The final interface
About the magical moment of form creation.
Author
Rinus van den Berg
This paper presents results of an architectural research regarding public Brazilian social housing production. Its goal was to evaluate the design, technological-constructive, economic and management feasibility of producing, as well as the financial feasibility for dwellers to access a more adequate dwelling, in light of the Open Building approach. The investigation arises from two issues: [1] spatial rigidity of units and buildings and [2] the absence of dwellers in the decision- making process once currently this producton is the result of the exclusive partnership between State and Market. Besides the inadequacy when meeting families’ housing needs, the current rate of housing production is low compared to the predominant housing provision performed by the Autoconstruction. This paper demonstrates that Habraken’s Supports Theory is, as a counterpoint, an effective way of reconciling the contradictions mentioned and replacing the obsolete paradigm with a new interweaving of Autoconstruction and State/Market production traditions and possibilities. Based on the distinction between the levels of decision-making, collective decisions (manifested in a Support or Base Building) and decisions respecting the autonomy of individual dwellings (Infill or Fit-out), the Open Building approach solves simultaneously, and interdependently, the physical, but also social and political problems identified in the research.
This paper presents results of an architectural research regarding public Brazilian social housing production. Its goal was to evaluate the design, technological-constructive, economic and management feasibility of producing, as well as the financial feasibility for dwellers to access a more adequate dwelling, in light of the Open Building approach. The investigation arises from two issues: [1] spatial rigidity of units and buildings and [2] the absence of dwellers in the decision- making process once currently this producton is the result of the exclusive partnership between State and Market. Besides the inadequacy when meeting families’ housing needs, the current rate of housing production is low compared to the predominant housing provision performed by the Autoconstruction. This paper demonstrates that Habraken’s Supports Theory is, as a counterpoint, an effective way of reconciling the contradictions mentioned and replacing the obsolete paradigm with a new interweaving of Autoconstruction and State/Market production traditions and possibilities. Based on the distinction between the levels of decision-making, collective decisions (manifested in a Support or Base Building) and decisions respecting the autonomy of individual dwellings (Infill or Fit-out), the Open Building approach solves simultaneously, and interdependently, the physical, but also social and political problems identified in the research.
This paper presents results of an architectural research regarding public Brazilian social housing production. Its goal was to evaluate the design, technological-constructive, economic and management feasibility of producing, as well as the financial feasibility for dwellers to access a more adequate dwelling, in light of the Open Building approach. The investigation arises from two issues: [1] spatial rigidity of units and buildings and [2] the absence of dwellers in the decision- making process once currently this producton is the result of the exclusive partnership between State and Market. Besides the inadequacy when meeting families’ housing needs, the current rate of housing production is low compared to the predominant housing provision performed by the Autoconstruction. This paper demonstrates that Habraken’s Supports Theory is, as a counterpoint, an effective way of reconciling the contradictions mentioned and replacing the obsolete paradigm with a new interweaving of Autoconstruction and State/Market production traditions and possibilities. Based on the distinction between the levels of decision-making, collective decisions (manifested in a Support or Base Building) and decisions respecting the autonomy of individual dwellings (Infill or Fit-out), the Open Building approach solves simultaneously, and interdependently, the physical, but also social and political problems identified in the research.
An example from a design studio course for third-year undergraduate students at Fatih Sultan Mehmet University in Istanbul. The attempt was to bring the notion of “nominal classes” observed by Habraken in his book: Transformation of the Site, with mud construction to design a Support for low-income residents.
An example from a design studio course for third-year undergraduate students at Fatih Sultan Mehmet University in Istanbul. The attempt was to bring the notion of “nominal classes” observed by Habraken in his book: Transformation of the Site, with mud construction to design a Support for low-income residents.
An example from a design studio course for third-year undergraduate students at Fatih Sultan Mehmet University in Istanbul. The attempt was to bring the notion of “nominal classes” observed by Habraken in his book: Transformation of the Site, with mud construction to design a Support for low-income residents.
Designed by: İLAYDANUR AZAKLI
A moment in the life of a building
Today, Cable Factory is one of the major cultural centres of Helsinki. Focusing on the years 1989-91 when the industrial monument was in peril, architect Pia Ilonen reflects on the dialectic of use and vacancy, emptiness and appropriation, exploring the transformational cultural potential of free, underdefined space.
Societies are usually built up like spatial/social tree structures. But some links are missing here between the scale level of the neighborhood and the individual house. Streets can do the job, but are not fit for it, because the scale is too big and the social meaning is ignored. In the essay I want to show how the gap between the neighborhood and the individual house can be filled with spatial scale levels that have a social meaning. An approach in which different kinds of cohousing can emerge, an approach in which future inhabitants can have an emancipated role in the design process.
In cohousing most important is involvement. Not only between residents and the built environment. Both kinds of involvement come together in the design process.
Based on my experience that started in the seventies I developed a design process, ‘Field and Volume’ in which residents can take part and invent their project.
How would you like to live?. What does your dreamhouse look like?
Would it be possible to make your own apartment?
BlackJack is an energy efficient eleven story high building with maximum glass, maximum light, maximum view, maximum size of balconies, extra inside height, maximum freedom in choosing the size, facade and layout of your own dwelling. A bright, sober and sturdy building designed with attention and care in the details. BlackJack is an exercise making an cost- and energy- efficient apartment building with maximum freedom, public participation and flexibility for house-owners, now and in the future.
To achieve this the carcass is made of prefab concrete columns and fontanel walls which makes it possible to combine or separate units very easy. The façade has a predetermined building system but the layout is determined by each buyer. Each floor has an over dimensioned amount of facilities like a fuse box, doorbell, underfloor heating unit, front door etc. In the upper layer of every floor there is an intelligent pipeline system installed making all imaginable layouts possible. These measures gives people the opportunity to choose their own size and layout of their dwelling. This makes it also possible to have an office at home with own entrance, merge, divide and change the use in the future.
The building consists of 80% residentials and 20% commercial units. All buyers, both private or business became member of the cooperative association. The cooperative is also the client.
With each owner individually we developed a tailor made design and floorplan. Hereby all houses are unique. The often free floorplans deviate from what is known as a standard in housing floorplan. This is not invented in advance but arose from the wishes of the clients and the unique opportunities that were possible.
This project is located in the town center of Zevenaar (32000). It incorporates 169 support-infill apartments for elderly, a parking garage for 86 cars and a nucleus of 46 nursing rooms, designed for assisted and intramural care giving, a restaurant, a kitchen, a chapel, a theater, a shop and a library.
The Pelgromhof has been developed in the rental sector by the local housing association ‘Baston Wonen’, previously ASWZ, and the care foundation ‘Pelgrom’, today ‘Pleyade’. It was selected as ’National Model of Sustainable and Energy-efficient Construction’, nominated for the ‘Dutch Building Award’, became finalist of the ‘World Habitat Awards 2004’, and received the ‘Experimental Status’ of the Dutch government.
Superlofts is a revolutionary development & design model for hybrid co-housing communities that can radically improve the quality of cities and the way people live together.
Superlofts projects address people with unique lifestyles looking for personalised spaces and a new way of living in the contemporary city, where Creative Freedom, Social Inclusiveness, and Healthy living are the fundamental values. The Superlofts concept provides an open framework of action, avoiding the conformity of traditional housing. It creates a sense of communal urban living while providing the individuality that makes loft spaces so desirable.
Superlofts offers a 6m tall (19,7ft) raw-space in which you can customize or self-build your dream home. This provides the opportunity to match lifestyle and budget for a variety of unique users and attitudes from compact studios to XL penthouses and from affordable ‘do it yourself’ to turn-key luxury. Superlofts become a kind of ‘urban villages’ with very diverse types of dwellings and vibrant user communities. They attract a niche-market of urban pioneers to the urban fringe where they become catalysts of urban development.
Superlofts are radically flexible and thus resilient mixed-use buildings that can adapt over time to shifting trends and behavior. They are functionally hybrid buildings in which residential-, work- and ‘maker spaces’ blend into each other. They allow users to ‘grow into their home’ and make investments over time. They are based on a modular and prefab base-structure and flexible fit out system. This allows the interiors to be updated independently, tapping into the trend of healthy, circular and cradle to cradle building products. It supports a transition from ownership to leasing. Superlofts use the latest technologies in renewable energy, air purification, rainwater- and waste recycling and E-mobility. In Delft we go all electric, in Utrecht geothermal and solar; with each new site, we push the limits further.
Superlofts is initiated by Marc Koehler Architects [MKA] and is applied by local professional partners, developers and user-groups, who form a worldwide network. Superlofts works with focus-groups who participate in the decision-making process in an early stage, resulting in uniquely crafted spaces and resilient co-living communities. In some cities Superlofts projects have been crowdfunded by the future homeowners, in others, developers and investors have stepped in. The model has proven to be highly adaptable to different sites.
The Superlofts website connects Superlofts members in different projects worldwide providing a platform for exchanging ideas and inspiration in loft design, and green co-living. Superlofts is currently active in 7 countries. The flexibility of the open framework creates an opportunity to add common spaces or shared facilities at minimal costs. This creates social well-being while providing each homeowner with a unique chance to co-create and experience their own personalized home.
With several projects currently completed and much more in development in the Netherlands and abroad, Superlofts is the evolutionary and customizable co-housing concept of the future that will soon meet the targets of the Paris Agreement.
Please contact us for more info or to partner with us at www.superlofts.co/en
Best regards,
Marc Koehler, architect & founder of Superlofts
Inspired by our Keyenburg project in Rotterdam (1985) and the analytic study “Support Patterns for Enschede” the local housing association “Licht en Lucht” in Enschede decided to build a support/infill project near the city center. They chose for Open Building in order to respond better to the market by fixing the program just before building. Moreover to allow a change of dwelling sizes in the future. And of course they preferred free dwelling lay-outs for their occupants!
The project contains 229 rental units for singles, couples and families divided over 70 apartments in a high rise building, plus 61 flats and duplexes on street level and 98 flats and duplexes upstairs around two courtyards.
The local foundation for housing mediation (SWE) organized the infill sessions, led by two experienced architect-consultants of our Lunetten and Keyenburg projects.
After our earlier projects some new Open Building aspects had to be dealt with:
PATCH22, a 30m tall high-rise in wood, was one of the successful plans in the Buiksloterham Sustainability Tender in 2009. The initiators, the architect Tom Frantzen and building-manager Claus Oussoren,founded Lemniskade Projects to achieve independently what they had never been able to manage when working on commissions for their previous clients: an outsized wooden building with a great degree of flexibility, striking architecture and a high level of sustainability, not because that was what was required but because that is what ought to be done.
The project was developed for their own account and risk in the middle of the crisis years of 2009-2014, and innovative financing solutions were conceived and implemented to meet this challenge. The project also incorporates numerous innovations in the technology used and application of technical rules, all aimed at achieving the desired flexibility without having to make compromises. Examples include the hollow floors and removable top floor, the lack of shafts in the apartments — achieved by having the piping and cabling taken horizontally to central shafts in the core — and agreements for a fixed ground lease with flexible positioning of the functions within the building. But the most unusual feature is the use of a wood as the main structure for the 30m-tall building. Moreover, the wood has largely been left visible, making this a key factor in the ambience of the apartments and the exterior.
On a plot in the district ‘Zuidwijk’ of the city of Rotterdam 152 rental apartments have been built for singles and couples, young and elderly: 115 two-person units of 48,60 m2, 32 one-person units of 41,85 m2, and 5 larger MIVA units for disabled people, all spread around a courtyard in 2 blocks of three floors and 2 blocks of five.
The owner, housing association ‘Tuinstad Zuidwijk’, wanted a support structure to allow the change of small units into bigger ones later on, what happened in 2004. For the renters they wanted a free infill of their dwellings to favor different ways of living.
The Keyenburg project (1985) was quite different from our previous support-infill projects Molenvliet (1978) en Lunetten (1981). It had a particular focus on cost saving by a simple building construction, a new infill cost calculation and a stringent application of modular coordination (MC) including building metrology. It has been the first official pilot project of a new Dutch MC standard, the NEN 2883.
It also applied new tools in the process of design and participation. The full scale infill model of the Eindhoven University has now been utilized very realistic in a hall near the building site and the office where the user consultation took place. And above all, a new computer program related drawings directly to cost and rent calculation so that users could decide immediately about infill and rent.
This Open Building project has been built in the center area of ‘Lunetten’, a new district in the south-west of the city of Utrecht, the Netherlands. It includes 262 dwellings, 173 rooms and 360m2 office space. The urban tissue of the project was a follow up of the ‘Molenvliet’ tissue model in Papendrecht: a high density low-rise fabric around front and back courtyards. But Here in Utrecht the model has been applied in new way: not on one area, but on different locations, mixed with other projects: a shopping center, a community center, a school and a housing center for elderly. Access galleries of the last link directly with our housing blocs B and C so that elevators of the elderly can be used by disabled occupants of our project. Different architects worked together to realize this urban fabric.
The Tila housing block, comprising 39 loft apartments, is a pilot project for neo-loft apartments in Helsinki, Arabianranta. The concept is based on an open construction system: within the available building frame the resident determines and builds the required subdivisions. The flats are occupiable at the moment of purchase, but become completely habitable with the installation of kitchen furniture. The residents can build individual rooms or expand their flat with gallery-type spaces, because the height of the main space is five metres.
After years of practice I will present my experience with Open Building, based on the design principles of the Foundation for Architectural Research, SAR.12
I start with the project “Molenvliet” in Papendrecht, the Netherlands.
Adaptive buildings are green buildings. But the question is: how to measure green? A direct connection can be made between adaptive building and sustainability. Market developments show increased demands for flexibility and sustainability by users and owners as well as a growing understanding of the importance of a circular economy. Since 2014 a research project at the Delft University has been investigating the adaptive capacity of buildings. As one of the results several versions of an instrument to assess the adaptive capacity of buildings have been developed since. The last version FLEX 4.0, amongst others based on the support and infill theory of Habraken [1], is described in detail in this paper, including all flexibility key performance indicators, the different default weighting factors, their assessment values and some examples to determine the flexibility class of buildings. This paper thus presents a complete assessment instrument that can be used in practice.
© 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
Peer-review under responsibility of the organizing committee of the SBE16 Tallinn and Helsinki Conference.
Bart Reuser is partner of Amsterdam-based NEXT architects. In the book Seoulutions he presents a temporary record of the continuous transformation of the Hongdae district in Seoul, a creative hotspot with a young and diverse population.
While the booklet is a search for the driving forces behind unique urban solutions, it also pays tribute to a dynamic city. Reuser experiences the city from the inside and analyses its organisation, not to mention the ongoing process of change occurring within Hongdae, both on a spatial and programmatic level. Through numerous drawings, photos, local insight and entrepreneurial spirit, he outlines the fascinating lessons that can be learned.
As Reuser describes: “To visit Hongdae is great, but to come back is even better. Only the person who comes back to Hongdae sees the speed in which this district transforms and is witness of the special relation it has with something as intangible as time. That became my fascination. Not the city itself, but the changes it goes through.”
The book is available for sale at the BNA website >> http://www.bna.nl/product/freestyle-02-seoulutions/
More information about SEOULUTIONS>> http://www.nextarchitects.com/en/projects/seoulutions?c=research
DLVZ/ studio has narrowed an existing building down to a width of 70 cm.
The township of Berkel Rodenrijs is part of a larger municipality called Landsingerland. It is now the location of a large urban development named Westpolder Bolwerk.
The plan discussed here is part of that development. It offers an urban environment with 1500 dwelling units and two primary schools. The already executed part of it comprises more than a thousand inhabited dwelling units while the last phase is in the preparatory stage.
We were asked to realise a “village – like” environment within a growing middle large town.
“Village – like” meaning: Small scale. Identifiable as a particular location. Making people feel secure. Showing coherent variety.
Java Island is a narrow peninsula in the Eastern Harbour District of Amsterdam that was built in 1900 for the mooring of large ocean-going ships. When the port activities shifted westwards, this harbour became gradually redundant and Amsterdam decided to transform the Eastern Harbour District into a residential area.
Sydhavnen is the southern harbour district of Copenhagen, located south of the historic city. With Java Island in Amsterdam as an example, Sjoerd Soeters was asked by the Municipality of Copenhagen to make a plan for the transformation of Sydhavnen into a residential area. This plan consists entirely of city blocks, situated so as to be oriented toward the water on all sides.
During the past few decades, what is now formally known as open building has progressed through several stages. Initially, Open Building constituted a set of speculative principles and aspirations that led to research, followed by a number of built projects in several countries. In the second stage, open building began to be initiated by clients asking for open buildings – certainly in office and retail markets where this practice has long been conventional and unremarkable – but increasingly in housing and healthcare facilities in a number of countries. In the third stage, open building came to be public policy. During all these stages, research (in academia, government and industry) and teaching has continued on a wide range of open building issues – including design methods, finance, technology, and user engagement.
A group of senior citizens formed a housing company and
applied to the City of Helsinki for the right to rent a site in
the new Jätkäsaari area. Jätkäsaari is close to the center of
Helsinki and surrounded by the sea. These kind of initiatives
are highly welcomed by the city. The senior citizens financed
the project by themselves since banks refused to give
mortgage for an unfinished construction of this type. The
housing company hired a project manager and the design
team. First they decided on the common spaces – they
wanted to have more than is usual to apartment buildings.
The architects designed an adaptable building, where the size
of some of the units could be altered. For each unit several
floor plan options were created to act as a starting point for
individual design. Every household met the architect once or
twice and their unit was tailored for them. The building costs
and total costs for the occupants were considerably lower
than the price of condominiums sold in the area
Kaivomäki is situated in the Leppävaara district of Espoo. It is a combination of
sheltered elderly housing and independent small rental units for senior citizens.
In sheltered elderly housing each occupant has a spacious room with bathroom.
Kitchen, dining and living room are common and personnel are present 24/7. The
building is adaptable so that each floor can be either elderly housing or independent
units and changed to the other with renovation. Out of three elderly rooms two
independent units can be made. The spatial structure allows the change also during
use, but ventilation systems were not designed for the change. However, during
design we had to change some floors from one to the other since there was more
demand for independent units. This kind of combined house is new and brings the
benefit that the personnel can also offer services for the senior citizens should they
need them. The project was awarded for the use of color in the facades. (The floor
plan below is with the independent units).
A social housing project situated on a hilltop in the new Viikinmäki residental
area in Helsinki, Finland. The access to most of the apartments is via
semi-private open corridors surrounding a common yard. Each
dwelling has living spaces on both sides of the building, the kitchen
connected to the access corridor with a private glazed veranda
and a patio, the other rooms opening towards the views over
the landscape, with French balconies. The project was awarded
an honorary mention by the City of Helsinki Office of Building
Permits for its innovative concept on a difficult site.
Infill Systems are nothing more than well-organized packages of available products, prepared off-site for rapid fit-out in empty spaces in a building.
They are specified, budgeted and contracted one-dwelling-unit at a time. Their specification can be made by the provider (developer) or by the end-user.
Infill Systems are effective in repositioning older buildings for residential occupancy, or for quickly and quietly upgrading individual units one-at-a-time in an occupied building.
Infill Systems are also effective in new construction where speed-to-market is critical: construction of the base building can proceed before decisions are made about number and layout of dwelling units, meaning that decisions about the target market (or custom sales to individual buyers) can be deferred without risk.
Buildings are made for people. In the post-war period of time it was the idea of collective and stable identities of groups of people that dominated our thinking in design. The results were mono-functional and rigid buildings and areas. Nowadays this idea has been left. We realize that we have to deal with an individualized and dynamic demand, due to large demographic changes and to technological developments. This has an enormous impact on the existing built environment. Because this existing stock satisfies more than 99% of existing and new demand for all kinds of housing. Open building is based on this point of view of ever changing individual demand. Therefore the future of open building resides in the renovation and transformation of the existing built environment.
Almost 80 students who are at the third grade of the Architectural Department enjoyed the Design Play 1 and 5 at the Shibaura Institute of Technology in Tokyo. They first made hand writing in the class spending about 20 minutes followed by the explanation of the constructor, Professor Minami. The illustrations in the book of “Conversations with Forms” and some drawings by the instructor were shown as a guidance. After the class students spend a couple of weeks to explore their studies using the Sketch Up as their home works. Some students have no experience to use the Sketch Up before so it took some time to start the Plays. Professor Minami told the students there is no right nor wrong answer for the Design Plays and that students can just develop their design skills by enjoying the Plays. You can see the varieties of our students’ works. This is just the beginning of our students’ works.
Almost 80 students who are at the third grade of the Architectural Department enjoyed the Design Play 1 and 5 at the Shibaura Institute of Technology in Tokyo. They first made hand writing in the class spending about 20 minutes followed by the explanation of the constructor, Professor Minami. The illustrations in the book of “Conversations with Forms” and some drawings by the instructor were shown as a guidance. After the class students spend a couple of weeks to explore their studies using the Sketch Up as their home works. Some students have no experience to use the Sketch Up before so it took some time to start the Plays. Professor Minami told the students there is no right nor wrong answer for the Design Plays and that students can just develop their design skills by enjoying the Plays. You can see the varieties of our students’ works. This is just the beginning of our students’ works.
Almost 80 students who are at the third grade of the Architectural Department enjoyed the Design Play 1 and 5 at the Shibaura Institute of Technology in Tokyo. They first made hand writing in the class spending about 20 minutes followed by the explanation of the constructor, Professor Minami. The illustrations in the book of “Conversations with Forms” and some drawings by the instructor were shown as a guidance. After the class students spend a couple of weeks to explore their studies using the Sketch Up as their home works. Some students have no experience to use the Sketch Up before so it took some time to start the Plays. Professor Minami told the students there is no right nor wrong answer for the Design Plays and that students can just develop their design skills by enjoying the Plays. You can see the varieties of our students’ works. This is just the beginning of our students’ works.
Almost 80 students who are at the third grade of the Architectural Department enjoyed the Design Play 1 and 5 at the Shibaura Institute of Technology in Tokyo. They first made hand writing in the class spending about 20 minutes followed by the explanation of the constructor, Professor Minami. The illustrations in the book of “Conversations with Forms” and some drawings by the instructor were shown as a guidance. After the class students spend a couple of weeks to explore their studies using the Sketch Up as their home works. Some students have no experience to use the Sketch Up before so it took some time to start the Plays. Professor Minami told the students there is no right nor wrong answer for the Design Plays and that students can just develop their design skills by enjoying the Plays. You can see the varieties of our students’ works. This is just the beginning of our students’ works.
A facade system for shop houses was designed using elements taken from traditional shop fronts in Taiwan.
Students of National Cheng Kung University under my guidance conducted the design, which was part of the planned development project commissioned by the Housing and Urban Development Bureau of Taiwan central government in 1981
This DesignPlay was done before computers were used in design. It was done by Christina Gryboyianni, partner at De-Ar Architects, Athens, but at that time student at MIT. The play is also shown in the book “Conversations with Form” which I did with Andrés Mignucci and Jonathan Teicher, where it is Play Three of the seven plays featured in it. For the sake of clarity in lay-out Christina’s play was redrawn there, but in this site we have room for the coloured freehand drawings by which this play was submitted originally. This allows us to appreciate the rendered stages as a kind of thinking out loud while the designer moves on in her conversation with the form. We can read how she comsiders in a particular phase what options are available, what is still missing and why she decides on a next move.
After 25 years of practice, I was one of three architects invited to propose a scheme for the renovation of the inner harbour area of the town of Katwijk in the Netherlands, an area close to the town centre. The municipality of Katwijk was the client working in close cooperation with three local building companies and a national bank as investor.
They asked for an integrated plan for a large number of dwelling units combined with facilities like retail space and other commercial space and sufficient parking.
My plan was unanimously preferred after one meeting because it combined two important aspects.
This post shows results of DesignPlay Five as stated in the book “Conversations with Form” done by graduate students at Shibaura Institute of Technology in a quick workshop after a brief introduction. The students enjoyed the playing.The plays are shown unaltered and without selection. I show them as such because it seems an interesting opportunity for the students to get comments from other students as well as teachers from different places. Which is the purpose of this site.
I therefore invite you to add comments and tell us which plays you rate as most interesting and please tell us why you think so.
This post shows results of DesignPlay Four as stated in the book “Conversations with Form” done by graduate students at Shibaura Institute of Technology in a quick workshop after a brief introduction. The students enjoyed the playing.The plays are shown unaltered and without selection. I show them as such because it seems an interesting opportunity for the students to get comments from other students as well as teachers from different places. Which is the purpose of this site.
I therefore invite you to add comments and tell us which plays you rate as most interesting and please tell us why you think so.
This post shows results of DesignPlay Three as stated in the book “Conversations with Form” done by graduate students at Shibaura Institute of Technology in a quick workshop after a brief introduction. The students enjoyed the playing. The plays are shown unaltered and without selection. I show them as such because it seems an interesting opportunity for the students to get comments from other students as well as teachers from different places. Which is the purpose of this site.
I therefore invite you to add comments and tell us which plays you rate as most interesting and please tell us why you think so.
This post shows results of DesignPlay Two as stated in the book “Conversations with Form” done by graduate students at Shibaura Institute of Technology in a quick workshop after a brief introduction. The plays are shown unaltered and without selection. I show them as such because it seems an interesting opportunity for the students to get comments from other students as well as teachers from different places. Which is the purpose of this site.
I therefore invite you to add comments and tell us which plays you rate as most interesting and please tell us why you think so.
This post shows results of DesignPlay One as stated in the book “Conversations with Form” done by graduate students at Shibaura Institute of Technology in a quick workshop after a brief introduction. The plays are shown unaltered and without selection. I show them as such because it seems an interesting opportunity for the students to get comments from other students as well as teachers from different places. Which is the purpose of this site.
I therefore invite you to add comments and tell us which plays you rate as most interesting and please tell us why you think so.
This is just the first example of the students’ works of my class. Now almost 100 undergraduate and graduate students of Shibaura Institute of Technology Tokyo are enjoying the Design Play.
This site is intended to facilitate an exchange among those of us who want to cultivate attractive and healthy everyday environments. To be successful we need new knowledge and new skills. These have to do with the issues mentioned in the home page: Change over time; Distribution of design tasks and relations with other designers – those who acted before us, those we share a site with , and those who will act after us; Sharing values with those who we relate to.
These issues are not generally discussed, or studied, or taught in schools. The site seeks to serve those who do so nevertheless, and offers a forum for an international exchange.
In the book titled “Conversations with Form the idea of ‘DesignPlay’ is introduced and seven different examples are given in increasing complexity. These plays are basically solo plays that you can do to develop your skills in form making. In it, form transformation is considered as the basis for form making.
In the book “Conversations with Form” designPlay 7 is about the combination of different systems, stacked one upon the other into a coherent whole. For an introduction into the ramifications of this way of combining forms made from different systems and for varied examples of such combinations, see the book as mentioned.
In most cases the stacking is controlled by a single designer but this kind of systemic combination lends itself for an exciting and challenging designPlay as well. The attached pdf file introduces this particular interactive play.
See post in category ‘plays’ titled “The Silent Game; an interactive DesignPlay” here the entire play is done with nails of different sizes. These nails were part of a larger collection of pieces like washers and parts of clothespins that are readily available in any hardware store and ready to play with.
The library here gives these parts in SketchUp format. Playing with the real things is by far the fastest way, but if you want to convey the various stages of a play, or want to play with a partner who is elsewhere on the globe, the library here is ready for use.
You will also find a few differently coloured slabs that we had made when the game was new. They can be used for an alternative library or be mixed with the hardware parts.
The SketchUp document with this post gives the base form for Play One, Zones of Transition: suggested on page 46 of the book “Conversations with Form, A workbook for Students of architecture” In this post the dimensions of the base form are given in feet and inches.
Under the category ‘base forms’ you will find base forms in SketchUp format in both meters/cm. and feet/inches for all the seven plays in the SWF book as well as for all the plays newly introduced in this site. Click category ‘plays’ for an overview of the plays available on this site.
This post introduces an example Play where the base form is the ruin of an old Portuguese farmhouse and the player is asked not to alter the ruin other than add to it with contemporary materials and components to make a coherent whole. As usuals with DesignPlays no ‘program’ is given but the capacity for possible use should emerge from the form itself. The particular play example shown here touches on the issue of the combination of two or more architectural systems, each under control of a different designer. The challenge is to arrive at a coherent whole, where the handling of each of the systems is doing justice to its characteristic properties. In this case we have an interaction between designers who are separated in time and whereas the last designer must respect and enhance what is left of the earlier design.
A SketchUp model of the ruin is available under the category ‘baseforms’.
Casa Alenquer in Portugal (2001) was designed by architect Aires Mateus. It is situated in the ruin of a ancient stone farmhouse, of which only walls were left, in such a way that it occupies the space between the walls, but in such a way that the new structure never touches the old one. In the book “Conversations with Form” play 7 is about combining two very different systems into a coherent whole. the casa Alenquer shows a special way of doing so. (page 224-225)
Using a ruin as a baseform to be preserved in a new project is an interesting kind of play to do:
The attached pdf document gives a short biography of the Architects, Urban Designers, Educators and other professionals who have contributed posts to this site.
The Canton Bern (Switzerland) Office of Properties and Buildings has adopted a radically new approach to the acquisition of public facilities. Having been used in the design and delivery of more than twenty projects (healthcare, university academic buildings, prisons, residential living, etc.) the approach makes a distinct separation between the long-lasting part of each building (called the Primary System) from the more changeable parts (Secondary and Tertiary Systems). The first example was a very large hospital on the campus of the Inselspital Hospital in Bern – the INO. This is a report on that project. At the end of the report, information is provided on how readers can acquire a comprehensive report / evaluation of the projects, hosted by the client and attended by experts from several countries.
The birth of a residential FIT-OUT industry is just a matter of time. This new kind of industry will do its work INSIDE buildings—fitting them out for dwelling units, live-work spaces, or whatever the project allows in terms of possible mixed uses. This will be a specialized industry with companies that develop their place in the local culture and economic habits.
Teaching students of architecture an open building way of designing in a studio setting can be fruitful. To be even more fruitful, however, “warming – up” exercises are useful, but take time to do properly and are not an easy fit in the studio setting. This paper offers some examples of both open building studio projects and “warming-up” exercises given in the studio setting. It also offers comments on lessons learned over the years in teaching in such a way in architectural studios and argues for the development of courses specifically focused on “warming-up” design exercises, not only in support of open building but more generally. These may be most helpful if offered outside but supportive of the design studio. But such opportunities are rare, because “design skill” courses do not exist in architectural curricula.
This essay is drawn from my PhD dissertation titled “CONTROL OF PARTS: Parts Making in the Building Industry”, completed as part of my doctoral studies at MIT, 1990
I want to show a design study for a high density low-rise field based on the geography and related house typology of Ladakh, a province of Northern India sharing boundaries with Tibet, Pakistan, and China.
The design study was done by Solomon Benjamin student at MIT at the time and presently at the faculty of the Humanities and Social Sciences Department of the Indian Institute of Technology Madras, in India.
The SketchUp model connected to this post gives the first heavy form shown in the example of the Interactive Stacking Play shown in the post of that name. You can download the model and add your own light system to it. The model is given in meters and centimeters.
The SketchUp model connected to this post gives the first heavy form shown in the example of the Interactive Stacking Play shown in the post of that name. You can download the model and add your own light system to it. The model is given in feet and inches.
In this Hong Kong studio in 2012, we are asked to observe changes on Architecture elements in the city of Hong Kong and Harbin. While finish two of seventh thematic design plays in Professor Habraken’s new book “Conversations with Form, a workbook for students of architecture”
This Masters thesis proposes the transformation and extension of the Warehouse District in South Boston as a live / work neighbourhood.
This Masters thesis proposes the transformation and extension of the Warehouse District in South Boston as a live / work neighbourhood.
Everyday environments always have been highly thematic. We immediately recognise a Venetian Gothic Palace, an Amsterdam Canal House, A Georgian London Terraced House, or a Pompeiian Courtyard House as members of particular form families, inseparable parts of the urban fabrics that where shaped with them.
The Grunsfeld Variations
How do you organise a design team for a big project in and efficient manner while using fully the creative ability of the team members? This question led to a demonstration of six weeks in a summer workshop made possible thanks to a donation from the Ernest A. Grunsfeld Memorial Fund.
The subtitle of this small book is: “Four essays on the position designing takes between people ands things”.
Most things that we make and use cannot be identified with a single person as “the designer” as we know such a person today. They often are sophisticated and complex objects. The book is about how such objects emerge as the product of a social process of making and using.
With every design for collective housing a distinction needs to be made between the design for what is collective from the design of the individual dwelling units. This distribution of design responsibility has led toe the concepts of “base building” from and that of “fit-out”. The boundary between the two is not fixed for all cases but must be determined anew in each project. This separation of two design products can lead to a new kind of architecture.
The documentary `CASE STUDIES NL` is a research project that portrays a kaleidoscope of seven Dutch housing developments which all have adaptability and participation of the inhabitants as their core concepts.
With the aim of creating an energy-efficient, green, social and flexible urban living environment fit for the challenges of the 21st century and its demands, Osaka Gas commissioned the experimental residential complex `NEXT21` in Osaka in 1989 (completed in 1993).
The SketchUp document with this post gives the base forms for Play Six ‘Kahn-Herzberger Variations’ as suggested on page 166 of the book “Conversations with Form, a workbook for students of architecture” In this post the dimensions of the base form are given in meters and centimeters.
The SketchUp document with this post gives the base forms for Play Six ‘Kahn-Herzberger Variations’ as suggested on page 166 of the book “Conversations with Form, a workbook for students of architecture” In this post the dimensions of the base form are given in feet and inches.
The SketchUp document with this post gives the base form for Play Five, ‘Visualisation and Resilience, Don’t go back’: suggested on page 143 of the book “Conversations with Form, a workbook for Students of architecture” In this post the dimensions of the base form are given in meters and centimeters.
For a demonstration of how a section can be developed in a sequence of ‘section’ entities, see the post with the feet and inches version of this base form.
The SketchUp document with this post gives the base form for Play Five, ‘Visualisation and Resilience, Don’t go back’: suggested on page 143 of the book “Conversations with Form, A workbook for Students of architecture” In this post the dimensions of the base form are given in feet and inches.
This file also demonstrates how a section can be developed in a sequence of ‘section’ entities by sequentially copying the last one and transforming it.
The SketchUp document with this post gives the base form for Play Seven, ‘Stacking Systems’: suggested on page 202 of the book “Conversations with Form, A workbook for Students of architecture” In this post the dimensions of the base form are given in meters and centimeters.
The SketchUp document with this post gives the base forms for Play Seven, ‘Stacking Systems’: as suggested on page 202 of the book “Conversations with Form, A workbook for Students of architecture” In this post the dimensions of the base form are given in feet and inches.
The SketchUp document with this post gives the first base form for Play Four, ‘Designing in Cross Section; The Long House’: suggested on page 121 of the book “Conversations with Form, A workbook for Students of architecture” In this post the dimensions of the base form are given in meters and centimeters.
The SketchUp document with this post gives the base form for Play Three, ‘Designing in Longitudinal Section’: suggested on page 98 of the book “Conversations with Form, A workbook for Students of architecture” In this post the dimensions of the base form are given in feet and inches.
The SketchUp document with this post gives the base form for Play Three, ‘Designing in Longitudinal Section’: suggested on page 98 of the book “Conversations with Form, A workbook for Students of architecture” In this post the dimensions of the base form are given in meters and centimeters.
The SketchUp document with this post gives the base form for Play Two, ‘Articulating Exterior Building Form’: suggested on page 75 of the book “Conversations with Form, A workbook for Students of architecture” In this post the dimensions of the base form are given in feet and inches.
Once you have done with this base form, try one of your own.
The SketchUp document with this post gives the base form for Play Two, ‘Articulating Exterior Building Form’: suggested on page 75 of the book “Conversations with Form, A workbook for Students of architecture” In this post the dimensions of the base form are given in meters and centimeters.
Once you have done this play, think of a baseform of your own.
The SketchUp document with this post gives the base form for Play One, Zones of Transition: suggested on page 46 of the book “Conversations with Form, A workbook for Students of architecture” In this post the dimensions of the base form are given in meters and centimeters.
The SketchUp document with this post gives the base form for Play One, Zones of Transition: suggested on page 46 of the book “Conversations with Form, A workbook for Students of architecture” In this post the dimensions of the base form are given in feet and inches.
The SketchUp document with this post gives the second base form for Play Four, ‘Designing in Cross Section; Running roofs’: suggested on page 134 of the book “Conversations with Form, A workbook for Students of architecture” In this post the dimensions of the base form are given in feet and inches.
The SketchUp document with this post gives the second base form for Play Four, ‘Designing in Cross Section; Running roofs’: suggested on page 134 of the book “Conversations with Form, A workbook for Students of architecture” In this post the dimensions of the base form are given in meters and centimeters.
The SketchUp document with this post gives the first base form for Play Four, ‘Designing in Cross Section; The Long House’: suggested on page 121 of the book “Conversations with Form, A workbook for Students of architecture” In this post the dimensions of the base form are given in feet and inches.