VLC arquitectura. Research Journal

James Stirling: tradition and evolution of the artisan model maker (1948-1992)

2024-03-21T17:19:16+01:00

The representation of the architecture of James Stirling, a master in the use of graphic resources, is mainly characterized by the use of the fugal section and axonometric perspective. Consulting his documentary collection also confirms the existence of another recurring technique, although less known in his work: the construction of study models, which he used as spatial devices to help him better perceive the reality of the project. This text aims to carry out a chronological-evolutionary analysis of the implementation of this three-dimensional procedure in his professional work, from his first years of training to his association with Michael Wilford, stopping at those most representative models of each of his creative stages. The study will allow us to understand how, at the outset, the artisanal production of models was intrinsic and inseparable from their design work. After his international fame, participation in prestigious competitions, construction of large buildings and exhibitions of his work, would condition the execution of increasingly complex models. In the world of architecture, this procedure, together with the implementation of the newest and most effective 3D modeling technologies, irremediably led to the disappearance of the artisan model maker as a figure.

The pavilions that never were: Pietilä and the Nordic Pavilion at the Venice Biennale

2024-06-05T21:14:56+02:00

The beginning of Reima Pietilä’s career was defined by the success of his project for the Finnish Pavilion at the 1958 Brussels Exhibition, and characterised by compositional experiments based on modules. This international recognition led to his being invited to take part in the competition for the design of the Nordic Pavilion for the 1958 Venice Biennale. The first prize for design, awarded to the project by Sverre Fehn, obscured interest in all other proposals. The aim of this text is therefore to publicise the proposals drawn up by Reima Pietilä, placing them within a historical context where architecture would gradually leave behind the restrictive modular tracery for form based on the recognition of place. The analysis of the documentation found in the archive of Arkkitehtuurimuseo – the Museum of Finnish Architecture (MFA) has become a research tool for recognising the genealogy of the project, revealing different approaches to the competition which show Pietilä’s new interests. His proposals for Venice have revealed hitherto unseen approaches to the landscape which form the basis of his later work.

Limits of Design and Technique: Lina Bo Bardi Staircases

2024-08-20T17:41:42+02:00

Staircases, a part of architectural circulation and structure, can become a unique design value with the application technique that directs design and functionality. However, here, attention is drawn to the directive nature of the technique rather than its perception as a deterministic attitude in design. Bo Bardi’s architectonic approach has placed her in a distinguished position among modern architects. The effect of the architect’s staircase design and application technique on building tectonics is worth examining. Thus, this study aims to examine the staircases of Lina Bo Bardi, where design and technique are dissolved in integrity. Bo Bardi’s staircases were examined in terms of meaning, form, function, and technique, with classification for material use. In this context, unique situations were observed in the design and technical applications of reinforced concrete, wood, and metal materials used in stairs. The fact that the place, technique, and the architect’s thought guided the design turned the staircase into a symbolic value and has made the staircase the founding element of the space. This approach, which does not consider design and technique independently, creates a strong reference for today that structural elements such as stairs can be produced as symbols in space.

The use of precast concrete in the career of Román Jiménez. The beginning of mat-building in the city of Valencia

2024-10-22T14:16:02+02:00

The aim of this article is to analyze and relate two relevant precast concrete works in the career of architect Román Jiménez Iranzo: the building for the first phase of the Higher Polytechnic Institute, today known as the Higher Technical School of Building Engineering; and the Valencia Trade Fair. After the contextualization of both projects, the role of concrete as a conditioning factor in the ideation and construction process will be highlighted, on the one hand; and on the other, the early features of the design system that, later, Alison Smithson will define and consolidate as a mat-building system. Furthermore, this article paves the way to a specific avenue of research within the extensive work of architect Román Jiménez Iranzo.

The life of the old Seminary of Teruel

2024-01-31T17:03:43+01:00

The old Seminary of Teruel, a Baroque building dating from the middle of the 18th century, feature in the urban landscape of the city for almost two centuries. Its strategic position, in the north-west of the hill on which the town sits, and its imposing imprint marked the image from the most iconic and represented plain of the river Turia. Yet these same characteristics made it a fundamental enclave for the defence of the city, which unfortunately underwent numerous war conflicts that influenced the life of this building, until its ruin in the fateful Civil War, which had devastating consequences for Teruel. The proposed research acts on a very singular heritage, the one existing in a past time, studying and recovering its historical image. The fact that these buildings have disappeared does not mean that their revaluation should be neglected, as they are particularly susceptible to being forgotten. Research into the different existing sources, especially graphic sources, is an essential strategy for them to be returned to the collective memory as part of its identity.

Reconstrucción & Hogar y Arquitectura between 1940-1963. Two propaganda magazines related to the Regime

2024-10-04T12:38:35+02:00

Reconstrucción (Reconstruction) (1940-1956) and Hogar y Arquitectura (Home and Architecture) (1955-1977) are two magazines that collaborated with the Franco regime in different stages of the Spanish post-war period. The first was linked to the Directorate General of Devastated Regions (DGRD in Spanish ) and the second was created by the initiative of the Trade Union of Home and Architecture (OSHA in Spanish). Both shared common goals, among them reporting the projects and works promoted by the aforementioned using architecture as a propaganda instrument, to show the achievements of the Regime. Given the importance of visual information for dissemination and taking into account the character printed by the editors in the magazines - Gonzalo de Cárdenas and Francisco de Asís Cabrero, respectively - the article studies its different communication styles, mainly through graphic content. A period of study is defined between 1940 and 1963, focusing on the first stage of Hogar y Arquitectura under the direction of Cabrero (1956-63). On the other hand, considering Cárdenas and Cabrero’s various connections with the Italian Gio Ponti, possible graphic influences that the Italian Domus could have had on the Spanish magazines are also pointed out.

Gio Ponti and the Transparency of Domestic Space

2024-08-31T19:35:48+02:00

The Italian architect Gio Ponti (Milan, 1891-1979) summarised his research into the transparency of domestic space in his apartment in via Dezza 49 (Milan, 1956-1957). The incorporation of modern technology and functionality into the home, without forgetting its identification with the inhabitant, present since the definition of casa all’italiana in 1928, brings a ‘transparent’ and ‘crystalline’ architecture, which he synthesises in the statement l’architettura è un cristallo (architecture is a crystal). He defines the transparency of the unitary and dynamic domestic space, based on the graphic experiments carried out for the representation of the alloggio uniambientale presented at the X Triennale in Milan in 1954, which shows the visual prolongation of the floor plan through the free façade, the so-called ‘finestra arredata’, and the alloggio uniambientale per quattro persone of 1956, which provides the spatial continuity of the free floor plan. This article studies Ponti’s spatial orientation development in both directions, favouring transparency in its different levels of significance, as contributed by Colin Rowe and Robert Slutzky: literal transparency as a real quality of matter, and phenomenal transparency as an apparent attribute inherent to the organisation. This reading of transparency allows us to analyse objectively how Ponti aspires to achieve maximum living space and the purest sense of freedom in the modern house.

Postdigital augmented spaces: A conceptual framework

2024-09-23T12:52:15+02:00

Contemporary augmented spaces are situated in-between digital-analog, material-immaterial, online-offline, and real-virtual binaries. Relatedly, postdigital as a concept suggests that digital technologies are now integrated with almost all aspects of the individual and social atmosphere. Therefore, we should engage digitality through a critical approach by focusing on its intermingled situation. For this reason, reading augmented spaces with a postdigital perspective is essential to understanding and evaluating the potential of digital technologies in the context of the current line of vision. This paper aims to provide a better understanding of contemporary debates on digital technologies in the context of design. For this purpose, the article briefly reviews the definition of augmented space, and later postdigital as a concept is discussed with its fundamental characteristics. In what follows selected projects amongst the 2023 Media Architecture Biennale finalists are studied concerning the postdigital augmented spaces. As an outcome of this research, we suggest a conceptual framework that can be effective for the theory and practice of postdigital augmented spaces.

Pneumatic concrete laminar structures revisited. A singular architectural structural type

2024-09-14T17:00:51+02:00

The 20^th century was a time for architectural change, technical innovation and the search for affordable construction and prefabrication. In this context, pneumatic concrete laminar structures represent the advances towards a new architecture that could give answers to the challenges of the century. This work identifies the systems that were explored during that period and describes the experimental designs developed by W. Neff, H. Heifetz, H. Isler, D. B. South and D. Bini. In addition, the adaptation capability of this singular type and the reasons that caused the abandonment of these structure are also analysed.

Remixing our cities – current research on circularity in the construction sector

2024-09-14T17:01:13+02:00

The European Green Deal is aiming for a transition from the current linear economic model to a much more sustainable and resource-efficient circular model. Since the construction industry is responsible for 37% of Europe-wide waste, it will be a key sector for the successful implementation of this goal. However, we can currently find many sector-specific challenges slowing the pace. On the one hand, the complexity of the sector and the multiplicity of actors involved. On the other hand, the dichotomy between the immanent uncertainty that lies within all reuse strategies and an ever-rising pressure for an increased technical performance respectively liability exclusion of building components. A successful transformation of the construction industry towards a circular economy would hence require changes throughout the whole life cycle of the building stock, an extensive and comprehensive exchange of information and the implementation of strategies for dealing with uncertainties. This includes also the development of new construction standards, which in turn can be expected to have an influence on the resulting architectural design. The focus of this paper is to present two current research projects on these topics, with a focus on the potential implications and future fields of action for designing architects.

Sport Architecture. Technological evolution models and paradigms

2024-10-10T10:35:25+02:00

The paper focuses on technological evolution applied to sports architecture, considered as urban infrastructures. A field of research – that has not been given its due importance both by architectural historiography and by technological culture – despite the fact that sports architecture has always represented privileged places of formal, technical and engineering experimentation. Some design experiences in the field of sports venues – from the twentieth century to the contemporary age – have instead represented significant steps of technological development. In particular, the latest generation of sports infrastructures, represent the architectural typology where it is possible to find, concentrated, paradigms such as those of resilience, flexibility, sustainability technologies for adaptive skins and many others innovative parameters.

Transformability in adaptive structures of Frei Otto and beyond

2024-10-01T10:20:21+02:00

Adaptive structures can conform to external changing conditions, in order to improve their functional, energy related and/or load-bearing behavior. Structural adaptation can be depicted in the work of Frei Otto on lightweight tensile structures and elastic gridshells of reduced structural mass and materials with high strength and relatively low elastic modulus respectively. The main developments achieved were based on transformability in the structural simulation and erection process. Representative examples include the Olympic Stadium in Munich in 1972 and the Mannheim Multihalle in 1975 respectively. With the rise of digital and numerical technology in the last 20 years, Frei Otto’s ideas and concepts are even more important and relevant today than they were half a century ago when they first emerged. Meanwhile, research and development of actual adaptive structures are based on the afore-mentioned principles of form variation and lightweight, as well as on aspects of flexibility, controllability and simplicity in kinematics. In achieving this, the development of adaptive structures with minimum embedded actuation and maximum possible output structural states, gains significance. Selected prototype developments demonstrate related achievements in the area.

Editorial VLC#11.2

2024-10-23T21:37:22+02:00

Editorial Findings in Technologies

2024-10-23T08:20:58+02:00