Post on 24-Apr-2018
Case Study: Form Analysis
October 5
2010Art Performing Center. Zaha Hadid. Abu Dhabi. 2007
The design concept for Performing Art Center in Abu Dhabi mostly
engaged with the topic of natural form. The first implication comes
to mind about natural form is being inspired by a form, structure or
element in nature! Performing Art Center has an organic form, "a
sculptural form that emerges from a linear intersection of pedestrian
paths within the cultural district, gradually developing into a
growing organism that sprouts a network of successive branches.
As it winds through the site, the architecture increases in
complexity, building up height and depth and achieving multiple
summits in the bodies housing the performance spaces, which spring
from the structure like fruits on a vine and face westward, toward
the water."(Zaha Hadid)
Hadid is inspired by structures and forms arise from natural world.
Her design emerges from abstracts diagrams, primary components
of biological analogies (branches, stems, fruits and leaves) and
analytical studies of organizational systems and growth in the
natural world which gradually transform into architectonic design
The above diagrams show formal development of the building and the network of successive branches. Natural forms were used as first idea. The structure with branches and leaf-like components, smooth and simple organic arm, growing and reaching out into the Gulf, almost swimming or gliding, as though ready to slide right off the islands' edge and the structure like fruits on a vine that are transformed from these abstract diagrams into architectonic design.
and lead to the set of topologies
that are the framework of the
Performing Art Centre’s distinct
formal language which guide the
architect to follow in the process
of conceiving the building.i
This approach of becoming more engaged with the natural world in
contemporary architecture, confirms both Michael Weinstock
discussion on how today the sensitivity to the life of buildings
increasesii and Elizabeth Grosz debate on power and futurity.iii Zaha
Hadid method in creating natural form in her design and natural
scenarios that are formed by energy being supplied to enclosed
systems, and the subsequent decrease in energy caused by
development of organized structures, show her tendency to preserve
nature and how architects try to return the position of power to
nature in the future.
The way she creates the structure begins with the development of
systems that are conceptually and mathematically related to the
metabolic morphologies of plants.iv This system, known as
Branching Networks, acts as a base for the structure of the building.
Branching algorithms and growth-simulation processes have been
Branching network indicate the maximum surface area for light similar to plants.
The sculptural form emerges from a linear intersection of pedestrian paths, gradually developing into a growing organism that sprouts a network of successive branches. As it grows through the site, the architecture increases in complexity. This shows “a growing interest in the dynamics of fluidity, in networks and in the new topologies of surfaces and soft boundaries” arrives from the natural metabolism." (Michael Weinstock, “Metabolism and Morphology” in M.Hensel and A.Menges, ed.Versatility and Vicissitude, 2008, 26)
used to develop spatial
representations into a set of basic
geometries.
Considering that the concept for
the building came from
examining basic geometries of
plant biology, the progression,
complexity and growth seen in the form, can be explained by
Cartesian Transformation too. In this respect, the correlation in
regard to form
which had seen too complex for analysis or comprehension will be
capable of very simple graphic expression.v In this regard, the
growing structure of the building includes a “node” or “point” where
growth is at a minimum and then about which node the rate of
growth may be assumed to increase.vi
Although the idea behind the form is simple, complexity and
contradictory are exploited in her design. Hadid considered different
criteria from pedestrian paths to biological analogies and also the
context of cultural district in her design. Therefore, her style is
probably perceived as following the Mies van der Rohe calls “less is
more”.vii
These diagrams indicate how the form of the building arises from its context as well as still is engaged with its environment and landscape and how a simple idea leads to ambiguity and tension. A form with fluid lines that transcend, meander and grow through the ground to actually construct a Performing Arts Center!
The building is so integral with
the landscape, and yet somehow,
stands alone as a great
architectural statement. In this
case, the predominant
movements in the urban fabric
along the pedestrian corridor and
the Cultural Centre’s seafront promenade - the site’s two
intersecting primary elements- are the important factors of engaging
the form with its context. In this sense, nature does not provide
either a ground or a limit to human and architecture, but inhabits the
architecture and the context of the building to make it more
dynamic, to make it grow and be capable of orienting itself.viii
To conclude, nature, context and environment as well as functional
aspects, the spirit of time and even psychological demands of space
are considered in Hadid’s design as fundamental issues.ix
Notes
i Giulio Carlo Argan, “On the Typology of Archtiecture”, in Kate Nesbitt, ed. Theorizing a New Agenda for Architecture, 1996, 244ii Michael Weinstock, “Metabolism and Morphology” in M.Hensel and A.Menges, ed.Versatility and Vicissitude, 2008, 27iii Elizabeth Grosz, “In-Between: The Natural in Architecture and Culture,” in Architecture from the Outside: Essays on Virtual and Real Space, 2001, 103iv Michael Weinstock, “Metabolism and Morphology” in M.Hensel and A.Menges, ed.Versatility and Vicissitude, 2008, 30v D’Arcy Thompson, “On the Theory of Transformations, or the Comparison of Related Forms,” in On Growth and Form, 1961, 276vi Michael Weinstock, “Metabolism and Morphology” in M.Hensel and A.Menges, ed.Versatility and Vicissitude, 2008, 30 D’Arcy Thompson, “On the Theory of Transformations, or the Comparison of Related Forms,” in On Growth and Form, 1961, 278vii Robert Venturi, Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture, The Museum of Modern Art, 1966, 17viii Elizabeth Grosz, “In-Between: The Natural in Architecture and Culture,” in Architecture from the Outside: Essays on Virtual and Real Space, 2001, 105ix Paul Rudolph, “The Six Determinants of Architectural Form,” in C. Jencks and K. Kropf, eds., Theories and Manifestoes of Contemporary Architecture, Wiley-Academy, 2006, ISBN 13 978-0-470-01469-1 (378 pages), 213-215.