Sampling | Berlin: A Green Archipelago Diploma Unit 8 2019 - 2020
Contents
An Archipelago Of Elements Abigale Casajeros The Sea Amal Choaie Geometric Composition Christopher Louis Koutsoudes Charlottenhof Schloss Drew Hopper Peripheral Unity Edem Torsute Borders James Osborne Flattened, Peripheral Volumes Kay Razak The Irreducible Form And The City Lucia Medina Uriarte Unexpected Relationships Between Simple Architectural Elements Luisa Männilaan Infra-Space Michelle Lo The Spatial Formality Neringa Aliksandraviciute Exuberant Orthogonal Forms Rebecca Woolman Peripheral Rooms Richard Taylor Elemental Forms Stephen Massiah City Parts Uzma Aynar
An Archipelago of Elements The subtlety in Schinkel’s architecture Abigale Casajeros
“The idea of separated parts links the possibility of an absolute
What were once pergolas or stairs, could become rooms or
architecture to the idea of the archipelago as a form for the
plinths within the setting of a city. “Developing the idea of
city. The concept of the archipelago describes a condition
the city as an archipelago of limited parts was more feasible
where parts are separated yet united by the common ground
than attempting to realize overall projects.” 2
of their juxtaposition.” 1 Over the years, the city of Berlin has become an assortment of various architectural styles,
Through studying the plan that Schinkel had originally
depending on its political governance at the time. The
envisioned alongside the plan of the Roman Baths as is
Kingdom of Prussia, the 1871 German Empire, the Weimar
today, an appreciation can be made for the subtle changes
Republic, Nazi Germany, East Germany, and the reunified
its composition. He appears to design in fragments as each
Federal Republic of Germany, have all contributed in
part was drawn or constructed over a number of years.
some way to the city’s development. The buildings in
Side by side, it is difficult to comprehend whether there
Berlin constantly juxtapose one another, through either a
is much difference between the two plans, which begs
change in its use and program, or through its architectural
the question as to why his original vision was not fully
language and detailing.
conceived. Though the grid is slightly altered today from his original vision, what is most interesting is the way in
In 1829-1840 in Sanssouci Park, Potsdam, Frederik
which the landscape and garden spaces were initially more
William IV commissioned Karl Friedrich Schinkel to
prominent. The original plan extended beyond the lake,
convert the existing farmhouse for the Charlottenhof
suggesting he looked at the site in its totality, carefully
Palace into a building ensemble later known as the Roman
dictating specific views and landscapes to frame. Through
Baths. It mimicked both Italian country villas and Ancient
this plan comparison, it enables an understanding of the
Roman villas. Composed of pergolas, arcades and garden
complexity, yet simplicity of the floorplan arrangement.
spaces, the Roman Baths form spaces and junctions that
How these elements form spaces that blur the lines between
appear to create a ‘city like’ condition. These elements, if
what is considered interior or exterior, architectural or
extracted, could be transformed to offer a different use.
sculptural.
1 2
Pier Vittorio Aureli, The Possibility of an Absolute Architecture (London: The MIT Press, 2011), xi Pier Vittorio Aureli, The Possibility of an Absolute Architecture (London: The MIT Press, 2011), 200
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Schinkel Today, 1:500 Roman Baths, Sanssouci Park, Potsdam
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Schinkel’s Vision,1:500 Roman Baths, Sanssouci Park, Potsdam
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Composition of Elements Roman Baths, Sanssouci Park, Potsdam
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Overlay Comparison, 1:300 Roman Baths, Sanssouci Park, Potsdam
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The The SeaSea Division and unity ofcollections heterogeneous Division and unity of heterogeneous in thecollections anonymityinofthe the landscape anonymity of the Sea Amal Choaie
“While the islands were imagined as the city, the area between
often unseen for its greatness, as a central point, that unites
was intended to be the opposite: a world in which any idea
and divides, and frames and delimits, both by the virtue and
or form of the city was deliberately left to its dissolution. In
finiteness of the archipelago and islands to disguise them as a
other words, the more the islands were meant to heighten the
whole. “The more different the values celebrated by each island,
logic of the city, the more the ‘sea’ was supposed to ‘develop’
the more united and total the grid or sea that surrounds them.”3
as a mix of opposing tendencies: self-management, extreme
The islands formal boundaries allow them to be acknowledged
suburbanization and dark forest.” 1
as what frames, and to an extent, (re) defines the value of the sea.
Sanssouci Park in Potsdam, Berlin is listed under UNESCO and
The Charlottenhof Palace is arranged with terrace, exedra and
as a World Heritage Site due to its unique vast array of gardens
the broad concentric circles of the Rose Garden, configured with
and palaces. In 1829, Frederik William IV invited Karl Friedrich
fragments and intertwine with the landscape features, such as,
Schinkel to build a series of buildings as a courts gardener’s
the trees that metaphorically are represented as columns to form
establishment for SchloB Charlottenhof as the Roman
the grand entrance to the palace.
Baths. With views across the lake, it forms the picturesque counterpart to Charlottenhof Palace. An approach from the
Likewise, The Roman Bath is assembled by a composition of
west, the Charlottenhof Palace is entirely visible, while from the
virtue forms of a central tower (as a hierarchy) with arcades,
northeast, the loose collection of forms that make up the Roman
vine-covered pergolas, terraces, stairs and gardens of delight
baths can be made out from a distance. Schinkel had envisioned
that frame and surround it. They are simple in their nature and
the archipelago as a fabric punctuated by singular architectural
complex in their morality. Effectively, these forms are shaped
interventions. His work is infused with higher emotional and
like clusters of buildings, with a sense that it has been arranged
symbolic values, that if all architecture begins with construction,
with time, developing almost a “city within a city”, yet strongly
it must be “construction enhanced with aesthetic feeling” and in
connected, and together, perceived as a whole entity: an island.
return, everything essential must remain visible.
These forms, like, heterogeneous collections compose a linear composition of clearly defined, idiosyncratic spaces, which
“The islands of the archipelago describe the role of architectural
outlines moments of boundary and territory, and in other spaces,
form within a space more and more dominated by the “sea”
the forms are open to welcome the sea. Pieced, layered and
of urbanization.”2 The concept of the archipelago describes a
composed together, these forms are the anatomy of the sea to
condition where parts are separated, yet united by the common
direct journeys and create sequences and relationships inside
ground of their juxtaposition. An archipelago is distinguished
this island, and a dialogue around and between other islands in
with an underlay of a grid imagined as a sea and an overlay
the park through a physical and visual sense. This concept of
of plots imagined as islands. In this case, Sanssouci Park is the
separated forms links the possibility of an absolute architecture
archipelago (land), the islands are the architecture, namely seen
in the anonymity of the sea. The three worlds, the architecture,
here, The Charlottenhof Palace and Roman Bath, and the Sea
land and sea come together and form the architectural build-up
is the void and space in-between. The sea is ambiguous, and
of beautifully ornamented journeys and, everything essential remains visible.
1 Pier Vittorio Aureli, The Possibility of an Absolute Architecture (London: The MIT Press, 2011), p 225 2 Aureli, p xi 3 Aureli, p 24
The Archipelago, Island and Sea The Roman Bath and it’s relationship with the two other worlds
The “sea” in-between the islands The space in-between is “withdrawn from urbanity and equally embracing it... The island and the sea as a dialog between something with intelligible borders and something unstable and in permanent flux.”4 Charlottenhof Palace and the Roman Bath in Sanssouci Park, Potsdam, Berlin, Karl Friedrich Schinkel Plan 1:1000 @ A3 4 Aureli, p 243
The Roman Bath, Karl Friedrich Schinkel, 1840 A family: the sequence of forms and collections of the same form, namely, the pergolas that may tell a story of the development of the island in its time.
The Roman Bath, Karl Friedrich Schinkel, 1840 These forms, like, heterogeneous collections compose a linear composition of clearly defined, idiosyncratic spaces, which outlines moments of boundary and territory, and in other spaces, the forms are open to welcome the sea. The forms merit an ability to direct journeys, create sequences and relationships inside and around the island, land and sea. Axonometric 1:200 A3
“Geometric Composition Geometric the Composition use of restricted forms in creatingforms public private spaces” The use of restricted in and creating public and private spaces By Christopher Koutsoudes Christopher Louis Louis Koutsoudes
“He Designed this complex as a catalog of formal compositions starting with the basic figures of geometry - the triangle, the square, and the circle”1
German Architect Oswald Mathias Ungers buildings are
the residential housing, but also as entrances and exits points
identified through strict geometrical design grids. The use of
that connect public to private spaces.
basic design elemental forms such as square, circle and sphere, which Ungers varied and transformed into his designs. This
Using the ideology presented through this design Ungers
design ethos is represented in Ungers residential housing project
presents not only a generic extension of new housing but
Clock 1 IBA, Berlin in which Ungers places a restrictive grid
clear formalised “city parts”. 2 The detail of using a grid system
system that expands through the layout of the project.
which Ungers has shows how each square is produced to connect from plan to elevation creating an architectural entity. This
In his formal language, Ungers elementary use of square form is
concept of utilising space and structurally formulating within a
used thought the residential housing design. The six monumental
system gives this housing development a self sustaining identity.
block structures which sit within the geometric grid is formed as
1,2 Pier Vittorio Aureli, The Possibility of an Absolute Architecture, 1st ed. (Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press, 2011). p184
Size/ 11 Oswald Mathias Label Ungers Clock 1 IBA, Berlin orem ipsum dolor sit amet, non tortor ridiculus at torquent integer. Ut felis magna risus tellus eu. Posuere suspendisse Inside View
Size/ Clock 11 Oswald Mathias Label Ungers 1 IBA, Berlin orem ipsum dolor sit amet, non tortor ridiculus at torquent integer. Ut felis magna risus tellus eu. Posuere suspendisse Grid Structure | Facade | Window | Floor
Size/ Clock 11 Oswald Mathias Label Ungers 1 IBA, Berlin orem ipsum dolor sit amet, non tortor ridiculus at torquent integer. Ut felis magna risus tellus eu. Posuere suspendisse Entrance View
Size/ Clock 11 Oswald Mathias Label Ungers 1 IBA, Berlin orem ipsum dolor sit amet, non tortor ridiculusPlan at torquent integer. Ut felis magna risus tellus eu. Posuere suspendisse / Elevation 1:500 This fold out plan / elevation has been drawn to show how Unger’s use of grid and geometric form placement continues throughout the building. This containing form of architectural programming clearly illustrates my point of restriction of forms and how to use this in crating private and public areas.
Charlottenhof Schloss The capability of an artefact to compose a site. Drew Hopper
Schinkel’s Charlottenhof Schloss is a strange object that is
is entirely obscured by a yard of densely packed trees on
formally defined by the compositional aspirations of the site in
approach, the trees are not organised in favour of the aesthetic or
which it sits. As an artefact it serves to organise the site around
formal qualities of the yard but rather to maximise their visual
it into a series of picturesque views. It is a multi-faceted marker
obstruction of the main façade. This results in the immediate
with an idiosyncratic formal logic which only makes sense in
reveal of the flat, almost unornamented portal which exaggerates
context.
the scale of the two-storey house. Slight deviation of the vertical elements of the portal exaggerate its connection to the ground
It acts as a visual terminus for multiple views within Sanssuoci
and further adds to this effect. It feels like the end point of a
Park, Potsdam, Germany. Other landscape elements are used to
grand vista rather than an entrance to the small castle, such is
‘frame’ this project, but the building responds to this framing
the drama of the reveal.
by adopting a loose composition of somewhat rudimentary, compositionally usual architectural elements consisting of; the
The ‘back’ façade of the castle, while equally serious with its
portal, the pergola, the plinth and the stage – the former three of
unadorned Doric columns and blank entablature is far more
which are explored in this brief study.
plastic in its figure, especially when viewed obliquely from the path leading to the Roman Baths. Two portal trees frame the
The style of each of these elements changes in turn, each of
portico, and medium height shrubs hide the retaining walls of
these sub-artefacts is collaged into the whole and, ignoring
the plinth on which the portico sits atop. Thus, the back of the
the common materiality, the overall language is that of a
building becomes temple-like, the importance of the modest
juxtaposition of elements. However, throughout the parkland
portico within the landscape being exaggerated and heightened
an appreciation of the overall composition of these elements
through a carefully composed approach.
is rare, instead views towards the project are carefully masked with dense tree planting, ‘portal’ trees (two large trees on either
Finally, the pergola. The southern pergola is one of three garden-
side of a path), and winding paths that rarely link nodes directly
like edges and is essentially a garden wall to the entire park. The
but tend to lead the user through a series of picturesque reveals.
trees around here are densely planted, and unlike throughout the rest of the park weeping foliage is used extensively. The pergola
The accompanying images show these sub-artefacts at their
is revealed only in part, as a defensive object from which the
point of reveal.
parklands are viewed, rather than an object to be viewed for its own formal qualities.
The western Egyptian portal (and main entrance to the castle)
Four Composed Views Showing the project within the context of the park, and it’s multiple characters which each serve a particular view.
Site Plan. 1:500. Showing the site lines of the photographs on opposite spread.
The Idiosyncratic Object The built project, while legible as an object, is only comprehensible within the context of the site.
A Conecption of Peripheral Unity Edem Torsutse Peripheral Unity Schinkel’s exercise of Enfilade Edem Torsute
Schinkle’ s Exercise of Enfilade
“What Ungers extrapolated from the existing city fabric were not its vernacular or iconographic elements. But rather the most abstract architectural elements found in the sequence open and closed spaces, the rhythms of the walls the volumetric effects of firewalls, and the seriality of housing facades with their repetitive patterns and openings.” 1 Like Schinkel’s bare Neo classical proposal of Charlottenburg
and corridors to perform as one unified cohesive larger room. A
Palace Pavilion. Ungers can be seen to take Schinkel’s method
play between “integration and closure” is identified4.
in his design of the public realm of Block 1. What is left of the New Charlottenburg Pavilion perfectly describes this. With
What can be percieved to be the corridor also opens to the
the Villa/New Pavilion being Schinkel’s exercise of the primary
surrounding balcony additionally creating a dynamic peripheral
square conversely being found in that of Unger’s approach to the
square room welcoming the outside (a buffer zone of Interior
public realm of Block 1.
and exterior). Of course, with the villa becoming an expression of the primary square form, it can be difficult to identify
Bare because of its brief and commission from King Friedrich
which is the key central hub or performing space. Especially
I, as an outpost for his new wife of a lesser known class and
now more present in the Villas newfound use of a “Pavilion” a
stature. The Villa is said to be a collage of ideas Schinkel found
museum being used to showcase Schinkel’s works of art in the
on his trips to the Italian Neoclassical Villas at the time 2. Its
2-dimensional realm of German Romantic Painting. It’s hard to
interior condition is rather seamless with the Primary form of
identify where Friedrich’s wife’s Private room would have been
the square rippling though the plan. From the micro arrangement
located.
and composition of tiles, seen to be animated to encourage movement towards nexuses throughout the plan. All which can
A departure from Aurelli’s less is more would render this
be enclosed with the very separating element of its doors and
juxtaposition of the villa proposal to be more valuable due to its
walls forming a solitary room. The doors are also carefully
adaptiveness and openness than the strict monument and icon its
placed to create an enfilade that when opened allow all rooms
was initially intended service 4.
Enfilade | Charllottenburg Pavillion | The service corridor space becomes one with the more static potentially private rooms.
Absolute Closing | Charllottenburg Pavillion | Rooms can be completely closed to be completely invisible isolated from its sorrounding contex’s point of view.
| Charllottenburg Pavillion |
BORDERS Borders Plinths urban space as an archipelago of limited urban artifacts. The reinvent redefinition of urban space as archipelago of limited artefacts James Osborne
“The reality of the city as made of separation and exclusion
in which the project is adversarial or sympathetic to its context.
rather than unity and inclusion.” 1 While what happens upon this plinth in Mies’ instance reflects
“The plinth introduces a stoppage into the smoothness of
the ‘city’ – that is the finite reproduction of the aspirationally
urban space, thus evoking the possibility of understanding
infinite and expanding systems of urbanisation and
urban space not as ubiquitous, pervasive, and tyrannical, but
consumption, production and capital, through reflectivity and
as something that can be framed, limited, and thus potentially
the material embodiment of the tools of this system – is there is
situated as a thing among other things.” ²
scope for the language that operates upon this ‘plinth’ to be civic in its nature and exist out with the scope of the ever-growing
The way the plinth reorganizes the connection between a
‘city’? Or, are there other devices that are notional ‘plinths’ –
building and its site affects not only one’s experience of
in that they provide a frame, a position, a plinth from which
what is placed on the plinth, but also—and especially—one’s
we can be simultaneously part of, and abstract from a situation
experience of the city that is outside the plinth.” 3
– a vantage points from which we can interrogate a place?
In The Possibility of an Absolute Architecture Aureli
During a study trip to Pozdam (Germany) I have recorded a
describes how when one mounts a Miesian plinth one is both
porch found at Glienicke Palace by Karl Friedrich Schinkel.
part of the city and abstract from it. Aware of the presence
This particular ‘collonaded plinth’ was picked in relation to
of the city, the movement, the overall urban gestalt, but as a
the main studio project (thesis) and is intended to explore the
detached observer. Surrounded by the urbanity of complexity
question; how can a minor architectural fragment both make
and expansionism this plinth, as a device, delineates a
the user aware of a position in the city and abstract users
boundary — an archipelago whose placement creates a
from it? The collonade acts as an additional element of visual
space paradoxically out-with and with-in its situation.
separation. The porch appears to be completely transparent when viewed perpendicularly; however, it seems completely
Despite the apparent abstractive qualities of the plinth, it becomes
solid if viewed at an oblique angle. It is an attempt to elevate
the projects contextualising device, a liminal boundary. The
the freestanding architectural object as an analogous form
project becomes entirely site-specific as the plinth makes clear
encompassing a bourgeois space, with the plinth giving this
the extent of the site, the position of the project, and the manner
appropriation a self-defined limit.
’Possibility of an Absolute Architecture’ P. V. Aureli. [Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press. 2011] [1] page 197 | [2] pages 40-41 | [3] page 37
Collonaged plinth (porch) at Glienicke Palace in Potsdam Photographs show the ambiguous nature of the porch. It appears both transparent and solid, depending on the observer’s position.
Porch plan & section. Scale 1:50 0m
1m
Porch (Plinth) At Glienicke Palace, Potsdam
Flattened, Peripheral Volumes Razak Volumes Flattened, Kay Peripheral
Kay Razak
““How a mode of representation on paper that is often so
The assemblages are to be seen in transit, and the journey of
flamboyant and theatrical comes to be transformed, somehow
the viewer is scripted and Schinkel controls the narrative. He
logically, into an architecture that we admire most for its
induces a feeling of immense poetic sense and impression of
austerity and for its economy of means.”
repose.
1
The relationship between the creative process of drawing and
The following pages represent the themes of ‘transition and
practical mode of building is an ever-present conundrum for
assemblage’. The elements within these images represent the
the architect. Schinkel, as a master draughtsman practiced
movement toward lightness not only in the practical sense of
the sequence of thought, eye, hand, pen, paper, decorative
building on the past but also this notion of forming contiuity
conception, and finally of built form in the most experimental
with nature through layering of fragments thus creating an
ways.2 This assiduous dedication to the practice of two
intermediary stage for outdoor room or indoor landscape.
dimensional representation afforded him the most imaginative schemes.
The sequence of architecture between drawing and the ultimate product, in this case reversed, the artefacts record the procession
In Römische Bäder and Casino Glienicke, Schinkel assembles
of spaces from focused images. They endeavour to retell the
disparate existing architectural elements with his idiosyncratic
spatial and temporal information, historical continuity on a
instruments of pergola, arcades, towers, terraces and cascading
two dimensional artefact. The role of the perspective employed
climbers. He rebalances the weight of architectural positions:
in achieving the picturesque composition is absolute, but the
path and the place by giving prominence to the beauty of the
clarity, meaning, and depth of a built form can be best rendered
journey.
within the medium of paralel projection.
1 Niall Hobhouse, Drawing a Conclusion, Architectural Review, 2012. 2 Niall Hobhouse, Drawing a Conclusion, Architectural Review, 2012.
Multiple Enclosure Casino Glienicke, Potsdam
Procession of Hereness Casino Glienicke, Potsdam
Outdoor Room Römische Bäder, Potsdam
Retelling of the story of arrival Plan of the Roman Baths, Potsdam
The Irreducible Form and the City Bedroom, Neuer Pavilion Lucia Medina Uriarte
“The dialectic between the irreducible formal and spatial autonomy of each part and the possibility of conceiving the different parts as one coherent structure, as a city part.” 1
The plan of the first floor in the Neuer Pavillon is square and composed of four rooms. They each sit in a corner. The rooms communicate with one other through same-size door openings which line up across narrower corridors, creating an enfilade view. Two adjacent sides on each room lead to two of these narrower corridors. Each room is then punctured on the envelope at one or two points, depending on the room’s original function and the external views they frame. Each room is composed of a grid of 14 by 14 square timber tiles. Timber boards around the tiles have been cut to meet the wall, varying slightly in width to allow for construction tolerances. The square defined by the tiles in the middle is therefore a perfect geometric shape, floating within the slight irregularities caused by the process of bringing the building into the world.
The doors and walls in the room are designed to appear as one when closed, making of the room an insular space. This microcosm is repeated four times. The corridors in between are clear transition spaces which guide the visitor through the building, the rooms are arrival spaces in which one dwells. The whole house perimeter is enclosed by a balcony. The plan defined sits as a perfect object within the context; like a boat, it floats within the chaos of the city. The functions it had once hosted have now been superseded. Instead, it acts as a monument, a historic artefact representative of a period of history. The tiles are to the room what the room is to the building, and the building to the city. They form an irreducible artifact, a reminder of human scale. Schinkel’s room, in its precise and deliberate definition establishes itself not just as the ultimate refuge from the everyday, but further as an elemental city part in resistance to the forces of urbanization. The insular nature of each part allows for an internal richness which would otherwise be lost in the sea of the city. “Architecture is not just a physical object, it is also what
survives the idea of the city.” 2
1 2
Pier Vittorio Aureli, The Possibility of an Absolute Architecture (London: The MIT Press, 2011), 207 Pier Vittorio Aureli, The Possibility of an Absolute Architecture (London: The MIT Press, 2011), 227
Connection Across Rooms The moment the individual room is opened up to its surroundings one becomes aware of the fullness of the pavillon.
The Pavillon as an Island The architecture stands through time within its changing environment. The building appears like a boat, adrift in the chaos of the city.
Door Opening Detail Through the treatment of surfaces, the doors are concealed within the wall and make the room a hermetic space.
Unfolded Room Study The treatment of all elements in the room deliberately explores a feeling of completeness.
Unexpected Relationships Between Simple Architectural Elements Casino in Klein Glienicke by Karl Friedrich Schinkel Luisa Männilaan
Schinkel developed his language into different architectural
Instead establishing axial relationships, Schinkel uses
elements that, by combination and recombination, created
buildings as point interventions, through what he creates
different events. They often spread across many different
relationships to other fragments of context that he
scales – greeted by a pergola colonnade, the elements start
encounters. The depth and sequence of these elements
slowly taking shape into a solid volume, that is sometimes
varies according to the relationship it is trying to articulate.
topped by a tower. In Casino, in Klein Glienicke park,
These smaller elements sit around the building in a way
as for a myriad of other projects, he uses the same kind
that does not reveal the whole character of the Casino at
of scattering technique in enclosing a building – a wall
once, but lets the visitor gradually unveil it.
becomes a protrusion, like a balcony, or an inset, like a terrace, or sometimes splits entirely into different consequent boundaries – a gallery walk, a change of level, stairs, a terrace, and only then, an enclosing wall. The resulting deep envelope with its change of scale scatters the two-storey building down the landscape. The finishing colonnade walk, with its approachability and tangibility, invites for use and offers vitality to its surroundings.
Fine-tuning the experience of approach Termination of the building reaching much further than its external facade, actively inviting people to approach.
Pergolas as an extension of the building Stretching of Pergola elements from the immediate building facade into the context creates a different condition on every side of the building.
Infra-Space Separation and confrontation agonistic parts in-between Separation and confrontation of agonistic of parts in the space in the space in-between Michelle Lo
‘The political occurs in the decision of how to articulate
The landscape, planned from the beginning, takes into
the relationship, the infra space, the space inbetween. The
account the different demands of tenants with open space.
space in between is a constituent aspect of the concept of
Each apartment has a garden, originally meant to be used
form, found in the contraposition of parts [...] The space in
to grow part of the inhabitants’ food. At the inclined part
between can only materialize as a space of confrontation
of Gartenstadtweg, the street is part of a gorged landscape.
between parts. Its existence can only be decided by the
Terraces of varying depths are formed by walls, stairs and
parts that form its edges.’
low plants on each side, which constitute the front gardens
1
of the elevated rows of houses. A picturesque image is In Bruno Taut’s construction plan for the ‘Gemeinnützigen Baugenossenschaft
Gartenvortstadt
Groß-Berlin’,
created by the varied planting, pergolas and trellises.
a
70-hectare terrain, southeast of Berlin, is subdivided into
The organization of plots imply a series of public, shared
gardens and public rooms, as well as houses with floor
and private landscapes in between the houses. The concept
plans for different households, aimed at social mixing
of the archipelago describes a condition where parts are
and creating classless communities. Taut’s original plan
separated, yet united by the common ground of their
for 7500 inhabitants could only be realised in two small
juxtaposition. The houses are in a constant relationship
fragments, amounting to 1500 units, due to the War. In
both with each other and with the ‘sea’, or in this instance,
the second phase, Gartenstadtweg, twelve standardised
a gardenscape, which frames and delimits them. Implicit
housing clusters are staggered along the ascent to the
modes of separation are at play: the topographical
Falkenberg Plateau.
extrusions that elevate clusters of houses onto plinth-like terraces, the colours of the row houses alternating from
The configuration of the garden city gives off the impression
plot to plot, front gardens that seemingly spill out onto the
of a settlement that had grown over many years. Borrowing
road, albeit through uniform wood fencing that line the
principles from Sitte, row-houses are set back in the
pavements.
middle of the block in order to create a sense of place by varying the depth of the road. Some houses are set back by
Yet, there is a sense of physical connection via visual
as much as the length of a house. Taut considers uniformly
connection, particularly in the ‘in-between’ spaces of the
wide streets to be dull, uneconomical and unconducive to
buildings. Taut designs not only buildings, but the social
fostering a domestic scale. Within Taut’s garden suburb,
fabric between them. Dialogues between buildings are
the residential streets are made narrower than the code
cultivated by their staggered arrangement, and expressive
allowed, to establish a clear separation from traffic arteries.
compositions of windows, trellises and colour at the gable ends.
1 2
Pier Vittorio Aureli, The Possibility of an Absolute Architecture (London: The MIT Press, 2011), 27 Pier Vittorio Aureli, The Possibility of an Absolute Architecture (London: The MIT Press, 2011), xi
A ‘sea’ of gardenscapes ‘The archipelago envisions the city as the agonistic struggle of parts whose forms are finite and yet, by virtue of the finiteness, are in constant relationship both with each other and with the ‘sea’ that frames and delimits them.’2
Physical connection via visual connection A pergola is at once an extension from domestic interior to private garden, at once a frame through which vistas of the garden suburb can be viewed.
(Above) Plan of Gartenstadtweg Clusters of houses grouped around a garden landscape
(Below) Section across the staggering, projecting and retreating front gardens where implicit modes of separation are at play
The Spatial Formality The spatial formal composition of the complex Compositionof of built built and void Composition voidspace spaces Neringa Aliksandraviciute
Neringa Aliksandraviciute
‘Schinkel had envisioned the capital of Prussia as a fabric punctuated by singular architectural interventions, rather than as a city planned along with the principles of cohesive spatial design typical of the Baroque period.’1 A singular house with the function itself serving as a summer house and inspired by Naples villa - Casino De Chiatamone creates a romantic ‘void’ within the rich landscape or more like woodland. A singular element of a given function to serve as a house for the royal family. The New Pavillion is located next to the River Spree and opens up to the expansive views of the surrounding landscape. The set scene is quiet, peaceful and romantic. Towards the east through an avenue of old linden trees, the view opens up to the bigger picture to the rest of the mazed garden.
The time is passed, the view and function of the building changed. The question has been raised: does the building compliments a city or city compliments a building? Unger’s would be pleased to see the complexity of the made scene. The old addition in the form of a new city creates the complex composition of the space. Where a composition of the build and void space became the main architectural motif.2 The singular element is still there but disturbed with the city noise. The new elements added in surroundings. The building serves no more a family or more like a city, by providing a temporary pleasure to the times where the dream of Schinkel excited.
1. Aureli, P.V., Davidson, C., 2011. The Possibility of an Absolute Architecture. MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass, 182p. 2. Minh, T.V., n.d. Texte des RECS #18: Zur Geschichte des Neuen Pavillon im Schlosspark Charlottenburg. Research Center Sanssouci.
Neuer Pavillon, Karl Friedrich Schinkel, 1824 -1825 The New Pavilion emerges within the city, the landscape doesn’t consume the old anymore, from private to public becomes a cityscape.
Neuer Pavillon, Karl Friedrich Schinkel, 1824 -1825
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Neuer Pavillon, Karl Friedrich Schinkel, 1824 -1825 ‘We dine delectably in a pavilion of the king with a small terrace and garden directly on the sea, approximately in the center of the half-circle of the gulf, which is the most beautiful location imaginable can’.3
Neuer Pavillon, Karl Friedrich Schinkel, 1824 -1825
‘We dine delectably in a pavilion of the king with a small terrace and garden directly on the sea, approximately in the center of the half-circle of the gulf, which is the most beautiful location imaginable can’.3
3. Minh, T.V., n.d. Texte des RECS #18: Zur Geschichte des Neuen Pavillon im Schlosspark Charlottenburg. Research Center Sanssouci.
3. Minh, T.V., n.d. Texte des RECS #18: Zur Geschichte des Neuen Pavillon im Schlosspark Charlottenburg. Research Center Sanssouci.
Exuberant Orthogonal Forms The formal composition of Unger’s and Schinkel’s architecture Rebecca Woolman
“Unlike Rowe’s value-free figurative exuberance, these
Unger’s forms, instead of being ‘quotations of history’, were
interventions were each spatially different yet made with the
generic, yet responsive to the existing situations of the city,
same formal grammar: simple orthogonal extrusions of built
especially sites without historical pedigree.4 This approach
form. In this way, difference was not an ad hoc accumulation of
can be observed in Unger’s IBA Block 1, a residential housing
architectures, but the dialectical tension between different city
scheme completed in 1987. The square block stands in direct
spaces—the courtyard, the block, the sunken plaza—produced
tension with the blank façade of the adjacent building. The
by the juxtaposition of simple forms”
simple square is unrelenting, as is the composition of each
1
elevation that flows, endlessly, in to an internal courtyard space. Though at first OM Unger’s thought his ideas of architecture and
At certain points, in the courtyard, we can see a point of origin
urbanism very similar to Colin Rowe’s theory Collage City, it
for each form and it is inside that Unger’s simple orthogonal
was Unger’s recognition and understanding of the fundamental
extrusions of built form are composed in such a playful way that
differences in their ideas that strengthened his own approach,
it is almost exuberant.
which he called The Dialectic City.
2
Similarities can be drawn between Unger’s work at Block 1 and Rowe rejects the tabula rasa method of modernism, instead
Schinkel’s Neuer Pavilion, built in 1824. The simple form of the
seeing the city as a ‘sophisticated bricolage’ formed by an
Neuer Pavilion stands adjacent, tucked behind, just to the right
intricate collage of architectural figures that coexist, in spite
of the Charlottenburg Palace, creating a strange tension between
of their differences, within ‘the ground’ of the city fabric. The
the two forms. This positioning is purposeful and reflects the
city is then a scene of architectural set pieces that can sustain
political tension the Pavilion was built within. In marrying
multiple uses and contribute successfully to the city, so long
a woman not of noble status, the wife of the Prussian King
as they convince as a figure. Unger’s fundamental difference
Friedrich Wilhelm III, could not live in the royal residencies
in thinking was that Rowe’s detachment of architecture and
and instead a separate smaller home was built behind the palace
urbanism from the political and cultural climate of the city and
for her. It consists of an enfilade of rooms that unfold around
the reduction of architecture to a purely morphological exercise,
a central space, in a similar manner to Block 1. In this simple
as Auerli puts it ‘Rowe’s value-free figurative exuberance’.3
composition of rooms there are points at which the different spatial planes converge in a way that is strikingly reminiscent of Unger’s geometry. Again there is a formal exuberance achieved through the juxtaposition of simple orthogonal form.
1 Pier Vittorio Aureli, The Possibility of an Absolute Architecture, 1st ed. (Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press, 2011) p 209 2 Auerli, p 205 3 Aureli, p 209 4 Aureli, p 208
Dialectic Tension of Orthogonal Forms IBA Block 1, OM Ungers, Berlin, 1987 Unger’s perimeter block, residential housing, development faces the blank facade of the adjacent building, refusing to alter its endless facade composition.
Neuer Pavillion, Karl Friedrich Schinkel, Berlin, 1824 Schinkel’s pavilion stands in the shadow of the Charlottenburg Palace, behind and just to the right, a subservient form.
Origin of Form IBA Block 1, OM Ungers, Berlin At certain points the ordered and constant formal geometry of the block meet at a point. It seems that here is the origin of the forms.
Neuer Pavillion, Karl Friedrich Schinkel, Berlin, 1824 A corner in which the simultaneous spatial planes of from the volumes of the different adjacent rooms interact.
Exuberant Orthogonal Form IBA Block 1, OM Ungers, Berlin, 1987 Central courtyard corner elevation, 1:100 @ A3
Neuer Pavillion, Karl Friedrich Schinkel, Berlin, 1824 Central landing corner elevation, 1:30 @ A3
Peripheral Rooms Richard Taylor Richard Taylor
“This procedure created a formal tension between the simplic-
Whilst still complimenting its northern neighbour, the central
ity of each architectural part and the complexity of spatial ar-
tower is in fact formed through the clustering of 5 towers, each
rangements created by their overall composition ... he [Ungers]
connected by pathways and bridges. Formed as 3 squares, a
altered their formal composition in order to recuperate the possi-
circle and a rectangle, each tower represents a single room, a
bility of monumental form within the peripheral spaces in which
single space. Through the physical separation of rooms, a rela-
they were inserted.”
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tionship is between these spaces that is inherently different from the flanking blocks.
Kreuzberg Tower was designed by John Hejduk as part of the
With the formal composition adhering to the individual room,
1987 International BauAufstellung (IBA) Program in which not-
Hejduk’s tower plays with the relationships of the peripheral
ed architects and designers were invited to create new low and
spaces of the site. Whereas Ungers approach to Neue Stadt, as
middle income housing for West Berlin.
theorised by Aureli, created a non-hierarchical system, Hejduk’s smaller towers - consisting of circulation, kitchen, bathroom and
The scheme consists of three buildings that take formal cues from
sleeping quarters - connect to the core central room, an over-
their closest neighbour. Here Hejduk has continued the flanks of
sized non-programmatic space.
neighbouring building, creating a more enclosed central space. In the central tower Hejduk breaks from the regularity of the site bounding blocks and takes a wholly different approach.
1
Pier Vittorio Aureli, The Possibility of an Absolute Architecture (London: The MIT Press, 2011)
Each room manifests itself in a separate tower.
Through the extension of the neighbouring form and abstraction of ‘rooms’ the peripheral spaces take on a new character.
Elemental Forms Ungers’ Chimneys in the Urban Block Stephen Massiah
“This approach did not rely on mimetic contextualism, however,
References to a classical and harmonious canon of early
but adopted a vocabulary of abstract and austere architectural
industrial buildings including its basiclical three nave typology,
forms. What Ungers extrapolated from the existing city fabric
are evident in the project. The long chimneys extend beyond the
were not its vernacular or iconographic elements, but rather the
eaves of the adjacent buildings and provide a focal point on the
most abstract architectural elements found in the sequence of
street. The charge and potency of these vertical elemental forms
open and closed spaces......” 1
is exeperienced within its urban context, from different vantage points in Tiergarten. The bold intervention on Alt-Moabit
Oswald Mathias Ungers’ Tiergarten Pumping Station built in
contrasts with the street elevation on Levetzowstraße, where
1985 replaces the 1891 old pump station next door, by Friedrich
the inconspicuous chimneys subsumed by the complexity and
Krause. The building like the tip of an iceberg, sits above a
hetrogeneous quality of the city urban block, lose their charge.
subterranean suction pumping station which treats effluent from a 680 hectare area of the city. Residing within a nondescript Berlin urban block, and surrounded by residential housing blocks, kindergartens and primary schools and retail outlets, the building stripped of superflouous decoration, sits proud, its’ brick chimneys dominating and punctuating the street elevation on Alt-Moabit. “He designed this complex as a catalog of formal compositions starting with the basic figures of geometry—the triangle, the square, and the circle.” 2 The project exemplifies the architect’s interest in elemental forms and universal archetypes including simple geometric shapes, cubes and cylinders – adapted to the unique qualities of the site. The exterior features a clinker red brick façade with a pitched roof and four large rectangular chimneys.
1 2
Pier Vittorio Aureli, The Possibility of an Absolute Architecture (London: The MIT Press, 2011), 187 Pier Vittorio Aureli, The Possibility of an Absolute Architecture (London: The MIT Press, 2011), 184
Ungers’ Pumping Station from Alt-Moabit
Alt-Moabit Street Elevation. Scale 1:500 Ungers’ Pumping Station sits on Alt-Moabit surrounded by residential housing, kindergartens, and the original 1891 old pumping station next door, by Friedrich Krause. The rectangular extended chimneys dominate the street.
Ungers’ Pumping Station from Levetzowstraße
LevetzowstraĂ&#x;e Street Elevation. Scale 1:500 Ungers’ Pumping Station can be experienced from different vatage points in Tiergarten. The chimneys can be observered inconspicuously on the street, partially revealed in the complex of hetrogeneous buildings in the urban block.
City Parts The composition of housing complexes creating ‘city parts’ Uzma Aynar City Parts
Uzma Aynar
“In opposition to the traditional mandate given to urban project,
clinic and cafe, allowing to evolve into a self sufficient island.
the main principle guiding [these proposals] was the conception
The housing blocks within the complex have a relationship with
of new housing complexes not as a generic extension of the city
each other that connects them to become the ‘city part’ together.
but as clearly formalized city parts, as finite artifacts...” 1 Fritz Jaenecke and Sten Samelson’s Schwedenhaus is a part of As the city of Berlin was growing Ungers’s approach was to
a ‘city part’, but unlike Taut the urban layout of this extension
create new ‘parts’ of the city instead of an extension to the
of the city does not have the same approach, it is a cluster of
city, where the same general building standards are applied
buildings not having a relationship with each other within its
throughout. These new ‘city parts’ becoming their own artifact.
composition. Similarly to the Hufeisensiedlung, Schwedenhaus contains a cafe, clinic and a shop, creating a certain self
The two comparisons of the ‘city parts’ indicates the different ways
sufficiently within its own proximity.
this approach was carried out. Bruno Taut’s Hufeisensiedlung’s urban layout of the housing complex was composed and read
These two approaches of the extension of the city show the
as a single architectural entity and a ‘city part’, an island within
difference between a ‘city part’ as formalised composition of
Berlin. Within the housing complex having its own nursery,
building and a cluster of building as an extension to the city.
1
Pier Vittorio Aureli, The Possibility of an Absolute Architecture (London: The MIT Press, 2011), 182
Plan of Hufeisensiedlung Plan of Berlin 1:5000
Plan of Hansaviertel Plan of Berlin 1:5000
Corner of Grossiedlung Grossiedlung (Hufeisensiedlung) / Bruno Taut / Berlin
Grossiedlung Corner Plan 1:150
Corner of Schwedenhaus Schwendenhaus (Sweden Building) / Fritz Jaenecke & Sten Samelson / Berlin
Schwedenhaus Corner Plan 1:150
Diploma Unit 8 2019 - 2020