CITY SPACE STUDY

As you might have noticed, I haven't written in the blog for quite a while. So today I'll be suming all the latest works up in different posts, all in chronological order. This first one is a short two-day group project we had, in which we as groups, were given to different areas in Copenhagen, in which we were to study and analyze the local lightning, acoustic, climatic and other conditions, while also comparing the similarities and differences in the two areas. In our group, we were to study the huge greenhouse in Copenhagen's botanical garden and a new parking "green" parking building in the outskirt of the city centre. What you see below is our first page from a total of four A3 presentational pages, containing diagrams and photos of the sites (two of the girls from the group took the amazing pictures).

The first of the two sites - the botanical garden - was a rather interesting space. Due to its artificial rainforest-like climate, the change from interior to exterior is extremely dramatic. At the moment of entry, you are quickly soaked up in the moist, misty air of the area and also rather quickly made uncomfortable by the sudden dramatic change of temperature. Despite the sudden climatic change, which one can describe as rather uncomfortable, the climate is rather pleasant after one spends some time in the room. Naturally, natural lighting is abundant in the greenhouse due to obvious reasons, but an interesting element, was the rooms acoustics. Even though the room in itself is pretty spacious, the acoustics were in a way mysterious. This is amongst different facts, the fact that the mist and the plants in the room limit your line of sight, leaving you to wonder where sounds and voices are actually coming from. As a matter of fact, the mist in the room was at times so thick, that you couldn't see to the other end of the room! This effect was in its way surreal and rather amazing. (This effect is furthermore illustrated in our above photos of the room.) A diagram was also made by us to illustrate the way the building functions, but it was made in hand, so unfortunately I can't upload it here on the blog.

 

The above picture shows photos of our second location - The green parking house. As you may quickly notice, it has been nicknamed the "green" parking house, due to the vegetational growth on the building's exterior. Even with the building's green features, it is not one that one usually notices, due to its rather basic function, but we were left impressed after studying the building. Unlike many other carparking buildings, this one had an almost completely open facade, allowing the building to be almost entirely lit by natural lighting - A feature we found rather impressive. And despite its rough concrete look, the interior of the building was as a matter of fact rather pleasant, especially based on the fact that it is a mere parking building. This was mostly due to the building's living, breathing, green facade, which surprisingly effectivly integrates the rough concrete interior and exterior with the elegance of natural vegetation. Below is the third and last uploaded presentational page, which includes diagrams that illustrate how the building functions. I believe the illustrations should be clear enough, so I won't comment on the details.

To sum things up, this short project was rather effective, despite its rather short length. One can say that this was our first practical step to truely understanding a space in the city, and understanding how a space functions, no matter if it is interior or exterior. It may not have completely altered our understandings of spaces and rooms, but the process has thought us to notice details that we haven't thought of before - Some of which are most important to understanding architecture and the urban environment.

- Andy Minchev

RATIONALISM

The first project we were given at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Art's Architectural School, is part of our first themed study - History and Theory of Modern Architecture. We were divided in groups of five and were dealt different project subjects within the main theme of modern architecture. My group was given the subject "Rationalism", which, as the name implies, focuses on rationalistic architecture. The main assignment within the subject, was to make an A0 sized poster, which includes major historic rationalistic architectural works, examples of modern rationalism, and information on the background (and future) of rationalism within architecture. The result of our two week work, is the poster below (The poster is in Danish).

Our poster begins with a short description of the term "Rationalism" and some background information on the architectural and philosophical history on the subject. It then proceeds towards information on our two historical examples - the unbuilt Plan Voisin in Paris and Unité d'Habitation in Marseilles, both by the infamous Swiss-French architect, Le Corbusier. The reason for choosing these two examples, is that they both illustrate Le Corbusiers fascination of order - A feat that is rather common in rationalistic architecture. They furthermore illustrate pre-fabricated architecture on a large scale, and structures of great residential density, which yet again are examples of typical rationalistic architecture.

For our modern-day rationalistic architectural examples, we chose Ørestad Gymnasium in Copenhagen, designed by Danish 3XN Architects and the Swiss-Re building in London, by Norman Foster and Partners. The first building we chose due to its simple exterior, but mostly due to its interior, which like the two examples of Le Corbusier, is also planned in different zones. The different zones in this high school building separate the different types of educational orientations. Furthermore, the building also uses pre-fabricated components, like various rationalistic buildings. Our final architectural example, Norman Foster's Swiss-Re skyscraper, we mainly chose to illustrate how modern technology and industry affect modern architecture, the same way early rationalist architecture was strongly affected by and even dependent on the technologies of the industrial age.

Finally, our last example, was not architectural, but rather an example of modern sculptural art. Our final example were examples of a Dutch sculpture artist Theo Jansen's fascinating moving life-like sculptural animals. These enormous sculptural creatures move like organic beings, and are driven solely by the strong winds at the coasts of Holland. We have chosen these moving sculptures as one of our examples, because they so well illustrate a successful fusion between art and engineering - Yet another characteristic of rational architecture: A great symbiosis between architecture and engineering.

A quick conclusion we made in my group, is that rationalism in architecture has failed the trials and tribulations of time, but it seems that it is on the road to popularity once again in our modern day society. Take for example the incredible success of Apple. Their products all feature an extremely minimalistic look - One that features only the absolutely basic needs. This tendency of minimal design can be directly linked to rationality, since it features only the absolute minimal. Since Apple's success with their minimal designs, vast numbers of other products of all types have followed this neo-rationalistic minimalistic wave of design, that is growing ever so popular. Another case of growing popularity of rationalism in modern society, is linked to the world's ever-growing awareness of environmental issues. With the new global environmental awareness, the term "rationalism" is everchanging, to adept to the needs of the modern environmentally-friendly society. Architecture is beginning to adept itself to environmental standards, rather than focusing on fine aesthetics, the world of industrial design is changing production to more environmentally-friendly materials and designs that require less resources. One could say that rationalism is alive and thriving once again, this time not to rebuild a world that has been scarred from wars, but rather to heal a world that is suffering from pollution.

- Andy Minchev