Architecture Undergraduate Portfolio: Flexible Architecture Three typologies

FLEXIBLE ARCHITECTURE THREE TYPOLOGIES

THEMATIC PORTFOLIO FLORENT BAJRAMI | 901933

Politecnico di Milano School of Architecture Urban Planning Construction Engineering Architectural Design AA 2018 -19 September Graduation Session

PROLOGUE

CONTENT | INDEX

Flexibility enhances the experience of the architecture, being able to

FRAGMENTED UNITY MECHANICAL FLEXIBILITY

conform to the ever-changing demands of society and environment. Its non-rigid format allows for increased usage of the space, becoming thus more lively and enjoyable.

Late-capitalist world’s side effect of affordable housing shortage, the environmental crisis and the rising culture of reuse and preservation are some of the main reasons flexibile architecture should be sought after.

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Spatial alteration provided by mechanical means, e.g. revolving doors, which provide enlargement of areas, merging of inside with outside, and vibrant architectural elements to an otherwise steady and monumental architecture.

Foundamentally, flexible architecture is gestalt architecture: it tries to take the sum of the parts to a maximum. Preaching this kind of architecture means requiring architects to design in a more sensible manner and rethink how their projects affect the users: they need to think more steps

THE CELL MIESIAN FLEXIBILITY

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ahead than before, to investigate user behaviour and refrain their desires to overdesign.

Application of Mies van der Rohe’s distinguished core - open plan

Focused on three typologies of flexibile architecture, this study is

concept: maximization of non-interrupted space, which can be altered

essentially a close investigation of form and function, their relationship

according to needs, by compressing the services to a minimum core.

with each-other and their boundaries.

ALONG THE EDGE SPECULATIVE FLEXIBILITY

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Distancing the relation between form and function with an architecture contained in an unfinished or vague state, which makes it subjected to speculation and thus adaptability of use.

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FRAGMENTED UNITY ARCHITECTURE OF DIALOGUE PARISH COMPLEX | CITTÀ STUDI, MILAN FINAL DESIGN STUDIO CRITICS | EMILIO FAROLDI, MARIA PILAR VETTORI, CECILIA ROSTAGNI COLLABORATORS | CATALINA MUTIS, OXANA LEMA, SALVATORE BORROMETI

MECHANICAL FLEXIBILITY

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A. E V E N T

B. S P A C E

C. M O V E M E N T

D. E S S E N C E

I.

I

BERNARD TSCHUMI’S MANHATTAN TRANSCRIPTS A

S

C

E

N

S

I

O

N

ANALYSIS

Conceived as a work in progress rather than a project, Bernard Tschumi’s Manhattan Transcripts offer architectural stimulus through their nature

II.

CO RE

of representation. The Transcripts’ components of event, space, and movement are represented by photographs, architectural drawings and diagrams in a broken down manner that innately suggest the consequent

III.

C O N N

CONNECTION

constructing of these components to a whole. Tschumi advocates for an

C T I O N

architecture of disjunctions, where form, use and social values are not interrelated but rather tangled in a new deconstructed reality.

IV.

DECOMPRESSION

CITTÀ STUDI TRANSCRIPTS The analogous nature of The Transcripts is not only helpful for an alternative reading of the city, but also offers an initial point of design.

V.

R R R R R

FR AG MENTED UNIT Y

The introduction of a new component to the transcripts (essence) through an additional representation method (verbal) helps to define the true essence of each of five case studies chosen in Città Studi. These

E. E S S E N C E

I.

essences then are transformed to architecture through manipulation A

of movement, space and event to arrive at a desired liturgical reality.

As such the spirit of the site is retranslated in the parish complex itself.

II.

S

C

E

N

S

I

O

F. M O V E M E N T

N

G. S P A C E

E E E E E

C C C C C

U U U U U

R R R R R

H. E V E N T

DESIGN

CO RE

III.

C O N N

CONNECTION C T I O N

IV.

V.

DECOMPRESSION R R R R R

E E E E E

C C C C C

U U U U U

R R R R R

SITE ANALYSIS AS DESIGN GENERATOR | 04

Designing a successful parish complex in such a mixed urban

rea a clasdr eno’s omll m s r se ha

condition such as Città Studi means dealing with paradoxic

chil

aims: inclusive but specific-user oriented, distinguishable but not different, able to interact with the context but also function as a microorganism, able to host a large number of people but also remain local and personal. To be able to handle such task The Transcripts are used as a direct design tool that reinterpret the five essences in a liturgical architecture. The design process is a careful organization of distinguishable parts that correlate

OFFICE

ALTA RISTY SACR

S S CHO IR MA

SE L ’ST S HOU G HAL

PRIE

ultipurpo

EATIN SM BAPCTI H AP

EL

between each-other through their complex relationships. Thus Ascension, Core, Connection, Decompression and Recur cannot exist if the relationship between them is not thoroughly considered.

FRAGMENTED UNIT Y

Three volumes with different proportions are supposed to house all the program required. Their fragmented character tries to solve the paradoxic requirements of the parish. The unification of space, movement, and event through essential open spaces and mechanical devices brings the project to a conclusion: a Fragmented Unity - an oxymoron mirroring the reality of religion itself.

SEQUENCE OF INTERIOR AND EXTERIOR COMPONENTS

SPATIAL AND PROGRAMMATIC ORGANIZATION | 05

DUALITY OF MATERIALS FOR FUNCTION (STRUCTURE) AND SYMBOLISM (RELIGION)

SECOND FLOOR PLAN

STRATIFIED AND FORMWORKTEXTURED CONCRETE

GROUND FLOOR PLAN

FIRST FLOOR PLAN

MATERIALITY AND SYMBOLISM | 06

SECTION DESIGN THROUGH HEIGHT DIFFERENCE AND HORIZONTAL CONNECTIVITY

EUCARISTIC CHAPEL AND CHOIR

BAPTISM

MAIN ALTAR AND CONTEMPLATION SPACE

WEEKDAY CHAPEL

COMMUNITY EATING HALL

SUNDAY MASS

RECEIVEMENT HALL OF ANNEX BUILDING

SPECIAL CEREMONY

MOVABLE COMPONENTS ALLOW DIFFERENT SPACE CONFIGURATIONS

MECHANICAL FLEXIBILITY | INSIDE AND OUTSIDE | 07

THE CELL STREET FRONT INTERIOR MULTI-FUNCTIONAL INTERIOR SPACE | CORSO VENEZIA, MILAN INTERIOR DESIGN STUDIO CRITICS | YURI MASTROMATTEI, CRISTINA FEDERICA COLOMBO COLLABORATORS | DANIELLE NAKASH, VERA VINCE

MIESIAN FLEXIBILITY

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In part an attempt to solve the client’s extensive demands for

FACADES IN CORSO VENEZIA (TOP) AND VIA SALVINI (BELOW) HYPERBOLIC EXPRESSION OF ECLECTICISM

multiple functions, in part a reflection on the original architect’s intents, the project in Via Salvini is resolved using the idea of the cell, with a core and a membrane. It tries to overcome the issue of multi-functionality by using flexibility as the provision of space, where all the services are compressed to a minimum core,

leaving

the

maximum

adjustable

space

outside.

The

functional necessity of having a two-dimensional element is solved by introducing the membrane as a background and rack.

On the other hand, Piero Portaluppi’s principles of oxymoron juxtapositions, hyperbolic expressions, and overstatement of details - possible testimony of his career as a cartoonist1, are simultaneous considerations of the design. The monumentalization of the core by its sculptural treatment, big scale, and expensive material - and on

TH E CELL

the other hand - the diaphanous effect of the membrane, back-lit and translucent, are conscious gestures driven by Portaluppi’s principles.

1

Antonello Negri, Cinque album e fogli sparsi. Piero Portaluppi disegnatore umoristico e satirico, 183-189

1

CONTRASTED MATERIALS

EMPHASIS OF THRESHOLD

CONTINUITY OF MATERIAL

PORTALUPPI’S LANGUAGE | 09

MONUMENTALIZATION OF CORE AND ENLIGHTENING OF SKIN AS HYPERBOLIC GESTURES

EXISTING PARTS PORTALUPPI’S LANGUAGE

CONCEPT

RIGID CORE FLEXIBLE MEMBRANE

PROGRAM ARRANGING STACKING

MATERIALS STRICT DIVISION OF PRIVATE AND PUBLIC

PALLADIANA SAPELE MAHOGANY AEGRELLE FROST ACRYLIC TRAVERTINE

CONCEPT | 10

PROVISION OF SPACE AS ULTIMATE FLEXIBILITY

CIRCULATION PUBLIC PRIVATE

EXHIBITION

LECTURE

VIEWS

ONE, TWO AND THREE DIRECTIONAL

RETAIL

ROUND TABLE

LIGHTING

DIFFUSED LIGHT SPOTLIGHTS

MIESIAN FLEXIBILITY | RELATION WITH OUTSIDE | 11

ACQUIRING GESTALT THROUGH CAREFUL ARTICULATION OF SPACE

TOP SPINDLE TOP PATCH FITTING 2 X 6MM TEMPERED GLASS

WALKING BEAM PIVOT BRASS HEADER

2 X 6MM TEMPERED GLASS WALL 10MM X 10MM STEEL ANCHOR 10MM X 20MM STEEL SUPPORT FROSTED ACRYLIC LED TUBE 10MM X 10MM HORIZONTAL STEEL ROD

2 X 6MM TEMPERED GLASS FRAME INSIDE THE WALL HANDLE

HINGE

OBLIQUE VIEW OF THE MEMBRANE

SECTION OF THE MEMBRANE

HORIZONTAL CUT OF THE MEMBRANE

SECTION OF THE DOOR

COMPOSITION OF SPACE | DETAILS OF THE MEMBRANE | 12

ALONG THE EDGE NATURE INSIDE THE BUILDING URBAN PARK | LIVIGNO-JENNER, MILAN MIAW WORKSHOP CRITIC | KATHERINE ASHE COLLABORATOR | ANCA DUMITRACHE

SPECULATIVE FLEXIBILITY

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EXPLODING EXISTING INGREDIENTS

CORRIDORE The Corridore is one of the earliest notions of the corridor meaning the space on and around the city walls. Due to its peripheral location and utilitarian nature, the bordering wall creates the perfect condition for the corridor. The wall determines a corridor by its mere physical presence, separating the inside from the outside and provides access to every part of the site thus becoming an orienting tool and a threshold.

THE EDGE CORRIDOR Historically planned as a hospital site, the site at Via Livigno-Jenner stands as an urban oasis north of Garibaldi railway station, an area going through recent rethinking and planning. It is now a walled park

BORDER WALL

with most of its fabric damaged severely and overtaken by nature, where

DISTRIBUTION OF TREES

DEMOLISHED AND PRESERVED FABRIC

CONSEQUENT BLOCKS

local residents find their retreat from the city. The park’s dense built and green environment hardly allows for more architectural input, although its confusing state calls for organization and clarity. Considering

URBAN OASIS

its components from an exploded analysis gives a better overall understanding of the site. Consequent layering is applied for the design phase, where the only architectural introduction is a pavement running along the edge of the park while existing environment is renewed and reprogrammed. The edge corridor, an act of enriching the peripheral quality of the space according to Juhani Pallasmaa’s teachings2, acts as a silent actor in space, never being the focus but rather assisting

A LONG THE E DG E

the original focal points of the site. Through its indeterminacy and bareness, the corridor is subjected to speculation: it acquires different architectural interpretations and functions allowing for a multiplicity of program and experience. The project therefore is a mere framework rather than a definite design.

2

See Juhani Pallasmaa, The Eyes of the Skin EXISTING CONDITIONS | 14

LAYERING DESIGN PRINCIPLES

PROGRAMMATIC STRIPS

ACCESS AND CIRCULATION

JUXTAPOSITION OF THE EDGE CORRIDOR

PROGRAM

EDGE CORRIDOR AS A FRAMEWORK FOR SPECULATION

SPECULATIVE FLEXIBILITY | CONCEPT | 15

ANALOGY OF THE DESIGN OF PAVEMENT WITH ARCHITECTURAL APPROACHES [T]he

quality

of

an

architectural

reality

seems

to

depend

fundamentally on the nature of the peripheral vision, which enfolds the subject in space3. The edge corridor acts as a peripheral actor to the site, while in its micro-system the existing wall is counteracted with a row of birch trees, that act as peripheral vision to the edge corridor. On the other hand, focus in the corridor is given to ephemeral structures that inhabit it occasionally. As one of the few design decisions in the project, the materiality of the corridor is given particular

ALONG TH E EDG E

importance. The process of the decision goes almost unconsciously through

the

main

architectural

approaches

of

rationality,

aestheticism, phenomenology, and finally sensibility: the material is made out of the rubbles from the demolished buildings in the park.

3

RATIONALITY

AESTHETICISM

PHENOMENOLOGY

SENSIBILITY

Juhani Pallasmaa, The Eyes of the Skin, Great Britain: John Wiley & Sons Ltd, 13 DIPTYCH: PERIPHERAL VISION (LEFT) AND FOCUSED VISION (RIGHT)

PERIPHERAL AND FOCUSED VISIONS | 16

EPILOGUE

to shrink and expand the spaces was a total success and fulfilled the clients needs. This dynamic way of flexibility was also what consisted the ideas of the Japanese Metabolism movement. The rhetorical avant gardism quality of the Metabolist projects prevented them from being realized, except for

Although flexibility is not a recent interest in architecture, it was mostly during

a few exceptions, such as Noriaki Kurokawa’s Nagakin capsule tower6.

the modern era that it went through thorough investigation and was put to

The idea behind this project was that a core would act as a structure for

extensive use. While the general tendency of the modern architect was to

independent living cells that could alter their position and configuration

follow Louis Sullivan’s famous “form follows function” motto, there were

in time. The non-truly-independent relationship of the core and the units

some that were more interested in getting to an architecture of flexibility,

prevented the original objectives of the building to be met: the capsules were

adaptability and minimalism. Probably, Adolf Loos’ denial of ornamentation was the first modern step towards flexibility4. By striping off the symbolism

1. Schroder-Schrader House, Rietveld, 1924

hard to be taken out or in so the tower remained as a monument to a failed avant gardism.

and aestheticism of the decor, Loos was able to focus more on the scale,

It seems as though the ability of mechanical flexibility to succeed is

proportions and materiality of his architecture. Seen from a historical lens,

strongly linked with the scale it is implemented and the level of technical

the removal of such symbolism has allowed a space to be indeterminate and

conception of the project. In Fragmented Unity the mechanical parts are

thus flexible. Another contributor to the flexible agenda was Mies van der

story high doors which merge or separate spaces. Considering the need for

Rohe. The minimalist attitude of the German architect and his emphasis on

the project to expand at given times it can be speculated that the flexibility

the constructive detail are what characterized his oeuvre. Mies believed the

would come in handy and be successful.

architecture should be capable to stand alone (e.g. Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin) and was one thus one of the pioneering architects to separate form

5

Kenneth Frampton, Modern Architecture, London, Thames & Hudson Ltd, 145

6

Kenneth Frampton, Modern Architecture, London, Thames & Hudson Ltd, 282

and function. With this he was able to defy architectural dogmas of the days, and push the limits of what architecture can be.

2. Nakagin Capsule Tower, Kurokawa, 1971 4

See Adolf Loos, Ornament and Crime

MIESIAN FLEXIBILITY The departure to USA was the beginning of the transformation of Mies’

MECHANICAL FLEXIBILITY

work. He started to move away from his dynamic, asymmetric spatial One of the major works applying mechanical flexibility is Gerrit Rietveld’s

configurations to a more formal, symmetrical architecture rooted in

SchrÖder-Schräder House in Utrecht. The anti-cubic architecture of the

Schinkel7. This later style was generally composed of an open plan with a

project, with its open, transformable plan is the physical manifestation of

rigid core housing all the services. The need for such spatial solution was

the De Stijl manifesto5. With its glazed and blind walls, the overhangs and

evident in his bigger scale project of 860 Lake Shore Drive and Seagram

balconies, and the mechanically removable interior partitions, the house is a careful articulation of surfaces: a three-dimensional Mondrian. Its ability

3. Mies van der Rohe, 860 Lake Shore Drive, 1948-51

skyscrapers. Mies, though, was not the first to investigate the open plan. | 17

Le Corbusier’s Dom-Ino house of 1915 was an early prototype of the open

His Central Beheer office building encourages its occupants to alter their

plan scheme, designated for mass producing. With the regularly placed

personal spaces to their liking by leaving some parts of the building unfinished

columns and the peripheral location of stairs, the plan of the house was

or dull and giving the building a form that might house a different program

able to acquire different layouts. However, the absence of the enclosing

in the future. More recently, Alejandro Aravena’s social housing work has

walls of the services, necessitated later in the bigger scale projects, is a

shown a tendency to speculative flexibility. By designing half-houses instead

reason for not being able to call the Dom-Ino house a proper “core-open

of building upwards, Aravena managed to give the inhabitants the

plan” project.

4. Le Corbusier, Dom-Ino, 1915

opportunity to expand their houses in the future while focusing the narrow

The risk in this kind of architecture lies on it being too boring and static. It is

budget to land acquiring and the provision of infrastructure.

generally a financially rational architecture, and an effective way to tackle

The examples of the speculative functionality show a rather positive result.

big scale projects, but if there is not a tremendous attention to details,

However, designing in a speculative way, without determinacy, might lead

materiality and proportion, the project can turn out to be a failure. In The

to not defined spaces that instead of being used in different ways might

Cell the core, the membrane and their relation to the existing elements

end up completely the opposite as dead spaces. In Along The Edge the

in the interior were treated in such a way to remove the boredom of the

corridor is in effect a cheap infrastructure that at least provides its initial

simple shapes and layout of the place, so that it is in sync with the highly

purpose of access and circulation, but due to its position and function

expressive architecture of the original building.

of the adjacent space, it can obtain different interpretations. Hence, it is

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conforming to the principles of Rossi, Hertzberger and Aravena.

Kenneth Frampton, Modern Architecture, London, Thames & Hudson Ltd, 231

SPECULATIVE FLEXIBILITY Aldo Rossi’s concern with architecture as the constituent of the city and his critique of functionalism were a mirror to his consequent architecture.

8

See Aldo Rossi, Architecture of the City

9

Herman Hertzberger, Lessons for Students, Rotterdam, 010 Publishers, 146

5. Hertzberger, Central Beheer, 1974

His “Urban Artifacts” are attempts to create a division between form and function, rendering his projects as a work of art8. Rossi’s preoccupation with monuments and the permanence of the buildings is a testimony of his concern of an architecture able to resist time and obtain different functions.

Sharing some of Rossi’s principles, but otherwise more socially concerned, Herman Hertzberger’s architecture is centered around the idea of speculative flexibility. Flexibility is ostensibly inherent in relativity, but in actual fact it only has to do with uncertainty9. Hertzberger calls for a polyvalent architecture, where the form can be put to different uses without having to undergo change.

6. Aravena, Villa Verde, 2010

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

ILLUSTRATIONS

Frampton, Kenneth, Modern Architecture, London, Thames & Hudson Ltd, 1980.

1. Image retrieved from https://histarq.wordpress.com/2011/12/18/aula-5de-stijl-1918-1927/

Hertzberger, Herman, Lessons for Students, Rotterdam, 010 Publishers, 1991.

2. Image retrieved from https://www.inspirationde.com/image/37151/ 3. Museumm of Modern Art, New York, The Mies van der Rohe Archives

Loos, Adolf, Ornament and Crime, Penguin Books, Limited, 2019.

Negri, Antonello, Cinque album e fogli sparsi. Piero Portaluppi disegnatore umoristico e satirico, 2003

4. Perspective view of the Dom-ino system, 1914. Image from Le Corbusier & Pierre Jeanneret, OEuvre Complète Volume 1, 1910–1929, Les Editions d’Architecture Artemis, Zürich, 1964

Pallasmaa, Juhani, The Eyes of the Skin, Great Britain: John Wiley & Sons Ltd, 2005.

5. Image retrieved from https://www.hertzberger.nl/images/nieuws TheFutureOfTheBuildingCentraalBeheer2016.pdf

Rossi, Aldo, Architecture of the City, New York, The Institute for Architecture and Urban Studies and The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1982.

6. Image courtesy of Suyin Chia, Cristian Martinez

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