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Estrategias De Diseño Estructural En La Arquitectura Contemporánea El Trabajo De Cecil Balmond

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Estrategias De Diseño Estructural En La Arquitectura Contemporánea El Trabajo De Cecil Balmond Tesis doctoral Estrategias de diseño estructural en la arquitectura contemporánea El trabajo de Cecil Balmond. Por Alejandro Bernabeu Larena Ingeniero de Caminos, Canales y Puertos Ingénieur des Ponts et Chaussées presentada en el Departamento de Estructuras de Edificación Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura Universidad Politécnica de Madrid Madrid, 2007 Director: Ricardo Aroca Hernández-Ros Catedrático de Proyectos, Diseño y Cálculo de Estructuras III Departamento de Estructuras de Edificación Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura Universidad Politécnica de Madrid Resumen Resumen. Si en épocas anteriores las posibilidades y los desarrollos arquitectónicos estuvieron marcados por condicionantes técnicos, constructivos y económicos, actualmente estos factores han dejado de ser determinantes, generando una situación de libertad arquitectónica prácticamente total en la que casi cualquier planteamiento formal puede ser resuelto y construido. El origen y desarrollo de nuevas formas estructurales y arquitectónicas en los siglos XIX y XX estuvo íntimamente ligado a la aparición de nuevos materiales y sistemas estructurales. En contraste, el origen de las formas fracturadas, informes y angulosas que caracterizan la arquitectura de finales del siglo XX y comienzo del XXI no se debe a la aparición de nuevos materiales, sino al extraordinario desarrollo tecnológico de las técnicas auxiliares de proyecto y ejecución, a la profundización del entendimiento estructural y a la mejora de las propiedades de los materiales estructurales conocidos, así como al menor peso que actualmente tienen los factores económicos en el proyecto. Este nuevo contexto arquitectónico ha modificado radicalmente los parámetros que rigen el papel de la estructura en el proyecto y la relación entre ingenieros y arquitectos, planteando la cuestión sobre si los ingenieros pueden y deben adoptar una posición creativamente activa, proponiendo nuevos sistemas y estrategias de diseño estructural que permitan guiar la nueva libertad formal adquirida por los arquitectos. Para dar respuesta a esta cuestión, defendiendo el potencial compositivo y formal de la estructura resistente en la arquitectura contemporánea, se propone un análisis en tres niveles. Por una parte se plantea un estudio razonado de los antecedentes históricos de la relación ingenieros – arquitectos, identificando los principales aspectos que han influido históricamente en la evolución de esta relación y analizando detalladamente en particular el trabajo de los ingenieros que establecieron las bases de colaboración con arquitectos en Gran Bretaña en la segunda mitad del siglo XX. Se define así el marco en el que se sitúa el trabajo de los ingenieros contemporáneos, destacando los principales planteamientos y estrategias desarrolladas por otros ingenieros precedentes, a fin de establecer una serie de referencias que permitan comparar y valorar las propuestas actuales. En segundo lugar se analiza y valora el trabajo desarrollado por el ingeniero Cecil Balmond, de especial relevancia en el contexto arquitectónico y estructural actual al haber colaborado con algunos de los arquitectos contemporáneos de mayor influencia y repercusión, y representar una posición extrema de reivindicación del papel activo del ingeniero en el diseño del proyecto. A partir de este estudio razonado se plantea el tercer nivel de análisis, en el que se establecen cuatro estrategias de diseño estructural que permiten dotar de rigor, coherencia e integridad conceptual a las formas libres de la arquitectura contemporánea, desarrollando herramientas de iii Estrategias de diseño estructural en la arquitectura contemporánea. diseño que abren vías de investigación capaces de sugerir nuevos planteamientos formales y conceptuales, ampliando el abanico de posibilidades proyectuales. Las cuatro estrategias propuestas son: alteración de la estructura, optimización de la estructura, identificación de estructura y cerramiento, y definición algorítmica de la estructura. Estos sistemas son resultado en gran medida de dos procesos paralelos, que se superponen y relacionan entre sí: el paso de la organización a la arbitrariedad en la ordenación de la estructura, y el proceso de localización, relación e identificación de la estructura con la envolvente exterior. En primer lugar, las posibilidades técnicas y constructivas actuales hacen que no sea necesario unificar y ordenar los órdenes estructurales, lo que ha propiciado un proceso de distorsión del orden arquitectónico clásico y los sistemas estructurales tradicionales. Así, las estructuras alteradas encuentran en estas distorsiones el recurso con el que sorprender y provocar intencionadamente al espectador, definiendo sistemas poco frecuentes y espacios desconcertantes que no le dejan en modo alguno indiferente. Este deseo de provocación se vuelve más sutil en las estructuras optimizadas, que se apoyan en la optimización del funcionamiento de la estructura para alterar justificadamente la configuración del proyecto, planteando nuevas formas y sistemas de gran complejidad. Finalmente, el empleo de algoritmos en la definición y configuración de los proyectos supone la culminación de este proceso, ofreciendo el último argumento con el que plantear de manera justificada la generación de formas distorsionadas, relacionando además este proceso con los órdenes matemáticos y geométricos que rigen muchas de las formas y los fenómenos de la naturaleza. Por otra parte se ha producido recientemente en la arquitectura un interés por la vuelta de la estructura a la piel del edificio, identificando nuevamente estos dos elementos –estructura resistente y piel exterior-, que el movimiento moderno había disociado. Las estructuras contenedoras exploran el potencial de esta identificación, que ofrece una relación inequívoca entre forma y estructura, garantizando que no existe desvinculación posible entre el espacio interior y el volumen exterior, a la vez que define un nuevo modelo arquitectónico que plantea la estructura como un contenedor capaz de albergar cualquier uso y cualquier función. Finalmente, la aplicación de estas estrategias y el desarrollo del potencial compositivo y formal de la estructura en la arquitectura contemporánea implican una forma de trabajar y un planteamiento del proceso de diseño determinados, basados en la colaboración y la complementariedad en los sistemas de trabajo y en la concepción evolutiva e integradora de los procesos de diseño. El resultado son sistemas de colaboración multiplicadora en los que a los conceptos y los intereses formales del arquitecto se unen los planteamientos y las estrategias estructurales del ingeniero, definiendo conjuntamente un proyecto que es mucho más que la suma de arquitectura y estructura. iv Abstract Abstract. Architectural developments of other times were limited by technical, construction and economical factors. Nowadays these conditions are not so important, creating a situation of architectural freedom where almost any imaginable shape can be solved and built. The origin and development of new structural and architectural shapes during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries is deeply linked to the introduction of new structural systems and materials. In opposition, the fractured, formless and twisted shapes that characterise the architecture of the end of the twentieth century and of today are not based on the development of new materials or systems. Indeed, these new shapes of contemporary architecture have been possible because of the extraordinary technological development in the auxiliary design and construction techniques, the profound structural knowledge, the improvement of the properties and characteristics of the existing materials, and to the lesser importance of the economical factors during the design process of projects. This new architectural context has radically changed the parameters that determine the role of the structure in the project and the relationship between engineers and architects. The question arising now is whether engineers shall adopt a creative role in the project design, proposing new systems and structural design strategies to guide the new architectural freedom. To answer this question, considering the composition and creative potential of the structure in the contemporary architecture, a three-level analysis is proposed. First of all, a reasoned research is made about the historical precedents of the relationship between engineers and architects, identifying the main factors of the historical evolution of this relationship and analysing in detail the work of the main engineers that established the collaboration with architects in Great Britain in the second half of the twentieth century. The purpose is to establish the framework where the work of contemporary engineers takes place, highlighting the main proposals and strategies developed by precedent engineers, in order to establish a number of references to compare and value current proposals. Secondly, the work of the engineer Cecil Balmond is analysed in detail, since his proposals are of great importance in the contemporary architectural and structural context. He has collaborated with some of the most important and influential architects of nowadays, and represents an extreme position claming the creative role of engineers in the project design. Starting from these studies, the third level of analysis establishes four structural design strategies that provide the necessary rigor, consistency and conceptual integrity to the free shapes of contemporary
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