TRANSPARENT PLASTICS

Simone Jeska

TRANSPARENTPLASTICSDESIGN AND TECHNOLOGY

Birkhauser

Basel \ Boston IBerlin

GraphiCdesign: nalbach typografik, Stuttgart

Translation into English: Gerd H. Stiffker and Philip Thrift, Hannover

This book is also available in a German edition:

IS8N 87B-3-7843-7488-3

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PREFACE 6

A BRIEF HISTORY OF PLASTIC BUILDINGS 8

MATERIAL AND FORM - "FORM FOLLOWS MATERIAL?" 24

TRANSPARENT PLASTICS BETWEEN INTELLECTUALISATION

AND TRASH CULTURE 30

EXHIBITION

BMW Bubble, ABB Architects I Bernhard Franken 40

EBo Bologna, MCA 46

"Light Building" Mobile Pavilion, Atelier Kempe Thill 52

Cyclebowl, Atelier Bruckner 56

RESIDENCES

Apartments and Studios in Cologne, B S K+ 64

Naked House, Shigeru Ban 70

Lucky Drops, Architecture Studio Tekuto 76

Housing Project in London, Ash Sakula 82

Cite Manifeste, Lacaton S Vassal 86

House and Studio in Almere, Arconiko 92

Semi-detached Houses in Mullheim, Pfeifer.Kuhn 98

CULTURE AND SPORTS

Museum of Paper Art, Shigeru Ban 104

Catholic Church Christus Konig in Radebeul, Staib Architects with Gunter Behnisch 110

DBU Conference and Exhibition Pavilion, Herzog + Partner 116

Allianz Arena, Herzog S de Meuron 122

RESEARCH

Gerontology Technology Centre, Bad Tnlz, D. J. Siegert 130

Rocket Tower, Nicholas Grimshaw S Partners 136

Festo AG Technology Centre, Jaschek S Partner 142

Glasshouses, Graz, Volker Giencke 148

APPENDIX

Bibliography 154

Index 156

Illustration Credits 159

6/7

Since the mid-199Gs , synthetic mate ria ls - p rimarily t ransparent or translucent plas ­

tics - have once again been making their mark on architecture . Artistica lly curving

tens ion st ruc tures made from transparent plastic membranes , but also industrially

manuf ac t ured plastic sheets are readily used instead of heavy glass constructions.

But th e transparent plastics not on ly rep rese nt a less costly alte rnative to glass. In

ad d it ion, th ey evolve their own particular qualities that become evident through the

light ness of such constructions , the variety of forms and , last but not least , their

aest het ic effects - the upshot of unusua l [acade arrangements and structures . / / /

Th is book is intended to provide the reade r with an overv iew of t he potentia l uses of

tra nsparent and t rans lucent plastics in arch itecture, and demonst rat e the broad

ra nge of both constructional and architectu ral opportun ities. Lightweight , cost­

effec t ive synthetic mate ria ls are part icu larly suitab le for use in the jacades of ware ­

houses or temporary pavilions. Tension structures made from transparent mem­

brane s can serve as climate-control enve lopes for animal enclosures , glasshouses

or ext ens ive biospheres , and are ideal for lo ng-span atrium roofs as well as conser­

vatories and sun spaces providing int ermed iat e climate zo nes for the adjoining inte ­

rior spac es. In th e meantime , t hey have become almost a standard so lution for t he

roofs to large sports arenas. But in housing , museums an d schoo ls , too , where high

demands are pla c ed on the imperviousness , in sulat ion and durab ili t y of the walls ,

syntheti c ma t erials are being used mor e and mor e. / / / Depending on the type of

building and the interior c limate requ irements, s ingle -leaf, mu lti -leaf or multi -layer

[acade con structions can be c hosen. These differ from conventiona l wall structures

and open up t he way for experimentation by the architectural avant-garde. Exte rnal

walls are turned int o air co llectors or re duced to a thickness of j ust a few mi llimetres.

plast ic sh eets are glued to t he supporti ng construction to form a minimalist design ,

membranes ar e attached w ith Velcro tape , which allows t he m to be removed and

wa shed ; high -te ch insulat ion systems are available , or translucent insulation is im ­

provis ed DIY-style . Fac ades become moving, adaptive " skins", large sect ions of

w h ich c an be open ed up to t he outs ide , or react to so lar rad iation levels . New pro ­

duction m ethod s are tried out on double-curvature p lastic sheets , and tension

struc t ures imi t ate natural phenomena and become efficient minima l constructions .

/ / / At t he sam e t ime , transparent plastics quite obviously serve as a source of

ins piration for th e artistic rendition of t he [acade - coloured artificia l li gh t , p igments ,

PREFACE

printing or coloured infills provid e an effec ti ve adv ert is ing medium externally or -a

changing play of light internally. The alienation of ever yday arti cles or the use of

waste products create provocations and challenge ou r visual per c eption s ­

architecture becomes art. / / / The projects shown here represent only t he begin­

ning of a new development; the potential of synthetic materials is illust rated in t he

int ro duct ory chapter with the title "Transparent plastics between intellectua li sation

and trash culture". Plastics are not only destined to be part of the new, digital design

and manufacturing process , which renders possible mass customisation in archi ­

tecture , but are also ideal for use as " bionic" building materials and are being t ested

from the point of view of sustainability. Demands for efficient constructions and

adaptive building envelopes , which adjust automatically to climatic conditions , de ­

termine the themes here and in the end lead to architectural designs that respond

dynamically to dynamic processes. / / / These tendencies in contemporary arch i­

tecture, which are leading to a gradual renaissance for synthetic materials , are un ­

derstandable when we consider the relationsh ip between form and material. The

chapter entitled "Form follows material? " presents an overview of developments

and the change in the meaning of form and material in architecture , which has led to

a breakdown in the formerly clearly defined form -material relationship. In archi tec ­

ture , form and material have now become autonomous parameters , opposites in the

shapes of the digitally created form and a material fetishism , which focuses on the

sensual qualities of the material. / / / But the fascination of synthetic materials

and the willingness of architects to experiment with such substances are not new

phenomena , as the chapter "A brief history of plastic buildings " reveals. Since the

mass production of plastics began in the 1920s, these materials have awakened the

imaginations of architects and engineers alike . Nevertheless , their current visions of

the future are less euphoric and less idealistic than those of the early pioneers of

plastic buildings. Once again , it is not the material itself that dominates or const i­

tutes the starting point for a design . Instead , architects are seeking the right mate­

rial for their architecture , which follows conceptual design approaches or notions of

form, and are aiming at atmospheric , sensual or provocative effects . In doing so,

immateriality and ambiguity - the characteristics of transparent plastics - frequently

harmonise well with such design approaches and make plastics the current building

materia l of choice for the architectural avant-garde .

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Synthet ic materials from the chemistry lab have always had some­

th ing remarkable about them. Even the alchemists of old were

se arch ing for a synthetic substance supposedly more precious

than gold because it would unite all the positive properties of the

co nvent ional " nat ural" materials . As plastics were invented in the

19th century and went into large-scale production in the early

20th , it seemed as though this vision had become reality. Archi ­

tec t s and eng ineers linked their hopes and dreams to this " mira­

cle material" , which apparently could be given all conceivable

charac t eri st ics . It c omb ined lightness , strength , transparency,

thermal insulation capacity, light permeability and load bearing

characteristics , and opened up a world of infinite shapes. Plas­

t ics enabled planners to think in terms of bold , futuristic architec ­

tural and urban visions and to revo lutionise architecture through

techno id spat ial forms or organically cu rving engineered struc ­

tures . Th ey w ere likewise a sym bol of a better, promising f ut ure

that would know no housing shortages nor climate problems and

do justice to the needs of modern society in every respect . III

The arch itectural applications conquered by the new plastics

w ere just as diverse as the plastics themselves . Plast ic sheets

co uld be us ed to build folded-plate structures , or shells and pan ­

els fo r room modules or modular constructions ; nylon ropes

formed long-span nets , and membranes of every kind were inflated

to fo rm dome st ruc t ures, or stretched across an existing load ­

bea rin g fram ework . I II The history of the development of

p lastic buil d ings can be understood only in the social context and

by referrin g back to the countless experimental designs of the

vis ionaries and art ists . This is where the fascination of the syn ­

t he t ic mat er ial finds expression ; and in the end it was mostly the

bold vis ionari es who determined the direction of practical every ­

day bu ilding, wh ether in the formal -aesthetic or the technical ­

c onstructiona l aspect. In the discord between pragmatism and

ut op ia, a number of remarkab le plastic butld tngs emerged , each

of w hich , however, represents a momentary respite in th is ongoing

journey of development.

II/cherd Buckmins ter Fuller 'S "Oymexion DwellingMachine" of 1927 was the development of hIS Idee for emobile, lightweight house.

1 See Joachim Krausse led .), R. 8uckminster Fuller , Reinbek bei Hamburg, 1973. p. 133 2 The idea of a lightweight , mobile and at the same time prefabricated house runs like a thre ad through thework oj Buckminster Fuller. Using the same principle , he developed the "Streamlined Oymaxion Shelter " in 1932, a resid ential tower on a circular plan with a streamlined, transparent enclo sing facadewhich shields the tower against the wind . A rej inement and jurther development of his ideas resulted in the building oj a prototype, "Wichita House" , in 1945 /46. 3 Kiesler understands t ime-spacearch itecture as the embedment oj the chronological aspect of living into the spat ial design; the hou se shou ld not be divided int o self -contained rooms, but rathe r into jun cti onal zones, whose use andsize should remain f lexible and changeable . Frederick Kiesler, Notes on architecture: the Space House, in: Siegfried Gohr, Gunda Luyken led s.l , Frederick J . Kiesler. Selecte d Writings , Stuttgart , 1996,pp . 23-2B 4 The plastic house s of th e 1930s were produced by the ir manujacturers for adverti sing purposes. See Arthu r Quarmby, The Plastic Archit ect, London , 1974, p. 21. In the early t9 40 s, with

A BRIEF HISTORY OF PLASTIC BUILDINGS

THE BEGINNINGS: THE STUFF DREAM HOUSESARE MADE OF

The triumphant advance of plastics in arc hitecture began with th e

rapid progress in plastics resea rch and the onset of th e boom in

manufacture towards the end of th e 1920s. The all ure of these syn­

thetic materi als provided creati ve mind s like Richard Buckm inster

Fulle r and Frederic k Kiesl er with impulses for their arch itectural

uto pias. III Buckm inst er Full er designed his "Dymaxion Dwell ­

ing Mach ine" in 1927. It was a "featherweight", mobile-house that

cou ld be transported in one piece to any faraway place and set up

in a f ew hours . The name " Dymaxion", a concoction of dynamic ,

maxi mum and tension , is the expression of his intentions. Just

like the advocates of "white modernism " , Buckminster Fuller was

inspi red by automotive and air craft production and saw the future

of arc hi tecture in th e mass production of industrially prefabricated

buildings. But in contrast to his colleagues, he focused on energy

concepts and mobile architecture. Joachim Krausse des cribes this

conceptual approach as follows: "Within the constructions , the

distribution of building mass should make way for an organisation

of energ y-e xchange processes, the sturdy statics supplanted by

ephemeral dynamics ."I " Dymaxion" consi st ed of a loadbearing

aluminium mast f rom wh ich th e floors , hexagonal on plan , were

suspended by means of steel ropes made from piano wire . The

ce ntral mast simultaneously served as a service shaft not only for

hea t and power, but also for water and ventilation . The floors of

the house were made of pneumatic membrane assemblies and

the f acade was conceived as a double -leaf, self-supporting plas­

tic envelope - transparent , translucent or opaque - with a vacuum

in th e cavrt v.? III Whereas the transportable plastic house

was f or Buckminster Fuller part of a global social utop ia, Frederick

Kies le r linked the design of an organically curving plastic house

in to his " ti me-spac e architecture " theurv.? He designed the

"S pace House" for the Modernage Furniture Company in New York

in 1933. The house was to be moulded completely in plastic so

tha t the walls , floors , ceilings and columns would merge into one.

The interior exte nded as a continuous space over several levels

and cou ld be subdivided into individual areas or segments as reo

quired by means of movable partitions . This streamlined building

anticipate d the architectural language of the plastic buildings of

the 1970s, with their apt use of synthetic materials . I I I How­

ever, the practices of everyday build ing in those days were in no

way ab le to take up the ideas of the vis ionaries and turn them into

reality. The materials had not yet been fully developed, their prop­

erties had not been verified and th eir structural behaviour was

still uncertain . Nevertheless, from the late 1930s onwards , initial ,

cau tious attempts were made to establish the new materials in

arc hitect ure" - a dynamic that was interrupted by the outbreak of

World War II because the plastics industry was forced to concen ­

trate on supplying products for the war effort.

"Sp ace House" , Frederick Kleslor, 1933

a view to the impending housing shortage , the Brit ish developed concepts for pref abricated houses made from plastic s consisting of self ·suppor ting, multi-layer sheets [see "The all -plastic s house",in: Brit ish Plastics, April 1944) 5 Archive mater ial on the 1946 f air: "The planned plastic house f or export in order to secure food supplies and rebu ildin g activit ies " [bu ilding arch ives of the BerlinAcademy of Arts ]; pub lished in Der Bauhelf er, No.6, 1946 6 The pref abric ated plast ic house "Deutschland" was designed by Hans Scharaun and Karl Bottcher. 7 Ulrich Conrads and Hans G.Sperlich , Fantast ic Archi tecture, London , 1963. Gaff's use 01 plast ics is not contrary t o his "organic" f orm 01building in whic h he makes direct ref erences to nature , th e natural surroundings and thecharact er of th e materials . B The house was f unded by th e Daily Mail newspaper and exhibited at the Ideal Home Exhibit ion in London. 9 "The general concepti on of th e house: The rooms fla w intoone anot her like the com partments of a cave, and as in a cave , the skewered passage which joins one compartment wit h another eff ect ively maintains privacy." Catherine Spellma n, Karl Unglaub [eds.],

10 / 11

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THE POST-WAR YEARS AND GERMANY 'SECONOMIC MIRACLE - THE PLASTICBUILDING BETWEEN PRAGMATISM ANDEXPERIMENTATION

FROM THE HOUSE TO THE ROOM MODULE III in the

indust riali sed countries , the shortage of housing in the post-war

years led to a yearning for the prefabricated house. This method

of building, which had been established after World War I, encour­

ages standardisation , mass production , transportability and the

straightforward assembly of prefabricated elements . The new

synthetic materials seemed predestined for this method of build ­

ing, and compared to conventional prefabricated timber and con ­

crete elements their lower weight would help to reduce transport

and erection costs - an important advantage . A certain plastics

euphor ia was evident; some even proclaimed it to be the dawn of

the plastics age, which led to considerable research and develop­

ment activities on an international scale . A building trade fair held

in Berlin in 1946 exhibited a number of prefabricated plastic hous­

es which were intended to be produced in large numbers in the

following years in order to overcome the shortage of housing at

home and at the same time for export in order to help German in ­

dustry get back on its feet. 5 The initiator of this study was the in­

ternational Committee for Building 6 Housing, composed of archi ­

tects from the US and the UK as well as Germany. Five nat ional

teams of architects designed Single -storey, modular house types

made from plastic sheets with a f loor area of 65 m2, which could

be arranged as terrace or semi-detached houses. " The pragmat­

ic approach of this study was reflected in the design of the hous­

es , which matched those of conventional house types . III

Buckminster Fuller 's "Wich it a House" was less conventional. It

was both a prototypical prefabricated house ready for mass pro­

duction and at the same time, the first time Fuller had been able

to realise his vision of a lightweight, transportable house. How­

ever , the house was made chiefly of aluminium, not plastics. be­

cause Fuller had acquired a former aircraft assembly plant for the

production , which was equipped for metalworking operations .

The only remnant of his materials concept for "Oymaxion " was the

wraparound windows made from double -leaf Perspex sheets. The

industrially prefabricated aluminium and plastic elements were

intended to be dispatched as a building kit to all parts of the coun ­

try. Oespite the great interest shown by potentia l buyers, mass pro­

duction never got going; the plastics industry, which was primar ­

ily concerned with the manufacture of everyday articles, at that

time showed no interest in the mass production of houses. III

Houso in Ul bono. illinois, Bluco Gall. 1952: pOlspoClivO V'OWo/gmdon sldo

Tho pOlsp oct ivo viow 01tho InlOllOI shows rne spllol connocllngIII mp and tho susponded -' iVing spholos - /dlowlng: HelbollGl oonb ol g/ .

Pel el Smith son: Conversat lons with Students, New York, 2005, p. 43 10 The architects ' priority was to f ind new housing concep ts for urban living. Besides the "House of the Future" , they designe dseveral oth er house types bet ween 195B and 1958 based on similar con cepts: mass produc t ion in contemporary construc tion , Integral garden, open-plan layout , built -in storage and working spaces ,etc. are the f eatures of the ir houses. 11 The house was comm ission ed by Charbonnages de France together with th e engineers Coulon and Magnant , and was also displayed in The Hague in 195 6.12 The house was f inanc ed and produ ced by the plast ics manuja ctur er Monsanto Chemical Co. and remained on show f or 10 years at Disney World in Californ ia. 13 Sche in 'S mobile 100 m module(1956J can be seen in conjunct ion with the glo wing caravan fa shion . Start ing in the mld-1950s , caravans made [ rom moulded glass fi ble had been produced in the UK. The mobile plast ic room moduleswere not intended just for holiday accommo datio n, but could also provide l iving accomm odati on f or fam il ies; furth ermore, they could be equipped and used f or any type of mobile task [e.g. exhibitions,

It was not until the mid -1950s , as the pri ce of oil began to fall

steadily , as the new gene rat ion of plastics started to appear and

as production and machin ing methods underwent improvements ,

did it seem that the plastic house, as a mass -produced item , was

within reac h. The plastics industry recognised the potential in the

build ing industry and encouraged the development of prototypes ,

which were exh ib ited at relevant trade fairs ; however, the first

plastic houses turned out to be merely displays of the materials

of standard indust rial products . / / / Beyond the Widespread

pragmatism and the architectural approach tailored to the needs

of industry, there were isolated attempts to sound out the design

options that plastics offered . The "fantastic" house designed by

Bruce Goff for a mus ician dating from 1952 can be counted among

these attempts . The plastics and aluminium industries financed

the project and determined the materials. Goff designed the roof

as an oversized "umbrell a" of transparent plastic and suspended

spher ical room modules from this which were linked via a ramp ­

like ascending plastic tube . The transparent walls of the house

were to be moulded from liquid plastic which cures to form a rigid

she ll." / / / In subsequent years , the first plastic houses ap­

peared in which both the architecture and the construction did

justice to the materials themselves, which kindled a sort of for ­

mal-aesthetic revolution . The houses made from moulded parts,

which joined together floors, walls and ceilings seamlessly, were

th e expression of a new image of civilisation in the increasingly

prosperous and individualised society of leisure . Mobil ity and

f lex ibility were the buzzwords of a new generation of architects.

How life in the future would look was demonstrated by Alison and

Peter Smithson in 1956 with their "House of the Future" (H.o .F.).o

The int roverted, single -storey patio house consisting of organi ­

cally interlinked spaces on the one hand evoked a feeling of an­

c ient cave shelters ," but at the same time the interior, with its

moulded , seamless, satin gloss walls, the " o-Volving" shelving,

cupboards , kitchen appliances and washing facilities, reminded

the viewer of scenes from a science-fiction film . Even though the

whole design was based on the new plastic materials (the house

was intended to be moulded in glass fibre). the materiality was

more an inspiration than the actual focus of the design .'? In that

same year , lonel Schein presented his " Maison en Plastique " in

Paris at the Salon des Arts Menagers Y This " expanding" house

had a sp iral form on plan to which extra rooms cou ld be added if

required - thus anticipating society 'S demands for jtexlbllttv. De­

sp ite the complex plan geometry, the rooms were made from iden ­

t ical segments produced from prefabricated , folded plastic

sheets . In contrast to the organically curving science-fiction vi ­

sion of the Smithsons, the structure of this house employed a

conventional form of construction in which the walls, loadbearing

structure and roof are clearly separate items. / / / A sensa ­

t ional breakthrough in the bulldlng of plastic houses was achieved

by the American architects Hamilton and Goody in 1957 with the

A BRIEF HISTORY OF PLASTIC BUILDINGS

-House of rhe Furure - , Alison end PererSml lhson, 19 56 ; bedroom

-HouSOof rho Fuluro " Cur -oway view

mobile hospitals. building site accommodation, etc.). 14 1957: The "Plastic House" by Hubert Hofmann and Wassili Luckhardt and the "Dwopor House" made from plastic sandwich panels andexhibited at the Interbau fair in Barun, plus any number of additive plastic cubes measuring 4.B x 4.B m by Cesare Pea at the Triennale in Milan. 195B: A plastic house as a weekend retreat made from aself-supporting shell construction by Rudolph Doernach at the "Plastics Conquer the World" exhibition in Stuttgart. 1959: Troisdorfer plastic house from the Dynamit-Nobel A/G company.15 The Congres Internationaux d'Architecture Moderne [CIAMJheld in 1956 discussed issues of mobility, growth, organic "cluster formation" and communication [Bauwelt, No. 3B, 1956J. 16 Thefounding members of the group were David Georges Emmerich, Yona Friedman, Jean Pecquet, Jerzy Soltan and Jan Trapman. in addition, the German architects Frei Otto, Gunter Gunschel and GuntherKuhne also took part in the meetings. 17 "The expression 'architecture mobile' signifies not only the mobility of the whole construction, but also its adaptability to meet the changing needs of a

12 / 13

Monsanto " House of the Futu re" ;' ? The curved plastl c shells

raised above ground level were joined together seamlessly to form

the roof, walls and floor of the four square rooms that radiated out

f rom a central square spa ce . The const ruct ion of the nearly 5 m

wide , cant ilevering glass fibre -reinforced plastic shells repre­

sente d the limits for this material, and it was therefore a pe rfect

demonstration vehicle for the plastics industry. In terms of archi ­

tecture , aesthetics and construction , the house staked out the

route that would be taken by the future development of plastic

houses. Another equally pioneering project was the plastic room

module conceived by lonel Schein , which could be used as a mo­

bile beach -house , a hotel chalet or for other funct ions . It con ­

tained a small bathroom unit and a double bed , which during the

day could be converted into a couch and table . These min imal ac ­

commodation units could be easily transported on a goods vehicle

and set up as interconnected structures ." Further plastic houses ,

the majority conceived as holiday chalets , followed in the footsteps

of these early examples .':' / / / The grow ing trend towards light­

weight , mobile room modules found an outlet in new urban con­

cepts . Inspired by the ClAM Congress held in Dubrovnik in 1956,' 5

young architects in Paris founded the "Groupe d 'Etudas d 'Archi­

tecture Mobile " (GEAMj .'6 Based on the realisation that people

should form part of a permanent sociologica l and technical process

of change , the architects called for [Iexihle and variab le residen ­

tial structures . As an answer to these demands, they developed the

" archit ec ture mobile ":"? room modules without specific functions

that could be inserted int o an independent loadbearing and se r­

vices structure and added to or removed depending on require ­

ments (growing/shrinking families . relocat ion , etc.I .'"

SHEDS AND CANOPIES /// Temporary exhibition halls and

canopies represented another area where the exponents of plas ­

ti cs architecture could experiment. Starting in the mid -195Ds,

pla st ic sheets or membranes were used to form enclosures to the

delicate timber and steel loadbearing structures of single-storey

sh ed s and to demonstrate the innovat ive energies of their

own ers. !" / / / Richard Buckminster Fuller played a special and

pioneering role in this sector, too , with the development of his

geodesic domes. Starting with his "Necklace Domes", which he

built in 194B/49 together with students , the [ollowlng 20 years

saw him produce a multitude of dome structures covered with the

most diverse synthetic materials or made from self-supporting

plastic sheet s. The us es and the sizes of these domes varied ."?

The early 195Ds saw Fuller introduce the use of transparent mem ­

branes and plastic sheets for facades. At the same time he also

demonstrated the load-carrying capacity of the new materia l by

constructing a radome made from rhombus -shaped . self-support­

ing plastic shells (1954) . / / / Another option f or creating large

str uc tures using loadbearing plastics was put to the test by the

Monsant o "'House of the Futuro" I Hamilton and Goody. 19 5 7

WIth Us ca ntlle vor;ng pl ast tc sheUs, the Monsanto -House of theFu turo"demo nst rated tho posslbWtles of synthetiC materials andnen cc hBralded 8 now era In architecture .

Tho mobile room module - horo as 8 library - which was conceived as a bsach ·houss or hotelchala t, can be fCJ88fdc d as rha predecessor of the modular archirocwrc 0/ tha J970s.

changing SOCiety." Yona Friedman in: Werk, No.2, 1963. The group first published its ideas in 195B (see Bauwelt, No. 21, 195B); they presented their works at an exhibition in Amsterdam in 1962.16 See Bauwelt, No. 21, 195B 19 Halls and canopies at the 1955 German National Garden Exhibition, the Hannover Industry fair of 1956, Interbau 1957 and the 195B World Exposition in Brusselswere built in this way. See Hansjurgen Saechtling, Amtor Schwabe, Bauen mit Kunststoffen, Berlin, 1959. 20 Buckminster Fuller built domes with diameters up to 67 m; they were used for researchcentres, restaurants, swimming pools, planetariums, warehouses, aircraft hangars, exhibition halls and radar stations. 21 Similar canopy constructions were used in the 19BOs and 1970s as roofsto petrol stations or for large projects such as the airport terminal in Dubai. 22 Sir George Thomson, quoted in Michel Ragon, Oil Vivrous-nous Demain?, Paris, 1963 23 ibid. 24 "Why not designfully fitted houses into which one can step and simply live, complete, in much the same way as one can sit in a normal fully-fitted car and drive away?" Quarmby, The Plastic Architect, p.132 25 Suuronen

A BRIE F HISTORY OF PLA ST IC BUILD INGS

The lully liffed. mobIle module "Futuro" was built Irom 16

,denl,caf plastiC S9gments and could be used as an aprtfs-slc,hut . holIday accommodation. kIosk Of petro' starlon bUIldlOB.MaUl Suuronen. 1968

Tho flattenod plastic spharo with lold -our Sfalts looks I,lce a

UFOSflol touchdown'

ROOM MODULES AND MODULAR CONSTRUCTION III

In thematic terms, the use of plastics in architecture thorough ly

declined in the 196os. Room modules appeared , additive or stand­

alone , made from prefabricated, self-supporting, curved plastic

shells and also buildings made from modular panel systems. The

fully equipped room module fitted perfectly into the idealised im­

age of future llvtng stvles .> With crystalline , circular or organic

forms , they were placed on stilts , anchored like tents to the

ground, or floated on the water. They were placed in rows , stacked

in towers , or suspended from loadbearing frameworks . The imagi ­

nations of the designers seemed to know no bounds . Within a very

short period of time , more than 200 prototypes destined for mass

production were developed in Europe and the US. I IlOne of

the highlights in this wide assortment of plastic houses was the

"Futuro" apres-ski hut designed by Matti Suuronen (1968). Opti ­

mised structurally and ecologically, this mobile room module

looked like a flattened plastic sphere sitting on a steel frame with

four legs .2 5 Sixteen identical plastic segments enclosed a floor

area of 50 m2 • The prototype was fitted with relaxing armchairs

arranged radially around a fireplace . Besides th is communal room ,

there was a small kitchen , a bathroom and one bedronrn .?" The

build ing, which reminded the observer of a UFO after touchdown ,

US pav ilion at the Amer ican Exchange Exhibition in Moscow in

1959 . A modular system consisting of translucent , canopy-type

moulded plastic shells 6 m high and about 5 m in diameter formed

the roofs to this pav il inn .?' I I I Mobility, flex ibility, modular ar­

ch itecture and space-travel aesthetics were the dominating

th emes and paradigmatic features of 1960s architecture , and el ­

ements of this could be seen in the plastic buildings of the earl y

years .

During the 196os, the mobile leisure society, characterised by Its

enthusiasm for space travel , its belief in technology and the fu­

ture , it s rejection of traditions , but also its fear of the worldwide

population explosion , constituted a fertile soil for the ongoing de­

velopment of plastic houses. This new, lightweight material fu ­

elled the fantasies of a whole generation; enthusiastic planners

and theorists saw the cities of the future as dynamic organisms

characterised by weightlessness and a diversity of forms. 22 Plas­

t ics arch itecture promised to liberate us from an "architecture of

concrete or steel , the structure of which appears like a cage and

unluckily has led to the aesthetic of the right-angle. "23 The pro ­

fession was in agreement: the future of architecture belonged to

synthetic materials .

THE 1960S - THE RIGHT-ANG LE IS A TH INGOF THE PAST

realised an architectural space that Frederick Kiesler had already procl aimed as an ideal space back in 1934: "Next simplified method of bui lding : t he die-cast unit.. . Such constru ct ion I call shell­monolith . EaSily erecte d. Weight minimized. Mobile . Separat ion int o floor, wall s, roof, col umns, is eliminated. The flo or contin ues int o the wall .... the wal l conti nues into the roof . the roof into the wall.the wall into the f loor.... The ideal house configurati on wit h least resist ance to outer and inner st ress is not the ovoid but the spheroid mat rix: a f latte ned sphere. in its equatorial sect ion a circ le . in itslongi tu dinal section an elli pse.....Gohr. Luyken (eds.). Frederick J . Kiesler, pp. 23-28 2 6 A detailed descriptio n of the history and constructi on of the "Futuro" apres-ski hut can be found in Elke Geruel,Pamela VOigt . Kunststoffbauten, Weimar, 2005. and in Marco Home. Mika Taanila leds .l , Futu ro. Tomorrow 's House from Yesterday, Helsinki, 20 02. 27 The Feierbach f amily liv ed in the house from1968 to 1978 . By 1979. a further 35 houses had been built using th is system . Genzel, Voigt , Kunststoff bauten. p. 189 ; www.feierbach.com 28 During the 1950s Luigi Nervi. Oscar Niemeyer, Feli x

14 / 15

was the practical manifestation of a generation enthusiastic

about technology, and also the culmination of the possibilities of

synthetic materials in terms of architectural language , content

and construction . Patents for the system were sold worldwide

and in the following years some 60 "Futuros" were built for use as

kiosks, holiday homes, petrol station buildings and even watch ­

towers. I I I Despite the great public interest in the plastics

architecture of a "Monsanto" or a " Futuro", the vast majority of

potential buyers was not prepared to accept the dictatorial prin­

ciple of the room module . A moderate yet contemporary variation

appeared in the form of the FG 2000 system by Wolfgang

Feierbach , which permitted many different plan layouts. This

modular building system consisting of self-supporting, glass

f ibre-reinforced plastic panels fitted in well with the architectural

language of the 1960s. The curved panels with their rounded

edges and smooth surfaces formed both the roof and the external

walls of the buildings . The prototype , a rectangular plastic box

standing on a masonry plinth was used by the Feierbach family

itselfY Full -height built-in cupboards of plastic divided the open­

plan layout into functional areas , and carpeted ceilings , replace­

able textile wall coverings and modern plastic furniture deter­

mined the ambience of the interior. The form of construction, the

plan layout and the interior were an impressive demonstration of

the ideas of contemporary, modern llvtng. I I I In contrast to

the majority of plastic buildings of that period , which were con ­

ceived exclusively for temporary occupation [holi day homes, ski

huts . beach-houses , etc .I, the FG 2000 system was approved by

the authorities and consequently could be used for commercia l or

residential purposes . Notwithstanding, plastic bui ld ings still did

not establish themselves firmly in the marketp lace; high produc ­

tion costs and fire protection problems were only two of the rea­

sons for this .

BUILDING DN A LARGE SCALE III A number of different

types of construction became available for large-scale projects

such as industrial sheds, sports halls and large-span roofs. The

range included self-supporting plastic shells and folded -plate

structures , structural steelwork with plastic infill panels, or pneu­

matic and mechanically tensioned membrane constructions.

I I I Fold ing or double curvature gave very thin plastic sheets the

necessary stiffness - construction principles that had first been

used successfully in the concrete buildings of the 1950s20 - and

th ey became self-supporting enclosures for large projects , pri ­

marily industrial utility structures. In the 1960s many systems

were deve loped and verified structurally for these three-dimen­

sional building envelopas .?" Produced as modules , they were as­

sembled to form barrel vaults , large canopies or domes. The pro ­

tective roof over an industrial plant near Rome is typica l of one of

these self-supporting, folded -plate constructions. The transport-

The FG 2000 systom consrsrs of ptasnc modules that can be JOinedtOBother In e numbor of dIfferent ways; WolfBanB fe/erbach. 196B

fG 2000. Cu t-eway view

Candela , Eero Saarinen and other s had built delicate folded and curved concrete shells . 29 In the UK in parti cular, the Structural Plasl ics Research Unit . a research group at the civil engineeringfaculty at th e University of Surrey, investigated t he st ructural properties of f olded -plat e st ructures, and Arthur Quarmby and students at the Bradf ord Regional College of Art experimented with folded­plate struc tu res that could be fo lded together conc ert ina-fashion . In Italy th e archit ect Mario Schelchenbauer investigated the development of prefabr icated folded-plate st ructures. 30 Ju st l ikeprefabr icated plast ic houses and pneumat ic buildings , the archi tecture of folded-plate st ructures was determined by indust ry. Leaders in th is f ield were the Brit ish comp anies Formplus Co. of QuarryBank, Anmac Ltd . and MickleoverTransport Ltd. ("Clamp svs rern"] . 31 At the University of Surrey In the 1960s, several institutes were involved in research into 30 stressed-ski n st ructures made fromplast ic pyramids: the Department of Civil Engineering heade d by Prof. Z. S. Makowski and th e Stru ctura l Plastics Research Unit under the leadership of R. C. Gilkie and D. Robak. In the Netherlands ,

A BRIEF HISTORY OF PL AST IC BUILDINGS

This solf·supportlng foldod sfruClUro modo fromptnsnc modules forms 8 bartol -vault protectIve roollor an Industria! plant noar Rome , Renzo Plano . 1968

Tho spec taculor goodeslc domo DI the Amorican Expo peviuo« consIsted 0/ Bspace Irame wHh an rn/llfrng of transpafont acrylic alamonts; Buckmmster

Fullor . 19G7

K;sho Kurokaw8 deSIgnedthiS primary loadb8Sflng

struclUlO for fesldonOalblocks In tho form of adouble helix /l9Gl}

able , modular barrel vault , designed by Renzo Piano in 1966, was

made up of rhombus -shaped , glass fibre -reinforced plastic ele ­

ments bolted tng ether.P'' The 3D stressed-skin structures , made

up of small-format , standardised plastic pyrarnlds , were folded .

plate structures with more demanding architecture. In addition to

the bolted connections , the elements were connected via a sys ­

tem of tubes , mostly steel or aluminium, installed inside or out ­

side the envelope ." I I I In other large projects the plastic

shells were not used as the loadbearing elements , but rather as

the facade material. One outstanding example with a resounding

symbolic effect was Buckminster Fuller 's US pav ilion at the 1967

World Exposition in Montreal. This giant geodesic dome 61 m high

and 76 m in diameter was formed by a delicate, three -dimension ­

al network of bars with infill panels of bubb le -shaped Perspex

panels. As the world 's largest dome construction , the pavilion be ­

came the symbol of technology's supremacy over nature.

URBAN UT O PIA S III In the early 1960sthe notion that the

concrete frame would in future be replaced by modular systems

with plastic room modules spread throughout the building indus­

try ;32plastics architecture seemed to represent an adequate an­

swer to the emerging technological age of nuclear energy and

transistors , which would give rise to the new human being - the

mobile individual. 33 Architectural practices with an international

outlook such as Archigram, G.I .A .P.34 (Groupe International

d 'Architecture Prospective) and the Japanese metabolists t ook

up these themes and appeared in public with urban utopias as a

manifestation of complex theoretica l systems . III G.I.A.P.

took up the ideas and concepts of GEAM and worked on socially

relevant topics like mobility, jtextbllltv, automation, individualisa ­

tion and growth in their architectural and urban models. The result

was a number of individualistic designs which, however, basically

followed the same pattern : lightweight, mobile room modules

" docked" at random onto a primary loadbearing and infrastructure

system. The primary structure, resembling that of the "Corn on the

Cob " project by Arthur Ouarmby, consisted of a central concrete

mast with cantilever arms , or a three -dimensional loadbearing

framework , like that sketched out for the projects of Wolfgang

Doring and others. As a further development of his " arch it ec t ure

mobile" , Yona Friedman designed the "ville spatiale" (1959) and

the "vil le-pont" (1963) as urban megastructures . His designs con ­

sisted of large-scale, multistorey space frames supported 12 m

above the ground on columns . Based on a 5 m grid , the loadbear­

ing structure could be filled as required with any number of 25 m2

room modules. The conventional apartment had been resolved

int o a collection of spaces made up of monolith ic compartments

which could be assigned to indiv idual family members and adapted

for var ious uses .?" A thin, transparent membrane covering the en­

t ire living accommodation assisted the straightforward construe-

P. Huybers was carrying out research into pyramid system s at the University of Delf t . 32 Saechtling. Schwabe , 8auen mit Kunsts toff en, p. 511 33 In terms of our curren t towns and cities, we behavelike peopl e who still clo the th emselves in baggy breeches and mail -shirts in the age of radar, t ranststors, televislnn , atomic centres and synthet ic mater ials . Our current urban settl ement s are like old,worn-out clothes that no longer match our occ upati ons and intenti ons. [Ragon, Oli Vivrous-nous Demain?] 34 The group was fo unded in Paris in 196 5 by lone l Schein, Yona Friedman, Paul Maymont ,Georges Patrix, Mich el Ragon, Nicholas Schoj j er and Walter Jonas. The inte ntio n of the fo unding members was to unite architects, urban planners and artis ts on the international stage who wereexamining the fut ure of cit ies and architecture ; ideas should be exchanged and joint exhibit ions and conf erences organised. The group hoped to attract international members such as Arthur Ouarmby,Frei Ott o, Guy Rottier , Will iam katavotus. Kisho Kurokawa, sta phana du Chateau, Werner Ruhnau, Pascal Hauserrnann and David Georges Emmerich . The Belgian Cent re d 'Etud es Architecturales served

16 / 17

tion Of the modules . Similar megastructures , but emphasizing the

cyclic character of th e c ity , are to be found in the urban utopias

of the rnetabo ltsts .s" In an analogy with biological systems , the ir

city of the future is like an organic, dynamic body subjected to

changing cycles and forming an indivisible alliance between hu ­

mans , mach ines and spaces . The different structures of a city

[capsules , loadbearing structure , communication structure,

transport structure) should be separated from each other accord ­

ing to their life cycles . The ir mega structures in the form of waves

["wall clusters "], trees ["urban connectors") or double-helix mol­

ecules reflect in a very pictorial manner the bio logical-organ ic ap­

proach . The technoid , migrating cities, which the Archigram Group

presented in comic-style drawings, formed the conclusion and

climax of the urban utnplas .:"

THE ROOM MOOULE, A TECHNOIO ORGANISM III The

futuristic urban visions were accompanied in the 1960s by archi­

tectural utopias that questioned the very essence of trad it ional

liv ing concepts and forms and demonstrated radical, new solu ­

t ions based on the automation of fully equipped houses. Arthur

Ouarmby 's vis ion of the house of the futu re drew a picture of a

technoid organism defined by the comfort and convenience of its

occupants . Lighting, colours , sounds, music , views of the outside

world , odours and feelings3B should be controlled via the touch of

a button just like the movable partitions, facades and roofs . In

1965 David Greene went one step further with his "Living Pod"

design . The high -tech , automated residential module with its

space-travel aesthetic was fitted with electrical sliding doors , an

automated "body-cl eansing system" , rotating cupboards for stor­

ing clothes, a mobile food -and -drink servery and integral, auto ­

matic cooker. The house had become an active , living organism - a

" mot her machine " that washed , clothed and fed its occupants .:"

I I I Also rem iniscent of a living organism was the fantastic ar­

ch itecture of the American philosopher and industrial designer

William Katavolos. Katavolos designed a mobile , weightless plas ­

t ic house made from liquid plastic moulded into torus shapes or

spheres . The outcome of chemical processes , the self-cleaning

windows also regulate the temperature , the rib -like , double-leaf

plastic walls function as refrigerator or cooker, and the walls cre ­

ate everyday articles out of plastlc. "? The houses are created at

random and produce - imitating the growth processes of living or­

ganisms - " blossoms" from their own integral substances in the

form of everyday articles .

Tho "yUle spatlalo " consisted o/a muir/storey space frame that couldbe filled with any number of ,oom modules; Yona r, ledman , 1959/60

Sclf ·SUPPorfjn8 accommodatfon capsules susponded from a delIcate structure frameworlt.,Wol/gang DOring. 19 114

The room modulo 858 tochnold organism which cleans . cremes and feeds us occupants; "L1vlnBPod", David Greeno. 1965

as their mouthpiece, a centre which besides hosting regular avant-garde exhibitions also published a series of books defining the positions of individual members of the group. Michel Ragon, foundingmember of the group and architecture critic, chronicled the work of the group through publications and papers In journals. Some members of the group, e.g. Schein, Ouarmby, Hauserrnann, dedicatedthemselves to investigating the possibilities ofthe new material in architecture. 35 Yona Friedman, "L' Architecture Mobile", in: Cahier du Centre d'Etudes Architecturales, No.3, Brussels, 196B,pp. 20-21 36 Kisho Kurakawa founded the metabolists group in 1960 together with the architecture critic Nobru Kawazoe. In that same year they presented their ideas at the "Metabolism" exhibitionin Tokyo and published their manifesto Metabolism: The Proposals for New Urbanism. The architecture of metabolism is an expression of the "Age of Life" and is based on cycles ["metabolic cycle"], onmetamorphosis [change} and on symbiosis [the fusing of different, sometimes opposing factors and information, e.g. tradition and hi-tech, different cultures and lifestyles, etc.}. Kisho Kurokawa,

A BRIEF HISTORY OF PLASTIC BUILDINGS

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MEMBRANE TENS ION STRUCTURES III Today's plas ­

t ics architecture landscape is essentially characterised by struc ­

tures employing synthetic membranes. The apparently weightless

forms made from transparent sheets and synthetic fabrics are the

result of modern , engineered membrane construction . We should

not forget that building with membranes is almost as old as hu ­

manity itself; tents with coverings of animal skins, wattle, canvas,

cotton or linen have been used as accommodation since time im­

memori al by nomadic peoples or soldiers, as temporary banquet­

ing halls by royal courts , and textile sunshades have been used as

roo fs of sports arenas and theatres since Roman times . Until the

mi ddle of the 20th century, however, the construction industry

paid little attention to such membrane structures , attached little

import ance to them , did not regard them as elements of archi ­

t ecture. III Modern membrane construction started with the

development of suspended roojs .:" Vladimir G. Shukhov built two

exhibi t ion pavilions for the lB96 pan -Russian exhibition at Nizhni

Novgorod,42 wh ich with their suspended , mesh-like roof construc­

t ions of steel strips became exh ibits themselves and excited the

interest of the international audlenca.:" The mesh and lattice

roof s represented the breakthrough for shell structures in double

curvature made from identical elements. During the 1930s, James

Stewart." and , in particular, the French engineer Bernard Laffaille

advanc ed the development of membrane tension st ructures; Laf ­

f aille'S sheet-metal shells in double curvature dating from 1936

ess ent iall y formulated the nature of membrane t ension st ruc ­

tu res . But it was not until the publication of Oas hangende Oach

(t he suspended roof] in 1954 that the industry reached a water­

shed in membrane construction . Frei Otto illustrated the con ­

str uct ional and architectural possibilities of membrane construc ­

t ion and thus raised the status of architecture 's "ugly duckling" .

Conventional tent structures became precise ly designed and ca l­

culat ed engineered assemblies made from prestressed mem ­

bra nes in double curvature with diverse , complex forms , albeit

initiall y sti ll mak ing use of traditional cotton materials. Again and

again , tr ials were conducted in an attempt to replace convention ­

al tent materials by modern fabrics because the advantages

promised by the new materials were already evident. The light ­

weight membranes showed their potent ial in terms of their im­

proved durab ility, higher tearing strength , better behaviour in fire

and weathering res istance, and thus seemed predestined f or this

new f ield of structural engineering . III But th e first attempts

ended in disaster. In 19 57 the ent rance arch for the German

Tho cit y In rho see Is tho outcome 01 tho curlnBprocessos of liquid plas tics ;Will iam xet avoto s . 1960

Vladi m" G. Shukhov 's ava' pav"'on a t Iha l B98 pan·Russian exhibItion was an Bartyexample ala mesh·typo suspen ded roo! construction made fromIdentical elements .

This Ir/al sadd la·shapad arch mada fram shae t melalsegments formulat ed for Iha firSI tlma Iho(oQujremcnts of membrane tonslon struc tures :Bernard Laf alll a, 1938

K. Kikutaka, MBtabolism: ThB Proposals for New Urbanism, Tokyo, 1960 37 Archigram was founded in 1960 by the British architects Warren Chalk, Peter Cook, Dennis Crompton, David Graane, RonHerron and Michael Webb. Up until 1974 their urban utopias such as "Walking City" or "Plug-in City" ensured plenty of attention. They first came to the notice of a wide international audience duringtheir joint exhibition "Living City" held at the London Institute of Contemporary Arts in 1963. 3B "I would like to be able to create an atmosphere - a mood - by varying lighting, colours, sound, music,views, smells, feeling. Why do we not build such facilities into housing?" Duarmby, The Plastic Architect, pp. 131-32 39 ibid., p. 132 40 Ragon, ou Vivrous-nous Demain?, pp.1D2-o441 The Czech engineer Friedrich Schnirch invented the suspended roof in 1824 and patented it in 1826. Schnirch covered parallel purlins positioned between ridge and eaves. GeorgMoller, in his "designtheory" of 1828, published for the first time the use of "grid or node systems" for curved iron roof structures. He took the Gothic as his model. He built the first iron lattice dome over the east crossing

18 / 19

Federal Garden Exhibition in Cologne and the Bellevue Palace cafe

at the Interbau fair, both by Frei Otto, were originally built using

synthetic fabrics , but were replaced by cotton after just a short

t ime in se rvice because moisture damage and tears revealed the

deficiencies of the plastics of that time. The changeover from

cotton and linen materials to synthetic membranes in the form of

textiles, sheets and meshes was only completed gradually in the

1970s as synthetic materials underwent constant improve ­

ments . I I I Whereas the focus of interest in shell structures is

the construction itself, it is the fascination of the almost immate­

rial material that favours the use of synthetic membranes as the

facade material for temporary sheds and domes. As early as 194B,

Buckminster Fuller clad his "Necklace Oome "45 of the "Skybreak

Dwelling"?" in transparent plastic sheeting. The dome was intend ­

ed to serve as a controlled-climate envelope for a mobile house,

made from modular units, plus its garden. Dur ing the 1950s, other

domes copied this example. However, the trade fair halls in which

the sheeting was stretched over conventional loadbearing struc­

tures without taking into account the specific needs of th is form

of construction revealed the lack of experience in handling the

new building materials .:" I I I The architectural and structural

highlights were the tent constructions of the German pavltlorr" at

the 1967 World Exposition in Montreal and the Olympics struc ­

tures built two years later in Munich. In Montreal it was the grace ­

ful , playful, open roof landscape - plastic membranes in double

curvature supported by a network of steel cables - that proved so

popular with international visitors. The curv ing roofs of the Olym ­

pies structures in Mun ich have a covering of transparent Perspex

panels which are bolted via neoprene pads to the joints of the ca ­

ble -net supporting structure .

PNEUMATIC STRUCTURES III Air -inflated and air -sup ­

ported structures represent a special area of membrane construc­

t ion . In pneumatic structures , pressure differences between the

enclosed space and the exterior are responsible for giving the

bu ilding its shape and also for stabilising the envelope. Although

pneumatic structures had been seen in earlier centu ries in the

form of rafts of inflated animal skins, as the battle standards of

armies in the form of air -filled kites , or as flying hot-air bat tncns.: "

it was not until the start of the 20th century that their use for ar­

chit ecture was cons idered . In his patents of 1917 and 1919, the

British engineer F. W. Lanchester outlined the most important

principles of pneumatic shed constructions [airlocks , fans for

stabilising the air pressure , anchorage to the ground, stabilising

network of cables) and thus created the foundation for the devel ­

opment of pneumatic structures in architecture . However, the

patents did not bring about any notable buildings over the next 3D

yea rs and the first attempts in the 1930s to build so -called in ­

flated domes did not get beyond the experimental stage . It was

Tho anrranca arch for the Gorman Fodoral Gardan Exhibition In Cologne demonstrated tho doslg"potontla! 01 mombrana structures as a new field 01 englneBred DfchHecruro; Fro' Otto . 1957

Tho "NBc/d acs Domo", covarad with transparen t plastic shooting . wasintended to se rve 85 a cllmate -contmlled enclosure lor 8 mobile house;-Skybrsok Dwol!lnB " , (JuckmlnSIOt Fullot, 1949

Tho tensllo sholl structuro 01 the Gorman pavilion at tho World fKposltlon ,nMont roal. wah Its orna to beauty and lightness, made D 'asting ImpreSSion onalt visUalS,' Fro; OUD . 19 6 7

of Mainz Cathedral, although the lattice was not yet in one plane. It was Johann Wilhelm Schwedler who built the first true lattice domes (1863 onwards] in which all the members were positioned in thesame plane. Rainer Graefe suspects that Shukhov was familiar with Schwedler's designs. 42 He had already tested his mesh-like roof system on a factory building in 1894 and had applied for a patentone year later. 43 One of his pavilions, a rotunda, consisted of two different suspended roofs. The steel mesh covered the outer perimeter of the circular building, suspended between two rings withdiameters of 68.3 and 25 m. Within the inner ring, a suspended shell of riveted sheet metal formed the selj-supporting roof covering. 44 In James Stewart's suspended rooffor a grain store in Albany[New York, 1932], the sheet metal panels just 2.7 mm thick spanned 36 m and thus formed a freely suspended membrane In single curvature. In contrast to prestressed shell structures In doublecurvature, suspended roofs are frequently only Single-curvature structures and hence unstable; they achieve their stability through their high self-weight. 45 In the "Necklace Dome" [a predecessor

the American engineer Walter Bird who achieved the breakthrough .

He had been working in this field since 1946 and in 1955 he built

the f irst spherical inflated dome for the General Electric company

at Cornell University ; it made use of plastic membranes and

caused worldwide uproar. Just one year later, his design for a

pneumatic sw imm ing pool roof made from transparent sheets ap ­

peared on the cover of an edition of Life Magazine.5o This cost ­

effective method of building large sheds - 1 Wcost only 9B US

cent - led in subsequent years to considerable development and

production acttvtttes'" in the industrialised countries and count­

less air -supported buildings with spher ical and cylindrical fo rms

appeared in the rush to achieve ever -greater dlmenstcns .P?These

air-supported bu ildings were more interesting for their technical ­

const ructi onal aspects than for their formal -aesthetic appeal.

The lightness of these constructions seemed to be an absurd

contradiction to their monstrous forms . / / / The only excep­

t ions were the sheds and pavilions of Victor Lundy, whose grace­

fully curving forms demonstrated the architectural potential of

pneumatic structures . His exhibition hall, which he built for the

United States Atomic Energy Commission in 1960, employed two

adjacent domes of different height and width to create a long,

cave-like structure which at the " gable" ends terminates in canti ­

levering, barrel-vault canopies. He managed to achieve this stroke

of architectural genius through using a hybrid technique. The in ­

terior is formed according to the overpressure principle of air ­

inflated buildings and the outer envelope, which consists of a

double-layer membrane of PVC-coated nylon fabric, has additional

pneumatic stabilising. A special feature is the canopies made up

of rows of air -filled, tube-shaped cushions . Cushion construe ­

t ion ,53 a further development of Carl Koch's theatre roof in Bos ­

ton , was used here for the first time as an enclosing envelope .

Koch designed the circular roof to the theatre in the form of an

enormous nylon cushion, 44 m in diameter and up to 7 m deep ,

st ret ched between a c ircumf erent ial steel structure. Originally,

the construction was merely intended to serve as formwork for a

concrete dome, but after this structure itself withstood the rigours

of a hurricane in 1960, a decision was made to abandon the con ­

cretel But for a long time, Victor Lundy's exhibition hall remained

an architectural and engineering exception in pneumat ic mem­

brane architecture .

A BRIEF HIS T ORY OF PLASTI C BUILD INGS

Tho drowings accompanylnB F. W Lanchests,'s J918 patent lor a pneumatIcshod; the patent document contBlned aU tho essential elements for modernpnoumatic suucrures.

II

Wallet Bird waves Irom thlt top 01 the/lrst air-supported membrana dome In

Cornall; Walter Bud . J955

of his geodesiCdomes). the load bearing structure of th e dome is formed by stra ight tubes arranged in tri angles, which are threaded onto wire ropes lik e pearls on a necklace to f orm a st able sphericalshape. This principle is call ed mult ipolar tensegrit y. 46 Fuller 's stu dents developed a "st andard-of -l iving package" as a design exerc ise - a detached home fo r six persons, the room modules of whichcould be transport ed in one conta iner t owed behind a vehicle. 47 The Henschel company designed it s cube-shaped t rade f air hall using a Mero st eel st ructure that was covered completely (wallsand roof] with a 0 .2 mm membrane. The barrel-vault exhib it ion hall for t he designs of th e Siemens compan y consisted of a mesh- like t imber str uc ture [a so-called Zollbau timber-rib con struction) th atwas also covered with a transpa rent membrane (0.25 mm Gutagena sheet] . The recta ngular gastronom y tent at the World Exposition in Brussels had a t ent -like suspende d membrane [in double curvatu re)which looked like a prestressed shell stru cture ; however, the membrane was not loadbea ring, but simply st retc hed over a steel framework of suspe nded fi sh-bell y girders . (Saechtling, Schwabe, Bauen

20 ! 21

UTOPIA IS NOW

Ut opian de si gns and experimental projects - maximal bubbles or

min imal she lters - f irst revealed the fascinating appeal of "air

structures " . The possib ility of enclosing large areas without inter­

ven ing co lumns encouraged engineers and architects to produce

futu rist ic des igns in which transparent pneumatic domes were

shown covering whole landscapes and towns . The desire to pro ­

vide th e needs of human beings coupled with the belief in a better

future were the reasons behind these gigantic transparent enclo ­

su res creating env ironments with a controlled climate, and thus

pe rmitt ing human settlements to be established in inhospitab le

climates , guaranteeing a Mediterranean li f est yle worldwide, or

favouring the growth of plants . / / / Throughout the 1950s and

1960s, numerous projects - geodesic domes , cable -net struc ­

tures and pneumatic hu lldlngs - were designed as climate-control

envelopes covering large areas .P" The best-known designs stem

from the drawing boards of Frei Otto and Buckminster Fuller. The

latter 's giant transparent dome over Manhattan was published as

a photomontage in 1962. Wind , rain , snow and ice , as well as

emissions, were banished from the human living space . The micro ­

climate elaborately and expensively created in each individua l

li ving space to protect against a hostile nature was now trans ­

ferred into the macroclimate of the t ransparent dome. 55 / / / In

that same year, Frei Otto published a design for a pneumatic dome

that could be built in the Antarctic to create a habitable Ilvlng

spa ce and protect a whole town against the inhospitable exterior

climate .56 The background to this design was the frightening sce­

nario of global overpopulation , a nightmare that had not lost its

relevance 10 years later: in 1971 Frei Otto returned to th is idea ,

this t ime together with Kenzo Tange and Dve Arup, and developed

in deta il a cable -supported pneumatic structure for a town in the

Antarct ic .

UA HOME IS NOT A HOUSE"

The book Zugbeanspruchte Konstruktionen [Tensil e Structures)

appeared in 1962, the first publ ication dea ling in full with pneu­

matic structures , and was followed in 1967 by an internat ional

colloquium on this tcptc ."? This spe cia l form of construction

started t o make more and more inroads into arch itecture and

serve d th e young architects on the fringe of the pop scene as a

medi um for their architectu ral experiments . The soap bubbles, as

an ini t ial starting point of the pub lication , illust rat e impressively

the weightlessness of pneumat ic structures made from transpar­

ent membranes and at the same time form a link between the new

building technology and the organic world of nature . / / / The

pa radi gmatic s ignificance of a synthesis between technology and

nature for future hous ing forms was demonstrated by the British

ExhlbWon PsvHlon lor tho US Atomic EnorBY CommIssIon; vrctor lundy, 1960 Istructuralenginesrs : Walter 8/rd and Sovorud·Efs(ad·f(ruogofJ

~. . . .

~o 25 50 75'

Longitudinal section; thiS pneumaClc shed combinas two construction prinCiples : the mam

section is an Du·suppotted structure stabilised by overpressuro In the inter/or , whefoDs thecantllevorlng canopies at both ends are Blr.in/lated srructures made from alr./illed tubes .

mit Kunststoffen, pp. 355-97J 48 The pavilion was a joint composition designed by Rolf Gutbrod, Frei Otto and the structural engineer Fritz Leonhardt. 49 Cyrano de Bergerac describes a smoke­filled balloon in his fantastic novel L'histoire comique con tenant les etats et empires du soleil [c. 1650J that carries a cabin into space. In 1709 the priest B. L. de Gusmao in Lisbon allowed himself tobe transported up into the air in a hot-air balloon. And in 1731 a Russian civil servant floated above the crowns of birch trees dangling from a smoke-filled balloon. The first, spectacular flight in a mannedhot-air balloon, which lasted more than 25 minutes, was achieved by the Mongolfier brothers in Paris in 17B3. [Thomas Herzog, Pneumatic Structures, London, 1977, p. 36J 50 Concurrently with this,G.T. Shejldahl, the founder of the Shejldahl company, built his so-called Shejldomes, likewise inflatable domes with which he could enclose swimming pools, warehouses and offices. 51 Tsxalr, Birdair,Shejldahl, Krupp, USRubberand Goodyearare the best-known names from the early years of air-supported buildings. The envelopes consisted mostly of a plastic-coated nylon membrane or a polyester sheet.

architecture critic Reyner Banham with his design for an "Un­

house" , which he presented in 1965 in a paper entitled "A Home

is not a House" . Forming a contrast to monumental architecture,

Banham devised his "Un -house" as a prehistoric hut in which the

ingenious , highly automated infrastructure system becomes the

nucleus of the living space , replacing the fireplace of ancient

shelters . The infrastructure en miniature , as a mobile " standard­

of -living package" , guarantees that the occupants have every­

thing they need (heating , cooling, ventilation , music , telecommu­

nications, television , cooking, refrigeration). whereas a transpar­

ent, inflatable plastic dome protects them from the weather. The

house is folded down to the size of a piece of luggage that the

nomadic occupant can carry around with him or her ready to re­

erect at any location. Technical innovations will turn human be­

ings into the cave dwellers of the new age, livlng in harmony with

nature .P" I I I Two years later, Haus Rucker C05S took up the

idea of the inflatable " environment bubble" in their" Balloon for

Two"60 experiment - something between a performance and an

art istic room -sized installation. The transparent plastic sheeting,

incl uding "occupants" , was forced through a first-floor window of

the studio , like bubblegum, and remained there suspended in the

streetscape as an air -inflated room with a diameter of about

3 .5 m. The background to this space experiment was the" ...

dream to achieve tangib le contro l of consc iousness through ar­

ch itectural devices."61Perhaps like the psychedelic drug experi­

ences of those days , the architecture was intended to act as a

" t ransf ormer", influencing the user 's sensual perceptions . For

this purpose, coloured, reflective patches and strips were fixed to

the outside of the transparent envelope ; thanks to superimposed

patterns, reflections and the cu rvature of the facade, but also the

climatic and acoustic iso lation from the outside world, the pte ­

ture of the outside world seen from the inside of this cocoon-type

space was presented as a distorted view of reality.62 III Sim­

ilar projects , in which the theme of the flexibility and mobility of

living spaces was taken to the extreme and the architecture was

trans itory, continued into the 1970s.63These f antasies and con ­

cepts in which the architecture is resolved in entropic style, in ­

evltably capped development in this direction.

A BRIEF HISTORY OF PLASTIC BUILDING S

A deslg" for a far80 pneumatic dome suppor ted by It network 01 cables for 8

City In tho Antarct;c; Frs; nue, Konzo Tan80. Ova Arup. 19 71

Phorom ontllBo: an onolmous transparont dome COVf"S8 whole distric t of Now York; InSIde . an

environment wit h a con ttolfo d climate ; BuckmlnstBr FuUer. 1962

52 Air-supported buildings were used jor storage , exhibiti ons, radar screen ing. rocket assembly and as tem porary rooj s over swimming pools or greenhouses. Birdair 's exhibit ion domes jor the us Armyhad already reache d a diameter oj 49 m by 195B . 53 Cushi on constructi ons are pneumati c st ructures in whic h at least two membranes are joined together along their edges and tensioned by the airpressure in the cavity betw een the membranes. 54 Betwe en 1953 and 1971, Frei Ott o designed numerous large-scal e cl imate-contro l envelopes encl osing whole tow ns or landsc apes. His f irst designsto fo ll ow this principle, dating fr om 1953, include an expansive glasshou se envelope spann ing a compl ete mountain vall ey with cable nets and an inji lli ng oj tran sparent plastic sheets or corrugatedPerspex panels , and also a clim ate envelope mede jrom a t ransparent cabl e net jor a town in the Antarctic . 55 This is an idea that Buckminster Fuller had pursued back in 1949 on a smaller scalewith his "Skybreak Dwell ing" The idea oj a large dome over Manhattan as portraye d in the ja mous photomontage oj 1962 probably stems j rom an idea he had bac k In 1950 in which he proved that his

22 I 23

DECLINE AND RENA ISSANCE OF A" M IRACLE MATERIAL"

The 1970 World Exposition [EXPO) in Osaka marked the zenit h and

for the time being the termi nation of plas tics arc hitect ure. Pavil ­

ions "f loati ng" above the ground , reminiscent of UFOs, plast ic

capsules hanging from loadbearing f rameworks, pneumatic sheds

and tube-like traffic systems reflected society's f ascin at ion wi th

technology. The EXPO was akin to the c ity of the future that had

been propagated as the model of the future by Mich el Ragon and

many others during the 196 os, and fo r a short t ime t ransported

visitors to an alien pla net. Whereas t he EXPO repr esented f or

many people the manifestation of their constructi on vis ion s, oth ­

ers - even at this earl y date - were already crit ici sing th e inhuman­

ity of the technoid constructio ns . Ut opi a had become " Dys­

topia " .64 / / / The plastics euphoria came to an abrupt end with

the oil crisis of 1973 and wi th the f irst large-scale pla stic cap­

sules. The large resi den tia l and office buildings assemb led from

prefabricated room mod ules turned out to be an anonymous and

inhuman part of the built environment - th e individual was degrad ­

ed to an unperson in a sync hro nised populat ion mass , th e fully

f itted capsule homes were sudde nly impersonal hou sing cells

that dictated the lifestyles of their occupants and left no room f or

individual expression and des ign . As a reaction to th is, new life­

style concepts beg an to emerge in soci ety . In accordance with

the ca tchphrase "Back to Nature! " , " natural" building materials

came to the fore , the intent ion being that they wou ld allow indi­

vidual expression and a more human interior climate. Man and

machine , nature and artificiality were now inconcei vable as a syn­

thesis and as a viab le model of urban living in th e f ut ure. By the

end of the 1970s at the very latest, plas tics no longer represented

progress and modernism, bu t ins te ad were asso ciated with the

stigma of ugly, cheap mate rials, and they disappea red tempora r­

ily from the architectural land scap e. / / / Almo st unnot iced

and very gradually, pl ast ics started to find th eir way back into ar­

chitecture in the early 1990s. Unencumbered by ideology, art isti­

cally curved memb rane st ruc tures made from th in plastic env e­

lopes began to be notice d by the profession as new , t ransparent

membranes were in trod uce d. The efficie ncy of th e lightweight

membrane constructions is suc h that in the meantime enclosures

and roofs of synthet ic membranes are now among the standar d

solutions for temporary str uc t ure s; tr anspa rent sheets are in­

creasingly replacing heavy and expens ive glass construc tio ns f or

biospheres , anim al c ompound s and c onservato ries . / / /

Furthermore , stan dard industr ial produc t s made fro m transp arent

plastic sheets and shells are also becoming more and more at­

tractive as a cheap alternative to glass and are readily employed

as a building material in the expe riments of the avant-garde . The

possibilities for plastics as bu il ding mate rials are being re-exam­

ined and tested , especially in te rms of sustai nabil it y fr om th e per-

Soap bubbl . s oro an Id••1way of IlIuSlra llng Ih. llghrn. s s and

weFBfltl ossnoss 01 pnou mauc cons truc tions; r:rel Otto's trials withmodals 01 t ho/LEI(, Slu llgall

Tho "Un·ho uso" oj Raynor Bonham (J9B5/ consrs ts of acomple x In!18struc tufB en minia ture and 8 transpa rentpnoumatlc onvelopo.

geodesic domes could even be built in such sizes. 56 Frai Otto, Tensile Structures, Cambridge, 1882 57 Victor Lundy ["Architectural and Sculptural Aspects of Pneumatic Structures"], Walter Bird["The Development of Pneumatic Structures. Past, Present and Future"] and Heinz Isler ["Clear Transparent Roof for a Court"] were among those who gave presentations at the international cotloquturnin Stuttgart. In: Proceedings of the 1st International ColloqUium on Pneumatic Structures, Stuttgart University of Technology, 1867 56 Reyner Banham, "A Home is not a House", in: Art in America,No.2, 1865. The paper was written in conjunction with research carried out for the Graham Foundation in the US; Banham investigated the role of building services in modern architecture. The drawingsaccompanying the paper were drawn by the architect and designer Francois Dallegret. 59 Klaus Pinter, Laurids and Manfred Ortner and Gunter Zamp Kelp founded the Haus Rucker Co partnership in 1867.60 The 1872 room bubble can be seen in the form of "Oasis No. 7" at the Documenta art exhibition in Kassel. 61 Gunter Zamp Kelp, in: Heinrich Klotz [ed.], Haus-Rucker-Co 1867 brs 1983,Braunschweig, 1984, p. 71 62 These fundamental cunsiderattrms frumri thpir \A/~\I jntn rn",n",.,f ...h .... ~~ ..... _, , __ ..._ "",' 1 •

A BRIEF HISTORY OF PLASTI C BUIL DIN GS

spective Of so -called bionic architecture. / / / Plastics were

branded fo r a long t ime as " unmaterials" whose lack of character

and undefinableness allegedly made them unsuitable for use as

bu lldlng materials . However, it is now precisely those properties

that make them ideal for an architecture that has moved on from

the tradit ional values of durability and standard use of materials

and sees the main features as adaptability, flexibility and efficiency.

As a materials experiment, the indifference of plastics and their

amb igu ity go hand in hand with the tendencies of contemporary

arch itecture, which values the atmospheric, the sensual and the

irritating. And that heralds the renaissance of plastics .

Tho "BaUoon lor Two", a transpnrent, pnoumatlc minimal space,

caUlas Us "occupants· out rntc rho streetscspe: Hous Rucker Co,

196 7

structu res. 63 GUy Rott ler and Denis Garnier designed th e "Maison d'unJour" . The house for a day consisted of a number of bubble -shaped rooms which could be creat ed as required by the occ upantslike soap bubbl es. Af ter hardening , they were suitable for habitation and on th e next day they could be dissolved again using a special solvent ! Guy Rott ier, "Recherches Archit ecturales", in: Cahier duCentre d·Etudes Architecturales, No. B, Brussel s, 196B, pp , 3B-39. 1966: Gernot Nalbach designs a town of pneumat ic bubbles. 1967 : Haus Rucker Co designs the pneumatic , sphe rical housing unit"Pneumacosmic Formation ", which can be docked ont o an urban-type loadbearing structure , for " Interdesign 20 0 0", an intern ational competi ti on. 196B: David Greene and Michael Webb develop the" Inflatab le Suit House" . 1974: Arthu r Ouarrnby publi shes his "House and Garden Project " with inf lat ed, t ransparent domes. 64 Takabumi Sasaki, "A passage throu gh the oys·topia of EXPO1970 " , In:Japan Architect , May/June 1970 , pp. 143 - 50

24 / 25

THE DUALITY DF FDRM AND MATERIAL

For more than 2,000 years, the relationship between form and material in the

Western world was governed by clear rules. The idea behind the form was to express

the spirit, and the material had mere ly to serve; subsidiary to the idea, it was its

manifestation. / / / In Roman times, Vitruvius described form-finding as the result

of deliberation and inventinn.' and reduced the choice of materials to economic

issues and regional customs plus their constructional properties regarding durability

and strength ," the essential criteria. P In the Renaissance, materials grew in

importance. but continued to remain subservient to the idea . Even though Alberti

basically adhered to the commentaries of Vitruvius and continued to portray durability

and strength as the essential criteria when choosing materials , materials now took

on the additional role of beautifying the structure." The decoration and hence the

specific use of the material served the consummation of architecture and

underscored the form as tdea. " / / / The subsidiary importance of the material

becomes particularly evident in sacred stone architecture over the course of the

centuries; although it is always the same material, the stone appears as a cubic­

closed form during the Romanesque, as delicate strutting and tracery in the Gothic,

or as organically curving forms in the Baroque. The material is subjected to the whims

of the designer. It was not until the 19th century, with industrialisation and the

1 VitruYius, Ten Books on Architecture, New York, 1960 2 Durability and strength are the features of the best build ing materials . Ainngsids appropriate­ness and beauty, durabil ity belongs to the basic requirements of arch itecture. Durability will be assured when foundations are carried down to the solid groundand materials Wisely and liberally sele cted. [VitruYius, Ten Books on Archil eclure] 3 For Vitruvjus. the underlying aestheti c concepts of archit ecture are:

order, arrangement , eurhythmy, symmetry, propriety and econom y. Economy describes the proper management of materials; looked at fr om the point of viewof cnst-savtngs, regional build ing materials should be employe d. Furthermore, the building materials chosen should be those that are durable and of great

strength. (VitruYius. Ten Books on Archileclurel 4 The grace and delightfuln ess, one th inks, stems fro m noth ing oth er th an th e beauty and from thedecoration. Therefore, thosewhowishtocreate somethingdelightful must aimforgreatest beautymore thananvthinc plc:p If t h p\I Ufn, ,Irf h~ ""' ..l_

MATERIAL AND FORM - "FORM FOLLOWS MATERIAL?"

introduction of new building materials such as concrete , gla ss and iron, t hat t he

relationship between form and material began to waver. / / / In his writ ings ,

Gottfried Semper championed so-called material style in which every material should

take on its appropriate form . Bricks , wood, iron especially, metal and zin c replace

ash lar masonry and marble . It wou ld be inappropriate to imitate them still further

with false attestations . The material speaks for itself and appears, unveiled in the

form, in the relationships that have been tried and tested by experience and science

as the most appropriate for that material. Brick appears as brick, wood as wood , iron

as iron , each single one according to its own laws of statics ." Elsewhere , he describes

form-finding as the resu lt of practica l purpose, the materials used and the methods

of production ." He therefore raised the status of the material and relieved it of it s

subservient function . At the same time, the latest developments in the architecture

of large market halls, palm houses and exhibition buildings made from delicate iron ­

and -glass assemblies supplied practical evidence to back up Semper 's theory and

founded de facto a new style of bu ilding in which it was no longer the idea , but rather

the material that determined the form . / / / Architects such as Otto Wagner, Adolf

Loos or Frank Lloyd Wright were [ollnwing Semper 's writings when they advocated a

form "to suit the material" . Just like Semper, Adolf Loos opposed the use of imitation

and spoke up for the equality of materials. He recommended the development of

form depending on materia l : "Every material possesses its own language of forms ,

and none may lay claim for itself to the forms of another material. For forms have

been constituted out of the applicability and the methods of production of materials .

They have come into being with and through materials ."B Frank Lloyd Wright was of

the opinion that each material had its own language and, correspondingly, every new

material leads to a new form. 9 / / / The art historians Alois Riegl and Adolf von

Hildebrand took up a decidedly opposing position to this technical -material

foundation for form . In his paper on the form problem in art , von Hildebrand develops

a theory of form genes is from the sp iritual to the material. Consequently, the form

concept of the artist leads to a graphic existence form and finds its artistic expression

in the materialised effect jorrn; '? the material , as a part of the effect form , must be

subordinate to the form concept. In a similar way, Riegl bases form on the "art isti c

wishes " or rather the "c reat ive thoughts" of the artist. Both Riegl and von Hildebrand

banished the material to tnsign ijtcance aga in. In the 1920s, this dispute about the

predominance of form or material led to the development of the cubist architecture

of the modern movement, whose protagon ists , under the slogan of " mat erial

integrity" , were opposed to traditiona l, ornamented architecture and developed the ir

architecture of cubist spatial art on the basis of functional , economic and t echnical

raquirernents ." However, rega rdless of the status of the material - whether in a

secondary, subservient function or as a characterising element of the design - form

and materia l remained inextricab ly intertwined , dictated by the opposing views of

" art ist ic wishes" and "material integrity". In contrast to this , in the same period the

visual arts developed approaches that led to a disso lution of the duality between

materia l and form .

all this without the great expense of decoration and pomp, that would have been a weakly and slightly comical thing! Leon Battista Alberti, The Ten Booksof Architecture, London, 1965 5 ForAlberti, decoration is not just ornamentation, but likewise the wall coverings and the material. Decoration could alsoserve the rarity and beauty of the stone itself, we could say itwas made from a type of marble. [Alberti, The TenBooks of Architecture] 6 Gottfried Semper:"Uber vielfarbige Architektur und Skulptur bei den Alten", 1B34, in: Hans 6 Manfred Semper [eds.I, Gottfried Semper. Kleine SChriften, Mittenwald, 1979,p.219 7 Gottfried Semper, "Keramisches", in: GottfriedSemper. Kleine Schriften, p. 24 B Adolf Loos, "The Principle of Cladding", 1898, in: Adolf Loos,Intothe Void. Collected Essays 1897-1900, Cambridge, 1982, p. 66 9 "Each material speaks a language of its own just as line and color speak." lp, 2701"Every new material means a new form, a new use if used according to its nature." [p. 294J Frank Lloyd Wright, "In the Cause of Architecture: Composition

2& / 27

THE DISSDLUTION OF THE FORM-MATERIALDUALITY

In intro duc ing the term formlessness in 1929, Bataille proposed the subjugation of

form and hence questioned provocatively the interdependence of material and form .

Just like the universe can be described as "f ormless ", the material should not be

subjected to any abstract idea . Bataille campaigned for a " mat eriali sm" that was a

direct int erpret at ion of the bare [acts. " This approach was continued in the art of

the 1950s. The intention in the works of the Japanese Gutai artists was that the

material should be it self and the artist was merely a mediator." In the 196os, Robert

Morris subsumed the art characterised by chance , transitoriness and process

allegiance under the heading of anti -form , an expression that in the following years

be came a slogan for liberating the material from the dominance of form; form as an

idea ceased to exist: " Arbit rary stacking, loose piling or suspending lend the material

a temporary form . Chance is accepted and indeterminacy intended because another

arrangement leads to a different formation. Detachment from defined, permanent

forms and arrangements is seen as positive. It is part of the denial attitude of these

works to continue no longer the aesthetic ising of form as a final measure ." !" The

ephemeral and "f ormless" character of this art found its outlet in utopian designs

and experimental plastics architecture . The "chemical architecture " of William

Katavolos was produced by the curing process of liquid plastic; in an analogy to

organic growth processes, his buildings created their own form. / / / As a

complement to " mat erial art", the Russian constructivists and artists inspired by the

Bauhaus movement advocated the subjugation of the material. In 1920 Naum Gabo

and Antoine Pevsner called for the liberation of the sculpted body from the sealed

mass ,15 and El Lissitzky described the " amat erial materialness " by means of imaginary

spaces and volumes generated by linking space and time - as in "objects forced to

move " .16 Laszlo Moholy-Nagy took up this approach in his book The New Vision , from

Material to Architecture and developed the idea of architecture as spatial art, which

is essentially founded on movement relationships and "fluctuating force

relationships " Y Subjugating the material aims at weightlessness, dynamic and

energy, and manifests it self in kinetic sculptures, light sculptures , energy spaces

and ephemeral structures . Yves Klein and Werner Ruhnau took up a radical position

with regard to immaterial architecture in the 1950s with their experiments involving

air (or rather energy) spaces , in which the material, in its substantial expression ,

vanishes completely . The air spaces were intended to be defined by different

condensed airflows trying to take advantage of the thermodynamic properties of the

air. Here , air as a " buil ding material " simply represents a "spiritual principle" in which

" mat eri als" such as air, gases, fire and water are intended to be used for a dynamic

and immaterial architecture. The "class ic " town of tomorrow would be built using

the three classic elements fire, water and air, and it would be correspondingly

flex ible , sp iritual and lrnrnaterial.P Formlessness and immaterialness as thematic

focuses for the art and architecture of the 20th century were united in the 1960s in

as Method in Creation", 192B, in: Bruce Brooks Pfeiffer [ed.], Frank Lloyd Wright. Collected Writings, vel, 1, New York,1992 10 Adolf von Hildebrand, DasProblem der Form in der bildenden Kunst [IB93], StraBburg, 1913, pp. 134-36 11 Walter Gropius, The New Architecture and The Bauhaus, Cambridge,Mass., 1965 12 Georges Bataille, "Informe" and "Materialisrne", 1929, in: Charles Harrison, Paul Wood [eds.): Art in Theory. An Anthology of ChangingIdeas, OXford, 2001 13 "That is illusion in which humans have burdened materials, e.g. paints, fabrics, metals, clay or marble, with false significance

fraudulently so that instead of portraying their material self, they have taken on a foreign appearance ... Gutai art does not alter the matarial, it gives it life."Jiro Yoshihara, "Gutai Manifesto", 1956, excerpt in: Oietmar Rubel, Monika Wagner,Vera Wolff [eds.), Materialasthetik. Ouellentexte zu Kunst, Design undArchitektur, Berlin,2005, p. 261 14 RobertMorris, "Anti-Form", Artforum, Apri1196B,reprint in:Materialasthetik, Berlin,2005, p, 269 15 NaumGabo.Antoine

MATERIAL AND FORM - "FORM FOLLOWS MATERIAL?"

THE DIGITAL FDRM

The digital form burdened with the immaterial , virtual reality of t he comput er worl d

is diametrically opposed to the prevailing material fetishism . As CAD pro grams were

int ro duced as design tools , the form in the planning process became complet ely

divorced from the material, and materialisation was relegated to the backgroun d in

the sequence of design and production processes. Thanks to the coupling with new

production methods, which enable , and also require , digital continuity from des ign

to production , planning the design becomes planning the product. The immaterial

product has an inherent virtual form and only during manufacture do we find a

reference back to the material. / / / Robbed of its material dimension , the digital

form is deprived of control and restraint by the material. Instead, the processing

capacity of the computer and the options of high -end software determine the limits

of form, which, however, evades the perception of the designer and presents itself

as apparent boundlessness . Detached from the material in the computer world of

unlimited opportunities, form as a quantity of data has added the new world of the

exactly calculable freely formed surface to the language of architecture . Modelled

3D spaces with continuously curving surfaces , like walk-in sculptures, are cr eated

in virtual reality. Every conceivable form can be changed dynamically and at w ill in

the three -dimensional , virtual model. The material as a form-giving parameter is

replaced by the laws of biological , physical or statical processes, which are emulated

in the computer. The dynamic of the processes is simulated and the form generated

or modified accordingly - a fact that is reflected in the new terminology : the

architectural avant-garde gives its architecture names like "transarch itecture " ,

"genetic architecture" or "flowing architecture"; the design processes are like a

morphogenesis and the concept of form is replaced by the term design . The form ­

material duality seems to have been finally banished to the pages of history. The con ­

temporary architect is an animation designer and "materials artist " at the same t ime .

Pevsner, "Realistic Manifesto", 1820, excerpt in: Ulrich Conrads [ed.], Programs and Manifestoes of 20th Century Architecture, Cambridge, Mass., 187016 El Lissitzky, "K.lunst) und Pangeometrie" in: Ulrich Conrads, PeterNeitzke [ads.], £1 Ussitzky, 1829. Russland: Architekturfureine Weltrevolution, BauweltFundamente, vol. 14, Braunschweig, 18B8, pp.122-28 17 "Space creation is not primarily a question of building material ... Thus a present-day spacecreation does not consist in putting together heavy building masses, nor in the formation of hollow bodies, nor in the relative positions of well-arrangedvolumes. Nor in arranging alongside of one another single cells oj tha same or different volume content. Space creation is today much more an interweavingof parts of spaces, which are anchored for the most part in invisible, but clearly traceable relations, moving in all directions, and in the fluctuating play offorces. The arrangement of this space creation is effected on the measurable plane by limits of bodies, and on the non-measurable by flowing fields afforce.

28 / 29

ext remes , which have established themselves as primary features of contemporary

arch itecture with the d ig lt ising of the design and production processes and the

rediscovery of the sensual qualities of the material. Form and material become

antagonists leading parallel lives in contemporary architecture .

THE MATERIALNESS OF THE MATERIAL

The decline of the plastics era and the demand for " nat ural" materials in the 1970s

brought the texture of materials within the architect 's field of vision . Alvar Aalto has

used the effect of material surfaces quite deliberately in his deslgns" and comes

close to the nature of the material beyond its structural and building performance

properties . This way of approaching the material led in the 1990s to a sort of material

fetishism in which the effect of the material was paramount. Whereas architects

such as Peter Zumthor and Tadao Ando looked to the sensual and atmospheric as

well as the constructional character of the material plus its contextual and cultural

background, others deliberately opposed precisely these features of the materials :

extremely thin layers of stone bonded to a backing material negate the compressive

strength property of stone so relevant to building; conventional materials are

alienated and placed in a new context; materials from the aerospace industry ­

foreign to architecture - are used playfully in buildings; and new materials such as

foams , aerogels , textiles or luminescent concrete are being tried out. / / / The

architect 's willingness to experiment seems to know no bounds . The new profession

of "mat erials consultant " , who works as a " t rend scout " for architects , always

seeking new materials , reflects this fashion. The ways of handling materials as

described in Peter Weibel 's book of 1966 have become established in contemporary

arch itecture : Regardless of whether stones or words , wood or symbols , they are

materials with a rigid meaning, with an identified context. Meaning and context may

be present consciously or subconsciously. Revealing subconscious contexts and

meanings implies giving the material a new meaning . The materials are placed in new

environments , coupled with unusual materials, and they are thereby de -identified ,

de -conserved . New space-time relationships, new material combinations and new

symbol combinations create new meanings , are creatlve.P Facades are turned into

complex three-dimensional spatial configurations through curvature and folding, are

given an additional level of meaning through printing or lighting , are covered with

perforated plates , metal meshes or fabrics to form multi-layer, flexible envelopes, or

are reduced to textile membranes and sheets . Irrespective of the " internal workings " ,

they claim an independence that exploits the aesthetic effects of the materials ­

arc hit ect ure as a material art becomes an ambiguous information medium.

Thus space creation becomes the nexus of ever changing spatial entities: direct arrangement of space, pulled out of and put back into the great reservoir ofall entities - a creative treatment of space, not of building materials. Building material is only an auxiliary, in so far as it can be used as carrier of space-creating

and space-dividing relationships. The principal means of space creation is always the space alone, from whose laws the treatment has to proceed in allrespects." Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, The New Vision. Fundamentals of Bauhaus Design, Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture, New York, 2005 (reprint], p.184, 186

18 Yves Klein, Werner Ruhnau, Manifest zur allgemeinen Entwicklung der heutigen Kunst zur immateriaiisierung, 1858/58 in: Heiner Stachelhaus [ed.], Yves

Klein/Werner Ruhnau. Ookumentation der Zusammenarbeit in den Jahren 1957-1960, R8cklinghausen, 1876, pp. 41-42 19 So if we assume a materiaVform{phusisitekhn, etc.l opposition, must this oonositlon not give way to the cnst-rnodemltv nf tha immatarlal? .IRr.nllF!~ nRrrirl::l rlpfinpc:: thp m:::ltr:>ri'::ll t:lC' rTlQttpr

MATERIAL AND FORM - "F ORM FOLLOWS MATERIAL?"

THE DIGITAL FDRM

The digital form burdened with the immaterial , virtual reality of th e com put er world

is diametrically opposed to the prevailing material fetishism . As CAD programs were

introduced as design tools , the form in the planning process became complet ely

divorced from the material, and materialisation was relegated to the background in

the sequence of design and production processes. Thanks to the coupling with new

production methods, which enable, and also require , digital continuity from design

to production, planning the design becomes planning the product. The immaterial

product has an inherent virtua l form and only dur ing manufacture do we find a

refere nce back to the materia l. / / / Robbed of its material dimension , the digital

form is deprived of control and restraint by the material. Instead , the processing

capaclty of the computer and the options of high-end software determine the limits

of form, which, however, evades the perception of the designer and presents it self

as apparent boundlessness. Detached from the material in the computer world of

unlimited opportunities , form as a quantity of data has added the new world of t he

exactly calculable freely formed surface to the language of architecture . Modelled

30 spaces with continuously curving surfaces , like walk-in sculptures , are created

in virtual reality. Every conceivable form can be changed dynamically and at w ill in

the three -dimensional , virtual model. The material as a form-giVing param eter is

replaced by the laws of biological , physical or statical processes , which are emulated

in the computer. The dynamic of the processes is simulated and the form generated

or modified accordingly - a fact that is reflected in the new terminology: the

architectural avant-garde gives its architecture names like "transarchitecture " ,

"genetic architecture" or "flowing architecture"; the design processes are like a

morphogenesis and the concept of form is replaced by the term design . The form ­

material duality seems to have been finally banished to the pages of history. The con ­

temporary architect is an animation designer and "mat erials artist " at the same time .

info rmed by technology, as the substance of an instrument . Jacques Oerrida, "MaterieUes", 19B5, in: Rubel, Wagner, Wolff [eds.], Materialasthetik, p. 33B .Likewise: "Immaterial ... designates a structurein whichtheconventional opposition betweenspirit andmaterial nolongerhasa place." Jacques Oerrida inconversation with Jean-Francois Lyotard on 27 Oct 19B4 in: Jean-Francois Lyotard et aI., Immaterialitiit und Postmoderne, Berlin , 1985 , p. 23 20 "Lesimrnaterlaux" [the immate rials) is a neologism coined by Jean-Francois Lyotard which is made up of the words material s [materiaux) and immaterial

(immateriel] . Christ ine Bucl-Glucksrnann, "Entmaterialisierung" , in: Rubel , Wagner, WOlff [eds.], Materialii sthetik 21 Sabine Kraft , "Werkstoff e ­Eigenschaft en als Variablen", in: Arch+, No. 172, 2004, p. 25 22 Richard Weston , Materials , Form, and Architectu re, London, 2003 23 Peter Weibel,"Materialdenken als Befreiung der Produkte des Menschen von ihrem Oingcharakt er" , 1966, in: Rubel, Wagner, wol ff [eds.l , Materialiisthetik, pp. 264--65

3D / 31

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Synthetic materials have re-established themselves in the ex­

per iments of the contemporary architectura l avant-gar de in the

tens ion between spirit and matter, form and materia l. I Digitally

generated forms on the one hand and material fetish ism on the

other favour the use of transparent plastics , which are charac ­

te rised by immateriality and ambiguit y. Their random formability

plus their versatility bind the synthetic mater ial to the digitally

animat ed arch itectura l form . Flexibility, efficiency and ada pt­

abi lity - the ess enti al features of synthetic materials - are ideal

for so-c alled bionic architecture . Their indifferent properties

pred ispose them for an architecture that rega rds metaphor as

ext reme ly important, relies on sensuality, ambience and irrita ­

t ion , and takes " removal of barriers " as its key theme - specifi ­

cally, the removal of barriers between inside and outside, matter

and space, loadbearing structure and enclosing envelope , two ­

dimensionality and three -dimensionality , static and dynamic ,

and between space and t ime .

PLASTIC IS SPIRIT, PLASTIC IS FORM III Free ly

fo rme d, digital archit ec t ures and transparent plastics form a

conge nial symbios is in many ways . In an ana logy to the immater­

iality of digital forms , transparent plastics are a synonym for the

subjugati on of th e material. As transparent and at the same time

almost weightless materials , they seem closer to the spiritual

world than th e material world. Moulded into bubble-like shapes or BMW Bubble. ABB Archi tects I Bernherd 'renken. 19 9 9

1 The renaissance of plastiCS - and especially transparent plastics - in architecture is based on the dissolution of the form-material relationship and the associated paradigm change in design approachesand concepts. Detached from the material, form is generated digitally, or the architecture is understood as a material art. 2 Roland Barthes, "Plastic", 1857, in: Roland Barthes, Mythologies, London, 18723 "Shape is buoyant. The hollowness of shape also produces [and requires] an effect of buoyancy. While massive, the projects seem to be made of Styrofoam, sponge, or aero-gel. .. ". Robert E. Somal,

TRANSPARENT PLASTICS BETWEEN INTELLECTUALISATIDN AND TRASH CULTURE

designed as cushions of air , they take on spherical dimensions .

/ / / The spir itual content , as an intrinsic characteristic of syn ­

thetic mater ials , has from time to time been a theme in the writ ­

ings of artists and intellectuals over the course of the 20th cen ­

tury. Roland Barthes characterised the new material as the very

" spect acl e of its end -products " and defined the spiritual con ­

tent of plastics by means of their "quick-change artistry". Plas ­

tic is " mor e than a substance , plastic is the very idea of its infi ­

nite transformation [... ] Plastic , sublimated as movement , ha rdly

exists as substance . " 2 The versatility (in terms of both chemistry

and form) and the resulting infinite configuration options, which

lead to the invention of forms , are features of the computer-gen ­

erated forms and the artificial materia l alike. / / / Robert E.

Somol has given us a link between digital f orms and synthetic

materials based on associations . Responsib le for this is "hol ­

lowness" as a property of the computer-generated form, making

a project appear as if made f rom polystyrene, sponges or aero­

gels ." Digitally shaped architecture can obviously express it sel f

adequately in formal terms in the we ightless world of plastics ,

an association that is helped by the form of the mostly "anti -ar ­

chitectural " morphogenetic architecture . / / / Beyond the

metaphorical , new production techniques tie synthetic materi ­

als to the opulent world of digital forms. In the case of additive

production techniques such as 30 printing, laser sintering and

stereolithography' , the products or their pa rts are produced in

layers drop by drop so that formwork or negative moulds are un ­

necessary for forming curved bu ilding components. These pro ­

duction methods only work with materials in liquid or powder

form , e.g. plastiCS or metals, that assume their f inal form after

hardening. The low weight and the possibility of combining them

with metals or organic substances to form composites, or equip ­

ping them with various properties depending on the chem ical

composition , is what distinguishes synthetic materia ls from

metals and has already made them the unrivalled material of

choice for many unconventional applications in aviation , the au ­

tomotive industry and shipbuilding. As the bui lding industry does

not yet have such production techniques at its disposal, digita l,

curving architecture is restricted to the much more involved and

hence more costly subtractive production techruquas" , or mould ­

ing in negative moulds . However, studies of production processes

using variable moulds, thermally mou ldable plastics and com­

puter-controlled printing methods for multi -component materi ­

als are among the key areas of current research . We will have t o

wait and see whether the architecture of the future with plastics

and the ir composites - furnished with the necessary butldlngperformance properties - really can be simply "printed out " on

a 30 printer and assembled! Unti l then , form remains dormant in

the virtual world of the computer.

ephemera/MATTER. f-u ·r

"12 Reasons to Get Back into Shape", in: Rem Koolhaas, Content, Cologne, 2004, pp. 86-B7 4 3D printing, stereo lithography and laser sintering are rapid prototyping production techniques. In 3Dprinting the raw material in powder form is solidified by the selective addition of an adhesive. Stereolithography involves curing resins [photopolymersJ in ultraviolet light. And laser sintering uses materialsin powder form [plastics or metals) that are melted down by a powerful laser and thereby solidify. 5 In subtractive production techniques, the final shapes are cut from a larger block. Another way of

32 / 33

PLASTICS AND BIDNICS III One possible design and

form-f inding method for " self- generat ing" , digital forms consists

of th e imi t at ion of biological processes , phenomena and struc­

tures , which results in a marriage between digital architecture

and bionics . Transferring the complex structures and geometries

of nature to architecture calls for a building material that can be

moulded into any shape , is extremely efficient and adaptable in

terms of statics , and can also provide numerous properties .

Plastics are suitable for this , not only because of their "program­

mab ility" - the possibility of an almost infinite chemical compo­

sition and adaptation to natural materials - but also in the form

of so -called bionic building materia ls . Designed as composites

or provided with functions , the spectrum of potential material

properties is almost inexhaustible and, in addition, the favour ­

able ratio of weight to stability is similar to the optimised con ­

structions of nature . As both the new generation of plastics and

the dig ital production techniques are still undergoing develop­

ment , the complicated geometries in architecture are frequently

implemented in the form of ultra -thin synthetic membranes. In

doing so , these lightweight, tensile membrane structures come

close to the efficient, minimal constructions of nature in terms

of both form and construction . Seemingly effortlessly, they are

used to span great distances and remind us of the building

principles of insect Wings , soap bubbles or spiders ' webs ." I I I

Young architectural practices such as raumlabor_berli n have

taken up the idea of pneumatic minimal construction with their

" mobile kitchen monument" in order to redefine the relationship

between public and private . Within the scope of the arts festival

"Akzent e", which was he ld in Oulsburg and Mi..i lheim in 2006,

the architects realised a project that was situated somewhere

between a performance and an experiment, and created an in ­

flatable room made from transparent plastic which ca n protrude

from a metal sculpture as required , not unlike a soap bubble . De­

pend ing on its surroundings, the transparent enclosure can take

on different forms : whereas on a "green-f ield site" it can develop

unconstrained into a regularly shaped air bubble, in an urban

context it tends to cling to its surroundings and becomes de ­

formed . This temporary space can be used as a kitchen and din­

ing room , or as a dance hall for social communication, and be ­

comes a place in which public and private are fused together. I I I

Nicholas Grimshaw's Eden Project, a group of nested domes

made from transparent air cushions covering a large part of the

landscape , is a reference to the geodesic domes of Buckminster

Fuller, wh ich he devised based on his search for " nature's geom­

etry" , and wh ich in forma l-constructional terms find t hei r coun ­

terparts in the miniature lifeforms of the diatomes and radlo larla .?

Werner Nachtigall sees in the hexagonal honeycomb st ructure of

the Eden Project an analogy to the honeycomb structure of

foams in which the competit ion for space leads to a hexagonal

flattening of the sides and creates an opt imised lightwe ight

Kitchon monument . fsumlabor berlin , '2006

Eden PtoJect . Grimshaw 6 PaHna,s, 2001

shaping panels in doub le curvature is t o produce a negative mould using a subt ract ive method . 6 This is a development that started in the 1950s. FreiOtto was inspire d by soap bubbles, spiders' websDr insect wings when trying to opt imise th e load bearing structures of eff icient minimal construct ions. 7 Joachim Krausse, Claude Lichte nstein [eds.], YourPrivate Sk y, Baden, 1999 , p . 442. Diatomesare sili ceous unicellular algae whose shell s consis t of hexagonal element s of silic on dioxide; radiol aria are single-celled marine creatures with a perforated , shell -like skeleton of silicon dioxide with a

TRANSPAREN T PLAS T ICS BETW EEN INTELLECTUAL ISAT IDN AN D TRA SH CULTUR E

structure ." Mo STUDIO 's " Curved Building" - their design for a

sports centre for extreme sports - also makes use of the con ­

struction pr inciples of foams or sponges . The project, which is

similar to an oversized , snltdlj tad foam, consists of a shell or

cave-like 30 loadbearing structure with surfaces in double cur ­

vature . Inside , the outcome is a continuous , endless surface

and complex spatial relationships , which are fu rther enhanced

by the use of transparent plastics and become obvious to the

users of the building . Borrowed from boat-bui lding, the space­

forming loadbearing structure is made from prefab ricated, vacu­

um-formed, fibre-reinforced plast ic compos ites with var ying

cores . Mo STUD IO has used the optimised cons truct ions of na­

ture for the des ign of a comp lex, spectacula r in terior layout

which can only be attributed to the spirit of the age and a society

craving for entertainment. I I I Besides formal-constructional

borrowings from nature, there are more and more attempts to

transfer the structures of biological systems to architecture . So­

called " int ell igent" facade systems and bulldtng structures is

the fashion here . Looked at from the point of view of sustain ­

ab ility, the " responsive" architecture of Thomas Herzog relates

pr imarily to the way biological systems can adapt to their envi­

ronrnent .? The adaptive envelope, like human skin, should ac­

climatise ideally to the climatic conditions . Besides providing

the usual protective functions expected of an enclosing ele ­

ment , the envelope should control the light and air permeability

autonomously and regulate the energy balance through storing

heat and absorbing or reflecting solar radiation . As a media fa ­

cade or energy provider, the facade takes on functions alie n to

its or iginal purpose and becomes a complex " machine" . Mu l t i­

layer and movable envelope constructio ns in wh ich the indivi d­

uallayers are assigned specific tasks, equipped with functions ,

printing or high -tech coatings turn the facade into an adaptive

skin . So-called ecc -tntetugent'? architecture is li ke a living or ­

ganism. " Cycle Bowl" , the EXPO 2000 pavilion designed by Ate ­

li er Bruckner, illustrated this type of approach with its cooling,

vent ilation and solar-control system . The use of synthetic mate­

rials fo r such adaptive facade systems is based on the low

w eight , the thin materials and the possibility of equipping them

with any properties . Experiments such as Srnartwrap!" or the co ­

c oon " Paul " exploit the versatile options of synthetic materials

and pose rad ical questions regarding conventional wall con ­

st ruc ti ons and assemblies . III SmartWrapTM, developed by

Kieran Timberlake Associates, is an " int el li gent" plastic com ­

posite wh ich was tested and presented for the first time on an

outdoor pavilion within the scope of the SOLOS exhibttinn !' in

New York . This synthetic material , with transparent polyethyle ne

terephthalate (PET) as the backing for different functional la y­

ers, ill ust rat es the potential of an electronic building envelope.

Ultra -th in coat ings act as photovoltaic cells , thin -film batteries ,

c onduct ing c ircu its and thin -film transistors, organic LEOs and

Curved SUildln8, MO STUDIO. 20 0 1

Cycle Bowl, Atelier BfUcknor, 2000

SmsttWfap ''' , Kieran Tlmborlak o Assoclares, 2003

honeycomb struc ture. B Werner Nachtigall , Kurt BlOchel, Oas groBe Buch der Bionik. Stuttga rt . 2001 9 Thomas Herzog in an interview with Petra Hagen Hodgson and RolfToyka, Archith ese, No. 2, 200210 The heading "eco-intell igence" embodies concepts such as responsive, functional. easy-to-repair, resources-sparing. long .lasting and recyclab le . 11 SOLOStoo k place in August 2003 in theCooper Hewett National Design Museum, New York. 12 A phase change materia l (PCM] is a subst ance in which heat is stored by means of a phase transition (e.g. solid to liqu id], The temper ature of the

34 / 35

electrochromic solar control. They supply, store and conduc t

energy, act as sensors , light sources and screens , and control

the entry of heat and light. Designed as a multi-layer envelope,

w ith the " int el li gent" layer of plastic providing protection from

the weather, a hermetically sealed air cavity as insulation and an

inner lining of quilted aerogel pockets with integral PCM (phase

change rnatar tall '" as additional thermal insulation and lat ent

heat store , the thin , energy-giving media facade exhibits the

storage and insulation values of a masonry w al l. 13 Its appea r­

ance changes with the incoming sunlight li ke a cha meleon . Sim ­

ilar storage and insulation va lues are achieved by the mu lti-layer

membrane construction that was developed at t he ILEKI4 at the

University of Stuttgart, which is just a f ew mi llimetres thick and

was tested on the cocoon "Paul", a cave -like enclosure ." The

construction of the wall is similar to that of real skin: several lay ­

ers of PTFE sheeting f orm a system of several t ie rs each w it h a

specific function. From outside to inside, the sheets take on the

following functions : weather protec tion, li ghting, ins ulation and

heat storage . Depend ing on t heir f unc t ion , t hey are equipped

with fibre -optic lighting, which is responsible for the colour

changes , highly insulating ceram ics or PCMs . In contrast to con ­

ventional solid wall construction , the "skin" is charac terised not

only by its thinness and low weight , but also by its t ransluc ency .

The conventional so lid wa ll has been replaced by a mo vable ,

thin membrane which reacts to it s environment. / / / Projects

by Kas Oosterhuis or f -u -r, with their dynamic architecture, are

aimed at a different form of " int el li genc e" . Kas Oost erhu is de ­

veloped the concept of the trans-ports pa vilions as data -initi ­

ated spaces that take on the real , substantia l part of a hybrid

" hyper bodies " consisting of virtual and real spaces. Linked dig ­

itally, the virtual and rea l spaces communicate an d interact wi th

each other and react to the influences of thei r surroundings (ac ­

cess by Internet users or the actions of passers -by) by chang ing

their form and content . The pav ilions consist of pneumat ic str ips

arranged in groups like human muscles ; their elongat ion and

contraction converts the digita l in f or mat ion into mo tion and

changes the form of the pa vilion . The syn thetic membrane form ­

ing the outer layer and the electronic inner layer must be flexible

enough to be able to follow the movements of the pneumat ic

constructton ." / / / The TechnoClouds from f -u -r are likewise

intended to be artificial , movable super -organisms . The Techno­

Clouds are spatial structures that can be installed in existing

build ings to house concerts or similar events . Designed as pneu­

matic plast ic constructions, the spatial structure consists of

several parallel , endless strips which form loop -like f ormations.

The strips are divided into segments like links in a chain in the

longitudinal and transverse directions , and are connected to a

computer by means of sensors . Controlled by computer, the in ­

dividual segments can be moved so that each strip can take on

many different forms and in doing so also influence the f orms of

Cocoon "Paul", MBlkus Hollbach, IlEK Stuttgart, 2004

trans-ports pavilIon . ONL Oost8rhufs_LdnSfd.

2000

material remains constant until the phase transition has been completed. The stored heat [or cold] ;s invisible, but present in a latent state. This reduces summertime temperature peaks and improves the

interior climate; paraffins and salt hydrates are currently used as PCMs. 13 See Arch+, No. 172, 2004, pp. 75-76 and www.kierantimberlake.com14 lnstttut jur Leichtbau Entwerfen 6 Konstruieren[Institute of Lightweight Design 6 Construction] 15 The cocoon "Paul" is result of research into adaptive, textile building envelopes; see the dissertation by Markus Holzbach at ILEK Stuttgart

TRANSPARENT PLASTICS BETWEEN INT EL LECT UA L ISAT ID N AND TRASH CULTURE

TechneCleuds . f-u ·,. 2002

Museum ofPope, All , ShlgolU Ban, 2001Noked Heuse . ShjgelU Bon. 2000

its neighbours . Depending on the particular event, a multitude of

plan layouts is therefore possible which can be carried out on

several levels . I I I These examples symbolise the growing

convergence between biology and architecture and show the

potential for using synthetic materials in building . Delicate

membrane constructions , free forms and interconnected spac­

es , three -dimensional walls, unstable , movable spaces and en ­

velopes that react to their environment, set new standards and

distance themselves from a traditional and per se static archi ­

tecture .

PLASTIC , THE SENSUAL t.4ATERIAL III Other archi ­

tects are more interested in plastics for their visible features

such as structure , texture and facture, aimed at achieving a

sensual effect, than for their data -initiated contents of the

chemical composition with the function potential. Japanese

architects such as Shigeru Ban or the SANAA practice use the

sensual qualities of synthetic materials for their architecture,

the prime features of which are the playing with transparency

and translucency, specific lighting effects and visual refer ­

ences , the removal of barriers between inside and outside, or

their versatile and changeable relationships. Totally in keeping

w ith Peter Sloterdijk, they use the lightness, movability and

versatility of the plastics to define mankind 's relationship with

the world. " III At the same time, the effects and possibili ­

ties of synthetic materials go hand in hand with the lat es t

trends in contemporary architecture , the main idea of which is

the unconventional use or alienation of materials . Herzog S de

Meuron consider form , structure and materials as variables to

be developed independently. Sensua lity is the crucial aspect

of their architecture , which is conveyed by the materiality and

the int erest in the surfaces, among other things. Printed or il ­

luminated plastic envelopes lend their architecture the desired

sensual character. In doing so , the experimentation with mate ­

rial is intended to break with traditions and lead to " subtle ir ­

ritat ions " . By using materials alien to architecture, or by con ­

verting and alienating traditional building materials , and by

includ ing immat erial elements such as photography and light,

the envelope becomes a medium for a direct architectural lan ­

guage not dependent on context ." This design approach is

remi ni scent of minimalist architecture ; Donald Judd was advo­

cating the autonomy of form , substance , colour and surface in

196B . He cla imed that forms and materials may not be changed

by the ir c ont ext. The removal of context is emphasized by the

use of unusual materials (plastics, chromium , electric light],

which have no reference to the past but do not point to the fu ­

ture either. " The material becomes an information medium with

the appearance of the surface acting as the focus. This can

lead to form being banished to the marginality of the subservi -

16 Kas Oosterhuis and Ilona t.enard presented their t rans-ports project for the f irst ti me at the Biennale 20 00 in Venice; therr idea of a network of virtua l and real spaces was inco rporated into the "RealTime Evolut ion Game" in which the public could take part via t he inte rnet and t hus alt er th e structures of the rooms; a prototype with a pneumati c, movable envelope was erecte d at th e Cent re Pompidouin Paris in 2003. 17 From the philosophical viewpoint , the mate rial determ ines the relat ionship betwee n being outside and being inside - the ecstatic and the enstatic . The architect philosophises

36 / 37

ent funct ion - relegated to a support for the envelope, which

can be replaced on a wh im as times and fashio ns change and

in terms of the effects and statements desired. 20 Or, alternately ,

material and form can be fused together as an apparently in­

separable comb ination , as is imp ressively demonstra ted by the

Allianz Arena in Munich - a design approach that occurs mo re

frequently as the form concept is introduced in arch itecture.

The form -material relationship has replaced the form-fu nction

relationship and places architecture closer to the visual arts

and design . Just like artists and des igners, arch itects are seek­

ing a materia l adequate for the form , an d vice versa. It is not

constructional considerations and cultural co ntexts th at are

deciding the cho ice of material , but rat her th e coherence of

form and mater ial. / / / Besides t he se ns ual effec t, ot her ar ­

chitects are using the image of plastics as cheap mat eri als

quite deliberately f or their architecture , trying out unconven ­

tional design approaches with new concepts. Here, t he cheap

indust rial product, as an experiment in aesthetics, ref lects t he

experimental nature of the design concepts . Projec ts by Rem

Koolhaas or Lacaton S Vassal demonstrate the cost -effecti ve

but nevertheless highly effective possib ili t ies of syn thet ic ma ­

ter ials that result from clever and unexpected applications .

Lacaton S Vassa l employ inexpensive, untreated industria l

products for their houses , which question tra di t ional Europea n

housing forms and resemb le the notion of th e t err it ori al , no­

madic lifestyle . Transparent plastic panels offe r not only t he

chance of enclos ing spacious hvlng accommodati on on a low

budget, but at the same time also create int ermediat e climatic

zones that can be closed off from the outside world , or provide

an un interrupted transition between interior and exterior. / / /

At his art gallery in Rotterdam, Rem Koo lhaas uses the indiffer ­

ence and ambiguity of translucent and transparent plast ic pan ­

els for a room setting whose surp ris ing spa tial and vis ua l ref er­

ences make demands on the visitor. A tour of the museum is

not unlike a theatrical experience in w hich the sequence of

rooms resembles the scenes in a play wh ich , how ever, are re­

peatedly interrupted by retrospect ive views where the res pec­

tive other wor ld seen through t he plastic panels appears eithe r

Catholic Church In Radebeul . StaIb Archu ecl s wahGunter Oehnlsch, 2003

Rlco lo warehouso ,Herlog 6 do Mouron, J993

AUlanz Arena, Harzog 8 de Mauron . 2005

accordingly in the material. "Speaking and building normally create so much security in human relationships that one can occasionally allow a little ecstasy. Therefore, in my opinion the architect is actuallysomeone who philosophises in the material. He who builds a house or a building for institution makes a statement about the relationship between the ecstatic and the enstatic, the being outside and thebeing inside." Peter Sloterdijk in conversation with Sabine Kraft and Nikolaus Kuhnert, Arch+, No. 169/170, 2004, pp.16-23 lB Jacques Herzog in an interview with H. Adam, M. Heuser and C. Burkle,

T RA NSPA RENT PLASTIC S BET WEE N INTELLEC T UALISATIO N AN D TR ASH CULTURE

clear and unmistakable or distorted and ambiguous . Different,

contrasting mater ials meet unexpectedly, rooms and walls are

like material collages , and standard industrial products contra ­

dict the conventional qualities of a museum . III Visual

customs are put to the test , emotions are awakened, the effect

governs : synthetic materials are used in shocking , provocative

and surprising ways - fitting for a society in which only extreme

stimuli gain attention. Trash culture becomes part of civilised

culture ; plastics , and primarily plastic panels , cultivate "bad

taste " - a method art has been using for many years . In thls

sense, plastics architecture is approaching the visual arts and

in the form of material collage or architectura l experiment is

itself becoming art. Cild MDnJ/DsID, t.acaron 6 Vassal, 2005

HauslnS Projects In london . Ash Sakula 2004

Art Gallery In Rott srdam, Rom Koolhaas . J9 9 2

Archithese , No. 5, 199B, and in: Marianne Brausch , Marc Emery leds.], L'Architecture en Question, Paris, 1995 , pp. 2B-43 19 Richard Weston descr ibes this relat ionship between form and mater ial asfOllOWS: Very much cl earer tha n at that moment when Gottfried Semper published his theses, the building envelop e can today be underst ood as 'cl othing' , as a sort of [ abric we choose at random andchange acc ording to needs. Richard Westo n, Mater ials, Form, and Architecture

38 / 39

EXHIBITION 40 III RESIDENCES 64 III CULTURE AND SPORTS 104 III RESEARCH 130

40 / 41

ABB ARCHITECTS I BERNHARD FRANKEN

MATERIAL_ TRANSPAREN T ACR YLIC SHEETS IN DOUBLE CURVATURE FACADE TYPL SIN GL E·LEAF

USE _ EXHI BITI ONS, TE MP ORARY LOCATIO" FRA NKF URT AM MAIN , GERMANY COMPLETED ISSS

The building of the BMW Pavilion at the International

Motor Show in Frankfurt represented a new direction in

architecture. This relatively minor construction project

enabled the architects to approach one step closer to

the architectural visions of the new age, the so -called

mass customisation [the mass production of one -off

articles) . III The starting point for the design was

the concept of " cl ean energy". BMW uses this slogan

for its development of vehicles powered by renewable

energies , a.g. hydrogen -powered engines . In order to

imprint th is complex theme on the minds of visitors as

an intellectual and visual experience , the architects

developed an exhibition consist ing of a circular water

tank and a solar cloud (an amorphous cable net with

LED solar panels) housed in a pav ilion shaped like a drop

of water.

FORM-FINDING III The pavilion had to have the

form of a real drop of water and express the condition of

the unstable equilibrium between internal pressure and

surface tension . So instead of simply sketching the

form of a drop of water and transferring this to the com ­

puter, the architects simulated the merger of two drops

of water us ing an animation program normally found in

the film industry. The starting point and parent sub­

stance of the simulation was the ideal form of one drop

of water, which in reality can only exist in a vacuum and

assumes the form of a perfect sphere . The laws of phys ­

ics mean that the force of attraction of a second drop of

water, the force of gravity of the Earth itself and the sur ­

face tension of the water cause force fields to act on

the parent substance . which lead to changes in its

shape . These force fields were simulated on the com­

puter and thus generated the f inal shape . III The

f inal shape therefore emerged interact ively from the

parent substance , the form -form ing princ iple , the boun ­

dary cond itions and the applied forces through specific

changes to the parameters selected . Through the inter­

action of desi gners and computers , data became form .

ABB A RCH ITECTS I BERNHARD FRANKEN III BMW BUBBLE

002

001 . As a metaphor for the use of low -resources energy forms , the pavil ion is shaped like two drops of wat er. III 002_ Plan

ABB ARCHITECTS I BERNHARD FRANKEN III BMW BUBBLE

n.O IZ";/.1.(1"

oJl "Ij

U 1 4 14..u ete a

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------ -------------

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44 / 45

tention was to build the Bubble in separate parts , glue

th em to gether and then transport it to it s f inal location

by helicopter. However, time constraints forced the ar­

chi tect s to abandon the idea of a self-supporting con ­

struction . Instead, the drop of water became a single ­

leaf transparent acrylic envelope supported by a grid of

alum in ium ribs . Some 305 differently shaped transpar­

ent acrylic panels - everyone unique - were required .

The plastic panels were moulded on CNC-milled rigid PU

foam blocks and afterwards trimmed to size with CNC

machinery. III The almost dimensionless panels

B mm thick were attached to the loadbearing construc­

tion with t iny ind ividual fixings to form a single-leaf en­

velope ; jo ints were sealed with silicone . No addit ional

components (e.g. sunshades , thermal insulation , gut­

ters , etc .] disturb the perfectly shaped enclosure . To

prevent solar gains overheating the interior, a diecast

alumin ium floor similar to those used in industry was

inst alled. Perforations in the floor plates enable cold

air to flow into the Bubble . (The same principle could

be used to heat the int erior as well.] III The pavil ­

ion was developed and built in a continuous digital de ­

sign and manufacturing process - a method that has

long since been standard in the aircraft and yacht indus­

tries . If this design and production method was to be ­

come established in the building industry, it would mean

a stupendous change . Buildings could then be prefabri ­

cated individually and would then only need to be sim ­

ply erected on the building site .

013-015_ The double-curvatur e t ransparent ac rylic sheets were moulded on CNC-milled rigid PUfoam blocks.

_. _--- - . ._ .. _._ - -- -. --- ---- - -- --- ._ - ...._-. .~- - - - " - -- -- -- " - - . - .- -

ABB AR CHITE CT S I BERNHARD FRANKEN III BMW BUBBLE

o 000000000

DOOOO00000

017

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• •••••••••••••••• •••01B

018_ Lon gitu dinal se cti on- -- - - . .- ._. -- -- - . -016 _ Night-time ph oto I I I 017_ Locat ion plan I I I

~ ._. -~ _ . - - ._ - - -_. - - - - _.- -- - -- - - - - .- - - -- -_.- - - - - - - .- - .- _ . .- -.- --- - -- _. - .--- .- "- -

-- -_. - - -- -. .- -" - -- - - .- - ,-- - - -- - - --- - - ._. _ . - .- - ._. -- - - " - - .- - ._- -- - - --- - -- - - .-- - -- --- - -

-- - - . _ . -- -- - - -- - .- .­..- - -- - - - - - - _.

- -- - _. - ._.. ._. -_. -- - ._. -- ._ . -- -- - -- " - -- --- -- .- - -.. .- ._ - -- - -

_.. -- -- -- -- - _ . - .- .- . - -

- - ._. -- - - - ._. _ . - _. _ . - .- _. - -- .- -- . - - - - -- -- -- - -- - _ . - _ . - -- --- ... - -- - - . - - - - - - ._.. - - - - .- - - -.. .-. ._- -- - - " - -- _ . -- - _. - - - - - -- - ._- _. - - ~ -- _ .

- - - -

46 / 47

MCA - MARIO CUCINELLA ARCHITECTS

MATERIAL TRANSPARENT ACRYLIC TUBES WITH INTEGR L LEO LIGHTS FACADE TYPE MULTI-LEAF USI XHIBITIONS

TEMPORARY LDCATlDH BOLOGNA iTALY COMPLETED 2003

Their min imalist, glass pavilion enabled Mario Cucinella

Arch itects to set an unambiguous sign and establish a

count erpoi nt to the historic c ity backdrop . With its

multi -layer facade built from a hardly perceptible all ­

glas s cons truc t ion and rows of transparent acrylic tubes

form ing a second leaf the pavtllon forms a sublime out­

doo r sculpture whose play with light and transparency

sugg ests a juturlst tc quality.

CD NeE PT / / / Whereas the historic heart of Bologna

is B fo cal po int fo r activities and attention , the out ­

skirts of th e ci ty are showing signs of dilapidation [ol ­

towi ng years of neglect In order to rectify this

dejlc lencv, th e lo cal authortty gathered Ideas and initi­

at ed numerou s reports and competitions. Since 2003

the results of these planning activities have been on

show in an exhibition in the subterranean passageways

of a former pedestrian precinct, which as a relic of the

misguided urban planning of the past, was for a long

time a hotbed of criminal activities. The architects re­

designed this uninviting space Into an exhibition area

and covered It with a glass pavilion to act as temporary

access and a communication platform. / / / The pa ­

vilion is made up of two elliptical cylinders joined to ­

gether at one point by a small glazed entrance zone .

DUring the hours of daylight the enclosure appears

insubstantial, [Iuld . When the circular acryLIc tubes

reflect the sunlight plavjullv, the facade IS reminiscent

of a shimmering layer of water, an assoclatlcn that IS

deliberate because the plan shape IS Intended to

MeA III EBO BOLOGNA

001_ At night-time, the pavilion becomes an illuminated sculpture. II! 002_ The modern, minimalist pavilion forms a contrast to its historic surroundings.

- .._---- -

-- -_.._--- ----

-- --,------- ----

----------.---

48 / 49

represent two water droplets splashed from the fa ­

mou s Neptune Fountain nearby. In this way the mod ­

ern , minimalist structure gains a poetic link to it s his ­

toric surroundings . III The interior of the pav ilion,

continuing the theme of the externa l appearance, is

also minimalist and unambiguous . White surfaces and

glass fittings dominate the aesthetic of the interior, re­

minding the observer of a futuristic scene from a Stan­

ley Kubrick film . III The pavilion forms the starting

point for the underground exhibition in terms of both

access and information . A f ilm informs visitors about

the city 's activities concerning the most important

aspects of the planned, sustainable urban redeve lop­

ment. Further information and publications are avail-

••

able at a service desk before visitors disappear under­

ground to visit the exhib ition itself.

CONSTRUCTION III The fluid-looking envelope is

designed as a double-leaf facade . The outer leaf con ­

sists of a se lf-supporting all -glass construction made

from bent laminat ed glass panes that are fastened at

the top and bottom only. They form a weatherproof en­

closure but remain almost invisible . However, the exter­

nal appearance is characterised much more by the inner

leaf of t ransparent acrylic tubes. These 120 mm diam­

eter tubes , which were specially developed and manu ­

f ac tured for this project , are lined up in a row jnllowtngthe plan shape . They are joined together by satin-finish

0 03

003_ Plan

MeA III EBO BOLOGNA

50 I 51

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acrylic glass caps fitted into the ends of the tubes . De­

spite the ir transparency, they offer only a distorted view

through the facade , an intentional effect due to the

curved geometry of the tubes . At the same time , this

curvature refracts and redirects the incoming solar ra­

diat ion and thus prevents the pavilion from overheating

in summer. A mechanical cooling system is used only

during extreme temperatures. During the winter the pa ­

vilion is heated with warm air via floor inlets positioned

along the facade . The rising warmth also helps to com­

bat condensation . / / / At night, the glass pav illnn

becomes an il luminated scu lpture , thanks to blue and

white LED lights installed at the base of the tubes . The

blue and white lighting effect accentuates the immate­

riality of the pavilion and lends the scene a degree of

unreality. / / / In this play of light and transparency,

the plastic , in contrast to its reputation as a cheap ma­

ter ial , turns the pavilion into an urban jewel, a conspicu ­

ous , staged interface between city and citizens , be ­

tween the worlds above and below ground.

MeA III EBO BOLOGNA

ATELIER KEMPE THILL

DD [S 0@G=O u 00 M0[S [OJ 0[h1 @crcr

~mJooD[s~ [?J&WD[SDmJ[h1MATERIAL TRANSLUCE NT BEER CRATES FACADE TYPE SINGLE LEA F USE EXHIB ITIO NS. TE MPO RARY

LOCATIO" MOBILE COMPLETED 200 1

The ephemeral, mobile pavilion belonging to the Dutch

travelling theatre troupe " De Parade" is a successful

example of the architectural use of a standard plastic

product . The young architects Oliver Thill and Andre

Kempe simply stacked empty beer crates on top of each

other to create the walls , laid trapezoidal profile metal

sheeting on top and the mobile pavilion was finished!

CON CEPT III The motivation for this charming "mis­

use " of an everyday product was a competition organised

by the BNA [Royal Dutch Institute of Architects] . The pur ­

pose of the competition was to find solutions for tempo ­

rary exhib ition butldings that could be built for just

25 ,000 guilders [about EUR 11,350). This was a task that

could not be solved using conventional methods and

therefore was rife for experimentation . The parameters

low-budget and ephemeral gave the arch itects the idea

for an unusual but consequential answer. They devised a

pavilion built from existing, standard products that are

obtained by pay ing a deposit, i.e. they can be returned to

the supplier if the building is dismantled I Walls made

from stacks of beer crates and a floor of wooden boards

were the result of these deliberations . IllSchoeller

Wavin Systems agreed to cooperate with the architects .

The company produced a special batch of their stan-

dard beer crates out of colourless , translucent plastic

exclusively for the pavilinn . More than objets trouves.

these mundane items were presented in a new light with

th eir own aesthetic III The modular, lightweight

but at the same time stable plastic crates could be re­

garded as a LEGO system for adults , turning building

into child's play! III The individual crates were to

be simply stacked and bonded together to form an un­

adorned, rectangular room measuring 15 x 4 x 6 m. The

jury liked the idea and awarded th e arch itects second

prize and an order for one pavlliun

CON STRUC TION 11/ A buyer for the pavlhnn was

found in the shape of the Dutch travelling theatre t roup e

" De Parade" , which visits Dutch towns and cities every

summer with a new theatre programme . The beer crate

pavil ion has become a regular attraction in their activi ­

ties since 2001. They use it as an art gallery, as a bar or

for jazz concerts . The temporary pavilion has become a

multifunctional mobile building that can be erected or

dismantled within a day - a requirement that could not

have been met if adhesive had been used as originally

envisaged. III To enable fast and easy erection and

dismantling, the architects dev eloped a standard mod­

ule consisting of 18 beer crates [6 crates long x 3 crates

[J001

.. .- .- -- ---' ' - ' . _ .._- ._.__ . -- -- - - -

52 / 53

ATELIER KEMPE THILL

DD~0@[XJu [ID 0-1J 0~ [QJ 0[f\J @<r<r

~(QJ[IDD~~ ~&WD~D(QJ[f\J

MATERIAL TRANSLUCENT BEER CRATES FACADE TYPE SINGLE LEAF USE EXHIB ITIONS TE ~PORARY

LOCATIO" ~OBILE COMPLETED 2001

The ephemeral , mobile pavilion belonging to the Dutch

travelling theatre troupe " De Parade" is a successful

example of the arch itectural use of a standard plastic

product . The young architects Oliver Thill and Andre

Kempe simply stacked empty beer crates on top of each

other to create the walls , laid trapezoidal profile metal

sheeting on top and the mobile pavilion was finished!

C O N C EP T I II The motivation for this charming "mis ­

use " of an everyday product was a competition organised

by the BNA [Royal Dutch Institute of Architects) . The pur ­

pose of the competit ion was to find solutions for tempo ­

rary exhibition burtdrngs that could be built for just

25 ,000 guilders [about EUR 11,350) . Thrs was a task that

could not be solved using conventional methods and

therefore was Fife for experimentation. The parameters

low-budget and ephemeral gave the architects the idea

for an unusual but consequential answer. They devised a

pavilion built from existing , standard products that are

obtained by paying a deposit, i.e . they can be returned to

the suppller if the building is dismantledI Walls made

from stacks of beer crates and a floor of wooden boards

were the result of these deliberations. I I ISchoeller

Wavin Systems agreed to cooperate with the architects .

The company produced a special batch of their stan -

dard beer crates out of colourless , translucent plastic

exclusively for the pavilion . More than objets trouves .

these mundane items were presented in a new light with

their own aesthetic . I I I The modular, lightweight

but at the same time stable plastic crates could be re­

garded as a LEGO system for adults , turning building

into child's play! III The individual crates were to

be simply stacked and bonded together to form an un­

adorned , rectangular room measuring 15 x 4 x 6 m The

jury liked the idea and awarded the architects second

prize and an order for one pavilion .

CO N S TRUC T I O N III A buyer for the pavilion was

found in the shape of the Dutch travelling theatre troupe

"De Parade" , which visits Dutch towns and cities every

summer with a new theatre programme . The beer crate

pavilion has become a regular attraction in their activt­

ties since 2001. They use it as an art gallery, as a bar or

for jazz concerts . The temporary pavilion has become a

multifunctional mobile building that can be erected or

dismantled within a day - a requirement that could not

have been met if adhesive had been used as originally

envisaged. I I I To enable fast and easy erection and

dismantling, the architects developed a standard mod­

ule consisting of 18 beer crates [6 crates long x 3 crates

./ /'

~--_/

rJ001

ATELIER KEMPE THILL III "LIGHT BUILDING" MOBILE PAVILION

001-002_ The simple box-like enclosure consists exclusively of standard, rented elements that can be assembled by two persons in a few hours.

S4 I 5 5

high ) which are joined together with steel plates and

threaded rods to form a stab le "wall panel " . The mod­

ules, some with electric cables already pre -installed, are

stacked loose according to an erection drawing. A steel

channel at the base of the wall prescribes the positions

of the walls and at the same time acts as a ring beam . It s

counterpart at roof level is a steel angle. Tying the two

ring beams together with vertical threaded rods and the

plate effect of the trapezoidal projlle metal roof stabilise

the beer crate construction . ReinforCing bars, driven into

the ground like tent pegs , anchor the pavilion to the

ground to res ist the effects of wind forces . Spring force

measurements - a tent erection method f amiliar to the

theatre troupe - are used to check the tensile strength of

the anchorage. / / / Like any other mobile structure ,

the pavilion does not satisfy any thermal or sound insula­

tion requirements and is also not entirely rainproof. In­

stead , the pavtlion is a "light building" in the truest sense

of the word : a room of light in a light(weight) enclosure .

/ / / The translucent, semi -permeable walls filter and

scatter the light in different ways, depending on the

weather conditions . As the cloud formations move

across the sky, so the sunlight creates ever-changing

patterns of colour, light and shade inside the pavlllon .

/ / / The construction of a 300 mm thick loadbearing

wall that is at the same t ime light-permeable has result ­

ed in an ambiguity that uni tes traditi onal and modern ar­

ch itectural think ing . The space is both enclosed and

permeable, the construction both substantial and light­

weight.

r !~T

- - - - - - - - - -I '

I . 'f--~

I '

I ,

003

~I

- - - 11

] L1

004

003 _ Th_,,-baSiCmo~~le of th e pa vilion is a s ta ndard beer crat e. III 004_ Pla n I I I 005_ Elevat ion

ATELIER KEMPE THILL III "LIGHT BUILDING" MOBILE PAVILION

007-009 009

assembly module consists of 18 beer crates.

006_ An even, diffuse light fills the mobile pavilion, which can be used as a bar, museum or housing for various events. I I I o07-ooB_ Plan and longitudinal section; the master-- ---- --------- --- ------ -------- --- ----- -------- ----

I I I 009. Section through wall; the beer crates are tensioned between ring beams at the top and bottom of the wall, and reinforcing

bars anchor this lightweight building to the ground.

56 / 5 7

ATELIER BRUCKNER

MATERIAL EHE MEMBRANE TRANSPARENT AND PRINTED. THREE LAYERS FA CA DE AH D RDD F FDRM PNEUMATICALLY

PRETENSIONEO , SINGLE ·LEAF, INTEGRAL SUNSHAOING

CDMPLET ED 2000

US E EXHIBITIONS , TEMPORARY LDCATIDH HANNOVER GERMANY

The exhibition pavilion of the "Duales System Deutsch­

land" (a nationwide recycling scheme for packaging ma­

terials) at EXPO 2000 in Hannover was a futuristic struc­

ture in more ways than one. The pneumatic membrane

construction of the external envelope could adapt "in­

telligently" to different requirements and situations, and

the internal climate concept centred around natural pro­

cesses. The role models for the design team were liVing

organisms which could adapt to their environment and

react to changing situations, and thus exist in a dialogue

with their habitats. This interaction between inside and

outside followed a defined dramatic plot which was in­

trinsic to the staging of the exhibition. III "Form fol­

lows content ." This, a reformulation of the maxim of

the Modern Movement, was the guiding principle f or the

planners - a multidisciplinary team of architects. stage

designers and scenery specialists. They therefore paid

homage to the transformation of "content" into tangi­

ble settings which were generated by the interaction of

exhibition scenes and architecture.

CDNCEPT III The theme of EXPO 2000, "Humankind

- Nature - Technology", can be seen as a concise expres ­

sion of the ecological and economic relationships that

culminate in a cradle-to-grave economy The cradle-to ­

grave economy is not just the raison ti'eu» of the ouales

System; instead, it is primarily a vtsronarv economic sys­

tem . Just like in nature. there are no waste products in

this system, only benejlctat materials, The pnncrple of the

cycle was the starting point for the design of the pavilion

It dictated the architectural language, the staging and the

internal climate concept . III The cycle was reflected

in the three-dirnenstonal spiral form, which at the same

time can be seen as a type of Weltanschauung in which

the return, the movement and the development constitute

constants in the framework. The spiral also represented

the three-dimensional translation of the logo of the oua­

les System - two Yin-Yang-style intertwined arrows. Ac ­

cordingly, the planners presented the theme of the exhlbl

lion on spiralling ramps , an organised tour telling a story

whi ch at the end returns to its starting point. A maze of

",.,u

j-{t,4." 4

~I I'A- f 1, I w(f-jhA-"'l-t... '-

ATEL IER BRUCKNER III C YCL EBD W L

DOl . Conceptual skt ech III OO:L The spi ralli ng exhibition t our is a symbol for th e cradle-to -grave econom y. III 00 3 _ The funn el -shaped pavil ion made f rom- _._- --

air-filled ETFEmembrane cush ion s on it s st orey-high plinth.

S8 I 59

hedges as the springboard and the spiral stairs as the

conclusion of the tour also made references to the spiral

form and pointed out its symbolic significance.

CONSTRUCTION III Enclosed in transparent ETFE

membrane cushions, the spiral appeared from the out­

side as a funnel -shaped pavilion standing on a square

plinth . Both the three-dimensional , spira lling tour and

the setting of the exhibition itself were evident in the

transparent membrane construction. As part of the

staging , the transparency of the enve lope could be

changed, at the click of a mouse as it were, to transform

the pavilion - according to a structured, recurring se­

quence - from a brightly lit room to a black box. This al­

lowed the entire spectrum of multimedia presentation

forms to be exploited - display panels , installations for

all the senses , films , etc. The envelope mirrored the

drama and the architecture was part of the production .

I I I Simple physical law s were resp onsibl e for this ef­

fect . The vertical enclosure cons isted of th ree-layer,

transparent , pneumatic ETFEmembrane cushions mea­

suring 1B x 3 m which were welded together along the ir

edges and stretched between aluminium frames . Two of

the layers were printed with a leaf motif, but one layer

was a reverse of the other. Controlled pressure changes

in the two chambers of the air -filled cushions altered

the position of the centre membrane, which either

merged with the upper membrane and darkened the in­

terior or was pressed against the lower membrane to al­

low more day light to enter. I I I Besides this staged

effect, the printing on the membrane also acted as a

sunshade and therefore prevented excessive tempera ­

tures inside the building. I I I The transparent , cir ­

cular roof measuring 25 m in diameter consisted of

one single, three-layer ETFEmembrane cushion . In addi­

tion to the internal air pressure , two radial cable nets

__._._._._. DD4_ The exhibi t i(]n was sta_ged on a _~~ i r a ll i n g ramp; the light-permeable enve~e ch ~nges in_~J!redetermin':d_cycle.

.. .._-_.. .. _ ----_ .- .~

- ._- - - - --

ATELIER BRUCKNER 11/ CYCLE BOWL

005

006

007 OOB

009 010

005_ Section III 006_ Plan of entrance and level 1 III 007_ Plan of level 2 III OOB_ Plan of level 3 III 009_ Membrane cushion open III 010~ Membrane------- ------~-

cushion closed I I I 011_ Facade open I I I 012_ Facade closed-------~

~------ ----- _._---

60 / 61

- between which the membrane roof was stretched ­

helped to stab ilise the giant cush ion . Another, central

cab le net prevented the upper membrane from sagging

- and possib ly leading to a huge pond of incalculable

weight - should the air supply fail. Textile , louvre-type

air -filled tubes int egrated into the transparent mem­

brane cushions were used to contro l the light. When

inflated, the air-f illed louvres spread out and prevented

daylight entering through the roof. Once the air was ex­

tracted , the louvres collapsed and the roo f became

transparent again. I I I The centre of the membrane

roof was marked by an oversized fan some 4 m in diam­

eter. It was this fan that was primarily responsib le for

generating the artificial tornado - the once-an -hour

highlight of the exhibition. I I I Plastics, or rather the

recycling of plastics , is one of the princ ipal lines of

business of the Ouales System. It was therefore no sur ­

pr ise to discover that the company had no problem

when it came to using plastics . Indeed, a who le range of

plastics was used in and on the pav lllon for effective

advertising . Besides the membrane facade , th e outer

layer of the square plinth made use of multi -w eb acrylic

sheets [f ill ed with transparent paper). The double-leaf

facade of the Blue Box [the rigid special part of the pa ­

vilion from which the membrane funnel projects] was

treated to a cladding of multi -web polycarbonate sheets

filled with fragments of blue glass , and in the exhib it ion

areas transparent plastics were used generously and in

many forms.

CLIMATE CDNCEPT III Another special feature of

this pavlllnn was its air-conditioning system. All tempo­

rary and transparent structures that do not possess any

storage mass always present a cha llenge for the internal

climate . The planners solved the problem by taking na ­

ture as their example and by using various cycles . I I I

013_ At the end of the tour, visitors could relax in transparent plastic shell armchairs.

ATELIER BRUCKNER III CYCLEBDWL

014_ Cable-supported membr ane cushion roof with in tegra l pneumat ic sunshading louvres /11 015_ Roof open 1/1 016 _ Roof clos ed

62 / 63

Like the leaves of plants, the cooling system functioned

by exploiting evaporation . During the day, cooled water

fed from huge underground tanks circulated through a

fine network of pipes fitted to the underside of the

ramps . As the water evaporated , so the cooling effect

led to a local drop in the temperature and to an improve ­

ment in the microclimate . Another cycle ensured that

the heated water cooled down during the night. The wa ­

ter was sprayed via fine nozzles into open , vertical,

channel-like acrylic shells which we re fixed to the out­

side of the membrane facade . The water coole d as it

ran into the collecting tank and was then fed back into

the underground tanks . At the start of the next day, the

daily cycle of cooling the air started again . The third

cycle ensured circulation of the air for the night-time

cooling of the interior. During the day , sensor-con ­

trolled louvre openings, which were enlarged Dr re ­

duced depending on the internal temperature , the hu ­

midity of the air and the carbon dioxide content of the

air, regulated the circulation of the air. Thanks to this

approach, which was based on the three factors air cir ­

culation , sunshading and water cooling , no mechani ­

cal air -conditioning systems were requited in the pavil ­

ion . / / / The Cycle bowl told the story of a visionary

economic form by exploiti ng natural effects while lnta­

grating innovative technologies . It therefore united

economy. ecology and technology and became a sym ­

bol of EXPO 2000.

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01B _ Night-time photo III 019 _ Open t rans parent acryli c channeLs on the fac ade for water cooling at night III 020_ A net wor k of water-f ill ed "c apilLaries " f ixed to the_ . ._ - -- - -- _ . .._- - _ ._ _. - ._~- - ~ --- --- - --- --- -- - .__. ---

undersi de of th e ramps ensured cooling by evaporation to Lower the interior temperature.

64 / 65

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In this project the architects so lved the task of creating

att ic-type living quarte rs and studios - in other words,

transforming characteristic features of 19th-century in­

dustrial archi tecture into con tempora ry architecture, via

an indirect rout e by using a module. For the ir design ,

Messrs Brandlhuber and Kniess chose a modular, ab ­

stract framework as an information medium which in re­

ality is transformed into the spatia l quali t ies of a factory

floor whose benefits are spaciousness [bot h horizon­

tally and vertically] plus good illuminat ion and flexibility.

CD,.. CE PT / / / The arch itects devised complex L­

sh aped modules to reali se the specified spatial quali­

ties. Each module is made up of two rectangular blocks

tha t are jo ined together at a right-angle. Through mirror­

ing and rotat ion about all three axes in space plus hori ­

zontal and vertical offsets, 12 of these modules have

been fit ted together like bull dlng bricks to form a straight­

forward, block-like construction. / / / In use, the ab­

strac t modules become room modules with a floor space

of 140 m2, and form an L shape both on plan and on el

evation. So this results In two -storey maisonettes with

dissimilar floor areas on their lower and upper floors,

with two-thirds of the total area as single -storey accom

modation, and one-third as two-storey 1/1 Although

the 12 modules are Identical, the rotations and mirroring

give rise to different layouts, which are further enhanced

by the different access arrangements Seven different

types of apartment have therefore been created from

one single module Optional hnnznntal or vertical combi ­

nations of several units result in further layout and room

variations . To achieve thrs , parts of the loadbaanng rein

forced concrete walls were omitted and these areas

closed off with lightweight materials which can be re­

moved at any time in the future . To avoid restncung the

combination options unnecessarily, the architects placed

the access arrangements on one Side of the butldrng as

an open, cantilevering remforced concrete structure

The spacious, open stairs are conceived rn such a way

that they also offer space for external activities . Further

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produce a rectangular structure. III DD2~ Possible arrangements and combination options of the room modules within a rectangular volume III DD3~ View of road side

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two-storey interior space relationships.

68 / 69

The architects used plain glass fibre -reinforced plastic

sheets with a yellow-green shimmer as the weather pro ­

tection to var ious facade assemblies . The gable ends of

the building consist of a multi -layer facade: thermally

insulated concrete walls on the inside , an air cavity and

Scobalit sheets as the outer leaf. The facade is broken

up only by the rectangular grid of the framework which

can be discerned through the translucent sheets . The

interlac ing and stacking of the various apartment mod ­

ules can be seen on the longitudinal sides of the build ­

ing: irregular bays filled with transparent, translucent

and opaque panels . The opaque bays are made from va­

pourtight panels of glass fibre -reinforced plastic with a

t imber inner lining , spec ially devised for this project.

Clamped into the post-and -rail facade construct ion ,

these panels alternate with transparent glass panes . The

translucent bays indicate the bathrooms. These panels

consist of double glazing with an outer layer of plastic to

guarantee privacy. Depending on the construction, the

facade panels were glued, screwed or clamped to the

supporting structure . III The architects deliberately

restricted the choice of materials to concrete and plas­

tic ; even the safety barriers and floor finishes outside are

made from glass f ibre-reinf orced plastic gratings . One

special feature is the yellow-green colouring of the plas­

tic sheets, which was achieved by mixing in fluorescent

pigments during manufacture, and allows the hulldlng to

"g low" at dusk .

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70 / 71

SHIGERU BAN

Io4ATERIA~ E RI'AL G~ASS FIBRE REII'FORCEO P~ASTIC SHEETS. CORRUGAT 0 HiT RI'A~ NY L ON MEMORAN E

FACADE TYPE MU~TI ~AYER II'SU~ TEO USE R SID I'T1A~ ~DCATIDII KA WAGO J APAN CDIo4P~ETED 2000

Again and ag in , Shlgaru Ban awakens the interest of

the publi c with his experlmantal houses . The experi

mentanon with spaces and layouts, their movability

flexibili ty and delimitation runs like a thread through his

work Very of t en th e re Inte rpretat ion of these themes

Involves a new definition of bulldlng components and

ele ments In Shl eru Ban s houses , the movable fur ­

nishings eke on a s at lcally relevant junctinn , or they

f orm compartme nts Mat erials are used apparently in

cont radict on 0 hair physlc I properti s; for example ,

lig htweight, unstable water soluble paper, which in the

fo rm of cardboard s used for the tuadbeartng structure,

or curtain ing materlats which are transformed Into a fa ­

cade. The del mltatlon of th e space I.e. the spatial fu

sl on of rnt error and ext erior, a dominant theme in his

arc h tecture. has Its roots both in Japanese tradition

and the Modern Movement. Whereas the architecture of

the Modern Movement ach ieves a suggestion of inter ­

co nnected spaces by mean s of full -h eight glazing

Shlgeru Ban goes beyond the VIsual delimitation to ere-

00

ate an additional "physical transparency" , an openness

that encompasses more than just the visual sense . Def

lnltinns and boundaries are blurred . Naked House IS hls

10th Case Study House. which can be interpreted as the

latest variation of these architectural themes .

CDttCEPT III The house unites three generations

grandmother, parents and two children - under one

roof. The family wanted a house in which they could live

as a group nstead of separately. Each should be able to

carry out his or her activities but without being isolated.

The house was built some 20 km north of Tokyo near the

Shingashi River, In an area surrounded by paddy fields

and greenhouses. I I I like the nearby greenhouses,

Naked House is a single, large. two -storey encl os ure.

Four cardboard boxes mounted on rollers an Idea akin

to the paper-covered sliding walls {shOJi] of traditional

Japanese architecture , form the family 'S private ac ­

commodation . Depending on needs and usage the box ­

es can be moved around and combined. which leads to

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SHIGERU BAN III NAKED HOUSE

DDi Plan III DD2_ The mobile bedrooms can be positioned anywhere within the interior, and the children can even play on top.

72 / 73

a multitude of layout options. When placed against the

walls of the house, they can be connected to radiators,

air conditioning and power sockets . Sliding doors are

provided on two sides of each box; these can be closed

or left open or even removed completely to determine

the visual interaction of the room units with the overall

layout and guarantee the occupants a degree of privacy.

Removing the sliding doors and joining the boxes to­

gether creates one large room of 24 m2 which can be

positioned anywhere within the two-storey volume.

Large openings in the facade enable the boxes to be

rolled out onto the terrace if required, enabling the oc­

cupants to use the full floor space of the house or to

extend their living space to the outside. The roofs of the

boxes can also be used by the children as additional

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play areas . In order that the flexibility of the plan layout

and the movability of the rooms does not just remain a

grand theory, the weight of the boxes was reduced to a

minimum. This resulted in somewhat compact dimen­

sions: the children have a little under 5 rn?and the par­

ents just over 7 m2 . The loadbearing timber frame was

covered with lightweight honeycomb cardboard panels

and the occupants restricted the furnishings and fit­

tings to essentials. The only permanent installations in

the house are the kitchen, the wardrobes and the bath­

room, which are separated from the open-plan layout by

half-height walls or white curtains. III In essence,

Naked House with its room boxes mounted on rollers is

a radical continuation of the traditional Japanese house

with its sliding paper walls.

004

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74 I 75

CDNSTRUCTIDN III The unusualness of the plan

layout is matched by the mult i-layer, translucent plas ­

ti c facade . The weatherproof outer layer consists of

corrugat ed, glass fibre -reinforced plastic panels . The

inner layer, wh ich forms the interior wall surface, is

formed by a nylon membrane which is attached to the

loadbearing t imber construction by means of touch ­

and -close fasteners and can therefore be taken down

at any time for washing . In between these two layers

there is a layer of translucent plastic thermal insula ­

t ion , wh ich was developed by the architect himself and

actually put together by members of his team . When

searching for suitable thermal insulation , the archi ­

tects tested various materials , such as wood chips ,

paper cuttings , glass fibres and eggboxes, until they

finally decided in favour of extruded polyester fibres ,

which are normally used for packaging. They stuffed

the synthetic fibres , impregnated with a fire retardant ,

into more than 500 transparent pla st ic bags whi ch

were divided into individual compartments t o prevent

the filling dropping to the bottom . The plastic bags are

fixed to the frame with another synthetic film to provide

fire protection . I I I This translucent wall con struc ­

tion refracts the sunlight and bathes the interior in a

low-level, even glow - a way of controlling light that is

anchored in Japanese culture and has been employed

for many centuries in the traditional paper walls . Small ,

square , transparent windows accentuate the long,

milky external walls and permit discrete , specific views

to the outside world. However, their primary function is

ventilation. The necessary reference to the exterior is

provided by the fully glazed gable walls . At the west

end the glass facade is made up of sliding elements

that can be stored in a housing in the wall. The interior

and the covered terrace therefore merge into one space

that continues into the greenery of the surroundings .

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TEKUTo ARCHITECTURE STUDIO

MATERIAL EXTERNAL TRANSLUCENT, GLASS FIBRE REI NFORCED PLASTIC SHEETS; IN TE RN AL ' PLASTIC FIL M FACADE TYPE MULTI

LAYER, INSULATED USE RES IDENTIAL LOCATIOIt SETAGYA·K U, TOKYO, J A PAN COMPLETED 2005

A new land survey in a suburb of Tokyo revealed a long,

th in piece of no man 's land in the shape of a trapezium ,

Just 700 mm wide at one end and 3 .2 m at the other, a

total of a little under 60 m2. Placing a house on this cu ­

rious remnant of land posed a challenge even for Japa ­

nes e architects , who are used to dealing with small

plots . esp ecially in view of the regulation requiring a

house to be pos it ioned at least 500 mm from the bound­

ary of the plot! The architects took on this challenge and

attempted to turn the peculiar characteristics of this

plot to the ir advantage . In a setting dominated by the

st ructures so typ ical of Japanese city suburbs , the re­

sult was a highly unu sual family home.

CONCEPT III Above ground . the house tracks the

boundaries of the plot at the legally required distance.

Below ground, in the basement, the architects were able

to use the full width of the plot. This led to a tube-like ,

trapezoida l plan shape with a length of about 17 m and

room widths varying from BOO mm to 2.2 m. The struc ­

ture that rises from this unusual plan form has the shape

of a pointed arch ; its slender, high proportions remind

the observer of a Gothic church window. This long. thin

house has a sloping ridge which rises from the single ­

storey garden end to a height equal to two storeys at the

narrow entrance end . I I I The extremely confined

plan area is compensated for by a generously propor ­

tioned volume, an open -plan layout and the bright , even

illumination of the whole interior thanks to a translucent

envelope. The living area including the kitchen ameni ­

ties and dining area is located underground in the base­

ment. The floors in the two/three-storey volume above

this area make use of metal open -grid floor ing . a deli ­

cate form of construction that saves space and also al ­

lows the daylight shining through the translucent ,

curved external walls to reach the basement. There is

no acoustic or visual disruption to the open-plan layout.

The bathroom at the narrow end of the bas ement is the

TEKUTO ARCHITECTUR E STUDIO III LUC K Y DROPS

CC1 _ The st ructure in the shape of a po inted arch is co vered in a translucent, th in plast ic membrane. III CC2 _ Thi s narro w, t all build ing is onl y 2_2 m wide at the entr ance end!

78 I 7 9

sole enclosed room within the entire house . III The

ent rance zone raised above ground level is constructed

as a small gallery From here, a narrow single flight of

sta irs descends into the ltvtng area and a steep ship's

ladder provides access to the sleeping gallery on the

upper floor. This sleeping gallery is connected to the

rear door at the garden end via a sloping platform run­

ning the full length of the house. Following the line of

the ridge , the platform slopes over virtually a complete

storey height and thus reinforces the linear structure of

the house ThiS narrow, sloping passageway is used by

the occupants as additional storage space.

CONSTRUCTION III One condition for building on

this sliver of land was that the wall construction had to

have practically zero thicknessl The architects designed

an extremely thin external envelope of high -tech materi ­

als no more than 69 mm th ick to cover the entire build ­

Ing from ground level to ridge . The multi -layer facade

construction consists of 3 mm thick glass f ib re-rein ­

forced plastic panels as the outer layer, a translucent

high -tech therma l insulation layer, an air cavity and a

plastic film on the inside for fire protection . Fixed to the

steel structure in vertical, narrow strips , the facade em­

phasizes the verticality of the construction and lends

the building a rhythmic impulse . As the house has no

windows , the plastic facade conveys the impression of

a calm, homogeneous surface . Mechanical fans ensure

adequate ventilation of the interior and the reference to

the outside world is created exclusively via the doors at

each end. III The plastic envelope fulfils three es­

sential requirements . Firstly, it allows daylight to enter

and illuminate the interior of this windowless building,

distributing the indirect diffuse light evenly throughout

the house . Roller blinds fitted inside can be used to

regulate the amount of incoming light. Secondly, it

screens the interior from the inquisitive looks of the

neighbours , which - considering the closeness of the

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TEK UT D ARC HI T ECTU RE STUD IO III LUCKY DROPS

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008_ The semi-basement contains liVing area , kitchen and bathroom; services and cu pboard s are hous ed in the niches behind the steel columns. I I I 009 _ Light can penetrate-_. - ---- - - - - - - -- ._--. - - ,. ..- . _-- - - - _.. .- -- - -- ---_.

the open-grid floor ing used in the house.

Bo / 8 1

.... .

surrounding buildings - is not as trivial as it sounds .

Thirdly, its minimal thickness helped make a house fea ­

sible in the first place on this narrow building plot and

thus gain valuable floor space . / / / At night, the sim­

ple , introvert building looks like a paper lantern with the

shadows of its occupants vaguely discernible . However,

this tiny house is much more than just an interim solu ­

tion to an apparently insoluble task. Instead , the archi ­

tects have given the confined interior spaciousness and

character and transformed it into a home that has

earned the name "Lucky Drops "l ("Lucky Drops " is the

translation of an old Japanese proverb which means,

more or less , "And the last shall be first .")

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TEK UT O A RCHIT ECT URE STUD IO III LUCKY DROPS

D13 _ At night , th e trans luc e nt wa lls of the house a llow t he build ing to s hine like a lan tern .

82 / 83

ASH SAKULA

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INSULATED USE RESID ENTI AL LOCATI ON LONDON . UNITED KINGDOM COMPLETED 2 0 0 4

Always on the lookout for new, experimental housing so­

iunons, the Peabody Trust Housing Association has

been organising competitions regularly for a number of

years . The housing project in Silvertown, a development

area in East London , called for low -budget housing units

each with 65 m2 floor space for a four-person house­

hold . Peabody Trust specified the price per square metre

and also the target group - young families with two chi lo

dren who were looking for a low-cost first home. I I I

Based on these clear but restrictive conditions , which

left little leeway, the architects responded by reorganis ­

ing the typical apartment layout and by us ing unconven­

tional building materials.

CON C EPT I I I Ash Sakula designed two small blocks

each with two apartments . By Shifting the space and

function priorities, the architects redefined living in a

small space . The apartments are characterised by vari ­

ance and a number of " communal spaces" ideal for fam ­

ily life . The arrangement of kitchen , dining and llvlng

areas plus the hall and an external terrace provide am­

ple "meet ing points " with varying qualities . By reducing

the size of the bedrooms to a minimum (they are hardly

larger than sleep ing berths], the architects were able to

allocate more floor space to the other rooms . The llvlng

room is no longer the foca l point of family life , but rather

has been redefined as a sort of quiet corner, which may

001

also be used as a guest room or study. The social hub is

the generously Sized, brightly lit kitchen . It provides

enough space for a large table and chairs , but also for

comfortab le armchairs and a television . Thanks to the

bulge in the plan shape , the hall widens towards the en­

trance to form a space equipped with a number of built ­

in cupboards . The cupboards can be used for clothing ,

food or genera l storage and also include a fold -out ta ­

ble , which can turn the hall into a temporary utility room

or Office . In summer the family on the ground floor can

make use of a te rrace outside the kitchen , and the fam ­

ily on the upper f loor a large platform between the ac ­

cess stairs and the entrance .

CONSTRUCTION III The special character of the

interior of the apartments is reflected in the unconven ­

tional external appearance . The two small blocks look

like they have been packaged in wrapping paper! A re­

flective , crinkly aluminium foil shimmers , sometimes

golden, sometimes silvery, behind the glass fibre -rein ­

forced polyester corrugated sheets wh ich rise beyond

roof level. These varying nuances of colour are gener ­

ated by the corrugated plastic sheeting. which is either

transparent or pale yellow. I I I The plastic env e­

lope, with the corrugations runn ing either vertical or

horizontal, is the outermost layer of a multi -layer exter­

nal wall construction . The unconventional env elope

_._-

r 1002

ASH SAKULA III HOUSING PRO.JECT IN LONDON

001_ Plan III 002_ Section III 003_ Access to the upper apartments takes the form of spacious timber terraces.

84 I 85

conceals a timber building which was completely pre ­

fabricated and merely assembled on site , a choice of

construction dictated by cost and time savings . The ex­

ternal walls consist of prefabricated , insulated, alumin ­

ium- laminat ed timber panels with plasterboard on the

inside and , separated via a ventilation cavity, glass fi ­

bre -reinforced polyester corrugated sheets to provide

protection from the weather. The facade was given a

final artistic touch by Vinita Hassard , who installed

twisted , recycled electric wires behind the po lyes ter

sheeting. / / / The facade with its contemporary,

youthful -look ing approach is not the only reason why

these apartments appeal spactjlcatty to young first -time

buyers . A house is no longer just a house, bu t instead

joins the ranks of the design world and challenges the

perceptions of the man in the street.

004

/

rec ycled el ectr ic wires - an a rti s ti c touch by the artist Vinita Hassard - decorate th e elevatio ns.-_. --,._...._ -- . __.._. ~--- ._.. - -- _. ._-_._ - - -- _ . . ._ -- ._.._- "~,, ._- --_ ... "._- - ._ '" -- --- _. - ._ -~ - ._.- _ ..

ASH SAKULA III HOUSlttG PROJECT Itt LOttOOtt

007

007_ Section through facade III 008_ The open-plan living roomlkitchen at ground-floor level opens out onto a small terrace.

86 / 8 7

LACATON 6 VASSAL

ATEAIA~ RANSPAREI'fT CORRUGATED POLYCARBONATE SHEETS FACADE TYPE S I N G ~E LEAF OR MULTI LAY ER IN SULATED

U RESID N IAL LDCATIDH MULHOUS FRANC E COMPLETE D 2 0 05

The realisation of the Cite Manifes e project in Mulhouse

- an expenmental housing dev lopment - celebrated the

150th anniversary of SOG/ete mulhousienne des cites

auvrteres (SOMCD), a housebullding company. The be­

ginn ings of the company can still be s en on the adjoln­

Ing s ite where SDMCD built France 's first hous ng estate

for factory workers In the company s founding year of

1853 Architect Jean Nouvel drew up the masterplan for

Clttl Manit s e and Inc luded references to the urban

p enning can ours of the former workers housing estate

He conce ved four rows of terrace houses based on a

strict orthogonal grid wh ich are linked by one transverse

block //1 Bes des Jean Nouvel, four young French

arc hi tectural pract ces worked on he desl ns for the In­

div idual rows of errace houses SDMCD allowed the ar­

c hit ects considerable freedom The masterplan and

very tight budget based on publicly assisted housing

norms were the only conditions With which the architects

had to comply. One of the rows of houses was designed

by Lacaton S Vassal.

BACKGROUND III The architectural practice of

t.acatcn S Vassal IS well-known for its expenmentallow­

budget houses In which half of the floor space usually

consist of an unheated conservatory These two French

arch cts have been searchln for new housing solu ­

tions formore than 10 years. Insp red by their many years

In Africa, the architects have redefined llvlng accomrno­

dattcn to ult their own ideas In some regions of Africa

[and hi IS particularly true of the nornadlc peoples), liv ­

In qu rters IS synonymous with appropr atron - and not

the dominating possession and reconjlguration - of a

DUNCAN lEWISLEWIS POn BLOCK

r-ueuPQlTEVINARCHITECTURE

DOlI

50

PLAN MASSE INr-L-J------ - -----,o 5 10

SHGERUBANJEANDE GASTlNES

LACATON 6 VASSAL III CI T E t.lA " I FEST E

002

00 1 _ Locat ion pla n III 002_ Sect ion III 003_ The reinforced concrete st ructure forms a storey-high plinth for the li ghtwe ight pLast ic construction of the uppe r fLOO r.

88 / 89

territory. The living quarters is the undefined space in the

lee of the tent, under the shade of the trees or around

the warmth-giving open fire. The location of househo ld

activities is determined by the respective time of day and

time of year. / / / Transferred to the climatic condi­

tions of Europe, this becomes an approach that ca lls for

the occupied "territory" to be enclosed in an envelope

that can react to the changing climate. The house be­

comes a multifunctiona l group of spaces cons isting of a

loadbearing structure and several layers [some of which

enclose the spaces) that -like clothing - can be changed

to suit the weather and the needs of the occupants. This

definition of living accommodation overturns the con­

ventional, European concept of housing and its relation­

ship with the outside wor ld. Whereas housing in Europe

normally entai ls the screening-off from a "threatening"

outside world [thermal insulation, doub le glazing, airtight

assemblies and the avoidance of therma l bridges are

given maximum priority], the architecture of Lacaton 6

Vassal is determined by the absence of boundaries and

the opening-up of the space through the layer-by-layer

dissolution of the house. The architects took as their role

models the intelligent systems of glasshouses, which

guarantee an opt imum environment for plants at all

times - an obvious transfer of technology and typology.

CON CEPT / / / The theoretical approach described

above also forms the conceptua l foundation for the ter­

race houses of the Cite Manifeste project. Laying aside

the normal standards for publicly assisted housing that

II

fix the room numbers and sizes, their utilisation and even

the internal furnishings (stipulations based on traditional,

conventional values and concepts], the architects

strived to redefine these values and create living accom­

modation characterised by unencumbered, open layouts

and references, flexible, bright interiors and a "permea­

bil ity" from inside to outside - akin to the idea of the ap­

propriation of a "territory". 1/1 The terrace houses

were conceived according to this definition of livlng

space. They occupy almost the entire depth of the build­

ing plot, which has reduced the front gardens so typical

of terrace houses to room-size, asphalt-paved external

seating areas. The row of houses comprises 14 two­

storey, 20 m deep units with eight different plan layouts,

all of which, however, adhere to the same principles.

Each house is essentially just one single room. Only the

bathroom and the garage, which at the same time serves

as an entrance zone, are separated from the layout and

divide the house into functional areas, but with uninter­

rupted, open transitions. However, this one-room-house

princip le only works because of the unequal division of

floor space between ground floor and upper floor. Vary­

ing the widths of the houses results in different room

sizes to suit the different internal functions. In addition,

positioning the party walls at an angle on plan explores

the possibilities between the prescribed minimum room

size and the desirable maximum room size.

CONSTRUC T ION III The construction, too, was to

a large extent dictated by the desire to achieve the

- --- - - ---- --- - ---- ----

004_ Larg=-fayad-"-,,pe~_n~s,un~reate~fai~face concrete "urfa"es a-"d~"licate,~eenhouse-type conservatories inJJlas~c determ~ne t~e character__ofth"se terrace houses

------ ----- ----------_ .._- --- --- ---

FI.E A

FI.E@-

LACATON 6 VASSAL III CITE htAltlFESTE

,."

glazing and glass doors link interior and exterior.

005_ Plan of upper floor III-------- --------~~~

00&_ Plan of ground floor I I I 007_ The open-plan layouts of the houses are interrupted only by the stairs and the sanitary blocks; large areas of---------- ~---~

III OOB_ In the summer, the outside becomes part of the living area.

-=======-========-==='=------===----------- -----

====~------~-~--~-~

90 / 9 1

maximum volume. The architects selected mainly prefab­

ricated, standardised elements for the construction and

left the surfaces untreated. Precast concrete elements

form the loadbearing framework for the ground floor and

punctuate the generous transparency of the facade. The

upper floor on top of this 3 m high, table-like concrete

plinth is formed by a lightweight glasshouse structure

made from steel sections clad in corrugated transparent

polycarbonate sheets. These plastic walls consist of

multi-leaf insulated or single-leaf uninsulated assemblies

depending on the internal uses. The spacious, uninsu lat­

ed area functions like a conservatory. During spring and

autumn it supplements the accommodation and in sum­

mer it is almost transformed into an external area. Large

openings in roof and facade can be opened up to 50 %.

A fabric sunblind can be extended horizontally if re­

quired. III In order to guarantee permeability between

inside and outside, the boundary between conservatory

and living quarters is characterised by large areas of glaz­

ing and glass doors. Multi-leaf plastic external walls were

used on the north side. The lightweight facade construe-

tions with their air cavity were given an additional double

layer of insulation and finished internally with a lining of

plasterboard. Special, highly reflective curtains on the in­

side or sliding panels of corrugated polycarbonate sheets

on the outside form an integral part of the facade concept

and protect against overheating in summer. These mov­

able elements can be deployed as required . III The

architects remained loyal to their material concept in the

interior as well. They used the plastic sheeting for the in­

ternal partitions too and left the concrete wall and floor

surfaces exposed. This mixture of materials, untreated

surfaces, open-p lan layout and unusual wall construc­

tions resulted in housing units that are nearly twice the

size of those normally found in publicly assisted housing.

The quality of the accommodation benefits from this gain

in space, but at the same time requires the tenants to re­

think their llvtng habits. Functions are no longer tied to

confined internal spaces; they start to migrate and the

house itself becomes a territory which is not screened off

from its environment, but rather remains permeated by it

and enters into an intensive dialogue with it .

Coupe dt tM F~ Nord & R.l(Flla lion haute tIoison)

EXT.F.~.de N.

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0 0 9 0 10

OOg _ Schematic plan layout and sect ion //( ._010_.Sect ion through ~aves ....

._.._- - _ ...

- ----_ .- - - . .. . ._-_...

LACATON 6 VASSAL III CITE IiIAtllFESTE

EXTERIEUR(fa~adc Nord)

iIIIriII!~

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INTERIEUR (Espace isole)

Plan d~la~ sur elolson peripMnque • R+1

012

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au_ The consElrvat[lr~dds~oth~Dom_~o the_accommodation. ~/_~2~riz~ta_lsectionthr(lUghl~cad,,-_ _ - -_ =- = _- -- - .._--- - - --

92 / 93

ARCONIKO

[gJ (QJ [ill~~ &~ [QJ ~u[ill [QJ 0(QJ

D~ &[1~~~~

MATERIAL_ TRANSLUCENT MULTI ·W EB PDLYC ARB Dr-lATE SHEETS III FACADE TYPL SING LE· LEAF If USE _ RESIDENTIALI ST UDI O

LDCATIDH _ ALMERE , THE NETHERLANDS COMPLETED 19 9 B

The house and studio project in Almere demonstrates

that low -budget building and high aesthetic demands is

not necessarily a contradiction in terms . The success­

fu l collaboration between the clients [two artists) and

the architects resulted in a house with a special charac ­

ter based on an unpretentious loadbearing structure , a

stra ightforward plan layout and the use of "cheap mate­

rials " such as corrugated sheet metal and plastic . High

ce ilings , an open -plan arrangement and , above all, the

treatment of light have resulted in high-quality accom­

modation .

CONCEPT III The choice of materials and form of

construction can be understood from the architectural

context. Located on the boundary between industrial

and housing districts , this house is surrounded by, from

the architectural viewpoint , simplistic , everyday com ­

merc ial structures . The arch itects "borrowed" the cheap

materials and the standardised bulldlng components

from the nearby greenhouses and industrial sheds and

turned them into a more sophisticated but nevertheless

clear-cut design . I I I Corrugated sheet metal and

plastic dominate the external appearance of the simple ,

rectangular building. The corrugated sheet metal, which

is actually a thermally insulated sandwich panel, is

placed over the steel structure like a wide , upturned "U "

to fo rm the roof and the gable ends of the house. How­

ever, the corrugated sheet metal has been placed at an

angl e to form a monopitch roof, which results in a differ­

ent number of storeys inside . On the southern side, fac ­

ing the garden , the house has two storeys, whereas the

northern side , which incl udes the entrance , is just one

tall single storey. Opaque plastic panels form the longi ­

tud inal elevations spann ing between the gable ends .

I I I Just like the building envelope , the plan layout

also employs an uncomplicated approach . There are es­

sentially just two rooms separated by a zone containing

the sta irs and anc illary rooms . On one side an open gal ­

le ry and built -in cupboards divide the llvtng area into

ARCONIK O III HOUSE AND STUDIO IN ALMERE

DD1 _ At night , the "inte rnal workings " of the bu ilding are dis cernible through the tran slu cent facade .. ._- ..,- -- - - - - --- - - - - - .- - - - - -- - -

94 I 95

funct ional zones; cooking, eating, relaxing and sleeping

tak e place in an open -plan arrangement. On the other

side , the sculptor has set up his workshop with a sepa ­

rate room for dust-free working and a gallery to present

a view of his works. The interior atmosphere is domi ­

nated by the exposed steel frame, which reminds the

observer of an old industrial bullding, and the untreated

surfaces of the materials employed.

CONSTRUCTION III The sea rch for the zero po int ,

th e absolute minimum in architecture , led the archi ­

tects to devise an unconventional facade construct ion :

a sing le lay er of multi -web po lycarbonate shee ts was

bonded directly to the steel structure using a specia l

double -sided adhesive tape . This amaz ingly sim ple

method of erection was tested for the f irst time on this

project in conjunction with the manu facturers . The butt

jo ints were subsequent ly filled with sili con e. There are

therefore virtually no details on thls hou se. Even th e

junctions between the plastic sheets and the wo oden

frames to the double-glazed windows and between th e

frames and the primary st ructure make use of adhesive

tape and si licone. This unusual form of construction

created a new aesthetic with a remarkab le appearance

utterly free fro m any distu rbing f ixings . The facade is a

flat skin, which is accentuated by the reddish brown

wooden fr ames of the windows. I I I Another special

feature of the facade constructi on is the way it controls

the incoming light, or rather provides the interior with

daylight. The opaque plastic sheets bathe the interior in

a low-l evel , even light without creating a link between

interior and exterior, a function rese rved for the trans ­

parent glass windows wh ich are pos it ioned to provide

spac ljlc views int o and out of t he house . The use of

002

II- ---j

II III III

III III

0 0 4 II

002_ Section I I I 003_ There is a seamless transition between the corrugated sheet metal forming the roof and the end walls of the butldtng. III 004_ Horizontal section---- - .. ---

through [acade

ARCONIKO III HOUSE AND STUDIO IN ALMERE

I.tII

r------\I _ ... I

I II II II II II I

t {I II II II II II IL JI II II II II II II I

II

IIIIII

iIIIIII

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IIIIIII

- - t -- - - 11,.....;--1IIIIII

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006 007

005_ The flush [acade is accentuated by the dark wooden frames around the openings. I I I OOS_ Plan of ground floor I I I 007_ Plan of gallery

------------------------

96 / 97

plastic sheets over most of the facade alters the sig ­

nificance of the windows. III Standard elements

from builder merchants ' catalogues add detail to the

house without disrupting its clarity and strictness . For

example , a standard garage door was used to provide

access to the studio , and the steel stairs as well as the

sliding doors on the elevation facing the garden are like­

wise standard products . III Owing to the simplicity

of the construction and the details, the clients were

able to carry out some of the work themselves and thus

keep the costs down. Contractors were brought in only

for the concreting works, the steel structure and the

metal roof and gable ends . The plastic facade was

erected and the interior fitting -out completed by the

artists themselves . III The mer its of the simple

plastic facade are not just limited to the fact that it em­

ploys a low-cost, easy -to-handle material. During the

daytime the special character of the plastic sheets

means that the interior is lit by an even glow, which is

important for the studio but also lends the living areas a

special quality. And conversely, the house is turned into

an illuminated sculpture at night when lit from within .

DDB. Standard Industrial products and the unpretentlous_s~r~ural steelwork determine the atmosphere of the studio. / / / DDB_ Location plan / / / D1D_ Night-time photo

---~--

===--------------_ .._- -----------._---------------------

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--- -'.

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ARCONIKO III HOUSE AND STUDIO IN ALt.lERE

011_ Exploded drawing III 012_ Windows and glazed facade elements are integrated into the external envelope very sparingly and specifically.------- ------ ------- -----------

-------- - ------------

------ ------

--------

---------

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98 / 99

PFEIFER .KUHN

MATERIAL TRANSLUCENT MULTI WEB POLYCARBO NATE SHEETS

USE RESIOENTIAL LOCATIOIt MUL LHEIM . GERM AN Y

FACA O TYPE SING LE LEAF OR MULTI LAYER

CDMP L ET 0 2 0 05

At j trst stght this house looks just like any other in this

area ; the local design guidelines prescribe the form of

such a single -storey bulld lng with a duopitch roof. How ­

ever , in this case appearances are deceptive . It is not

only the synthetic envelope , but also the plan layout

and the energy concept that bear witness to the uncon­

ventional building culture behind this design . / / /

The client , a biologist , was used to sleeping In a tent on

her many research expeditions and therefore wanted a

house with 8 ' tent -like character " , one that would be

light and airy. At the same time, it should provide more

than Just a small family home and instead should be de ­

signed for two parties who want to live together under

one roof Without sacrificing any of their Independence .

CD" C EPT 1// The architects turned thls brief int o

an unusual plan layout that is not readily apparent in the

form of a standard two -dimensional drawing and re ­

qu ires the third dimension to reveal the architects ' in -

tentions. The house provides a volume in which the in­

dividual rooms are stacked like boxes , grouped around

a large atrium-like centra l hall to form clos ed . serm ­

open and open spaces like galleries . At any time the oc ­

cupants can therefore choose to withdraw into one of

the closed rooms or remain available for communica ­

tion in one of the open spaces . In order that both parties

prnjlt from the sunshine . the storeys of the housing

units are turned through 90 D. This approach resulted In

a layout that spirals around the central hall. Straight

stair flights facing in opposite directions in th e rnultl ­

storey hall create independent access to the respective

housing units but at the same time create an area for

communication .

CD"STRUCTID" /1/ The enclos ing volume in the

form of a duopitch-roofed house is bullt from multi -web

polycarbonate sheets. Fnllowing the house-within -a­

house principle . the facade to the central hall consists

PFEIF ER.K UH N III SEMI·DETACHED HOUSES IN MULLHEIM

DD1_ Location plan III DD2_ At night-time . when the building is lit from within . the different wall constructions become visi ble .

100 I 101

exclusively of a single -leaf, uninsulated wall assembly,

whereas the cubes of the living accommodation have a

multi-layer facade . This enabled the more costly, multi ­

layer wall construction to be used spectjtcallv for the

heated rooms only . The facade to the living quarters con ­

sists of translucent , airtight , waterproof plastic sheets,

an air cavity and a solid leaf of edge -fixed timber ele­

ments as the inner lining. Owing to the relatively good

U-value of the plastic sheets and the adjoining air cavltv,

the facade construction achieves a level of thermal insu ­

lation that satisjies the strict regulations without any

additional thermal insulation. Their low weight-per -unit

area , the simple construction details and the low capita l

outlay mean that the polycarbonate sheets have many

advantages over conventional glazing . / / / During

spr ing and autumn , the ingenious facade system

changes to a functional facade - a supplier of energy

wh ich forms a substantial component in the building's

energy concept .

CLIMAT E CONCEPT //1 The fundamental idea be ­

hind the energy concept is to use a low-tech approach:

heat losses are to be minimised , energy requirements

reduced and solar gains exploited . These premi ses re­

sulted in a design concept in which the plan layout and

the building services are inextricably linked . III The

open hall and the facade construction are int rinsic to the

internal climate concept . The hall , around which the

rooms spiral, takes on the function of a conservatory . It

exploits solar gains for heating and reduces heat losses .

In winter it forms a buffer zone between the cold outside

air and the heated habitable rooms, in spring and autumn

the heat stored in the hall reaches the adjoining liVing

quarters via open doors, and in summer roof vents help

to prevent overheating of the interior. Just like the hall

changes its function through the seasons , the multi ­

layer facade also behaves differently depending on the

external climatic conditions . During spring and autumn

the multi -layer external walls function as air collectors

and supply additional heat to the interior: the solar radia ­

tion heats up the air behind the translucent outer leaf

and convection currents drive this air into the roof space

from where it can be channelled via a duct into the cen ­

tra l hall. In summer the heated air escapes to the outside

via roof vents and in winter the "stationary" layer of air

acts as thermal insulation . Vents at ground level and

003. The accommodation is grouped around a three-storey circulation and communication atrium. III 004. The spacious, open atrium, with its Single-leaf polycarbonate walls,---------- ------------------ ---------------------- ----_ .._-------------- ---------

functions as a conservatory. I I I 005. Straight stair flights [actng in opposite directions provide independent access to the two houses under one roof.---- ------ ---- ------------

------------- - ----------------------

---------------------

- ---------------

~~~~ - -----------------

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006

PFEIFER.KUHN III SEMI·DETACHED HOUSES I" MULLHEIM

009

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006_ Plan of roof III 007_ Plan of upper floor III OOB_ Plan of ground floor III 009_ Section III 010_ Longitudinal section III 011_ Brightly illuminated roof

surfaces denote the three-storey atrium.

102 / 103

ridge are responsible for the functionality of the facade .

In winter the vents remain closed so there is no flow of

air. During the rest of the year the roof windows can be

opened to create a negative pressure in the facade

cavity , which automatically opens the vent at ground

level and thus generates a convection current. This is a

form of construction that the architects have already

employed in a number of variations. / / / The zoning

of the house into rooms with different temperatures, the

012

"energy garden" and the collectors reduce the heating

requirement to such an extent that heating in a form of

activating the components in the concrete floors is

sufficient. / / / Thls new building is an impressive

demonstration of contemporary housing. Instead of tra­

ditional semi-detached houses, the architects created a

form of accommodation with a complex interlacing of

common and private zones which benefits from new ma­

terials and innovative energy concepts.

Incoming air

013

±ODO

012 _ The pt~t.i C sheets form .~ th in o ~~ r le af u~l' 0nt of the SOlid. timb e r walls . / / / 013 . Det ail of base of wall in liVing are a._... --- - -

014

PFEIFER. KUHN III SEMI·DETACHED HDUSES IN MULLHEIM

015

014-015_ Schematic diagram of climate concept: left energy scheme, winter; right energy scheme, summer III 01&_ The plastic panels form a thin covering to the roof and

external walls.

104 / 10 5

SHIGERU BAN

MAT RIAL TRANSLUCENT GLASS FIBRE REINF ORCEO PL ASTIC SHEETS FACAOI TYPE SINGLE LEA F OR t.4ULTI LE AF

USE XH IBITIO NS LOCATIO" SHIZ UOKA JAPAN COMPLETED 2001

In Japan, paper production and paper art are based on

traditions stretching back thousands of years, and en ­

joy worldwide acclaim. Just recently, a museum of pa ­

pe r art , of which there are only a handful in Japan,

opened in Shizuoka, not far from Tokyo . This private mu­

seum , set up by one of Japan 's leading papar manufac­

turers , contains a comprehensive collection of tradi­

tlonat paper art and In the adjoining gallery, a converted

old factory building. shows examples of contemporary ,

avant-garde tendencies in Japanese paper art . Tradition

and event-gards. the themat c foundations of the exhi ­

bltlon , also enjov a congenial relationship In the muse­

um design by Shlgeru Ban The architect used new ma­

terlals to create contemporary modern spaces, but at

the same time he creates a reference to the traditional

architecture of Japan with his re-interpretation of and

varlattnn on the shitom,do, a vertical window shutter

common in traditional Japanese architecture, or the

thematic treatment of the space continuum .

CONCEPT III In climatic terms, the new museum

structure - a square, three -storey block with a glass

pavlllnn on the roof - follows the building-within -a ­

bulldlng prlnclple. A steel frame provides the loadbear ­

Ing structure and weatherproof Simple double-web

sheets made from glass fibre -reinforced plastlc form

the outer bu ldlng Inside thls three-storey building

there are two more three-storey blocks each of which

covers one-third of the plan area . The two blocks are

separated by a three-storey multifunctional atrium in

the middle Narrow bridges span this void and link the

two nternal blocks The southern block houses the

museum ojjtces , archives and a lecture t eatre , the

northern block IS reserved for the museum 's exhibits .

Only those rooms that require air conditioning e.g . of­

f ices and exhibition areas, have a second , Inner leaf to

the facade . The atrium and circulation areas , on the

other hand, are separated from the outside merely by

the Single -leaf plastic facade.

001

0 02

SHIGERU BAN I I I MUSEUM OF PAPER ART

001_ Section III OO:L Isome t ric exploded view III 003_ The exhibit ion and administration areas are climati call y separate ent it ies located within a three -storey volume- - - - --_.. - - - - - ----- -- --- - - - ---- - - - - ----_ ._- ---- - - "- - -

ac cording to th e bu ilding-with in-a -bu ild ing princ ip le ; large sect ions of the fa cade can be opened up to the outside .

- - - - -- -- - - - - - ---_. - - - - - ------_..- .....•_------_._--- - - - _._------- -- ._ - - - - ---- - - - ------ -- - - - - ---- - - ._---- --------- ---_.- . ---- --

106 ! 10 7

CDtlSTRUCTIDti III Atfirst sight the museum ap­

pears to be hermetically sealed and introvert. But a

closer inspection reveals that the building is a trans ­

formable organism with many facets . The idea of a flow­

ing , unmarked transition between inside and outside

governed the design and construction . The re-interpre ­

tation of the traditional shitomido helped the architects

to realise their idea. The lightweight plastic facade can

be easily opened, rolled aside or lifted up in different

ways . For example , the storey-high facade panels to the

offices on the southern side can be raised to the hori ­

zontal position so that they also act as sunshades . Fur­

thermore , the inner leaf [storey-high single glazing] can

be slid sideways almost completely so that on mild sum ­

mer days the museum staff are virtually working out-

004

doors. In the three-storey atr ium the pla st ic pane ls can

be opened over their full height of nearly 10 m. The sole

rigid facade is located on the north side of the exhib ition

area . Calcium silicate panels as the inner leaf provide

both thermal insulation and , at the same time , a surface

for exhibits . I I I The adjoining gallery in the converted

factory building adheres to the same principle : it was

given a single-leaf facade comprising six -part , translu­

cent, glass fibre -reinforced plastic panels . With the

panels closed , the wall reminds the observer of shoji

screens, the traditiona l Japanese sliding paper walls .

The 5 m high facade elements are opened by rolling

them upwards onto cantilevering horizontal external

steel beams , where they form a generous sunshade .

This feature enables the facade to be opened over the

005

004_ Sect ion thro ugh facade , museum.. - . _---- ---~ .-

-- --_ . . .__.

!!! 005_ Section through facade , gallery- - - .._----

_ .._-_._- - -

SHI GERU BAN I I I MUSEUM OF PAPER ART

c/' I

006 007 006 006

006 _ Plan of roof I I I 007_ Plan of 2nd floor I I I OOS _ Plan of ground floor I I I 009 _ location plan I I I 010_ la rge sect ions of the lightweight plastic facade in each

s torey can be swung upwar ds to link interior and exterior as well as to provide generous sunshading.

lOB / 109

full height and length of the building. The interior of the

gallery can thus be extended into its surroundings and

becomes embraced by the landscape. / / / The mov­

ability and large openings of the lightweight plastic fa­

cade leads to a transformation of the interior spaces

and creates a spatial continuity that blurs the bound­

aries between interior and exterior.

~II

r 111111

[D D 0

II

0 11 II

011_ Plan of 1st floor

-_ ... - ._- - - .._---- - ---

- - --_ .- _ . . - .._ -

SHIGERU BAN I II MUSEUM OF PAPER ART

012 _ When clo sed , the plastic f acad e form s an uninterrupted , plain surface . I I I 013 _ The at rium facade can be opened over it s full height, turning interior and exter ior into one

;~ -- -

cont inuou s space.

110 / 111

STAIB ARCHITECTS WITH GUNTER BEHNISCH

~&If [J:{] (ill [S 0~ ~ [J:{] [ill~~ [J:{] (ill [? c:D B~ [ill~~[J:{]~D~lf If[J:{]B ~ DU\J @l) ~&[Q)BOOB[ill[S

MATERIAL TRANSLUCENT ....ULTI WEB POLYCAR BONATE SHEETS WI TH COL OUREO GLAS S OR TRANSP ARENT ACRYLI C INS ERTS

FACADE TYPE SINGLE LEAF USE WORSH IP, TE....PORARY LDCATlDIt RA D BEUL , GER....AN Y COMPLETED 2 0 0 1

CON CEPT I I I Surrounded by a park -like landscape

and impressive villas dating from the late 19th century,

this simple , triangular glass edifice that forms the Ca­

tholic place of worship in Radebeul could be mistaken

for a garden pavilion. However, this new building does

not try to curry favour with the exis t ing built environ ­

ment, but rather aims - through it s stri ct , lucid architec­

tural language - to evade any comparison. I I I The

rigid, triangular plan shape is relieved somewhat at

ground floor level by a curving fair -face concrete wall.

The completely random line of the wall separates the

entrance area and the vestry from the place of worship

itself and at one end includes th e confessional box - on

plan In the shape of an ear. The wall supports the choir,

which protrudes through the [acade to form a canopy

over the entrance . III Insp ired by the nearby vine ­

yards and the surrounding large residences , the archi­

tects pursued the idea of an open -air church enclosed

within a bower overgrown with dense, wild vines - an

idea reminiscent of Laugier 's primitive hut. It is not the

facades that demarcate the place of worship, but rather

the internal curving wall and the foliage of the trees and

vines in front of the [acade . (However, the external plan­

ting has not yet been realised .) The facade itself offers

protect ion against the weather and is also responsible

for the look and feel of the interior - through specific

li ght ing and visual effects achieved through the multi ­

faceted construction of the facade, which includes

the whole range of nuances from transparency to

translucency.

CON ST RU CTI O N III Like a patchwork quilt, the

panels of the [acade alternate between customary,

t ransparent insulat ing glass units and cellular plastic

sheets in var ious colours with different cell widths and

different degrees of transparency. The arrangement and

types of facade infill panels are a response to the sur­

round ings . The presence of the outside world and the

at mosphere and colouring within the church depend

STAIB ARCHITECTS WITH GUNTER BEHNISCH III CATHOLIC CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST THE KING, RAOEBEUL

001_ The coloured plastic and glass inserts in the facade lead to a colourful play of light in the interior. 11/ 002_ The fully glazed facade permits an uninterrupted view of the

surrounding landscape.

112 I 113

on the choice of panel - transparent, translucent or

coloured . / / / The effect of this facade design is es­

pecially evident on the two-storey main facade facing

south-east, which is divided in two horizontally. The up­

per section consists of polycarbonate sheets intended

as a modern interpretation of mediaeval church windows

with their hand-blown glass in clear, illuminating, primary

colours . The sunlight generates zones of coloured light

in the interior of the church and brings to life the struc­

ture of the facade. The lower section contrasts with this

by employing transparent insulating glass units and

translucent plastic sheets, thus allowing the exterior to

be spectjlcallv included in or excluded from the church

service . / / / The entrance facade follows the same

principle. But this time the selection of colours - from

yellow to green - matches the yellow sunlight and the

green foliage covering the pergolas and trellises that will

be added later. To reduce the costs, coloured acrylic

strips were integrated into the cellular plastic sheets.

/ / / Again and again, the churchgoers encounter this

005

-.. ~- ·t>.. ' . ""x/, t:-. v>:

. <' ..~.~ •-c,,:..'. '_.. / ?1} ~'. . . ' . (,~:,,¥!

r {j~J... .. .......... .....

¥':f/

..Q.,Q ._~/0. ... .

"I •

00 6 007

003 . Choir I I I 004. The curving fa ir-face con crete wall forms a contrast to the st rict plan layout. III 005 _ Sect ion I I i __oO~~Pl a n olground f loor I I I 007. Plan of

uppe r floor- - --- - - - - --- _ . . . -- -

- ..- ... -- -- -- -- --

~- - - --- ----- ._ . -- - - --- . . _._- ..-... - - -- --- ._ .. ._-._- -- -_ _ - •• _ . _ ._ ._ • ~ ~ _~ __. 0 __ •••• _

- - ._. - - -- _ .- --- -- - _ . -- -- --_.

ST A IB ARC HITE CT S W ITH GUNTE R BEH NISC H III CATHOLIC CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST THE KING, RAOEBEUL

I I I

r__=,.--_ _-=-~_ -Ja

l009

010

DOS _The unadorned triangular glass blo ck is remin iscent of a garden pavil ion . I I I 009 _ Hori zontal section through f acade I I I D10_ Vertical secti on th rough fac ade

114 / 11 5

play of light and colour. For example, the architects have

incorporated a rooflight between the rooftop planting on

the flat roof. On the outside, the rooflight comprises

transparent polycarbonate sheets but on the inside it

takes the form of a narrow slit in the suspended ceiling

with an infill of yellow acrylic sheets. This allows a ray of

bright , yellow, overhead light to reach the interior of the

church which, as the position of the sun changes, mo­

ves across the wall behind the altar. / / / As the sun

moves across the sky, so the colouring and hence also

the atmosphere within the church alters . The architects

have used the versatility of the polycarbonate sheets to

generate a bright, friendly atmosphere in the interior

through the play of light, shadows and colours .

011_The fa cade , wi t h it s multitude of different colo ured inserts , resemble s a pat chw ork quilt.- -- ~---- - - -- '

-- ~ --- -' - - - - - " '- - ----- - -~ ~-- -- - ------------ -- -- ~---- --- -- - ---~..--- -- - -- - -- - - - ---. ._-- --------- - - - --- _.. --- _.__.- .~ ._ . -- - - - _._- - _ ..... - -- - ------- - - --- -- ~ .- - ---._---~ ~---- - - - --- - -- --_ ._- - -- ----------- _ . _- _. _ -_ .- _._._-- --,..------ --- - - --_ ._- -- _._,- - - '.- -- ." ------ - --- - _ ."._- _.._- -- ----------------- - - -- - - -_ .-- - - _._ -- - -- ".._-------- - - --- --- - - - '- - -_. _--- --- - --- -- ~ --~- - -- -_ .._- _._- -_... _- ---~_ ._ - ---- -_ . .. . _- - - -- -- _ .-- - --- -_._._._"---_._------ -- ------- -_._---- ._ - - -- ~ - - -- - -- _._--- - -- - -----_.----- - --- ---- - -._--- _._--- - --- _.._-~- - -

--- - - -- -- - _. , - -_. _ -- ----~---- --- - - -- ------~- -~ --- -_. _------ -- --- - --- ---- --- --- --- - - - -_ .. - ---~----- - - - --- - -- -- _. _ . _ . ~ - - -- --- - ---~- ._- - - - - --- ---- -- -- -- . . - .- - - -- --- - - -------_._----_._--- - - - -----------_._-- -- --- --- ~- - - --- -_._.- -- -._- ---_..__.----- -- -- -------- - --. --- --- --.-. ._.- .-- - - --- - -- - - ----- ---

- -- -- - -- -- _._---- - - - --_ . ._- - --- ------ --- --- -_._--_.-- --- ------- -_.._- --- ---- - ------- -- ------ _._-- - - - -- - -- - - _.__. _-- - -- --_ . ._._-- -_. -~ -- -- -- -- -- - -- ---- - - - ---- ------- - - ----_ .._ _. _ -- - ---- - _ .__ . _-- _. _- -- --- -- --- ~- -- - - - ----- . _- --- - - ~- -~- - - - _. ---- --- -- - -_._-- -- - -- - ~- - -------- -.--

ST AIB AR CHI T ECT S WITH GUNTER BEHNISCH III CATHOLIC CHURCH OF .JESUS CHRIST THE KIHG, RADEBEUL

012_ Close -up of pews I I I 013_ Confe ss ional box in the sha pe of an ear with backli t plastic ceili ng- - ._- - ---- -~ - - - - -- - - - - --- ---- - - - -- -- - -- - - - -- - - -- ------- -- ._ .- - - - - --- -- ._ - - .- .. . .- ---- -- - -- ...__... -_ . _ - - - - ._- _ ..._- --

116 I 117

HERZOG + PARTNER

[QJOOM ~lQJ~[?~m~~~~ &~[QJ

~MD=ODOODu DlQJ ~ ~&WD[sDlQJ~

MATERIAL ETFE FIL M, T RANS PARENT ONE L AYE R ROOF FORM SINGL - LEA F OR MUL TI ·LAY ER, MECHANICALLY PRETEN SION EO

USE EXH IBIT IONS/OFFICES LOCATIO" OSNABRUC K, GERMANY COMPLETE D 2002

When the Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt (DBU - Ger­

man Environmental Foundation) undertakes a bu ilding

project, then you can expect the end result to be innova­

tive and environmentally compatible. Accordingly, when

planning Its new conference and exhibition pavilion, the

DBU specified an environmentally friendly but at the

same time low-budget solution which should take into

account technical innovations and allow for the exem­

plary use of new materials. Energy-efficient and recy­

cling -compatible forms of construction plus the use of

natural building materials had to be coupled with engi ­

neer ing innovat ions and new materials to create a per ­

manent, simple and flexible building satisfying high ar­

chitectural demands. I I I The architects responded

to th is apparently contradictory and all-embracing brief

with a multifunctional, two-storey structure with a roof

comprising one layer of transparent ETFEfilm to provide

protection from the weather.

CD HC EPT I I I Basldes the constructional and tech ­

nical requirements outlined above , maximum flex ibility

of the Interior was another factor that dictated the de­

sign . Both the plan layout and the size of the bui lding

had to be adaptable for future, changing needs. The

new bul lding was initially designed to accommodate an

exhibi tion area and foyer, conference rooms and of ­

fices - three different forms of utilisation that place

different demands on the des ign . III The archi ­

tects provided a modular framework in the form of a

rec tangular, two -storey loadbearing t imber structure

on a 10 x B.l m grid, wh ich resu lted in 21 identical mod ­

ules on plan. Each individua l two-storey bay can ac­

commodate different usages as required and can be

closed off horizonta lly and vertically, or left open as an

exposed loadbearing structure , linking interior and ex­

terior. For example, the exhibition area comprises four

bays extending the full height of the building. inter ­

rupted in one bay by a gallery at first -floor level. The

offices zone extends over f ive bays and two levels. De­

pending on the ut ilisat ion required, the modules can

be closed off w ith lightwe ight partit ions or facades,

floors or roofs . The roof was designed in such a way

that the individual bays are independent in terms of

layout and construction, wh ich means that the roof

construction can be varied from transparent to opaque

separately for each bay .

001

~ rrenerucent

Closed

_ Br clng

HERZOG + PARTNER III DBU CONFERENCE AND EXHIBITION PAVILION

001_ The bays between the members of the two-storey-high timber framework result in 21 identical modules which can be fitted with different roof forms. III 002_ One layer of----- - -- -- -- --- ---- ------ --- -- - ----,-- ---

transparent ETFEfilm forms the weather-resistant roof covering.

-----

------

118 I lHJ

CONSTRUCTION III Irrespective of the interna l

ut ilisation , the bays were provided with a single layer of

t ransparent ETFE film as the outermost, weatherproof

roof. Beneath th is weatherproof membrane, numerous

mu lti -laye r roof const ruc t ions are conceivable , which

can be match ed to the respective uses of the interior

space s below. Four different types of construction we re

implemented. The conference rooms required high ther­

mal and sound insulation values and so were given trans­

lucent roof pan els made from horizonta l double glazing

with int egral translucent thermal insulation and incorpo ­

rating adjustable sunbli nds in the cavity . The overhead

li ght, wh ich provides a high er level of illumination than

lighting f rom the side , is exploited to illuminate the inte-

rior . In the exhib ition area, on the other hand , the thermal

insulat ion was omitted . Here, the roof bays were closed

off with matt -fin ish obscured double glazing. Over the

Offices and storage areas the inner roof layer consists of

lam inated venee r lumber panels which help to brace the

roof and are covered with temporary waterproofing mate­

rial and th erma l insul at ion. The simplest f orm of roof

construction can be found over the terraces, whe re the

single layer of fi lm forms a transparent canopy. I I I

The film is not on ly the water run -off layer for the roof ; it

also carries the snow and wind loads. Consequently, the

roof constructions below the plastic outer membrane

could be constructed considerab ly simpler than is usu ­

all y th e case. The panes of double glaz ing were able to

1m

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0 0 4 005

003 Overall view III 004_ Plan of ground floor III 005_ Plan of upper floor

H ER Z OG + PAR T NE R I I I DBU CDrtFERErtCE ArtD EXHIBITIDrt PAVILIDrt

007

»>:

OOB

006 _ Confe rencoeroom-- -

use of the room s belo w.

III 007_ Secti on I I I 008 _ Construction principle of roof bay I I I 009_ The multi -la yer construction of the roof bays can be adapt ed to suit the- - - - _ ._. - -- - - -- --_._ --- - ----- -- - - - - - -- - -- --- -- --- - - - -- -

I I I 010_ The roof is divided int o individual bays . each one of which can have a different construction .

120 / 121

be installed horizontally without falls and did not have to

satisfy the usual safety standards . The sunblinds are vir ­

tually zero-maintenance and the thermal insulation to

the closed roof bays is protected against rain . III

Look ing beyond the concept itself. the sing le-layer plas­

ti c membrane roof curving about both axes is also a

technical and constructional innovation . Whereas pneu ­

matic film assemblies have been sufficiently researched

to date , the behaviour of single-layer, prestressed plas ­

t ic membrane roofs under normal loadings was unknown

up to now . I I I The transparent ETFE film is stretched

over arched beams made from steel hollow sections

spaced 1.5 m apart and supported on the primary timber

structure . To provide stability, the indiv idual pieces of

film were prestressed along the edges and fixed to the

steel arches and along the longitudinal edges with spe ­

cially designed clamp fasteners . The saddle shape that

ensues in the membrane as it spans between each pair

of arches is due to the prestress . Special tensioning ar­

rangements. which tighten the membrane at certain

po ints , were devised for the end pieces making up the

transverse sides of the bays . I I I The design of the

clamp fasteners and the calculation of the prestress,

which may not decrease even in the case of long-term or

frequent loading by snow and wind , had to be determined

emp irically. Numerous experiments were carried out es ­

pecially for this project at the former Essen Polytechn ic

(since 2003 known as the University of nutsburg-assenl

in order to discover the creep and relaxation behav iour .

the behaviour of the film when subjected to repeated

loads and the deformation progression as the load is re­

lieved. In addition , the fi lm was investigated for its be­

haviour when subjected to biaxia l actions with strains

that exceed the serviceability cond it ions . The membrane

const ruct ion as built with its curving saddle-shap ed, me­

chanically prestressed plastic film was the outcome of

these studies and experiments.

C LI MATE CD to! CEPT I I I Resource-sparing and en­

ergy-savlng concepts were realised under the heading of

energy efficiency. The provision of light-permeable roof

surfaces reduced the cost of heating and artificial light­

ing because the windowless conference rooms and the

deep exhibition and foyer area can be lit by daylight

throughout the year. In winter solar gains via the roof

glazlng and the preheated incoming air back up the un­

derfloor heating . III In the summer, louvres in the

roof, which are controlled depending on the light, protect

against excessive temperatures in the rooms below.

However, if the interior does have to be cooled on hot

summer days . the incoming air can be precoo led or the

underfloor heating used as a cooling system. The circu ­

lat ing water required for this is cooled in underground

collectors . Another special feature is the combined

fresh - and exhaust-air duct which functions as a heat

exchanger and utilises the heat in the outgoing air to pre ­

condition the incoming air in summer and winter. Solar

cells and vacuum-tube collectors on the roof supply fur­

ther energy . Thanks to these comprehensive and dive rse

measures, the new pavilion achieves a specific annual

heating energy requirement of 29 kWh/m 2 '3. which is sub ­

stantially lower than the low-energy house standard .

I I I In the DBU's new conference and exhibition pavil ­

ion , innovation and envtrnnrnentally compatible building

are f used into one by the new type of membrane roof

construction .

HOIoutllde .'f

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ve ntua uon viawlndowl l!IIsrequired

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Powt>r .cICkel

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IJ

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UnderUoor heaul'lO

22 · C

20 · CHeal t rorn floor

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vemuancnvIa window.8.,equ lu!d

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011 012

D11_ Schematic diagram of ventilation in winter / / / D12_ Schematic diagram of ventilation in summer

HERZOG + PARTNER III OBU CONFERENCE ANO EXHIBITION PAVILION

014-015

r I JI II II j 1J t rrIIIII IlJ fI1Dl~lJ -- ---- - - - -- - - - - -

I t r 11 1 I

Pretensiornnq Pretenslonmg, snow Pretensrorunq, wmd upillt Pretenslonmg. wmd lrom below

016

~.__._--------====

//1 OSB_ Schematic diagram of the

===--=-=------~~------------

-::=======::::.:::::::::===::=- ----'---.--------------_._--_.-

~~----~--~-----------------------------~----------

OS3_ In the end beys, the ETFEfilm Is stebillsed vie a special tensioning arrangement. 1/1 OSA-OUL Detail of tensioning apparatus------ ~ ----~-----------~--~---~-- ~----~-------

loading cases for determining the pretension in the film.

---------------------------------------------------------------------~--

==----=----------------------------~--~-

--------------------------------------_.-

122 / 123

HERZOG G DE MEURON III ALLIANZ ARENA

--- -- ------

001_ The stadium looks like a monolithic air-filled cushion floating above the ground. III 002_ Section through entire area

--- - --- ------ -- ----- --------- -.--_. --- ---_.~---_.~- ---------

124 ! 125

003_ Overall view !!! 004_ Location plan

HERZOG 6 DE MEURON III ALL IANZ ARENA

00 5 The introverted Interior with the steep ly rising terra ces creates a compact three ·dime ns iona l space that focuses attent ion on the football pitch 11/ DDB The 600 m_lo_n.:.g _

Es planad e s tee rs the football fans towa rds the s tadium a nd. with its curv ing network 01 pathways. is the idea l platform for the coming foo tball even t.

126 / 127

Diamond-shaped CushionsETFE-Foil, two-part

Stadium(227m / 2S8m1SOm)

Northern Ramp

E7 • Mechanical

-::-;:-;;;::~~~~...,_ _ .....=- ...;:". ~ U..:....:pper Tiers (22,000 seats)

::;~~:~~!1~~~'ji_~~~~~~4~~:;:;;::===:::::;t:.=~M~iddle Tiers (24.000 seats)

Lower Tiers ( 20.000 seats)""".....,.-...".~~':-,...::;-----

Access Esplanade / Parking

Esplanade(134m/600m)

E6 - Small Promenade. Kiosks, Fan Shops, Access Upper Tiefs

E5 · Boxes, Event Boxes, Foyers, Catenng

E4 · Business Club, Guests of Honour, Catering

E3· Sponsor Lounges, Restaurants, Fan Meeting Points. Leisure Areas, Daycare, Offices

E2 · Large Promenade. VIP Access. KIosks, Fan Shops. Access Lower Tiers. Access Middle Tlers

El • VIP Access . Parking Garage

EO- Media Facilities, VIP Access, Security, Police, Ambulance, Lawn Maintenance, Mechanocal , Parking Garage

007

DD7. Isomet r ic v iew

HERZ OG 6 DE ME URo N III ALLIAttZ AREttA

.-

(,,'(I r.J1./ _EJ

010

' pmwy__ UJo

' '''''''''''''''~ETFE-lool

...._'-It

OOB_ Section III 009_ Depend ing on direction, th e cush ions are either transparent or tr anslucent I I I 010 _ Detail section through facade III 0 11 -0 13 _ Erecting the

air -f illed cu shions

128 I 129

014_ Entrance 'evel2 III 015_ Level 5 with VIP loggias III 016_ Level6 with kiosk zone III 017_ Plan of roof

HERZOG 6 DE MEURoN III ALLIANZ ARENA

01B-019_ As a dramatic but at the same time an alluring gesture, the envelope can be illuminated in the colours of the football club.

130 / 131

O. J . SIEGERT

MATERIAL ETFE FI LM . TRANSPARENT ONE LAYER

CIRCULATlON LOCATIOH BAD TOLZ GERM ANY

FACADE TYPE SI NGLE LEAF. MECHANI CAL LY PR TENSI ONED

COMPLETED 2004

USE RESEAR CH /

The Gerontology Technology Centre [GTZ) in Bad Tolz is

the first building in the world to use a single layer of

transparent film for its facade. It is not only the physical

properties of this extremely thin material that make this

a highly unusual facade design; the double curvature of

the facade lends the building a new aesthetic and pres­

ents a challenge to conventional perceptions of archi ­

tecture At the same time. the planning and production

process of this complex configuration called for a re ­

think In the building Industry.

CDNCEPT III To create a focal point for and at the

same time also a contrast to the rigid. box -like arrange­

ment of the former American army barracks , the archi ­

tects designed a spiral-shaped building to house the

new Innovations Centre . The spiral can be seen as a sym­

bol of renewal , of development, or as a symbol of life it-

self, reflecting the work of the centre, which aims to pro­

mote interdisciplinary scienttjtc projects in the relatively

new field of gerontology. For this purpose, the GRP [Gen ­

eration Research Program) Institute, an Off-campus sec­

tion of Munich's Ludwig Maximilian University, was

housed in the centre of the spiral , forming in terms of

both content and location the nucleus from where new

impulses will radiate . In order to promote synergy ef­

fects , the offices and retail premises in the ensuing spi ­

ral are reserved for companies whose activ ities are di­

rectly linked to the areas of research . I I I This

geometrically complex building evolves like a ramp from

the three storeys at the start of the sp iral to the four sto ­

reys at the [provlstnnal] end of the spiral. In add it ion, be ­

hind the facade each storey is stepped back and in ­

cludes an open walkway at each level. The walkways link

the individual officelretail units and can also be used by

D. J. SIEGERT III GERONTOLOGY TECHNOLOGY CENTRE, BAO TDLZ

001_ The ETFE film in double curvature forms the external envelope and spans the complete building from top to bottom.--- -- -

gives the facade its structure.

III 002_ The transition from flat to curved columns

132 I 133

the businesses for exhibitions and presentations, or for

add itional seating areas , thus encouraging informal com ­

mun ication between the var ious companies.

CLIMATE CONCEPT III The externa l enve lope in

front of these open walkways is formed by a transpar­

ent ETFEf ilm curving in two directions . A new develop ­

ment at the time of its erection , the film spans the

complete he ight of the build ing . It prnv ldes protection

against the weather and at the same time controls the

internal climate. Although the facade consists of just

one layer of this thin f ilm , the open access zone be ­

hind , act ing as a kind of conservatory, forms a climate

buffer between the build ing itself and the exterior, just

li ke its glazed predecessor. In Winter, spring and au ­

tumn , the intermediate zone stores the solar radiat ion

and therefore reduces the heating requirements and

hence the heating costs - a factor that is becoming

more and more relevant as energy costs rise. Contrast­

ingly, during the summer the pr inting on the film and

scr eens on the inside serve as protection aga inst ex­

c essive solar gains. In addition , sensor -controlled

vents open in the night to ensure an exchange of air.

The stack effec t in the multistorey void between walk ­

ways and facade is responsib le for the airflow wh ich

rep laces the warm interior air with cold night air. Fur­

thermore , the storage capacity of the solid f loor slabs

is exp lo ited to reduce daytime temperature peaks . An ­

other advantage is the generous t ransparency of the

facade ; daylight can be exploited to the full and energy

costs for artificial lighting min imised.

CONSTRUCTION III The curve of the membrane

facade gives it a natural look, like a row of bird feathers .

The single layer of ETFE film forms a complex, twisted

surface geometry due to the spiral-shaped, te rraced

and, at the same t ime , ramp -like arrangement of th e

bul ldlng . However, this unusual shap ing of the mem ­

brane facade is not just the resu lt of the building's ge­

ome try ; it is more the resu lt of the two -way spann ing ,

which is necessary in order to stabilise the single layer

of materia l. Consequently, the loadbearing structure

over which the f ilm is stretched is not simply a support­

ing f ramework , but rather determines the very shape of

the facade . The architects chose steel Circular hollow

sections f or t he facade structure . The ci rcular steel

00 4

003. The bulldtng has a spiral form on plan and rises like a ramp. III 004. Location plan

----- ---- ------- ----- --- ----- ----- ---------------------------_ ... _-- ---- ------ ------ ----------------_ .. _-- --- ----- --- --------------------- ----- .... _._- --_. _ ..._---_ .._----- --- ------------- -_... _-----

D. J. SIEGERT III GEROttTOLOGY TECHttOLOGY CEttTRE, BAD TDLZ

005

"

DD5~ Plan of ground floor III DD6~ Plan of 3rd floor III DD7~ Section; the passages are circulation and climatic intermediate zones between offices and external envelope.

134 I 13 5

columns follow the spiral shape of the plan layout. In­

clined in two directions , they form trapezo idal bays on

elevation and in section follow the terrace-like outline

of the building. Owing to the ramp -like increase in

height, every column is positioned at a different angle to

the buildlng. In add ition , every trapezoidal bay includes

a diagonal member which curves outwards. This frame­

work , alternating between straight and curved members

inclined in different directions , forms the geometry and

dictates the curvature of the [acade film .

FABRICATIDN III The [acade planning and pro ­

duction process was remarkable . Instead of the con ­

ventional detailed draft design, sketches and technical

detail considerations formed the basis for the fabrica ­

tion of the loadbearing structure . Only after erecting the

loadbearing structure and with the help of special com­

puter programs was it possible to draw the actual dou ­

ble-curvature membrane geometry and hence the eleva ­

tion . A three -d imensional laser survey of the most

important fixed points provided the necessary input

data for th is. The expansion parameters of the film ,

wh ich were determined from trials, had to be taken into

account for the conversion into an exact two-dimen­

sional geometry. Only in this way was it possible for the

manufacturer of the f ilm to cut the material pieces ex­

actly to size and weld them together. I I I Theref ore ,

the planning and production process did not proceed in

the usual sequence from the accurate , detailed plan ­

ning and then to production , but instead the drawings

were first produced after erection and served only for

the computer-aided determination of the [acade mate­

rial. This meant that there were no drawlngs , as design

aids , with which to check, fine -tune and adjust the con ­

figuration . The laws of statics and physics replaced the

drawings and , in the end, the as-built structure deter­

mined the final form . I I I Another specia l feature of

the construction result s from the relaxation angle of

the film . This property requires the cutting of the mate­

rial to be adjusted (compensation) and the installation

of a (re )tensioning [acl llty. Unknown in conventional

membrane construction , the (re)tensioning facility

necessary was devised in empirical trials on a 1:1 model

- a world first . Finally, the circular aluminium bars with

adjustable screws responsible for the final tension in

the film were mounted on the curved diagonal

members . I I I Not unlike the use of the building it­

self as a centre for innovations , the double-curvature

membrane jacade itself represents an innovation in fa ­

cade engineering .

4'

1) Ventilation flap With pneumatic drivocon trolled hom cen tral location

2) Sheet metal capping3) Membrane clamping eecncn4) Membrane5) Steet atructure

6} Stiffener7) Gra ting

009

OOB_ Film tensioning, end bay I II 009_ Detail section thro ugh membrane fa cade-- - ---- - - - - - - --- -- - - .-- - -- --- - - -- - -

- - - ---- .- - ---- --'-- ~-- - ---- -- - - - - - - ---- -- - - - _ .. - - -_ .. -- - --- -- - _.- ---- ----- -- -- - - -- -- -- - - - - --_.._- -- - - - - ---- - - --- -- -- - - - - ---- ----- ._ ------ .- - - - _ ._-- - - - - - -- - --_ . -- ._ - -- -- - - - --- -- _ . -- -- --- - - - - --- - - - - --

D. J . SI EGERT III GERONTOLOGY TECHNOLOGY CENTRE , BAD TOLZ

0 10 _ The cu rving diagonal st ruct ural members ten sion the single layer of ETFEfilm. I I I 0 11_ The underlying f ramew ork determine s th e geometry of th e f ilm .

136 / 13 7

NICHOLAS GRIMSHAW 6 PARTNERS

IolATIRIAL TRANSPARENT ETFE FILM THREE LAYERS FACADE TYP SINGLE LEAF PNEUMATICALLY PRETENSIONEO

USE RESEARCH/EXHIBITIONS LDCATID" LEICESTER . UNITED KINGDOM CDIolPLET D 2001

Since 2001 British rocket and space scientists have

had a new meeting point. Their new research centre,

the National Space Centre [NSC) designed by Nicholas

Grimshaw 6 Partners, is located on the north bank of

the River Soar in Leicester, in the disused stormwater

tanks of the histone Abbey Pumping Station. The NSC

brings together university Institutes for teaching and

research in the field of rocket technology and combines

them With a planetarium, the Challenger Learning Cen­

tre and a museum of space travel. I I I A conspicu­

ous local landmark and the spectacular symbol of the

centre is the transparent 10-storey tower situated at

the entrance to the complex and made from air-filled

cushions

CD" C E PT I I I The various different uses of the

centre are accommodated in a group of three buildings

framed by the rectangular stormwater tank. The main

bullding is a square, two-storey shed-type building

housing the untverstty institutes, Offices, generous ex­

hibition areas and the planetarium. The planetarium

forms a special circular element within the building

whose position is revealed by the dome on the land-

scaped roof. Next to the main building IS the Challenger

Learning Centre, accommodated In a rectangular, Sin

gle storey temporary building which prevtouslv stood

on the university campus . I I I Forming the highlight

In terms of both content and architecture IS the so­

called Rocket Tower, situated at the south east corner

of the main butldlng The tower houses the most spec

tacular exhibits of the space travel exhibition: two 35 m

high rockets, looking as though they are standing on

the launchpad ready to blast Off! Two lifts which travel

up and down the outside of a steel mast reminiscent of

a rocket launch tower. take VISitors to the [on plan)

trapezoidal steel platforms at various levels Within the

convex. circular tower. Here VISitors can see smaller

exhibits of satellite and space stations and also gain a

close-up view of the rockets .

CD"STRU CTID " III The technical achievements

of space travel are presented in an airy exhibition tower

made from triple-layer air-filled ETFE film cushions

These storey-height, transparent "tyres" are stacked

like rings, but each ring has a different diameter The

effect of thrs IS to create an organic bulging effect,

001

}

NICHOL AS GRI MSH AW 6 PARTNERS III ROCKET TOWER

001_ Eleva tion of National Space Centre with exhibition tower III 002_ The s pacious rocket towe r is the symbol and arch itectural highlight of the NSC.- --- - - - ---. - --- ----- -- - - - _. _._ - - - --- ._ - - ._ - - --- ._---- ---- -- - ..__...._---------- --- - -----

-- - - ._ -

138 / 139

larger in the middle than at the top and bottom. Owing to

this "natural" tower geometry curving in two directions

(a geometry that would have been extremely complicated

and expensive in glass] , the cutting of the film for the

facade had to be calculated exactly by means of three ­

dimensional computer simulations before the material

could be fabricated and attached to the loadbearing

structure . / / / Thirteen horizontal, concentric , ap­

proxtrnatelv circular (on plan) steel beams form the load ­

bearing structure for the plastic envelope . These are po ­

sitioned 3 m apart, corresponding to the maximum span

of the air-filled cushions , and are fixed to the primary

structure . The primary st ructure of the tower consists of

a rigid reinforced concrete staircase tower, which acts as

a stiffening vertical "backbone" , and two curved columns

made from steel Circular hollow sections , which span the

full height of the tower and bend back over the roof to link

up with the staircase tower. / / / The air supply and

the control systems for the air -filled cushions are

housed in the staircase tower and are visible by way of

the large metai pipes on the outside of the staircase

tower. Only minimal measures are taken to control the

003

00 4

0.03_ Oetail se ction th~oughJacade ~// ._~~_ Section

-- -__ . .__ . _ .. ._ . '_ _ . __ . . _ 0__ ' __ _ _ ...

._--_., ".- -- - . _ ., -- ---- -_ . -- - - _. -_. -- .-_ .- ._. ._ .- -

-- _. -~-- --_. ---

-- -_. --" ._- - - .__ .- - -- -- - --- - ----_...-._- - - ._ - _ .- - - .- ---- _. ._- - ._ - - - - .- --- --

005

NICHOLAS GRIMSHAW 6 PARTNERS III ROCKET TOWER

006

005_ Plan of entrance level III 006_ Plan of upper floor III 007_ Interior view during assembly of the exhibits

140 / 141

interior climate . The sole protection against solar radia ­

tion is provided by the silver dots printed on the film on

the east and west sides of the tower. Vents are provided

at the top and bottom of the tower for ventilating and

cooling the interior. Rectangular heating panels , which

look like solar panels , are distributed over the full

he ight, attached to the horizontal facade beams. These

panels guarantee a minimum temperature of 10 DC in

the winter and prevent condensation forming on the

facade . / / / Thanks to the use of innovative tech ­

nologies. the almost weightless , airy facade construc ­

tion and, of course , also its appearance make the

Rocket Tower a symbol of space technology in more

ways than one .

009

DDB_ Storey-height , ring-sh~ped air-fi~led cushi~_ns m_ade from ETFE)orm the ~bui~ng" tower- ~!! _DD9-=-_~so"2etri~_Vle", of ~a d be a r i n g structu~e

- -- ..__. - --_. ._.- ----" - - - - ---- . __ ... -- -_ ._- _. -- --- --- ._-

--- - -- - - ---- - .- - - -_ . .- - - -- - -- _.. - - - _ . - - -- -.. _ . _ .. -_ . -- -- _. - - ..- - - .- ._- .._ . -----.._ - - ._. -

- _. ._--_ .. -- -- -_. - --- .- -- -- -- ._ -

- - ..- - .- ._ .- - - ,._ - -_ . - - - _ ._ .... - - - - - - - --_ . - -- - ' - ._- -- -- - - -- - ._-,.- - -- - - - _ . - -.- -- -- _ ... _ - - - - ._ - ._.- --- _ . _ . . __ . _ --.-._ _ . ---

NICHOLAS GRIMSHAW 6 PARTNERS III ROCKET TOWER

D1D~ ThB ruckets look llke they are ready for take-ojjt

142 / 143

JASCHEK 6 PARTNER

[2~~u[gJ &@U~~[gJ[KJ[gJ[S[gJ@V ~~ [KJu~~

MATERIAL_ PRINTE D ETFE FIL M, THR EE LAY ERS III RO OF FORM _ SINGLE·LEAF , PN EUMATICALLY PRETENSION EO, INTEGRAL

SU NSH ADING //1 USE_ RESEARCH /A TR IUM //1 LOCATlO" _ ESSLINGEN , GERMANY /1/ COMPLETEO _ 2002

The new Technology Centre of the Festo company in

Esslingen near Stuttgart features spacious atria w ith

roofs of pneumatic membrane constructions. The plas­

tic membranes enclose non -air-conditioned conserva ­

tories which act as buffer zones and are intrinsic to the

energy concept . I I I Originally, the s ix four-storey

glazed office blocks, which spread out like a fan, we re

to be enclosed in one shell-type , transparent synthetic

membrane envelope. At least that is what the competi­

t ion drawings showed . However, dur ing the course of

fu rther planning , the impressive , large -format pneu­

matic structure shrunk to three separate atria .

CONSTRUCTION III The use of ai r as a structura l

material was an important aspect for this company,

whose main line of business is the produc t ion of pneu ­

matic drives for all forms of indust rial automation. With­

in the company, air is regarded as a sixth building mate­

rial alongside stone , timber, metal, glass and membranes.

Festo puts this belief to the test in its research work as

well. Consequently, the roofs to the three atria were

built from air -filled ETFEmembrane cush ions . The t rans­

parent cushions measuring 2 .5 m wide are placed t rans­

verse to the office blocks on a grid of steel memb ers

arranged like a barrel vault spann ing from eaves to

eaves . The trapezoidal p lan shape of each at rium re­

sults in a roof of plastic tubes with lengths rang ing f rom

14 to 28 m. Each tube consists of three layers of plastic

fi lm which are welded together airtight along the edges

and stretched between an aluminium frame . The tubes

are filled wi th ai r to give them thei r f orm; a fan maintains

a marginal overpressure inside the tubes so the syn­

thetic fi lm remains permanently taut. I I I The spec ial

featu re of th is construc tion is the int egral , pneumati ­

cally adjustable sunshading. The centre and upper lay ­

ers of plastic film are printed with a chessboa rd -type

pattern, but with the black squa res offset . A fu lly auto­

matic contro l mechanism regulates the pressures in the

two chambe rs of the cush ions depending on the posi­

t ion of the sun and in doing so changes the posit ion of

the central layer of synthetic mate rial which thus regu ­

lates the amount of incoming light. Depending on the

position of the central laye r, it is possible to vary the de ­

gree of sunshading f rom 50 % to 93 %. It takes about

15-20 minu tes to move the film from it s lowest to its

h ighest position . I I I In contrast t o air -supported

buildings in which the compressed air plays a loadbear­

ing role , the air supp ly in this ai r- inflated building is sub ­

sidiary in structural terms and therefore does not require

elaborate emergency back -up arrangements. The geom ­

etry of the roof is such that minor snow loads can be

ca rr ied by empty cushions , i.e . by the plastic film itse lf,

for a limited period . Theref ore, the layer of air is in the

first inst ance relevant for the insu lation properties of

JASCHEK 6 PARTNER III FESTO AG TECHNO LOGY CENTRE

DOL sc hernanc diagram of s uns hading: left , open ; right, closed

s uns hade .

III 002_ The chessboard-type pattern of the a ir-filled ETFE cu sh ions functions as a pneumatically controlled- _ . -- ---- - --- - - ._- -_. --_ . ._ - - -- - -_ ._ -- - -----

144 I 145

the construction . I I I The advantages of the pneu ­

matic cushion assembly compared to a glazed roof con ­

struction are readily apparent: the air -filled cushion is

very light in weight so the long-span roof st ructure can

employ a much more delicate const ruction than wou ld

otherwise be the case . A gently curving, orthogonal grid

of slender steel sections - secured against wind uplift

by a network of thin steel cables - spans over the four ­

storey void . The steel cables form an arch from the edge

of the roof on the north side to the base of the atrium

glazing on the south side and therefore act as a truss for

the roof, which also stabilises the all-glass facade and,

in addition , carries walkways that are suspended elasti­

cally from the cables . The gable end of each atrium is

formed by an all -glass facade which slopes inwards ; the

panes of glass are held in place by discrete f ixings.

Large fabric "sails" In front of the atrium facades can be

unfurled by a hydraulic mechanism to provide shade

from the sun as required .

Cli MATE CONCEPT III The open walkways with in

the spacious atria provide internal circulation routes

and areas for relaxation during break periods, but can

also be used temporarily for events or customer infor­

mation displays. I I I In terms of the energy audit , the

atria with their membrane roofs function like fully glazed

conservatories , which create a Mediterranean climate in

winter. Even when the outside temperature is low, the

temperature in the atria remains stable at about + 12 ·C.

This effect is due to the so lar heat gains and the layer of

air in the plastic cushions, which achieve a U-value of

about 2.5 W/m2K . III Like with all conservatory

Fat;&de ca blel+glazing

lolerna !walkway.

EYFE Imembrane :cushion! :

~I7"~/"1 I/~> ~'><)<)< I

A"(/' 'r "r ; ~ »<"'yl-S'e el grid I /);>,. ~:" ~~v{:'/<

I I 1'1'/1',,"-:

~ II;;,~l

1Y1 ,~m·;v:.r

004

Ceble net

003_ View at night III 004_ Atrium construction III 005_ Plan of standard floor

JASCHEK 6 PARTNER III FESTO AG TECHNOLOGY CENTRE

00&_ Delicate walkways are suspended from the cable trussing to the atrium roof; hydraulically controlled fabric "sails" form sunshades.- - - -- - -- ----------------

146 / 147

designs , the real problem is the undesirable overheating

effect in summer. To avo id overheating in the atria , the

fab ric " sails" described above are used as sunshades ;

in add ition , air can be pumped through the roof cushions

to prevent a build -up of heat. Permanent ventilation and

night-t ime cooling of the atria are ensured by the louvre

openings above the edges of the roofs to the adjoi ning

office blocks; this system is backed up by mechanica l

venti lation . The water-filled solid components of the ad­

joini ng concrete walls and gallery f loors provide addi ­

tional cooling . These comprehensive measures mean

that even on hot summer days the temperature in the

atria is about 5 °C lower than that of the outsid e air.

/ / I Thanks to the use of heat from the soil and exhaust

air plus so lar energy, the use of daylight contro l sys ­

tems , component cooling, intelligent bulld tng automa ­

tion , triple glazing , extensive planting on th e roofs and,

last but not least, the spacious , airy atria , the new Tech ­

nology Centre ob tains 70 % of the energy required to

heat and cool the build ings fr om regenerative sources

and t heref ore counts as a low-energy building . I II

Eco log y, economy and technology, the three most im­

po rtant crite ria in the planning, reflect the principles of

th is high -tech company.

I 61 I I I ;; I»r : 7" ~\ '-r-~. ~

~

ftl] lR1

[)lJ IRl

~ fRI

[;fl JRI

0 0 8

I II I. , I I I I

- "1-J / 1 1 "'J.J.... ~ ·1... "'P·? ff .... ___ - r->,or

- ~ ~ ~~ ~ ~ ~ ~I

~ WlIH II II II II II

r::: III

r::: \ \\~

~ II 1\ \\~ \~

009

DD7~ Walkways link the spacious glazed offices and serve as meeting points for employees. //1 DDB_ Section 11/ DD9_ Longitudinal section- - - -- - --- - - - -- - -- -

J A SCH EK 6 PAR TN ER III FESTO AG TECHNOLOGY CENTRE

D1D _ The - on plan - trapezoidal form of the four- storey atrium creates a buffer zone between interior an d exterior.

148 / 149

VOLKER GIENCKE

h4ATERIAL CURVED TRA NSPARENT ACRY LI C EL EM ENT S FACADE TYPE DOUBLE LEAF

US!! RESEARCH/EX HIB IT IONS LOCATIOH GRA Z AUSTRIA COh4PLETEO 1995

Glasshouses have graced the Botanical Gardens in Graz

since the 19th century. Attached to the university, they

have been used for research and teaching purposes and

have also acted as "showcases" to attract the general

public . After 100 years of continuous use, the dejtcten ­

cies of the old glasshouses could no longer be disputed:

old-fashioned methods , dilapidated exteriors and

cramped interiors were the prime -movers behind the

construction of new glasshouses just a few hundred

metres away from their predecessors . III Totally in

keeping with the tradition of glasshouse design, which

agam and again has produced pioneering architectural

rnasterpreces , Volker Giencke's glasshouses represent

technological and constructional innovations.

CON CE PT III The architect placed three transpar­

ent, sloping, parabolic cylinders at acute angles to each

other on a plateau-type base. Incorporated into the pla­

teau. which merges imperceptibly into the landscape of

the Botanical Gardens, are the offices , seminar rooms,

exhibition rooms and plant nurseries . Only a long pitched

glass roof for lighting purposes reveals the presence of

the subterranean functions . This approach allows the

glasshouses to become exhibits themselves, which ap ­

pear to spread out uncontrolled across the plateau .

III The glasshouses contain exotic or threatened

plant species in four separate climatic zones . Ramps ,

bridges and winding pathways allow visitors to explore

the tropical house, Mediterranean cold house , palm

house and the desert -like succulents house. The path­

ways link together the glasshouses in which the plants

are placed in landscaped settings designed to match

their natural habitats . The route through the exhibition ,

which illustrates the ecological relationships between

the different types of vegetation, is backed up by video

installations and information stands.

CLIMATE CONCEPT III Precise control of the in ­

ternal climatic conditions is crucial to the breeding of

exotic plants . Temperature , air humidity, brightness and

VOLKER GIENCKE III GLASSHDUSES, GRAZ

001_ The parabolic cylinders are laid out at acute angles to each other on a plateau-type base. III 002_ Night-time photo

150 / 151

air ci rculation must correspond exactly with the climatic

conditions of the original habitats of the plants, and

must be constantly adjusted to suit the prevailing exte ­

rior climate . I I I The internal temperatures neces ­

sary in winter are achieved by means of solar gains and

a system of hot-water pipes . Invisible to visitors, the

hollow sections of the aluminium loadbearing structure

simultaneously serve as hot-water pipes which distrib­

ute the heat evenly over the full height of the building.

Hydraulic , sensor-controlled vents at the top and bot­

tom of each structure control air circu lation in the inte­

rior . During the summer these vents can be used to cool

the air and counteract the greenhouse effect. Addit ional

cooling is achieved with the two-component nozzle sys­

tem developed specially for thls project, which simulta­

neously regulates the humidity of the air. ThiS pressurised

system creates a fine mist of microscopic water drop­

lets which instantly lowers the internal temperature by

5 · C. At the time of the planning, NASA was the only or­

ganisation using such a "f og system" . With such an ef ­

fective cooling system , sunblinds are rendered

unnecessary. I I / Although temperature and humid­

ity are important factors for plant growth, it is the inten­

sity of the light that is crucial. The light permeability of

the glasshouse construction was therefore a key issue

and dictated both the form as well as the structure and

facade .

CONSTRUCTION III The parabo lic primary struc­

tu re of each glasshouse is a structurally optimised arch

form, which enables the loadbearing members to be mi­

nimised and in turn maximises the area for the incoming

DD3. The delicate hollow sections of the parabolic aluminium loadbearing structure simultaneously serve as hot-water pipes.- - - - - - --- - - --- - ---- - ---

VOLKER GIENCKE III GLASSHOUSES, GRAZ

004

cz:I

005

004_ Plan I I I 005_ Elevation

152 / 153

daylight. A parabola is virtually Ident ical with the so ­

called catenary curve, the shape of a hanging chain , and

is therefore a natural structural form. The lightweight

loadbearing members were specia lly developed for the

project from high -quality aluminium alloys - an innova­

tion in structural engineering that would have been im­

possible without suitable computer programs. Although

standard these days , this method of analys is represent ­

ed completely new ground at the time of the design work

back in 1982. The nodes in the loadbearing structure are

des igned as "plug-in " elements ; the horizontal purlins

are connected to these and compressed-air lines plus

bridge and ramp constructions are "plugged" into

place . III The transparent enve lope of double -leaf

acrylic elements was fixed directly to the loadbearing

structure. The transparent facade consis t s of convex

rectangular plastic shells reminiscent of conventional

rooflights . Despite the curving geometry of the bu ild­

ings , the facade elements were able to be standardised

because the three glasshouses follow the same para ­

bolic curve . The transparent elements also take into ac ­

count the minimal structure and the optimisation of the

light gains . These lightweight acrylic units reduce the

load on the structure and exhibit a better spectral

ana lysis behaviour than conventional soda-lime-silica

glasses. III The minimisation of the loadbearing

construction and the use of a plastic facade has resulted

in a light t ransmission of almost 98 %- a value that rep ­

resents an unbeaten record in the history of modern

glasshouse construction .

DDB_ The inclination of the structure corresponds to the height of the plants_. _

VOLKER GIENCKE III GLASSHOUSES, GRAZ

OOB

007 The glasshouse envelope consists of two leaves of transparent acrylic shells. III OOB_ Detail of facade III 009_ The layout of the glasshouse complex again and

again provides visitors with new, surprising perspectives.

154 / 155

Alberti, Leon Battista: The Ten BDDks Df Architecture,

Dent, London, 1965. The original edition was published

in 14B5 under the title De re aedificatDria libri X.

ARS ELECTRDNICA [eti.}, PhilDsDphien der neuen

TechnDlogie, Merve Verlag, Berlin, 19B9

Bogner, Dieter [ed.): Friedrich Kiesler 1890-1965,

Locker Verlag, Vienna, 19BB

Bogner, Dieter [ed.): Friedrich Kiesler lB90-1965:

Inside the Endless nouee, Brihlau Verlag, Vienna, 1997

Brausch, Marianne; Emery, Marc [eds.): L 'Architecture

en OuestiDn. 15 Entretiens avec des Architectes,

Editions du Moniteur, Paris, 1995

Burgard, Roland [ed.): KunststDffe and freie FDrmen,

Springer Verlag, Vienna, 2004

Conrads, Ulrich; Sperlich, Hans G.: Fantastic

Architecture, Architectural Press, London, 1963

Conrads, Ulrich [ed.): Programs and ManifestDes Df

20th Century Architecture, MIT Press, Cambridge,

Mass., 1970

eonrads, Ulrich; Neitzke, Peter [eds.): El Lissitzky.

1929. Ruf3land: Architektur fUr eine WeltrevDlutiDn,

Bauwelt Fandamente Bd. 14, Vieweg, Braunschweig,

19B9

Dahmen-Ingenhoven, Regina led. Kristin Feireiss):

animatiDn. [artt:fDllDws fun, Birkhausar Verlag, Basel,

2004

Davies, Rhisiart Morgan [ed.): Plastics in Building

CDnstructiDn, Blackie 6 Son Ltd., London, 1965

Dietz, Albert: Plastics [or Architects and Builders, MIT

Press, Cambridge, Mass., 1969

Doernach, Rudolf [ed.): Bausysteme mit KunststDffen,

Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, Stuttgart, 1974

Exhibition catalogue, IKA 1972, Ludenschetd

Feireiss, Kristin [ed.): KazuyD Sejima + Ryue Nishizawa

SANAA. The ZDllverein SchDDI Df Management and

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20

Maymont, Paul 15

Membrane construction B-9, 14, 17-19, 22, 34

mechanically pretensioned 116-121, 130-135

pneumatically pretensioned lB-23,34-35,

56-63,122-129,136-141,142-147

Megastructure 15-16

Metabolists 15,16

Mobile architecture 9,12-13,15-16,21,72

26, 28

Magnant 10

Makowski, Z. S. 14

Mario Cucinella Architects 46-51

Mass customisation 40

Katavolos, William 15,16,17,26

Kawazoe, Nobru 16

Kieran Timberlake Associates 33,34

Kiesler, Frederick B, 9, 13

Klein, Yves 26,2B

Koch, Carl 19

Koolhaas, Rem 31,36,37

Kraft, Sabine 29,36

Krausse, Joachim B, 9, 32

Kuhne, Gunther 11

Kuhnert, Nikolaus 36

Kurokawa, Kisho 15,16

Lacaton 6 Vassal 36,37, B6-81

Laffaille, Bernard 17

Lanchester, F. W. 18, 19

Laser sintering 31

LED light 46,50

Lenard, Ilona 35

Leonhardt, Fritz 20

Light effect 35,50,54,74, ao, 94, 12B

Liquid plastics 11,16-17,26

Lissitzky, El 26, 27

Loos, Adolf 25

Luckhardt, Wassili 11

Lundy, Victor 19,20,22

Lyotard, .Jean-Franctiis 27,29

Moholy-Nagy, Laszlo

Moller, Georg 17

Mongolfier, Joseph and Etienne

Morphogenesis 29,31

Morris, Robert 26,27

Mo STUDIO 33

Nachtigall, Werner 32, 33

Nalbach, Gernot 23

Nervi, Luigi 13

Niemeyer, Oscar 13

Nylon fabric 19,70-75

26,27

23

12,15,lB,20-21,32

14B-153

Jaschek 6 Partner 142-147

Jonas, Walter 15

Judd, Donald 35

Gabo, Naum

Garnier, Denis

Geodesic dome

Giencke, Volker

Gilkie, R. C. 14

Goff, Bruce 9,10,11

Graefe, Rainer lB

Greene, David 16,17,23

Grimshaw, Nicholas 32,136-141

Groupe d'Etudes d'Architecture Mobile

[GEAM) 12,15

Groupe International d' Architecture Prospective

[G.I.A.P.] 15

Gunschel, Gunter 11

Gusmao, B. L. de 20

Gutbrod, Rolf 20

Emmerich, David Georges 11,15

Energy efficiency 102,116,120,146

ETFE film 116-121,122-129,130-135,136-141,

142-147

Hamilton and Goody 11, 12

Haus Rucker Co 21,22,23,27

Hiiusermann, Pascal 15

Herron, Ron 17

Herzog 6 de Meuron 35,36,122-129

Herzog + Partner 116-121

Herzog, Thomas 20,33

Hildebrand, Adolf von 26

Hofmann, Hubert 11

Holzbach, Markus 34,35

House-within-a-house principle 9B-99,104

Huybers, P. 15

Immaterial architecture lB, 26-30, 35, 50

Isler, Heinz 22

Feierbach, Wolfgang 13,14

Folded-plate structure B, 11, 14-15

Franken, Bernhard 30,40-45

Friedman, Yona 11,15,16

Fuller, Richard Buckminster B, 9, 10, 12, 15, lB,

20,21,32

Functional layers 33

f-u-r 31,35

Oallegret, Francois 22

Oerrida, Jacques 29

Design method 27, 32

Digital architecture 30-32,134,136-141, 13B

Digital form 27,29,30-32

Digital production 27,30,32,134, 13B

Ooernach, Rudolph 11

Doring, Wolfgang 15,16

Dynamic architecture 9,13,16,26,29,34

Aalto, Alvar 2B

ABB Architects 40-45

Adapt~efacade 33,56-63,142

Aerogel 2B, 31, 34

Air cushion 31, 5B-63, 122-129, 136-141, 142-147

Alberti, Leon Battista 24,25

Ando, Tadao 2B

Anti-form 26-27

Archigram 15,16

Arconiko 92-97

Arup,ove lB,2o

Ash Sakula B2-B5

Atelier Bruckner 33,56-63

Atelier Kempe Thill 52-55

3D printing 31

B 6 K+ 64-69

Ban, Shigeru 35,70-75,104-109

Banham, Reyner 20-22,27

Barthes, Roland 30,31

Bataille, Georges 26

Behnisch, Gunter 36,110-115

Bergerac, Cyrano de 20

Bionics 23,30,32-35,56-63

Bird, Walter 19,20,22

Bottcher, Karl 9

Bubble 15,20-23,27,30,32,40-45

Buci-Glucksmann, Christine 27

Cable-net structure lB,20

Candela, Felix 13

Chalk, Warren 17

Chateau, Stephana du 15

CNC 44

Composites 31-33

Conservatory 22,90,100,133,142-147

Cook, Peter 17

Coulon 10

Crompton, Dennis, 17

Cushion construction [see also air cushion] 19

Oosterhuis, Kas 34,35

Ortner, Laurids 22

Ortner, Manfred 22

Otto, Frei 11,15,17,18,20,21,22,25,32

Patrix, Georges 15

PCM (Phase Change Material] 33-34

Pea, Cesare 11

Pecquet, Jean 11

PET [Polyethylene terephthalate] 33

Pevsner, Antoine 26,27

Pfeifer. Kuhn 98-103

Piano, Renzo 15

Pinter, Klaus 22

Plastic capsule [see also room module] 22

Plastic membrane 18-19,32,34-35

Plastic sheet 8,10-12,14,18,21-22

Acrylic channel 63

Acrylic panel 15

Acrylic sheet, multi-web 60

Acrylic tube 46-51

Fibre-reinforced corrugated sheet 70-75,82-85

Fibre-reinforced plastic grating 68

Fibre-reinforced plastic sheet, smooth 64-69,

76-81

Polycarbonate sheet, corrugated 86-91

Polycarbonate sheet, multi-web 60,92-97,

98-103,104-109,110-115

Plastic sheeting [see also ETFE film) 12,14,18,

21-22,32

plastic shell 12-15,60,152

plastic shell, curved 12-14,22,148-153

Pneumatic dome 18,20

Pneumatic shed 19, 142

Polyester, extruded 74

Prefabricated house 11

PTFE sheeting 34

ouarmby, Arthur 8,12,14-17,23

Ragon, Michel 12,15,16,17,22

raumlabor_berlin 32

Riegl, Alois 25

Robak, O. 14

Room module 8,10-12,13-15,16

Rottier, Guy 15,23

Ruhnau, Werner 15,26,28

Saarinen, Eero 14

SANAA 35

Scharoun, Hans 9

Scheichenbauer, Mario 14

Schein,lonel 10,11,12,15,16

Schnirch, Friedrich 17

schojjar, Nicholas 15

Schwedler, Johann Wilhelm 18

Semper, Gottfried 25,37

Severud-Elstad-Krueger 20

Shejldahl, G. T. 20

Shukhov, Vladimir 17

Siegert, O. J. 130-135

Sloterdijk, Peter 35,36

Smithson, Alison and Peter 11

Soltan, Jerzy 11

Somol, Robert 31

Staib Architects 36,110-115

Stereolithography 31

Stewart, James 17, 18

Surface 28-29,35-36,48,66,90

Suuronen, Matti 12,13

Tange, Kenzo 18, 20

Tekuto Architecture Studio 76-81

Thermal insulation, translucent 74,78,118

Time-space architecture 9

Trapman, Jan 11

Vitruvius 24

Wagner, Monika 27, 3D

Wagner, Otto 25

Webb, Michael 17,23

Weibel, Peter 28, 29

Weston, Richard 29,37

World Exposition 12,15,18-19,21-22

Wright, Frank Lloyd 25,26

Yoshihara, Jiro 27

Zamp Kelp, Gunter 22

Zumthor, Peter 28

158 / 159

I would like to extend my gratitude to the architects who provided illustrative material to me and who

contributed information to my research. Further, I would like to thank the Collection FRAC Centre, Elke

Genzel, Pamela Voigt, Wolfgang Feierbach, Werner Doring, Bernd Ducke and Werner Gotz of Allianz

Arena, Angelika Schnell, Michael Dittrich of Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt, Covertex GmbH and

Tim Begler of the municipality of t.udenschetd. My final thanks go to Ria Stein for her editorial work and

to my siblings Jean-Marc and Kerstin for their support.

o[b[bill]@5u~&U0(Q) [fJ

~~~[QJDu~

Department of Special Collections and University

Archives, Stanford University Libraries .p. B, 15 centre,

lB centre, 21 bottom

Kiesler Foundation, Vienna: p. 9

Monsanto Company Archives: p. 12 top and centre

Collection FRAC Centre, Orleans, Philippe Magnon/

Francois Lauginie: p.12 bottom, p. 16 top

Elke Genzel and Pamela VoigtiFOMEKK: p. 13 top

and bottom

Wolfgang Feierbach, Altenstadt: p. 14 top, centre

and bottom

Studio Piano, E. Piano, Rome: p. 15 top

Kisho Kurokawa Architect 6 Associates, Tokyo: p. 15

bottom right

Werner Doring, Dusseldorf: p. 16 centre

Archigram Archive/Shelley Power: p. 16 bottom

Frei Otto, Leonberg: p. lB top and bottom, 21 top

ILEK, Stuttgart: p. 22 top

Haus Rucker Co, Vienna: p. 23

Friedrich Busam, Berlin: p. 3D, 40/41, 45

f-u-r, Mirco Becker and Oliver Tessmann, Frankfurt:

p. 31, 35 top

Rainer Schlautmann, Oberhausen: p. 32 top

Anthony Hunt 6 Associates, London: p. 32 centre

and bottom

MO STUDIO, Marion Regitko, Malaga: p. 33 top left

and right

Thomas Mayer, Neuss: p. 33 centre, 57-62

Barry Halkin, Philadelphia: p. 33 bottom

FORMORF, Markus Holzbach, Cologne: p. 34 top, centre

left and centre right

ONL, Oosterhuis and Lenard, Rotterdam: p. 34 centre

left, centre right and bottom

Hiroyuki Hirai, Tokyo: p. 35, 71, 73-75, 105, 107, 109,

cover photograph

Patrick Loughran, Chicago: p. 36 centre

Christian Kandzia, Stuttgart: p. 36 top, 110-112,

114-115

Gerald Staib: 113 top

DETAIL, No. 4/2004: p. 113 bottom left and right

Bernd Oucke, Allianz Arena, Munich: p. 36 bottom,

123-125,129

Philippe Ruault, Paris: p. 37 top, 87-91

Angelika Schnell, Hall: p. 37 bottom

Franken Architekten, Frankfurt: p. 42 ill. 003-005,

p. 44 ill. 013-015,

Herr Ott: p. 43 ill. 009

ABB Architekten, Frankfurt: p. 42 ill. 006-00B

Bollinger + Grohmann: p. 43 ill. 010-012

Jean de Calan, Paris: p. 46,47,49,50,51

Bastiaan Ingenhouzs, Oordrecht: p. 53-55

Michael Rasche, Dortmund: p. 65

Marc Raeder, Berlin: p. 66

Simone Jeska, Berlin: p. 6B

Michael Reisch, Dusseldorf: p. 69

Makoto Yoshida, Tokio: p. 76,77,79-81

Nick Gutteridge, London: p. 37 centre, 83-85

Luuk Kramer, Amsterdam: p. 93-97

Ruedi Walti, Basel: p. 99-101,103

Pfeifer.Kuhn, Freiburg: p. 102

OBU/Bernhard Kober, punctum: 117-121

Covertex GmbH, Obing: p. 127

Olethard Siegert, Munich: p.130-135

Nathan WillocklView: p. 137, 139-141

Andreas Braun, Hameln: p. 143-147

Atelier Giencke Graz: p. 14B

Hans-Georg Tropper, Graz: p. 150, 152-153

Ralph Richter, Dusseldorf: p.149

Reproductions from Publications:

Ulrich Conrads, Phantastische Architektur, p. 5B/59:

p.lO

Arthur Ouarmby, The Plastic Architect, p.171 and 182:

p.17 top, 22 bottom

Rainer Graefe, Vladimir G. Suchov, p.3B: p.17 centre

Frei Otto, Oas hiingende Oach, p. 24: p. 17 bottom

Thomas Herzog, Pneumatische Konstruktionen, p.35:

p. 19 top

Frei Otto, Zugbeanspruchte Konstruktionen p. 33 and 53:

p. 19 bottom, 20

All drawings and renderings were provided by the

architects. Every reasonable attempt has been made

to identify owners of copyright. If unintentional

mistakes or omissions occurred, we apologise and ask

for notice. Such mistakes will be corrected in the next

edition of this publication.