Material Territories
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CASE STUDY 5_TERUNOBU FUJIMORI Another example of an architect whose understanding of wood’s biological proper- � es is u� lized in his buildings is architecture historian-turned designer, Terunobu Fu- jimori. Fujimori’s background tending to forests in his youth, as well as his extensive knowledge base of applica� ons of materials in all types of historical and contempo- rary buildings led to his desire to create a completely unique concept of architecture. g 22.charred siding His treatment of materials, therefore, is a merger of ancient vernacular techniques as well as playful new architectural forms. In his Coal House, he uses charred ce- dar boards with a crackled texture from burning. This ancient Japanese technique seals the wood against rain and rot from insects. It is rarely seen in contemporary buildings because it is highly labor intensive and considered primi� ve. “No edu- cated architect would use this material,” says Fujimori in an ar� cle for the New York Times. Fujimori creates his architectural models by carving tree stumps into ab- stract shapes. His small group of interior nish volunteers he calls the Jomon Com- pany, named a� er the Neolithic period of Japanese history and the primi� ve tools g 23. natural burnt tree they used that give Fujimori’s buildings a rough, handmade feel. Although Fujimori dismisses any no� on that his buildings are eco-conscious, the concepts and feelings of primal shelter that are apparent in his buildings all come from working with and understanding nature and what it has to off er us. Fugimori’s curiousity to understand materials extends beyond wood. He has studied the use of mud and adobe in the American Southwest and Mali as well as the shel- ters created in the Caves of Lascaux in France. His approach is to rst explore what the maximum poten� al of the material could be (as is o� en present in vernacular architecture). A� er a clear idea of what a material is capable of, he applies these g 24. charring process ancient techniques in ways that can bene t his contemporary architectural ideas. CASE STUDY 6_ACHIM MENGES > WORK PRESENTED AT E MATERIAL ACADIA xploring Disruptive 2009 CHICAGO Achim Menges’ work is centered on the idea that once one is able to understand wood’s complex material makeup and behavior, its biological nature can be seen as advantageous rather than de cient. While the construc� on industry’s a� tude towards wood has manifested in the form of a� empts to control its living behaviors (decay, shrinkage and swelling and checks/splits) Menges works in the opposite di- rec� on, workingT with these behaviors to create architectural projects which literally ERRITORIES seem to come alive. His use of Computa� on Design allows the computer’s capacity Ceramics: Disruptive Brick to breakA down wood’s complex behaviors in the design process. “In Computa� onal Design,pplications in form is not de ned through a sequence of drawing or modeling procedures but generated through parametric rule-based processes. The ensuing externaliza� on of the interrela� on between algorithmic processing of informa� on and resusltant form genera� on permits the systema� c dis� nc� on between process, informa� on and form. Hence, any speci c shape can be understood as resul� ng from the inter- ac� on of system-intrinsic informa� on and external in uences within a morphoge- ne� c process.” g 25. prototype wall In hisA projects, Menges creates a database of in-depth informa� on about the par� c- rchitecture Katy Dale Material Strategies Arch 5550 December 21, 2009 S University of Minnesota Material Territories features investigations of innovative material applications in contemporary architecture that disrupt chool of conventional thinking about material processes, design, and construction. The essays were contributed by the following MATERIAL TERRITORIES students for the graduate seminar “Material Strategies,” led by Blaine Brownell at the University of Minnesota School A Exploring Disruptive Applications in Architecture of Architecture in 2009 and 2010: Solomon Atta, Justin Berken, Andrew Blaisdell, Skip Carlson, Peter Costanzo, Katy rchitecture Dale, Nate Dodge, Molly Eagen, Josh Ekstrand, Jennifer Garman, Tony Harrington, Aric Larson, Mark La Venture, Peter Leahy, Alison Markowitz Chan, Engy Michael, Jack Northrup, Tim Ogren, Lane Warren Rapson, Nathan Roisen, Britt Schwager, Greg Schwartz, Piseth Tep, James Thompson, Elizabeth Turner, Allison Verdoorn, and Ahti Westphal. University of Minnesota School of Architecture, 2009-2010 MATERIAL TERRITORIES Exploring Disruptive Applications in Architecture University of Minnesota School of Architecture, 2009-2010 4 Introduction 152 A Lifeless Eden: Death and Concrete in the City of Water Blaine Brownell Peter Leahy 6 Plastic / Fabric: Structural Skins in Architecture 166 Glass and Vision: An Invisible Material Made Visible Solomon Atta Alison Markowitz Chan 20 Architecture and the Glassmaker 176 Fabric Architecture: Form & Performance Justin Berken Engy Michael 26 The Ceramic Spectrum: Brick, Concrete, and Outlier Materials in 192 The Disruptive Application of Cross-Laminated Timber as Load Bearing Structure: Architecture The Stadthaus at Murray Grove Andrew Blaisdell Jack Northrup 36 Pursuing Zappi: The Development of Structural Glass in Architecture 202 Plastic: Between Product and Architecture Skip Carlson Tim Ogren 48 AIRchitecture: Volume and Skin 212 Trajectories of Wood as an Orthotropic Material Peter Costanzo Lane Warren Rapson 58 Ceramics: Assessing the Disruptive Brick 222 Materials as Design: A Case Study of the Design Methods of Louis Kahn and SANAA Katy Dale Nathan Roisen 70 The Role of Auralization in Architectural Acoustics 234 Liminal Surfaces: Frank Lloyd Wright and the Dematerialization of Wood Cladding Nate Dodge Britt Schwager 82 Biological Understanding in Architecture: Wood and Building 246 Structural Filigree: Contemporary Wood Applications in Architecture Molly Eagen Greg Schwartz 96 Stronger than the Weakest Link: The Weald and Downland Gridshell 256 Light and Texture: A Cross-Cultural Assessment of Concrete Josh Ekstrand Piseth Tep 108 Ambiguity and Porosity: The Expression of Metal in Architecture 266 Luster and Rust: Metal as a Theoretical Agent in Architecture Jennifer Garman James Thompson 120 Plastics, Naturally 278 Harnessing Decay for Preservation: Planned Oxidation in Wood & Steel Tony Harrington Elizabeth Turner 134 Technical Textiles: The Justification of Carbon Fibers in Architecture 290 Shigeru Ban: Merging Material Trajectories Aric Larson Allison Verdoorn 144 Metal: The Architect’s New Robe 302 Original Process: Concrete and the Primordial Cave Mark La Venture Ahti Westphal Contents 2 3 Architecture is born out of the shrewd alignment of concept and as well as result. However, disruptive technology generally concerns matter. The product of what Louis Kahn termed “the measurable and a product in commercial terms, while a disruptive application the unmeasurable,” architecture is the fulfillment of a spatial premise considers a more complex system or physical assembly—such as a by way of material substance.1 Throughout history, architecture has building—as well as its larger cultural and environmental context. been shaped by the continual transformation of material technologies Disruptive applications may employ disruptive technologies, or they and application methods. Its course of development is inseparable may exhibit unanticipated uses of conventional technologies. Both from the shifting terrain of technology and its social effects. This disruptive technologies and applications are defined by the fulfillment intrinsic alignment with change—whether from a welcoming or of the unexpected: an aberration or mutation that upsets and critical perspective—makes architecture an inherently disruptive act. displaces the status quo within conventional systems of praxis. In his assessment of the architectural canon, historian With the explosion of new materials and technologies Richard Weston states that “the bias has been towards those available for building construction, it is critical that architects [buildings] that were innovative—stylistically, technically or confront this broadening palette in order to understand the programmatically—and especially those that significantly affected implications for future design applications. Moreover, the growing the course of architecture.”2 On one hand, new products and awareness of energy and material resource scarcity, global warming, processes have transformed architecture by enabling alternative and other environmental concerns has brought unprecedented construction techniques and novel spatial possibilities. On the other change to how we relate to the physical environment, requiring hand, architecture’s utilization of materials in unexpected ways has us to re-assess conventional methods of material selection and demonstrated its capacity to inspire new growth in construction- implementation. related industries as well as empower social transformation. Both Material Strategies—a graduate-level seminar taught at the tendencies demonstrate the extent to which the disruptive application University of Minnesota School of Architecture—presents a new set of materials has been vital to the advancement of architecture. of strategies for material approaches based on issues related to global The term disruptive application is based on the notion of material and resource flows, technological trajectories, and potential disruptive technology—an expression coined by Clayton