Barcelona Institute of Architect Portfolio

Portfolio of Work _ Beau Tyler Durham Barcelona Institute of Architecture 2011-12

IMAGE A comparison of two images, which tells a story and/or gives inspiration through their juxtaposition.

MATERIAL Projects which materiality is the central focus, which includes in depth research to the materials physical properties. These studies included, but not limited to, investigations into a materials conductivity, reflectivity and translucency properties.

CLIMATE Projects which climatic concerns are the central focus. Starting with intense studies of localized climatic concerns, followed by how specific architectural elements could either capitalize or exclude specific climatic elements.

DIGITAL CULTURE MATERIALITY IMAGES: ARCHITECTURE AND THE CONIC TURN

IMAGE

PRODUCTIVE LAND PROGRAM

MATERIAL

SPECTRAL PROCESS

CLIMATE

SUSTAINABLE BUILDING SERVICES

THERMODYNAMIC SOMATISMS PHOTOGRAPHY INDEPENDENT RESEARCH

QUARTER 01 - CLASS BLOCK

September 12th - October 28th

Bernard Khoury_COMBAT ARCHITECTURE

September 12, 2011 _ OPEN LECTURE _ Auditori CX La Pedrera

Pere Riera_THE JOY OF THE UNEXPECTED

October 14, 2011 _ OPEN LECTURE _ Auditori CX La Pedrera

DISRUPTIVE URBAN TURN

Urban & Territorial Design Dr. Josep Anton Acebillo

HISTORIC THREADS

Theory, History & Criticism Pep Avilés

POSITIVE TRANSFORMATIONS FOR A POST-CRISIS PERSPECTIVE

Theory, History & Criticism Fredy Massad and Alicia Guerrero Yeste

THE BUILDING STRUCTURE

Energy & Building Technologies Agustí Obiol, Guillem Baraut, Cecília Obiol, Daniel Obiol, & Chris Wise

DIGITAL CULTURE

Digital Media Juanjo Castellón

DIGITAL CULTURE

IMAGE MATERIAL

Digital Media Juanjo Castellón In recent decades, new methodologies have emerged in architectural design that exploits the computer as a design tool. This has generated a varied set of digital skills and a new type of architectural knowledge. Digital design, however, doesn’t mean working in virtual space but rather informing the physical reality of geometrical principles, performative behavior and manufacture logics. It is about the permeability of the threshold between the physical and the digital realm. Such permeability is procreated by an exchange of data which itself is dependent on the formalization of inherent geometric relationships between different elements of the architectural design.

This course aims at the definition and understanding of digital design methods and tools and their role in contemporary architecture. Therefore, the basic logics and scope of these tools will be presented thereby avoiding a formalistic approach. In order to achieve that, the NURBS‐modeler Rhinoceros will be introduced as software environment for parametric and algorithmic design. Secondly, the application of live physics engines for simulation, optimization and form‐finding methods will be introduced for the implementation of the design process with information regarding its physical performance. Finally, the focus of the course will shift to principles and tools that provoke the interaction between design and fabrication processes and their implication in the materialization of architectural ideas.

PARAMETRIC CHIRINGUITO

Digital Model + Physical Model_Product Dhiraj Chilakapaty, Juan Alejo Morales Mor, Christophe Van Raemdonck_Partners Looking to nature with the example of roman broccoli and the favela with in the environment, formed a simple building block and a logic of connection. We were able to create a standard Barcelona building type of a chiringuito. The chosen material, of ceramic blocks, structurally determined the assembly and connection strategies of the final building.

Digital Media_DIGITAL CULTURE

4 4 3 3

1 2

1

2

4 3

1 2 1 2 4 3 Digital Media_DIGITAL CULTURE

Digital Media_DIGITAL CULTURE

QUARTER 02 - CLASS BLOCK

October 30th - January 12th

Cecilia Puga

November 23, 2011 _ OPEN LECTURE _ Auditori CX La Pedrera

Manuel Bailo & Rosa Rull _ CATALYST

December 21, 2011 _ OPEN LECTURE _ Auditori CX La Pedrera

SPECTRAL PROCESS

Architectural Design Philippe Rahm & Renata Sentkiewicz

MATERIALITY

Energy & Building Technologies Manuel Ocaña & Miquel Rodríguez

ENERGY AND SUSTAINABILITY

Energy & Building Technologies Javier García-Germán & Alex Ivancic

IMAGES: ARCHITECTURE AND THE ¨ICONIC TURN¨ Theory, History & Criticism Philip Ursprung

PRODUCTIVE LAND PROGRAM

Urban & Territorial Design Maria Buhigas, Marc Montlleó, Anna Viader

MATERIALITY

Energy & Building Technologies Manuel OcaĂąa & Miquel RodrĂ­guez

SYLLABUS

After a vast period of time where materiality of buildings seemed not to evolve radically, important changes are announced due to technology and its direct implementation in our designs. Applied research on materials or new strategies with traditional materials might transform current languages and spaces. This evolving atmosphere should become a sound grounding for more energy efficient, environmentally careful and truly flexible, interactive buildings.

MATERIAL

Light materials and structures, low energy consumption materials, changeable systems and improved but traditional elements should configure our palette. No material or technique would be ruled out of our Analysis, because we believe we can interpret most of them in a contemporary manner.

It will start with the Analysis of both current materials and techniques, from brand new elements and upcoming methods to consolidated and nearly out of date processes of construction & manufacturing. We will observe systems that we have not yet under control and others that have not yet landed in the field of architecture. Immediately after we will evolve to more common and well known materials and techniques.

In this process, personal strategies will be developed to manipulate materials and techniques in order to incorporate them with coherence into our designs, tackling every issue with resilience and a cunning observation.

Research will start with an alternate overview on Technologies and Techniques, analyzing separately the current Knowledge and Procedures that are at our disposal. . Knowledge / Technology: From brand new materials that are difficult to implement in our designs and have a large range of possibilities to more solid, heavy and known materials, that will be challenged with non�traditional concepts of construction. . Procedures / Techniques: Contemporary and available techniques that will allow the designer to transform a successful design into a real object. We will study carefully how we can manipulate current realities and synergies to be able to execute our thoughts.

Our own basic parameters will be enriched by visiting a large Material Library and a conceptually advanced manufacturer, while we discuss our Proposals for both Assignments.

Main focus of these discussions will be the evaluation of different alternatives of materials and procedures and their feasible combinations to enhance the main qualities of our Designs. We will always insist in a sustainable approach by evaluating the true cost of production of our ideas.

MELODY FACADE

Models+Video_Product Anna Alivo_Partner Through the hanging of steel tubes on the facade we were able to create an interactive experience for the passerby and the inhabitant. From the exterior, the way the steel tubes are hung, allows the passing wind and pedestrians to create music because of the inherent properites of the material. From the interior the ever moving facade creates a constant changing shadow pattern across the entire interior.

Energy & Building Technologies_MATERIALITY

Energy & Building Technologies_MATERIALITY

Energy & Building Technologies_MATERIALITY

Energy & Building Technologies_MATERIALITY

IMAGES: ARCHITECTURE AND THE ¨ICONIC TURN¨

Theory, History & Criticism Philip Ursprung

SYLLABUS

IMAGE

The trend towards the visual in the industrialized societies has been defined, in the 1990s, as ‘iconic turn’ or, as it is sometimes called, as ‘visual turn’. Broadly speaking, the notion of the iconic turn refers to phenomena predominantly being perceived as images – in contrast to the earlier ‘linguistic turn’ when phenomena were primarily received as texts and ‘read’ as such. Whereas the iconic turn has triggered a vivid theoretical debate in various academic fields, namely the theory and history of art – the notion of the image being the common denominator between science, humanities, and art – it has hardly affected the field of architecture. The seminar wants to focus on the potential of the notion of the image in the current discussion of architecture and urbanism and make fruitful a series of texts.

Each session starts with a presentation by Philip Ursprung, followed by a discussion of the presentation as well as the texts, which are related to the session.

Perceptions of Image

Paper_Product The paper is an investigation on topics explored in the class of how we perceive images of famous architecture. It explores the ideas of how we associate what we know from past architectural experiences to buildings we study as students of architecture.

Theory, History & Criticism_THE ICONIC TURN

PERCEPTIONS OF IMAGE BEAU TYLER DURHAM BARCELONA INSTITUTE OF ARCHITECTURE PROFESSOR_ Philip Ursprung

“To call a work of architecture or design beautiful is to recognize it as a rendition of values critical to our flourishing, a transubstantiation of our individual ideals in a material medium.” (de Button 100) Through technological advancements over the past century the icon, or image, has become something of extreme importance within academic discussion in our current society. Just as the printing press changed the world from an aural passing of knowledge and ideas, to one of the written word.

The camera has sparked a change within our society.

The image has permeated all aspects of life, so much so it is nearly impossible to imagine life with out the image. It gives us the ability to see and discuss places apart from what we currently are surrounded.

This shift, or ‘iconic turn’, has had a profound effect of the visual arts, especially within the field of architecture. It gave the architect the ability to compare and contrast the actual buildings side by side, instead of relying on an artists rendering, or a writer’s essay of how a building looks and functions.

Giving the architect, or critic, an unbiased view of the architecture.

Architecture showcases the society it inhabits. It is the culmination of generations defining what is important to them. Creating an image of the society’s context. Just as Henri Lefebrve lays out in “Production of Space”, space is not just defined through physical boundaries but through the cultural context the society creates and as a society we create our architecture. Though unlike a painting, where one artist portrays their view of their society, architecture, especially public works, creates the image as a collective group. A city’s architecture develops images for those outside the society to understand about their particular culture. Though ideas change through time, architecture holds onto the ideals of the past. Making the current and future

generations realize where the have come from, through a cultural architectural vernacular.

The image of architecture sparks a different emotion for each person. A photograph of the Coliseum to a Roman has a whole different meaning than showing them a picture of The Empire State Building and visa versa for a New Yorker seeing the same images. With the assistance of Alain de Botton’s book, “The Architecture of Happiness” one begins to realize the emotional effects architecture has on the body and society. Through his description of how one perceives beauty within architecture, one begins to understand that the perception of beauty is solely based on the individual and the society they are in.

Though why do these images of culturally iconic architecture spark such feelings? When architecture according to Alain de Botton “The noblest architecture can sometimes do less for us than a siesta or an aspirin.” Architecture does embody a moral message of its society. A morality that those from there can understand through past experiences, which carry through and are thought to be completely understood through the medium of photography.

These buildings, and images of them, speak; they have their own voice. “They speak of democracy or aristocracy, openness or arrogance, welcome or threat, a sympathy for the future or a hankering for the past.” (de Botton 71). They speak of something greater than they are. An example being, while driving through the rural Midwest of the United States one often sees a dilapidated barn in the middle of an agricultural field. Why are these structures not just demolished? Perhaps the weather worn wood siding, the failing foundation giving away to gravity allowing the barn an ever so slight lean off perpendicular, or doors hanging onto the frame from their last rusted hinge pulls at the heart strings of the owner. It reminds them of how their family had toiled over that land of generations, a memory that must be held onto for future generations to see. Though to the urban dweller, hastily passing the barn on the motorway, would

think nothing of this piece of architecture, just a casual reminder of an antiquated past. For the family of the land though it reminds them that they are home, in their cultural context, in their architectural vernacular. This is something beautiful for them it “suggests more than a mere aesthetic fondness; it implies an attraction to the particular way of life”, a way of life they call their own (de Botton 72).

The idea of an image effecting one’s emotions of a city, or lifestyle, has only been made clearer to myself over the past few months, if not just the past few weeks, while trying to straddle lives in both the international metropolis of Barcelona to the small Midwest town of Sioux City, Iowa. How does an architect raised in this small city life, perceive the image of Barcelona, and garner the desire to experience it first hand. Though still hold on the cultural beauty of the dilapidated barn.

To begin to answer this question, one needs to understand the culture in which an architect is trained. Throughout architectural education the student is flooded with images: images showing the differences between Roman and Greek architecture, images that show the gradual change from Renaissance to the Baroque within Italy, and images set together to draw similarities between Kahn and Meis van der Rohe. These images are seen and understood

through what the student perceives to be the architecture’s correct context. This generates a false perspective of the architecture due it its dissociation with the cultural context. For example, one seeing an image of the Roman Forum and has never had first hand experience of any ruins of antiquity, must place it into a context they understand: an abandoned masonry warehouse, a boarded up retail storefront, or a dilapidated barn losing its fight with gravity. Though walking through the Forum the emotions brought forth are vastly different.

One actually understands the grandeur that once was, something a image cannot capture, from the vantage point of the Campidoglio. Or a photograph cannot portray the feeling of the century’s old travertine smoothed over by years of foot traffic. This is something vastly different then anything known to someone not raised in this context. It is something, which cannot be completely understood unless it is experienced. (See photo set 01) This subconscious association inadvertently heightens the importance of the student’s home architecture. Since, at least in the United States, schools do not necessarily focus on the architecture around them, as a point of study. Making the student understand his or her own architectural context through these images. While at the same

Theory, History & Criticism_THE ICONIC TURN

time creating an allure to see and experience something architecturally different.

Advancements in technology have only increased the visual knowledge acquired by the architectural student. In the past, before the photograph, the difficulties of travel were the limiting factor for learning about other architectural contexts. Inherently breeding “strong local architectural identities” (de Button 34). Creating a specific architectural typology with a local material palette to a region. Limiting an education to what was only in that specific region.

As travel became easier, stories where told of other cultures, inspiring changes to local architectural vocabulary. The development of the camera inspired even more change, by letting one actually seen these different structures. Thus creating an easy and efficient exchange of knowledge, making the image crucial within an education. Though probably the most important advancement in elevating the image is the Internet.

The Internet revolutionized how one perceived the world. The world became smaller. With a few strokes on a keyboard a student from Europe could be studying the architecture of Machu Picchu or someone from China could be looking at images of Frank Llyod Wright’s Robie House. Though this tool still only helps the student understand architecture through the lens of what they know, not the lens of the values of the society in which it was built.

With this background established a few select architectural images established my personal perspective

of Barcelona: that of Sagrada Famila, Jean Nouvel’s Torre Agbar and the Meis’ Barcelona Pavilion. The combination of these three images formed a story of a city: how I inferred what Barcelona is. Sagrada Famila spoke of a city that had pride in craftsmanship and one that was proud of their architectural heritage. Torre Agbar alluded to a city pushing to the future, by utilizing contemporary architectural materials in new and innovative ways. Finally the image of the Barcelona Pavilion hinted toward a city willing to break with their traditional architectural forms to embrace what is happening with the field of architecture at a global level.

Though this story generated from these images was based on architecture I had personally experience, with pre-established ideas on what the buildings stood for in the city. Sagrada Famila I subconsciously associated with St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Manhattan. Given this was my only experience with monument ecclesiastical architecture. From a photograph’s perspective the detailing and ornament on the exterior where seen as similar levels of craftsmanship in both pieces of architecture (See photo set 02). I related Torre Agbar to OMA’s Seattle Public Library. Despite these two pieces of architecture having drastically different scales they both represented an older city embracing new, bold forms of architecture (See photo set 03). Finally Meis’ pavilion was associated with his Farnsworth House in Illinois. Stylistically of course they are the same, but from a historical point of view the city of

Chicago embraced Meis when he fled Germany. They appreciated what was happening, and the movement he was apart of, in the world of architecture and wished to be apart of that movement (See photo set 04).

Though upon arrival in Barcelona these stories I had

formed held for a brief moment while looking at the buildings themselves but said nothing about the cultural context of the city. None of them referred back to the everyday architectural interactions within the city: the ridgid city blocks of l’Eixample, the medieval streets of Raval, or the energy associ-

ated with las Ramblas. Though seeing and experiencing these examples in conjunction with the previously stated architectural icons told the full story of the city. A city that is in constant battle with itself on where it wants to go or be: one, which wants to embrace the history of the Raval and order of the l’Eixample district. Though at the same time a city fighting to break the established model and move into the city with a contemporary appearance.

The image plays a crucial role in how we see and understand the world. It reminds of what we know and understand as our cultural architectural vernacular. Though at the same time pushes us to pull in more information of other, differing cultures. Creating alluring image of that culture. A culture, which continues to draw us in, but can never be fully understood until physically experienced. So as technology advances and information and images continue to become easy to gather and exchange, we as an architectural community must continually remind ourselves that our product in part of a cultural context. It must first and foremost speak to the cultural experience it is and not a product designed to be experience through a photograph.

Theory, History & Criticism_THE ICONIC TURN

PRODUCTIVE LAND PROGRAM

Urban & Territorial Design Maria Buhigas, Marc Montlleó, Anna Viader

SYLLABUS

IMAGE MATERIAL

The Productive Land Program (PLP) is oriented to research on and think over the productive and energetic capacities of the non‐urban land as its way to become economically and socially sustainable within metropolitan areas. The current social framework is determined by the financial and political crisis, ‐i.e. economic deflation, breakdown of public protectionism, redefine the concept of private engagement, and the urge to find economies of subsistence. As a response to the current economic and political context, we will avoid design strategies that take into account actions supported, promoted or managed by governmental policies. Instead, we will focus on design strategies which can engage the private sector to be developed.

To successfully fulfill the course’s main goal, students will work only in assigned places where the land still keeps a potential for production. Therefore, we will skip both highly urbanized areas and rural areas, and we will concentrate on the fringe of the Barcelona’s Metropolitan Area.

Students are expected to develop a strategy that identifies the resources and defines the design solutions to produce self‐sufficient interventions on the proposed sites, making them profitable as we guarantee to keep its natural condition (non‐urban).

COMPOSTSCAPE

Drawings+Diagrams_Product Tim Brennan + Glenn Hajadi_Partner Using the wasted space of the a golf course as a material for design and additional income for site. The juxtaposition of compost production and leisure activities creates an interesting dichotomy of businesses which are typically separated.

Urban & Territorial Design_PRODUCTIVE LAND PROGRAM

SANT PERE DE RIBES

AREA SITUATION PLAN

28,000

C-32

SITGES

VILANOVA I’LA GELTRU

30,000

66,000

C-31

SITE

€ N

1

2

Santa Susanna

Cabril

Jorba

5

St. Cugat dell Valles

3

ALT. PENENDES + GARRAF

+1 1

COMPOSTING PLANT

MULTI-WASTE SORTING PLANT

Torelles

4

BCN

Casteldellfels

RBS

6

CATALUNYA COMPOST

25

COMPOSTING PLANT

1,250,000 TONs

BIOWASTE PRODUCED/YEAR

213,000 TONs BIOWASTE INTAKE/YEAR <20% OF TOTAL GENERATED BIOWASTE BIOWASTE 36%

OF TOTAL GENERATED HOUSEHOLD WASTE

€ AGRO

TOURISM

TRANSPORT

TM

C

M2

COMPOSTSCAPE

Urban & Territorial Design_PRODUCTIVE LAND PROGRAM

INTERVENTION

NEW LAYOUT

EXISTING LAYOUT

Urban & Territorial Design_PRODUCTIVE LAND PROGRAM

E2

A

C

MEDITER

SITGES E1

P LEGEND FAIRWAY GREEN EXISTING VEGETATION WATER (RESERVOIR / CHANNELS) EXISTING STRUCTURES COMPOST MOUNDS

R

MACHINE PATHS TRAIN TRACK (RENFE) SITE BOUNDARY

P PARKING AREA C CLUBHOUSE TERRAMAR AREA

N

A POST-PROCESSING PLANT R RIERA DE RIBES / RIBES RIVER

0

50

150

300

SITE PLAN

E1

ENTRANCE (CLUBHOUSE)

E2

ENTRANCE (PLANT)

EDITERANEAN SEA

Urban & Territorial Design_PRODUCTIVE LAND PROGRAM

2.50

4.00

2.50

4

3

8

1 RAW ORGANIC WASTE

_evenly mixed material

2 30cm of CURED COMPOST

_traps odor of raw material from escaping

3 20cm of WOODCHIPS

_provideds walkable surface

2.50

3.00, 4.00, 6.00

2.50

4 POROUS BASE (woodchip w/ perforated pipe) _prevents compost from clogging aerator

5 BLOWER NEGATIVE PRESSURE

1.50

3 2

4

7 6

_collects any moisture created from system to prevent it from entering the watertable

7 RETAINING WALL

_masonry wall with waterproof rubber membrane

5

.50

1

8

_pulls air twice a day from mound to decrease decomposition time

6 CONDENSATE TRAP

8 MOUND

_built up from excavated earth

COMPOSTSCAPE

PHASE_01 _90 mounds _26000m3 of waste to treat _35800m3 of finished compost

3.5%

EXISTING TRANSPORT

1.5%

WATER

PHASE_02 _180 mounds _52000m3 of waste to treat _71600m3 of finished compost

2%

INFRASTRUCTURE

30%

GOLF COURSE

PHASE_03 _360 mounds _78000m3 of waste to treat _107500m3 of finished compost 10%

VEGETATION

cycle

1

11

proposed compost processing area

5%

12

VEHICULAR PATHS

10 13

14 1 16

cycle

practice area #2

2 7

cti

se

9

6

on

15

cycle

existing parking

3 existing clubhouse

2 practice area #1

17

0

50

150

300

cycle

4

4%

COMPOSTSCAPES

riera de ribes

8

cycle

5

18

5

3 4

44%

NATIVE LANDSCAPE Urban & Territorial Design_PRODUCTIVE LAND PROGRAM

2 m WIDE GOLF CART PATH

4 m WIDE CART + PRODUCTION PATH HOLE 9 PUTTING GREEN EXISTING ACCESS ROAD FOR MAINTENANCE

TYPICAL 3 m DIAMETER COMPOST MOUND RAILINE 40 KM TO BARCELONA

TYPICAL 6 m DIAMETER COMPOST MOUND

MAINT GOLF A

2 m WIDE GOLF CART PATH

HOLE 16 FAIRWAY

HOLE 17 TEE BOX

m DIAMETER MOUND TYPICAL 4 m DIAMETER COMPOST M OUND

WATER STORAGE FOR IRRIGATION

EXISTING TREES RE-PLANTED FOR WIND BREAKS NATIVE SOIL & PLANT SPECIES HIGH QUALITY COMPOST

MAINTAINED TURF FOR GOLF ACTIVITY

SECTION-PERSPECTIVE

The integration of CompostScape within the unused spaces of the Terramar Golf Course creates a cycle of activities that introduce an added value to an existing passive landscape system.

CompostScape works in synergy with the existing events of labor and leisure, while also introducing a secondary cycle of compost collection. This interchange of labor, resources, and profit is an example of productive land in a controlled and bounded environment, with a possibility of re-defining the proto-typical golf course of the future.

Urban & Territorial Design_PRODUCTIVE LAND PROGRAM

360 MOUNDS @ an average of 10.75m3 1/3 7100m3 NET COMPOST PROFIT 10-12 cycles per year 1,600,000€ 3 of potential waste processing

loss of mass through composting process

of product per cycle

GOLF COURSE MAINTENANCE COMPOST PRODUCTION COST 500,000€

78000m

approximate product per year

500,000€

1m3 = .4 tons

15€/ton average price of product 50€/ton cost of production

1,000,000€ approximate gross profit per year

2880m2 of existing buildings 4000m

2

of buildings in proposal

56.6 HECTARES

of maintained land for one purpose

56.6 HECTARES of land requiring

784 MILLION LITERS of water for irrigation annually

56.6 HECTARES of land requiring 40 HECTARES of new proďŹ t

continual maintenance

40 HECTARES converted to low maintenance landscape

C

300 MILLION LITERS

of water for irrigation annually

EXISTING

70%

from golf

less land and with same income

PROPOSED

16.6 HECTARES of maintained land

for only golf

Urban & Territorial Design_PRODUCTIVE LAND PROGRAM

SPECTRAL PROCESS

Architectural Design Philippe Rahm & Renata Sentkiewicz

SYLLABUS

small, we analyze the optical or sound spectra, we decompose reality into visual, electromagnetic or thermal particles, then we recompose it, but with a number of its elements, not all of them. In all these works, there is a sort of this rational brightness of the Enlightenment, the whiteness of writing, this almost chemical objectivity, a lack of narrative, but from which emerges something magical, a “disturbing unreality”, related to “a further realism more than a deliberate fiction” as Gerard Genette said about Robbe‐Grillet.

MATERIAL CLIMATE

The metorological architectural is part of this “tradition.” It processes through a chemical dissociation of the space in elementary particles, wavelengths, humidity rate, light intensity, heat transfer coefficient for example, but also hormonal secretion level, kilocalories, nanometers. The enlargement of the field of the real produced by scientific knowledge modifies the field of art, which shifts into new dimensions, slides into other phenomena, solicits other perceptions. We are interested now in forms which are no more composed together to create a “whole as gestalt.” We are interested in forms which are dissociated, exploded into fragments of reality, into sensible particles. We are looking for a vaporized tectonic, spectral architecture, decomposed spaces into elementary particles, into wavelengths, humidity, light intensity and heat transfer coefficients, which are then “pose” into a new form, one more essential and contemporary. Yet our interest, the disintegration of the real and the synthesis of it with just two or three chemical and electromagnetic components, is not only an aesthetic project. More significantly, it is necessary for the re‐evaluation of the historical and fundamental reasons behind the human landscape which causes certain kinds of architecture, urbanization, and ways to develop territory. It is also a method to re‐think architecture and urbanism without triteness and the picturesque to reach some sort of truth, economy and beauty.

RESTAURANT DISSOCIATION

4 A0 Boards_Product Focusing in on the thermodynamic characteristics of a restaurant in Barcelona by capturing the heat of the kitchen to use in the winter and the cool sea breezes for the summer, based on a physiological study of how the human body natural adjusts to the climate. To assist in this, the material palate is chosen based on the conductivity to either absorb heat or pass the heat onto the inhabitant.

Architectural Design_SPECTRAL PROCESS

10hr AVERAGE AMOUNT OF DAYLIGHT

5hr

0hr J

F

M

A

M

J

J

A

S

O

N

D

30o

AVERAGE DAILY HIGH TEMPERATURE 20o

10o

0o J

F

M

A

M

J

J

A

S

O

N

D

20 AVERAGE DAILY LOW TEMPERATURE

10

0 J

F

M

A

M

J

J

A

S

O

N

D

M

J

J

A

S

O

N

D

AVERAGE WIND SPEED & DIRECTION 10 KNOTS

0 KNOTS J

F

80%

M

A

AVERAGE HUMIDITY

60%

40% J

F

M

A

M

J

J

A

S

O

N

D

HEAT LOSS: EVAPORATION 23%

HEAT LOSS: EVAPORATION 26%

37oC

OUTSIDE AIR TEMPERATURE 24oC

37oC

HEAT LOSS: CONDUCTION 10% HEAT LOSS: RADIATION 67%

HEAT LOSS: EVAPORATION 90% OUTSIDE AIR TEMPERATURE 30oC

37oC

HEAT LOSS: CONDUCTION 33% HEAT LOSS: RADIATION 41%

HEAT LOSS: CONDUCTION 6% HEAT LOSS: RADIATION 4%

PERSPIRATION

EPIDERMIS RADIANT HEAT LOSS EPIDERMIS

CONTRACTED CAPILLARIES

ENLARGED CAPILLARIES

DERMIS

OUTSIDE AIR TEMPERATURE 35oC

DERMIS

INACTIVE SWEAT GLAND

ACTIVE SWEAT GLAND

ENLARGED LAYER OF FAT HEAT BARRIER SMALL LAYER OF FAT

Architectural Design_SPECTRAL PROCESS

Architectural Design_SPECTRAL PROCESS

Architectural Design_SPECTRAL PROCESS

Architectural Design_SPECTRAL PROCESS

QUARTER 03 - CLASS BLOCK

January 21st - April 9th

REGISTERING LANDSCAPES OF UNCERTAINTY

Design Workshop Toni Gironès, Carles Enrich, & Xavier Ribas

SUSTAINABLE BUILDING SERVICES

Energy & Building Technologies Juan Gallostra

THERMODYNAMIC SOMATISMS

Architectural Design Iñaki Ábalos & Renata Sentkiewicz

SUSTAINABLE BUILDING SERVICES

Energy & Building Technologies Juan Gallostra

SYLLABUS

Mechanical, electrical and plumbing services in buildings have a very important role in the perception that the building users will have on indoor comfort. Building services should be proposed at the very beginning of the design process, so that the active systems (MEP services) complement the passive and/or bioclimatic concepts of the architectural design.

This seminar pretends to show the building services solutions that are adequate for different building typologies, and to give criteria and basic tools to be able to rightly preâ&#x20AC;?size these systems: air conditioning, electrical, safety, telecommunications, water.

CLIMATE

The seminar focus is on understanding three principles: - The scientific basics of the different mechanical and electrical systems - The construction limitations of the systems and coordination with the rest of the building.

- The understanding of the design logic behind these systems: efficiency (energy and environmental sustainability) must be sustained on the basis of performance (building functionality and safety).

Special consideration will be given to particular applications that are useful to the different design studios: large scale buildings, restoration of buildings.

The seminar will be organized as a combination of general concepts about MEP systems and their application for different types on buildings, that will be discussed from some examples. of presentations on MEP systems general concepts, MEP systems applications for building type, and example discussions.

NELSON-ATKINS MUSEUM ANAYLIS

Presentation_Product Through an in depth analysis of Steven Hollâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Nelson-Atkins Museum in Kansas City, the most effective active system to use, would be a air to air heat exchanger to control the heat and humidity of the summer and the cold of the winter.

Energy & Building Technologies_SUSTAINABLE BUILDING SERVICES

PARKING

EXISTING BUILDING

WOOD VENT FIRE DAMPER

GALLERY

STEEL DECKING WOOD FLOORING CIP CONCRETE

PLENUM SUSPENDED CEILING

SUPPLY DUCT

SUSPENDED CEILING

FIRE DAMPER

S

R

STORAGE

S

Energy & Building Technologies_SUSTAINABLE BUILDING SERVICES

THERMODYNAMIC SOMATISMS

Architectural Design Iñaki Ábalos & Renata Sentkiewicz

SYLLABUS

The Core Studio will seek to consolidate an advanced understanding of high‐rise construction in association with thermodynamics and to experiment with various somatic aspects of human behavior.

MATERIAL CLIMATE

The Studio will develop a spatial grammar and syntax associated with thermodynamics, through the definition of an operative bibliography, experimentation with zero energy‐ balance open and closed systems, the analysis of significant case studies associated with different technical fields, and a proposal for an operational grammar.

The initial identification of spatial and aggregational principles will define the methodological and instrumental base for the subsequent design of mixed vertical entities, to be developed in two different sets of site‐specific conditions.

The objective of the Studio is to test ‘the utility of the methodology in real scenarios, in both technical and cultural terms’.

NEIGHBORHOOD CENTER

8 A0 Boards + 3 Papers_Product The climate of Madrid determined the form of the building to either capture or repel wind and sun. While the materials used through the building assist in the energy captured from the sun and the passing of energy from warm to cold spaces.

Architectural Design_THERMODYNAMIC SOMATISMS

FAMILY

PROGRAM SEPARATION

BED ROOM LIVING ROOM RESIDENTIAL KITCHEN

RESIDENTIAL 5,000 M2 @ 2.7M = 13,500 M3

BATHROOM

NEEDS

LOW DAY LIGHTING & VENTILATION MAX DAY LIGHTING & VENTILATION DAY LIGHTING & MAXIMUM VENTILATION MINIMAL DAY LIGHTING & MAXIMUM VENTILATION

RETAIL MARKET FRESH MARKET 3,750 M2 @ 3M = 11,250 M3

STORAGE RESTAURANT

SOCCER SPORTS COURTS SPORT COURTS 7,500 M2 @ 6M = 45,000 M3

BASKETBALL TENNIS

GALLERY WORKSPACE CULTURAL CENTER 5,000 M2 @ 3M = 15,000 M3

CULTURAL CENTER REHEARSAL MEETING SPACE

DAY LIGHTING & MAXIMUM VENTILATION MINIMAL DAY LIGHTING & VENTILATION DAY LIGHTING & MAXIMUM VENTILATION

DAY LIGHTING & MAXIMUM VENTILATION DAY LIGHTING & MAXIMUM VENTILATION DAY LIGHTING & MAXIMUM VENTILATION

LOW DAY LIGHTING & VENTILATION DAY LIGHTING & MAXIMUM VENTILATION DAY LIGHTING & MAXIMUM VENTILATION DAY LIGHTING & VENTILATION

BAKERY 3,750 M2 @ 3M = 11,250 M3

BAKERY

MINIMAL LIGHTING & MAXIMUM VENTILATION

SPORTS COURTS

CULTURAL CENTER

RESIDENTIAL

MARKET

BAKERY

Architectural Design_THERMODYNAMIC SOMATISMS

ON FORM

BEAU TYLER DURHAM BARCELONA INSTITUTE OF ARCHITECTURE PROFESSOR_Iñaki Ábalos

“Form follow function” this staple idiom in architecture by Louis Sullivan has dominated architectural thought since he first stated it toward the end of the 19th century. Here was a public stance against the current decorative architecture of the time. A paradigm shift allowing the architect to think about architecture programmatically instead of symbolically. Resulting in forms outwardly expressing their inner functions. While at the same time restricting a building to only function as it was built and never being able to elegantly transition to a new programmatic function.

Following in Sullivan’s footsteps Louis Kahn reworked this idiom to match the architectural beliefs of the 1960’s to “function follows form”. By this time the nature of architecture transitioned to a realization that a building’s program and function is consistently in flux; a fact, which an architect can never control or foresee. So this new belief system allowed the architect to capture the one element they could control, the form. Resulting in an architecture “rigid in terms of structure, but flexible in terms of program.” This position was admiral but tended to lead to more of a sculptural architecture and more often than not leading to difficult programmatic shifts.

Coming to present day another architect, Philippe Rahm, has manipulated this idiom to match that of the current architectural shift, “form and function follow climate”. Playing with the current societies desires for a more sustainable architecture. Rahm is rejecting the formal organization strategies of his elders, by saying both can work in tandem in response to climatic parameters. Though this new idiom is actually less about climatic response but a methodology for him to reject the “interior landscape” established by the previous two iterations of the idiom. A methodology which can “liberate space from function altogether”. Giving way to his interests of “an architectural problem or solution (which) has the potential to give rise to new and unforeseeable ways of living.”

Rahm is rejecting Kahn, just as Kahn did in turn to Sullivan, and Sullivan to his culture. This rejection is a continual progression; a way to free the current mentality from the previous. All three of these architects are/were looking for a freedom from the past. While at the same time they were looking for a freedom within their architecture, a freedom allowing their project to live through time. All the while developing a more appropriate idiom, form and function follow freedom.

HEAT PRODUCING SPACE

THERMAL SLAB

NIGHT COOLING

CROSS VENTILATION & NIGHT COOLING CROSS VENTILATION

CROSS VENTILATION

NIGHT COOLING

Architectural Design_THERMODYNAMIC SOMATISMS

ON MATERIALS

BEAU TYLER DURHAM BARCELONA INSTITUTE OF ARCHITECTURE PROFESSOR_Iñaki Ábalos

In Kiel Moe’s book “Thermally Active Surfaces in Architecture” an argument is made for the superiority of active radiant heating and cooling systems over active convective systems. Established through an in depth look at how the human body itself deals with climatic controls. To Moe “The body itself is a thermally active hydronic heating and cooling system that transfers heat energy to and from the core to the skin.” Essentially the human body regulates temperature the same as the radiant systems used within the current vernacular of architecture. A body’s skin, an organ which contains a vascular mat, functions nearly identical to that of a concrete slab containing rows of PEX tubing to stabilize temperature swings.

Despite his insistent, and highly persuasive, defense of the efficiency of radiant systems in this reading, there are more poignant points to pull out. First is the necessity for an architect to fully comprehend energy transfer methods. Second being the thermal possibilities of architectural materials. The reason for these two points to be highlighted is that in the practical side of architecture, we do not always have the final say in the systems being utilized in our buildings. So we, as architects, must first and foremost design projects, which can passively climatize our buildings. Followed by the insertion of active systems to supplement the climatic needs. These keys lie in thermodynamics, both in energy transfer methods and material selections.

Material selections through the eye of thermodynamics becomes much more integral, or as Reyner Banham says it is a “structural solution”, to the design of a project. Each material can be essentially categorized into two areas, storage and passage. The later is materials, which transmit energy quickly, there is little to no delay between either sides of the material.

Such materials can be problematic when trying to retain energy, but highly effective when movement of energy is important. Storage materials on the other hand are massive. They absorb energy to be released at a later time. Most materials utilized in thermodynamics act as storage devices, they tend to be “… more durable and massive materials such as concrete”.

The other key, and most important, is the understanding of the energy transfer methods themselves: conduction, convection, and radiation. Without a thorough knowledge of these methods, material selection is a fruitless endeavor. Though both are fruitless unless climatic considerations, and potential, of the site are not thoroughly studied and comprehended. The architect must make a through analysis of their site’s climate. Through this understanding, whether it is humidity, solar gains or wind, it becomes self-evident which climatic aspects can be utilized and which must be protected against. Without this knowledge an understanding of passive thermodynamics is useless.

As an architectural community we must push ourselves to an understanding of energy elimination over reduction. This mental transition can only be made possible with an in depth understanding of thermodynamics, both in materials and methods, in conjunction with knowledge of local climatic parameters.

SUMMER SUN

DIRECT DAY LIGHTING FROM SOUTH, WEST, & EAST

BUILDING SHAPE INDIRECT DAY LIGHTING FROM NORTH

BENEFIT

PERFORATIONS POTENTIAL ENERGY SOURCE

PHOTOVOLTAICS ASSISTS IN STACK EFFECT

DOUBLE SKIN FACADE EXCESSIVE DAY LIGHTING FROM EAST & WEST

DETRIMENT

SOLAR HEAT GAINS FROM SOUTH, WEST, & EAST

ATRIUM BASEMENT LEVEL

SOLAR HEAT GAINS THROUGH THE ROOF

WINTER SUN

BENEFIT

DAY LIGHTING FROM THE SOUTH

PERFORATIONS

SOLAR HEAT GAINS FROM SOUTH

DOUBLE SKIN FACADE

HEAT LOSS THROUGH NORTH FACADE

DETRIMENT

SUMMER WIND

BENEFIT

HEAT LOSS THROUGH ROOF

COOL NORTH WINDS @ NIGHT

CONSISTENT WINDS FROM THE SOUTHWEST

NATURAL VENTILATION POTENTIAL

DETRIMENT

ATRIUM BUILDING SHAPE

UNUSABLE HIGH WIND SPEEDS

WINTER WIND

BUILDING SHAPE PERFORATIONS DOUBLE SKIN FACADE ATRIUM

BUILDING SHAPE

BENEFIT

NATURAL VENTILATION POTENTIAL

DETRIMENT

COLD WINDS ON NORTH FACADE

PERFORATIONS DOUBLE SKIN FACADE ATRIUM

Architectural Design_THERMODYNAMIC SOMATISMS

Architectural Design_THERMODYNAMIC SOMATISMS

3

1

2

1

2

3

Architectural Design_THERMODYNAMIC SOMATISMS

Architectural Design_THERMODYNAMIC SOMATISMS

ROOF -DOUBLE GLASS FACADE INSULATES FROM WINTER HEAT LOSS -WOOD SLATES PROTECT FROM SOLAR GAINS DURING THE SUMMER

ROOF -DOUBLE GLASS FACADE INSULATES FROM WINTER HEAT LOSS -WOOD SLATES PROTECT FROM SOLAR GAINS DURING THE SUMMER

CULTURAL CENTER - 3 FLOORS OPEN TO EACH OTHER - OPERATES DURING THE DAY - PRODUCER OF ENERGY SUMMER - ATRIUM EFFECT TO VENT OUT HEAT - NIGHT COOLING -LARGE AREA IN SHADOW FROM WOOD SLATE CEILING -OPERABLE GLASS CEILING FOR VENTILATION WINTER -ATRIUM STORES HEAT -WOOD STOPS HEAT FROM ESCAPING

RESIDENTIAL - 3 FLOORS - APPROX 24 UNITS - CENTER PATIO -BALCONIES ON WEST FACADE - ABSORBER OF ENERGY SUMMER - VERTICAL AND HORIZONTAL PERFORATIONS FACILITATE CROSS VENTILATION -STEPPED BALCONIES ON WEST SHADE SPACES FROM HARSH SUN WINTER -RECIEVES HEAT THROUGH FLOOR CONDUTION FROM BAKERY AND CULTURAL CENTER BELOW -DOUBLE FACADE PREVENTS AGAINST HEAT LOSS

BAKERY SUMMER - OPEN TO NORTH AND SOUTH FACADE CREATING CROSS CIRCULATION

SPORTS COURTS - 2 FLOORS OPEN TO EACH OTHER - OPERATES DURING THE DAY - PRODUCER OF ENERGY SUMMER - ATRIUM EFFECT TO VENT OUT HEAT - NIGHT COOLING -LARGE AREA IN SHADOW FROM WOOD SLATE CEILING -OPERABLE GLASS CEILING FOR VENTILATION WINTER -ATRIUM STORES HEAT -WOOD STOPS HEAT FROM ESCAPING

RESIDENTIAL - 2 FLOORS - APPROX 16 UNITS - CENTER PATIO -BALCONIES ON WEST FACADE - ABSORBER OF ENERGY SUMMER - VERTICAL AND HORIZONTAL PERFORATIONS FACILITATE CROSS VENTILATION -WOOD SLATES ON EAST TO BLOCK HARSH MORNING SUN WINTER -RECIEVES HEAT THROUGH FLOOR CONDUTION FROM BAKERY AND CULTURAL CENTER BELOW -DOUBLE FACADE PREVENTS AGAINST HEAT LOSS

WINTER -SUPPLIES HEAT FOR RESIDENTIAL CULTRURAL -ENTIRE FLOOR - PRODUCER OF ENERGY SUMMER - IN SHADE FROM FLOOR ABOVE -CROSS VENTILATION FROM VERTICAL PERFORATIONS RESIDENTIAL - 2 FLOORS - ABSORBER OF ENERGY - APPROX 16 UNITS - CENTER PATIO -BALCONIES ON WEST FACADE SUMMER - VERTICAL AND HORIZONTAL PERFORATIONS FACILITATE CROSS VENTILATION -STEPPED BALCONIES ON WEST SHADE SPACES FROM HARSH SUN WINTER -RECIEVES HEAT THROUGH FLOOR CONDUTION FROM BAKERY AND CULTURAL CENTER BELOW -DOUBLE FACADE PREVENTS AGAINST HEAT LOSS

SPORTS COURTS - OPERATES DURING THE DAY - PRODUCER OF ENERGY SUMMER - NIGHT COOLING -OPERABLE GLASS FACADE FOR CROSS VENTILATION -IN SHADOW FROM FLOOR ABOUVE WINTER -HEATS ADJACENT RESIDENTIAL SPACES

CULTRURAL -ENTIRE FLOOR - PRODUCER OF ENERGY SUMMER - IN SHADE FROM FLOOR ABOVE -CROSS VENTILATION FROM

MARKET -THREE FLOORS -OPEN TO EACH OTHER ON SOUTH FACADE - ABSORBER OF ENERGY SUMMER -STEP BACKS ALLOW FOR SHADING FROM FLOOR ABOVE -OPERABLE GLASS FACADES ALLOWS FOR CROSS VENTILATION -LARGE GLASS ON SOUTH ACTS LIKE AN ATRIUM WINTER -HEAT FROM BAKERY THROUGH CONDUCTION OF WALLS AND FLOOR -HEAT THROUGH CONDUCTION FROM ADJACENT AND BELOW SPORTS COURTS

SPORTS COURTS - OPERATES DURING THE DAY - PRODUCER OF ENERGY SUMMER - NIGHT COOLING -OPERABLE GLASS FACADE FOR CROSS VENTILATION -EXTERIOR WOOD SLATE PROVENTS SOUTH HEAT GAIN WINTER -HEATS RESIDENTIAL SPACES ABOVE -HEATS ADJACENT MARKET

SPORTS COURTS -ENITER FLOOR BELOW GRADE - PRODUCER OF ENERGY -OPENS FOR CROSS VENTILATOIN -HEATS MARKET ABOVE

Architectural Design_THERMODYNAMIC SOMATISMS

QUARTER 04 - CLASS BLOCK

April 10th - June 1st

THERMODYNAMIC SOMATISMS

Architectural Design Iñaki Ábalos & Renata Sentkiewicz

PHOTOGRAPHY

Theory, History & Criticism Joan Fontcuberta

INDEPENDENT RESEARCH

Energy & Building Technologies Miquel Rodríguez & Cecília Obiol

PHOTOGRAPHY

Theory, History & Criticism Joan Fontcuberta

SYLLABUS

IMAGE

Joan Fontcuberta’s artwork and theoretical research had been exploring the conditions of truth in visual information. His projects subverted the canonic function of photographs as documents in history, science and mass communication. Sophisticated narrative constructions have provided the pretext to debate depiction issues such as credibility, veracity or authenticity from epistemological and political perspectives.

Currenty he is interested in the conflicts of visual representation and the impact of digital imaginary onto collective conscience. As a common estrategy images deal with irony and humour and are pushed to conspire to fill the no man’s land between reality and falsehood.

This seminar will focus on the content of his latest essay, La cámara de Pandora (Pandora’s Camera), and will be illustated with samples of his own work and other contemporary artists, as well of a lot of internet audiovisual vernacular materials.

REFLECTIONS WITH MIES

ESSAY + PHOTO SERIES_Product A series of self portraits which tells the story of Barcelona architecture through reflections.

This series attempts to show the influence that Mies ‘ Barcelona Pavilion has on all students of architecture, from its days only captured in black and white film to its color reconstruction in the 1980’s.

Theory, History & Criticism_PHOTOGRAPHY

REFLECTIONS WITH MIES

summed up nicely by Dutch architect Rem Koolhass “…the Barcelona Pavilion was reconstructed in color…”

PROFESSOR_ JOAN FONTCUBERTA

Within the history of the Pavilion lies the most pertinent examples of the tense relationship between architecture and photography. Architecture, from the primitive hut to the current vernacular iterations, is something that must be experienced. A realm of art, which was meant to be inhabited, not just observed. One cannot experience the sun’s glare through a pane of glass or the cool feel of stone against your flesh through a photograph. The tactile nature of the architectural experience is felt through all five senses. Though on the other hand a photograph, especially when mass-produced, is solely left for a visual consumption. This gives an unique experience, allowing the viewer to interpret the space, in the case of architectural photography, based on previously gained knowledge.

Their background constructs a unique scenario in the viewers mind. One that assembles itself from a palate of architectural

BEAU TYLER DURHAM BARCELONA INSTITUTE OF ARCHITECTURE

Mies van der Rohe’s German Pavilion for the International Exposition in Barcelona has been a symbol of modernism and architecture since it was first construction in 1929, despite standing for under a year. Though for most of its life it lived vicariously through black and white photographs. These images created an unprecedented allure around the project.

This simple modernist pavilion became an infamous piece of architecture lore.

Students of architecture swooned over these images.

Meticulously studying every aspect of the structure, material, and ambiance. So much so that the building was rebuilt in 1986. The once temporary pavilion forever sealed in black and white negatives, jumped from paper and back into reality. This Barcelona Pavilion 2.0 caused quite the stir within the architectural community, which was

Exterior view from front, 1929. Gelatin silver print

Berliner Bild-Bericht - Barcelona Pavilion, View from the Illuminable Glass Wall into the Interior, 1929 Vintage Gelatin silver print

vocabularies from what they personally for a new generation of architects to know. learn the lessons of that time through all senses. So, the draw to this building is still In the case of the Barcelona Pavilion the there. Lessons can still be learned. Now, photographs from 1929 capture an image the color version of the building holds the of modern architectureâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s definition. For same importance and relevancy. Probably sixty years these photographs formed a life more so today than it was pre 1986. of their own. Through morphing from not only capturing the event of the Exposition As a student and practitioner of but also the definition of the ideal piece architecture myself, which has never of twentieth century architecture. been conscience of a world without Something, which is stripped down to its a Barcelona Pavilion in color, this elementary form to capture the essence of building has an inexplicable draw to my its function. In the case here, a temporary subconscious. The simplicity of form building to protect its inhabitants from draws you in to the mystic of the building. the elements, easy circulation of crowds, This fascination has been festering inside a gathering space for events and the of me. Wondering how such a simple and showing off German culture at the event. temporary building stands as an equal on the pedestal of the great architecture The ideals formed from these photographs through time. This intrigue can only became so pertinent to the society of be explained through the experience. architecture the desire to experience the Walking though the pavilion you begin building once again arose. Driving to its to understand the allure. You being to eventual recreation. This desire stems reflect on the image you have erected from the photography saturated nature in your mind. While weaving in and out of current architectural education. An of the pavilion this mental construction education where buildings from around begins to reflect back onto you and you the world are taught remotely. Though onto building. One sees themselves and unlike many buildings studied in school, the modernist ideal in the reflection of where the student could have the chance the cross-shaped stainless steel columns. to experience the building first hand, for The cold harsh elegance of nature reveals Miesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; pavilion this was not an option. itself to you as your hands run along the onyx partition. The modernist balance It could be argued that the reconstruction of the artificial and the natural becomes ruined this established allure of the original apparent as the ocean breeze subtlety photographs preserved in textbooks. Due moves the foliage seen through the to the fact that the colorless images fit glare of an uninterrupted piece of glass. so neatly into the modernist ideology. Bringing you to the conclusion that the An ideology of simplisty and restraint. beauty of a great piece of architecture Though counter to its critics, the new does not lie in how well it functions but pavilion does bring back the essence of how you, the inhabitant, becomes aware what architecture is, something that must of yourself within the space. be experienced. Thus giving the chance Theory, History & Criticism_PHOTOGRAPHY

Theory, History & Criticism_PHOTOGRAPHY

Theory, History & Criticism_PHOTOGRAPHY

Theory, History & Criticism_PHOTOGRAPHY

â&#x20AC;&#x153;To call a work of architecture or design beautiful is to recognize it as a rendition of values critical to our flourishing, a transubstantiation of our individual ideals in a material medium.â&#x20AC;?

Alain de Botton The Architecture of Happiness Theory, History & Criticism_PHOTOGRAPHY

INDEPENDENT RESEARCH

Energy & Building Technologies Miquel Rodríguez & Cecília Obiol

SYLLABUS

IMAGE MATERIAL CLIMATE

Joan Fontcuberta’s artwork and theoretical research had been exploring the conditions of truth in visual information. His projects subverted the canonic function of photographs as documents in history, science and mass communication. Sophisticated narrative constructions have provided the pretext to debate depiction issues such as credibility, veracity or authenticity from epistemological and political perspectives.

Currenty he is interested in the conflicts of visual representation and the impact of digital imaginary onto collective conscience. As a common estrategy images deal with irony and humour and are pushed to conspire to fill the no man’s land between reality and falsehood.

This seminar will focus on the content of his latest essay, La cámara de Pandora (Pandora’s Camera), and will be illustated with samples of his own work and other contemporary artists, as well of a lot of internet audiovisual vernacular materials.

VERNACULAR’S VOCATION WITHIN CONTEMPORARY ARCHITECTURE

ESSAY_Product A research revolving around vernacular architecture’s approach to materiality and how this approach can effect the climatic responses of our contemporary architecture through the placing of images side by side to show techniques still used today.

Energy & Building Technologies_INDEPENDENT RESEARCH

The idea of a climatic responsive, or appropriate, architecture lies in the essence of why architecture was developed in the first place. Something created to protect early man from harsh environmental elements. Defined in the most simplistic of terms with Marc-Antoine Laugier’s ‘primitive hut’. At the time, this was a harsh criticism of the state of architecture in 1750. He was calling for architects to return to a time when building elements where functional not decorative. A trap we are still falling into today. The ‘primitive hut’ was meant to break architecture down to the most basic of elements, a shelter for which made life possible, or at least more comfortable. By protecting its inhabitants from the major climatic concerns of the location. Resulting in a unique vernacular architecture specific to each culture around the globe.

Over time, early cultures developed a climatic appropriate architecture through the resources at hand, independent of technology. Through time these societies steadily progress in refining their building techniques and materials. Although, especially in the last one hundred years, a series of advancements within technology/industry quickly replaced the local material palatte. Mechanical systems and material innovations forced our vernacular architectural vocabularies to be forgotten, or just relegated to an aesthetic/cultural decision. In a time when energy consumption is a major concern architects are beginning to question how they use/see the tools available to them to adjust interior climates they create. Philippe Rahm focuses in on one aspect of this movement and compares it previous architectural revolutions. “…reversal of the position of the thermal insulation entails a set of technical changes and architectural, structural and climatic conditions as was seen in the 1920’s with the emergence of concrete. Of course issues are not the same; it is not the public health and industrialization that has instigated change but globalization and ecology.” 1 Thus, sparking a movement away from the hermetically sealed building, or at least how we deal with it. All aspects of this movement are attempting to create an architecture which brings its inhabitants back in touch with the environment around them. Forming a new perspective of the tools we have available to us today. Calling back to vernacular architecture’s climatic focus on materials, but with a modern material palatte.

“Vernacular architecture comprises the dwellings and all other buildings of the people.

Related to their environmental contexts and available resources, they are customarily owner- or community-built, utilizing traditional technologies. All forms of vernacular architecture are built to meet specific needs, accommodating the values, economies and ways of living of the cultures that produce them.” Paul Oliver

Potawatomi Wigwam Frame Drawing

=

Lake Shore Drive Apartments Under Construction, 1950

Despite being separated by hundreds of years of technological advancements, these two structures are essentially the same. Both forms are broken down to a simple geometric pattern, to play on the on the strengths of the material. The flexibility of the saplings in the wigwam, allow the possibility to form crossing arches. While the rigidity of Lake Shore Drive’s steel makes it appropriate to break the building into blocks and stack them on top of each other.

Energy & Building Technologies_INDEPENDENT RESEARCH

â&#x20AC;Śâ&#x20AC;?in order (for man) to flourish, rather than merely survive mankind needs more ease and leisure than a barefisted, and barebacked, single-handed struggle to exist could permit.â&#x20AC;? Reyner Banham

Mesa Verde_Colorado, United States of America

Schaulager Art Warehouse_Basel, Switzerland

Just as Herzog and de Meuron visually extruded their building from their site, the ruins of Mesa Verde tell the same story. Every stone stacked upon each other was made from the grounds surrounding the building. Visually rotating the ground plane ninety degrees. This approach was not uncommon throughout primitive architecture, but to see this approach today is unprecedented.

“Despite (or perhaps because of) the steady progress in building technology, in new materials, in legislation and subsidies, and a rapidly growing demand on a international market, most ecological architecture naively imitates either high-tech machinery or grass toot bricolage. It has no formal vocabulary of its own and hovers somewhere between space age and Stone Age.” Philip Ursprung

Inuit Igloo

Buckminster Fuller Geodesic Dome

Visually the form of the two buildings is similar, but structural they are complete opposites. The snow bricks of the igloo work in compression, while Fuller’s domes work in tension. Though functionally different, when considering the structural principles of the material they are once again similar. The ideal structural performance properties of the bricks are the most efficient under compression and the same can be said for the use of tension with the steel within the geodesic dome. Both buildings capture the ideal geometry of their chosen building material.

Energy & Building Technologies_INDEPENDENT RESEARCH

“We are more likely to notice the function of something if there are times when it is not in operation, to notice the significance of something’s presence if there are times when it is not there.“ Lisa Heschong

Khaïma Tent_ Western Sahara

Instituto Valenciano of Modern Art Proposal_SANAA

Here exemplifies the diversity of ways a material can be used. Especially, how materials with vastly different properties can perform in nearly identical ways, solely depending on how they are applied within the architecture.

“...design and performance cannot be disassociated from the network of systems and agencies that underwrite and determine a building” Kiel Moe

Traditional Mashrabiya

Des Moines Public Library, David Chipperfield. 2006

The copper screen wall seen in the Chipperfield project is the high-tech material version of the mashrabiya. Both offer protection from the sun, while allowing some filtered day light into the inhabitable space. The improvement of materials within the library’s façade allowed for greater amounts of light to enter the space, than could have been achieved with a traditional mashrabiya, while offering the same amount of protection.

Energy & Building Technologies_INDEPENDENT RESEARCH

“This approach combines sensors and new materials for composing increasingly complex and sophisticated outer walls, often-all too often- applied to badly conceived, old and ugly buildings” Iñaki. Ábalos

An Oglala Lakota tipi, 1891

KfW Bankengruppe Office, Frankfurt, 2010

Not only do these two buildings work similarly through a process of layering materials and manipulating them as required, but also both forms are designed with wind being a major consideration. With the technology available to them Sauerbruch Hutton where able to calculate precisely the implications of their form had on air movement. Allowing them to control the interior climate more accurately.

While the tipi’s oblong form is designed to shed the high winds of the Plains more efficiently. Creating the minimal amount of turbulence for cross ventilation strategies.

A Shift To Materiality Unlike the energy movement of the 1970’s, this focus of energy efficient architecture will not fade. From this point forward climatic efficient buildings will be a necessity not an option. The architecture community needs to rally around this concept, without waving the flag of current buzzwords such as ‘green’, ‘eco’, or ‘sustainability’.

By releasing these popular ideologies from our community’s lexicon, it frees us to be proactive and investigate the potential within the palate of tools we have available.

Architects need to be aware of the influx in technology out there with the ability to be integrated into architecture, which has the potential to forever change the landscape of the built environment.

Currently there are a handful of architects actually attempting to use the tools available to them. Some of the previously mentioned are among a growing number of innovative architects, who want to change the face of architecture. Though because they are on the fore front of this technology each group tends to focus on one aspect to improve their architecture: Philippe Rahm focuses on active systems, Sauerbruch Hutton focuses on innovative technology, Ábalos+Sentkiewicz push the limits of a building’s potential within its form. Though many of them miss the potential of materials our ancestors knew so well. The future of architecture lies in the interconnectivity of location, form, and materiality to perform in the most efficient way possible. A shift of focus of materials, especially how they climatically perform, will only change architecture for the better. Though this cannot be achieved with our current perspective of merely choosing/applying materials like we do “wallpaper” . We need ot research and adopt our ancestors view of materials. A view whch due to necessity understood the thermal properties of any material they used. This is not a claim for architects to radicalize their material choices and decided to build with snow. It is a call for us to know the thermal implications of how and when we should use wood, steel, and concrete. Additionally we need to be open to the potential of free manipulation of our façades after occupancy by the inhabitants. Thus once again allowing the user to master their climatic needs naturally, through the materials we chose to offer them.

We as a community of builders and designers need to reevaluate our view of materials and align our choices with the point of view of our ancestors.

Energy & Building Technologies_INDEPENDENT RESEARCH

DIGITAL CULTURE MATERIALITY IMAGES: ARCHITECTURE AND THE CONIC TURN

IMAGE

PRODUCTIVE LAND PROGRAM

MATERIAL

SPECTRAL PROCESS

CLIMATE

SUSTAINABLE BUILDING SERVICES

THERMODYNAMIC SOMATISMS PHOTOGRAPHY INDEPENDENT RESEARCH

CONCLUSION Through my experience at the Barcelona Institute of Architecture I have developed a new perspective of architecture. A perspective which prior to my participation in the classes/projects previously shown would never have realized how the topics of image, material, and climate are so intrinsically related to each other and how influenial they are on my architecture.