All work produced by Unit 14
Cover design by Charlie Harris
www.bartlett.ucl.ac.uk/architecture
Copyright 2021
The Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL All rights reserved.
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The building proposal for the black forest House aims at establishing and transforming the traditions and identity of the black forest in a single building. It is brewery, beer hall, festival center, farm, garden, and river stadium simultaneously. Most importantly the building strengthens the identity of the local black forest community by emphasizing and enhancing the culture and traditions of the region.
The black forest house follows in the footsteps of vernacular farmhouse architecture and has a large gable roof which is nested into the edge of the Dreisam valley, protected from wind and weather by the surrounding mountains while also being connected to the fertile flat valley land.
In addition, the building sits over the Dreisam river allowing for direct access to fresh water and enabling for seating with views over traditional
valley land are used for Hobs and barley fields. Farm equipment is stored in the building basement which also provides space for water filtration. The elevated green roof of the basement is where the entrance and garden of the building are located. The 1st floor houses a large beer brewery and seating area giving views over the river. The 2nd floor houses beer bars which serve the freshly brewed beer and a open festival hall covered by the wide spanning gable roof.
Above ground the building is a timber construction while below it is made of lightweight concrete. The Timber construction use hardwood European oak and softwood black forest fir to create tree like structures which support the floors and the wide spanning gable roof. Oscillating shingles allow for natural light to enter the building while still providing for weather protection.
All work produced by Unit 14 Unit book design by Charlie Harriswww.bartlett.ucl.ac.uk/architecture
Copyright 2021 The Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmited in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording or any information storage and retreival system without permission in writing from the publisher.
At the center of Unit 14’s academic exploration lies Buckminster Fuller’s ideal of the ‘The Comprehensive Designer’, a master-builder that follows Renaissance principles and a holistic approach. Fuller referred to this ideal of the designer as somebody who is capable of comprehending the ‘integrateable significance’ of specialised findings and is able to realise and coordinate the commonwealth potentials of these discoveries while not disappearing into a career of expertise. Like Fuller, we are opportunists in search of new ideas and their benefits via architectural synthesis. As such Unit 14 is a test bed for exploration and innovation, examining the role of the architect in an environment of continuous change. We are in search of the new, leveraging technologies, workflows and modes of production seen in disciplines outside our own. We test ideas systematically by means of digital as well as physical drawings, models and prototypes. Our work evolves around technological speculation with a research-driven core, generating momentum through astute synthesis. Our propositions are ultimately made through the design of buildings and through the in-depth consideration of structural formation and tectonic. This, coupled with a strong research ethos, will generate new and unprecedented, one day viable and spectacular proposals. They will be beautiful because of their intelligence - extraordinary findings and the artful integration of those into architecture.
The focus of this year’s work evolves around the notion of ‘Crafted Horizons’. The term aims to highlight the architect’s fundamental agency and core competency of the profession to anticipate the future as the result of the highest degree of synthesis of the observed underlying principles. Constructional logic, spatial innovation, typological organisation, environmental and structural performance are all negotiated in a highly iterative process driven by intense architectural investigation. Through the deep understanding of constructional principles, we will generate highly developed architectural systems of unencountered intensity where spatial organisation arises as a result of sets of mutual interactions. Observation as well as re-examination of past and contemporary civilisatory developments will enable us to project near future scenarios and position ourselves as avant-garde in the process of designing a comprehensive vision for the forthcoming. The projects will take shape as research based, imaginative architectural visions driven by speculation.
Thanks to: ALA, Boele Architects, Daab Design, DaeWha Kang Design DKFS, Heatherwick, Knippershelbig, NK3, RSHP, Seth Stein Architects, ZHA, Expedition Engineering.
