Living Machine - Thesis Report_02

Copyright Demis Roussos Bhargava 2009

BIOTECHNOLOGY CENTER AT SOUTH CAMPUS,

DELHI UNIVERSITY

THESIS REPORT

DEMIS ROUSSOS BHARGAVA [9604]

GUIDE: MR. A.B. LALL


TOWARDS THE LIVING MACHINE


Theoretical background

Architecture is space. The ways in which we define space and its surfaces

determines the relationship between the architectural object and its users. If

the surface of space is too chaotic, the experience of that space is detracted

from. On the other hand, with monotonous surface expression, there is no

experience worth the speaking of anyway. The task therefore is one of

balancing order and chaos in design – the result must be one of ordered

complexity.

Ordered complexity is a state of existence found at all levels of life – from

planetary weather patterns to the rhythms of the human heartbeat. The 20th

century has witnessed sweeping changes in the way in which we look at

nature that recognize this characteristic. Current theories displace the role of

man as a dispassionate observer of nature with science as his instrument, in

favor of the view that man is embedded within nature. Objectivity is dead:

every action man makes changes the world he lives in, and vice versa. As a

tangible product of man’s thoughts, architecture reflects these thoughts and

represents them in abstract and literal ways.

This study is a step forward in an exploration undertaken to develop a

personal architectural vocabulary based on these shifting worldviews. The

exploration is structured on a few basic tenets:

§ An analogical relationship between the architectural object and the

living organism

§ Parallels between the design process and natural processes

§ In abstract terms, the design revolves around the idea that the

macroverse – the larger universe outside of us – and the microverse –

the smaller universe within us – reside within each other. This

philosophy draws on Western science and Eastern religion expressed in

literal terms as the Dark Tower, a metaphor from literature that is a

physical axis that serves as the linchpin for all worlds.

§ In physical terms, the exploration is one of translating these abstract

ideas into pure architecture, through an understanding of architectural

elements and devices used throughout history.


Evolution of the design method

These tenets have been arrived at and evolved through various exercises

carried out over the past two years:

Fourth Year Design Unit: Archaeological Museum at the Delhi Red Fort

Fifth Year Design Unit: Urban Redevelopment at Kashmere Gate

Fourth Year Structures: Film on Nature and Structure

Dissertation on the Information Field of Architectural Composition

Each of these exercises has contributed towards developing the design

method used and further refined in the course of the Thesis Project. These

projects will therefore be discussed briefly as a prelude to the thesis

exploration.


FOURTH YEAR

Design Project: Museum at the Delhi Red Fort

Design Program

Museum showcasing Mughal artifacts with a

gathering place, cafeteria and sound room

Niche: The Existing System

The design is based on the following features –

Existing pattern of pavilions along the fort wall

The fort wall as a linear edge between the

internal and external landscapes

Strong axial linkages through the fort linking

pavilions with the horizon

Formal Mughal Gardens of Paradise and the

revival of the Nehar-i-Behisht

The Dark Tower

Pavilions along the fort wall were metaphorically

linked with an axis of ‘all possible worlds’ on the

horizon. Linking the new museum in a similar

fashion with the horizon / Yamuna river makes

it part of the existing system

Abstraction

Connection between the small universe of the

Fort with the larger universe: internal ordered

landscape of the Mughal Garden with the

chaotic landscape of the Outside

Architectural Expression

Axial linkages with the horizon defined by

patterns of light and shade produced by

freestanding planes

Evolution of the Design Method: Preceding Works


Interior Landscapes

Patterns of light and shade define the interior landscape through freestanding planes

The Fort Wall

‘Pavilions’ designed along the fort wall relate in different ways to it, without

disturbing its spatial integrity. The wall as an edge between the inside of the fort and

the maidan below is ‘broken’ through various techniques…

The Cafeteria

… cutting into the soil at the interface

Open Air Gathering Space

… discharging the Nehar-I-Behisht over the wall

The Sound Room

… projecting the slab edge over the wall



FIFTH YEAR

Design Project: Urban Redevelopment at Kashmere Gate, Delhi

The project dealt with redensification and allocation of new functions in light of the

increased volume of traffic anticipated as a result of the construction of the MRTS

Station near the ISBT. Using the old DCE Campus, the proposal involved using

existing buildings and landmarks such as the Dara Shikoh Museum as fixes for the

conception of the design. Two parallel paths of differing characters move pedestrians

towards the gravitational center of the composition, where city level functions such

as exhibition halls, a restaurant complex and office blocks are integrated with the

existing museum. The natural slope of the site is used to create a small lake to store

rainwater, from which the functions radiate outwards.

Two Paths

Equal and opposite forces: The Paths Couple

The two paths exhibit contrasting

characteristics. While one defines a strong axial

link between the Dara Shikoh Museum and the

existing auditorium, the other meanders

through a streetscape originating with the

existing hostels. Both end at the lake, exploding

outwards in a sculpture that defines the Center.



Contrasting the Old and the New The Dara Shikoh Museum sits in a landscape

redefined by the Center, alongside circulation towers that serve as reference points

and sign boards.

Building Expression here is one of stark planes defining edges, structural systems

and circulation elements. Materiality of the skin is explored to a greater extent.

Landscape is defined through the freestanding fins that scythe through it



Computer Generated Study of Structural Systems and Nature

Title: The Nature of Structure Nature has long served as an exemplar for structural

innovations that have enriched architecture, and

enabled us to push building systems to new limits.

This 17-minute film, prepared for the Fourth Year

Structures Unit, looks at structural systems

throughout history that either have parallels in

nature, or are derived from natural systems.

Tensile

Bat’s wing

Experimental aircraft

Bernoulli’s Principle

Birds

Jet Engine Aircraft



Compressive

Eroded Rock Arch

Bridge

Tensile Wires

Spider’s Web

Suspension Bridge

Cantilevers

Skeletal System

Suspension Bridge



Buttressing

Termite Hill

Gothic Cathedral

Forces

Muscles and ligaments

in alternating tension

and compression

Pneumatic

Portuguese Man of War

Hot Air Balloon

Information on physical structure, and knowledge of life processes, can be adapted to

architecture through a design method that fragments the distinction between

‘observed’ nature and ‘observing’ science. The skin of architectural composition

finally reflects these processes. The information presented by this skin to observers

determines whether they are enfolded by the system as users, or remain passive

outsiders. To become part of the system, the users must experience the system

through its beauty. The organization of information presented by the skin is therefore

a crucial facet of the system.



Dissertation on the Information Field of Architectural Composition

Throughout history, space – especially urban space – has interacted with its users

through the information presented by its surface elements. Large quanta of

information are organized and presented in a coherent manner through these

elements. Understanding their functions can enhance the systems being explored by

integrating the analogical framework with pure architecture. The system skin then

uses the fractalizing nature of these elements – where surface geometry increases

surface area available through invisible fractional dimensions – to maximize the

information content of the skin.

Amphitheaters

The ancient Greek theatre is the archetypal

open-air concave structure, where the

curvature gives a very precise acoustic and

visual focus. Medieval plazas use concavity to

great effect.

Colonnades

Regularly spaced columns create a partial

enclosure. A colonnade has many more normal

contact points than a continuous flat wall, and

is thus a more effective boundary for space.

Courtyards

Vernacular domestic architecture employs the

open courtyard as the largest living space. Its

boundaries carefully direct information inwards.

The same pattern applies to Medieval Islamic

Madrasas, Caravansaries and Christian Cloisters

Vertical facets and flutes

To obtain visual and acoustic information

looking horizontally, a surface must reflect in a

variety of horizontal angles. A structure is

subdivided into vertical facets - thin vertical

strips, or flutes - that offer many different

angles of reflection.



Arches

Arches focus surface information. Arcades on

the street level serve the same purpose for an

approaching pedestrian.

Roof edges

With the exception of those in desert climates,

buildings have historically had protruding roof

edges or cornices. Without this edge, the

connection of an observer to the building's

height is lost. Roof edges define the interface

between the building and the sky, and

terminate the scaling hierarchy at the level

desired by the architect.

Roof corners

Overhanging eaves protruding towards the

viewer are visually ambiguous, and possibly

threatening, whereas corners that point up

present surface information from the underside

to an approaching person. This extends the

effective signal to a region outside the building.

Horizontal facets and flutes above eye

level

In order to scatter light and sound downwards

towards an observer, a surface has to reflect in

a narrow range of angles in the vertical plane.

Horizontal strips or flutes should be oriented at

a variety of downward angles. The general

pattern leads to features that present vertical

lines around eye level and horizontal lines

above eye level.



Synopsis

The exercises described can be summarized as:

Development of strategies to organize site level responses

Development of architectural vocabulary that maximizes surface information while

expressing the structure or skeleton behind the skin

Integrating landscape as a part of the process of space creation rather than as an

external add on

Drawing from these projects, the design process as a metaphorical adaptation of

natural processes is as follows:

§ Conception of the built organism is determined initially by the dictates of the

environment for which it is being designed, namely site conditions such as

topography, neighboring buildings at a local level, and its city level location

and significance.

This stage involves accumulation and initial translation of information that will

code the built form.

§ Compositional mutation of the body initially arrived at driven by functional

and spatial requirements

§ Generation of the building skin as an expression of its skeleton and life

systems

§ Defining the buildings relationship with its ecological niche and fellow

occupants

§ Maximizing the information presented to observers through the use of pure

architectural elements used throughout history to create meaningful urban

space

Abstract notions of philosophy and analogy thus get translated into pure architectural

form.


The Thesis

The project undertaken is a Biotechnology Center for the Delhi University South

Campus. Located on the Delhi Ridge, the resultant design responds to topographical

features such as rock formations and quarries by integrating them with appropriate

functions. The existing campus buildings also play their part in defining the complex.

The Biotechnology Center as a unique object in space then derives its identity from

the need to establish a particular identity for itself. Defining a place for an institution

situated within the quiet environs of the Delhi Ridge involves acknowledging the

requirements for an introverted atmosphere conducive to research, and successfully

balancing these needs by the need to attract visitors from outside the hallow

precincts of academia. The opposing characteristics beg the formation of a dynamic

couple: distillations of the forces of physics in a biological institute the built form. As

a result, the initial requirements for research laboratories have been supplemented

by activities that address a wider audience, such as a Visitors’ Center that functions

as an interactive museum, and a campus level cafeteria.

Analogies drawn between architecture and natural organisms are tempered by the

fact that buildings are spatial while the natural organisms they use as an exemplar

are inherently non spatial. The design requirements of a biotechnological institute

encourage the exploration of the building as a living machine, selected to actively

relate to its environment in a manner that redefines the subject - object relationship

between the scientist and nature in favor of a more modulated object - object

relationship. This is achieved through a fragmentation of the design process into the

following stages:

Niche: Understanding the site level forces

Creation: Preliminary information coding the aggregated design

Body: Fragmentation of the whole into parts based on required functions and spaces

Skin: Expression of structural and support systems, directed by site level forces

Users: Increasing surface information through architectural elements in the

horizontal and vertical planes


AREA STATEMENT

LABORATORIES [12 NOS.] 576

STORES 156

LECTURE HALL 300

LECTURE HALL LOBBY 070

CANTEEN 150

FREEZERS AND DISTILLATION UNITS 050

LIBRARY 300

ADMINISTRATION 125

VISITORS’ CENTRE 200

GREENHOUSES 400

+ SERVICE AREAS 600

2927

+ CIRCULATION AND WALLS @20% 0585

TOTAL 3512

≅ 3500

FLOOR AREA ALLOWED [0.8 X 8725] 6980

SURPLUS 3480

GROUND COVERAGE

ADMINISTRATION BLOCK 250

LABORATORY BLOCK 300

SERVICE AREA 200

STORAGE 045

CANTEEN 090

LECTURE HALL 300

LIBRARY 175

VISITORS’ CENTRE 250

BIOSPHERE 400

TOTAL 2010

PERMISSIBLE GROUND COVERAGE 2180

SURPLUS 170


Niche


1. Site

2. Life science building

3. Computer science building

4. Director’s office

5. Student’s centre

6. Auditorium

7. Electronic science building

8. Arts faculty

9. Arts faculty

10. Jain Management Centre

11. Financial management centre

12. Benito Juarez Marg

13. Site access road

14. Cul-de-sac

15. Campus parking

16. Campus entrance

CAMPUS MAP


Creation And Body

1. The existing campus buildings serve as reference points for fixing the whole

2. The life science building is used as a template for the new building

3. The building form mutates in response to the axial forces exerted by other

buildings

4. The whole is sequentially fragmented into parts based on functions and

movement

5. Fins radiating out from the court extend into and redefine the existing

landscape

6. Each part within and without the whole establish increased connections with

the niche


Skin

The composition generated serves as a template for further

fragmentation vis-à-vis ordering of the facade. Based on

the life science building opposite the site, the elevation

should be strictly ordered as per:

Horizontal bands articulating shades

Vertical bands articulating structural piers

Raw expression of building materials - exposed concrete

and random rubble

Following from disaggregation of the whole into its parts, this template for the

building expression is sequentially broken down into three systems of elevational

ordering S [1], S [2] and S [3] respectively, one for each face presented to the

person outside the composition. Fragmentation of the whole into the three

elevational ordering systems is based on the following parameters:

Increasing information content through elements in the horizontal and vertical planes

Destabilization of the structural grid as an ordering system of the elevation

Changing material surfaces from a refined state to raw expressionism

Adapting the changing systems within the predefined horizontal and vertical limits

Reinterpretation of rigid vertical and horizontal articulation of the building structure


'Tripartition schema organizes the inside and outside of

an arrangement, the border elements, and the

enclosed elements.' - Paul Allan Johnson

The three elevational systems explore the use of a

disintegrating facade ordering system, based on

changing viewpoints from the campus road.


Users

Entrance to quarry greenhouse Entrance to cafeteria

The linear path between the two areas defines a rigid edge crossed over by the fins

that span the quarry.

Elements used / reinterpreted: Roof edges Roof corners Arches

Visitors’ Center and Greenhouse inside the quarry

Use of site topography

Elements used / reinterpreted: Arches Roof edges Courtyards


Central courtyard

Unification of different skin ordering systems

Elements used / reinterpreted: Colonnades Horizontal facets Vertical flutes

Courtyards Roof edges

View towards greenhouse

Designed and ‘natural’ landscapes

Elements used / reinterpreted: Colonnades Arches Vertical flutes



Laboratory Skin

Fragmented expression of materials within a rigid framework

Elements used / reinterpreted: Colonnades Vertical flutes Courtyards

Roof edges

View from Lecture Hall ramp

The Materiality of Space

Elements used / reinterpreted: Colonnades Arches Vertical flutes



The Roof Garden

Efficient usage of resources and space

Elements used / reinterpreted: Colonnades Roof corners Vertical flutes


A Fragmented Conclusion

As a living machine, the architectural object must possess systemic, technical and

aesthetic excellence.

‘All that you fashion, all that you make,

All that you build, all that you break,

All that you measure, all that you feel,

All this you can leave behind...’

Living Machine - Thesis Report_02

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