Images des microcosmes flottants

This research focuses on the premise that depiction is quintessential to the conception of an architectural project. The representation also provides insights regarding how the architects design the architecture. This thesis is intended towards understanding new forms and paradigms of design mediation that have emerged over the last two decades in Japan. It unravels and highlights the historical, theoretical aspects and analyses the evolution, convergence and major trends in the field of architectural representation. Based on bibliographical sources and exclusive, unpublished interviews with the prominent Japanese architects of the period under consideration, this work presents six cross-functional themes with the objective to identify and examine the critical tools that could be used in the conception and representation of the contemporary Japanese architecture. The understanding of the underlying techniques reveal a very hybridised landscape of digital and analog tools with a paradoxical objective of imparting a manual effect to the entire expression. The treatment of light in the images of the project is characterised by overexposure and dispersion that adds an elusory, unseizable dimension to the objects and spatial limits. In a similar fashion, the graphical limits, are either diminished or diluted giving an impression of a space with evolving outlines. The pseudo-naive expression of multiple images, achieved by the profusion of familiar objects, obliterates the orthodox hierarchy among the architectural elements and opens up the possibility of evoking and imagining tiny, soothing universes in an architecture which is otherwise radical to the beholder. The point of view used in images transcend the Euclidean realism, producing an imagery that seems to float in free space. Finally, the genealogy of relationship between masters and students permits the tracing of the lines of influence, how the craftsmanship changed hands and percolated down the professional world. The specificities in the Japanese representation are a testimony to the complex approach of the architects towards an architectural project, where all the attributes of space are questioned and redefined but still the undercurrent of tradition continues to have a pivotal influence.

Habiter la ville ouverte

Didier Challand

Between 2002 and 2004 Martin Steinmann gave a close insight to the urban villa, a building type well-known a century ago in our cities and recently brought to the foreground as a major architectural issue in the German speaking part of Switzerland. Through an article1, an exhibition2 and his architectural design teaching at the EPFL3 he introduced various interpretations of a pre-existing housing type's new identity, which this dissertation suggests to further investigate. In the spirit of a monographic contribution, we analyze the urban villa as a multi-unit housing type through its key historical moments, from the rented houses of Lausanne built around 1900 (Part I – Première actualité) until contemporary outstanding realisations (Part III – Nouvelle actualité). Through a typo-morphologic analysis and a sensitive reading of space, major issues such as the urban villa's placement among its surroundings, the subtle amalgamation of individuality and collectivity, as well as the insertion of a constructed nature into the urban cityscape, arise. In the spirit of a polemic contribution, we consider the ville ouverte issue as an intermediate condition of groups of villas or small blocks enhancing all four orientations (Part II – Habiter la ville ouverte, cinq essais). In order to describe the spatial mechanisms of their so-called urbanity, we analyse some coherent groups of urban forms, which belong to the hygienist era running from 1850 until 1930. Those correspond to various programmatic motivations and socio-economical conditions, whose architectural effects we highlight. The contribution of this research is particularly important in view of contemporary residential areas' densification, for it is a densification willingly crystallizing into open urban forms composed of small multi-unit blocks. As neat as they may be, those buildings have not much to offer other than merely "a cute view", "the freshening greenery around the house" or "that big balcony". In his article in 2002 Steinmann proposed a more complex reading of this open urban forms' architecture, which he based on "the sensitive experiences' density". Through the writer's references, a tendency to interpret urban space as a fluid sequence is made apparent. In the Introduction, we thus describe this affinity as "nemourian imaginary"4. Consequently, this preference invites us to speculate towards other imaginaries, rooted as well in the histories of the green city and of the intermediary scale open morphology. In these imaginaries, the plots5, the street6, the court7, or even the private garden8, participate in various scenarios of free space partitioning, between the individual and the collective whole. Finally, to expand the research field will serve to enrich the contemporary urbanism theories that pertain to free spaces, whose plurality of characters, uses and sensations we plead for. The term "urban villa"9 contains a semantic paradox full of promises. In its loneliness, the urban villa represents the individuality dreamt of by many multi-unit housing inhabitants. As the villa gets isolated from neighbouring houses and from the street, however, it is also a dialectical object, which liberates its surroundings while at the same time depending on them. On the one hand, its four elevations tend to open themselves generously towards the sun and to the views. On the other hand, in the case of dense groups of villas – which interests us most here, as it is the major trend in contemporary suburban context –, the free space is valued as a possession tightly shared. This is done in a very distinct way as in the compact city, and the urban villa becomes a particularly demanding performer/Schau-spielerin in matters of living and dwelling together. In such open urbanity forms, the closed universe of private life and the open one of the shared landscapes interact in a totally different way than in the modern scattered green city, particularly with regard to narrow density interactions and juxtapositions. The starting point of our research is to postulate that these interactions are able to generate an urban spatial tissue of high quality. The main objective is to recognize, to expose and to analyse the spatial modalities, architectural as well as scenic, through which this aim can be achieved. ________________________________________________ 1 Martin Steinmann, "Sinnliche Dichte, Die neue Bedeutung eines alten Wohntyps", werk, bauen + wohnen, n°10, 2002, pp. 10-19. 2 EPFL-ENAC-LHab, Prof. Martin Steinmann (direction) and Didier Challand (organisation), La villa urbaine : Exhibition, EPFL, 12-28 January 2004 ; seminar, 15 January 2004, with the participation of Martin Steinmann, Bruno Marchand, Adrian Meyer, Martin Hofer (Wüest+Partner), Didier Challand. 3 EPFL-ENAC-LHab (Laboratoire de l'Habitation Urbaine), Prof. Martin Steinmann, 3rd and 4th year. Winter 2002-2003; Villas urbaines - Le Clos Veyrassat, Rolle/VD ; Winter 2003-2004 ; Villas urbaines - Les Gönhardgüter in Aarau. 4 "imaginaire nemourien", in reference to Le Corbusier's sketch for Nemours, Algeria (around 1935) 5 We propose some examples around each topic, here : Brauerquartier, Winterthur (Blatter, Meili, Lerch, 1898-1899) 6 Une Cité Industrielle, Quartiers d'habitation en commun (Tony Garnier, between 1904 and 1917) 7 Quartiere operaio della Società Umanitaria, dit alle Rottole, Milan, (Giovanni Broglio, 1909) 8 Quartiers modernes Frugès, Pessac (Le Corbusier, 1925-1926) 9 The contemporary use of this term started from the late 70s in West Berlin and was stimulated by O. M. Ungers, H. Kollhoff and A. Ovaska.

EPFL2010

Timberfabric: Applying Textile Principles on a Building Scale

Markus Hudert, Yves Weinand

Practical and material orientated academic research has become increasingly important for architectural practice, due to several factors. First, it contributes to contemporary concepts in architecture and improves their implementation. Today’s architects are looking for a deeper understanding of technical and technological questions related to architecture: technology, construction methods and structural considerations are no longer seen as merely bothersome necessities, as was often the case in the past. The importance of such aspects and the potential of including them as active stimuli in the architectural design process are largely recognised. It is the limitations in time and capacities that more often than not confound the realisation of such ambitions. Academic research can fill this gap and provide architectural practices with the necessary resources. Second, research has a duty to address one of the biggest architectural challenges of our time, namely how to achieve sustainable building. Society’s burgeoning awareness of the urgent need to use renewable materials for building construction is an undeniable reality and has become an important parameter for architectural production. As a result, timber constructions experience a new popularity and the importance of research on timber has increased. The potential of this field becomes evident with some of its latest developments and innovations. Cross- laminated timber panels open up new dimensions for massive timber construction and prefabrication in context with the digital chain. Technologies such as wood welding and the densification of wood create new possibilities not only for architecture but also for furniture and product design. Timber as a building material is therefore capable of satisfying both the demands of contemporary architecture as well as the requirements of sustainable building.

Wiley-Blackwell2010

On the Symbiosis of People and Building

Sytse de Maat

Controversies continue to exist between architects and the public about what is a good building. High-style modern architecture is often disliked by the public. Moreover, in everyday life people blame the architect for everything they find impractical in a building. The non-operable window is emblematic of this controversy. The kernel of the problem lies in the lack of knowledge about how people relate to their buildings. This thesis investigates the relationship between people and their buildings, a topic that lies on the interface of architecture, psychology, and anthropology. In architecture, many have attempted to create buildings that feel alive, although much of what is built today feels alien to those who inhabit it. Environmental psychology has its focus on perception and meaning, whereas in anthropology, the habitat is often observed in a cultural perspective. This thesis aims at building theory that connects the insights of these disciplines. The importance of the topic lies in the increasing alienation of people from their buildings. Although many architects work on buildings that we can better relate to, alienation and disconnection continue to exist because, to mention one aspect, the built environment is made by more people than only architects. In the multidisciplinary world, improvement of the relationship of people and building would surely benefit from the introduction of a clear focal point and an adequate conceptual framework. From literature, insights were collected that explain the relationship in four perspectives: human aspects, properties of buildings, its relation to society, and abstract systems. Together they form a model that can serve as the focal point. Next, in order to identify what is changing in the relationship, the model was used as research tool in different contexts, ranging from vernacular to modern. Fieldwork research was conducted in traditional habitats, state-of-the-art modern buildings, and settings in between: primitive housing in urban slum or informal settlement. Detailed research methods for the survey of people's interaction with buildings were newly developed in the field and combined with existing sampling and coding techniques. Architects tools like sketches, scale models, and photography were used next to interviews and participatory observation. Results are presented in several reports ranging from slum dwellings to hi-tech. Besides architecture, they describe the practice of everyday life, logic and inconsistencies in building methods, and effects on the people-building relationship. From the findings, we concluded that what happened to the people-building relationship in the transition from vernacular to modern could be described in five trends. These trends explain the current disconnection as well as the difficulties we face in creating live buildings. Thus, together with the focal point, a conceptual framework is created holding the patterns typical of the people-building relationship. This knowledge can be used as both tool and theory by the profession. The research suggests that in order to create a strong people-building relationship, the whole process of building, dwelling, and daily operation must be focused on inclusion of the end-user. Today's technology and regulations favor exclusion and therefore contribute to a built environment that is not humanly sustainable.