UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI
______, 20 _____
I,______, hereby submit this as part of the requirements for the degree of:
______in: ______It is entitled: ______
Approved by: ______Mobilité Familiarity and New Experiences in a mobile restaurant
Master of Architecture Thesis
Submitted to the Division of Research and Advanced Studies,
University of Cincinnati
In the College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning of the
School of Architecture and Interior Design 2003
by Robin Kinney
B. S. Architecture, University of Cincinnati, 2001
Committee Chair:
Michael McInturf
Barry Stedman
Abstract
Today’s economy is based on consumers who desire services and goods to be encapsulated in a package of a total experience; all facets of the business must be designed to provide experiences to the consumer. The proposition in this thesis is that this economy requires experiences that include the idea of continually providing something new integrated with elements that are familiar.
Permanence and agility respond to the familiarity and newness that businesses seek, while transforming the space that the businesses can use. Restaurants exemplify this need for permanence and agility as they are constantly in need of expressing an experience to their customers. This project is a mobile restaurant called Mobilité that moves from location to location after six months to a year. The space is created from a system of units that can be set on sites with different orientations and experiences that relate to each site’s corresponding context.
Robin Kinney ■ Mobilité ■ Masters of Architecture Thesis ■ i
Acknowledgements
For I know the plans I have for you Jeremiah 29:11
Nathan Witte, for standing by me through all of my breakdowns.
Riley and Kay Kinney, for introducing and guiding me through all the things that matter.
Robin Kinney ■ Mobilité ■ Masters of Architecture Thesis ■ 1
Contents
Abstract
Acknowledgements i
Contents 1
List of Figures 2
Introduction 12
Thesis History 15
Thesis Theory and Propositions 24
Thesis Practice and Principles 29
Project and Location 37
History of Users 44
History of the Restaurant 47
Location of Four Sites 50
Project Design 58
Process 71
Annotated Bibliography 77
Robin Kinney ■ Mobilité ■ Masters of Architecture Thesis ■ 2
List of Figures
1. Architectural Tendency in Service Industry 25 Drawn by Robin Kinney
2. Architectural Needs in Service Industry 25 Drawn by Robin Kinney
3. Image of Earth 26 Osland, Jacqueline. Veer: Visual Elements for Creatives. 11 Nov. 2002.
4. Illustration of American Indian Tipi 29 Kronenburg, Robert. Houses in Motion: The Genesis, History and Development of the Portable Building (Great Britain: Wiley-Academy, 2002), 11.
5. Photograph of American Indians in Tipi 30 Kronenburg, Robert. Houses in Motion: The Genesis, History and Development of the Portable Building (Great Britain: Wiley-Academy, 2002), 10.
6. Kababish Tent Illustration 30 Kronenburg, Robert. Houses in Motion: The Genesis, History and Development of the Portable Building (Great Britain: Wiley-Academy, 2002), 21.
7. Set Design by Edward Craig 31 Wild, Larry. “A Brief History of Scene Design,” 27 March 2003. Northern State Robin Kinney ■ Mobilité ■ Masters of Architecture Thesis ■ 3
University.
8. Expressionism Set Design 32 Goodenough, Kelly. The Director’s concepts. 2002.
9. Crystal Palace at Sydenham 32 Russell, Potter A. The Crystal Palace. 7 Aug. 2002.
10. Fun Palace Project 33 Kronenburg, Robert. Houses in Motion: The Genesis, History and Development of the Portable Building (Great Britain: Wiley-Academy, 2002), 114.
11. The Floating Pavilion 33 “Floating Pavilion,” 30 March 2003. Maki and Associates.
12. Plan of Zoficentro 34 Cerver, Francisco Asensio. Restaurant Details. (New York: Whitney Library of Design, 1998), 89.
13. Perspective of Zoficentro 34 Cerver, Francisco Asensio. Restaurant Details. (New York: Whitney Library of Design, 1998), 84. Robin Kinney ■ Mobilité ■ Masters of Architecture Thesis ■ 4
14. Truck Image of Mobile Linear City 35 Siegal, Jennifer. The Art of Portable Architecture. (New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2002), 101.
15. Interior View of Mobile Linear City 35 Siegal, Jennifer. The Art of Portable Architecture. (New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2002), 100.
16. Interior View of Mobile Linear City 35 Siegal, Jennifer. The Art of Portable Architecture. (New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2002), 101.
17. Rendering of Portable House 36 Siegal, Jennifer. The Art of Portable Architecture. (New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2002), 111.
18. Rendering of Portable House 36 Siegal, Jennifer. The Art of Portable Architecture. (New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2002), 111.
19. Person Shelling Peas 37 Osland, Jacqueline. Veer: Visual Elements for Creatives. 11 Nov. 2002. < http://www.veer.com/results.asp?Image=IMP0118002> 11 Nov. 2002.
20. Person Frying with Skillet 37 Robin Kinney ■ Mobilité ■ Masters of Architecture Thesis ■ 5
Osland, Jacqueline. Veer: Visual Elements for Creatives. 11 Nov. 2002. < http://www.veer.com/results.asp?Image=IMP0118044> 11 Nov. 2002.
21. Table with Salt and Pepper 38 Osland, Jacqueline. Veer: Visual Elements for Creatives. 11 Nov. 2002. < http://www.veer.com/results.asp?Image=ISP0219012> 11 Nov. 2002.
22. Diagram of Restaurant Flow 38 By Robin Kinney
23. The Flow of Materials and Personnel 38 Birchfield, John C. Design and Layout of Foodservices Facilities (New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1988), 40.
24. Food at Table 39 Osland, Jacqueline. Veer: Visual Elements for Creatives. 11 Nov. 2002. < http://www.veer.com/results.asp?Image=IMP0150010> 11 Nov. 2002.
25. Food at Table 39 Osland, Jacqueline. Veer: Visual Elements for Creatives. 11 Nov. 2002.
26. People Eating at Table 39 Osland, Jacqueline. Veer: Visual Elements for Creatives. 11 Nov. 2002.
Robin Kinney ■ Mobilité ■ Masters of Architecture Thesis ■ 6
27. People at a Bar 40 Osland, Jacqueline. Veer: Visual Elements for Creatives. 11 Nov. 2002. < http://www.veer.com/results.asp?Image=ISP0504005> 11 Nov. 2002.
28. Hand with Martini 40 Osland, Jacqueline. Veer: Visual Elements for Creatives. 11 Nov. 2002. < http://www.veer.com/results.asp?Image=ISP0504008> 11 Nov. 2002.
29. Champagne Glasses 40 Osland, Jacqueline. Veer: Visual Elements for Creatives. 11 Nov. 2002. < http://www.veer.com/results.asp?Image=IMP0148043> 28 April 2002.
30. Woman in Kitchen 41 Osland, Jacqueline. Veer: Visual Elements for Creatives. 11 Nov. 2002.
31. People at Restaurant Table 41 Osland, Jacqueline. Veer: Visual Elements for Creatives. 11 Nov. 2002.
32. Diagram of Demographic and Thesis 44 By Robin Kinney
33. Set Table Osland, Jacqueline. Veer: Visual Elements for Creatives. 11 Nov. 2002. < 47 Robin Kinney ■ Mobilité ■ Masters of Architecture Thesis ■ 7
http://www.veer.com/results.asp?Image=FSP0005035> 11 Nov. 2002.
34. Bar Stool 48 Osland, Jacqueline. Veer: Visual Elements for Creatives. 11 Nov. 2002.
35. Diagram of Restaurant Movement 50 By Robin Kinney
36. Over-the-Rhine Site Plan 51 By Robin Kinney
37. Main Street 51 Used with permission from Nathan Witte
38. Corner of Thirteenth and Main Street 52 Used with permission from Nathan Witte
39. Eden Park Site Plan 53 By Robin Kinney
40. Plan of Incline 53 Jakucyk, Jeffrey. “Map of Cincinnati’s Streetcars, Interurbans, and Railroads,” 4 Dec. 2002. Cincinnati Streetcars, Interurbans, and Railroads < http://homepage.mac.com/jjakucyk/Transit1/map10.gif> 4 Dec. 2002. Robin Kinney ■ Mobilité ■ Masters of Architecture Thesis ■ 8
41. Incline to Mt. Adams 54 Mecklenborg, Jake. “Mt. Adams incline,” 4 Dec. 2002. Cincinnati-Transit.net.
42. Gravel Parking lot at Edge of Eden Park 54 By Robin Kinney
43. Fountain Square Site Plan 55 By Robin Kinney
44. Aerial of Fountain Square 55 Used with permission from Mike Knoll
45. Fountain Square 56 Used with permission from Mike Knoll
46. Vine Street Site Plan 57 By Robin Kinney
47. 1220 Vine Street 57 Used with permission from Nathan Witte
48. Front of Menu 58 By Robin Kinney
Robin Kinney ■ Mobilité ■ Masters of Architecture Thesis ■ 9
49. Restaurant Flyer 58 By Robin Kinney
50. Systems Exploration Diagrams 60 By Robin Kinney
51. Unit Diagrams 60 By Robin Kinney
52. HVAC Diagrams 61 By Robin Kinney
53. Unit Structure Diagrams 61 By Robin Kinney
54. 13th and Main Photo Montage 63 By Robin Kinney
55. 13th and Main Perspective 64 By Robin Kinney
56. 13th and Main Plans 64 By Robin Kinney
57. Unit Diagrams 65 By Robin Kinney Robin Kinney ■ Mobilité ■ Masters of Architecture Thesis ■ 10
58. HVAC Diagrams 66 By Robin Kinney
59. Unit Structure Diagrams 66 By Robin Kinney
60. 13th and Main Photo Montage 67 By Robin Kinney
61. 13th and Main Perspective 68 By Robin Kinney
62. 13th and Main Plans 68 By Robin Kinney
63. 1220 Vine Street Photo Montage 69 By Robin Kinney
64. 1220 Vine Street Perspective 70 By Robin Kinney
65. 1220 Vine Street Plan 70 By Robin Kinney
66. DNA Image Board 72 Robin Kinney ■ Mobilité ■ Masters of Architecture Thesis ■ 11
By Robin Kinney
67. Permanence and Agility Diagram 75 By Robin Kinney
68. Permanence and Agility Diagram 75 By Robin Kinney
69. Permanence and Agility Studies 76 By Robin Kinney
70. Materials Matrix 76 By Robin Kinney
Robin Kinney ■ Mobilité ■ Masters of Architecture Thesis ■ 12
Introduction Businesses are beginning to understand that consumers seek services and goods that are encapsulated within an experience of newness and familiarity.1 It is vital to integrate the concepts of familiarity and new experiences into architecture because design can give the users, businesses, and consumers the kind of spaces that they desire.
Consumers want the businesses they walk into to be completely designed, from wall to service; to be thought through in a way that expresses a complete idea that can be easily comprehended. They need the shelf that they buy goods off of to be integrally linked with the person handling the cash register. All facets of the business must be designed to provide experiences to the consumer. These experiences have been present in businesses, but the key difference lies in whether the business is in control of the messages they are conveying to the consumers, or if the experiences are leftover pieces that have not been detailed, but exist.2 The proposition in this thesis is that these experiences are important to the consumer and the business owner at every level. These experiences do not simply include the idea of continually providing something new, however, but integrate elements that are familiar to the consumer, as well. This proposal underscores the importance of a balance between newness and familiarity in an overall experience. Permanence and agility respond to the familiarity and newness that businesses seek, while transforming the space that the businesses can use.
Restaurants exemplify this need for permanence and agility as they are constantly in need of conveying an experience to their customers. This industry must rework their image continuously while maintaining certain elements to signify their tradition to the customer.
1 Joseph B. Pine and James H. Gilmore, The experience economy : work is theatre & every business a stage (Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 1999), ix. 2 Pine, 24. Robin Kinney ■ Mobilité ■ Masters of Architecture Thesis ■ 13
The demands of this type of business expressly state a need for spaces that can be modified. This project type allows for many different locations to be used and the new experiences that can be provided.
This project is a mobile restaurant called Mobilité that moves from location to location after six months to a year. The space is created from a system of units that can be transported by trucks and set on site with different orientations. The system is designed to provide new experiences that relate to each site’s context and, consequently, to the customer.
Summary This thesis exploration begins with a discussion of the American culture and the history of the economy through to the present day. It gives a number of examples to illustrate the basic values consumers seek in service and goods. This section illustrates the ideas of familiarity and new experiences being integrated with how businesses create their images, services, and spaces.
The theories of this thesis are proposed in the next section and discuss the factors of the economy and how they relate to architecture. It describes two terms, permanence and agility, and how these can describe characteristics in architecture that enable the architecture to meet the demands of business. Permanence and agility are defined and illustrated as being balanced with each other in many things that are not commonly associated with architecture. The end of this section points to businesses that have used design to integrate concepts of familiarity and newness to provide holistic experiences to their consumers.
A number of architectural precedents are presented that demonstrate a balance between permanence and agility in architecture. The examples begin with early vernacular systems used by indigenous peoples to illustrate the early use of building with these characteristics. Robin Kinney ■ Mobilité ■ Masters of Architecture Thesis ■ 14
Theater design is discussed as representing an example of a system that inherently incorporates the ideas of agility when changing from production to production and scene to scene, while providing the permanence of the theater.3 It is a prime example of how these two concepts are interwoven to provide audiences with complete experiences outside of their everyday lives. Later examples of architecture start with the introduction of more modern construction methods and the changing meanings of home. These examples begin to show that the very natures of programs are changing due to their form and mobility of permanent features.
The next section describes the project and locations with an emphasis on pragmatic concerns and their connection to the theoretical propositions. A restaurant was chosen as the project type, while four different site locations are illustrated and the pragmatic necessities of the program are explained. A history of the users of this type project is discussed and connected to the overall concepts of the thesis and project. The methods behind appropriate sites for this type of project are discussed, as well. The final discussion in this section involves the four chosen sites and detailed accounts of each site are discussed, from the history of each site to their current settings.
The final section introduces the architectural drawings and images that convey the ideas of the thesis in built form. The concepts of permanence and agility are discussed, in detail, with regards to the site, system of units, and experiences found. The processes of the project are explained and describe the method of implementation of this thesis.
3 Larry Wild, “A Brief History of Scene Design,” 27 March 2003. Northern State University.
Thesis History
every business is a stage, and therefore work is a theatre4
Americans are consumers Americans consume 40% of the world’s energy; 7% of the world’s chips, broccoli, indoor plumbing, and baseballs; 57% of Americans consume meals away from home on any given day.5 There are many causes for this consumption and one reason is that people buy to achieve happiness and this includes physical, mental, and social happiness. Goods and services are bought to signal social status, mark social events, give order to daily life, and free time for social activities.6
Experience Culture The economy in this time of increased human consumption is an economy focused on providing consumers with value achieved by an all-encompassing experience. A transition has taken place from a primarily service-oriented economy that focuses on selling a service to the economy of selling a complete package through experience. The consumer still receives the goods and services, but also receives an experience that stays in their memory and "the value of the experience lingers in the memory of any individual who was engaged by the event.”7 Pine and Gilmore state that providing experiences is a new genre in the economy and is providing new sources of revenue for businesses.8 The idea behind this type
4 Pine, x. 5 Lawrence W. Reed, “We Consume Because We First Produce,” 15 March 2003. Economic Development.
The change is exemplified in the form of getting a haircut at the local Cost Cutters- a cheap haircut that does the job compared to a salon experience. The current trends in salons are one where when you walk through the door you are treated as a guest. You are offered a beverage and asked to wait with various media offered to you to quicken the perceived wait. Once you are helped, you are led to the shampoo area and receive a scalp massage as you are shampooed. The process continues until you leave the salon. You receive more than the simple service of a haircut because you are also getting the relaxation of being pampered and groomed.
"There is a close relationship between service and experience" and consumers do not buy based solely on the products and services, but by the value they place on that product or service.10 Many times, a consumer wants to experience a product before they even buy it. Free samples in a grocery store go fast because they are free and can be experienced through taste, touch and smell. The product or service that can be experienced is one that achieves the basics needs of a consumer. “[I]t’s the sensory aspect of the decision-making process that’s most intriguing because how else do we experience anything?”11 The ability to test products and services encourages consumers to purchase the goods and services. The consumers can freely experience these products and choose to buy them after they are pleased with what they have experienced.
9 Steven E. Prokesch, "Competing on Customer Service: An interview with British Airways' Sir Colin Marshall," Harvard Business Review 73, no. 6 Nov-Dec 1995, p. 103. 10 Frederick A. Crawford and Ryan Mathews, The myth of excellence : why great companies never try to be the best at everything (New York : Crown Business, c2001), 80. 11 Paco Underhill, Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping (New York : Simon & Schuster, 1999), 162. Robin Kinney ■ Mobilité ■ Masters of Architecture Thesis ■ 17
These perceptions and senses of the consumer determine how they view a product, service, or business. This can be shown by considering the idea that coffee can be a commodity, good or service, and "a heightened ambience or sense of theatre, and the consumers gladly pay anywhere from $2 to $5 for each cup.”12 This idea shows how an experience can transform the consumer’s perceptions of a product or service and can be revealed through the lifestyle of each client and what he or she value in his or her experience, whether it is price or décor. "In one neighborhood, the Starbucks shop might have a sleek, upscale feel, appropriate for that area’s consumers. In another, oversized couches and funky lighting might better fit the community."13 One person may feel that a $4.00 cup of coffee is worth it because of the environment that they purchase it in, even though they could buy coffee for $1.00 at the corner store. People’s perceptions of what they are experiencing changes based on what their values are and the environments that they feel comfortable in.
Causes of the Experience Economy Experience has always been integral in the process of a consumer buying a service or a good. Shopping in a market provides an experience to the consumer. As they travel through the packed crowds that banter and bargain with the sellers, the consumer leaves with a bag of produce and a memory of their experience in that market.
Businesses are beginning to understand the idea of selling a complete package in the form of an experience. In The Experience Economy, Pine and Gilmore state that "if societies are to seek continued economic prosperity, they must stage experiences to add sufficient value to their economies to employ the masses"14 Walt Disney understood this years ago when he
12 Pine, 1. 13 Crawford, 114. 14 Pine, xii. Robin Kinney ■ Mobilité ■ Masters of Architecture Thesis ■ 18 created and opened Disneyland in 1955, and it was "a living, immersive, cartoon world".15 The "imagineering" created by the Walt Disney Company is implemented as a way to utilize the companies "experiential expertise" by creating whole cities of themed experiences from the Magic Kingdom to Fantasy Island. The complete package came in the form of Disney World in 1971 and it acted as a complete experience. The moment a guest gets off the plane in Orlando they are immersed in Disney paraphernalia and the scenery is set for the guests to become a part of the whole fantasy experience. Parents realize this and " don't take their kids to Walt Disney World just for the event itself but rather to make the shared experience part of everyday family conversations for months".16
Businesses have started to pay close attention to providing worthwhile experiences in order for them to differentiate themselves from other businesses. In The Myth of Excellence Crawford states that "in a world of increasingly ubiquitous product quality, increasingly similar market offerings, standardized service levels, and relatively normalized if not standardized pricing, companies that crack the customer code and break from traditional business practices stand to gain disproportionate advantage over their competition."17 The realization of an economy that is linked to more than simply goods and services allows for businesses to gain an edge over the competition by providing something new and completely different.
Familiarity and New Experiences People are going out to eat more frequently at increasingly experiential venues, and even drinking more festive types of coffee.18
15 Pine, 3. 16 Pine, 13. 17 Crawford, xv. 18 Pine, 5. Robin Kinney ■ Mobilité ■ Masters of Architecture Thesis ■ 19
Household wealth has increased eight times since 1969 and continues to grow larger as more families are able to earn more money.19 Consumers are, in general more affluent than their parents were but seem to be less satisfied with their lives.20 “Man’s main response to increasing affluence seems to be an increase in the frequency of festive meals; he adds to the number of special occasions and holidays considered worthy of them and, ultimately, he makes them routine- in the form, say, of Sunday dinners.”21 These routines that are set are ways of created value because they are “increasingly frustrated with the experiences of their lives [and] want reinforcement of personal- not just commercial- values."22 A consumer can buy everything now at a lower price. This helps them free their time for quality time with their children, but these things do not give them a sense of values.
The disassociation that has occurred between personal and commercial values is being addressed in an experience-oriented economy. Consumers search for value and newness in what they experience and in how they spend their money. They want businesses to "enhance the environment in which [they] purchase and/or receive the service, layering on inviting sensations encountered while in that company-controlled environment"23 The familiarity with the grocer at the corner store keeps bringing the customer back, along with knowing that good service and food would be provided as well, but it may not provide the enhanced and new environment that a consumer seeks. People stopped going to these stores because of the convenience of buying everything at one store, the lower prices they could find, and the new experiences encountered in these stores. Going to these giant stores began as an adventure because the customer never knew what they would find. The problem has raised, though, that these mega-stores are no longer new to the consumer and they begin to
19 Richard Willey, Per Capita Income. 28 March 2003.
Concepts and Breakdowns "There are also two kinds of experience: the external experience, that is, the entertainment factor...and the internal experience, which is tied to the feeling a consumer has about doing business with a particular company"24 These two concepts are backed up in the business world by providing entertainment with the backing of individualized service and respect.25 These internal and external experiences describe two ideas, familiarity and new experiences. Marketing techniques employ both of these ideas to bring back consumers. "[E]xperiences are memorable" and businesses use this idea to create a familiarity with the consumer while providing new experiences to bring them back and entertain them.26
An example of failure in business to integrate these two ideas is illustrated in The Experience Economy. It gives the case study of two different stores and states that "same-store sales went down at the Rainforest Cafe and Planet Hollywood because they failed to refresh their experiences.”27 These two companies focus on the aspect of a total experience environment and returning guests grew tired of the same experience over and over again without any change. A contrasting example is given in The Myth of Excellence and it shows how experience may shape a business. This example introduces a man who attends a health club and states that "[n]o matter how many times [he] went to the club, he never experienced quite the same environment."28
24 Crawford, 163. 25 Crawford, 164. 26 Pine, 12. 27 Pine, 24. 28 Crawford, 236. Robin Kinney ■ Mobilité ■ Masters of Architecture Thesis ■ 21
"Buyers of experiences...value being engaged by what the company reveals over a duration of time."29 The consumer views the concept of familiarity as something that allows for a service to be perceived as comfortable to them and lets the consumer enjoy aspects of the service that they know and expect. Familiarity draws the consumer back when they have been satisfied the first time. Brand recognition draws consumers back to use the same product over and over again because it has worked.
New experiences with a service keep consumers interested in the service and meet their changing needs. This concept keeps the consumer interest and allows them to come back to enjoy what they have not experienced before. It keeps them surprised and excited. This concept allows for the experience to remain cutting edge and with the times.
The idea of familiarity in combination with new experience can be illustrated in various methods that businesses employ these two concepts. Marketing tools use the same product with a different package all the time. Businesses also use a different product with a discernable logo that allows the consumer to recollect past products under that brand.
Business meeting this market The primary attribute of the businesses that excel is the unique and consumer-oriented experience that is present.30 Businesses such as Bewley coffeehouses and Gourmet Garage stores emphasize on experience. Bewley's experience is oriented to the individual customer and allows each person to enjoy the product and space at their own pace instead of the
29 Pine, 12. 30 Crawford, 176-177. Robin Kinney ■ Mobilité ■ Masters of Architecture Thesis ■ 22 stores’.31 Customers return day after day to these venues because of the familiarity in routine as they are allowed to shape their own experience.
Many experiences have less to do with simple entertainment and focus on providing the service of dining integrated with comedy, art, architecture, history, or nature.32 The authors show that businesses utilize this economy of experience by blurring the boundaries of businesses into something that can become educational, entertaining, and familiar. Home Depot displays a seminar on do-it-yourself techniques. This example illustrates a connection between business and education that allows a consumer to buy goods while learning how to use them.
Kitchenaid has sold the same popular mixer since 1919 and has remained the most popular and well-known mixer by simply adding color to the white appliance.33 Today, remembering that their mothers had the same reliable mixer in their kitchen attracts consumers. Now they get excited about owning the same mixer with custom colors, too. KitchenAid understand this experience economy- “The emphasis is on fun at the KitchenAid Experience. Learn professional cooking techniques, "test-drive" innovative new products, savor exotic gourmet foods and flavors -- all at the KitchenAid Experience in Greenville, Ohio.”34
Car manufacturers keep the consumer buying their products by coming out with minor or major changes to the same model year after year. The car has functioned in the same way
31 Crawford, 176-177. 32 Pine, 3. 33 “KitchenAid Countertop Appliances Homepage,” 15 March 2003. KitchenAid.com.
Robin Kinney ■ Mobilité ■ Masters of Architecture Thesis ■ 24
Thesis Theory and Propositions
the complexity of contemporary existence is manifest in every component of life and work. This complexity reveals itself in an ever-changing society that makes new and different requirements continuously35
Businesses, in today’s economy, attempt to meet the emotional needs of consumers through a balance between familiarity and new experiences. Architecture must also attempt to find a balance. These same ideas of familiarity and new experiences can be expressed in the terms of permanence and agility. These terms can describe characteristics in architecture that enable spaces to meet the demands of business.
Permanence and Agility Permanence and agility express the qualities of familiarity and new experiences in an architecturally oriented manner. The formal definition of permanence describes it as the quality or state of continuing or enduring without fundamental or marked change. Agility is formally described as being the quality or state of having a quick resourceful and adaptable character.
There are many reasons why commercial architecture is destroyed and, periodically, they are gutted or destroyed because they can no longer provide a new or fresh experience. They "are generally completely demolished to make place for new ones, very little of the old fabric being capable of reuse."36 One mall becomes abandoned as stores move to the latest one that looks newer. Malls and strip malls become abandoned because they do not provide
35 Robert Kronenburg, Houses in Motion: The Genesis, History and Development of the Portable Building (Great Britain: Wiley-Academy, 2002), 12. 36 Kronenburg, “Houses in Motion,” 12. Robin Kinney ■ Mobilité ■ Masters of Architecture Thesis ■ 25
new experiences anymore. Because of these occurrences the "need for buildings that have Zoom In minimal and, in many cases, temporary impact on these environments is obvious."37
Recognition is built into architecture as the user passes through the space many times, but it has failed to provide new experiences for the consumer. Figures 1 and 2 explore the ideas of Permanence Agility permanence and agility in commercial architecture by comparing the reality of built space, through varying times and scales, and what the spaces should provide for businesses. and A balance needs to be found between these two aspects of familiarity and new experiences in architecture by the integration of permanence and agility into spaces.
Scale Scale Zoom Out
Architectural Tendency in Service Industry Permanence Figure 1 Permanence is a subjective observance based on each individual’s perception of time. How does society label objects as permanent? The human lives for a duration of around 70 years and the planet earth is billions of years old, but both can be perceived as being permanent. Zoom In Permanence is in the eye of the beholder and objects can be perceived as permanent while being able to move from place to place. A semblance of permanence should be included so that recognition can occur in the beholder’s eye.
Permanence Agility Permanence is the architectural aspect of the economy’s concept of familiarity. Permanence in commercial architecture speaks to the familiarity needed in experience. It provides the space that allows for a consumer to feel comfortable in a space. This can be illustrated
Scale Scale Zoom Out through considering the corner grocery store that one might go to every week because of the expected and comfortable experiences that are provided. This aspect of architecture is Architectural Needs of Service Industry Figure 2 meant to "convey the sense of identity and community that is necessary for an established, responsible society."38
37 Kronenburg, “Houses in Motion,” 12. 38 Kronenburg, “Houses in Motion,” 13. Robin Kinney ■ Mobilité ■ Masters of Architecture Thesis ■ 26
Agility Agility involves objects being flexible, able to move, and changeable. A change in colors, material can vastly change an item, and the object might physically move. Another option in this concept involves the idea that the object does not change but the environment does. Some collapsible items might fit anywhere at anytime.
Agility describes an architecture that allows for new experiences in spaces. It is the emotional transformation that can occur in a user when they use the space. Where that user may use the space a certain way at one moment, when the space changes, a modification in aesthetic or layout can provide a new intimacy within the surroundings.
Balance between Permanence and Agility William McDonough describes architecture in a type of permanence and agility when he says: If we use the study of architecture to inform this discourse, and we go back in history, we will see that architects are always working with two elements, mass and membrane. We have the walls of Jericho, mass, and we have tents, membranes. Ancient peoples practiced the art and wisdom of building with mass, such as an adobe-walled hut, to anticipate the scope and direction of sunshine. [...] With respect to membrane, we only have to look at the Bedouin tent to find a design that accomplishes five things at once. [...] You may wonder what happens when it rains, with the holes in the tent. The fibers swell up and the tent gets tight as a drum when wet. And of course, you can roll it up and take it with you. The modern tent pales by comparison to this astonishingly elegant construction.39
Figure 3 39 William McDonough, "Design, Ecology, ethics, and the Making of Things." Theorizing a New Agenda for Architecture: An Anthology of Architectural Theory 1965-1995. Ed. Kate Nesbitt. (New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 1996), 400-401. Robin Kinney ■ Mobilité ■ Masters of Architecture Thesis ■ 27
His description of mass and membrane speaks to the two, seemingly, contradictions of permanence and agility while illustrating its connections to the past through the huge masonry wall and flexible tent structures of the desert. This design promotes this sense of economy and efficiency and materials in a way that enables a use of everyday products in extraordinary and unique ways. An architecture that is permeated with assemblages that have permanent and agile characteristics will be able to meet each function and need in specific ways so that each space or environment is individually its own. This idea of permanence and agility in architecture introduces a sense of familiarity in a culture that moves into completely different locations through their nomadic culture.
The current culture continually seeks “the new” in architecture while being nostalgic for the old. Many commercial businesses are built today and they are unable to coexist as something permanent and agile without completely gutting their existing building. This may not be a problem for some businesses as they may expect this method of architectural treatment to occur. However, in some applications architecture may not be meeting the needs of business and consumers in the current market. David Blum describes, in Flash in the Pan, a business’s attempt at that rejuvenation as he states there is a point "of complete and total desperation---a final, wildly chaotic effort to inject new life into a restaurant that has just passed its first birthday, but hovers constantly near death".40
There are many examples of how business meets the current market by integrating the concepts of permanence and agility. McDonalds provides similar service and cuisine all over the country at its numerous stores. There is a convenience in location, familiarity in exterior treatment, and the ever-present golden arches at each location. The familiarity at each node in this chain is balanced with each different treatment of the stores interior aesthetic. The
40 David Blum, Flash in the Pan: The Life and Death of an American Restaurant (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1992), 15. Robin Kinney ■ Mobilité ■ Masters of Architecture Thesis ■ 28 interior décor changes at each location from a rock hall of fame to a 50’s diner. The guests’ experience of the exterior of each McDonalds is similar and can be recognized, but the interior experience is new at each location.
Another example of the cohesion of these two concepts is illustrated in the experience at Disney World. Disney World has always provided these two ideas of familiarity with new experiences. The central Cinderella’s Castle and the pervading theme of cartoon characters from our youth mixed with fairytales. Our imagination has come to life. It is as if we already knew the place in our dreams. The new experiences occur in the continual revamping of the park with new rides mixed in with the old.
Architecture may be able to adapt to these new needs if an economical system exists that is flexible and able to adapt to changes needed by the current culture. A permanent structure can be created that has the ability to be redistributed in form and adapt to differing functions needed by the community. The creation of architecture that can remain a durable and viable element in a city’s landscape is necessary. Architecture should act as a transitional space that reveals an agility to transform itself to meet the needs of the consumer while maintaining a sense of permanence and agility.
Robin Kinney ■ Mobilité ■ Masters of Architecture Thesis ■ 29
Thesis Practice and Principles
most contemporary movable buildings as that of convenient tools rather than architecture. For this reason they are created without the cultural and artistic components that are generally attached to even the most functional building designs41
A number of past examples in building history exemplify the ideas of permanence and agility in design. Vernacular homes in form of nomadic are some of the earliest examples of people reusing elements of building to provide a home in many different places. This type of building has continued through the centuries and has transformed itself from covered wagons to travel trailers. This tradition has continued through the techniques of theater scene design with the rediscovery of perspectival scenery. These techniques, however, did not come to the forefront of architecture until the erection of The Crystal Palace and with the discovery of structural iron elements. Since this discovery, architects have continually investigated the ideas of design that can incorporate permanence and agility and have begun to design many different programs of space with them in mind.
American Plains Indian Tipi On the American plains a transformation occurred with the introduction of horses into the Native American culture. These Plains Indians abandoned farm plots to become buffalo hunters and reap the benefits involved with this type of venture. The subsequent lifestyle for the tribes was one of a nomadic type instead of stationary living. To accommodate their new lifestyle, the Plains Indians created variations of tipis from tribe to tribe. These types of
Figure 4 41 Kronenburg, “Houses in Motion,” 10-11. Robin Kinney ■ Mobilité ■ Masters of Architecture Thesis ■ 30
enclosures allowed for movement from site to site and were easy to assemble. The tipis were made and owned by the women of the tribe who also erected them.42
The frame of each tipi is established with a set number of poles, the number of poles changes from tribe to tribe, subsidiary poles are erected and then covered with semicircular patterns of buffalo skin.43 The poles of the tipi are erected in five minutes and the skin can be assembled in fifteen minutes.44
These tipis show a fast construction technique, mobility, and can act as the permanent home Figure 5 of the tribes. Each tipi is assembled in the same fashion at each site and allows the user to utilize the single interior space no matter where they have settled. Because of their construction type, the Plains Indians were not limited in location and could travel at any time to any area. When considering the concept of home, one can see that these people’s homes traveled with them. The familiarity and comfort found in these types of shelters, allowed these people to inhabit strange and new places with the comfort of home intact.
Kababish Tent The Kababish nomads of Northern Sudan were nomadic inhabitants of the desert that used tents for ease of mobility and protection from their climate. The structure of these tents and purpose of these tents remained permanent. Every other detail could be changed to respond to specific functions and climate. A sense of safety was found in tents by nomadic peoples because of there constant presence, durability, and symbol of shelter from storms. The structure remains stationary throughout its use and the interior and exterior panels can be moved and changed. There was a built-in flexibility in the tents that could be used by raising
Figure 6 42 Kronenburg, “Houses in Motion,” 8. 43 Kronenburg, “Houses in Motion,” 18-19. 44 Kronenburg, “Houses in Motion,” 19. Robin Kinney ■ Mobilité ■ Masters of Architecture Thesis ■ 31
and lowering the wall flaps to allow for breezes or keep out dangerous weather. The interior space could be broken up into compartments by hanging fabric panels from the structure.45
Theaters and Scene Design Theater has been a changing production throughout its history by implementing many different methods of production and imagery to illustrate scenes to the audience. Scene design has changed from using little elements to vast productions that captivate audiences with their immense splendor. Prop elements began to be used in the sets of these productions in pre-renaissance time with Medieval Mortality plays.46 The Italian Renaissance brought theatre set design into the realm of realistic and 3-dimensional design when Brunelleschi brought linear perspective to the forefront in his designs of stage sets and transformed the existing theatre wall to one that showed a vast city landscape.47 He created scenes and devices to change the set and scene of the theatre to provide new and fantastic experiences to the audience. Brunelleschi created castles and mountains to transform these Figure 7 spaces.48 A man named Sebastiono Serlio owned a playhouse in the Italian court palace and followed the lead of Brunelleschi as he began transforming the stage through perspectival scenery and large props to pull the audiences into the experience of the play. The theatre began to change from performance to performance while using the same existing space.49
By the mid nineteenth century the stage began to transform itself into one that strayed from perspective paintings on the back of a stage wall with only a few props to sets with more realistic spaces that included platforms, steps, and series of screens. These concepts were brought to the forefront of English theatre by the designer named Edward Craig in his
45 Kronenburg, “Houses in Motion,” 21. 46 Wild. 47 Wild. 48 Kronenburg, “Houses in Motion,” 41. 49 Wild. Robin Kinney ■ Mobilité ■ Masters of Architecture Thesis ■ 32
publication The Art of the Theatre and his monumental treatments of the stage forced audiences to realize the impact of the stage experience within the walls of the same theatre after each visit.50
These set designers were "asked to devise dramatic temporary transformations of existing buildings."51 The existing building acted as the base of the dramatic scene created by these artists to draw in the imagination of the audiences. Audiences did not know what to expect as they walked through the same doors of the theater after each visit to be brought into a space that had been transformed after each use.
Crystal Palace Sir Joseph Paxton The Crystal Palace was the 1851 Great Exhibition building by Sir Joseph Paxton that was
Figure 8 labeled a building with a "reusable nature that that also express a strong cultural and technological statement."52 The system used was one that was "[b]uilt out of prefabricated and wrought-iron elements and based on a four-foot module” to create a space that could be easily erected and then moved to other sites using a modular system of construction.53 It was later dismantled and re-erected at Sydenham, London in an altered form from its original exhibition state. It was the "largest building to have been designed to be specifically demountable, and to have proved its practicality unequivocally."54
The Fun Palace Project Cedric Price
Figure 9 Cedric Price built the Fun Palace project in the Inter-Action Centre London in 1972. It
50 Wild. 51 Kronenburg, “Houses in Motion,” 41. 52 Kronenburg, “Houses in Motion,” 10. 53 Kenneth Frampton, Modern Architecture 1851-1945 (New York: Rizzoli International Publications, 1983), 11. 54 Kronenburg, “Houses in Motion,” 47. Robin Kinney ■ Mobilité ■ Masters of Architecture Thesis ■ 33
implements a "framework that incorporated only a few fixed elements…[and] within this was a series of small scale cell type units with a high degree of servicing: kitchens, workshops, lavatories and larger volume low service units".55 This project used movement within its defined structure to provide freedom for the user to change the space they occupied. The user could change the organization of the spaces to provide new arrangements to meet their needs or liven the space up. Figure 10
The Floating Pavilion Fumihiko Maki Fumihiko Maki designed the Floating Pavilion for the city of Groningen in the Netherlands as an experimental project that could be used as a floating theater that is towed to different sites. It is made of a concrete raft with built in utilities and a double spiral canopy.56 The roof of the raft is used for the stage and perforated steel forms are used as seat that can be folded down for large audiences to watch from the shore. The program for this space is a music stage, event space, and formal theatre and is not limited to one site as it can be moved as the user desires.57
Zoficentro Klotz & Assadi This project is located near Santiago, Chile in an industrial park in the port town of Iquique and was opened in 1998. The project was commissioned to create six mobile structures that Figure 11 could be erected and then dismantled to move to another area of the industrial park. The program called for a kitchen, bathrooms, telephone area, and shaded eating space. The final design separated the functions on the lower level of the building by placing the bathrooms and telephone facilities in the back, the kitchen in the center, and the dining space in the front of the building. A terrace was created on the top of these services and is
55 Kronenburg, “Houses in Motion,” 114-115. 56 “Floating Pavilion,” 30 March 2003. Maki and Associates.
provided with shading with a suspended stair that allows access to this roof. Shades for the entrance of the restaurant are converted to doors that provide security at night for the facility.58
The design allows for the ease of architecture with a limited budget and flexible space in regards to site. The design is “to be a piece of furniture, and does not need to be placed in any specific place”.59 It can move to accommodate a large flow of people and be reinstalled where it is needed the most. The treatment of the façade, in itself, allows for flexibility in that it is a metal frame that allows for various panels to be added to it. The chosen panels for these projects were a plywood panel and a lattice panel to allow for breezes and little direct sunlight to permeate the dining area. The design is straightforward and includes a systematic method of easy construction. Figure 12 Mobile Linear City Acconci Studio The mobile linear city is an experiment in a city that can be moved from area to area by a truck and then let go at the desired location. The units, when released from the truck are high enough that people may walk under them and look up through the metal floor grating into the spaces above. The exterior sheathing is connected so that they can be folded down to create surface to sleep and eat on. The units, above, are accessed by a ladder that is pulled down with a gangplank. It is a very communal approach in which the multiple households use the same kitchen and bathroom facilities.60
Figure 13
58 Francisco Asensio Cerver, Restaurant Details (New York: Whitney Library of Design, 1998), 84-91. 59 Cerver, 86. 60 Jennifer Siegal, The Art of Portable Architecture (New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2002), 100-101. Robin Kinney ■ Mobilité ■ Masters of Architecture Thesis ■ 35
The materials in this design are solely corrugated metal, which makes for a very harsh and unfriendly environment to live in and clean. The intent of the project was not one to keep a maximum of privacy but to allow and force inhabitants to interact in the extreme as “the more [one] uses the service unit, the less private it becomes”.61 The design does create a vibrant space in which the users have complete control over how they live; one can pull down a wall here and turn another around there. It is an extreme example of efficiency as each house is pulled out of the next and they are left connected to each other. When the user Figure 14 grows tired of the area that they inhabit, they can simply through their homes back on a truck and move.62
Portable House Office of Mobile Design This design is a dwelling unit that is mobile in all senses of the word. It can fit into any type of environment from the urban setting to a more rural and secluded one. The project was designed to contract and expand while fitting the needs of the function forced upon it. A variety of textures and surfaces were used from opaque materials to more translucent ones. While the actual size of the habitation can change, the layout and edge geometry can be Figure 15 modified as well to accommodate other homes and create a common space or allow for a more individual setting.63
61 Siegal, 101. 62 Siegal, 100-101. Figure 16 63 Siegal, 110-111. Robin Kinney ■ Mobilité ■ Masters of Architecture Thesis ■ 36
This project is very theoretical and does not provide much information regarding whether or not it would actually work in real life applications. The ideas are solid in that they are completely adaptable for the users needs and accommodate an idea of community and privacy. The modification of opacity to translucent in the variety of materials allows the owners to open their space up to the world or keep it closed and personal to their needs. It is not a landlocked design and can be, theoretically, moved anywhere it needs to go.64
Figure 17
Figure 18
64 Siegal, 110-111. Robin Kinney ■ Mobilité ■ Masters of Architecture Thesis ■ 37
Project and Location It is important to provide consumers with familiarity and new experiences in the environments that they encounter and the current market is a response to these emotional needs of consumer. The program of a restaurant was chosen to illustrate these thesis concepts in the form of architecture. This restaurant setting demands specific requirements of spatial organization within the spaces, as a whole, and the individualistic settings of a single dining table. The code requirements specify certain juxtapositions of program spaces, but can allow for flexibility in plan when moved to different sites. Four sites were chosen to represent variations in form and experience. The programmatic arrangement changes at each setting as one location may be adjacent to an existing building and another site might suggest that dining spaces are all on the exterior. The mobility of the projects systems allows for modifications in program and certain elements may be completely removed at a site. Figure 19
Complete Spatial Sequence A general layout of spaces calls for the receiving dock to be located in the rear of the design to allow for produce and waste to be moved without the customers noticing the transfer. The general storage needs will be adjacent to the receiving dock to allow for easy access and transportation of goods to storage. The storage areas include everything from storage of produce to linens and utensils. The storage areas feed into the preparation areas in which all of the food is prepared. The final preparation areas beautify the entrees and make sure everything is ready for the customer. The service area is provided for the wait staff to ready things for the customer, such as beverages and utensils. The next step in the spatial process calls for the actual dining area. When the dining process is completed, the plates and linens
Figure 20 Robin Kinney ■ Mobilité ■ Masters of Architecture Thesis ■ 38
are taken off of each table to be washed and all unfinished produce is disposed of in an area adjacent to the dock.65
Restaurants require a very specific progression of spaces and that begins when the customer enters the restaurant space. The host area and waiting space greet the customer first and provide a space for the customer to gauge the restaurant while allowing them to wait for a table without being in the traffic of the restaurant. These spaces flow easily into the interior and exterior dining area while allowing access to a restroom. The exterior dining is to be adjacent to the interior dining so that the customers do not feel completely removed from the restaurant and so that the wait staff can easily service them. The remaining spaces are for Figure 21 the staff and include the preparation spaces and the kitchen. The waiter waiting and Kitchen preparation area is provided to allow a space to prepare drinks and the food. Generally, the
Receiving
Waste Disposal
Staff Refrigerated Preparation Dry Storage Restooms Storage
Warewashing
Prepreparation
Dining Exterior Dining
Final Service Dining Preparation
Figure 23
Waiting/ Host Figure 22 65 John C. Birchfield, Design and Layout of Foodservices Facilities (New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1988), 40. Robin Kinney ■ Mobilité ■ Masters of Architecture Thesis ■ 39
restrooms need to be accessible to everyone, while the other spaces reveal this linear process of movement.
Figures 22 and 23 illustrate the vital importance of the service area in conjunction with the final preparation space. “The first guideline that needs to be considered is worker access to raw materials”.66 While the kitchen staff does the preparation, the wait staff mans the Service area. The procedures in these two areas, however, tie in together and they need to be very close together to allow for efficiency. The kitchen and preparation areas are closely linked with the idea of an assembly line and work best when it is a clear and linear process Figure 24 Figure 25 of preparation.
Space and Functional Descriptions The program will allow for flexible seating for 70 to 90 people and 10 people at the bar. The dining seating will allow people to eat indoors or outdoors, depending on the location of the restaurant. This is with a turnover rate of about 1.5 at 60 people dining per hour. The average meal intake a day will be between 450 and 500.67 The dining area will be flexible enough to reduce the interior seating when exterior seating is popular and the other way around during indoor seasons.
Dining: 780 sq. ft. (40 x 13 sq. ft. per chair) Bar: 300 sq. ft. (10 people) Exterior Seasonal Dining: 260 sq. ft. (20 people at 20 x 13 sq. ft.) Figure 26 Kitchen: 940 sq. ft. Table Service Support Area: 350 sq. ft. Storage: 390 sq. ft.
66 Birchfield, 79. 67 Birchfield, 61. Robin Kinney ■ Mobilité ■ Masters of Architecture Thesis ■ 40
Bathroom: 120 sq. ft. (two bathrooms) Circulation: 5% of restaurant area Total: 2735 sq. ft.*
*This is very flexible given the site requirements. A smaller site could allow for fewer menu items and a smaller interior seating area. The bar can be removed when needed.
Dining The dining area should allow for privacy of the users while enabling the wait staff to observe Figure 27 Figure 28 and meet the customer’s needs. This space will include an outdoor area for pleasant days. A section will be provided that can be modified for a small banquet area, while providing general eating for other times. The layout will need to focus on enough room for all customers to move freely to the restroom facilities and exits. Customers should feel connected to the wait staff, if needed, and easily distinguish the various spaces in the surrounding.68
Key Issues pleasant visual surrounding privacy ease of service Figure 29
Bar This area will be in the same space as the dining area, but will be distinguished by the high seating area and typical bar setup. The bar area will not serve food, but only beverages and the customer can use the space as one for waiting.
68 Birchfield, 65. Robin Kinney ■ Mobilité ■ Masters of Architecture Thesis ■ 41
Key Issues flexibility of arrangement from location to location pleasant visual surrounding public seating adequate space or all individuals easy connection to the back of the bar by the staff slight acoustic separation from dining space different lighting in the space versus the dining area
Kitchen This area allows for various different activities that can be categorized into three areas. The first area is the storage and loading facilities that include unloading/ weight check, cold storage, and dry storage. This space needs to be towards the rear of the facility so that it will not be in exposed area in which the customers will be able to view it. The second area is the preparation area that includes the space in which the produce is readied for cooking, the actual cooking area, and the serving area in where the food is readied to be served. The final spatial requirement for the kitchen is the refuse space in which the food is removed from the Figure 30 customer, everything is cleaned, and the trash is removed from the building.69
Specific Spaces Baking: 100 sq. ft. Service Area: 140 sq. ft. Preparation Area: 700 sq. ft.
69 Birchfield, 59. Robin Kinney ■ Mobilité ■ Masters of Architecture Thesis ■ 42
Key Issues ease of movement for the staff acoustical separation from the dining area allowing for pleasant smells to permeate the dining area
Table Service Support Area Waiters are required to move swiftly between the kitchen and dining areas to provide a service for the customer that is efficient and prompt. A number of trips are required to be made by these waiters. John Birchfield in his book, Design and Layout of Foodservice Facilities, describes the sequences of trips that are required: First trip: Pick up linen, glasses, silverware and condiments. Second trip: Pick up water, ice, butter, crackers, and bread. Third trip: Place entrée order. Fourth trip: Pick up entrée. Fifth trip: Clear entrée. Sixth trip: Clear soiled linens and all glassware and silverware.70
The table service support area is meant to be a go between are for the wait staff and store the items that they must handle frequently, such as the glassware, beverages, linens, and silverware. This space will, also, hold the pay area for the bill.
Specific Spaces Unloading area: 60 sq. ft. Garbage area: 50 sq. ft. Small Wash-down area: 200 sq. ft.
70 Birchfield, 87. Robin Kinney ■ Mobilité ■ Masters of Architecture Thesis ■ 43
Wait staff area: 40 sq. ft.
Key Issues adequate space for services required visual connection to kitchen and dining area acoustic separation from dining, but not kitchen ease of movement through the space
Storage T he storage spaces should be out of the eye of the customer and extremely accessible to the staff at the restaurant. They should be easy to clean and uncluttered at all times. These spaces need to be located near the receiving area and adjacent to the kitchen preparation areas.
Specific Spaces Dry Storage: 150 sq. ft. Paper and Cleaning Supplies Storage: 90 sq. ft. Refrigerated Storage: 150 sq. ft. (required space for 1 walk-in refrigerators)71
71 Birchfield, 56. Robin Kinney ■ Mobilité ■ Masters of Architecture Thesis ■ 44
History of the Users The focus of a project that concerns itself with economic issues, in regards to the current culture, is one that also focuses on the consumer as the primary force of design, in every sense of the word. Four out of ten adults eat at restaurants on any given day.72 The users of this project include a number of different demographics of consumers, but the majority of the consumers come from the twenty and thirty-something age groups. This project requires the correct balance of agility and permanence to meet the desires of this age group.
Figure 31
Figure 32
Figure 32 is a diagram of the relationship between ages of individuals and their corresponding desires for permanence and agility. As a child everything is new and exciting. Newness is slowly filtered with more and more things that are familiar as that child grows. An elderly individual finds many things that are familiar and are more likely to desire permanence rather than change. This aged individual would be more comfortable in the environment of the Golden Lamb, a restaurant in Lebanon, Ohio that has made few changes in the past century. This restaurant contains both ideas of permanence and agility, but with the scale tipping towards the permanent end as the needs of this age group request that level of balance. A younger person in their twenties or thirties can enjoy a more agile restaurant while desiring a certain amount of change mixed with familiarity.
72 Sarah Smith Hamaker. Delicious by Design: Creating an Unforgettable Dining Experience. 18 April 2003. National Restaurant Organization.
The target group of people in their twenties and thirties respond to a certain mixture of permanence and agility that leans towards the agile spectrum. They appreciate an amount of change that older generations might find irritating. This younger crowd would be unhappy with a business that changes nothing over time. I interviewed individuals at Beluga’s Sushi, Sonoma in Newport, and York Street Café to find out information on their local restaurants from the ages of their customers to the frequency of changes that they make in their restaurant. I found, through this investigation, that the York Street café caters to an older crowd of individuals and, consequently, changes their atmosphere and menu less frequently than the other two restaurants.73 Beluga and Sonoma drastically change elements of their business three or four times a year and their consumers have expressed enjoyment at these changes.
Chef Stefan Marcus, at the Sonoma restaurant in Newport Kentucky, commented on the menu changes that take place at his restaurant. He stated that their menu changes every season and whenever interesting produce is available for consumption. Marcus commented that a regular crowd of individuals frequents the restaurant at the beginning of each season to partake in each new menu and experience the new cuisine.74
Another restaurant that caters to the age group of people between 25 and 35 years old is Beluga Sushi in Cincinnati, Ohio. While the menu changes only every six months, the décor of this restaurant changes often to provide a new atmosphere for the consumers. The customers enjoy the changes in the interior design and, frequently, comment on the new environment.75 These restaurants cater to the consumers that they are directing their service to, a younger set of professionals that enjoy a little spice in life. These professionals
73 Betsey Cunningham, interview by author, Cincinnati, Ohio, 14 May 2003. 74 Stefan Marcus, interview by author, Cincinnati, Ohio, 14 May 2003. 75 Amanda Nelson, interview by author, Cincinnati, Ohio, 15 May 2003. Robin Kinney ■ Mobilité ■ Masters of Architecture Thesis ■ 46 seek a certain sophistication and entertainment in the restaurants that they dine at and a change in venue, menu, or décor meet their needs.
Robin Kinney ■ Mobilité ■ Masters of Architecture Thesis ■ 47
History of the Restaurant There is a long history of the restaurant, beginning with the French in the nineteenth century, with the beginnings of individuals called restaurateurs that found food related remedies to common ailments. The methods of providing this type of service have changed dramatically over the years, however, and the restaurant has changed into a service industry that provides food for entertainment and convenience to consumers everyday. The restaurant business is a booming industry, but over the years has seen a large turnover rate as restaurants are created with a good following but then quickly die out as they are unable to provide customers with experiences that meet their desires. Restaurant Beginnings The emergence of the restaurant began with the existence of a food that became the remedy for the loss of strength. This restaurant was a “[f]ood or remedy that has the property of Figure 33 restoring lost strength to a sickly or tired individual”.76 The people with the skill of making these broths were called “restaurateurs”. Restaurants, as an urban space, became existent, exclusively, in the French capital of Paris and began as a place to promote health with these special broths. This form of the restaurant evolved into the space that they are known as today and became a staple in the Parisian environment in the 1800’s. The failure of current restaurants can connect with the idea of why restaurants blossomed in their initial states.
Rebecca Spang in her work, The Invention of the Restaurant, describes this creation as one that evolved from the fact that “[r]estaurants required rumors and lore; their mystery resided in the suspicion that somebody else was having a better dinner, more titillating dalliance, a more exotic bottle of wine”.77 These restaurants came about in France because they became places of entertainment and social status that people came to enjoy. “Descriptions
76 Rebecca L. Spang, The Invention of the Restaurant: Paris and Modern Gastronomic Culture (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2000), 234. 77 Spang, 234. Robin Kinney ■ Mobilité ■ Masters of Architecture Thesis ■ 48
of restaurants often emphasized their specular – and spectacular – functions. Like a theater, a restaurant was a stale frame around an ever-changing performance, a stage where fantasies might be brought to life”.78 The restaurant as a source of entertainment has not changed over the years, but its importance has been overlooked. In current times, they seem to be built for the fact that they may have interesting image and cuisine, but provide little else when it comes to changes in the desire of environments and a general source of entertainment.
“As soon as you enter a restaurant, if your face inspires even the slightest confidence, there is a restaurateur ready to offer you his menu’s limitless pleasures. For you, his fires light, his turnspit turns, his wine cellar opens, and you- you sit calmly by, enjoying the products of so much bother”.79 Figure 34 The ability for a restaurant to pick up and move, creating hype along the way, is a great commodity. The event of opening a restaurant feeds greatly into the use of the space and can allow for a dynamic to make full use of the excitement. When a typical restaurant opens, it creates a hubbub of talk in which people converse about the prospects and exhilaration of this new restaurant. To take that idea and use it to its full extent by allowing the restaurant to do this over and over, keeps the excitement in the customer alive and uses it to its fullest extent. The cycle of hype continues through the life of this restaurant as people ask where it might move to next. The differing sites allow a new visual experience for the customer and provide a different backdrop for the restaurant. The restaurants menu can change day-by- day or week-by-week as the restaurant can pick up and go. It is a continual process of agility and flexibility in this permanent being of a restaurant that allows for the fantastic.
78 Spang, 236. 79 Qtd. In Spang, 207. Robin Kinney ■ Mobilité ■ Masters of Architecture Thesis ■ 49
Emergence of the Modern Restaurant Many problems occur with retail spaces when the services they provide become obsolete. The creation of a restaurant space that has the unlimited ability to accommodate many functions and changes in operation could allow for many uses in that space. The program would allow for the facility to be agile enough to change its layout and orientation on each site to view varying elements of the local landscape while providing the amenities that a dining space should have.
The market’s response to the current economy is made of restaurants that attempt to provide variations of a total experience. A restaurant called “The Great Dane” provides four different eating and drinking atmospheres in one space and accommodates the consumers’ individual needs by allowing them to choose different spaces on each attendance.80 A general manager of Atlantic Restaurant, Dan Toland, states that when a consumer walks into a restaurant, "they should find it unique- their experience starts immediately."81
Restaurateurs are now attempting to provide all of these ideas in their restaurant by letting the design “become an integral part of dining out".82 The focus of owners is to set themselves apart from competition by providing a full service establishment that caters to the consumers’ intellectual and emotional needs. Advice from a hospitability designer concerning the current economic restaurant design is to “consider the flow of the space, lighting, materials, tables so that everything works together as part of a larger narrative... as creating a theater experience."83
80 Oetzel 81 Hamaker 82 Hamaker 83 Hamaker Robin Kinney ■ Mobilité ■ Masters of Architecture Thesis ■ 50
Location of Four Sites The different locations allow for the restaurant to be agile while using elements of permanent units. Each site in this project has been picked to allow for different arrangements of the program and illustrate the permanent and agile features of the project’s system. The idea behind the multiple sites is that the restaurant may be relocated to another site after either six months or a year at each site. After a move to a site, the systems can be manipulated to fit into the context of the surrounding area and provide the consumers with new experiences.
Two Over-the-Rhine sites have been chosen and show that there are vastly different elements that can be utilized in a small area. The Main Street site is in an open parking lot surrounded on two sides by buildings and the Vine Street site is in conjunction with an existing building. The Fountain Square site allows for a primarily open dining experience in a historic and vibrant setting, while the Eden Park site accommodates a quieter and nature filled context that is closely linked to the various arts of the playhouse and art museum.
Figure 35 Robin Kinney ■ Mobilité ■ Masters of Architecture Thesis ■ 51
Over the Rhine- 13th and Main Street History The name Over-The-Rhine comes from Cincinnati's Rhine river that was once the Miami and Erie Canal, but us now the street called Central Parkway. Many of the people who settled in this neighborhood in the nineteenth century came from Germany. The canal reminded the prominently German settlers of their German river and it separated the more residential area of Cincinnati from the business district. The area has, historically, been known as one that allows immigrants to find cheap and affordable housing. The German influence over this area peaked from 1860 to 1900. The area, while always being diverse, began to change as it entered the twentieth century as technologies in building, transportation, and communications began to evolve. German hysteria after the First World War, the closing of the canal, and the depression all led to its sink into a decayed neighborhood. The area Figure 36 declined in population, while being increasingly populated by African-Americans. The income level of the neighborhood, over the years, lowered and historic buildings were torn down and replaced by housing projects. The fabric along Main Street, was, for the most part, kept intact. A few areas were destroyed but many of the buildings were kept in a condition in which, while not perfect, many of the buildings were resurrected. The emergence of small business owners into the fabric of this context has been a source of revitalization for the area and the current conditions of Main Street are a product of this.84
Contemporary Setting Over-The-Rhine has suffered much urban decay in the last thirty to forty years, but is now undergoing a grassroots renaissance. The specific Over-The-Rhine site is located along at 13th and Main Street. Main Street, in particular, has become a major entertainment area in this National Historic Register District. The surrounding neighborhood is made up of a Figure 37
84 Ran Mullins, “Over-the-Rhine, Cincinnati, OH- History,” 4 Dec. 2002. iRhine.com.
number of art galleries, restaurants, and bars. Many of the buildings are the original fabric of the area and they stand from about three to four stories. There are several galleries that show everything from folk art to contemporary glass. A Salvation Army headquarters is located a block south and immediately to the west is a church and school. The neighborhood draws different crows depending on the time of day. A young, professional crowd wanders the area during the lunch hour. A lower income level crowd and people that live in the area walk around the area during the work hours. At night, the crowds of people are made up of college kids and young professionals. It is a booming area that is greatly affected when racial tensions occur downtown. The infill of the area is not as complete as it had been, but is growing as more people view the area as a hip place to locate their businesses and young people realize the exciting environment of urban places.
Figure 38 Details This site is currently a parking lot used by the adjacent occupants and is made of .064 acres. It is a rectangular site with a slight protrusion at the rear. The site can be accessed from either road and is primarily flat. The surrounding context is made up of one of three story buildings with the church to the rear of the west of the site and a small retail establishment to the south. The Main Street edge is 62 feet wide and the Thirteenth Street edge is 66 feet wide.
Robin Kinney ■ Mobilité ■ Masters of Architecture Thesis ■ 53
Eden Park- Parking Lot History This parking lot is full of a history that one would not expect. The curve in the form comes from the old incline that was present until right after the Second World War and connected the Mt. Adams area to the downtown and Over-the-Rhine areas of Cincinnati. The incline allowed commuters to flow freely between the two areas and visit the resort like accommodations on the entrance to Mt. Adams. These trolleys passed up the hill and through the suburb, turned at its edge continued until it met another line beyond.85 With the destruction and slow business of the area following the Second War, the incline and local hotel. The gravel parking lot remains in the original form that the incline followed.
Contemporary Setting Figure 39 The site is currently one that acts as a parking lot to the art museum, Cincinnati playhouse in the park, and the surrounding park areas. The setting reminds one of a park as it is at the edge of Eden Park. There is a dense network of trees to the Northwest and fewer along the other sides. There are no buildings immediately adjacent to this site, but a few are visible. On the site there is a bus stop that faces the street, while the rest of the site has a few trees and vegetation. One can see the beginnings of houses and the Mt. Adams area to the south when standing on the gravel paving.
Figure 40
85 Jake Mecklenborg, “Mt. Adams incline,” 4 Dec. 2002. Cincinnati-Transit.net.
Details This Eden Park site is 23,000 square feet and is owned by the city of Cincinnati. It is a gravel parking lot that visitors to the art museum and neighboring areas park at. This L shaped site has many pleasant views of the neighboring areas from the art museum to the park areas. This unique setting allows for outdoor seating in a safe and beautiful environment. The residences to the south can be addressed and there are many opportunities for visual connections to the Cincinnati Art Museum and the Playhouse in the Park. Good views of vegetation are a priority with this site as many varieties of trees and plants have been kept in good condition in the adjacent areas.
Figure 41
Figure 42 Robin Kinney ■ Mobilité ■ Masters of Architecture Thesis ■ 55
Fountain Square History Fountain Square was built in 1871 and was a gift of Henry Probasco to the city of Cincinnati in memory of his brother-in-law. The Tyler Davidson Fountain was moved to its current location in 1971 and the surrounding space was designed by RTKL. “The 43-foot-high fountain contains thirteen allegorical figures and four bas-reliefs depicting the importance of water to our lives. The central female figure, the Genius of Water, stands with arms outstretched showering water from the palms of her hands.”86 The fountain acts as a major centerpiece for the city and resides at the northeast corner Vine Street. The design of the fountain was to enable it to act as a “magnificent centerpiece of the fountain is an allegorical representation, The Genius of Water, which symbolizes the many uses of water and the city's trading tradition. The fountain is especially attractive at night when cascading spray from the Figure 43 numerous spouts sparkles in the floodlights.”87
Contemporary Setting The site is a popular tourist attraction in Cincinnati and has large number of crowds sitting in its square. During the winter months, an ice-skating rink is erected for winter sports and the summer and the summer fills the square with festivals and people taking their lunch in the sun. Any number of people are walking around the fountain at any time or shopping in the surrounding shops. Other paces around the square include a number of office buildings,
Figure 44 hotels and the contemporary art museum. The Fountain Square is widely accepted as the center of Cincinnati and provides a booming stop for visitors to the city.88
86 “Fountain Square,” 21 April 2003. City of Cincinnati.
Details This site is approximately 50,000 square feet and is in a roughly rectangular shape with many existing elements. Fountain Square is a public space owned by the city of Cincinnati. This site is well suited to exterior dining due to the large numbers of visitors. Key features on this site include a grand stair that leads up to the fountain, the pavilion, and an adjacency to Carew Tower. Fountain Square is located within the city grid a short distance from the Ohio River. This site receives a large amount of sunlight even though it is surrounded by a large number of skyscrapers. There is some vegetation located on the site with a large amount of seating for anyone stopping through. Figure 45
Robin Kinney ■ Mobilité ■ Masters of Architecture Thesis ■ 57
1220 Vine Street- Existing Building History Over-the-Rhine was once a booming area for brewers and contained a number of beer gardens and halls that sold large amounts of the local beer. Vine Street alone boasted more than 100 saloons and beer halls. “With beer consumption in the city of 40 gallons for every man, woman and child, Cincinnati's breweries flourished.” 89 The building at 1220 Vine Street was the home of one of the breweries under the ownership of the Glossner brothers. The Glossner’s beer garden inhabited the area to the rear of the building. This area was at its peak in the 1860’s with over 36 breweries in operation. 90
Contemporary Setting The building at 1220 Vine Street is currently in a dilapidated condition, but being Figure 46 rehabilitated by a local company. The surrounding area is slightly dangerous with possibilities for crime occurring. The adjacent buildings on Vine Street are all in similar conditions and in need of repair. The rear street is safer with prominent businesses inhabiting the buildings. A number of lofts have been established on surrounding streets as the area is being slowly uplifted.
Details The site is currently owned by City Center Properties and is slated as a multipurpose space that will incorporate lofts and retails establishments. The existing building is five stories high with each floor plate being 4,000 square feet . There is a small parking lot to the rear with Figure 47 access to the parking lot through an industrial door at the east side of the building.
89 Michael Cromer “What happened to All the Breweries?” 21 April 2003. Cincinnati’s Brewing Heritage.
Project Design This project derives its name from the French word for mobility as this country saw the creation of the restaurant. Mobilité is the physical derivation of the need for permanence and agility in architecture. Restaurants are frequently designed and then renovated a few years later to keep up with the trends of interior design. It is imperative for businesses to maintain experiences that keep customers interested while providing amenities that are familiar. This project is meant to get the consumer interested in the business by changing its look and designed experience every six months to a year. The menu is made up of scraps of paper covered with questions about where the restaurant is at that moment and as the customer opens the menu, they see a paper that can be removed each week to display each new menu. The project plays with the notions of business’s grand openings.
Figure 48 The project is comprised of a number of units and parts that fit together to provide new spaces for the users. There is a focus on the method in which these units can move from site to site, how each pieces are attached to each other, and the system that enables each site to provide a new experience at each site.
The choice of allowing this project to be mobile arises from the large amount of flexibility that different sites can provide, contextually, to the way consumers view and use the space. Each site has been explored to determine the context and experiences that are fitting for the to incorporate. The corresponding design of the project system responds to each site to provide the new experiences looked for by each consumer.
Systems in Architecture
Figure 49 "Power, speed, intelligence, beauty, can all be conveyed in the vehicles which have always expressed significant technological advances in the most visible way. When these…objects Robin Kinney ■ Mobilité ■ Masters of Architecture Thesis ■ 59 possess other functions associated with the rituals and circumstances of dwelling, commerce, and industry, this significance is reinforced and in some cases reinvented."91
There are many ways of integrating the concepts of permanence and agility into architecture. A systems approach defines and relates all elements, which must function together to achieve desired goals. Each system works better for different uses and many of the characteristics in each system include ease of transportation, speed of erection, flexibility in arrangement, and ability to integrate components.
91 Kronenburg, “Houses in Motion,” 9. Robin Kinney ■ Mobilité ■ Masters of Architecture Thesis ■ 60
Figure 50
It is important to understand what type of system might best suit this project and a few were explored to understand their positive and negative qualities. Figure 50 describes these qualities for five systems that represent a range of systems from more permanent methods of construction to very flexible systems that utilize many small components. For the needs of Mobilité, a system, between these extremes was chosen for its inherent flexibility and quickness of erection.
Individual Units
Figure 51 Robin Kinney ■ Mobilité ■ Masters of Architecture Thesis ■ 61
This project includes five trailers, a ramping system, flexible screening method, and an outside decking system that makes up the whole of the restaurant. The trailers will store all components of the restaurant as they are moved from site to site. Site to site transportation will be conducted by lifting the trailers with hydraulic jacks onto a truck bed. Once at the site, a construction crew will place each unit on the new location and the completion of the project at each site will take approximately one week. At each site, the restaurant staff will assemble all wall panels, interior systems, and decking. The restaurant should be open for business within three weeks after the initial move.
Figure 52 Each unit is meant to be self-sustaining and each holds draining systems, utility systems, and sheltering methods. Many of the utilities either remain at the base of the unit, as in the radiant floor heating, or run through the steel structure at each unit. The air conditioning system is removed as each unit is moved to a new location and then placed in the appropriate roof location. Each unit is connected to the site’s utilities at a central location through a system that resembles a plug.
Figure 53 Robin Kinney ■ Mobilité ■ Masters of Architecture Thesis ■ 62
The structure and other permanent features of the system, including the flooring, roofing, and end wall conditions, will all maintain an industrial aesthetic that relates to the technology of these mobile units. These features remain while the other elements are changed. The design of each unit allows for new wall panels to be attached to the structure and can include many different types of materials, from wood to plastic forms, that are attached by a threaded rod system and bolted in place. Each location will call for a different sort of panel and materials not in use are stored in an offsite location. A screening system that bolts into the exterior frame of the system can be angled to cover the wall panels, set perpendicular to the wall’s face, or set at arbitrary angle to incorporate the context of the site. Robin Kinney ■ Mobilité ■ Masters of Architecture Thesis ■ 63
Thirteenth and Main Design
Figure 54 The Over-the-Rhine site at Thirteenth Street and Main Street is a booming area that holds a number of boutiques and is quickly becoming an area known for its unique galleries and hip restaurants. The experiences that one can find at Mobilité on this site, incorporates these ideas of gallery space and the arts, in general, to provide a feel of museum sterility that allow Robin Kinney ■ Mobilité ■ Masters of Architecture Thesis ■ 64 art to speak for itself. The walls of the restaurant will be covered with a rotating display of local works and can be observed by the customers.
Figure 55
Figure 56 Robin Kinney ■ Mobilité ■ Masters of Architecture Thesis ■ 65
Eden Park
Figure 57 The location of this project between Eden Park and Mt. Adams provides the restaurant with connections to many other activities. Customers to Mobilité are near to the Cincinnati Art Museum and Cincinnati’s Playhouse in the Park. The restaurant, at this site, allows visitors to eat outdoors and look at the sculpted and natural areas around the site. The design and arrangement of the project at this site will connect to the neighboring areas by using wood panels with screens covered in plants. The dining areas will be mostly outside with shaded Robin Kinney ■ Mobilité ■ Masters of Architecture Thesis ■ 66 areas and the gravel parking lot will be transformed to a garden like setting with parking at the edges.
Figure 58
Customers can either dine at the edge of the heavily wooded hillside or dine in a way that they can view the park landscaping. Portions of the restaurant afford a view through the entire space from the exterior to exterior and allow the customer to feel a connection to their surroundings. The ideas embodied in the treatment of the project at this site are ones that require a more natural approach to the setting.
Figure 59 Robin Kinney ■ Mobilité ■ Masters of Architecture Thesis ■ 67
Fountain Square
Figure 60
The restaurant at Fountain Square has only exterior dining and can only be in place during more moderate times of the year when climate conditions are comfortable enough for exterior human activity. This site holds a lot of significance to Cincinnati and the response of the project to this site shows that relationship. The arrangement of the screens are in a form that speaks to the water found in the fountain and the Ohio River. These screens form a Robin Kinney ■ Mobilité ■ Masters of Architecture Thesis ■ 68 symbolic shape of waves and have durable plastic sheets with water flowing over them to form walls of water that people may dine under. The water collects in two pools that contain a system to drain and recirculate the water.
Figure 61
Figure 62 Robin Kinney ■ Mobilité ■ Masters of Architecture Thesis ■ 69
1220 Vine Street
Figure 63 A poem by Bruce Berger exemplifies the vibe at the restaurant on 1220 Vine Street when he says, “[t]unes from the bass,/ Electrifying the silver aquarium/ Of mirror tipped overhead-/ Can such dream arms belong/ To round after round of song,/ To cracked voices fed/ By malt and menthols jazzing the back room”.92
92 Bruce Berger, “Smoke and Mirrors” Kurt Brown and Laure-Anne Bosselaar, eds. Night Out: Poems about Hotels, Motels, Restaurants, and Bars. (United States: Milkweed Editions, 1997), 235. Robin Kinney ■ Mobilité ■ Masters of Architecture Thesis ■ 70
Figure 64
This location allows some of the seediness of the local area to enter into the design of the space. The panels integrated with the structure have sharper edges made out of bright red fiberglass. This allows the lights inside the units to be seen through this skin and radiates the color to the surrounding area. The interior of the space is filled with elements of the system that are flexible and can be constructed within the existing building. A jazz and edgier hip-hop type setting infuses itself throughout the spaces as a platform allows for musicians to perform their music to diners and customers at the bar.
Figure 65 Robin Kinney ■ Mobilité ■ Masters of Architecture Thesis ■ 71
Process The process of looking into my thesis started by investigating key terms that I found had exemplified my thesis. Through the production of image boards and descriptions of these words I began to understand what these terms could mean in architectural design. I started creating forms that could embody the ideas of permanence and agility, while specifying and limiting their variations until they made sense. At the end of this process, I began to diagram the relationship of permanence and agility to each other and to the thesis as a whole. The pattern started emerging that these two terms, as they seem to be contrasting ideas, are really integral to everything and balance each other.
Image Boards To understand what permanence and agility meant in a general way, I went through a number of explorations to find its meaning in life and this process of design started by creating an image board that represented these terms in the context of a non-architectural idea. I made this image board as an extreme look into and away from the body. DNA represented a completely agile component of life that, through changing minute pieces, could become anything from a rooster to a human. As all humans share 99.9% of there DNA and this illustrates the idea of agility.93 DNA, however, is also extremely permanent in the fact that it is made of 4 bases that form inverse parallel matches and create the double helix that creates genes. (Calladine 8) The board shows the relationship if living things to each other and how they share these common building blocks. From the living beings, the images move from left to right and begin with a cell to a chromosome, and end with the double helix. Four diagrams are shown on the board illustrate the DNA structure as it is made of bases composed of many elements. The image board also shows that the four nucleotides of DNA
93 Tracy, C. “The Human Genome,” 14 Oct. 2002. Schoolscience.
Figure 66 Images of Permanence Many elements have strong permanent characteristics. A city is made of a system of infrastructure that changes little over the years, while the roads may be paved differently one year; they consistently stay in, relatively the same location. The system of a city remains Robin Kinney ■ Mobilité ■ Masters of Architecture Thesis ■ 73 whether or not the buildings do. A building may be destroyed and another, twice as large created, but the roads will still create the boundaries for what is built. Human civilization requires the basic components to be present in a city. A city must have some type of market/agricultural, financial, and residential areas. Architecture can be relatively permanent to its surroundings and the Coliseum has stayed a fixture of Rome for centuries. When a building is designed well and constructed to well to meet that design. The massive construction of some buildings allows them to persist through thousands of years. While the weather might slowly erode the surface, the Coliseum’s form is consistent with its past.
The Earth is billions of years old and while its topography may change, it remains along an orbit around the sun in its gravitational pull. Patterns can change on the surface but have little impact on the earths overall form. The sphere of the earth appears to be unchangeable and permanent. The Earth continues to be the third planetary object from the sun and consistently maintains an orbit around the sun for 365 ¼ days. The rotation of the earth occurs completes itself every 24 hours. The atmosphere of the earth is made up of, mostly, oxygen, carbon dioxide, and nitrogen. Trees remain on the Earth for hundreds of years and, compared, to a human life they are very permanent. Trees are records of temperature and seasons and consistently trace past years and centuries. Their chemical makeup is extremely similar from one species to the next.
The human eye gazes at a road and sees and unchanging line of pavement in the distance that dies in the horizon. Country roads have the illusion of permanence that make them interesting. As a child riding to a destination these roads seem to go on forever with no change and the sceneries consistency along the axis give them a tedious appeal that calls for a drowsy sleep when one drives over them. It is difficult to see the difference in the Robin Kinney ■ Mobilité ■ Masters of Architecture Thesis ■ 74 landforms along these types of rode and impossible to notice when a change in landscape begins to occur. There is never much to look at, but they have a sort of nostalgia to the past.
A fossil, at one time, the house for or an actual living being, through the process of petrifaction, becomes permanent. Its characteristics are like a rock and remains after many thing change. It becomes solid and unchanging in the state in which is started to petrify. The shell has kept its form for billions of years to hold its inhabitants. The creators form their shell and then leave the shell, but it remains after they die.
Images of Agility A chameleon is able to adapt to its environment in shocking and beautiful ways. It changes its color to mask its presence in differing environments and can change to a red shade if on a red leaf. Its flexibility in color is overwhelming and dramatic. The survival that its change entails can be linked to the ability of architecture to adapt in order to survive as well.
Architecture can adapt to the needs of its users and to adjacent buildings may look the same in shape and completely different in color. The one door may be green and the other red. The paint on each door makes them separate and different from each other. The user can distinguish between the two and, if needed, the doors may be painted another color at any given time. The possibilities are limitless.
A willow tree, as in all trees, is rooted to the ground and limited to the environment in which it has been planted. The way in which it deals with this environment is interesting, however, and it can move as the wind blows and acts as a very flexible object when other forces act upon it.
Robin Kinney ■ Mobilité ■ Masters of Architecture Thesis ■ 75
Zoom In The tent is an interesting item that can move, be picked up, and then set down again. It’s form changes but is able to move back to its original shape after it has been expanded. The membrane structure allows for many things to take place inside and then, when, collapsed, it can fit into small places for transport. Permanence Agility
The human body is very flexible in form. As the skin is cut, it heals and connects where it previously was gashed. The limbs are mobile and can move in varying ways.
Time/ Scale Time/ Zoom Out Figure 67
Permanent Agile Entity Characteristics Figure 68 There are no absolutes and nothing is absolutely permanent or agile. When one looks at a characteristics of an object or being, it is found that they may seem permanent or agile at one scale in one specific way but when looked at through another lens, it is found that they have a wide range of characteristics that can be described in both terms. When these individual characteristics are charted out on a chart they reveal a random pattern of characteristics and while some appear to be more agile, others are more permanent. This scale or zoom factor plays with the perception of the observer and each observer understands objects through their sense of time and size of the object relative to themselves.
permanent continuing or enduring without fundamental or marked change elastic capable of being easily stretched or expanded and resuming former shape
plastic capable of being deformed continuously and permanently in any direction Figure 69 agile marked by ready ability to move with quick easy grace and adaptable character Robin Kinney ■ Mobilité ■ Masters of Architecture Thesis ■ 76
Materials Matrix One of the final explorations into my thesis without implementation of project design or programming involved a materials matrix that I created to understand products within my thesis. Each material has characteristics that lend themselves to permanence and agility. Creating a space that has materials that can be changed to lend themselves to the economy, customer demand, and season will allow for a more efficient use of space. Through study into materials, I began to formulate ideas pertaining to building technologies that connect to permanence and agility.
Figure 70 Robin Kinney ■ Mobilité ■ Masters of Architecture Thesis ■ 77
Annotated Bibliography
Birchfield, John C. Design and Layout of Foodservices Facilities. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1988.
This text goes into detail concerning every aspect of the restaurant business from mechanical systems that are used, equipment that is needed, and design layouts that meet the needs of diners.
Bloom, Nicholas Dagen. Suburban Alchemy: 1960s New Towns and the Transformation of the American Dream. Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 2000.
This book seeks to understand what has created sprawl and the phenomena behind it. It explores the current culture and systematically illustrates the trends that have occurred because of this suburban sprawl lifestyle.
Blum, David. Flash in the Pan: The Life and Death of an American Restaurant. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1992.
This is a fictional work that describes a crisis of a restaurant located in New York in the early 1990’s. It describes what the restaurant must go through to survive and the status of restaurants on a very general scale when faced with economical troubles.
Brown, Kurt, and Laura-Anne Bosselaar, eds. Night Out: Poems about Hotels, Motels, Restaurants, and Bars. United States: Milkweed Editions, 1997.
Robin Kinney ■ Mobilité ■ Masters of Architecture Thesis ■ 78
This is anthology of poetry that is specifically about hotels, motels, restaurants, and bars. It contains a number of amusing and enlightening poetry concerning these subjects.
Calladine, C. R. Understanding DNA : the molecule & how it works. San Diego: Academic Press, 1992.
Calladine explains the basic functions and units of DNA in written and diagrammatic ways. Illustrations are provided for easy understanding and, by the end of the work, information becomes more technical.
Cerver, Francisco Asensio. Restaurant Details. New York: Whitney Library of Design, 1998.
This work focuses on the details that go into creating a leisure architecture. It looks at design projects, their intent, and the way the actual project was put together. Focus on these design details enables the analysis to understand the project strategy.
Crawford, Frederick A. and Ryan Mathews. The myth of excellence : why great companies never try to be the best at everything. New York : Crown Business, c2001.
Crawford and Ryan focus on aspects of business that have been overlooked by companies. It is a guide to excelling at business and provides insight into the wants of consumers.
Cromer, Michael. “What happened to All the Breweries?” 21 April 2003. Cincinnati’s Brewing Heritage.
Robin Kinney ■ Mobilité ■ Masters of Architecture Thesis ■ 79
This website contains a precise history of the Over-the-Rhine area breweries. It includes images and historical accounts of the area.
Cunningham, Betsey. Interview by author. Cincinnati, Ohio, 14 May 2003.
I interviewed the chef and owner, Betsey Cunningham of the Newport, Kentucky restaurant York Street Café. She was able to inform me of the restaurant’s demographics and menu trends.
Dartford, James. The Shape of Space: Dining Spaces. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1990.
Dartford focuses on the very specific need in a dining space, the seating. The book goes through many methods and ways of composing seating for a restaurant as it introduces the human’s general size and requirements.
Fengler, Max. Restaurant Architecture and Design. New York: Universe Books, 1971.
Fengler begins an introductory look at how new technologies have impacted hospitality design over a number of years. The date of the publication reveals a past look and introduces the differences in technology from the past to present day design. Spatial requirements for restaurant design are included and allow for a study into programmatic requirements for dining spaces.
“Floating Pavilion,” 30 March 2003. Maki and Associates.
Robin Kinney ■ Mobilité ■ Masters of Architecture Thesis ■ 80
This website is run by the designers of the Floating Pavilion and provides details and images of its production.
“Fountain Square,” 21 April 2003. City of Cincinnati.
“Fountain Square” 21 April 2003
The DAAP online resource library has detailed information regarding Fountain Square.
“Fountain Square, Cincinnati” 21 April 2003 Cincinnati.RezCenter.com
This website contains a brief account of Cincinnati’s Fountain Square.
Frampton, Kenneth. Modern Architecture 1851-1945. New York: Rizzoli International Publications, 1983.
Frampton discusses, in this article, the technology found in the Crystal Palace and remarks on its effects on architecture. The article focuses on the unique exploration of technology that can be mobile. This kit of parts was a modular system that provided a quick construction type and was re-erected in another site.
Garwood, Nigel and Rainer Voigt. Food Mania. New York: Clarkson Potter Publishers, 2001. Robin Kinney ■ Mobilité ■ Masters of Architecture Thesis ■ 81
This work is an enormous compilation of historic and artistic images that pertain to one thing, eating. It goes through an assortment of lithographs from dining people to images of fish. The connection between the restaurant business and art is very clear in the book as it on of the “arts of the table”.
Goodenough, Kelly. The Director’s concepts. 2002.
This site contains a history of set designs from a visual perspective. It contains descriptions and images of modern designs since the 1900s.
Hallick, Richard B. Introduction to DNA Structure. 14 Oct. 2002. University of Arizona. < http://www.blc.arizona.edu/molecular_graphics/dna_structure/dna_tutorial.html> 14 Oct. 2002.
This site incorporates a lot of basic facts behind DNA and simply explains, with graphics, how it is put together and what it is comprised of.
Hamaker, Sarah Smith. Delicious by Design: Creating an Unforgettable Dining Experience. 18 April 2003. National Restaurant Organization.
Hamaker discusses the growing need for a complete experience in restaurant design and service. She discusses techniques for this and gives examples of different restaurants that meet this need.
Robin Kinney ■ Mobilité ■ Masters of Architecture Thesis ■ 82
Jakucyk, Jeffrey. “Map of Cincinnati’s Streetcars, Interurbans, and Railroads,” 4 Dec. 2002. Cincinnati Streetcars, Interurbans, and Railroads < http://homepage.mac.com/ jjakucyk/Transit1/map10.gif> 4 Dec. 2002.
Jeffrey has a very comprehensive site full of images, information, and maps of the Cincinnati’s transportation systems.
“KitchenAid Countertop Appliances Homepage,” 15 March 2003. KitchenAid.com.
This KitchenAid site contains a history of the company and product information. They explain a showroom that they have to allow consumers to understand the “KitchenAid Experience” and invite people to explore and learn about their products through interactive services.
Kronenburg, Robert. Houses in Motion: The Genesis, History and Development of the Portable Building. Great Britain: Wiley-Academy, 2002.
This text explores the history of portable architecture and its applications in the modern world. It focuses on a number of projects that primarily use non-permanent methods of enclosure. A number of membranous projects are discussed and explored. They show how a transitory architecture can lend itself to the public in a new and inventive way.
Lacayo, Richard. “Buildings that Breathe.” Time Atlantic (2 September 2002): 35-37.
Robin Kinney ■ Mobilité ■ Masters of Architecture Thesis ■ 83
This article focuses on the impact of sustainable design in architecture. It describes various techniques that allow architecture to embrace its surrounding and use elements of the area to minimalize its harsh impact on the environment.
Latham, Rob. Consuming Youth: Vampires, Cyborgs, and the Culture of Consumption. Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press, 2002.
Latham introduces the reader to the current youth culture in how it consumes and will continue to consume in the future. The failure to be satisfied with consumption and the continued striving for a satisfied desire through buying are focused on in literature studies and trends in buying.
Lauer, Father Albert E. “Old St. Mary’s Church Parish Archives,” 4 Dec. 2002. Old St. Mary’s Church.
Old St. Mary’s Church is located adjacent to the site at 13th and Main St. This website includes a history of the church and shows how it came to be located at this site.
Lindberg, Marian. “Eden Park,” 4 Dec. 2002. Cincinnati Parks.
A large and rendered map of Eden Park is included at this address. The map illustrates the road, green spaces, and buildings of this area while including a key for points of interest.
Marcus, Stefan. Interview by author. Cincinnati, Ohio, 14 May 2003.
Robin Kinney ■ Mobilité ■ Masters of Architecture Thesis ■ 84
I interviewed the chef at Sonoma, a restaurant located in Kentucky, concerning demographic trends in his restaurant. He was able to give me specific information on the their clientele and changes that the restaurant makes.
Maxwell, Stewart Shillito. “The Carew Tower- Netherland Plaza Hotel,” 5 Dec. 2002. DAAP.
This website documents the history and design of the Carew Tower and includes an image.
McDonough, William. "Design, Ecology, ethics, and the Making of Things." Theorizing a New Agenda for Architecture: An Anthology of Architectural Theory 1965-1995. Ed. Kate Nesbitt. (New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 1996): 400-401.
This article discusses material uses, typology of the built form and its impact on the environment. The article goes into the idea of mass and membrane and cites examples of tent structures versus the use of a wall.
Mecklenborg, Jake. “Mt. Adams incline,” 4 Dec. 2002. Cincinnati-Transit.net.
A number of images of the Mt. Adams incline are shown here. References are included no the image. The images include illustrations, color, and black and white photography.
Mizer, David A., and Beth Sonnier. Food Preparation for the Professional. New York: John Wiley and Sons, 1987.
Robin Kinney ■ Mobilité ■ Masters of Architecture Thesis ■ 85
This text is very specific to the actual preparation of food and describes, in detail, the process by which foods are prepared and served. It is a basic guide to the commercial kitchen and can be used as a teaching tool to understand these kitchen processes.
Mullins, Ran. “Over-the-Rhine, Cincinnati, OH- History,” 4 Dec. 2002. iRhine.com.
This website includes a very complete history of Over-the-Rhine. The documentation illustrates the changes that occurred in the community over the years and illustrates the case and effects of the differing developments.
Nelson, Amanda. Interview by author. Cincinnati, Ohio, 15 May 2003.
I interviewed Amanda Nelson, a staff member of Beluga Sushi, about the demographic and environmental information of her restaurant.
Oetzel, Donna. The Business of keeping Baby Boomers Happy. 18 April 2003. National Restaurant Organization.
This article describes the viable economic force of baby boomers in the consumer market. It describes their habits of buying and consumption. They are described in terms of the culture through which they grew up and the sophisticated methods through which they decide to consume.
O'Shaughnessy, John. Why people buy. New York: Oxford University Press, 1987.
Robin Kinney ■ Mobilité ■ Masters of Architecture Thesis ■ 86
This work attempts to understand the process and needs of consumers. It explores how and why people buy goods and services. O’Shaughnessy illustrates techniques that can be employed by businesses to meet the markets that consumers utilize.
Osland, Jacqueline. Veer: Visual Elements for Creatives. 11 Nov. 2002.
Contains a number of images that pertain to my thesis and program and the use of these images allows textual concepts to be visualized.
Pine, B. Joseph and James H. Gilmore. The experience economy: work is theatre & every business a stage. Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 1999.
These authors have explored current market trends and observed consumer behavior in regards to businesses. Their conclusions point to a market that is experientially driven; one that focuses on the combination of goods and services in a complete package of a designed environment. This work discusses the impact of businesses that have regarded their services as being connected to the image that they wish to convey, from employed staff to designed interiors.
Prokesch, Steven E. "Competing on Customer Service: An interview with British Airways' Sir Colin Marshall," Harvard Business Review 73, no. 6 (Nov-Dec 1995): 103.
This article simply defines the impact of providing services to consumers through the provision of experiences that they can enjoy. Marshall states that they have had positive feedback from consumers that appreciate the experience that their airlines provide.
Robin Kinney ■ Mobilité ■ Masters of Architecture Thesis ■ 87
Reed, Lawrence W. “We Consume Because We First Produce,” 15 March 2003. Economic Development.
Reed provides a number of statistics and ideas pertinent to the consumption of Americans.
Retail and Restaurants. Rockport, Mass.: Rockport Publishers, Inc., 1997.
This publication is full of many illustrations provided for the marketing and use of restaurants and retail establishments. It is a guide for the creation of menus, signs, and other materials that can be used by these commercial industries. The text focuses on interesting and new methods of grabbing the attention of passersby.
Russell, Potter A. The Crystal Palace. 7 Aug. 2002.
The site contains a very concise history of images and text about the Crystal Palace within the public domain.
Schor, Juliet. Do Americans Shop Too Much? Boston, MA: Beacon Press Books, 2000.
This work attempts to understand current consumer trends and its impact on everyday life in the American culture. It is a forum that discusses effects of this consumer mentality, where it begins to lead the culture, and how widespread the effect is.
Robin Kinney ■ Mobilité ■ Masters of Architecture Thesis ■ 88
Shepard, Roger. “Architectural Record Building Types Study I Azul and Café Sambal,” 26 Nov. 2002 Architectural Record.
This website contains an article about the Café Sambal in Miami, Florida and describes its programmatic and design ideas while illustrating the text with images.
Siegal, Jennifer. The Art of Portable Architecture. New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2002.
Siegal explores contemporary use of mobile architecture and its linkages to past design. It illustrates and discusses a number of smaller scale, contemporary projects while relating them to past examples. There is a clear progression from one project to the next.
Smith, Douglas. Hotel and Restaurant Design. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold Company, 1978.
This book provides a very basic way of looking at design to help with planning strategy in creating a restaurant and good spatial juxtaposition to allow for in the design. The strategy follows an owners perspectives and looks into every detail of owning a restaurant business and areas to focus on.
Spang, Rebecca L. The Invention of the Restaurant: Paris and Modern Gastronomic Culture. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2000.
Spang explores the beginning of the restaurant industry in Paris, France and its evolution through the French Revolution. She explores the social, political, and gastronomical Robin Kinney ■ Mobilité ■ Masters of Architecture Thesis ■ 89
interactions of the restaurant. Each role of service and space in the restaurant is explored from the restaurateur to the diner and from the private room to the general dining area.
Terrell, Richard. “River Walk History,” 4 Dec. 2002. San Antonio River Walk.
This website includes a timeline of the San Antonio River Walk and a number of images that illustrate the current atmosphere of the area.
Tracy, C. “The Human Genome,” 14 Oct. 2002. Schoolscience.
This website contains very good images to understand the system of the human body and how they are created. It contains simple and pertinent information to understand DNA as an agile and permanent item.
Tschumi, Bernard. Event –Cities. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 1994.
Tschumi discusses illustrates the idea of cross-programming, interjecting a function into a space not designed for that function, and explores the varying ways that this changes the architecture.
Underhill, Paco. Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping. New York : Simon & Schuster, 1999.
Paco Underhill explores the process that drives consumers to purchase goods and service from experiencing the product to buying brand goods. Robin Kinney ■ Mobilité ■ Masters of Architecture Thesis ■ 90
Vercelloni, Matteo. New Restaurants in USA and East Asia. Milano: L'archivolto, 1998.
This survey explores layouts and designs of thirty-six restaurant designs over the last few decades. It explores American restaurant design as a comprehensive tool that creates a complete design inside and outside the built form.
Wang, Fan. Revisiting small town America: main street design strategies for Manchester, Ohio. Cincinnati: 2001.
The objective of this thesis research is to study the Main Streets in two small river towns, Ripley and Manchester, Ohio and provide the Village of Manchester with Main Street revitalization design strategies based on the result of the comparative analysis.
Wild, Larry. “A Brief History of Scene Design,” 27 March 2003. Northern State University.
This account is a concise of scene design that focuses on the impact of European design on modern scene design. It cites a number of influential designers that changed the meaning and methods of this type of design.
Willey, Richard. Per Capita Income. 28 March 2003.
This website lists the United States per capita household income from 1969 to the current day in a graphical format.
Robin Kinney ■ Mobilité ■ Masters of Architecture Thesis ■ 91
Wineman, Jean D. “Color in Environmental Design: Its Impact on Human Behavior.” Environmental Design Research Association vol. 10 (1979): 436-439.
This article focuses on the impact of sustainable design in architecture. It describes various techniques that allow architecture to embrace its surrounding and use elements of the area to minimalize its harsh impact on the environment.