Coastal Architecture

Coastal Architecture Reinterpreting Florida Modern Dan J Johnson I 2017 I Masters of Architecture I Chair: Martin Gold Co-Chair: Guy Peterson Contents Introduction 1 Looking to the past 3 Current Advancements 27 Embracing Nature 39 Pursuit 81 Local Context 87 Master Plan Intervention 97 Neighborhood Intervention 109 Bibliography 154 Illustration Credits 155 Introduction Looking to the Past Current Advancements Embracing Nature Pursuit Local Context Master Plan Intervention Neighborhood Intervention Can architecture of the 21st Century employ methods for passive climate control used during the early Florida Modern movement and can these methods help define how our architecture participates within Florida’s coastal environment? The energy efficient materials and mechanical systems used in our architecture today are important to sustainability and a reduction in our use of fossil fuels. As architecture has moved towards a climate controlled, super insulated dwelling, one may argue that inhabitants have begun to lose their connection with the exterior environment. The early modern architecture designed to exist in Florida’s tropical climate remained decidedly connected to the exterior environment. Mid-Century modern structures were designed to be open to elements and remain comfortable year around without mechanical climate control. The aspiration of this research is to address the disparity between the constrained energy efficient buildings of today and the environmental connections found within early Florida Modern architecture. A case study of one of the earliest forms of architecture known to exist in Florida, the Seminole Indian chickee hut, will be conducted. Exploring the design principles used in this early structure will expose the basic features needed to inhabit the tropical climate of Florida. The ideas exposed in this early form of architecture will be compared to homes built during the onset of the Florida Modern movement. This comparison will aim to expose similar architectural responses to the Florida climate. To help develop these early strategies to fit into today’s context, a study of today’s energy efficient technologies and materials will be explored. To further understand the methods used in the early forms of Florida architecture and how new technologies can aid in this endeavor, applicable passive design strategies will be identified. This work leads to a defined set of strategies for coastal Florida and implemented as a conceptual design proposal at the urban and residential scale. 1 Formative Questions: 1. How does the architecture designed prior to and during the early Florida Modern movement incorporate passive design for the regional climate of Florida and how do they connect with the its coastal environment? 2. What technologies are used today to create energy efficient 21st Century architecture? 3. What passive design methods can we use in the design of a coastal architecture that aid in the open connections to the exterior landscape and meets today’s needs and construction requirements? 2 Introduction Looking to the Past Current Advancements Embracing Nature Pursuit Local Context Master Plan Intervention Neighborhood Intervention 3 Chickee hut early 1800’s (Source: http://tedlehmann.blogspot.com/2013/02/seminole-wind-2013- review.html) 4 As architects, we often look to the past for inspiration and insight on designing our built environment. This is even more evident as one ventures to create structures designed to leave a small ecological footprint and increase our connection with the given Florida environment. It is in the past, prior to mechanical climate control, that we find structures built with these things in mind. Our discussion will begin with an exploration of one of the earliest forms of Florida architecture, the chickee hut. We will then investigate the “Florida modern” movement, its offspring the “Sarasota school of architecture” and a few of its homes designed by Paul Rudolph and Ralph Twitchell. Some of the earliest known homes in Florida were the chickee hut. The word chickee is the word used by the Seminoles for house1. The chickee hut “was born during the early 1800s when Seminole Indians, pursued by U.S. troops, needed fast, disposable shelter while on the run”2. They were light weight, less permanent homes that could be constructed relatively quickly. Their structure used palmetto thatch roofs over a frame constructed of cypress logs. The pitched roof had large overhangs to help keep the rain out and provide shade for the inhabitants. To keep dry and smaller animals out in the swampy conditions of the Florida everglades, the huts were constructed with their platforms raised 3 or 4 feet above ground3. A separated hut, from the sleeping hut, would have the fire and have been used for cooking. With the mild winters in Florida, the walls were left open and animal skins or clothe were used in heavy rains. This open structure allows cooling breezes to flow underneath and through to the hut year around. 1 Southeastern houses: chickee. http://tribalhealthyhomes.org/chickee.htm, [cited 24 April. 2016]; internet 2 Culture: who we are. http://www.semtribe.com/culture/Chickee.aspx, [cited 24 April 2016]; internet 3 Ibid 5 Florida Modernism Florida modernism was born during the exciting post World War II era in our country’s history. This time was ushered in by a passionate celebration of new things to come. An optimism not seen during the great depression and the war. The future was bright and economy was growing. Florida was attracting many young families and provided “opportunities for experimentation and development of the modern houses, based on economics, climate, and the functional demands of new living patterns”.4 Many young Architects saw the opportunity to regionalize the universalized modernist movement and create what we call Florida Modern. The movement learned from traditionally southern details while reinventing them and creating a unique architectural language. 4 Hochstim, Jan, and Steven Brooke. Florida Modern: Residential Architecture 1945-1970. (New York: Rizzoli, 2004). p13 6 Florida Modern principles include: o Filtering light with the use of grills, trellises and shutters o Shading and cooling the building with deep overhangs o Creating outdoor rooms without walls o Extending the living space to the outdoors with verandas, balconies, and courtyards o Sun orientation for cooling in summer and heating in winter o Separation of private and public rooms with breezeways o Floor to ceiling windows, tall rooms, clerestories to allow natural ventilation o Raising the house above the ground to escape dampness Sarasota School of Architecture In the 1940’s, the Sarasota school emerged as a more localized form of Florida Modern movement. Paul Marvin Rudolph has been noted as the brightest of the Sarasota school and worked closely with Ralph Twitchell to create some of the most notable homes of the movement. During their time, together, Twitchell and Rudolph set out to form a new architecture for the southwest portion of Florida. They could take the current mid-century modernism and expand it into a series of projects that exhibited a new character derived from the uniqueness of a particular place. The interest in regional expression at the time was an effort to counter the universalizing tendency of early modernism, and was a way of making the new architecture a meaningful contemporary expression of the cultures and climates 7 Cocoon House, Built 1950 (Source: Domin, 2002) 8 The design methodology created by Twitchell and Rudolph, could take advantage of newly available materials and implement them to the post war era economic and population growth in Florida. One of the more noteworthy homes created by the duo is the Cocoon house. Possibly the most well-known house by Rudolph and Twitchell, it is a result of experimentation in new building materials and technics combined with learned responses to the regional climate of Florida. Reminiscent with the chickee hut, the structure of the house is composed of wood post and beams along the Eastern and Western walls. The roof is formed of “saran-vinyl plastic panels” attached to steel straps5. Most sides of the house use jalousie windows to capture the cooling breezes. Like the chickee hut, the Cocoon house was raised off the ground to keep the floor dry and allow for ventilation. 5 Cocoon House. https://gatorpreservationist.wordpress.com/2011/01/25/cocoon-house/, [cited 24 April 2016]; internet 9 Revere Quality House, Built 1948 (Source: Domin, 2002) 10 The Revere Quality House I Siesta Key, FL I 1948 I Paul Rudolph and Ralph Twitchell Designed in 1948 by architects Twitchell and Rudolph, the Revere Quality House is considered one of the earliest examples of the Sarasota School of Architecture. Commissioned by Revere Copper Co., it is one of eight houses designed to promote quality construction for small homes. This house set up “the model for the classic 1950’s modern Florida residence: a narrow one-story rectangle, often one room wide for cross-ventilation from glass jalousie windows”6. The design of the Revere Quality house, merged the interior and exterior with the exploitation of newly available building materials. The house was designed using the international style adapted to the geographical region of Florida. This adaptation allowed the home to remain comfortable 9 months of the year without mechanical climate control7. 6 "Revere Quality House." Gator Preservationist. 2011. Accessed March 09, 2016. https://gatorpreservationist. wordpress.com/ 2011/11/29/revere-quality-house/. 7 "ibid 11 12 Built post World War II, where a variety of materials that were previously rationed, an integration of cost effective engineered materials was now being used toward new advances in residential construction.8 The revere quality institute house took advantage of these new advancements and created an innovative design using primarily reinforced concrete, steel, plywood, and glass. The medium-priced home comprised of two bedrooms, living-dining room, kitchen and a screened courtyard separating the carport and storage area from the rest of the home.

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