ISSUE:004

VOLUME 004

EDITORS Greg Arcangeli Elizabeth Baird Hillary Collins Brett Koenig Lauren Kohlhoff Kathryn Lee Janice Nicol Chris Oliver Lynn Petermann Emily Scarfe Adam Schreiber Daniel Sylvester

ADVISORS Michael Beaman Billie Faircloth Louise Harpman Nichole Wiedemann

contact 1 University Station A6220 SOC #426 Austin, TX 78712 issueut@gmail.com

WELCOME

The end-of-semester reviews in the School of Architecture are opportunities for critical reflection and celebration. They are, however, fleeting events that can elude precise recall by critics and students alike.

SOA students launched ISSUE: four years ago as a way of breaking free of the temporal bounds of the final review to present the work of the school for broader consideration. This volume, like its predecessors, includes projects by undergraduate and graduate students in the professional architecture, interior design, and landscape architecture programs. Among the studios represented here are two that merit explanation as particular to the SOA. The Sound Building studios in the undergraduate architecture and interior design curricula emphasize the integration of the students’ knowledge of form generation, qualitative factors of inhabitation, construction, environmental systems, and context. The Vertical Studios in the graduate architecture program combine students with different backgrounds and levels of experience to foster a learning environment in which everyone contributes.

The faculty of the SOA does not subscribe to a singular ideology or pedagogy, and the variety of approaches students encounter can be both daunting and liberating. Among the pleasures of reading ISSUE: is comparison of the different ways studios address fundamental subjects, such as the generation of form. Shipping containers, microprograms based on activities of inhabitation, ruled surfaces, and the properties of textiles are just four examples of generative strategies found in these pages. Equally interesting is comparison of how studios interpret and explore sustainability as a response to climate, through the selective use of materials, and as a matter of social equity.

ISSUE: also allows us to clearly see something that can be overlooked when we’re in the thick of our individual course schedules: the tremendous potential the SOA offers for enriching our experience as teachers and students by bridging disciplinary boundaries. Not only do studios in landscape architecture, architecture, and interior design share common concerns at different scales, the same inquiries are being pursued from different perspectives by the other course sequences. The two essays from history courses show how the study of the past is always informed by the concerns of the present. Borromini’s facades have a place in a conversation about the inflection of stranded materials; the history our campus raises questions addressed by students of the urban landscape and historic preservation. On behalf of the student editors, I welcome you to your own reflection and celebration of the work of the School of Architecture at The University of Texas at Austin.

RICHARD CLEARY Associate Professor Page Southerland Page Fellow In Architecture Graduate Advisor

TABLE OF CONTENTS

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A C E G I B D F H J K M O Q S U W L N P R T V X Z Y cleary, richard welcome

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A C E G I B D F H J K M O Q S U W L N P R T V X Z Y tABLE OF CONTENTS A C E G I B D F H J K M O Q S U W L N P R T V X Z Y

spring 2007

A C E G I B D F H J K M O Q S U W L N P R T V X Z Y 7

A C E G I B D F H J K M O Q S U W L N P R T V X Z Y Bricker,Michael Temple Beth-Shalom Page,Brianne

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A C E G I B D F H J K M O Q S U W L N P R T V X Z Y

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A C E G I B D F H J K M O Q S U W L N P R T V X Z Y school of architecture, sao paulo torres,andrew

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A C E G I B D F H J L N P R T V X Z Y clinton,will dallas K M O Q S U W urban laboratory

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A C E G I B D F H J K M O Q S U W L N P R T V X Z Y Studio NOLA Grant,Stephen

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A C E G I B D F H J K M O Q S U W L N P R T V X Z Y Austin Fire Station Zhang,Shengning

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A C E G I B D F H J K M O Q S U W L N P R T V X Z Y

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A C E G I B D F H J L N P R T V X Z Y Water Tower Koenig,Brett K M O Q S U W

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A C E G I B D F H J K M O Q S U W L N P R T V X Z Y SCHOOL of Architecture, Sao Paulo Stoynova,Marina

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A C E G I B D F H J Y inflectionK M O Q S U W & L N P R T V X Z elegance Greig,Travis

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A C E G I B D F H J K M O Q S U W L N P R T V X Z Y

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A C E G I B D F H J K M O Q S U W L N P R T V X Z Y Strand Building Olbrys,Jeremy

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A C E G I B D F H J K M O Q S U W L N P R T V X Z Campbell,Cameron/Pearson,Eli/Tyson,Erin Beyond the WallS Y

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A C E G I B D F H J K M O Q S U W L N P R T V X Z Y fifth & Congress Lauer,Angela

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A C E G I B D F H J L N P R T V X Z Y firstK M O Q S U W Street Bridge Project Sylvester,DanIEL

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A C E G I B D F H J K M O Q S U W L N P R T V X Z Y Microprogram House Oppelt,James

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A C E G I B D F H J K M O Q S U W L N P R T V X Z Y veras,sandRA UNDERLAY

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A C E G I B D F H J K M O Q S U W L N P R T V X Z Y

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A C E G I B D F H J K M O Q S U W L N P R T V X Z Y FIRST Street Bridge Project HAYNES,JAMES

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A C E G I B D F H J K M O Q S U W L N P R T V X Z Y Temple Beth-Shalom Delargy,Cameron Oliver,Chris A C E G I B D F H J K M O Q S U W L N P R T V X Z Y

summer 2007

A C E G I B D F H J K M O Q S U W L N P R T V X Z Y 47

A C E G I B D F H J K M O Q S U W L N P R T V X Z Y LANDSCAPE Heritage of the 40 Acres Halley,Shannon

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A C E G I B D F H J K M O Q S U W L N P R T V X Z Y

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A C E G I B D F H J K M O Q S U W L N P R T V X Z Y DRAWINGS germany, travel Wurzburg MEASURED

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A C E G I B D F H J K M O Q S U W L N P R T V X Z Y BRAUN,JESSICA GARBE,TANIA MOnGOLIA

TABLE OF CONTENTS

A C E G I B D F H J K M O Q S U W L N P R T V X Z Y

fall 2007

A C E G I B D F H J K M O Q S U W L N P R T V X Z Y A C E G I B D F H J K M O Q S U W L N P R T V X Z Y New Facilities for the UTSOA Oliver,Chris

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A C E G I B D F H J K M O Q S U W L N P R T V X Z Y Crum,Rickey 2G Venice Lagoon Competition

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A C E G I B D F H J K M O Q S U W L N P R T V X Z Y bloomhouse solar decathlon

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A C E G I B D F H J K M O Q S U W L N P R T V X Z Y

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A C E G I B D F H J K M O Q S U W L N P R T V X Z Y austin natatorium Puga,JJ

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A C E G I B D F H J K M O Q S U W L N P R T V X Z Y lima textile museum Saenz,Daniel

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A C E G I B D F H J K M O Q S U W L N P R T V X Z Y fiorentino italy, travel castiglion

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A C E G I B D F H J K M O Q S U W L N P R T V X Z Y

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A C E G I B D F H J K M O Q S U W L N P R T V X Z Y Bell,Andrew Sound MODULATOR

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A C E G I B D F H J K M O Q S U W L N P R T V X Z Y landfill platform Schmidt,Katie Lee

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A C E G I B D F H J K M O Q S U W L N P R T V X Z Y river community Johnson,Kevin thames

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A C E G I B D F H J K M O Q S U W L N P R T V X Z Y lima textile museum Saunders,Margaret

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A C E G I B D F H J L N P R T V X Z Y Brodsky,Juliana GravesK M O Q S U W Building

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A C E G I B D F H J K M O Q S U W L N P R T V X Z birdhouse Swantner,Bess Y

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A C E G I B D F H J K M O Q S U W L N P R T V X Z Y Ecological Co-housing Williams,parker

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A C E G I B D F H J K M O Q S U W L N P R T V X Z Y Garbe,Tania Gilliam,Alex Alley Flat initiative

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A C E G I B D F H J K M O Q S U W L N P R T V X Z Y Fincher,Warren Skin and Scar

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A C E G I B D F H J K M O Q S U W L N P R T V X Z Y 2G Venice Lagoon Competition Ruckman,Ruben titrington, adam

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A C E G I B D F H J K M O Q S U W L N P R T V X Z Y

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A C E G I B D F H J K M O Q S U W L N P R T V X Z Y Borland,SetH Marfa Soap Factory and nightspa

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A C E G I B D F H J K M O Q S U W L N P R T V X Z Y Mash-Up Winn,Patrick

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A C E G I B D F H J L N P R T V X Z Y thames river community McDaris,John K M O Q S U W Paul

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A C E G I B D F H J K M O Q S U W L N P R T V X Z Y Eustace,Rohit/Finn,Jeffrey Austin BathHouse

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New Facilities for the UTSOA A C E G I B D F H J K M O Q S U W L N P R T V X Z Y Moore,Kevin

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A C E G I B D F H J K M O Q S U W L N P R T V X Z Y West Avenue House Williams,Dawson

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A C E G I B D F H J K M O Q S U W L N P R T V X Z Y USE Gelfand,Sam VERTICAL MIXED

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A C E G I B D F H J K M O Q S U W L N P R T V X Z Y Albright,Aaron/Antozzi,Billy Austin BathHouse

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A C E G I B D F H J K M O Q S U W L N P R T V X Z Y Mohair [cotton] Farm Nolan,Joel

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A C E G I B D F H J L N P R T V X Z Y lima K M O Q S U W textile museum Petermann,Lynn

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A

Bricker, Michael B C D E F G H I J K L M N O

PAGe, Brianne P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Temple Beth-Shalom Technical communications advanced studio critics: kevin alter ernesto cragnolino Our design for the reform congregation at the Dell Jewish Community Center (JCC) uses both landscape and nature to provide a meaningful place of community connection, religious integrity, and Jewish identity.

Because the site’s parking lot disguises the existing buildings, we sculpted the land around the Temple Beth Shalom complex in order to emphasize its presence, permanence, and importance.

The sabbath entrance (North) and the high holiday entrance (West) both follow the newly-formed, season-specific landscape - the former pushing into the earth below the site’s largest Live Oak, and the latter stepping above the path level into a grove of Flameleaf Sumacs. The dramatic inward-sloping roof section with central skylight, focuses the congregation on the ark and bimah, while perimeter windows provide views up and out. The major path connection to the JCC, pulls congregants through the site, provoking an ever-changing sectional relationship to the buildings and landscapes beyond.

DESIGN

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A

Bricker, Michael B C D E F G H I J K L M N O

PAGe, Brianne P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

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A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R

This studio proposed a foreign study center for the University of Texas School of Architecture in São Paulo, Brazil. The studio was premised on the idea of the prototype, thus there was no specific site for the project. Shipping containers were chosen as the building system because of their standardized serial nature.

This design takes cues from the Modernist tradition of Brazil and interprets them through the modular vocabulary of shipping containers. Central to the project’s concept is the open court at the center of building, which acts as a public outdoor space within the school. The primary circulation occurs in defined zones adjacent to the larger central space, which also serves as a venue for large events and lectures.

Though the building is not intended for a particular site, it would ideally be situated along a street or pedestrian route. The living units are arranged on the second level, with the studio spaces on the third. Faculty offices are located on the fourth level between the double-height courtyards of the studios, and all exterior spaces are accessible as roof terraces.

Emphasis is placed on the interlocking of spaces within the building. The section of the building reveals direct connections between floors creating a variety of double and triple-height moments. However, from the exterior, much of this sectional complexity is masked, creating a sense of discovery as one moves through the layers of the building’s interior.

DESIGN

S T TORRES, ANDREW U V W X Y Z

School of Architecture, São Paulo ADVANCED STUDIO CRITIC: BARBARA HOIDN

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A B

CLinton, will C D E F

Dallas Urban Laboratory Advanced STUDIO critic: Dean almy

G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

The Dallas Urban Laboratory is an urban design workshop at the University of Texas at Austin School of Architecture, focusing on design explorations and research into the primary issues in the progression of Dallas. The focus is the revitalization of old communities, development of new ones, and the protection of naturalistic and historic resources of the area. Dallas has been projected to expect populations to double over the next few decades; as a result, there is an increased pressure for development upon urban and environmental infrastructures.

Adapting and planning for these future strategies is the mission of the Lab.

DESIGN

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A B C D E F

Grant, Stephen G H I J

Studio Nola Advanced Studio critic: Nichole Wiedemann

K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

The purpose of Studio NOLA was to determine a solution to one of New Orleans’ many problems, which is the water-flooded occupation of the Ninth Ward. As a response to several issues impacting the Ninth Ward, I devised a system that would provide the residents of this community the opportunity to rebuild with confidence. Through extensive research, I decided that the primary focus of my design would be influenced by the most common space in New Orleans, the neutral grounds. My final design consists of two modified neutral grounds that rest on a 3 foot marshland and span the entire length of the Ninth Ward.

Attached to these spines are several programs, such as schools, churches, markets, and recreational space. These neutral grounds also contain high points for times of emergency and evacuation. In addition, this proposed marshland will open up into the revamped Bayou Bienvenue Reservation that is located just north of the lower Ninth Ward. Eventually, these spines or neutral grounds will act as a seed for future commercial and housing developments.

DESIGN

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A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X

The concept for Firehouse 14 is a series of sectional walls that modulate the functions within, providing for efficient solar and wind orientation, and re-establish the civic nature of the building type by connecting the community to a newly planned jogging trail and park in the Robert Mueller Municipal Airport redevelopment scheme.

Wide wall modules contain the main functions of the firehouse (bays, administration, offices), while thin modules provide support functions (circulation, mechanical). On the upper floor, a transverse corridor unifies the lower walls and accommodates for bedrooms, bathrooms, and passage to the training tower, which doubles as a beacon for the neighborhood.

All exterior walls are clad in a terracotta-ceramic rainscreen, paying homage to traditional brick firehouses. A double-layered glass roof system with sandwiched louvers provides adequate thermal insulation while modulating the amount of natural light within. End windows and bay doors on each wall module flip up to make porches for outdoor seating.

DESIGN

Y

zhang, shengning Z

Austin Fire Station sound building STUDIO critic: louise harpman

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A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y

zhang, shengning Z

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A B C D E F G H I J

Koenig, Brett K L M N

Water Tower Advanced Studio critic: Patricio Mardones

O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

This studio investigated the translation of process into form. We began by casting a funnel into a 9 x 9 x 12 inch block of plaster.

The funnel had to affect water in four ways during its short descent.

The next step was to transcribe the resultant shape into a series of contours. I mapped the curves in Rhino in order to create more fluid transitions between the four experiences of the funnel. Once digital, the next task was to translate the form back into the analog realm with a 2x4 assembly, and reflect the ability for a high-tech means of form-making to be executed in a low-tech manner.

Envisioned as a 30-foot tower in Red Bud Park in Austin, the final manifestation of this working process became a relationship between the collection of water within, and the observation of water beyond.

DESIGN

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A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q

Shipping containers are inexpensive and portable objects. They are industrial units and their architectural re-use requires both incisions and additions to the containers for inhabitation. In utilizing these objects, a question arises as to how much alteration is appropriate before the principles of re-use are negated. My solution is a design that reinforces the basic intentions of a shipping container, while creating truly inhabitable spaces. It is an urban infill project in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

The containers are mass-produced units; my response was to establish consistent openings on every container by completely removing three sides and inserting sliding plywood doors. The next step inserts sub-units that inform inhabitation, including programs from kitchen and bathroom to accomodations for deck/bed. The sub-units will provide all the necessary appliances for the building, including, computers, couches and tables. Once the sub-units are in place, the sliding doors are closed and the container is ready for shipment and fast erection at various locations.

On site, the containers are combined with additional prefabricated parts to complete the building. Stacked, the containers act as load-bearing walls holding beams that span the in-between space. The fully-equipped containers service the neutral, flexible center spaces, which becomes the main inhabitation zones. The containers can be stacked at various heights to reflect site and programmatic needs.

DESIGN

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stoynova, marina S T U V W X Y Z

School of Architecture, S達o Paulo ADVANCED STUDIO CRITIC: BARBARA HOIDN

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A B C D E

Fig. 1 - guarini's church of the immaculate conceptionI

F G greig, travis H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Inflection & Elegance: The Baroque and the Contemporary architecture in the age of the baroque instructor: richard cleary Robert Venturi, in his book Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture, makes a distinction between “both-and” and “eitheror” types of architecture. “Either-or” is an architecture of clarity and articulation, something Venturi sees as foreign to an architecture of complexity and contradiction.1 The “both-and” architecture is the richest one for Venturi, for it is full of ambiguity, which “promotes richness of meaning over clarity of meaning.”2 Architecture is a broad art, which suffers when clarity of program, form and decoration hampers depth of meaning.

Baroque architecture was a move away from the rigidity of the Renaissance. Granted, similar rule and forms applied overall, but their application, use, and decoration was completely challenged by the likes of Borromini, Bernini, Hawksmoor, and Guarini. The richness of the Baroque is the richness that Venturi describes.

His theories of “inflection” and the “difficult whole” ring true for the Baroque. The richness of experience through a calculated ambiguity is the power of “both-and” architecture. Not knowing exactly what it is that you are looking at, not feeling a sense of definition, not being grounded by clarity – these are the effects of the Baroque. Venturi argues that this ambiguity and inexactness of feeling can be seen as a purposeful theory of architecture.

HISTORY

“Both-and” can be understood as a quality of architecture that can operate at several different levels. Guarini’s Church of the Immaculate Conception (Figure 1) can be seen 3 as both a “duality in plan and a unity.” It is an elliptical-like plan composed of two distinct circles and one weaker circle in plan. The effect is an east-west axis suggested by the two distinct circles. Four piers in the middle of the church hint at an independence of the two main circles to the east and west, while the space defined between the piers suggests a unity of the whole. The “both-and” argument for Guarini’s church points to an articulated ambiguity concerning Christian church program and the resulting form. The apse and the nave are each distinct yet are unified. An interesting parallel can be made to the Holy Trinity in Christianity – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – as an articulated ambiguity of faith.

Details can work in a similar manner of scale, relating a part to the whole. Venturi cites the oddly oversized keystones in Hawksmoor’s St. George-in-the-East (Figure 2). Close up, the keystones are enormous in relation to the arches and windows they span. But when you back up and look at the entire building as a whole composition, “they 4 are expressively right in size and scale.” This shift of scales points to the ability of ornament, which seems to fail at the small scale, while being greatly successful — if not entirely necessary — at a larger scale. “Apparent irrationality of a part,”

The “both-and” argument for Guarini’s church points to an articulated ambiguity concerning Christian church program and the resulting form.

Venturi says, “will be justified by the resultant rationality of the whole, or characteristics of a part will be compromised for 5 the sake of the whole.” He is clarifying Kahn’s remark for need of both good and bad spaces in architecture. One is needed to elucidate and magnify the other.

Looking to religion and the church again for examples of the “both-and” in architecture, Venturi finds another excellent example in the evolutionary changes of the Christian church plan in the Baroque period. There are alternating traditions of plan for Western Christian churches.

The Latin cross, or basilica plan is a mono-directional space and is fully articulated and clear. Contrast this with the central plan type, which is an omni-directional space and is almost completely ambiguous in orientation. In the 16th century, the elliptical plan was developed as something both central 6 and directional. With such a plan, you have the articulated ambiguity necessary for an architecture of “both-and.”

Bernini’s Sant’ Andrea al Quirinale (Figure 3) is a perfect example of such an elliptical plan. The short axis in

Sant’ Andrea is the main directional axis. You enter on this axis and find yourself facing the altar with space moving away from you left and right. This longer axis running perpendicular to the entry/altar axis should spatially be the stronger axis of the church. The main altar has to compete with four recessed chapels around the perimeter of the interior. Yet, the long axis falls on pilasters at each end, which reinforces the dominance of the short axis by failing to give the long axis any useful focus.

Borromini’s San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane (Figure 7 4) “abounds in ambiguous manifestations of both-and.” The plan of the church suggests a Greek cross, which itself is a blend of the central plan and the Latin cross plan types. The east-west axis is distorted and prioritized through such a distortion over the north-south axis. This distortion produces something more like a Latin cross plan. The fluid continuity of the walls, and lack of purely definite spatial form hints at 8 a manipulated central plan. Arguments have been made that the dome in San Carlo supports a “both-and” proposition as a form created by a Greek cross plan as well as by an undulating 9 wall of a central plan. Borromini’s “both-and” comes about through a distinct distortion of the form in plan, while Bernini simply makes a subtle organizational move to bring about some articulation of ambiguity. Continuity and articulation co-exist to create a rich texture of spatial experience for the viewer.

In Sant’ Andrea Bernini’s pilasters, used to deaden the long axis, are decorative and are not functioning structurally.

Venturi argues that the Baroque use of pilasters for rhythm 10 is an example of the rhetorical function of ornament. The rhetorical element parallels the double-functioning element, which is related to the “both-and” proposition. While the “both-and” refers more to the relation of the part to the whole, the double-functioning element is more about the particulars 11 of use and structure.

All of these types of ornamental elements can lead to a unified whole through inflection. “By inflecting toward

Fig. 2 - hawksmoor's st. george in the eastII

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Fig. 3 - bernini's sant andrea al quirinale

III

something outside themselves,” Venturi says, “the parts contain their own linkage.... Inflection is a means of distinguishing 12 diverse parts while implying continuity.” Many inflected elements are also defined as fragments, implying richness and meaning beyond itself – they are partial-functioning elements and what we understand as ornament.

The art of the ornament is not just decoration and appliqué. After all, there is some function to ornament. Through the theory of inflection, we can understand this function. The Baroque masters did not obliterate readability for the sake of a separate beauty, the confusion of polychromatism and endless layering. While legibility is still there, these Baroque compositions do not function on a completely conscious level.

We understand there is a beauty and a wholeness to these compositions, but we cannot articulate from where these charateristics came. The fragment, or ornament, is dependent upon something outside of itself, which is usually a larger subset of fragments and ultimately the whole composition.

The successful complex whole cannot be without the fragment or the part. The inflection of fragments articulates complexity, and in contemporary discourse this inflection has a new name: elegance.

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A B C D E

Fig. 4 - borromini's san carlo alle quattro fontaneIV

F G greig, travis H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Ali Rahim and Hina Jamelle, principals of the firm Contemporary Architecture Practice, describe elegance in much the same way Venturi describes inflection: Elegance mediates and enables complexity. A tightly controlled, precise refinement in technique is required to mould transformative surfaces that incorporate distinctly different topological features. The results are potentially chaotic. Negotiating and restraining the visual opulence of these compositions is an operation 13 that requires elegance.

Rahim and Jamelle are trying to discuss the next step in architecture that is not a revolution, but a refinement. Elegance is not new to architecture, but the intensity and thoroughness of it is increasing. Much of this is due to the use of digital design and fabrication techniques. Three-dimensional modeling, scripting, BIM CAD systems, rapid prototyping, CNC milling, and breakthroughs in material science will change the game of elegance in architecture and the nature of ornament.

Rahim and Jamelle focus on the use of surface as the mediator between inflection and ornamental features.

As they state, “the surface itself is key, as it provides a background for the features to be made legible, ultimately providing the perspective necessary for the features to 14 yield effects.” They argue for a literal transformational mediation between independent features. The surface is the mediating device and digital modeling tools allow the architect to create such mediations. “The formal opulence of a building,” they say, “is realised through the creation of a family of formal features that are distinctive, yet remain interrelated as they transform from one to another.

In an elegant composition, each feature is endowed with

differences, and the transformation between features 15 is attenuated and gradual.” These transformations are embodied in a surface that is affected and informed by the transformation. For Rahim and Jamelle, the surface between fragments and ornamental elements are physical representations of Venturian inflection. The fragments are no longer as independent as they are in the Baroque examples.

Their independence is blurred all the more by the actual surface and form of which they are an ornament and a part, much like inflection, but physical rather than conceptual.

Pushing elegance further but away from the discussion of surface, Patrik Schumacher of Zaha Hadid Architects makes a distinction between two types of complexities and their combination and symbiosis through elegance. The first is “the underlying complexity of institutional arrangements and life-processes,” while the second is “the complexity of the spatial arrangements and architectural forms that help to organise and articulate 16 those life-processes.” The registration, facilitation, and expression of the social complexities are manifested through the spatial (architectural) complexities. Schumacher argues that this relationship, for him, elegance, allows for a viewer/ user to become properly and intelligently oriented within a complex spatial system, and therefore ensures the legibility of complex social systems.

The complexity of a system can be discussed in terms of the elements of which it is composed: its elements and subsystems. Schumacher distinguishes four total dimensions to measure the complexity of a system, each dimension in 17 turn capable of varying degrees of complexity. He goes 18 on to mention Venturi’s idea of the “difficult whole” as a

The inflection of fragments articulates complexity, and in contemporary discourse this inflection has a new name – elegance. compositional principle to aid in achieving or understanding 19 elegance and the “compositional integration of diversity.”

Venturian inflection is mentioned as a specific technique of this compositional principle. “The concept of inflection,” Schumacher says, “can be generalized so that [to achieve] elegance requires that the layers and subsystems of a complex composition [become] mutually inflected. Every new element or new layer that enters the complex will both inflect the overall composition and will in turn be inflected. Elegance 20 can never result from a merely additive complication.”

This feedback loop condition complicates the integration of elements. In the Renaissance application of ornament, elements and subsystems was additive and not integrated. Yet, now as new layers and elements are added to

an ordered complex system, inflection (and therefore elegance) requires the whole, each of the parts, and the new elements to be changed to inflect one another and complete the “difficult whole.”

The recent evolution of parametric computer modeling sounds an awful lot like this integrative view of the elegant whole. Technically known as “parametric feature based modelers,” these software programs allow the user to refer to 21 features instead of the underlying geometry. The operation that governs the changes of many related but individual elements through the change of a single element or group of elements is a transmigration operation. Basically, the operation allows the computer to track the necessary inflections and make changes as needed to the system. Using parametric CAD software, we are able to apply inflection throughout an entire form with immediate results. Distortion and movement are able to be made and frozen in physical architectural form.

Preston Scott Cohen claims that the unification of disparate elements in Baroque façades is something akin to a kind of physical anamorphosis. The elastic skin of San Carlo’s façade is a singular elastic form that reunifies all the 22 elements of a classical tectonic system. While anamorphosis is a kind of optical dynamism, the Baroque façade is a physical dynamism. Cohen argues that while anamorphosis “divides in two the pictorial space or representation, then distorts one and superimposes it on the other,” the Baroque is an 23 oscillation between motion and stasis. The two positions are read simultaneously, becoming the Venturian “both-and” and not the bland “either-or.”

The Baroque was a push. Before there was the flatness of the Rococo, architecture was a swirl of sculptural formal manipulation and thick ornamentation. It was not a mental game of architecture, as the Renaissance was. It was a movement of feeling and understanding. You did not have to know exactly why, you just knew. The spaces were powerful and meaningful, brought forth by challenges to tradition and a complex understanding of the interdependence of architectural elements and systems. A new architecture is evolving to pick up where the Baroque left off. This new architecture of elegance affects not just ornament and elements, but whole forms and systems. Ultimately, it actually becomes one form/ system. There is no longer any interdependence because there is no longer any real separation.

notes 1 Robert Venturi, Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture (New York:

MOMA) 23.

2 Ibid., 20.

Ibid., 23.

3 4 Ibid., 25.

5 Ibid.

6 Ibid., 26.

7 Ibid.

8 Ibid.

9 Ibid., 28.

Ibid., 40.

10 11 Ibid., 34.

12 Ibid, 88.

Hina Jamelle and Ali Rahim, “Elegance in the Age of Digital Technique,” 13

Architectural Design, vol. 77, no. 1 (2007), 6.

Ibid., 9.

14 15 Ibid.

16 Patrik Schumacher, “Arguing for Elegance” Architectural Design, vol. 77, no.

1 (2007), 31.

17 On page 30, Schumacher notes these four dimensions: “1) the number and diversity of distinguishable items within the complex, 2) the density and diversity of relationships between distinguishable items, 3) relations between ordered sets of elements (correlations), 4) relations between relations (systems of relations). An elegant composition displays a high level of complexity in all dimensions, including the higher dimensions 3 and 4, which imply a move from complexity to ordered complexity. As ordered complexity, the elegant composition is highly differentiated, yet this differentiation is rule governed, based on a systematic set of lawful correlations that are defined between the differentiated elements and subsystems. Such correlations integrate and (re) establish a visible coherence and unity across the differentiated system.”

Venturi defines the ”difficult whole” on page 88 of Complexity and 18 Contradiction as “an architecture of complexity and contradiction [which] includes multiplicity and diversity of elements in relationships that are inconsistent or among the weaker kinds perceptually.”

19 Schumacher, 32.

20 Ibid.

21 A definition from Wikipedia goes on further: “Parametric feature based modelers use change states to maintain information about building the model and use expressions to constrain associations between the geometric entities.

This ability allows a user make a modification at any state and to regenerate the model's boundary representation based on those changes.”

Preston Scott Cohen, “Elegance, Attenuation, Geometry” Architectural 22 Design, vol. 77, no. 1 (2007), 55.

Ibid., 56.

23 24 Schumacher, 33.

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IMAGES I Meek, Harold Alan, Guarino Guarini and His Architecture, New Haven: Yale University Press, 1988, p. 124.

II http://www.gowlland.me.uk/images/St_George_in_the_East.JPG III http://www.usc.edu/dept/architecture/slide/ghirardo/CD2/031-CD2.jpg http://www.usc.edu/dept/architecture/slide/ghirardo/CD2/031-CD2.jpg IV http://www.usc.edu/programs/cst/deadfiles/lacasis/ansc100/library/images/ 040bg.jpg h t t p : / / w w w. t e s o r i d i r o m a . n e t / g a l l e r i a / b a r b e r i n i _ c o l o s s e o / f o t o / chscarlino4fn04.jpg

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A B C D E F G H I J K L M N

Olbrys, Jeremy O P Q R

Strand Building VERTICAL STUDIO critic: Jason Scroggin

S T U V W X Y Z

This mixed-use building for downtown Austin incorporates retail at ground level along with residences and other amenities in the levels above. The building’s design stemmed from investigations into material and pattern logics, as well as a response to wind, sunlight and the surrounding urban fabric. Early studies with stranded material led to utilizing its inherent qualities in different scales and geometries.

The three segments of the building twist and curve creating single and double story units within. All segments are a single unit wide for cross-ventilation and levels are separated in each segment to pull southern summer breezes to all units in the building. The separation and subtle staggering of levels also provides outdoor spaces for residences, shading for the façade, and indirect light into the plazas below.

DESIGN

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A B

campbell, Cameron C D E F

Beyond the Walls: Crimea Ukraine advanced STUDIO critic: Hope Hasbrouck

G H I J K L

Beyond the Walls, a proposal for the establishment of an archaeological park outside Sevastopol, seeks to recreate the spatial experience of a cultural landscape that has been contested and occupied for thousands of years. The park was the site of ancient Greek agricultural plots, farmhouses, and systematic division walls. Beyond the Walls proposes interventions to address stakeholder concerns, to establish a regional precedent for an archaeological park, and to combine the management and the display of cultural and natural resources.

M N O

pearson, eli P Q R S

tyson, Erin T U V W X Y Z

DESIGN

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A B C D E F G H I J K

Lauer, Angela L M N O

Fifth & Congress Interior Design Interior Sound Building Studio critic: Carl Matthews

P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

As part of Austin’s downtown transformation, a multi-use building at Fifth and Congress will contain retail, offices, residential condos, and an amenities floor with an outdoor pool and penthouses.

The amenities floor is located on the 33rd level of the high-rise.

This design was developed from the schematic phase through construction documents. The concept for the amenities floor developed from the context that the building is experienced from within. People live their lives in the hustle of downtown and I wanted to create a place where they could stop to relax while the world continues outside.

The interior architecture of my design is analogous to a hurricane.

The calmest place is in the center, essentially the eye of the storm, with most activity occuring on the exterior.

DESIGN

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A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q

Turning the South First Street Bridge into a habitable space proved a unique challenge. The bridge connection works in both literal and figurative ways, providing transitions through a variety of practical and phenomenological connections. A main condition of the design problem, preserving all six lanes of traffic, was addressed by enveloping the roadway in a tunnel of obscured channel glass panels that both mitigate vehicular noise and filter light.

Consequently, crossing the river becomes an experience of light and shadow with tantalizing hints of the river teasingly restricted to key views and quick glimpses through the angled glass panels.

For the pedestrian, the crossing becomes a multi-faceted experience as well. Moving from the parks and businesses south of Town Lake north, the pedestrian passes small retail outlets and coffee shops. Once above the roadway, they are rewarded with both an outdoor deck providing views west to Auditorium Shores and a planted walkway that traverses the traffic below. On the north side of the bridge is a public seating area, access to a boutique hotel and a connection back down to the street level.

DESIGN

R

sylvester, daniel S T U V W X Y Z

First Street Bridge Project vertical studio critic: vinceNT snyder

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A B C D E F G H I J K L M N

Oppelt, James O P Q R

Microprogram House VERTICAL STUDIO critic: larry doll

S T U V W X Y Z

This house is based on the organization of a series of microprograms representing common activities in houses. The microprograms are modeled three-dimensionally based on required physical and psychological space, as well as potential views. Nonverbal symbols, referred to as “glyphs” are used to indicate common activities — these appear in the proces model as transparent gray volumes. Overlapping glyphs create the darkest areas of the model, indicating concentrated activity. To generate the form of the house, a matrix of three axes was used to classify and create the spatial arrangement. The axes represent the sequence which activity occurs, the amount of preferred light needed, and public, semi-private, and private spaces. By symbolizing the matrix through the arrangment of glyphs, a three-dimensional volume representing a boundary of use is established. Using the glyphs as reference, space is carved out of the volume to support each microprogram on the interior. Exterior punctures are then based on possible views and light conditions. The result is a highly internal space driven house which approaches the design of inhabitation in a new way.

DESIGN

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A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T

The Quarry Reclamation Project is part of a redevelopment program for a site in Wise County, TX, which is 80 miles northwest of Dallas-Fort Worth. This phase of development focuses on strategies for 900 acres of a larger reclamation project involving the entire 5,000-acre quarry.

Within the quarry sites lies the opportunity to engage and define regional heritage within an existing framework. This is acheivable if one understands the cultural history, as well as the ecological and economic framework that is the “underlay” of the physical site. This notion of underlay proposes that pattern recognition and material deposits, both anthropological and geological, can be incorporated into the design as a means of synoptic understanding of the site’s history.

Collective memory is defined as a deposit of individual memories and their interrelationships. The goal for this project is that the quarries become part of a greater cultural preservation system that facilitates the experience and exploration of this collective memory. It does this through the utilization and recognition of underlays, while preserving the character of the region as a solemn, introspective landscape.

In this scheme, links from the site to the Dallas-Fort Worth area establish themselves through their interaction with the multiple cemetery sites that mark the area’s landscape. These become acknowledged historic sites that are then interwoven into the network defined by the Regional Trails Initiative, thus resolving a void within the regional culture. The scheme proposes a series of crypts along the vertical faces of the quarries. The sites also function as a network of over one hundred nurseries through which seed mixtures could be devised, harvested and transferred to the quarries.

DESIGN

U

veras, sandra V W X Y Z

Underlay advanced landscape architecture studio critic: jason sowell

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A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U

veras, sandra V W X Y Z

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A B C D E F G

Haynes, James H I J K

First Street Bridge Project VERTICAL STUDIO critic: Vincent Snyder

L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

The First Street Bridge Housing Project presents a wonderful opportunity to speculate on urbanism in Austin, Texas. Conceived as a semester long project, the program called for an integration of housing, shopping, and civic representation. Built on a bridge in the heart of downtown Austin, the design “links” seemingly disparate programs.

Instead of segregating programs, the design proposed key “bridging” elements that allowed for private and public activities to weave together. Each level in the design was seen as an integral thread, one laid upon the other to create a bridge over Townlake.

DESIGN

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A B C

DELARGY, CAMERON D E F G H I J K L M N O oliver, chris P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Temple Beth-Shalom technical communications Advanced studio critics: kevin alter ernesto cragnolino The Temple Beth-Shalom project is an addition to the Jewish Community Center in suburban Austin. The program consists of a sanctuary, classrooms, administrative facilities, and an assembly hall.

The site strategy for Temple Beth-Shalom arose from a desire to reaffirm the primacy of the communal, ritual act of moving from the public realm into that of the religious. The “everyday” programs of classes, assembly, and offices were placed on the edge of the site adjoining the large parking lot. The intention is to define a path to the synagogue that has been tucked away in the nearby trees and create an enclave distinct from the parking lot and the surrounding JCC campus. The path to the synagogue has been designed to create an ambiguity about exactly where the “holy” space begins or ends. The signficance of entering the synogague is connected to the experience of the shared path and its inhabiation by the congregants.

DESIGN

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The Original Forty Acres

A B C D E F

I

fig. 1 - state capitol as seen from the old union

G H halley, shannon I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Landscape Heritage of the 40 Acres: The Pre-Cret Era community and regional planning thesis advisor: richard cleary The original focus of this research was to describe the evolution of the University of Texas landscape and to place it within the context of the larger history of American landscape design. While there is little formal documentation in the vein of early landscape plans, or partis, from the time before Paul Cret became the consulting architect for the University, there is a rich heritage of correspondence, written plans, and histories. Furthermore, a great wealth of photographic resources exist, which documents a significant ecological heritage prior to the 1930s that should not be overlooked if we are interested in the “restoration, rehabilitation, and enhancement”1 of the cultural resource that is the University of Texas landscape.

During the course of my research I sought to imagine the look and feel of the original forty acres campus.2 While the Paul Cret campus plan of 1933 is important and worthy of preservation in many respects, it displaced an equally important, original native landscape of great beauty. This landscape was enjoyed by those who experienced it, not from the “bird’s-eye view,” but from the ground — on paths that meandered between buildings, beneath the canopy of trees that lined the perimeter of the campus or picnicking on the banks of Waller Creek.

HISTORY

Looking at an aerial view of the University of Texas campus today, one is struck by the extent of tree cover that remains in comparison to the rest of central Austin, which has allowed urban growth to dramatically reduce its canopy.

Despite a few assaults on the tree population throughout 3 campus history, for the most part the University has been a good steward to this valuable resource that provides shade for students passing between classes, reduces energy loads for cooling buildings during the sweltering summers, and perhaps most importantly contributes greatly to the beauty of the forty acres. Many assume that the University and the City of Austin were always forested with majestic oaks, pecans, elm trees, and so on, but this is not the case. Early travelers to the area reported great swaths of grasslands almost uninterrupted by the presence of trees except for occasional outcroppings of live oak or cedar elm or along the numerous riverbanks that etched the rolling hills. Dr. John Brooke, traveling with the Marcy Expedition in 1848, described the region as follows: “It was the finest sight I ever saw; immense meadows two or three feet deep of fine grasses and flowers. Such beautiful colors I ever saw.”4 Roemer’s (1849) description of the region was “an extensive prairie with mesquite trees and scattered oak groves…a gently rolling, almost treeless plain.”5

The Geology and Vegetation of the Austin Area

Austin is located in the heart of Travis County, which is divided almost down the center by two distinct geological surface regions. This area of central Texas formed around 300 million years ago during the Pennsylvanian period when North Central Texas, then the southern edge of the North American Continent, collided with Africa and South America, forming Pangaea. Here, the Ouachita Mountains express this collision and roughly divide the Blackland Prairie and the Edwards Plateau along the Balcones Escarpment. The western (Edwards Plateau) side of Austin, which was developed later

Many assume that the University and the City of Austin were always forested with majestic oaks, pecans, elm trees, and so on, but this is not the case. in the city’s history, is characterized by rocky outcroppings and brushy vegetation; the eastern (Blackland Prairie) side is characterized today by black, heavy clay, “waxy" soil, and species such as Big and Little Bluegrass, Side-oats grama, Tall dropseed, Texas winter-grass (stipa or spear grass), and along

6

rivers, Indian grass and Switchgrass.

The site of the original forty acres as well as the area extending east of the original land grant are located within the southwestern-most area of the Blackland Prairie, which at one time stretched approximately 300 miles along the Red River from Sherman to east of Paris, Texas. According to Shinners & Mahler’s Illustrated Flora of North Central Texas, “the Blackland Prairie was an expanse of tallgrass prairie with diverse native grasses, flowers, and other plants growing and blooming in succession throughout the year. Bison, pronghorn, grassland birds, black bears, mountain lions, butterflies, and other wildlife was [sic] abundant within the rich Blackland Prairies.”7 This region represents about 6.5 percent of the land area of Texas, and is listed as a critical/endangered ecosystem by the World Wildlife Fund. It is believed that only between 1 and .01 percent of the Blacklands remain today due to destruction by agriculture, abusive overgrazing, and development. The lack of management with natural or prescribed fire has also allowed native prairie to be destroyed by brush invasion.

The Early Campus Landscape, 1883 — 1908

From early photographs of the University and the surrounding areas of Austin from the 1860s up to the1880s (Figure 2), it is clear that the area was devoid of trees except for scattered mesquites which provided the only source of shade.

This would soon change. Almost as soon as the West Wing of Ruffini’s Old Main building was constructed in 1883, one of the original Board of Regents, James B. Clark, who was named Proctor and Custodian General of the university on July 1, 1885 and held that position until his sudden death in 1908, set about to beautify the campus through a variety of plantings.

Until Clark’s involvement with the landscaping around Old Main and the larger campus, there are only rare references to landscaping. The 1882 Regents’ Report authorized that “trees be trimmed and others set out...that a topographical map be made of the grounds, and the fence enclosing the grounds be 8 washed and painted.”

In the 1883 Faculty Report, Clark writes: “The grounds are being rapidly improved and ornamented with shade trees, walks, and carriage ways.” In 1887 he reports:

flourish — the mesquites and live oaks excepted — without an abundant supply of water” and also a lawn mower (cost estimated in the Regents’ Report at $65.00), but failed to convince “the farmers and some city men” that it would be in their interest to mow the lawn. The following year (18891890) he would request $400.00 for grounds improvement, and notes in his report the planting of trees (cedar elm) around the “peripatos,” the strolling path that encircled the perimeter of the original campus (Figure 1), in addition to the installation 10 of roses, oleander and crepe myrtles around Old Main.

Although there is no evidence of formal landscape architects employed by the University during this time (Battle corresponded with many, but until Hare and Hare, during the Cret period, none were actually hired), it is clear from the images of these early years that Clark maintained an ideal of a campus landscape in consonance with the turn-of-the-century popularity of English gardens and a “sympathetic attitude toward nature,” popularized by the work of Fredrick Law Olmsted. Olmsted, who had designed the Berkeley campus in 1866, believed in “pastoral scenery with gracefully undulating 11 greens and scattered groves of trees” and subscribed to the picturesque movement that had begun in the 1820s. This movement was coterminous with romanticism and evolved from European styles that privileged aesthetic ideals of beauty and the “terrifying” vastness and magnitude of the sublime, 12 over “French Baroque ‘artifice.’” Clark planted English ivy around old main, and paid particular attention to planting trees along the meandering paths between buildings and around the peripatos.

Despite Clark’s disapproval of the tall grasses, the bluebonnets and wildflowers that bloomed in the uncut meadows between the paths contributed to the distinctly Texan pastoral beauty of the old campus. Apart from the installation during this time of numerous species of trees and plants exogenous to the region, for the most part the original topography and vegetation remained in tact, representative of tall grassland prairie, punctuated here and there by English gardens, ornamental trees, and evergreens.

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With a small appropriation of $250.00 which the regents were able to make for the current year, the grounds have been kept in good condition--the trees have been pruned, some new ones set out, etc. I have a small nursery of English Walnut and pecans grown from seed in boxes to be transplanted next fall, now that the town cow no longer asserts and reduces to practice the doctrine of lawn grass on the University, there is good hope that in a few years everyone will find a charming ornament on 9 campus.

83 87 91 95 99 103 107

Clark lobbied avidly in subsequent meetings for the drilling of an artesian well to water the trees “which would never

II

Fig. 2 - turn of the century campus

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III

fig. 3 - OLD main building - early 20th century

G H halley, shannon I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Campus Landscape, 1908 — 1932

After Clark’s death, there is no clear indication into whose hands fell the fate of the campus landscape.

However, John William Calhoun (1871-1947), who became a professor of mathematics at the University in 1909 and later comptroller (1925-1940) and president ad interim, was instrumental in the significant transformation of the campus.

With the widespread and strategic planting of trees, primarily Live Oaks (“whose shade invites the professor staggering from the burden of a mental overload…or the eds or coeds singly 13 or in pairs to pore over algebra or to plan for the future”), which are one of the most distinguishing features of the campus landscape today, Calhoun left a strong imprint on the campus. Later, in 1942, with the encouragement of his friend and colleague, William J. Battle, a professor of Classics and University President, Calhoun made a concerted effort to piece together the history and a comprehensive inventory of campus trees.

In his inventory, Calhoun documents each tree planted after 1905, and also lists any native trees extant, which include a few oaks (including the Battle Oaks, thought to be the oldest on campus), and a few mesquite, pecan, cypress, cedar, and cedar elm. Regarding the oft-cited rumor that during the Civil War, General McGruder cut down the “fine growth of live oaks,” that once covered the University, Calhoun opines, “I have doubts about the accuracy of this tradition. The University opened twenty years after McGruder encamped—there would have been a great thicket of saplings.

No evidence [of this] when I came in 1901, and no one claims 14 such in 1883.” It is probable that only few, if any, of the

ornamental trees planted during Clark’s time remained, other than along the approach to and around the vast lawn of the Main Building, due to the installation of new buildings and increased provisions for automobile traffic. But despite the emergence of new buildings under the subsequent campus plans of Cass Gilbert (1909), James M. White (1923), and Greene, Laroche, and Dahl (1928), the campus maintained natural landscape elements reminiscent of Olmsted.

Though many of industrialized, urban areas of the country were still in the consumer driven, economic boom of the post-war “roaring twenties,” the University of Texas, along with much of the rural portions of the United States were experiencing lean years. In 1928 the University of Texas struck oil and suddenly the University had the resources to manifest a much grander vision. Perhaps due to the popularity of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago and the widespread knowledge and popularity of its Beaux Arts architecture— characterized by classical motifs, axiality, monumentality, and grand processions—the influence of the City Beautiful Movement took hold of the American imagination. At this time we begin to see a heightened awareness of appearances from town centers, impressive, grandiose public spaces, and 15 the redesign of central, urban areas. Campus landscape design is likewise influenced largely by this movement, which all but eclipses the former picturesque style. Unlike Berkeley, which early on sought a compromise between the picturesque 16 and neoclassical designs in its campus core, the University of Texas fell under the spell of Paul Cret’s neoclassical vision of the campus.

The End of the Old Main, 1933 — Mr. Cret said he would prepare the general plans for the landscaping of the campus, and then a Landscape Architect should be selected by the Board of Regents to carry out the work. He thought the landscaping ought to be started as soon as possible…On the motion of Mr. Holliday, the Board voted to authorize the razing of the north wing of the Main Building (which wing has been condemned for many years) in order to make room for the first unit of the new Library Building, but to leave the remainder of the building.

— Regents Report, April 25, 193117

In his 1933 Report Accompanying the General Plan of Development, Paul Cret addresses “formal design in connection with college grounds.” He then cites Olmsted: a “‘picturesque rather than a formal and perfectly symmetrical arrangement would allow any modification of the general plan of building adopted by the college which may in the future be desirable.’” Nonetheless, atop the rambling, Victorian Gothic buildings and tall grasses pinpointed with wildflowers, Cret’s plan imposed a formal, neoclassical architecture that replaced Old Main (Figure 3), B Hall and other original campus buildings which were inconsonant with his ideal of a Beaux Arts campus. Additionally, the plan introduced numerous terraces, vistas, shrubberies and formal lawns, which students

were to be discouraged from perambulating upon. Ironically, Cret himself, who had presented his aerial view as proof of the need for a more formal plan notes that the “aim is not to achieve a pleasant appearance for the benefit of airplane travelers” but rather the “value of the vista” that is guided “by 18 what can be seen by the passerby.” Despite this sentiment, many of the experiential aspects of the natural beauty of old campus were essentially erased during Cret’s tenure as Consulting Architect and forgotten, preserved only in boxes of photographs as the sole reminders of a vibrant landscape that no longer exists.

Beyond the Campus Heritage Plan

The legacy of Paul Cret has brought architectural distinction to The University of Texas, so much so that we often forget to ask: at what cost to the beauty and memory of the landscape of the original forty acres? Whereas the recollection of the razing of Old Main and her sister buildings is perhaps bittersweet, rarely do we muster similar sentiments for the tallgrass prairie that once shimmered on College Hill.

Another question to ask is what, if any, responsibility do we bear toward the “preservation” of a complex ecological system that is fast disappearing? Is our responsibility solely toward the Cret and post-Cret embodiments of the campus, or do prior histories hold any sway? Although no famous architects were involved in the landscaping of the early campus, it was nevertheless a significant ecological system of great beauty. It is precisely this landscape that stunned early travelers with its splendor.

These are complicated issues, but ones we should be begin to wrestle with as we prepare to accept the legacy of the University’s preservation initiative, the Campus Heritage

Whereas the recollection of the razing of Old Main and her sister buildings is perhaps bittersweet, rarely do we muster similar sentiments for the tallgrass prairie that once shimmered on College Hill.

Plan. The few remaining pieces of native Blackland Prairie are in dire need of permanent protection and conservation. Much of the Blackland Prairie lies within the highest projected population growth area of the state for the near future. There are threats to the native plants and plant communities of the Blackland Prairie; moreover, the grassland birds, whose home is the prairie, are among the most declining North American bird groups. Restoration of native prairie to recreate additional habitat for grassland birds and the native plant communities

they depend on will be a vital component in stabilizing their populations.

Closer to home, that is, to the material concerns which occupy the minds of the regents and those charged with the day-to-day functioning of a first-class university, there are areas of the campus that presently fail to live up to the expectation of Cret’s neoclassical master plan. One such area, the East Mall, is scheduled to be renovated according to Peter Walker and Associates 1999 Master Plan. Other elements must also be considered, including the recent Getty Foundation Grant that will “enable the university to 19 preserve the historical and cultural heritage of the campus.”

Additionally, the University acquired the Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Research Center, which recently partnered with the Catellus Group, master developers for the old Mueller Airport, who are involved in the restoration of this major 20 Blackland Prairie zone. In light of these events, the University is poised at the threshold of a unique opportunity to creatively engage in a prairie restoration project, distinguishing it both as an innovator in design as well as a responsible steward of its unique ecological heritage.

NOTES UC Berkeley Landscape Heritage Plan. Available in PDF format online at http://www.cp.berkeley.edu/lhp/index_flash.html 2 I would like to thank Jim Nicar of the UT Heritage Society for his assistance in navigating the archives at the Barker Center for American History, and Lynn Osgood for sharing her knowledge of landscape history and theory. Any errors on interpretation of this information are, however, entirely my own.

3 Notably, the first major clearing of recorded occurred during the construction of Memorial Stadium and Clark Field, destroying 50-100 live oaks. See Calhoun, J.W. Trees on the Campus of the University of Texas, 1925-1940.

Typewritten manuscript, 1942. Center for American History, University of Texas at Austin.

4 George Diggs, Barney Lipscomb, & Robert O'Kennon. Shinners & Mahler's Illustrated Flora of North Central Texas. (Fort Worth, Tex. : Botanical Research Institute of Texas, 1999), 34.

5 Ibid.

6 Ibid., 21, 23.

7 Ibid., 35.

8 University of Texas. Proceedings of the Regents, April 1882-November 1882.

Center for American History, The University of Texas at Austin, 306.

University of Texas, Bulletins. Proctor ’s Report and Faculty Report 9 (Exhibit J) June 16, 1887-June 15, 1888), 24.

10 Ibid., 231, and also Proctor and Faculty Report of 1889-1890.

11 William H. Tishler, ed. American Landscape Architecture: Designers and Places. (Washington, D.C.: Preservation Press, c1989), 41.

12 UC Berkeley Landscape Heritage Plan, 12. Care must be exercised here, however, to separate bucolic or numinous ideals of the natural environment from the formalist theories of the picturesque. Whereas Clark may have been aspiring toward a popularized “picturesque look,” there is no evidence that he maintained such theoretical aspirations for the campus.

13 Calhoun, Trees on the Campus of the University of Texas, 12 14 Ibid., 7.

15 Tishler, American Landscape Architecture, 76.

16 UC Berkeley Landscape Heritage Plan, 14.

17 University of Texas, Bulletins. Regents’ Report. March 10, 1931 (January 5, 1931-December 7, 1931), 314.

H. Y. Benedict, papers. Paul Cret, Report Accompanying the General Plan of 18 Development, 5. Center for American History, University of Texas at Austin.

19 University of Texas, “Campus Preservation Plan Gets Under Way With $175,000 Grant from Getty Foundation.” June 14, 2007. Availabel online at http://www.utexas.edu/opa/news/2007/06/architecture14.html University of Texas, Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Research Center. News 20 Release. Available online at http://www.wildflower.org/feature/?id=1 1

IMAGES I. PICA C00140, Austin History Center, Austin Public Library ii. Center for American History, University of Texas at Austin III. PICA A07945A, Austin History Center, courtesy of Mr. Wilmer Attison.

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A B C D E

participants Rohit Eustace Robert Gaspard Sarah Gould Adrienne Perlman Amy Shoelkopf Liqiao Zhang

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Germany, Travel G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Würzburg Study Abroad advanced visual communications critics: Barbara hoidn vinceNT snyder wilfried wang The Schoenborn Chapel is privately owned and attached to the main cathedral in Würzburg, Germany built between 1718 and 1736 by Balthasar Neumann. Neumann is known for his intricate geometries, which includes intersections of complex circles and ovals. The chapel is the burial site of the Duke Bishop Johann Philip Franz von Schoenborn and six-month old Princess von Wittelsbach.

We spent two weeks measuring the baroque chapel. Through the process of creating as-built drawings that were later donated to the Schoenborn family, we learned about field measurements, data collection and understanding through descriptive geometry. To accomplish this, we used measuring tapes, triangles, meter sticks, a level, string, tape, plumb bobs, and surveyor’s level. First, approximate drawings were made at the chapel and a center point found; measurements were then recorded on the drawings and on charts. Each night, data was entered into AutoCAD and any geometries that did not close were remeasured the next day. When possible, multiple measurements were recorded for each point in order to help verify the correct triangulation.

Once the measured drawings were completed in AutoCAD, they were overlaid on Neumann’s original drawings, completing the analysis of ideal geometries used to create the chapel.

Initially, the architect was the guided the complex modular geometric progression that governed the plan, section, and ultimately the three dimensional building. Through projection of the plan, triangulation, and an understanding of the center of gravity, he was able to build a chapel that stands today as a testament to his mathematical knowledge, construction ability, tectonic expression and aesthetic beauty.

Adrienne Perlman

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Хашаа

Mongolian Fences

Хашаа

Mongolian Fences

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braun, jessica B

Хашаа

C D

Mongolian Fences

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garbe, tania G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Mongolia advanced independent STUDIO advisors: simon atkinson

larry doll This work is the product of an independent, traveling studio.

The project began as correspondence with Michael Burden, a Peace Corps volunteer in Mongolia. Over several months of email exchange, it became clear that Burden’s work in Mongolia had revealed a profound lack of resources for the disabled population coupled and a strong desire in the community to remedy the problem.

The city of Bayankhongor, located in southwestern Mongolia on the edge of the Gobi desert, is fifteen hours from the capital by dirt road. The city serves as a resource for surrounding nomadic populations in addition to its local residents — a strategically effective position for a project of regional interest. Conceived of and driven by the Mongolian organization, Association for Parents of Disabled Children, the project called for a care center for disabled children.

The building’s design addresses the physical and emotional needs of the children meant to inhabit it while offering training and relief to their parents. By countering dust storms, wind, and long winters, the design attempts to mediate the extremes of the Mongolian experience. The intimacy and warmth of the traditional Mongolian hearth is mimicked in form and function to offer respite from the harsh Gobi landscape. The conflict and reconciliation of vernacular, nomadic building traditions and the existing Soviet influenced infrastructure are considered in the building’s material character and construction. The end product of the studio was a thirty page booklet meant to inform and educate the local population on the design and construction of the proposed building while also garnering international funding for the project.

independent

Bedroom

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1.7

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Bed

The layout of the bedroom will provide children respite and personalized space despite the care center’s communal character. Monolithic walls alternate with wooden window seats and shelving to create bed spaces that are both accessible and intimate. In addition to establishing zones of personal and shared space, the angle of these walls serves to shield from wind and dust storms while allowing views to the stupa beyond.

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A B C D E F G H I J K L M

This project assumes the standpoint that the reification or externalization of one’s project for a final review is a positive thing.

This process permits each semester to become an independent entity and to have a distinct identity, creating greater freedoms for academic and intellectual growth. This notion, coupled with the concept that the work of the architect benefits from a degree of separation from the culture at-large, led to an architectural strategy of separation of “white-box” programs (transparent function) and “black box” programs (discernable result, but mysterious process.)

Consequently, the School of Architecture building was treated as a “black box” program. It is assumed that the ideal relationship with culture at-large is­— through the proxy of the architectural objects — produced through methods and operations not completely derived from society. The studio building is elevated above a warped ground plane whose topography allows for a greater degree of intra-campus movement. This feature, together with the studio building, creates an in-between space in which final reviews, housed in separate glass pavilions, take place.

DESIGN

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Oliver, chris O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

New Facilities for the UTSOA advanced STUDIO critic: michael benedikt

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crum, ricky C D E F

2G Venice Lagoon Competition VERTICAL STUDIO , critic: wILLIAM o brien, JR.

G H I J K L M N O P Q R

Because of its location between the airport and the rest of Venice,, Sacca San Mattia, a 31-hectare island on the northern coast of Murano, is in a prime location to become a hub for transportation and tourism throughout the lagoon. Also, Sacca San Mattia is easily accessible and lies adjacent to several major vaporetto (water taxi/bus) routes in Venice. The program envisions creating a friendly tourist environment to draw visitors away from the bustle of Venice to interact with the lagoon. It was also important that the new environment created new activity to boost the economy while addressing the Murano islands and its industries to the south.

In response to the issues presented, the surrounding natural forms — the beaches and walking paths — inform the shape of the island and the architecture. The design is thus derived from a ruled surface. The ruled surface allows for seamless transitions between different forms of habitation. Architecture exists within pockets created by the ruled surfaces. In acknowledgement to the island of Murano, retail density is focused along a common edge.

This creates a marketplace atmosphere that will fuel local industry by allowing more businesses to promote and increase tourism.

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DESIGN

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perspectives

...to airport

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Proposed new airport water taxi stop on San Mattia

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Small existing water taxi stop at Murano Museo

Large existing water taxi stop at Murano Colonna

Lagoon Transportation

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architecture

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Circulation

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Structure

Floor Plan

1/16” = 1’

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Architecture

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Section

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Enclosure Elevation

1/16” = 1’

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P

An oversized truck pulled out of the old Mueller airport in late September, carrying the student-designed and built BLOOMhouse toward Washington, DC to compete in the 2007 Solar Decathlon.

There the house joined entries from nineteen other universities from the US and Europe for the two-week showcase of residential solar-technology on the National Mall.

As a prototype for the commercially available energy-efficient home of the near future, the house was designed with the inhabitants in mind: comfort, delight and ease of operation were primary design considerations. Building on the experience of two previous Solar Decathlon entries, the team also engineered the house for ease-of assembly. Arriving after its 1500-mile journey, all major systems (most importantly the solar-powered hot tub) were on-line within four days.

The BLOOMhouse performed admirably, finishing 10th overall, winning 2nd place for Engineering and 3rd place in the Comfort Zone competition. The BLOOMhouse is now on its way to the sunny Davis Mountains in west Texas, where it will serve as housing for researchers at the McDonald Observatory.

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independent

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Solar Decathlon S T U V W X Y Z

BLOOMhouse advisors: Michael garrison

russell krepart

samantha randall

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A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R

Solar Decathlon S T U V W X Y Z

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Photographs by Renee Cobb

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A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O

puga, j.j.

P Q R S

Austin Natatorium VERTICAL STUDIO critic: nichole wiedemann

T U V W X Y Z

Our project started with the careful inspection of water and subsequent documentation of the phenomena associated with each of its physical states. While rendering the cloud’s diaphanous quality, a key idea emerged: as an object the cloud acts as a threshold for light, impacting the quality and quantity we receive on earth. The concept of boundaries became the point of departure for the project.

As a conduit for change, the natatorium will support the diverse social classes living in Austin. By providing a clean medium to aggressively attack the complacency of everyday life, the natatorium will create a greater sense of Communitas — and the apolitical values of love, kindness, and compassion will resonate within the complex.

DESIGN

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A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P

The museum considers the textile as the principle inspiration for its spacial organization, structural layout and navigational configuration. The building’s primary structure is envisioned not only as support for the enclosure, but as a housing for the artifact. The manifestation of the museum’s two primary functions of conservation and dispersion of knowledge, is most evident in section. A robust, dense structuring of the bottom floor, the sheltered archive, gives way to a lighter architectural expression in floors above, which are occupied by permanent exhibition spaces.

The structure terminates at an interwoven roof which diffuses light through two layers of structural baffles. On either side of these central spaces are the entry atria and temporary exhibition spaces.

With a different structural configuration, these areas express the building’s flexibility while providing unique, diffuse light.

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DESIGN

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saenz, daniel S T U V W X Y Z

Lima Textile Museum Advanced STUDIO critic: wilfried wang

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omissions, uncertainties and intentions. Design of itineraries required travel stories to organize places and link them together. As Michel de Certeau says: “Every story is a travel story – a spatial practice…every day, they traverse and organize places; they select and link together; they make sentences and itineraries out of them. They are spatial trajectories.”

A B C D E F G

participants Meegan Beddoe Chris Buono Cristle Castillo Christine Chen Tracie Cheng Amber Czapski Anna Holcombe Robert Klodginski Kathryn Lee Cynthia Martin Adam Ortwein Albert Palacios Michael Ratliff Allison Wicks Shengning Zhang

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italy, travel I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Traveling Studies advanced STUDIO critics: smilja bertram-milanovic Michael garrison Studying abroad in Castiglion Fiorentino, Italy, students undertook a series of assignments that helped orient them within the Italian city and brought them to a productive, individual understanding of urban environments — both medieval and modern. After a series of theoretical mapping exercises designed to explore the role of the itinerant pedestrian in the Italian city, the students proposed an intervention of the their own: the construction of a new community center in the heart of a historical district in a medieval Tuscan town. Throughout the semester, the students also kept a record of their impressions through a series of exploratory drawings, both constructed at the drafting table and sketched in situ.

Mapping “To map is in one way or another to take a measure of a world, and more than merely take it, to figure the measure so taken in such a way that it may be communicated between people, places or times. By the same token, the mapping’s record is not confined to the archival; it includes the remembered, the imagined, the contemplated.”

Denis Gosgrove The students collectively prepared a mapping of Castiglion Fiorentino.

They were instructed to represent the architectural experience of visiting the Museum in Casero, as a tourist would, visiting town for a day, arriving by train or a car. The city was mapped as “remembered, imagined, and contemplated.” The Mapping involved set of choices,

Cassero Project In conjunction with the intervention, the studio undertook an architectural project: to design a new community center on Castiglion Fiorentino’s axis (dating from the Etruscans) that connects to the Medieval town center to a Renaissance loggia, designed by Vassari, overlooking the Tuscan landscape. The proposed Community Center needed to reconfigure the connection severed by a 1930s building and join the medieval Piazza Communale with the Renaissance-era Vassari window.

Additionally, the proposals were required to address these issues: the circulation sequence between the train station, the entry space and the Community Center; the presence of Palazzo Pretorio and its relationship to Piazza Comunale; and the summit of the hill, which must remain open to possible excavation.

Visual Communications In conjunction with the design exercise, the studio undertook several drawing explorations of the Italian city. During the first phase, students focused on one aspect of the urban experience they found particularly intriguing and crafted a series of small drawings, paintings and sketches to accompany a thesis. In addition, students drafted a series of formal drawings as a means of analyzing particular optical phenomena, such as contour, proportion, and figure-ground relationhips. In the third phase, students explored a notational drawing style using diagrams and simple abstract effects to communication ideas. The final phase consisted of a series of personal investigations and a combination of techniques.

Leland Ulmer

Visual Communications

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A B C D E F G H

italy, travel I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Mapping

Cassero Project / M. Ratliffe and A. Ortwein

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Cassero Project / S. Zhang and K. Lee

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Bell, andrew B C D E

Sound Modulator: Natural / Artificial theory i instructor: larry speck

F G H I J K L M N

Tasked to create, in physical form, an embodiment of my personal manifesto, I created a sound modulator and mixer. As an individual approaches the soundbox he or she hears two compositions being played simultaneously: a collection of artificial sounds and a composition of natural sounds. The two play at equal volume, mixed together on an iPod fused into the tape player of a boombox.

Instructions urge the individual to put on headphones and initially they play the same mĂŠlange of sounds. Using the control panel, the user now has control of the composition. One knob balances the levels of the artificial and natural sounds. Various tweak knobs on the control panel provide a variety of ways to manipulate the sounds. Connections between knobs are drawn on the interface to assist users.

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The user may hit record on the tape recorder and make a document of her or his personal composition. This document represents their theory of architecture, expressing their preference for artificiality, natural elements and artistic abstraction.

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coursework

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R S T U V W X Y Z

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A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q

Sited in the Mississippi River valley, the landfill expansion project seeks to use trash as a material in the construction of a culturally relevant landscape in East St. Louis, Illinois. The program calls for connections to cultural sites in the area, including the St. Louis Arch, the Cahokia Mounds State Park and Horseshoe Lake State Park, with a series of observation platforms.

The project divides the surrounding area into viewsheds focusing on urban/industrial, rural/agricultural, and wilderness/naturalistic areas.

Landforms frame these views, utilizing narrative paths to guide visitors through the site. Visitors arrive by driving up to a concealed parking area then travel by foot to the colonnaded threshold. The adjacent main platform provides seating and recreation areas with views of the site’s major valley. Three main paths branch off from here. The urban/industrial path, built of concrete and steel, leads west and north, overlooking St. Louis. The rural/agricultural path, a light wood boardwalk, leads northeast, viewing Cahokia and Horseshoe Lake. The wilderness/naturalistic path, a cable-lined causeway, meanders down into the major valley and constructed wetlands.

DESIGN

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SCHMIDT, KATIE LEE S T U V W X Y Z

Landfill Platform landscape STUDIO critic: jason sowell

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A B C D E F G H I

johnson, kevin J K L M

Thames River Community VERTICAL STUDIO critic: ulrich dangel

N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Located across from Chelsea on the Thames River in London, the Thames River Housing Community introduces affordable, amphibious dwellings with a close proximity to downtown. The existing houseboat typology along the riverfront of historic Cheyne Walk is problematic at low tide as the homes rest unevenly on a muddy river bank and require a great deal of maintenance. This condition spawned a new amphibious housing typology that remains level while responding to the constant tidal changes.

Through vertical and horizontal hinging, the housing community engages the height changes and flow of the river. This kelp-like kinetic movement is dictated solely by the conditions of the river, which creates constantly changing views, neighbors, overlap conditions, lighting, water reflection and access points for water taxis and other boat transportation.

The attached landscape incorporates a boardwalk, a community market and 2 floating soccer fields. Additionally, it hinges vertically, accessing 38 modular amphibious housing units. Each unit is a lightweight steel framed chassis that cradles two modular box tube structures with occupiable green roofs. As the the forms shift with the river, a variety of constantly changing views, a transformation of light and an interlocking relationship with each neighboring unit embody a unified “kelp forest.�

DESIGN

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A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q

This textile museum was created to house the work of pre-Incan and Incan cultures, particularly the delicate gauze-like textiles of the Chancay culture. The form, structure, and spatial sequences of the museum are all derived from the notion of gathering and separation found in the construction of these textiles. The double skin façade — comprised of external horizontal wooden louvers that gather and separate and an interior curved glass wall — provides controlled light levels and interstitial courtyards. Inside surfaces lift, curve, compress, and separate to guide the visitor through the museum. A hyperbolic paraboloid concrete-shell roof, with cones inserted into the surface, covers the centrally located, sunken gallery, creating an evenly lit space. Below, the permanent and temporary textile collections reside inside and between ten distinct pods, allowing visitors to find their own path between the new and the old.

DESIGN

R

SAUNDERS, MARGARET S T U V W X Y Z

Lima Textile Museum advanced STUDIO critic: wilfried wang

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A B BRODSKY, Juliana C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Graves Building preservaTION STUDIO critics: Wayne Bell

Michael Holleran The Graves Building, a historic dry-goods store in historic downtown Cuero, Texas, has undergone multiple renovations over the last 100 years. At this time, the building is parceled into two separate properties. The current owner of the larger part of the building wants to renovate the space into an antique store on the lower floor and a profitable program on the second floor. She requested multiple uses and layout options for the second floor, which resulted in a dance studio, a bookstore/internet coffee shop and two apartments.

Major design issues arose from the historic nature of the building’s construction and its position in the middle of an urban block. It was important that the design highlighted many of the remaining historic elements. These include the beadboard ceilings and hardwood floors, an early steel I-beam, the metal fire shutters and the original hand-pull freight elevator. Because of the building’s placement between two adjacent edifices, the 25-feet width of the space could not be widened. Access was restricted to the front or the rear and new openings were considered carefully due to the load-bearing nature of the foot-thick masonry walls. Also of concern were through non-operable skylights above the second floor, which heat the space warmly in the summer months.

In response to the design issues identified, I choose to differentiate new construction from old construction through the use of different materials. Channel glass and metal elements are significantly different from the original wood, brick and plaster finishes of the original building. This difference clearly defines the new space within the original open floor plan and takes advantage of the building’s natural lighting and long, narrow shape.

DESIGN

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A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q

This project started as a pencil drawing of a sword-billed hummingbird, a species of hummingbird found in the Andes. The initial drawing focused on the bird’s incredible beak. From this, I abstracted a drawing that focused on the hierarchy of bones and feathers by creating another hierarchy of lines as in a map.

Another further abstraction focused on geometry and a final abstract drawing brought washes of color to the composition.

From these abstract drawings, a series of three-dimensional models attempted to capture the movement and lightness of the hummingbird through folded paper. This process resulted in the design of a birdhouse. The sword-billed hummingbird builds its nest at the fork of a branch; never in an enclosed environment.

The birdhouse needed to provide protection from the elements and enough structure to build a small nest. Planes of birch plywood hang delicately from a thin steel wire that bends and joins with two other wire “branches” to create a perch for the nest.

COURSEWORK

R

SWANTNER, BESS S T U V W X Y Z

Birdhouse advanced VISUAL COMMUNICATIONS instructor: RUSSELL KREPART

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A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T

This housing development in Austin strives to integrate humans and non-humans in a cooperative strategy. Alternating between wildscape corridors and fingers of housing, the housing development integrates the housing into an existing woodland in East Austin.

The 56-unit development is divided up into multi-family buildings, each containing a mix of three bedroom homes and single, three story apartments. The massing of the housing is long and narrow (16 feet wide) and orientated along an east west axis to gain southern sunlight while minimizing harsh east/west sun exposure.

Various site strategies such as minimal paving, passive solar design, natural ventilation and integration of greywater irrigation with wildscape systems were integrated into the project.

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DESIGN

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williams, parker W X Y Z

Ecological Co-housing master design study critics: elizabeth alford lynn osgood

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A B C D E F G Garbe, Tania / Gilliam, Alex H I J

Alley Flat Initiative Advanced STUDIO critic: Sergio Palleroni

K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

The new social potential of a re-inhabited alley combined with a unique site posessing a well-used basketball hoop, dominating trees, a communal potting area and a socially connected outdoor dining space, inspired the design of this house. Hugging the east side of the site to enhance the existing activities, the design of the house addresses the blurring and redefinition of private and public spaces that is necessary in an 800 square foot house on such a complex site. The kitchen with its pass-through interior wall and “taco stand” window serve as the visual and social anchor for the house and the site. The subsequent level changes help indicate degrees of privacy internally and from the street while addressing the differences of scale dictated by the site. These level changes also ensure that the house is thermodynamically efficient and passively cooled by grabbing the prevailing winds from the southeast. Screens allow for the house to be ‘tuned’ for changing social, cooling and spatial needs. While spatially and thus formally ‘different’, simplicity and affordability of construction were not lost in the process. SIPS construction, the use of stock cabinetry, the thoughtful placement of mechanical systems and a variety of finishing options allow for easy and affordable construction.

DESIGN

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A B C D E

FINCHER, WARREN F G H I

Skin and Scar: A Cartography of Event MAPS: HISTORY, THEORY, AND PRACTICE instructor: NIChOLE WIEDEMANN

J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

The human body responds to its environment. Inscribed onto the body are traces of the environmental and social domains through which that body has experienced its life. These influences can shape and continually reshape the body in substantial ways, influencing its structure and abilities, its forms and postures, its textures and hues.

The shadows of past activities, ruptures and traumas can be found written out in skin. Bruises, scars, calluses, and discolorations are indicators of what the skin has experienced in the past. As such, skin is referential and indexical. Skin harbors signs of where it has been and what it has endured. Wounds have shapes and depth. Burns, traumas and abrasions leave skin discolored and textured. These scars take on the sensual dimensions specific to the inscriptive events. They carry specific shapes and depths, shades and tints. Each is produced from an event, and each referential to that event through its unique corporeal manifestations.

But skin is not passive; unlike the blank inscriptive surface of a sheet of paper, skin grows. And as it grows, skin replicates the imprint of past events. Wounds may become scars, and abrasions may yield calluses.

With each cellular division, the diachronic nature of event is flattened and made synchronic in the layers of our skins. These textures, contours and hues stand as more than just tracings of a past moment in which the skin was disrupted. They are referential, but as the cells replicate and as new layers take the place of former generations of skin, the past event is grown over and grown into. The past event is not passively traced by the skin, but becomes a part of the living tissue, a line of flight negotiating its present form with the responsive medium of skin. Thus, skin enacts the past, but also responds to it, carrying a mediated yet novel expression of the past into the present and conveying it into the future.

3 7 11 15 19 23 27 31 35 39 Scars and malformations often eclipse our recognition of the more pristine or idealized skin. We notice the blemishes as unique disruptions and overlook the pristine fields of skin. Because of this, scars serve to double the image of the body, creating a constellation of concavities, protrusions, dislocations and discolorations which may eclipse the remaining unblemished skin, framing out the signs of past event and drawing attention to them.

Skin provides insight into our identity. Skin, as a field of signs, denotes many of the experiences that have contributed to the evolution of a sense of self. We may wish to erase a scar and likewise edit an event from the past, altering our biographies. But scars aren’t easily erased. In this way, skin provides a record of who we have been in the past and may serve to tether the present sense of self to past events.

The maps presented here are constellations of events, indexed in skin.

Because skin is non-hierarchical, the maps may be entered at any point and their stories may proceed in various directions. The unblemished body has been removed, leaving a collection of imprints from past events. Examining the individual scars and markings, we can apprehend the sensuality of the event: its form, its depth, its texture. Perhaps we gain insight into a biography, a person who has lived a life that is readable in skin. Taking the collection as a whole, perhaps something is said about who we are at this moment in history, our relationships with technology and medicine, with recreation and leisure, with nutrition and hygiene; we can develop a sense of how we wear our skins in the worlds we inhabit.

coursework

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A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q

RUCKMAN, RUBEN R S

TITRINGTON, ADAM T U V W

2G Venice Lagoon Competition VERTICAL STUDIO , critic: william o brien jr.

X Y Z

Murano Green Lung Wetlands Our site on the northern portion of Murano Island in Venice proposes a new way of inhabiting the lagoon by linking marshlands to the city. To address the poor water quality surrounding Murano, we proposed an aquatic ‘green lung’ park. Constructed wetlands along the undulating park shore help filter and restore water quality.

DESIGN

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A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q

RUCKMAN, RUBEN R S

TITRINGTON, ADAM T U V W X Y Z

Sacca San Mattia Bio-Filtration Research Facility The research facility aims to reconnect the public with the natural systems that sustain the city while increasing awareness of the local wetland ecologies. Research facilities and test plots are quilted onto the proposed landscape with a network of paths that link the park back to Murano.

The research center is placed along a primary path and acts as an expansion of the landscape form. Investigations into structure and apertures for the research center yielded dynamic coffers with apertures correlating to program and circulation.

DESIGN

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A

borland, seth B C D E

Marfa Soap Factory and Nightspa vertical studio critic: RUSSELL krepart

F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

The small town of Marfa in west Texas was home to artist Donald Judd for the latter part of his life. Today, it remains a place of great interest to art-seekers and those wishing to be inspired by the endless sky and brilliant light of west Texas. Yet, there remains a tension between the locals of Marfa and the visiting art enthusiasts, though both remain dependent upon one another. This project attempts to ameliorate the tension by placing program for both locals and tourists on the same site: a soap making facility and a nightspa.

The site is located directly south of the newly renovated Thunderbird Hotel off of San Antonio Street, the main thoroughfare through Marfa. The abandoned site was home to a German POW laundry facility as well as a simple gabled structure that houses the local VFW. Additionally, a long and narrow slab remains, where a structure most likely sat prior to destruction.

DESIGN

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A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U

Derived from the studio theme “mash-up”, a series of design exercises were undertaken to achieve a final synthesis in architectural form. First, isolate and design a single space.

Second, identify and culminate ideas into a system. Last, apply and manifest the results into a residential construction of choice.

The residential project in the end is a three unit plus commercial multi-level, multi-use building that is designed around an existing building for adaptive reuse Ground Floor – Commercial & Parking Second Level – Residential Unit 1 Third Level – Split Between Residential Unit 2 And 3 Fourth Level – Residential Unit 3 A series of screens were created throughout all phases of development, these were used to differentiate social boundaries and space/movement activation through shadow casting.

DESIGN

V

Winn, Patrick W X Y Z

Mash-Up ADVANCED STUDIO critic: bill jackson

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The dynamic and unexpected qualities of water unified our vertical studio projects and the final project was to develop an amphibious riverside community on the Thames River. The community would help revive what was once a thriving walkway along the south edge of Chelsea directly adjacent to Battersea Bridge. The site would programmatically serve 45 amphibious units that respond to the tidal changes of an estuary.

A B C D E F G H I J K

The project aimed to provide young professionals a cheap alternative to London’s expensive housing market. I created units that could be retrofitted as residential units or work/live space. The site layout reflects this by developing three main parts characterized from the study of tidal ecological systems and their littoral zones.

The work/live zone maintains a direct connection with Chelsea Walk and allows for longer mooring leases, while the farthest zone is a transient district that permanently floats and allows docking for daily commuters and communal amenities. The central zone is reserved for residential units that share large, green central spaces that mix play and circulation while allowing for vital of electrical and plumbing connections.

The unit consists of a prefab structure built directly onto a barge foundation. This allows the unit to transition between land and water during tidal changes. The unit highlights the importance of skin in amphibious applications, creating a water proof shell that is composed of a homogeneous membrane. An additional system of solid and mesh panels clad over the shell produce opportunities for layering where fenestration and skylights are present.

DESIGN

L

MCDaris, John Paul M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Thames River Community VERTICAL STUDIO critic: ulrich dangel

TRAFFIC RECORDED OVER A PERIOD OF ONE HOUR ON THE THAMES RIVER

LEVELS OF WATER BREECH CAUSING ADDITIONAL LAYERS BE ADDED

LOW TIDE

SERVICES

SUB - STREET

LOW TIDE

COMMERCIAL ZONE

RESIDENTIAL ZONE

WETLANDS

TRANSIENT ZONE

SERVICES

ACCE TRAN

3 7

11 15

LARGE UNIT

19 TRAFFIC RECORDED OVER ONE HOUR ON THE THAME

SCALE 1’=1/4”

23 27 31 35

LARGE UNIT

LEVELS OF WATER BREECH CAUSING ADDITIONAL LAYERS BE ADDED

HIGH

LOW

ON

MIDDLE

TRAFFIC RECORDED OVER A PERIOD OF ONE HOUR ON THE THAMES RIVER

HIGH TIDE

ACCE TRAN

39

43

TRAFFIC RECORDED OVER 47 ONE HOUR ON THE THAME

51

SCALE 1’=1/4”

55 59

SITE SECTION

HIDDEN ELEVATION

ANALYSIS

HIGH TIDE

63 67 71

79

HIGH

LOW

ON

MIDDLE

75

83

SITE SECTION ANALYSIS HIDDEN ELEVATION ELEVATION

87 91 95 97 99 103 107 111

A B C D

Eustace, Rohit E FINN, Jeffrey F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Austin Bathhouse technical communications advanced STUDIO critics: vincent snyder

Marla smith How would the sound of water as it moved through the site change the atmosphere of the landscape? Is there an effective way of bringing water inside, heightening the sense of connection with the landscape? With these questions at the forefront of our discussion, we persued the idea of using the site as a scupper that would provide way to collect and distribute water through the bath/spa while creating a cavern like environment of rest and relaxation. The architecture embeds itself into the hillside, an abandoned quarry, unifying architecture and landscape.

The double-layered glazed roof provides plenty of filtered light, as well as providing an efficient water-collecting surface. The outer skin acts as the collector of water while the inner layer operates as a breathable ventilated roof membrane.

Inside, the gabion wall functions as both a trough, a coarse filter, an evaporative cooling wall and the vertical spatial organizing element. Hidden fans above the gabion wall circulate air over the moist stones and draw cool air through the spine of the building.

This wall pierces each level, registering the flow and movement of water within interior spaces. The different temperature baths are organized from general to specific function and service the group as well as the individual. Each pool was designed to provide a unique spatial interaction between user and water.

DESIGN

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A B C D E F G H I J K L

moore, kevin M N O P

New Facilities for the UTSOA advanced STUDIO critic: michael benedikt

Q R S T U V W X Y Z

The current school of architecture at the University of Texas at Austin lacks a true center, with studios and facilities dispersed across four buildings. The lack of a center is understood as a dire problem within the school and a new school proposal would require a solution. The proposed site is just large enough to collect every studio onto one upper floor with courts allowing light to penetrate to programs below.

Design education is a unique indoctrination, with both good and bad qualities. It is my contention that diversity — difficult, contentious and rewarding — is central to a positive indoctrination, or “good” studio culture. By making a place for all studios, design studio is no longer only the intellectual nexus of the school, but a physical one as well.

The goal is an agitating diversity, where faculty guides a contentious student body. It is a place of viral ideas. Embrace them. Reject them. Transform them. It has the potential to spark an uprising or grow an inclusive body of knowledge.

DESIGN

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A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U

Older couples are often ignored in the discussion about Austin urban living. By designing with them in mind, a residence would be forced to accentuate the “Joys of Urban Living” and respond to people who typically move to the suburbs. A house is most successful when it mediates the lives of the relationships inside it: homeowners to community, neighbors to neighbors and families to themselves.

The project encompasses one house for “baby boomers” (50-65 years old), looking for an alternative to suburban life, and for a young couple (25-30 years old), who desire to live small and grow as a family. The goal of the project is to bring together or “mash up” two different lifestyles in one house in a way that makes the life of each family better by virtue of the presence and inhabitation of the other.

DESIGN

V

williams, dawson W X Y Z

West Avenue House advanced STUDIO critic: bill jackson

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A B C D E F

GELFAND, SAM G H I J

Vertical Mixed Use VERTICAL STUDIO critic: SIMON ATKINSON

K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

This project explores the design possibilities within the City of Austin’s recent Vertical Mixed Use (VMU) zoning ordinance. In an attempt to increase density and high living standards while preventing sprawl throughout Central Texas, the ordinance encourages developers to build high-density mixed use projects close to certain designated transit corridors within Central Austin (in this case Manor Road). VMU zoning offers enticing benefits for this type of development. To earn them, developers must meet specific requirements to make the project conform with Austin’s urban vision. These include high-quality building design, meet-thestreet requirements, inclusion of pedestrian-friendly amenities and green-building requirements. In addition, 10% of the housing units must be “affordable” (based on area median family income).

As a means to entice development, civic minded developers get specific financial incentives. Most valuable, the “relaxed standards” for VMU can allow significantly more condominuims or apartments on a site (primarily by lifting “minimum site area requirements” that would restrict density). The relaxations also reduce by 60% the parking required by code and add more uses on the ground floor, such as convenience stores and eateries.

DESIGN

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Albright, aaron / antozzi, william A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Austin Bathhouse techNICAL comMUNICATIONS advanced studio critics: vincent snyder

Marla smith The Austin Bath House serves as a vessel that transports its guests from the grind of everyday life to an underground world tailored for mental and physical relaxation. This sense of departure is heightened by the illusion of a mysterious underground structure.

As one passes through to the subterranean bath house, they are captivated by a large grotto that filters out the sights, sounds and smells of the outside world. This grotto serves as a primary axis from which all other program is attached. In addition, a series of tubes pierce through the ground, bathing the grotto in natural light, and establish momentary connections to the outside world. From the surface, the uniformity of each tube disguises their function.

Their purpose becomes mysterious, evoking a sense of excitement as one moves through and explores each destination.

DESIGN

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A B C D E F G H I J K L M

nolan, joel N O P Q

Mohair [Cotton] Farm VERTICAL STUDIO critic: russell krepart

R S T U V W X Y Z

This project began as a series of abstract drawings. Each drawing became an individual exploration of the factual and theoretical influences that affect the arrangement of the elements of program onto the site. As essential information became evident, it was overlaid onto the existing topography creating a montage of data and contemplation, becoming an indistinct map. In sequence, each drawing progressively zooms closer to add a new level of detail and accuracy to the specified site. Meant to be viewed in association with the drawings, the model became a simplified and minimal product of these investigations representing the four key components of the program situated on the site.

DESIGN

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A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O

petermann, lynn P Q R S

Lima Textile Museum advanced studio critic: wilfried Wang

T U V W X Y Z

This building was generated from studying the patterns in the Peruvian textiles we saw while visiting Lima. Abstract interlocking forms were a reoccurring motif, and this notion was carried throughout the design in understanding the building in plan and in section. Also at a smaller scale, the screen for the elevated exhibition space is a knitted steel frame with opaque panels relating back to the textile and pattern-making. Its suspension above the ground highlights the original purpose of these textiles as burial objects. This space houses temporary exhibits and is supported both through structure and programmatic elements, such as an archive, permanent exhibition space and a library, allowing the public to learn and appreciate the rich history of these textiles.

DESIGN

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WOULD NOT BE POSSIBLE WITHOUT GENEROUS SUPPORT FROM THE FOLLOWING

DONORS A C E G I B D F H J K M O Q S U W L N P R T V X Z Y DEAN FRITZ STIENER UTSOA ADVISORY cOUNCIL & UT FRIENDS OF ARCHITECTURE A C E G I B D F H J K M O Q S U W L N P R T V X Z Y

A C E G I B D F H J K M O Q S U W L N P R T V X Z Y Lawrence Speck A C E G I B D F H J L N P R T V X Z Y LAWRENCE W.K M O Q S U W SPECK EXCELLENCE FUND A C E G I B D F H J K M O Q S U W L N P R T V X Z Y PROFESSIONAL RESIDENCY PROGRAM A C E G I B D F H J K M O Q S U W L N P R T V X Z Louise harpman, directorY A C E G I B D F H J K M O Q S U W L N P R T V X Z Y CAREER SERVICES ,

carrie o malley, dirctor A C E G I B D F H J K M O Q S U W L N P R T V X Z Y

A C E G I B D F H J K M O Q S U W L N P R T V X Z Y David Heymann A C E G I B D F H J Y Martin K M O Q S U W S. L N P R T V X Z Kermacy Centennial Professor A C E G I B D F H J K M O Q S U W L N P R T V X Z Y STEVEN A. MOORE A C E G I B D F H J K M O Q S U W L N P R T V X Z BARTLETT COCKE REGENTS PROFESSOR Y A C E G I B D F H J K M O Q S U W L N P R T V X Z Y wilfried wang BARBARA HOIDN A C E G I B D F H J K M O Q S U W L N P R T V X Z Y O'NEIL FORD CHAIR A C E G I B D F H J K M O Q S U W L N P R T V X Z Y RICHARD CLEARY PAGE SOUTHERLAND PAGEK M O Q S U W FELLOW A C E G I B D F H J L N P R T V X Z Y

A C E G I B D F H J K M O Q S U W L N P R T V X Z Y KEVIN ALTER Sid W. Richardson ProfessorK M O Q S U W A C E G I B D F H J L N P R T V X Z Y

MICHAEL BENEDIKT A C E G I B D F H J K M O Q S U W L N P R T V X Z Y A C E G I B D F H J K M O Q S U W L N P R T V X Z Y HAL BOX CHAIR IN URBANISM A C E G I B D F H J K M O Q S U W L N P R T V X Z Y SUMMER ACADEMY IN ARCHITECTURE KEVIN ALTER, DIRECTOR A C E G I B D F H J K M O Q S U W L N P R T V X Z Y

MIRKA BENES A C E G I B D F H J K M O Q S U W L N P R T V X Z Y ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR IN landscape ARCHITECTURE A C E G I B D F H J K M O Q S U W L N P R T V X Z Y

STATEMENT

ISSUE: is an ANNUAL student-run publication featuring GRADUATE AND UNDERGRADUATE work at the University of Texas AT AUSTIN School of Architecture. Its intent is to foster interaction and the interchange of ideas among students as well as to record the intellectual activities of the SOA.