanese
traditions, such as setting
buildings very precisely in thelandscape in order to frame and
define particular views. The light-
percolatingveil could also be
seen as acontemporary version
ofshoji screens. In any event, the
interaction of buildingand
landscape makes amemorable
beginningto the charms and
challenges of married life.
CATHERINE SLESSOR
Architect
KleinDytham,T okyo
Photographs
KatsuhisaKi da
1The chapel in use. It hasprovedphenomenally popular.2The luminousinterior with theperforated veil lifted and viewsof the framed landscape beyond.3Building and nature asone.
site plan
ground floor plan (scale approx 1:250)
d e s i g n r e v i e w
1
3
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Eye doA verdant forest landscape forms the backdrop
for this ingenious little Japanese wedding chapel. crosssection 51|9
WEDDING CHAPEL,
K OBUCHIZAWA , JAPAN
A RCHITECT
K LEIN D YTHAM 2 [email protected] 295 -
1Tomb speaksthrough light, spaceand materials. In foreground isonyxslab coveringcoffin entrance.
Spain, like Italy, maintains amost
distinguished tradition of tomb-
building, but in many places it is
becomingeroded by what Manuel
Clavel Rojo calls a‘kitch-esque
style’, with alanguage composed of
PVC door and window frames and
bathroomtiles ornamented by
plastic flowers and musical angels.
So when he was asked to make a
family mausoleumin the litt le LaAlbercacemetery in apine forest
on the edge of Murcia in south-east
Spain, Rojo was determined to
return dignity and simplicity to the
rites of burial and mourning. Yet he
did not want to fall into what he
considers to be the trap of wistful
Classicismlike Loos and Aalto with
their broken column grave stones.
The Murciatomb is orthogonal,
with no references to history; it
speaks through light, space and
materials. It is made of slate and
glass with abigwooden door, and
is fronted by asimple rusted steel
cross. Built on aslope, the tomb is
designed to enhance the vertical
dimension of the entrance
sequence that rises froma massive
slate base that emerges fromthe
hillside in rather the way that Peter
Zumthor’s thermal bath protrudesgeologically fromits Alpine incline
at Vals (AR August 1997).
The tomb chamber is entered at
the lower level through anarrow,
3.6mhigh door of solid wenge
wood which, once opened, reveals
ashaft of luminance fallingfromthe
tall translucent panel that rises
vertically in the upper part of the
entrance sequence. The panel is
made of thick sheets of glass laid
horizontally on top of each other
with slightly ragged edges that,
externally, give the glass atexture
that relates to the surrounding
slate blocks. Lookingup fromthe
doorway, an image of the metal
cross is discernible through the
translucent plane, while its shadow
is thrown on the thick glass when
the sun is in the right direction.
Rojo calls the platformon top of the slate block ‘an altar where
burial occurs’. It is of travertine,
penetrated by two slots. O ne is for
the internment ritual, in which the
coffin is lowered down into the
tomb-chamber, while the actual
insertion of the remains into their
niche is hidden fromabove. This
openingis closed by asolid slab of
Pakistani onyx, which can be slid in
and out of position.
DIGNITY IN DEATHImaginative understanding of materials makes this tomb a fitting set for rites of passage.
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MAUSOLEUM, MURCIA,
SPAIN
A RCHITECT
MANUEL CLAVEL ROJO [email protected] 296 -
A shallow pool with aglass base is
formed in the other slot in the
travertine. Here, water is
continuously in motion, gently
pouringfromasmooth slot. So the
light that passes through the pool
to the underground chamber
flickers, in contrast to the more
constant luminance fromthe onyx
slab and the translucent vertical
glass panel. In daytime, the space isfilled with constantly changinglight,
areminder of the evanescent
nature of life in the constant, calm
presence of death. E. M.
Architect
Manuel C lavel Rojo
Project team
LuisC lavel,José Estrada,Jose Domingo Egea,
Antonio Victoria,Jose Antonio Abad,
MarmolesSantaCatalina,Cr istaleriaAcr iper
Photographs
All photographsbyJuandela CruzMegías,
apart fromno 4 whichis byDavidFrutosRuiz
2Visitors’ entrance isat lower levelwith huge translucent panel above.3Travertine podium isan altar forburial rites. In foreground coffin
entrance, beyond pool slot.4Chamber with light from onyx slab.5Crosswith pool behind.
1 niches
2 coffinentranceabove
3 poolabove
2 3
4 5
1
23
1
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60|8
MAUSOLEUM, MURCIA,
SPAIN
A RCHITECT
MANUEL CLAVEL ROJO axonometric section
plan of chamber (scale approx 1:100)
1
[email protected] 297 -
HOUSEAND RESTAURANT,
ONTARIO, CANADA
ARCHITECT
SHIM-SUTCLIFFE ARCHITECTS
Life in Stratford, Ontario
revolves around asummer
Shakespeare festival that was
started by Tyrone Guthrie in the
early 1950s and has become adrivingforce of the local
economy. In this setting, Rundles,
arestaurant housed in aformer
boathouse overlookingthe river,
has prospered and grown
incrementally over the last thirty
years under the watchful eye of
the same proprietor.
The most recent addition,
designed by Shim-Sutcliffe for an
adjacent site that was formerly a
small parkingarea, provides both
anew entrance to the restaurant
and aresidence. The boundary
between livingand workingis
marked by a20ft (6m) high site-
cast concrete wall that slices
obliquely between the
orthogonal volumes of the two
buildings. The angle of the wall
gives the restaurant more street
frontage, provides space for a
reconfigured entrance and
additional indoor and outdoor
seatingareas.
Passingasmall garden, patrons
enter into atoplit space with a
ramp up between the concrete
boundary wall and anew low wall
to the expanded diningarea.
Within this slot, guests can also
continue up to asmaller rear
diningroom, which looks out to
an existinggarden at the side. In
contrast with restaurant
entrance, the tapered sliver of
space created against the other
side of the concrete wall defines
the rear entrance to the house,
which is smaller in scale and
mysteriously illuminated by
isolated shafts of daylight. This
entrance makes it possible for the
proprietor to move discreetly
fromthe restaurant into the rear
garden and down into the sunken
double-height kitchen of the
dwelling.
This lowest level of the house is
cut into the slopingsite and is
formed by highly articulated site-
cast concrete that creates the
longouter face of the house, a
ramped parkingspace on the
street, and awater garden
outside the kitchen. The more
private areas of the dwellingare
held in atall, slender volume
perched on this concrete ground,
entered by awooden ramp. The
foyer is the base of adouble-
height toplit void, which captures
the sky at the heart of the house.
Vertical circulation moves
theatrically around and through
this void, connectingfloors on
alternatingsplit levels at the front
and rear of the ho
facingthe street a
section and open
void, while those
the rear garden a
intimate in scale a
fromview by scre
immaculately deta
and shiplap claddi
translucent glazed
this wooden skin m
S H I M F
I T
R u n d l e s R e s t a u r a n t a n d t o w e r h
o u s e i n a
r i v e r s i d e s e t t i n g i n S t r a t f o r d , O n t a r i o .
1The new residence iscement board r ainscby a single chimney awindowsto the bedr2... and the livingroom
2
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80|10 crosssection through restaurant ramp and residence’slightwell longsection1
7
6
10
4
8
11
9
[email protected] 298 -
reveals the silhouette of the stair
and the occupants of the house,
who are subsequently seen on
the bridge across the void leading
to the master bedroom or on the
landing that projects into the
kitchen. Although there are no
doors, each room has a clear
threshold marked by a change of
floor finish from the wooden
stair to carpet, stone or
concrete. Moving through the
house, unfolding views alternate
between pastoral river scenes
generously framed by windows
that slice open the front corners
fth h d l bli
HOUSE AND RESTAURANT,
ONTARIO, CANADA
A RCHITECT
SHIM-SUTCLIFFE ARCHITECTS
3 4
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of the house and close-up obliqueviews of the informal backs of
adjacent buildings.
While at first glance the
construction of the new
concrete wall seems to define an
impenetrable boundary, the
relationship that it creates
between restaurant and dwelling
is both complex and malleable.
9
11
Designed as apermanent commemoration of the great peace of
Montreal negotiated by the French and the aboriginal people in 1701,
the First Nations Garden Pavilion in that city’s Botanical Gardens
creates aplace where visitors can learn about the cultures of Quebec’s
11 aboriginal nations and avenue for sharingFirst Nation wisdom.
Confronted with the problemof designingabuildingfor adiverse
group of people whose existence was traditionally focused on the
natural landscape, the architects chose first to study the land. Working
with the aboriginal communities, they selected asite alongapath in the
Botanical Gardens that marks the boundary between two forests – one
aconifer forest that was the ancestral home of groups includingthe
Naskapi, Cree, Innu and Algonquin and asecond, made up of deciduous
trees, where the Micmac, Malecite, Abenaki and others had
traditionally lived. Seekingto develop ascheme that captured the
significance of this route and boundary while retainingexistingtrees, a
long, thin r ibbon of space defined by aroof was envisaged as acasting
of the path. Warped to acknowledge land contours and the bed of an
existingstream, this roof was cast in concrete and lifted high into thetrees. Supported on slender randomly distributed columns of self-
rustingsteel, it forms acanopy threaded through the forest.
The new pavilion provides exhibition spaces with aconservation
workshop, offices, storage, shop and small meetingroomfor
educational programmes. To minimize the impact of this buildingin the
landscape, museumworkspaces and storage are below ground and the
other public spaces grouped in two small blocks at each end of the
canopy. The shop is housed within a light glassy pavilion above the
museumworkspaces. Screened with a mat of lashed tree branches that
FIRST NATIONSGARDEN PAVILION,
MONTREAL, CANADA
A R CHITECTS
SAUCIER +PERROTTE ARCHITECTES
To celebrate the cultures of the aboriginal peoples of Quebec and the natural landscapes in which they evolved,
this pavilion in the Montreal Botanical Garden evocatively enhances and responds to the woods in which it is set.
1
Buildingfollo
between map
spruce (right
2
Undulatingro
from land and
stream. Cast
onto rusted s
WINDING THROUGH THE WOODS
site plan
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58|10 1 [email protected] 300 -
provide shadingalongthe south-west facade, it merges with the
surroundingforest and exploits the ambiguity of inside and out. At the
opposite end, ameetingroomis made with walls of rough shuttered
concrete and self-rustingsteel – materials that successfully embed it in
the ground. These moves reduce the apparent bulk of the new building
and leave the wisp-l ike canopy as the scheme’s predominant element.
The museumexhibits are planned in aseries of large free-standing
glass vitrines placed alongthe path and sheltered by the undulating
canopy. Emphasizingthe importance of the land, the designers have
focused the exhibits on the raw plant materials fromwhich everyday
objects such as baskets, hats, toys and other household objects were
traditionally made. These are collected to create an outdoor display
that is beautifully organized, clearly legible and carefully lighted. A birch
bark canoe, up-ended and set against a translucent screen of bir ch bark,
is viewed against the backdrop of the forest, alongside displays of other
significantexamplesofeverydayobjectsjuxtaposedwith screensofcranberries twigsandconessandwichedbetweensheetsofglass
roof plan and section
FIRST NATIONSGARDEN PAVILION,
MONTREAL, CANADA
A R CHITECTS
SAUCIER +PERROTTE ARCHITECTES
3, 4Concrete roof is cladcopper and providescabinets.5Ramp to lower level.6Exhibitsin display caemphasize importanaboriginal peoples.7Shop isabove museuscreened with lashed
1 bridge
2 boutique
3 storage4 t b l
3 4 6 7
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60|10
ground floor
significant examples of everyday objects juxtaposed with screens of cranberries, twigs and cones sandwiched between sheets of glass.
By carefully scrutinizingthe formof the land and consideringits
particular significance to the First Nations’ people of the region, this
new pavilion radically transforms the programme of the buildingto
create an educational focus and adistinct place in afragment of forest
at the heart of the city. BRIAN CARTER
lower level (scale approx 1:500)
Architect
Saucier +Perr otte Architectes, Montreal
Project team
GillesSaucier, AndréPerrotte, AnnaBendix,
Maxime-AlexisFr appier, Christian Hébert,
Sergio Morales
Engineers
Genivar
Landscape
Will iamsAsselin Ackaoui et Associés
4 opento below
5 exterior exhibits
6 meetingarea
7 washroom
8 courtyard
9 interior exhibits
10 offices
11 kitchen
12 ramp
5 [email protected] 301 -
1
2
Going with the flow
To preserve the picture postcard
view over Lake Bled, an hour’s
drive from the Slovenian capital
of Ljubljana, the local authorities
insist that every building and tree
visible from the lake be preserved,
including a decrepit hillside villa
a company president bought for
the same enchanting view. He
decided to move his family here
from an apartment in the capital,invited several architects to make
proposals, and selected Ofis on
the recommendation of a friend.
It was an inspired choice,
for Ofis, though it had yet to
complete a building at that time,
had demonstrated a gift for
interweaving old and new and
creating fluid interconnecting
spaces. Rok Oman and Spela
Videcnik established their firm in
1995 after meeting at architecture
school in Ljubljana, and set
up a satellite office in London
when they went there for their
Master’s at the Architectural
Association. They soon began
winning competitions – for a
remodel of the Ljubljana City
Museum (which opened last year,AR December 2004), a cineplex
and stadium in the provincial city
of Maribor, and a ground-hugging
housing complex in Graz. Just
finished is an apartment block
with boldly modelled balconies on
the Istrian coast (AR April 2005).
Le Corbusier is cited as a major
source of inspiration.
In Bled, the challenge was to
create a generous addition that
could not be seen from acrossthe lake. Ofis decided to gut the
villa, lower the ground around it
by a storey, wrap new living spaces
around the exposed base, and
insert a staircase that would rise
through the central void to the
children’s bedrooms on the first
floor and the master suite on the
second. Permits were issued and
construction was almost complete
when the entire complex was
seriously damaged by fire. Work
resumed, and the ‘old’ villa is now
a replica that’s more solidly built
than the original.
Ofis has played up the hybrid
character of the 1200sqm house,
contrasting the plain walls and
gabled bays of the villa with the
fully glazed, round-corneredplenum that coils like a python
around its base. This is extruded
into a three-car garage that is half
buried and set at a right angle to
the house to define a forecourt.
Berms formed from the excavated
soil shield the entry facade; trees
screen the house from the lake,
except in winter, and the public
footpath is far below. This stealth
strategy paid off, giving the owners
openness and privacy.A simple plan is enriched by
shifts of level, a generosity of
scale, and a sense of procession.
The family go directly from
garage to kitchen, but guests
enter though a massive door
that is set at an angle to the
facade and into a long, enigmatic
gallery. Automatic sliding glass
doors open to a stepped bridge
over a fountain, which provides
a soothing murmur, and a moat
that reflects light up onto the
walls. You walk forward to the
open living area, which faces
south over a wood deck to
the lake. Steel columns and
expansive glazing provide a
vitrine for the inner structure
of iroko wood, which is usedconsistently for floors, ceiling
HOUSE, LAKE BLED, SLOVENIA
ARCHITECT
OFIS ARHITEKTI
Ramps and shallow stairs weave a spacious addition
into the fabric of a nineteenth-century villa.
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86 | 11| 11 a r
h o u s e
site [email protected] 302 -
3
1 forecourt 2 garages 3 entrance hall 4 kitchen 5 dining 6 living 7 study 8 staircase 9 master bedroom 10 children’s bedrooms
2
1
8
3
7
6
5
4
8 9
1010 8
first floor
second floor
and the cladding of rectangular
structural columns.
The feeling is that of a rather
grand yacht, which is appropriate
since the owners spend the
summers on their boat, and this
sensation is heightened by the
play of sunlight off the pool and
lake. Panels of studded leather
punctuate the panelling.
Ramps lead up to the raised
areas at either end. To the west,
the kitchen is partially enclosed
with a screen of translucent glass
plates and can be shut off by wood
sliders. The husband’s study and
library to the east has built-in
The ramps complement the gentle
sweep and broad treads of the
staircase, which is cantilevered out
into the central atrium. Children’s
bedrooms and bathrooms are laid
out symmetrically to either side,
and the parents’ suite occupies all
of the top floor, wrapping around
the stair hall. Three round-headed
windows in a gabled bay of the
villa frame views over the lake, and
you can step out onto a balcony
with a glass balustrade to immerse
yourself in nature. MICHAEL WEBB
Architect
Ofis Arhitekti, LjubljanaPh t h
HOUSE, LAKE BLED, SLOVENIA
ARCHITECT
OFIS ARHITEKTI
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88 | 11| 11 4long section
ground floor plan (scale approx 1:1000)
cross section
library to the east has built in
cabinetry and massive book stacks.Photographs
Tomaz Gragoic
3Astth4T wthgtob
[email protected] 303 -
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HISTORY
AND
MEMORYOne of Berlin’s great
cultural institutions
has been imaginatively
remodelled to connect
with the l ife of the city.
AKADEMIE DER K
BERLIN, GERMAN
ARCHITECT
BEHNISCH & PA
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60 | 11| 11
1The greatglazed facadeof the newAkademie derKünste speaksof a welcomingsociability,binding the lifeof surroundingPariser Platzto the life ofthe [email protected]
- 305 -
The Akademie der Künste is a bit like the British Royal Academy except
that it involves a larger spectrum of arts, including literature, theatre,
film and dance as well a s painting, sculpture and architecture, and that it
draws its membership – currently 370 persons – from an international
field. Founded in 1696 under royal patronage, it had various homes
until 1907, when it took over the former Arnim Palace a t the corner of
Pariser Platz. In this central location, on Berlin’s east-west axis between
Unter den Linden and the Brandenburg Gate, it grew and flourished until
1937, when the arts were ousted in favour of Albert Speer’s office for t he
replanning of ‘Germania’. By the end of the War much of the building had
been destroyed, and as Pariser Platz lay close to the Wall of 1961 on theEastern side, it was reduced to a station for border guards.
Meanwhile, revived academies grew up in new homes separately in
the East a nd West sectors of the city, the Western one in a building by
Düttmann in the Hansaviertel. Only after reunification in 1989 could a
return to the original home be entertained, and only through combining
the East a nd West academies could it be achieved. The members
overcame their differences and accepted the necessary reduction in
numbers, so by 1993 a decision had been made t o return to the old site.
State funding was promised, a brief was drawn up, and a limited
competition was opened to the internationally distinguished architect
members, 18 of whom took part. Günter Behnisch stood aside from
the first stage, but after an indecisive outcome he decided to take
part in the second, and in 1994 an architectural jury led by Gabriel
Epstein was unanimous in declaring the Behnisch design the winner and
recommending its construction. Their choice was supported in style and
intention by representatives from all the other arts, seeming to point
the way to a happy future, but support from the city was less consistent.
Delays over permissions and struggles over funding were compounded
by contractual difficulties which is why we have had to wait until 2005 to
see the completion and opening of Behnisch’s building.
P Pl d f h b b f B l
typical: it used the existing three-storey Arnim Palace for offices and
meeting rooms, then filled the garden to the back with a large block of
top-lit exhibition halls, leaving only a narrow open space next to each
party wall. After the destruction of 1945 and subsequent clearing of
debris, these exhibition halls – protected by flanking rooms added by
Speer – were the only remains of the former square apart from the gate.
To maintain historical continuity and memory of t he institution it was
desirable to keep at least some of these exhibition rooms, and now that
art often consists of installations and performances rather than painting,
artists seem to prefer a dialogue with an existing place rather than being
framed inescapably by the white room of the architect. But retention ofthe old chain of rooms was not easy. Taking more than half the length
of the site, they ran down the middle, and their roof lights required
void overhead. With its many departments, meeting spaces, offices, and
archives, the Akademie constituted quite a lar ge programme, constrained
by party walls each side, building lines to front and rear, and a height limit
respecting the Brandenburg Gate. The site could have been filled with
artificially lit and air-conditioned floors like a huge open-plan office, but
to meet the accommodat ion requirements in a civilised way, giving people
daylight, views, air and visible spatial progressions, demanded ingenious
exploitation of every opportunity for t ransparency.
Accepting the central string of galleries, Behnisch chose to make a
relatively open block fronting the square for t he ceremonial and public
parts, and a more solid south block to rear for the archives. These set up
a fruitful contrast, for while the archive block was to be a straightforward
piece of rational modern building with solid and repetitive floors, offices
to the facade, and storage within, the front block varied in storey height
and took diagonal slices across the plan, varying from one level to the
next. This allowed a series of stairs to develop irregularly in the well
behind, setting up a rotation in the space. The ascent from level to
level was to be a drama and a discovery, with ever-changing views into
h b h d ll b k h h h P Pl d
AKADEMIE DER K ÜNSTE,
BERLIN, GERMANY
ARCHITECT
BEHNISCH & PARTNER
2
3
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62 | 11| 11
Pariser Platz originated as part of the new western suburb of Berlin
laid out on a rectangular grid for Friedrich Wilhelm the First of Prussia in
1733. It was par t of a processional route used for victory parades, and
the name Pariser Platz commemorated victory over Napoleon in 1814.
The west side, as main gate, was always the most formal and symmetrical,
and the Brandenburg Gate as we know it today was added in 1789.
The rest of the square, when first laid out in the 1730s, was fronted
by noblemen’s palaces in two grand stories with Classical orders and
mansards, though irregularly grouped and with varying plot widths. Long
deep sites left room for generous gardens behind.
As the city grew in the nineteenth century, the peripheral position
became central, and the buildings exchanged their domestic roles for
institutional ones. Density of accommodat ion increased, provoking
expansion upwards and rearwards into gardens. The Akademie was
the spaces behind as well as back through to the Pariser Platz, and a
generous open terrace in the middle. Its floors would carry the principal
elements of the Akademie: on the ground, foyer and book sales; on first,
the reading room for a rchive material; on second, main lecture hall; and
on third, presidential offices. The fourth rooftop level with glass roof and
open terrace with views of Reichstag and Brandenburg Gate has become
the members’ bar. In plans of the developing design, the specific features
of each floor varied, but the contrast between floors in shape, height and
layout was retained, and the stairwell with its many diagonals remained
the vertical visual link.
Having determined the destiny of back a nd front, there remained
the question of the sides. The solid party wall to the west backing onto
Frank Gehry’s DG Bank (AR August 2001) could take a single row of
offices at three upper levels, looking out over the galleries and fed by
2Hemmed in between theAdlon Hotel (left) and FrankGehry’s DG Bank (right),Behnisch’s controversialglazed skin is a rare momentof lightness amid PariserPlatz’s po-faced historicism.3To the rear,the build ingbecomes more expressive.4The glazed winter garden-style passage linking theAkademie’s front and reardepartments.At groundlevel,this is a public [email protected]
- 306 -
1 entrance from Pariser Platz 2 bookshop 3 original hall 4 refurbished original galleries 5 entrance from Behrenstrasse 6 store 7 delivery access 8 public access and winter garden 9 Hotel Adlon10 reading room 11 bridge link 12 atrium 13 plenary chamber 14 sculpture garden 15 offices 16 roof of exhibition halls 17 members’ bar 18 terrace
5Networks of stairs, terracesand landings provide pointsfor informal interaction.6Entrance hall,with flyingbridges and staircases.7The convivial members’ barat top floor level,with viewsover Pariser Platz.8One of the original core ofgallery spaces.
first floor fourth floor
5
6 7
8
AKADEMIE DER K ÜNSTE,
BERLIN, GERMANY
ARCHITECT
BEHNISCH & PARTNER
4
4
4
4
9 7
6
9
5
8
15
9
9
10
11
15
9
12
18
179
14
15
9
16
12
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64 | 11| 11 ground floor plan (scale approx 1:750) second floor original 1907 plan
1
12
2
3
6
13
9
14
12
[email protected] 307 -
a corridor behind. On the east, by contrast, the rebuilt Adlon hotel
already presented a windowed facade a short distance away, and was
best left open. This was the obvious place for a t hrough pedestrian street
that links Pariser Platz to Behrenstrasse and the Holocaust Monument
beyond (AR July 2005). This public space remains open from dawn to
dusk, lit by a glass roof. It contains the Akademie’s public café on a slightly
raised level, for the floor slopes gently up from one side and down to the
other. To link the Akademie’s front and rear departments more directly
outside the public realm, a pier-like passage was added, linked to the mainstair system and suspended within the space at first floor level.
Behnisch is well known for his flowing spaces and his belief in
transparency, and the whole idea of the Bonn Parliament (AR March
1993) was to create a parliamentary chamber visually open to the
outside world, letting the public see the debate and members see the
Rhine. In the history of German architecture, this concept of a glass
palace reaches back to the Expressionist period and to the dreams of a
glass architecture flaunted in the drawings o f Bruno Taut and the poems
of Paul Scheerbart, sources acknowledged by Behnisch and Durth.*
In the case of the Akademie, the contained site and dense programme
necessitated the elimination of as many solid walls as possible, and
the building’s public role required not only that the foyer seem open
and inviting, but that the main functions appear behind an open facade.
Other architect members submitting designs to the competition had
also envisaged heavily glazed facades, so it came as a shock when t his
assumed freedom to exploit the unrestricted face of the site was
refused. Following a town-planning concept of the early 1990s, a law had
been passed in 1993 compelling all facades on Pariser Platz to be clad
in yellow or grey stone with window holes showing the same ratio of
solid to void as the Brandenburg Gate. The Akademie assumed that this
law would be negotiable and the glass facade was adjusted in detail to
Eventually Behnisch won his case, but building was delayed three years,
and the financial situation became in consequence more difficult.
Fearing that it would run out of money, the Berlin Senate decided
to sell off the part of the site intended for the archive block, moving
the archives instead to a deep basement under the front. This policy
backfired, for difficult ground conditions meant cost increases, reducing
the value of the sale. Further delays and cost increases were caused
when the general contractor appointed by the Senate went bust. The
intended archive block has been built to Behnisch’s general plan, but byother architects and for other uses, compromising the Behrenstrasse
facade and removing the main justification of the pier-like link. Also lost
is the continuity through layers from street to street and the intended
contrast between the ordinary back and more dramatic front.
Fortunately little sense of the delays and struggles persists into the
completed building. As the only public building in the square and as a
primary representative institution for the arts in Berlin, it seems apt
that the Akademie be open and inviting. Its penetrability, declared in
the through-street and friendly top-lit café, give new life to a rather
po-faced square that desperately needs it. Events taking place within
can be witnessed from without, especially at night, binding the life of
the square to the life of the institution. All would have been hopelessly
constrained by a stone mask. The feeling in the plenary chamber or in
the member’s bar of being ‘on the square’ would also have disappeared.
The constraint of the facades only teaches us, once again, that
aesthetic quality cannot be assured by decree and is not achieved
through materials and regulating lines, even if plot lines and height
restrictions are essential. Memory – of cities, institutions, and buildings
– matters, but is always subject to selection a nd interpretat ion, and a
good architect is needed for a creative dialogue. Behnisch’s choice to
concentrate on the old exhibition halls as the heart of the institution
AKADEMIE DER K ÜNSTE,
BERLIN, GERMANY
ARCHITECT
BEHNISC
H & BEHNISCH
AKADEMIE DER K ÜNSTE,
BERLIN, GERMANY
ARCHITECT
BEHNISCH & PARTNER
long section looking east
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66 | 11| 11
law would be negotiable, and the glass facade was adjusted in detail to
satisfy the authorities. After much discussion, permission was granted in
December 1995, but it was rapidly rescinded after local elections, for a
new conservative politician had taken over building policy.
Although Behnisch has always tended to make the most of
contingencies, he considered the facade rule ill-founded and threatening
to the whole social identity of his project. He argued that stone facades
with vertical window holes had been an inevitable part of nineteenth-
century technology, but that in a framed building t hey make no sense.
With the full backing of t he Akademie he challenged the law, working
with the German historian Werner Durth to produce further revised
facade versions. These correctly restated the divisions and proportions
of the Akademie’s old front to strengthen the historical argument, but
remained predominantly glazed.
concentrate on the old exhibition halls as the heart of the institution
was a more profound act of memory than facade rules read into
historical evidence by modern bureaucrats. PETER BLUNDELL JONES
*The story of the struggle over the building’s style is recorded in the book Berlin Pariser Platz by
Günter Behnisch and Werner Durth, published for the Akademie by Jovis, Berlin 2005 (German with
English summaries).
Architect
Behnisch & Partner,Stuttgart,
with Werner Durth
Photographs
Werner Huthmacher/artur except nos
1 & 4 by Jürgen Henkelman/artur
9Deck leading out to thesculpture garden beyond.Lightcascades through the kinkedatrium space that unites thevarious floors and activities. [email protected]
- 308 -
LUNCH BOX
The centre of Oxford is a three-dimensional palimpsest. Many of
the quadrangles and gardens date back to medieval times, when the
colleges were religious foundations and all the dons in holy orders.
Since then, the buildings have been altered and added to, generation
by generation, often by the best architects of the day, so the whole
intricate interlocked fabric is a commentary on English architecture
from medieval to modern times.
St John’s is not one of the oldest colleges, but it is the richest. It
was founded in 1555 by Thomas White, a London merchant, who left
it very well endowed with property (among much else, it owns many
of the pubs in central Oxford). It was formed on and around the
Cistercian monastery of St Bernard, dissolved in the early 1540s as
one of the last victims of Henry VIII’s policy of seizing the assets of
the great monastic institutions.
In the twentieth century, having wealth and a lot of land from
having carefully looked after White’s bequest, it was natural that the
college should expand, and there have been several major building
projects. MacCormac Jamieson & Prichard have much experience
of building for Oxford and Cambridge colleges and in the early
’90s the office was chosen to design the Garden Quadrangle, a
reinterpretation for the late twentieth century of traditional student
accommodation set round a raised secret garden over an auditorium
and dining hall (AR October 1994).
The quad has worked well, so when ever increasing numbers of
fellows caused the college to decide to extend its Senior Common
Room (SCR) with new dining and social spaces, Richard MacCormac
was given the job. While St John’s has large grounds, they are
precious, and the site for the extension was constricted, between
the President’s garden and the existing SCR building (parts are
seventeenth century, and the whole is listed as a historic building
Grade 1).MacCormac’s extension replaces one built in the early 1950s
by David Booth and Judith Lederboer to the east side of the
seventeenth- and eighteenth-century parts. Stone-faced over
a concrete structure, the Booth and Lederboer building was a
chokingly buttoned-up, po-faced compromise between neo-Georgian
and Modernism (AR November 1957). Its disappearance can scarcely
be mourned. The new piece could not be more different. At first
floor level, it cantilevers eastward toward the President’s garden as
a simple and elegant glass box. All along the east side of the floor
is an external slatted screen of oak shutters supported on a semi-
independent frame of oak members flitched to stainless-steel splines.
This device serves two purposes: in the morning, shutters are
closed and protect the east-facing glass box from the sun; later in the
day, shutters are opened mechanically until they stand at right angles
to the glass facade. From the inside, the arrangement frames the
medieval garden between fins, intensifying the relationship between
the new lunch room and the trees over the ancient green space,
COLLEGE E
OXFORD, E
ARCHITECT
MACCORMA
& PRICHAR
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54 | 11| 11
U C OThis addition to an Oxford College elegantly
extends the historic continuum.
1
1The new extensionis a simple glazedbox housed withinan external screenof oak shutters. [email protected]
- 309 -
ground floor plan (scale approx 1:500) second floor
diagram of historical evolution
1 sitting room 2 kitchen
3 servery
2
3
4 5
1
2
66
6 6
5
COLLEGE EXTENSION,
OXFORD, ENGLAND
ARCHITECT
MACCORMAC JAMIESON
& PRICHARD
2Detail of the layered facade.3The new sitting room over-looks a narrow garden.4Linking stair between sittingand lunch rooms.5The generous,luminous newlunch room,which can seatan extra 36 places.
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56 | 11| 11 location plan first floor
3 servery 4 lunch room 5 terrace 6 existing rooms
4
3 3
6 6
[email protected] 310 -
cross section
6
while protecting (to some extent) the president’s privacy – one ofthe reasons why the ’50s extension was so buttoned up was that the
then president was much less generous, and required fenestration of
the east front to be kept to a minimum.
The new lunch room is deep in plan, and the back of the space,
away from the great east window, is illuminated in daytime by
light slots along the north and south sides that pour luminance
down the oak panelled walls à la Soane. (There is further homage
to Soane in the SCR antechamber designed in 1980 with a shallow
saucer dome by the distinguished architectural historian Howard
Colvin, a fellow of the college.) The new lunch room is big enough
to offer 36 new dining places, and its specially designed furniture
can be reconfigured to provide a formal meeting place for senior
members of the college. Joinery of the furniture and the room
itself is immaculate. So is the wide oak balustrade that edges the
room inside the glass wall, helps to provide gentle visual transition
between room and garden, and prevents diners looking straight
down into the President’s garden.
The lunch room is the focus of the new addition. Existing stairs
have been supplemented by new lifts, and new kitchens have been
knitted in on the ground floor. Under the cantilever is a new sittingroom, which looks out east across a slender garden and straight into
COLLEGE EXTENSION,
OXFORD, ENGLAND
ARCHITECT
MACCORMAC JAMIESON
& PRICHARD
6Shutters and glazingfilter the light.7The elegant,legiblebox adds to thehistoric continuum ofthe college.
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58 | 3 7
a tall newly-planted, impenetrable evergreen hedge that protects the
President’s privacy at ground level. On the second floor is a terrace
that serves another communal sitting room and rooms for visiting
fellows. By being drawn back from the edge of the building, the
terrace does not intrude on the President and his garden.
Such sensitive and nuanced understanding of geometry, locus,
history and the craft of building gives the little place great subtlety,
and makes it an enriching addition to Oxford’s three-dimensional
historic palimpsest. PETER DAVEY
Architect
MacCormac Jamieson & Prichard, London
Photographs
Peter Durant/arcblue [email protected] 311 -
The Belzec Cemetery continues a
powerful tradition of monuments
that literally build upon the horror
of past events. Instead of shying
away fromthe scale of the atrocity– be it akillingfield, abattlefield,
new life. Avoidingconventional,
religious or morbid symbolism,
sculptors, fine artists, poets and
architects trace lines of meaning
within the landscape to plot theirstory through space.
Followinga design
1997, sculptors An
Zdzislaw Pidek and
Roszczyk set abou
the six-hectare sitewith architects fro
CEMETERY , BELZEC, POLAND
A RCHITECT
DDJM
ASHES TO ASHESArtists and architects collaborate to create a powerful, sobering memor
1 3
2
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the site of amassacre or in this
case the site of aformer N azi death
camp – such monuments reuse
often vast areas of land in an
attempt to freeze history, cast in
stone the scale of lost life, and to
make somethingstrangely beautiful
and movingfromsomethingthat
derives fromabsolute evil.
Hauntingand mysterious, such
places use abstract expressionism
to capture negative energy and
transformit into somethingwith
Here in 1942, at Belzec, south
west of Tomaszów Lubelski, a
former Nazi work camp was
turned into asix-hectare death
camp. Almost unfathomably, during
the 9-month period that year from
March to December, over 600 000
people were murdered; Jews from
the south Polish ghettos, Bohemia
and Germany together with Poles
accused of aidingthe Jews were
amongthe victims. Only two
people ever escaped.
developed compe
scheme comprised
the monument, am
and an exhibition.
The dominant fo
monument occupi
large rectangular s
an oblique crevice
dissects the monum
ground. The path c
gently risingsurfac
cemetery, ablack a
within which mass
1The cemetery museum buildingsitsdiscretely behind the boundary wall.2Entering through the boundary wallthe axial viewisframed through theburial field toward the memorial wall.3The inlaid cast-iron relief, the Square,markst he entrance of the burial [email protected]
- 312 -
marked as ghost-like territories
with subtly differentiated grades of
material (blast furnace slagmixed
with cinders and barren soil).
Defined at one end by the Square, a
cast-iron relief set flush in the
ground which marks the entranceto the burial ground, the path
t i t i t l li ht
lost without trace. Passing
thresholds that draw lines between
life and death, most are reduced to
silence before beingconfronted by
the imposinggranite screen wall. A
structure that in its relief recalls
the blood spilt and the familiarpatinaof bullet-peppered walls.
St di it thi ll
alow-lying2mhigh structure that
forms part of the southernmost
boundary wall, the unadorned
bunker-l ike structure cuts into the
ground to contain, amongaseries
of more conventional exhibition
spaces, an empty and hauntingreinforced-concrete Void-Hall; a
hi h t ithth
site plan (scale approx 1:2000)
north/south section through burial field
plan of museum
section through museum building
1 entrance
2 ramp
3 museum building
4 the Square
5 burialground
6 crevice
7 stonewall
8 niche
4Crevice leadingto memorial wall.5Niche opposite memorial wallengraved with namesof individualskilled.
4
5
5
7
8 8
6
5
4
1
2 32 3
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terminates in amonumental light-
hued granite wall; aspatial
sequence that engulfs visitors as
they approach the wall, cutting
through the burial field that rises to
adwarfing9mheight. Walking
between concrete walls, cast
against rough earth as shuttering
and topped with bucklingsteel
reinforcement bars, visitors
disappear into the unknown in a
symbolic journey that recalls the
death of the thousands who were
Standingopposite this wall,
polished concrete niches are
covered with the names of victims.
Names also frame the burial field as
alow wall forms ahorizontal stone
frieze that chronologically lists
Jewish communes recallingthe
sequence of transports.
With these powerful layers of
meaningset within amuted yet
dramatic reconstructed landscape,
you could very easily miss the
cemetery’s museumbuilding. Set in
space which resonates with the
isolation, pain and ultimate death of
millions of lost souls; and more
specifically the hundreds of
thousands of people who died on
this very site. ROB GREGORY
Artists
Andrzej Solyga, Zdzislaw Pidek,
MarcinRoszczyk
Architect
DDJM Biuro Architektoniczne:Marek
Dunikowski, Piotr Czerwinski, Piotr Uherek
Photographs
WojciechK rynski56|1
CEMETERY , BELZEC,
POLAND
A RCHITECT
DDJM [email protected] 313 -
When designinghouses for their
own use, architects are usually
more able to succumb to the
pleasures and perils o f self-
expression with sometimes
intriguing, sometimes dismaying
results. This new house in Kobe
falls into the former category.
Buildingany sort of dwellingin
Japan’s overcrowded cities is a
challenge, met here with no little
ingenuity by Hiroaki Ohtani, who
has designed and built a house
for himself and his family in the
heart of Kobe. Ohtani found a
characteristically tight site, only
33sqmin footprint and barely 3m
wide, hemmed in between two
existinghouses. The lack of
space and limited access
precluded the use of elaborate
construction equipment, so the
programme assumed an even
more formidable dimension.
Ohtani’s response was to
create an exquisitely ascetic
concrete and timber casket that
slots precisely into the cramped
space. Wi thin this domestic
receptacle are spaces for study,
sleeping, washing, living and
diningstacked up with theprecision of a Chinese puzzle and
linked by disarmingly vertiginous
flights of stairs seemingly
hijacked fromthe illusionistic
imagination of M. C. Escher.
To maximize every scrap of
space, the house is set back
slightly fromthe street, creating
atiny enclosed entrance patio
planted with asingle tree,
signifyingthe boundary of a
private domain. Horizontal
concrete slats wrap around the
patio and frame ahuge glazed
openingcut into the street
frontage. The slatted fence and
tree conspired to screen the
interior of the house fromthe
attentions of the street.
The sleepingfloor is raised
slightly above street level with a
diningcumstudy roomand
bathroomsunk slightly below it.
The topmost floor contains an
integrated livingand kitchen
space, its soaringvolume
illuminated by the glazed street
facade and an openingcut into
the roof above the staircase that
filters shafts of light into the long
deep plan. A smaller (but
steeper) secondary staircase
leads up fromthe livingareato a
roof terrace.
Because site conditions limited
mechanical construction, Ohtani
used pre-stressed concrete
strips laid horizontally by hand to
formthe enclosingwalls. The
technique recalls logcabin
ConcretecasketThis family house maximizes atight urban site to create a dramatic internal realm.
HOUSE, K OBE, JAPAN
A RCHITECT
HIROAKI OHTANI
a
r
h o u s e
2
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1Occupying a sliver of space in centralKobe, the house istightly hemmedin by itsneighbours.2A tree and slatted fence demarcatethe private realm.80|10
Concrete casketThis family house maximizes a tight urban site to create a dramatic internal realm.
1
[email protected] 314 -
building(walls are constructed
with no vertical members) and
traditional J apanese structures
which employ horizontal str ips
of timber. Stair treads, shelves
and other fixtures and fittings are
simply slotted in between the
precast members.
Within this slatted concrete
box, everythingis pared down to
its utter minimum. Stairs, for
instance, are simply a series of
timber treads without the pesky
encumbrance of risers,
balustrades or handrails. This
certainly contrives to open up
the interior and encourage
spatial interpenetration, but
vertical circulation is not for the
faint-hearted (Ohtani and his
wife have asix year old daughterwho must be especially fearless).
Warmtimber floors and
f it t ff th li htl
austere concrete walls, so the
entire house has apowerful
elemental quality derived from a
limited palette of materials
animated by the play of light.
Ohtani consciously rejects the
clutter of the world; as he puts it
‘Lack of things can create arich
lifestyle’, and his admirable if
somewhat rigorous personal
proscriptions include not owning
acar, television, microwave,
curtain, fax and ‘alarge
refrigerator’. His ingenious little
house, which in its use of space
and materials has lessons for
buildingon tight urban sites
everywhere, is an eloquent
manifestation of this philosophy.
PHOEBE CHOW
Architect
Hiroaki Ohtani
Photographs
HOUSE, K OBE, JAPAN
A RCHITECT
HIROAKI OHTANI
site plan longsection
crosssection
first floor
ground floor (entrance level)
3 5
4 6
1 bathroom
2 dining/study
3 bedroom
4 kitchen
5 living
6 stairsto terrace
3
6
5
4
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furniture set off the slightly Kouji Okamoto
882|1 lower ground floor plan (scale approx 1:125)
3The longnarrow volume of theinterior is gently washed with li ght.4Formal dining and study space onthe lower ground floor.5Living area, with staircase leadingupto the roof terrace.6Minimal stairs are simply slottedinto the concrete walls.
12
[email protected] 315 -
Building in the Holy Land is underscored by both the w
ancient religions and the more unforgivingcontempora
conflict, politics and culture. Bethlehem, the site of Jesu
one of the most sacred places in Christendom, is today
hillside town in Israel’s West Bank, nominally under Pa
jurisdiction as one of a disparate patchwork of autono
Palestinian territories. Populated mainly by Muslims, w
minority, it scrapes by on fitful bouts of religious touris
the birthplace of KingDavid), but this has waned in the
recent Palestinian suicide bombingcampaigns.
Though like much of the region, Bethlehem’s wider f
remains uncertain, the turn of the millenniummarked a
milestone in the town’s history and set the authorities
what they could do to upgrade Bethlehem’s dilapidate
to improve conditions for the local population and also
encourage tourism. As well as undertakinga programm
infrastructural improvements, the town’s most import
alleys and squares have been renovated.
As part of this programme, Finnish architect Juha Leiv
invited to design an annexe to the Dar al-Kalima Acade
centre of town. The Academy operates under the ausp
local Finnish Lutheran church, but its remit is to promo
and understandingbetween people of different religiou
backgrounds and support the folk culture of Palestine. T
aims have the wider backingof the Finnish Foreign Min
financed the project and oversaw a national architectu
to find a suitable scheme.
Leiviskä is known for his distinctively spare yet highly
architecture, much of it for religious programmes. His m
succeed bril liantly in capturinga powerful sense of the
contemporary language. Here the challenge was to tac
and enhance an existingcomplex shoehorned into a tig
dominated at the north end by the existingLutheran c
virtue out of adversity, Leiviskä exploits the height diffe
the site to create a series of terraces that maintain and
connections between new and existingelements, so thways, the scheme is like a town in microcosm, with a v
spaces and views generated by the tight grain of the arc
CULTURALCENTRE,BETHLEHEM, ISRAEL
A RCHITECT
JUHA LEIVISKÄ
2
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38|1
Leiviskä admits to being influenced by the denseness
informality of the historic surroundings, qualities which
formand organization of the new parts. Pale local sand
to clad the crisp cubic volumes (its use in Bethlehem’s
obligatory), fur ther underscoringthe sense of place, th
1Clad in pale local sandstone, thenew cultural complex nestlesinto atight urban site next to the FinnishLutheran church.2The undulatingtopography of modern Bethlehem.
CULTURAL CONNECTIONSThis cultural centre in Bethlehem sensitively connects with and invigorates the physical and social life of the town.
1
[email protected] 316 -
site plan
axonometric projection
first floor
ground floor (entrance level)
1 crypt ofLutheranchurch
2 courtyard
3 foyer
4 performancehall
5 stage
6 dressingrooms
7 technicalfacilities
8 lounge
9 entrancehall
10 terrace
11 bar
12 reception
13 restaurant
14 kitchen
3
4
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40|1 lower ground floor plan (scale approx 1:500)
3The crisp geometry of theextension resembles a town inmicrocosm.4Terraces extend and enhance theinternal spaces.
CULTURALCENTRE,BETHLEHEM, ISRAEL
A RCHITECT
JUHA LEIVISKÄ [email protected] 317 -
CULTURALCENTRE,BETHLEHEM, ISRAEL
A RCHITECT
JUHA LEIVISKÄ
in which Leiviskä applies it, as a thin facingskin, around 30mmthick
rather than loadbearingblocks, is an innovation for the context.
Leiviskä’s sharp-edged stone is precisely cut and finely jointed, unlike
massive, more traditional loadbearingstructures.
The focus of the complex is a 300 seat hall for concerts, drama and
meetings, givingthe centre a new impetus for public performances
and also encouraginggeneral engagement with the li fe of the town.
Sunk below the level of the original courtyard and entrance level, the
hall is duginto the site. This resolves circulation problems by opening
up a route below the old building to a group of small courtyards at
the north end of the site. The route threads through and terminates
in the crypt of the Lutheran church where the cultural centre wasoriginally housed. Carving out and openingup spaces creates a fertile
reciprocity between old and new, as well as rationalizingcir culation
for the entire complex. In a subtle sleight of hand, by pulling one edge
of the hall back fromthe site border, Leiviskä also manages to
preserve a quartet of ancient pine trees on the south-east edge of the
site. The trees provide welcome shade to the hugger mugger
geometry of cubic volumes and terr aces.
The main entrance to the new buildingis on the east side,
connectingwith a lounge at intermediate level between the theatre
below and a restaurant above. The volumes of the lounge and
restaurant are progressively pulled back on their western edges,
creatinga staggered facade rhythmically animated by balconies and
horizontal brise soleil, which throw a pattern of deep shadows across
the stone and glass facades.
Each level connects with outside space, so dissolvingthe
boundaries between interior and exterior, and alluding to the
traditional formof Middle Eastern buildings, with their intimate
internal realms, often animated by greenery and water. At the
topmost restaurant level, the tall pine trees act as natural parasols,
while plantingis intended to trail up the fin-like wall projections to
engulf the overhangingbrise soleil, enhancingshade, filteringdaylight
and softeningthe building’s orthogonal contours.
Internally, spaces are ascetically detailed with pale stone floors and
walls. Blond wood furniture imparts an aura of calmness and
Scandinavian civility. Glazed alongits western side, the new
performance hall is a dignified, double-height space that irresistibly
recalls Leiviskä’s simple, solemn church interiors, with cool white
walls, tall windows, suspended light fittings, no seatingrake and a
small r aised prosceniumstage at one end. And though the religious
connection may be obvious, it is also appropriate, since the new
building physically adds to an existingchurch and hopefully, despite its
deeply troubled and uncertain context, can act as greater unifying
force for good. CAT HERINE SLESSOR
Architect JuhaLeiviskä
Photographs Jari Heikkinen
5Greener y softensthe stone.6The new performance hall,which can be used for a range of cultural and social activities.7The church-like interior.
5
6 7
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42|1 longsection [email protected] 318 -
Royal Academy Forum
Robert HewisonRuskin famously said that, ‘the teaching of art is the teaching of allthings’, setting his pupils at the London Working Men’s College the taskof representing, by drawing, a white sphere by shading only. It had to
be done in a particularly Ruskinian way, not as an outline, but byshading, so that the shape of the sphere emerges as the paper darkens. The illustrations with this paper are selected from drawings members of the audience made during the talk.
Ruskin’s commentary on this exercise was, ‘It has been objected thata circle, or the outline of a sphere, is one of the most difficult of all linesto draw. It is so; but I do not want it to be drawn. All that this study of the ball is to teach the pupil, is the way in which shade gives theappearance of projection. This he learns most satisfactorily from asphere; because any solid form, terminated by straight lines or flat
surfaces, owes some of its appearance of projection to its perspective;but inasphere,what,withoutshade,wasaflatcirclebecomesmerely
way both to instil that discipline and test the accuracy of a person’perception was through the practice of drawing. He believed, howeverthat accurate perception, refined by the practice of drawing, was morethan an exercise for the eye, it was also a facility for the mind. Speaking
at the opening of St Martin’s School of Art in London in 1857, he toldthe students that, ‘Drawing enabled them to say what they could nootherwise say; and ... drawing enabled them to see what they could nootherwise see. By drawing they actually obtained a power of the eye ana power of the mind wholly different from that known to any othediscipline’. This remark is significant when we consider recent investigations o
visual cognition, which show that the eye and the brain wordynamically together, and that vision is active engagement, not passivreception. Semir Zeki, Professor of Neurobiology at Londo
University, argues in his book Inner Vision: An Exploration of Art and thBrain thatone‘sees’withthebrain,not theeye,andthatwhathecal
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but in a sphere, what, without shade, was a flat circle becomes merelyby the added shade, the image of a solid ball; and this fact is just asstriking to the learner, whether his circular outlines be true or false. Heis, therefore, never allowed to trouble himself about it; if he makes theball look as oval as an egg, the degree of error is simply pointed out tohim, and he does better next time, and better still the next. But his mindis always fixed on the gradation of shade, and the outline left to take, indue time, care of itself’.
Brain that one sees with the brain, not the eye, and that what he cal‘the visual brain’ is involved in a process of comparing and sorting thaamounts to understanding. Ruskin seems to have anticipated this idewhen he wrote that sight was a great deal more than the passivreception of visual stimuli, it was ‘an absolutely spiritual phenomenonaccurately, and only to be so defined: and the “Let there be light” is amuch, when you understand it, the ordering of intelligence as thordering of vision’. For Ruskin, to achieve a clarity and nicety of vision
Royal Academy Forum
create allusion and resonance. On this imaginary field, memoriesgather and grow by association and proximity. In Western painting,the field comes to develop separate spaces: foreground, middle
distance, background. Each has its own defining archetypes of colour, character, story and form.
We sense the existence of this implicit format most strongly inPoussin ClaudeandthesubsequentdevelopmentofthePicturesque
concrete and the objective. Simplicity is synonymouOnly theeveryday (alwaysthestreet and never thepala
In thecaseof the first generation of American abstra
asRothko and Clifford Still , a grand and brave simpachieved. But I would arguethat their work isstill (intouch and dependent on art historical memory and rformermodel Atsuchcloserange(50years)theiraesth
images so as to establish a constant version of the things that passpartially and fleetingly before us. What we have seen influenceswhatwenow see. What wehavebeen taught to seeshapesour vision. And as
weseewealso feel and think. Ruskin believed that theunconscious, orsemi-consciousideasthat comeaswelook at thingscould interferewiththe truth of our perception. In cultural terms, people’s eyes can becorrupted by conventionsof onekind or another, most especially by theways in which they are taught to see. That is why Ruskin stood outagainst not only theconventional tastesthat rejected thefresh visionsfirst of Turner and then of the Pre-Raphaelites, but all three of theprincipal meansby which visual perception wasformally shaped in thenineteenth century.
First, he learned to reject the gentlemanly amateur tradition of thePicturesque, the late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-centurywatercolour landscapetradition in which hehad himself been trained.Second, hebecametheimplacable enemy of theofficial, government-promoted method for training artistsand designers, theso-called SouthKensington system managed by the Department of Science and Art.
Third, he wascritical of the training of fine artists, asexemplified bywhat hecalled the‘basesystem’ for teaching studentsin theschoolsof theRoyal Academy, which, hesaid, ‘destroysthe greater number of itspupilsaltogether; it hindersand paralysesthe greatest’. H is reasoningwas important because it went beyond critici zing the fr aming of conventional Neo-Classical perception by studying from the antique.
Teaching of art began with training theeyeand thehand – but it hadalso to develop themind. No art teaching, said Ruskin, ‘could beof useto you, but would rather beharmful, unlessit wasgrafted on somethingdeeper than all art’.
Sight was intended to lead to insight. R uskin did not confuseimitation with representation. He regarded thepleasurederived fromimitation as the most contemptible that can be derived from art,becausemereimitation is meredeception. What Ruskin wanted to getat was the truth. T ruth in painting, he said, ‘signifies the faithfulstatement, either to themind or thesenses, of any fact of nature’. T hese‘factsof nature’ could bediscovered by diligent visual observation. But,‘Imitation can only beof something material, but truth hasreferencetostatements both of the qualities of material things, and of emotions,impressionsand thoughts. Thereisa moral aswell asmaterial truth; atruth of impression aswell asof form, of thought aswell asof matter,and thetruth of impression and thought is a thousand timesthemoreimportant of thetwo’.
Further, ‘Truth may bestated by any signsor symbolswhich havea
definitesignification in themindsof thoseto whomthey areaddressed,although such signsbe themselvesno image nor likenessof anything.Whatever can excite in the mind the conception of certain facts, cangive ideas of truth though it be in no degree the imitation or
know it physically, through the co-ordination of hand and eye, andknow it morally, through theopennessand clarity of our vision, wewillnever be able to begin our journey. As Ruskin famously said, ‘T he
greatest thing a human soul ever doesin thisworld is to seesomething,and tell what it saw in a plain way. Hundredscan talk for onewho canthink, but thousandscan think for one who can see. To see clearly ispoetry, prophecy, and religion – all in one’.
Christopher Le BrunWhen Caspar David Friedrich claimed that, ‘T he artist should paintnot only what heseesbeforehim, but also what heseeswithin himself. I f he seesnothing within himself he should also forgo painting what heseesbeforehim…’, henot only captured theessenceof Romanticism;he also posed a fundamental question wi th which art has beenconcerned ever since. If, asFriedrich states, perception and imaginationthrow up ‘truthsat least asimportant asobjective reality’, the issue ishow to find ideas and techniques for representation which avoidcontingency and randomness, and allow the work of art to establi shsignificanceand meaning.
Representation in art achievessignificance(or depth) when it relatesto a shared background of memory and association. I would arguethatculture is established by critical accumulation and diminished bysubstitution. Just asin theforest, great treesdepend for their sizeandmajesty on dense and diverse brushwood, so new layers anddevelopmentsin art havea symbiotic relationship with individual workswhich nourishestheir potential to convey meaning.
George Steiner described the way literature achieves this level of resonance asthe ‘field of prepared echo’. With this image, he vividlyconveys the working of the canon of Western art. It is the agreedgiven of what isseen, through the test of permanence, to have value,and allows density of meaning to buil d up. Wi thout this density,high culture is impossible. In such a field new ideas and how theyspeak within history can be rapidly and intuitively understood. Ananalogy in the visual artsmight be to picture a loose grid, existing inthree spatial dimensions and evolving over time. Within it,compositi onal formulae and repeated patterns in favoureddispositions come to acquire meaning. We see them superimposedcomparatively in our imaginations. T he differencesand symmetries
Opposite, Christopher LeBrun RA,Aram Nemus Vult,
1988-89. Oil on canvas,271x 444cm, AstrupFearnley, Museum of
Modern Art, Oslo.
Right, Philip Guston, 1913-1980,Dial , 1956.Oil on canvas, 72x 76in(182.88x 193.04cm),Whitney Museum of American Art, NewYork.Purchase 56.44.
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88|2
Poussin, C laude and the subsequent development of the Picturesque. Thisimaginary, and seemingly tacit agreement within pictorial culturehashad such lasting potency that I think of it, certainly in relation to myown work asan artist, asvirtually a death-defying given of apparentlytranscendental significance. In modern timesit breaksto thesurfaceinCézanne, and then in Cubism. I n rising to explicitness, however, itseffect ischanged fundamentally.
Since the late nineteenth century, these complex features of compositional memory which dominatethe pictorial, relational art of the West, have been tested. During the twentieth century, aestheticcharacteristics such asformal reduction and singularity, rather thanil lusion and metaphor, become pre-eminent. T ruth resides in the
former model. At such closerange(50 years) their aesthadventuresretain meaning. Yet thepossibility for creating thisweb of meaning, a
and association did not of course entirely disappear century. The pair of exhibiti ons at Tate ModernBrancusi and Donald Judd early in 2004 showstheconthepoetic in apparently irreconcilableworlds. Subjectobjective, carved to assembled, refined to raw. I t is aruns through twentieth-century art between the assputative re-presentation of reality. A powerful epersistenceof thisimaginary field in latetwentieth-centuthe work of the painter Phil ip Guston. He, l ike m
give ideas of truth, though it be in no degree the imitation orresemblanceof thosefacts’. True sight leads to insight, true insight leads to revelation. This
triadic structurecorrespondsto his theory of theimagination: first whathecalled thepenetrativeimagination saw clearly and deeply, then theassociative imagination brought theseperceptionstowardsunity, whilethe contemplative imagination meditated on and expressed thespiritual, symbolic truthsso revealed. The whole of Ruskin’s art theory, in a sense, comes back to
representing the sphere, an exercise in the first order of truth. Wecannot begin to talk about representation, until there issomething torepresent, and if we do not know what it is that we wish to represent, [email protected]
- 320 -
theground to createcar parking below a green belt, how ground form,roof shape and structure ease the flow of air and invite movement of
people. Having a degreeof familiarity with Dublin probably helped thethinking for theMillenniumSpireto happen quickly. It wasan intuitiveidea which becamearchitectural, sculptural, and structural. I wantedthe stand at Crystal Palace to capture the essential form of the bowl
Joseph Paxton created. It sweepsup to thestage, reflecting sound andair, likea leaf in thepark. Theurban sceneis full of imagesthat carrymeaning, which may lie, for instance, in a technical effect or perhapsinmemory. A small intervention may alter the balance between imagesand profoundly affect their meaning, and it isin sifting and synthesizingtheseideasand influences, helping to understand their repercussions,that languageisso powerful. Aswordsdevelop into imagesthey pick upand evolveknowledge.
Roger PenroseI writeasa mathematician who finds drawing and other formsof visualrepresentation immensely helpful. I can think of several different waysin which such visual imagery can beimportant in mathematical work.In thefirst place, thereisthefollowing major division:•Internal, ie, aidsto one’sown mathematical understanding•External, ie, aidsto theconveying of such understanding to others.
Therearemany different waysto think about mathematics, and thereareconsiderabledifferencesamong mathematiciansasto which modesof thinking come most easily. I think that the main division betweensuch modesof thinking comeswith thevisual/ geometric, on onehandand theverbal/ algebraic/calculational, on theother. On thewhole, thebest mathematicians are good at both modes of thinking, but myexperience has been that with mathematics students, there is muchmore difficulty on the geometric side than on the
algebraic/ calculational side. As for myself, I find tthinking is what comes most naturally, and I ofte
mathematical problemsinto a geometrical formfirst babout trying to solvethem. However, I frequently findtrying to convey my understandings to other matstudents, if I use too geometrical a formulation, ashappier with algebraic/ calculational typesof argumen
However, there isa curiousparadox here. I am oflectures to non-mathematical (or mixed) audiencerequest usually takestheform ‘uselotsof pictures, so tfind it easier’. T hisisgenerally good advice, and it iscthat pictures rather than equations are normally mconveying information – even fairly technical infoaudiences. The puzzle is: why isi t that professional and those aspir ing to be professional mathematimpression of being moreunhappy with visual typesof membersof the interested general public? Here I ventto thispuzzle, that thereisa selection effect, arising frois much harder to examine visual mathematiccalculational or algebraic skills. When I was in mmathematics undergraduate, I chose geometrical specialist topics, but I believe that I fared a good d
algebra papers than on the geometrical ones. The although I did not havedifficulty in solving thegeomefound it to bedifficult, and particularly timeconsuminunderstanding in words, aswasnecessary. Moreover, arguments, an appropriate degree of rigour is alwaargumentsto beacceptable. Thisisoften difficult to exwith geometrical reasoning, even when such reasoningbeperfectly correct. Accordingly, thosewho rely on g
compelling pull of this invisible model which suffuses Western art.Guston’s paintings with their tidal shifts towards and away fromrepresentation, show a grid-like sensual abstract paintinginterpenetrating figurative, illustrative pictures. Depictions andthought-touches seem to emerge from the wealth of the painter’smemory, giving them an interior ity akin to the reflexiveness of literature. Hispaintingsexist within a maturemetaphysical realm fortheprojection of emotion and form.
What I amarguing for isa moreorganized formof subjectivity along
the linesof Caspar David Friedrich’s injunction. It is a Classical andinformed subjectivity, depending on thoughtfulnessand reflection, andits effect is to allow picturesto maintain their elusivenessand privacyeven when their meaning ismanifestly present in thepublic realm.
which I develop through l anguage. Through draughting andredraughting, wordshelp to concentratean idea and bring it into focus.How thi s happens varies. The outcome might be descripti ve orabstract; sometimesit may depend on metaphor and at other timesit ismoreliteral.
Once words have given a theme or idea some existence, the nextchallengeisto captureit visually. In thepast I used models, moulding apieceof plasticeneto find the form, but moreoften now I useJapaneseor Chinese brushes– the calligraphy of the title. T he idea must exist
before I can paint around it, but using different techniques of representation helps to develop it. Alba di Milano , for example,originated asa beamof light. M ilan’sreputation for making fineclothsuggested theidea of weaving, so it started to evolveinto a cloth of light
Royal Academy Forum
Four imagesby Ian Ritchie RA, clockwise from left, The Spire of Dublin (monument for Ireland);White City Shopping Cent re; A lba di Mil ano; Crystal Palace Concert P lat form.
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g yp p
Ian Ritchie: language to architectural calligraphyMy design processalwaysstartswith an idea, and ideascan comefrommany sources. Some might be environmental; others are functional,social or structural, or sculptural in thecaseof the JubileeL inevents,but they exist asideaswithout a clear representation. Themeaning andvalueof an idea liesin language, so I find languagea fundamental toolfor exploring ideas. Asa student in Liverpool and spending a lot of timeat theEveryman T heatrewherethepoet Roger M cGough opened upmy appreciation of language, I saw how wordscan investigate ratherthan determinean idea. T his isa pre-drawing form of representation
gg g, gwoven from fibre optics, which emit l ight when broken. My firstpainting wasa black line on a white piece of paper. Using ground oncopper plate, theetching reversed that, turning it into a flash of whiteagainst a black ground.
For White City Shopping Centre I wanted to capture ideasaboutshopping that I had described in writing. I had written about how airmight flow through the spacesand the roof modulate sunlight, abouthow there could be viewsand routesto parkland on either side, andhow the effect might reconfigure the relationship between shoppingand thecity. An early ink drawing conveysthoseideas, initially formedin words, with a few simplebrushstrokes, showing themanipulation of 90|2 Left,Fig1; centre, Fig2; right, Fig3,The Creator Having Trouble Locat ing the Right Universe by Roger Penrose, mixed [email protected]
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of my work isthemethodology of visually mapping information and thepsychological and emotional dimension that comesout of i t.The Frozen Sea installation began in theword check-mate. Following
its semantic and etymological connectionstook methrough thevariousstrands of the meanings of words such as check, exchequer, chess,
jeopardy, hazard, and draughts. Having mapped ‘check’ to a level thatsatisfied me(about forty terms), I set about theproblemof materializingthis map. No map can convey every detail to a reader, as the
information would be overwhelming. I chose to focus only on therelations between words. To know if and how words relate, theirrelative agesand etymologieshaveto beknown. Asmy map containedsemantic links, thistoo would haveto berecognized. I chosethreerules
horizontally. Theroombecamea working study and grid with X and Y coordinates.
Richard Long maps his journeys through the lanand sticks, objects to hand. I have mapped my jourforest of words in anglepoise lamps and chairs, alsohand. The Mexican artist Damien Ortega’s recentSpirit placestext and materiality in disjunctive conjuCraig-M artin’s 1970s workAn Oak Tree looks at
chemistry of naming and duality of matter and sign. I Sea in relation to theseworks. To return to the experience of the viewer – th
activated when theviewer beginsto piecetogether the
of understanding are at a disadvantage in examinations, andconsequently they become under represented in the mathematical
community at large. My own experiencewith visual imagery – and thisapplieswithin both theabovecategories(internal and external), thoughwith a somewhat different balancewithin each – isthat it can takemanyforms. There are, indeed, variouswaysin which I have found visualrepresentationsto beimmensely valuable. I n my own work, either asanessential aid to mathematical understanding and research, or forexpositional purposes, I can distinguish at least four categories:(a) Schematic diagramsrepresenting mathematical concepts.(b) Accuraterepresentation of geometrical configurations.(c) A precisediagrammatic notation for algebraic calculations.(d) Cartoons, often whimsical, to illuminatekey points.
My notebooks are full of sketches depicting (a), the picturesfrequently represent mathematical structuresof higher dimension thanis apparent. The configuration in Fig 1 isa drawing of mine from anarticle ‘M athematics of the Impossible’,* and it i llustrates a non-periodic tiling of theplanefromjust two different birdlikeshapes. Thetypeof precisegeometrical notation that I frequently use, in accordancewith (c), is illustrated in Fig 2, from another notebook of mine. The(whimsical) cartoon of Fig 3 isonethat I haveused a number of timesinlectures, and it illustratesthe extraordinary precision with which theuniverse must have started up (at the Big Bang), in order to beconsistent with observation and with the Second Law of
Thermodynamics. I feel honoured that it hasbeen exhibited aspart of the Royal Academy’sSummer Exhibition 2004 under the title ‘Thecreator having troublelocating theright universe’.
*The Artful Eye , edited by Richard Gregory, John Harris, PriscillaHeard, and David Rose, Oxford University Press, O xford, 1995, p326.
Abigail ReynoldsRuskin established a clear linebetween drawing and comprehension,arguing that drawing triggers looking, and looking leads tounderstanding. But Robert Hewison’sdiscussion of Ruskin suggeststhat he saw the entire benefit came in producing a drawing, leavingopen the question of whether seeing a drawing hasthe same order of significance. In art, Richter points out, seeing isthedecisiveact, so howthe artist can enable the viewer to share this central act completelybecomes the vital issue. I am especially interested in how art canbecomea tool for thinking, and potentially elevatetheviewer’sthought
processover theartist’s. Art should open an avenuefor activethought.Having madeMount F ear , which represents crime statistics as a
mountain range, I am looking at developing further strategies forrepresenting theabstract by sculptural and physical modelling. Among
interested in opening up discussion of the place of lexicography anddictionary-making in our culture to a wider audience, but I amespecially drawn to it because, asa project, it teeterson the brink of folly. T he hubrisof documenting all of language, a moving target, isalmost monumentally absurd, and also heroic. It can never bedone.
My year as Arti st in R esidence at theOED had many joys. T hesimplest of these was, when asked where my studio is, to be able torespond ‘in theDictionary’.
Of course, when I say Dictionary, I mean a department of 70lexicographers, whereasmy questioner imaginesa set of 20 volumes. Imean an ongoing daily process; they think of a printed authority.Suddenly, in this gap, emergesa mental imageof me, shrunk likeAlice
Royal Academy Forum
Abigail Reynolds, Exchequer 1, photo-collage 2004. Abigail Reynolds, workingdrawingforThe Frozen Sea, 2004.
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, gto describe the word map in three dimensions: semantic = beside,etymological =on top of, word age=volume.
ForThe Frozen Sea I decided to createa study, with desks, chairs, filingcabinets, a full set of theOED , blackboardsand so on. Having gatheredmy objects, I ranked them by volume and assigned a word from the‘check’ word map to each, based on thesimplecorrespondencethat thelargest volumeshould represent thetermlongest in use, thesmallest, theword that had been in use for the most fleeting moment. H avingassigned objectsto wordsI arranged themaccording to my threerules:objectsrepresenting wordsthat related semantically wereplaced besideone another; those with an etymological connection were stacked
g p gstudy. Thework operatesasan invitation to theviewethe process of decision and doubt that has createddetectivework. Thisisa strategy that I employ to activdecisiveprocessof seeing isa re-perceiving. Asin a cothingsare not what they seem. Every element of themeaning. T hedesk isindeed a placewherea lexicograwork, with the fetishization usual in the preserved slike Darwin. It is also a tool that hasbeen used in theout, and also directly representsa word in the group
Thetitlewaschosen to suggest a momentary fixing of a Thearrangement will giveway to another asanother w92|2
p g y p p y g gthesewasmy work asartist in residencefor theOxford English Dictionary .
TheOED is already a representation in at least two senses: itscontentrepresentsculturethrough time, and its aesthetic representsauthority.It isconstantly changed and updated, and although it outwardly aspiresonly to be descriptive, mapping change in language, its aesthetic of authority confusesthisby being set up asan arbiter of what isand isnotcorrect. But in shaping thechaosof experienceand imposing order, theOED haspointsin common with art.
I approached the OED by looking at systems and structures of meaning in lexicography and art, connecting theexperiencesof my firstdegree in English and my second in Fine Art. T heOED itself is
y, g p, g g ,moving through a world of words. It is a really enjoyabledisjunction,and onewhich liesat thecentreof my approach to creating a visual artwork that respondsto theOED .
I started to produceword mappingsquite soon after arriving in thedepartment. Paul K lee, when drawing, would takea linefor a walk. Ispend timetaking wordsfor walks. Choosing a word, I sniff around it,following cross-referencesand other hintsin theOED . Theword groupgrows and is shaped over time as I add and subtract semantic andetymological links, arranging and re-arranging until a satisfying formevolves. Words have a shape which can amount to a secret history of their mutated meaningsover time. What I find important in [email protected]
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yearsold. T herearethreeof thesecomplexesin I ndia and while I haveseen only the one in J aipur, I chose to model the Delhi structurefamiliar to meonly fromincompleteaccounts, plansand photographicrecords. I waskeen to makean idealized version which I think revealsmoreof thehubrisbut also thebeauty of thesethreestructures.
After we had made a CAD model of the site, I attempted todeconstruct thebuildingsby projecting animated viewsonto a movingstainless-steel mesh armatureand re-filming theresult. Most elements
in the buildings are visible, and their essence survives being pulledacrossa complex seriesof curves. I wasinterested to seehow thebasicgeometry would withstand this sort of distortion of representation. Itis an example of what I call ‘vertical memory’, where the essence of
d i i thi t f li Thi l l t
in which I overlay blurred and distorted images. Tblurring curiously introduces a level of sight which fmore permanently embedded than conventiorepresentation. I t also shows up a particular problarchitectural photographs and renderings. T hinexhaustible detail drawing you closer and closer to thephotographic grain interposesitself between yourepresented.
Using a different approach to representation raisethe ‘habitability’ of the representation itself; that is, invite you past its own surface. I fi nd similarepresentation with text and while I usetext extensivi ft i f hi h k l d thi diffi lt
Graham Modlen, Officeof Zaha HadidDrawingsby Zaha H adid’sofficearepowerful representationsof ideas
and possibilities and when I started there I had to fathom out whatthey might represent. ThedrawingsI had seen previously for theHongKong Peak project stimulated me to think forward, to wonder that if you could do that to Hong K ong, what werethepossibilitiesfor othercities? I soon realized that thistypeof drawing isa processwhereevery-thing isto be re-imagined, shattered and then put back together again.It i sas if weareasked to suspend belief and to turn theproject roundgraphically and re-present it. Drawing allowsdifferent peopleto inventand interpret, and contribute to theprocess. It isa real studio system.
One of Zaha’s earliest commissions was a rooftop conversion inHalkin Placein Belgravia. The drawingsshow theflat interior with thewallsblown away and theplan drawn within a floating isometric pro-
jection. Fittingsand furniture are sometimeson the floor and some-times floating. T he wall is drawn as if i t were a new plane throughwhich light shines. I t has a sort of surreal air to it. But the drawingsalso re-imaginethe homeground; certain elementsbecomerecogniz-able; you can makeout thestreetswith thefamiliar duality of a regularedgeto thestreet and a serrated back edge. Thetechniqueof drawingsheinaugurated hasbecomea hallmark of theoffice. It allowsanyonein theoffice, whether they know London or not, to reinvent it and show
ushow it could be.By the time of the competition for the Grand Buildingssite in the
mid-1980s, the techniquesfor drawing had evolved into a collectiveeffort. The project wasan opportunity to reinvent or imaginean ide-alized version of Trafalgar Square. In the drawingsthe square itself might berecognizablebut what liesbehind it haschanged. The rivergetslost and thereareseveral strangeundulations. Various people inthe team contributed perspectival drawings, representing their ideasor knowledge of the city but, I think, they were put together withZaha’ssteadying hand.
In theofficearesketch booksof drawingsby Zaha, which aresome-thing li ke diaries. They may not refer to any particular project, butthey are forward thoughts and reflectionson past ideas. She can pre-sent them to thestudio in a way which launcheseverybody off, or shemay say, ‘there’sa sketch I did which may ... but you will haveto studyit’. Weteaseout what might relateto theproject in discussion. It may
be the silhouette that hassome significance, or perhaps one image islaid over another to fathom out the kernel of the plan. T he result is
multi-layered and theoriginal thought may becomeindistinct.With computersand copierswecan deal with all sortsof distortions.We can twist plans, build up layersand distort distances. The intro-ductory imagesof theRomeContemporary ArtsCentrewere‘reliefs’built up fromtwo or threelayersof cut card to givedepth to thegroundin plan. That then feedsideasabout the roof structure and for wallswhich descend and createoutdoor spaces.
At theMind Zonein theMillennium Dome, our task wasto repre-sent the workingsof the mind through an interaction of architecture,art and an understanding of neurology. Itsform of three overlappingsnake-like shapes resembling curving lasagne layers and forms, wasdescribed as piece of sculpture and exhibitry itself with smaller ele-mentsof sculpture and exhibits inside, something like a Russian doll.
Theposition of thesteel trussesrelated to circulation patternsand thedome’sshape; wetickled and pushed it with cantileversand distortions.
The idea was that people walking along ramps would come acrossexhibitsthat aimed, for example, to play with visual perception, com-munication and identity. One of the exhibitswasa built spatial per-spectival trick comprising a 4m high sculpture by Gavin Turk whichdistorted distances. Another wasa computer programwhich reworked
a photograph of yourself to changegender, raceand age.Our drawing techniquesarewaysnot just of representing, but find-
ing and developing ideas. For examplethe‘mid-construction’ viewsof Cardiff Bay Opera H ouse were drawn on black paper, but from theuse of white paint, for example, it seemed to me an idea came abouttheuseof light. I n another, earlier project from1993, based on an ex-dockland sitein Düsseldorf, which combined a radio station, hotel andmedia offices, theteammadea number of exploratory worksincludinga mixed, hybrid perspectivewhich wasasif wringing a cloth. Out of itcame different views represented in one painterly composition.Representation ispart of theprocessof thinking.
Paul SchützeWhen I make pieces based on architecture, I aim to document theexperience of a building rather than the bui lding i tself. PeterZumthor’sThermal Baths in Valscaptivated me partly because thebuilding seemsto have its own internal weather systems. Each roomachievesitsown micro climatewith distinctivetemperature, humidityand tepidity. Some spaces also link with the exterior bringing an
unexpected haptic transparency. Roomsregister asmuch on theskinas the eye or the ear. There are extraordinary acoustic phenomenaarticulated by varieties in scale, materials and ceiling heights. I wasstruck by how rich an experiencethebuilding would offer to someone
h ld t Whil it i l i t i id bl th
Royal Academy Forum
Paul Schütze:From the Garden of Instrumen ts III , 2004. Lightbox, 92x 128.4cm. Edition of three. Copyright holder: Paul Schütze. Imagescourtesy of Al an Christea
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compressed experiencesurvivesthissort of mangling. Thisalso relatesto our own inability to recall accurately which gives rise to a poeticsensibility forced to rebuild objectsand experiencesin our own minds.If there is a common grammar, each small part might contain thephraseology for thewhole.
When I introduce sound into a work I use Dolby Surround whichdefinesa pronounced spatial configuration. I do not want a sense of front or a formal planar way of seeing a building. I want the sameflexibility in experiencing representation that we take for granted intheexperienceof therepresented.
Oneof thetwo filmsto which this project gaverisehasa sequence
is often in a form which acknowledges this diffi culttimelabouring over thewordsand havea programmdisplay them asa fine grid floating apparently withinfog. While the meaning is still present, i t becomes lalmost irretrievable, an obscuring tint acrossthesurfa Their numerous staircases aiming at the s
calibrations and dishes, the Janta Manta are budetermined by light, moonlight, starlight or sunligchoseto render thestructuresin glass. How thebuildion light and arose purely from light sets up all sorpossibil itiesfor itsrepresentation.94|2
who could not see. While its visual impact is considerable, thearchitect has addressed each of the senses extravagantly. Anotherfeature is the way its water surfaces appear as part of thecompositional massof the building and yet are occupiable asspaces.
This produces an almost eerie intimacy with the materials and thestructureitself. The Janta Manta series takes the remarkable structures built as
astronomical observatoriesunder the Mughal Emperor Jai Singh II . Their form determined by need, they have a minimal amount of ornament, but they make an engaging collection of sculptural formswhich seem strangely contemporary despite being several hundredZollhof, Düsseldorf, by ZahaHadid Architects. [email protected]
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Continuity is important too, because all our projects are really onwork. An extraordinary concept you might have at the age of 21 is avalid when you are 56; you just have more wisdom to explore thaconcept in other ways, but hopefully with no less vibrancy. I t i
important to keep up a process of discovery and invention. Often spend time in the summer on Minorca with Bruce Maclean, noworking on any particular project but doing something else. Thessessions might throw up some interesting shapes, forms or ideawhich could find their way into design projects. We would have to dfurther studies to interpret how to build them, but in reality drawingmaking and realization are all aspects of the same process.
Discovery is an important part of our activities. We did not imposthe Ontario College of Art and Design on the community; rather came out of the community. We extended the park to the street so
people who live on it can walk straight out into the park, which is nowanimated by the lively people who occupy the art school.
O j t ‘N t th T t ’ f B ki R h i th Th
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Our project ‘Not the Tate’ for Barking Reach in the ThameGateway shows how we use various techniques of representation texplore the implications of particular starting points. At the momenthe area is not on the mental map of Londoners and most proposafor it are overly academic. Our proposal is to give a series of largwooden huts over to the London art schools – one of the city’s greasecrets – and curate a landscape of activity with work in, on o
Sketch for the School of the Future.
Stuttgart’s Kleine Schlossplatz (Small Palace
Square) was built in 1968, in an age when
motorist freedomwas the dogmaof urban
planning. It is situated diagonally across fromthe
Neues Schloss, one of Germany’s largest
Baroque palaces. Barren and uninviting, the
square was never much more than alarge raised
concrete platformcoveringamotorway
crossingand tramlines, and had been a
depressingpublic and political eyesore for more
than aquarter of acentury.
Duringthe 1980s, an investor-ledcompetition put forward an urban design
masterplan by I. M. Pei, but the local community
did not vote in its favour. In 1993, Behnisch &
Behnisch alleviated some of the grimness by
introducingagenerous flight of steps which won
public acclaim. But the real breakthrough came
in 1998 when the City of Stuttgart held an
international design competition based on a
mixed cultural and commercial use of the site. A
staggeringnumber of 431 architects submitted
their proposals. Ultimately, Stuttgart-born (but
now Berlin-based) architects Rainer Hascher
and Sebastian Jehle won with adesign that
clearly separates the new art museumfromany
speculative commercial development.
Today the rectilinear mixed-use office and
retail buildingplays asecondary role compared
with the glass-clad Art Cube, which acts as a
strikinglandmark for the museumcomplex, a
major intervention that has succeeded in
miraculously revitalizingStuttgart’s city centre.
Nothingbut Behnisch’s flight of steps remains as
areminder of the old urban condition. YetHascher Jehle’s crystalline landmark is only the
most visible part of the Museum– more
exhibition spaces are housed in the former
subterranean traffic tunnels as the architects
skilfully and imaginatively utilize the remnants of
the old infrastructure.
The buildinglies on Königsstrasse, the main
pedestrian zone, next to the imposingNeo-
Classical arcades of the old Stock Exchange and
opposite the Neues Schloss. The galleries at
lower ground level occupy a115mlongsection
ARTMUSEUM, STUTTGART,
GERMANY
A RCHITECT
HASCHER JEHLE
1The new Art Cube takesits place in theurban matrix of Stuttgart’sKleineSchlossplatz, helpingto revive aformerly depressingpiazza.2The cri sply detailed glass-clad cube sitsabove subterranean galleries.
URBAN CUBISMSignposted by a glass cube, this museum complex revives a Stuttgart square.
location plan
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50|21 [email protected]
- 325 -
ground floor plan (scale approx 1:1250)
lower ground floor
1 exhibitionspaces
2 archives
3 entrancehall
4 book shop
5 cloakroom
6 seminar room
7 shopunits
8 lecturehall
3The prospect from the top floor,due to be fitted out asarestaurant. The NeuesSchlossi sacrossthe square to the left.4Entrance hall.5Circulation zone between theinner stone clad cube and outerglassskin.
ART MUSEU
GERMANY
A RCHITECT
HASCHER JE
3
4 5
fourth floor
first floor
36
1
1
1
1
2
2
7777
1
11
5
4
1 1 1
8
2
2
1
11
2 2 2
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52|2 longsection [email protected] 326 -
of the old tramtunnel, directly under the Kleine
Schlossplatz. As you enter the museumfrom
Königsstrasse, the generously glazed 450sqm
foyer is flooded with daylight, its separate shop
and espresso bar bearingno trace of what was
once the entrance to an infrastructural Hades.
Exhibition spaces begin on the ground floor,
behind agroup of multifunctional rooms, and
continue 60mdown underground. You can peer
into the open circulation areaof the lower
ground level directly below. Daylight filters
through window strips high above, in thepavement of the Kleine Schlossplatz, helpingto
dispel any feelings of claustrophobia in the long
corridors with their neutral whitewashed
exhibition spaces. Nothingdisturbs these calm,
silent caverns of art, not even the noise and
vibration of the 50 000 vehicles that rumble daily
through the tunnels on both sides.
The 1100sqmgallery space above ground is
accessed by asteel staircase that climbs up
between the smooth outer glass facade and the
inner reinforced-concrete cube, clad externally
with rough limestone. The upward journey is an
object lesson in how to hangaglass facade from
the top while minimizingany obtrusive
structural elements. Engineer Werner Sobek
has performed amiracle of transparency, using
giant glass panels measuring4.10mx 2.50m, the
largest possible in Germany. Each side of the
cube has 56 panels and the homogeneous
impression is further enhanced by the use of a
smooth metal seal ensuringacontinuous outer
surface, so that viewed froman angle, the sheets
of glass appear seamless. On the inside, 600mm
thick vertical glass blades strengthen the facade
against wind pressure. However, adegree of
transparency had to be sacrificed for the sake of
solar protection. Imprinted white horizontal
lines (like blinds) on the outer glass filter thesun’s intensity. So only 24 per cent of solar
energy penetrates the interior, with triple glazed
and argon-filled glass panes effectively dispelling
most of the heat.
Given the nature of the buildingwith its
precious works of art, it is imperative to
maintain constant temperature and humidity.
Inside the gallery spaces, 50 to 60 per cent of the
heat gain is neutralized by coolingin the
concrete ceilings. The remainingheat load is
handled by conventional air conditioningwhich
maintains an average temperature of 20 degC
and ahumidity of around 50 per cent. Takingall
these energy protection and savingmeasures
into account, the Art Cube undercuts current
German energy conservation rules by over a
quarter – ahighly respectable achievement for a
construction that to all intents and purposes
resembles aheat trap.
The crowningachievement of the glass cube is
the restaurant on top of the three gallery floors.
Were it not for the 114 moveable multi-
functional louvres integrated within the glass
roof as acombined shading, coolingand heating
device, guests would be sittingright under the
open sky. This fifth level restaurant floor offers
the most spectacular panoramic views of the
Stuttgart skyline. Kleine Schlossplatz has found anew home, 21mabove the old one, but
Stuttgart’s new social gatheringspace is an
impressive and civilized change fromits grimlate
’60s predecessor. CHRISTIAN BRENSING
Architect
Hascher JehleA rchitektur, Berlin
Structrual engineer
Werner Sobek, Fichtner Bauconsulting
Facade
Ingenieurbüro Brecht
Photographs
RolandHalbe
ART MUSE
GERMANY
A RCHITECT
HASCHER J
6The modern Piranesian depthsof thesubterranean gallery spaces.7Lookingdown to the lower galleries.
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54|26
[email protected] 327 -
The Glass Shutter House, which
Shigeru Ban recently completed
on acramped site in the Meguro
district of Tokyo, is the latest of
the architect’s experiments in
blurringphysical boundaries. It
was commissioned by Yoshiharu
Doi, a television chef, who
wanted arestaurant, astudio
where he could conduct classes
or tape his programmes, plus
livingspaces for himself, his wife,
two-storey limit on buildings
frontingthe street. The two
exposed walls, one bay wide and
four deep, are faced with
aluminium-framed glass shutters
that slide up, section by section,
and are recessed into arooftop
container. So, all three levels can
be opened up to the street, and
to the narrow taperingcourtyard
to one side.
The architect employed a
awnings that shade the interior
fromthe sun. This precise
manipulation of light and air
represents one side of Ban’s
practice, as the bamboo and
paper structures (such as the
Great Wall house and the
Japanese pavilion at Expo 2000,
AR September 2000) show off his
highly inventive use of natural
materials. Common to both is a
sense of openness and the
Tradition stood on endSheathed by glass shutters, this house makes the most of a tight urban site.
1
HOUSESTUDIO, TOKYO
A RCHITECT
SHIGERU BAN
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82|2
and their teenage daughter. Ban
stacked all of these on a4mby
16mfootprint, linkingthe ground
floor restaurant and open
kitchen to the mezzanine studio
and set-back livingareawith an
open staircase runningup the
inner wall. The set-back of the
third level was determined by a
local regulation that places a
similar strategy on an earlier
building– the Paper Art Museum
in Shizuoka, an hour south of
Tokyo by Bullet Train. There the
shutters, made of asandwich of
glass and fibre-reinforced plastic,
fold up to open the central
atriumat the east and west ends.
Shutters on all three levels of the
south side fold out to create
permeability of walls.
In contrast to the Curtain Wall
House, also in Tokyo, where
white curtains provide an outer
skin, enclosinga terrace around
the glass sliders that protect the
interior, the white polyester
curtains of the Doi house are
hungwithin the shutters and
billow out only when they are
1The cr amped urban context showingthe house sealed by its glassshutters.2The taperingcourtyard.3With shuttersraised, the housebecomesa seriesof luminousspaces.
2
[email protected] 328 -
open. But the duality of the
layers – transparent and
translucent, solid and fluid –
allows for varyingdegrees of
exposure and enclosure. When
the shutters are up and curtains
drawn, the interior becomes an
8m-high portico, open to public
view. And yet, even then,
attention is focused on the
restaurant, and the upper levels
are absorbed into a private realm
that is visible yet politely
ignored. Ban has reinterpreted
the traditional Japanese house,
with its slidingwalls, shoji
screens, and shutters, using the
latest technology and achieving
an open plan in three dimensions,
rather than two.
The longer you explore this
crystal cube, the more
ambiguous and traditional it
appears. By Western standards,
this is less ahouse than a
restaurant with bedrooms for
the owner over the kitchen. But
the Japanese interior has always
had multiple uses: the same
tatami-matted roomservingfor
living, eating, and sleeping, and
turninginto a sheltered terrace
when the shoji are drawn. So,
here, the studio doubles as a
family cookingand diningarea,
and the restaurant and
courtyard, bounded by ascreen
of creeper-hungbamboo, serve
as borrowed landscape. ‘I find
Ban’s architecture very
Japanese,’ says Doi, who grew up
in atraditional house in Osaka,
‘totally minimal and flexible.’
MICHAEL WEBB
Architect
Shigeru Ban, Tokyo
Photographs
Hiroyuki Hirai
first floor
second floor
longsection
exploded isometric projection
1 restaurant
2 courtyard
3 kitchenstudio
4 study
5 terrace
6 Japaneser oom
7 bathroom
8 bedroom
HOUSESTUDIO, TOKYO
A RCHITECT
SHIGERU BAN
4Livingspaabove therestauran
6
87
43
5
5
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N
84|2 site plan ground floor plan (scale approx 1:250) 4
1
2
[email protected] 329 -
Dwelling From urban housing to rural houses, residential projects are a source of experimentation
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WILL BRUDER
HOUSE, RENO, NEVADA, USA
Flowing along the topographic contours of the arid rock-strewn
landscape above Reno, Will Bruder’s latest desert residence is a syn-
thesis of fluid form and movement that celebrates personal privacy
and the nuances of perception. Along the soft, serpentine lines of the
house, plan and sectional geometry mediate functional needs with
episodic courtyards and planted spaces inspired by Japanese gardens
and the local landscape. Within the main pavilion, living, dining, and
library functions are unified under the gentle curve of a warped shed
roof. The house’s materiality of weathered steel plate grounds it in
the landscape as a mysterious dark shadow by day and as a luminousglowing aperture at night. C. S.
ground floor pla
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UN STUDIO
HOUSE, NEW YORK STATE,
USA
This family summer house in the
Catskills occupies a sloping site
with spectacular 360 degree views.
The site is the starting point for
the house’s radical programmatic
and spatial organisation. A single
box-like volume is bifurcated
into two separate entities: one
seamlessly follows the slope, theother rises above it to create a
covered parking area and set up
a split-level internal organisation.
The volumetric transition is
generated by five parallel walls
that rotate along a horizontal
axis from vertical to horizontal,
so walls become floors and
vice versa. This new house is
clearly informed by UN Studio’songoing formal and conceptual
experiments with Möbius strips
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that spawned the eponymous
Möbius House in the Netherlands
(AR September 1999). C. S.
TADAO ANDO
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OFIS
1957
1970
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1980
Kettle’s Yard was once four tumbledown cottages in Cambridge.
Today it is one of the City’s most treasured cultural venues. In a city
surrounded by the formal grandeur of collegiate and ecclesiastical
architecture, this curious collection of buildings holds its own as
a must see destination. As a place it has become as diverse and
idiosyncratic as the collection it contains; modest, yet sophisticated,
and central to the cultural activities of the local community.
Not simply an art gallery, Kettle’s Yard is many things. Establishedby Jim Ede in 1957, it has had a long and varied life. As the one-
time home of the former Tate curator, the converted cottages were
l t t d t d l i it h ld t ith
Soon after accepting the stewardship of Kettle’s Yard, a successfu
appeal for funds allowed the university to build a new extension
designed by Leslie Martin and David Owers; a significant phase o
expansion (two phases rolled into one through the generous suppor
of the Arts Council) that provided an additional 390sqm of displa
space. As featured in The Architectural Review in February 1971
the designer’s preoccupation focused on how the space and ligh
of the new could add to the progression through Ede’s originahome, maintaining the ambience of the original 150sqm hous
throughout a new 540sqm venue. Through careful planning an
l iti i t t d l l th t i li k ith ld
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always open to students and casual visitors, who could meet with
Ede in a place that he described as ‘a nursery to the visual arts and
an introduction to the formal art gallery like Tate or Fitzwilliam’.
Keen to share his internationally renowned private collection,
Ede eventually presented it as a gift to the university in 1967,
who very keenly took on his legacy. Since then four subsequent
exploiting interconnected levels, the extension links new with old
at an upper level, continuing the subtle sequence spaces through
a series of descending levels and increasing volumes. Daylightin
also progresses with the domestic windows of the old, leading to th
baffled top light of the long apertures that run the full length of th
extension’s rough plaster ceilings. With this language of incrementa
Main image: the 1970
extension looking
away from the
existing house.
Below: the upper
level looking towardsthe existing house.
Bottom: the entrance
courtyard following
Bland, Brown
and Cole’s 1994
extension.
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The search for an architect for the next phase of development began
in January this year when Michael Harrison, Kettle’s Yard director
since 1992, was advised by management committee member Eric
Parry to run an RIBA design competition. New education facilities
were required to provide space for the annual programme of 375
education sessions currently accommodated in a rather cramped
education room at the centre of the plan that could only hold half
a class at a time. Having reprocessed the two remaining shop fronts
from tenants, sufficient space was made available to also include
a new environmentally stable archive for its painting collection
(that in the spirit of Ede is still offered on long loans to University
students to take home), a café (to attract new visitors and give
regulars a place to inhabit), and a more formal seminar space (for
life long learning, lectures and so on).
Having invited 16 or so practices to submit examples of their work,
Jamie Fobert was chosen from a high calibre shortlist that included
De Rijke Marsh Morgan, Caruso St John, Stanton Williams, Ushida
Findlay and 5th Studio. (A success that was shortly followed by his
appointment to design the new extension at Tate St Ives.) Having
spent nine years with David Chipperfield before establishing
his own practice nine years ago, Jamie Fobert is emerging as an
architect of distinction. By focusing on the essence of architectural
space and the practicality of process led detailing, he avoids the
superfluous gestures that distract so many others. As demonstratedin the Anderson House (AR April 2004), and as qualified by his
admiration for the work of Morandi and Hammershoi, Fobert’s work
returns our attention to the potency of simple forms and volumes
When discussing the nat ure and for mof internal spaces, Jamie Fobert returnsto Morandi and Hammershoi for hisinspiration.
Opposite (clockwise from top left):
the new extension as roofscape; viewsthrough the new education suite; sectionthrough first floor level café; a new stair
will open-up views to t he church ( planinset).
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returns our attention to the potency of simple forms and volumes,
and when shaping interior spaces reminds us of the importance
of making decent rooms. As such, Harrison recalls how Fobert,
without making any detailed proposals, had particularly impressed
the jury with his reading of Kettle’s Yard, its art and the evolution
of its architecture. In displaying and sharing its collection, daylight
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Fobert’s new extension provides four
new levels of accommodation behind
two existing Victorian shop fronts.
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By extending Bland, Brown andCole’s sandstone fenestrati on,Fobert’s intervention willsignificantly improve the quality ofthe Kettle’s Yard street frontage.
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ART MUSEUM, BERNE,
S WITZERLAND
ARCHITECT
RENZO PIANO
MONUMENT
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MONUMENT
FOR A MINIATURISTA new museum dedicated to Paul Klee swells seductively into the Swiss landscape.
1Thetheforthe
[email protected] 344 -
ART MUSEUM, BERNE, S WITZERLAND
ARCHITECT
RENZO PIANO
The arcaded streets of the old town of Berne, a UNESCO World
Heritage Site, have acquired a counterpart in the pedestrian concourse
that links the three volumes of the Zentrum Paul Klee, Renzo Piano’s
latest showcase for art. An undulating steel structure emerges from
three hills to the east of the city, facing over the ringroad and surrounded
by fields. It’s a monument that celebrates the work of a brilliant
miniaturist; a fusion of architecture and landscape, warmth and precision,
structural daring and welcoming interiors. It captures the unique spirit of
a native son who made his reputation in Germany, fled Nazi persecution
to return home for a final burst of creativity, and is buried close by.
Klee was astonishingly prolific, meticulously recording the 10 000
works he created in his thirty-year career. ‘Not a day without a sketch,’
he noted in his journal, even as he neared his death in 1940. Membersof the artist’s family and the Klee Foundation promised to donate their
astounding hoard of 4000 paintings and drawings if Berne would provide
a dedicated space to show them. The chief sponsors were Professor
Maurice Müller, a surgeon who invented the artificial hip, and his wife,
Martha, who selected the location and the architect, and insisted that the
building be a centre for all the arts and for people of all ages. Piano has
created a museum that reaches out to embrace the visitors who stream
in from footpaths, city bus, and motorway.
Like so many of his buildings, the Zentrum has a strong, simple diagram
that belies the complexity of its design and construction. Piano shifted
the site from the one that had first been chosen to address the sunken
motorway, mirroring its gentle curve in the glass facade and even in the
lines of vents cut into the floors of the galleries. That gives the building
a symbolic link to the contemporary world, and to the city that lies
beyond, concealed within its river valley. The undulating topography of the
adjoining hills inspired the profile of the steel beams, which swoop and
soar like a rollercoaster, rising from the earth at the rear to form a trio
of imposing arches in front. Each rounded vault encloses a discrete set
of spaces that are linked at the front by a 150m long glazed concourse
containing the café, ticketing, shop, and reference area. Extended opening
hours encourage visitors to come early or linger in this protected piazza.
A changing selection from the permanent collection is displayed in the
central pavilion, with a temporary exhibition gallery below. To the north,
meeting and restoration areas lead out of the concourse, with a creative
workshop for children below, and a subterranean auditorium behind. The
south pavilion contains the administrative offices, archives, and seminar
rooms, all on the main level.
The 4.2km of steel girders were cut and shaped by computer-
controlled machines but then, because each section has a different
configuration, the 40km of seams were hand-welded. The arches are
slightly inclined at different angles, braced by compression struts, andtied to the roof plate and floor slabs. In contrast to this assembly of
unique parts, the concrete floors were constructed as a single structure,
without settlement joints. The glass facade is divided into upper and
lower sections, which are joined at the 4m roof level of the concourse,
and are suspended from girders to avert stress from thermal expansion
in the steel roof. The glass is shaded by exterior mesh blinds that extend
automatically in response to the intensity of the light, and the high level
of insulation minimizes energy consumption.
All of these measures pay off in the galleries and archives, where
temperature and humidity must be maintained at constant levels, even
though they are seamlessly linked to the busy public concourse. The
permanent collection is displayed beneath the curved vault in a 1700sqm
room that is divided by suspended flats into a benign labyrinth of
interconnecting spaces. Each white screen hovers a couple of centimetres
above the oak floor as do the peripheral walls. To achieve the low lighting
level required by these sensitive works, illumination is indirect and
filtered. Spots cast their beams on the white-boarded ceiling vault, and
this glow is diffused by suspended square scrims.
2
3
3A serpentine pathleads up to the mainentrance.
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432 | 8
4To the rear,the vaults mergeinto the ground.Planting will gradu ally be establ ishedbetween the ridges to make thetransition more seamless.
2The trio oftopographic bumpsmimics the gentleundulations ofthe surroundinglandscape.
[email protected] 345 -
5
cross section
site plan
5The tapering profile of the vaults.6
Detail of main facade and inclinedsteel arches.
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6l on g s ec ti on t hr ou gh n or th p av il io n ( co nc ou rs e, c in em a, a ud it or iu m) l on g s ec ti on t hr ou gh m id dl e p av il io n ( co nc ou rs e, g al le ri es )34 | 8 [email protected] 346 -
1 north pavilion 2 central pavilion 3 south pavilion 4 main entrance 5 concourse 6 information 7 café 8 servery 9 cinema 10 AV rooms 11 restoration workshops 12 permanent collection 13 shop 14 reference section 15 offices and administration 16 temporary galleries 17 auditorium 18 children’s workshop
7Café and information area in thesoaring public concourse thatunites that trio of vaults andruns along the main facade.
ART MUSEUM, BERNE, S WITZERLAND
ARCHITECT
RENZO PIANO
ground floor plan (scale approx 1:750)
18
16
17
78
65
4
1
9
10
11
11
10
2
3
13
5
12
15
14
5
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lower ground floor 36 | 8 [email protected]
- 347 -
It’s easy to see in the open geometry of the plan a reference to some
of Klee’s compositions, and the skein of slender cables supporting walls,
lights, and scrims evokes his spidery penmanship. Piano’s greatest feat is
to give these tiny, intense works the space they need to breathe. Such a
concentration of invention could easily overwhelm the viewer; here, each
work seems to float in its own white void, bathed in a cloud of soft light,
achieving an emotional as well as a formal resonance. Works are grouped,
not chronologically, but by affinity, so that you can explore the infinite
variety of ways in which this master employed line, colour, figurative and
abstract imagery; always enigmatic and never repetitive. Toplit stairs and
a piston-operated lift that is a work of art in itself carry you down to
a room of similar size that presently houses the 366 sketches Klee did
in his last fertile year. Here, the works are arranged on a peripheral and
inner wall that trace the rectangle defined by slender structural columns.
Scattered around both galleries on oak plinths are 40 hand puppets
that Klee made around 1920 to amuse his family. Fabricated from the
commonplace materials and crudely painted, they have a compelling
talismanic quality, revealing the inner child in the artist and in all who
connect with his work.
That spirit carries over into the children’s museum, aptly named
Creaviva for its emphasis on creative play in a succession of workshops
that are open to all ages. The steeply-raked 300-seat auditorium that
burrows into the ground behind is a black box lined with curved
sound baffles in the same orange hue as the Venetian plaster walls of
the outer lobby. Regular performances of chamber music (Klee was an
accomplished violinist), dance, and theatre will be interspersed with
lectures and readings. All will reflect the versatility of the artist and his
friends over four turbulent decades and their enduring legacy.
MICHAEL WEBB
8The curve of the arch runs throughthe glazed link between volumes.9
ART MUSEUM, BERNE, S WITZERLAND
ARCHITECT
RENZO PIANO
Architect
Renzo Piano Building Workshop,Genoa
Associate architect
ARB Architects,Berne
Structural engineers
Ove Arup & Partners,B + S Ingenieure
Services engineersOve Arup & Partners,Luco,Enerconom,Bering
Photographs
Paul Raftery/VIEW
8
9
10
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Main gallery for the permanentKlee collection.10Main gallery is an airy labyrinthof suspended flat panels thatsubdivide the space.In places,lightis diffused by horizontal scrims.11Part of the children’s workshop at 1138 | 8 [email protected]
- 348 -
nessand intellectual terms, it hasbeen impossible to makea consumer
product that hasrelevanceto creativearchitectsand designersor vice-
versa – asthe few examplesthat havebeen tried demonstrate. Thesuc-
cessful onesseem to end up assuperficial fol lowersof fashion. They
tend to go in for i nterviews illustrated by large pictures of designers
rather than what they make. All areseduced by flashy gestures.
Desperate straitsWhen I started, theAR wasin desperatestraitscommercially, rapidly
losing money and circulation. Something had to be done, and reme-
diesranged fromturning it into a magazinecovering earthquakesand
natural disasters to becoming a colour supplement to The Archi tects’
Journal , our sibling. I wasconvinced that themagazinecould become
successful again by building on its great daysunder Richardsand his
proprietor Hubert deCronin Hastings. TheAR had flirted with ama-
teur sociology and variousformsof graphic criticism: it wasessential to
bring the magazine back to being fundamentally about architecture
and its immediately related disciplines.
Themagazineclearly had to becomeinternational to a much greater
degree than it had ever been. From its inception, the AR alwayscar-
ried articlesabout overseasarchitecture, and it had a rather small but
faithful international readership. I t wasclear that thebest architecture
and themost important ideascould not beproduced by onecountry,
or even continent. And I very much doubted that it would be possible
to generateenough money to makea magazineof thekind that theAR
must beby focusingmainly on Bri tain, which hasthemost prolific and
competitive architectural press in the world. Both the AR’s content
and itsmarketinghad to change. One of themost immediately obvious
alterationswasto focuseach issueon a particular themeof world-wideinterest. This allowed us to bring some sort of focus to the nebulous
massof ideasand projectsthat surroundsan international magazine.3
It wasrelatively easy to begin to changetheeditorial content, though
therewasmuch to catch up on. Getting thefinancial side to work was
a different proposition, particularly under the dunderheaded and
doomed Maxwell regimeof the late’80s, which actually attempted to
reduce the overseas circulation – British Gas didn’t approve appar-
ently. Under Emap, which bought the magazine (and the AJ) from
Maxwell’swreckage, wehavehad publishing directorswho havepur-
sued sensible international policies, and madei t possible for usto inno-
vate (for instance by setting up the very successful ar+d Emerging
ArchitectureAwards).4
It may seem odd to spend so much time in my final l eader talking
about thebusinessside of theoperation. But thereis no point in mak-
inga magazineif it doesnot generatea sensibleprofi t.
What is the character of the magazine that hashad to be defended
so carefully? Although oneof the oldest architectural magazinesin the
world (it wasfounded in 1896), theAR hashad only 11 editors.5 I am
honoured to beof their company. Savefor D . S. MacColl who wasin
thechair for a short unhappy timea century ago, and thegreat histo-
rian NikolausPevsner (who stepped in whileRichardswasaway at the
War), all of ustrained fully or partly asarchitects. So themagazineis
fundamentally about place-making and theart of architecture. All the
early editors (again except MacColl) were members of the Arts and
CraftsM ovement and, from the AR ’sinception, itseditorshave pro-
moted (often unconsciously) some of the movement’sstrongest tenets
theArtsand Craftsmovement wereRuskin and Morris
were early environmental campaigners: learning from
has always believed that the world’s resources are li
development should respect theplanet. Concern for te
and for place are other abiding passions: buildings
structed right and feel right, and they should resonat
etly) in our subjectivepatternsof thephysical world.
In addition to thecontinuing coretradition, I hopew
inherited interestsin developmentsof technology and
related to architecture– and in exploration of little-kn
people, in time aswell as space. None of these hasre
coverageasit deserved becausewehavelacked resour
would have liked to have devoted more space and ti
plinesof landscapeand urban design, both of which h
opingremarkably in thelast two decades.
Of course, I have made lotsof mistakesof emphasi
and am grateful to talented colleaguesfor preventing
plying them. A magazine is a collaborative effort an
days, Jonathan Glancey, E. M. Farrelly and FrancesAn
astically explored new territories, whilefor many years,
provided thoughtful analytical comment on therapidly
Bill Slack enriched the mix with his special kind of g
Penny McGuire brought an inimitable touch to cove
and product design. Dan Cruickshank reactivated them
est in history. The present editorial staff (almost all
worked on theAR for years) havecontinually maintain
the magazine’s range and quality. I want to thank th
contributors7 who haveadded to themagazine’sscope
The futureAs to the future, a magazine must respond to what h
than trying to set the pace. I t can encourage, emphas
but not (asI oncearrogantly believed) truly initiate. N
strong hopesfor thefutureof architectureand theenv
I trust aremadeclear in therest of thisissue, but I hav
of what will really happen than JimR ichardshad when
I leavethe AR in thehandsof my successor Paul Fin
theexisting staff, all of whomwant to expand energeti
natively into new worldsof ideas, media8 and creativity
will clearly change. But I hopethat thestaff and those
themwill never forget that theaim of architectureand
plinesisto serveand ennoblehumanity. And that, som
icall y, architecture, alone among the arts, can move
our sensesand being. PETER DAVEY
1I havebeeneditor since1982, butwasinvolvedwiththeAR for four yearsbeforet
predecessor LanceWr ight. Previously, I workedfor adozenyearsonour weeklyUK
2R ichards, J. M., ‘R etrospect’, AR February1971, p69
3A ndit addstotheattractionof thepublicationtothe retail tradebygivingi ndividu
shelf-life. Butthethemedformathasproblems: itcanbeveryri gid, andit canpreve
unexpectedevents, suchastheunanticipatedcompletionof a major buil ding.
4O penfor completedworktoall architectsanddesigners, theawardsareoffereda
regularlydrawnhundredsof entriesby(asyet)relativelyli ttleknownpeoplefromal
5H enryWil son1896-1900, D. S. MacColl 1900-1904, MervynMacartney1904-1
1921-1922, WilliamGodfreyN ewton(Ernest’sson)1921-1927, H. de C. H astings
Barman(mid1930s), J . M . R ichards1935(joinedasassistant)-1971, N ikolausPevs
time)1942-1945, LanceWr ight1971-1980, Peter D avey1982-2005.
6T heAR hasalwaystried(notalwayssuccessfully)toanalysearchitectureandarch
di l Thi i ft t l diffi ltt k l tb d fi iti
I was rather taken aback when my fellow directorsasked me to pro-
ducea special issueto mark theend of my tenureof theeditorial chair.
The request wasembarrassing and daunting. What on earth wasI to
do? In theend, it seemed that theonly responsecould bean analysisof
what The Architectural Review hasbeen up to for the last 25 years,1
and what hashappened in theworld of architectureduring that time.
A quarter of a century is no longer a huge proportion of an average
Western life, but culture, politicsand economicsalter so rapidly over
such a period that i t is impossible to compress all the changes into a
manageablecompass. So thesepagesarehighly selective.
When he retired in 1971 after 36 years with the magazine, my
revered precursor J. M. Richardsremarked that ‘weareall modernists
now’.2 Thebattlefor modern architectureversus‘period-revival’ build-
ing had been won, and in R ichards’ eyes, modernism wasbecoming
enriched becausearchitects‘now know that thereis not oneanswer but
any number of answers’. Even so, he could not have anticipated that
within a dozen yearsPost-Modern Classicism (PoMo) wasto emerge
blowsily full blown from the drawers of Philip Johnson’s AT&T
Chippendalecabinet.
Few would disagree that we are all post-modernistsnow – though
few, thank goodness, are adherentsof PoM o. For all Ri chards’ belief
that architecture was becoming more plural towards the end of the
Modern period, to many it seemed to be increasingly grim, bureau-
cratic and dull. PoMo was an early and noisy example of the many
imaginative theoretical and built reactions against tired official
Modernism (and each other) that havemadethelast quarter of a cen-
tury so multi-faceted, culturally productiveand challenging.
At thesametime, radical changesweretakingplacein theroleof the
profession. Richardscould still talk about thearchitect asthe leader of thebuilding team– though heargued that what really mattered isnot
so much formal leadership asthefact that thearchitect istheonly mem-
ber of theteam‘who hasbeen trained to createorder’ and who hasthe
ability to ‘construct a pictureof what thefuture world will actually be
like’. Largely, that remainstrue, but theroleof thedesign professions–
architects, engineers, landscape and urban designers– is increasingly
threatened and restricted by both businessand government. Neither
truststheprofessional role, which wasinvented in theearly nineteenth
century to curb the excessesof the unbridled market. Businesshates
any attempt to restrain it, and governmentsbelieve that they are the
only proper sourceof restraint.
Official philistinismOfficial systemsof building procurement havebeen set up to minimize
the professional position. T hey are almost inevitably more expensive
than traditional methods, more prone to corruption and, judging by
resultsso far, much morelikely to producesecond-rateresults. Absurd
official reports are regularly produced that attempt to make profes-
sional imagination into a merecomponent (and a small oneat that) of
the development process. We do not undergo a long and difficult
processof education and training to become cogsin the construction
industry, and the buildings published in the AR show how architec-
tural imagination can still triumph over the drag of mundane to pro-
duceplacesthat enhancehuman life and spirit.
Richardsbelieved that the AR had a complex role to play in com-
municating architectural ideas to clients and the general public; he
SET T IN G T HE SCEN E FO R THE FUTURE
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in a continuingtradition.
All of ushavebeen deeply sceptical of thenotion that architectureis
an autonomousart. It must serve human purpose and be devoted to
enhancing life (in termsof both quantity and quality). It is not about
fashion, or what Richardscalled ‘in-language6 and plug-in gimmicks’.
Nor isi t a branch of the development industry. The chief inspirersof
ordinarylanguage. Thisi softenanextremelydiffi culttaskas, almostbydefiniti on, a
our psychesinnon-verbal ways.
7P articularlyPeter Blundell Jones, whohasanalyticallychroni cledthecoursesof o
particularlyi ntheGerman-speakingcountries, Juhani Pallasmaa, whoseprofound
architecturehaveinspiredusall, andColi nStJ ohnWil sonwhohasbroughtpassion
debate. A mongphotographers, Martin CharlesandRi chardBryanthavebeenout
8P erhapsusesof newmedialinkedtothemagazinewill allowcreationof Ri chards
inbothdirections’.42|2
thought of it asa ‘bridge, carrying traffic in both directions’ that ‘can
span thedistancebetween architectsand thepublic they serve’. I t may
still havebeen possible to makesuch a programmework even aslateas
the1970s, but I doubt it. Thedifficultiesof trying to generatea maga-
zine that can appeal equally strongly to both general public and the
design professionshavebeen insurmountablein my time. In both [email protected] 349 -
WORLD SERVICE
BMW SALES AND
EVENT CENTRE,
MUNICH, GERMANY
ARCHITECT
COOP HIMMELB(L)AU
1 2
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WORLD SERVICE
BMW’s sales and events centre in Munich reflects an increasing urge for spectacle.
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BMW SALES AND
EVENT CENTRE,
MUNICH, GERMANY
ARCHITECT
COOP HIMMELB(L)AU
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long section
1 Hall 2 Forum 3 VIP car delivery 4 briefing centre 5 bistro
6 exhibition space 7 BMW Individual 8 shops 9 Double Cone
(event space) 10 Premiere
(car delivery) 11 children’s area 12 lounge 13 restaurant
�
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third floor
ONCEAND FUTUREARCHITECTURE
To round off this issue’s survey of The Architectural Review’s last quarter-century, I asked some of the
and critics who have often appeared in these pages to comment on what they perceived to be the mos
ideas and buildings of the last 25 years and to speculate on what will happen in the next 25. Responses v
good deal: some concentrated on individual experience, some on future potential, with some focusing
me. I am too vain (and touched) to leave the latter out. Illustrations are some of my favourite covers. P
Redefine perceptionKEN YEANG, Selangor, Malaysia
Savingthe environment fromour continued devastation is the
singularly most dominant andvital issue affectingourtomorrow, feedinginto ourfears that this third millenniumshall be our last.
In the next decade or so, wedesperately need answers to thequestion of how to design our
it is to be designed, how itshould function in the biosphereand why we also need to designits after life, regarded fromtheperspective both of an ecologist
as well as of a designer.Our built environment – and
this includes everythingthat weas humans make frombuildings,roads, bridges, factories, cars,refrigerators, to toys – nomatter how aestheticallypleasing, how well designed or
manufactured and fabricatedinto food, artifacts, facilities,infrastructures, enclosures (asconcentrations into a singlelocality for our habitation and
other human purposes), whosemanufacture, processing,assembly, construction,operations and consumptionoften use huge quantities of non-renewable energy resources, cansignificantly affect the ecology of its locality and of the biosphere,
Will to formMICHAEL HO PKINS, London
In spite of a number of dottybyways alongthe way, both the
Functional Tradition, identifiedby J. M. Richards in the AR in1957, and the ModernMovement, have survived thelast 25 years.
In the process, they havegrown richer and more complex.In the next 25 years the Will to
Courage to create TADAO ANDO, Tokyo
In the last quarter-century,architecture has acquired a
technology that makes freedomof expression possible. I amreferring to the emergence of computers. T hanks to precisesimulation analyses, architectscan now be as adventurous asthey please.
It seems fittingthat the
freedomof expression and makean impact on architecture wasthe Gehry House of 1979. Itstechnology was by no meansadvanced, but that little building
was full of ideas that anticipatedsubsequent developments incontemporary art such as theuse of irregular forms seeminglyfree of gravity and the
juxtaposition of samples of different materials. This shows the tremendous
human power of I feel that the s
the work left by Lbecomes greater In turninghis bac
the period and reclassics, he showcontemporary arnew direction. Karchitecture seemsilent protest agacontemporary w
It is courage to
once and fu
Thermal bathsat Vals, Graubünden, Switzerland by Peter Z umthor.Photo: Henry Pierre Schultz. August 1977.
Cultural C entre, Nouméa, New C aledonia by Renzo Piano. PhotShinkenchiku-Sha. December 1998.
Entry for the A rctic C entre Competition by Ain Padrick, Vilen Künnapu, LennartMeri. October 1984.
Wastepaper collector in Alexandria, Egypt, for an issue on Third W orld housing.Photo: Nabil Hamdi. August 1985.
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100|3
q gbuilt environment and manageour businesses for oursustainable future.
We need to r edefine ourperception of architecture, how
p g, gmade, is simply materials thatare extracted and taken oftenfrom far off locations, transiently(compared to ecological time-frames) processed,
y p ,and whose eventual disposal (atthe end of their useful life) needsto be accounted and benignly re-integrated back into thebiosphere.
yFormwill continue to beinspired by function, technology,a sense of place and history andabove all, optimismfor thefuture.
gquarter- century should concludewith the GuggenheimMuseum,Bilbao, Frank Gehry’s notablework. T hat is because the firstwork to raise the issue of
speed at which architecture,liberated frompreconceptions,has evolved. In fact, today thespeed of development might besaid to have outstripped the
gtechnology, that ohorizon. C ouragbacked by ideas, ideas are now [email protected]
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Low energy solutionsNO RMAN FOSTER, London
In 1979, if issues of energy andthe environment were discussedat all, they were fr amed in termsof ‘the oil crisis’ – shorthandnotation for the belligerentattitude of the Middle-Easternoil-producingcountries and
their t ighteningof the financialscrews. In the UK, if we wereencouraged to ‘clean our teethin the dark’ it was to stave off imminent power cuts ratherthan to conserve finite globalresources. Undoubtedly one of the most significant changes inattitudes of the intervening25years relates to the environmentand our broadeningunderstandingof the concept of ‘sustainability’. Another radicalshift in architecture – both interms of process and product –has been brought about by thecomputer. Twenty-five years agothe ‘computer room’ was thehallowed preserve of the few.
Today the computer iscompletely ephemeralized. N ewcomputer software has allowedus to explore in quick-timeforms and geometries thatwould once have taken years torefine, and it has enabled us toengineer low-energyenvironmental solutions – anexample of technology andsustainability working hand-in-hand. Vital now, these issues willbecome ever more pressingaswe face an uncertainenvironmental future.
Great step forwardCHRISWILKINSON, London
In the 1980s, confidence inBritish architecture was hugelyboosted by the successfulcompletion of two key projects– the Lloyd’s Buildingby RichardRogers & Partners and theHongkong& Shanghai Bank byFoster Associates. They both
architects involved in theseprojects gained invaluableexperience which inspired themto start their own practices, andthey were first recognized by theAR’s ‘Up and coming in England’issue in May 1989. Since then,many more have flourished,nurtured by other creativeincubators and benefitingfrom
the Jubilee Line and Lottery-funded pro jects. This represents a great step
forward fromthe low morale of the ’60s and ’70s and should,provided that it continues, resultin a significant improvement inthe quality of the builtenvironment. These newbuildings are visually moreexcitingbut perhaps the bigissuestill to be properly addressed isthat of sustainability.
Another form of cultureFREDERICK COO PER LLOSA, Lima
My architectural recollection of
the past 25 years deals mostlywith the str uggle to uphold themain values of the rationalitywhich the Modern Movementintroduced in the handlingof contemporary buildingwithin acountry such as Peru strivingtoachieve economic and culturaldevelopment. This concern hasled me to seek ways of processingthe theoretical andprofessional options devised byarchitects and critics whomIregarded as coincidental with myown conceptions. I recall therole of Peter Rice in closingthegap between architecture andstructure as particularlyenlightening. Aldo Rossi’spertinence in claimingthe
concomitancy betweenarchitecture, the city, historyand modernity. KennethFrampton in illuminatingthepotential of rationality throughthe diversity of r egionalexperience. John Hejduk inapproachingarchitecture and
architectural invention. AlvaroSiza for beinga constantreminder that architecture isabout the joy of transposingthevernacular into fragrant spaces,shapes and materials. RenzoPiano for his structural andaesthetic convictions.
Over the next 25 years Iforesee a declininginfluence of
the traditional role of architecture, as the globalprocess of urbanization expands.
The universalization andspectacular improvement of communications w illundoubtedly developexhilaratingcultural forms at anunmanageable pace. I can onlyexplain this condition as aprocess leadingto another formof culture, an experience which Iregard as comparable to thatwhich followed the decline of the Romans, or of thePrehispanic civilizations inpresent-day Latin America.
Globalization commandsRICHARD WESTON, Bristol
Globalization has been the majortheme of the last 25 years: of techniques (C AD, numericalmodellingof buildingperformance); of technologies(rainscreeen cladding, structuralglazing); of problems(‘sustainability’ in its manifoldaspects); and of talent(architects as internationalsuperstars). In retrospect, Isuspect this period may come tobe seen as the apogee of theseparation between design andmaking, buildingand place, thatbegan in the Renaissance. Instrikingcontrast, the refinement
and diffusion of CADCAMtechnologies over the comingdecades will equip architectswith the tools to begin tochallenge these centuries-olddivisions. The most potentmeans of global homogenization,digital data, might yet combine
Resisting conformityCHARLESJENCKS, London
The followingpredictions(illustrated below) of the nextfifty years were made forArchitecture 2000 and Beyond ,published in the year 2000 as anupdate to Architecture 2000 ,written in 1969. They are the
backdrop for more purelyarchitectural forecasting. Mostsuch prediction is too general totell us anythinguseful about aspecific field though it does put adiscipline in perspective.
Some things look like comingtrue much faster. For instance:Culture, 2015, ‘25 per cent of shoppingdone on the internet’was almost true last C hristmas,with ‘21 per cent’. Po litics, 2012,‘MuslimAnthrax attack onIsrael/American targets’. It wasnot Anthrax on September 112001, but later. Social, 2009,‘hydrogen fuelled cars’. They willprobably come sooner.
In the 1960s, when I first
wrote this book, prediction wastaken more seriously than today,and it was done systematicallyand structurally. Hence theevolutionary tree and structuraldiagrams. Architectural trendsevolve, like species of animal, ina rich background of ecology. Asin nature, variety and pluralismare keynotes. The future?It wi llhave a continuity of pastarchitectural species, those with
cohesion and consistency, withthe addition of a few mutationsand hybrids. The background of war and ecological crises willmake society and architectsmore conservative and rule-bound. Risk-aversion willdominate. Thus the role of Architectural Review andother professional magazines
will be, all the more, topromote architecture as acultural discourse resistingtheever-stronger forces of conformity, philistinismandgovernment by fear.
Revolutionary?EVAJIRIC NA, London
When I was first introduced toPeter Davey, I had a vivid imageof himas a RussianRevolutionary, a C ommunistposter cut-out, a red star aloftin his right hand, marchingforward to create a new world!
Later on I discovered he was
indeed a real revolutionary, anidealistic fighter, always carryinga torch to brighten up thefuture.
What else can I say, other thanthat I wish himthe best of luckand that he continues his
journey with his passionunabated – Peter, at your ageyou are not goingto changedirection now, and thank Godfor that!
Integral part o JUHA LEIVISKÄ, H
Twenty-five yeartimespan in archibasic values and principles in archthe same through
I have the flaw to concentrate o
peace I cannot fointernational archpublications. Manpresent the neweastonishingtrendastray especially tmake me all conf
The most impoarchitectural evenare born locally a
They are born ouand environmentare rooted in a napart of an entity, overpowering, at accompanyingor role. Instead of eown work we neconcentrate on w
environments. To me, architecreation of spatiaprocesses. Archimusic, is experienfrom one space t
There are pauseshighlights. One nsubtle yet dynamwhere buildings ainteriors are an ithe drama with t
Part of frieze of A lbert Memorial,London, by J. B. Philip (1871).Photo:Martin C harles. May 1984.
Old people’shome, Almere, TheNetherlandsby Herman Hertzberger.Photo:Martin C harles. April 1985.
Berr ies and Leaves by AndyGoldswort hy. February 1988.
Composit e detail of BillingsgateMarket, London by Richard RogersPartnership. Drawingby T imColquhoun. Apri l 1988.
once and fu
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pioneered innovative thinkingand the use of new constructiontechnology as a naturalprogression of the ideals of theModern Movement. Many young
poetics. Richard Rogers inextendingthe role of rationalityinto the realmof sustainability.Rafael Moneo in claimingtheconstant role of culture in
with environmental imperativesto be the catalysts for theemergence of diverse newbuildingcultures, globally awareyet locally grounded.
Detail, entrance to temple atBanganga, Bombay.Photo:Martin Charles.August 1987.
FountainsAbbey Visitor Centre, Yorkshire by Edward CullinanArchitects. Photo:Martin Charles.November 1992. Part of the Jencksprediction from Archi tecture 2000 and Beyond [email protected]
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Rationalize lightMAX FORDHAM, London
The need for natural light willmake buildings thinner so thatthe light can penetrate fromthewindows. The use of glass in buildings
has to become more rational.Horizontal rooflights provide
two and a half times more lightthan vertical windows and glassclose to floor level provides verylittle useful light, so 100 per centglazingfor walls is not sensible.Of course, modern high-techglass construction is so stylishthat it will be a pity to see it go –unless somethingbetter turns upto replace it. That will be theinnovation.
No to no poetryRAJ REWAL, N ew Delhi
Like many architects of mygeneration, I learnt the firstprinciple of good architecture is an
honest functional building, whereconstructivist principles areobserved and the materials franklyexpressed. Frommy ownobservations of traditional Indianarchitecture I added otherattributes to honest architecture:humane values and climaticconcerns (shades of Aalto). Mythird discovery was aboutarchitectural expression.
Le Corbusier’s RonchampChapel had certainly bent theprinciple of honest buildingbutintroduced poetic elements or touse an apt Sanskrit word imbued itwith appropriate spiritual ‘Rasa’ orflavour. The correct expression fordifferent buildingtypes is animportant principle for me but
hopefully remainingfaithful to theideals of honest and humanearchitecture.
Computers and rapid advancein technology give us new toolsto deal with space, light andstructures. Architectural fads andtrends will continue to dominatef i i b b li
I have one hope for the future –that anew generation of photovoltaic panels can beimpregnated or fused with othermaterials to create revolutionarybuildings each of which cangenerate enough solar energy forits own requirements.
Shed end?SANDY & CLARE WRIGHT, London
We think the most importantinfluences have been technical,societal and political. Thedevelopment of computerprograms and model-makingfacilities have greatly influencedarchitectural design. Although thishas opened up fantastic newpossibilities, too often there areinstances in which the buildingbecomes the model rather thanthe model the building.
As historian Eric Hobsbawmsaid, the greatest change in thetwentieth century was the growthof the ideaof ademocratic ideal;
and for the postwar generation, anemphasis on the importance of theindividual over the collective.
These ideas have been reflected inbuildings which are non-hierarchical spatially and this, withparticular developments inengineering, has led to astrongstrain of shed buildings, which areprincipally concerned withthemselves and not their context.
Developments in technology inthe future are not only inevitablebut also to be welcomed. We hopehavingthe facility at our fingertipsbecomes ameans to an end ratherthan an end in itself. We thinkarchitectural design is movingtowards abetter reflection of thecomplexity of society and our
humanity. Interestingly, we thinkthis shift can be seen in recentbuildings by some of the originalshed makers.
Technical potential TONY HUNT, Stroud
•The increase in collaborationbetween the disciplines of architecture, structure andbuildingservices, resultinginbetter buildings.•The huge advance in computingpower enablingsolutionswhich would have beenundreamt of a few years ago(Catia and so on).
•The so-called death of Cartesian grids for design – Idon’t believe it!•The Millenniumfund whichproduced a number of significantbuildings.
Ideas
•The development of moretechnically sophisticatedand energy efficient glazingsystems.•Advances in structuralmembrane technology.•Development of ETFE foils.•Advanced uses of green timber.
The future
•Development and acceptance
of high performancelightweight ‘exotic’ materials,such as resin/carbon fibre,Airex and others to replacemetals and concrete in buildingand bridge structures. T his willcome as costs come down.•An emphasis on energyconservation, both in theembodied energy in producingbuilding materials and in thebuilding’s use.•Strict regulations on recyclingof all buildingmaterials.•Development of alternativefuel sources for vehicles suchas electric motor s and hydrogenfuel cells.•Advances in wind and waveenergy systems.
•Further advances in glasstechnology.
Urban return TOD WILLIAMSAND BILLIE
TSIEN, New York
Reconsidering lifeITSUKO HASEGAWA,T okyo
Lookingback on the past 25years means thinkingback to a25-year career for me. Duringmy trip to Europe right aftergraduation from college, I metArchigramin London and HansHollein in Vienna for the first
time. Nothingbut theexperience told me a new wavewas comingin architecture.After that, when I was workingat the Kazuo Shinohara studio at
Tokyo Institute of Technology,another movement of ‘Disconstruction’ by ArataIsozaki, which was started as aseries of articles in a magazine,made a strongimpact on me.
These two deeply affected myphilosophy of architecture.
It was innovative enough toreset conventional fixed ideasone after another. I liked thefree and pure feelingof it. I foundsomethingintriguinginarchitecture then.
Especially graphical, enjoyable,beautiful and intense drawings byArchigrammade us reconsiderour life, architecture and citiesas livingindividuals of freedomand fun. Instant-City, LivingCity,WalkingC ity and CapsuleHomes, symbiosis with natureshowed us possibilities of designingarchitecture related tourban dynamismfrom the pointof view of us as livingthings.
Again, for me, the ’60sarchitectural movement, whichwas in the midst of my schooldays, could have been the moststimulatingin my life.
A real flowering
EDWARD CULLINAN, London
With the overthrow of socialdemocracy by Thatcher in 1979,the birth of monetarismand theold-fashioned Falkland W ar;there emerged fromthebackwoods various
bli h fi i
Charles whose tastes exactlyreflected the tastes of his land-owningclass, which grew up inGeorgian mansions. He made aspeech in 1984 which semi-closed the doors on invention,thoughtfulness and the exerciseof imagination in architectureover large areas of these islandsfor the next ten years.
The planners’ question: ‘WouldPrince Charles li ke this?’became commonplace. But theModern tradition l ived on anddeveloped and grew, mostly inother parts of Europe and inAmerica, but here in manyheads. Now we are experiencinga real floweringanddevelopment of imagination andinvention in architecture. Longmay it last. At least let it last forthe next 25 years while thelovely concept of abstractcomposition can respondpoetically to the demands of sustainability.
PoMo’s absurdityHARRY SEIDLER, Sydney
After many years of fol lowing The Architectural Review, Ibelieve that it continues to beabout the only architecturalpublication that goes beyond theshallowness of other merelypicture-book reviews. This is obviously due to the 25
year editorship of Peter D avey. The measure of the man duringcritical periods is his convictionand strength to debunk, inerudite essays, the dead-enddirections embarked on andfollowed by particularlyAmerican publications. Thankfully he exposed ‘Post
Modernism’s’ absurdity, as hedid with Johnson’s ChippendaleCabinet skyscraper and PrinceCharles’ espousal of C lassicismas hollow pastiche.
We can only hope thatPeter’s leavingwill encourageothers to continue steeringh hi l i i
Environmental inspirationNICHOLASGRIMSHAW, London
The last 25 years:
By far the most important thingto happen in architecture in thelast 25 years is that a largepercentage of architects seemtohave decided that form nolonger needs to remotely follow
function.The next 25 years:
I believe that climate andenvironmental issues will finallystart to fundamentally affect theway buildings look and the waythey function. This will beinspiring.
Everyone’s lifeCHRISTOPH INGENHOVEN,
Düsseldorf
Globalization might be the mostinfluential idea appearingin thelast 25 years and we are stillstrugglingto follow this idea withour conscious mind.
There are concepts andproblems all over the world,belongingto nearly everybody’slife, such as climatic change,endingresources, naturaldisasters, terr orism, clash of civilization, but also fusion, crossover, multi-culturalism, andthere is still hope for a morepeaceful future to come,although it is very difficult to seehow this could happen.
Why do I think that Habitat,the Club of Rome’s reports, theKyoto and Rio de JaneiroConferences are relevant forarchitects?
I still hold on to an under-standingof architects not beingfashion designer or beingmainly
interested in the most fancymaterials and facades. There arechallengingquestions and asarchitects we should use thenext 25 years to move ourselvesagain into the middle of thisdiscussion. So for me,environmentally-friendly
i bl b ildi h i h
Cinema, Duluth, Georgia, USA byRichard Rauh & Associates.Photo:Peter Mauss/ESTO .February 1996.
AR Cent enary issue cover designed byMichelle A shenden, based on drawingof Inigo Jonesby Muirhead Bone forThe A rchitectural Press. May 1996.
Kyushu Railway Comdesigned by Eiji MitoAssociates. May 199
Faculty extension, LMassimiliano FuksasRuault. October 199
once and fu
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fromtime to time but I believethe eternal values of authenticarchitecture based on necessity,sense and reason withoutrejectingpoetry of building.
Events
•The death of Post-Modernismand the rise of late modernistarchitecture in the UK.
Last quarter
Computers define the image of architecture.Next quarter
People will return to the cities.
establishment figures, moaningabout Modernismand tiltingatconcrete towers longafter thelast was built. And the mostpowerful of these was Prince
The Architectural Review into apenetratingand insightfulconviction to build upon andexpand the architecture ofour time.
sustainable building, housingthemasses, excellent infrastructureand quality of public space ismore than enough for us to copewith in the comingdecades.
House, Bamle, Oslo, Norway bySverre Fehn.Photo: Jiri Havran.August 1996.
British Library, Lond John Wilson & PartnPhoto: Martin Charle
June [email protected] 356 -
Fantastic opportunitiesSTEFAN BEHNISCH, Stuttgart
The last quarter of the twentiethcentury was characterized byarchitectural trends of completelydifferent quality. There haverepeatedly been fin-de-siècletendencies which have beenwarmly welcomed by neo-
conservative circles.We have experienced Post-
Modernism, an internationalphenomenon, and the obstinaterigid reconstruction architecture inBerlin – originally restricted withinthe bounds of the city itself beforeproliferatinginto the remotestcorner of the republic andgenerally disseminatingacertaingloominess. On the other hand,there have continued to befascinating, though often short-lived, tendencies: Metabolists, thehybrids, megastructures,Deconstructivism, and, towardsthe turn of the century, thebeginningof new, more expressivetendencies. All of which were ableto stir general enthusiasmforarchitecture far beyond expertcircles.
Of late, more attention has beenpaid to the issue of sustainability.Maybe it will become an integralpart of our thinking, acorediscipline of our planninganddesign work, once we start tomaster the subject. The structuresof our cities will continue toundergo far-reachingchanges aswe experience the transition fromthe industrial through the post-industrial to the knowledge-basedsociety. This change will leaveprofound marks, but withoutdoubt also open up fantasticopportunities.
Peter principleMICHAEL SORKIN, New York
Is there anyone but Bush whodoubts the planet is goingto hell inahand-basket?Ur banizingat therate of amillion aweek, half itspopulationalreadylivingincities
wannabes like the Chinese –foulingtheir nest with cars, nukes,and sprawl at truly breakneckspeed – continue to mouthbromides about the environmentwhile consumingat arate which,should it spread to the rest of theworld, will require the addition of another planet to provide enoughproductive surface to allow us to
eat, breathe, bathe, move, andenjoy amodicumof good times.Buildings – consuminghalf theenergy and generatinghalf thepollution on earth – are implicatedin this disaster and so are we.
Waitingfor atechnological fix,trustingour moronic neo-liberalleadership to come up with asolution, waitingfor the market tohouse the homeless, and thinkingof all this as someone else’sproblem, adds up to aformulaforsuicide. As does the distraction of aphony – if comforting–environmental ratingsystemthatmay curb some excesses at the topend but does absolutely nothingatthe scale which can save us.Although there are many rascals tobe thrown out, we can only dealwith impendingapocalypse bychangingourselves and our piggishhabits. The issue is not to transferour know-how to everyone elsebut to find away of livingmore likethey do. Heads need to beginpoppingout of the sand, self-indulgent, near-criminal debatesabout blobs, shards, and theregulation of suburban décor mustebb, and we must begin to do withless, much less. Architects of theworld unite: you have nothingtolose but your Porsches,Poggenpohls and position on thewrongside of virtually every realissue of importance.
Mutual enrichmentBING THOM, Vancouver
If one is to choose the single mostimpactingevent of the last 25 yearson architecture it would be verydifficult to walk away fromthetragedyof9/11 Itisadaythat
question of why we advance ourideas and how we should expendour energy to better the world welive in. The attention focused onhow to rebuild on the WTC sitebecame aquestion all architectsattempted to answer to betterunderstand themselves. Is it a placeto strike fear or is it aplace tomake peace?The destruction of
the WTC continues to remind usof our vulnerability and inadequacyin addressingthe problems of ourworld. The next 25 years will bemarked by the interpretations of this event and the way architectureworks to express itself through arecovery process. Truly greatarchitecture is achieved bymutually enrichingindividual andcollective actions for ourselves andthe planet.
Stewardship JAMESPOLSHEK, New York
The most important event of thelast quarter century has been yourstewardship of The ArchitecturalReview. In particular, theexplorations of emergingarchitects, Third-World designachievements and experimentaladvances in environmentaltechnology have been unique. Itmay well be that the inventivenessand vitality of The ArchitecturalReview’s initiatives have inspiredthe work that you publish: that youhave created aself-sustaining
journal! The qualities of generosity,
collegiality, and independence soevident in much of what appears inthe AR are sadly absent on the USarchitectural stage. Over the pastdecade or so, anumber of themost innovative Western
European and Japanese architectshave brought your pages to lifehere in the US– architects mostcertainly influenced by your reignat the magazine. The likes of Piano,Foster, de Portzamparc, Maki,Coop Himmelblau, Taniguchi,Snøhetta, Shigeru Ban,Chipperfield Nouvel andRogers
this benign ‘invasion’ will result inthe elevation of USdesignstandards, the expansion of publicinstitutional buildingbudgets, theemergence of arational processfor competitions and amoreaggressive search for effectiveconservation strategies. If myoptimismis warranted, PeterDavey and The Architectural
Review will deserve the everlastinggratitude of all of us on this side of the Atlantic.
Mini head hereRICHARD ROGERS, London
Some of the most importantarchitectural events of the past25 years and for the future:•The information networkwhich allows us to exchangeideas and receive information.•T he growth of environmentalresponsibility.•The urban renaissance and thegrowth of social architecturalculture.•T he development of newtechnology and materials.
Range and scopeKENNETH FRAMPTON, New York
Even though Bruno Zevi was thesole editor of the magazineArchitettura for virtually half acentury, 25 years is nonetheless alongtime for someone to serve asthe editorial point man for aleadingarchitectural magazine,particularly in this day and agewhen editors come and go after afew years with distressingrapidityand when architectural editor swith adiscernible editorial line arefew and far between.
Peter Davey’s inclination wasonly too evident fromthe verybeginning, datingback to thattransitional moment at the end of 1980 when he was promoted fromthe restricted status of ExecutiveEditor for Buildings to what waspresumably the more powerfulposition of ManagingEditor; arole
that year wherein he promptlyreveals the two primary intereststhat would consistently preoccupyhimthroughout the next twodecades; on the one hand, then asnow, the much neglected civilizedmodernity of the nor th, meaningthe architecture of Scandinaviaingeneral, with aparticular penchantperhaps for Norway, and on the
other his constant commitment tothe representation of the ‘other’which, in the case of his last issue asbuildingeditor, focused on the AgaKhan Awards of that year withrespect to which he would alreadydisplay his critical discernment byregardingthe famous Kuwait watertowers as borderingon the flashy.
By 1985, when the onceluxurious partially t inted paperformat of the Review had becomefinally curtailed, avictimsurely of the perennial fallingrate of profit,Peter’s editorial team, with PeterBuchanan as his deputy, enteredinto its stride givingappropriateattention to the maturation of European High-Tech, past andpresent, alongwith DutchStructuralismin its prime and thelongstanding‘other’ promise of the German organic traditionextendingfromthe pre-war workof Hugo Häringto the postwarproduction of Behnisch & Partners,and on to Fehlingand Gogel andthe brilliant but still largelyunappreciated SeldwylaSiedlungdesigned by Rolf Keller.
While this is not the place toindulge in acr itical résumé of thevicissitudes of the Review underDavey’s direction, one cannot helpremarkingon certain trendsparticularly as Buchanan gave wayto Catherine Slessor in the secondposition and as the journal seemedto shift viathe light neo-Finnish
Constructivist line of Gullichsen,Kairamo & Vormalato thespectacular high-flyingtectonics of Calatrava. The March 1995 issuegave special attention to SouthAfrican architecture: afocus surelyunique amongWestern journalsand one to which Davey hasreturned intermittently
Buro Happold, budiverse scene in geall this Peter was athe Review as the magazine of recorAmerican world, oglobal in scope, woremain on apar wchallengingachievedistinguished Span
Luis Fernández-Gain the year 2000 amillennial key notBeijing, not withouheavy polemic acescramblingàlamoto believe caused embarrassment. [I
As far as criticalconcerned, it is tothat he would stepastiche excessesstylism, beingon obold as to criticizecelebrated guru fiRossi and goingonend of tenure to astance that was aspolitical as it was calludingto his pub
justifiably critical written by TomKfrontline city of Ralongnightmare of Israeli/Palestine comay now, at the thave afragile chanbrought to an equresolution. I amwthe Review took afor this audaciousand it is surely to as apublic intellecan instant did he dappropriate to ba
Thus one comesomewhat dandiffront of the editormask that served
critical acumen ofrange and scope. Wmiss his bloody-mcompassionate seaprerequisite I woeditor who, in oneanother, is goingtor her salt. What eapart form thema
Rectorate, Alicante U niversity, Spainby Alvaro Siza. Photo:DuccioMalagamba. March 2000.
Parliament building, Lapland byHalvorsen & Sundby. Photo:JaroHollan. April 2001.
Bank, Granada, Spain by AlbertoCampo Baeza. Photo:H isao Suzuki.August 2002.
ESO hotel, Atacama Desert, Chile byAuer +W eber. Photo:Roland Halbe.
June 2003.
once and fu
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106|3
population already livingin cities,and two billion of us mired ingrindingpoverty, the earth is in bigtrouble. Meanwhile, we firstworlders and our running-dog
tragedy of 9/11. It is aday thatstopped time and forced us all tosearch within ourselves to find thevalues that motivate our actions. Itbrought forth the fundamental
Chipperfield, Nouvel, and Rogershave creatively intervened in ourrelatively moribund and dollar-conscious buildingenvironment.Over the next 25 years I believe
position of ManagingEditor; arolehe would then be destined to playfor the rest of his career. Hisstance in this regard is alreadymanifest in the November issue of
returned intermittently.Apart fromthe ill-fated
MillenniumDome and the new Tate, the year 2000 brought with itnot only anew morphology,pace
apart form the mafarewell in perfectWhat aboutchapeto say laconically, on the other side
Museum of Folk Art, New York byTod Williams and Billie Tsien.Photo: Peter Mauss/ESTO .February 2002.
Mausoleum, Murcia, Spain by ManuelClavel Rojo.Photo:David FrutosRuiz.August [email protected]
- 357 -
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This year’s Milan Furniture Fair was the last to be held on the familiar Fiera
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hitecture.Ebook] The Architectural Review - Sellection(20
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HOUSE AND STUDIO,
NR MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA
ARCHITECT
DENTON CORKER MARSHALL
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Double BassThis coastal retreat on the Bass Strait poetically responds to climate and views.
Architecture’s endless quest for
‘transparent’ buildings can simply
mean excessive use of glass. This
then requires ingenious design
to solve problems created by
the designer. In many parts of
the world, sunlight, far from
being the essential ingredient ofa health and efficiency type of
architecture, is the key problem
which has to be overcome.
Nor do extreme daytime
temperatures imply a clement
night-time environment.
The Bass Strait in Australia,
south of Melbourne, is a case in
point. Climate comfort is more
important than universal views,
and this coastal retreat, a house
and studio pavilion at Cape
Schanck by Denton Corker
Marshall, keeps glazing to an
appropriately low level. That said,
the house (which is located on
a steep site in the middle of agolf course) is designed so it can
enjoy ocean views, but does so
in the context of a ‘black box’
steel structure clad in cement
sheet, with a concrete ground
slab and suspended floor.
It is not the black box
approach which makes the house
interesting, however; rather, it
is the array of angled elements
deriving from the twisting of
the box tube in section. This
leads to raked cladding, cranked
lower windows, and a chimney
which emerges from the wall
at a faint ly alarming angle. The
desired impression was of abuilding which has rotated on it
axis as the box lands on the site
Not just one box, but two:
one sitting atop the other and
peeking out through the native
ti-trees, entered via a glass-
enclosed (but shaded) concrete
stair benea th its belly. The top
deck contains the living area
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2with a long narrow window Glass ends in the house provide and/or aesthetic advantage, has
3
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4 6
Solar umbrellaLawrence Scarpa’s own family house in Venice Beach is an imaginativeand ecologically aware response to the balmy Californian climate.
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Frugality and sustainability are
the hallmarks of Pugh + Scarpa’s
practice, and Lawrence Scarpa’s
family house is an imaginative
manifestation of those principles.
Despite its imposing facade, it is
an addition: a spacious living area
grafted onto the rear of a vintage
60sqm bungalow, and an upstairs
master suite cantilevered back
without touching the roof of
the old building, so avoiding the
need to bring the old structure
up to code. A tilt-up concrete
shear wall braces a wood-framestructure, and a steel frame
supports the cantilever. All the
other materials are recycled:
rusted cold-rolled steel for the
front fence and surface cladding,
cherry wood and chipboard,
homosote (pulped newsprint)
and a translucent screen of plastic
pellets used to clean up oil spills.
Ninety solar panels wrapthe south side and canopy the
bedroom terrace, blocking the
sun and generating an energy
credit. The house is cooled by
(warmed by its purple acrylic
lining) and doubling as a heat
chimney when the skylight is
opened. Pocketing glass sliders
open the living room to the front,
and the master bedroom opens to
a terrace, bringing the outdoors in.The notion of indoor-outdoor
living in southern California
was pioneered by immigrants
from cold climates, such as the
where it is miserably hot and
humid, and you get sweaty walking
from your house to the car. The
ocean breezes in Venice make this
the best climate on the planet, and
it’s a crime not to take advantage
of it. Green architecture is aneasy, commonsense thing to do
– we have an in-house electrical/
mechanical engineer and typically
make our buildings 50 per cent
2
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cross ventilation, and all rainwater
is retained on site. A narrow,
wedge-shaped lantern rises above
Greene brothers of Cincinnati
and Schindler and Neutra from
Vienna. Scarpa had the opposite
more energy efficient than more
conventional solutions.’
Like many architects, Scarpa
FAMILY HOUSE, VENICE,
CALIFORNIA, USA
ARCHITECT
FAMILY HOUSE, VENICE,
CALIFORNIA, USA
ARCHITECT
PUGH + SCARPA roof pla
kitchen remodels and residentialadditions and, when he and his
wife moved into a run-down 1923
cottage on a through lot, they
did an inexpensive remodel for
everything in this inventive housedoes double duty. The entry to a
guest bathroom and lavatory is
concealed behind a hinged section
of the bookcase that lines one wall.
CDN
cross sectio
4
14
13
16
14
15
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themselves. The long back yard
prompted thoughts of expansion
and the arrival of their first child,
Concrete steps with a cantilevered
handrail lead to a springy mesh
staircase supported on a steel tube
12 11
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65
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1
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2
1 bedroom 2 mosquito net around bed 3 cupboard 4 desk 5 verandah 6 seat 7 courtyard 8 lathe screen 9 compost lavatory 10 shower
A beach B guest bandas C dining area D diving centre E reception F tower G amenity building H stores J entrance courtyard K staff area L staff bandas
A
1
B
C
E
B
L
2
7
8
9 10
10
F
G J
H
D
K
3 4
5
6
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location and site plan typical banda plan (scale approx 1:200)
The young French partnership of Florence Lipsky and Pascal Rollet has
a reputation for formally sparse but technically and materially inventive
buildings that make the most of limited programmes and budgets. Though
the pair favour the aesthetic edginess and functional economy of raw or
industrial materials, they generally play it straight with modular Miesian
structures and disciplined spatial arrangements. Their latest building is a
science library for the University of Orleans. Founded in 1961 and now
with some 5000 students, the university occupies a peripheral campus
sward at some remove from the city centre, linked by a tram line that
runs on a north-south axis across town. The site for the library is next to
the tram line, in front of one of the four stations that serves the campus.
Emerging from a boskily pastoral setting, the building is a strong, almost
graphic presence in the landscape. The taut orthogonality of its form, a
long, three-storey box terminated by a full-height colonnade, suggests
a scientific triumph of the rational over the romantic, but it has a morequixotic side in its appropriation of materials, handling of light and
approach to energy use and environmental control.
The tall concrete colonnade, like a scaled down version of Foster’s
Carré d’Art museum, Nîmes (AR July 1993), is a welcoming gesture that
celebrates and civilises arrival, while emphasising a route to the lake. A
small glass box, which also acts as an informal exhibition space, forms
a decompression zone between the blare of the outside world and the
SCIENCE LESSONVeiled in a polycarbonate skin, this
science library exploits site, light
and materials in the quiet pursuit of
passive environmental control.
UNIVERSITY LIBRARY,
ORLEANS, FRANCE
ARCHITECT
LIPSKY + ROLLET
1The translucent volume of the newlibrary emerges from its woodedcampus setting.2A tall colonnade creates a space forsocial interaction.
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cross section
site plan
3
3The colonnade marks the entrance.4The site lies next to a tram line linkingth ith O l it t
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the campus with Orleans city centre.5
Windows puncture th e tran slucen tpolycarbonate skin; glare control is
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silent inner sanctum of the reading room. Areas of clear glazing are
punched apparently at random into the translucent polycarbonate skin
frame and define views of the landscape from inside at study table height
so students can drift off in contemplative reveries.
In operational terms, the modern university library is less concerned
with the inducement of reverie and more with the efficient storage and
retrieval of information, in both paper and digital formats. Yet the process
of information withdrawal, consultation and return continues to underpin
and structure the library as a building type. Lipksy + Rollet articulate this
process through a central ‘book box’, a dense core of books surrounded
by more fluid study zones arranged round the periphery. The main
reading room is a dramatic triple-height space, overlooked and surveyed
by perimeter study zones on the floor above, so users can inhabit a mor
intimate enclave, yet be aware of wider goings on.
The monumental book box is clad in Fincof panels (more commonly
employed for concrete formwork), a type of Finnish birch plywood
stained with dark phenolic resin. The panels evoke the warm leather of
traditional bookbinding and study armchairs but this is faux luxury. The
budget necessitated an imaginatively frugal approach to materials, as
manifest by the double skin of polycarbonate used to clad the building
which combines good insulation levels with light diffusing qualities, so
the reading room seems wrapped in a rice paper screen, with readers
silhouetted against its translucent walls. South and east facades have
vertical, manually operable white polycarbonate louvres to provide
additional glare control. Depending on the sun angle and building users,the vertical brise soleil create a changing pattern on the facades.
Though France is not as advanced as Germany in legislating for
efficient energy use, the need to keep capital and running costs down
proved an important incentive, giving rise to an integrated system of low
key, passive environmental control techniques that minimise mechanical
UNIVERSITY LIBRARY,
ORLEANS, FRANCE
ARCHITECT
LIPSKY + ROLLET
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systems. The building is naturally ventilated, with fresh air warming and
rising up through the main reading room through the stack effect and
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HOUSE, CLONAKILTY,
COUNTY CORK , IRELAND
ARCHITECT
NIALL MCLAUGHLIN
1
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resisted, and the cliché of the
big picture window in the
extension has also been avoided,in favour of a pair of separated
framed views, one from the
living area and one from the
dining area immediately next
to the courtyard. Responding
to light has been a successful
driver for the project, given thatthe relatively sheltered location
of the existing buildings, on
a south-east facing site, has
resulted in a lack of sunlight.
As the architect puts it, ‘We
have designed the extension to
capture the last scraps of sun
as it declines behind the hill
in the early evening’. The new
extension more than makes up
for this, producing a totality
in which comfort, aspect, light
and geographical drama are
synthesised to great effect.
This is an architectural
project where success has
been achieved by treating
each potential difficulty as
a constructive opportunity.
Rather than a series of tactical
responses, which end up
compromising the diagram of
framed views and calculated
routes, the building has a
feeling of serenity and
completeness that belie the
design effort required to achieve
such an outcome. PAUL FINCH
ArchitectNiall McLaughlin
Structural engineer
Packman Lucas
Photographs
Niall McLaughlin and Nicholas Kane
4View sharing dining space.5The cottage contains master bedroom and bathroom.6Cottage interior.7The area looking back to the kitchen.8Separation of function avoids apicture window cliché.
4
6
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7
more of an issue, builders are increasingly
encouraged to build more ecologically. Wood,
a renewable and natural material has an
clad in copper, and the lookout tower in Helsink
by Ville Hara composed of a strong but ligh
meshed shell structure of timber strips (AR
December 2003). There are also several villas i
coastal or lakefront settings, and an annex for th
University of Oulu Department of Architectur
by Claudia Auer and Niklas Sandås.
Among the larger projects are the Finnis
Forest Research Institute in Joensuu, which
is the biggest office building in Finland, and
the Sibelius Concert Hall in Lahti by Kimm
Lintula and Hannu Tikka, both of which hav
loadbearing timber structures. Timber is an
excellent material for long-span structures
the tensile strength of birch compared to it
mass is higher than that of ordinary steel an
far superior to concrete.
Appropriately, one of Finland’s best
known wooden buildings is on show in th
next room. The exhibition Returning Hom
– Sibelius’s Ainola (with the same exhibition
dates) features Ainola, an artist’s villa builfor the composer Jean Sibelius in 1904 by hi
friend Lars Sonck, who, like Sibelius, played
a leading role in the development of Finnis
National Romanticism. JULIA DAWSON
From Wood to Architecture until 4 September 2005, Museum
Shingle church in Kärsämäki by Anssi Lassila: a log-built core encased by a black, tarred shingle clad cloak.
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a renewable and natural material, has an
important role to play with respect to climateof Finnish Architecture, Helsinki, Finland. www.mfa.fi
There is a tendency among
European architects to
experiment with varying
silhouettes. In the UK one
thinks of the emerging work of
Caruso St John and Sergison
Bates, while more widely across
continental Europe buildings by
Studio Granda (AR July 1992),
Gigon + Guyer (AR June 2004),
and Herzog & de Meuron (AR
August 2003) have derived new,
distinctive and highly specific
forms that have avoided the lure
of bling and blob. Since the mid1990s, in opposition to High Tech
and POMO, traditional pitch roof
forms and restrained Swiss boxes
began to morph in response to
site and programme. Articulated
in detail with intricate tectonics,
and through formal distortion
– torsion and twists, architectural
nip and tuck – typologies slowly
evolved. While space and material
remained key considerations,
it was the search for form that
prevailed as the main concern,
and with a pulled vector here,
an elongated ridge there,
exaggerated forms emerged.
Strangely familiar, yet dramatically
new, a form of abstract post-
modernism brought a new play
on architectural simile – ‘it’s like
a barn, an oast house, but with a
twist’. In Japan, a similar tendency
is emerging.
With earthquake regulations
enforcing a minimum 500mmgap between adjacent
properties, densely packed
urban neighbourhoods have
made the detached home one of
the country’s most widespread
architectural types, considered
by many architects to be one of
Japan’s cultural treasures. So it
is no surprise that an emerging
generation of architects is
bringing new interest to this area
of specialism, with architects
such as Yoshiharu Tsukamoto
carrying out extensive research
into the rhetoric and spatial
composition of postwar housing.
In this field, Jun Aoki is also a
serious contributor, shown here
with G House, a contemporary
abstraction of a traditional
timber-framed pitched-roof
detached house. Situated in a
residential district of central
Tokyo, G House is a rendered
house set on top of a reinforced-concrete podium. With internal
spaces conforming to this
formal division, living, dining and
entertaining spaces are contained
within the concrete podium, with
attic bedrooms above. With no
distinction between wall and
roof, the distorted attic form
could certainly be described as
a contrived, compelling object,
Through the careful distortion
of familiar forms, Jun Aoki’s
latest Tokyo house makes the
ordinary extraordinary.
ATTIC LIGHT
location
HOUSE, TOKYO
ARCHITECT
JUN AOKI
1 Jun Aoki’s G House c omprises atimber-framed attic set above aconcrete plinth.2Internally the attic has a complexarrangement of interlockingspaces,lit by an irregulararrangement of skylights. 21
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64 | 9
l
l l l
bath
closet
west elevation ( street entranc e) east elevation (rear)
short section
south elevation
long section
north elevation
ground floor plan (scale approx 1:140) plan through horizontal void first floor plan second floor plan
1 parking2 kitchen
3 living/dining 4 child’s bedroom 5 study
6 bedroom 7 bath 8 cellar
3The central atriumconnects livingrooms with themezzanine study,from where theuppermost loft-like bedroom isaccessed via stair.Direct and reflectedlight plays on theattic’s angularsurfaces.
3
2
1
4 5
6
7
4
3
6
8
7
5
2
8
3
HOUSE, TOKYO
ARCHITECT
JUN AOKI
3
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4The uppermostbedroom sits atthe apex of theattic.5 Where timbermeets concrete,an interstitialvoid is expressedas a continuousdatum.6Oblique viewsfrom themezzanine studyconnect spacesvia the atriumscreen.7 With thedouble-heightatrium and
mezzanineadjacent to oneanother,the fullheight of thelofty attic formis exploited tomaximum effect.
(see Peter Buchanan, AR August
2005), not dissimilar in form
to Prada’s angular prism (AR
August 2003). Here, however,
justification for the derivation of
form is attributed to traditional
formal types and to specific
site constraints, with the subtle
inflections in plan reflecting the
tapering plot, and a recognition
of adjacent building heights
producing dramatic distortions
in elevation. Furthermore,
adhering to good old-fashioned
Modernist truth-to-form, the
internal volume reflects the
external form, with lofty voids,
passageways and bedrooms
creating a complex series of
interlocking spaces. The spatial
complexity resonates externally,
with an apparently random
arrangement of timber sash
windows that sit proud of the
rendered surface, creating
a pattern that subverts any
recognition of floor levels, shifts
our perception of scale, and
increases the form’s sculptural
significance. The resultant form
is bold and distinctive and is
further modelled by a re-entrant
corner cutout, set directly above
the sunken entrance court.
Internally the passage of light
has been carefully orchestrated
with the attic form serving as
an enormous skylight for the
podium beneath. Two voids help
achieve this; a central double-
height atrium that serves as the
focus of the house connecting
living spaces with a mezzanine
work study, and more curiously a
horizontal void, 770mm high, that
articulates the structural division
between concrete basement and
timber frame; a continuously
expressed interstitial datum
that lies coincident with the
re-entrant cutout. Light fills
the spaces, and set against
the cool interiors that are
dominated by white walls, timber
soffits and concrete structure,
Aoki’s interest in decorative
ornamentation (most overtly
expressed in his work for Louis
Vuitton, AR November 2004) is
also evident, demonstrating some
of his more quirky influences.
These include the use of silk
and lace in bedroom curtains,
traditionally used to make
kimonos, and flock wallpaper, as
featured in George Cukor’s 1964
film My Fair Lady ; the wallpaper
being applied with restraint to
feature walls in the livi ng room,
easily changeable, he explains, as
tastes change.
Built to a high specification, the
budget of this house represented
an equal split between land and
construction, with the relatively
high construction costs funding
the big concrete basement, which
has a large cellar and fine finishes
throughout. ROB GREGORY
Site area 106.75sqmFloor area 154.98sqm
Architect
Jun Aoki (Tokyo?)
Photographs
Edmund Sumner/VIEW66 | 9
4 5
6
7
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LAUNCH PAD
1Blue sky thinking:The where the imag inatiooff,and the only real why not?
HOUSE, CHITA, A ICHI
ARCHITECT
POWER UNIT STUDIO
In the somewhat culturally
starved region of Nagoya City
– the venue for thi s year’s World
Expo (AR June 2005) – a young
couple’s anti-suburban house
from maverick designers Power
Unit Studio battles against
lazily packaged homogeneous
architecture.
Unconventionality does not
have to lead to brashness,
however. Suprisingly modest,
the house reveals little from the
street. It is not until you enter
that its full force is deployed,
dramatically opening out into
an expansive living room that
follows the site’s topographical
slope. A steep concrete floor
leads directly to the back of the
house, before cantilevering out
into the garden, overlooking
the forest beyond. Privacy is
maximised, curtains and blinds
are put away, and occupants
exist in their own world behind
gravity-defying concrete blinkers
that screen unsightly views. As
thin as they are, the angular
screens give the impression of a
house that is curi
with no visible me
This visual precar
is further heighte
kitchen hovering o
the bathroom floa
other, and the stu
over the living roo
glass screen in the
a vantage point fo
the comings and g
adding a curious c
the house. It is no
children have bee
playing war games
Standing defiantly on a suburban
hilltop, the Y House declares
war on convention ality.
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70 | 9
l n = :
l n = :
l n = :
i n = :
i n = :
HOU
ARC
POW
2
3
5
2Defying convention and gravity,behind the modest street facade,forms become more expressive.3The main living space is at thecentre of the spatial composition.4Concrete blinkers provide privacy.5The entrance level studio/bed-room overlooks the living spaceto the left,the garden to the right,and gives (assisted) access to anupper terrace.
1 entrance 2 living/dining 3 kitchen 4 study/bedroom 2 5 bathroom
6 lavatory 7 bedroom 1
basement level plan
using the house as their enemy
headquarters. You don’t need
childish make-believe, however,
to see the space as something
other than a house, be it an
army HQ, astronomical research
laboratory, or aircraft carrier.
Whatever it is, as the architect
explains, it was always intended
for a family, with the studio
reserved for children.
Despite the intention,
less child-friendly features
proliferate, not least the balcony
edge and sharp corners, but
also a large rectangular hole
strategically inserted in the
study to bring light to the
basement area below. With a
10 metre drop, enough to make
cautious adults weak at the
knees, it is hoped that children
growing up in this house will be
smarter and more agile.
In concept both daring and
playful, the couple engaged
fully with the architect and his
construction team during the
fabrication of the house, all
responding well to a difficult
job. Minor defects in the floo r
required some making good,
although the imperfections and
idiosyncrasies ultimately give
the house more character. This
is not a place to interrogate
each and every detail; it is
instead a place in which to
lose yourself, and to let your
imagination take off, sitting on
the balcony edge gazing into the
forest beyond.
Site area 324.73sqm Built area 124.47sqm
Floor area 136.29sqm
Architect
Power Unit Studio,Tokyo
Photographs
Edmund Sumner/VIEW
lower ground floor plan (scale approx 1:250)
upper ground floor plan (entrance) section through studio, bathroom and basement bedroom
section through entrance,living room and basement bedroom
4
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86 | 9
The only non-Japanese architect in
this issue, John Pawson cultivates
a formal and material refinement
that has obvious Oriental affinities,
so this commission for a house
in Tokyo is especially intriguing.
Having lived in Japan, Pawson has
some understanding of its culture,
and has designed a couple of retail
schemes. This, however, is his first
residential project and presented
a different sort of challenge in
its intimate scale, awkward site
conditions and the integration of
traditional and modern aspects of
Japanese domestic life.
The clients are a middle-aged
couple with no children who had
acquired a small piece of land in
Setagaya, a suburban district to the
south-east of the sprawling Tokyo
metropolis. The couple are keen
cooks and had eagerly devoured
Living and Eating , Pawson’s
evangelical paean to good food
and the minimum lifestyle. Seduced
by his architecture, especially his
own house in London’s Notting
Hill (AR May 2000), they simply
cold called the office and asked if
he could design something for
them. The outcome is an elegantly
impassive two-storey box that
though it turns its back on its
surroundings, conceals a tranquil,
sensuous inner realm.
Made of concrete which is then
lightly rendered and painted, the
box has a weighty, casket-like
quality, its sides pierced by the
barest handful of glazed incisions.
Internal organisation aims both to
structure and celebrate domestic
life while editing out extraneous
distractions. Spaces for cooking,
dining and relaxing are arranged in
distinct yet fluid zones at ground
level, with sleeping, washing and
dressing quarters above, linked by
a single flight of stairs.
A long low wall flanking an
adjacent site draws you in to the
entrance at the south-west
corner. Though currently vacant,
the neighbouring site is due to be
developed, and Pawson’s response
to this uncertainty is to turn the
house in on itself. A secluded
internal courtyard planted with a
solitary Japanese maple forms the
dwelling’s focus and fulcrum. The
main living quarters face on to
this courtyard as does a tea
ceremony room, with traditional
tatami mat floor, that also
functions as a guest bedroom.
Boundaries between external and
internal spaces are consciously
blurred through familiar Pawson
optical illusions – diaphanous
planes of full-height glazing appear
to dissolve walls and a stone
workbench seamlessly extends
the length of the house into the
courtyard.
HOUSE, TOKYO
ARCHITECT
JOHN PAWSON
BOXING CLEVERA glacial exterior conceals a tranquil inner realm
of minimal materiality animated by light.
1The plot of land infront of the house willeventually be built on,so Pawson’s approachis one of tacticalhermeticism.2The pristine box poisedin typically dissoluteurban surroundings.
it lan 1:
site plan
1
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88 | 9
In scale the courtyard is perhaps
more Mediterranean than
Japanese, but nonetheless its
double height helps to filter out
nondescript surroundings and the
idea of perceiving nature through
the meticulous framing of
individual elements – an expanse
of sky, the branches of a tree – is
very particular to Japan. Windows
set up and define views, but those
on the long south side, which will
be hemmed in by as yet unbuilt
new houses, are infilled with
translucent glass to preserve
privacy. As with all Pawson’s
architecture, the subtle play of
light and a limited palette of
materials – plaster, concrete,
limestone, timber and glass –
tempers the formal rigour.
The challenges of building on
such a constricted site aptly
illustrate the architectural and
economic dynamics of the
Japanese urban condition.
Astronomical land values (in this
case the site cost twice as much
as the house) and demanding
building regulations generate an
elaborate gavotte of compromise
and deference (both to neighbours
and wider authority) that often
serves to discourage creative
thinking. Clearly inflected by the
more profound nuances of
Japanese tradition, Pawson’s spirit
of sensuous rationalism meets
such pragmatic challenges head on.
The house has a glacial
composure and otherworldly
beauty that recalls (if not too
much of an Oriental cliché) the
poise and grace of a classical
geisha carefully settling herself
down between a couple of slightly
dissolute salarymen for an
evening’s chaste entertainment.
Though these enigmatic creatures
may draw stares, they are never
returned; so it is with this house.
CATHERINE SLESSOR
Site area 195.23sqm Built area 97.50sqm
Floor area 181.17sqm
Architect
John Pawson,London
Photographs
Edmund Sumner/VIEW
i
i
1 entrance2 kitchen3 dining4 living5 tea ceremony room6 courtyard7 bedroom8 dressing area9 terrace10 bathroom
ground floor plan (scale approx 1:200)
3A single flight of stairslinks the two floors.4The living area dissolvesinto the courtyard. long section through living area and courtyard
long section through stairwell and tea ceremony room
3
5 6
4
5Characteristic domesticasceticism from Pawson.6Bathroom overlooking thefocal courtyard.
i
1
11
1
first floor
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7
9
3
2
1
4 6
5
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Trinity Road in south London is
a typical leafy Victorian suburb.
Stolid brick houses with bay
windows and big gardens exude an
air of decorousness and prosperity.
Yet even in a sleepy conservation
area the urge to remodel is quite
common. Here, however, Alison
Brooks attempts something
rather different. Commissioned
to extend a Victorian house as
part of a larger remodelling, she
saw it as a chance to experiment,
both with form and materials.
More specifically, it intensifies her
investigations into the use of metal
that began when she worked with
Ron Arad in the early ’90s, and the
idea of continuity – manipulating
a single architectural material to
perform a multitude of functions,
so that spaces are ‘wrapped’ and
tend to de-materialise.
The extension opens up the
house to rear, consolidating its
relationship with the large garden.
Brooks was adamant that the new
architecture should not compete
with the robust character of the
existing Victoriana, so her tactic is
to make the addition as intangible
and ethereal as possible. But the
outcome is not the stereotypical
glass box. Instead, lightness is
expressed through a single planarskin of patinated brass that is
apparently cut and folded to form
walls, roof, columns and benches.
The exquisitely thin brass planes
enclose a new kitchen, dining
room and external terrace, as well
as framing and filtering views to
the garden beyond.
Though the crisp, orthogonal
geometry was derived from simply
folding a piece of cardboard, the
actual construction was inevitably
more complex and crafted. The
richly patinated brass panels are,
in fact, supported by a slim steel
structure. Cor-ten was initially
considered for the cladding, but
it tends to bleed and stain before
the coating of rust finally stabilises.
By contrast, the patination of brassis gentler and its effects can be
more closely controlled. Though
not commonly used as a cladding
material, brass is also harder
(stiffer) than its closest relative
copper, and more economical.
Brooks likens the construction
process to the fabrication of a
large-scale piece of jewellery. The
3mm thin sheets of raw brass94 | 10
ar h
B r a s s or i g a mi
D el i c a t e pl an e s of p a
t i n a t e d b r a s s f ol d ar o un d t h i s
i m a gi n a t i v e ex t en s i o
n t o ah o u s ei n s o u t h L on d on .
HO
1The new glass andpatinated brasspavilion tactfullyextends an existingVictorian house.
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1 entrance 2 hall 3 wc 4 dining room 5 living room 6 kitchen 7 dining pavilion 8 terrace 9 magnolia tree
HOUSE EXTENSION, LONDON
ARCHITECT
ALISON BROOKS ASSOCIATES
were cut and folded in a specialist
metal fabrication workshop and
temporarily assembled on site.
The panels were then dismantled
and removed to be patinated by
hand. Varying the effects of acid
and heat generates different hues,
from pale blue to deep turquoise,
but the patina also responds to
the daily effects of the weather,
so the panels have a genuinely
chameleon-like quality. Finally, the
patinated pieces were carefully
reassembled. Full-height glazing
adds to the sense of lightness and
seamlessness and the composition
is anchored by charcoal greyporcelain floor tiles.
Thinness is another crucial
aspect of this language of elegant
abstraction. The brass panel
constructions are only 60mm thick
and, as the pavilion is seen from
the upper storeys of the house,
its roof is also a rigorously pared
down structure, with an upstand
reduced to 50mm from the more
usual 150mm.
Though the pavilion is a
meticulously crafted one-
off, Brooks sees it as a useful
prototype which feeds
into an ongoing process of
experimentation and discovery.
The practice is working on amajor housing development
in Cambridge and plans to
incorporate off-the-peg brass
cladding panels (developed by
copper specialists KME) in a six-
storey apartment block. In an era
besotted by conspicuous gestures,
it is especially pleasing to see
humble or disregarded materials
used imaginatively. Brooks’
architecture has always reflected a
concern for making and materials,
and her latest project consolidates
this lineage. CATHERINE SLESSOR
Architect
Alison Brooks Associates,London
Metal fabrication
John Desmond
PhotographsDennis Gilbert/VIEW
2The pavilion is conceived as aseries of thin folded planes.3Pared down architecturallanguage does not attempt tocompete with original house.4Views through to garden areframed and defined.5Mounted on a slim steel sub-structure,the brass planes areonly 60mm thick.
cross section
site plan
ground floor plan (scale approx 1:200)
diagram of folding process
96 | 10
2
3
4 5
long section
1
4
5
6
3
2 7
9
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70 | 10| 1
Ever since John Winter
audaciously clad his seminal
Highgate house in a skin ofweathering steel back in 1969,
Cor-ten’s quasi industrial aesthetic
of shipyard and factory floor
has become globally ubiquitous.
According to Neil Jackson, in his
entertaining study of the genre in
The Modern Steel House, it took
seven years for Winter’s little
building to slowly acquire the
coveted purplish-brown patina
of worn-out boiler plating. Now
pre-weathered Cor-ten clads
the world, from police stations
and parking lots to OMA’s Las
Vegas Guggenheim (June 2002).
Yet it never quite loses its qualityof otherness, as demonstrated
by its use in this recent Brussels
apartment block. Here the
‘instant’ patina of age and distress
still provides a bracing shock
of the new and unusual amid
wedding cake historicism.
The building lies in Schaerbeek,
to the north-east of Brussels city
centre, a district populated by
many Turkish immigrant families.
It occupies a compact, chunky
wedge that turns a corner
between Avenue de la Reine and
Place Liedts. Cars and trams surge
past the prow-like site whichis anchored between a couple
of existing muscular apartment
blocks. To the spirit, if not the
letter, architect Mario Garzaniti
follows the familiar template of
the continental walk-up tenement,
though the proportions and
internal arrangements are more
generous and imaginative than
might normally be expected. Two
duplex apartments are stacked
above a shop at ground level,
the floors linked by a narrow
HOUSING, BRUSSELS, BELGIUM
ARCHITECT
MARIO GARZANITI
THE JOY
OF RUSTClad in a coarse carapace of
rusted steel, this housing block
is a startling urban presence.
1
2
3
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72 | 10| 1
communal staircase inserted into
an intermediate slot between
the new and old buildings.
Despite being logements sociaux ,
the duplexes are quite inventive
spatially, making the most of the
awkward, wedge-shaped plot. The
top floor flat even has a modish
sleeping loft overlooking the living
space below.
But the most striking aspect
of the project is the rusting
metal carapace that envelops the
building in a coarse caress, as if
the hull of an ageing supertanker
had somehow careered intothe block. Yet the monolithic
appearance is slightly deceptive;
the Cor-ten panels are only a thin
outer skin (a mere 4mm thick)
riveted to stainless-steel omega
profiles attached to the concrete
walls. Flexible bands prevent the
risk of galvanic coupling (where
one type of metal encourages
the rapid corrosion of another)
that can occur when Cor-ten and
stainless steel come into contact.
Slight disparities in the
ochre tones of the panels add
a sense of patchwork variety
and animation to the overall
composition. Cor-ten shutters
are incorporated into the facade,
filtering light through verticalslits in the manner of a modern
mashrabiya. When closed, the
shutters lie flush with the panels,
giving the block an unsettlingly
seamless, hermetic quality.
Clearly this is a building that
thrives on contrast (modern Cor-
ten and traditional wedding cake)
enhanced by the jolting surprise
of seeing so visually and culturally
challenging a material employed
on such an ambitious scale. Yet it
is more than just a skin, attested
by the generous proportions of
the apartments and the way in
which light animates the interiors.
The gritty boiler plating conceals
a sensitive soul. C. S.
ArchitectMario Garzaniti,Liege
Photographs
Alain Janssens
HOUSING, BRUSSELS, BELGIUM
ARCHITECT
MARIO GARZANITI
5Facade detail.6Light filters through theperforated shutters.7Duplex apartments are quitegenerously proportioned.8Sleeping loft.
5
87
6
1
cross section looking north-eastcross section looking north-west
fourth floor second floor ground floor plan (scale approx 1:200)
third floor first floor site plan
1 street entrance 2 communal staircase 3 shop 4 flat entrance 5 living 6 dining 7 kitchen 8 internal staircase 9 bedroom 10 sleeping loft
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In a quiet backwater of fields and
woods on the island of Hirvensalo
in the south-west of Finland, St
Henry’s Ecumenical Art Chapel
grows from its site – a hillock
surrounded by pines and spruces
– embracing context and the
natural environment.
The chapel is not immediately
apparent on approach: following
the bend of the road you are
suddenly confronted by the
elegant copper-clad church,
its volume contrasting with
its surroundings. It has the
appearance of an upturnedship’s hull. The design vocabulary
juxtaposes copper and wood, light
and shade. The chapel was finished
earlier this year so the copper is
new; eventually its green patina
will help the church blend with the
surrounding pine trees.
St Henry’s is approached head
on, up a gentle dogleg pedestrian
ramp to the small foyer lit by
natural light at the western
entrance. You proceed from here
through a passageway to the
church proper, from darkness to
light; at the far eastern end two
side windows the height of the
chapel throw light down onto the
altar, breathtaking on a sunny day.
The architect describes the mainhall as the stomach of the fish,
the fish being a symbol of early
Christians (fitting as the church is
ecumenical).
Gallery and chapel are one
volume, with the gallery at the
back, and the chapel proper in the
front, with the altar terminating
the axis. The benches are removed
for art exhibitions and you can
view the art while religious
ceremonies are being conducted.
The whole interior, bar the
glazing around the altar, is of
wood, the warm smell of which
permeates the space. Seating is
simple angular backless benches
made of solid, edge-laminated
common alder; but this elegant,
pared down minimalism couldprove inhospitable during long
church services. The chapel’s
loadbearing structure consists of
tapering ribs of laminated pine
ST HENRY’S ECUMENICAL ART
CHAPEL, TURKU, FINLAND
ARCHITECT
SANAKSENAHO ARCHITECTS
1The wide windows at thefront of the chapel light upthe altar.The copper cladding will take on a green pati nain time.
This chapel in Turku draws on a long tradition
of remarkable Finnish churches in which religion,
nature and light come together.
DIVINE LIGHT
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68 | 10| 1
two metres apart. Between these
ribs is a curved interior lining
of 100mm wide, untreated pine
boarding. At the moment this is
very light, but with time the tone
will deepen to a reddish hue. The
pine ribs are lit by spotlights.
The floorboards are 200mm
wide, 50mm thick pine planks
and run parallel to the axis of
the space. These have been
waxed to create a clicking sound
when walked on, reminiscent of
the floors of old churches. The
patinated altar is the last public
work by academician and sculptorKain Tapper. In the altar window
an artwork by Hannu Konola
filters light onto the altar wall.
Matti Senaksenaho continues
the distinguished legacy of the
Finnish church architecture of
Engel, Aalto, Sonck, Bryggman and
more recently of Juha Leiviskä in
his luminous churches in Myrrmäki
and in Männistö (ARs June 1987
and June 1994). JULIA DAWSON
Architect
Sanaksenaho Architects,Helsinki
Project architect
Matti Sanaksenaho
Photographs
Jussi Tiainen
2The chapel,ri sing from its hillock,is reminiscent of an upturnedhull,or,more prosaically,anupright iron.3Looking towards the simple altar,illuminated by natural light fromside windows.
cross section long section
plan
2
3
ST HENRY’S ECUMENICAL ART
CHAPEL, TURKU, FINLAND
ARCHITECT
SANAKSENAHO ARCHITECTS
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