On Architecture

seminar requirement

by Irwan Soetikno (2010280241) EPMA, Tsinghua University, School of Architecture 2010-2012

An Architectʼs Discourse on Cultural & Environmental Sustainability: The Case of Asian Cities.

Prof. George Kunihiro, Kokushikan Univeristy, 19th March 2012.

On this lecture of his discourse on cultural and environmental sustainability, George shared his life experience, architectural practice, and current role as an ʻarchitect activistʼ who is appointed as the president of Archasia. As the prominent body of Architects Regional Council of Asia, Arcasia, represent the community of National Institute of Asia region with objective to foster friendly, intellectual, artistic, educational, and scientific ties.

George grew up and educated in different cultural background with different polarity of communal Japanese society and individual American urban environment. He was trained as an architect in UC Berkeley and Harvard GSD. This cultural diversity and education background of prominent universities has become one of several key influence in his ʻpersonal discourseʼ on cultural and environment sustainability in Asia.

During his architectural training in UC Berkeley, George was involved in student body which initiated a community redevelopment. One of their action was implemented into a Japan Town Redevelopment in 1973 in California, which was aiming to preserve and revitalize the elderly community. Following his graduation from Harvard GSD in 1976, he join several notable firm in US, and later has his own practice in LA and New York, before finally decided to return to Asia and set up his practice in Tokyo in 1997.

Returning to Japan, George was influenced by the tension of two cultural perspective, of the West and the East. This dichotomy will later influence his many projects in Japan and can be traced by several value of: Visual - Spatial, Spirit - Attitude, Action - Thought.

From his personal projects showcase, there are several works which represent his unique approach being influence by western thinking and Japanese attitude. In Villa Rosa, Nagano, Japan, George built his house project in a cube form with weak volumetric expression. Painted in plain white, the surface of the volume reflect its environment: lush green in summer, and white in winter. This work represent the dichotomy of space and form. Traditional Japanese architecture reflects a ʻweakʼ expression of form while put more attention of the spatial quality with relationship of man and nature is carefully maintained and balanced. On the other hand, the Western 2

conception of building is based on man as the center who assert his control to his environment through ʻarchitectural formʼ which often act as an isolated object to its environment.

In other project, Lotus Flower, Chiba, Japan, George brought another dichotomy to realized the private house owned by a local monk. The site for the project is located within the temple complex and surrounded by community and elementary school.

Taking inspiration from its environment which is signified by different roof type (of pitch roof temple and plane concrete roof at the surrounding houses), George decided to create a unique and distinctive roof form to identified his building uniqueness from its environment.

In ʻurban horizonʼ theme project, for a private house in Tokyo, George attempt to express his personal attitude towards the complexity and chaotic urban environment by introducing the traditional value of ʻnon-existenceʼ into architectural language. The building was painted black as an expression to ʻignoreʼ its environment. And series of traditional Japanese idea of borrowed scenery is applied in the spatial design. As the result the project ʻstand outʼ architecturally within its environment, while creating a seamless open interior which was connected to its open nature.

As the conclusion, in developing our local Asian community which has rich cultural diversity and global challenge, itʼs important to maintain oneʼs cultural value. The rich cultural diversity as George experience in his early training as an architect has brought a unique design approach which created a distinct outcome, as an expression of cultural dichotomy of East and West.

Lotus Flower (left) and Enomoto Residence (right) / www.eg.kokushikan.ac.jp

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The City is not A Building: A Western Viewpoint on Asian Cities/ The Theory of the Third Ecology Prof. Alexander Tzonis, TU Delft, 27th February 2012 & 5th March 2012

This two lectures are part of lecture series on Asian cities and community. On his two lectures Prof. Tzonis presented his theory of regionalism, which is recently published as ʻArchitecture of Regionalism in the Age of Globalization; Peaks and Valleys in the Flat Worldʼ.

Historical evolution of regionalism evolved from fundamental level which was related to human biology. From historian point of view, the notion of region derived from conception of food, of which mother earth feed us and told us to like it.

During the development of modern architecture in China, there were many attempt to bring back the ʻcultural identityʼ into the modern city, through the attachment of symbolic traditional form or ornamentation which built certain association to the regional characteristic. However, this attempt to simply creating an association does not bring a ʻrecoveryʼ of regionalism, as this process does not completely represent the core knowledge of regional architecture / traditional cultural system. Beijing West Train Station is a sample of architectural form which attempt to bring association to Chinese architectural tradition by creating a symbolic roof pagoda at the top of the building.

City Hall, Kagawa Perfecture, Japan by Kenzo Tange (left). Beijing West Train Station.

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To build the architecture which represent regionalism, we should understand the basic knowledge of built & construction principle of local tradition / region, and able to comprehend its organization of space. As elucidated by Tzonis, Kenzo Tange work of City Hall at Kagawa Perfecture is a solid example of regionalism piece of architecture which attempt to bring back the local architecture characteristic and meaning in its built form, space and environment. As one of the most significant architects of the 20th century, who able to combine the traditional Japanese style with modernism, Kenzo Tange brought an expression of Daibutsu style seen at the Todai-ji in nara, into his City Hall. The columns on the elevation bore only vertical loads so Tange was able to design them to be thin, maximising the surfaces for glazing. Although the hall has been called one of his finest projects, it drew criticism at the time of its construction for relying too heavily on tradition.

However in response to the question of recovery, I personally doubt on how far can contemporary practice confront the changing society by insinuating the traditional/ regional identity in the globalized world which share similar ideology: democratic-ism and capitalism?

As we understand that critical regionalism acts as a descriptive or critical theory and not a prescriptive theory which give a certain guideline to the practice. Therefore looking from contemporary practice point of view, there is big gap on how to bring this idea to penetrate the modern city/ urban environment, and market place (particularly in China) which has been widely influence by globalized value of democratic-ism and capitalism.

Traditionally, regional architectures were breed based on two distinct value: of particular religion/belief and of ideology, which made them unique representation of the region.

Religion and belief, for example, has influence the architectural process and creation of church, temple, etc. Traditionally, local religion and belief were capable to become a singular primary value to direct the organization and conception of architecture form to accommodate the function related to those religion and belief. In this context, in the past, we could find many unique local building which are representation of that particular region religion and belief. Similar to religion / belief, ideology is another fundamental value which give a direct influence to the production of regional architecture. Forbidden City in Beijing, for instance, is an architectural artifact of China imperialism period, which is not sitting in a new era of capitalism and democratic-ism.

Therefore, in the context of Chinese modern city and society, how can we precisely bring the traditional/regional value and its conceptual system which capable to bring ʻrecovery of regionalismʼ ? The phenomenon of development in Chinaʼs metropolis which is characterized by large scale modern buildings which does not characterized the ʻregional identityʼ are in fact cater to the new societyʼs ideology and belief changes which is based on capitalism and democratic-ism (a major shift of traditional confucian philosophy and China imperialism).

The new iconic building in the Beijing urban landscape has signified a new paradigm shift and social changes. CCTV headquarters by OMA for instance, is a new social 5

needs which does not exist in the traditional society. Itʼ a symbol of liberation of public opinion and media n China, a new expression of democratic-ism, which is shared by globalized world. And, thus, how could we create such a new building/icon, by at the same time try to embedded the traditional / regional value, which previously did not exist?

Opera house and parliament building is another example of ʻnew functionʼ which does not exist in the traditional society, before the influence of globalization. Opera house is a new architectural form in China, which represent the cultural and society function, of public gathering and communal activities, did not exist previously in the imperial Chinaʼs period. And therefore, there is no significant traditional / regional value which can be attribute to this new modern architecture.

Our modern city, has been driven and organized by economic purposes, as the result of the globalized value, of capitalism. The proliferation of shopping mall and commercial buildings are among the new manifestation of buildings which is dictated by economic purpose and profit. And to bring the regional character into this new form of architecture which is spread to Chineseʼs cities by the mechanism of globalization, we are faced by a serious question of how to deal with it? How do we interpret the regional/ traditional conceptual system of the old society, into a new changing society which is organized by a new ideology / principle?

In the overall final conclusion, Prof. Tzonis took Gehryʼs Bilbao Effect as the phenomenon of building which deliver the recovery process to the city, its economic and societyʼs development. The building which is unique in its architectural expression and form, capable to bring an identity to the small city, and put it into the global stage.

In the context of critical regionalism, we are faced to the question of how to build our architecture, urban and city which is sufficient with the environment, which is capable to bring impact and control to the overall interaction of physical and social environment.

And one of the influential effort has been done by the Prof. Wu Liangyong, with his theory of human settlement, and which had been implemented into the revitalization of Juʼer Hutong in Beijing, China.

JuʼEr Hutong by Wu Liangyong

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Parametric Design Workshop Non Linear Architecture & Parametric Design Tsinghua Architecture Summer School, 23rd - 31st July 2011

The Parametric Design Workshop is hosted by Tsinghua University and sponsored by Gehry Technologies Asia. The program is open to public. The lectures and training was performed by lecturer from diverse architectural schools such as AA, Sci-Arc, and USC, also by professional from well known practice such as Zaha Hadid Architect and Gehry.

The nine days workshop was participated by hundreds of students and professional divided into four main studio; Rhino scripting, Grasshopper scripting, Processing, and advance design. I participated in Rhino introduction class and Grasshopper scripting.

The workshop also elaborated the theoretical knowledge and historical development of the parametric design through the lecture series. There are several key ideas which are personally inspiring and new to me. Those are Non Linear Architecture, Swarm Intelligence, and Genetic Algorithm.

Swarm intelligence (SI) is the collective behavior of decentralized, self-organized systems, natural or artificial. This phenomena can be seen in the flying flock of bird. The birds flying in the group without having a collision among each member. This was then analyzed as a result of the behavior developed by each birds which maintain certain distance to one and another and move at a certain speed toward a certain direction.

The idea of swarm intelligence is developed into computer algorithm and employed in the work of artificial intelligence. In architecture alone, this idea has been newly established and incorporated into parametric design.

Genetic algorithm (GA) is a search heuristic that mimics the process of natural evolution. This heuristic is routinely used to generate useful solutions to optimization and search problems. In design, GA is employed through computer programming (scripting) to produce a series of form which could be further processed as architecture.

One of the contemporary practitioner of GA who also an artist and philosopher, Manuel De Landa, linked the application of computation and GA from the philosophy of Gilles de Leuze, materialism.

During the grasshopper scripting studio, the student were directed to investigate methods of generative design by deploying an approach of basic physics and structure making. Using grasshopper with third party add-ons, the studio aim to develop forms based on basic piling, self-organization, and different dynamics and forces.

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Study model of open space.

The exercise project is situated in Beijing. As one of the world始s largest metropolitan area, Beijing始s super-sized magnificence is a sight for sore eye. As impressive and ceremonial it looks, the impracticality living in this spectacle becoming more and more evident during recent years. As China is preparing to embrace its urban billion within next 15 years, rising middle class is challenging Beijing with its hunger of individual mobility. On the other hand, the ambition of achieving grandeur in the world始s economically strongest country has put the human-scale urban experience such into an off-balance, the surgical operations of infrastructure to regulate the above mentioned mobility is not really helping to stabilize and thrive city始s livability any longer.

My design solution to this problematic issue is by creating an open space with specific topography, form and design element generated by natural forces such as wind, sunlight and shadow, and rain. This natural forces are then simulated by kangaroo (an add-ons which simulate forces). The end result is expected to be a dynamic landscape form as shown by my study model.

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Pedagogical Practice, Practical Pedagogies Nader Tehrani, 30th May 2011 Nader Tehrani is Principal and Founder of Office dA,Inc., a practice dedicated to the advancement of design innovation, interdisciplinary collaboration, and an intensive dialogue with the construction industry. In 2011 he replaced the Chinese architect Chang Yung Ho as a head of the department of Architecture at MIT SA+P. In his lecture series at Tsinghua, Nader shared his office projects which evolve through a series of research, experimentation and speculation, within the corridor of ʻPedagogical Practiceʼ and ʻPractical Pedagogiesʼ.

Nader highlighted the phenomena of global practices which dealing with the figurative and nonfigurative architecture. The term ʻfigurative architectureʼ was coined by Paolo Portoghesi in the late 1970s to describe architectural design from the 1970s, influenced

by Graves, Rossi, and others, in which attempts were made to restore the obscured

Residential project of Office dA

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meaning of types found in traditional architecture, as in walls, columns, door-cases, pediments, etc., after the jettisoning of so much by the Modern Movement. It was regarded as part of Post-Modernism.

The Bilbao Guggenheim museum by Gehry is an obvious liberation of figurative architecture in the contemporary practices. Moving toward different direction from Gehry始s works, Nader始s practices also dealing with the experimentation in the territory of Non-figurative architecture. With the synthesis approach, the office started their experimentation with the material process. Material is not only a constructive element of the building, but also has potential as structural element and spatial quality. Some of the project successfully applying the principle of material (brick) which is through a certain laying system able to generate a surface with structural integrity. Therefore the outcome of their project is derived from material process which produces a specific form with structural expression and unique spatial arrangement as a result of the process.

The idea of figurative and non figurative architecture can be shown through an analogy of bird nest and bowl. Both of the object has similar spherical form which act as a container. However bird nest is constituted of singular material (wooden stick) in a composition which allows the tension among material and the process of material is expressed in the final outcome. Different from bird nest, a bowl is created from material aggregation which result the hidden characteristic of the material and the figure of smooth bowl appears as the main outcome instead. This two different process creates an enormous wide spectrum in the contemporary architectural practices.

The practice of Nader始s Office dA explore the cutting edge technology and material behaviour in order to archive this aim. The exploration of material surface as a structural element comes from several simple mechanism such as, bending and folding (aluminum sheet) , and layering (or brick).

Although some of the experimentation and speculation has successfully executed into built project, apparently this method is limited to certain clients and project due to its cost and effectiveness. The outcome of this experimentation is moving toward one extreme polarity of architectural practices which engage into material and building technology though synthesis process. However its unique customized component is costly and compare to the performance it produce (in term of function, sustainability and spatial quality), it is still a big question, how far this pedagogical practice can influence the contemporary practice? And how long can it sustain to be relevant, given the condition of world economic turmoil and building sustainability agenda in the 21st century?

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Implicate & Explicate Seminar on the 2010 Aga Khan Award for Architecture 1st April 2011 The Aga Khan award for architecture seeks to identify and encourage building concepts that successfully address the needs and aspirations of societies across the world, in which Muslims have a significant presence. The award is given every three years to projects that set new standards of excellence in architecture, planning practices, historic preservation and landscape architecture. The Aga Khan Award for Architecture is part of the Aga Khan Trust for Culture, which has a wide range of activities aimed at the preservation and promotion of the material and spiritual heritage of Muslim societies. On the 2010 cycle, first prize award is given to the bridge school project located in Xiashi, Fujian Province, China designed by Li Xiaodong (Atelier).

The seminar was held in Main Presentation Room of School of Architecture, Tsinghua University, with main panelists consist of Farrokh Derakhshani, Fuad Mallick, George Kunihiro (president of Archasia), Li Xiaodong (Award winner), Kevin Mark Low (architect, small projects), Zhang Li (educator and practitioner) and was moderated by Laurence Liauw (educator and practitioner).

The Bridge School

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The issue on globalization and regionalism was discussed in the seminar. It was to highlighted the concrete issue of how through the Aga Khan awards, the regional architecture especially in asian community could be developed and impacted the society in local and global scale. The selection process emphasizes architecture that not only provides for people's physical, social and economic needs, but that also stimulates and responds to their cultural expectations. Particular attention is given to building schemes that use local resources and appropriate technology in innovative ways, and to projects likely to inspire similar efforts elsewhere.

The Bridge School project which won the award is the obvious example of architecture presence in the historical context which give a contribution to local residents and improve their social activities and life. The “Bridge School� bridges the two parts of the small village of Xiashi that lie on either side of a small creek that runs through the village. The structure is created by two steel trusses that span the creek with the space between them housing the functions of the school. Suspended from the structure and running below it is a pedestrian bridge for the people of the village to use. Small and modern in design, with no reference to the area’s traditional building style, the school has nonetheless become the physical and spiritual centre of what was a declining village. Placed in such a way that it addresses its surroundings, the Bridge School connects the village together, providing a central, social space. The broader social aspect of the project was part of the brief, which was developed with the school principal and head of the village to answer community needs rather than simply those of a primary school. A public library separates the two classrooms and the ends of each classroom, or the two ends of the school can be opened up, creating open stages at either end of the building that are integrated with the public spaces outside. The stage at the northern end can be used for performances, with the tulou as a backdrop. The result is a project that has successfully invigorated the entire community, encapsulating social sustainability through architectural intervention.

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Practice and Theory in Green Building Design Prof.Thomas Herzog, TU Munich, 24th February 2011

On the lecture of Practice and Theory in Green Building Design, Prof. Thomas Herzog, as one of the leading architect in green building design shared his personal projects and its approach in addressing green and sustainability issue. He also highlighted the misconception of green building design and sustainability which currently evolve as a ʻfashionʼ which is widely discussed and promoted in contemporary architecture practice without fundamental understanding of its implication.

The basic of green building design comes from the understanding of building science; the aspect of thermal comfort, environment, material, and energy. In sample of his projects, Prof. Herzog showed several of his house design where the building skin and its material was specialized design to meet the comfort and optimization of building performance in different seasons.

The propagation of green building design and sustainability can be traced back from industrial revolution and energy crisis and global warming issue in the 20th century.

After two decades since the industrial revolution where human gain the ‘peak’ of its civilization marked by creative innovation and invention in science and technology which improve the way of life and capability to overcome and survive the nature by exploitation of natural resources and energy, finally we arrive at the crisis as those resources are running out, our environmental quality is declining while human population is rapidly growing.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the crisis on our environmental condition become more serious as the evident of climate change increasingly appeared. As the response to this issue, general public and world organization and institution started to initiate a series of international summit meetings, with aim to approach architecture and urbanism, which more respect natural environment.

The first international meeting was the United Nation’s Rio Earth Summit in 1990s, which alerted the general public to the consequences of man’s pillage of natural resources, the increasing concern on global warming and the rapid & spectacular destruction of our ecosystem. The agreements reached at this level have been translated into numerous measures affecting industry, transport, energy use and waste management. These measures also aimed at encouraging people in industrialized nation to conserve resources with potential consequences for the way they live.

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The cause of global warming is essentially can be traced back to the greenhouse effect. According to the report produced by a French government commission on the greenhouse effect, the Mies, the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2), which accounts for around 60% of the greenhouse effect, has increased by 30% in 1750. This date marking the beginning of the industrial age, serve as a reference point for study of changes in atmospheric composition due to human’s activities. Until then, the composition of the atmosphere was fairly stable on a planetary scale, as shown by data obtained from the ‘glacial archive’, the tiny quantities of the trapped gases detectable in cores taken from the polar ice in Greenland and the Antarctic.

The principles of the Rio declaration are connected with the formulation of a development plan for the 21st century, known as Agenda 21. These recommendations are an integrated, creative approach so as to ensure sustainable development.

In 1996, following the Rio summit, the Kyoto Summit was held to achieve more concrete measure. Under the Kyoto protocol, participating nations pledged to bring average greenhouse gas emissions over the period 2008 to 2012 back to 1990 levels.

To keep this agreement, the industrialized countries need to make progress in three areas; reduction in energy consumption; replacement of energy from fossil reserves by energy from renewable sources; carbon storing.

Responding to the global movement on sustainability, Prof. Herzog in Europe initiated a ʻSolar Charterʼ meeting with several prominent European Architect included Norman Foster, Renzo Piano, Richard Rogers, and Michael Hopkins. This charter is published as European Charter for Solar Energy in Architecture and Urban Planning, which is also envision to develop as world charter, to promote the awareness in sustainability and green building design.

Two family house in Pullach / www.herzog-und-partner.de 14

The Child, The City and The Power of Play Prof.Dr.Liane Lefaivre, 26th October 2010 The Child, The City and The Power of Play is the tittle of publication by Liane Lefaivre, as the first in a series of lectures given by distinguished guest lectures within the EPMA at the School of Architecture, Tsinghua University. The aim of this publication is to make lectures accessible to students in other universities.

Liane Lefaivre is Professor and Chair of Architectural History and Theory at the University of Applied Art in Vienna. In this publication Liane focus on research of postwar Amsterdam playgrounds which was initiated by Dutch urban planner Jacoba Mulder, designed by Dutch architect Aldo van Eyck and later turned into public policy by the cityʼs Director of Public Works, Cornelius van Eesteren in post World War ll.

After second World War, in 1947 there were about twenty nine playgrounds in Amsterdam. By 1970 the number increased to around one thousand playgrounds. Built up over the period of just over 20 years, the postwar playgrounds in Amsterdam rcorded a remarkable success story. From this precedent, Liane try to show how beneficial the existence of playground and the enhancement of quality of life in our contemporary cities.

The development and success of playground in the city is very much related to the planning policy and strategy as the author explained in the Ground-up versus Top-down.

World War ll split the leading architect-urbanists of their time into two opposing camps.

One side, the self-appointed avant-garde, imposed its vision on the city in an authoritarian, almost dictatorial ʻtop downʼ way in their program so called ʻmaster planʼ.

Le Corbusierʼs Plan Voisin of 1925 and Cite Radieuse of 1935 were two of the example.

Children's playgrounds became a topic of great interest to the architectural profession immediately following the Wolrd War ll. It grew, at least partly, out of what might be termed the postwar phenomenon of ʻchild empowermentʼ caused by the post war Baby Boom. The new attitude toward childhood spread rapidly in the social sciences. Children also become an important focus in the art. In cinema, the theme of childhood become the subject of in depth studies. In painting, Childʼs art became an object of imitation in the major artists of the immediate postwar period. This can be seen through the work of Jean Dubuffet, Juan Miro, and Jackson Pollock.

Playground has become important part of great architects' design. Some of the greatest architects and artists channelled their creativity to the design of playgrounds. Luis Barragan had already designed a playground in 1934 for the Parque de la Revolucion in Guadalajara, Mexico. Pierre Jeanneret designed one for the housing for the civil 15

servants around Chandigarh in 1950s and later followed by striking work at the open roof terrace on the Unite d始Habitation, to accommodate the young families occupying the building始s 337 flats. It was arranged as a playground for children with paddling pool, an outdoor stage, a sports area and gymnasium with kindergarten and day care center.

Through the functional integration of the whole, a real community center emerged, which linked not only the children of the Unite, but also with the grown ups in the sports, play and special occasion.

From all the series of historical playground developed in the postwar Amsterdam, depicted in this publication, we could understood that the principle of playground development was through 驶people power驶 participatory process involving the citizen and Public Works Department of Amsterdam. Those playground was placed on a piece of land specifically suitable for that purpose and inserted in interstices within the living urban fabric. Although they were designed as individual units, because of their quantity, they ended by creating a kind of second city made up of a distributed, poly centered network of playgrounds.

Finally this new approach of to the playgrounds; participatory, interstitial ad polycentered, is not just revolutionary in the design of playgrounds but in the design of public space in general.

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Clouds Wolf D. Prix, 17th October 2010 Wolf Prix is one of the founding partner of Coop Himmelblau, which gained international acclaim alongside Peter Eisenman, Zaha Hadid, Frank Gehry with their 1988 exhibition, “Deconstructivist Achitecture” at the museum of Modern Art. They work ranges from commercial buildings to residential projects.

The pracrice of Coop Himmelblau is primarily located in Vienna, Austria and which now also mantains offices in Los Angeles, US and Guadalajara, Mexico. In German, “coop” has a similar meaning to the english “co-op”.”Himmel” means sky or heaven in German, and “blau” means “building”. So, the name Coop Himmelblau can be interpreted as “Blue Haven Cooperative” or “Sky Building Cooperative”.

In his lecture the ʻcloudsʼ, Wolf Prix showcase his designs works which are considered as one of the prominent contemporary architectural design. The form of cloud is a representation of their form and spatial creation which is fluid, dynamic, and established beyond the traditional cartesian-grid system. Their projects also involve a high technology application in the structural system and material construction. And through the series of his showcase projects, we can notice the characteristic of his spatial quality as very dynamic with massive scale of interior with elegant shiny bright material and cladding, interconnected circulation system which create a three dimensional noncartesian matrix, and flying bridge in the middle of the void of lobby appears as a iconic element in most of his showcase.

Gasometer B, apartment building by Wolf prix.

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One of Wolf Prix early notable work was the remodelling and revitalization of The Gasometer in Vienne. The four former gas tank, each of 90,000 m³ storage capacity, built as part of the Vienna municipal gas works Gaswerk Simmering in 1896-1899. They were used from 1899 to 1984 as gas storage tanks. After the changeover from town gas to natural gas between 1969-1978, they were no longer used and were shut down. Only the brick exterior front walls were preserved. The structures have found a new use in modern times.

In 1995 Viena undertook a remodelling and revitalization of the protected monuments and called for ideas for the new use of the structures. The design by Jean Nouvel, Coop Himmelblau, Manfred Wehdorn, and Wilhelm Holzbauer were completed between 1999 and 2001. Each gasometer was divided into several zones for living (apartments in the top), working (offices in the middle floors) and entertainment and shopping (shopping malls in the ground floors). The shopping mall levels in each gasometer are connected to the others by skybridges. The historic exterior wall was conserved.

Other than Gasometer, some of the Coophimmelblau notable projects which defines the distinct characteristic of their practices are The European Central Bank in Frankfurt (Under construction); Musée des Confluences, Lyon, France (Under construction);Hotel - 55th Street & 8th Avenue, New York City (proposed); Akron Art Museum addition (2007); High School for the Visual and Performing Arts with HMC Architects (Los Angeles Area High School #9, California, USA) (2002–2008);BMW World (BMW Welt) Munich, Germany (2001–2007); Groninger Museum, Groningen (city), Netherlands (1993–1994); Academy of Fine Arts Munich (1992/2002-2005).

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Mass Studies Projects Minsuk Cho, Mass Studies, 19th September 2010

On this lecture, Minsuk Cho, the principle of Mass Studies shared his personal architectural research during his training in Columbia University and later influenced his overall architectural practice. As one of the leading contemporary architecture practice in Korea, Mass Studies has emerged as young international practice with various scale of projects executed in different regions.

Mass Studies was founded in 2003 by Minsuk Cho in Seoul, Korea, as a critical investigation of architecture in the context of mass production, intensely over-populated urban conditions, and other emergent cultural niches that define contemporary society.

Amid the many frictions defining spatial conditions in the twenty-first century, namely past vs. future, local vs. global, utopia vs. reality, and individual vs. collective, Mass Studies focuses on the operative complexity of these multiple conditions instead of striving for a singular, unified perspective. For each architectural project, which exist across a wide range of scales, Mass Studies explores issues such as spatial systems/ matrices, building materials/techniques, and typological divergences to foster a vision that allows the discovery of new socio/cultural potential.

As the principle, Minsuk Cho was born in Seoul and graduated from the Architectural Engineering Department of Yonsei University (Seoul, Korea) and the Graduate School of Architecture at Columbia University (New York, USA). He began his professional career working for Kolatan/MacDonald Studio, and Polshek and Partners in New York, and later moved to the Netherlands to work for OMA. Through these jobs, he gained experience in a wide range of architectural and urban projects implemented in various locations. With partner James Slade, he established Cho Slade Architecture in 1998 in New York City to be engaged in various projects both in the U.S. and Korea. In 2003, he came back to Korea to open his own firm, Mass Studies.

Minsuk Cho has received many awards, including first prize in the 1994 Shinkenchiku International Residential Architecture Competition, the Architectural League of New York's "Young Architects Award" in 2000 for his work at Cho Slade Architecture, and two U.S. Progressive Architecture Awards (Citations) in 1999 and 2003. Boutique Monaco was named a finalist for the International Highrise Award (DAM) in 2008 and nominated again for S-trenue in 2010. Recently, the Korea Pavilion was awarded the Silver Medal

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by the B.I.E. in the category of Architectural Design for the World Expo 2010 Shanghai, as well as a Presidential Citation from Korea.

His work was exhibited at La Biennale di Venezia for Dalki Theme Park in 2004, and for Different but Same Houses in 2010. He was also a part of the Open House travelling exhibition from 2006 to 2008, the New Trends of Architecture in Europe and Asia Pacific 2006–2007 traveling exhibit, and has been an active lecturer and participant in symposiums worldwide.

His representative works include "Pixel House," "Dalki Theme Park," "Nature Poem," "Boutique Monaco," "Seoul Commune 2026," "S-Trenue," "Ann Demeulemeester Shop," “Ring Dome,” "Xi Gallery," and "World Expo 2010 Shanghai: Korea Pavilion."

As the young generation of Korean Architect, Minsuk Cho and his projects do not deliberately represent any ‘cultural identity’ or regionalism issue, as often discusses in China and other Asian region. On the contrary, most of Mass Studies work employed new technology and materiality to shape a new dynamic form and expression through a rational design process as influenced by his previous office OMA.

Korean Pavilion at World Expo 2010 Shanghai

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