the work at: Studio One -- Architecture and the Technology Artifact.

82 Pages·2013·29.17 MB·English

STUDIO ONE
ARCHITECTURE AND THE
TECHNOLOGICAL ARTIFACT
Special thanks to Tom Buresh – Chair of the Department of Architecture, Marco
Cenzatti – Professor of Architecture, Luisa Caldas – Professor of Architecture, the
CED Fabrication Shop Staff, Chris Plamer, Patty Mead, James Guard, Luxology, Joe
Gouig, Chris Williams, Ehren Tool, Bryan Allen, and each of the guest critics invited
to Studio One reviews.
© Tom Buresh, Ronald Rael, and the Regents of the University of California. University of California, Berkeley
Designed and edited by Shawn Swisher and Ronald Rael. Department of Architecture
All rights reserved. Studio One 2012–2013
No part of this may be reproduced without written permission of the publishers. Ronald Rael
Associate Professor of Architecture
CONTENTS
6 FOREWORD : UNNATURAL ARCHITECTURE
9 SHANSHAN SHE
OBJECTS IN PLACE
21 RUI HOU
WOMB OF AFTER LIFE
37 SEONG KOO LEE
UNNATURAL MUTUALISM
51 ELLI KOUTSELOS
-(CH -CH )-
2 2
67 YIXIAO WANG
FABRIC CITY UNDER WATER
83 LIJIN ZHU
STARTUP-ITECTURE
99 SETH BARNARD
THE DUMPING GROUNDS
117 SHAWN SWISHER
THE LONG LINE
129 MARY ENGLUND
OF TOXIC WASTE
141 ALEX YEH
CENTER FOR ECOLOGY AND RECREATION
151 ELEFTHERIA STAVRIDI
CYCLES OF WATER AND LIGHT AT SUTRO BATHS
RONALD RAEL
FOREWORD : UNNATURAL ARCHITECTURE
Vernacular architecture is defined as a category of building in- landscapes of the bay are also artifacts that challenge our per-
formed by localized needs and materials in response to the envi- ception of the bay as a natural landscape and the ecologies and
ronmental, cultural, technological and historical context in which technologies that have emerged in the Bay Area are increasing-
it exists. In contrast to the vernacular, modernity saw these ly synthetic (e.g. Google maps, iPhone, pop-up shops, Burning
forms of making as outdated and pushed to employ contempo- Man, etc.).
rary materials that reflected an international vocabulary. Critical
regionalism, as theorized by Kenneth Frampton and others, pos- As H. G. Wells stated in his 1905 fiction, A Modern Utopia, “Man
ited a counter argument to the placelessness and lack of iden- is the unnatural animal, the rebel child of nature, and more and
tity in modern architecture by considering the buildings geo- more does he turn himself against the harsh and fitful hand that
graphical context. Today, we are encountering a new paradigm reared him.” The work herein poses an inquiry into this historical
in contemporary architectural practice: digital design and com- rebellious relationship between man and nature through the de-
puter aided manufacturing. While one might consider vernacu- sign of a Center for Unnatural Ecology in the dynamic landscape
lar architecture, modernism and the digital movement as a linear that is the San Francisco Bay Area, out of the materials available
sequence of technological progression, digital manufacturing is in the bay area, while engaging the ecologies of the bay (from
simultaneously challenging architects to think much more criti- technological ecologies to the social, geographic, geologic and
cally about the localized contexts and the selection and perfor- biological). The work focuses on contextual explorations that
mance of materials that evolved in vernacular architecture, while demand architectural responses to a series of unnatural land-
embracing the technological advancements of a movement, as scapes that were sites of production and transformation, but
did modernity in the face of the industrial revolution. are currently landscapes latent with unseen potential—sites that
may engender possibilities to rethink the making of architectural
The San Francisco Bay area could be seen as an epicenter of space through a contemporary rethinking of Bay Area materi-
technological advancements on the planet and the ecological als through the lens of digital manufacturing techniques that
history of the San Francisco Bay is wrought with human trans- demonstrate architectural experimentation at multiple scales.
formation. Its natural history can be seen as highly unnatural,
from mining, salt production, wood harvesting, urbanization,
dredging and restoration, and the landscape of the Bay is a cul-
tural artifact, a term used in the social sciences that describes
anything created by humans that gives information about the
culture of its creator and users. The natural sciences defines the
term artifact differently—any error in the perception or repre-
sentation of any visual or aural information introduced by the
involved equipment or techniques. In a sense, the disrupted
6
SHANSHAN SHE PLACELESSNESS
As geographer Edward Relph suggests, placelessness arises
OBJECTS IN
from kitsch—an uncritical acceptance of mass values, or tech-
nique—the overriding concern with efficiency as an end in itself.
The overall impact of these two forces is the “undermining of
place for both individuals and cultures, and the casual replace-
ment of the diverse and significant places of the world with
PLACE anonymous spaces and exchangeable environments”.
With the existing dynamic landscape in San Francisco Bay Area,
contemporary digital design paradigm and local computer aid-
ed manufacturing technology, the issue of placelessness in this
urban environment were addressed in two ways: the creating of
full-scale technological architectural objects that can be hand-
made and crafted, mass produced and mass-customized; the
exploration of how these objects will emerge in a unnatural
place and finally form the image of a building.
OBJECTS
Digital designed and manufactured object undoubtedly will en-
hance the identity of itself and the place it emerges from, but
limited its application in a larger context. For me, a “critical
acceptance of mass value” is embracing the technological ad-
vancement in digital manufacturing while providing possibility
for mass production.
PLACE
The site of this project is located in San Francisco salt ponds, a
place that opens architecture to material improvisation. The pro-
cess of salt production cycle sheds light on how the designed
architectural objects can emerge from the site—by continuous-
ly exchanging materials with the site. The diversity and signifi-
cance of the place were addressed through the response of the
history, industry culture and future development of this unnat-
ural ecology.
8 9
OBJECTS_digital manufactured ceramic components
stacking-assembly
The basic geometry of the component is designed as a simple
continuous surface which allows the component to be easily
produced by methods of slip casting, 3d printing or one time
forming.
stacking-assembly
The making of ceramic components employing the CNC manu-
facturing technology and slip-casting technique. 150 pieces of
hanging-assembly
ceramic were produced in 7days.
Pattern variations and assembly tectonic systems were explored
to investigate the components’ architectural potential as build-
ing enclosure, skin and space. A system of differential repeti-
tion becomes a means of exploring the potential assemblies and
their performances. The tectonic systems included range from
the very practical to the speculative.
tectonic system of hanging-assembly
10 11
While the ceramic pieces are de-
signed for mass production, the
parametric assemblies are de-
signed for customized produc-
tion by digital manufacturing
methods. The basic component
were redesigned by connecting
two pieces as one, thus enhance
the performance of the assem-
bly variations.
Possible applications in architecture (as building enclosure, interior wall, installation, ceiling, skin etc.)
Fabricate in components & inner connections Fabricate in layers & assembly on site
12 13
PLACE_San Francisco salt ponds
Site strategy: creating micro ponds
Salt growing experiment on different materials
The San Francisco salt ponds were created and altered over the
past 150 years. Initially, broad flat salt marsh was reclaimed and
changed into salt ponds. Ponds are interconnected, moving bay
Currently, salt ponds restoration projects is undergoing with most of San Francisco salt ponds. This project
water and brine through the ponds as the salinity is gradually
proposed a way to maintain a part of this historical artificial landscape and its unnatural ecology system by
increased. The vivid colors were created by microorganisms that
keeping and transforming a pond into a smaller scale of this ecology system. Buildings will emerge along
change their hues as the salinity of the pond increases. The site
the micro ponds and exchange the material of salt with its surroundings.
is in constant flux of color, the salinity of salt, the flow of sea
water. The program focused on the study of how the designed
Salt growing on 3D printed ceramic objects
architectural assemblies can embed in this context.
Except in forms of sea water and crystal, salt can emerge in an
expressive way by growing on objects. Experiments on ceramic
pieces as building components, exploring the methods and prin-
ciples of producing this phenomenon. Results showed that salt
emerges near the area that most effectively exposed to the air.
Salt growing with different patterns on ceramic component
14 15
Salt growing on ceramics
16 17
18 19