Large Scale Glazed Concrete Panels Architectural Approach
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Downloaded from orbit.dtu.dk on: Dec 18, 2017 Large Scale Glazed Concrete Panels Architectural Approach Bache, Anja Margrethe Publication date: 2010 Document Version Publisher's PDF, also known as Version of record Link back to DTU Orbit Citation (APA): Bache, A. M. (2010). Large Scale Glazed Concrete Panels: Architectural Approach. Kongens Lyngby. General rights Copyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. • Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose of private study or research. • You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain • You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. LARGE SCALE GLAZED CONCRETE PANELS ARCHITECTURAL APPROACH ANJA MARGRETHE BACHE LARGE SCALE GLAZED CONCRETE PANELS ABSTRACT Today, there is a lot of focus on concrete surface’s aesthitic potential, both globally and locally. World famous architects such as Herzog De Meuron, Zaha Hadid, Richard Meyer and David Chippenfi eld challenge the exposure of concrete in their architec- ture. At home, this trend can be seen in the crinkly façade of DR-Byen (the domicile of the Danish Broadcasting Company) by architect Jean Nouvel and Zaha Hadid’s Ordrupgård’s black curved smooth concrete surfaces. Furthermore, one can point to initiatives such as “Synlig beton” (visible concrete) that can be seen on the website www.synligbeton.dk and spæncom’s aesthetic relief effects by the designer Line Kramhøft (www.spaencom.com). It is my hope that the research-development project “Lasting large scale glazed concrete formwork,” I am working on at DTU, department of Architectural Engineering will be able to complement these. It is a project where I try to develop new aesthetic potentials for the concrete, in large scales that has not been seen before in the ceramic area. It is expected to result in new types of large scale and very thin, glazed concrete façades in building. If such are introduced in an architectural context as exposed surfaces and façade panels they will have a distinctive impact on the visual expression of the building and public open space in general. The question is what kind of impact. That is what I in this article attempt to answer through observation and isolation of qualities and possible problem areas for selected existing buildings in and around Copenhagen that are covered with mosaic tiles or glazed tiles; buildings such as Nanna Ditzel’s House in Klareboderne, Arne Jacobsen’s gas station, Erik Møller’s Industriens Hus, Bent Helweg Møller’s Berlingske Hus, Arne Jacobsen’s Stellings Hus and Toms Chocolate Factories and fi nally Lene Tranberg and Bøje Lungård’s Elsinore water purifi cation plant. These buildings have qualities that I would like applied, perhaps transformed or most preferably, if possible, interpreted anew, for the large glazed concrete panels I shall develop. The article is ended and concluded with a discussion on how that could be done. Anja Margrethe Bache, research associate professor, Architectural Engineering DTU BYG, Ph. D. architecture, sculptor from the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts and MSc in Engineering from DTU. The 2. of february 2010. THE DREAM OF LARGE SCALE GLAZED CONCRETE PANELS Years ago I was in Portugal and was completely enthralled by the many different ways in which glazed tile surfaces fi gured in an architectural context. Here were stories about house façades of yore with tile trimmings in various patterns and colours. There are contemporary examples, for example Alvara Siza’s Pavillion, where the large hung dull white concrete roof meets the egg- plant glazed tile wall. Here you are brought into the skeleton architecture of Caltrava, which at the entrance to the train and metro station is covered in crushed, cast-in white-glistening tiles. But what struck me most was Alvaro Siza’s outdoor swimming facility in Porto from 1966, where he frames a cliff plateau by the water with an outdoor pool in gray concrete, black wood boardings and at the entrance as antique vases, white shining glazed concrete tiles, where the wear of time locally has exposed the underly- ing concrete. With few means, Alvaro Siza directs the visitor away from the gray concrete tiles, via the glazing, into the shower rooms. We can take off our shoes and feel the smooth surface, we can through this sensation remember shower rooms and ap- preciate that here we can still experience the ocean smell, the sky and the roaring sound of the ocean that powerfully strikes the rocks. At that time, I had worked with glazed concrete in my Ph. D project in 1998, in my postdoc from 2002 to 2004 (Anja Bache, 2002) as well as in a later design development project from 2006 to 2008 (Anja Bache, 2007), though without it being the primary subject of the projects. But the dream, which had been awoken in Portugal, was still intact. Front page: Glazed concrete with exposed non-glazed concrete part. Spatial studies of surfaces, concrete and glaze interaction. This page: Alvaro Siza’s Pavillion, the meeting between hung concrete-covered and glazed wall, via exposed armament bars in Lisbon, Portugal. Metro station in Lisbon by Santiago Calatrava with white-glazed tiles crushed into smaller bits and cast in concrete. Alvaro Siza’s outdoor swimming facility near Porto from 1966 with glazed concrete tiles at the entrance. Models and photos: Anja Margrethe Bache. This is why I was very happy to in 2009 receive grants from the Realdania Foundation for a 2-3 year development project called; “Lasting large scale glazed concrete formwork.” This project is undertaken at DTU, department of Architectural Engineering and is besides the Realdania Foundation fi nanced by DTU. Working with the project are partners such as C.F. Møllers Tegnestue A/S, Gottlieb Paludan Arkitekter A/S, Dalton Betonelementer A/S and Densit A/S. It is a project where possible glaze treatments for selected concretes are identifi ed, concretes are designed for large scale ceramic constructions, new types of lasting formwork is developed and a new façade system is designed. The goal is to achieve qualities that are unknown for concretes and in scales that are unknown for ceramic material. THIN LARGE SCALE GLAZED CONCRETE PANELS In the article “The Potential of Ceramics in Architecture,” (Ole Lislerud, 2008) ceramist and Professor at Oslo National Academy of the Arts, Norway, Ole Lislerud describes large, thin porcelain panels with sizes of about 3 metres x 1.5 metres and relatively thin thickness. They are manufactured in Jungdezhen, China. The panels are strong, but very fragile and in the manufacturing process before they are fi red, they must be well-supported. But these panels are an exception. Normally, ceramic thin surfaces are today seen in building as mosaic tiles, tiles and panels. They vary from the 2x2 cm mosaic tile, the ca. 5-15 cm x 5-15 cm tile and the somewhat larger types of tile that measure up to about 1-1.5 meter x 1-1.5 meters in their largest type. If they get any larger, they are very vulnerable to shocks and not strong enough to carry their own weight. It is my hypothesis that it is possible, by redesigning the concretes, the glazes and the process, to manufacture much larger panels that still are thin, and despite de- formations are break ductile. That means that they can bend consequentially to the impact they are exposed to without cracking or being destroyed. They will also, as for example happens during transport, be able to absorb shocks without breaking. Such large panels are then expected to minimize the use of materials and resources during fi ring of glazed surfaces, to last longer and be easier to process during manufacturing In the project I transform new concrete technology, Densit and CRC (Hans Henrik Bache, 1978, 1986 and 1992) to ceramics and develop the large scale strong and ductile glazed concrete panels. These will, if the development is a success, be used as lasting formwork where other concrete that need not be fi red can be cast. That could for example be the 5-meter high circular column that is manufactured by lasting formwork, being pre-fabricated in a factory as a hollow thin-walled one-body cylinder, glazed and of concrete. This is then transported to the building site where it is installed and made ready for casting in situ. The large glazed concrete panels that are expected to be developed can also be used as thin hung panels or self-bearing thin panels with no back casting. In the project I will also design façade panels. They will, if the de- velopment is a success, and if you are aware of the maximum measurements for road-transportation, be 4 x 9 metres and have a thickness of 1-2 cm. That is roughly the concrete standard of elements’ area formats in 1- and 2-story buildings. The glazed large-scale concrete panel will thus act for the extension of the whole element and not as it is most often seen, be divided into mosaic, tiles and joints. It will invariably affect the visual expression, the expression and articulation of the façade as well as the spatial rhythm and progress.