IVO PERY (120158599)

BA ARCHITECTURAL STUDIES

STAGE 22014/ 2015

CONTENTSDESIGN WORK

2.5 - CROSSOVER2.4 - PROSPECT AND REFUGE2.3 - LIVING ON THE EDGE2.2 - PLACED, DISPLACED

NON DESIGN WORK

PLACE OF HOUSESARCHITECTURAL DESIGN AND SERVICESSTRUCTURAL SERVICESACCESS FOR ALL AND MEANS OF ESCAPE

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CROSSOVER

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This was the first full length group project that I've taken part in. We were asked to design a tempo-rary festival space within the con-fines of a chare next to Newcastle Quayside. We selected castle chare as it had a large open space which could be utilised for performance purposes. The site contains a section of old wall which enjoyed climbing whilst on the site visit. This gave the area a sense of adventure and fun as it is an active, tactile environment. Since the top of the chare is a lit-tle way from it's Quayside entrance we designed a series of sound tubes which could deliver the mu-sic through arches, round corners and down stairs to the street below where pedestrians would be drawn up and in, following the rhythm. The seating was designed to be non invasive and simply slots over the railing which already exists in place behind the performance area.

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Rather than creating a large structure to simply slot into the site we decided to go for a 'minimum impact' approach using only temporary fixings so as not to disturb the historic walls. We came up with a series of self supporting wooden lattice struc-tures which could be suspended above the festival goers through a series of tensile cables connected to nearby buildings. These lattices were designed partly to protect the public from the ele-ments, but also to reflect and enhance the sound of the musi-cians. They are placed at strategic points throughout the chare, guiding and enticing would be participants towards the fun.

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SOUND PIPES

A temporary hand rail cover enhances the tactile experience during the journey from the street to the chare.

CROSS SECTION - FACING NORTH

Journey from street level Transfer through dog leg

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LONG CROSS SECTION - FACING SOUTH

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PROSPECT AND REFUGE

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This project imagined Newcastle Universi-ty establishing a satellite facility within the seaside town of Amble.

'Part University shop window [PROSPECT] and part academic retreat [REFUGE] the provision will also act as a communi-ty building, providing learning, employment, meeting, and leisure facilities - a place for social unity.'

The building must be a timber construc-tion in the form of a cube of 15.6 meters squared. This is to encourage the consid-eration of real form in three-dimensional space and volume, light, materiality and human scale experience.

The identification of a twin phenomena (two complementary or opposing aspects, quali-ties or notions) would form a large part of the design process.

The second point of focus is tectonics - the science or art of assembling, shaping or ornamenting materials in construction.

Sustainability is the final focus point as we are asked to consider the incorporation of sustainable solutions and passive concepts into the design.

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The key areas around the site are the views out to Coquet Island (East), and Warkworth Castle (West). Preserving these views played a large part in dictating the orientation of the cuboid structure. The site is easily accessible via a number of pedestrian routes and also has vehicular access via the slipway by the water's edge. A mooring point on the western edge also allows access and mooring for boats meaning that it is accessible from both sea and land. There are no tall buildings to the south of the site so there will be no solar shading during the summer or winter months. The dock area at the South-East produces some noise pollution so constructing away from there would be advisable.

SITE ANALYSIS

Whilst on site in am-ble I was struck by the shear number of straight lines and right angles which dominate the surrounding area: the horizon bisected by the light house; the pier and the lampposts; even the boats' mooring lines created straight lines at odds with the plane of the water. I begun thinking that the lines of a cube would not stand out in this environment, not if they were placed flat on the site at any rate.

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KEŽMARSKÉ HUT - A CONCEPT DESIGN BY ATELIER 8000The tilted structure presents the viewer with the notion of instability. However the interior presents a wholly different perspective with a strong, square structural grid - the exterior provides the illusion whilst the interiors express the reality of the structure.

TEK - BJARKE INGELS GROUPAn organic form within a rigid structure. The strong per-pendicular lines are unbroken from the outside but the interiors are disorientating - The interior provides the il-lusion whilst the exterior provides the reality.

ILLUSION VS. REALITY

SKETCH CONCEPT

The brief for this project was extremely rig-id - dimensions, materials and construction technique were all set beforehand and were non-negotiable. The idea was to encourage us to explore the interior spatial qualities that could be attained in such a strict form. How-ever I saw this as an opportunity to push the boundaries the brief presented and find a way to warp the solidity of the cube. Whilst exploring the idea of twin phenomena I alighted on the idea of illusion and reality: could I present the inhabitants of a building with notion that it is unstable, when in fact the opposite is true? Introducing a subtle tilt of just 4.5° to the entire structure creates at sense of moment and instability, as if it is slowly eroding away, slipping into the sea. The structure is key in implementing my de-signs and I put a lot of time into developing a feasible solution to the issue of tilting a 6 storey tall timber frame building.

ATTENTION TO THE UNCANNY

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CONCEPT SKETCH

The bold and unbroken form sits at odds to the flat horizon. The tilt is subtle in order to provoke a sense of wonder, as well as a little puzzlement. .

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PLINTH EXPLORATION

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These two different models were early iterations of my final design. The images to the left show an earlier development stage where the floor plates stretch all the way to the slightly angled col-umns. The image on the right begins to showcase the dual structure which the final model exhibits.

This model is an exploration into the creation of organ-ic shapes through the use of straight lines. By warping the edges of the cube a curved surface was created. Ultimately this con-cept was not carried through to the final design.

DEVELOPMENT MODELS

4.5°

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MATERIALSCOR-TEN STEEL

COR-TEN Steel, also known as 'Weathering Steel' is a type of steel alloy developed to eliminate the need painting and protective coating. When exposed to the elements for several years it develops a stable rust like appearance which acts as a barrier pro-tecting the rest of the ma-terial from further corrosion.

The decision to use COR-TEN steel in my structure arose from the desire to cre-ate unbroken lines around the profiles of the build-ing, thereby accentuating the subtle tilt when viewed with the backdrop of the hori-zon. The cladding creates a clean finish across the faces of the building, punctured by the linear windows which run parallel with it's edges. Giv-en it's close proximity to the waters edge, weathering will probably take effect more quickly on the north and east faces, creating dynamic and changing faces as the build-ing is circled.

WHIN STONE

Whin Stone is a general term used in the quarrying in-dustry to describe any hard coloured rock. Examples in-clude igneous rocks, doler-ite and basalt. It is found in pockets all over the North East and Scotland, meaning that it can be locally sourced at a relatively cheap cost. It often bears a resemblance to granite, though the forma-tion of crystals during cool-ing can lead to dark red and green flecks within, creating a textured effect when viewed closely.

The design of the plinths creates the illusion of a natural form extruded from the ground. The stone plinth brings with is a sense of so-lidity, appearing as a single mass below an unstable cube but on closer inspection the illusion will be broken with the revelation that it is most-ly empty, forming a relative-ly thin perimeter wall around the base of the structure.

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CLADDING CONSTRUCTION

PLASTER BOARD

BREATHER MEMBRANE

INSULATION

INSULATION BOARD

TIMBER WALL JOIST

BATTEN

DAMP PROOF MEMBRANE

COR-TEN CLADDING

FIXING BRACKET

FIXING SCREW

BATTEN

COR-TEN CLADDING

WALL DETAIL

FIXING DETAIL

The cladding should not be fitted directly to the frame as cold-bridging would occur. Instead bat-tens would be placed between rigid insulation pan-els and securely fixed to the primary structure. The cladding would then be fixed to these battens using specially designed brackets. Since the battens are secured directly to the wall and floor beams the force exerted by the weight of the cladding will be evenly distributed throughout the structure.

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PASSIVE VENTILATION

The five-storey tall atrium is heavi-ly glazed. This allows the air heat up and escape through the roof window. The resulting pressure change with-in the building will draw fresh air in through any windows and openings, thereby ventilating the building.Wind driven ventilation could also be applied in the presence of an onshore wind by opening windows on the south face.

PLINTH

The plinth is a free standing structure unconnected to the cube. The gap be-tween them allows wind and sunlight into the otherwise shaded space.

TEMPERATURE CONTROL

The voids inside the north and south faces act as a thermal buffer zone for the primary structure, reducing the amount of direct sunlight hitting work spaces whilst also regulating the tem-perature.

WATER

At just under 160 meters squared the roof will be used to collect rain water which can then be reused in the toilet systems.

SUSTAINABILITY

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ELEVATIONS

NORTH EAST SOUTH WEST

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ROOF ELEVATIONSITE PLAN

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1 - FIRST FLOORG - PLINTH

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2 - SECOND FLOOR 3 - THIRD FLOOR

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5 - FIFTH FLOOR4 - FOURTH FLOOR

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SECTION A - FACING WEST RED: CIRCULATION

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SECTION B - FACING SOUTHBLUE: PRIVACY

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1. EXTERNAL WALLSThe external walls provide no structural support. They are held in place by the sub structure beneath them.

2. CLADDING SUPPORT STRUCTURESecondary structure supported by the structural grid in place only to hold the COR-TEN cladding in place thereby presenting the viewer with the 'tilt illusion'.

3. STRUCTURAL GRIDPrimary structure in place to support the floor plates and internal walls.

4. PLINTH Serves no structural purpose. Built from Whin stone using a mass construction technique.

STRUCTUREThe building is comprised of two main structural elements which work together to create the tilted illusion. Although the building looks unstable from the outside it is fully supported throughout and all loads are carried vertically to the ground in the shortest distance possible. The largest span is 5625mm, well within the capabilities of 250mm timber beams.

The concrete core serves no structural purpose but is free-standing so should remain in place in the event of a fire.

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PRIMARY STRUCTURALMODELWhite joists indicate the primary timber structural grid. All ele-ments sit perpendicular to one another with the exception of the lecture theatre floor.

Grey panels indicate the concrete core (housing the stair wells) and the lift shaft.

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FINAL MODEL

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NIGHT SCENE - SOUTH FACE

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LIVING ON THE EDGE

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The brief specified that we must design a small housing facility (Foyer) for up to eight under privileged young people aged between sixteen and twenty-five. In conjunction with living spaces we must also provide a work shop so that the inhabitants can develop useful skills, increasing their chances for future employment.

This was an interesting project focusing on social issues as well as issues of design. Creating a scheme which afforded the stu-dents privacy, but did not threaten or pat-ronise them was the main aim for me. Many of the people who end up in Foyer's do so because they have no where else to go. They often come from a history of mistreat-ment and rarely carry useful qualifications. Providing them with a tacit environment in which to reside and learn labour skills is key.

I selected Site C and made the glass blow-ing workshop the focus of my building, shifting the attention away from the student accommodation so as to afford them pri-vacy when needed. The triple height work-space is visible from all public areas of the building, reinstating the importance of their education and qualification.

The private parts of the building are more subtly hid away above the street level. Ac-cess comes either through a public entrance, or a discreet private entrance if they prefer.

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SITE ANALYSISUpon visiting the site I discovered the challenge that lay ahead - the steep slope and narrow bank would make this a tricky project. The area around the site was fairly run down with houses in varying states of disrepair. Some of the boats moored in the Ouesburn looked as if they'd been there for years. However I found it on a sunny day which helped a lot.

The key considerations I decided to fo-cus on at this point were the directions of the views, and the best ways of get-ting direct sunlight to the building. These physical ideas informed my development along with the notions of public and private threshold.

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ROOF PLAN AND SITE MAP -2 BASEMENT

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-1 LOWER GROUND FLOOR 0 GROUND FLOOR

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1 FIRST FLOOR 2 SECOND FLOOR

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LIME STREET FACADE

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SOUTH EAST SECTION

The stairs only service the lower levels. This creates a threshold between the public and private spaces, yet the connection still exists in the openness of the circulation core, as well as practically via the lift.

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NORTH WEST SECTIONA separate entrance provides private ac-cess for the students.

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GROUND FLOOR Tutors flat located to the right of the circulation core with internal views into the workshop.

FIRST FLOOR Student accommodation located to the left of the circulation core above the workshop. Access to the roof terrace is available on this floor.

SECOND FLOOR Similar to the first floor with the addition of a living room area which projects out over the roof terrace.

ORGANISATION OF PRIVATE SPACE

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LIME STREET FACADE

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OUSEBURN FACADE

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PLACED, DISPLACED

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The task at hand was to design a small terraced house for a small family in North Shields. The max-imum dimensions the house was allowed to be were pre determined and the challenge was to devise a number of different spatial solutions in order to re-solve the best idea.

A key point within the brief was that the family were avid cyclists and as such needed off street storage space for their bicycles. This conundrum of where to fit three bikes in a small family home was the starting point for my designs. I elected to created a 'bicycle garage' underneath the kitchen. This had a knock on effect leading to the split level entrance, which in turn lead to the different ceiling heights etc.

In the end I was very pleased with the outcome of this short project.

SMALL MODEL DETAILING THE SPLIT LEVEL LOBBY AND BICYCLE STORAGE

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INITIAL CONCEPTS STUDY MODELS

I identified some key design points which could maximise efficiency of the building. The south facing facade had great potential for direct solar heating, however if this were over utilised the building would over heat in summer and excessive glare would be an issue all year round. I realised also that the house could be split into two halves along the East-West line. Rooms which relied on light like living rooms etc. would be placed in the bright half, while household amenities could be placed further back in the shaded areas.With this in mind I came up with two initial designs and modelled them in rough.

DEVELOPMENT

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FINAL DESIGN AND MODEL

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LOWER GROUND GROUND

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FIRST NORTH-WEST SECTION

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The perforated steel sheeting acts as solar shading device, keeping the interior cool during the summer, but allowing sunlight in during the winter months when the sun is lower in the sky. If the house is over-heating the roof window can be opened and stack ventilation will occur.

SUMMER SUN WINTER SUN

SOLAR SHADING

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FACADE STUDY MATERIAL STUDY

SOUTH-WEST NORTH-EAST

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CHARRETTE WEEK¡VAMOS! HUB SPACE

A one week design project focussing on the creation of furniture that could be utilised in a small exhibition space for a temporary fes-tival. Our group designed and built a fold out bench that could be stored away in a tight space when not in use. It was a fun oppor-tunity to work in a group in a friendly, non stressful environment and the outcome was a resounding success.

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NON DESIGN WORK

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(1) Le Corbusier (1927) Towards a New Architecture. Translated by Frederick Etchells. London: The Architectural Press Publishers. Page 92. (2) Jon Lang, Urban Design: The American Experience, page 155. (3) Jon Lang, Urban Design: The American Experience, page 155. (4) SUSTAINABLE SCHOOL BUILDINGS: FROM CONCEPT TO REALITY, 1.-2. October, 2009, Ljubljana Castle, Ljubljana, Slovenia, Juhani Pallasmaa, Architect, Professor (Helsinki) page 3. (5) Kimberly Dovey (1985) ‘Home and Homelessness’ in Altman, I. and Werner, C. M. (eds.) Home Environments. New York and London: Plenum Press, Page 46. (6) Kimberly Dovey (1985) ‘Home and Homelessness’ in Altman, I. and Werner, C. M. (eds.) Home Environments. New York and London: Plenum Press. Page 38. (7) Le Corbusier (1927) Towards a New Architecture. Translated by Frederick Etchells. London: The Architectural Press Publishers. Page 7. (8) SUSTAINABLE SCHOOL BUILDINGS: FROM CONCEPT TO REALITY, 1.-2. October, 2009, Ljubljana Castle, Ljubljana, Slovenia, Juhani Pallasmaa, Architect, Professor (Helsinki). Page 3. (9) Philippe Boudon, Lived-In Architecture: Pessac Revisited (1969) Final Wordcount: 1470

Our Needs

In stating that ‘All men have the same needs’, Le Corbusier was not at all wrong. Human beings as a species do not differ from any other creatures; our re-quirements for survival stretch no further than the most simple and basic of needs. His mantra looked towards a new era of living, a sort of utopian society dominated by a single form of architecture – namely his own. However in his ide-ologies he simplified complex issues to the point where they no longer resem-bled their original points. Perhaps this is as slightly cynical assessment of his views, after all Corbusier strived for beauty and form above all else. ‘The archi-tect, through the ordonnance of forms, realises an order that is a pure crea-tion of his mind…. Through the relationships he creates, he stirs in us deep resonances… it is then that we experience beauty” (1)

It is clear that Corbusier was driven by the ideals of design and form. He believed that the future heralded a new form of architecture in which everything followed an order. However, in returning to the statement “All men have the same needs” we find an issue. Maslow stated that the basic needs of man comprised of five elements; Survival, safety and security, belonging, esteem, and self-actualisation (1987 Human Motivations) (2). In contrast, Gross suggested just a decade beforehand that the basic needs of man were as follows: Belonging, participation, affection, status, respect, power and self-fulfilment (Lewis 1977) (3). If two academics separated by just a decade could not agree on what the most basic needs of a human being are then it stands to reason that over the infinite variety of individuals out there, people may have their own ideas of what their base needs are. And this is what Le Corbusier failed to recognise. No matter how beautiful a building is it is impossible to design any one thing which could cater to everyone no matter what.

Historical Context In post war era following the First World War his ideas were new and exciting. The prospect of affordable housing for the masses was a very enticing one which would be taken on board fully in the decades following World War Two. There had been 4 million homes destroyed in Britain during the war and the need for affordable housing was greater than ever. Politicians, planners, economists and architects alike jumped at the opportunity to create cheap, industrialised prefab-ricated housing in the form of multi-storey tower blocks. For them it was a win win situation – solve the housing deficit and at minimal financial cost. However in many cases they failed to take into account the thoughts of the residents who would be living there. Pallasmaa writes that “Soulless buildings are detri-mental to life regardless of their functional, thermal, ergonomic, acoustic, economic etc. qualities, as they fail to root us in our lived reality and to me-diate between the world and our consciousness.”(4) In a similar vein, Dovey informs us that “Home as mere order and identity can well become a pris-on, a hermetically sealed prison devoid of chance.”(5) It was this lack of chance, the soulless nature of these new constructions and the inhabitants’ ina-bility to affect their surroundings in any meaningful way which lead to the de-mise and ultimately the demolition of many multi-storey housing schemes such as Red Road Flats in Glasgow. Built in the late 1950s the scheme soon ran into trouble as anti-social crime and violence became a rising problem. This ultimate-ly led to an arson attempt on one of the towers, sadly resulting in the death of an inhabitant. Since these events two of the eight towers have now been demol-ished (Fig.1) and many of the flats are now uninhabited. But is it possible that these actions were the result of the residents’ inability to express their values through their own homes?

Cultural Identity In order to fully understand the title quote one must first pick it apart. ‘All men have the same organism, the same functions.’ While this is broadly true in a biological sense, the statement fails to acknowledge significant cultural trends which create differences in the perception of home across the world. Dovey’s use of the ac-tivity of eating as a case study can be used to effectively argue against Corbusier’s statements. ‘(eating)…although common to all people, differs markedly in its spatial and temporal mani-festations according to cultural patterns.’ (6) This raises a very important point that Corbusier, in his search for ‘one single build-ing’ seems to have neglected; different cultures bring about dif-ferent ideals of what home is (in the same way that individuals within a culture may have differing opinions) and as such one single style or building could not possibly satisfy the emotional relation-ship associated with home by different people across the globe. To expand on Dovey’s idea, whilst an English household may eat seated at a table, a Cambodian household may eat seated on the floor. (Fig. 2) This is a cultural difference that has significant implica-tions on the spatial qualities that the dining area must exhibit.

This idea of a relationship with one’s home is an important one which Dovey mentions a lot. He sees the home as an organism, in-teracting with its inhabitants and becoming familiar with itself and others. He delivers great importance to the understanding that a house and a home are two separate entities, and not terms which should ever be used interchangeably. This view is starkly different from the one presented by Corbusier who looks upon a house as “a machine for living in”.(7) This rather sterile view lacks the sensitivity with which Dovey views the ideas of home. To him it should be a place imbued with familiarity, and this familiarity can come from any number of sources and relies heavily on context. The most obvious thing to look at is cultural context – Middle East-ern architecture for example differs greatly from western architec-ture in it’s style and function. Culture is like an organism in its own right – ever changing and adapting. As such any cultural style is richly dependant on the history and the styles that have come before it. This view is expressed by Pallasmaa who writes, “Architecture has never in history arisen purely from material, climatic and economic conditions, or pure rationality; it has al-ways reflected cultural aspirations and ideals.”(8) This senti-ment is one that seems to go against Corbusier’s ideology, rein-forcing the notion that architecture on a sociocultural order relies heavily on the individual nature of those who are experiencing it. A house is not merely a machine for living in, but rather a manifesta-tion of innumerable different inputs on a much wider scale.

Taking Le Corbusier into the Twenty-first Century

The idea of “one single building for all nations”, is not one that works on a global scale. Aside from social and cultural is-sues, the simple logistical issues of climate make it impossible. Building materials, macro climates and economic issues make it an impossible task. However, it may be possible to implement Le Corbusier’s ideas in a more site specific way. Masdar City, (Fig. 3) near Abu Dhabi is a new development designed as an alternative to the automobile-centric cities that surround it. Built in the desert it must take measures against solar insolation and utilises many different techniques including solar shading and wind driven ventilation to do so. The city is a carbon neutral 'utopia’, designed to be an example to the rest of the world. While this in itself is quite an exciting prospect, the city is cur-rently the world’s largest purpose built project, aiming to house over 40,000 inhabitants using a uniform form of architec-ture, indicative to Arabic culture and architectural styles. Alt-hough this is not an example of one single buildings for all na-tions, it has certainly taken lessons from Le Corbusier and is uti-lising his ideologies on a smaller, more culture-specific scale. Everything thing in the proposal has been purpose designed for the use of the inhabitants, and largely to reduce the carbon footprint of the scheme. While the designs being implemented in Masdar cannot be applied to other nations and other cli-mates, the creators are hoping that the ideologies and this new way of thinking could be applied to other nations in a more roundabout way.

Final Thought

It is easy to dismiss Le Corbusier’s ideas as self-indulgent or overly simplistic, but hindsight offers views that were not availa-ble at the time. He himself offered an interesting insight, shown here in this posthumous quote upon learning that the housing project he had designed at Pessac had been altered by its in-habitants. “You know, it is life that is right and the architect who is wrong.”(9) Although Le Corbusier had proposed a sin-gle style of architecture he understood that ultimately a projects success hinged on its interaction with the people and processes that would occur within it. The relationship between man and home is key to its design.

(Fig.1) robcartwrightphotog-raphy.wordpress.com/2012/07/16/red-road-demolition-sunday-10-june-365-360-day-322/ photo credit: Rob Cartwright. (Fig. 2) Left photo: Ivo Pery. Right photo: www.blogabond.com/Photos/PhotoView.aspx?imageID=80851 photo credit: Katja-Horsch. (Fig. 3) www.greenprophet.com/2010/05/masdar-climate-change/ (Fig.4) http:www.greenprophet.com/2013/01/masdar-city-phase-b-photos/ Fig. 1

Le Corbusier (1923) wrote: “all men have the same organism, the same functions. All men have the same needs. … I propose one single building for all nations.” Offer a critique of this position and contrast it with the theoretical ideas of home as presented by Dovey and other theorists.

The Place Of Houses

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ARC 2023 Ivo Patrick Pery 120158599

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