Richard Horden: Light Architecture

The 1996 John Dinkeloo Memorial Lecture

Richard Harden light

architecture

The University of Michiga College of Architecture+ Urban Plannin

Š 1996 The University of Michigan College of Architecture + Urban Planning & Richard Harden Associates, London

Editor: Annette W. LeCuyer Design: Andreas Vogler, London Production: Christian Unverzagt, Ann Arbor Printing: University Printing Services, Ann Arbor Printed in the United States of America Typeset in Helvetica Light ISBN

0-9614792-5-6

College of Architecture + Urban Planning The University of Michigan 2000 Bonisteel Boulevard Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-2069 USA

Richard Horden light

architecture

Foreword

John Dinkeloo graduated from this College in 1942 and became one of its most distinguished alumni. He was a gifted architect, an outstanding designer and an enthusiastic student of materials.

John Dinkeloo was also an inventor who in the course of designing developed the neoprene gasket, several different types of glass and cladding systems as well as pioneering the use of Corten and exposed steel. In many ways he epitomized a spirit of inspired invention and design of which the College has been extraordinarily proud and which we are still totally committed to encouraging today.

After graduating John worked in Chicago before returning to Michigan to work in the office of Eero Saarinen where he was to eventually become a partner. During that time he was responsible for a number of signficant projects, including Dulles Airport in Washington D.C. Following Saarinen's sudden death in 1961 he formed a partnership with Kevin Roche and the office of Roche Dinkeloo went on to build a reputation of international standing with the design of projects such as the Oakland Museum, the Headquarters for John Deere and the Ford Foundation Building in New York.

The first John Dinkeloo Memorial Lecture was given in 1984, three years after John Dinkeloo's untimely death. Since then it has become a milestone in the academic year at our College. Generously supported by an endowment from friends and faculty and with the unfailing help of Thelma Dinkeloo, John 's widow, the series has brought some of the most important architects working in practice to speak here. They are architects who are renowned for their commitment to design, technology and the art of making buildings - Kevin Roche, Richard Meier, Fay Jones, Thorn Mayne, Michael McKinnell, Tod Williams and Billie Tsien , and most recently the Canadian architect John Patkau.

Robert Beckley Dean, College or Architecture + Urban Planning

Thelma Dinkeloo has encouraged us to look across the wide field of architecture and to search out designers who are working internationally to develop ideas and concepts with the same fervor that John so energetically demonstrated in his work. With the benefit of that encouragement I am delighted to introduce the architect Richard Horden.

After completing his studies at the Architectural Association, Richard worked with Nicholas Grimshaw before joining Norman Foster in 197 4. He worked on the design of the Sainsbury Center from the initial concept through detailed design and site supervision before going onto lead design teams at Foster Associates on other major projects including the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank and Stansted Airport.

Richard formed his own practice in 1984. His subsequent work has emphasized a preoccupation with materials and particular enthusiasm to search out ways to create an architecture of lightness, efficiency and elegance. This is an architecture of tiny cabins in remote places, houses, a grandstand designed for Her Majesty the Queen, aerodynamic towers and inhabited bridges. It is work that is rooted in collaborations with industry and inspired by a degree of technological innovation, curiosity and invention which directly recalls the work of John Dinkeloo.

Richard Horden strives to create a light architecture. Light is a word which occurs several times in the Concise Oxford Dictionary.

Unlike French or German, this one word in English refers not only to a condition of illumination but also to that of weight. This particular work revels in that ambiguity and rigorously responds to both qualities.

In his book Six Memos for the Next Millennium ltalo Calvi no focused on lightness. He wrote "Lightness for me goes with precision and determination, not vagueness and the haphazard" and added "I look to science to nourish my visions in which all heaviness disappears" Albeit that he was speaking about literature Calvina's writing suggests an extraordinarily appropriate frame through which to view the work of both our guest speaker and the architect we are here to honor. I would like to welcome Richard Horden to the College and invite him to give the 1996 John Dinkeloo Memorial Lecture.

Brian Carter Professor and Chair of Architecture

Introduction

In 1968 when I was a student at the Architectural Association in London I made my first visit to America. With a 90-day Greyhound bus ticket I toured the States. My 'guide book' was

Facing an open society with fast and light communication- The Air France and British Airways Concorde 'meet' at Dulles Airport, Washington D. C. designed by Eero Saarinen.

Modern Houses by Sherban Cantacuzino. The light, steel frame houses by Craig Ellwood, Eliot Noyes, Charles and Ray Eames and others made a long lasting impression on me. In fact, architects like Norman Foster, Richard Rogers, Jan Kaplicky, Nick Grimshaw and others in London have been greatly influenced by the architecture of the sixties in the United States.

For me the openness, lightness and their relationship to nature were the key points to these buildings. They showed, and still show, a way of living and open-mindedness, and they express a belief in the future of society and the individual - ideas which still are hard to find in England today.

As a member of the design team for Stansted Airport I studied Dulles Airport in Washington D.C. intensively, which brings me to the work of Eero Saarinen and not least to John Dinkeloo in whose honor I have been invited to lecture.

Looking into the future -American houses of the sixties: The Irwin Miller House in Columbus, Indiana by Eero Saarinen and the Daphne House in California by Craig Ellwood.

"Architecture consists largely of placing something between earth and sky" Eero Saarinen

Jefferson Memorial Arch in St. Louis and Dulles Airport designed by Eero Saarinen.

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That work has a lot in common with our approach to architecture. Saarinen's quote "Architecture consists largely of placing something between earth and sky" may sound simple at first, but he is addressing two key issues: He sets the first priority in the location and the relation of architecture to nature and secondly he is integrating the "sky" into architectural thinking. Architecture is lifted from its traditional earthen ties to a condition of being between earth and sky. He most brilliantly achieved these aims at Dulles Airport and the Jefferson Memorial Arch in St. Louis. The St. Louis Arch, where John Dinkeloo was the project architect , seems like building the flight to the moon

by Apollo 11, before it actually happened. For us it is one of the rare examples where architecture was in front of history; usually it is far behind. It was also symbolising an approach to a light future.

The Memorial Arch in St. Louis designed by Eero Saarinen seems like an architectural anticipation of the moon flight by Apollo 11 .

Our passing century made the experience of flight accessible for the human being.

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Lightness

The recent development of western society could be seen as a development towards lightness. Nothing influenced our society in the 20th century as strongly as transportation.

The concept of worldwide mobility for all became possible with the invention and mass production of cars, bicycles and aircraft.

Movement is a basic concept of the perception of space and modern time-space automatically incorporates the concept of speed. The everyday use of cars, high speed trains and aircraft is changing our concepts of physical space. Space becomes lighter and more open, since we can more easily move through it.

The possibilities of transportation make our globe smaller.

People become closer together and are exposed to different cultural concepts. This "being close together" will only be possible by having "light borders", a process that the European Community is going through today. But much more than physical borders it needs a lightness of thinking - tolerance and open-mindedness.

We are now just at a turning point towards the 21st century where modern information technology is likely to alter our concepts of communicating with each other and therefore our concept of society. The "lightening" of remote communication by dematerializing it into electrical impulses started with the People dress lighter than a hundred years ago...

invention of the telephone and now takes off by the worldwide linking of computers, the Internet.

Another move to lightness in society can be seen in clothing .

Today people dress more lightly than people of the last century.

Henry Ford in his Quadricycle and the 'Sunraycer' by GM and the University of Michigan.

This goes hand in hand with a development towards openness and more personal freedom and tolerance in the society.

Architecture has been struggling its way towards lightness since the beginning of this century and its development has always been linked to new building technologies. These technologies went hand in hand with new social concepts.

New materials like steel , glass and concrete and new construction methods like frame and skin construction,

The "Wright Flyer" and modern Rutan Aircraft.

allowed architects like Le Corbusier, Mies van der Rohe, Eero Saarinen and others to create light and open buildings, which are still admired today and offer parallels to a vision of a light and open society.

Society and technology are closely linked together.

Architecture has to respond to both of them . Since our relationship to technology has become alienated by the involvement of technology in the destruction of our environment, I would like to clarify why our buildings look 'technological '.

A car of 1910 doesn 't look like a car today, the Wright Flyer doesn't look like a modern Airbus and nobody today would be

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confident in crossing the Atlantic in Lindbergh's aircraft. On the other hand some people still prefer to live in a medieval castle.

But they would not consider living without a vacuum cleaner, refrigerator or a car. Why is this? The beauty of a vehicle is rarely questioned since it is self-referring whereas architecture often tries to refer to an ideal, often located in the past. We think a Greek temple or a gothic cathedral is very beautiful but we believe that our modern society offers enough beauty to create a modern architecture, which refers to the context we live in today and thus makes a self-confident statement. If you look at a modern sailboat or aircraft you see an object of extreme beauty, which is only shaped by current technology and engineering.

Nevertheless a sailboat is in perfect harmony with its environment: the water, the wind, the light and the open space of the sea. We try to incorporate this harmony in our architecture. The fascinating thing about technology is that it uses the natural forces which have been on our planet since the beginning. The natural laws were no different 6000 years ago than they are today, but the way we look at the world, the way we think has changed. It is a fascinating thought that the Egyptians could have easily flown down from the pyramids by using a hang-glider built out of bamboo and fabric. Yet it only became possible when our society was able to "think light".

Like the Wills Brothers with their bamboo hang-gliders, the ancient Egyptians would have had all the materials to build hang-gliders.

It took another 6000 years until mankind was able to develop the technology tor flying by 'thinking light'.

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As architects we are guided by the belief in a light future and the important role the designer plays to make it happen. We understand lightness and the double meaning of the word 'light' in all its aspects. A perfect example to demonstrate this is the baby buggy: With the baby buggy the traditional pram opened up and allowed the baby more light and air. The child sits in a completely upright position with full views of the surrounding environment and maximum exposure for learning and awareness. In the same way it liberates the parents from owning a heavy object which is difficult to move around. Such inventions help open social contacts.

We believe by designing light and open buildings, that we can contribute to an open, free and democratic society.

The Baby Buggy- a symbol of design and technology helping towards a lighter society

Queen's Stand at Epsom.

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Light Architecture Light is the first dimension of architecture. Without light there would be no space, or the concept of space we have would be very different. Light is connected to seeing and viewing, light is related to atmosphere and meaning of spaces. We refer to light architecture as an architecture which is allowing the light in, out of and around the building, thus also allowing views and openness. This concept is inherent in all our projects but it is particularly relevant for the Queen's Stand in Epsom. The

Sliding roof of a BMW car and the "Roof Architecture" of the Queen's Stand.

Queen's Stand is the viewing stand and clubhouse of the classic English horse race "The Derby" . Located on a hill, the building has views in all directions. The location and the function of the stand demanded an outward looking architecture. The reference to a oceanliner was a natural choice.

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With the competition for the East Circular Quay in Sydney we faced the challenge to build next to J0rn Utzon 's beautiful Opera House. Sydney is a city of views and openness, it is surrounded by a panorama of water and light. For the multiple function design which includes a museum, a hotel, restaurants, apartments and offices we reacted to the Opera House and its waterside location with a splayed form which allows more views from the building towards the Opera House and the bay. The idea of our design was to provide an interface between the sea and the city and between the sculptural nature of Utzon's building and the high-rise city blocks behind. The sculptural shape of the Opera House requires enough space around it to preserve its ambivalence of looking towards the sea as well as looking towards the city. The design attempts to achieve a dynamic dialogue between the two buildings while maintaining both as independently strong designs.

A very recent project is the Sainsbury Wing for St. Mark's Hospital at Northwick Park. We were asked to design a private Sydney East Circular Quay Competition.

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Rooms with a view - The Sir Robert and Lisa Sainsbury Wing at St. Mark's Hospital.

clinic as a rooftop extension to an existing nine story hospital complex of the 1960s. The 'site' on the roof has one important characteristic: the view! The patients on the east side can see the whole of London while those on the west look out to Harrow-on-the-Hill. The splayed form naturally shelters the fully-glazed rooms from solar radiation and rain while accentuating the direction of the view in the same way as an airport control tower. The functional lining up of the patient rooms along a central corridor has a similar typology as an aeroplane. We used the aeroplane analogy in multiple aspects: the patient must feel totally and generously cared for from the point of 'check-in'

Sainsbury Wing interior.

onwards. Booklets are provided describing how to use the control facilities in each of the rooms. Patients have small airline-like LCD television monitors on light adjustable arms.

The central corridor is illuminated indirectly from a central aluminium bulkhead creating soft ceiling light not dazzling the patients being moved on bed trolleys.

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Stag Place London - an open office building allowing light and views in and out of the building.

Location of Stag Place with viewing lines to Hyde Park, Green Park, St. James Park and the River Thames in London.

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A project for an office building with a restaurant and an atrium at Stag Place near Victoria Station in London has been developed to detail design studies and full size mock-ups. The shape and design of the building is a considered response to views from the surrounding spaces and streets as well as to the various heights of the existing adjacent buildings. The southern glass wall not only allows views in and out of the building but acts as a giant solar wall to gain energy in winter. The high communication mast acts as an important visual accentuation towards the busy Victoria Station as well as a contribution to the skyline seen from the surrounding Parks and the River Thames.

An open and light architecture allows generous views in daytime and gives an elegant 'nightlife' to the buildings. The architectural expression of the views in terms of volume and

Prefabricated bathroom study model.

geometry is leading away from the self-contained, rejecting glass box architecture to an architecture with a high degree of interaction with its environment. Instead of an enclosing, 'wrapped' box the 'design of views' leads to a 'look out' architecture which is in a permanent state of communication with its urban or natural context.

Section showing the views out of the building.

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Micro Architecture

The modern concept of mobility finds its expression in the car. The car - like the baby buggy - is a perfect example of

Architecture as a point of view - The Skihaus on the Eigerjoch in Switzerland, 3720 m.

what we call "Micro Architecture." The driver of a car is in an intense relationship with a fast changing environment. The car itself is just a minimum shelter, a second skin. With our micro architecture projects we try to explore this relationship of the inhabitant, driver or pilot with the environment and nature. With the growing dissatisfaction over the exploitation and destruction of nature we have considered a light approach to nature based on a mobile concept. We try to touch nature with our architecture and not to conquer it. The phrase "Touch the earth lightly" expresses this approach. The Skihaus leaves just three footprints in the snow after it has flown away.

The Skihaus is a further development of the micro architecture prototype "Flying Water" we first developed in 1991. The idea for the Skihaus was conceived on a starlit night while skiing high above the lights of Lech in the Austrian Tyrol. Would it be possible to enjoy the beauty of sunset and sunrise high up in the mountains for a moment separated from "civilization?"

Lookout architecture ...

Flying architecture - The Skihaus, a lightweight mountain hut.

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The Skihaus is an all aluminium construction which weighs 700 lbs., light enough to be lifted by helicopter. It sleeps four people and has two seats in the front. Heating and ventilation are solar powered. Currently the Skihaus is located on the Swiss-Italian ridge behind the Kleine Matterhorn near Zermatt. There is probably nothing more beautiful as climbing up the mountains overlooking Switzerland and Italy, enjoying the sunset, the clear starlit night, getting up in the morning and skiing downhill. The purity of nature and the quality of light in the mountains are breathtaking. The Skihaus is supported on three legs. This allows light underneath and makes its appearance lighter. This new issue in architecture, the view from underneath or the 6th elevation, comes from today's possibility of moving in all three dimensions by aircraft or especially by helicopter, which allows us a broader experience of space than ever possible before.

The Skihaus, with its six elevations, allows light underneath.

Point Lookout in Australia.

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A similar quality of light and wide open space as in the mountains can be found on the coast. Point Lookout is an aluminium and acrylic canvas 'beach rig' and life-saver's platform, which we designed for a conference in Australia.

It provides a raised platform and a shade canopy with an integral high level tent to use as a bivouac in remote locations. The platform sleeps two people. Additional hammocks and camping equipment can be attached below. Like in a sailboat the rope work of the frame construction forms a second level of space enclosure - a 'light architecture' - and controls the canopy, the seat angle and the overall adjustability. The whole structure can be easily dismantled like a sailboard and packed in two bags.

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Solar Spider project on Capri, Italy

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A project which is in the process of development with the students of the University of Naples is the 'Solar Spider' -a lightweight carbon fiber cabin which can be temporarily attached to the cliffs of the island of Capri and be reached only by boat.

Solar Spider is informed by the light construction of fisherman's huts to be found along the Italian coast and will have total electronic self -sufficiency.

The potential of a light 'micro architecture ' is not only in the natural environment but increasingly in cities where it can be fixed to heavy 'host ' buildings, enlivening the face of serious, grey city architecture and providing quality small-scale space for short stays. Furthermore unused spaces, like the street space or the space of a building site, can be temporarily used

"Fisch Haus" study models at the Technical University of Vienna.

by spanning a cabin between two existing buildings. Urban life will become more appealing and enriched by these additions.

'Micro architecture ' can also provide solutions for emergency and relief shelters.

Fishing hut in Italy

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The workshop 'Micro Architecture' took place at the Lehrstuhl Professor Helmut Richter at the Technical University of Vienna during the 1995196 winter term.

Structural engineer:

Richard Harden Willi Friitscher Anne Wagner Andreas Vogler Peter Bauer

Projects

Participants

Fisch Haus

Gerhard Abel Margrit Rammer Ursula Hammerschick Silvia Hiirndl Martin Janecek Brigitte Kunsch Paul Linsbauer Christopher Lottersberger Michael Ouixtner Hannes Schillinger Sakura Watanabe Torsten Fiedler

Visiting professor: Assistants:

Kite Haus

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Backbag Ladder Haus Folding Haus Skyframe Tetrahedron Haus Frog Haus My own house Hang-Up Floating Haus

Wolfgang Bickel Michael Greger Sabine Gretner Nelo Auer Karin Christo!

Alexandra Kocher Nina Holocher-Ertl Michael Lange Szczepan Sommer Christine Horner Stefan Pollhammer

Torsten Fiedler, a student at Vienna, also developed a new light sport architecture tor kite flyers - a tethered kite house that can hover 2-3m above the ground - the picture shows the model under test in the wind tunnel.

A remarkable 'micro-architecture' workshop with students from the Technical University took place in Vienna. In four months students designed and built radio controlled, illuminated working models and full size mock-ups in carbon fibre and aluminium for a prototype habitable car top cabin or bivouac for two - a 'cuddle cabin' weighing 45 kilos. The bivouac, named 'Fisch Haus' because of its inspiration from the traditional fishing huts on the banks of the River Danube close to Vienna, is powered from the car's systems and accessed through the car roof-light. The Fisch Haus supporting legs can fold down allowing the car to move away. Systems are then powered by solar panels and batteries. The Fisch Haus lights automatically when the car comes 'home'. The car provides a source of reference and informs our 'micro-architecture' and prefabrication studies linking the future low energy and solar electric cars into the 'micro-architecture' context and environment.

The projects made full use of the excellent aerodynamic facilities and wind tunnels at the Technical University Vienna.

These 'micro-architecture' projects bring students into a closer proximity with industry and aerospace technologies, as well as clearly illustrating the complete design process from sketch, drawing and model to full size mock-up and photography.

The 'Fisch Haus' is a stand alone structure which sleeps two people and can 'sit' on a car to be transported.

Tornado catamaran.

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Diagrams showing the construction sequence of the Yacht House with the foundations, the wind frame with aluminium spars and stainless steel rigging and the 'inti//' architecture.

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Concepts of Prefabrication

Building with light and transportable units leads our architecture naturally to the concept of understanding a building as a cluster of micro architectonic units. The Yacht House series are informed by the easy way in which a Tornado catamaran can be assembled and disassembled. The Yacht House comes as a 'kit' consisting of frame and infill elements delivered to the site directly from the factory. The only site preparation needed is the foundation work.

The frame is made out of standard yacht mast aluminium profiles.

It can be assembled in half a day. In fact due to the light weight of all the aluminium frame elements there is no need for expensive construction machinery and the whole family, including children, can safely help to build the house. Like assembling a sailboard this design makes construction socially 'lighter' and more available.

As in our furniture design, where lightweight frames have the advantage of being rearranged and moved easily, the light and modular concept of the Yacht House allows uncomplicated expansion and adaptability to changing needs.

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The advantage of light prefabricated buildings becomes more and more apparent when brought into a urban context.

In Singapore for example a downtown construction site is open 24 hours a day, as the land costs add up to 90% of the whole investment for a new building . Whereas other industries are developing to high productivity by high automation and the use of robots, it seems the construction industry can still afford to be highly unproductive and redundant.

A typical narrow construction site in an urban context makes the land unproductive for 1-2 years, resulting in costs which have to be amortized by higher rents. Thousand of building parts

The Skydeck project is investigating the advantages of prefabrication, common in car industry, for the construction industry.

are delivered from all over the country causing heavy traffic and pollution in the already congested city centers . These parts are then being assembled in very confined spaces, often hazardous and exposed. Wet building technologies slow down construction, especially in winter. A lot of companies are interdependent on each other - as soon as one fails or experiences a delay all others are affected.

If we look at the car industry we see a totally different picture.

All parts are highly prefabricated and delivered on time to the main factory where they are assembled in a clean and controlled environment. Since all parts are fabricated in parallel a car can be assembled in a very short time. The factory environment allows a much higher precision, a better use of materials and a

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Prefabricated housing units can respond to different needs and different existing village and city modules.

A central assembly line with subcontractors integrated in the same factory will reduce production time and transport.

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high degree of recycling. In addition the workers can work in a clean and healthy environment.

A typical 3 or 4 story domestic building lends itself for assembly in a few prefabricated units rather than of thousands of different parts. Most buildings have a 10-20 square meter room unit, if these are conceived as a car-like unit they could be prefabricated in the same process as cars. They would be highly independent with a high degree of installation making them adaptable and connectable on all sides.

A land owner then has the freedom of a light adaptable building. He can start with a low investment using the site immediately and extend the building over time. The user has more freedom by being able to change infills, have extra windows or having the whole unit easily exchanged.

We developed these ideas in our Skydeck Project, which we plan to extend to a research project together with interested car industries.

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Another project with incorporates prefabricated housing is a scheme for a new 'social' bridge across the Thames containing shops, restaurant and apartments and linking St. Paul's Cathedral and the new Tate Gallery MoMA in London. This project unifies three main advantages. First it is using the space over the river and consequently has minimal land costs. Secondly, the flats have a wonderful view and an open space with no traffic noise.

Thirdly, the central arcade with shops provides a pedestrian crossing protected from the wind and rain. The living units would be built in the factory at the same time the structure would be assembled on site. Then the units could be delivered by barge on the river and be lifted into position.

The typology of a 'bridge community' is actually very old but has become forgotten in modern architecture. The old London Bridge had houses on it like the Ponte Vecchio in Florence.

The interesting aspect today is that these additional functions of the bridge could actually help pay for it without asking for government funding.

It is certain that the construction industry will have to change in the future to be able to build under tighter economic constraints. It is crucial that the architect is prepared for this change, and has experience in working closely with industry.

The underlying principle of lightness is the need for the world community to achieve more with less material, thus saving energy and avoiding pollution.

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The inhabited bridge linking St. Paul's Cathedral with the new Tate Gallery will form a 'social bridge'.

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Aerodynamic Architecture

The development of western architecture can be traced from 'heavy' solid stone buildings like the Egyptian pyramids or the Greek temples to lighter stone construction like the gothic cathedrals, full steel structures and eventually to super lightweight shell , dome and tent constructions. In the sixties architecture actually broke a structural 'sound barrier' .

The weight of the buildings in relation to its surface became lighter than the force of a moderate storm. This shows clearly that for lightweight buildings wind has structurally the same importance as gravity. Gravity was always a generator of western architectural expression , think of the tapering forms of the pyramids, the capitals of Ionic columns , the flying buttresses of gothic cathedrals or the horizontal tripartition of a renaissance palazzo. All are architectonically expressing weight coming down to earth .

Whereas I.M. Pei, with his wonderful Louvre Pyramids, transposed the formerly heavy form of the pyramid into a light architectural expression, our "Wing Tower" project seeks to define new architectural form directly from principles of aerodynamics.

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Diagram showing the decreasing weight of buildings in western architectural history

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The Wing Tower - A 1OOm high structure which turns into the wind to reduce its drag.

With wind as a relevant force on structure a whole new realm of architectonic expression as well as engineering thinking opens up. As yachtsmen we are quite aware of the effects of wind and so we proposed an absolutely new approach to architecture for the recent European Millennium Tower Competition in Glasgow.

The project was awarded first prize .

The design brief asked for a 100 meter high tower with a viewing platform on top and a restaurant and exhibition space in the base. Our fascination for the beauty and technology of the modern aircraft and an awareness of wind and lightness led us, with the help of the ingenious aeronautical engineer Peter Heppel, to the idea of actually designing the tower as a vertical wing turning into the wind to reduce its drag.

The 'Wing Tower' will be an aluminium and steel lightweight structure turning on oil film bearings. The concept of a turning structure has only been possible by 'thinking light'. Further by turning the structure into the wind, 30% of weight and material can be saved compared to a conventional structure.

Once built in 1998, the Wing Tower will be the first tower of its kind to turn into the wind to reduce the forces on the structure.

Whereas the original competition entry was designed to reduce the aerodynamic forces we developed the concept further in our proposal for an exhibition in Zurich, with a Wing Tower in the lake. We asked ourselves the question of how we could actually use the wind to stabilize the structure and not just to reduce its impact? This is very familiar for a yachtsmen when balancing sails against the wind, but is a relatively new thought in architecture and structural engineering.

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I The new site of the Wing Tower in Glasgow - integrated in the competition design of the Scottish National Science Centre.

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Diagram showing the effects of the cabin wings.

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Wings in front and on the back of the top cabin act like spoilers on a race car and lean the tower into the wind.

The design of the Zurich Wing Tower develops the idea of adding extra horizontal wings to the top viewing cabin. The front wing would be designed to create a down force whereas the back wing would act in the opposite direction, thus introducing a turning moment which acts in the opposite direction of the turning moment created by the tower's drag. The effect of this is that the tower actually is leaning into the wind, reducing the moment on the turning mechanism in the base.

We believe that this change of thinking, where buildings are using the forces of nature like sun and wind to assist them rather

than resist them, will lead to a much lighter architecture and environment.

In a workshop at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, we studied the possibility of a super-high-rise building using aerodynamics. The traditional approach to a high-rise building is to build against gravity. This fight finds its limit in the strength of available materials and a congestion of lifts Diagram comparing different towers with the super-high lightweight structure 'KI . '

The base of the Wing Tower contains a restaurant and exhibition spaces. The turning mechanism of the tower forms a part of a permanent exhibition.

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The workshop 'Aerodynamic Design' took place at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich in winter term 1993.

Visiting professor: Assistants:

Structural engineer: Techmcal Services: Part1c1pants:

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Richard Horden Jan Dvorak Ludwig llg Andreas Vogler Peter Heppel Klaus Daniels Philipp Anderegg Roman Bachtold Federico Balzani Alexander Brun Lionel Buttner Yves Dusseiller Frank Felix David Fogetta Pascal Gys1 nm Haberhn Manuel Huber David Koch Matthis Kohler Men Krauch1 Rudiger Kreiselmayer Claudia Muhlhoff Egil Ruefli Bernhard Stettler Oliver Streiff David Trudel Patrick Walther Christian Wursten

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The concept of K1 liberates the skyscraper and the 'super high' tower from the space consuming lift shaft - and makes use of cable cars to carry building materials and passengers.

K1 would be designed like a tree with upwards and downwards views from buildings (branches), collect rain at high level, provide cable cars and 'fly in' landing points for aircraft - birds and bees fly straight onto the tree and don't fly to the bottom and then climb up!

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Clouds over the Mont Blanc mountains are forming a natural aerodynamic 'architecture. ' The translucent natura/light, clouds and mountains give us a wealth of design sources.

consuming disproportional floor area. We wondered what would be possible, if we would build with the wind? Whereas a pyramid or a cone is a vertical shape, a piling up from ground level against gravity, we found in the flower or tree a natural shape which is 'built' in the air. Our approach was to build in the sky, not from ground, thus air, light, clouds, wind, birds, aeroplanes become the actual 'site.' Our structural approach was the 'frisbee', an aerodynamic stable flying disc. Shapes were tested

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in the wind tunnel which created a turning moment and caused MILLENNIUM WE FACE THE NEED FOR

the tower to 'lean into the wind'. The 'Frisbee Tower' or 'K1' referring to its anticipated height of one kilometre shows the

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future potential of light architecture. Like the aircraft, this is an ACHIEVE FAST BUILD, LIGHT AND

architecture which is entirely resolved from and for the natural aerodynamic environment.

DEMOUNTABLE ARCHITECTURE -

THE TWO CONCEPTS OF 'LIGHT'

Richard Harden Apri/1996

HELP GUIDE OUR THOUGHTS.

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John G. Dinkeloo, 1918-1981

John G. Dinkeloo was born in Holland, Michigan in 1918 and graduated from the architecture program of the University of Michigan in 1942.

Upon graduation he joined the office of Skidmore Owings and Merrill in Chicago where he worked first as a designer and subsequently as the chief of production. Eight years later John returned to Michigan to join the office of Eero Saarinen and Associates in Bloomfield Hills where he was to become a partner. During this time he was involved with the design of a number of important projects including the TWA Terminal at

John Oinkeloo at the Jefferson Memorial Arch.

Kennedy Airport and Dulles Airport in Washington D.C. as well as the Jefferson Memorial Arch in St. Louis and the Morse and Stiles Colleges at Yale University. Following the sudden death of Eero Saarinen in 1961 John Dinkeloo formed a partnership with Kevin Roche becoming a founding partner of Kevin Roche John Dinkeloo & Associates in 1966.

This practice was to become one of the most distinguished architectural offices in the United States and, with the completion of projects such as the Ford Foundation in New York, the Headquarters for John Deere in Moline and the Oakland Museum, became a practice whose work has been internationally recognized .

John Dinkeloo was responsible for the development of thoughtful and elegant systems of design and detailing. He was involved in many different and highly original technical innovations including the development of different types of glazing, the use of structural neoprene gaskets and of high-strength low-alloy weathering steel in the exposed structures of buildings. In 1968 he received the Medal of Honor from the New York Chapter of the American Institute of Architects. Six years later the practice received the Architectural Firm Award from the American Institute of Architects. In 1995 the Ford Foundation Building was selected for the AlA Twenty-Five-Year Award.

John Dinkeloo died in 1981 . The John Dinkeloo Memorial Lecture was established at the College of Architecture + Urban Planning as a recognition of his extraordinary contribution to architecture and to honor the work of this distinguished and highly respected alumnus of the University of Michigan.

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The Dinkeloo Lecturers

The John Dinkeloo Memorial Lecture at the College of Architecture + Urban Planning of the University of Michigan has been delivered by architects who are internationally recognized for their work in practice.

1984 Kevin Roche 1985 E. Fay Jones 1986 Robert J. Frasca 1987 William Pederson 1988 Richard Meier 1989 Thomas H. Beebe 1990 Gunnar Birkerts 1991 Thom Mayne 1992 Tod Williams & Billie Tsien 1993 Michael McKinnell 1994 Diana Agrest 1995 John Patkau 1996 Richard Harden

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Acknowledgments The College of Arch itecture + Urban Planning is grateful for the generous support for the John Dinkeloo Lecture which has been provided by Thelma Dinkeloo and an endowment from Faculty and Friends. The assistance provided by the International Institute of the University of Michigan was invaluable in realizing the publication of this document; as well as the help of Christiaan Dinkeloo and the time and energy so generously given by Richard Horden Associates and, in particular, Richard Horden and Andreas Vogler.

Photography Credits 7T British Airways; 7C-7B Sherban Cantacuzino; 8 Jan Dvorak; 9T NASA; 9B Art Grossmann; 10 from Mike Riedner (ed.), "Faszination Fliegen", Motorbuch Verlag Stuttgart, 1991; 11 Robert Harding Picture Library; 12TC Ford Motor Company; 12BC General Motors; 12TB US National Archives; 12B Rutan Aircraft Factory; 13T Bill Bachman; 13C Egypt Air; 13B Illustration from the book 'Hang-gliding' by Dan Poynter, USA 1973; 15B Richard Horden ; 16 Dennis Gilbert; 17T BMW; 17C-B Dennis Gilbert; 18 Vic Carless; 19 Dennis Gilbert; 20-21 Eamonn O'Mahoney; 23 Alex Kellenberger; 24 Richard Horden; 26 Russell Jones; 29T-C Richard Horden; 29B Luciano D'Angelo; 30 Bill Bachman; 31 Ken Kirkwood; 32L Tom Miller; 32R Boston Whaler; 33T BMW; 33C-T Tom Miller; 36-37 Eamonn O'Mahoney; 41 Ruedi Hamberger; 42 Hertig; 43-45 Eamonn O'Mahoney; 46 Vic Carless; 47 John Norris; 48 Courtesy of Roche Dinkeloo Associates

Richard Horden, architect, was born 1944 in Leominster, England. He graduated 1969 from the Architectural Association in London. In 1971 he designed his first project. a house for his parents, influenced by the steel frame architecture of Californian architect Craig Ellwood . He worked for Farrell & Grimshaw and ten years for Sir Norman Foster Associates. where he worked on the design of numerous projects including the Sainsbury Center of Visual Arts , the Hong Kong & Shanghai Bank, and the Stansted Airport.

In 1984 he started his own office which has become a workshop for innovation in architecture. In 1993 the office received the Financial Times Award for Architecture. Richard Horden has taught in Europe, the United States and Australia. Currently he is a Visiting Professor at the Technical University in Vienna, Austria.