EXP 3 - BRAINSTORM

RESEARCH AND IDEA EXPLORATION

SOURCES OF INSPIRATION

http://www.designboom.com/architecture/steven-holl-speaks-about-the-completed-porosity-block-chengdu/

http://www.archdaily.com/787229/woha-unveils-fragments-of-an-urban-future-for-the-2016-venice-biennale

http://www.archdaily.com/785820/how-to-improve-architectural-education-learning-and-unlearning-from-the-beaux-arts-method

http://www.harvarddesignmagazine.org/issues/18/five-reasons-to-adopt-environmental-design

http://www.archdaily.com/tag/unified-architectural-theory/

http://www.archdaily.com/tag/radical-pedagogies

INITIAL BRAINSTORM


POLYMER

ˈpɒlɪmə/

noun

a substance which has a molecular structure built up chiefly or completely from a large number of similar units bonded together

Delineation and deconstruction of spatial boundaries between public and private areas.

A greater porosity in the arrangement of buildings - concerning their connection to other structures, the surrounding environment and the internal spatial order - creates an ease of accessibility that promotes more fluidity between spaces. This encourages an increased level of activity in users that boosts a sense of community by directing circulation through spaces that give a sense of openness and unity.

In the focus on increasing the ratio of public to private, the individual's response to less personal space can be discomforting. In order to counteract this change, users stress can be reduced by making internal spatial volumes enlarged and adding aesthetic value in two primary additions. Firstly, giving formal qualities that mimic natural geometries to produce a kind of bio-architecture. Secondly, to complement the first quality, facilitating open-air spaces and integrating green structures, which add significant psychological benefits and increases productivity. It also helps to integrate any vertical structures with the horizontal ground plane and surrounding structures via textural and chromatic continuity across the suburban fabric.

Park Royal, Singapore (WOHA Architects)

The built result of combining the strategies for making this inflection on architecturally porous structures is an organic, flowing form whose internal volumes blur spatial divisions. To encompass the amalgamation of functional requirements, the overarching principle demands a polymerization of architectural elements in order to create a singular urban fabric. The theory behind this requires repeating elements along the frame of a structure to meld it with the surrounding material. 

A blurring of spatial divisions, internally and externally.

Existing examples of this idea occur in nature in coral reefs, bee hives and lung tissue. A circulation diagram would read as arterial, weaving between the 'organs' of the building that are the core, connecting spaces both in plan and section.

To apply this theory to a school of architecture requires an acknowledgement that the space designated per member of the school would be split into communal area and individual, private area. Inspiration for the breakdown of curricula and spatial requirements to meet the learning, teaching and social needs of those involved was drawn from the 'Beaux Arts' method. This method was implemented in the successful Parisian schools of architecture.

"The Beaux Arts period in Paris had four primary elements: the Ecole, private ateliers, the Salon, and café life. The Ecole was the stiff, traditional study of classical painting and architecture ... In the small independent ateliers students learned directly under a “master” with all the success of the students reflected directly back on the master; success breeding success, creating a strict hierarchy. The annual Paris Salon was the show in which the best works as chosen by a jury were displayed to the public. Lastly, the Parisian life of cafes was the informal extension of the ateliers and the Ecole, in which people came together to discuss design."

Many contemporary design schools base their education strategies upon the Beaux Arts method but seem to neglect the latter aspect - the 'cafe' aspect. I think that here at UNSW, there is a huge potential to further develop this kind of culture within the architecture program. It would provide a platform for clarification, consolidation and exploration within architectural ideas and design that would serve an extraordinary purpose in nurturing each member's own creativity and originality. Students gain the opportunity to truly experiment with new concepts within a collective sphere of peer-driven critique.

Now, whilst there cannot be a direct translation of café life into the Kensington campus, the design can facilitate an 'appropriation' of the concept. In practical terms, this would result in the deconstruction of a spatial hierarchy to provide more area to forum space. Formally, structural elements would be limited to give an overall sense of openness. 

Therefore, through increased emphasis on this 'new' school, UNSW will be breeding a culture that aims to evolve into the future directions of architectural practice. It will do so by raising a unique breed of confident, forward thinking architects as well as pioneering and exhibiting construction methods (specifically utilising green architectural systems and design for porosity). Sustainability will inevitably be a major element of the building's planning. 

“You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.” - R. Buckminster Fuller