Stereotomic to Tectonic

Stereotomic to Tectonic: How does the interplay between heavy and light elements and the boundary between them result in an architecture of place and meaningfulness in Alberto Campo Beaza's De Blas House compared to Bhavana Buddhist Centre and Monastery, my graduation project?

Stereotomic to Tectonic: How does the interplay between heavy and light elements and the boundary between them result in an architecture of place and meaningfulness in Alberto Campo Beaza’s De Blas House compared to Bhavana Buddhist Centre and Monastery, my graduation project?

An essay submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of BA (Hons) Architecture.

Author: Kotryna Navickaite Student number: 150462051 Studio: Enclosed Order Module: ARC3015 Year: 2017/2018 Word count: School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape, Newcastle University

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Contents List of figures

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Preface 13 Introduction 19 Stereotomic 23 Tectonic 31 Boundary 39 Conclusion 47 References 50

List of figures Figure: 1: ”Atmosphere of a holy space.”

Author Figure: 2: ”Atmosphere of a monastic cell.” Author Figure: 3: ”Massing of Bhavana Buddhist Monastery.” Author Figure: 4: ”De Blas House” ”2000 DE BLAS HOUSE, Sevilla La Nueva, Madrid - Alberto Campo Baeza”, Alberto Campo Baeza <http://www.campobaeza.com/blashouse/> [Accessed 10 March 2018].

Figure: 5: ”Exterior of the monastic cell” Author Figure: 6: ”De Blas House.” ”De Blas House” ”2000 DE BLAS HOUSE, Sevilla La Nueva, Madrid - Alberto Campo Baeza”, Alberto Campo Baeza <http://www. campobaeza.com/blas-house/> [Accessed 10 March 2018].

Figure: 7: ”Interior of monastic cell.”

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Figure: 8: ”Interior of De Blas House” ”De Blas House” ”2000 DE BLAS HOUSE, Sevilla La Nueva, Madrid - Alberto Campo Baeza”, Alberto Campo Baeza <http://www. campobaeza.com/blas-house/> [Accessed 10 March 2018].

Figure: 9: ”Tectonic exterior of monastic cell complex.” Author Figure: 10: ”Tectonic part of De Blas House.” ”De Blas House” ”2000 DE BLAS HOUSE, Sevilla La Nueva, Madrid - Alberto Campo Baeza”, Alberto Campo Baeza <http://www.campobaeza.com/blashouse/> [Accessed 10 March 2018].

Figure: 11: ”Perpective from the inside of tectonic part of monastic cells.” Author.

Figure: 12: ”Perspective photo of tectonic inside of De Blas House.” ”De Blas House” ”2000 DE BLAS HOUSE, Sevilla La Nueva, Madrid - Alberto Campo Baeza”, Alberto Campo Baeza <http://www.campobaeza. com/blas-house/> [Accessed 10 March 2018].

Figure: 13: ”Connection of tectonic and stereotomic in monastic cell complex.”

Author.

Figure: 14: ”Connection of tectonic and

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stereotomic parts of De Blas House.” ”De Blas House” ”2000 DE BLAS HOUSE, Sevilla La Nueva, Madrid - Alberto Campo Baeza”, Alberto Campo Baeza <http://www.campobaeza.com/ blas-house/> [Accessed 10 March 2018].

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Preface:

Theravada Buddhist Principles and Architecture

Theravada is widely believed to be the school of Buddhism which has remained closest to the original teachings given by the Buddha around 2600 years ago.1 Through meditation and discipline practitioners aim to become aware of the true nature of the world and attain enlightenment. Some of the central concepts practitioners have to understand are interconnectedness and the unavoidability of change.

The concept of interconnectedness is about how even though all living beings and phenomena in the world seem to be 1 “BBC - Religions - Buddhism: Theravada Buddhism”, Bbc.Co.Uk, 2002 <http://www.bbc.co.uk/ religion/religions/buddhism/subdivisions/theravada_1. shtml> [Accessed 21 March 2018].

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separate entities, in fact they are only as separate as the different fingers connected to one hand. 2 In practice this means that whatever actions we take, we must always be aware that they will affect not only us but everything around us both now and in the future.

The concept of change in Buddhism explains that change is unavoidable and that suffering comes from trying to resist it. 3 Buddhists believe in cyclic existence without a start or an end hence leading from the concept of interconnectedness, the state of existence in the present is the result of past states and the future is the result of the present.

Lastly, as a result of always adapting to different areas, the development of Buddhist architecture has been relatively open ended where it has absorbed a great deal of foreign elements along the way.

The forms have changed according to

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2 “We Are Interconnected Beings”, Huffpost, 2016 <https://www.huffingtonpost.com/venerablepomnyun/we-are-interconnected-beings_b_8579002. html> [Accessed 21 March 2018].

3 “BBC - Religions - Buddhism: Theravada Buddhism”, Bbc.Co.Uk, 2002 <http://www.bbc.co.uk/ religion/religions/buddhism/subdivisions/theravada_1. shtml> [Accessed 21 March 2018].

climate, local conditions as well as being an extension of specific schools of thought in Buddhism. However, almost all monasteries have an inward orientation enclosed by a high wall to distance the monastics from the literal and figurative noise of the world.4 The monastic cells should be incredibly simple.

4 Huu Phuoc Le, Buddhist Architecture ([Lakeville, Minn.]: Grafikol (Kindle Edition), 2010).

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Figure 1 (top): One of my first tries looking at the atmosphere of a holy space and the relationship between heavy and light elements in architecture.

Figure 2 (bottom right): The same thing for a monastic cell. It has a more â&#x20AC;?hardâ&#x20AC;? and ascetic atmosphere but is open (this time literally) to a central space that connects the cells.

Introduction: Site Specific and Meaningful Architecture Through Critical Regionalism

Towards A Critical Regionalism: Six Points For An Architecture Of Resistance argued that Kenneth

Frampton

in

in order to avoid the abstractedness and placelessness of the modernist architecture, critical regionalism should be adapted as a tactic in order to create rational architecture that integrates the opportunities given by the technological revolution while adapting it to the specific context in which it is situated.5 Two of the many ways of accomplishing that is through understanding the cosmic associations inherent in the tectonic versus the stereotomic as well as creating 5 Kenneth Frampton, “Towards A Critical Regionalism: Six Points For An Architecture Of Resistance”, in The Anti-Aesthetic: Essays On Postmodern Culture Author(S) Foster, Hal (New York: New Press, 1998), pp. 17 - 34.

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tactile resilience6 through their interplay, in this way, creating modern architecture of place and meaningfulness.

Alberto Campo Beaza has used the idea of stereotomic and tectonic as defined

by Kenneth Frampton in several of his pieces of architecture of which one is the De Blas House (2000). He has also expressed multiple times the importance of adapting architecture to a specific site7. Similarly, I too have been interested in this relationship between heavy and light elements in my graduation project, and how this can create a meaningful architecture of place.

In what ways, then, have these principles manifested themselves differently in Bhavana Buddhist Monastery and De Blas House?

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6 “Tactile resilience” in this text meaning “…the capacity of the body to read the environment in terms other than those of sight alone…”

Kenneth Frampton, ”Towards A Critical Regionalism: Six Points For An Architecture Of Resistance”, in The Anti-Aesthetic: Essays On Postmodern Culture Author(S) Foster, Hal (New York: New Press, 1998), p 28.

7 Alberto Campo Baeza, The Built Idea (Hong Kong: Oscar Riera Ojeda Publishers, 2015), p. 26.

.Figure 3: Massing of Bhavana Buddhist monastery

.Figure 4: De Blas House by Alberto Campo Beaza

Stereotomic: As Solidity and the Earth

Firstly, the stereotomic elements in my project carry cosmogonic significance by representing the solidity and strength of the Buddhist traditions, and teachings.

The reclaimed bricks are quiet advocates for waste reduction and recycling in line with the Buddhist notion of interconnectedness8. Furthermore, they stand as a reminder of unavoidable change by being aged and no longer “perfect” as well as cyclic existence by themselves being “born” and “reborn”.

Hence the bricks should make the users aware and hopefully accepting of the passage of time.

The tactile strategies for the monastery are using the stereotomic blocks as a means of visual and acoustic distancing 8 In Buddhism the understanding of interconnectedness manifests itself in the feeling of responsibly for not only how one’s own actions affects other people, but also animals and the environment.

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from the noise of the outside world to create a quiet space for contemplation while always reminding where the monastery is situated materially. This will also be a reminder of the traditional inward - looking typology of Buddhist monasteries. Additionally, the stereotomic blocks will be constructed to a Passivhaus standard creating a comfortable inner climate using the existing conditions on site while saving energy otherwise used for heating. Lastly, the form tries to show sensitivity to existing terrain by stepping the volumes according to the stepped site and drawing volumetric inspiration from the existing urban fabric.

Conversely, Campo Beaza talks about the purification of the idea of stereotomic and tectonic until only the stereotomic and the tectonic piece is left.9 The cosmogonic associations are much like Kenneth Frampton described; the stereotomic is of the Earth and the tectonic is of the sky10.

The exterior of the stereotomic block of the Blas House is of concrete in a similar shade to the existing rocks on site. It

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9 Flat Horizontal Plane (https://vimeo. com/156414014, 2016).

10 Kenneth Frampton and John Cava, Studies In Tectonic Culture (Chicago, IL: Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts, 1995), p. 7.

almost looks like it was carved with light11 straight of the rocks, and has always been there. On the interior white colour is used as a canvas for the light but unlike my monastery the light … will guide this path of dematerialization… It is then a sort of

classic meta - temporality that overpasses the limits of the material experience in order to reach a purely spiritual and a-temporal dimension12. The light is used, in a way, to elevate people beyond the perception of materiality and passage of time.

However, the tactile resistance of the stereotomic parts of Campo Beaza’s De Blas House is to some extent compromised as the architect gives more attention to the visual aspect of the design rather than appealing to all senses. Campo Beaza wants to tame gravity by using light with the aim of beauty13 and even though the block acknowledges the slope, the aim for the clarity of the idea to some extent compromises the catering for humanness in both the internal and external spaces. of the block. They all seem cold to the human touch.

11 Davide Turrini, Alberto Campo Baeza: Petra, Luce Tempo (Melfi: Librìa, 2010), pp. 89, 90.

12 ibid 13 Alberto Campo Baeza, The Built Idea (Hong Kong: Oscar Riera Ojeda Publishers, 2015), p. 27.

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Figure 5 (left): The exterior of the cell complexes will be stereotomic in nature.

It will remind of Buddhist principles, cosmogonic beliefs as well as reflecting the urban fabric of the current site.

Figure 6 (top): The materiality of the stereotomic block in Campo Beazaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s De Blas House makes it look like it was carved from the rocks on site hence signifying the earth.

Figure 7 (above): The interior of the cell of Bhavana Buddhist Centre and Monastery has a variation of tactilities depending on whether the surface will be touched by the resident or not.

Figure 8 (right): The interior of Campo Beazaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s De Blas House gives the light a canvas to show with the white surfaces.

However it does seem to be resisting inhabitation as well as lacking the stimulation of more senses than just the sight.

Tectonic:

As Ephemerality and the Sky

In Bhavana Buddhist monastery the tectonic elements represent the ephemeral nature of everything. They are supposed to ground practitioners and bring their awareness to the present.

The unavoidability of the cycle of the life and the perish of timber inherent in the material emphasizes the Buddhist teachings about interconnectedness, impermanence and cyclic existence. They come from the Earth, return to it and grow from it again. One example is from Kenneth Frampton, who wrote in Studies in Tectonic Culture about how in the Japanese culture people were historically less dependent on stereotomic permanence and having used wood to build monuments underwent their cyclic rebuilding as they perished.14 14 Kenneth Frampton and John Cava, Studies In Tectonic Culture (Chicago, IL: Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts, 1995), p. 15

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Furthermore, wood is a tactilely warm material and Buddhism is a religion which is practiced bodily as well as mentally.

Both meditation and the consumption of daily meals happen sitting on the floor.

Prayers happen either sitting down or by repetitive movement from standing to childâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s pose. The timber is wrapping inside of the stereotomic elements so that the spaces that practitioners touch are warm and soft. They will not only be soft to touch but also dampen any sharp sounds that may arise, creating a softer auditory environment.

The tectonic elements of Campo Beazaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s constructions, on the other hand, are aimed to have ethereal qualities and relating to the sky.15 In the De Blas house the materiality in the light part of the building is so light it almost seems like it is not there. The white, slender concrete roof slab and columns only hint about the enclosed space beneath. Furthermore, similarly to the stereotomic block, the materiality emphasizes the a- temporality in which the building seems to be situated.

The white roof slab, columns and the glass seem to want to stay the same as long as possible resisting the passage of time.

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15 Turrini, Davide, Alberto Campo Baeza: Petra, Luce, Tempo (Melfi: LibrĂŹa, 2010), p. 88

The corporeal experience of the tectonic space in De Blas house seems, again, slightly cold. One rises to the space straight from the stereotomic block, probably squinting while the eyes are adapting to the light difference. While there, one has nowhere to hide, nowhere to dwell. Â If one is to touch the glass, the fingerprints left on it will remind the existence of the glass hence dissipating the dream about its immateriality. From this one might say that the focus is on the idea and the visual rather than on the practical and tactile.

Â

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Figure 9 (left): the tectonic part of the cells of Bhavana Buddhist Monastery facing the inner courtyards.

The materiality is meant to represent the concept of cyclic existence and impermanence. It will also exert tactile warmth.

Figure 10 (below): The tectonic part of De Blas house makes a clear point about the idea of tectonic versus the stereotomic, but it portrays a- temporality and immateriality which would not be relevant in my design project.

Figure 11 (left): The tectonic part of the cells of Bhavana Buddhist monastery.

Walkways are both used as circulation for the cells as well as creating visual connection to the courtyard and welcoming daylight.

Figure 12 (top): Tectonic part of De Blas House.

The visual connection to the exterior is similar to Bhavana monastery, however the materiality makes the space slightly colder so perhaps the ethereal qualities of the space are what makes it less â&#x20AC;&#x153;humanâ&#x20AC;&#x153; and inhabitable.

Boundary: Hut on a Cave and Hut in a Cave

In my design, the boundary is like interlaced fingers. Heidegger in Building, Dwelling, Thinking talks about space rather than room. A boundary isn’t when something stops, like a wall, rather it is a point at which something starts presenting itself.16 So the stereotomic and tectonic parts will always hint to what is beyond a specific place of presence.

The different parts present themselves gradually. The external parts of the design will be heavy to protect from the outside noise, temperature, and winds, while internally the tectonic elements will welcome sun, light and touch.

Alberto Campo Beaza, however has a different rationality, assigning the stereotomic part entirely to gravity and 16 Martin Heidegger, “Building, Dwelling, Thinking “, in Poetry, Language, Thought (New York: Harper Colophon Books, 1971).

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the tectonic entirely to the sky, so the boundary between them is bound to be the flat horizontal plane.17 It is not a gradual transition, rather it is more like two flat palms touching each other, but never crossing into the other’s sphere.

Perhaps most of the reason for the difference in the transition between the stereotomic and the tectonic in mine and Campo Beaza’s project could be found in the following quote by the architect himself: It is clear that [flat horizontal plane] is only possible in places that, on the one hand, have a landscape with a distant horizon that renders this operation meaningful, and moreover, have a climate that permits the intended function wide open sky 18 Hence while Campo Beaza can, with regards to the climate, use the effect of the flat horizontal plane to achieve usable

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17 For the architect, the flat horizontal plane expresses the question of gravity. Gravity is vertical in flat horizontal plane. It is a plan on eye level which is a flat line.

Flat Horizontal Plane (https://vimeo.com/156414014, 2016) 18 Alberto Campo Beaza, Flat Horizontal Plane - On Horizon, 2014 <http://oa.upm.es/32756/1/Flat%20_ Horizontal%20_Plane.pdf> [Accessed 26 March 2018].

spaces on the block as well as taking advantage of the view, in my design, rather, I need protection from the harsh winds and sounds on site. Hence while Alberto Campo Beaza has a hut on a cave, I have a hut in a cave where it has been built straight out from the cave walls.

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Figure 13 (left): The connection between the stereotomic and tectonic parts in Bhavana Buddhist Monastery is like interlaced fingers or the connecting part in a puzzle. It is vertical for environmental reasons as well as to remember the traditionally enclosed Buddhist typologies.

Figure 14 (left): The tectonic part of De Blas bouse is separated from the stereotomic by a flat horizontal plane.

This is the boundary between the earth and the sky and works well where the horizon is important in the context of the building. It mirrors how Earth and sky meet at the horizon.

The idea in this particular design is clear and apt for this site.

Conclusion The the critical regionalism of Kenneth Frampton does not favour any particular style,19 it is asking however, to get legitimacy for a design from other places then only some detached discourse. Campo Beazaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s architecture might be in danger of being a product of the intellectual separation of the mind from the body as expressed by Scott Gartner20 by having a too great emphasis on architectural theory and lacking embodied experience other than visual and Bhavana Buddhist Centre and Monastery might have too many and too complicated meanings resulting in the difficulty of the users to understand them all. The cosmogonic associations and the tactile strategies of both designs nonetheless prevent contextual detachment and abstractness of both designs. Bhavana Buddhist 19 Kenneth Frampton and John Cava, Studies In Tectonic Culture (Chicago, IL: Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts, 1995), p. 2.

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Centre and Monastery is using modern environmental modes of construction while at the same time using materials and form which very much drawn from the site and the inhabitants of the complex.

Also De Blas house, arguably despite the lack of tactile resistance and perhaps human-ness in the building, still could not be uprooted and placed somewhere else, despite the architect’s focus on the pure idea. The modern and “hard“ materials of the building might be “advocating“ a temporality, however, maybe in this case it is appropriate. The stereotomic block looks like it has been carved out of the rocks which indeed appear to have been there for ever and the tectonic appears to be a part of the sky.

Hence, the interplay of tectonic and stereotomic can indeed result in meaningful architecture of place, no matter which style one adheres to.

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References ”BBC - Religions - Buddhism: Theravada Buddhism”, Bbc.Co.Uk, 2002 <http://www. bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/buddhism/ subdivisions/theravada_1.shtml> [Accessed 21 March 2018] Campo Baeza, Alberto, The Built Idea (Hong Kong: Oscar Riera Ojeda Publishers, 2015), p. 27 Campo Beaza, Alberto, Flat Horizontal Plane - On Horizon, 2014 <http://oa.upm. es/32756/1/Flat%20_Horizontal%20_Plane. pdf> [Accessed 26 March 2018] ”DE BLAS HOUSE, Sevilla La Nueva, Madrid - Alberto Campo Baeza”, Alberto Campo Baeza, 2000 <http://www.campobaeza. com/blas-house/> [Accessed 22 March 2018] Flat Horizontal Plane com/156414014, 2016)

(https://vimeo.

Frampton, Kenneth, and John Cava, Studies In Tectonic Culture (Chicago, IL: Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts, 1995), pp. 2, 7 Frampton, Kenneth, ”Towards A Critical Regionalism: Six Points For An Architecture Of Resistance”, in The Anti-Aesthetic: Essays On Postmodern Culture Author(S) Foster, Hal (New York: New Press, 1998), pp. 17 - 34 Heidegger, Martin, ”Building, Dwelling, Thinking”, in Poetry, Language, Thought (New York: Harper Colophon Books, 1971) Le, Huu Phuoc, Buddhist Architecture ([Lakeville, Minn.]: Grafikol (Kindle Edition), 2010) Turrini, Davide, Alberto Campo Baeza: Petra, Luce, Tempo (Melfi: Librìa, 2010), pp.

88, 89, 90 ”We Are Interconnected Beings”, Huffpost, 2016 <https://www.huffingtonpost. com/venerable-pomnyun/we-areinterconnected-beings_b_8579002.html> [Accessed 21 March 2018]