City Architecture Presentation - Fall 2019

analyzed by Tristan Schaeffer

Pier Vittorio Aureli and Martino Tattara DOGMA Communal Villa Berlin, 2015

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Project: DOGMA housing / analyzed by: Tristan Schaeffer

DOGMA Communal Villa Berlin, Germany, 2015

Fig. 01 The axonometrics represent the project of the communal villa in different dispositions and different contexts, to show the adaptativity of the project.

Pier Vittorio Aureli and Martino Tattara has been exploring shared and communal housing through various projects. Regarding the evolution and the mutations in contemporary cities, Dogma develops works on the topic of living and working in the same space, the relationships between the individuals and adaptative concepts. The concept of the Communal Villa emerges around the idea of shared spaces and private spaces, as a single free space with furniture units that accomodate the private functions and the personnal space of the inhabitants. The space around these private islands is a common space for people to gather and work. Dogma‘s proposal stand against the modern standards of individual housing and separation between the living spaces and the working spaces, as developped by Le Corbusier amongst others. The term „Villa“ refers to a large house, a type of housing reserved to the upper classes since the antiquity.

The villas form the Renaissance were single standing, simple geomertical blocs, recalling the exterior appearance of Dogma‘s projects. However the projects draw a stronger inspiration from communal housing types develops in the roman antiquity called „insulae“.

Communal Villa is a proposal for a residency for artists, located in Berlin. One of the individual spaces has been built at the 1:1 scale for the exhibition.

Like A Rolling Stone is a project that has been developed for the 2016 Biennale of Architecture in Venice, adressing the topic of the different durations in the dwelling and the relationships between living and working and their role in the contemporary cities.

The two projects share the same principle of a modular shared space that can be equiped with liveable furniture that contain private spaces such as bedrooms, kitchen or toilets.

The projects allow for a versatile space and adaptable disposition, and work on strong dichotomies such as Public/Private, Working/Living, Buying/Renting or exploring the different durations of occupation in a building.

The project develops a minimal relationship with the exterior environnement, with a very neutral facade expression. Dogma explores the power of simple form, as the cube, in order to convey strong political ideas. The Communal villa allows for a basic notion of orientation, as two facades are shaded by biaised pillars, and the two other are open.

The structure is only visible inside the building, and is a simple grid as a support for the different activities taking place inside the building. The central part of the floors benefits from double floor height, and openings allow for light to penetrate the spaces.

courtesy of DOGMA, 2016

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The project „Like A Rolling Stone“ doesn‘t restricts itself to formal plan or elevation. The basic floorplan principle is versatile, and the circulation is pushed outside the programed volume, in order to ensure for freedom in the use of the space and placement of the private spaces. The spiral staircase in the center probably aims to meet the fire emergency standards and is part of the logic of a fluid shared working space flowing around objects. This space acts as a threshehold between the public space of the city and the private space of the livable furnitures. The tower elevation of these private spaces, as well as their color, give a sculptural aspect to their objects and differentiate even more the private and the shared. The floors are also designed with a double height.

Like A Rolling Stone pushes its relationship with the outside further by creating an ondulating and mostly glazed facade. The four sides of the building are the same, and the repeating floorplans create a vertical pattern on the facade. Balconies allow for indirect relationship between the inside space and the city, but also facade expression, and appropriability of these spaces create diversity and personnality in an otherwise neutral facade. Moreover, the elevator tower on one facade gives an orientation to the volume, and defines a certain caracteristic for the building: it is at least 2 floors tall.

Fig. 01 This perspective show a proposal for an insertion of the project in an urban context.

The glazed facade allows to see the private volumes inside an the different activities taking place inside the building. courtesy of DOGMA, 2016

These projects are both conceptual and experimentations, the only built parts are the private „liveable furniture“. They mostly focus on conveying ideas and concepts, engaging a reflection on the dwelling in the contemporary cities. The proposals both relie on a strong communitarian aspect, and question the modern theories of urbanism.

By designing an adaptative project, that can fit in diverse contexts, and that serves living and working conditions, adressing short and medium dwelling durations, Dogma‘s proposal is an answer to urban sprawl and unused spaces caused by the dichotomy between living and working places in the contemporary metropolitan areas. The two projects take place in two of the largest european cities, London and Berlin. These cities suffer from an extensive urban sprawl, and housing problems. Both buildings answer to these issues with an idea of shared and minimal space.

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Project: DOGMA housing / analyzed by: Tristan Schaeffer

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Fig 01 Perspective section through one of the sides of the volume, showing the relations between working and living spaces, shared, public and private spaces, inside and outside, up and down, .... courtesy of DOGMA, 2016

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Project: DOGMA housing / analyzed by: Tristan Schaeffer

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Fig 02 Perspective view of the central shared space, and its appropriability by the users, and the functionality of the storage spaces. courtesy of DOGMA, 2016

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Fig 01/02 The wooden boxes shelter different programs, and the bedroom pladement on the upper floor creates a feeling of privacy in this space. Each unit also comprises storage for the artist‘s material. The furniture also divide the grided space into different gradient of spaces: more intimate working spaces facing towards the exterior, and a major shared workshop in the middle, defined by the structure grid.

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Fig 03 The minimal footprint of the structure allows for freedom in the placement of the objects inside the building. However, the architect still keeps control on the floorplan. Small shifts in the placement of the elements inside the grids create a dynamic plan, and moving parting walls allow the users to redefne the plan. courtesy of DOGMA, 2016

Project: DOGMA housing / analyzed by: Tristan Schaeffer

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Fig 01/02 Extraction from the project, the private areas serve as programmed walls, accomoding programs for both public and shared uses, as well as separating public from private ground.

This part also houses staircase to link the different levels.

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Fig 03 Axonomotreic view of the project, showing the steel h-beam structure, only visible from the inside. The shading devices differs between the different facades, exposing or not the outside corridors

Project: DOGMA housing / analyzed by: Tristan Schaeffer

UTSOA Fall 2019: The City as an Element of Architecture

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Fig 01 Perspective view of the outside of the building in its context, showing the different facades and the relationships they offer to their surrondings. courtesy of DOGMA, 2016

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Project: DOGMA housing / analyzed by: Tristan Schaeffer

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Fig 02 Perspective view of another iteration of the project, constitued of two cubes bound together by a shared courtyard space. courtesy of DOGMA, 2016

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Fig 01/02 The private volume stands in the middle of the space as a sculptural object, with minimal aperturess. The opening doors recall a piece of furniture that can accomodate living features. It also questions wich spaces can be shared or need to be private in order for a space to feel owned. The simplicity of the volume and its interior can also allow for simple space reorganization.

Fig 03 The plan is strongly impacted by the structural elements, that also give the strong verticality to the facade. the narrow plan type and the large openings compensate the lack of orientation but also prevent the center spaces to be dark. The central spiral staircase also responds to the square volumes. The versatility and moving parts in the projects break the otherwise simplicity of the plan. courtesy of DOGMA, 2016

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Project: DOGMA housing / analyzed by: Tristan Schaeffer

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Fig 01/02 Extraction from the project, showing the shared space and the private box, dichotomy between an horizontal shared space and a vertical private space. The structure regulates the placement of the liveable furniture spaces. A central circulation space spirals from the top to the borrom of the building.

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Fig 03 Axonometric of the project, showing the outside facade, with the balconies spaces. the structure creates depth to accomodate both spaces on the inside and on the outside, such as balconies. Square private boxes are placed in between the structure lines.

Project: DOGMA housing / analyzed by: Tristan Schaeffer

UTSOA Fall 2019: The City as an Element of Architecture

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Fig 01 Perspective view of the inside of the „Like A Rolling Stone“ project, showing the differnt atmospheres and views inside the building. The blue boxes and the round staircase create a singular atmosphere and the furniture like functions create diversity in the visuals. courtesy of DOGMA, 2016

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Project: DOGMA housing / analyzed by: Tristan Schaeffer

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Fig 02 Perspective view of the inside of the „Communal Villa“ project, showing the apropriation of the spaces and the way the use of a space can be part of the design of a place, leaving space for the inhabitant to create his own world. courtesy of DOGMA, 2016

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This report is part of the seminar: The City as an Element of Architecture Produced December 2019 This research report is for educational purpose only.

Author: University of Texas at Austin, School of Architecture lecturer: Daniel Koehler 306 INNER CAMPUS DR, AUSTIN, TX 78712, USA