Thesis Feedback

Thesis feedback from Martin Andrews (Studio FMP Tutor)

Brief

Through contacts I have managed to obtain a brief for a technology centre from an architects practice. The architects were kind enough to give me the stage D report for a centre recently built in West Wales. This will form a solid backbone for my project as it is for brick and timber workshops in a building of a similar size to the Brickworks.

Thesis Introduction Development

The importance of using existing buildings as architectural templates is to become more prevalent over the coming century as we as architects have to re-write the urban fabric in which buildings sit.

Intervention with existing buildings can be dealt with in a number of ways and currently exists as a series of ad-hoc responses on a building site intuitive to the individual architect.

The aim of this thesis is to rationalise approaches to interventions that allow the poetics of existing buildings to be exposed and manipulated.

“We can admire more or less, but a sincere impulse, a little impulse toward admiration, is always necessary if we are to receive the phenomenological benefit of a poetic image.” (Bachelard, 1994)Pxxvi

Bachelard defines the poetic image for us, by presenting us with a condition we are able to slip into our own thoughts and recall a memory of experience and use it to place ourselves within this condition. This is the aim of the buildings studied in this thesis, to evoke an emotive response to the visitor from the reinterpreted building.

“this poetic expression, has a bracing effect on our lives” (Bachelard, 1994)Pxxvi

The ability of a building’s spirit to touch us within, is paramount to experiencing architecture.

This thesis starts with understanding how existing buildings have been treated and the difficulties that have arisen with doing so.

Concept Development

The concept for the drying sheds is developing as a story about a man sitting under the shade of a tree. The tree dies and leaves the man exposed to the sunlight, so he plants a new tree at the base of the old and can resume sitting underneath it.

 The works has always had a linear process through the site about the product traversing from clay to brick and this is represented in the way the drying sheds are lit with a linear strip of light in the roof. The concept is forming as an analogous response to this, by reinterpreting the linear strip of light the brickworks narrative and program can continue as a construction industry skills centre, where students can learn how bricks are made and put their knowledge into practice.

Models for Bursledon Brickworks

To understand the space it was necessary to model the brickworks quickly.

A site model is currently being constructed at 1:500 which will measure 1800 x 800mm. This is being constructed on behalf of the client.

Below is the correspondance sent to the client to establish the model type and makeup. This was shortly confirmed afterwards by the client and work is proceeding.

"Good morning Carolyne!

Below is a description of the site model Niall and I are making for our projects, all of the preparation will be done and it will be cut on the laser cutter in the university starting Monday. 

Once done we are wondering whether this would suffice for the BBC to have/own at the end of the academic year? If you are looking for a smaller scaled milled model as well we can also have that made for you!

1:500 Site Model Description:

Attached are two images, the top image is the map of what we are going to model, we have a high resolution of contours (pictured is a contour every 250mm, we shall be modelling at every 1000mm due to card widths). We've been lucky to attain these contours as they are part of the costal survey - as you can see to the east of the building the contours stop, this has limited us to what we can actually model!! 

The model measures approximately 800 x 1800 mm (so 3 portrait A1's) at 1:500. 

The construction will be as follows:

Timber baseboard with timber borders,

Contours will be grey card etched and lasered using the laser cutter in the eldon workshop (as pictured below - a previous model made by our group at a small scale)

The Brickworks will be 0.8mm ply laser cut with bits etched (also a couple of the surrounding buildings included in ply)

Cork etched trees have also been ordered to place on the model.

The model is also being constructed to allow the entire site (spanning between the motorway and the train line - including the playing fields) to be lifted out and for mine and Niall's proposals to be placed within.

Dave & Niall"

Concept Models for thesis and design

A series of concept models made to explain my thesis

An existing building

A existing building which has had an intervention 'extrapolated' using layering

An existing building which has had an insertion placed within which has been affected by the existing building using a set of rules

Flores & Plats - Museo Molinos

The following is a draft extract from my thesis talking about the Flores & Plats Museo Molino's which we visited in Palma at the end of the summer.

An intervention in Es Jonquets, Palma by Flores and Plats architects is exemplar of the typology of ‘Extrapolated Intervention’. (Cohn, 2004) tells us that the windmills are located in a old fishermen’s neighbourhood called Es Jonquet which lie to the west of the historic centre of Palma and date back to before 1644. The 7 windmills sit above the city walls and are iconic of the neighbourhood.

In 1997 the Association of the Friends of the Windmills employed Flores & Plats to create a museum space inside the old flower windmill. Instead of making an insertion within the windmill Florets & Plats aimed for the “maximum development of the plan.”(Flores & Plats Architects) This is characteristic to Carlo Scarpa’s approach of extrapolating characteristics of a building in several small parts to create this idea of the unified whole.

The interventions all follow the same common theme; the disassociated windmill is connected by light. The interventions utilize existing openings in the building’s fabric such as doors, windows and chimneys to control how light enter the building. This process of intervention was enabled by a high level of analysis of the buildings openings and testing of the light through sketching and modeling.

 “the windows are treated like pieces of furniture that modify the light focusing it on exhibits and displays”  (Flores & Plats Architects)

The openings are changed by adjusting the proportions of the holes or by moving the entrance of the light, this light spilling in then creates the spaces for the objects to be exhibited within. (Flores & Plats Architects) call this the “Rhythm” of the new museum. The interior is thrown into a state of semi-darkness with the interventions designed in a way that the light from each hole is pinned to the walls.

Beyond the dialogue created with the new light, Flores & Plats have carefully considered the tectonics of the interventions. The building’s walls of local sandstone with all of its chips and flaws were not restored whilst the new layering applied by Flores & Plats externally is white cement.

This is cast within the shell of building to create the shapes that control the light. This white cement, which forms the surrounding landscape flows through the building on the ground and through the large openings.

The walls internally are treated slightly differently as they are covered with a rough textured render, this is where the tectonics are allowed to affect the incoming light.

The space that is created is that of a disassociated space, the buildings vaulted sandstone interior has been changed in such away that the buildings spirit is celebrated by this new rhythm of light through small interventions.

The building has won and been nominated for many awards for the space created by the architects but unfortunately the new interior did not match the programme of the client thus the building has been dramatically affected by up-lighting installed by the AFW. In a sense the building has been so drastically disassociated from any use including its new use as a museum, it has rendered itself almost useless without further intervention.

The evoked buildings spirit is too powerful!

 

Peter Zumthor - Kolumba Museum

The following is the first draft of Peter Zumthor's Kolumba museum for my Thesis, this has been written up after reading Zumthor's "Thinking Architecture" 2nd ed 2006.

(Kolumba, 2010) write that’s St. Kolumba was one of the largest and most important parishes in medieval Cologne. It was dedicated to Saint Columba who was beheaded by the Emperor Aurelian for refusing to marry his son because she was a Christian. Excavations have shown us that on the site of the church a 7^th century Roman house was built which was rebuilt as a church in the 9^th century, then added to and reiterated up to the 15^th/16^th century to become a 5 nave church. In World War II Cologne suffered heavily by bombing and the church lay in ruins, but a late-gothic Madonna and Child was found standing untouched amongst the ruins. This became known as ‘Madonna in the Ruins’. In 1950 Gottfried Bohm built a chapel over the Madonna in amongst the ruins of the old church. (2010). The site is a rich palimpsest of ruins and layers.

““Noli me tangere! – “Touch me not” or “cease holding on to me”: Two interpretations of what Christ said to Mary Magdalene after the Resurrection… In this dialogue, so momentous in Christian life, the grief over the loss of a loved one, the yearning for physical contact, and the desire for tangible proof of God’s presence, is transposed into the belief in the Resurrection.” (Kolumba, 2010)

In his book (Zumthor, Thinking Architecture, 2006) talks about the way in which he thinks about buildings. He describes that buildings have a presence and that they are a self-evident part of their surroundings. The buildings say “I am as you see me and I belong here”. Zumthor explains that any new work of architecture is an intervention and they should embrace the qualities of which they are surrounded.(2006)

“For if the intervention is to find its place, it must make us see what already exists in a new light. We throw a stone into the water. Sand swirls up and settles again. The stir was necessary. The stone has found its place. But the pond is no longer the same.” (Zumthor, Thinking Architecture, 2006)p17

Zumthor stipulates that buildings can only be accepted by their surroundings if they can appeal to our emotions; celebrate our connections with the past through remembrance.

“We must construct a radial system of approach that enables us to see the work of architecture as a focal point from different angles simultaneously: historically, aesthetically, functionally, personally, passionately.” (Zumthor, Thinking Architecture, 2006)p18

For Zumthor it is clear that to achieve a harmonized intervention it would need to connect physically and emotionally with the existing building. This process of thinking and conceptual notions is characteristic of the way Zumthor works, he describes drawing (p13) as a portrayal of an object of desire and he himself uses drawings to evoke the mood, atmosphere or quality of a building.

The notion of “Touch me not” created Zumthor’s concept for the Kolumba Museum.  In 1997 Peter Zumthor won a competition and was employed by the Archdiocese of Cologne to design a museum containing 2000 years worth of art and history. Zumthor approached the building with his insertion that thought very carefully about how the new and the old would meet, the building would create a yearning for physical contact. 

“They [the Archdiocese] believe in the inner values of art, its ability to make us think and feel, its spiritual values. This project emerged from the inside out, and from the place.” (Zumthor, 2007)

Zumthor applied his insertion in a holistic fashion upon and around the ruins of the church and the 1950’s chapel, replicating the footprint of his building above and using columns analogous to his architecture not the original buildings to support it. This is evident in the fact that the columns follow the new buildings footprint, not of the old arcade of columns in the ruined nave. This enables a 12m high space over the excavated ruins and the chapel. Within this space Zumthor inserted a timber walkway, which weaves through the space in a fashion of “Touch me not”.  Zumthor’s projects rely highly on the way we perceive the space he presents to the visitor and this walkway allows the narrative to be exposed.

“The building itself is never poetic. At most, it may possess subtle qualities, which, at certain moments, permits us to understand something that we were never able to understand in quite this way before” (Zumthor, Thinking Architecture, 2006)

The walls that enclose the space have a very delicate tectonic quality. The bricks are hand made by Petersen Tgel of Denmark and were specifically developed for the project. The bricks were fired with charcoal to give them a warm hue. (Moffit, 2010) The walls are carefully detailed to show them as light as possible when sitting on the existing walls of the building, but it should be noted that when the bricks actually touch the existing building they are applied in a inattentive way, fitting in and around the building’s fabric, appearing as if they are applied from above with little regard for the changing nature of the buildings ruined walls.

Zumthor’s new walls to the excavation site are double skinned perforated walls supported subtly by columns and a concrete lintel and perforated very particularly to allow light through at certain times of the day. This light animates the space and although the area is closed off to the outside world, it gives us a notion of the passage of time.

This animation through light is then countered by spotlights, which sit above the columns or key points of the ruins, Zumthor is evoking a dialogue between the past and the present through the use of light with people suspended between old and new, such is the celebration of the ruins and its spirit, a poetic space is created from the ruins.

This application of the intervention highlights Zumthor’s method of using a concept as a notion of thought and presence to apply the insertion unanimously to the existing building, so the building fits the “Holistic Insertion” typology.

Dow Jones - Garden Museum

The following is a draft extract from my thesis commenting on the Garden Museum by Dow Jones. Alun Jones delivered a lecture on the 11th Nov and following exchange of e-mails I decided to visit and include the building within my thesis as an example of a hollistic insertion.

The following images are courtesy of Alun Jones, whilst at the museum I captured it using B&W film which is currently being processed.

Hollistic Insertion : Dow Jones, Garden Museum 

Dow Jones have created a particularly interesting insertion within a medieval church in Lambeth called St Mary’s. (Roberts, 1951) writes that the church is Grade 1* listed which is the most precious listing; this is due to the fact that the church was consecrated in 1197 and the medieval tower (built 1375) still survives today.  The body of the church was rebuilt in flint and stone and has been continually rebuilt with the latest rebuilt in 1851.

The church was threatened with closure and demolition to become a car park in the 1970’s when the building was saved due to the discovered of the 17^th century plant hunters, the John Tradescants. The building then became a museum and a church and the clash of building programme resulted in both struggling. The museum was simply boards on wheels, which would be pushed to the side to allow a service to take place.

The museum decided to induce a competition between 6 Architects in 2007 with Dow Jones winning. Wheras the other architects attempted to allow the museum to function alongside the church but restricting the exhibitions to being within mostly pod like structures, which were disjointed with the museum, Dow Jones took a different approach.

Their proposal started from a conceptual basis and revolved around disassociating the church from its original use. This would allow the building to be celebrated as a museum as opposed to struggling alongside the church. The practice approached the museum as a ‘hollistic intertion’ from a conceptual basis.

The concept was formed from the new imposed narrative, which would be used to rewrite the building function using the intervention. The concept was to form a Belvedere within the church. A Belvedere is described by (Roth, 1993) as an architectural structure, which is cited to take advantage of a fine view.  Shown in the image below is the concept image Alun Jones used in a lecture on 11^th Nov 2010 to describe his concept.

The idea was to create a landscape within the church which had a modern feel to it, but which also created a platform from which a commanding view could be given. This idea is analogous to the imposed function of the museum upon the church and represents the morphosis from church to dedicated museum. This idea of creating a Belvedere within the church allows visitors to appreciate the building in a way which was not previously possible, thus evoking a new emotive space from the old.

The intervention itself had certain parameters, as the building is Grade 1* listed it could not touch the columns so would have to be self supporting. The intervention material chosen was Eurban cross laminated timber panels which was partially a result of the need to erect cheaply and quickly, but it was also a response to the existing timber floor which was installed 10 years previously.

The timber insertion gains its form from an interaction with the Victorian columns in the nave, the panels are used to wrap and intertwine within the building. The distorted shape of the intervention is a reflection on the strange geometry contained within the church as the columns in the nave are slightly offset. The insertion creates dialogue with the columns by wrapping, opening up and repelling against the columns.

This insertion is exemplar of the idea of placing a holistic insertion within a building, then responding to the building to further the dialogue of the insertion.

The tectonics of the insertion are paramount to creating a poetic space, on the opening night Alun Jones (2010) commented that people who had been using the building for 20-30 years suddenly noticed the texture and the colour of the limestone columns when the cross lam panels were placed behind.

With the timber insertion came another intervention using artificial light. Lighting is used to celebrate the timber structure but the lights are placed on the panels to also celebrate the columns.

The insertion is highly successful and is being used as an exemplar way of interacting with an existing building by English Heritage. The space created is that of a poetic disassociated space.

Manifesting Disassociation

For a tutorial last week I prepared these sheets, they aim to show how my thesis question is developing in accordance with the Bursledon Brickworks design. The first sheet starts by defining the notion of Disassociation and how it has been applied to the Brickworks as a first response to the site.

The second sheet is a summary of Sverre Fehn's approach to Intervention and how this may be applied to the works.

The last sheet is a summary of Carlo Scarpa's methods of Intervention and how the tectonic qualities of the kilns at the Brickworks would be suitable for an intervention of this type.

Site selection : Bursledon Brickworks

Niall and I have decided to work on the same site this year as we share similar interested of intervening with existing buildings. The following is an excerpt from our group booklet:

We have decided on a site which is a 2* listed Brickworks in Bursledon. The works presents an interesting and multi-layered existing condition that should provide a suitable vehicle to articulate theories of intervention and layering into an existing historic fabric.

The site contains many layers of historical interventions that date back to the late C19th. Although at first this seems like a relatively short period the speed of change as rapid, with additions made and retracted on a regular programmed of expansion and contraction that took place for over approximately 100 years, this included a prolonged period of decay between 1974 and 1981.

The site includes a live client who will be helping us develop our brief. The site is run and funded by volunteers who have aspirations for small restorative interventions so Niall and myself have developed our own strategic brief.

Sketches by NB

Norway and Germany Field Trip

Excerpt from Group Booklet:

 As part of our initial studies, we (David Holden & Niall Bird) elected to undertake a field trip to see several specific buildings which would inform our thesis studies. We are both of the opinion that to fully understand a building it must be experienced, particularly as we are both primarily concerned with the notion of physical addition through tectonics and materiality. 

OSLO

We left for Oslo from London Gatwick, passing over the 

Norwegian fjords. Autumn arrives earlier in Norway than the United Kingdom so upon arrival the leaves are yellow and the fjords are calm sitting beneath a crisp autumn chill. 

 The first building we visited was Hamar Museum. Designed by Sverre Fehn  between 1967 - 1979 it is located on a peninsula adjacent to the ruined Norman Hamar cathedral. Prior to being a museum the building was a barn which itself was built on top of a ruined Bishops Palace. 

The building experience was incredibly powerful and because we were alone it was possible to fully appreciate the spaces which enhanced our perception. The building itself incorporate imposed contemporary additions that sit onto  its historic building fabric, whilst other remains were protected below as artefacts. The other exhibitions were set into bespoke iron brackets along the concrete ramp that defined the route.

Heading south back to Oslo we visited the Oslo Opera Theatre designed by Snohetta Architecture. We paid 100 NOK to be seated to watch a modern ballet with four bizarre acts. Whilst the performance was decidedly alternative the opera house interior itself is a highly impressive structure.

COLOGNE

The following day we took a flight to Cologne via Berlin, approaching Cologne by train the Gothic cathedral is highly prominent amongst the low-rise surroundings. The cities build up is an eclectic mix of new and newer, having suffered heavily during WWII.

The Kolumba Museum was our focus building. Following the bombing raids in 1945 the Gothic church which had existed on the site lay in ruins and all that remained in situ was a statue of the Madonna. This was subsequently enclosed in a modernist octagonal chapel by Gottfried Böhm. 

Peter Zumthor’s interventions use a holistic approach which involves exposing and integrating the previous layers of history beneath the Gothic church as artefacts and inserting new contemporary additions over the remaining exterior walls of the Gothic church. These additions work with the existing Gothic church walls to enclose the earlier excavated ruins below. These are then viewed from a detached, polished timber walkway.  

This walkway is deliberately removed from its historical surroundings so to present a contrast so they cam be appreciated as layers of past history. This is in contrast to the remaining walls, which instead form an integral part of the new protective structure.