ARCH30001 Studio Delta Weekly Journal

PROJECT 4: THE JOURNAL AND THE EXPANDED FIELD

STUDIODELTA Girvan Christian Tenggono 917833 Tutor: Audrey Shaw

Contents 004

01. Zumthor’s Haldenstein Studio

006

02. Walden

008

03. The Church of Light

010

04. Exeter Library

012

05. Book Mountain

014

06. Seattle Central Library

016

07. Site Analysis

018

08. John Wardle: Lecture precedence

020

09. Storing Books: Tram stop library

022

10. One to Ten: The books and its users

025 Bibliography

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01. Zumthor’s Haldenstein Studio Peter Zumthor is a believer of presence in architecture. The Pritzker awarded architect put heavy emphasis on the senses. From tactility, acoustic, movement down to the smell and experience of the space. In addition, he created structures that converses with the landscape and arranged the landscape to do the otherwise.

The structure that will be analyzed is his home studio located in the city of Haldenstein, Switzerland; where he spent most of his time. The building is created with much care regarding the local culture. Contemporary minimal structures, yet sits harmoniously with the vernacular housings in its area.

Zumthor’s very respectful use with the materials comes at play at the volumes. From the use of wood on the studio and family house that generates the feeling of warmth and the use of concrete on the studio extension that is heavy yet does not feel cold sitting on the landscape.

The small site is made to feel big. By creating interiors that are well lit, very connected to the exterior and the light finish in contrary to the dark monotone exterior.

The volumes are a collage of programmes, with a living room that has a personal studio on it, family rooms on the ground floor and night area on top of it and a public volume and the work area. The programmes, despite being additional, are well composed and blends the public to the private instead of splitting them apart.

Fig. 1 Movement and Sensation

Peter Zumthor Haldenstein, GraubĂźnden, Switzerland 1986, 2005

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02. Walden “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.�

- Henry David Thoreau, Walden Thoreau’s fondness for minimalism is reflected through his philosophical writing during his 2 years spent living in seclusion at the Walden Pond, near Concord, Massachusetts.

The series of essays compiled into a journal offers practical advices on living without complication through self reliance, an ideal where one must live life with combining abstract philosophy and practical advice.

Thoreau used nature as the backdrop that ties his life together. A never ending wisdom and beauty that is open to all and free from excess. A model for his practice of simplicity and independence.

Through stripping away the unecessaries and living deliberately Thoreau explored the human core identity. For Thoreau, the conditions that favored human fulfillment were quiet concentration, simple labor, and a life attentive to the lessons of nature.

Fig. 2. Minimalist in Nature

Henry David Thoreau United States 1854

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03. The Church of Light You were walking in the busy city of Ibaraki.

You found a structure tucked within the greeneries, its spaces enclosed with concrete shell. The structure forgets the secular, inviting the spiritual to enter.

You enter, turning at an angle. Pleasantly surprised as you enter to an unadorned space, barren from ornaments. You stop at a parallel from the cross opening. The only point of interest The dark space invites you to worship. The void let light pours into the opening, illuminating against the concrete changes the perception. Dark turns into light, whereas light turns into space.

The complex and abstract nature of the spirituality is explored through the creation of the Church of Light, an architecture of duality. Ideas made real through the use of simplistic material and turning them into immaterial.

Fig. 3. Light and Space Fig. 4. Church of Light plan

Tadao Ando Ibaraki, Osaka, Japan 1989

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04. Exeter Library The commission was to design a brick exterior library to match the Georgian buildings of the school and an interior with the ideal environment for study.

A warm spatial experience is given for the users through the use of natural wood, as light is reflected from the natural light that enters through the clerestory the timber glows contrasting the solid concrete.

Relationship between reference area, circulation desk and book stacks is emphasised and apparent once the users reach the upper floor. Kahn wanted the users to easily understand the plan of the building upon entrance; in addition to the square plan of the building.

The service desk is put on first floor instead of the ground floor. Priority is put on service as the librarians are closer to the book-stacks and the readers.

From analysis it can be seen that the structure resonates the older library typology, where the structure is designed to cater a single programme: lending book. This aspect might need to be future proofed for the digital era.

Fig. 5. Form and Function Fig. 6. Exeter library plan

Louis Kahn New Hampshire, USA 1972

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05. Book Mountain The book mountain is a space that houses a diverse mix of programme. In addition to having a library, the building houses an environmental education centre, auditorium, commercial offices to retail space. The programme are split by putting the commercial functions on the podium, and putting the library on top; giving visibility and a grand gesture.

Having the users greeted by commercial functions made the users re-evaluate their idea of what a library is and can be.

The structure is made with monumental scale and glass facade to attract users from the community with 10% literacy rate. To address the mix use nature of the space, the library used bricks as a gesture to inform the users that they are standing on public ground (similar to the historical context to the surrounding).

Although having similar main idea to the Exeter library, which put heavy emphasis on the clarity of the spaces inside to create understanding of space; the Book Mountain is very extroverted and public. The gesture of creating transparency was done to reach a wider audience. Furthermore, by having a diverse mixed programmes, the importance of orchestrating the programmes together for the users is accentuated.

Fig. 7. The duality of programme and extroversion Fig. 8. Book Mountain diagram (MVRDV)

MVRDV Spijkenisse, Netherlands 2012

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STABLE

ROOF TERRACE HEADQUARTERS READING ROOM BOOKS MIXED AREA MEETING ROOMS LIVING ROOM STAFF PUBLIC PARKING

UNSTABLE

06. Seattle Central Library The Seattle Central Library is designed to create a structure that addresses the changing use of the library. On one side, the need for traditional library is diminishing due to the digitisation of media. On the other side, cities are in need of a civic space for sharing and storing physical media.

The building addresses this by combing through the programmes and medias that a library offers and creating a logic to consolidate the programmatic clusters. The clusters are then arranged in accordance to the hierarchical and spatial relationship.

Then, “unstable” programmed floors are inserted in-between the “stable” programmed floors. Unstable floors are areas where the function’s evolution is still unpredictable and adaptable.

The floors are then designed each to have unique size, circulation, material palette. Then the jagged floors are covered with a skin.

To house the ever growing book inventory, OMA creates a spiraling floor. Where a spiraling ramp for the books runs for floors where the collection for the books can expand or contract accordingly.

Fig. 9. Programming, Spiraling library and Enclosure

OMA Seattle, USA 2004

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1000

1x10^4

500

10.000

L

0

6

12

18

0

2x10^3

L

2.000

2x10^2 200

L 2x10^1 20

1x10^0 1

07. Site Analysis The site is located on the middle of Chinatown, on the 124 - 140 Little Bourke Street, Melbourne.

The site can be reached on foot with indirect connection to the bus, tram and train lines. Little Bourke Street running from the East to West is crowded and overcrowds on Lunch and Dinner time, whereas Corrs Lane running from the North to South on the West side of the building is substantially narrow and underused relative to the other lanes in the city. The narrow street with high pedestrian movement forces users to walk on the car lane.

The site is overshadowed by surrounding structures which are predominantly commercial (eateries and shops). From site visit, moments of stopping are only found on the Chinatown Plaza and the current parking lot where the site is; the edges are appropriated for seating. The Chinatown area overall is lacking the much needed green space. The surroundings has predominantly hard surfaces: Bricks, concrete, and bluestone.

Fig. 10. Mapping the site on different scales

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08. John Wardle: Lecture precedence An Excerpt from the note taken during the lecture: The transition between the private and the public can be achieved in several ways Landscape: Jane Foss Russel Building • ­The library is a part of a reconnection between two divided universities • The library is designed over a large plot of land, overlooking to a garden • An internal landscape of terrace and seatings are made to frame programmes • Privacy is reached by moving inwards into the library Gradient: Jeffrey Smart Building • Multi leveled building • Facade pulled up on first floor to create opening • programme privacy is put on a gradient from bottom to top • Multiple programme: teaching space, administrative office and Library Neighborhood/ pockets: Monash Caulfield Library • A renewal of a brutalist library • openings on all side of the building to respond to the street • Atrium is made for natural sunlight and navigation • Private and public is scattered into “neighbourhood” where privacy can be found in pockets Conc.: Design in accordance to the brief and the site. Multiple approach can be taken to design programmes.

Fig. 11. A sketch from the lecture note

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09. Storing Books: Tram stop libraries The idea is inspired by the Little Library on Melbourne Central, where users can borrow a book and exchange it with a book of their own; storing it at the library. The system relies on the city’s altruism and reading interest, and has proven to work in the city of Melbourne.

By introducing bookcases to the typical tram stop structure where the exterior are enclosed by advertisements, users can take book and read it through their commute, then put it on their final stop or take it home with them, returning it to their closest tram stops. This will result in the constant shuffling of books throughout the city, and help communities untouched by the library to start reading. Commuters waiting for their tram could also read the books to spend time, turning wasted time into productivity.

The informality of the exchange could spark conversation between commuters, bringing interaction much lacking to the urban dwellers.

Fig. 12. The tram stop library, digital collage.

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The circulation area would also act as the openings for the building, connecting the users and the Chinatown. Moreover, movement in the narrow corridor could make entrance to room dramatic, enlarging the sensation of space.

FO RM AL

The bookcase in the proposed library will act as both a partition and a corridor for circulation.

The bookcase will tie together the 2 proposed volumes: the formal and the informal. Users can take books as they circulate the structure and read in any rooms. However, a formal reading room is put on the 3rd and 4th level for users who came to the library to solely read.

IN FO RM AL

10. One to Ten; The books and its users

MOVE

MENT

REST

The bookcase borrows the idea from the precedent studies: The Seattle Central Library and the Book Mountain. The circular way of arranging books is borrowed from the Seattle Central Library, while showcasing the books by making them visible from the outside is inspired by the Book Mountain.

THE CITY 1 : 200

Fig. 13. The books and its users Fig. 14. Building diagramme Fig. 15. Building materiality

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Bibliography OMA, n.d., Concept Diagram, digital drawing, viewed 27 May 2019, <https://www.miesarch.com/ uploads/images/works/1445505858573Concept%20diagram.jpg>.

Thoreau, H. W. (1908). Walden, or, Life in the woods. London: J.M.

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