Under Wraps _in Volume #44

Volume 44 — On Display — One of architecture’s histories is that of the art of display: architecture displaying power, political ambition, economic success, social agendas, or less mundane notions like dreams, convictions and belief.

These days architecture has also become subjected to display: the display of architecture – in museums and collections, and in auctions for example. That adds but also distracts meaning; not every aspect of architecture can be displayed as easy.

And what does a culture of display (be seen or perish) add to this condition?

Thinking of the value of architecture beyond purely financial terms, ‘display’ is a factor of influence. For better or for worse.

2 Editorial Arjen Oosterman 4 Under Wraps Abla el Bahrawy 15, 65, 73, 86, 87, 109, 119, 133 Collecting Architecture Alex Retegan 16 The Art of Collecting Architecture Mari Lending 26 MIPIM Rotor/Maarten Gielen 33 1:1 Insert 66 The Trouble with Provenance Brendan Cormier 74 Temples of Money Jana Pavlová 82 Where Imagination Survives Display Ole Bouman 88 From Selling Products to the State and Back Again AMO / Stephan Petermann 92 Depot on Show Sjarel Ex Interview 100 The Project of Display Hans Ulrich Obrist Interview 110 Presenting Architecture Tina DiCarlo 126 All of This Belongs to You Rory Hyde 134 My Flip Phone Brought Me Here AIRBNB Pavilion

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144 Colophon, Correction / Additions

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Under Wraps — Abla el Bahrawy with Luca Casarano — Fashion is, amongst others, the art of revealing by covering.

Identity, ambitions, and physical attractions – or the lack thereof – are presented and emphasized. Various tactics come into play: thicker or thinner fabric, loser or tighter fit, opaque or see-through and much more. In the city, the wrapping of buildings as a necessary act during construction or refurbishment has a comparable effect. One wonders what transformation is going on behind the screen surrounding the building behind scaffolding, or what the situation was like before. Apart from some earlier art projects, projects, since the 1990s, the innocent act of temporarily wrapping buildings gained double meaning: hiding was combined with showing. The surface became an ad space for commercial messages or for expressing the value of what is inside. The city, a gift box.

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Repro wrap. Amsterda

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later as t-treated material and used, first as an asphal HOUSEWRAP blem to the world as a pro usewrap’ began to be lf ‘ho itse as ted wn sen kno pre ay tod ltration What is were eventually , as early as water infi ials ials ter ter ma e ma abl tic ath the bre syn this permeable h Century. Those DuPont, who invented the middle of the 20t an chemical company of building physics in building field in owned by the Americ the ark for em le trad ilab a , ava lly ek® dominated by Tyv made it commercia ther necessity into polyethylene fiber and as a brand, inserted ano high-density nonwoven h as an invention and nd’s logo, a bot , bra ek® the of Tyv n of ter hip pat ha the 1970s. The owners mping the material wit sta an internal layer y ely, onl nam is – t ng: ppi nen wra perma the world of interior wrap’ – even though use ‘ho the as g lon ng. as shi ture final fini seemingly subtle ges ver hidden under the pe and will remain fore of the building envelo

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Hoarding in Amsterda

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Shrink wrap

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Shrink wrap as blank canvas

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Scaffold Nets

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LOSELEY HOUSE, GUILDFORD, SURREY, 2014 n works on the Loseley House began in Originally built in 1562 during the time of Elizabeth I, exterior restoratio lyneux family, historical More-Mo the by financed were works n restoratio Park, 2014. Located in Loseley , corporate events, and weddings for after sought is house The park. the of residents and current owners filming. façades underneath. This was to facilitate the The scaffold wrapping reproduced a 1:1 scale photograph of the its appearance, while under construction. continued operation of the building, insofar as it is founded upon façades were wrapped; scaffolding was left The wraps are digitally printed mesh PVC. Only two of the four (Project Print Managers). The front façade exposed on the other two. The wraps were produced by PPM print and installation costs were approximately measures 16 m tall and 74 m wide and weigh over 350 kg. Total £ 30,000.

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Ponte dei Sospiri

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ca and Ponte ICE, 2010 – 2013 ner of Rio della Canoni ale in Venice at the cor PAL AZZO DUCALE, VEN , so instead Duc o rks wo azz n Pal atio on 0 tor res 201 rted in for the its own funds to pay Restoration works sta m 2.8 million. € fro w was dra n not atio ld tor of res ipality cou ies. The overall cost pan for use of dei Sospiri. The munic com nth ate mo priv per m 000 fro € 40, contribution Municipality of Venice the asked for a financial pay the to ng nt ndi me rou nge y made an arra scandal emerged sur of the The Scavolini compan years. In 2011 a public es that at least 50% ising space for three lity of Venice stipulat ipa nic Mu the scaffold as advert The g. din al and international ffol loc sca h the Bot on g. g erin isin cov ert is it excessive use of adv uction of the façade er several protests the st be a graphic reprod nicipal regulations. Aft scaffolding surface mu clear violation of mu make them less an the and ced ps oun wra den s the on high-profile institution d to change the images ide n and replaced by a dec ent dow en hm tak rbis e refu ents wer company financing the 1 the huge advertisem 201 in y Ma of end the o Ducale. advertisement. Around financed the gothic gallery of Palazz Credito Bergamasco uction of the original started in 1998 when partial graphic reprod ice . The wrap covVen in lion ks mil 8 wor n €1. totaled restoratio s. Restoration costs ade The private funding of fac s printed small. o ale’ log s Duc o up’ ncial gro r one of Palazz the façade with the fina restoration of anothe phic reproduction of gra a was g din ffol ering the sca

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BATTISTERO DE SAN GIOVANNI, FLORENCE, 2014 – 2015 Restoration works started in 2010 on the Battistero di San Giovanni in Florence. The €1.8 million restoration project was financed by Opera di Santa Maria del Fiore through a UNICOOP campaign as well as a public ‘crowd-funding’ campaign of cultural patronage. The City of Florence regulates about the content of scaffold wrapping, requiring them to be in harmony with the surround ings. Scaffold wraps must therefore be approved by the city council, and have to present the content and dimensions of any advertisements they wish to include. In the city center, advertisements cannot be larger than 20% of the surface of the wrap; on the periphery that limit is enlarged to 40%.

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House with a view wrap

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len, a Berlin G, BERLIN, 1995 Reichstag. Michael Cul WRAPPED REICHSTA ntion to renovate the Jeanne-Claude inte and the isto had Chr lin t Ber of posed tha In 1971 the municipality building, initially pro renovation the ut the t; abo y cul ivel diffi ens lding was tten ext ject historian who had wri such an important bui d war tensions the pro time a decision about col t of tha y At pla g. dis a ldin as bui gave al, and wrap the of reunified Germany Government’s approv n ital ma cap Ger t the as Eas lin the Ber of rn e vot retu itself needed se the clo a and l by wal ed approv fall of the Berlin end the operation was 5 became inactive. The reconsidered. In the pleted on 24 June 199 be to com ject was e pro aud the -Cl for Jeanne the opportunity remained wrapped chstag by Christo and tag Rei d chs Rei ppe The Wra s.

The ker . um in the Parliament and 120 installation wor e fabric with an alumin professional climbers A woven polypropylen by a work force of 90 wrapped the recycled afterwards. ter e me wer dia ials cm ter 3.2 ma a all h wit for fourteen days and e polypropylene rope 0 m2 and 15.6 km of blu surface totaling 100,00 dollars in 1995. selling Christo’s lion mil .3 $15 ut abo cost they are able to do by building. The project ks themselves, which wor nsorships art spo , the nts of t gra cos ed entire accept and 60s. They never The two artists pay the ly works from the 50s ear and s die stu ry preparato help. of any kind or volunteer

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The idea to physically ‘wrap’ a building with what is neither a structural skeleton nor a façade started off as a construction necessity from as early as water infiltration presented itself to the world as a problem of building physics in the middle of the 20th Century. Initially, the damp barrier was made from asphalt-treated material, represented mainly in felt paper rolls that used to be draped down the surface of a house, wrapping the insulation layer, and then covered by another layer of building material. This was later followed by other types of synthetic materials that were both water tight and permeable to allow the discharge of vapor from the envelope structure and prevent moisture accumulation, an added requirement to the performance of damp wraps as the rise of energy conservation issues called for higher building efficiency standards. Those breathable materials were eventually dominated by Tyvek®, a trademark owned by the American chemical company DuPont, who invented this high-density nonwoven polyethylene fiber and made it commercially available for the building field in the 1970s. The ownership of Tyvek®, both as an invention and as a brand, inserted another necessity into the world of interior wrapping: namely, stamping the material with a pattern of the brand’s logo, a seemingly subtle gesture as long as the ‘housewrap’ – even though permanent – is only an internal layer of the building envelope and will remain forever hidden under the final finishing. However, this usage of logos and patterns is evident in other forms of temporary external wrapping of buildings.

Departing from the permanently hidden housewrap and moving towards the outside, we arrive at the temporary safety measure of construction scaffold wrapping.

Either during construction or renovation, the scaffold wrap is regarded as an offset used to isolate the building’s working site. Besides protecting the unfinished building material from wind and rain, it is used to prevent dust and debris from falling outside the building site – hence the industrial name of ‘debris netting’. The scaffolding net is placed along the scaffold railings and is as well considered as any other safety layer for construction workers.

Scaffold wraps are usually made out of nets, sheets or screens of a polyester fire-resistant mesh, sold mainly in rolls of an average of two to four meters wide, with eyelets suitable for manually fixing the surface to the scaffolding poles. In the UK, prices of these rolls range from around one to two pounds per square meter (Source: Monarflex).

Another technique for wrapping the scaffolding is called ‘shrink-wrapping’. This method was originally invented and used for storing and transporting vehicles as big as boats and airplanes; basically for the same reasons of insulation and protection. Shrink-wrapping a building is a process that starts by unrolling the shrink-wrap over the scaffold structure and then applying a special heating tool – a propane-fired ‘shrink-gun’ – to the material, made of polymer plastic film (polyethylene) that molds it to the object beneath. This efficient technique of containment, with a capacity to wrap any shape and size, has been taken up by construction sites that turn the buildings into what looks like isolated white cocoons. It is even reported to produce micro-climates that reduce heating/ cooling costs during the construction process. The technique has also recently been adapted to specific architectural applications as a design strategy. The typical whiteness of the shrink-wraps has provoked pedestrians to leave their own signature on the slick white cover, revealing its fragility in a street-level urban context.

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Similarly provoking corporate minds, the fabrics that were used to wrap buildings were rapidly appropriated as surfaces suitable for the visualization of something, be it what lies underneath or for advertising (one could ultimately argue the former is a type of the latter). Initially done by the companies that provided the wrap itself in the style of Tyvek®, other commercial companies were quick to see a potential in the massiveness of those empty screens, just waiting for a magical touch. “Turn your site into a business building site – printing is cheaper than you think” reads one of the slogans used by Monarflex, a scaffold wrapping company in the UK, encouraging its customers to use their additional service of printing instead of displaying empty wraps. To print in order to decorate wraps for aesthetic reasons – such as promoting for the future building or the building that is being renovated – is an approach that would eventually return revenue to the construction company or lessen the negative impact of construction on heritage tourism.

Alternatively, to sell the building’s raw surfaces to other companies for advertising presents a faster and more guaranteed method of receiving direct income. Indeed, there are companies (like Giant Media in Preston, UK) whose sole practice is to locate construction sites and persuade their owners on the economic value and benefit they could get out of using their scaffold wraps for advertisement. These companies get a percentage for matching the construction location with an advertisement company. From the scale of a logo screen-printed on the scaffold roll to full digital prints, the scaffold wrap has been steadily taking up its colorful guise and performing an increasingly prevalent role in the visual experience of cities.

The pedestrian relation one has to a building under construction is mediated by the ‘hoarding’ industry – the ground-level fencing of construction sites with typically harder materials such as fiberboard. Hoarding serves as an extra and distinct space for visual and commercial recreation and creativity. From 2D hoardings to 3D tunnels that grow eclectically to cover entire sidewalks, these supposedly short walls continue to crawl out from the building up until the edge of its site, demanding a space and life of their own. An added potential for extra use, designers have found them to be suitable for manifesting their talents as they design site specific advertisement billboards that in some cases enter and win graphic design competitions.

As the use of the city’s vertical surfaces as a prominent urban space for inserting ads and billboards to target pedestrians and vehicles alike, a phenomena known as wallscaping, becomes more and more popular, buildings present themselves as gigantic surfaces perfectly fit for this cause. Wraps have therefore started being separated from their necessity in the construction business. Taking a leap out on its own, the scaffold wrap can be stuck directly to the surface of the building, transforming into a building wrap. This is done by either mounting billboards on steel banner shaping frames of different sizes and attaching them directly to the surface of a building currently in use, or by covering the entire building with printed sheets that are installed around the building edges. Getting even closer to the actual building façade, window wraps have been developed as adhesive graphics that are usually stuck directly on curtain walls but can also be applied on different types of building material.

The pricing of printed building wraps varies massively according to where it is to be installed and the

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duration of the campaign. All sites are unique and are priced upon either a square or linear meter basis. Rates change depending on size and complexity of the job. In the UK for example, the print of large wraps could start at £ 12 and go up as much as £ 20 per square meter.

The steel-banner shaping-frames can cost up to £ 40 per linear meter, excluding VAT, artwork and installation costs. To plan a building wrap, an investigation and feasibility study is usually conducted and presented to the city council to apply for a permit. Each wrap is seen as a unique project with its own challenges and speculative rewards.

To evaluate the effect of such a kind of urban influx into our daily lives, a kind that makes an immense claim over our visual perception and a strong presence in public space, is not an easy task. Away from all the economic and political parameters that are in play, an aesthetic evaluation of wallscaping still remains a puzzling topic.

Recognizing this technology’s historical transference into the realms of display, from a construction necessity’s gradual appropriation for advertising purposes and from the boating to construction industry, allows us to go beyond judgment, to witness the radical potential latent within the blankness of these surfaces as canvas. It also allows us to appreciate a tangible relation between economic and aesthetic processes. Wraps are a fundamental component to the experience of the city that has, up until now, been largely dictated by economic decision makers and according to their economic logics.

It might be interesting here to point out that Tyvek® has been prominent as a waterproof, breathable, durable and light fabric in the fashion industry since adopted by the Italian design house Fiorucci in 1976. In fact, Tyvek® has been put to use since its inception as ‘protective apparel’ for a wide range and scale of applications, from weather barriers to defensive suits against hazardous material, recently in the ‘Japan Ground SelfDefense Force’ as emergency gear during the Fukushima nuclear incident. Besides the duality of protection and fashion that keeps presenting itself on several levels, these facts point out that we are also shielding our houses against nuclear radiation as we dress them in wraps. The wallscape holds great potential for architecture, art and science. As a material, economic and industrial apparatus, it is dynamic and appropriable. It stresses the fact that any economic reconstruction in the city is also a visual one, and that as one protects, renews or cleans a façade one is also opening an arena for change and reconstruction in terms of social anticipation and recognition.

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