One of the very first questions posed to us by the Theory of Relational Logics class was how to define the subject matter, thus introducing us to the amazing world of Advanced Architecture.  It was interesting to hear single-worded adjectives or a curt phrase to describe what makes architecture advanced.  We were about 80 in the class and I would say that every single description apply.  This exercise has been very helpful in understanding collaboratively what we came to IAAC for.

Our group has always believed how architecture has come in full circle in a way that it has run alongside humanity in terms of growth and development, and is now going back to the most fundamental as the Four Elements: Air, Earth, Water and Fire.

The presentation has been opened by a video by Bill Viola,  a contemporary video artist whose works focus on the ideas behind fundamental human experiences such as birth, death and aspects of consciousness.   

A I R
1.  “Non Sign II” – A billboard that advertises nothing but clean air.
Lead Pencil Studio’s Daniel Milhayo explains the concept:  “Borrowing the effectiveness of billboards to redirect attention away from the landscape… this permanently open aperture between nations works to frame nothing more than a clear view of the changing atmospheric conditions beyond.”  They continue to blur “the divide between architecture and art; questioning the idea of consumer culture has been a recurring theme.”
Capture

 

2.  BMW Welt by COOP HIMMELB(L)AU

Set on a 269,000 SF plot of land, the building is orientated on the North West corner at an intersection of two major highways.  The highway’s intersect at an angle causing the plot of land to be shaped awkwardly. This is probably the main cause to the buildings unique shape.  Other ideas which influenced this unique shape was the buildings functionality and most importantly the double cone.  Due to the nature of this facility, it was important to keep the spaces open and functional.  In order to keep a building seem open it can not be cluttered with unsightly columns everywhere.  The amazing thing about this building is that its structural system comprises of just 11 columns.  The structural integrity of the building doesn’t just rely on these 11 columns but rather uses other functions of the building as its support system.  The elevator shafts act as an extra support along with the double cone.  If you observe the cross section of the building you will notice that the roof actually ends with the funnel structure, helping anchor it to the ground.

The buildings open form and cold temperate climate are used to its full advantage.  Heating, ventilation and cooling was fully minimized in this building.  The hall is essentially conceived as a solar heated, naturally ventilated sub-climatic area.  Thermal currents create a natural air supply along with the wind pressure and turbulence’s when air collects in the area of the facade and roof projection.  Automatically controlled vents regulate air intake and outflow.  A natural aeration system provides sufficient fresh air to the building.  Since this is also a testing facility and there are numerous amounts of cars there had to be special considerations to ventilating the car exhaust.  The thermal currents and air flows due to the design of the roof cause the ventilation to keep the carbon monoxide levels to stay below the accepted 10 percent.

bmw welt
3.  Blur
“…A media pavilion for Swiss EXPO 2002 at the base of Lake Neuchatel in Yverdon-les-Bains, Switzerland.
From piles in the water, a tensegrity system of rectilinear struts and diagonal rods cantilevers out over the lake. Ramps and walkways weave through the tensegrity system, some of them providing a counterweight for the structure. The form is based on the work of Buckminster Fuller.
The pavilion is made of filtered lake water shot as a fine mist through 13,000 fog nozzles creating an artificial cloud that measures 300 feet wide by 200 feet deep by 65 feet high. A built-in weather station controls fog output in response to shifting climatic conditions such as temperature, humidity, wind direction, and wind speed.”
Blur by Diller & Scofidio

E A R T H

1.  Urban Agriculture in New York City

Five Borough Farm Phase II is a project of the Design Trust for Public Space, in partnership with the NYC Department of Parks & Recreation, to strengthen and expand urban agriculture in New York City.   The second installment of the Five Borough Farm video series features farmers + city officials discussing the two most pressing needs for urban agriculture in NYC: land availability and access to high quality soil and compost.

brooklyn

 

2.  The Mapungubwe National Park Interpretive Centre, South Africa by Peter Rich
These are sustainable shells are vaults built with soil cement tiles.  With their cultural significance, and how buildings interrelate and integrate with their environment, the design was also declared the Building of the Year at the World Architecture Festival of 2009.   The project provides unusual and imaginative exhibition spaces for disseminating the intricate history of successive civilisations who have occupied this area from the 9th century until the present, also raising awareness of the vulnerability of the local ecology and the importance of its preservation. All this comes underpinned by a strong social dimension. Unemployed local people were taught and inspired to use the surrounding earth and rocks to make building materials and employ these in construction.

Mapungubwe

 

 

3.  Bjarke Ingells’ quote on the Earth’s Geology.
BIG_quote on geology

We are in the Androposcene age.  Man alters the earth and his activities generally influence the way the is handled.  It has to take man to own up to this responsibility – or perish.
W A T E R
1.  The Miroir d’eau by Ange-Jacques Gabriel

“With a surface of 3450 m2, Bordeaux is equipped with the largest water mirror of the world. Located vis-a-vis the place of the Stock Exchange, this installation carried out by the urban Community, is managed by the City.
Imagined by the Parisian fountain-maker Jean-max Llorca, the system makes it possible to reveal one after the other a mirror effect (with 2 centimetres of water stagnating on a granite flagstone) and a fog effect which can reach up to 2 meters height.”
Inspired by the natural phenomenon of St. Mark square flooding in Venice, the water feature mimics nature, and cover the square with a thin layer of water. It is an invitation to kick-off your shoes and “walk on the water”.
Water Mirror Bordeaux

2. The Salk Institute by Louis Kahn  – and Water!
Composed of strong-willed yet sensuous materials—travertine and reinforced concrete—it possesses a hushed dignity that encourages contemplation. Two six-story laboratory buildings form the north and south boundaries of the complex. Each shelters an inner row of angular semidetached office structures that face each other across a travertine courtyard. Bisecting it all is a channel of water that seems to pour into the Pacific below. The buildings, fashioned of concrete accented with teak, focus one’s gaze on the horizon so “you are one with the ocean.”
Salks & water

3.  “Cloud Atlas”

The official synopsis describes it as “an exploration of how the actions of individual lives impact one another in the past, present and future, as one soul is shaped from a killer into a hero, and an act of kindness ripples across centuries to inspire a revolution.”  In the movie, water is rising and so a dystopian future is created where cities are rebuilt at a higher level- this shows a vision of the future reality that produces its own architecture.  That without an idea of the future there can be no architecture.

 seoul2
F I R E
1.  Bruder Klaus Field Chapel by Peter Zumthor
“Arguably the most interesting aspects of the church are found in the methods of construction, beginning with a wigwam made of 112 tree trunks. Upon completion of the frame, layers of concrete were poured and rammed atop the existing surface, each around 50cm thick. When the concrete of all 24 layers had set, the wooden frame was set on fire, leaving behind a hollowed blackened cavity and charred walls.”
 Fire Chapel
2.  Quote from Anaximenes of Miletus, 546 BC
“Air differs in essence in accordance with its rarity or density.
When it is thinned it becomes fire, while when it is condensed it becomes wind, then cloud,
when still more condensed, it becomes water, then earth, then stones.
Everything else comes from these.”
bonfire
3.  Managing Fire by Josep Lluis Mateo
LluisMateo_Fire
 THEORY
MAA01 2015-2016Students:
Mariaklairi Chartsia
Fulvio Brunetti
Maria Cynthia Y. Funk

References:

http://www.fastcodesign.com/1662616/a-billboard-that-advertises-nothing-but-clean-air

https://sites.google.com/site/ae390bmwwelt/home/architecture

http://www.arcspace.com/features/diller-scofidio–renfro/blur-building/

http://fiveboroughfarm.org/urban-agriculture/

http://www.architectural-review.com/today/mapungubwe-interpretation-centre-by-peter-rich-architects-mapungubwe-national-park-south-africa/5218201.fullarticle

http://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/louis-kahn-salk-institute-la-jolla-california-article

http://www.archdaily.com/106352/bruder-klaus-field-chapel-peter-zumthor/