Freespace Studio

FREESPACE_ SERVING HUMANIT Y

Advanced Synthesis Option Studio 48-400/500/650

[Fall 2018] Scho ol of Archite cture Carne gie Mellon University

F R E ES PA C E M A N I F ESTO

BY YVONNE FARRELL + SHELLEY McNAMARA

FREESPACE describes a generosity of spirit and a sense of humanity at the core of architecture’s agenda, focusing on the quality of space itself.

FREESPACE focuses on architecture’s ability to provide free and additional spatial gifts to those who use it and on its ability to address the unspoken wishes of strangers.

FREESPACE celebrates architecture’s capacity to find additional and unexpected generosity in each project - even within the most private, defensive, exclusive or commercially restricted conditions.

FREESPACE provides the opportunity to emphasise nature’s free gifts of light sunlight and moonlight, air, gravity, materials - natural and man-made resources.

FREESPACE encourages reviewing ways of thinking, new ways of seeing the world, of inventing solutions where architecture provides for the well being and dignity of each citizen of this fragile planet.

FREESPACE can be a space for opportunity, a democratic space, un-programmed and free for uses not yet conceived. There is an exchange between people and buildings that happens, even if not intended or designed, so buildings themselves find ways of sharing and engaging with people over time, long after the architect has left the scene. Architecture has an active as well as a passive life.

FREESPACE encompasses freedom to imagine, the free space of time and memory, binding past, present and future together, building on inherited cultural layers, weaving the archaic with the contemporary.

INT RODUCTION Inspired by the Venice Biennale 16th International Architecture Exhibition, FREESPACE, the studio investigates issues raised by the curators, Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara. The exhibition presents “work that exemplifies essential qualities of architecture … revealing [its] embodied power and beauty”. We consider the following questions raised by this edition: What responsibility do we as architects have as stewards of the built environment and towards our fellow humans? How does the architects’ skill in the making of space create the conditions for an enduring exchange between user and building? How can we add value to projects in ways that allow them to exceed expectations? The studio investigates what it means to approach architecture with a generosity of spirit that serves humanity.

We explore the potential to enhance the essential qualities and experience of architecture in our local context of Pittsburgh, treating Pittsburgh as a lab to apply the ideas debated at the Biennale at various scales and contexts. The studio promotes critical design inquiry through three main projects focusing on design strategies that transform the quality and use of an existing, underutilized space, building and site while considering spatial, experiential and atmospheric qualities that create inviting places for people.

Design efforts a e supported by sustained research throughout the semester.

Comprehensive, varied and in depth research into the FREESPACE exhibition familiarizes the students with its content, leads to the creation of a personalized guide that identifies distinct paths th ough the exhibition and identifies a s ecific area of personal investigation that informs studio projects. Further, we explore through readings and discussion the role of the Biennale as an institution, an exhibition and a provocation in the making of contemporary architecture culture.

Readings, research and discussion are organized in collaboration with Dr. Francesca Torello, PhD, Architectural Historian. The course includes a group trip to Venice to visit the Biennale Architecture Exhibition.

Jennifer Lucchino, RA, Studio Instructor Adjunct Associate Professor School of Architecture Carnegie Mellon University

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Comprehensive, varied and in-depth research into the FREESPACE exhibition familiarizes students with the content of the exhibition. Preliminary research helps each student to identify a specific a ea of interest in the fi st weeks of the semester that fuels a sustained investigation that includes research conducted at CMU and during the field trip to the Biennale.

Preliminary Documentation Each student conducts thorough research of a portion of this year’s International Exhibition and prepares preliminary documentation of all Core Exhibition participants, including images and existing documentation to be researched and verifi d highlighting its most relevant qualities, i.e. materials, etc.... This includes any supporting participants (i.e. Special Projects, National Pavilions, Collateral Events) and identifies esearch sources.

71 Participants Arsenale (52 participants + The Practice of Teaching) Central Pavilion (19 Participants + Close Encounter) The participant summary includes tags that identify key information about the participant’s exhibit. Students identify six primary research paths through the Biennale based on participants with similar thematic content (some may be in more than one category). Students develop a personalized guide to the Venice Biennale including specialized maps to the exhibition.

EXHIBITION

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Amateur Architecture Studio architecten de vylder vinck taillieu Assemble S Atelier Peter Zumthor BIG – Bjarke Ingels Group burkhalter sumi architekten with Marco Pogacnik E Caruso St John Architects with Philip Heckhausen Cino Zucchi Architetti Crimson Architectural Historians David Chipperfield Architects P Elizabeth Hatz Architects ArkDes; Petra Gipp; Mikael Olsson Lacaton & Vassal A Michael Maltzan Architecture Paulo Mendes da Rocha RMA Architects Robert McCarter

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Room11 Architects Studio Odile DECQ A2 Architects Boyd Cody Architects Noreile Breen Bucholz McEvoy Architects Carr Cotter & Naessens Architects Clancy Moore Architects dePaor Donaghy + Dimond Architects Kevin Donovan, Kennihan Architects GKMP Architects Hassett Ducatez Architects Heneghan Peng Architects Mary Laheen Architects Steve Larkin Architects Dominic Stevens, JFOC Architects TAKA Architects

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Australia Austria Belgio / Belgium Paesi Bassi /The Netherlands Paesi Nordici / Nordic Countries Repubblica Slovacca /Slovak Republic Republic of Korea Brasile / Brazil Canada Danimarca / Denmark Egitto / Egypt Finlandia / Finland Francia / France Germania / Germany Giappone / Japan

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Gran Bretagna / Great Britain Grecia / Greece Israele / Israel Padiglione Venezia Polonia / Poland Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela Czech Republic Russia Serbia Spain United States of America Switzerland Hungary Uruguay

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Albania Arabia Saudita / Saudi Arabia Argentina Regno del Bahrain / Kingdom of Bahrain Canada Cile / Chile People’s Republic of China Croazia / Croatia Emirati Arabi Uniti / United Arab Emirates Filippine / Philippines Indonesia Irlanda / Ireland Italy

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6a architects Aires Mateus Alison Brooks Architects Álvaro Siza andramatin Angela Deuber Architect Arrea architecture, Maruša Zorec & Associates Aurelio Galfetti Barclay & Crousse BC architects & studies BEARTH & DEPLAZES ARCHITEKTEN Benedetta Tagliabue Miralles Tagliabue EMBT Riccardo Blumer Elisabeth & Martin Boesch Architects Carla Juaçaba Case Design de Blacam and Meagher Architects Diller Scofidio + Renfro DnA_Design and Architecture Dorte Mandrup A/S ELEMENTAL Estudio Carme Pinós Flores & Prats Francesca Torzo Architetto Gion A. Caminada Grupo SP Gumuchdjian Architects Hall McKnight Inês Lobo, Arquitectos Jensen & Skodvin Arkitekter AS John Wardle Architects Kazuyo Sejima + Ryue Nishizawa / SANAA Kéré Architecture

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Repubblica del Kosovo / Republic of Kosovo Lettonia / Latvia Libano / Lebanon Grand Duchy of Luxembourg Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia Messico / Mexico Perù / Peru Singapore Repubblica di Slovenia / Republic of Slovenia Thailandia / Thailand Turchia / Turkey

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Laura Peretti Architects Maria Giuseppina Grasso Cannizzo Marie-José Van Hee architecten Marina Tabassum Architects Mario Botta Architetti Matharoo Associates Michele Arnaboldi Architetti Miller & Maranta NÍall McLaughlin Architects OBRAS Architectes O’Donnell + Tuomey Paredes Pedrosa Arquitectos Peter Rich Architects PROAP / GLOBAL Rafael Moneo, Arquitecto Rintala Eggertsson Architects Rozana Montiel Estudio de Arquitectura Salter Collingridge Design Sauerbruch Hutton Sergison Bates architects Skälsö Arkitekter Souto Moura – Arquitectos Studio Anna Heringer Studio Gang Talli Architecture and Design Tezuka Architects Toyo Ito & Associates, Architects VALERIO OLGIATI Vector Architects VTN Architects Walter Angonese, architekt/architetto Weiss/Manfredi

Studio groups correspond to distinct paths through the Biennale. Each group prepares a detailed summary of its path to include: Path Name, Description, Exhibit Map, Participants and Key Factors.

Together with the maps, the path summaries distill our group research efforts to c eate a personalized guide to the exhibition during the field trip to enice.

Six primary research paths: Memory Demonstrates how the past impacts the present as a way to reinvigorate existing structures while revealing their history.

Craft Re-imagines relationships between tools and processes that innovates through iterative experimentation.

Environment Contextualizes architecture while embodying diffe ent layers of meaning from its ecological footprint, integration with the landscape and human experience.

Space Making Focuses on the creation of space through attention to its defin tion and atmospheric qualities.

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Activism Shapes spaces to promote social well being and advocacy.

Perceptual Fosters an immersive experience for visitors.

EXHIBITION

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MEMORY

Works selected for this path are inspired by exis�ng projects, built structures, movements and ar�sts. These projects are being reintroduced.

As viewers of the exhibi�on, we experience the exhibits through the lens of FREESPACE, seeing how the past impacts the present. This perspec�ve adds another layer of meaning to these projects.

Projects in this category use memory as a way to reinvigorate exis�ng structures, reveal the history of a space or place and capture the senses associated with a place or �me.

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42: Unveil the Hidden

72: Wisdom of the Land

ARREA ARCHITECTURE, MARUSA ZOREC & ASSOCIATES

MARINA TABASSUM ARCHITECTS

Work which gives insight to the habita�on structures focusing on the Bengali Courtyard.

The �tle, Unveil the Hidden, refers to what Marusa Zorec calls The Ancestors.

59: Z33, House for Contemporary Art

91: This is not a shirt.

STUDIO ANNA HERINGER

FRANCESCA TORZO ARCHITETTO

A village, its weave, its people. A showing of the implica�ons of what we do and what we accept based off a small village in Bangladesh.

71: Feel Free, Take a Seat

92: Arcus Center for Social Jus�ce

Farrell focuses through her drawings to find architecture in each of Van Hees projects, with an energy that expresses the fran�c impa�ence to find the space she is looking for.

The explora�on of the life cycle of wood and the belief expressed by the architects that wood has the remarkable ability to connect.

97: Connec�ng Vessel

20-35: Close Encounter

A built space which originated from drawings and sketches of the Seashore Library by Vector Architects which allows for reflec�on and calm.

16 par�cipants with works that originate in reflec�on on well-known buildings of the past.

The extension of Z33 is a collage of bespoke bricks customized with color and size to form a collage of exis�ng and new spaces that draw from her personal storehouse of diverse experiences.

MARIE-JOSE VAN HEE ARCHITECTEN

STUDIO GANG

VECTOR ARCHITECTS

16 PARTICIPANTS FROM IRELAND

36: The Natural History of Churchill College

8: Everyday Wonders - CZ reads LCD

6a focuses on their student residence for Churchill College, University Cambridge, where untreated, re-claimed oak forms the new ‘bark’ of the building. New oak contrasts with old, adding refinement.

Cino Zucchi explores the work of Caccia Dominioni under three headings. Facades, interior spaces, eight, and details.

89: Bungenas

17: Freespace in Place: Four Unrealised Plans for Venice

6A ARCHITECTS

CINO ZUCCHI ARCHITETTI

SKALSO ARKITEKTER

Installa�on consis�ng of large rocks removed from concrete bunkers to make them habitable spaces.

ROBERT MCCARTER

Projects had been proposed for Venice between 1953 and 1970 but none were built.

61: Unnamed Spaces

15: E Projeto

A school building in Sao Paulo Brazil, whose organiza�on divides the program into two parts with a connec�ng bridge in between them leaving the ground free for community interac�on.

Da Rocha‘s understanding of freespace is one that allows architects to “freely wander, search, learn, and discover from each other.”

GRUPOSP

PAULO MENDES DA ROCHA

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CRAFT

FREESPACE traces both physical and philosophical paths of material inves�ga�on. Highlighted exhibits present defini�ve a�tudes towards the use of methods of building and cra� as tools for expression.

Cra� showcases examples of projects through which designers reimagine the rela�onships between tools and processes, transcending tradi�onal ways of thinking and working. For many of these projects, itera�ve experimenta�on is the key to innova�on.

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86: Proposal B

40: Eleva�on

Salter Collingridge demonstrates the value of the o�en-lost sensibility of careful construc�on and sublime skill. The exhibit is proof of the posi�ve impact of well-built architecture.

Playful yet painstakingly-cra�ed pieces with moving parts create an in�mate social space.

A Jabon wood spiral staircase encompassed by an intricately woven ra�an shroud displays an exhibi�on of reminiscent of vernacular Indonesian houses. Eleva�on Demonstrates the changing use of materials over �me and considers the way material decisions influence spa�al quali�es.

54: The Songyang Story

67: Guruguru

This project demonstrates a material-centric a�tude towards the issue of place and context. Consis�ng of seven buildings, the proposal by DnA_Design and Architecture envisions contemporary solu�ons that u�lize local methods and materials; revitalizing the Songyang region while evoking its vernacular.

An invisible loop divides spaces internally without crea�ng anytrue visual divides.

Guruguru explores the ability of acrylic to distort visitors’ percep�on through an endless spiral.

84: Corte Del Forte

45: The Act of Building

With an agenda focused on describing balanced power structures and economic liber�es, a �mber assembly emphasizes specific social stances through lightweight assemblies.

The Act of Building Showcases experimental materials, construc�on elements, and building instruments with the inten�on of sharing construc�on narra�ve.

97: Connec�ng Vessel

92: Arcus Center for Social Jus�ce

This piece u�lizes principles established by the Seashore Library to funnel light entering from a south-facing window in the Arsenale by juggling ideologies that emphasize material, texture, and circula�on.

Employing tree-trunk faces as stone-masonry, a series of curved walls so�ly pass one another as they adver�se a unique wall assembly that is intended to express aging and weathering over �me.

52: Freespace Circle

3: The Factory Floor

Freespace Circle is a collec�on of drawings, books and photos that are organized to develop a contempla�ve space that allows spectators to challenge the Architect’s ability to enrich civic spaces through the selec�on of materials based on color proper�es and tac�le characteris�cs.

Assemble creates a dis�nc�ve material territory through their exhibit in the Sala Chini. The Factory Floor involves thousands of clay �les, each of which capture a moment of chance in the act of making.

ANDRAMANTIN

SALTER COLLINGRIDGE DESIGN

KAZUYO SEJIMA + RYUE NISHIZAWA/SANAA

DNA_DESIGN AND ARCHITECTURE

BC ARCHITECTS & STUDIES

RINTALA EGGERTSSON ARCHITECTS

STUDIO GANG

VECTOR ARCHITECTS

DE BLACAM AND MEAGHER ARCHITECTS

ASSEMBLE

47: Weaving Architecture

7: The Facade is the Window to the Soul of Architecture

EMBT

Contending that freespace is a well-woven space, Benede�a Tagliabue’s exhibit takes mul�-scalar approach to the idea of weaving, crea�ng a canopy that provides a comfortable, shaded semi-open space for communi�es.

CARUSO ST. JOHN ARCHITECTS WITH PHILIP HECKHAUSEN

Focusing on a facade for its material richness, The Soul of Architecture is a cura�on of drawings that delves into the emo�onal poten�al and physical quali�es that arise through the detailing and organiza�on of a building’s face.

85: Stand Ground

2: Unless Ever People

ROZANA MONTIEL ESTUDIO DE ARQUITECTURA

ARCHITECTEN DE VYLDER VINCK TAILLIEU

Rozana Mon�el’s work seeks to build a “social construc�on” by reimagining tradi�onal assemblies of space and changing barriers into boundaries. The wall becomes a floor and barriers become horizontal structures suppor�ng horizons.

Architecten Vylder Vinck Taillieu propose an interven�on for an old, half-demolished psychiatric clinic in Melle, Belgium where each department originally had its own villa. Tac�le strategies are used to invoke ephemera.

66: Somewhere Other

8: Everyday Wonders

A concer�na �mber structure framed in delicate steel and containing passageways func�ons as telescope into another world.

Careful considera�on of materials like spo�ed gum and Murano glass enable the project to transport visitors from the Biennale in Venice to ‘somewhere other’ in Australia.

The work of renowned Milanese architect Luigi Caccia Dominioni through three lenses — Facades: inhabited screens in the city; Interior Spaces: caves carved by movement and light; and Details: narra�ve interlaces between material and form.

JOHN WARDLE ARCHITECTS

CZ reads LCD; CINO ZUCCHI ARCHITETTI

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ENVIRONMENT

This path explores exhibi�ons that focus on the contextualiza�on of architecture in its environment. The range of projects explore natural landscapes and built urban condi�ons and take into account human interac�ons with these environments over �me.

The projects selected demonstrate cri�cal concepts of the manifesto pertaining to ‘nature’s free gi�s’ and ‘earth as client’.

Projects embody different layers of meaning associated with the concept of sustainability. The first layer focuses on the projects’ ecological footprint. The second layer looks at the projects’ careful integra�on with the landscape, using natural condi�ons as the guide to inform design decisions. The third layer examines a higher level of considera�on for human experience in the way that people occupy and eventually co-exist with architecture and nature.

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51: A School in the Making

55: Condi�ons

This exhibit showcases a new school campus near the small village of Lavale, India for young women in western India. It concentrates more about the experimental process of making the school, the architecture, rather than the architecture itself.environment.

An arrayed of structure in the ar�ficial environment calls upon the condi�ons of Greenland, the site of the project being exhibited, and reduces a cultural center into a series of hard edges, lights and sounds alluding to the harsh condi�ons endured by this structure.

94: Fuji Kindergarten

43: The House of Paros and the Transmission of Knowledge

CASE DESIGN

DORTE MANDRUP A/S

TEZUKA ARCHITECTS

The architects display a Kindergarten with no boundaries. It is en�rely freespace, no boundaries between inside and outside, no boundaries between classrooms. The oval form of the building, the apparently invisible barriers, the integra�on of trees, the freespace of the roof, all combine to show the capacity of architecture to liberate the body and the spirit.

AURELIO GALFETTI

Galfe�’s piece is a film recording a lecture he gave to students and colleagues. The lecture describes the design process for his house on a Greek island. Through his sketches, he describes his earliest experiences of living in a deep valley in Switzerland, and his search for his dream site in an idealised landscape with a big horizon.

100: Lines of Movement

18: You Are Here

WEISS/MANFREDI

The installa�on examines new condi�ons for design in a century when natural resources are limited and challenged further by the issues of climate change and social isola�on. Through a selec�on of work presented in dialogue with historic hybrid projects, Lines of Movement puts forth an open-ended ideal that connects and extends the lines of landscape and infrastructure to shape a new architecture for public life.

ROOM 11 ARCHITECTS

Adop�ng the idea of ‘Earth as Client’, the exhibit invites the visitor to experience Tasmania through their eyes, presen�ng the percep�on of the landscape from within the spaces, merging with the spaces, and receding from the spaces. They resist interven�ons which would erode the valued resources of the given landscape.

54:The Songyang Story

14: Star Apartments

The exhibit show how architecture plays a role in the re-vitaliza�on of the Songyang county region by using contemporary solu�ons. The architects create freepace in the nature and restore rural iden��es by use of vernacular construc�on method. The variety use of local material also speaks to the people and loca�on of each project.

Star Apartments is meant to be a permanent suppor�ve solu�on for housing formerly homeless people in Los Angeles. The exhibi�on includes models and drawings at the urban community, and individual scales. Their focus is on the space between buildings, regions, neighborhoods and individuals. The interpreta�on of freespace here is to improve the quality of living environment for people with lower in income.

MICHAEL MALTZAN ARCHITECTURE

DNA_DESIGN AND ARCHITECTURE

57: Cube Office Tower ESTUDIO CARME PINTOS

The project explores form making as a way to promote spa�al quality and to preserve energy. The housing tower located in Guadalajara, Mexico u�lizes the abstracted form to promote ven�la�on, natural ligh�ng and comfortable spaces : a ver�cal courtyard open to the air. Wooden louvered shu�ers form an outer layer to protect the office interiors from the Mexican sun.

12: Freestanding

65: Protec�ve roof over Moya spring water source

16: So� Thresholds

LONG; ORN; TAYLOR-FOSTER WITH ARKDESGIPP; OLSSON

The project displays the rarely-exhibited work of Swedish architect Sigurd Lewerentz including archived drawings, photography and large-scale interpreta�ve models, which focus on fundamental interests of Lewrentz: material for place, ritual and landscape.

RMA ARCHITECTS

JENSEN & SKODVIN ARKITEKTURAS

The model exhibits the walking path through a forest reserve with old trees and rich wildlife, leading to a protec�ve canopy over a drinking water source in Changbai, China, resul�ng in media�on between nature and built environment.

RMA offered an installa�on heightening how a building can be a more inclusive en�ty. The architects respond to the local clima�c condi�ons by bringing natural elements into the three projects: courtyards that are open to sky, curtain wall that are made of plants and skylights in an underground library to introduce a more welcoming threshold.

62: A linear fes�val along the Transcaucasian Trail

05: Big U: Humanha�an 2050 BIG

A�emp�ng to capture the civic component of generosity discussed at the Biennale, this project u�lizes concepts of rebuilding by design. The proposal is designed to protect Lower Manha�an in NYC from flood water, storms and climate change by forming a protec�ve system of salt-tolerant plants and trees around it.

GUMUCHDJIAN ARCHITECTS

This exhibit showcases hiking trails across the Caucasus Mountains. The trails create connec�vity between 24 dissimilar na�onal parks across the region. The project adovcates for the trail to be created with less than 1% of the trails currently exis�ng.

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SPACE MAKING

Exhibits in the category of Space Making focus on their projects’ spa�al quali�es. For the par�cipants, Space Making is about spa�al defini�on and apprecia�ng the effect architecture has on the atmosphere of a space.

This path is comprised of projects that inves�gate unique methods of spa�al interven�on through analysis, understanding and use. Whether for an individual or the public, they focus on defining and discussing the concept of space.

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77: Presences

70: DIP / INTO

Niall McLaughlin has presented an assemblage of models with imagina�ve spaces.

This project by Italian Architect Maria Giuseppina is video and sound installa�on rela�ng to movement, materiality, and percep�on.

53: Post-Occupancy: the Roy and Diana Vagelos Educa�on Center

61:GrupoSP

MARIA GIUSEPPINA GRASSO CANNIZZO

NIALL MCLAUGHLIN

GRUPOSP

DILLER SCOFIDIO + RENFRO

Diller Scofidio show some drone videos and model showcasing tower design with flexible space.

GrupoSP has created a display of remarkable architectural spacesthat serve as inspira�ons for the work of the firm.

38: Recas�ng

40: Eleva�on

Brooks has constructed anarchitectural installa�on of four poten�al types of spaces with different perceptory readings and names.

Indonesian architect, Andrama�n presents research into local architectures and vernaculars around the equator in indonesia.

41: Physical Pressence

74:No�on of Mo�on

Angela Deuber has an installa�on of drawings exploring boundary and borders through architectural drawings.

Indian architects, Matharoo, have created an architectural installa�on reimagining a exis�ng house design of theirs. It is a congra�on of metallic planes.

87: Oxymoron

18: You Are Here

Sauerbruch Hu�on present a small space of �mber construc�on with translucent pa�erned material crea�ng walls. A expansive social place is created withing this small volume.

Room11 has a mul�media installa�on showcasing three projects from different climates that a�empts to transport the viewer to those environments.

71: Feel Free, Take A Seat

12: Tila

Maria-Jose Van Hee Architecten has presented a simple seated space to reflect and view drawings.

Tali Arch. and Design has a presenta�on of one of their house designs with flexible space and program that relates to freespace.

39: Evaso

10: Beyond / Purpose

Siza creates a beau�ful contempla�ve niche space with sea�ng and sculpture.

Chipperfield has displayed mul�media installa�on exhibi�ng a new gallery design by way of an anima�on of the space and a large drawing of the exis�ng museum.

ALISON BROOKS ARCHITECTS

ANDRAMATIN

MATHAROO ARCHITECTS

ANGELA DEUBER ARCHITECT

SAUERBRUCH HUTTON

ROOM11 ARCHITECTS

MARIE-JOSE VAN HEE ARCHITECTEN

TALI ARCHITECTURE AND DESIGN

ALVARO SIZA

DAVID CHIPPERFIELD ARCHITECTS

44: The Presence of the Absence BARCLAY & CROUSSE

Barclay & Crousse includes in their space elements from a museum of their design to demonstrate happy accidents of imperfec�on.

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ACTIVISM

This path concentrates on exhibits that possess agency.

Ac�vism is a selec�on of projects that create dialogue between the viewers and the issue on display. These issues include projects that shape spaces to promote social wellbeing and advocacy.

The exhibits in this category fit into one of two types of ac�vism. The first type concentrates on projects that provide ac�vism for a specific group of people, tailoring the project as a response to the people who use a space. The second type focuses on the ability of a project to bring people together to promote social ac�vity.

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51: A School in the Making

91: This is not a shirt. This is a playground.

CASE DESIGN

This exhibit showcases a new school campus near the small village of Lavale, India. They wanted to exhibit this specific project in the Biennale, so that eventually ideas may find their way back to the campus and students for which they were imagined.

STUDIO ANNA HERINGER

This Exhibit catalogues how rural communi�es u�lize and embrace local resources and methodologies to build community over genera�ons. Specifically, Heringer explores how a Bangladeshi tex�le mill relieves pressure for mass produced tex�les while crea�ng a comfortable and safe space for women to work.

86: Proposal B

SALTER COLLINGRIDGE DESIGN

09: A City of Comings and Goings

For their exhibit SCD has constructed a space that aims to dissolve formali�es to promote conversa�on. Similar to the way a living room sofa encourages family engagement through informality, the constructed living room features flexible built in sea�ng around an arc that begins to speak to the in�macy of being in a living space.

CRIMSON ARCHITECTURAL HISTORIANS

They hold the belief that the study and documenta�on of history can inform modern ci�es.

Topics of study include, migra�on and inclusion, culture and economics, and physical levels of change. CAH states that ci�es are places where everyone should be able to benefit from the architecture. The exhibi�on focuses on migra�on as a force in shaping and adap�ng cities. Topics include demographics of migra�on and solu�ons that provide flexible solu�ons imbued with the iden��es of all users.

54: The Songyang Story

DNA_DESIGN AND ARCHITECTURE

The 7 buildings in this exhibit show how architecture plays a role in the revitaliza�on of the Songyang county region by using contemporary solu�ons by means of vernacular method to restore rural iden��es. The variety of uses and materiality speak to the people and loca�on of each project. Projects include a pedestrian bridge, a tea house, an open air theatre, a fabric dyeing studio, a museum, and a workshop, each working as an expression of the community they reflect.

13: Freedom of Use LACATON AND VASSAL

Relying on sensa�on, the projects are intended to be essen�al spaces are experienced without cost to the user. The spaces work as gathering points for social life to occur and build. The projects are able to embed themselves seamlessly into the environment. Projects include a pedestrian ramp, a house in the woods, a refurbished warehouse. Lacaton and Vassal inject their project with value by u�lizing concepts of nature and environment o�en involving passive design to make users feel at ease.

95: Virtual Nature

TOYO ITO AND ASSOCIATES

Toyo Ito’s space is therapeu�c, an experience that resonates with the firms’ belief that nature should be felt, expressed, and connected to all architecture. By removing the ego from architectural space, it becomes free for users to be at peace, and experience and validate the calm atmosphere.

05: Big U: Humanha�an 2050 BIG

A�emp�ng to capture the civic component of generosity discussed at the Biennale, this project u�lizes concepts of rebuilding by design and treats the Earth as Client. BIG U began as ini�a�ve of the Hurricane Sandy Rebuilding Task Force. They advocate and design for better infrastructure and housing. Refers to Greek proverb in FREESPACE manifesto: “A society grow great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in”.

47: Weaving Architecture

BENEDETTA TAGLIABUE-MIRALLES TAGLIABUE

The immersive exhibi�on aims to ins�ll a sense of belonging in users. While tradi�onal methods of architecture seeks to create boundaries, the infinite an expandable quality of the geometric weaving means that the space can extend in any direc�on taking on the features of the surrounding environment.

14: Star Apartments

MICHAEL MALTZAN ARCHITECTURE

Lobos’ redesign of an Italian Piazzale features planters that double as benches. The benches mark the perimeter of the planters unifying visitors with the greenery. While the benches work as a place for conversa�on and contempla�on, the specially chosen aroma�c greenery promotes these exchanges by appealing to the senses that promote focus and energy.

Star Apartments, housing project for the homeless, focuses on architecture as a tool for community engagement in a city that struggles to incorporate and aid their homeless popula�on. The mixed use program works to facilitate and improve the lives of formerly homeless persons by giving them the freedom to define their own space and create a sustainable community network. The non-hierarchical spaces of the community level allows for residents to envision space and ac�vi�es around the spirit of the users and their ac�vi�es.

72: Wisdom of the Land

16: So� Thresholds

This exhibit details the process of crea�ng a mosque in Bait Ur Rouf inspired by the daily lives of the impacted communi�es. Vernacular methodology and modest material shows the cohesion between the people and the land.

Materials are unique to the region, locally sourced and built by community members. The courtyard was of central focus in the design and is meant to be “a lived space”, casual, and undefined by physical boundary.

RMA displays 3 projects that together create a narra�ve that exemplifies Freespace by exploring the embodiment of spaces through imagery, scaled layers, and changing atmosphere.

The projects, located in India include an office space in that promotes workplace equality, low cost housing for elephants and a climate responsive library. The projects tackle challenges inclusiveness, sustainability, low cost housing, systems automa�za�on and passive systems.

64: A Bench For A Hundred People INES LOBO ARQUITECTOS

MARINA TABASSUM ARCHITECTS

RMA ARCHITECTS

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P

PERCEPTUAL

The Perceptual path is linked to the intangible quali�es of a space. How does one physically interact with it?

Upon personal occupa�on of a space, a user’s senses start to respond to the s�muli present and create a las�ng impact le� by the experience.

The projects included in this path explore how humans interact with their given boundaries and begin to reconcile their own experience with the designers’ intent.

The physical, tangible, and prescribed installa�ons remain constant throughout the dura�on of the exhibit, but the sensorial, abstract, and fluid interpreta�ons of subjec�ve experiences vary from person to person.

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53: Post-Occupancy

47: Weaving Architecture

Combines the presence of a large physical model with a vibrant method of documen�ng the life of the building using two drone videos.

The architect weaves meaning into repeated pa�ern, fusing handcra� with architecture, the personal and the general. Shapes and color of Africa bring new life to the space

DILLER SCOFIDIO + RENFRO

BENEDETTA TAGLIABUE - MIRALLES TAGLIABUE

85: Stand Ground

80: The Dream of Space Produces Form

ROZANA MONTIEL ESTUDIO DE ARQUITECTURA

This exhibit communicates the values of the prac�ce, the desire to “change barriers into boundaries” to open up new horizons, giving a sense that this sec�on of the Corderie wall is removed and replaced by bringing the life of the outside world of Venice into the assigned space.

PAREDES PEDROSA ARQUITECTOS

The exhibits appear like instruments used to determine the measure, the scale, the surface quality of the spaces to come. There is a sense of sculp�ng, of manipula�ng space, and in their projects the architects seek to use freespace as the void that links rather than separates.

66: Somewhere Other JOHN WARDLE ARCHITECTS

43: The house of Paros & the transmission of knowledge

They have constructed a series of three-dimensional lenses as a way of describing their view of the world from their par�cular loca�on on the earth, using light, colour, cra�, and the architectural elements of frames and portals.

Manipula�ng scale of space by zooming in and out.

AURELIO GALFETTI

The lecture uses the crea�ve imagina�on of a prac�cing architect to communicate the true values of architecture. He brings up how to translate experiences through different mediums; through teaching on a chalkboard and design on an island.

67: Guruguru

KAZUYO SEJIMA + RYUE NISHIZAWA / SANAA

A transparent circular installa�on. Using several layers of acrylic panels posi�oned close to each other, the poe�c space distorts viewers’ surroundings as they walk around it depending on �me, light and other people’s presence.

63: Unique Instruments: Expectant Spaces HALL MCKNIGHT ARCHITECTS

Their work is presented as an ensemble, cross-referencing a number of their projects including re-imagining new civic spaces from a variety of different perspec�ves.

55: Condi�ons

DORTE MANDRUP A/S

This is a project that deals with the most extreme challenges imaginable in terms of climate. Hence the �tle chosen by the architects – CONDITIONS. It is also a highly charged building in terms of its ambi�on and func�on. The changing light condi�ons affect the percep�on of the model.

87: Oxymoron

SAUERBRUCH HUTTON

This exhibit is invi�ng to the visitor, offers a place of repose, and reflects the generosity of spirit of the M9 Museum building in Mestre, where they open up spaces to the community, and use “exposed concrete and ceramic to provide a hap�c materiality that corresponds with the cocciopesto finishes of the exis�ng historic buildings”.

6: Konrad Wachsmann - The Grapevine Structure

BURKHALTER SUMI ARCHITEKTEN WITH MARCO POGACNIK

par�al segment of a network to describe “the DNA of space”. It is the physical manifesta�on of immersive drawings.

58: Liquid Light FLORES & PRAT

A hole in the roof of the exis�ng semi-derelict building revealed an opportunity to allow the ’liquid light’ to leak into the interior. The exhibit traps light within the sinuous form and takes the visitor on a journey of discovery. Reorienting �me and space using sun light.

11: Freespace - Line, light, locus ELIZABETH HATZ ARCHITECTS

work is presented in rela�on to each other, whether by subject or by �me. The intent of this representa�on is to provoke new thoughts, ideas, and opinions. [crea�ng a side effect of space]

59: Z33, A House for Comtemporary Art

18: You Are Here

FRANCESCA TORZO ARCHITETTO

Bespoke bricks have been fabricated in order to achieve a certain colour and size, and in order to make a solid brick wall, with a unique surface texture and colour. The collage of exis�ng and new spaces come together to form an ensemble of rooms, which appear to have been drawn together from some personal storehouse of diverse experiences.

ROOM 11 ARCHITECTS

Using percep�on of light and shade to affect the experience of space and terraforma.

19: Phantom’s Phantom

39: Evasão

STUDIO ODILE DECQ

a play on ambiguity of space through mirror and illusions. Intends to have visitors reconsider the space they are in.

ÁLVARO SIZA

poe�c response to the manifesto that represetns the sensi�vity and subtlety of the architects role. Through minor play of light and space, visitors interact with space differently.

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Students identify a specific area of investigation based on the preliminary research into the exhibition. Areas of investigation include participants and supplemental research from the Core Exhibition with individual research of the National Pavilions in support of his/her specific investigation as necessary. Each student presents his/her area of investigation during a PechaKucha style presentation.

Each student chooses from amongst and synthesizes the interests identifi d in the PechaKucha presentation for further research over the course of the semester. He/she strives to explore these interests in greater depth and thoroughness. Each student documents the selected participant exhibition during the Venice trip.

Final documentation of each student’s chosen investigation topic is documented in poster format. Posters include written text, images and graphic documentation of selected Core Exhibition participants, as well as images of supporting participants and a bibliography.

Student research posters include: You Are Not Here, Michael Powell Light and Materiality, Fon Euchykanonchai Sensory Experience in Space, Bingxuan Liang Enduring Freespace, Chitika Vasudeva Boundaries, Benita Nartey Overlooked Layered, Jai Kanodia

Breaking Socio-Politcal Boundaries, Ghalya Alsanea Stepping Over Boundaries, Jonathan Cheng Surveillance & Security, Ryan Smith Mutual Engagement, Shan Wang The Language of Representation, Maddi Johnson A Study in Refl ction, Austin Garcia

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EXHIBITION

PATHS

POSTERS

23

YOU A R E N OT H E R E M I CH AEL POWEL L

“I am attempting to articulate how participants seek to make their argument, and further delve into how they utilized this renowned exhibition as a tool to encourage discussion on larger issues through the curation of spaces… The exhibits I elect to discuss take these temporary inhabitants into worlds that allow them to occupy diffe ent spaces, and diffe ent topics of discussion, at diffe ent scales.”

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YOU ARE NOT HERE

PAGE 1

MICHAEL POWELL 12_18_18

A look into works from the 16th Venice Architecture Biennale which transform spectator into occupier.

Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara crafted an ambiguous manifesto that could align with any participant’s agenda. It seems to have been easy for practitioners to respond to a prompt which provided tremendous possibilities to produce and exhibit architectural knowledge. With the density of works being shared in the main spaces of the 16th Venice Biennale, it is easy for works to become more about showand-tell and less about a discussion of critical ideas related to major phrases within the manifesto. It appears that the National Pavilions may have stolen the show overall at this year’s Biennale, as they seem to be the only ones daring enough to take stances on the Architecture’s imaginative spirit, spatial capacities, voice, political influence, physical presence and emotional engagement among many other roles. However, maybe this becomes more about the ability to tap into your provided space to preach.

With over a hundred identified exhibits, and even more participants utilized as tools to represent certain beliefs, it is

easy to understand how messy this collage of work can become. Within the conglomerate of ideas is a thin thread based on “a generosity of spirit and a sense of humanity” that is trembling as it dares to hold together this bold exhibition. Stronger links can be drawn throughout the Biennale as designers begin to tackle and discuss larger issues of representation, cultural identity and political agendas.

Every piece attempts to craft some sort of argument, however, with hundreds of opinions many different subjects the discussion can become muddy. I am attempting to articulate how participants seek to make their argument, and further delve into how they utilized this renowned exhibition as a tool to encourage discussion on larger issues through the curation of spaces.

As people trickle in to the biennale venues they are rapidly isolated from the venetian-context as they are transported into a bounty of new contexts presented through illustration, model, light, sound,

25

and most importantly space. While Farrell and McNamara took charge of selecting, or curating, people to alter provided sites within the Biennale grounds, each person took their own liberties to take some sort of political stance, and immerse people into hearing their beliefs through an array of pedestals, and hanging drawings, however, the pieces that transported the trickling spectators of the Biennale out of the old navy-yard and gardens, and into an entirely new world were able to make the strongest points. Some took the walls that enclosed their plot and shoved their intervention into every corner, while others decorated the whiles to create playgrounds, and others ignored the provided context and elevated visitors into super-saturated architectural realties. Regardless of the provided context, the selected designers were able to reinvent their provided environment in order to transport simple spectators into occupiers, speakers, participants, and engagers of these pseudo-utopic worlds.

PAGEPAGE 2 2

MICHAEL MICHAEL POWELL POWELL 12_18_18 12_18_18 To really To really be benefiting be benefiting anyone anyone looking looking into into the the Biennale, Biennale, whatever whatever one one decides decides to display to display needs needs to include to include a greater a greater self-curation self-curation of pieces of pieces that that can get canpast get past surface surface level level means means of of representation. representation.

Hall McKnight Hall McKnight sought sought to elaborate to elaborate on the on articulation the articulation of of spaces spaces that must that must please please people people that that one will onenot willknow, not know, and is and unlikely is unlikely to to ever ever meet.meet.

The The piecepiece is about is about the the production production of forms of forms and articulating and articulating means means of observing of observing and and relating relating to spaces. to spaces.

This This elevated elevated platform platform is arrayed is arrayed with with 2X2 2X2 supports supports that that regulate regulate and balance and balance the experiences the experiences of participation of participation and and observation observation into these into these saturated saturated environments. environments.

Through Through this framework, this framework, the practice the practice wishes wishes to create to create a newa kind new of kind gallery of gallery spacespace that elevates that elevates you off youfrom off from any any familiar familiar surface, surface, and and into into the new the new environments environments they they wish wish to immerse to immerse visitors visitors in. The in.projects The projects Hall McKnight Hall McKnight wish to wish discuss to discuss are controlled are controlled through through apertures apertures that permit that permit one individual one individual at a time at a time to betogiven be given the opportunity the opportunity to have to have a unique a unique impression impression of of space, space, uninterrupted uninterrupted by others. by others.

A A seriesseries of “vessels” of “vessels” are inscribed are inscribed with with the proposed the proposed plan of plan theofproject the project to beto be revealed revealed through through a series a series of mirrors of mirrors and apertures. and apertures.

TheirTheir understanding understanding of space of space is through is through reveals reveals and clues and clues that emerge that emerge as one as becomes one becomes moremore absorbed absorbed by the by built the built environment environment around around them.them.

The The assembly assembly forces forces viewers viewers to remove to remove themselves themselves from from the biennale, the biennale, as they as they are constantly are constantly moving moving from from saturated saturated spacespace to to saturated saturated space. space.

As one As one traverses traverses through throughthesetheseenvironments, environments, the the exhibitions exhibitions structure structure further further screens screens themthem off from off from the place the place in in whichwhich they they are actually are actually occupying occupying at the at time. the time.

The The exhibit exhibit can can be be defined defined by its by “physical its “physical edges edges and and terraces…[and]…presented terraces…[and]…presented images…projected images…projected beyond…[the]… beyond…[the]…

2 2 limits”limits” of the of provided the provided Arsenale.

Arsenale.

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PAGEPAGE 3 3

MICHAEL MICHAEL POWELL POWELL 12_18_18 12_18_18 The The Romanian Romanian Pavilion Pavilion has has a a desaturated desaturated fully fully immersive immersive take take on the on occupation the occupation of environments of environments proposed proposed by by Hall Hall McKnight.

McKnight.

Mnemonics Mnemonics takestakes a minimalistic a minimalistic spin spin on public on public urbanurban spaces spaces withinwithin their their whitewhite box. As box.one As plays one plays on the on the swingswing set, plays set, plays ping ping pong,pong, or even or even spinsspins on the onmerry-go-round the merry-go-round they are they are forced forced to look to at look sleek at sleek illustrations illustrations of of a playful a playful streetstreet that seems that seems infinite infinite as as it wraps it wraps around around the space. the space.

Additional Additional imagery, imagery, text, and text,documentation and documentation are are spaced spaced around around the pavilion the pavilion posing posing the question the question of social of social and and cultural cultural functions functions withinwithin the public the public spacespace of of Romanian Romanian Cities.

Cities.

The project The project wishes wishes to discuss to discuss the industrialization the industrialization of of Romania, Romania, and the andsmall the small spaces spaces left left between between buildings buildings whichwhich appear appear to beto no be one’s no one’s playground, playground, but in but in realityreality are everyone’s. are everyone’s.

This This left over left over spacespace is already is already beingbeing occupied occupied by by communities, communities, leaving leaving the creators the creators of this of exhibit this exhibit asking asking the question, the question, why why are Architects are Architects not tapping not tapping into into this potential? this potential?

Maybe Maybe the answer the answer is is simple, simple, maybe maybe somesome Architect’s Architect’s knowknow of theofrelevance the relevance of these of these spaces spaces and and don’tdon’t want want to interrupt to interrupt this already this already existing existing community. community.

However, However, maybe maybe the pavilion the pavilion is asking is asking Architect’s Architect’s to to address address thesethese spaces spaces and enhance and enhance thesethese playful playful environments, environments, and and bringbring colorcolor into this into greyscale this greyscale worldworld that that remains remains in between in between buildings. buildings.

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PAGE 4PAGE 4

MICHAEL MICHAEL POWELL POWELL 12_18_18 12_18_18 In response In response to events to events in thein the European European Union, Union, like Brexit, like Brexit, the the Architects Architects tasked tasked with transforming with transforming the Belgian the Belgian PavilionPavilion flood flood the the space space with concentric with concentric steppedstepped seatingseating which which uniformly uniformly climbs climbs to to the ceiling the ceiling plane of plane the of space. the space.

The The project project calls forcalls a Eurotpie, for a Eurotpie, a Europe a Europe undivided, undivided, one where one where citizenscitizens are are involved. involved.

Using Using the ultramarine the ultramarine blue from bluethe from Belgian the Belgian Flag, aFlag, new a new civic space civic space is proposed is proposed which which takes atakes contemporary a contemporary approach approach to to the Grecian the Grecian Agora. Agora.

All visitors All visitors are are asked to asked remove to remove their shoes their before shoes before entering, entering, I am not I am sure notif sure this isif truly this is truly an important an important detail, but detail, I believe but I believe there there must bemust some beunderlying some underlying meaning meaning or or power power play here, playand here, areand immersed are immersed by a remix by a of remix the European of the European AnthemAnthem – “Friedrich – “Friedrich Schiller’s Schiller’s Ode toOde Joy,to Joy, set to Beethoven’s set to Beethoven’s 9th Symphony 9th Symphony – – 5 5 plays out plays through out through hidden hidden speakers.” speakers.”

VisitorsVisitors are asked are asked to taketopages take pages of of a booka which book scattered which scattered throughout throughout the pavilion, the pavilion, and embossed and embossed with with EU flag, EU providing flag, providing a fictional a fictional new new narrative narrative on this on optimistic this optimistic European European Union. Union.

UtilizingUtilizing color as color a tool as ato tool to clue atclue a specific at a specific place, place, or country or country in this ininstance, this instance, the pavilion the pavilion acts acts as a gathering as a gathering space space for people for people from from different different backgrounds backgrounds to to come come discuss, discuss, listen, listen, and explore and explore this this ultramarine ultramarine amphitheater. amphitheater.

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PAGE 5PAGE 5

MICHAEL MICHAEL POWELL POWELL 12_18_18 12_18_18 These These exhibitions that caught my eyemy eye exhibitions that caught throughthrough clean craft, clean and craft,sell andtheir sell their transport spectators into occupiers. transport spectators into occupiers. beliefs beliefs as architecturally as architecturally manifested manifested PeoplePeople are removed from their are removed fromcurrent their current goods. goods.

“The architecture “The architecture becamebecame state and place, and transported into into state and place, and transported the setting the setting for a for material-spiritual a material-spiritual new worlds, new worlds, often new often utopias, new utopias, “… “… equilibrium equilibrium of consumers, of consumers, viewers, viewers, using the using exhibition the exhibition and its and expansion its expansion and exhibits, and exhibits, from raw from materials raw materials to to into the into media the media as a asdiscursive a discursive consumer consumer products products in theirin most their most 9 9 construct construct and a battlefield and a battlefield for opposed for opposed In using In the using the sophisticated sophisticated form….” form….”

7 7 ideologies…” ideologies…”

However However improbable improbable provided provided setting setting to theirtoadvantage, their advantage, these alternative these alternative worlds worlds may be, may thebe, the each ofeach these of three these design three design teams teams Architects Architects are sure aretosure cause to cause you to you transport to transport spectators spectators of the Biennale of the Biennale forgot about forgotyourself about yourself for at least for ata least brief a brief into keyinto players key players of theseofintellectually these intellectually period period of timeofastime theyasimmerse they immerse you in youdriven, in driven, people people engaging engaging spaces.spaces. their political their political arguments. arguments.

An adventurer An adventurer h t t p s : / / hd ti tvpi s :a/ r/ ed .i cv oi sma/rper.oc joem c t/ sp /r 3o 8j e8 c1 t3s6/ -3 8 8 1 3 6 is exploited is exploited as theyasnavigate they navigate a foresta forest h a l l - m c kh na il gl -hmt -cak rnci hg iht te-cat rsc- hr o i t reyc- tgsa- rr do ir ny e- gr -a r d i n e r of sticks of only stickstoonly looktothrough look through a smalla small u n i q u e -ui n si qt ru ue m - i en ns tt sr -u emx ep ne tcst -aenxt p- e sp c taac ne ts- s p a c e s world saturated world saturated in color.inAdults color. Adults faceoff faceoff https://ww h w. t t phsa: /l l/ m ww c kw. n ihgahl tl .mc co kmn/ipgrhotj.eccotm s //4p0r o/ 1j e6ct ht s- / 4 0 / 1 6 t h international-architecture-exhibition--la-biennale-di-venezia international-architecture-exhibition--la-biennale-di-venezia on a concrete on a concrete ping pong ping table, pong and table, and soar onsoar a contemporary on a contemporary metal swing metal swing https://ww h tw. t pasr:c/ /hwdw a w. i l y.acr co hmd/ a8 i9l y.

5 6c2o7m/ m / 8n9e5m 6 2o 7n /i m c sn- e m o n i c s t h e - r o m a nt h i ae--praovmi lai onni a- -apt -atvhiel i-o2n0-1a8t --tvheen-i2c0e1- b 8 i-evnen ai cl e - b i e n n a l e set. And set. groups And groups disperse disperse into this into this https://worldarchitecture.org/architecture-news/ehvmp/ https://worldarchitecture.org/architecture-news/ehvmp/ welcoming welcoming box to box beautiful to beautiful soundssounds of of romania_pavilion_sets_a_real_playground_to_remind_ romania_pavilion_sets_a_real_playground_to_remind_ symphonies symphonies and those andwho those wish whotowish be to free_use_of_public_spaces_at_venice_biennale.html be free_use_of_public_spaces_at_venice_biennale.html heard. heard.

All of these All of works these works are unified are unified h t t p s : / / w hwtw t p. d s :e/z/ w e ewnw. .cdoemz /e2e0n1. 8c /o0m7 // 22 06 1/ b8e/ 0l g7i/a2n6-/ b e l g i a n p a v i l i o n - vpeanvi icl ieo-na-rvcehni tieccet-uarrec-hbi iteenc n t uarlee--beiuernont o ap l ei e - e/ u r o t o p i e / by a by thread a thread of simple of simple immersion. immersion.

Complex Complex assemblies, assemblies, flashingflashing lights, lights, h t t p s : / h/ t tr pa su :m/ /n tor va eu lml en .oevue/ lEl eu .r eo ut o/ E pu i er o t o p i e acrobats, acrobats, and other and things other things are notare not Szacka, The Szacka, Biennale The as Biennale Disciplinary as Disciplinary Agent, page Agent, 254 page 254 required required to transport to transport people people into new into new Szacka, Szacka, Exhibiting Exhibiting the the PostmodernPostmodern environments environments while while still making still making a a 1980 1980 Venice Venice Biennale, Biennale, page page 21 21 statement. statement.

Not toNot saytoother say works other works Herzog & Herzog De Meuron, & De Natural Meuron, History, Natural page History, 27 page 27 required required these these things, things, however, however, the the those who thoseparticipated who participated in La Biennale in La Biennale were not werealways not always successful successful when when attempting attempting to grasp to grasp the attention the attention of of spectators spectators and transport and transport them into them other into other worlds worlds and express and express certain certain ideologies. ideologies.

Some of Some theseofissues these of issues immersion of immersion can can be addressed be addressed in a discussion in a discussion on the on the challenges challenges of displaying of displaying and discussing and discussing architecture architecture within within a context a context that that does not does support not support these discussions, these discussions, surrounded surrounded by an audience by an audience who may who may be unfamiliar be unfamiliar with thewith language. the language.

“The “The traditional traditional way ofwayovercoming of overcoming the the paradox paradox of exhibiting of exhibiting architecture architecture is is to exhibit to exhibit fragments fragments of buildings of buildings or or reproduce reproduce part of part a building of a building that exists that exists 8 The 8 The or once or once existedexisted elsewhere.” elsewhere.” exhibitsexhibits I elect Itoelect discuss to discuss take these take these temporary temporary inhabitants inhabitants into worlds into worlds that that allow them allowtothem occupy to occupy different different spaces,spaces, and different and different topics topics of discussion, of discussion, at at different different scales.scales.

The biennale The biennale simply simply acts as acts a platform as a platform for these for these three three design design teams teams to articulate to articulate ideologies, ideologies,

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LIGH T & MAT E R I A L I T Y FO N EUC HUKAN ON CHA I

“I am interested in exploring the role of materiality in the exhibitions put forth in the Biennale. The materials used in the construction of these exhibitions have [an] eff ct on experience, the formality of a space informs how the space is to be used and how the human scale reacts to it. I wonder about the processes that are involved in materiality informing these aspects of a space. Particularly, I am interested in how diffe ent materials filter the senses of the outside - ‘nature’s free gifts’ - to be perceived by the human senses on the inside, diffe ently.”

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Light & Materiality

page 1 Fon Kornrat Euchukanonchai 12.19.2018

Fragments from the manifesto for this year’s Venice Architecture Biennale - FREESPACE - curated

by Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara trigger my interest in a research topic centered around this Biennale. “FREESPACE provides the opportunity to emphasise nature’s free gifts of light - sunlight and moonlight, air, gravity, materials - natural and man-made resources. FREESPACE sees the earth as Client. This brings with it long-lasting responsibilities.” Architects have the power and responsibility to capitalize on “nature’s free gifts”, particularly light.

How is light manipulated through the use of material for an intended spatial quality and experience?

I am interested in exploring the role of materiality in the exhibitions put forth in the Biennale. The materials used in the construction of these exhibitions have effect on experience, the formality of a space, informs how the space is to be used, and how the human scale reacts to it. I wonder about the processes that are involved in materiality informing these aspects of a space. Particularly, I am interested in how different materials filter the senses of the outside - “nature’s free gifts” - to be perceived by the human senses, on the inside, differently. The different levels of penetrability in each material is able to emphasize, or diffuse, the senses of the outside differently. The borders from the outside and the inside are constantly undulating due to the purposeful use of material.

Image 04: Ito’s Virtual Nature draws the visitor’s eye upwards to focus on the projection on the curtain screen, emulating light filtered through trees and leaves. This exhibition offers a place of calm and recluse from the rest of the Arsenale.

the inside and outside The softness of the material also invites touch, and a domestic sensibility that allows visitors to interact closely and comfortably with the exhibition.

Another installation in the Biennale that had an interesting use of material is Toyo Ito’s Virtual Nature. A frequent exhibitor of the Venice Architecture Biennale, Ito wanted an exhibition “absent of the architect’s ego” for this year’s exhibition. The result is a circular space, isolated from the rest of the Biennale by soft, white fabric, unadorned with precarious remnants of his grand From research and personally visiting the Biennale, projects. Unlike Andra Matin’s Elevations, Virtual Nature two projects from the Arsenale and two projects from constructs effect with artificial lighting, unreliant on daythe National Pavilions have been selected as cata- light or moonlight entering the Arsenale. The space is lysts to explore aforementioned issues. conditioned with soft bean bags, allowing visitors to lie down and face the fabric. A projection of leafy shapes The Arsenale, a long brick clad corridor, is mostly beams from the ceiling onto the fabric, creating a sense closed off from natural light, pushes projects to of diffused light similar to lying under a canopy of trees. emphasize directed light, or even create their own Ito wished to simulate a ripple effect in light, as trees artificial sensibility of diffused light using purposeful materials. Projects on the San Giorgio Maggiore Island are open to immense natural light, and and deal with issues of using material to diffuse light, shade, air in purposeful ways, taking in to consideration site and orientation.

Image 01, 02, 03: andramatin’s installation Elevations uses rattan material native to Indonesia. Large, porous facades composed of interlocking parts creates gaps that allow light to filter through, enveloping a maze-like staircase that brings visitors to the top. While the weaving technique has rendered the rattan visually solid, an experience on the inside of the shroud reveals a warm glow of light along the path upwards.

The first project explored in the Arsenale is Elevations by Andra Matin. The shrouded structure by Andra Matin uses rattan as its main, visible material to filter daylight present in the Arsenale. The exhibition itself is about Indonesia’s vernacular raised architecture, evident in the ascential sequence of the exhibition. The rattan used is at once mindful of Indonesia’s local resources and tradition, as well as the consideration of experience in the installation.

From the outside, the shroud looks as if closed off, but the inside is able to feel and look open due to the warmth of light filtered in through the rattan. The Image 05: A plan of Ito’s Virtual Nature reveals the weaving of the rattan produces miniscule gaps that uncharacteristic nature of lying in close proximity a create a nuanced undulation of the border between stranger made more comfortable by soft materials.

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do, with the curtains. While lying on the beanbag, one’s eyesight is directed upwards on to the projection, and lessens the constant reminder that literal strangers are lying next to them. The artificial light projected onto the soft material work together to to replicate an experience of being under natural light filtered by a canopy of trees. The crispness of the projected digital image is manipulated by the softness of the material, blurring and creating ripples with the light in a way that cannot be achieved with the artificial light alone. The soft material is evocative of a more domestic use of the space, reinforced by the positions of a human body lying on a beanbag.

The experience felt while in the installation is private, calm, and isolated, ironic and slightly perverse in the public context of the Arsenale. In a way, Ito is recreating an experience that is possible with “nature’s free gifts”, where it is not readily available in the Arsenale.

The 2018 Venice Architecture Biennale marks The Holy See’s very first entry, curated by Francesco Dal Co and Micol Forti. Their contribution to FREESPACE, Vatican Chapels, takes form of 10 chapels by 10 architects, set in a garden on San Giorgio Maggiore Island. Each architect was al- Image 06: A view from the entrace. De Moura’s chapel for the Holy See uses thick stone walls to malowed a maximum building area of 60 sq m and to nipulate lightthat lead to a dramatic ending at the altar. The material itself is strict and extreme in terms only include a lectern and an altar inside the chapel, of filtering light, much like the experience within the the chapel. “built for believers and non-believers alike”. Another loose requirement for all chapels is that they must have cross incorporated. The chapels are based on a precise model, the “woodland chapel” built in 1920 by the architect Gunnar Asplund in the Cemetery of Stockholm. The “woodland chapel” was located in a forest that was absent of destinations, its environment symbolizing the wandering nature of life. The Biennale’s outdoor site on San Giorgio Maggiore Island provides a similar context - “natural and totally abstract surroundings, connoted only by the fact that they overlook the lagoon and open onto the water”.

Two architects that created chapels that stood out, in different ways, for their use of material are by Eduardo Souto de Moura from Portugal, and Norman Foster from the United Kingdom.

Image 07: A section of De Moura’s chapel reveals a carefully thought out light pattern that will penetrate the structure. The shadows created by the stiff stones are sharp and dramatic. The contrast between light and dark are always consciously acknowledged by the visitor.

De Moura works strictly with extremes, and exerts forceful control towards daylight. He creates a strong border between the space and the non-space, the inside and outside, with large, thick stonewalls. His chapel is strict and directed, for both people and light, resembling his material of choice. Light comes through strongly through one intended opening at the end of the sequence. Crisp shadow lines also dominate the exterior of the chapel, reflecting the shape of the stone, as well as the trees surrounding it. The orientation has been considered to provide light and shadows that create strong lines directing to the dramatic altar. Completing blocking out light at the Image 08: A plan of De Moura’s chapel illustrates the stonewall’s harsh boundary between the inside beginning of the experience, then capitalizing on it at and outside, the space and non-space. The thick walls are assertive towards “nature’s free gifts”, determining explicitly where light comes through and where it does not. the end reveals a dramatic experience, giving clear

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Light & Materiality

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Image 10, 11: The section of Foster’s chapel demonstrates a clear concept of arrival, where the structure lifts and points towards the water. The slats allow the conditions of the outside to enter and leave the structure freely. The plan illustrates a careful consideration of site and orientation, allowing shadows to itensify as one progresses into the chapel.

The choice of material for the mentioned projects have manipulated “nature’s free gifts” in different and effective ways to achieve their intended spatial experience. FREESPACE “provides the opportunity to emphasise nature’s free gifts of light”. Architects exhibit skill in knowing how to work with the free gift of light, manipulating it to effectively direct an intentional experience.

Image 09: The playful nature of light and shadow in Foster’s structure are created by the slatted wooden structure, demonstrating a more lenient attitude towards “nature’s free gifts”. On a recent visit, workers were planting jasmine intended to crawl up the wooden beams to provide dappled shade.

hierarchy to the space of the altar. The sudden light that enters strongly from above possibly implies the godly notion of an all-knowing, governing presence that exists overhead.

Norman Foster is far less controlling, and works flexibly with natural light with a series of slender timber beams, supported by steel columns and cables.

The goal was “a small space diffused with dappled shade and removed from the normality of passersby, focused instead on the water and sky beyond – a sanctuary”. The porous timber structure dominates visually, sheltering but invitative of light. Similar to de Moura’s creation, the most light is let in at the end of the experiential sequence, opening up to the water.

Image 12: de Moura’s early sketches show the intended experience regarding the behavior of light penetrating the chapel where the altar stands.

However, the experience is much less dramatic and undulated, due to the soft light filtered through the wood beams all along the sequence, which lessens the contrast in light between the beginning and the end. The light enters and leaves the space in an uncontrolled, undirected fashion, and is not quite predictable, dependent on the natural conditions of the day. Wood, a flexible and unassertive material, in this chapel, seems an appropriate choice to create a “sanctuary” for a calm and soothing experience.

FREESPACE’s “nature’s free gifts” include both “natural and man-made resources”. Natural light - employed by Andra Matin’s Elevations, Eduardo Souto de Moura’s chapel, and Norman Foster’s chapel - is always wavering. Architects must be wary of the nature they are given, considering site, light quality, and orientation, and how they affect the resulting experience. In conditions with no or minimal natural light, architects can employ “man-made resources” in terms of artificial light, as demonstrated by Toyo Ito’ Virtual Nature. In such conditions, the challenge in the wavering nature of natural light is absent, but the architect must use the combination of the selected material and construction of artificial light evoke an intended experience.

Materials have inborn qualities - stone is stiff and strong, wood is delicate and flexible. They also have learned qualities put forth by people, as fabric is reminiscent of a domestic context. Lastly they have different ways of isolating the inside and outside, some more permeable, some less. These qualities of materiality combine to produce vastly different and purposeful spatial experiences.

Image 01:Collectively gathered to define place: “how do we in terms of space, gather a plain, a valley, an undulating series of hills, or a bay?” It is through spatial typology (or ones’ perception of the different spaces of that place) that such a gathering as a region, city, or town is characterized e: “how do we in

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SENSORY EXPERIENCE IN SPACE BI NG XUAN LIAN G

“My interest of FREESPACE lies in how space can reveal the presence and absence of architecture and how the language of architecture acts on the experience of the occupants.”

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“We believe that everyone has the right to benefit from architecture.

The role of architecture is to give shelter to our bodies and to lift our spirits”

Sensory Experience In Space

- Yvone Farrell & Shelley Mcnamara

People can only establish connections with architecture through bodily experience. The FREESPACE manifesto states “We believe that everyone has the right to benefit from architecture. The role of architecture is to give shelter to our bodies and to lift our spirits”. My wish is to create this type of sensory experience within the architecture that “provides shelter for human spirit“. A space that creates opportunities for people to communicate with architecture, with each other and with themselves.

My interest of FREESPACE lies in how space can reveal the presence and absence of architecture and how the language of architecture acts on the experience of the occupants.

In this year’s Venice Biennale, SANAA, Toyo Ito, Odile Decq and Alison Brooks Architects have created works that achieved the sensory qualities through different means.

Toyo Ito’s Virtual Nature is a project that sets out thinking about ways to create experiences that could connect the occupants with the nature. For him, architecture is formed when human beings occupy the space. In this assigned exhibition space, the goal was to make visitors“feel nature despite the space being artificial”.For Ito, the sensory experience in a nature is important because “people are more at ease in nature than at a building. They could develop a peaceful feeling” Using one of the nature’s symbol, water, his project strives to bring the virtual nature inside.

Ito defies the idea that architecture should change the society, or send messages to the public because usually these messages become excessive narcissism and open a gap between the architecture and original vision of the architects when these messages come across too strong.

It seems like there is a tendency for abstraction in both Japanese participants, Ito and SANAA. At the first glimpse, there is no sense of historical continuity in their works. (In Toyo’s case, the virtual space is created without tangible material and details. One could say his space is born with the absence of architecture.) The longexistent dilemma for architects seems to mean little to them: the conversion of a diagram. On the one hand, to bring the idea into three-dimensional space greatly depends on the architect’s individual expression. On the other hand, there are established architectural conventions in our society that play an influential role. While most architecture emerged from these confines, works of Toyo Ito and SANAA deal with these complicated process with the utmost simplicity.

Toyo Ito, Virtual Nature, 2018 Biennale

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SANAA , Glass Pavilion at Toledo Museum of Art.

SANAA , Rolex Learning Center

SANAA, “Guruguru” 2018 Biennale

For SANAA, the space is purely arrangement of the functional conditions, the scheme is immediately converted into reality. The goal is to let occupants to sense the physical relationship with the space. Because these spaces is free of “the form”and purely driven by the functions and movement of people, When we entered the space SANAA created, we are compelled to focus on our relationship with the space and with each other.

SANAA created the unique sensory experience in their spaces through the use of transparency. Transparency inevitably deals with the question of the edge. For SANAA, to create different spatial functions is not necessarily to build an opaque wall. To achieve transparency is not limited in the use of material. The essence of transparency is to allow for various connections and communications within the space. Transparency is a way to encourage communications as well as organize different spatial functions. It stimulates the movement of people through difference spaces and creates opportunities for encounters.

The Guruguru installation by SANAA at this year’s biennale is an example of using of transparency to create sensory experience in an smaller scale. The layers of acrylic panels distort viewers’ surroundings as they walk around. It creates a different and poetic way to sense the space depending on time, light and other people’s presence.

SANAA , Diagrammatic plan for the installation at Sherman Gallery

Alison Brooks’s large scale installations “Recasting” is another different approach to create this sensory experience. The installation simulates four types of “freespace”: Threshold, Inhabited Edge, Passage, and Roofspace.

Each installation offers “a particular spatial, emotional and sensory experience, harnessing the Corderie’s specific qualities of light and volume”. Different from Toyo Ito, who tried to keep away from the idea that architecture should send messages to the society, Alison and Brooks Architects focus on housing architecture’s “civic role” as their mission as a practice. For them, Recasting is an exploration of creating potential meaningful experiences in

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residential spaces that serves the generation. Mystery and delight were conveyed through the use of mirrored surfaces ,organic forms and a series of expansive illusions. Together, the totems, plinth and amphitheatre “cast an informal stage for gathering and looking outward.”

Spatial influence on sensory experience becomes more obvious when it comes to the color and material selection. Studio Odile Decq’s work phantom uses red color and glass material to create an unique sensorial quality within an historical structure. “Silent and insidious, the soft protean curves of the mezzanine level float above the dinner guests, covering the space with a surface that bends and undulates.” The facade of the space is a veil of sinuous glass, sliding around each pillar. The red carpet flows down the steps of the main staircase dramatically, running under the tables until it arrives at the edge of the glass facade. In contrast with the previous two Japanese architects, Odile Decq created a dramatic gesture to alter the perception of space. Working with the strict legislation that protects historic buildings, this project finds a compromise to respect the existing architecture that did not fall into mimicry, but underlined the contemporary nature of the project.

The spatial qualities of these four projects create various sensory experiences and relationships between the occupants and these spaces. For Toyo Ito and SANAA, the space is purely and simply arranged as the diagram of the space itself. Without excessive architectural details, the spaces allow the occupants to experience the qualities of space more intensively: the light, the air and the movement. For Alison Brooks, the focus was the “civic role” of architecture and the search for the “meaningful” experience: Threshold, Inhabited Edge, Passage, and Roofspace, each installation offers a particular emotional experience. They response to the FREESPACE manifesto and provide “shelter for human spirit” by focusing on the essential human needs: To contemplate and gain connections with our inner-self. In Odile Decq’s case. The sensory experience of the space derives from artistic expression and a vision for contemporary communication. The vibrant red color and amorphous shapes create a visual stimuli and an experience that is in accordance with the contemporary life.

Studio Odile Decq, The Opera Garnier Restaurant; Phantom 2018 Biennale

Alison Brooks Architects, Recasting, 2018 Biennale

Sources http://www.alisonbrooksarchitects.com/ project/recasting/s https://www.designboom.com/architecture/sanaa-installation-acrylic-guruguru-venice-biennale-05-29-2018/ http://www.floornature.com/odile-decqopera-garnier-restaurant-6970/ https://www.designboom.com/architecture/odile-decq-phantom-opera-restaurantparis/ https://www.designboom.com/architecture/sanaa-installation-acrylic-guruguruvenice-biennale-05-29-2018/ Toyo Ito, Diagram Architecture, El Croquis, 1995, pp18-24 https://www.labiennale.org/en/architecture/2018/partecipants/

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ENDURING FREESPACE INTERVENING BO LDLY YET RESPECTFUL LY

CHIT I KA VASUDEVA

“The goal of this exploration is to examine the work at the Biennale as a way to determine strategies for intervening in an existing building in a bold and brave way, creating atmosphere and quality where there once was none, all the while acknowledging the existing structure as essential to the final out ome.”

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ENDURING FREESPACE INTERVENING BOLDLY YET RESPECTFULLY

The approach of Adaptive Reuse — repurposing existing buildings and expanding the scope of their use — is a vital strategy to optimize limited space in an era of everincreasing needs and depleting resources. In the same vein, we must build adaptable structures in order to extend the usefulness of buildings over time. A number of exhibits at the 2018 Venice Biennale presented a variety of approaches to the broader practice of adaptive reuse.

There are two intervention types discussed here; the first is intervening in an old, derelict building with little to no aesthetic or functional appeal — such as the studio’s site in Bloomfield, as well as the PC Caritas institution in Belgium, and the second is intervening in overpowering historical contexts — such as the College of Fine Arts building on Carnegie Mellon’s campus, and the Garnier Opera House in Paris.

The goal of this exploration is to examine the work at the Biennale as a way to determine strategies for intervening in an existing building in a bold and brave way, creating atmosphere and quality where there once was none, all the while acknowledging the existing structure as essential to the final outcome.

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Sources: ht tps: //w w w.designboom .com / architecture/odile-decq-phantom-operarestaurant-paris/ https://www.architectural-review.com/ b u il d i ng s /f r a m e - of- m i n d - d e -v y l d e r v i n c k - t a i l l i e u s - c a r i t a s - p s y c h i a t r i ccentre/10035199.article ht tps://divisare.com/projec ts/386642architecten-de-vylder-vinck-taillieu-filipdujardin-unless-ever-people-caritas-forfreespace ht tps://madoken.jp/en/culture/naomishibata/5186/ https://www.vitra.com/en-us/corporation/ designer/ details/verner-panton http://www.odiledecq.com/en-5-project13-Phantom_ Restaurant_Opera_ Garnier_France_Paris

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UNLESS EVER PEOPLE CARITAS FOR FREESPACE architecten de vylder vinck taillieu This 2017 project by Belgian firm Architecten de Vylder Vinck Taillieu is an intervention in an abandoned, half-demolished residential hospital in Melle, Belgium. Originally, the compound consisted of multiple buildings, many of which had been demolished by 2014, before the initiation of an architectural competition for a contemporary psychiatric institution.

What is poetic about their proposal as a response to the FREESPACE manifesto is their arguably preservationist approach to the existing structure. The partlydemolished building was missing a roof, among other key elements, and rather than entirely rebuild the existing envelope, Vylder Vinck Taillieu adopt an approach where they treat it as an unconditioned space housing smaller, newer conditioned spaces such as indoor seating (pictured below). The roof is particularly interesting, as the additional framework strengthens it while maintaining the opening. In

this way, they create spaces that toe the line between inside and outside, providing for enclosed spaces filled with natural light and fresh air.

My personal interest in this project comes from the sense of “slowness” and “waiting” cited by many as the reasons for the success of the proposal.

Contrary to popular methods of intervention, this project is executed boldly yet politely — so much so that a visitor may not even notice its existence at first glance — and is all the more powerful for it. Vylder Vinck Taillieu take a clear position on intervening in a space with a rich material palette and highly specific program, as they introduce bright green beams and railings to make the existing stairs and balconies safe and occupiable (pictured below).

“Caritas” refers to the Christian love of humankind. With its goals of bringing back the human scale of the previous complex, this project is deeply rooted in community.

While the representation of the work, particularly at the Biennale, is very strongly focussed on its material and experiential agenda, the exhibit is highly immersive in a very simple way, much like the project it displays. Moreover, patients

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and the wider Melle community — including commissioner Karus and BAVO, an independent research office — were heavily involved in the realization of the project. The project undoubtedly fails to convey a clear program and methods of occupancy, but it is, at least in its intention, heavily geared towards its By respecting the action of time on the building, Vylder Vinck Taillieu impressively transforms a building with missing parts into space that has an undeniable presence.

PHANTOM’S PHANTOM studio decq

The Phantom Restaurant at the Garnier Opera House in Paris Is extremely bold and exciting, as can be expected of Odile Decq.

The restaurant space is recessed, and carefully avoids touching the interior. The most easily noticeable feature is the floating floor plate, which forms the mezzanine level, and is covered from the top level to the bottom in a lavish red carpet that runs up to the facade edge.

The design is quite striking in the way it establishes a strong presence in a building as grand as the Paris Opera House, while making bare minimum physical contact with the structure, instead teasing the palais garnier by coming dangerously close before meandering away. (pictured above) In many ways, the

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work seems to refer to Verner Panton, an extremely influential 20th-century Danish architect and furniture designer. Panton’s work (below) was known for bright colors and patterns that manifested in a powerful psychedelic aesthetic.

there could be an intervention/ modification to the Opera House, makes it extremely bold; even brave. This work is an excellent example of how to facilitate a harmonious coexistence between very different material palettes, aesthetic qualities, scales, and even color schemes.

CONCLUSION

Decq uses devices like the application of bold and contrasting colors — black, red and white against the stone of the Opera House — to create an experience that is in many ways independent of the Opera House, but harkens back to the building at key moments (pictured above). While the (phantom) l’opéra restaurant‘ is more of a distinct construction embedded into the palais garnier, rather than a reclamation of an old site — which the PC Caritas project is closer to being — it is valuable in the investigation of adaptive reuse due to its approach to history and the creation of atmosphere. The very premise of this proposal that

Both Unless Ever People — Caritas for Freespace and Phantom’s Phantom are based on larger-scale built work that made bold choices in designing visually and culturally significant interventions in buildings with great historic value and distinct spatial identities. The roof seems to be one of the key surfaces for bold intervention, or a bold lack thereof. Both projects, however, respect the envelope and overall sense of the original volume. At the same time ,they are independent projects in their own right, and demonstrate a use of bold color with a lack of hesitation to build in intimidating and arguably untouchable spaces.

CFA created the same (perhaps smaller-scale) sense of awe and intimidation as I expect the Garnier Opera House in Paris and PC Caritas in Melle would inspire. On that site, the goal was to design a relatively permanent yet minimalistic intervention with strong visual and atmospheric qualities that acknowledged the existing structure. On the Bloomfield site, I am interested in preserving the essence and the bones of the existing structure — symbolically and visually — as well as the existing material palette, which is dominated by red brick.

The intervention is centered on a linear sequence of activity at the

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“Bloomfield Beach”: going from the pool to the lower level of the outof-use recreation center, followed by a new outdoor amphitheatre and ending in the original skate park and baseball field. The intervention address the question of the life of the building and its changing use over time, be it a day (24 hours), a season (winter, spring, summer, fall) or multiple years.

By creating a strong axis between two points of access — one from within the neighborhood and one from the more public end of the site, I aim to enable the dissolution of current barriers between the incumbent societal networks and newly arriving groups. Both in terms of materials and use, the new Bloomfield Beach attempts to find a balance between existing and the new — preserving defining features of the old recreation center, such as the building footprint, and constructing new elements to uplift those features.

BOUNDARIES

TRANSCENDING THE ROLE OF THE ARCHITECT

BENI TA NARTEY

“I have chosen to draw inspiration from projects which address the architects’ tasks in a diffe ent way. These projects express a stronger response to the need of the client and the continuity and evolution of the use of space over time through an understanding of the needs of diffe ent societies, cultures, climates, demographics, etc.. in ways which differ from standard methods of design and design representation which break the boundaries of four walls and a roof.”

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FUJIKINDERGARTEN | TEZUKA ARCHITECTS: JAPAN “CHILDREN NEED A SMALL DOSE OF DANGER. IN THIS WAY THEY LEARN TO HELP EACH OTHER…DON’T CONTROL THEM, DON’T PROTECT THEM TOO MUCH, THEY NEED TO TUMBLE SOMETIMES. THEY NEED TO EXPERIENCE INJURY. IT MAKES THEM LEARN HOW TO LIVE IN THE WORLD. IF ARCHITECTURE IS CAPABLE OF CHANGING THIS WORLD AND PEOPLE’S LIVES, THIS IS ONE OF THE ATTEMPTS TO CHANGE CHILDREN’S LIVES.” –Tezuka Architects A kindergarten designed as a lyrical play on a nursery rhyme, a physical embodiment of the life and youth of the age demographic occupying the space. The choice of materiality and overall structure of the school as an expression of the intended use of the building which again differs from the typical four walls and a blackboard. The circular ring open plan with an engaging roof program delightfully fused with environmentally sustainable qualities and materiality eliminates the idea of boundaries not only in the physi-cal structure but also in the curriculum. Children are taught to understand fluid social interaction and free creative thinking symbol-ized through the unending possibilities of a circle. The open free space classrooms and roofs allow the children to learn from and help each other building a strong base of community and self-awareness as an early age.

This form of design expresses the need to take education beyond what you can learn in the classroom, to an understanding that education and growing also involves learning from each other and the world around you. It expresses at an early stage in a child’s life the need to fall, get up and fall again, sometimes even ask for help from a friend. This perceptual form of education manifested in the physical strays from once gain typical western forms of the construction of formal learning spaces, and even has the poten-tial to be used for other activities as time goes on and the use of the space as a school is not necessary anymore.

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PHYSICAL PRESENCE | ANGELA DEUBER ARCHITECT: SWITZERLAND “ANGELA DEUBER USES DRAWING AS THE METHOD OF OVERLAP, TO MERGE THE BOUNDARIES OF TRADITIONAL AR-CHITECTURAL DRAWINGS; A SPECK OF WHITE IN THE SEA OF COLOR BECOMES THE ANCHORED PLACE FOR THE PROJECT; SITE PLANS AND SITE SECTIONS CARVE INTO LANDSCAPE; PLANS AND SECTIONS OF BUILDINGS HOVER; THREE-DIMENSIONAL DRAWINGS FUSE PLANS AND SECTIONS; LARGE SCALE COLOR MODIFICATIONS REFER TO CONSTRUCTION METHODS.”-Biennale 2018 My interest of this project doesn’t not reside in its unique structural configuration or design as an expression of FREESPACE, but rather the architects method of representation of these works. The graphics explore the themes of the overriding borders be-tween outside and inside, of dissolving boundaries, and an awareness of an integration and continuity of space and contexts. The bleeding of the background into the formal architectural drawings as a representation of the fluid space existing within the site and the structures position and configuration of the site is clearly read. With color variation representing different climates, topographies and themes the graphic representation of these projects surpass normative forms of visual communication. This form of representation brings to light the imporance of the surrounding environment in the architects design.

WEAVING ARCHITECTURE | ANGELA DEUBER ARCHITECT: SWITZERLAND “THIS ARCHITECTURE, LIKE THE INFRASTRUCTURE IT REPRESENTS, LINKS TERRITORIES AND BUILDS A SENSE OF SOCIAL INCLUSION BY MANIFESTING ARCHITECTURE’S SOCIAL ROLE.”Miralles Tagliabue My choice in including this project lies solely in their manifesto of FREESPACE as “woven space”. To represent the incorporation of the community, culture and nature into a physical manifestation which responds to the needs of the client and creates an envi-ronment that incorporates natures free gifts into designs which allow for perceptual manipulation of purpose of space and various uses over time as well as well an create an opportunity for people to coe together and learn from each others cultures, back-grounds and life expericnes.

This is the reason why this project is one of the main drivers of my dsign for the Bloomfeild Community Center.

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A SCHOOL IN THE MAKING | CASE DESIGN: INDIA “EVOLVING THROUGH A PROCESS OF INCLUSION, COLLABORATION, AND THOUGHTFUL ATTENTION TO BOTH PHYS-ICAL AND SOCIAL ENVIRONMENTS, WE COLLECT AND SHARE THESE ARTEFACTS AND NARRATIVES IN AN ATTEMPT TO SHOW HOW FREESPACE CAN BE EXPRESSED THROUGH THE EXPERIMENTAL PRACTICE OF MAKING A SCHOOL.”- Case Design A residential school for young women located in Western India designed to create spaces to encourage moments of hospitality, social interaction, reflection, play, ritual, seclusion, performance and comfort. This school was designed to be a home, safe space, educational institution and a space for growth for young girls. Through the use of materiality and special construction the school keeps the girls grounded and rooted in their culture and traditions which also serves an underlying socio-cultural purpose of keep-ing them tied to their roots in an ever-changing an evolving world.

The design of this school is evolved beyond the purpose of just institutional education and the standard representation of that as a four walled classroom and a blackboard. It does not conform to the western standards of design for educational spaces but rather takes on a formal appearance which is familiar to the students with a circular plan for more intimate study spaces and open floor plans with great generosity for light and community interaction which could similarly be found in villages in India, where some if not most of these girls come from. Through materiality, this school was designed to withstand weather conditions of western India through the use of clay brick, bamboo for shading and colored glass, with open spatial plans allowing for free ventilation, free movement and social interaction.

Works Cited: http://www.mirallestagliabue.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/WeavingArchitecture_NDP_English.pdf https://www.labiennale.org/en/architecture/2018/partecipants/angela-deuber-architect

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OV E R LO OKE D LAY ERED JAI KANODIA

“My research wants to bring to the forefront the existence of everyday life, ‘emphasizing their role in the choreography of everyday life’… I have selected two projects ... that [go] beyond representing how we take [for] granted these objects of daily use [and] have woven into them an additional layer of curiosity and skepticism.”

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OVERLOOKED : LAYERED

Image 01(left):Case Design - A school in the Making

Where time is money, a lot of objects of everyday life are simply overlooked. The very things we depend on everyday become mere substances in the subconscious background. Usually, the showy objects end up getting most of the importance - whether it be a skyscraper in South East Asia, ruby slippers from the Middle East, or an exotic fish from the Caribbean. The FREESPACE manifesto points out a lot of key notes that I feel apply to all these everyday objects from the broken glass pieces in Case Design’s exhibit to the clay pots in Marina’s space. Everyday objects celebrate “architecture’s capacity to find additional and unexpected generosity in every project”. They encompass the freedom to imagine which “build on inherited cultural layers”. My research wants to bring to the forefront the existence of everyday life, “emphasizing their role in the choreography of everyday life”.

These objects not only complete everyday life, but also build the foundation for everything we are attracted to today. Glass sculpting would have only been a dream without

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Image 02(right):Marina Tabassum - Wisdom of the Land

taking precedent from earthen clay pot making. Without a basic understanding of color pigments (a lot of which originated from the Middle East and South East), complex color combinations would not have been possible. Complexity in everyday life has become such a common trait, that the basic foundations are almost always forgotten.

I have selected 2 projects that most excited me, and beyond representing how we take granted these objects of daily use, have woven into them an additional layer of curiosity and skepticism. They make the same complex objects we use today, using core basic materials that have dominated civilization since inception.

CASE DESIGN A SCHOOL IN THE MAKING

Settled into the valley slope above the small village of Lavale, Avasara Academy is a residential school for young women in west-

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ern India. Bringing together a diverse group of people who share the belief that collaboration and empathy lie at the core of all good work, they have created moments of hospitality, social interaction, reflection, play, ritual, seclusion, performance, and comfort.

Shown as representations and fragments of proposed interventions, they are elements to be woven back into the fabric of the built environment.

Case Design has collected and shared these artefacts and narratives in an attempt to show how Freespace can be expressed through the experimental practice of making a school (Img 3,4,5,6,7,9,10).

Materially, the concrete structures of the construction were softened by incorporating warm-textured materials - including traditional furniture pieces and reclaimed teak windows an doors - into spaces throughout Avsara(Img 3,4). These were sourced from Bombay’s Bharat Bazaar for reuse in their class classrooms and dormitories. These pieces carry with them a history, and their age and texture adds a level of familiarity and comfort to the buildings.

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Image 09, 10: Plan, Elevation - (Case Design)

Img 03, 04: Exeperiments/Development/Samples for Storage, Light filtration walls, and chandeliers made using waste materials and fused glass.

Img 05: Sitting cot made using readily available local materials (colored yarn).

Img 06: Re-purposed marbe to formed tiling for floors.

Img 07, 08: Color and paint studies for various buildings in the project using natural color pigments from India.

Case Design worked with furniture markers to integrate familiar elements such as hand-crafted charpais (daybeds) made by the family members of local carpenters(Img 13). Charpais are ubiquitous in Indian homes, and their presence and utility offer both physical and mental respite for the young women at Avsara, for their first home away home.

To further soften each building’s mass, Copenhagen based visual artist Malene sourced traditional color pigments used throughout India to produce a color palette related to seasons and the site in Pune(Img 8,11).

Solar shading is tackled using locally sourced bamboo screens to address concerns of radiant heat gain. Materials for marble mosaics(Img 12) are sourced from off cuts from multiple quarries in Rajasthan, effectively turning a waste product into a key design element.

Case Design has drawn the importance of the system back to the importance of an open-ended design process highly dependent on continual dialogue between the architects, craftsmen, clients and other design collaborators. They have restricted their means to local materials and ob-

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jects of everyday life. Ultimately, the story of Avsara, is the story of education - not only because it is the story of realizing a real school, but because the act of learning has been deeply embedded in the process of its design and construction.

MARINA TABASSUM - WISDOM OF THE LAND

Working along the overall theme for this exhibition FREESPACE, Marina Tabassum aptly embraces the most evident ‘free space’ of Bengal—the vernacular courtyards of the Ganges delta of Bangladesh, and the lives that surround it(Img 16,17,18,19). She and her team curated various elements of the vernacular life of the delta to recreate and expose their tradtional wisdom and beauty for the world to appreciate. The elements displayed in the Biennale are unique to their location, sourced over a period of time. These utilitarian objects, used, bruised with the mark of lived life are tested through time, representing culture and wisdom of the delta

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JAI KANODIA 11_XX_10 dwellers.

Kuthi(Img 30): Granaries from North Begal made with rice husk and clay. They are made by women during dry season in their leisure time after a day’s work. Each of these can hold grains up to 100 tons. Mud absorbs moisture and keeps the grain fresh for a full season.

Poloi(Img 27,28): Fishing trap made from split bamboo. This is used for fishing in shallow water. A common household tool, polo is found all over Bangladesh. Poloi are also used as cover while drying food or protection to chiclets from danger.

Dungi Boats(Img 29): Carved out of trunk of Taal Palm tree. These boats are efficient for their movement in shallow water during the dry season.

These are just 3 of the elements out of the 15+ elements showcased at the Biennale(Img 23,24,25,26). They are contributed to the Biennale by their local makers. Why import something when you can have it made locally? Why not use local to re-enforce a sense of pride and community? Why

not use this method as inspiration and adapt them to different places?

I see this project as an opportunity to bring back the lost pride and belief in the wisdom of the land, crafted over hundreds of years of dwelling in the delta. The creative thinking of our time needs to engage in reconnecting with the values of living meaningfully and symbiotically as a natural being. The minimally intrusive approach opted for in this project makes the villagers take part in the construction, incorporating their local knowledge of vernacular techniques(Img 20,21,22).

I believe that the focus of the twenty first century needs to center around the villages for the comprehensive growth of society at large. The design intelligence of our time needs to look beyond the visual spectacles and focus on livelihood and living condition holistically.

It is interesting to note that these were presented in the context of an international Biennale. In my opinion, these artifacts are things that can be understood only in their true context of where they belong. There seems to

Img 11, 12, 13, 14: The series of drawings above represent some of the inspirations in the making of this exhibit(Marina Tabassum)

Image 21:The full scale plan which serves as the precedent for Case Design’s exhibit at the Venice Biennale. (Avsara School, Pune) Image 22: Pictures from rural India showing inspirations for Marina’s Biennale exhibit.

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be a disconnect when these artifacts are organized into a gallery space, separated from their true home.

These exhibits expressed themselves as displays where the visitor got out as much as they invested in the experience of it. Without going through descriptive descriptions or back stories to each of these exhibits, their intent is often unclear, and the vistor, more than often lost. But as always, there is more to learn than is represented.

REFERENCES

1.https://www.readingdesign.org/freespace-manifesto/ 2.https://blogs.letemps.ch/christophe-catsaros/2018/09/07/ case-design-a-school-in-the-making-la-contribution-darchizoom-a-la-biennale-darchitecture-de-venise/ 3.https://archizoom.epfl.ch/en/page-153155-en-html/case_ design/ 4.https://www.labiennale.org/en/partecipants/case-design 5.https://bengal.institute/news/wisdom-of-the-land-marinatabassums-installations-at-venice-biennale-2018/ 6.https://issuu.com/bengalinstitute/docs/venice_bienalle_ mta 7.https://www.labiennale.org/en/architecture/2018/parte-

B R EAK I NG SO CIO -POLITICA L B A RRI ERS G HALYA ALSANEA

“This research looks at barriers resulting from socio-political issues and how diffe ent exhibits - The Israel National Pavilion, Rozana Montiel Stand Ground and Crimson Architecture’s A City of Comings and Goings - start to tackle these barriers.”

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POLITICAL BARRIERS

Israel National Pavilion: InStatus Quo - Structures of Negotiation “We are interested in conflict and resolution of conflict: architecture can take part of it.” –Oren Sagiv, One of the Curators

The Israel exhibit unravels the geopolitics of holy spaces, and the rules established in the 19th century to regulate conflicts and facilitate co-existence. Through an architectural lens, the curators demonstrate the fragile and controversial system of cohabitation in the holy land, today’s Israel-Palestine, in the context of five major contested sites.

1. The Church of the Holy Sepulcher, Jerusalem 2. The Mughrabi Ascent, Jerusalem 3. The Western Wall Plaza, Jerusalem 4. The Cave of the Patriarchs, Hebron/Al-Khalil 5. Rachel’s Tomb, Bethlehem.

CHOREOGRAPHY: PROTOCOLS IN SPACE AND TIME The Church of the Holy Sepulcher, Jerusalem → The pavilion has a 3D model of the church of the holy sepulcher (shown above), color coded to show how the church is divided. Throughout history, the site has been a pivotal Christian landmark and an important destination of pilgrimage, resulting in it being marred with conflict between competing Christian denominations for ownership over its many sanctuaries. Legal instruments were implemented in the form of imposed territorial and temporal demarcations between six Christian communities. While the status quo is still legally enacted, it is reformulated and evolving constantly.

BREAKING SOCIO-POLITICAL BARRIERS Ghalya Alsanea | Biennale Research F18 | 48-400 A | FREESPACE 14

POLITICAL BARRIERS - CONT. “...Architecture as a tool that can look at the governing,and at the protocols of behavior: architecture as meaning, as program, as schedule.” —the curators.

MONUMENT: PERMANENT TEMPORARINESS The Mughrabi Ascent, Jerusalem → The Mughrabi Ascent is the only non-Muslim entrance leading to the Al-Aqsa Mosque above the Western Wall. Following the collapse of the earthen pathway in 2004, a much contested wooden footbridge was constructed by the Israeli authorities as a temporary solution. To date, no plans for a new, permanent bridge have met the demands of the struggling parties.

“The wooden bridge in its ‘permanent temporariness’ renders a postponed political solution and showcases monuments as active agents in the territorial conflict.” —the curators.

LANDSCAPE AND SCENOGRAPHY The Cave of the Patriarchs/Ibrahimi mosque → a site recognized as the actual location of tombs of the three great patriarchs and their wives. Historically a place of worship for both Jews and Muslims, the site has been divided so that Jews have access only to its southern halls, and Muslims its northern part. However, 20 days a year, and for 24 hours at a time, aligning with special holidays and under close military control, the site passes hands: each religion is given total use of all chambers in the cave. The Jewish area is cleared all Jewish artifacts and is vacant for a few moments before the Muslims enter with their own artifacts and turn the cave into a mosque for the next 24 hours.

From this research, we can see three major ways the Israel pavilion shows how their chosen sites dealt with political barriers and conflicts. The first suggests that maybe barriers are necessary in order to maintain a balance in Status Quo. While contradicting to the need to break barriers, the Church of the Holy Sepulcher has barriers that constantly shift and move with time, making them non-static, which ultimately creates the fluidity needed in that specific time.

On the other hand, the Mughrabi Ascent shows us that maybe the way to break barriers, like the giant Western Wall, is to create a bridge that acts as a boundary connecting the two contradicting environments (i.e. a politically unstable plaza to a quiet holy space). Lastly, the Cave of the Patriarchs suggests that the way to break socio-political barriers is by creating different time boundaries and sharing a space by scheduling when certain groups have ownership over the spaces. Overall, the Israel pavilion suggests that there are no “right” answers to break such political barriers and tensions, but rather different ways that depend on circumstance.

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BREAKING SOCIO-POLITICAL BARRIERS Ghalya Alsanea | Biennale Research F18 | 48-400 A | FREESPACE 15

SOCIAL BARRIERS

Rozana Montiel: Stand Ground The exhibit recreates the wall on the ground and puts a screen where the wall is to make it seem like the wall was deconstructed. This communicates the values of the office and their projects to “change barriers into boundaries.”

In addition, the exhibit showcases Montiel’s Common Unity project(shown below). It is a rehabilitation project for the public space for the San Pablo Xalpa Housing Unit in Azcapotzalco. The project deconstructs multiple fences and barriers that separate the communities, and transforms them into multi-use spaces that become barriers instead of boundaries. Montiel and her office believe that barriers are restricting, but boundaries are able to be penetrated.

Therefore, by identifying barriers and transforming them into boundaries, that is when the FREESPACE idea is being achieved.

Throughout her work, and even in the lecture we attended on October 20, she constantly emphasizes how “beauty is a given right” and how architecture should not be exclusive. Specifically in relation to the Fresnillo Playground (shown below), where she revitalized a paved sewage canal and transformed it into a playground. By creating a new transitional space that offers a safe recreational area and welcomes the public to a new habitat of local vegetation, she breaks that barrier by creating a climbable boundary. She mentions that when she did the project, the community responded by saying they do not deserve the project since they are considered part of the lower class. She closes by saying architecture and design should be for everyone and not just the upper classes.

BREAKING SOCIO-POLITICAL BARRIERS Ghalya Alsanea | Biennale Research F18 | 48-400 A | FREESPACE 16

SOCIAL BARRIERS - CONT. Throughout her work, and even in the lecture we attended on October 20, she constantly emphasizes how “beauty is a given right” and how architecture should not be exclusive. Specifically in relation to the Fresnillo Playground (shown below), where she revitalized a paved sewage canal and transformed it into a playground. By creating a new transitional space that offers a safe recreational area and welcomes the public to a new habitat of local vegetation, she breaks the canal wall barriers by creating a climbable boundary people can occupy. She mentions that when she did the project, the community responded by saying they do not deserve the project since they are considered part of the lower class. She closes by saying architecture and design should be for everyone and not just the upper classes.

BEFORE

AFTER

In a way this relates back to the Stand Ground exhibit in the Biennale. Even though that was not necessarily the intention, in a way the “deconstructed” wall on the ground is breaking the social boundaries between architects and the public. I believe the wall shows the boundaries that encase the architecture exhibit from the public, which emphasizes the divide between the profession and the people, touching upon a common theme in the Architecture world, the architecture of exclusivity. Rozana Montiel and her office fight these social barriers by designing for everyone and breaking physical barriers into boundaries.

BREAKING SOCIO-POLITICAL BARRIERS Ghalya Alsanea | Biennale Research F18 | 48-400 A | FREESPACE 17

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SOCIO-POLITICAL BARRIERS

Crimson Architecture: A City of Comings & Goings This exhibition is the result of a larger research project which explores the dynamics of migration, how it has shaped cities in the past, and how architecture and urban design might shape them in the future. The exhibit itself deals with migration and its spatial impact on Western European Cities. They are proposing a new way of thinking and approaching designing for migration.

Politics, media and the design world nearly exclusively focuses on the images of poor labor migrants crowding out native shopkeepers, illegal aliens squatting buildings and resisting deportation, or on the tragic fate of refugees at our borders. This exhibition aims to zooms out and see migration and cities as fundamentally connected. It zooms out from the singular, temporary, acute design intervention, and tries to redefine what is expected from architecture to make our cities strong and robust so they can absorb the comings and goings of citizens over centuries. It zooms out from the focus on the ethnic identities and economic needs of the separate categories of migrants and tries to understand what they share with each other and with the current inhabitants of our cities.

image taken at the biennale BREAKING SOCIO-POLITICAL BARRIERS Ghalya Alsanea | Biennale Research F18 | 48-400 A | FREESPACE 18

SOCIO-POLITICAL BARRIERS - CONT. “After all, we need real places where those citizens who require mobility and flexibility can come together, whether they be young native entrepreneurs with a large international network, students who want to live inexpensively in a dynamic neighbourhood for three or four years, the newly arrived refugee who wants to build a new life, or the migrant worker who needs a Dutch base for his transnational existence.”

The exhibition questions how we can redefine cities in Western Europe as crossroads of all sorts of people, local and global. How we can plan and design our cities so that they grow the robustness that is needed to withstand the endless movement of their citizens, while retaining their unique shape and identity. And what is needed in terms of architecture and urbanism so that our cities actually profit and grow from migration.

Looking at the world around us, there is no reason to think that the influx of migrants into Europe and the Netherlands will remain at the same level or even decrease. The combination of the effects of climate change with those of extreme population growth in Africa, creates almost unimaginable projections for migration.

SOURCES InStatus Quo: https://www.domusweb.it/en/speciali/Biennale/2018/in-statu-quo-a-balancing-force-for-political-mediation.html https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/culture/MAGAZINE-sites-for-sore-eyes-in-venice-israelis-showcase-loci-of-conflict-1.6118849 http://www.archipanic.com/in-statu-quo-israel-venice-biennale-2018/ https://www.designboom.com/architecture/israeli-pavilion-venice-architecture-biennale-statu-quo-structures-negotiation-05-27-2018/ https://www.metalocus.es/en/news/statu-quo-architecture-negotiation-israeli-pavilion-biennale-di-venezia-2018 https://qz.com/quartzy/1290638/the-uk-us-and-israel-pavilions-present-powerful-political-critiques-at-the-venice-biennial/ https://www.archdaily.com/894581/israeli-pavilion-at-2018-venice-biennale-explores-the-history-of-negotiations-over-holy-lands http://daniellegorodenzik.telavivian.com/2018/07/10/in-statu-quo-the-israeli-pavilion-at-the-16th-architecture-biennale/

Therefore, Crimson Architecture suggests that instead of creating more barriers to stop and hinder migration, we as designers need to prepare for it and help it flourish.

Migration in and out of cities is a natural phenomenon, there is no use in stopping it. They begin with the acute problem of asylum seekers and refugees who are now leading a difficult existence on the margins of the Netherlands with children that have no access to normal levels of care and education. “Instead of isolating them in marginal parts of the Netherlands, we could welcome them in those regions where there are jobs and where the scale and diversity of welfare and education provision is better equipped to deal with population surges,” they comment.

“The way to integrate refugees is to give them housing and jobs so they help create economic prosperity, but spatially they are prevented to do so. So there is absolutely a spatial question connected to this refugee problem.” -Michelle Provoost, Crimson Architecture Historian

In conclusion, Crismson Architecture is suggesting to break the socio-political barriers that exist between migrants and non-migrants by designing for both equally and not inherently separating them into refugee camps or marginal neighborhoods.

Stand Ground Sources: http://rozanamontiel.com/en/ https://www.labiennale.org/en/architecture/2018/partecipants/rozana-montiel-estudio-de-arquitectura Venice Biennale 2018: “The Practice of Teaching” Lecture https://www.metalocus.es/en/news/stand-ground-manifesto-how-create-places-rozana-montiel-biennale-architettura-di-venezia-2018 https://www.archdaily.com/892388/common-unity-rozana-montiel-estudio-de-arquitectura/ A City of Comings and Goings Sources: Essay: https://www.crimsonweb.org/spip.php?article215 http://aarch.dk/info/updates/events/city-of-comings-and-goings-seminar/ https://www.dezeen.com/2017/12/18/dont-design-shelter-refugees-kilian-kleinschmidt-rene-boer-good-design-bad-world/ https://www.crimsonweb.org/spip.php?article240

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BREAKING SOCIO-POLITICAL BARRIERS Ghalya Alsanea | Biennale Research F18 | 48-400 A | FREESPACE 19

STEPPING OVER BOUNDARIES JO NATHAN CHEN G

“The primary issue is how people perceive free space and how they will move through it… This brings into question of how boundaries aff ct human perception of space in general… Some of the types of boundaries seen at the Venice Biennale 2018 vary from hard physical barriers to soft implicit separations.”

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Stepping Over Boundaries

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Jonathan Cheng 12_18_18

Image 01: Oxymoron (Sauerbruch Hutton) distorting space using colors and images to break human’s perception of rectangular box. This begins to question; what influences humans’ understanding of space and its enclosures?

With the introduction of freespace, “a space for opportunity, democratic space, un-programmed and free for uses not yet conceived”, the architect’s role of planning is blurred and so are the separations between spaces. The interaction between freespace and a programmed space is important because freespace can be connected to, disconnected from, or be a part of anything. It seems that freespace is optimal when it ignores the surroundings because it can truly be interpreted in any way the occupant intends. This is not the case for reality as freespace will be surrounded by the existing programmed space. While freespace is supposed to be “un-programmed”, it can be influenced by the concrete programming around it.

The paradox comes from the architect’s responsibility to plan space and its programming. In each architect’s design, each space is designed for a specific use, and it ultimately affects the choreography of any individual’s daily life. The planning of an unplanned space is ambiguous because it is unclear as to who actually defines or programs the space; the owner, the architect, or the users. Architecture is the main aspect that differentiates one space from another; through the functional features, ambiance, and connections.

Through the architectural features of a building or even a room, a human being can perceive the intentions of the space and how one is supposed to interact with the space. These boundaries are intended to separate one part of a program from another, but affect the way people recognize the change; whether it be distinct or subtle [walking through a door in a wall to a new room is different from taking a step onto a new platform]. Assuming that the architect leaves freespace open for interpretation, the architect can still design the spaces around it to affect freespace.

The primary issue is how people perceive

freespace and how they will move through it. It is important to investigate the boundaries of freespace; How do people know they are occupying what is known as freespace?

Is it a part of a programmed space? Is it separated from the rest of the program?

How do people enter? What changes upon entrance? And are the people affected by surrounding spaces? The Venice Biennale 2018 exhibited architect’s interpretation and manifestation of FREESPACE. The characteristics of these examples of freespace explain how freespace can fit into the context of the real built environment. This brings into question of how boundaries affect human perception of space in general; what is recognized as boundary? What prevents people from entering? What welcomes people in? And how do people respond or respect that boundary? Boundaries affect the choreography of each individual’s daily

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life since they dictate the permission and location of entrance and exit.

Some of the types of boundaries seen at the Venice Biennale 2018 vary from hard physical barriers to soft implicit separations. It should be taken into consideration that the connections fostered in the exhibition differs from a real world scenario because of the context that it sits in, but each installation still does affect how people choreography their time at the Biennale. Key characteristics and spatial qualities that were looked into at each exhibit were the attention each drew, the process of entering and leaving the space, and what connections were made from inside to outside.

Image 02: Folding Landscapes (O’Donnell and Tuomey) manifestation of freespace

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Image 03: Re-Casting (Allison Brooks Architects) Hard Boundaries that separate inside space from outside

the room and the rest of the exhibition. This is an implied boundary that people perceive and recognize as the entrance or start of the exhibit. On the right side, there are ledges at various heights along the walkway for various uses. People don’t climb over it to get into the exhibit, but instead, use the open step.

RMA Architects presents soft boundaries in their Soft Threshold. Although the exhibition is primarily presenting their projects that respond to the concept of freespace, the way they presented their project by layering fabric to project images on created an opportunity for boundaries. At certain angles and locations, a person can see through the fabric to the other side, but not pass through it. The visual clarity is not the same as that of a window so it is not intended to be a viewport to whatever is behind the fabric.

Somewhere Other by John Wardle Architects explores expanding space beyond the square footage of the space. Although the outdoors may not be accessible through a window, they view affects the quality of the indoor space.

This exhibit acts as a visual portal for people to experience a different space without physically being there. Somewhere other includes a small scope portal that brings the viewer to a different side of the exhibit (through mirrors) instead of directly across, and a large scale portal that is a display of somewhere other.

Alison Brooks Architects looked into the qualities of the freespace of a home. There are 4 separate totems that each represents the civic roles of housing. The exhibition is physically divided into small experiential quarters. The Threshold totem is the arch that encompasses an open space that is comparable to a vestibule, a transitional space between inside and outside. The Inhabited Edge, Passage, and Roof space Totems are completely closed off from the Arsenale, creating their own space within the structure. The Inhabited Edge and Passage totems are the most enclosed with difficult means of entry. Since it was so disconnected from the rest of the exhibition, these two quarters completely transport people to a separate space. The use of mirrors throughout the exhibit begin to distort people’s perception of space; making it larger than is really is, changing the field of view, or closing off views. Although these are physically separated, they all pertain to the same topic of housing and is connected by a central civic space.

O’Donnell and Tuomey created an installation of a combination of projects that embodied their vision of freespace. While there was not a wall or hard barrier that defined its boundaries, the material distinction and 1 step raise from the Arsenale floor separates it from

Img 04: Folding Landscape (O’Donnell and Tuomey) Various implicit uses of generic form in architecture. Distinct walkway and entrance without any signage and instructions

Img 05: Soft Thresholds (RMA Architects) physical barriers and filters that separate space in different ways.

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Jonathan Cheng 12_18_18 The distinction between space as commonly known and freespace is the programming, or lack there-of. Architects are used to creating a building that has each room planned out and designated to a purpose. Since the introduction of the concept of freespace and readapting old buildings for new modern uses, designing a program that is not tied down to a specific program and can be easily readapted.

Shelly McNamara and Yvonne Farrell defines freespace as un-programmed space that is totally open for interpretation by the occupant.

The design that immediately comes to mind with this intent is a big empty white room that has no constraints to its possible uses, as there are no physical features that define its functions. With the addition of freespace, it is up to the architect to integrate this space into a programmed building, in a way that is most Img 06: Somewhere Other (John Wardle Architects) Overall form represents a view cone.

Img 07:Somewhere Other (John Wardle Architects) Various Views thorugh the portals

effective with the rest of the spaces. It is no longer just simply choreographing the life of the user, but to also consider how to make the space best fit the choreography of the users.

There are various ways to establish boundaries for space and freespace and they will ultimately depend on the intent of the space. The Venice Biennale 2018 attempts to explain freespace as an open interpretive space that is free of programming, but the architect will always have an influence on the space he/she is designing. Different intentions and context will require different boundaries for the space. The types of exhibits in the Venice Biennale are each architect’s valid interpretation of freespace and have their own benefits. This shows the flexibility of freespace and how it can be a part of programmed space, or connected to it. I think that the exhibits that were more disconnected to the exhibition were more successful because it took the exhibit outside of the context of the Venice Biennale and I was able to experience the space more than just as an exhibit. I think it is difficult to exhibit an integrated freespace in this kind of setting.

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S URV EI LLA N C E & SE C U RI T Y RYAN SMITH

“The promotion of an ideal ‘Free space’ implies that there is an existing alternative to free space that we should be working away from. Or simply, that there is some other thing than free space, given that we are seeking more freedom than our design of space currently affo ds us….I have highlighted some exhibitions from this year’s Architecture Biennale that deal with themes of surveillance, security or control in spaces.”

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Surveillance & Security

Image 01 (left): John Wardle Architects - Somewhere Other

The idea of “free space” suggests an inevitable freeing from something. Or simply, that there is some other thing than free space, given that we are seeking more freedom than our design of space currently affords us. This spatial force that opposes freedom could be described as controlled space , or detained space or just surveilled space.

These concepts are alluded to but not directly referenced in the “Freespace Manifesto.” Some pieces of the statement suggest a new sensibilty about organization that could be used to critique or improve models of surveillance in architecture: “FREESPACE celebrates architecture’s capacity to find additional and unexpected generosity in each project - even within the most private, defensive, exclusive or commercially restricted conditions.”

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Image 02 (right): Typical panopticon model

“FREESPACE can be a space for opportunity, a democratic space, un-programmed and free for uses not yet conceived.”

I have highlighted some exhibitions from this year’s Architecture Biennale that deal with themes of surveillance, security or contol in spaces.

John Wardle somewhere other John Wardle Architects has created a series of framed views and unexpected portals through a lovely wooden structure. The views through this piece are predetermined by the architectural elements (the wood, the mirrors, the sculptural elements) but each one is filled with surprises and chance interations with the other people moving through it.

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No one view provided by the construction is biased over another. There is no spot you can stand to understand all of what is going on within the individual spaces. As a result each space becomes its own, only connected to another by some sightline.

In this way, this project becomes somewhat of an opposite to the idea of a panopticon space where one being is granted an omnicient presence by the spatial organization of the gulag. Somewhere Other provides spaces of individual splendor and a sense of wonder and openess to these confined areas.

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Ryan Smith 11_XX_10

Image 04: Projection on a wall in the Uruguayan Pavillion at the 16th Architecture Biennale

Uruguayan Pavillion prison to prison The Uruguayan pavillion at the 16th Architecture Biennale in Venice chose to tackle a very political matter, The exhibition looks at the places that could be considered least free of all building types: prisons.

Img 01(top): Uruguayan Inmates sharing mate tea Img 02(middle): Text on the wall in the Uruguayan Pavillion at the 16th Archietcure Biennale Img 03(bottom): Map showing the two prison sites that the Uruguayan Pavillion focuses on.

“Prison to Prison, an Intimate Story between two Architectures is a project that explores the existence of an unprecedented free space inside the unlikeliest place and in close relationship with its larger opposite.”

Very few other projects in the biennale, international or national, have taken it upon themselves to address the spaces which are notably unfree, and imagine ways the instill the same freedom and generaosity that is mentioned in the manifesto

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There is an idea that if the subject of discussion is activism and generosity in architecture, then the large population of people forced to spend years in a singular designed architetcure could use our empathy as they are often forgotten and dehumanized.

“FREESPACE provides the opportunity to emphasise nature’s free gifts of light - sunlight and moonlight, air, gravity, materials - natural and man-made resources.”

The manifesto speaks about these free gifts and the unexpected generosity that can be implemented into spatial constructions. Many projects have found solutions that respond to this idea of free natural elements. These same attitudes could be taken in an effort to afford more to the prisoners without necessarily costing more to the state in construction.

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Ryan Smith 11_XX_10

Amateur Architect Studio How to ‘legalize’ spontaneously-built illegal structures...

This project takes an in-depth research-based look into small nooks and spaces of a dense chinese housing project and attempts to understand and legitimize the autonomous construction happening there. These kinds of spaces are not regulated or maintained by any state force and so it falls on the builders to ensure safety and usefulness if this autonomy is something desired to continue.

Img 01(left): The exhitbiting architects have reconstructed one of the spotaneous instances on the site they are investigating

Peter Zumthor Dreams and promises I include this project, not because of its contents, but because of it’s execution in the Giardini gallery space. As far as surveillance and freedom is concerned, this was by far the most controlled and secured environment included in the Biennale show. Peter Zumthor’s marvelous models were presented on a floor above the rest of the Giardini’s exhibitions. To access this floor you had to wait until you were permitted entry by a security personnel. When in the model are you could only get so close to the work, and were not allowed to take photos.

Img 02(right): Peter Zumthor’s model showroom

Img 03(top): Perpetrating visitor taking an up-close photo that is prohibitted Img 04(bottom): Gallery security personnel monitoring visitor

Image 05: This long axonometric section documents many of the different types of additions to the existing building form and details their uses.

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MUTU A L E N G A G E ME N T SHAN WANG

“I am interested in exploring the affo dance of architecture in encouraging and eliciting diverse human activities through thoughtful choreography of space and integration with the exiting community, as well as the active force of people’s behaviors in gradually changing how the space is occupied and used over time in the age of technology.”

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MUTUAL ENGAGEMENT

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Shan Wang

A closer look at how architecture elicit and change human activities, and how people shape the use and meaning of architecture overtime in the multi-layered context

Figure 1: The space is designed to highlight the traditional craft and pay tribute to the local production that make the process less a tedious factory but a stage that attracts both locals and visitors to come and learn about the cultural implication of the sugar production

“FREESPACE can be a space for opportunity, a democratic space, nu-programmed and free for uses not yet conceived. There is an exchange between people and buildings that happens, even if not intended or designed, so buildings themselves find ways of sharing and engaging with people over time, long after the architect has left the scene.”

-- Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara

The manifesto of the 16th Venice Biennale suggests an interesting dialogue among people, the architecture, and the landscape or context in which the architecture situates in, an interaction that is rather active, mutual, and constantly evolving over time. For long the paradigm has been that through the great force of design, architects aim to solve the problems for people and actively shape the context with architecture. While there is no doubt the substantial impacts architecture can have on the surrounding physical environment with strong formal, material

or tectonic languages, the vaguely termed “exchange” in this section of the manifesto hints on the aspect that buildings themselves have social and political implications or cultural agenda, which are inevitably changing the behavior patterns of people and how they engage with the context that is beyond the immediate landscape and physical surroundings. Meanwhile, the diverse human activities as results of such influence are engraving their own marks in the architecture, and give the physical environment meanings.

I am interested in exploring the affordance of architecture in encouraging and eliciting diverse human activities through thoughtful choreography of space and integration with the existing community, as well as the active force of people’s behaviors in gradually changing how the space is occupied and used overtime in the age of technology.

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Although there seems to be an overarching theme throughout the exhibition that free space manifests only when there is architecture, there are projects that took different approaches and went great lengths to examine the tactile or experiential interactions between human and the architecture, focusing on not only the physical but also the social, cultural or political layers of context that start to establish the deep connections between people, the builcing and the community.

A series of projects like the Songyang Story by DNA embodies the essense of mutual engagement between human and architecture in a tight-knit community context.

These projects place emphasis on thoughtful integration with the landscape and rich culture heritage of the site. The results not only are a series of flexible public spaces like viewing platforms that bring the community

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Figure 2: The flexible space in Brown Sugar Factory in Songyang is used for outdoor theater and local performances organized by residents that bring the community together.

Figure 4: Bamboo theater is designed with a low-tech approach, which takes the local material’s fast growth and bendable quality into account, in order to facilitate local activities ranging from local villa opera performance to individual meditation.

Figure 3: Damushan Valley Teahouse is embedded in the landscape and tea plantation, highlighting aspects of tea culture through a contemporary form and choreographic circulation through courtyard, meditation room and outdoor platform, which reveals the most scenic view of the nature around the site.

together, but also serve as stimulus for local economy, as well as a variety of spontaneous community events organized by residents (Figure 2).

With the aim to revitalize the rural village, which rejects large scale redevelopment and instead use smaller interactions as catalyst for a more spontaneous and engaging process for both the landscape and the people, projects in the Songyang Story such as the brown sugar factory and the teahouse highlight sensitivity towards respecting local production and crafts while introducing spatial continuation and new promotion of these traditions to foster greater connections with nature and with people (Figure 1 & 3).

The flexible programs of the sugar factory become entertainment centers for weekend movies and other community activities. At the same time such human interactions with the building enrich the space with another cultural and social layer.

Meanwhile, DnA’s bamboo theater distills the engagement between architecture and human to its very pure

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form: architecture no longer needs the structure and enclosure to create space in the traditional sense, the flexibly woven bamboo becomes the spontaneous stage which invites people to come for performance and activities (Figure 4). In turns, the vitality of such activities give the previously ordinary bamboo forest another life and cultural meaning that does not exist otherwise.

Amateur studio’s take on facilitating the exchange process between people and the building is on the same vein as that of DNA. They both are investigating the type of information and values that the existing conditions are informing and providing, yet the focus is shifted more towards why and how people occupy these physically limited and legally left-over spaces in the dense urban context, and what the architecture response could be to mitigate and legitimize the situation (Figure 5).

With a special emphasis on developing typologies for different living

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scenarios, researching and engaging the community in the design process, the material and spatial manifestations of the results are less of a political statement or architectural triumph for formal articulation and problem solving, but more of a empathetic gesture for various strata within the community (Figure 6). The design showcases an acknowledgment towards the often times spontaneous and rather scrappy living conditions as the result of different human activities. And more importantly, the caring thought process that aims to understand and help facilitate the community activities as the result of these living conditions serve as a great starting point to leverage design power and community effort to improve the situation from the bottom up.

Different from the more traditional architectural practices, the Virtual Nature

by Toyo Ito offers a new light into innovative ways of representing free space through very little structure or material

Figure 5: The compilation of research, material prototypes and half-scale building prototype that at Venice Biennale

Figure 6

languages pertain to the typical architecture realm.

The space is set up with beanbags and projection on to the surrounding fabric to invite people to lay down and engage, and through such engagement proposing a different purpose for the loose structure with human activities and technology (Figure 8).

The exhibition through the creation of rippling effect projection and reflected light onto the curtain, aims to mimic natural context and provide people with sense of liberation and freedom when experiencing the space. The concept also emphasizes the value of people’s inhabitation in the space, and how that reinforce the connections between physical context and human beings created through occupation and augmentation of digital media (Figure 9 & 10).

While drastically different in their approaches, all these exhibitions and the corresponding projects share the common goals to investigate deeply into the multi-layered context and behavioral patterns and activities of the people reside in the environment.

The investigations reinforce the core value of architecture to create humancentric spaces that are not indulged in formal manipulation or personal style, but serve as a bridge between understanding the multi-layered context and the thoughtful execution of design, to translates these understandings into spatial sequence and qualities that invites human activities. The design will facilitate the inhabitation and community bonding that in turns improve the way the space is utilized overtime.

Such practices mentioned above aim to offer relevant analysis or develop new typology in the age of urbanization and technology. Instead of purely expressing the phenomenological sentiments of architecture that largely remain inconsequential and exclusive, their work and thorough design process start to inform new relationships between people and the built environment as well as new engagements and perspectives as ways to form stronger sense of community among people.

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Figure 7: Virtual Nature is designed to make visitors “feel nature despite the space being artificial”.

Figure 8: The exhibition with fabric and digital layer of natural elements aims to create the space for visit

Figure 9: The exhibition embodies the architect’s sentiment that the space is “designed to look good, not when empty, but when inhabited by humans”. The loose set up and relaxing atmosphere encourage people to lay down and immerse in a mixed media environment with sense of nature’s calmness.

SOURCES http://www.designandarchitecture.net/project/1526017753 http://www.designandarchitecture.net/project/1526017907 http://www.designandarchitecture.net/project/1526018054 https://www.archdaily.com/893782/damushan-valleyteahouse-dna https://www.archdaily.com/894772/bamboo-theatre-dna https://www.labiennale.org/en/architecture/2018/partecipants/amateur-architecture-studio https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=80_ mFbGcZ6Y https://www.dezeen.com/2018/06/08/venice-architecturebiennale-freespace-exhibition-installations-roundup/ https://www.labiennale.org/en/architecture/2018/partecipants/toyo-ito-associates-architects https://www.azuremagazine.com/article/2018-venice-biennale-arsenale/ https://artworldwide.blog/2018/09/21/top-10-innovativeprojects-from-corderie-arsenale-at-la-biennale-architetturadi-venezia-2018/

THE LA N GU A G E O F R E P R ESE NTATI ON R EVEALS M ANY FO R M S M ADDI J OHNSON

“My interest in representation lies within the ability for an architect to capture the language of a built form and express that language through representations that are shaped by experiential qualities. Specifi ally the connection between experiential representation and user engagement. Exhibitions or installations that can elicit meaningful connections with viewers are often the exhibits that end up having a lasting impression… Approaches for interacting in any given project vary, but a few strategies that worked well at this Biennale are scale, motif, engagement and material.”

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The Language of Representation

Reveals many forms

Image 01: 2018 Venice Bienale Architecturra. “Freespace”. Central Pavillion

Exhibitions, the 2018 Venice Biennale included, have the challenge of interpreting and representing bodies of built work that exist elsewhere and cannot be physically present. How do we use our skills as architects to translate the experience of a built work into something that is concrete and representational while expressing meaning and engaging users in dialogue?

Present at the Venice Biennale are an array of representations, each unique in evoking the user’s ability to assess the representation and understand its meaning. And while meaning can be interpreted differently, the goal of each exhibition is somewhat static as it responds to ideas of Freespace.

My interest in representation lies within the ability for an architect to capture the language of a built form and express that language through representations that are shaped by experiential qualities. Specifically the connection between experiential representation and user engagement. Exhibitions or installations that can elicit meaningful connections with viewers are often the exhibits that end up having a lasting impression.

As stated by panelist Architect Mario Botta during The Practice of Teaching as part of Meetings on Architecture, questions like “how do we teach thinking” and “what is the history of thinking” grapples with ideas of repre-

senting architecture and the way in which architects and non-architects think differently about architecture.

It can be concluded that representing architecture through the teaching of an architectural language is understood by those within the discipline and is not understood as well by the general public. Coming to grips with this, is the fact that through the Biennale Architettura, people of different disciplines are coming together to assess and understand architecture.

It is important that the presentations, laced with nuances in architectural language are translated so that everyone may view each project in light of its meaning. Bridging the gaps in architectural thinking can be achieved in part by representing architecture through the experience. In attempt to answer these questions relating to

teaching architecture, it can be assumed that while the process of creating architecture is a learned skill, representing architecture should follow universal principals in line with more humanistic approaches of teaching concepts through common experiences. In understanding the need for transparency within the expressions of our architectures is the call for representations of architectural exhibition to dig deeper into the interest of its viewers and to captivate, inform, and provide viewers with visions of, for instance, Freespace.

In understanding the scale of Freespace exhibition, featuring over 100 exhibits, it is important to understand the limitations of the viewer’s ability to absorb large amounts of information and as an exhibitor to be selective in what is used to gain the attention of the viewer in order that they may converse

Modes of Representation

Tactics of Representation

-Model -Object -Drawing -Sketch -Image

-Scale -Engagement -Time -Sensation -Material -Context -Deconstruction

-Film -Interview -Text -Experience

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-Abstraction -Layer -Logic -Light -Motif -Perspective -Social Invention

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Img 01: DNA_Design and Architects, Songyang Story.

Img 03: DNA_Design and Architects, Songyang Story.

Img 02: Estudio Carme Pintos, Cube Office Tower

with the expressions of Freespace at play. Approaches for interacting in any given project vary, but a few strategies that worked well at this Biennale are scale, motif, engagement, and material [1]. While the first two can apply to any mode of representation, the latter two are associated with modes that favor ‘an experience’. An experience (as I see it) is the interplay between an exhibit and the viewer, where by using or engaging with the exhibit the viewer completes or adopts the architect’s vision.

In representing architectures, it has been the standard of conveyance through a number of conventional approaches that has provided a foundation for comprehending architectural ideas. These include drawings (elevations, sections, plans…), scaled models, text, and image.

While many exhibitions showcase these styles of representation using one or more of the above, these devices, as proven by the exhibition, are reflected in the finished work. By this I mean that the finished product, the building, is expressed. This ‘point in time’ representation, more often than not, fails to reveal the process of the design or the implications it has had on the site and people after the building is ‘complete’. Therefore, while exhibits may feature one or more of these techniques, failure lies

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in their inability to highlight concepts relating to Freespace.

Another failure with traditional methodology lies in the inability of the viewer to feel connected to the work. Drawings are two dimensional, text lacks imagery and models lack the engagement associated with living in the real world. When an exhibit relies on text to convey its meaning, the process of interpreting meaning is skewed and the associated imagery is restricted. By complying with this formulation the user is at a loss in actively engaging themselves with the layers of architectural language. Viewing the work becomes a lecture and less of a conversation. Viewers would be better served in reaching their own conclusion about what they are seeing, even if it is informed in some way by their logic; they don’t want to be told explicitly where the logic lies or how to view architecture. The use of text or verbal based explanations as a primary form of sharing architectural language is a rejection of the idea that a user can think for themselves.

An exhibit that exemplifies its detachment from its viewers was DNA Design and Architecture’s Songyang Story. Despite the use of text, models and imagery, the projects lack relat-

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ability due to the lack of people shown within their exhibition. The projects detailed the ‘complete’ designs, including users of the space perspective and scale figures within the models. The displays felt rehearsed and while these works are able to convey their importance to the region through video interview and text, the models and imagery failed to do much in this regard. Similarly the Cube Office Tower presented by Estudio Carme Pintos missed the mark. After viewing the model, which is exceptional in no specific way other than showing the building as a whole, one is left with a sense that it lacks meaning. It is only by reading the accompanied text that the building acquires significance in exemplifying Freespace. Having been told how the Cube Office Tower is Freespace, there is lack of authenticity of experiencing how the freespace is working through the project. This architecturecentric model of representation lacks any indicators of its humanism including the presence of scale people who could happily be occupying the common areas in demonstration of its ‘embodied energy’.

In use of formal architectural representation, an outlier is the Espana Pavillion. Despite ‘too much information to process’ and lack of anything experiential in nature, it perfectly captures the interest of viewers and the spirit of Freespace. Through multimedia presentation from a variety of architectural projects, it’s a little like walking through Instagram. Through the logic of “there is

something for everyone” establishing a connection with the exhibit is mindlessly easy. The display of beautiful contrasting imagery leads to feelings of inclusivity, creativity and ease of use. Enjoy a few drawings that speak to you and breeze through the rest. As put best by Frank Lloyd Wright, “less is more only when more is too much”.

Experiences are powerful in their ability to stimulate a progressive understanding of a project when the addition of each piece within the experience leads to a more fulfilled understanding of the overall meaning. In this way, time becomes a tool, as it is nearly impossible to comprehend the meaning of an entire installation all at once; time provides a measure for taking in a project incrementally as the user walks through and gains insight. Time allows for the user to have a rich and evolving dialog with the exhibit where the user’s commitment to seeing the display to its end is a testament to their investment in the ideas presented. An example of this is Andra Matin’s exhibit of Elevation where by passing through the exhibit the narrative of interweaving spaces plays out.

Because it is reasonably difficult for a participant to fully grasp the theme of the Biennale with a minimal attention span, the careful use of motif carried through an exhibit, often symbolic in nature of a more complex project, helps visually connect one object or image to the next while lessening the time a user must spend at a project to understand

Image 06: Paredes Pedrosa Arquitectos’ , The dream of Space Produces Form

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Img 04 & 05: Espana National Pavillion

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Img 07: Paredes Pedrosa Arquitectos’, The dream of Space Produces Form

it. Motif works to bridge the difference between mediums of representation and often can represent larger concepts at play.

When paired with other tactics like layering, repetition or perspective, the dominant idea of a motif is the foundation for other concepts to evolve. Case in point is Paredes Pedrosa Arquitectos’

The Dream of Space Produces Form. Each of the six projects within the exhibit is explored through a small model sitting within a cavity formed from a section cut of the model. The cavity’s use of negative space outlines the prominent feature of each building, informing the viewer of the conceptual foundation of each project. The gestures of form illustrate how the architect manipulates each space to work with issues of light, sound, or

Img 08: Paredes Pedrosa Arquitectos’, The dream of Space Produces Form

Img 09 & 10: Hall Mcknight, Unique Instruments: Unexpectant Spaces

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connectivity within the resulting void.

Similarly, Unique Instruments: Unexpectant Spaces by Hall Mcknight, uses floor plans as motif to foreshadow the experience each space captures.

Through a series of portals, the user engages with the exhibit to look into the space and understand the experience tied to the visible floor plan above.

While each portal is hidden and viewed by one person at a time, the floor plans are the motifs which are visible from a distance and can be digested prior to seeing the ‘experience’ within.

Creating conversations and narratives instead of lecturing about architecture will change the way we view exhibitions about architecture. Viewers are compelled by experiences that include a mixture of representational ‘modes’ that have layers that express ‘tactics’ of representation where the pieces together form a cohesive and engaging story.

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Investigations identify and focus on an active, collective, found space.

In this two week project, students explore design strategies that transform the quality and use of an underutilized or forgotten space in an existing building on campus. Students propose design interventions that alter and enhance the existing space while considering spatial, experiential and atmospheric qualities that make it an inviting space for people.

Students work in four groups. Each group identifies a found space located in buildings on the Carnegie Mellon University campus. The four spaces include: Wean Hall - Mezzanine level space overlooking the main entrance with a newly renovated cafe.

University Center (UC) - Ground level space off of the building entrance near the cut that exists underneath and around the stair to the second fl or.

College of Fine Arts (CFA) - Ground level space at the northern end of the Great Hall with multiple level changes.

Margaret Morrison Carnegie Hall (MMCH) - Three story vertical space that extends from the ground to the second levels alongside the main stair at exterior wall.

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SPACES

SITE

PLACES 73

WEAN HALL

Fon Euchukanonchai

Site LAYERING

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Shan Wang

SOFT WALL

Fon Euchukanonchai

OVER_FLOW

75

Jonathan Cheng

UNIVERSITY CENTER

Jai Kanodia

Site

PAST, PRESENT, FUTURE

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Jai Kanodia

REFLECTION

Austin Garcia

THE PASSAGE

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Bingxuan Liang

COLLEGE OF FINE ARTS

Maddi Johnson

Site

IMPOSITION

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Michael Powell

DISPELLING ILLUMINATION

Maddi Johnson

DISCLOSURE

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Chitika Vasudeva

MARGARET MORRISON CARNEGIE HALL

Ghalya Alsanea

Site

CHUTES AND LADDERS

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Ryan Smith

TREEHOUSE ESCAPE

Ghalya Alsanea

KALEIDOSCOPE

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Benita Nartey

The project identifies an underutilized existing site located in an historically and experientially rich context characterized as a gap space, barrier and border within the city.

In this project, students investigate an existing site in Bloomfield a neighborhood in the East End of the City of Pittsburgh. The sloping site of the Paul Sciullo Memorial Park is tucked underneath the Bloomfield Bridge and is bordered by residential and commercial zones while the terrain drops off to inaccessible hillside near the bridge. The park surrounds the existing Recreation Center building and includes several sports courts, a playground and an outdoor pool.

A fence surrounds the entire site and restricts access to the park to specific entry locations at set times that vary daily and seasonally while the majority of the existing building is closed except for a few spaces that serve the pool.

The pool is active in the summer months when it transforms into the “Bloomfield Beach� due to the many people who visit to enjoy the water and lounge nearby. Many of the outdoor facilities surrounding the pool are recently renovated and maintained including including a dek hockey rink sponsored by the Pittsburgh Pengins Hockey Team, bocce courts, a playground and on the other side of the site a baseball field sponsored by the Pittsburgh Pirates Baseball Club. However, the infrastructure that connects these facilities is in disrepair including outdoor basketball courts, parking areas and sidewalks.

Students analyze the existing park and building focusing on social, contextual, environmental and physical characteristics of each.

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SPACES

SITE

PLACES 83

SOCIAL

Ghalya Alsanea

Bingxuan Liang

Program Adjacency

Bingxuan Liang

84

Ghalya Alsanea

85

Fon Euchukanonchai

CONTEXTUAL

Jai Kanodia

Bingxuan Liang

Main Site Connec�ons

86

Ghalya Alsanea

Bingxuan Liang

87

Vicinity Map

Jai Kanodia

ENVIRONMENTAL

Maddi Johnson

Air

Maddi Johnson

Maddi Johnson

Sun

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Maddi Johnson

Water

Jai Kanodia Bingxuan Liang

Maddi Johnson

Wind

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PHYSICAL

Bingxuan Liang

Material Analysis

Borders / Access

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Fon Euchukanonchai

Ghalya Alsanea

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Shan Wang

In this speculative project, students explore design strategies that attempt to transform the quality and use of an underutilized building and site.

Students are aware of the former uses of the building and are encouraged to draw from the research, analysis and observations of the site and Bloomfield to create a place that is fully integrated into the neighborhood. Each project proposes uses with the intended goal to reinvigorate the building and site and serve the needs of the community.

Students are encouraged to retain and build upon existing elements of the building and site while they are permitted to alter these existing conditions through both additive and subtractive methods. In this way, students investigate the potential of space to become a place. Ultimately, students propose design interventions that reimagine these conditions while they consider spatial, experiential and atmospheric qualities to create an inviting place for people.

Students identify the research paths from Part 1 of this document that inform their ideas - Memory, Craft, Environment, Space Making, Activism and Perceptual. The Biennale exhibits inspire deliverables that include drawings and models that explore a range of formats, techniques and scales in an effort to capture the vitality of the design proposals.

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SPACES

SITE

PLACES 93

FRAMING ME M O RY MICH A E L POW E LL M S

The project employs a strategy that proposes to enhance the active elements of the site - namely the existing sports facilities - while it exposes and reimagines the unused spaces of the existing Recreation Center building. I propose to preserve the volumetric memory of the building and to expose the few spaces that are currently used in the Rec Center while maintaining the existing circulation patterns. This would be achieved through the insertion of a new structural frame while the existing building is to be demolished. The frame is the main component of a modular, panelized system that creates spaces to support new programs while it attracts people. The frame also spreads across the site to support the use and programming of existing facilities acting as landscape accessories.

The project pulls inspiration from the Biennale through concepts and representation of memory, and the utilization of frames to support occupation physically and spatially. The project aims to remove the building, while supporting exisitng sports facilities across the site. Since the existing building is not used there is no need to preserve it, but rather facilitate new programs that can draw the community back to this once fruitful site.

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Vignette

Diagrams

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Vignette

Structural Frame Diagrams

Site and Building Sections

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Site Strategy

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PE RME AB L E P L A C E FO N E U C H U K ANO NC HA I C

S

The approach to the rehabilitation of the abandoned recreation center aims to attract activity and traffi from the surrounding park spaces to return the building back to the Bloomfield community. The proposed intervention employs selective demolition in a way that respects the original structure and introduces new materials, making spaces for people and light. Through a layered spatial strategy, one moves fluidly through spaces of various degrees of enclosure and size. Unconditioned spaces welcome visitors and foster casual interactions and lead to conditioned spaces that provide a large, indoor open space for the community while introducing newly defin d conditioned spaces that sit on top of the original fl or plates. The uses provide multi-generational programs - yoga, cooking, boxing, climbing, etc.. - recognizing Bloomfield’s dive se population from seniors to diverse young families.

The site strategy extends the large gathering space along an axis towards Liberty Avenue. As the center of all the programs of the activity complex, the axis become sthe site of support structures, such as shelters, seating and play areas that enhance the existing uses. On the site scale, fences are removed and the intervention is inserted to create a more permeable landscape around the complex, and create a new identity and place for the Bloomfield ommunity.

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View of Recreation Center and Pool

Vignette at Entrance

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Model Diagrams

Vignette at Threshold

Vignette at Yoga Studio

Diagrams

Diagrams

Site and Building Section

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Site Plan

Diagrams

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B REAKING BA R R I E RS GHA LYA A LS A NE A C

S

The Bloomfield Recreation Center project pursues the idea of breaking physical, visual and social barriers through the integration of diffe ent types of movement. The design breaks these barriers by removing fences and making the site and building more accessible, elevating people to diffe ent heights in order to gain access to different views, creating a more transparent enclosure between inside and outside and providing a place for all people from diffe ent ages, backgrounds, income, etc.

Further, the project introduces the idea of layering the past, present and future. The treatment of the building respects the past through selective demolition- demolishing or removing what is structurally unsound or impedes bringing people together.

The strategy saves and builds upon what is valuable while it transforms the present reality of the structure. The building provides a thermally insulated enclosure that only conditions two office spaces. Water for the building is harvested from the site.

It includes new climbing structures whose design is based on weaving patterns inspired by the community’s heritage. As for the future, the new reality creates a place where anything is possible. Perhaps it would be possible to introduce a robot on site for the fabrication of the climbing structures; maybe even include the community in designing the modules’ weaving pattern in a way that connects to the past.

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View of Recreation Center from Bloomfield B idge

View of Climbing Structure in Recreation Center

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Axonometric

Material Studies

Diagrams

Site and Building Section

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Site Plan

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B LO OMFIE L D EV E RGR E E N CO MMUNI T Y C E NT E R B ENI TA N ART EY

E

C

The Bloomfield Evergreen Community Center grew from the idea of Freespace as design that aspires to provide the user with unique experiences that go beyond the normative. The project attempts to weave people together through the creation of a shared space of agriculture, community and engagement that are unique to Bloomfield It builds upon the heritage of the back yard gardens that exist behind the typical row house and bring people together. It captures this space by making it accessible to visitors to the site. Through a series of new paths that create connections between these spaces, to a new addition to the existing Recreation Center building for urban agriculture, people are woven through the site and building. New spaces for gathering are created in and around the Recreation Center complex.

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Site Section

Vignettes

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Diagrams

Site and Building Section

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Site Plan

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N E XUS C E NT E R MA DD I J O H N S O N E

The project seeks to enhance the sustainable qualities of the existing site terrain while it stregthens social connections of the existing building to the community.

In particular, it carefully examines the flow of water on the site, incorporating bioswales to help to address water runoff and retention ponds. New outdoor gathering spaces are created. Further, a new addition to the building serves as an entrance and provides a more direct connection to the neighborhood. The spaces in the building refl ct the choreography of daily life. The ground fl or is imagined as a group event space, where spaghetti dinners can feed and bands can entertain the community.

The design preserves the indoor basketball court, changing room and rest rooms.

The new addition acts as a terminal building and includes a new large stair that connects all levels of the existing building to the roof. The stair serves as a mediator that allows movement without having to pass through or interrupt acitivities in adjacent spaces. It also creates a seating area that creates visual connections towards surrounding areas including the sports courts and the bridge. The addition utilizes steel, aluminum and glass, materials that connect to the heritage of the neighborhood and the city, while they create an awning whose design has the potential to mediate the environmental forces on the site.

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View of Recreation Center

Vignette at Main Stair

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Diagrams

Floor Plans

Building Section

112

Site Plan

Site Section

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ARTIFIC IA L L A ND S C A PE RYA N S M I T H S

C

The project imagines a new space for Bloomfield that transforms the existing site and building into a vibrant terrain for movement and play. It proposes to preserve the shell of the existing building turning it into an open air pavilion that acts as a hub or type of “fun house� for various activities. The areas surrounding the building are enhanced through the creation of a topographical / stepping landscape. Metaphorically, earth pours out of the building like lava and flows down the ter aces.

The terrain introduces terraces that are formed out of inexpensive materials to high eff ct. By employing patterning and color to attract attention it connects to the colorful palette and artificial materials on building facades found throughout Bloomfield while it employs readily available materials associated with playgrounds. The building’s unconditioned space minimizes overall long-term energy and maintenance costs. Overall, the project employs a cheerful and inexpensive strategy to enhance what is an otherwise desolate area.

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View of Recreation Center from under Bloomfield B idge

Printed Pattern

Turf or Concrete Material Detail

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Site and Building Model

Floor Plans

Diagrams

Site and Building Section

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Site Plan

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ASCEND ING L I GHT B IN GX UA N L I ANG S

P

The goal of the project is to create a cultural hub for Bloomfield that connects past and present, reinforcing the identity of the community and at the same time creating a unique experience using light and movement. The building includes a skylit atrium space that brings in natural light, creating distinct sensory experiences as one ascends the building. The upward progression through the project revelas a series of experiences, from outdoor activities to gathering spaces for cultural events that culminate in contemplative roof space. Dynamic qualities of glass and mirrors - distortion, refl ction and mirroring - are used throughout the building to alter or enhance the experience and the perception of an existing historical material - brick.

To unify the site’s fragmented uses, the proposal removes existing physical barriers while it builds upon the existing site’s topography. A new circulation path connects the two main access points to the site providing one lane for pedestrians and another for faster modes of movements, i.e. bicycles and skateboards. The project bonds the community together by catering to the needs of diffe ent levels of mobility. The paths lead to an informal gathering space that is formed by carving into the ground at the base of the original building and provides an open gathering space where different groups within the Bloomfield ommunity converge.

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Vignettes

Diagrams

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Exploded Axonometric and Floor Plans

Site and Building Section

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Site Plan

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B LO OMFIE L D C U LT U RA L C E NTE R CHI TI K A VA S U DEVA

A

M

This proposal focuses on the social activation of spaces in and around the existing Recreation Center building. Early diagramming exercises and massing studies focused on the sectional qualities of the site and the potential to create strong connections between the pool and the Rec Center building. Collages were used as an exploratory tool to arrive at a material palette for the new Bloomfield Cultural Center. Earlier ideas involved the construction of a canopy to create an indoor-outdoor space between the pool and the building. The final design introduces an amphitheater that is linked to the pool via a multi-level internal connection through the building that is accessed by a stair and bridge.

In terms of building interior, both the use of wood to create a sense of warmth in an otherwise desolate building and the use of a bright color on the stair were determined with an aim to enhance the existing spatial qualities of the building. Moreover, as seen in the documentation of the wider neighborhood of Bloomfield color is an important part of the neighborhood fabric -- both visually and culturally, which inspired the decision to introduce a bright yellow circulating stair.

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Diagrams

Collage

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Site and Building Section

Models

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Site Plan

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B LO OM-FI E L D JAI KANODIA A

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Project Bloom interprets the challenge to create a space for opportunity, un-programmed and free for uses not yet conceived by building on inherited cultural layers. It propsoes to adaptively reuse the existing structure by taking a second look at this old and abandoned space. It aims to transform the site while respecting its boundaries and conceiving new uses for the building. The project aims to create an environment where the residents and users feel like they belong here and play an integral role in making the building. Bloomfield is a neighborhood that takes pride in its cultural integrity, in its sense of community and belonging. This proposal is the manifestation of that love and belief. Of togetherness.

This project envisions an organic, additive process to the retrofitting of the current Rec Center through a multi-use program that is designed to adapt to a variety of wants and needs. The design includes a new peace garden where one could visit to collect one’s thoughts in the openness of nature making them forget the concrete jungles they interact with everyday, a new structure that relocates the main entrance and provides space for a residency program to facilitate the integration of the community and smooth functioning of this site.

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Vignettes

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Preliminary Site Section

Vignette

Vignette from Roof

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Site and Building Section

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Site Plan

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RE _ FLOW J O NAT H A N C HE NG P M

The project aims to fulfill the potential of the existing Bloomfield Recreation Center by creating a welcoming place that encourages interaction and acts as a focal point of the community. The project keeps the existing Recreation Center structure and adds new “terminals” or circulation spaces that are reminiscent of the Bloomfield alleys, where most neighbors interact and meet each other. The terminals act as circulation spaces to walk through to go from one space to another, but also as a visual portals to view the surroundings from a higher vantage point and creating connection to the existing sports fields and the surroundings, including the Bloomfield Bridge. They lead to a new communal atrium space.

The terminals are positioned along the edge of the existing fields and amenities and serve as a point of exchange. They are elevated to create an open ground fl or, offe ing transparency and flow between the spaces. They introduce shading devices on the site with the potential for power generation. This proposal examines the role of boundaries between spaces and how people react to them. John Wardle Architects’ exhibition of the 2018 Venice Biennale, Somewhere Other, served as a source of inspiration on the perception of boundaries.

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View of Recreation Center and Pool from Ella St.

Vignette at Atrium,

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Night View of Recreation Center and Bloomfield B idge

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Vignettes

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Site Plan

Axonometric

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I N C UBATO R SHA N WAN G

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The design aims to revitalize the Recreation Center and tackle the issues of access and use from both the building and urban level. By slicing and lifting the volume on the northern side of the building, the original gym space is provided with more natural light coming in from the rooftop, with the roof of the new volume transformed into a rooftop garden and viewing platform by day, and movie theater or event venue by night. Further, the increased overall height of the structure connects to the bridge both visually and through programmed activities. Various structures and multiple access points to the builiding were developed to extend the activities into the surrounding environment and bring more people from the community to the Recreation Center.

The proposed structure around the building allows for an exterior walkway that activates the building exterior and provides fluid multi-level circulation. It also serves as fl xible framework for extensions of space on the southern side of the building. The design incorporates a textile layer of adaptability that could offer retractable shading devices, posters or banners. Located on the scaffolding people can personalize these banners thereby creating a visible connection to the neighborhood.

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View of Recreation Center and Pool

View of Recreation Center from Playground

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Diagrams

Axonometric

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Site Plan with Structures

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Acknowledgements I woud like to thank the many people who made this course and publication possible.

Steve Lee, Head and Mary-Lou Arscott, Associate Head of the School of Architecture at Carnegie Mellon University for proposing this course and supporting its development as part of the Advanced Synthesis Option Studio (ASOS) in the Fall 2018 course offerings. Further, my teaching partner Dr. Francesca Torello, Ph.D., Architectural Historian, for her expertise and asssistance selecting the course readings, leading the discussions and collaborating on how to structure the research as well as her participation in the trip to the Biennale. Next, Ray Ryan, Curator of Architecture at Carnegie Museum of Art for his encouragement, knowledge and insight into the Biennale and participation as guest lecturer and final review critic. David Landis, Vice President, Epic Metals Corporation for the generous scholarship offered to qualifying students to help to defray the costs of the trip to the Venice Biennale. Martin Aurand, Principal Architecture Librarian, Hunt Library, for his assistance identifying and acquiring key texts for student research.

Joe Adiutori from the Department of Public Works (DPW) at the City of Pittsburgh for his assistance in acquiring documentation and leading a tour of the existing Bloomfield Recreation Center and Sciullo Memorial Park. Mike Gable, Director of the Department of Public Works for meeting with the students and providing insight into city processes.

Kevin Ford, Sr. Project Manager, Campus Design and Facility Development (CDFD) for his assistance acquiring documentation of campus buildings. Christina Howell, Executive Director of the Bloomfield Development Corporation for sharing her knowledge and insight into the neighborhood and community. Review critics throughout the semester who graciously shared their time and intellect incuding Josh Bard, Kai Gutschow, Erica Cochran Hameen, Stefani Danes, Bruce Chan, Heather Bizon and Leo Hsu. Dave Koltas, Assistant Head of the School of Architecture and Business Manager, Diana Martin, Financial Assistant, and Erica Oman, Academic Advisor, for their support and assistance throughout the semester. Maddi Johnson, course Teaching Assistant, for her tireless help throughout the semester and her considerable contributions to this publication along with Sally Sohn. To Freddie Croce, Principal, inter*ARCHITECTURE, for his technical expertise and assistance in formatting this document. And finally, to all of the students in the course for their creative talents, hard work and dedication.

Jennifer Lucchino, RA Adjunct Associate Professor School of Architecture Carnegie Mellon University

A s t u d i o i n s p i re d b y t h e Ve n i ce B i e n n a l e 1 6 t h I n t e r n a t i o n a l A rc h i t e c t u re E x h i b i t i o n , F R E ES PA C E