Sugartown

sugartown an argument for sugar architecture

an argument for sugar architecture

by Gosia (Malgorzata) Pawlowska 2016

Submitted to the Cornell Unversity College of Architecture, Art & Planning in partial fulfillment of a B.Arch degree

contents 1.

site: the sugar factory

pg. 9

2.

sugar: the material

pg. 19

3.

experiments: the laboratory

pg. 35

4.

sugartown: the proposal

pg. 77

5.

fluff: an appendix

pg. 115

Built and physical architecture, freed from the technological limitations of the past, will more intensely work with spatial qualties as well as psychological ones. Architects must cease to think only in terms of buildings. All are architects. Everything is architecture.

-Hans Hollein, 1968

sugartown is a speculative project exploring the potential of sugar as a medium in architecture.

The discipline of architecture is a material practice that transforms the human environment.

What does it mean to work with a material generally defined as dessert?

Sugar experimentation reveals new systems of organization, aggregation, and erosion.

Viscous, sweet, and sticky - sugar is the fuel for our bodies, and a consumable object of desire.

The project explores this sensory material and imagines an ephemeral engagement with space, constructing a living wall of sugar to revive an abandoned storage hall of a beet sugar factory.

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site: the sugar factory

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The inspiration for this project is a sugar factory in the city of Lublin, Poland.

This particular factory was one of many like it in Eastern Europe. After the discovery of the beet sugar extraction process in 1747, the first sugar beet factory was built in Silesia (a formerly German territory in present- day Poland) in 1801. Throughout the 1800s, the sugar beet industry flourished in Central and Eastern Europe, fueled by British blockades of cane sugar during the Napoleonic Wars. By 1840, about 50% of the world’s sugar was derived from sugar beets (up from a mere 5% in 1808).

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Today, while the production of sugar from sugarcane continues to grow, the sugar beet industry has fallen once again to 13% of the world’s supply.

Unfortunately, the difficulties in preparing sugar from beets as compared to sugarcane, as well as beaurocratic pressures, caused many of the sugar factories that were built in Eastern Europe to decline and close down.

Active sugar beet factories in Poland in the years 1950 vs. 2002.

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sugar beet

sugar cane

sugar cane

sugar beet

Present day sugar beet vs. sugar cane production worldwide.

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The sugar factory in Lublin was built in 1896, and continued to expand until the 1940s. Sugar production was at its height from the 1950s to the 1980s. By then, the surrounding city experienced rapid growth (following the end of World War II) and surrounded the factory, which used to be in a peripheral area. Economic pressures and EU trade regulations forced the factory to close in 2008. A few buildings were demolished, but the rest were left to decay as the city developed around them. Only a skeleton of the factory remains, leaving valuable urban space unused.

A new life for this sugar factory has the potential to facilitate community development and revive an iconic symbol of the city. While re-opening a sugar production line may no longer be viable, a modified use of the building could still acknowledge its history while infusing other public programs into the re-purposed expansive factory halls.

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Site plan of the Sugar factory in Lublin, early days (1850s).

The Sugar factory in its heyday (1950s).

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The Sugar factory is closed (2008)- buildings remain un-used.

Above, the site map for the future of this sugar factory imagines how it could be revived as a part of the growing city. A series of warehouses that were previously at the back of the factory have become an edge facing the new major thoroughfare through this part of the city. The elongated buildings are an ideal location for an intervention that will restore life and energy to the neighborhood once again.

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sugar: the material

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C12H22O11 Sucrose, or common household sugar, is a carbohydrate composed of 12 atoms of carbon, 22 atoms of hydrogen, and 11 atoms of oxygen (a disaccharide formed by the union of glucose and fructose).

Most plants produce some amount of sugar through photosynthesis, but it has been deemed practical to extract sugar from only two: sugar cane and sugar beets. Sugar cane production can be traced to the 4th century in regions of India, and has since found its way to the Middle East, Mediterranean, and Caribbean -cultivation spread by way of colonialism, driving the formation of the modern of the world. Beet sugar was an alternative discovered by Prussian chemist Andreas Marggraf in 1747.

Sugar remained a high-priced commodity until the 19th century. Now, the average person consumes about 24 kilograms (53 pounds) of sugar each year.

As a material, sugar exhibits extreme variety as well as contradictions. It has the potential for growth by crystallization, while in other forms it will steadily creep, or deteriorate over time. This behavior is also found in glass, which shares many properties with cast sugar- although sugar is soluble in water, making it less resilient.

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taste and sweetness Taste acts as a chemical gatekeeper of the body, helping to decide what to intake or reject. The taste of sugar, or sweetness, is universally regarded as a pleasurable experience. Isolation from other tastes is a primary characteristic of the neurophysiology of sweetnessthe most distinct of basic flavors.

Information regarding the taste of any chemical that enters the mouth is carried through the nervous system in a spatiotemporal sequence, which has been proven to emphasize a dichotomy between sweet and non-sweet. Sweetness usually represents a nutrient, so it is rarely rejected by the body but rather continuously craved, and associated with positive hedonism.

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Sugar has taken on a wide variety of reputations. Nutritionally, it provides fuel and energy to most living organisms. It produces positive associations as a treat or even as a medicine, but this has fluctuated over time against contradictory warnings about the evil role of sugar- a cause of health issues when consumed excessively.

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sugar-coated fairytales Sugar and candy have typically played a prominent role in the popular imagination. As an embodiment of desire, the sweetness of sugar has been used to represent important elements in fairy tales, such as the house of the Witch in Hansel and Gretel. She uses the seemingly sweet and benevolent candy facade to lure the childen into her trap. The fairy tale may have originated in the medieval period of the Great Famine (1315–1321), which caused desperate people to abandon young children, or even resort to cannibalism. This means Hansel and Gretel, just like many other fairytales, is an example sugar-coating, or describing something in a way that makes it seem more pleasant or acceptable than it is. The act of eating, when focused on a dessert, is portrayed as the ultimate satisfaction of desire- an irresistable impulse with a sweet, immediate reward.

Little King Boggin built a fine hall, pie crust and pastry crust, that was the wall. The windows were made of black puddings and white, and slated with pancakes—you never saw the like.

-Mother Goose

Edible houses, the first and only erotizable buildings, whose existence verifies that urgent function, so necessary to the amorous imagination: to be able in the most literal way possible to eat the object of desire.

-Salvador Dali

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When they came closer, they saw that the little house was built entirely from gingerbread with a roof made of cake, and the windows were made of clear sugar.

-Brothers Grimm, Hansel and Gretel

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confectionery arts Confectionery art has its beginnings in the making of sweetmeats- the use of sugar to preserve fruits and other foods. Fruit jellies and marmelades were soon joined by cakes, candies, and decorative desserts. The nobility of France and England in the 17th and 18th centuries enjoyed decorating their tables with sculptures made of sugar. Since sugarwork was so labor intensive, and the material was considered a luxury at the time, sugar artistry became the most highly regarded of all trades involving the preparation of food. Confectionery arts nearly disappeared in modern times, but have recently regained some popularity in pastry competitions and luxury restaurants.

The Art of the Confectioner, by E. Notter- a well known master of modern sugarwork.

This essential book provides a beautifully illustrated professional guide to processes including pastillage (sugar dough), sugar casting, pulling, blowing, and sculpture.

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My first experience with the material possibilities of sugar resulted from attending a workshop at the Institute of Culinary Education (ICE) in New York- an invaluble introduction to the fundamental techniques of “pulling” and aerating sugar dough, flavoring and twisting traditional candy canes and swirled lollipops. Results from the workshop are pictured on the preceding page.

Taking this experience with me into an architectural context, it is appropriate to both reference and acknowledge the rich tradition of craft in the confectionary arts, and its existing relationship with architecture as described by pioneering 19th century French Confectioner, Marie-Antoine Carême:

“The main branch of architecture is confectionery” -Chef Marie-Antoine Carême, 1784-1833

Cake designs Marie-Antoine Carême, Paris, 1826

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experiments: the laboratory

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An experiment in science is a technical activity that involves observation of measurable phenomena, accompanied by documentation and interpretation: “a precise means for achieving unpredictable results.” The laboratory, as locus of scientific activity, evokes ideas of disciplinary rigor and creativity. This is where invention balances with the magical surprise.

Architect Frei Otto, 2015 Pritzker Prize laureate, spoke of the discoveries to make through material experimentation in architecture, declaring: “Productive research must be brave!”

The scientific testing of material capacities and behaviors remain at the core of performanceoriented architecture. The first task I completed upon the start of my thesis semester in Ithaca was to set up a laboratory in a spare basement room of Sibley Hall, and outfit it with the necessary equipment for sugarwork. In keeping with scientific laboratory practices, I kept a notebook to record the the experiments I conducted with sugar throughout the project.

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analysis

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Above and left: nalyzing the morphologies and choreography of melting sugar as it falls and aggregates.

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Timescale of cast sugar (hard candy) melting over time with humidity.

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sugartown: the proposal

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welcome to sugartown.

I’ve got some troubles, but they won’t last I’m gonna lay right down here in the grass And pretty soon all my troubles will pass ‘Cause I’m in su- su- su-, su- su- su-, su- su- su- su- su- su- sugartown. [...]

If I had a million dollars or ten I’d give it to your world, and then You’d go away and let me spend My life in su- su- su-, su- su- su-, su- su- su- su- su- su- sugartown.

Facing Page: Sugartown (1967) music video by Nancy Sinatra.

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Sugartown proposes a different fate for a derelict sugar beet factory. Beet sugar production has fallen, but this material is ripe with potential for alternative applications, from the confectionery arts to scientific research and development. With a scaled-down facility for sugar production, the remainder of the factory buildings would shift to cultural and public uses, resulting in a space that acts as an interface between the city and the factory- as well as connecting its indutrial past and a thriving new present. Sugartown will include a tasting room, cinema, restaurant, bar, culinary institute, and gallery.

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Sugartown’s public building, converted from three narrow warehouses, is split by a long sugar wall.

This wall acts as a partition and guide through the space. As different programs plug into it on either side, the wall adjusts its form and density accordingly.

Additional control of the density of sugar within the wall system, and thus the opacity of the wall, comes from the angle at which theinternal structure of cables is secured, as well as the number of times they fold. A higher frequency of folds will allow less material to melt through it, because of sugar that has hardened to fill in the gaps between cables.

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The sugar wall is assembled of thin steel frame components, with notches for stringing copper cables in a series of arrangements that allow for variations in the way that sugar aggregates. The density will be amplified in moments where the cables pinch together, while twists and lifting of the cables allow for openings along the wall in specific places where a doorway or passage is required.

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The sugar wall must be replenished as the material disintegrates over time, which allows it to maintain a degree of flexibility, adjusting to evolving needs. There are lollipop treats within the wall that collect dripping sugar, to satisfy any visitor with a sweet tooth.

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Designing from the outside in, as well as the inside out, creates necessary tensions, which help make architecture. The wall — the point of change — becomes an architectural event.

-Robert Venturi, Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture (1966)

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The ultimate pleasure of architecture is that impossible moment when an architectural act, brought into excess, reveals both the traces of reason and the immediate experience of space.

-Bernard Tschumi, The Pleasure of Architecture (1977)

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thesis review Friday, May 13, 2016 201A Rand Hall, Cornell University College of Architecture, Ithaca, NY Critics: Jenny Sabin (Advisor, Cornell) Michael Jefferson (Advisor, Cornell) John Zissovici (Cornell) Sasa Zivkovic (Cornell) Heinrich Hermann (RISD) Andrew Witt (GSD)

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fluff: an appendix

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inspirations Previous spread: Cukier Krzepi“Sugar invigorates,” propaganda poster from 1950s Poland.

Cake designs by Chef Marie- Antoine Carême, Paris, 1826.

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We Live Through Correalism by Freidrich Kiesler, 1937.

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Water and Fire Fountains by Yves Klein and Claude Parent, Paris, 1959.

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Electronic Tomato by Archigram, 1969.

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Food City by Haus-Rucker-Co, built in the Armory Gardens (Minneapolis Sculpture Garden) June 13, 1971.

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Sweet Dreams - Sugar Objects by Herzog & de Mueron, 2004.

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Romulus and Remus: Succulent PiĂąata

by Bittertang Farm, 2011.

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Lost in Paris by Franรงois Roche, R&Sie(n) Architects, 2008.

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Fermented Movies by Philippe Rahm architects, Berlin, 2009. An example of physilological architecture: the interior and exterior bodily experience of a space are interdependent. “We propose a screen as a fine translucent cavity which we shall fill with 9 liters of milk in the beginning of projection. During the 2 hours of showing, milk will warm itself by absorbing heat of the shown images and will begin a process of fermentation. At the end of the projection, we shall empty the screen of these 9 liters of milk to fill yoghurt-makers with it in the nearby room. Then, we shall compose with these 9 liters of milk, 60 yoghurts of 150 ml containing each 120 kcal. A yoghurt will be offered to each spectator at the end of the movie, so recovering 120 kcal lost by the metabolism during the show.�

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Padded Cell by Jenniffer Rubell, made from pink cotton candy,

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Saltygloo by Rael San Fratello- constructed using 336 3d-printed panels made from salt harvested from the San Francisco Bay. Installed at the Museum of Craft and Design, 2013.

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bibliography Ashby, Mike; Johnson, Kara. Materials and Design. Elsevier, 2002.

Birch, Gordon; Kanters, Jan; Mathlouthi, Mohamed. Sweet-Taste Chemoreception. Elsevier, 1993.

Coletti, Marjan. Digital Poetics : An Open Theory of Design-Research in Architecture. Ashgate, 2013.

Corbellini, Giovanni. Bioreboot : the Architecture of R&Sie(n). Princeton Architectural Press, 2009.

Decosterd, Jean-Gilles; Rahm, Philippe. Physiological Architecture. Birkhauser, 2002.

Dobbing, John. Sweetness. Springer, 1987.

Douglis, Evan. Autogenic Structures. Taylor & Francis, 2009.

Durandin, Benoit; Ruby, Andreas. Spoiled Climate : R&Sie(n) Architects. Birkhauser, 2004.

Eidner, Franziska; Heinich, Nadin. Sensing Space. Jovis, 2009.

Hagen, Petra. The Architect, the Cook, and Good Taste. Birkhauser, 2007.

Horwitz, Jamie; Singley, Paulette. Eating Architecture. MIT Press, 2004.

Hunt, Jamer. “Ingestion: The Shelf-Life of Liquefying Objects” from Cabinet issue 14, 2004.

Jabr, Ferris. “How to Swim in Molasses” from Scientific American issue 309, 2013.

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Klein, Yves. Air Architecture. MAK Center for Art and Architecture, 2004.

Notter, Ewald. The Art of the Confectioner. Wiley, 2012.

Moor, Andrew. Colours of Architecture. Octopus Publishing Group, 2006.

Moravanszky, Akos. Experiments: Architecture Between Science and the Arts. Jovis, 2011.

Moravanszky, Akos. “My Blue Heaven: The Architecture of Atmospheres” from AA Files 61, 2010.

Mori, Toshiko. immaterial | ultramaterial. Harvard Design School, 2002.

Morris, Mark. “Architecture, Yum!” from Food + Architecture by Karen Franck. Academy Press, 2003.

Nikiel, Stanisław. Cukrownictwo. WSiP Poland, 1983.

Rodale, Jerome. Sugar: The Curse of Civilization. 1967.

Roos, Yrjo. Phase Transitions in Foods. Academic Press, 1995.

Tschumi, Bernard. “The Pleasure of Architecture” from Architectural Design issue 47, 1977.

Thomas, Katie Lloyd. Material Matters: Architecture and Material Practice. Routledge, 2007.

Vidler, Anthony. The Architectural Uncanny. MIT Press, 1992.

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thank you to all who made this project possible, including: Thesis Advisors- Jenny Sabin and Michael Jefferson, for their motivation and inspiration along the way, Thesis helpers- Rachael Biggane, Ekin Bilal, and Dominika Michalska, without whom the final model could not have been built, Ashley Mendelsohn, James Lowder, Jim Williamson, Caroline O’Donnell, Mark Morris, Barry Maxwell, Brian and Chris- for helpful conversations, All who appeared in photos or assisted with documentationStephanie, Nils, Allie, Aleks, Maddie, Johnny, Arista, Lucia, Zach, Jordan- for lending his car and advice in times of need, Marian Klin, my grandfather- for his knowledge of sugar factories, and to my parents, family, and friends- for their support.

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