Colours technology for an innovative Reclamation Architecture

AIC LISBOA 2018

colour & human comfort

Proceedings of the International Colour Association (AIC) Conference 2018

Lisbon, PORTUGAL 25 – 29 September 2018

Sponsored by Associação Portuguesa da Cor (APC) Published by International Colour Association (AIC)

associação portuguesa da cor

This publication includes keynote, oral and poster papers presented in the International Colour Association (AIC) Conference 2018. The theme of the conference was Colour and Human Comfort. The conference, organised by the Associação Portuguesa da Cor (APC), was held in Lisbon, Portugal on 25-29 September 2018. More information in: www.aic2018.org.

© 2018 International Colour Association (AIC) International Colour Association Incorporated PO Box 764 Newtown NSW 2042 Australia www.aic-colour.org All rights reserved.

DISCLAIMER Matters of copyright for all images and text associated with the papers within the Proceedings of the International Colour Association (AIC) 2018 and Book of Abstracts are the responsibility of the authors. The AIC does not accept responsibility for any liabilities arising from the publication of any of the submissions.

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All copies of the individual articles remain the intellectual property of the individual authors and/or their affiliated institutions.

ISSN: 2617-2410 eISSN: 2617-2429

1 Book of Proceedings

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TABLE OF CONTENTS: International Colour Association, AIC

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AIC President’s Message: Tien-Rein Lee

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AIC Past President’s Message: Nick Harkness

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Associação Portuguesa da Cor President’s Message: Margarida Gamito

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AIC LISBOA 2018 Chairs’ Preface: Margarida Gamito and Maria João Durão

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AIC LISBOA 2018 Committees

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Keynotes Speakers

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Interim Meeting Topics and Themes

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Oral papers and Posters by Topics and alphabetic order

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Keynotes Speakers

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Colour in the Built Environment

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Colorimetry

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Colour in Arts and Design

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Colour and Lighting

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Colour and Culture

457

Colour and Health

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Colour and Physiology

683

Colour and Psychology

725

Digital Colour

797

Colour and Landscape

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Index of Names

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Organizers, Collaborators and Sponsors

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Colours technology for an innovative Reclamation Architecture Katia Gasparini*and Alessandro Premierb a

Iuav University of Venice, Venice, Italy The University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand * Corresponding author: katia.gasparini@iuav.it b

ABSTRACT Within the broad area of landscape design and enhancement there is a growing interest in the valorisation of spaces where the reclamation architectures are built. In a recent research has emerged the need of requalification of reclamation buildings and systems: hydraulic supports, pumping stations, water towers, and so on. In many situations, in Italy, these hydraulic constructions are situated in a natural context, but the design is not integrated with the landscape, it has a very bad impact. Then, what is the correct design approach? Is it more important to design colour integration within the natural context on taking a high colour approach increasing the visibility of the artefact, or a low colour impact is preferable? The colour role in this context will be analysed by looking at the relationship between natural landscape colour and the artefact colour in many projects realized in the contemporary European context.

Keywords: colour, landscape, reclamation architecture, environmental quality

INTRODUCTION In the last century, the landscape reclamation of Po Valley (Italy) has been very important in terms of economic and social development of the country. Especially for the expansion of agriculture on the drained areas of the swamps because there were built many drainage systems to ensure public safety from flooding and for public hygiene. Then, at that time there had a great development of innovative reclamation machines to water technology. The operations were conducted with the contribution of Reclamation Consortia who have restored the flooded fields. The Reclamation Consortia of Veneto Region have built a significant amount heritage of hydraulic construction, spread over large areas and which includes systems of considerable complexity, among which in particular the constructions for the pumping stations. In the last few years it has emerged the need of enhancement and requalification of reclamation systems, especially of artefacts built after

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the World War II. Usually, these systems degrade the landscape quality because they are built only as a machine, not with a correct design approach to architecture and landscape quality. Then, what is the correct design solution (colours and materials) for environmental quality? What is the colour design approach in different cultures and geographical areas in Europe? The paper will explain the analysis through a significantly case studies group and define some guidelines for an innovative design in the reclamation architecture of Po Valley.

COLOURS AND MATERIALS OF HISTORICAL RECLAMATION BUILDINGS In this research field, reclamation constructions can be classified into broad categories that identify the plant functions: pumping stations, hydraulic supports, water towers and small artefacts where shall be installed the control panels for hydraulic system, built along the banks of the canals. These categories include the most representative buildings such as the historical or contemporary headquarters and the pumping stations building envelope. The managements of some Reclamation Consortia have observed the great difference between the architectural design of buildings and artefacts built in the Italian country and the same constructions built in other European countries, with innovative design, new technologies and materials. In a special way, this gap is more evident in the buildings built in Italy in the second half of the Twentieth Century. The artefacts built in the first half of the Twentieth Century are characterized by modularity and proportion of the façades: by rhythm, façade texture and the use of materials (size, texture, laying etc.) such as brickwork and stone. The colours of the architecture of reclamation landscape in the early Twentieth Century are the colours of natural materials: red brick, white or pinkish stone, black or grey paint of the mechanical equipment of the plant (the facilities of the first industrial revolution were produced into unique pieces in iron casting). Some interesting examples are the hydraulic station of Cà Vendramin (now Museum of Reclamation Systems) and the plant called “Chiusa di Ceraino” located on the Adige Valley, which is still active.

Looking at the artefacts built in the second half of the Twentieth Century is possible to observe a worsening building design, especially as regards the headquarters and pumping stations buildings. Currently, these artefacts are designed as anonymous building envelopes, without a specific design and identity study: it lacks the design proportions, the architectural design, the integration and dialogue with natural landscape, the cladding design by colours, materials and textures. Usually, the artefacts are built on a rectangular plan, the outer walls are rough plastered or painted with white paint and the roof is pitched and covered with tiles or grey corrugated metal sheets. Also, the external area is used as parking and manoeuvring area, without a design of paths and relaxation areas (seats and other) by a design approach to colour and light technology. They look like warehouses areas.

COLOUR AND TECHNOLOGY OF CONTEMPORARY RECLAMATION BUILDINGS The selected case studies were classified into two types: the artefacts for pumping stations and the "hydraulic supports" (they are hydraulic structures placed over the irrigation canals, similar to little bridges). The research aim was to draw up guidelines for a new design approach to these buildings by colour and light technology culture to improve the environmental quality and the interaction with the surrounding landscape. As a general rule, there is not design approach in this regard.

Hydropower plants and pumping stations that were analysed are distributed largely in Europe, especially in the Nordic countries (Germany, Netherlands), some plant is located in England, Spain, Italy, South Tyrol, a few cases in the United States or in the Eastern countries. This spatial analysis

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showed a different approach to the cladding of the artefacts, to the texture and colours based on latitude and design culture. As a general rule, the envelopes of these artefacts were built almost always by dry building techniques, with steel structures and glass, metal or wooden cladding. In some cases, the walls are made of cast concrete. In this situation, therefore, the colour that identifies the artefact and the place remains light grey with a smooth surface. An interesting example is the Punibach hydroelectric power station by MONOVOLUME Architecture+Design, built in Mals (fig.1). “The power station is conceived as a fracture in the landscape. Harmonically integrated in its surroundings, it suddenly breaks it open and reveals the machines in its interiors, which serve to transform natural powers into useful energy. The concrete slab, rammed into the ground, separates the smooth hilly landscape and the raw building structure made out of natural, earth coloured materials. By night the appearance changes radically. Whilst the landscape disappears in the darkness, the power station glows through the lamellar façade and presents itself as a landmark to the viewers over the road”.

Figure 1: Punibach hydroelectric power station (ph.© MONOVOLUME Architecture+Design).

In the project “Where the water rest” by Nexus! Associates, in Trento (Italy), the artefact communicates with the landscape through a fusion process between natural and built environment, expressing the will to define a new "landscape" through architecture. The extreme simplification of the volume brings up the grey envelope, which represents the link between the interior (water container) and the exterior (nature), between the artefact and the landscape. This connection is achieved through the envelope texture, made with OSB shuttering that creates light / dark plays on grey surface (fig.2).

Figure 2: “Where the water rest” by Nexus! Associates, colour study in different seasons (ph.© Nexus!

Associates).

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On the contrary, the small Hydroelectric Power Station near Winnebach brook in Dörfl (fig.3), “is conceived as an artificial rock quarried out of the slope. This sensation is underlined by a very reduced use of materials (concrete, glass and steel) in their rougher form, as well as by the "veins" which cross the volume. These "veins" consist of light bands of layered glass and run around the building. At some specific points of those light bands a normal single glass delivers insight to the power station's bowels. The main building material is watertight concrete, which was pigmented with white mortar and after treated with hydraulic jet in order to achieve a raw appearance.”

Figure 3: Hydroelectric Power Station, colour study day and night (ph.© MONOVOLUME Architecture + Design).

Thus, in general, when the wet construction technique is linked to contemporary techniques, it is usual to use the material in its natural state, free from cladding and colours, as the concrete panels with different natural textures. This is possible using different shuttering materials: metal, different wooden panels, and so on and/or by painting the internal shuttering surface with film/paint for a natural decorative surface. For example, some types of smart paint are used to realize a chromogenic concrete surface. Anglo-Saxon countries have a different approach to this design field: there is a widespread use of steel frames and clear glass panels. In projects such the London Olympic by John Lyall Architect or in the pumping station of St. Germain (fig.4) the systems are exposed. The building envelope is only a transparent limit in a dialogue with the landscape, without damaging it, visually disappearing during the day between the reflections of the surrounding environment. At night the lighting system highlights the existence of the building and exhibits to the place a symbol of the post-industrial era. In this region it seems that the project is still affected by the influence of the industrial revolution and the modernist movement.

Figure 4: St. German Pumping Station, environmental colour reflection (ph.© A.Piva).

AIC Interim Meeting | 25 – 29 September 2018 | Lisbon, Portugal | www.aic2018.org

Proceedings Book

The Nordic countries, Germany and the Netherlands for the most part, are relying more on the colour of natural or artificial materials and on opaque textures. In this regard, a remarkable intervention is the artefact built in Cologne, the Flood Water Pumping Station designed by Kaspar Kraemer (2008). The building, consisting of a metal grill and glass façade, is illuminated within by a LED system with variable colour according to the water level of the river. When the water level is normal the light is white, when the water is at alert level it turns red. The light is projected on the transparent walls of the building that becomes a landmark on the river, but also a sign of security for the city. Other projects disseminated in Germany and the Netherlands are characterized by metal claddings. In this case, the goal is always to integrate, with different approaches, the building in the natural or man-made context. Sometimes it has been used an aluminium cladding in grey colour or mirror-treated stainless steel in urban centres. In both cases, the colour and surface treatment adapt the building to the grey colours of the city and of the asphalt. The mirrored treatment reverberates the surrounding environment, making the building completely disappear. When the artefact is located within a natural environment, the cladding adapts to it and tries to integrate it visually. Here the colours are the ones of burnished Corten steel, green roofs or wooden slats.

RESULTS AND CONCLUSION From the analysis summarized here emerges a highly innovative approach to new artefacts for the reclamation architecture, in an international context, in which the project and the technology adapt to both new building techniques and new materials and to the consequent problems of management and maintenance of the same and, above all, to the landscape. The water system in Italy seems to have been designed only for itself, it does not interact with its surroundings, there is no attention to the project, just to the functionality of the machine. In the European culture, there is a greater focus and collaboration between the skills involved in the project and greater environmental sensibility. In addition to dry building techniques, materials that are adopted are aimed to integrate the artefact with the environment, imitating its colours, but with contemporary technologies. There remains the problem of the interventions on the existing constructions, to enhance and redevelop those artefacts disseminated in the lowlands and Italian landscapes that have a poor dialogue with the context, and often they disfigure it. In these cases we are analysing various assumptions, for example non-invasive interventions, low cost, made with paint or adhesive coatings that exploit the chromatic potential of these materials to redevelop sites. They can also be photo luminescent or dichroic paints or lighting interventions on historical buildings to enhance their presence and identify an area with landscape law bonds. Thus, the colours in the contemporary reclamation architecture show us two different approaches. Many projects had the same historical approach reflecting the natural material colours, but now by the use of new technology and techniques: grey, white, brown and green. This design approach is typical of south/central Europe. In many other situation it is possible to see an high tech approach by the use of innovative materials (metal, glass, glass reinforced concrete, paints, etc.) and light technology. In this case the colours are linked to colour changeable lighting and the landscape reflection on the glass or aluminium facades.

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Colour in the Built Environment

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS NEXUS! Associates for “Where the water rest” MONOVOLUME Architecture+Design for Hydroelectric Power Station in Winnebach and Punibach hydroelectric power station.

REFERENCES Fridell Anter K., Klarén U., 2017, Colour and light: spatial experience, Routledge, NY Jones, G.M. 2008, Pumping station design, Elsevier, Burlington Zennaro, P., 2017, East & West: culture of colour and light in architecture, Maggioli, RN

AIC Interim Meeting | 25 – 29 September 2018 | Lisbon, Portugal | www.aic2018.org

Proceedings of the International Colour Association (AIC) Conference 2018

Colour in the Built Environment

Colorimetry

Colour and Design

Colour and Lighting

Colour and Culture

Colour and Health

Colour and Physiology

Colour and Psychology

Digital Colour

Colour and Landscape

AIC LISBOA 2018

colour & human comfort