Philippe Rahm. The Meteorological Architecture
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CYBEREmpathy ISSUE 5/2013. Architecture for Human, Humanism for Architecture
Barbara Stec, Phillipe Rahm. The Meteorological Architecture
www.CyberEmpathy.com
Abstract:
Philippe Rahm was in Cracow in June 2003 with a lecture “Decosterd /
Rahm: electro-architecture, the matter of void" in the course "What is the
architecture?”. He seemed to be a man all the time continuing his
experiment. Particularly he valued his stay in a salt mine in Wieliczka,
where the exceptional climatic environment has made the clear, specific
reactions of the human body (confirmed by the medicinal properties of the
mine microclimate applications used in a sanatorium for people with
allergies).
Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.
BARBARA STEC
BARBARA STEC
Philippe Rahm. The Meteorological Architecture Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.
CYBEREmpathy ISSUE 5/2013. Architecture for Human, Humanism for Architecture
Barbara Stec, Phillipe Rahm. The Meteorological Architecture
www.CyberEmpathy.com
The architectural space
The space of architecture is often identified with the soul, a
volatile substance of air, in which the user’s life goes on. Among
the many components of architecture the space is the most
mysterious part of its essence, of the core itself. At the same time
it slips out of the mathematical, experimentally verified design
methods the most. One gets the impression that such an
important part is not designed by the architect to a greater
extent, than that of the design of the shape and nature of its
boundaries, or the walls. The architecture is seen as a vessel
filled with air, and the architect focuses his efforts on the
materials, technology and design of the vessel. The building logic is
subordinated in the vast majority to the logic of the weight and mass of
matter, the border point of this weight and mass is visibility of the matter.
The architect usually is aware that throughout the toil of building there is
all about the inner emptiness, which is usually not seen with the naked eye,
and where the life goes on, but in the design process it is resulted in the
matter of the architectural vessel.
During the discussion on the contemporary architecture the
primary role of the atmosphere of the architectural space is
increasingly emphasized, including its analysis and the
conscious design in the process of the architectural work.
The nature of the interior space is defined from the different points of view,
usually as a reservoir of many rich experiences of a man immersed in it. It is
a common experience that the life goes on in that inner "emptiness" of the
architecture, it absorbs the breath of the people; the words, the voices and
odors resound and get absorbed by it, it envelops us and even more than
just envelops, it penetrates us. Especially the breath reminds a human
about the constant air exchange inside the living body and in the
surrounding space. This exchange is at the source of the feeling of the so
much intimate and multi-level contact with the space. The experience of the
intimate relations of the human and every living organism with the space is
confirmed by the poetic intuitions and physical studies at the microscopic
scale. The expression of this experience is, for example, the feeling that the
space has a memory that captures and retains the past effects of life, and
even the unspoken thoughts. The space, therefore, seems not only full of the
particles of oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen and other elements, but firstly the
all energy, related to the work of brain and the whole body of the
organisms, immersed in it, according to the law of the conservation of
CYBEREmpathy ISSUE 5/2013. Architecture for Human, Humanism for Architecture
Barbara Stec, Phillipe Rahm. The Meteorological Architecture
www.CyberEmpathy.com
energy. We suspect that once arisen energy wave of thoughts cannot
disappear, but remains somewhere and keeps circling. This enigmatic
"somewhere" is a space related to a specific place.
The nature of the space used to be searched for with the closed eyes to give
it for testing the sense of hearing, touch and smell. The light, above all, and
sometimes the colors of the gas, which is a component of air, can be seen in
the space. One can also see the motion of the space, its current, which
entrains the particles of the visible matter, but in this case the sense of
touch appears to be more sensitive and reliable. In the Wim Wenders film If
Buildings Could Talk the heroes walk at the Rolex Learning Center in
Lausanne, stop and close their eyes. You may guess that they come in the
intimate contact with the space of the building beyond the sense of sight.
The properties of the space such as the heat of light, the vastness of space
and the time are better to be experienced by immersing the body in it,
listening to it and moving in it.
Gilles Deleuze in his classic book1 from the late 20th century develops the
baroque theory of Leibniz and draws the attention to the continuity of
matter and spirit in an uninterrupted continuation of the movements in the
visible and invisible world. The illustration of the continuity is current for
Deleuze the Leibniz model of the house, where the ground floor (the human
body) lets the outside world through the windows (the senses) inside, and
the floor (the human soul) is a closed box, connected to the ground floor
with the stimuli-responsive membrane. In a dark office space the matter
stimuli generate the world of consciousness. This model resembles a
musical instrument, in which the apparent motion of matter is the source of
the invisible sound. The Leibniz fold, set in the context of the modern
science, also shows the relationship between the senses of the mind
together belonging to the body, and reveals the limits conventionality of the
scientific fields that bypass the smooth transition from one state to another.
The importance of the invisible space in the architecture was strongly
emphasized during the 12th Biennale of Architecture in Venice in 2010,
which was curated by Kazuyo Sejima. The Yunyi Ishigami 2project,
presented in Arsenal, exhibited literally "the air architecture", suggesting
the participant of the exhibition to tune his perception to cross the border
of the visible mass density and, thanks to the work of the mind, to feel, in
some sense to "see", the invisible air mass
1 Gilles Deleuze, Le Pli. Leibniz et le baroque, Les Éditions de Minuit, 1988 Paris 2 Junya Ishigami, Architecture as air: study for château la coste, Arsenal, 12 Biennale of Architecture in Venice, 2010
CYBEREmpathy ISSUE 5/2013. Architecture for Human, Humanism for Architecture
Barbara Stec, Phillipe Rahm. The Meteorological Architecture
www.CyberEmpathy.com
The meteorological architecture
Crossing the borders of visible in the design of the architecture
can be taken as a scientific penetration of the physical and
chemical components of the architectural space and the human
body, immersed in it. The studies of the space are focused
directly on the internal air environment of the building, not on
the walls and the architectural matter vessels. They take for
workshop the architectural atmosphere itself, which can be
understood literally as the design of its air conditions.
This method tries to break away from the treatment of the atmosphere of
the architecture as simply resulting in the shape and type of the matter of
the architectural walls. However, it includes to the scope of the study of the
architectural atmosphere the environment of the human body, immersed in
the atmosphere. Thanks to the modern science and technology it is possible
here to obtain very precise levels of distinctions, flows, responses and
predictions. At the same time, such researches are increasingly available.
The interpretation of the architectural atmosphere features on a similar
principle as explanations of the climate and weather causes a common
understanding and rationalization of the methods that are objective,
subordinated to the laws of physics and chemistry, and thus freed from the
aesthetic and representative workloads.
The father of the meteorological architecture, the author of its
manifesto, theories, experimental experiences, architectural
designs and implementations was a Swiss architect Philippe
Rahm, who together with Jean-Gilles Décosterd founded a
design office in Lausanne in 1995. In the manifesto "The
Meteorological architecture" Rahm wrote:
"The tools of the architecture must become invisible and light,
creating this was places like free, open landscapes, new
geography, different types of meteorology renewing the idea of
form and use between sensation and phenomenon, between the
neurological and the meteorological, between the physiological
and the atmospheric. They become spaces without meaning,
without narration: letting to be interpreted spaces, in which the
margins disappear, the structures dissolve and the boundaries
disappear. The problem is no longer to build the images and
features, but to open the climates and interpretations; the work
CYBEREmpathy ISSUE 5/2013. Architecture for Human, Humanism for Architecture
Barbara Stec, Phillipe Rahm. The Meteorological Architecture
www.CyberEmpathy.com
on the space, the air and its movements, on the phenomena of
conduction, convection, perspiration as a transitive and variable
meteorological conditions, which become the new standards for
the contemporary architecture”.3
The novelty is not in the design of a specific atmosphere in the building, but
in an attempt to create such an atmosphere with a minimum participation
of the visible architecture. In this case it is dealt with maximization of the
process of building the specific climatic conditions that determine the
nature and limits of the architectural space. The novelty here is a
method of the design of the architecture as the environmental
with certain meteorological parameters. It is extremely the non-
aesthetic trend of the architecture, which can be seen as a sign of the
decadence of the late 20th century with the mannered implementation of
the idea to cross borders, the pursuit of lightness, speed, transparency,
accuracy4; aiming to free architecture of the weight and mass of the density
condensing the image. On the other hand, the meteorological architecture
uses the obvious, undeniable phenomena of the atmosphere and aspires to
the trend of environmental, economic and practical architecture, rationally
managing the laws of the nature. The idea of the Rahms works is the design
and building the space as given, expected climatic environment of the
precisely generated parameters that determine the "weather". It can be seen
that for Rahm the area of experimentation and radical solutions are the
systems where he tries his ideas and verifies their operation by the public.
In the design of housing and public space Rahm is more pragmatic and
limited by the reality of the optimal conditions of the human life. In any
case, the architectural spaces and the person staying in them form the only
physiological and energy system, in which the flows and changes occur.
The knowledge of the principles that control the environmental
climate on the precision levels and ability to manage them are
the basis of logic and economics of the Rahm climate projects.
Consequently, there is formed the architectural proposal with
the intelligent and subtle or even weak affiliations, subordinated
to the natural laws physical laws of the environment of the
architecture and the human body.
In the native language of Rahm one word defines "weather" and "time."
French le temps, or Italian il tempo denoting both time and weather shows
3 P. Rahm "The Meteorological architecture", the manuscript of Ákos Moravánszky "In addition to signs, the atmosphere in the Swiss architecture," in Self-Portrait 3 [35], 2011, p.34, ed. MIK 4 Italo Calvino in "The American Lectures", written in 1985, mentions the lightness, speed, accuracy, transparency and diversity as the five characteristics of the contemporary literature at the time, which would like to recommend future (current) millennium. These features can refer more broadly to the field of the architecture; more, than used by Calvino, belong to the tradition of the architectural terminology.
CYBEREmpathy ISSUE 5/2013. Architecture for Human, Humanism for Architecture
Barbara Stec, Phillipe Rahm. The Meteorological Architecture
www.CyberEmpathy.com
a deep connection between these two phenomena, the weather at the same
time can be seen as a category of time. The weather, the derivative of time,
becomes, next to an extent, one of the most important features of the space.
Designing weather in the interior of the room is also designing time, the
characteristics of which produce a predetermined space, model and change
it.
Philippe Rahm Architectural atmospheres
During several years of the architectural practice Rahm explores with the
varied intensity the phenomena, shaping the atmosphere. The substance of
his atmospheric projects are:
- Radiation and electromagnetic spectrum
- Humidity, evaporation
- Air pressure
- conductivity
- convection
- digestion
Radiation and the spectrum of light (the electromagnetic phenomena, the wavelengths of light)
At the beginning of his creative work, in 1998-2005, Rahm was building the
climate of his spaces mainly by the phenomenon of radiation and the
spectrum of light (the electromagnetic spectrum), stimulating the
endocrine system, the state of mind and the body of man.
Hormonorium, the installation, the 8th Biennale of Architecture
in Venice, 2002
At the Architecture Biennale in Venice in 2002, Rahm (together with Jean-
Gilles Décosterd) in the Swiss pavilion showed
the Hormonorium installation, allowing the direct and immediate feeling of
the artificially generated climate. The rapidity of the weather changes was
so high that it required good health of the visitors. In front of the pavilion
the nurses checked the state of the heart and circulatory system of those
CYBEREmpathy ISSUE 5/2013. Architecture for Human, Humanism for Architecture
Barbara Stec, Phillipe Rahm. The Meteorological Architecture
www.CyberEmpathy.com
willing to enter. After crossing the border of the room the eye did not see its
edges, because of a bright, glowing white. The sight recorded the brightness
of the air more than the shape of the interior of the room. Slowly the other
receptors became more important than the sense of sight, particularly those
associated with breathing, sense of balance and orientation.
On the white, rectangular and soft benches one could sit or lie down, relax
and feel a direct connection of the body with the surrounding space. The
climate inside was physically present in every breath that became more and
more conscious and shallow.
Rahm and Décosterd generated in Hormonorium the atmosphere with a
reduced amount of oxygen from 21% to 14.5%, typical for the height of
3000 m above the sea level, or the level of the mountain glaciers. This
climate stimulates the human endocrine system in it, and therefore his state
of mind and behavior.
"Breathing the air with reduced oxygen causes the body state of hypoxia,
revealing firstly the confusion, disorientation, and then also euphoria,
because of the production of endorphins in the brain. After about 12
minutes of staying in the interior it can be measured the naturally elevated
level of erythropoietin (EPO), affecting the work of the circulatory and
respiratory systems. EPO is produced by the kidneys and it is the type of
protein, which is a hormone that stimulates the production of red blood
cells, increasing the supply of oxygen to the muscles. The oxygen reduction
has the effect of doping and it can improve the efficiency of the body up to
10%."5
The source of light locating in the floor simulated the sunlight, reflected off
the white snow and glacier. This effect was achieved by placing under the
floor of the Plexiglas the 528 fluorescent lamps emitting the light of the
spectrum of solar UV-A and UV-B rays with an intensity of between 5,000
to 10,000 lux. The floor source of the lighting directly affected the position
of the eyes, which were instinctively avoiding the contact with glaring
gleam, and the reactions of the eyelids and pupils.
It stimulated the eye retina and led to a reduction in the secretion of
melatonin in the body, which in turn eliminated the feeling of sleepiness
and fatigue and made the body more energized and the mood more stable.
Similarly, due to the presence of UV-A rays, a sense of satisfaction rises in
people. However, UV-B rays affect the synthesis of vitamin D, which is
5 B.Stec "Architecture meteorological Philipe Rahm" in Selfport.3 [35] in 2011, senses / perception, ed. MIK, Cracow, 2011, p.40, 41
CYBEREmpathy ISSUE 5/2013. Architecture for Human, Humanism for Architecture
Barbara Stec, Phillipe Rahm. The Meteorological Architecture
www.CyberEmpathy.com
necessary for the maintenance of good health. The intense light was spread
on the white surfaces of the room uniformly at any point, affecting the
weakening of orientation in space.
Hormonorium constituted a climate that directly affected the physiology of
the body submerged in it regardless of the geography and context. In this
case, the meteorological architecture is de-geographical and de-contextual,
bringing to generate the artificial climate island. In Hormonorium one can
test the Deleuze principle of the continuity of the animate and inanimate
matter. One can see its activities in the continuation of impact of the
environmental substances on the physiology of the living body and the vital
processes of the human. The spatial environment of Hormonorium interior
and the human physiological environment form a system of the connected
vessels.
Despite the immediacy of impact on the human body the system was devoid
of the references of meaning and aesthetic, shaping the perception of the
architecture through the reflection and the intellect apparatus. However, it
effected in the strengthening of the social
welfare. Hormonoriumdemonstrated experimentally the impact of the
atmosphere and environmental climate on the relationships between
people, as it was the public space at the same time. The people stayed there
showed the behavior and the state of mind typical for the hammam and the
temple at the same time. A curiosity of another person while holding the
body by the action of harmony and balance, and a sense of the purification
of body and mind has become typical for that atmosphere.
The atmosphere in homonorium The Impact
The atmosphere was reduced amount The impact of the atmosphere and
of oxygen frim 21% to 14,5%- environmental climate
typical for height of 3000m.
CYBEREmpathy ISSUE 5/2013. Architecture for Human, Humanism for Architecture
Barbara Stec, Phillipe Rahm. The Meteorological Architecture
www.CyberEmpathy.com
The impact on the brain. The influence of external stimulus
A plan of all An interior- field of lamp
The Hormonorium "The Hormonorium creates a synthesis of
The Organic, of mood and space, by
Establishing a continuity between
architectyre and human metabolism,
between space, light and endocrine
and neurological systems.” P. Rahm
Jardin D'Hybert Winterhouse, Vendée, France, 2002
The project of a private house for Fabrice Hubert in Vendee in the southern
France proposes the subordination of the parent body to the functions of
light, heating and ventilation installations, which make the atmosphere
inside the house. Rahm interprets the space of the house as the climate
island with the humidity on the optimal level of 50% and a temperature of
20 degrees by Celsius throughout the year, regardless of the outside
temperature, eg. 5 degrees by Celsius in winter in Vendee. However, Rahm
does not stop the design of the atmosphere of the house on three
CYBEREmpathy ISSUE 5/2013. Architecture for Human, Humanism for Architecture
Barbara Stec, Phillipe Rahm. The Meteorological Architecture
www.CyberEmpathy.com
parameters and three installations, but he goes further in the process of
building of the many complex components of weather typical for the
climate zone, in which the temperature, humidity and brightness have been
identified, namely the tropical zone. The basis of generating such the
complicated atmosphere is the ground of a certain temperature, chemical
and biological composition, in which naturally the certain exotic plants
grow, in turn stimulating the appearance of the specific mineral substances
and microorganisms in the air. The light installation here is to simulate the
sunlight, typical of subtropical with its intensity and duration. In this way
Rahm has achieved in the project the architectural atmosphere of the house
close to the weather, typical for a completely different geographical location
and climatic zone.
The temperature diagram
An Interior plan The Section of the Winter house
The Winter house, view all The heating system
CYBEREmpathy ISSUE 5/2013. Architecture for Human, Humanism for Architecture
Barbara Stec, Phillipe Rahm. The Meteorological Architecture
www.CyberEmpathy.com
The heating system An exotic plants
Ghost Flat, Center of the Contemporary Art Kitakyushu, Japan,
2004
The Ghost Flat installation represents the living interior subordinated to
the climate and electromagnetic phenomena to the extent where they by
definition do not have the specific physical dimensions. This uncertainty is
obtained by shifting the viewer's perception from the typical size of
recorded vision and metrically measurable to the new dimensions,
simulated by light. Thus the obtained ambiguity, continuity and
interchangeability of the space synchronize the presence of spatial sizes in
an apartment beyond the metrically measurable sizes. The apartment
program, including a bedroom, living room and bathroom occupies the
same space by the weight and inches, but it changes its size in the spaces of
light, in the fractions of the electromagnetic spectrum. The bedroom
appears in the electromagnetic fraction in size between 400 and 500
nanometers, the living-room - between the wavelengths from 600 to 800
nanometers, the bathroom in the electromagnetic spectrum between 350
and 400 nanometers, which is in the ultraviolet.
CYBEREmpathy ISSUE 5/2013. Architecture for Human, Humanism for Architecture
Barbara Stec, Phillipe Rahm. The Meteorological Architecture
www.CyberEmpathy.com
The electromagnetic spectrum
The living room The bathroom The bedroom
The second Summer Temporal distortion Eybesfeld’s Island,
Austria, 2005
This project concerns the place of the creation of a climate of the nonstop
summer, lasting beyond the astronomy, climate and natural environment of
this Austrian corner. This is (according to Rahm) the design of time more
than the design of the space. The project assumes the creation of the
climate island in the area of 200 square meters. The warm ground is the
generator of the artificial summer here, it is held at 8-12 degrees by Celsius
throughout the year. This heat has to provide the ground with its interior
with the help of the ground-water pump fitted with a geothermal poll,
recessed in the ground at the level of 160 meters. This poll is connected to a
water circuit, recessed at 25 centimeters below the surface. Thanks to the
poll the water is 35 degrees by Celsius and warms the earth to the needed
temperature. "In the winter, a strange plant population will grow there (...),
stray in this incredible summer." 6– Rahm writes. The project of the island
6 Philippe Rahm "The Direct Architecture" in: What is the architecture? Edited by Adam Budak, vol.2, Manggha 2003, p 547.
CYBEREmpathy ISSUE 5/2013. Architecture for Human, Humanism for Architecture
Barbara Stec, Phillipe Rahm. The Meteorological Architecture
www.CyberEmpathy.com
of the nonstop summer in the Austrian environment assumes also the
creation of light, typical for the summer solstice on June 21, with its
duration and brightness. Thus, the day on the island will be throughout the
year equally long and last 15 hours and 53 minutes. The every day morning
will be at 5.03 and the night - at 23.51, even if in the winter outside the
island it will be the long dark night.
A swan- a memory of summer A plan of the island
The memory of summer The light of the summer solstice
The light of the summer solstice
Jour Noir, the installation shown in Gdansk in 2005
Jour Noir project, which is a provocative negative of the phenomenon Nuit
CYBEREmpathy ISSUE 5/2013. Architecture for Human, Humanism for Architecture
Barbara Stec, Phillipe Rahm. The Meteorological Architecture
www.CyberEmpathy.com
Blanche ("the white night" as a sleepless night) proposes the time shifting
in the area of Szopa ans Kamienna streets in Gdansk. Rahm wants to create
night in the middle of the day by his project in a specific location of the city
and to induce the conditions triggering the pedestrians. "It is the perverse
response to the continuous day created by modernity, internet and the
modern globalization" – Rahm says7. The effect can be achieved by placing
six special lamps emitting the cold and invisible electromagnetic radiation,
similar to the one that is sent by the night sky. The nocturnal light lamp has
the black emitter absorbing the light spectrum and the glycol water at a
temperature of about 0 degrees by Celsius. The place for the cooler is
predicted under a nearby bridge. The lamps produce so black and cold light
giving the effect of a mini-night during a bright day. An extension of the
project was to be the installation of city bed, allowing sleeping during the
day on the streets. "At the head of the bed two loudspeakers exude The
Nocturnes for piano by Frederic Chopin, as well as the pieces by other
composers and musicians such as Debussy, Glinka and John Field ..."8 –
Rahm writes.
The thermal phenomenon of balance The day sky / An artificial
electromagnetic radiation.
The night sky The thermal phenomenon of balance
An invisible and cold electromagnetic A Human body, with 37°C, will lose energy
radiation. by infrared radiation in direction of night
cold vault
7 The same, p 549 8 The same, p 551
CYBEREmpathy ISSUE 5/2013. Architecture for Human, Humanism for Architecture
Barbara Stec, Phillipe Rahm. The Meteorological Architecture
www.CyberEmpathy.com
The location The nightlight standard lamps
The Interior Weather installation, the Canadian Centre for the
Architecture in Montreal, the 2006 Biennale of Contemporary
Art Manifesta in Italy, 2008
This installation presented the researches on the possibility of applying the
set of the meteorological parameters in the living interior as the software
architecture elements. The interior is here formulated not as the
homogeneous and functional space, but such the atmosphere that is
constantly changing as the weather of the place. Instead of designing the
structure, materials and colors, the temperature, the relative humidity and
light are designed here. In the space, which seems apparently and "by eye"
homogeneous, there are the climatic zones with the different variations of
light, temperature, humidity, creating the richness of this area and
stimulating the program for its use.
"Interior weather"- first room "Interior weather"- first room
"An abstract reproduction of the earth's
movement around the sun, the room's
light source moves through space,
generating modifications of the other
climatic parameters via the appearance
of micro-lows". P.Rahm
CYBEREmpathy ISSUE 5/2013. Architecture for Human, Humanism for Architecture
Barbara Stec, Phillipe Rahm. The Meteorological Architecture
www.CyberEmpathy.com
The temperature variations The temperature variations
Temperature variations define what Temperature variations define what
degree of clothing is appropriate degree of clothing is appropriate
- naked at 28° C. - outdoor wear at 16° C.
Temperature variations define what "Temperature, light intensity, and
degree of clothing is appropriate – relative humidity are understood as
light clothing at 23° C. the three elements of a specific
equation which translates into an
atmospheric or climatic condition; the
combination and recombination of
these three parameters suggest an
infinite number of possible interior
weather situations". P.Rahm
The Split Time Cafe, Graz, Lebring, Austria, 2007
The installation of The Split Time Cafe on the FOC Eybesfeld is based on
the time-space relativity, in which, thanks to the electromagnetic stimuli, a
person can experience a sense of three different times, the natural one and
the two simulated. The yellow room stimulates the eternal night; the blue
one reduces the production of melatonin and creates the eternal day. In
addition to the yellow and blue rooms there is one, which is colorless,
neutral, letting inside the current climate from outside. The furniture
emphasizes the different times of the day; in the yellow interior it is similar
in character to the bed, the chairs in the blue one – to the night bar chairs.
CYBEREmpathy ISSUE 5/2013. Architecture for Human, Humanism for Architecture
Barbara Stec, Phillipe Rahm. The Meteorological Architecture
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Interior plan The section
A legend with materials Day and night cycle
The Time Split Café Day and night cycle
The night cycle The day cycle
The Humidity
In 2005-2008, Rahm built the spaces based primarily on the degree of
humidity and the evaporation phenomenon.
The National Museum of Estonia, the project
CYBEREmpathy ISSUE 5/2013. Architecture for Human, Humanism for Architecture
Barbara Stec, Phillipe Rahm. The Meteorological Architecture
www.CyberEmpathy.com
According to Rahm the designing museum is not to be a form of
representation of the idea or the aesthetics, or the incarnation of pure
usability and the functionality with the cultural importance. It is not also to
be the symbolic references, or a metaphor and the character. “The
architecture does not serve here really nothing more than a gradual
reduction in the value of the certain components of the ambient climate,
such as the level of humidity, the intensity of ultraviolet light or the light
intensity. The aim is to meet the needs of the museum for the protection of
the materials, of which are made the pieces of art stored here, by isolating
them from the certain natural chemical and physical conditions,
accelerating the destruction.
The protection of the works, due to their organic or mineral origin, requires
the specially defined microclimate. For example, the metal must be kept in
conditions of very low humidity, between 15 and 30%, not to be subjected to
rust by the oxidation. The organic materials, on the contrary, require higher
humidity to 60%, so not to be subjected to the excessive dryness. However,
its level cannot exceed 75%, otherwise mold can occur. In a similar way the
limits of the light intensity are adjusted for each material. The light causes
the changes in the materials at the molecular level destroying them both by
photochemical processes in the case of short wave, such as ultraviolet, as
well as by heating the materials in the case of the long-wave near-infrared
radiation”.9 Therefore, the paper must be stored under very low light, up to
20 lux. However, the wood and metals can withstand the greater intensity.
The museum is organized as a set of the different atmospheres changing on
the direction from outside to inside towards the interior as follows: from
the wettest to the driest, from the lightest to the darkest, from the most
illuminated by the UV light to the weakest. This reduction was achieved
thanks to the selective filters, eliminated the chemical and physical factors
destructive for the materials. The block of the museum is thus a series of
the concentric layers of the glass apertures, through which the visitor passes
from outside to inside, from the natural local environment to both most
artificial for the geographical climate and neutral for the specific materials.
Thus, the visitor of the museum stays in the five different climate zones, in
which the light intensity decreases from outside to the centre, from 5000 to
10 lux, and the humidity is in turn: 76%, 60%, 35%, 30%, and 20%.
Here's how Rahm analyzes the architecture of his project:
"The nature of the architecture materializes thanks to and
despite of that is invisible (...) The pieces of art are no longer
9 The same, s.553, 555
CYBEREmpathy ISSUE 5/2013. Architecture for Human, Humanism for Architecture
Barbara Stec, Phillipe Rahm. The Meteorological Architecture
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seen only by sight but also by the physiology of the space and the
body (...) There is invented a new way to visit the museum here,
through the physical phenomenon of the maintenance, the
perception of the climate, as if it removes the time, the climate,
in which the process of the chemical decomposition gradually
disappears, where the visitors begin to feel the architectural
form of surviving."10
The Mollier House, Limousin, France
This house establishes the close physical and chemical relationship with the
climate of the Vassiviere Lake in Limousin, France. The level of the
atmosphere humidity of the natural surrounding of the house is a starting
point for creating the program and areas of its use. Rahm tries to use the
naturally increased humidity of the environment in an appropriate set of
the house function and then to reduce it with the appropriately modeled
cross-section and the architectural barriers. He states that in the interior,
where the man lives, and where the hot water is used, always the water
vapor is produced “leading to the risk of condensation and thus to the
structural damage. While at present the only way to get rid of the excess of
the water vapor is a simple technical operation of the ventilation systems,
we form in our project the configuration of the space occurring to the water
vapor bringing the deep and complex relationships between the people,
their bodies and space, in accordance with the physical and chemical
nature”.11 The designed for living space grows according to the percentage
of the humidity in the air, from 10% to 100%. The humidity of each area
corresponds to the humidity of the human natural environment in a
particular activity.
The data on the humidity emissions by humans in the different behavior are
useful in the design of such a house atmosphere. For example, the sleeping
person emits 40 grams of the water vapor per hour (data needed to design
the optimum humidity level in the bedroom), while during the daily activity
he produces 150 grams per hour (the characteristics of the living room). In
the bathroom during its use it is produced 800 grams per 20 minutes, and
in the kitchen - 1500 grams per hour. The spaces of The Mollier House are
designed from the driest to the most humid, from the best ventilated to
those of dead air, that is in a line from the bedroom climate to the bathroom
climate.
10 The same, s.557 11 The same, s.559
CYBEREmpathy ISSUE 5/2013. Architecture for Human, Humanism for Architecture
Barbara Stec, Phillipe Rahm. The Meteorological Architecture
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The plan of The Molier House The section of The Molier House
An ideogram of operation of the House An exterior view of group houses
Route of the air ventilation and repartition of the vapor
An exterior view
An interior view
CYBEREmpathy ISSUE 5/2013. Architecture for Human, Humanism for Architecture
Barbara Stec, Phillipe Rahm. The Meteorological Architecture
www.CyberEmpathy.com
The convection
In 2008 and 2009, Rahm used primarily the phenomenon and the "shape"
of the convection, the atmospheric and marine currents and the air
pressure.
The Archimedes House, Vassiviere en Limousin, France, 2005
It is the project of a house, which living function is distributed according to
the natural changes in the air properties, its density, temperature and flow
in the vertical cross-section of the entire space of the house. The natural
phenomenon of the convection is resulted in the "verticality" of the project,
which enables the use of the natural air layers for the certain residential
features and the human activity. The project resembles a kind of air
chimney, which includes the entire height of the house and takes the shape
according to the function associated with the certain parameters, mainly
the air temperature. In the natural arrangement of the temperatures there
is 16 degrees by Celsius on the ground floor, 18 degrees - on the first floor,
20 - on the second floor and 22 degrees on the top floor. Thus, the functions
are arranged according to the vertical axis of cold at the bottom and warm
at the top. They carry out the prescribed temperatures in the Swiss building
standard SIA 3842, by which the Swiss tend to the economical use of the
energy. The standard provides the following: the optimal temperatures for
the human health in the Celsius degrees:
living rooms 20
bedrooms 16-18
bathrooms 22
kitchens 18-20
hallways, restrooms 15-18
stairwells, laundries, drying rooms 12
In the Archimedes House there is the bathroom and laundry on the bottom,
the bedroom on the first floor, the living room and kitchen on the second
floor and the bathroom on the top floor. It is worth to note the large
difference of the indicated temperatures for the toilet and bathroom, which
functions in Polish building standards are often combined in one room.
CYBEREmpathy ISSUE 5/2013. Architecture for Human, Humanism for Architecture
Barbara Stec, Phillipe Rahm. The Meteorological Architecture
www.CyberEmpathy.com
Thermal draught heating system
The section of all views
An interior view
The Digestible Gulf Stream Architecture Biennale in Venice,
2008
CYBEREmpathy ISSUE 5/2013. Architecture for Human, Humanism for Architecture
Barbara Stec, Phillipe Rahm. The Meteorological Architecture
www.CyberEmpathy.com
In 2008, at the Venice Biennale Rahm presented the installation The
Digestible Gulf Stream, in which the architectural space was built on the
principle of convection. It was part of the curator exhibition of Aaron
Betsky, who invited Philippe Rahm to formulate the one of 25 architectural
manifestos of our time. The architectural topic beyond the building got to
the heart of the Rahm searches.
The presented at the Arsenal installation was heralded already from a
distance by the pleasant and inviting sounds of musical instruments and
singing girls. When the visitor stood at the edge of the installation, he could
get the feeling of contact with the stretched along the Arsenal room
populated "landscape". The eye wandered along the white platform similar
to the narrow and long footbridge at the different levels, bathed in light. A
bridge space formed a kind of a bubble that was filled with the warm light
and a life of the few naked people. Their free motions introduced the visible
movement throughout the construction of the installation and strengthened
the feeling of the landscape genre scene. The naked figures with a natural
behavior and an expression of satisfaction define the installation space as
an environment with a pleasant temperature, humidity and brightness,
maintaining the persistent state of the body in harmony with the
environment and in the state of active vitality. The visitor could enter this
space with the artificially fashioned "weather" and felt its impact on his
body. Rahm has created a specific environment, different in relation to the
entire interior of the building and clear in perception, but visually
minimally limited only by the expression of the plastic platform and clear
lines of the climate generator installation.
The climate Technology of The Digestible Gulf Stream was based on the
polarization of the space by the combination of production of two radiators
with the different level of the temperatures: one, which generates 28
degrees by Celsius, the second - 12 degrees by Celsius. This resulted in a
continuous movement of the air by the phenomenon of convection, the
natural drift of warm air up and cold air down, and with the chosen
temperatures made the effect of the miniature Gulf Stream Ocean current.
In addition to the generation of the homogeneous and certain climate the
particular importance here was to obtain the dynamic air landscape with a
help of voltage and space polarity, in which the musicians of the AIR Syd
Matters group moved. This has led to the metrological construction as the
landscape extending between 12 and 28 degrees by Celsius, in which the
resident could freely move and choose a place with a climate suitable for his
clothes (or lack of it), food, activity, or social needs. Physically the
CYBEREmpathy ISSUE 5/2013. Architecture for Human, Humanism for Architecture
Barbara Stec, Phillipe Rahm. The Meteorological Architecture
www.CyberEmpathy.com
architecture here was the air structure, based on the design of the
atmospheric current.
A temperature diagrams
The sections of The Digestible Gulf Stream
CYBEREmpathy ISSUE 5/2013. Architecture for Human, Humanism for Architecture
Barbara Stec, Phillipe Rahm. The Meteorological Architecture
www.CyberEmpathy.com
An interior views
The Digestion
The current Rahm searches concern the urban form as a physiological need
and feed as a source of heat or cold, as a form of the edible architecture.
According to the Philippe Rahm concept the architecture is organic,
mineral and biological.
The Lung Space, the installation in the exhibition 'The Radical
Nature' at the Barbican Art Gallery, London, UK, 2009
Explaining "The Lung space" Rahm recalls the opinion of Hegel, who
considered the music as the highest of the arts, but the architecture as the
lowest. The nineteenth-century philosopher recognized as a measure of the
value the degree of dependence of the arts from the matter, or rather the
degree of the art release from the matter. Today, this division cannot be
maintained if only because of the knowledge of the matter. We suspect that
Hegel has had in mind the matter so heavy and dense that it is visible to the
human eye. Today it is commonly known that the air is material, although it
is mostly invisible. The matter is also a word spoken with the warm breath
by the speaker, the physics of the voice wave and the chemistry of the
exhausted air content. This approach is an extreme shift of attention from
the meaning of the word to its physical, chemical, biological materiality and
from the beauty of the music to its physical, chemical and biological nature.
Rahm is provocative in this experiment trying to unmask the physiological
side of the ephemeral, fleeting arts. He exaggerates the digestive, metabolic
side of the sounds production to make noticed what you do not usually
CYBEREmpathy ISSUE 5/2013. Architecture for Human, Humanism for Architecture
Barbara Stec, Phillipe Rahm. The Meteorological Architecture
www.CyberEmpathy.com
recognize by sense or mind. Rahm as usually in the installations uses the
artistic intensified measures to increase the awareness and, even more, to
let multisensual feeling the invisible matter, being able to expand with the
mind the possibilities of the sensual penetration and the limits of the
ordinary experience. As in the previous researches he considers the
environment and the human immersed in it as the one physiological
system.
Inflatable of the material-gradually Inflatable of the material-gradually
Inflated material
The final reflection
Philippe Rahm was in Cracow in June 2003 with a lecture “Decosterd /
Rahm: electro-architecture, the matter of void" in the course "What is the
architecture?”. He seemed to be a man all the time continuing his
experiment. Particularly he valued his stay in a salt mine in Wieliczka,
where the exceptional climatic environment has made the clear, specific
reactions of the human body (confirmed by the medicinal properties of the
mine microclimate applications used in a sanatorium for people with
CYBEREmpathy ISSUE 5/2013. Architecture for Human, Humanism for Architecture
Barbara Stec, Phillipe Rahm. The Meteorological Architecture
www.CyberEmpathy.com
allergies). The Rahm installation projects for Gdansk and the Wroclaw's
museum can be an expression of the good agreement of the architect with
the environment of the Polish artists and the potency existing in the Polish
reality of the architectural changes and the freshness of the first decades
after the political thaw. The avant-garde nature of the Rahms experiment
requires from the recipient the respective mental independence and open
mindedness. The independence of the architectural proposals built on the
principle of the climate design makes it free from a variety of the social
codes including related with the representation. One can see the
meteorological architecture as the fundamentally anti-bourgeois and anti-
political. Thanks to it one penetrates the popular consciousness valuation of
the architecture in terms of its atmosphere and climatic environment equal
with the traditional aspects of design. The climatic architecture can be seen
as a turning point for the contemporary architecture, enveloped with the
formal exaggeration, the excessive hypertrophy aestheticism and the
semantic effects growth. The meteorological architecture moves the
attention of the user directly into the interior space of the architecture
allowing to experience its rich nature and to consciously draw the life-
giving resources from it.