Architecture of Specification, Glass and Plaster

George Willmott

specification,

glass

An architecture of

and

plaster

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Studio 02: Triplicate Stirling at Ca’ Corner Della Regina Studio Leaders: Scott Woods & Kim Võ Special Advisor: Armature Globale (Luigi Alberto Cippini & Alexei Haddad) With special thanks to: Fondazione Prada The Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA) the University of Melbourne

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Foreword The project focuses on dichotomic relationships of heritage and exhibition.

The constant repair of the facade, the curation of surface for exhibition, the restoration of frescoes (.etc).

All of these processes as architectural and belonging to the Ca' Corner.

All are also primarily concerned with the materials of glass and plaster.

On the other side of the project the modern museum is an architecture of specification and exhibition technology (vitrine). project attempts to utilise this technology to intervene in the buildings assemblages and make legible their true nature as constantly evolving assemblages rather than finite moments of architecture. This is shown most clearly in the manner my system intersects with the existing classical order.

Finally, the small moments of interest in this are parts of these devices that show all of these things almost allegorically.

Moments when stucco is plastered over proposed galvanised steel column and the existing column order.

Both are of equal conceptual weight in the building and architectural processes of the building (ie. maintenance and conservation) wash over both indiscriminately.

The hinge/fulcrum display systems, displays curation, preparation and the layering of surface in the exhibition space. These are synecdoche for the the new composite orders of the building.

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On Stirling (Archive) Karry Shen: What did you find most challenging when working with Stirling's material from the CCA archive?

George Willmott: There was a constant gap between the engagement with Stirling’s work as physical precedent, as image, as drawing, or as concept. I found myself early in the project engaging primarily with Stirling’s early project sketches and my own preoccupations with my personal readings. As the work progressed I found space within the mediums to work.

KS: Do you think Stirling is still relevant for contemporary discourse?

GW: Yeah, he’s definitely relevant, but in the same way all things are relevant to contemporary discourse.

Stirling's position sits ultimately in his own strange annex, maybe because he's somtimes read as caught between classical architecture and new technology. I think this relationship gives stirling a relevance to Museums outside of just his museum projects but to the new museum and display technologies.

KS: What are the challenges of thinking the museum beyond a container for art?

What is exhibited and what does the exhibiting in your museum project?

Is it that simple?

GW: The relationship can’t be read as dichotomic.

These relationships are constantly being redefined.. but within that question, the concept of a container for art has become so unfashionable but an architecture of pure exhibition i think is a good goal, it's the seperation of architecture and exhibit which needs to be addressed.

KS: What are the challenges you have encountered when working with the Ca' Corner building? E.g. the Venetian context, the architectural ornamentation,

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the spatial structure, etc. How did that challenge inform your approach to the museum?

different to architecture that exists outside the museum?

GW: The greatest challenge was the awkwardness or maybe hesistance the Ca Corner gave me in deconstructing and adapting it.

Some of this is due to the ornament and heritage of the building, but it's also the buildings interweaving systems and orders. It's as if once intervened with they seem to unravel.

These challenges really guided the final approach.

GW: An architecture of specification.

The disconnected design of exhibition space through display technologies is it’s own internal architecture to the museum.

Within that there are curatorial and conservation processes which are just as architectural. The museum is composed of all of these architectures.

On Exhibition KS: Considering the role of technology in exhibition design, is this a concern for your design? If so, in what capacity?

GW: The modern museum is an architecture primarily of technology... and specification.

The details of companies like Goppion and their modes of exhibition and their implementation encompass the majority of the museum's design. My project embraces this and composes space and adapts existing systems solely through exhibition technology.

KS: Does this idea of exhibition or display technology change your conception of museum architecture?

Completely, i think that the design of the museum as building and the design of exhibition or exhibition technology being separated undermines the museum as a typology. It raises the earlier question, the museum as a container for art. The museum as container for art works, the issue sits with museum as container for container of art.

On (the) Future

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KS: How would you describe an architecture that exists solely inside the museum? How is that architecture

KS: Has your project for a museum changed your position or attitude to architecture more generally? If yes, how?

GW: Yeah, it has to have. The project had to be at the smallest possible scale. The importance of small material thresholds, the reapplication of Stucco and the guides used for it, the small hinges allowing for the opening of a goppion vitrine. The museum sits between these two scales. I think it (the museum project) demands this but it’s fruitful for all architecture.

1 Materials

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Clore Gallery, London, England: study model for the east elevation, 1978 - 1986, CAA Archives

Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart, Germany: view of construction 1978 - 1986, CAA Archives

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Nordrhein-Westfalen Museum, Dusseldorf, Germany: worm’s eye axonometric of courtyard and gallery ceilings 1972 - 1976, CAA Archives

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Notes on the Modern Museum, Anthony Vidle, Assemblage , Jun., 1989, No. 9 (Jun., 1989), pp. 40-57 The MIT Press

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2 Works

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BB

1

CC 2

A

NASPO

C17

LOCA

SPAZIO

C16

LOCALE 403

C18

SPAZIO ESPOSITIVO

C19

LOCALE 402 SPAZIO ESPOSITIVO

C15

GRANDE

B

C03

C04

C06

CANAL

AA

C20

C07

LOCALE 4

SPAZIO ESPOSIT

ap.i C02

C

C01

C08

C09

ap.ii C10 C

C11 ap.iii

C14

LOCALE 404 SPAZIO ESPOSITIVO

C13

C12

C21

LOCALE 405 SPAZIO ESPOSITIVO

C24

D

NUOVO PLUVIALE

An architecture of specification, glass and plaster

C

3

CALLE DELLA ROSA

4

NUOVO PLUVIALE

ALE 414

C27

O ESPOSITIVO

C26

LOCALE 413 SPAZIO ESPOSITIVO

C28

ASC 2 ASCENSORE PUBBLICO

LOCALE 412

LOCALE 411

SPAZIO ESPOSITIVO

SPAZIO ESPOSITIVO

C32 SCALA A NASPO

C31

401

TIVO

CORTILE

C29

C25

LOCALE 410 BAGNO

CAVEDIO IMPIANTI

CAMINI GRUPPI ELETTROGENI

ASC 2

REI

REI

CONTROPARETE

ASCENSORE PRIVATO

SCALA C

LOCALE 406 SPAZIO ESPOSITIVO

C22

LOCALE 407

LOCALE 409 MAGAZZINO OPERE

REI

SPAZIO ESPOSITIVO

LOCALE 408 MAGAZZINO OPERE

C30

C23 NASPO

CALLE CORNER DELLA REGINA

PIANO PRIMO NOBILE, PROPOSED

0m 1:200 . A3

2

5

10

BB

1

CC 2

A

C17

C16

LOCALE 503

C18

SPAZIO ESPOSITIVO

C19

LOCALE 502 SPAZIO ESPOSITIVO

C15

B

GRANDE

C05 C03

C04 C06

CANAL

AA

C20

C07

LOC

SPAZI

ap.i C02 C01 C08

ap.ii

C09

C10

C

C11 ap.iii

C14

LOCALE 504 SPAZIO ESPOSITIVO

C12

C21

LOCALE 505 SPAZIO ESPOSITIVO

C13

C24

D

NUOV

17

An architecture of specification, glass and plaster

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CALLE DELLA ROSA

4

NUOVO PLUVIALE

LOCALE 514 SPAZIO ESPOSITIVO

C27

C26

LOCALE 513 SPAZIO ESPOSITIVO

C28

ASC 2

ASCENSORE PUBBLICO

LOCALE 512

LOCALE 511

SPAZIO ESPOSITIVO

SPAZIO ESPOSITIVO

C32 SCALA A NASPO

C31

CALE 501

IO ESPOSITIVO

C25

CORTILE

C29

LOCALE 510 BAGNO

CAVEDIO IMPIANTI

ASC 2 SCALA C

LOCALE 506 SPAZIO ESPOSITIVO

C22

LOCALE 507

ASCENSORE PRIVATO

LOCALE 509 MAGAZZINO OPERE

REI

SPAZIO ESPOSITIVO

LOCALE 508 MAGAZZINO OPERE

C30 C23

VO PLUVIALE

CALLE CORNER DELLA REGINA

PIANO SECONDO NOBILE, PROPOSED 18

0m 1:200 . A3

2

5

10

BB CC 1 2

A

3

C17

LOCALE 102 ENTRATA

C16 C18

C19 C20

C15 B

GRANDE

C03

C04 C06

CANAL

AA

C05

ap.i

C07

LOCALE 103

C02 C01

C08

C09

ap.ii C10 C

C11 ap.iii

C12

C14

C21

LOCALE 101 ENTRATA

C24

C13 D

19 An architecture of specification, glass and plaster

C23

3

CALLE DELLA ROS

A 4

C27

LOCALE 108

C26

ENTRATA DEL PERSONALE

C28 ASC 2

LOCALE 105

ASCENSORE PUBBLICO

ENTRATA

C32

C31

C25

SCALA

LOCALE 107

C29

CORTILE

ASC 2

ASCENSORE PRIVATO

SCALA C

C22

LOCALE 104 USCITA

C30

LOCALE 106 SCALA DEL MAGAZZINO OPERE

CALLE CORNER DELLA REGINA

PIANO TERRA, PROPOSED 20 0m 1:200 . A3

2

5

10

PIANO QUARTO SOTTOTETTO R4-01 +2451 cm

PIANO TERZO R3-01 +2127 cm

PIANO SECONDO NOBILE R2-01 +1579 cm

PIANO PRIMO NOBILE R1-01 +899 cm

PIANO SECONDO AMMEZZATO RM-02 + 542 cm

PIANO TERRA R0-01 - 10 cm

SECTION BB, PROPOSED 21 An architecture of specification, glass and plaster

PIANO QUARTO SOTTOTETTO R4-01 +2449 cm

PIANO TERZO R3-01 +2125 cm

PIANO SECONDO NOBILE R2-01 +1580 cm

PIANO PRIMO NOBILE R1-01 +899 cm

PIANO SECONDO AMMEZZATO RM-02 + 548 cm

PIANO TERRA R0-01 - 6 cm

SECTION CC, PROPOSED 22 0m 1:200 . A3

2

5

10

PIANO QUARTO SOTTOTETTO R4-01 +2450 cm

PIANO TERZO R3-01 +2125cm

PIANO SECONDO NOBILE R2-01 +1576 cm

PIANO PRIMO NOBILE R1-01 +896 cm

PIANO SECONDO AMMEZZATO RM-02 + 542 cm

PIANO TERRA

23 An architecture of specification, glass and plaster

PIANO QUARTO SOTTOTETTO R4-01 +2448 cm

PIANO TERZO R3-01 +2104 cm

PIANO SECONDO NOBILE R2-01 +1560 cm

PIANO PRIMO NOBILE R1-01 +875 cm

PIANO SECONDO AMMEZZATO RM-02 + 544 cm

PIANO TERRA R0-01 -16

SECTION AA, PROPOSED 24 0m 1:200 . A3

2

5

10

APPARATUS 01 Maintenance, and it’s display C01, C02 1:20 . A3 25

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APPARATUS 01 Maintenance, and it’s display C01, C02 1:20 . A3 29

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APPARATUS 02 Veneer and Occupation C01, C02 1:20 . A3 33

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APPARATUS 02 Veneer and Occupation C01, C02 1:20 . A3 37

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APPARATUS 03 Stucco, glass, and plaster C01, C02 1:20 . A3 41

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APPARATUS 03 Stucco, glass, and plaster C01, C02 1:20 . A3 45

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Stucco and column, Piano Terra

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Stucco, Catalysis, Display System, Fresco, Piano Primo Nobile

Column, footing and stucco Piano Terra

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Fulcrum Piano Primo Nobile

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The new museum curated by George Willmott explores the dichotomic relationships of heritage and exhibition.

Through conceptual investigation of James Stirling, Willmott’s intervention looks to the inherent architectural process of refurbishment in Ca’ Corner. The contemporary curatorial technology has been brought to the forefront, curating subtle moments like the constant repair of the façade, the curation of the surface for exhibition, and the restoration of frescoes.

In Willmott’s mode of display, Ca’ Corner itself is exhibited and redefined the exhibiting system. The finite state of the existing Ca ‘Corner shell is halted by the technological system and transformed into constantly evolving assemblages.

The new display device exhibited the mode of exhibiting and makes the relationship between two even more legible when the curatorial system intersects with the existing classical orders. The moment where footprints and overlaps of stucco are plastered over both the galvanised steel column and the existing column, and the industrial object penetrating multiple floors, these delicate collision and reconciliation between two systems delineate both conceptual backdrop and architectural process of maintenance. On the other hand, the curation process is made visible through small physical objects such as hinge and fulcrum, where the sub-assembly becomes the visual cue of the process of assembly, preparation and layering of the surface. These curatorial gestures embed an additional layer of exquisiteness and new value into the banal material of glass and plaster.

The apparatus illustrates a series of allegorical moments between solid mass and thin surface, old and new, conditioned and infinite. And ultimately,

it reaches a balanced state that softly caresses the monumental imprints of the Ca’ Corner memories with an exclusive viewing of contemporary display technologies.

- Karry Shen 54

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3 Index

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Object i. Stucco, glass, and plaster

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Object i. Stucco, glass, and plaster

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Object ii. Maintenance, and it’s display

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Object ii. Maintenance, and it’s display

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Object iii. Veneer and Occupation

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Object iii. Veneer and Occupation

The Museum: Exterior Orders

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The Museum: Interior Orders

The Museum: Exterior Orders

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The Museum: Exterior Orders

The Museum: Stucco and Glass

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The Museum: Catalysis III, Adrian Piper (1970)

The Museum: Section AA

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The Museum: Internal Order Choreography

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4 Knowledge Bank

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GOPPION Hinge Detail

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GOPPION Q-Hinge Detail

GOPPION Paint on Glass Patent

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GOPPION Vitrine Support and Opening System

Matthew Barney, Drawing Restraint 2, 1988

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Matthew Barney, Facility of decline The Brooklyn Rail, Darragh McNicholas October, 2016

Soft Sell - Diller Scofidio + Renfro (1993).

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Selfbuilder - John Frazer, Walter Segal

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