Living with Nature

LIVING WITH NATURE A short-stay house in Finland “The silence is so loud that you can hear it . You can hear it when looking at the midnight sun in summer. You can hear it when the days become shorter and shorter leaving place only for two darkness to meet” Tapio Wirkkala Atelier Grafton Professors: Yvonne Farrell, Shelley McNamara Assistants: Sebastiano Giannesini, Maria Eleonora Maccari, Luca Mostarda Accademia di Architettura, Mendrisio Autumn Semester 2016 EXPERIENCE NATURE NATURE OF EXPERIENCE Tapio Wirkkala_Family’s main house in Lemmensuu, Lapland A typical loggia in Panarea, Aeolian islands The focus of this semester will be to Experience Nature, while exploring the Nature of Experience. Layering Nature = From the Latin word natura, literally “birth”, from natus “born,” past participle of nasci “to be We experience space through our body, “(The skin) is the oldest and the most sensitive of our organs, our born”. Natura derives from the latin translation of the greek word physis first medium of communication, and our most efficient protector..” (A. Montagu, il linguaggio della pelle). connects this term to the word phòs that means “light”, wanting to underline a connection Architecture is essentially an extension of Nature in the man-made realm, providing the ground for per- between life and light. (φύσις). Heidegger ception and the horizon of experiencing and understanding the world. Experience = from Latin experientia “a trial, proof, experiment”; knowledge gained by repeated trials, This semester we will research spaces as layers of protection in the extreme climatic conditions of Fin- present participle of experiri “to try, test,” from ex- “out of” + peritus “experienced, test land. Like the layered structure of our body, we will investigate House as a sequence of layers, from the ed”. Physical experience occurs whenever an object or environment changes. ground, through its structure and skin to its openings as thresholds between inside and outside. Roof will be discussed as the threshold between earth and sky. “ A house is not a machine to live in. It is the shell of a man, does your body move in the search of light or shadow? Nature will be an extention of the inside world his extention, his release, his spiritual emanation. “ What do you wear in the extreme cold? How do you protect yourself from the cold winter wind? How- tions will create an opportunity for different ways of living. Eileen Gray of the House and considered a fundamental space of living. The changing seasons and their transforma THE WORLD IN SECTION Alexander von Humboldt_Diagram of a cross-section of the earth’s crust, 1841 From Heinrich Berghaus, Physikalischer Atlas (Gotha- J. Perthes, 1852) “Climate is much more than the air we breathe. It is our springhtliness or tiredness, the coloration of our “My artistic world ...It is the shape of my way of living and working. It has grown through those experiences skin. Constitution, temperament are influenced by climate”. which are everyday life to people living in the North. One can see the same continuous process of creating the phenomena in nature as there is in man. Repeated process - winter, spring, summer, autumn - and still Understanding the georgraphical position on Earth of eachB. particularRudofsky place will guide us to an under- always new and surprising.” Tapio Wirkkala features underpin culture. The section as a tool standing of its influences on human traditions. Climate, daylight, composition of soil and landscape The traditions of building techniques and built typologies in which people unfold rituals of daily activi- As students studying in an architectural univerity in Switzerland we will research both Switzerand and - through the careful investigation of elements that belong to place. Throughout the semester students land will help us become more consciouss of cultures responding to altitude, landscape above and be- willties arecollect influenced an Atlas by of the elements natural of conditions what they to physically which they experience belong. We in willorder observe to build comfort a repertoire and pleasure for the Finland to discover what these two countries share. Drawing parallel sections of Switzerland and Fin low ground, composition of soil, flora & fauna and traditions. Learningdesign of fromtheir House.Finnish climate, we will investigate architecture as a result of layers of protection from extreme conditions of cold and heat, of light and darkness, of water and its varying conditions. FINLAND SWITZERLAND Relief of the Bernese Oberland (Switzerland) 1-25,000, 76 x 100 cm, Xaver Imfeld, 1908, Swiss Alpine Museum _Geographic position 60°10′N 024°56′E (Helsinki) _Geographic position 46°57′N 7°27′E (Bern) _Area 338,424 km2 _Area 41,285 km2 _Water 10% _Water 4.2% _Forest 78% _Forest 31 % _Lakes 188,000 lakes / 179,000 islands _Lakes more than 1,500 (% of land area) (% of land area) _Altitude (max hight above sea level) 1,324 metres (Halti - Lapland) _Altitude (max hight above sea level) 4,634 m (Monte Rosa) _Climate chart (temperature) Boreal zone (Northern Hemisphere): _Climate chart (temperature) Boreal zone (Northern Hemisphere): _Minumum / Maximum daylight hours 1 h / 24 h _Minumum / Maximum daylight hours 9 h / 17 h (warm summers and freezing winters) (warm summers and freezing winters) _Population 5,527,445 (September 2016) _Population 8,393,189 (September 2016) _Density 18/km2 _Density 212/km2 GEOGRAPHY CLIMATE - freeze and the cold would kill the animals moving at ground level. - theGeographically, Gulf Stream most bringing of Finland warm iswater situated from at the a latitude Atlantic. of Thanks between to 60this, and there 70 degreesare forests north. even A signifin the northernmosticant area extends parts north of Finland. of the Areas Arctic located Circle. equallyThe climate far north in Finland in Russia and and Scandinavia North America is influenced are mainly by Finland lacks real mountains but, on the other hand, the terrain is not altogether flat, either. The bed tundra, a treeless wasteland, because of the cold climate. thousandrock and theof lakessoil in in general Finland have are beenpost-glacial. formed Anotherby the Ice unique Ages. phenomenon,The inland ice land has erodedelevation, the is bedrock, also an scraping off soil from here and leaving heaps there. In places the rock is totally exposed. The tens of that its land area is continuously growing. effect of the glaciers. Finland is rising from the Baltic Sea at an annual rate of 0.5-0.8 cm, which means Winters in Finland are quite mild, and summers are temperate although of short duration. In the south, therewinter is lasts a lot about of light, three enabling months, an inintensive the north growing about sixseason. months. In wintertime, the ground is covered by humid climate the soil becomes waterlogged, which creates the right conditions for bog/peatland vege- snow, and temperatures usually drop below zero degrees centigrade. Despite the briefness of summer, Various kinds of bogs/peatlands are a fundamental element of the Finnish landscape. In the cool and- this is snowfall. Around late winter, there can be more than a metre of snow in Lapland, less in the south. lands. They have been drained for farming, forestry and turf/peat extraction purposes. About half of the ManyPrecipitation organisms is sparse: would on not average survive 700 the mm winter in southern without Finlandthe sheltering and 400 snow; mm inthe the roots north. of plantsAbout wouldhalf of originaltation and bog/peatland the formation area of hasturf/peat. been preserved Originally, in about its virgin one state.third of Finland was covered by bogs/peat STARS OR SNOW ? ICE OR GLASS ? A Field Guide to Snow and Ice Paadarin jää (Paadar’s ice), cast glass, cut. Tapio Wirkkala Produced by Littala Galssworks 1960 Paula McCartney TREES AS ECOSYSTEM ...& AS STRUCTURE Trees covered by spiderwebs, Pakistan Fucus Magnolia, Piazza Marina, Palermo Researching the structural potential of trees and considering them as renewable elements of life, each We will experience timber in its specific characteristics and properties, its smell, its grain and texture, student will be engaged in the development of a deep undertanding of a specific tree. - through observation of its multiple uses in our daily life: as a beam, shingles, flooring, chair... phere and store large quantities of carbon in their tissues. Trees and forests provide a habitat for many speciesTrees play of birdsa significant and plants, role Tropicalin moderating rainforests the climate. are one They of the remove most biodiverse carbon dioxide habitats from in thethe atmosworld. Wood is a porous and fibrous structural tissue found in the stems and roots of trees. It has been used Trees provide shade and shelter, timber for construction, fuel for cooking and heating, and fruit for food. compression.for thousands of years for both fuel and as a construction material. It is an organic material, a natural composite of cellulose fibers (which are strong in tension) embedded in a matrix of lignin which resists A tree is a selfstanding structure and a sustainable ecosystem: the trunk supports its branches and As carbon-neutral renewable resource, wood is a source of renewable energy. leaves, it contains woody tissue for strength, and vascular tissue to carry materials from one part of the the roots branch and spread out widely; they serve to anchor the tree and extract moisture and nutri- entstree tofrom another. the soil. A layerAbove of ground, bark surrounds the branches the trunkdivide has into a smallerrole of protectivebranches and barrier. shoots. Below The theshoots ground, typ- ically bear leaves and needles, which capture light energy and convert it into sugars by photosynthesis, providing the food for the tree’s growth and development. FROM TREES TO WOOD The infinite possibilities offered by the bending of wood fibers Detail of the sculpture “Ultima Thule”, laminated birch, 1967 Aino and Alvar Aalto tutto il design, Luciano Rubino Tapio Wirkkala Stiva da morts, Vrin, 2002_detail Mehrzweckhalle, Vrin, 2003_detail of the roof Gion A.

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