UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI Date:___________________ I, _________________________________________________________, hereby submit this work as part of the requirements for the degree of: in: It is entitled: This work and its defense approved by: Chair: _______________________________ _______________________________ _______________________________ _______________________________ _______________________________ ARCHITECTURE OF INTERDEPENDENCE Reinforcing connections between society and nature A thesis submitted to the Division of Research and Advanced Studies of the University of Cincinnati in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of: Master of Architecture Thesis In the School of Architecture and Interior Design Submitted April 2003 by: Mark Siwek B.S.Arch University of Cincinnati, 2004 Committee Chairs: David Saile Gordon Simmons Robert Burnham ABSTRACT Because of our need for internal environments, set as evolutionary medium to the building as architecture creates a critical disjunction between the evolutionary medium. This thesis explains how built natural and built worlds. This disjunction establishes the form can also adapt to changing environmental and need for a new arena in which to study human society’s social conditions. Dynamic structures can effectively complex role within the natural world. The intention of educate occupants about the complex relationship this thesis is to investigate the potential for architecture between society and the environment through the direct to serve an important educational role within the context demonstration of necessary adaptations to changing of environmental research and instruction. conditions in a specific environmental/social context. Differing environments create unique means of This thesis also documents a case study of the adaptation to enable human comfort. To more fully author’s design for an environmental/cultural center in a understand our relationship with the natural world, we nature preserve on the south side of Chicago. Located must develop a better understanding of cultural within an area known more for its industrial implications of these adaptations. Architecture is one of contamination than for it’s ecological wealth, the site and the most significant artifacts of environmental and project reinforce the notion that we as a society need to cultural adaptation, and therefore plays an important role better integrate into our natural environments. in understanding our interconnectedness with nature. Through direct demonstration, architecture has the potential to become a significant factor in educational experience. An environmentally sensitive structure could enrich the human experience by conveying information about a specific local environment, global environmental concerns, and the way the built environment integrates itself into the natural landscape. Historically, vernacular architecture has successfully exemplified the role of society in a specific natural context because of a shared body of construction knowledge, which evolves under varying environmental and social conditions. Acknowledging that a return to vernacular models of practice is not feasible in modern society, this thesis proposes a shift from the construction knowledge TABLE OF CONTENTS ILLUSTRATION CREDITS ..........................................2 CASE STUDY INTRODUCTION ........................................................4 SITE ANALYSIS .......................................................32 Site history ......................................................... 33 Detailed physical analysis ................................... 38 SOCIETY AND NATURE ............................................6 Site precedent analysis ....................................... 43 Nature as material reality.......................................7 Nature as cultural construct ...................................7 Culture as natural construct...................................8 PROGRAM ANALYSIS .............................................49 Historical relationship............................................9 Program selection............................................... 50 Environmental ethics........................................... 10 Space program summary .................................... 51 Relationship diagram .......................................... 52 Program precedent analysis ................................ 53 ARCHITECTURE AND NATURE ...............................12 Architecture as boundary..................................... 13 Impact of construction industry ............................ 13 WORKS CITED........................................................59 Historical perspectives ........................................ 14 Architecture as filter ............................................ 14 APPENDIX...............................................................61 PEDAGOGICAL ARCHITECTURE ............................15 Architecture as communication ............................ 16 Direct Demonstration .......................................... 16 What to filter? ..................................................... 17 REFLEXIVITY OF DESIGN .......................................19 Environmental differentiation ............................... 20 Vernacular as model ........................................... 22 Modern vernacular?............................................ 24 EVOLVING STRUCTURES .......................................26 Complexity/Pluralism .......................................... 27 Built form as evolutionary medium ....................... 28 Movement and Structure ..................................... 29 [TABLE OF CONTENTS] 1 ILLUSTRATION CREDITS FIG. 1 ........................................................................6 FIG. 14 – Eastern boundary of site.............................39 www.gettyimages.com photographed by author FIG. 2 ......................................................................12 FIG. 15 – Ford plant to the nort h of site......................39 www.lineandspace.com photographed by author FIG. 3 ......................................................................15 FIG. 16 – Ford rail yard to the east.............................39 http://www.nrel.gov/buildings/highperformance/o photographed by author berlin_gallery.html FIG. 17 – Small marina to the south...........................39 FIG. 4 – Sharing of model .........................................23 photographed by author Rapoport p. 91 FIG. 18 – Calumet River to west ................................39 FIG. 5 – Learning from the vernacular ........................24 photographed by author Rapoport p. 100 FIG. 19 – Land Use in Chicago ..................................40 FIG. 6- Kinetic sculpture by Santiago Calatrava ..........26 http://www.nipc.cog.il.us/map%20gallery.html Tzonis 41 FIG. 20 – Map showing location of Lake Calumet........40 FIG. 7 – Rates of change ..........................................28 www.cta.com - edited by author Rapaport p. 90 FIG. 21 – Land use in the Calumet Region .................41 FIG. 8 – Hegewish Marsh..........................................32 www.illinois.sierraclub.org/calumet/ http://www.cityofchicago.org/Environment/fcec/ FIG. 22 – Aerial Photograph of Calumet .....................42 FIG. 9 – Calumet Incinerator sign...............................34 www.mapquest.com - edited by author photographed by author FIG. 23 – Existing conditions at Vintondale…………….43 FIG. 10 – View of steel mill through wetlands .............35 http://greenmuseum.org/content/ photographed by author work_index/work_id-26__artist_id-15.html FIG. 11 – Calumet National Heritage Area..................36 FIG. 24 – Plan for Vintondale.....................................43 www.lincolnnet.net/CEPA/map Lang Ho p. 80 FIG. 12 – View of Hegewish Marsh ............................38 FIG. 25 – existing conditions......................................44 photographed by author Lang Ho p. 81 FIG. 13 – Existing conditions of site ...........................39 FIG. 26 – Aerial of existing River Rouge complex........45 photographed by author http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/travel/detroit/aerial.htm [TABLE OF FIGURES] 2 FIG. 27 – River Rouge revitalization ...........................46 http://www.greenroofs.com/north_american.htm FIG. 28 – Scuba divers practicing in old gas tanks......47 Brandolini p. 76 FIG. 29 – Rock climbing on concrete foundations........47 Brandolini p. 76 FIG. 30 – A factory converted into a museum .............48 Brandolini p. 76 FIG. 31 – Adjacency Diagram for FCEC Competition ..52 FIG. 32 – Center for Regenerative Studies .................53 Brandolini p. 76 FIG. 33 – Center for Regenerative Studies – Phase 1 .54 Lyle p. 303 FIG. 34 – Exterior terrace at Sonora Desert Museum ..55 Crosbie p. 106 FIG. 35 – Sonora Desert Museum Plan......................55 www.lineandspace.com FIG. 36 – Sonora Desert Museum entry .....................56 Crosbie p. 106 FIG. 37 – Nature Museum floor plans .........................57 Keegan p. 108 FIG. 38 – Nature Museum entry lobby........................58 Keegan p. 110 FIG. 39 – Nature Musem exterior ...............................58 Keegan p. 108 [TABLE OF FIGURES] 3 INTRODUCTION While it is commonly agreed that the scarcity of architecture and the construction industry can express resources and contamination of the natural world have the cultural significance of the natural environment, had a profoundly negative effect on natural ecosystems, buildings could have the potential to serve as strategies for remedying