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The interior of a hair salon in Beijing designed by AQSO has been recently completed. The project comprises of different spaces: two areas for the public, designed with a minimal style where the lighting gains prominence, and a third private room for guests where the used materials, dark wood and linen, offer a more intimate atmosphere.
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The project ‘harvest home’ has been featured in the book ‘Self-Fab house’ published by the IaaC (ISBN 978-84-96954-74-8, ACTAR, Barcelona).
The book includes a selection of innovative self-sufficient housing projects as well as a series of brief texts by the IAAC’s director Vicente Guallart, Lucas Capelli, and co-directors of the masters program Marta Malé-Alemany and Willy Müller.
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AQSO was invited to participate at the Global Pioneer Design forum organized by the Galaxy arts center and 5cats editors in Shenzhen, China, last May 26. During the forum, Luis presented AQSO’s latest projects and he participated in the debate chaired by Ms. Ran Ran, chief editor of 5Cats, and Hongkongese interior designer Mr. Huang Zhida.
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AQSO’s proposal for the Boilerhouse studios in Dublin, a cultural and residential complex located on Ballymun, has been shortlisted for the 10th edition of Europan.
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A 1993 study by the American social psychologists Nalini Ambady and Robert Rosenthal considered in what way less information would affect the accuracy of predicting teacher evaluation by college students. Silent 10-second clips of teachers were presented to students who would rate the teacher’s overall effectiveness according to competency, confidence, enthusiasm, optimism, warmth, etc. 5-second clips were shown to a fresh group of students who repeated the rating tasks. The researchers then presented another group with 2-second clips. The data gathered was compared to end-of-semester ratings by the students of these teachers. The results? Significant correlations were found between the 2-second, 5-second, 10-second and the ratings of students exposed to one semester of the teacher.
The study shows that the information conveyed in a glimpse can be just as important as the information gathered over a much longer period. This is rapid cognition: the blink.
Blink is the judgement given to something in the first two seconds of any situation. Eg. When you first meet someone, when you pick up a book and scan the cover and blurb, products that we see on shelves and the decision whether to buy them or not.
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The blink explains the significance of our brain’s adaptive unconscious, the mental processes that work rapidly and automatically from relatively little information.
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This concept of the blink can be extended to the realm of architecture. The first time a user views a particular building is often through the image. When a building is commissioned, the client first sees the image or model of the building. In architectural competitions, our eyes are always first attracted to the image or the heroic shot. Even when a project is built, the media often captures the building through photographs before we visit it. For the non-architect, we often locate the building through Google maps and check out what it looks like through Google Street-view, before visiting it.
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An immense amount of information is conveyed through a blink. What are the effects of blink in architecture? How can the blink enhance our understanding of a building, a suburb, a city? We are becoming selective in our perception and impatient with our time. The image of the building is becoming more and more prevalent. Because of this, often viewers are numb to the overabundance of information, and absorb only limited and narrow aspects of architecture. The proliferation of iphones, of flickr, of media, mean that it’s high time we investigated the effects of the blink, and just how much that initial glimpse can influence our judgement. |
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The ‘blink’ can be understood through three key concepts: the fleeting, the thin slice and the fragment:
The fleeting is that momentary spontaneous response to external stimuli before we even register what’s happening. The fleeting is the immediate, the innate, the unformed. It cannot be controlled and cannot be described. If one tries to voice the feeling of the fleeting, it has already altered and thus escaped. Deleauze and Guattari refer to the fleeting in terms of affect. William James refer to the fleeting in terms of radical empiricism. Imagine if we cut our hand, and saw it bleeding. Before the signals from pain receptors reach our brain, we are already doing something to repair it. This automatic mechanism is affect. It is an amplification of our awareness to the injury. We are forced to be concerned, and concerned immediately. Affect mechanisms can be best illustrated through pain or shock.
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Thin slicing is the way a complex situation can be understood with very little information in a blink. The brain has an innate ability to thin slice. A snap judgement is a form of thin slice. While thin slices can be made extremely quickly, there are complex operations occurring in the brain to allow this to occur.
What we need to rehearse, is how to making the slice thinner and thinner, without losing information, and that we may gain more by disregarding all the other things that may be disrupting the task. Thin slicing is the compaction of cause and effect, or the most immediate alignment of cause and effect. By adopting this innate method of handling information, projects or decisions requiring our intelligence can be better conducted. Often only one or two things determine the approach or decision. Frugality is important. Thin slicing is about the ability to pick out the few things that are significant in a situation, thus cut down the processing time of reaction, and achieve accurate, precise responses in a blink. The thin slice allows clarity to the communication and comprehension of architecture.
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The blink captures a fragment of the whole, a glimmer of insight, or a corner of an entity. In architecture this could be a small detail of a whole building, an interior photograph of a room, or a plan which describes the layout of the building. A fragment gives the viewer an insight into what the whole seems to be and suggests that there is a resonance between the part and the whole, a consistency between the detail and the building.
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The old ambition of producing a really moving architecture succeeds when it responds to the site and brief requirements.
The proposal for the thematic pavilion of the 2012 Yeosu international exhibition has a focus for the people to experience and understand this liquid element through the specific place in which it is located: the ocean. In order to represent water through architecture, the dynamic and translucent qualities of the fluid are translated into details of the pavilion. The pavilion is not bound to a solid state. It is always in action materializing both dynamicity and the varying layers of transparency. The visitor will be guided directly into a zone of coexisting space of ocean and architecture.
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The design of the building comprises of interconnected circles that respond to a program. The shape of the building represents a diagram of the two connected water molecules. This shape is also representative of the interconnectedness of the two big exhibition spaces and the smaller adjoining areas.
The seemingly apparent random layout of these separate yet connected “atoms” is determined by the three main lines that connect the pavilion with the rest of the facilities in the exhibition master plan: the Main expo site axis, the Big O and the Expo Loop.
These six circular spaces placed on the water are wrapped by a versatile skin. The skin is made by two layers with a series of horizontal louvers that give a varying transparent quality to the building. The outer skin translates the energy of the ocean to move itself vertically up and down. It creates a dynamic atmosphere that is always in motion as the waves and tides. The moving louvers create a fuzzy image on the outside and also create interesting lighting effects inside through the moiré effect. The inner louvers are fixed on to the glass of the pavilion, whereas the outer louvers are floating on water, becoming a unique element that moves and changes with no energy consumption. The superimposition of these two osmotic layers give an intriguing image of the breathing building, making the water nature alive for the public to experience.
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AQSO has been awarded an honorable mention for the restoration of Santa Maria de Atienza in Huete, Spain. A simple folded steel piece covers the remains of the church and creates a space from which to contemplate the landscape. The new building is intended to accommodate an open concert hall in the space occupied by the original nave of the temple. The project will be exhibited at the COAM (Cuenca) next November.
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The world population tends to concentrate in cities and these are constantly growing. This expansion is not confined to area or height. As if they were gigantic trees, metropolises penetrate their roots into the subsoil, a space as undefined as airspace that doesn’t belong to anyone and that doesn’t seem to exist from a legal point of view.
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As part of the biosphere, the subsoil has always been a place inhabited by humans. In some cases the depths have been colonized with examples of bioclimatic architecture that takes advantage of its constant temperature, like the underground city of Derinkuyu in Turkey. In other cases this space has been used for defensive purposes, such the 85 km2 Beijing underground city built during the 70s to house air raid shelters in case of a nuclear attack.
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From the time London opened the first subway system in the mid-eighteenth century, the subterranean has become the place to locate the infrastructures that the traditional city wasn’t able to accommodate on the surface. The increasing density above ground results in a system of voids underneath that includes sewage and water supply sys-tems, electric wiring, subways and urban tunnels, basements and deep foundations, storage tanks and even unfathomable vaults. The subterranean is a hostile, dark and poorly ventilated environment through which everything can be transported at high speed, in which communications are chaotically arranged to connect the apparently orderly world built above. |
Since the French architects Eugene Edouard and Utudjian Herard established the underground town planning as a discipline, cities have been cut open and new tunnel boring machines keep excavating the ground under our feet. The concept of town planning cannot be reduced to a simple plan, it must be widened to a three-dimensional conception of the use of space, or at least it should be the combination of three layers: ground, above ground and underground.
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The ground we live on has been the substrate on which the history of those who once walked on it has been accumulated. Its layers have been covered with archaeological remains of the past like pages of a book. Our history is today written with voids that cut through the past.
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All houses in the village were alike, same layout, same size and same materials. They were based on the construction methods previous generations have experienced, without the need for an architect; they fitted in with their life style.
Entering into the family home; they show us around enthusiastically, explaining how it works: the place for the animals, the living room around the fireplace and the small altar for praying. We are told that they all built the house together using the available local materials. Stone is scarce in the area, so it was used only for the foundation, the walls were made of adobe and mud and wood was used for the beams and interior decoration. ‘It is a question of economy of means‘, we were told.
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At the end of the tour he showed us his own house, still under construction. It was humble as his family’s dwelling: same layout and same size, but this time builders were the ones to build it. Near the house there were several cast concrete blocks drying in the sun. They were used to construct the walls, which were subsequently rendered with mud. Wood wasn’t used to build the structure this time; only the visible parts were clad in this material. ‘It’s much cheaper’, he explained.
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Inside the house a big TV presides the center of the living room. Sitting around it, watching the commercials, he told us that his house would be like his parents’ when finished. I couldn’t deny that it was being made following the same principles.
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The proposal for the house of arts, a large cultural building to be built in Lebanon, will be exhibited along with the rest of participants of the international competition between 23 March & 14 April 2009 at the Forum de Beyrouth.
Although architecture encompasses many different sizes, scales and proportions always conform to a size that is invariably that of the people. The size of a project determines the approach and the abstraction capacity necessary to resolve it. Therefore an increase in scale means a discipline change, as with architecture and town planning.
If the human scale is the model for development, ergonomics in architecture plays an important role enabling people to develop processes according to their needs. When a building concentrates as many users as inhabitants in a city, the architectural organization must change to meet the occupants’ requirements. In the same way as cities sometimes are simultaneously personalized and repeated without being designed, like a forest diversity growing naturally, architecture cannot impose a strict order when the right scale is exceeded. A building cannot jeopardize its ergonomics due to its delusions of grandeur.
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Architecture is nearly always the solution of a complex problem, an equation with many variables and which can be resolved in more than one way. It needs to address the programme, the site conditions, be formally expressed and have technical solutions that allow building it, but it must also have an intention or contain an interesting concept, because it remains an artistic expression. Since the solution starts with an idea until it is materialized, many people are involved: architecture is teamwork, not only when building, but also when planning, and the diversity of views has the considerable potential not to leave out any side of the issue.
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It was precisely other architects, those of computers, information flows and software, who changed the concept of teamwork with the open source movement, who revolutionized the conception of a product by including everyone who had something to contribute. These hackers, in the best sense of the term, proved not only that an open environment leads to better results, but also changed the concept of collaboration with the understanding that in order to contribute it is necessary to be passionate about what you do and share results freely.
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Enthusiasm and debate. Although in the conception and development of an architectural project there is a lot of both, open source architecture, if it exists, is a different concept from that of software. While an architect’s job has a social component and architecture is something in which people participate, a building is not a product which can normally be tested and modified while used, as is the case with software. Architecture is planned and built, there is no beta version, therefore all situations need to be foreseen on paper. The great advantage of open source systems is that the users are the creators and they can adapt the product as they use it, but buildings cannot be copied and distributed freely. Therefore, it appears that the open source philosophy only makes sense in architecture that serves people and its implementation is more viable during project development, when it is still being conceived, when its source code is being written.
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In this regard, current processes have much to do with those of software creation. Even if you start with a freehand drawing or physical models are used, computers have become an essential tool which has conditioned work methods. Architecture is resolved through drawing and drawing has become a code that many different people devise through CAD. While projects change and develop, ideas are checked with new lines, layers, references, 3D models. The outcome improves with each version and changes are shared and updated.
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Computers provide communication and immediacy, the basis for collaboration systems, but also, current software increasingly facilitates processes. Parametric tools allow linking elements, observing how models perform according to the changes entered; calculation systems allow studying performance of structure, MEP, etc. The method is more interactive and it consists of updating and introducing improvements progressively, which is very similar to editing a wiki, another one of the major breakthroughs derived from the open source philosophy.
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Now then, if both the methods and the field of application seem to indicate it would be possible to plan architecture in an open environment, what would be the consequences of using wikiarchitecture? Let us think about our cities. It seems evident that governments are striving to find the best solutions for shared infrastructures and the proof are the ideas competitions frequently organized for buildings or public spaces. If the aim is to find the proposal that best meets what citizens need, no formula would be as effective as giving a carte blanche for all to participate in the design. This idea, which may sound like a folly akin to allowing everyone to build and change their city at whim, is perhaps not so utopian when compared with the revolution that took place in the world of software, where, incidentally, conflicting interests were not an obstacle either, to prove results. |
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Thus, the ability to modify the code of the software we use does not mean we know how or that we want to, in the same way that, for example, not all users of a public library want to decide how it is designed. Wikiarchitecture would need architects just like free software cannot do away with information systems engineers, however, in this field, changing the concept of author would have other consequences.
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Planning architecture is putting yourself in the place of those who are going to use the building and anticipating all situations, which is not easy to do. An architecture based on an open environment is possible and it would undoubtedly bring the expectations of users closer to the results from a functional perspective. However, architecture contains other intentions common to any other creative process and these define the concept and nature of the artistic work. These purposes are subjective, they are based on ideas or intuitions defended individually and they are what can turn a project into a work of genius. Architecture is not merely a tool, it can evolve towards more open methods, but not lack an artistic intention. We have been able to use a wiki to share our knowledge in a world encyclopedia, but it is unlikely that we will be capable of writing a literary masterpiece between us all.
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The project for a music centre in Soria has been selected for inclusion in the ‘Arquitecturas posibles’ exhibition organized by agoras.arq. The exhibition will be held in the MUVa Museum, Santa Cruz Palace, Valladolid, Spain, from October 3rd.-
This proposal is for an auditorium and music school to be located on a sloping site and will enclose a new square in the heart of the city. The indoor auditorium wraps around itself, spiralling up to an outdoor hall on the roof. The conservatory is a bridge, a changing sign, and it acts as an entrance for the square.
The project has also been featured in the publication ‘Arquitecturas Posibles’ (ISBN: 978- 84-612-6901.3, Agoras.arq, Valladolid).
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The urban solution for the Slatina square in Opatija, Croatia, has been featured in the ‘Europan 9′ results book (ISBN 2-914296-14-2, Europan Europe, Paris) and the ‘Europan 9 España’ book (ISBN 978-84-936462-7-1, Spanish Ministry of Housing, Europan España, Madrid).
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Lynn McMahon participated in the European Forum in Santiago de Compostela, Spain, which discussed the findings of Europan 9. The prize-winning project ‘Interactive Flexibility’ was exhibited at the Forum. This proposal for the development of Slatina Square in Opatija, Croatia, was included in the ‘Public and Private Spaces’ discussion.
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The concept of ‘Interactive Flexibility’ is about creating an environment in which the inhabitants of the town can define the space that is to be created for them, giving them a level of control that they usually only experience in their private lives. The square is conceived as a space in which various pieces of recessed urban furniture – seats, tables, market stalls, fountains or street lamps – can be brought up to ground level when required.
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Architecture can become manifest in many different ways. It can modify the character of a place, create incredible spaces with intricate programmes, represent power, or even be a product developed for a market. However, it can as always be understood for its simplest use, like the Laugier primitive hut.
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Soria is a small city in north-central Spain. Long ago, its location along the Duero River was strategic for defense. But, with the passing of time, Soria abandoned the valley as a priority in the city’s development. As the Duero River passed through Soria in its early life, Soria has grown to reject passing through the Duero. In order to persuade the city to be part of the extraordinary landscape of the riversides, the area has to be revitalized and new activities must be developed to programmatically diversify the Duero without affecting the environment.
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Most of the 12,000 families living in Soria work in shops and small businesses. Therefore, a dense network of close social relationships, as described in Italo Calvino’s Invisible City, forms everyday life. The invisible Soria is a changing network and its nodes are its inhabitants moving around the city. They create or break connections, and they modify the web every day and every hour while the physical city, its buildings, streets and squares remain immobile. The strategy for revitalizing the Duero riverside is to extend the city that we cannot see and encourage social flows to the river by mobile nodes. To do this, minimal and flexible support must be introduced for activities to be developed: architecture reduced to its essence. |
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The nest-shelters are prefabricated modular units that can be combined in a variety of ways. They are flexible and reusable, so they can be adapted to any requirement. Users can assemble their own nest-shelter, extend it, divide it or recycle it. Placed on the ground with a built-in stabilizing base, they are well suited to any terrain, they blend into the environment using minimum resources and they do not require more infrastructure than the existing one, so they can stay forever or disappear without a trace.
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Architecture is reduced in size, but its essence is the same, it serves as support for human activities. It colonizes an area and it has to be chameleon-like and versatile, a plug and play architecture.
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Luis was recently invited to lecture at the Valladolid School of Architecture in Spain. His contribution dealt with small-scale projects, versatile enough to be used at a variety of sites, and which, under some conditions, would assist regeneration.
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The self-sufficient house ‘Harvest Home’ has been given an award in the ‘2nd Advanced Architecture Contest’, an international competition organized by the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia.
The house has been designed for use in the Cauca valley, Colombia, which lies between the Occidental and Central mountain chains. The main construction material is bamboo, which grows naturally and in abundance in the area, and is ideal for the purpose. Whilst ‘Harvest Home’ is an experimental house, it is based on a traditional layout. It has a central fireplace, with a lower floor for daytime use, an upper floor for the night. Its slender structure rises above the valley’s vegetation but, because of its organic nature, blends in perfectly with it. The bamboo shell, interwoven with wicker mesh, creates a hard-wearing structure.
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The competition jury singled out “the hybridization of a light two-storey construction system, the functional layout around the chimney, and the adherence to principles of traditional architecture.”
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Possibly the first idea of limit in the historic city was defined by its own walls, which were systematically exceeded and rebuilt to maintain a defensive system. When traditional space evolves and becomes overgrown, urbanism emerges as a discipline, the city is transformed and its limit transforms with it. The increase in population and industry has changed the scale of our cities and growth has been reflected in a new organization. The space we live in, where our social activities take place, expands and is inescapably fragmented while a new infrastructure connects the pieces. The city mutates into a system made by separate but interconnected zones, with each zone having a hierarchy and its own identity derived from topographical or social dynamics. It is a system of parts forming a whole.
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The size of the parts and their formation as a unit is essential to define the limit of the city. When the growth surpasses the ideal size for interaction between its inhabitants, division is used as a tool to understand social relationships and territory. Systems put in place to connect the parts of this multifunctional urban fabric present the city as an abstraction of fragmentation. Cities become a vast territory composed of known fragments. Public transportation is indicative of this since, following a network diagram, we can quickly traverse a city by subway to take part in activities without membership to a territory. |
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The limit of the contemporary city is therefore abstract and non-physical; it is not linked to where suburbs begin. Outskirts are no more than a fluctuating space, a mixed use dispersed fabric where the physical limit of the city is speculated on. The metropolis is, however, interested with its inhabitants and their relationships in connection to a place. In this sense, interactions are becoming longer in space and shorter in time. Aside from urban mobility, telecommunications have become invisible meeting points that are replacing spaces traditionally provided by the city for commerce and encounter. Many of the social relations in the city have transcended spatial barriers. The contemporary city has exceeded its limit.
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